Soul Mates

Thanks to everyone who's sent feedback on this story - I really do appreciate it. Keep it coming and I'll keep posting.

****

They laid together for a few minutes before standing up and walking down to the ocean to wash off. They were all still naked, and none of them had the nerve to stay out there for very long, so as soon as they were done, they quickly made their way back to their blanket. Xander made sure to walk a little ways behind Willow and Tara, admiring their bodies as they hurried back up the beach together. They both turned when they reached their blanket and noticed Xander watching them, and they smiled at him as he stepped up to join them.

Xander reached for his trunks and slipped them back on as the girls donned their bikinis again. They laid down on the blanket once more, and Xander rolled onto his back, pulling Willow and Tara to him. They laid on top of him, and Xander wrapped his arms around his girls, enjoying the feeling of closeness with them as they all shared soft kisses together.

"Can you believe we just made love on a public beach?" Willow said quietly after a moment.

"Not really, no," Xander admitted.

"Me either," Willow said. "It makes me feel a little... wild," she continued after a brief pause. "I like it."

Tara chuckled. "Do we have an exhibitionist in the making?" she teased, rubbing Willow's back softly.

"Oh, no," Willow replied, giggling. "I wouldn't want to make this a regular thing. I mean, I can't even imagine what I would have done if we'd gotten caught." She blushed at the thought. "It's one thing for people to know that we're all together, but actually seeing us having sex?" She shuddered a little. "No thank you."

"Me too," Xander said, kissing her forehead. "Besides, bed is a lot more comfortable anyway."

"I don't know," Tara said, grinning. "I'm pretty comfortable right now." She kissed Xander's chest, then rested her head on it and closed her eyes. Xander chuckled as she snuggled against him, and he reached up and stroked her hair softly.

"So you're just going to go to sleep here?" he asked.

"Sounds like a good plan," Willow said. She, too, closed her eyes and snuggled up to him, laying her head on his chest as well. She reached for Tara and laid one hand on the small of her back, rubbing her softly there, and she sighed contentedly as she slowly relaxed against him.

Xander smiled. They usually slept this way at home, but it was nice to see that Willow and Tara were comfortable enough to do it here, too. They'd come a long way in the weeks the three of them had been together - and so had he, for that matter.

Of course, at home, they had pillows, while here he was stretched out on the none-too-soft ground with only a thin blanket between him and it. Hardly ideal conditions for sleeping. Still, the sound of the surf was soothing, and his girls felt so good against him that Xander soon found himself relaxing as well, and it didn't take long for him to drift off.

When he opened his eyes again, he blinked a couple of times, then looked around briefly. They were still alone. He wasn't sure how much time had passed, but the sun had moved a bit and was more or less directly overhead now. The shade from the rocks had all but vanished and they were half-laying in the sunlight now.

"Hey. Wake up," he said, nudging Tara and Willow. They both stirred, and Tara opened her eyes, smiling as she met Xander's gaze. Willow, however, didn't do the same - she shifted around, but stayed in the same place, keeping her eyes tightly shut.

"Come on, Will," Xander said, chuckling. "Wake up."

"Don't wanna," Willow mumbled, snuggling against him once more.

Tara laughed and sat up, turning to face Xander and Willow. "Come on, honey," she said, brushing Willow's hair back from her face. Willow finally opened her eyes and Tara nodded down toward their legs, which were bathed in the bright light of the sun. "If we don't move, we'll burn."

"That's right," Xander said. "Besides, I need to sit up for a bit." His neck and back were already feeling a little stiff.

"Fine," Willow said with an exaggerated huff. She sat up and stretched her arms above her head, and Xander followed, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her in for a kiss. He circled his tongue around hers, staying locked together with her for several seconds before pulling away. He scooted back a little as Tara leaned forward and put her hands on Willow's cheeks, pressing her lips to hers. He smiled happily as he watched them kiss, and when they separated, he gently turned Tara's head toward him and gave her a long, deep kiss as well.

Willow smiled at Tara and Xander as they broke their kiss. "Want to have lunch?" she said.

"Sure," Tara said, and Xander nodded his agreement. "And maybe afterward, we can do a little sunbathing."

"You do realize that we'll all have to put sunscreen on again, right?" Xander commented with a grin.

Willow laughed and touched his arm lightly. "Don't worry, honey, it'll go a lot faster this time," she said. "Anyway, let's have lunch."

The sandwiches Tara had made were delicious, as usual, and when they were done eating, Xander carefully collected their garbage in a small bag they'd brought and stowed it in their pack. Then they got up and moved down toward the water a bit, away from the rocks and the shade there.

"What do you think? Is here good?" Xander asked, putting their blanket down on a clear section of the beach. The tide had risen a bit, but they were still a good thirty feet or so from the high point.

"Looks good to me," Tara said, and Willow nodded.

Willow was right - putting on the sunscreen did go much faster this time. When they were finished, Tara laid down on her back in the middle of the blanket, and Willow joined her, taking her hand as she settled in next to her. Xander looked down at them for a moment, smiling, then laid down next to Tara, taking her other hand and running his thumb over the back of it.

Xander stared up at the brilliant blue sky, watching a few distant clouds slowly drift across it. It had been a good idea to get out of Sunnydale for the day; he never could have been as comfortable on the beach back home. He really appreciated being able to just relax without having to worry about some demon or fish monster running across them. It was nice to be away from the Hellmouth, even if it was just for a little while.

Briefly, he wondered what it would be like to live somewhere where he didn't have to worry about danger around every corner. Even though things had been pretty quiet in Sunnydale lately, deep down he knew that couldn't last. Sooner or later there was going to be more supernatural badness to deal with, and now he had even more reason to worry about Willow and Tara. Even before he'd fallen in love with them, it would have torn his heart out to see anything happen to either of them, and now....

It helped a little that he knew that his girls could take care of themselves; they were witches after all, and it seemed that they got more powerful every day. The truth was, if something bad happened, they were more likely to be the ones protecting him than the other way around.

Still, he couldn't help wishing that they lived somewhere safer.

But there was nothing he could do about it. He wasn't about to suggest that they move; Buffy still needed their help and he wasn't about to abandon her. Willow would never go for that idea anyway - she'd made the decision to stay in Sunnydale years ago - and Xander was sure that Tara felt the same way, too. No, Sunnydale was their home, at least as long as Buffy was there and there was supernatural nastiness to protect people from.

So there was nothing to do but enjoy this quiet time while it lasted and deal with any dangers they might have to face when they came along. He shouldn't be thinking about this right now, anyway. They had come to the beach to relax, after all.

Everything else could wait for another day.

****

They'd been sunbathing for a little while - Xander wasn't sure exactly how long, but it couldn't have been more than half an hour or so - when Willow sat up and looked down at him and Tara.

"Okay, we should head back now," she said.

Tara raised an eyebrow at her. "You think so?" she asked.

Willow nodded. "Yeah," she said. "Even with sunscreen, I can't stay out in weather like this for very long."

Xander sat up himself and moved behind Willow, resting his hands on her sides. "I guess that's the price of having such beautiful skin," he said, giving her a soft kiss on her shoulder.

"Flatterer," Willow said, grinning. She turned and kissed him briefly, then leaned down and did the same to Tara. After she pulled away, Tara stood up, holding out her hands to Xander and Willow. They took them, standing up together, and the three of them shared a quick hug before stepping off the blanket so Xander could pick it up. He shook it out as best he could, then folded it with Willow's help and handed it to her. Then he picked up their backpack, and they started off down the beach together.

They carefully made their way back through the rocks, and when they emerged back onto the long stretch of beach they'd arrived at, they saw that it was substantially more crowded than it had been when they'd left it that morning.

"Well, this place has livened up a bit," Xander commented as they walked down the beach.

"It'll probably only get more crowded the later it gets," Tara said. "It's beautiful out today."

Willow gestured toward the stairs that led back to the parking lot. "Let's head back up," she said. "I need to find a bathroom."

"I'll go with you," Tara said as they started their ascent. "I need to fix my hair."

"Oh, me too," Willow said.

Xander thought their hair looked just fine - in fact, it was remarkably un-mussed considering what they'd been doing - but he'd learned long ago not to argue with women about stuff like this. So he kept quiet as they made their way up the stairs, moving aside when they reached the top to let a group of girls past them. They took a look around and quickly spotted a public restroom a short distance away.

Willow and Tara turned toward Xander. "We'll be back in a minute, honey," Willow said.

"I'll be around," Xander replied. His girls smiled at him and headed off toward the restroom, and he looked around for a place to wait for them. There were several picnic tables off to one side of the parking lot, near a hot dog stand, so he walked over and took a seat at one of them, away from the people who were eating by the stand. He glanced back over his shoulder, but quickly realized that he couldn't see the restroom from where he was sitting; his view was blocked by a corner of the hot dog stand. Well, it was no problem - Tara and Willow could find him easily enough here.

He'd been waiting for a couple of minutes when he heard a voice off to his right.

"Hey, check it out, it's Xander Harris."

Xander turned just in time to see three well-built young men arriving at his table. He felt a sudden sinking sensation in his stomach as he recognized two of them.

"Hey, Steve," he said to the one who'd spoken.

They sat down at the table across from him. "Clark, you remember Xander, right?" Steve said to one of his friends. Turning to the other one, he said, "Brian, this is Xander. I know him from high school. He was one of the biggest losers at our school," he finished with a sneer.

"It's nice to see you too, Steve," Xander replied. It looked like he hadn't changed a bit from high school - he and Clark had been two years ahead of him, and they'd talked down to him like this all the time. They'd been part of the cool, popular crowd, and that was how things had often gone back then. At least they'd been all talk and hadn't actually bullied him the way Larry had - but Xander knew better than anyone how much words could hurt.

"So what brings you out here?" Xander asked, trying to steer the conversation to safer ground. This day had been perfect so far, and he didn't want to let these guys bring him down if he could at all help it.

"Oh, we just came down to do some surfing," Clark said. "And maybe pick up some girls. You can always find some hotties at the beach. I ended up taking a sweet one home last time I was here.... Not that you'd know anything about that, right?"

"Xander here could never get a girl to give him the time of day," Steve said, glancing at Brian. "Probably still can't, I bet."

"Hey, that's...." Xander began, but quickly cut himself off. What was he thinking? If he started bragging about the women he was sleeping with, he wouldn't be any better than the guys he was talking to right now. Besides, he couldn't just go telling random strangers about his relationship with Willow and Tara without talking to them about it first.

"What?" Steve said.

Xander shook his head. "Nothing," he replied. "Don't you guys have better things to do than sit here giving me grief?"

Steve looked at his friends, then shrugged his shoulders. "No, I'm good."

Xander sighed.

****

Willow looked around as she and Tara exited the restroom. There were a few groups of people scattered around the parking lot, but there was no sign of Xander. "Where is he?" she wondered aloud. "He said he'd be waiting for us around here."

"Maybe over there?" Tara said, pointing to a collection of tables over by a couple of food concessions. "There might be some more tables around the side of that hot dog stand."

They walked across the parking lot together, and as they approached the corner of the hot dog stand, some more tables beyond it came into view. Xander was sitting at one of them, and Willow noted with surprise that there were three other guys sitting across from him. She scowled as she recognized them, and put a hand on Tara's arm, stopping her from moving any closer. She stepped back around the corner of the hot dog stand, and Tara followed her, a confused look on her face.

"What? What's the matter?" she asked.

"I know those guys with Xander," Willow replied. "They were in high school with us for a couple of years. They were real jerks - always bragging about all the girls they'd been with, and running Xander down because he never had any dates."

Willow looked out around the corner, observing Xander's uncomfortable posture and the way that Steve, Clark, and their friend were talking and laughing. She could only make out snippets of their conversation because of the wind, but from what she could hear, Xander wasn't saying much of anything at all, but there was a lot of boasting from the other side of the table. Willow was momentarily torn between appreciating Xander's sweetness for not telling them about his relationship with her and Tara, and being angry at Steve and Clark for the way they were treating Xander.

Her anger quickly won out. "I can't believe those guys," she fumed. "I'm going to go give them a piece of my mind." She took a step toward the table, but turned in surprise as Tara caught her wrist lightly.

"Honey, wait," Tara said, and Willow noted the mischievous gleam in her girlfriend's eye as she continued. "I have a better idea."

****

Xander shifted uncomfortably as he listened to Steve describe yet another one of his so-called "conquests," complete with another jab at his own lack of experience at the end. Talk about a way to ruin his afternoon. And the day had been going so well up until now, too.

*Wait,* he suddenly thought. *Why am I still listening to these guys?* For that matter, why was he even still here? Back in high school, he hadn't been able to avoid them, but there was no reason he had to put up with them now.

Just as he was about to stand up, Xander saw Willow approaching the table. Before he could say anything to warn her off, she sat down next to him and scooted in close. "Hey, honey," she said, pressing her lips to his in a kiss only slightly less passionate than the ones she gave when they were making love. Xander's momentary shock at her boldness in front of other people quickly faded as their kiss went on for several seconds, and he had to take a moment to catch his breath when they finally separated.

Willow turned toward the guys sitting across the table from them, who were looking back at them in surprise. "Hey Steve. Hey Clark," she chirped. "Haven't seen you in a while. You remember me, right? It's Willow."

Xander opened his mouth to speak, but Willow gave him a quick poke in the ribs, so he remained silent. She was obviously up to something, so he'd follow her lead on this.

Steve blinked. "Willow?" he said.

Willow nodded in answer.

"Willow *Rosenberg?*" Steve said. He stared at her quizzically, obviously trying to reconcile the stunningly beautiful woman he was seeing now with the shy, mousy girl he no doubt remembered from high school.

"Of course, silly," Willow said, chuckling. "Who else would I be? You do remember me, don't you?"

"Yeah," Clark spoke up. "Yeah, definitely. It's good to see you. You look great."

"Thanks," Willow replied. She turned toward the third member of their small group. "Who's your friend here?" she asked.

"Brian," he said, looking Willow over appreciatively. "It's nice to meet you."

"So.... You two are together now?" Steve asked, glancing at Xander briefly before returning his gaze to Willow. His surprise was fading a bit, but he still didn't seem to be able to take his eyes off her for very long.

"Yep," Willow replied. She smiled happily and took Xander's hand. He laced his fingers together with hers and they rested their clasped hands on the table. "I finally got the guy I wanted."

At that moment, Tara walked around the corner from the front of the hot dog stand and stepped over toward their table. "Hey sweetie," she said, resting her hand on Xander's shoulder. "Sorry that took so long, but I stopped and put our stuff in the car."

Tara wrapped one arm around Xander's back and sat down in his lap. He rested his other hand on her hip, and she kissed him, deeply and with no less passion than Willow had a moment ago. They held their kiss for a long moment, and when Tara finally pulled back from Xander, Willow leaned in toward her, and they shared a long, slow kiss as well.

Afterward, they all turned back to the people sitting across from them, who were staring at them in utter shock and astonishment. "Oh!" Willow exclaimed suddenly. "I'm sorry. Where are my manners?" She nodded toward the other side of the table. "Tara, this is Steve, Clark, and Brian. Guys, this is Tara. Our girlfriend."

"G... G... Gir..." Steve stammered, but that was all he could manage. He and his friends kept looking back and forth between Willow and Tara, as though they were unsure who they wanted to stare at more.

Tara smiled at them, resting her hand on Willow's shoulder and rubbing her softly. "It sure is a great day to be at the beach," she commented. "I'm glad Xander suggested we come out here. Although, to tell you the truth, I think he just wanted to see Willow and me in bikinis."

Willow nodded. "Yeah," she said. "Although, I don't know why he was so excited about the idea of seeing us in bikinis. I mean, he sees us naked every night," she finished with a giggle.

Xander hadn't thought it would have been possible for Steve's eyes to get any wider, but he was quickly proved wrong. Clark's mouth moved, but no sound came out. Brian simply stared, not even trying to say anything.

Turning back toward Willow and Xander, Tara winked at them. "Guys, we'd better get going," she said.

Xander nodded. "Yeah," he said. Tara climbed off his lap, and the three of them stood up. "Well, it was great to see you guys again," he said, glancing at Steve and Clark.

"Yeah, same here," Willow said. "And it was nice to meet you too, Brian."

With that, they turned and walked away, heading around the corner of the hot dog stand. When they were out of earshot, they stopped under the shade of a large rock, turned toward each other, and burst out laughing.

"Did you see the looks on their faces?" Willow said.

"I thought their eyes were going to fall out," Xander said. "How long do you think it'll take them to pick their jaws up off the ground?"

"A long time, I'll bet," Tara replied.

After they'd caught their breath, Xander gave his girls a hug, then stepped back and smiled at them. "I have to say, I wasn't expecting that," he said. "Who's idea was it?"

"Mine," Tara said. "Willow told me how they used to treat you, and it looked like they were up to their old tricks, so I thought this would be a good way to deal with them."

"Although I was a little surprised to hear you suggest it, honey," Willow said. "I mean, just this morning you seemed pretty nervous about just wearing a swimsuit out in public."

Tara looked at each of them in turn. "Well.... When we made love earlier, you made me feel so sexy.... I guess I just wasn't thinking about being anxious anymore." She shrugged.

Xander smiled and gave her a soft kiss, then turned and kissed Willow as well. He was so lucky. He couldn't believe that he'd been letting Steve and Clark get to him just a few minutes ago. Sure, he hadn't been with as many women as they had, but he'd had casual sex before, and it was nothing compared to his relationship with Willow and Tara. What Tara had said earlier was right - what they had was really special, and he knew with absolute certainty that he wouldn't trade it for anything.

Willow smiled at Tara and ran a hand down her arm. "So how about we get some ice cream?" she asked, smiling at her and Xander.

"Sounds good to me," Xander replied, and the three of them linked hands and stepped out into the warm sun together.

THE END