Author Note - Like I said at the start of this fic, it's set during Season 4, but I have messed with the timeline, so things from other seasons are gonna slip in, here and there. Just reminding you, to avoid confusion. The changes (hopefully) shouldn't be too jarring.

Also: this whole sub-plot of Willow/Oz/Tara totally wasn't planned, it just kinda happened (ironically). There's not actually much of a focus on it, beyond this chapter, and I'm not sure how people are feeling about it, so… tell me in reviews, maybe?

Family

Willow searched her boyfriend's eyes and only found sincerity.

"An open relationship? I- is that what you're suggesting?"

He shook his head, and her brow furrowed in confusion.

"Then what, exactly?"

"It'd be closed, but… just the three of us."

"Oh." The witch stood up and started pacing. "Hmm…"

The strangeness of the situation wasn't lost on the wolf – trying to convince his girlfriend of something that would mostly be in her favor, for the sake of saving what they already had.

"Oz, I don't know about this," Willow said, finally. He reached out his hand to her, and got her to sit back down with him.

Placing his other hand gently on the side of her head he said, "Forget about what you think. All those thoughts – shut them out. What do you feel?"

She shut her eyes as she admitted, "I want this."

"And what do you want?" asked Oz.

"Huh?" Willow opened her eyes again, to see he was addressing the door.

"Tara, I know you're there," he said. To which the door opened, and she hesitantly joined them in the room.

"I, uh… I didn't w-w-want to interrupt," she said, looking at the ground.

"It's okay," Oz told her, lifting his hand from Willow's face and reaching out to her.

Tara took it, and then they were all sat on the bed together.

"You feel it too," said Oz, continuing. It wasn't a question, really, but she nodded.

"Our, um, our auras all kinda fit."

That made them all smile.

"Are we really gonna do this?" asked Willow. "Do people even do this?"

"Well, we're both witches, and he's a werewolf, so I'm not sure we count as conventional people anyway," Tara reasoned.

"Right," Oz agreed, with a single nod of his head. "So we do this. Or, we try."

Giles had been successful in his mission of tracking down the 'Slayer Emergency Kit' with a family member of a previous Slayer, in New York. He'd had it shipped overnight, and now everyone had gathered in the Magic Box to see what was inside. Before they could get to it, though, Tara's father and brother arrived and tried to take her away by force. Instinctively Oz protected her, and made clear she belonged with him and Willow. After the family members left again there was some explaining to do, which they hadn't intended on. The three of them had came to a combined decision to keep their arrangement quiet, at least for the time being, but it seemed that was no longer an option.

"So you're…" Xander gesticulated between the three of them. "You all are like, together? All of you."

"Uh, yeah," said Willow. "It's a little complicated."

"How does the sex work?" asked Anya, to which both witches turned bright red and looked at the floor.

"We… w-w-we don't-" Tara stammered.

"Tara and Oz don't, uh…" Willow continued, for her. "It's kinda like me and Tara. And me and Oz, but-"

"I'm really not sure this is your business," Oz interjected to say.

Spike never said anything, but he was disappointed the topic was closed. Buffy gave him a small dig in the ribs, for that.

"Well, I think it's great!" Xander decided.

"Really?" the Slayer asked him.

"Sure, I mean, as long as everybody's happy, why wouldn't I be?"

"Huh," was all Buffy replied.

"Because you're usually a judgmental bastard," Spike provided on her behalf. She tried to nudge him again, but he moved out of the way.

"Yeah, no offense, Xander, but kinda that."

"I'm not judgmental!" the boy insisted.

"Of course you are," Anya affirmed.

"Can we focus on the unconventional threeway relationship that's in the process of coming out instead of on me?" he requested.

"Ah, there it is," Spike murmured, before turning fully to face his Mate and directing his words to her. "If you don't keep your arms out of my ribs I'm gonna pin them back and give you a good-"

"Hey! Who wants pizza?" a suddenly very flustered Buffy asked. She was sure she wasn't the only one with an extremely interesting mental image. "Lets crack the magic box open already." She gulped, floundering. "I, uh, I mean the little magic box, not the building."

"I should think so," Giles affirmed her correction. "Pizza or Emergency Kit, which is first?"

To be continued...