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Part 30: Logistics and Locations

“But it’s going well, being back together, all three of you,” Buffy said warily. She motioned to Willow so they could change their path as they wove through the rows of tombstones and monuments in the cemetery.

“It’s going great,” Willow exclaimed. “The part with me and Nathan, the part with Oz and Nathan, the part with -- well, the part with all of us together. All the parts.”

Buffy nodded thoughtfully. Then she turned her head sharply in the direction of a sudden movement. “Leaf,” she said to Willow cheerfully as she turned back. “Well, all the parts. That’s really great, Will.”

“It really is,” Willow confirmed.

They walked along for a few seconds, passing a few of the more familiar crypts in silence.

“But --” Buffy said delicately.

“But I guess I wonder -- when do we get to relax,” Willow answered with a sigh. “We’re getting along well, definitely; there’s much fun with spells and concerts and dinners and movies and lots and lots of good sex.”

“That’s what I like to hear,” Buffy replied. “Well, except not on the sex front. Don’t get me wrong -- good sex is good! -- but I prefer to know that abstractly instead of, um . . .”

“You don’t want the naughty details,” Willow said with a gleam in her eye.

Buffy rolled her eyes, but grinned. “Exactly.”

They walked a little further.

“So everything is pretty darn wonderful. Except -- well, what?” Buffy prodded.

“Oh, you know. After the break up?”

“Which would be now.”

“Right, I get that it’s now, but when is it then?” asked Willow.

Buffy’s forehead crinkled. “Say that again, slower. And maybe using more words.”

“When is it after after the break up? The next part? When do we all get off probation from that? If it’s good, when does it get to be good enough that we can relax and say, hey, successful relationship thing here! No worries about us!”

“I don’t know,” Buffy said sympathetically. “I don’t think anyone hands you a sheet of paper with an approval stamp on it.” She shrugged. “Maybe you just get that when you trust that it’s going to keep on going well.”

Willow kicked at a clump of earth as they continued to walk. “Yeah. See, and I know all that too.”

Buffy smiled. “I bet having a relationship with two other people makes you twice as knowing.”

“Sure, in some ways,” Willow said, and the sparkle came back to her eyes.

“You know, I always suspected that you were the kinkiest one out of all of us,” Buffy said. “All those cute little jumpers, and that long hair back in high school -- you weren’t fooling anyone.”

They giggled together, and turned to complete their loop of the cemetery.

* * *

At the other end of the cemetery, Xander was asking Nathan question after question as they patrolled.

“And oh! How do you all decide where you’ll sleep in the bed?” Xander asked Nathan.

Nathan scratched his head as they rounded a cluster of graves and considered. “Well. I guess sometimes we don’t have to decide. Like if one or two people have to go home to their own place. Early exam, or if Willow’s meeting the alterna-Wicca group she started for sunrise celebration, or if Oz . . .” He paused, then smiled. “No, Oz never has to be anywhere early.”

“Right,” Xander said, clearly preoccupied. “See, but that can’t happen all the time, that someone has to leave. And with us, it’s like -- I have a side. And Spike has his side, and that’s how we do it. And all I’m asking about is does it work out like that, except with one person in the middle when you sleep? Or do you switch off? Or, oh! Do you call ‘hey, right side!’ just when you’re all watching television, before you’re even getting ready to go to sleep, and the other two say ‘hey, no fair calling a side!’ ”

Nathan glanced at Xander and then gave him a half smile. “Xander if you’re asking about sex positions and how we get off in a really veiled way --”

“No, no,” Xander protested. “Heaven forefend! This is all about the sides.” He sneaked a quick glance at Nathan as they walked. “Of course, if you feel moved to tell me about who’s in the middle sex wise, and when, and how, you know that I’d be your listening ear.”

“No doubt,” Nathan said with a grin. “That’s pretty decent of you, man.”

Xander returned the smile and then shrugged. “Just seems like . . . twice the details to take care of with two people. Complicated.”

“It can be sometimes,” Nathan admitted. They saw a flash of red hair, signaling that Willow and Buffy were headed their way, and Nathan’s expression softened. “But it’s definitely worth it.”

* * *

Oz and Spike completed their section of the cemetery in near silence.

“So,” Spike said finally. “You figure that you lot shagged like weasels a lot more now? Or more before you had the time off?”

Oz slowed his steps, and then stopped. Spike came to a halt beside him, automatically reaching for a cigarette as he waited.

“You know, probably about even,” Oz answered finally.

“Right.”

They continued on.

* * *

Finally Spike and Oz came upon the others, who had met up by one of the larger crypts and were now chattering happily.

“Keep talking like that, you could raise the dead,” Spike crooned to Xander in a low voice as he slipped his arm around his waist.

“Kind of the point,” Buffy said sarcastically, and then blushed as Spike turned to her with amusement clear on his face. “Oh, I so did not mean it like that! I meant, you know -- carefree conversations late at night often bring vamps out to play.”

“Well, it worked,” Nathan said frantically just as Willow yelled “Buffy! Behind you!”

A snarling, just-out-of-his-grave vampire launched himself at Buffy, and for a few moments there was a flurry of kicks and outbursts before a haze of dust settled onto the ground.

“All right then,” Xander said, rubbing his hands together. “Now that there’s been actual slay-age, looks like we can all pack it up for the night.”

“That was lame,” Buffy announced with a frown as she pocketed her stake. “I barely broke a sweat. Honestly, I don’t even know why those just-turned vampires even bother to rise.”

“You’d think they’d learn,” Willow said, making a tsk-ing noise.

“So are we headed back to my place?” Oz asked Willow and Nathan. “Haven’t picked the place up much, but . . . I guess I usually don’t.”

“We could go to my apartment,” Nathan offered. “It’s pretty clean. Plus, I’ve got stuff to make pancakes for breakfast.”

“Oh, pancakes,” Oz said with widened eyes.

“I’ll bet you woo all the boys with offers of pancakes,” Xander told Nathan.

“Well, actually yeah,” Nathan acknowledged as Oz grinned.

“Your place it is then,” Willow said. “As long as there’s syrup and jam --”

“Because not everyone likes syrup,” Oz pointed out supportively.

“Exactly,” Willow agreed. “But oh! Except that I promised Giles that I’d bring over a spell book that I borrowed. I was going to take it over first thing tomorrow morning, and I left it in my room. And campus is much closer to Giles’ than Nathan’s place is, so maybe we should go back to the dorms.”

“Can I just say right now, despite my very enthusiastic part as supportive gal, that our dorm room is not one of the options?” Buffy asked nervously.

Spike snorted.

“Bed’s too small anyway,” Oz pointed out graciously.

“You see?” Xander said to Nathan, poking him in the ribs with his elbow. “Sides.”

Spike looked towards Xander, perplexed for a moment, but then nodded in agreement, prompting Xander to lean in and kiss his neck when no one else seemed to be paying attention.

“Well, that solves that problem,” Buffy said. “Let’s go home.” She squared her shoulders and took a step towards the cemetery gates.

“Except that we still haven’t figured out where the three of us are going,” Willow reminded her.

“And right there -- there’s the whole problem with the way you’re going about all of this,” Spike said to Willow, Nathan, and Oz generally. “But seeing as Xander and I don’t have the problem of not knowing what bed the two of us will be --”

“Spike!” Xander yelped.

“What bed the two of us will be sleeping in tonight,” Spike continued in an aggrieved tone, “we’ll just be off then and leave you to your very boring discussion.” He turned away, but stopped short when Willow materialized in front of him.

“No,” Willow said irritably, crossing her arms across her chest. Nathan and Oz just looked at one another and shrugged. “No, if you’re such a smart vampire, and know exactly how we should be going about this, then let’s have it. Lay it on me, mister. What’s wrong with the way that the three of us are handling things?”

Spike gave a bark of laughter and dropped his filter to the ground, mashing it with the heel of his boot. “Well. It’s all right there in the definition, isn’t it?”

“What definition?” Oz ventured to ask.

“Ménage a trois,” Spike said distinctly.

“Wow,” Xander said, eyes wide.

“Nothing like a sexy French accent,” Nathan murmured.

Spike forged ahead. “Did you lot think it only meant naughty types of shagging? Exciting new combinations of having a go?”

“You know, ménage a trois was the only French phrase I ever really learned. And that’s definitely what I thought it meant,” Xander observed. “But oh . . . wait . . . didn’t I know more French stuff?” He stuffed his hands into his pockets when everyone turned to look at him expectantly. “Uh, nope. I guess that was it.”

“Well, means that, sure,” Spike said. “But that isn’t the end of it.”

“Then what --” Buffy started to say.

Xander snapped his fingers. “Voulez-vouz couchez avec moi, ce-soir?” he burst out.

“Huh?” Buffy asked him.

“That’s the other French thing I know,” Xander explained.

Spike pulled out a new cigarette out and lit it. “Not just about where you’re going to be about tonight or the next night anymore. Or which of you three makes it into the bed if all of your other plans work in favor.” He shook his head, then drew on the cigarette and exhaled. “If you’re going to do this thing, then do it properly.”

“Household!” Buffy said. “Oh, look, I remembered a French thing too.” She elbowed Xander in the ribs.

“Ow. And that makes way less sense than mine,” Xander told her. “I mean, yours isn’t even about sex.”

“No, no -- because it is about more than sex!” Buffy disagreed. “The whole ménage a trois thing -- ménage means household, or something like that. Where you live. So not just about the complicated sexy stuff with three people, but --”

“Three people in the same place,” Oz finished for her.

“Moving in together,” Nathan added in surprise.

“We can’t move in with each other,” Willow exclaimed. “We were just getting past the break up thing!”

“Which you said was going well, the getting-past-it part,” Buffy reminded her. “As in maybe this is a sign that you’re in the clear.”

“But all three of us living in the same place -- that’s serious stuff,” Willow protested.

“Part of the whole reason we broke up in the first place, though,” Nathan said slowly. “Figuring out when and where we were going to see each other. The confusion about when we were all getting together. And worrying about being left out, or leaving someone else out. Which of us was seeing who when.”

“The last sentence alone hurts my head,” Xander confided to Spike.

“And for now, it’s half of what we talk about,” Oz noted. “Would definitely free up some serious time and energy if we were pretty much all in the same place.”

“I think we -- Oz and Nathan and I -- need to go,” Willow said after a pause. “Not that we don’t care what all of you think, but . . . this is too important to come up like this, in a group-decision way. So --”

“Hey!” Xander interrupted. “All of you got together and decided that Spike shouldn’t live with me that time.”

“Yeah!” Spike interjected suddenly, as though he had forgotten about that part. “If you people hadn’t poked around where you weren’t welcome --”

“The two of you can’t still be upset about that,” Buffy said. “It all worked out for the best! You grew when you were apart.” At their looks of disbelief, she muttered, “I definitely seem to remember growing taking place.”

“Buffy’s right,” Willow said. “If you and Spike hadn’t gone through all of that stuff with living in separate places, the situation with Davy, and having to think about what you really wanted, you might not have worked things out. Or, you might not even have gotten together in the first place.”

“Fine,” Xander snapped. “Everyone agreed, and it all worked out. So now I’m cashing in my group-decision chip. If you got to butt into my life, I say we get to vote on whether or not you all should move in together.”

“That is so not a good idea,” Buffy said. “We can’t make them follow what we think they should do.”

“Tallying votes now, Buff,” Xander said.

“Then put me down for yes to the moving-in thing,” Buffy said quickly.

“Got it,” Xander said briskly. “Spike?”

“Already in the pro-camp, love.”

“And I, for one, was persuaded by your clever argument. Not to mention that French stuff,” Xander said with a grin. “So that’s two more votes in favor.”

Nathan raised his hand.

“Questions?” Xander asked, clasping his hands together with the air of someone running a press conference.

“No. I mean, yes. I’m just voting yes,” Nathan clarified.

Oz laughed, but then sobered quickly. “Wait. You’re serious?”

“Well, yeah. I wouldn’t joke about that,” Nathan said. “We’ve been trying this out for a while, and I think the three of us are really good together.” He watched Oz, gnawing at his lower lip a little when Oz didn’t respond right away. “So. Um. Does that mean that you don’t . . .”

“No, no. I do,” Oz corrected him.

“Oh. Cool,” Nathan said simply. They grinned at one another, then shifted their attention to Willow.

“Uh, Willow?” Buffy asked.

Willow sighed and unfolded her arms. “If I say that I’ll think about this, I want it on record that I am not agreeing to consider it because of the overwhelming support in the vote.”

“Duly noted,” Xander called out. Spike just grunted, but then it seemed like he was no longer paying strict attention, especially given the way that his duster was now wrapped around him and Xander both.

“But you’d say yes anyway,” Oz said. “At least, to giving the idea an outside chance.”

“I . . . I think so,” Willow said. “What Nathan said before -- this works, what we have, and maybe it’s time to take it to the next level. But there should be talks! And discussions.”

“Well, when you decide to do it, you could all just move into Nathan’s place,” Xander said.

“Oh -- well, it’d be kind of small for the three of us,” Nathan said. “It’s even kind of small for just me.” He took a quick look at Willow. “And we haven’t decided for sure yet.”

“That’s right,” Willow said distractedly.

“Oh, I know -- you could get a suite on campus since you’re all students,” Buffy suggested.

“With three single rooms?” Willow asked, wrinkling her nose at the prospect. “I don’t know. If we’re going to do advanced relationship stuff, I think it’d be easier if we had our own place. If we get our own place, that is.”

“Always places up for rent in Devon’s neighborhood,” Oz put in. “As long as we’re working in hypothetical scenarios. Actually, there’s hypothetically a place two houses down the street from him with a great basement space.”

Willow and Nathan exchanged a look. “Near Devon,” Nathan began. “Yeah, that’d be cool, and the guys in the band are all great, but . . .”

“But it would be a big enough deal with the three of us moving in together without moving in with you, Devon, and your rhythm section,” Willow finished.

“The key issue of proximity,” Buffy said. “You might want not to be in walking distance.”

“Not to mention the critical guarding of refrigerator contents,” Willow said.

“Wait, why would being in walking distance from the band be a bad thing?” Oz asked.

Nathan and Willow both started to speak at the same time.

“You know, you get to work out this part of the details yourselves,” Buffy said, checking her watch. “I’ve got a pile of notes for my English lit paper calling my name.”

“Yeah, and we have to go, because . . .” Xander’s sentence faded away as Spike yanked him off towards the direction of their apartment.

“What about the warehouse district?” Nathan could be heard asking as the others walked away.

“Are you kidding? If we do decide to move in together, that’s the last place we should look. That area practically screams Vampire Central,” Willow’s voice replied.

“Which, strange, because those old warehouses let in a lot of light, and you’d think . . .” Oz’s voice floated away on the wind as they everyone else headed off in their own directions.

**~*~*tbc*~*~**