This is it. We've reached the end so part three is more of an epilogue to wrap things up and reveal what happened to our beloved trio.

Enjoy and thanks for reading!

Beep beep beep Kowalski blindly reached for the alarm above his ahead fumbling for a moment before he managed to turn it off. With the alarm silenced he could make out the soft grumble of complaints from his right and on the left felt the arm that had been slung over his waist tighten around him.

"Es Domingo," Rico's voice was sleep rough as he muttered the words into Kowalski's shoulder, clearly not ready to get up if the lack of English was anything to go by. "Ugh, no quiero moverme,"

Kowalski chuckled, "I told you this would happen if I was in the middle. And just because we have the day off doesn't mean I can lay in bed all day."

"Yes, you can," Julien chimed in eyes still closed as if he could still feign being asleep, "and as your king I'm ordering you to stay in this bed."

Kowalski couldn't help rolling his eyes at the order, even if Rico sometimes indulged Julien's commands and orders, that was something he firmly put his foot down on. "I have experiments to tend to."

Julien finally opened his eyes and raised an eyebrow at Kowalski, "and I don't? I think we need to repeat last night's experiment to see if we get the same results." He pressed a soft lingering kiss to Kowalski's lips and felt the full body shudder run through the other man. It hadn't taken him long to figure out that talking science in the bedroom had an effect on Kowalski.

"If we were to truly repeat that experiment then we'd have to follow the same conditions." Kowalski argued after he broke the kiss, "which in this case it would have to be night rather than the morning."

"Nerds," Rico commented affectionately as he propped himself up on his elbow and watched them exchange several lazy kisses.

"So now you're awake," Kowalski teased Rico as he broke the kiss, but it was partially lost since at the same time Julien asked if Rico if he was jealous.

Rico merely hummed in response and leaned over meeting Julien halfway for a kiss of his own. Of course, one was never enough for Julien and they continued to kiss until they felt Kowalski shift under them.

Julien grinned at Rico, breaking the kiss, "I think he's starting to feel forgotten."

"Actually," Kowalski started to sit up in the bed, only allowing Rico to get in a quick peck, "I was thinking about how I need to check on things in the lab, like the if the nanites new programming took."

"Liar," Rico argued as he stretched, feeling more awake than before, "still have an hour."

"But I still have to walk back to HQ and I know what will happen if I let you two convince me to stay just even a little longer."

"Ugh, why do you have to be so logical?" Julien groaned dramatically and fell back into the bed further preventing Kowalski from getting out, at least from that side. Rico had already slipped out of the covers and had started to look through the clothes scattered about the floor.

"Because someone has to in this relationship." Kowalski responded as he took his boxers and pants from Rico and began to pull them on.

"Boo, you whore," Julien jeered half-heartedly knowing how important the research was to Kowalski.

Kowalski sighed at the response and glared at Rico who was sliding back into the bed next to Julien. "You should have never introduced him to Mean Girls. He's going to try to make fetch happen and it's not going to happen."

"We should totally watch that today."

"There's no reason we can't once I get back and I should only be gone an hour, hour and a half at the most." Kowalski would be lying if he said that he wasn't tempted to rejoin his partners and leave the nanites to their own devices. Especially since this had been the first opportunity for all three of them to properly spend time together since he and Rico had resumed their usual training routine since the chance to start field missions again opened.

"Fine," Julien pouted as Kowalski found his shirt and slipped his arms through the sleeves, "but it's going to feel like forever, especially since I won't be able to go back to sleep thanks to your stupid alarm."

Kowalski shared a knowing look with Rico as he buttoned his shirt and stepped into his shoes, "Well, I'm sure you and Rico can find a way to entertain yourselves until I get back. I'll see you in a bit."

As he shut the door behind him, he could hear Julien's voice, but he couldn't quite make out what was being said. He did, however, hear Rico's playful cry of "behave!" and couldn't help but laugh quietly to himself. He could only imagine what would be awaiting him when he got back although there were only three possibilities of what he would return to.

He mused about those exact possibilities on his way to HQ, knowing that one possibility was that the two would be asleep in bed since Julien wasn't one to get up early and Rico found it easy to fall asleep with someone next to him. The next possibility also involved the bed but did not involve any sleeping and Kowalski found himself walking a little faster at the thought. Then there was the possibility that Julien would convince Rico to make breakfast and they'd eat waffles covered in whip cream and fresh fruit while watching RuPaul's Drag Race. And Kowalski was more than happy to walk into any of those possibilities.

The walk seemed shorter than usual as it dawned on Kowalski that he was already in front of their building. He slipped through the front door was and thankful that no one seemed to be up yet. The last few weeks had been interesting to say the least and it was far from an easy transition into what was dubbed a thruple. A task made slightly more difficult after the decision to be upfront about the relationship with the team and their closest friends. Private had been supportive, as had Marlene, although she sometimes asked questions that were just a tad too personal. Skipper had been the wildcard and his lack of reaction was still a point of concern.

Although he did say that he'd need time to process it, Kowalski recalled as he pulled up his data on the nanites.

And while it was fair to say that it was a lot to process it added just a little bit more difficultly in navigating their relationship. Generally speaking, Kowalski had fit into the arrangement rather easily. He and Rico had a history that made it easy to figure out how things would work between them, but Rico and Julien had been a couple long before he came into the picture so there were certain established quirks that needed worked around.

It was far from perfect, communication was a sticking point for all three of them to one degree or another and it taken some time to get used to creating a system to determine when, if, and how to bring it up if something wasn't working.

Speaking of not working, Kowalski noted that the nanite upgrade hadn't took and if anything, it had overloaded and fried them. A wave of frustration washed over him, but it didn't last. He had known the odds of a success were slim and he was trying to take Julien's optimism to heart that he hadn't failed, he merely found what didn't work. It seemed silly at first but, it seemed to be helping him cope with experimental disasters. Kowalski had been so wrapped up in his thoughts that it didn't register that the door to his lab was swinging open.

"I take it Rico decided to sleep in?" Skipper asked from the doorway looking like the cat that got the canary as he watched Kowalski jump and let out a yelp of surprise.

"You could say that," Kowalski flushed with embarrassment. "I was just wrapping up my notes on the nanites' upgrade," he explained as he jotted down his last note and set the clipboard down on the workbench.

"I don't need the whole story, but I am glad I caught you before you left. There are some things I think we need to talk about. Think your boyfriends will survive a bit longer without you?" Skipper asked the question feeling like it didn't belong on his tongue.

Kowalski's good mood vanished. "I'm sure they'll find ways to keep themselves entertained, "he joked nervously as followed Skipper to the living room after shutting the lab door behind him. "This wouldn't happen to be about my relationship would it? I know that Rico and I are breaking policy-"

Skipper chuckled, "I could give a rat's ass about no inter-personnel dating. It the rule everyone breaks but pretends they don't. But what I have to say is related to your new relationship status. You know when you first told me, it was a lot to process and I know I said I was okay with it, but now that I've really processed it…."He trailed off trying to figure out just where to go with the conversation.

"Sir?" Kowalski asked recalling all to clearly how Skipper had handled the news of Rico and Julien's relationship.

"Look, I'm not going to pretend to understand the whole three-way relationship you have going on with Rico and Julien and quite frankly I rather not know the details." Skipper's expression softened, "I just want to know that what you have is more than your standard ménage à trois. Relationships are messy enough between two people and I'm worried that either you're the one who is going to get hurt with this or that you're the one who's going to do the hurting."

"Quite frankly Skipper, I am an adult as is-"

"I know, but you're one of my men. You know how I thought it was understandable that when Rico got involved with Julien, I wanted to make sure that Julien wasn't just using him. He's suffered enough heartbreak in his twenty-odd years. That same concern extends to you as well as Private and will as long as you're a part of my team."

Kowalski was stunned for a moment only touched, but then recalled the other part of Skipper's earlier statement. "While I appreciate that I'm a little insulted that you'd think I'd inten—"

"I know you'd never intentionally hurt Rico," Skipper cut him off again, "or Julien for that matter, and that they wouldn't do it intentionally either. However, you have to look at it from my position. As long as I've known you, you have expressed an interest in women, a very strong interest in women. Then a few months after Doris breaks up with you, you end up not just romantically involved with one man, but two. Two men that were already in an established relationship. I just want to make sure that you're not treating Rico and Julien's relationship as some type of experiment or means to get over Doris."

Kowalski's jaw dropped at the audacity of the comment, but before he could say anything Skipper held up a hand and added, "And if they were here, I'd be asking them the same thing and wanting to make sure that they aren't taking advantage of you just to spice things up in their own relationship. This isn't meant to be an attack on any of you."

"I suppose my actions seem rather alarming considering my history of preferences, but, if I may be frank, that was me trying to overcompensate for not being exclusively attracted to women." Kowalski wasn't going to go into the exact specifics of his newly discovered sexuality. "I had a bit of a revelation after Doris broke up with me and I did not expect things to go the way they did. But Skipper, I love Rico. I've been in love with him for years without realizing it. And as for Julien, I had no intention of falling for him or acting on my feelings for either of them. But they approached me and let me decide if it was something worth trying even if they'd be the ones getting hurt because they both go hearts first and brains second. It's been weeks, actually months of figuring everything out and getting on the same page, but we make it because we all offer something that we don't have on our own or in pairs. So, while I appreciate the concern and recognize that my relationship is rather unorthodox, it's not some temporary fling or experiment on any of our parts." Kowalski didn't realize he had almost started shouting until he finished, and Skipper was looking at him with raised eyebrows.

"As I said," Skipper started after a beat of silence, "I wasn't going to try to pretend that I understood how it worked, but it sounds like it does so I can be satisfied with that answer for now."

"That answer isn't going to change any time soon, sir," Kowalski answered firmly, but the seriousness of the statement was partially lost by his phone going off in rapid succession. And the temptation to check his phone was too great to ignore.

"Then I suppose I won't keep you any longer," Skipper commented seeing the grin spread across his lieutenant's face checked his phone. It was clearly the look of a man who was in love."Just remember that we have training tomorrow at zero six hundred and that if you're not there on the dot, you're running two miles for every minute you're late."

Kowalski slipped his phone back in his pocket. "Understood sir," he nodded before taking his leave but not before he caught Skipper's cry of, 'And tell His Royal Pain-in-the-Ass that Private is off limits!'

Once the door was shut Kowalski pulled out his phone again, pulling up the selfie Julien had sent of him eating fresh cut strawberries. In the background, he could make out Rico starting on the beginning of either French toast or waffles. Underneath the picture was a text, If you're not back before the French toast is done we're having breakfast in bed. Whipped cream included ;)

Kowalski responded with three simple letters and before putting his phone away and breaking into a light jog eager to return to his partners and tell them about Skipper's interrogation. He was half-way to The Groove when the rule of three occurred to him and he found himself laughing at what would have been the simplest explanation for how they worked. After all, the rule of three in its simplest form stated that a trio was more satisfying, or effective than other numbers.