I HATE this Willow and Buffy who gets herself lost almost in every unti-Spike thought!:E
Otherwise,good fic!

He's changing [for her].
She's doubting him.

Now they'll have to talk again.
They've come a long way since they met.

OH, No, Willow, don't lead her away...!
I'm just not liking Willow in this fic. I DO realize that practically & realistically speaking, she IS trying to look out for Buffy, for Buffy's safety, for her LIFE. For "realistically", Spike IS a serial killer in this fic. Something, to the characters in this fic, that otherwise would've been a figment of myth or horrored imagination, a vampire being a movie monster, NOT a reality! BUT, Willow's manipulative streak does keep rearing it's ugly head, even if only weakly in THIS chappie as opposed to others, such as the Owen debacle.
I DO like her and Tara having kids. I can understand the adoptions as their way of giving homes to babies already needing them, but really don't understand why one or the other or both of them didn't have their own children by AI or friendly donor.
He's apparently moralistically challenged, FOR HER, if not for anyone else, YET. Seems he has begun to TRY. (ick, rat....yuck!)
Seems a trip to the butcher's is in order, or making friends with a local bloodbank or lab or somesuch. Not being a slayer, she can't be on the menu, and he might lose control...
This relationship has lasted so long (as he said, warn your grand-daughters...but it doesn't look like she'll have any) that they, of course, must somehow be fated to be together.
Strange words to come from Tara, even if not "our" Tara.
Love it that Spike is realizing the consequences of his actions, whether he likes it or not.
Buffy needs to discuss more her trying time and grief w/the entire Hugo episode of her life, as it totally, literally consumed her and those years. It, ie the "Hugo years" practically took on a life (one that Baby Hugo was not graced to have long or keep) of it's own, from testing and "t.t.c." (trying to conceive) by any and all unimaginable miserable means possible that occupied and tied up every waking and some sleeping moments of her/their lives, to failed pregnancies to trying to stay pregnant to waiting with bated breath for a baby that came to weak and too early and could not keep up the fight to stay alive, to still working, or NOT, through the stages of grief, of death and dying (and not helped or supported by her seriously waste of breath husband)...which Buffy has not yet worked through, not dealt with, ie still working through the avoidance & denial phase in many respects, plus depression & anger...is she bargaining with herself that Spike will fill the void in her life, or just truly seeking the one person that ever made her feel completed (apparently unlike her husband Owen, useless POS)?
I hope she doesn't do the typical TV Buffy and RUN, bolt, and if she does that Spike will realize her value and go after her. Perhaps she should see his honesty to and with her, and his attempts, the changes she would see if she would just look a little closer at him as well.
Liking this fic, read all three so far, & can't wait for more.
Thanks!
~~K.~~
~~fyreburned~~
fyreburned@yahoo.com

one step forward, two steps.... very good read, thank you.

Another great chapter! I've always wondered, though, how did Willow know he was a vampire? Was that in the first story and I just missed it?

A humdinger of a story, coming from a completely different angle of Spuffy. I keep a lookout for updates. P.s. would like to read Deluged but Buffy Central can't be accessed. Is it anywhere else? Love your work.

This chapter is turning Spike the vampire on his head, slowly, but surely.

You've nailed it. Never communicating, and always at cross purposes.

Oooh. This Spike is slowly starting to resemble more of...well, "our" Spike. He's seemed to me to be almost like a stranger with a familiar face and personality, but we don't really know him. Nor Buffy, though we can still see "our" Buffy in her as well. I think one of the things I've liked so much about this series is the way it's basically an AU without the Fantasy, as far as genres go. I dunno, I find the combination very appealing! Can't wait to see where this may go from here!

I'm sure the seller suddenly changed their mind because of something Spike did? Too coincidental after she told him about the place.

And now Buffy's having second thoughts....I think she probably thinks he sabotaged it, too. So, she calls Willow....and gets blunt with Spike.

And he's had rat for dinner *twice*!! Be hilarious if he finally feels he has to change, that it goes beyond his efforts not to, and she's had enough. Their typical bad timing.

AHA Spike is already changing. I suspected he would. Getting to look on your food source as more (Xander, Andrew, Buffy) will have to have an effect on your eating habits.

Lovely update.

Kathleen

Ah, hope and angst in the same fine chapter. Nicely done, VW.

He cares enough to not kill.. rat boy. So what happened to don't ask me to change? Too bad he didn't tell her. 'Course that would probably be the end of the story. And Willow.. he can bag-it.

And the home.. "He" doesn't want to sell it.. I thought it was a she .. his aunt.. Spike bought it for her? Need to reread.

These two are so exasperating.. you are doing a great job...