Business as usual by Lilachigh
Chapter: Chp 25 Aftermath

01/25/2013 07:39 am
  Your just a pullin' the tears outta me here.  I really love Aggie you know.

11/10/2009 02:29 am
It is so good to get back to Agnes and her unlife in Sunnydale - good to read some of the earlier story again -

I just love this story and your writing style - I think Agnes is probably my favorite original creations for the Buffyverse.
 Thank you!  Glad you are still enjoying Agnes' adventures!  Hope to update again soon but we'll soon be in OMWF time and I'm dragging my heels a little!

IT
09/23/2008 05:58 am
I'm back.  I hope you didn't think that I'd abandoned your story!  I got distracted over the summer and lost track of some of the WIPs I was following.  But here I am, all ready to catch up.  

Great chapter.  I love the comments about Agnes' virtue!  lol   And the chicken soup with blood was brilliant.  On to the next chappie!
 Glad to have you back. Hope you had a good summer.  I'm still waiting for it to appear!  See you have commented on a lot of chapters so will rush off to read what you have said!

sirc
07/24/2008 11:16 pm
well done
 Thank you!

07/23/2008 12:02 am
love the way agnes'ind works. if the scoopies had thought that way buffy's life would have been somewhat easier. very good read, thank you.
 So glad you enjoyed it.  More in a week or two's time. Off on holiday to France for a week.,

07/21/2008 01:09 pm
Am I engaging in a silly hope that Agnes will change the course of S6?  D=  Because that would be ever so awesome.

Of course, I'd still read her, but I hope.

Most excellent story!  Please continue.
 Thank you so much for reading and commenting. Makes my life so much happier when I know the readers are enjoying the story.  Will she alter Season 6?   Well.....I said right at the beginning that I would stay in canon as much as possible.  The next two months, between seasons, will be interesting for everyone.

ITThan
07/20/2008 09:32 pm
"She didn't know many male vampires who could resist a mug of home made chicken soup and blood once they were holding it."  LOL!!! 

I also loved Agnes' reflections on modern graveyards.  She is very perceptive. 

Agnes' comment about fighting for her virtue and Spike's reply are hilarious!  She is so proper and he just spells it all out.  He is very protective of her, isn't he?  I wonder who she reminds him of?  Perhaps it's just the Victorian gentleman coming out in him, having to protect any and all women.  It even translates to Buffy, though she is clearly his equal and her loves her for that, too.

Wonderful update, again!  Agnes is just the medicine that Spike needs.  Thank you for the update and also for always replying to reviews.  It makes reviewing feel much more like a conversation. :)


 So pleased you enjoyed this chapter.  I'm afraid I always try and reply to comments and yes, to me it is a way of chatting to like-minded friends, especially those who don't have an LJ where most of my time is spent when not writing!

I think Spike's Big Bad persona is sometimes a little astonished at being Agnes' friend , but deep down there is a trace of William lurking and Agnes means home to him in more ways than one.  I'm not sure how he will react if he ever finds out how much she has given up for his sake.  We shall see.

I'll try and update soon but am off to France for a week on the 26th so it might be when I return. I'll see how busy I get.

belldonna
07/20/2008 02:40 am

Another  beautifully characterised chapter in  this totally original story . Agnes is so well written and Spike rings true as well, not the soppy, too -good -to -be -true Spike that some authors write. Thanks, I;m really enjoying this. Keep updating please!

 So glad you enjoyed this chapter.  The next couple of months are going to be difficult for Agnes and Spike, of course, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed.  (This does make typing difficult, but I am brave!)

07/19/2008 09:30 pm
Lovely juxtaposition between the logical demon reaction to Buffy's death and the human Aggie who liked Joyce and cares for Spike.  Very believable indeed.

Wish I could slap Willow!  Bitca!!!!  Poor Spike, as if they couldn't tell his emotions were real as is his grief!  TO add guilt on top what he already feels is a sign she is already headed to the dark!

Love this friendship very much.

Kathleen
 Pleased you enjoyed this chpt.  Venturing into the months between seasons with trepidation, but chin held high and a stiff upperlip - much like Agnes, I suppose!

yes, Willow is heading for the dark side.  I think Agnes will see this before anyone else!

07/19/2008 02:44 pm
I continue to love how Aggie is taking Spike under her wing. Keeping her mouth shut about her true feelings regarding Buffy's death is a smart move on Aggie's part, that's definitely not something Spike doesn't need to know.  Great chapter!
 Thank you for commenting.  Yes, Agnes knows very well that telling Spike what she really thinks of the Slayer won't be appreciated!   But I do think there would have been general rejoicing in the vampire world at Buffy's death. And we never got to see even one party!

07/19/2008 10:05 am
Lovely Agnes, thinking of Spike in his hour of need. Bullying him into nourishing himself, tricking him into the land of the living. Shame on Willow. Would she really say such a thing? Did Spike put words in her mouth, due to his own sense of guilt and failure?

This line is pure Agnes:

“Well, you’ll never know until you try, will you?"

It's a cliche of the most fundamentally truthful variety. She wields common sense like Spike wields his fists.
 Thank you so much for reviewing. Much appreciated.  Hmm, it is interesting in thi story to wonder, when Spike tells Buffy that he "saved her" every night, was he remembering what Willow had told him, or was it his own ideas?

I like our idea of Agnes wielding her common-sense like a prize-fighter!  I don't want her to seem a goody two shoes, but yes, she has her feet firmly on the ground.

07/19/2008 03:46 am
This is really a lovely piece of work - I hope that you will have another new chapter soon -

Wouldn't it be great to have Dawn and Spike spend some time with Agnes in her future English Cottage -

I am being totally selfish here but PLEASE bring us another chapter or even two soon -
 Hi there, goodness no, I never ignore anybody who takes the time and trouble to review or comment on one of my stories.  I am quite certain I replied to your last comment.  Sometimes when people read and review each chapter all at once, it is easier to just answer the last comment because sometimes they ask questions which have been answered in the next instalment.

To answer your question here,  yes, Dawn and Spike would have loved the English country cottage, but there would be no way he could get her away from the Scoobies in those months between Season 5 and 6.

i do hope this goes through OK.  Please e mail me and let me know and I assure you I would never knowingly ignore anybody.  

07/19/2008 01:31 am

Chicken soup and blood - that's possibly the most horrible thing I've ever heard of.  Agnes' devotion to Spike is very touching. 

 But  Agnes knows the way to a man's heart is through his stomach!  At least it made him feel a little better!

07/18/2008 09:21 pm
Smashing update.  Agnes is such a fabulous creation.  You've managed to combine the sensibilities of an elderly English spinster and the vampire POV in a completely believable character.  I love how Spike is her priority - must be a first for him! 

Willow was incredibly harsh - I hope she gets her comeuppance, as Aggie would say.
 Glad you are still enjoying the story.  Well, yes, Agnes is a loyal friend but she can also see that Spike is not perfect. 
As for Willow - how much of her behaviour is down to grief and how much to being the guiding force of the Scoobies now Buffy has gone, I wonder?

anon462
07/18/2008 07:13 pm

I love reading the way Agnes thinks, she seems to always look for the best side of everything. And, on the rare occasion whe she might not have a charitable thought about someone else, she is the first to chastise herself.

When Spike said that Willow told him to go away, that Dawn didn't want him around, that she blamed him for Buffy dieing, it struck me as a very hateful thing to say. It also made me think that 'Dark Willow' was already present and very near the surface.

When Agnes was incouraging Spike to pull himself together because he owed it to Joyce and Buffy to try to look after Dawn, it made me wonder if that was the point where Spike decided that looking after Dawn was a way of keeping his promise to Buffy???

Good chapter!!!

 thank you for reviewing.  Yes, Agnes is like so many of us, a mixture of good and bad, even as a vampire!  She certainly isn't perfect but tries hard!  

I've often wondered exactly what happened while Buffy was "in heaven".  And I agree with you that Dark Willow was not so very far away - remember the dead fawn!

07/18/2008 06:14 pm
thanks for the update.
 Pleasure. Thanks for reading!

07/18/2008 04:57 pm
Leave it to Agnes to get Spike pulled together and heading in the right direction.
The first paragraph was great - about the soul.  I"m loving how you're just kind of poking ideas at us and leaving them there.  It's sort of like a vaguely itchy sweater - not annoying, so you absently rub the itchy spots and it is better - and you notice the "better" and then realize that it had itched before.  Well, your ideas roll around in my brain until somehow something clicks and I have to take notice of it.  Sort of like the vampires with allergies thing did last time.

None of that probably makes any sense at all, and I need to get back to work anyway, so I'd best just quit...

Oh, no LJ, sorry!
 That made perfect sense to me, but then you already know I'm weird!  The more I write about Agnes and her life as a vampire, the more I find areas that need exploring!