So it's not just Buffy's business that Willow and Xander consider themselves entitled to get into. They have the same intrusive, proprietary interest in Tara's.
Willow can be somewhat excused because of their former relationship, but Xander has no business poking his nose into Tara's relationships, whether sexual or platonic.
Love the stoned trio opening up... and repeatedly dissolving into giggles at things that aren't really all that funny.
I love that Spike's aura is different from 'regular' vamps. Shows how much he's changing - although maybe he was always different. Spike needs to ask Deena about that. Is that why he was so memorable for her?
And now I'm wondering who Daphne is, and how Tara knows her...
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Spike is not on a good place to begin with and the situation feels very humiliating for him. It isn't surprising that he is lashing out, is is one of his defence mechanisms after all. Both he and Tara had some points in what they said even though emotions was running high. So one N'Oroph (Daphne) is in Deena's class, but we don't know enough to draw any conclusions, a lot of things are still unknown.
Buffy, Willow and Xander are of course wondering about Tara's actions. I thought that Xander was perfectly reasonable but I could of course not hear his tone, so it's hard to say if Buffy is overreacting much or not. Her speaking up is a good thing in itself though.
[Report This]Xander can just go home and leave. Buffy is right Tara’s business is hers alone. But I love the connection with Deena. Love to see Tara relaxing. And my heart goes out to Spike with them talking about what they see.
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This was a fascinating chapter. Genuinely enjoyed spike, Tara, and Deena (who I don’t trust, but she’s growing on me) sitting around and smoking a bowl while philosophizing. The difference in how Tara and Deena see auras was intriguing. I really enjoyed the was you wrote spike in this chapter too. He feels very in character.
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Ooh, just getting caught up and now Warren is fixated on *Dawn*?? I know he’s meant to be creepy but that’s over the top. Eep.
Enjoyed this chapter. Nice to see Tara again, and nice for her to be a sane, rational support for Buffy and Dawn!
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Loving seeing a different side to Tara
the scoobies tend to dominate so much
RIGHT!?!?? Thank you!! I love Tara and have been having so much fun exploring her potential off-screen life and personality. So little we know about her from the series, but such a rich character to draw from. I'm glad you're enjoying seeing a different side! It's only just begun.
I can't help wondering whether it was Deena who ran Spike down (whether accidentally or deliberately)... 
Nevertheless, I'm glad Spike has someone who seems to care what happens to him - for whatever reason.
Good to see Buffy missing Spike, although she doesn't seem to feel strongly enough to get up and go look for him.
Thank goodness they finally acknowledged Anya's encyclopaedic knowledge, and the way Xander was always moaning at her for 'oversharing' things from her past. Hopefully, research will go more productively from now on.
Wondering why Tara freaked out at the description of the N’Oroph demons...
A stripper in NY in the 70s? I was not expecting that! And clearly, Spike was more memorable for Deena that Deena was for Spike...
Oooh! Tara!
Now what?
Excellent question about who might have run Spike down. And I'm also glad she'd caring for him, regardless of motivation--because without her, who knows what would have happened, come sunrise!
Yeah, at this point Buffy missing Spike in any way is a distracting, confusing annoyance for her, and nothing she should be spending much time or energy on. But it's there...
So funny--everyone is very happy to have Anya's knowledge put to good use (finally). I wish they had used her more in canon, and while she hasn't been a main character in this fic, I always love writing her.
I'm glad that little Deena detail caught you off-guard! Can't stand the thought of being predictable. :-D
I am really enjoying your reactions to each chapter. It helps me relive (and remember) what I wrote LOL, and it's so fun to see someone experiencing it for the first time!
Thanks again for reading and taking the time to comment! I appreciate you!
Ack! MORE, PLEASE. This is getting sooooo good. I want to know everything!
THIS COMMENT seriously broke through my writer's block and got me back in front of the computer this week. I've written ten pages in the past few days as a result. Thank you. We never know the impact of our words and actions as strangers on the other side of a screen, but tl;dr: yours meant so much.
THANKS FOR READING!!
Oh come on…. You can’t leave it there…. So much intertwined with our friend Deena.
LOL there's more now! I know...original characters can be tricky (most people don't love them), but I think we needed someone new to shake things up here and set everyone's story on a slightly new track...
Thanks so much for reading--I hope chapter 17 answers some of your questions!!
This has nothing to do with the chapter but I am dreading Riley's return and what I have a suspicion might happen. I figure it'll be soon though considering there's already been a lot of mention of the eggs.
Now onto the chapter! I was super glad to finally have it revealed where Spike and Deena know each other from. Or, at least, why they're familiar with each other. It's clear that's not the whole story though but it also felt very in character for both Spike and Dru and what I imagine their pre-Sunnydale life was like. Haha. I have to admit, I don't really care about Deena? (Other than being curious to know how she knew Spike). But I'm hoping that'll change when she gets more involved in helping Buffy and the Scooby's? In like, the possession stuff.
I'm glad Buffy is improving! Though I worry her improvement will mean she'll double-down in her stubbornness about how bad Spike is and how much they shouldn't/can't be together. It's not that I want Buffy to be miserable and depressed but the better she gets, the more I struggle to see how she and Spike could get back together again. I'm sure there's a lot more in both their journey's to go and I have no doubt they'll get together again - it's just hard for me to imagine a path in which they will right now.
But that also means I'm super curious to see where you go with this story and how they eventually get there. And how this all ties in with the general theme of possession through this story. I'm very intrigued.
I can't wait to read more. Please update soon. :) LT.
Ah, yes. The dreaded Riley return. All I can say is that we are DIVERGING FROM CANON...rubs hands together like Doctor Evil...so hang in there!
Totally understandable to not really care about Deena lol. OCs are always tricky. In this case, it's okay if you're not super invested in her, especially at this point in the story. But she IS helping me get characters off their beaten path and doing new and interesting things, which is why I love her! And we'll see if your feelings change as things go.
I TOTALLY feel you re Buffy's improvement meaning getting farther and farther away from Spike. Hopefully the path I've charted makes sense to you as it begins to be revealed in the coming chapters!
So grateful for your comment, your curiosity, and your engagement with this story! Your comment really helped bolster me and get me back to writing! I created an insane plot for myself, and this is the first time in my life I'm seeing such a project through. It's definitely an undertaking, but it's proving so fun. I hope you continue to enjoy as the wackiness deepens!
What has Drusilla been up to this time?
is Tara with Deena?
haha excellent questions! Thanks for reading--hopefully all questions will start being answered soon...
Hopefully this damage is the rock-bottom for Spike, that this "timeout " can make him start to crawl upwards. We got some more information about Deena but it also raises more questions, especially about her age and why she's interested in Spike and in how he has changed.
I liked Buffy's calm moment when she was thinking. I also liked how Anya acted at the meeting. Tara's reaction to the description of the demons, showed that there was a connection to Deena. It did make my theory from before a bit more likely.
I am SO curious about what you'll say when everything starts coming together. It's a slow burn for sure, but pieces are finally starting to fall into place...
Yeah--I had to have poor Spike hit rock bottom for reasons you now know, and because I think a lot of his reaction to Buffy's rebuttal happened off-screen in canon. We saw how he interacted with her (and Anya, for example) after the breakup, but we rarely if ever saw scenes of him alone. I pictured him holing up for a week and relying on alcohol, as usual, to get through the immediate aftermath of her rejection.
Glad you liked some of the Scooby moments in this chapter, especially Anya and Tara...always a fun challenge to write a full Scooby scene.
Hands rubbing together devilishly re your theory. We'll have to see...
I hope that you have Spike sober up soon. This sort of seems contrary to his personality. Not the drinking in excess, but that it is lasting so long. I understand that he has taken the breakup hard, but this seems extreme. I just can’t believe he would give up so easily.
Thanks for your thoughts! He's down there in various stages of drunkenness for about a week, which I think could track with the ambiguous timing of his various benders in canon. But also, just needed him to hit a bit of rock bottom for reasons that have likely already made themselves known...
Thanks for your continued interest with the story! And so sorry for my delayed response.
Oh, bless Dawn for bring Tara to help.
Unfortunately, they can't do anything about the cause of Spike's despair - if they even know it. And they've added a new problem by doing away with the eggs.
Spike, honey, please try to understand that getting blind drunk and failing to feed does nothing but make your problems even worse!
Nifty slayer dream...
Whoops... this does not look good for our vampire.... 
Hahaha oh, Spike and his self-destructive tendencies.
I love a good Slayer dream. I always thought it was such a brilliant plot device in canon, and now as I'm writing I see how useful it can be! :-D
Thanks as always for reading and commenting--I appreciate you!
The question is if Spike can sink deeper, he really is a mess. Tara is a practical one, so I can totally see her acting like this. Spike will have to try and get his life in order, he's no help for himself or others at this time.
Now that Buffy have realised that more people have died, her feeling of guilt is getting stronger, so it wasn't strange that she had this creepy dream.
Thanks for being on board with my depiction of Tara--I know it gave some people pause, but I can totally see her acting this way.
And TOTALLY re Buffy. She has the weight of the world on her shoulders, and while there are VERY few ways she could have prevented any additional murders, she of course would assume she's somehow responsible.
I love a good Slayer dream.
Thanks for hanging in there with me!! Sorry for my delay in responding!
Bless Dawn for looking after Spike, and seeing that he has blood as well as booze. And she's seen the eggs. Something tells me that knowledge might turn out to be crucial.
Love Buffy and Tara getting closer, bringing Tara closer into the 'family' circle. And thanks to Tara, they know about the N'Oroph demons. Hope they have the opportunity to research them in time...
No! Warren is planning on going after Dawn! Spike had better sober up soon...
Thank you for hanging in there and sorry for my way delayed response! Always love getting your comments.
Yes, I had to have Dawn go into caretaker mode (I think she would totally do this, and I was also a teenage girl at one point, so I can understand the urge to take the bad boy under your wing.) And YES someone needed to see those damn eggs before shit hit the fan.
I'm so glad you're enjoying seeing more Tara and Buffy closeness. I've said it before, but Tara is one of my favorite characters and I think she was so underused/underexplored in canon, so I wanted to make her a feature in my fic. Glad you're liking it!
And yeah...about Warren...ugh...
I don't normally read WIPs as I'm way too impatient but having run out of finished works to read I decided to give this a go and I'm so glad I did. I'm hooked!!! I've binged my way through 14 chapters in 2 days and I'm devastated I have to wait now!
I'm all for a slow burn, I like to see a realistic evolution of their relationship and boy is this true to their characters! Painfully so! I just want to bash their heads together (not that that would really help them)! But it always makes it more worth the wait to see them get their HEA.
I'm so intrigued as to where this story is going and by the enigma that is Deena. Is she good, is she bad, who knows?! And how does she know Spike and what did she mean about his vibrations? So many questions! Excited to find out. Love your style of writing. You're incredibly talented, the way you can write both heavy emotional moments interspersed with some great humour and your characterisation is excellent. Thanks for sharing your gift with us!
Hi cd85! I have to say, your comment made me so happy!
I also don't love reading WIPs because I've been burned too many times (no one's fault, but we readers get invested and then when the writer stops? It sucks!) And I also get the impatience...when I'm really into something, I want to blaze through it at my own pace! So waiting a week for each chapter to drop can be torture.
So imagine my gratitude when you decided to give this little story a chance, despite its status! You're hooked? YAY!!!
I'm so glad you (like me) enjoy a slow burn and like watching a realistic evolution into something we all want. It is both infuriating and (eventually) all the more gratifying to watch them be morons and figure stuff out slowly than just falling into each other's arms in a way that, at least at this point in canon, DOES NOT MAKE SENSE (to me).
I'm also super happy you're perplexed about Deena and the role she's playing here. It's always risky, introducing an OC, but I felt like the whole gang needed an outsider to shake things up and help things move in a different direction.
Finally, thank you so much for your kind words about my writing. It's so weird--the farther I get into this story, the stranger writing feels. I often feel like, 'do I even know how to do this anymore?' So your comment truly made my week. I'm so grateful for your comment!
Please don't hesitate to share your thoughts/feedback as the story continues!
I got mixed feelings from seeing Dawn and Spike. It felt so sad that she had to see him like this but it also felt good that someone is caring about him.
Seeing Buffy and Tara was also good. I'm not sure what it is Tara is feeling but something is going on. Warren continues to be creepy and I still can't be sure if he us possessed or not, but if I had to guess I would say that he is.
TOTALLY re Spike and Dawn. I have the exact same mixed feelings. More on this soon.
Glad to hear where you're currently at with the 'is Warren actually possessed' question. Thanks as always, friend! Til next time...
Someone needs to slap some sense into spike
::rubs hands together::
Couldn't agree more.
I’m loving this story! You really write Buffy and Spike both in a way that is very consistent with their show characterizations, particularly in their coping mechanisms in season 6. As much as it makes me want to whack Buffy upside the head to get a clue, it’s accurate! I also like the addition of Deena to the scene, and I still want to know what she has to say about Spike and what their connection is! Can’t wait for more!
Lady Emma: THANK YOU!! What a wonderful comment to see. I'm so glad you're enjoying it so far (and so happy you think my characterization is consistent with canon!) Also, very gratifying to hear you like the addition of Deena to the mix. I know people in general don't love OC's, but sometimes I think a new person on the scene is needed to mix things up and help things go in a different direction. Thank you so much for giving this story a chance and for your sweet comment. Can't wait to hear your thoughts as we start to knock down some of these bowling pins I've been setting up!
He couldn’t quite tell how many eggs there were—his vision kept going double—but he’d been assured that all he needed to do was keep them safe and ready for pickup, and he’d be extremely well compensated. There may have been other details, but Spike had been too drunk to notice and too consumed with bitter glee to care.
Oh dear.... this is not going to go well....
Wondering who tried to wake Spike up. From the description, I initially thought it might have been Dawn, but now I'm not so sure.
Good talk between Buffy & Deena. “Normal’s overrated.” Food for thought...
Buffy's meeting with Willy was a little unfortunate. Willy's done himself no favours there, and now Buffy's on the warpath.
Or at least... she was.
Wondering how long it will be before Riley blows into town....
Ha! You're the first person to mention that (wondering when Riley will blow into town). VERY interesting question.
I feel like I've been setting up bowling pins forever...HOW LONG will it take to start knocking them down??
Can't wait to see your feedback when that starts to happen...
So while Buffy, Willow and Dawn are reconnecting and feeling more cheerful (training for Dawn being an excellent idea - all the Scoobies should join in) Spike is alone, despairing, and vulnerable to get-rich schemes which are a Very Bad Idea...
Warren is so creepy....
Yeah...about that...
Spike and Buffy won't always be this out of sync with each other. But currently yeah, one of them goes up, the other seems to go down...
And Warren is the literal worst.
That sob-fest was so very cathartic for Buffy. She's been holding all that pain in for so long...
And even better, that Willow came to tend to her, and all Buffy's pain, and shame and guilt about Spike came flooding out.
The BFF bonding stood up to the strain, with Willow sharing her own feelings.
Just wonderful.
Poor drunken Spike. He still hasn't figured out that over-indulging in alcohol doesn't fix anything.
His encounter with the lady N’Oroph demon is hilarious! But he has a lead on the Nerds!
The girls' hike is mega bonding with Dawn and Janice too. Lovely.
Thank you!! One of the hardest parts of S6 for me was the way the long-standing friendships all started to crumble under the strain of trauma/PTSD and the stresses of life.
I'm so glad you found the Spike/N'Oroph scene funny. I was fine if it was just amusing to me (and it really, really was) but it's even better knowing someone else got a kick out of it!
So glad you're here, reading, and commenting. Thank you!
Take it that Buffy doesn’t realise that most demons can smell them
HA! Right? Thanks for reading!!
Spike is sinking fast, soon the bottom will up. There's no way this will end well for him.
Buffy on the other hand seems to get better and better. The changes she has done had a positive effect and Deena ads another positive layer. Buffy's interaction with Dawn show some big progress.
The demon side of town would be more observant about Buffy, so they would probably pick up on Buffy and Spike's earlier closeness. It does make sense there would be rumours of Buffy and Spike being together.
Thank you, magnus! I did think the demon element would likely have heard rumors, since in canon it's known that the 'bad guys' know Spike's killing them. If they know that, why wouldn't they know he's hanging with the slayer all the time? And with all the public sex? Come on.
Thanks as always for reading!!
Twenty minutes later, she stomped into Willy’s like Tyra on the runway, all wind-in-her-hair and sure strides. She felt powerful. Alive. Not about to take any shit.
This made me so very happy. All of it.
I really do love seeing Buffy come back into her own lately. I love Spike and spuffy OBVIOUSLY (I need to get that on a t-shirt or something) but their toxic s6 thing had to end for Buffy to be Buffy again. She was lost. And Spike tried but he tends to make bigger messes out of already messy situations... gotta love him!
Looking forward to their next meeting!
Thanks, love! That makes ME happy!
Yeah, in order for them to work out during season 6 (as far as I'm concerned) they need some time apart. Not TOO long, of course (can't have that) but they both need to figure some shit out, work on some stuff, have private revelations, etc. I hope this interim will hold people's attention long enough to get to their next meeting, cuz...(in my humble opinion) it will be worth it!
Thanks as always for reading.
Oooh that last line!! Creepy!!
Also, SPIKE. Get yourself far far away from those damn eggs.
And because I'm a chapter behind I can click on through and read another! Muahaha!
I KNOW RIGHT!? I freaking hated that whole storyline. Never made sense (far more brilliant people than I have written about it). Hopefully you'll enjoy my reworking of the whole eggs business. xo.
Super histoire hâte de lire la suite
combien de chapitre y aura t il ?
Merci beaucoup Coralie! Je ne sais pas encore, mais probablement beaucoup...j'en ai écrit 22 jusqu'à présent et je suis loin d'avoir fini!