Bittersweets by Herself
Summary: An ongoing series of Spike/Buffy tales, meant to be read in order.  The first springs from "Wrecked" in season six; the series veers off from canon at that point.  These stories are het NC-17, with some slashy flashbacks.  Winner of Best Series in the 2002 Watching You awards. Nominated in numerous categories in the Fall, 2003 Eternal Devotion Awards. Winner Best Conventional Pairing Series, Outstanding Conventional Author, Round 8 of the Shades of Grey Awards, November 2003.
Categories: Season 6, Alternate Reality
Characters: Buffy, Spike
Genres: Angst, Drama, Romance
Warnings: Adult Language, Blood Play, Buffy/Other (Temp), Rape (Actual), Sexual Situations, Spike/Other (Temp), Violence
Challenges: None
Parent Series: None
Stories: 16
Series Type: Closed

Past Featured Story
All Wrong by Herself [NC-17] Likes: 51 Comments: 19
Summary: She can't go on, she'll go on. Spike and Buffy meet again, post Wrecked. (Completed December 2001)
Beta and Sensitivity Readers: None
Artists: None
Series: Bittersweets
Categories: Season 6
Characters: Buffy, Spike
Genres: Angst, Drama
Warnings: Adult Language, Sexual Situations
Completed: Yes Chapters: 1 Table of Contents
Word count: 4,126 Hit Count: 4,147 ePub Downloads: 214
Published: September 20, 2013 Updated: September 20, 2013
Near Enough by Herself [NC-17] Likes: 35 Comments: 10
Summary: Ten minutes in bed with Spike and Buffy. (Completed late December, 2001)
Beta and Sensitivity Readers: None
Artists: None
Series: Bittersweets
Categories: Season 6
Characters: Buffy, Spike
Genres: Angst, Drama
Warnings: Adult Language, Sexual Situations
Completed: Yes Chapters: 1 Table of Contents
Word count: 1,493 Hit Count: 2,722 ePub Downloads: 154
Published: September 20, 2013 Updated: September 20, 2013
Listening to Garnetta by Herself [NC-17] Likes: 21 Comments: 4
Summary: Buffy really gets the blues. (It's a good idea to have read "Manhattan Nocturne" before turning to this one.) (Completed late December/early January 2002)
Beta and Sensitivity Readers: None
Artists: None
Series: Bittersweets
Categories: Season 6
Characters: Buffy, Spike
Genres: Angst, Drama
Warnings: Adult Language, Sexual Situations
Completed: Yes Chapters: 1 Table of Contents
Word count: 3,444 Hit Count: 1,764 ePub Downloads: 150
Published: September 20, 2013 Updated: September 20, 2013
Who am I? by Herself [NC-17] Likes: 27 Comments: 7
Summary: Buffy's pretty sure she doesn't know. Spike hopes she'll figure it out. (Completed January 2002)
Beta and Sensitivity Readers: None
Artists: None
Series: Bittersweets
Categories: Season 6
Characters: Buffy, Spike
Genres: Angst, Drama
Warnings: Adult Language, Sexual Situations
Completed: Yes Chapters: 1 Table of Contents
Word count: 8,261 Hit Count: 2,035 ePub Downloads: 163
Published: September 20, 2013 Updated: September 20, 2013
Forgive Me by Herself [NC-17] Likes: 27 Comments: 10
Summary: Will he? Will she? There's plenty to forgive on both sides. (Completed January 2002)
Beta and Sensitivity Readers: None
Artists: None
Series: Bittersweets
Categories: Season 6
Characters: Buffy, Spike
Genres: Angst, Drama
Warnings: Abuse, Adult Language, Blood Play, Mental Health Issues, Rape (Actual), Sexual Situations
Completed: Yes Chapters: 1 Table of Contents
Word count: 16,652 Hit Count: 2,732 ePub Downloads: 178
Published: September 20, 2013 Updated: September 20, 2013
What's It To Be? by Herself [NC-17] Likes: 29 Comments: 6
Summary: Buffy, Spike, and that old black magic . . . (Completed February 2002)
Beta and Sensitivity Readers: None
Artists: None
Series: Bittersweets
Categories: Season 6
Characters: Buffy, Spike
Genres: Angst, Drama
Warnings: Adult Language, Sexual Situations
Completed: Yes Chapters: 1 Table of Contents
Word count: 30,460 Hit Count: 2,432 ePub Downloads: 193
Published: September 20, 2013 Updated: September 20, 2013
Spike, Or The Ambiguities by Herself [NC-17] Likes: 18 Comments: 2
Summary: Because nothing is pure black and white... (Completed March/April 2002)
Beta and Sensitivity Readers: None
Artists: None
Series: Bittersweets
Categories: Season 6
Characters: Buffy, Spike
Genres: Angst, Drama
Warnings: Adult Language, Sexual Situations
Completed: Yes Chapters: 1 Table of Contents
Word count: 14,404 Hit Count: 1,910 ePub Downloads: 159
Published: September 20, 2013 Updated: September 20, 2013
Mr Grieves And The Fallen Woman by Herself [NC-17] Likes: 13 Comments: 5
Summary: Buffy finds herself in 19th century London, and meets someone she thinks she knows. (Completed April 2002)
Beta and Sensitivity Readers: None
Artists: None
Series: Bittersweets
Categories: Season 6
Characters: Buffy, Spike, William
Genres: Angst, Drama
Warnings: Adult Language, Sexual Situations
Completed: Yes Chapters: 1 Table of Contents
Word count: 20,730 Hit Count: 2,175 ePub Downloads: 185
Published: September 20, 2013 Updated: September 20, 2013
The Littler Bit by Herself [NC-17] Likes: 29 Comments: 6
Summary: Tuberculosis, gonorrhea, and unpleasant revelations aren't the only things Buffy brings back with her from her sojourn in London, 1880. (Completed May 2002) 
Beta and Sensitivity Readers: None
Artists: None
Series: Bittersweets
Categories: Season 6, Baby/Kid Fanwork
Characters: Buffy, Spike
Genres: Angst, Drama
Warnings: Adult Language, Sexual Situations, Baby/Kid
Completed: Yes Chapters: 2 Table of Contents
Word count: 32,594 Hit Count: 4,811 ePub Downloads: 199
Published: September 20, 2013 Updated: September 20, 2013
All Merry and Bright by Herself [NC-17] Likes: 20 Comments: 4
Summary: This is a little sequel to "The Littler Bit." Very little happens in it. (Completed August 2002)
Beta and Sensitivity Readers: None
Artists: None
Series: Bittersweets
Categories: Season 6, Baby/Kid Fanwork
Characters: Buffy, Spike
Genres: Drama, Romance
Warnings: Adult Language, Sexual Situations, Baby/Kid
Completed: Yes Chapters: 1 Table of Contents
Word count: 4,165 Hit Count: 2,131 ePub Downloads: 125
Published: September 20, 2013 Updated: September 20, 2013
Not My Beautiful House by Herself [NC-17] Likes: 31 Comments: 13
Summary: As Spike goes after that dragon, he finds himself instead where he least expected. Written for the seasonal_spuffy community on Livejournal. Spoilers for all of BtVS and Angel, and for The Bittersweets stories through All Merry & Bright. Winner, Best Long Story, Best Spike Characterization, Love's Last Glimpse awards, March '07. (Completed March 2006)
Beta and Sensitivity Readers: None
Artists: None
Series: Bittersweets
Categories: Award Winners, Post-Series, Crossover (AtS), Alternate Reality
Characters: Buffy, Spike
Genres: Drama
Warnings: Adult Language, Sexual Situations
Completed: Yes Chapters: 1 Table of Contents
Word count: 22,286 Hit Count: 2,503 ePub Downloads: 157
Published: September 24, 2013 Updated: September 24, 2013
Yours by Herself [PG] Likes: 16 Comments: 4
Summary: "I could tell she was trying to figure out if I was in some kind of lesbian ménage-a-trois, and you were dead—" (Completed May 2003)
Beta and Sensitivity Readers: None
Artists: None
Series: Bittersweets
Categories: Alternate Reality
Characters: Buffy, Spike
Genres: Angst, Drama
Warnings: None
Completed: Yes Chapters: 1 Table of Contents
Word count: 830 Hit Count: 1,960 ePub Downloads: 110
Published: September 20, 2013 Updated: September 20, 2013
Forsake Me Not by Herself [NC-17] Likes: 19 Comments: 7
Summary: "All this time, they thought I loved them, the way they love me. But I can't love." (Completed August 2003)
Winner for Best General Angst (Readers' Choice), Best General Long Fiction (Judges' Choice) at the Spuffy Awards Round 4. Winner, Round 9 Judges' Picks, Spuffy Awards.
Beta and Sensitivity Readers: None
Artists: None
Series: Bittersweets
Categories: Alternate Reality, Award Winners
Characters: Buffy, Spike
Genres: Angst, Drama
Warnings: Adult Language, Sexual Situations, Spike/Other (Temp)
Completed: Yes Chapters: 1 Table of Contents
Word count: 49,494 Hit Count: 2,128 ePub Downloads: 183
Published: September 20, 2013 Updated: September 20, 2013
Mrs Grieves & The Abandoned Husband by Herself [NC-17] Likes: 15 Comments: 10
Summary: Spike gripped his wrist tighter. "You're tragic, you are. No—no, not even tragic. Not good enough to be tragic." (Completed November 2003)
Judge's Choice Winner at Love's Last Glimpse Round 20.
Beta and Sensitivity Readers: None
Artists: None
Series: Bittersweets
Categories: Alternate Reality, Award Winners
Characters: Buffy, Spike, William
Genres: Angst, Drama
Warnings: None
Completed: Yes Chapters: 1 Table of Contents
Word count: 38,991 Hit Count: 2,035 ePub Downloads: 215
Published: September 20, 2013 Updated: September 20, 2013
A Nice Place To Visit, But ... by Herself [NC-17] Likes: 28 Comments: 7
Summary: "Something's gone wonky, yeah, an' you're not in 1997 anymore, Buffy. This is your future. These children, they're yours. Ours."
A tale set in the Bittersweet-verse, post Mrs Grieves & The Abandoned Husband.
Beta and Sensitivity Readers: None
Artists: None
Series: Bittersweets
Categories: Time Travel, Season 2, Post-Series, Alternate Reality
Characters: Angel, Buffy, Cordelia, Dawn, Giles, Spike, Willow, Xander
Genres: Angst, Drama
Warnings: Adult Language, Sexual Situations
Completed: Yes Chapters: 1 Table of Contents
Word count: 20,735 Hit Count: 3,706 ePub Downloads: 166
Published: September 19, 2013 Updated: September 19, 2013
Where They Have To Take You In by Herself [NC-17] Likes: 35 Comments: 25
Summary: "There are things everywhere that'll break your heart. Just break it. Fortunately, you can live a big big life, even with a broken heart." A novel-length story, complete in 10 parts, in The Bittersweets series, set twenty-one years after the events of Mrs Grieves & The Abandoned Husband. (Completed August 2004)
Runner up for Best Long Story at Love's Last Glimpse Awards 2005.
Beta and Sensitivity Readers: None
Artists: None
Series: Bittersweets
Categories: Alternate Reality, Award Runners-Up
Characters: Angel, Buffy, Original Characters, Spike
Genres: Angst, Drama
Warnings: Adult Language, Blood Play, Buffy/Other (Temp), Sexual Situations, Spike/Other (Temp), Violence
Completed: Yes Chapters: 10 Table of Contents
Word count: 186,127 Hit Count: 9,130 ePub Downloads: 241
Published: September 20, 2013 Updated: September 20, 2013