BSV Forum - General - The Bloodshedpub

If Buffy knew Spike was alive...

Jun 24 2007 02:21 pm   #1SpikeHot

What do you think she'd do? Would she go to him? Would she be angry with him and be too proud to go to him? Would she send him a message with how disappointed she is?

What do you think?

Jun 24 2007 03:41 pm   #2Spikez_tart

Hot - Yes, she'd go to him, if for nothing more than to kick his ass. 

If we want her to be exactly she'll never be exactly I know the only really real Buffy is really Buffy and she's gone' who?
Jun 24 2007 04:52 pm   #3Guest

Well, we've had many fics on the subject, so you're probably going to get just as many answers! :P

Angry and upset - yes. Go to him? Depends on if she's feeling really down about herself that way to begin with, i.e. is anger going to win out, or tears because he doesn't want her. Buffy's so moody and frequently insecure, that it all depends on the day. If she's at a point where the love she feels for him is outweighing all other emotions, then she's gonna run to him as fast as possible, then maybe kick his ass if he gives her the wrong answer.

Jun 24 2007 06:08 pm   #4Eowyn315

I think it depends on a couple things - first of all, whether or not you think Buffy really loved Spike when she said so. If she didn't love him, she might not look for him at all because - awkward. I think she did love him, though, so I think she'd probably want to see him.

But it also depends on how long it is before she finds out. If she'd found out during Angel season 5, yeah, she'd definitely go to him, if only to kick his ass, like others have said.

But if it were longer - if she didn't find out until years later, I think she might not go to him. Time would give the strong emotions a chance to fade a bit, and she could have built a life without him - and if he's been around for years and hasn't contacted her, it'd be easy for her to assume that he no longer loved her, so why should she disrupt her life to find him, if she thinks she's only going to be rejected? That's sort of the basis of my future fic, lol.

Writing should feel easy, like a monkey driving a speed boat.
Jun 24 2007 06:42 pm   #5slaymesoftly

I'm with "guest" on this - there are as many answers to that question as there are fics out there. I've written it several different ways myself, based on when I wrote the story (during AtS, season V - yep, she comes running and gives him hell for not believing her), when the story is taking place (see above) and what my backstory is for it.  If it's years later - hard to tell with Buffy.  She's not always predictable, is she?  Mostly, I prefer to believe that she always loved him and circumstances prevented them from being together, but it's also realistic to think that she would move on if she thought he was really gone or didn't love her any more.  Take your pick! You can find just about any scenario out there somewhere.

I am not a minion of Evil...
I am upper management.
Jun 24 2007 07:08 pm   #6Scarlet Ibis

Hmm... even if it's years later, I think curiosity would get the best of anyone, whether the love was 100% there or not.  Maybe not physically go to him, but finding some way to contact him to see what happened.

Spike,

Good to hear you're not dead, well, dust anymore.

Take care,

Buffy

"Just when the caterpillar thought the world was over, it became a butterfly."
https://www.facebook.com/FangirlNovel
Jun 25 2007 06:29 am   #7GoldenBuffy

i'm with scarlet. i think even if it were years later buffy would make her way to spike, just to find answers to the questions i know she'd have. also, i like to think she would have matured over the years and lost a bite of her self rightous pride.

i alo believe that after the battle with the black thorne spike came around, knew life is short told angel to sod off and wen o buffy. so thre ya go, lol

And in the air the fireflies
Our only light in paradise
We'll show the world they were wrong
And teach them all to sing along
Jun 25 2007 10:50 am   #8SpikeHot

Guest, I read all the Buffy knows stories and I enjoyed the ones where she gets pissed the most because I think that's how she'll feel. I was really upset with Spike's reasons for not seeing Buffy, they're as stupid as Giles' for leaving her in Tabula Rasa. I know that James casted and that Tony had to leave to visit his family but couldn't the writers find better excuses? They made the characters look bad.

Jun 25 2007 11:08 am   #9LadyYashka

Spikehot,

You're right about the writers coming up with lame excuses. At least with Spike's we can always look back at his history with Buffy and say his excuse was something he used to cover up the fact that he was scared. (scared she didn't mean it, ect) But even if we find ways to explain the excuses in fic, they were still lame.

Tomorrow may be hell, but today was a good writing day, and on the good writing days nothing else matters. — Neil Gaiman
Jun 25 2007 07:31 pm   #10Eowyn315

I don't see Buffy as being the "curious" type - I see her as being the "avoidy" type. Isn't that what we've seen from her all along? If she wasn't really in love with Spike, I could see her maybe dropping him a "hey I hear you're not dead" message - but even then, knowing she said she loved him, and knowing she didn't mean it, I'd bet she'd just stay far away from Spike.

If, on the other hand, she *did* love him (which I think she did), don't you think she'd be tremendously hurt that he's been alive for years and didn't tell her or look for her? Like I said earlier, if it was right away (i.e. during or immediately after Angel season 5), then yeah, she'd definitely go to him. But to find out years later that he's been alive all this time and (apparently) didn't even give her a second thought? I think she'd be hurt, and she'd think he's given up on her, and knowing Buffy's aversion to all things emotional, I can see her not contacting him, because she wouldn't want to "risk the pain" if after all these years, he rejects her. 

I think, no matter how mature Buffy gets, she will always operate out of fear when it comes to her emotions. That's not immaturity, it's a hardwired reaction. In fact, at her most immature, she was open with her emotions, freely giving her love and her heart, only to have it broken. Every guy she ever loved left her. Now, she's got walls, and Spike not telling her he's alive is *certainly* not going to be the thing that brings them down.

Writing should feel easy, like a monkey driving a speed boat.
Jun 25 2007 07:35 pm   #11chlarkspuffy

I would hope that irrespective of whether or not Buffy loved Spike, she would at least care that he was alive. This is the guy who died saving the world and who got his soul for her.

"If there's anything more important than my ego around, I want it caught and shot now."

- Zaphod Beeblebrox
Jun 25 2007 10:06 pm   #12Scarlet Ibis

Insecure emotionally or not, I think any woman would want to know why he didn't just say anything- even if she didn't (or feared not) getting a response, she (or any woman I think) would be like "WTF? Well, thanks for letting me know, jackass" or something along those lines, regardless if it's said nicely or in the "yeah, I'm a pissed off bitch right now" manner.

And Spike just being plain scared of not being welcome with open arms is a good enough reason, in my opinion.  Spike has always been sensitive and insecure when it came to relationships or how the people he cares about will accept him or not.  So not going to Buffy after his big, heroic exit of bursting into flame, and fearing her having a lack luster reaction to his return "Oh... you're okay.  Great!" is legitimate to me.  Angel's "Buffy never loved you" taunts didn't help either.

"Just when the caterpillar thought the world was over, it became a butterfly."
https://www.facebook.com/FangirlNovel
Jun 25 2007 11:14 pm   #13SpikeHot

I think Buffy deserved to know he was alive. She was the only one there for him in season seven. Spike should have told her, even if she shot him down like he fears, at least he would know and can move on. Thing is, it's really obvious that Buffy loves Spike, a woman who would shut the door on the face of her father figure who was there for her since the beginning over a vampire is surely in love with that vampire.

Jun 25 2007 11:26 pm   #14Scarlet Ibis

That's true- she gave Giles a hella lotta shit for trying to kill Spike, and didn't even bother to threaten Spike for promising to kill Wood if he even looked at him funny.  I believe she did love him and in a romantic way.  Just don't think she was "in" love with him.  However, her love for him was a mature, adult love, so in that sense, I think she definitely loved him more than Angel.  And, I don't think she ever loved Riley- cared about him sure, but I don't think it was "love," mainly because it was a relationship she forced upon herself cause it was "normal," so Spike trumps them both.  At least, that's how I see it...

"Just when the caterpillar thought the world was over, it became a butterfly."
https://www.facebook.com/FangirlNovel
Jun 26 2007 01:42 am   #15Spikez_tart

 I was really upset with Spike's reasons for not seeing Buffy, they're as stupid 

Me too, Hot.  Not only are his reasons totally lame, but completely out of character.  Here's Angel in School Hard:

Angel:  (suddenly appears) He's worse. (they all look at him) Once he
starts something he doesn't stop until everything in his path is dead.

Not the attitude of a guy who gives up.  Also, whenever he sees a chance with a woman, he takes it. (He follows Cecily and declares his love after being humiliated - He declares his love to Buffy before she even gives him half a chance.)  It made a little sense that he wouldn't got to see Buffy while he was still ghosty, but not after. 

 

If we want her to be exactly she'll never be exactly I know the only really real Buffy is really Buffy and she's gone' who?
Jun 26 2007 02:47 am   #16Guest

Those things were before Spike had been so beaten down in the idea of love, though, you have to take the history progression into account. There's only so many times a guy can be beat down before he says "This isn't worth it", not matter how persistent he normally is. As my boyfriend would say, "There's a time to fight, to f***, and to hit the fence." Spike got to the point where it was time to jump the fence and run.

CM

Jun 26 2007 03:26 am   #17Scarlet Ibis

That's true- that was before Dru's abandonment, and before Buffy's abuse.  The two of them beat William into submission (emotionally).

"Just when the caterpillar thought the world was over, it became a butterfly."
https://www.facebook.com/FangirlNovel
Jun 26 2007 12:05 pm   #18SpikeHot

I don't know, I think Buffy and Spike had a special relationship in season seven that for me made up for the heartache of season six, they trusted and believed in each other. Buffy showed Spike how much she cared about him with her actions, she usually expresses her emotions better with actions than words.

I really think Spike should have told her, if he really knew her, he'd know that she cared enough about him to care.