Thanks again, honey! I'm glad it stands up to repeat reading.

Thank you!

Giles certainly had a hard time coming and the AtS bunch were just the ones to step in and let him have it.

Likewise, Buffy was overdue to be the one doing the chasing in that relationship. As for Willow, having her right there in Italy, it just seemed like too good an opportunity to miss. Of course, it went right over the head of those people who missed the earlier series.

Oops! Sorry, honey! I thought I had replied to this ages ago, but since I'm not actually posting anything here at the moment I haven't been checking on a regular basis. Sigh, it was so much easier when the notification emails used to have a link.

I'm really glad you enjoyed the fic in general. As for John Cusack, Rome seemed too close an approximation to Florence for me to pass up on the idea once it occurred to me.

And Buffy and Spike are both so stubborn, and Buffy is so intent on judging things on how they look that there was just no way that the pair of them were going to fall into each other's arms straight away.

Yeah, it's fun to imagine Xander's face when he gets that message.

Thanks again, sweetie, and many apologies for not getting back to you earlier. I'm not normally that remiss.

Sorry for the lateness of the reply. All my BSV bookmarks have only just begun working.

There is a possibility of a sequel, though at the moment I'd have to say it's unlikely.

Angel, I would say was perfectly entitled to hit Buffy back. After all, she has a tendency to hit first and assume despite the fact she's not as fragile as she looks that no one is going to hit her back. Really SHE needs to learn that that isn't acceptable and not hit people to begin with, rather than being outraged when anyone retaliates. Of course, as for most of the rest of it, he was being an idiot.

John Cusack as per Willow's "Anywhere but here..." back in 'The Dark Age' from S2.

Thanks, honey! I'm really glad you enjoyed it. As for the ending, I think it leaves people scratching their heads wondering what the heck I'm talking about, but those who get the reference seem to like it.

You need to have seen and remember an episode from S2 called 'The Dark Age' to understand the last part. I couldn't resist it, but I knew that some people wouldn't get the reference. Glad you enjoyed the rest of it.

Cut to school. The camera pans down from above a tree to Buffy and
Willow sitting on a bench.

Buffy: I'm on a beach, but not one of those American beaches, one of
those island beaches where the water's way too blue, and I'm laying on
my towel, and it's just before sunset, and Gavin Rossdale's massaging my
feet!

Willow: Oh, that's good! Uh, I'm in Florence, Italy, I've rented a
scooter that's parked outside, and I'm in a little restaurant eating
ziti, and there are no more tables left, so they have to seat this guy
with me, and it's John Cusack!

Buffy: Ooo! Very impressive. You have such an eye for detail.

Willow: 'Cause with the ziti!

Xander: (shows up) What are you two up to?

Buffy: Just having a quick game of 'Anywhere But Here'.

Xander: Ooohhh. Amy Yip at the waterslide park.

Willow: You never come up with anything new.

Xander: I'm just not fickle like you two, okay? I'm constant in my
affections. Amy Yip at the waterslide park!

Thank you - grrr still have to restrain myself from adding honey or sweetie... Way too many women in this fandom, or at least not enough men.

Thank you, kind sir! Glad you liked it.

Lol, I think Angel was more on the "Buffy isn't going to hit me and get off scot free" train, but they're close enough.

Like you say, Buffy's been surrounded by people who are all inclined to go "Poor Buffy!" and regard everything as being Spike's fault, assuming he took advantage of her when she was depressed and so on... Nina rather blew Buffy's little self-pity party out of the water, letting her know how it all looked from an unbiased point of view. They've got a long way to go but, hopefully, they're finally giving it a realistic chance.

It just seemed like a scene that had to be done. In the same way I knew as I started writing Chapter 1 that Spike was going to shoot Giles, by the time I got to Chapter 5 I knew the story was going to end with Willow's Anywhere but Here moment.

Glad you liked it. Thanks, honey!

With those two there always is... well, unless you spend even if you spend four years writing a fic.

The John Cusack thing just seemed too good to pass up.

Glad you liked it, honey. Thanks!

Lol! Well, there have been enquiries about a sequel. Not planning one any time soon, but I'm not completely ruling it out.

Angel's new beginning would have been doomed from the start if Nina let him dictate both their lives, so I gave her a bit of backbone, the rest just followed on from there.

It really would have made a world of difference if Buffy had shown any sign of acknowledgement before that, but she acted as if their relationship didn't exist outside of Spike's basement.

Thank you, honey! Really glad you liked it.

Thanks, honey!

Buffy really was overdue to have to put her money where her mouth is... and the ending was just too good to pass up, even if it might go over some people's heads, if they don't remember the scene.

Hugs!

Thanks, honey! I'll try to sort out the link thing later tonight or tomorrow morning.

Hugs!

Glad you liked it, honey! A fair proportion don't actaully get the reference so it sort of goes over their heads, but it seemed the right way to tie things up to me... Okay, so Rome rather than Florence and no scooter, but it seemed close enough to me...

Thank you!

Thank you, honey! Really glad you liked it... and I just couldn't resist the 'Anywhere but Here' moment.

Lol, well, just one more chapter to go. Hope you enjoy the pay off just as much

Hugs, honey!

Thanks!

BTW, I know you normally comment on LJ so I thought I'd mention that if you're trying to do a catch up thing here, you're going to miss at least around 3 ficlets in the 'Better Sunnydale' series that you would have caught there... if you read them that is...

http://talesofspike.livejournal.com/tag/better

will get you to the Betterverse fics. 'Party Favours' and 'Measure of My Dreams' were written after 'Cheating Fate', but it comes before them in the timeline.

Lol! Spike and Buffy? That'd be far too simple...

Thanks, honey!

Thank you!

Yep, well, since Joss didn't appear to think Buffy putting someone in hospital was comment worthy, I had to come up with my own explanation.

I hope when I get to writing it the conversation will come out interesting, but I guess I'll have to see if the muse will cooperate.

I'm glad you liked it.

Yep, Wesley might not have wanted to pretend until it was all but too late. I think Spike might be inclined to treat those moments as a gift.

Glad you liked it. Thanks again.

Thank you!

I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter.

Thanks, honey!

It's possible there might be other bits and pieces, but I don't see there being anything significant enough to really have any impact as far as the rest of the fic is concerned. Certainly, she hadn't come across anything pertaining to Spike being back.

Thanks, honey!

It's not really doing a lot for my own Giles love writing this... and I do love the character (I've had a lot of fun writing my series of Giles/Anya ficlets), but especially in the later series (partly because, understandably, the actor wanted to spend more time with his family) the writers did him no favours.

Buffy, well, I figure after sticking her tongue down Angel's throat ten minutes after telling Spike they need to wait until The First was dealt with to work out what's happening between them, if she does misunderstand, then it seems rather kharmic to me.

Glad you liked it, sweetie!

Thanks, honey!

I don't see Giles being replaced. Yes, Buffy and Willow could try to set themselves up as rivals to the council but I don't think it would be feasible for them to gain access to council funds.

Giles may be the current appointed council head, but any major change would have to be ratified by the existing Roger-Wyndam-Price-returned-from-retirement-type council members, and there is simply no way they would place their beloved council in the hands of two relatively inexperienced women, especially as there is a very good chance that from their traditionalist council viewpoint they would have no problem with Giles' decision, even taking into account how it led to Wesley's death.

The women could use their personal relationships with some of the girls to try to lure them away but, assuming the council is now paying all the slayers, and bearing in mind Buffy didn't exactly make herself Miss Popularity and apart from her relationship with Kennedy (and Xander's perving), all the Scoobies were pretty stand-offish where the potentials were concerned, I don't see all that many of them rushing to change allegiance...

I think our 'last best hope for peace' is that Giles really has learned something from this whole situation and will adjust how policy is implemented accordingly.

Have to admit that after seven years of slaying, night after night for zero recompense, I'd probably think I was due at least as much as they were paying the watchers before The First hit... and none of them looked as if they were short on cash. (Okay... Giles and the early elbow patches, but I think they were meant to make him look like he was living on a school librarian's wages.)

I don't know that souled Spike avoided human blood. Don't recall him being offered it (which since I prefer my Spike pre-soul and don't watch later series any more than I have to, doesn't necessarily mean anything). Certainly he wouldn't have been offered any at W & H where Angel had the random testing thing going, but before the soul he definitely had no compunction about swiping any blood bags that might have been lying around the hospital while he was there... Anyway, if it's already bottled and they donated it especially for him it'd be pointless and impolite to refuse. Spike (except when brainwashed) has never had any trouble swapping back and forward.

Angel, hard to say... I have a feeling that earlier series may have mentioned getting out of date blood bags from the blood bank/Red Cross (and in BtVS S1 it certainly looked like he had human blood bags hanging in his fridge when Darla came to visit), but then they have him going psycho over a syringe full of Connor's blood. Continuity never really ME's strong suit. Add in him not wanting to do anything that might appear dehumanising in front of Nina/Buffy and I think it might well come down to whether Nina seemed to find the idea repulsive.

I figured Illyria's way of thinking is not ours, and that seemed like a suitably alien point of view, especially as I don't think they ever showed her eating in the series, but presumably she must eat something.

Personally, I lost much of my empathy with Willow over the later series, but she did actually know Fred, unlike any of the other Scoobies and I figure even on a passing acquaintance that would be a loss that would hit hard.

And, yeah, Buffy has to prove that what she said that last day was something more than empty words before she can have any expectation of Spike meeting her even part way, and given her actions so far she's going to have her work cut out.

Lol! Well, according to some episodes he's meant to have a photographic memory and he had been looking about a minute before that, so... Of course that just makes getting Buffy's eye-colour wrong even more unforgivable.

Glad you're enjoying it, sweetie!

Thank you, honey! And the good news is that the next chapter has already hit my own site and LJ/GJ, so it'll probably make it to BSV at some point tomorrow.

Yeah, some people seem to think Giles got off a bit too easy, but (as you can probably tell my vote is with you).

Buffy isn't completely stupid... or not all the time, though she has made a heck of a habit of passing up on a good thing.

What happens now... not a clue. I sort of know how I want it to end, but as for how I get there, I'll see where the muse wants to go once I get back to working on this one.

Thanks, honey...

It may be some time... depending how long the current headache takes to clear and how long the next Broken Things update takes but at some hopefully not too distant point there should be more.

Well, apparently he's meant to have a photographic memory (which makes the fact he can't remember Buffy's eye colour even worse) and he had being doing the staring into her eyes thing about a minute before that, so, I figured I'd give him the benefit of the doubt.

Thanks, honey!

Well, on the one hand it might seem like actually attending the party trivialises what they actually went to Rome for, so in a way it's understandable that he wanted to leave, but if you look at it as Spike explained it...

I can't wait to see what happens with the rest of the ball either... Apart from one brief Willow moment that won't come in until possibly the very last scene I have no idea how the muse is going to decide it should be.

Lol! Giles really didn't leave them a lot of wiggle room. Once they worked out just how many secrets he'd been keeping from them and the decisions affecting them that he had beem taking without consultation, not a lot of choice, though Buffy might have taken longer to work it out if Willow hadn't explained it all so clearly.

Glad you liked it, sweetie! Thanks again!

Thank you, honey!

If you run out of things to read here, you can always check http://www.he-s-no-angel.net , where you'll find more of my writing. Some things I haven't posted here just because of time constraints, others, like my Giles/Anya series or my one attampt at an all hunan AU, wouldn't fit the site's constraints.

Thank you, honey.

I'm glad it worked for you, and, yeah, Spike was kind of sweet with Nina, in a shit-stirring kind of way...

Really, once Willow laid everything out, Buffy had very little choice. Willow drew the line in the sand and if Buffy had stayed on Giles' side after everything that he had done, it would be as if she were saying, yeah you can try to kill Spike, yeah you can turn people away when they ask for help without so much as consulting anyone so that people we know die as a consequence, yeah you can decide that I don't need to know that the vampire I love is 'alive' and well because you don't approve and you can make those same wrong calls over and over, and I won't do anything, just so long as you keep signing my paycheck... It's not really Buffy.

Thanks again!

As one of the other reviewers commented, The Immortal's offer may have been quite innocent, but since Buffy isn't even qualified to answer the phone (not speaking Italian) let alone anything that would pay well enough to keep Dawn in a private school, it would basically amount to him giving her money for being his girlfriend.

As for Spike, the story isn't over yet.

Thanks again!

I'm glad you enjoyed it, and that I managed to surprise you a little. I figured after Willow laid it all out, Buffy either had to leave, too, or it was tantamount to saying Giles could be as morally dubious as he wanted to be and she wouldn't care as long as he kept signing her paycheck... And with Spike standing right there as a reminder of Giles' past decisions, not to mention her near certainty that Giles knew Spike was back...

Thanks, honey!

Glad you're enjoying it.

Thanks, honey!

Glad you're enjoying it.

Spike probably won't follow her.

However, Buffy might want to make sure he doesn't leave the building before they get a chance to talk.

Thanks, honey!

Thank you!

Maybe, against all odds, everyone involved in writing and shooting that particular scene, who had previously worked with SMG, just happened to be colour-blind?

And, well, I just can't allow an opportunity to pick on Angel to go by.

Thanks, honey!

Was there ever any doubt what Willow would think once she heard the facts, and the way she laid things out, she didn't leave Buffy a lot of wiggle room either.

Thanks, honey!

I figure Willow would see through to the root of the situation pretty quickly and once she laid her cards on the table, Buffy either had to follow suit, or admit that Giles could do anything so long as he signed her paycheck.

Thanks, honey!

I have a feeling that getting Giles out would be a problem. I mean who would you replace him with? Andrew? Wes's dad? God forbid Xander?

But, yeah, go Willow...

Lol! More Willow next chapter. Fred is nothing more than a name to Giles, and because he only knows her as a friend of Angel's and he doesn't have a high opinion of Angel...

Wes, he actually knew, and there's a good chance that even in the non-cyborg made up 'verse Wes's father may well be active in the council again, which means Giles would get to break the news.

No problem on the FF thing. The speed you read, it won't take you that long to finish.

Thanks, honey!

Thanks, honey! No Willow is not going to hear any good news.

Thank you!

Giles wasn't all that likeable in S7, though to be fair I suspect he genuinely thought that he was doing what was right... Forty years of parental and council indoctrination are never really going to go away. His decision to refuse help when Fred was dying, however, has no rational basis at all.

And, yes, despite the fact the person for whom I'm writing this fic suddenly announced after reading Chapter 5 that I knew she would rather the fic didn't end Spuffy (I had asked her on at least two separate occasions before I began writing and received no response either way, so quite how I was meant to know I have no idea), that is the way it is eventually and inexorably headed, but I think Buffy may have to suffer a little longer before it all works itself out.

Thanks!

I've always suspected that, in addition to the points Spike made, the very fact that it was Angel asking for help to save someone he cared for may well have seemed like the ideal opportunity for Giles to give Angel a taste of his own medicine (re Jenny)... Trouble is that it doesn't take account of the fact that Angel was by no means the only one to suffer.

Thank you!

I'm glad you're enjoying the story.

Thank you!

Yep, I think Willow isn't going to be too happy at the idea of Giles taking away her freedom of choice.

I have a feeling that when Angel asked for help, Giles' refusal had a lot to do with payback for Jenny and W & H was a convenient excuse, but if so he never even considered the other people involved. Spike just reacquainted him with the real world.

Thank you, honey!

I'm glad you're enjoying it.

I think Giles' comeuppance is on the way. Thank you!

Thank you, honey!

Yep, Buffy always seems to assume that everyone else will drop everything and everyone for her and Giles' thing with refusing to help Fred, I often think was his idea of getting his revenge for Jenny, with no regard for the fact that Angel wouldn't be the only to suffer. You're right about Willow but I don't know if she'll see it that way.

Thank you!

I'm sure that Willow would have done whatever she could to help Fred... and I'm equally cetain that having that opportunity stolen from her will make her more than a little tetchy.

Thank you!

Willow was always going to really be the only Scooby to whom Fred wasn't just some anonymous casualty.

Thank you!

I'm really glad you're enjoying it. I have to say that I cringed when I saw what the birthday girl had asked for, but it's been a lot more fun to write than I thought it would be.

And ditto to what I just said...

Thanks, honey!

Unfortunately/fortunately, depending on viewpoint, Spike is right that Fred probably wouldn't approve of violence in her name. Honestly can't say how she would feel about payback for Wesley. After all, she was all for killing her ex-professor, but... Spike probably sees her as the gentle type.

Buffy, I think, is already getting a share of her own medicine and if violence and honesty don't get through Giles defences then maybe something else will.

Thank you, honey!

Couldn't agree more with all your comments. I guess we'll see how things go with Spike/Buffy once Giles is out of the way (and where the muse decides to take it) but, you're right Spike has done his share of the chasing.

Yeah, I like the way Buffy gives Angel the cookie dough speech and expects him to wait around as a safety net while she also keeps Spike hanging and then she goes off with someone completely different but they're all meant to be there for her.

Willow is so not going to be happy. Fred would be one of the few people who she would be able to deal with as an intellectual equal and friend.

Sigh, Spike...

Thanks, honey!

Lol! I haven't got properly started yet, sweetie. Not sure if you'll change your mind on the bashing front by the end of it.

Glad you're enjoying it so far. Thanks, honey!

Hee, well, it was just a weeny gun.

Thanks!

Thanks! I'm glad you're enjoying it.

Thanks! I'll have to see what I can do.

Thank you!

Things pretty much have to go as they've been going. Buffy needs to appreciate that Spike isn't at her beck and call. I think Spike's remarks about The Impotent would probably enable Buffy to make a pretty good guess as to the why of his attitude. Spike needs to do what he feels needs doing without worrying how Buffy is going to react because he's owes it to Fred and Wes.

Thank you!
And I'm guessing if you saw that comment, there's no need to repeat my response.

I'll do my best to deliver on the complete humility of Giles, but I'm not sure that it's really possible. The guy is so damn pompous, but he's also pretty brave. He didn't crack when Angel tortured him in S2. Physical harm isn't going to do it, but I'm not sure that anyone can actually penetrate all those layers of watcher infallibility either. I'll have a damn good try though.

Thank you! I'm really glad you're enjoying it, and I'll be getting back to it when I've finished the next chapter of my other WIP Broken Things.

Thank you, so much!

Spike and Angel can be quite fun when they have something to unite them... almost as much fun as when Spike is entertaining himself by annoying Angel.

And, yeah, Buffy needs to learn that Spike has a life of his own. Maybe, he'll be her vampire again after everything is sorted out, but above all he has to be his own vampire.

Thank you! I don't know where to start with a reply to this 'cause I'm paractically bouncing at the keyboard. Willow is really sort of stuck in the middle, being the only Scooby who would recognise Fred/Illyria.

Buffy is way too used to having the world revolve around her (especially Spike's world). I can't help thinking that it'll do her good to realise that it isn't always that way.

Angel and Spike can make a hell of a team when they have the incentive.

Giles, certainly, should be beginning to wonder exactly what series of events he set in motion... And well, let's just say that she's going to have a lot to take in.

Thanks, honey, I'm glad you're enjoying it.

for once out of all of them she's the one who *doesn't* deserve to be hurt...
And it's that "for once" that lets me do it all with a clear conscience because overall she has plenty to make up for. And as one of the other reviewers said she spent years telling Spike she couldn't be with him because he was evil... and then goes straight from him to another dubious character and all the while keeping Angel as a safety net with that whole cookie-dough thing. So not completely blameless...

Thanks! Maybe Spike should have aimed for the knee, but really apart from the whole Buffy issue, I think he knows that that isn't what Fred would have wanted. Giles might not sustain any more physical damamge, but I think it's safe to say that Spike, Angel and Illyria will ensure that he suffers.

Opinion on Buffy seems to be split right down the middle. Some see her as the innocent party, but others feel she's had it coming for a long time... This story really is one of those where you can't please everybody.

At the moment I'm working on a chapter of my other WIP Broken Things and the weekend looks like it's going to be pretty hectic, so I suspect that it'll be the middle ot end of next week before there's likely to be another update.

Thank you!

Update soon. I'm working on Broken Things at the moment and we have a busy weekend planned, but hopefully somewhere around the middle to end of next week...

When will this turn into Buffy/Spike? I'm not working to a plan with this one, just basically scripting it out as I go and then converting it into narrative, but my guess is probably somewhere around the last chapter 'cause after that, not really much else to do.

Thanks, honey! I think a few people are in agreement with you, but if she wasn't hurt by the way things are going then there wouldn't be much hope of a Spuffy ending.

Lol! It seemed like a good idea at the time... Of course from there on out I was struggling not to have the rest of the story just seem like a huge anti-climax...

Glad you liked it, sweetie!

Thanks, honey!

Hi there! You wouldn't know Wulfie by any chance? And, honestly, much as I would have liked to take out the knee and I know that he more than deserves it, the slayer would bitch a hell of a lot more about a crippling injury than a flesh wound, too much for the story to stay fun, so...

Thank you! I know finding yourself in agreement with Angel must have caused you great concern.

Thanks, honey!

Yeah, I think it's a toss up between the "Oopsie" and something no one has mentioned so far in their comments (except my beta) as to my favourite bit of that chapter.

I think my real problem next chapter is going to be trying to fit all the reactions in with so many things going off at once... but I guess I'll have to try, once I get back on track with Broken Things.

Thank you! I'm really glad you're enjoying it. And I guess next chapter it's going to be a bit of a free-for-all... Thanks again!

Thanks, honey!

When I read your comments I suddenly find myself thinking 'Hey, I had more going on in that chapter than even I realised!'

As for what happens now, I guess I get to work that out once I've done another chapter for Broken Things. From here on out as far as UB goes I'm pretty much winging it... except maybe for a vague idea about how it ends.

Hey sweetie!

Sorry you didn't like the shooting, but I think as far as that was concerned you're probably in the minority. In fact, I was suprised by the number of people who thought he should have gone for the kneecap.

The update will come when it comes. I'm due to do a chapter of Broken Things first, but muse willing it won't be too long.

Thanks, honey!

but not so much as to be beyond forgiveness...
I guess time will tell on that one. We'll see once I can get another chapter of Broken Things underway.

To be fair, in a lot of fics (including some of mine) Spike is going out of his way to impress Buffy and do what he thinks she would want him to do.

In this instance, he thinks his chance with Buffy has gone... and probably even if he didn't, he'd do exactly the same anyway because, for once, it's all about Fred (& Wes) and Buffy is irrelevant.

Thanks (I think) for the first few words!

As for the rest you'll find most writers don't appreciate such frivolous use of your doubtless formidable psychic powers. If you can predict the future, save the world or win the lottery, but try not to insult what you think people will write at least until after they've done it. Then, you can feel free to voice an opinion.

Thank you! And exactly! Giles' part in Wood's ambush was all swept to one side and forgotten, for Buffy's sake and because of the situation. However, Fred was Spike's only real friend and Giles is all out of get out jail free cards. The fact that Buffy is with The Immortal makes her easier to discount as a factor, but even if she'd been young free and single Spike would probably have done exactly the same.

Thanks for commenting, sweetie!

I think it's safe to say that Spike's prediction will be right on the money...

One, well done for doing your homework on the .22.
Can't really take credit for that. Hubby is an RPGer/wargamer. It's one of those osmosis things.

Two, I'm laughing out loud at Spike just shooting Giles like that! OMg, that's priceless...and yeah, the Slayer's really going to bitch.
It kinda had to be fairly carefully sone so as not to start a general gun battle.

I don't know if I'd call Nina petite. She's noticeably taller than Buffy, with definite curves. I'm sure she looks gorgeous.
They're all stick figures to me... :)
I guess she probabaly would be a chunk taller than Buffy, but probably because she's almost always shown with Angel, who esp by AtS S5 is quite big...

Illyria's in full demon guise, still, yes? I think I'm reading that correctly.
Yeah, Illyria is doing her blue thing, just in a dress.

So Willow didn't know...hmm...how much does Giles know?
Time will tell...

I'd just love to see Andrew at this party, too.
I think that might just have been too much for my brain to cope with.

"Wes would have taken out the kneecap." Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!!!!

More! More! Bravissimo!!
THANK YOU!

That's the thing with Spike... One part charm, one part manipulation and a whole big bunch of truth and he could probably talk any female into anything...

Lol, well, as you say probably not so sweet from The Immortal's POV.

Thanks, honey!

Thank you! Glad you like it!

Well, if they saw each other across a crowded room and went running into each other's arms we'd miss the opportunity for all that potential bitchiness and mayhem, but we might get there eventually...

Thanks so much for taking the time to comment. Chapter 3 should be up tomorrow.

Very true, but it's difficult to blame him when she seemed completely oblivious to his presence the last time they were in the same room.

Thanks, as always, for taking the time to comment. It's much appreciated and might even help kick the muse into gear with Chapter 3.

Thanks! I'm glad you're enjoying it. Angel definitely needed putting in his place before he got too used to the "Angel Knows Best" routine, and SPike has a habit of ending up with a soft spot for any woman he's around for long enough who treats him half decent... As for Giles, just think WWWD?

Trying to convince himself (and others) that he is over Buffy is just SOOO Spike!!
Well, it obviously worked for one or two people.

Oh I wouldn't want to be in Giles' shoes when Spike and Angel get to Rome!!!
I wouldn't either, but it's going to be fun.

Well I must say the reading comprehension of some people is quite obviously matched by their ability to use correct punctuation...
Says the woman using triple exclamation points? (BTW. I'm not this nasty with everyone so please don't be put off from reviewing. I save the bitchy comments for personal friends who know better than to take me seriously.)

I look forward to further updates of this fun little fic!!
Fun being, at least supposedly, the operative word.

Thanks, honey, for making me laugh out loud. It's good to have a "momma bear" watching out for me.

Thank you! I'm glad you're finding it intruiging. I'm not sure how soon this will be updated. I'm alternating between it and Broken Things, my other WIP, as far as writing goes. On a 'good' week, chances are I'll manage to update both. A not so good week means I'll probably manage one or the other, but I'll try not to have longer than two weeks between updates on either of the fics.

Thank you, honey! I'm glad you think so, and I'll do my beat to live up to expectations.

Again, I can only repeat b'day fic, request.

Well, I guess if you raise the same points (though slightly more diplomatically) then you get more or less the same answer I gave the last reviewer. If you don't want to wait and see what happens, then don't read. Regardless of how often I get the same comments, I'm not going to issue any spoilers that might ruin the story for other readers.

Sorry. This fic is a birthday request for a friend. The pairings are what she asked for. All I can suggest is that if you don't like it, don't read.

Well, Spike just had to try for the jealousy trump card, but really all it's going to take is another female anywhere near him.

And Nina needed to put her foot down before she ended up as Angel's lapdog.

Thanks!

Yep, Buffy still dreams of Spike. Don't we all? But she so deserves to have to do the running.

As for Giles... evil grin. Willow won't be off the hook either if it turns out she knew anything.

And, yep, Angel could never cope with "grown up" Buffy. Maybe if her white knight had stayed the distance she could have stayed the little girl, but he bailed and his supersized ego really couldn't cope with playing second fiddle now that she's surpassed him.

Thanks, honey. Always love your comments.

In canon, we never got to see enough of Nina for her to be more than a plot device, but I figured she really needed to put the brakes on the whole 'Angel Knows Best' thing before it got to be a habit.

I'm really glad you approve. Thanks.

I'll keep the oil thing in mind for the next time his mind goes wandering off in directions it shouldn't. Thanks for the tip.

From what I remember of the bit immediately pre-Glory finale, the Spike version goes "We band of buggered". Your version sounds pretty close to the original to me, so point to you.

Thanks again for taking time to comment.

Lol! Well I think you're just about to reach one of the really fun bits...

Hope you enjoy it, sweetie, and thank you!

Thank you! Hopefully, the story will live up to expectations. I should be posting the second chapter soon (as in within the next couple of hours).

Thank you! I'm glad you're enjoying it. With luck you shouldn't have too long to wait.

The b'day girl wanted a party, hosted by Ilona with The Immortal/Buffy, Angel/Nina and Spike/Illyria with all the fireworks and bitchiness that that might entail. Who am I to deny her?

Thank you so much for reading and commenting.

Well, my mission/the birthday girl's request was to get Spike/Illyria and Angel/Nina to a party hosted by Ilona and attended by Buffy/Immortal.

Giles seemed to be reasonable incentive to get the AI crowd to go, but I had to get him there to be the bait... And you just know that Buffy putting a human in hospital would set off all sorts of warning bells in his head.

Thank you for reading and commenting.

Thank you. Hopefully, it'll have an interesting middle and end as well.

Thank you!

I think I'm gonna enjoy this very much.
I hope you do.

Thank you! With luck you won't have to wait too long. The next chapter is partially written and I'm hoping to finish it off when I can throw off the ehadache I've had for a few days now.

Thank you for taking the time to comment. This is one of two new stories I've been working on (the other being Broken Things). I'm going to try to do alternate chapters, but this one is due for the next update and the chapter is already partly written. So, hopefully, (once I can get rid of the headache that's been around since Friday) you shouldn't have too long to wait.