Great update. I'm glad Dawn's stopped with the whining, Buffy and Spike need all the support they can get. Don't trust Willow and Xander an inch. Looking forward to more.

If the story ended just like that, I would not complain.  Of course, it wouldn't make sense given the broader context of the story, but that last exchange between Buffy and Spike was perfect.  I'm a sucker for that unresolved but hopeful ending.  Then I beg for a sequel and ruin it, of course.  Anyway, I'm very much enjoying the story.

So pleased Buffy is seeing the light about Spike and actually speaking her mind to Willow and Xander.  I wouldn't shed many tears if Warren and co did something to them as they still think they're the best and most knowledgeable friends ever... grrrr.

Thanks so much for the update. I really enjoyed the chapter. I'm glad you've brought in Tara. Happy Holidays to you and yours.

Tara is there and is helping, good. Xander is being a problem but he has issues, the Angelus situation and Jessie. Buffy seems to be ready to take back her life from her friends. It not just their fault, Buffy has let them rule her life and then they do.

Excellent! I'm a bit uneasy about Willow and Xander's dissatisfaction with the Buffy/Spike situation and can't help wondering if they'll conspire so that Willow will try to 'fix it'...

Oh Xander, what is going on in that pea brain of yours. Nothing good will come of it. Does he even think? I mean if Buffy (and Tara) are defending him what do you think they will do if you try anything to get rid of Spike? You know since he seems to think that Buffy shouldn't be allowed to make decisions for herself, i nominate Xander to loose the ability to make any choices for himself either. Put someone else in charge of his every decision and see how he likes it!

There goes Willow again with the whole her pain is a pain no one else has ever had and why don't people understand and show her the sympathy she deserves. That worked out well for everyone last time! Everyone is supposed to be Oh Poor Willow!! She did it to herself. She got involved in something bad and thought she could just bypass the repercussions. And now everyone is supposed to feel sorry for her. Pfft!

Glad to see Spike's "chat" with Dawn seemed to get thru to her. In a way I can understand what Dawn has been going thru. She finds out she has only been human for 6 months, the woman she thinks of as her mother dies, then her sister/protector/DNA mother dies (because the monks said that they made her from Buffy). She feels abandoned and like her entire life doesn't exist. Her past is fake, so what does she have to hold on to. What does she have to make her feel real? She is terrified afraid to be left alone so any attention is good. At least then she knows she is real and they see her. She has been left in the care of self-absorbed 20 year olds who have no idea how to care for a normal teen much less one with her kind of problems, and now that her sister is back her sister is damaged and struggling with her own problems of not feeling real.

And the only person who seems to notice that the Summers' girls are drowning is a chipped vamp that is barely tolerated by most of the group. It always surprised me that Spike just didn't grab both of them and get them out of town! It would have probably given Buffy and Dawn time to heal.