He is a great actor, now isn't he and the rest, well he is in so much pain as well. Oh yay, he's buggered, that's for sure. Just keep Jenny in the dark, he's got to do that. Great job, thanks.

Spike! How naughty! The deception tho, is great!

"'...you don’t feel that deeply -- love that much -- not without a soul.'” And so Buffy makes the same mistake that she always makes in believing a vampire cannot love without a soul. It's terribly funny how quickly Buffy accepts Spike's claim that he has a soul by seeing the love for Drusilla in his eyes. It's even funnier that Buffy doesn't see the flaw in her own logic: Spike spent 120 years with Drusilla and didn't love her because he had no soul, but now that he's had a soul for an entire week, he suddenly has the capacity to love Drusilla :P

It's not entirely Buffy's fault. Giles teaches her the Council's doctrine. In the very first episode, he tells Buffy (and Xander and Willow) that, although, vampire Jesse looks like human Jesse and has human Jesse's memories, the vampire is an evil soulless being. Buffy holds onto this belief 'cause it's necessary to do her job as the slayer. She cannot afford to see every vampire as someone who may have feelings, who may have loved ones. She has to see them as things in order to kill them everyday. Unfortunately, in the canon, Buffy continued to equate a soul with the ability to love despite Spike's numerous actions that proved her wrong. Perhaps Buffy holds onto her fallible belief so that she doesn't have to face the possibility that, if soulless Angel didn't love her, perhaps souled Angel didn't either :P Let's hope that FSP Buffy lifts the veil from her eyes and sees that supposedly souled Spike loves just as much as soulless Spike :)

It's a great combo, Buffy desperate to be innocent of the disappearing soul and Spike doing whatever it takes to survive! Nice that he's having a twinge of conscience! It's sure to blow up in his face!

More interesting developments. I'm betting that Buffy will go ballistic when she finds out how badly she's being deceived here! Can't say I'd blame her. Thanks!!

Now that he has the Slayer convinced, will he tell her about the Initiative as well? Those guys are clearly insane, and I think the Scoobies should get a heads up. And who will Spike be staying with? Giles? Buffy? Will he be chained in a tub again? Can't wait!!

I never could understand *why* the soul meant so much to Buffy, unless she was fed Council doctrine to make Slayers feel less like murderers.

Awwww stupid stupid Buffy

What a great chapter and story!! I love that the damage to Spike has been less than usual :). Your stories are always so great, and I love the little change of pace with devious Spike, not broken Spike. Don't get me wrong, I still love reading broken spike, but this chapter was not gut-wrenching, just entertaining and terrific!

I guess it will be bad when his lie is revealed.
Great chapter.

I love that Buffy's own misconception about needing a soul to love is what convinces her that Spike has one. And Spike's quite the method actor - taking his real pain about Drusilla and passing it off as the soul. (Maybe he's taking lessons from JM.) Awesome update, DoS!

Now that was intense. Spike better watch out for Jenny. It's clear she knows more than she's saying right now. Pretty sure she's not buying his sad little tale of woe, it's obvious she's trying to figure out what's going on with him.
I't kinda sweet the way Spike is almost feeling sorry for Buffy. The Big Bad has always had a soft heart underneath all the violence.

This is just getting better and better. I'm completely hooked by the plot and the emotions, and I can't wait until you update again!

And so Buffy tosses out her knowledge of what really happened and embraces Spike's lie.....lucky for him that she is the Queen of the Nile! LOL

Clever boy is about to find his heart ensnared. After all one of the first things Spike mentioned on the show about why he loved Buffy was her kindness....he just got a taste and I think he is doomed.

Great update. I really want her to see the difference between Angelus and Spike before this is over...see who the REAL big bad is and just who MUST have that soul to be permissable to live.

Kathleen

Love your devious Spike! Geeze, the Scoobs are soooooo easy to fool with a few tears.

I'm assuming Jenny and Spike will have an eventual confrontation. She knows how Angel got his soul in the first place...knows the clause that would release it...and probably can read auras like a good trained witch, too.

Spike's gonna be majorly offended once it occurs to him that soulless=no feelings as far as they're concerned.....as if his love for Dru wasn't obvious already!