Oh, you! That last sentence is so ominous!

Awww, he's giving her very nice jewelry. Dawn has to be literally bouncing with keeping the secret.

Very good that Willow went to the coven now. She did so many awful things when she was out of control.

Buffy must be getting some neat vibes from Meret, with her consistently better mood lately. So much nicer to see a healing Buffy over the one from Season 6.

Author's Response: I think that last sentence has set some of you guys off. Mwahaha! Sorry... It's just fun to get this strong of a reaction from you guys. :-D Thanks for reviewing!

Just love the way you write your character with such perception. Thought it was so cute Meret just gigled and wouldn/t take sides. Thanks for the great update. Love this story.

Author's Response: Thanks for taking the time to review!

This is so unbelievably good. Thanks for the long chapter.

Author's Response: Thank you!

Cliffhanger! Eeep! I love Spike's musings on family. Another very enjoyable chapter.

Author's Response: Hee hee. Thanks!

Without a soul, he had to learn what was expected of him through observation and experiment. Building a conscience from scratch was difficult and confusing for the vampire, but it was possible and he was determined to try.

I love the way you dig down into the essence of Spike and give intelligent voice to his inner turmoil. You don't stop there though, you're also very adept at sharing with us the chemistry of the ensemble with encounters like the one in the Magic Box,

Xander laughed and then looked so surprised at his reaction that it set off Willow and Anya. Giles simply cast his eyes heavenward and went to retrieve his precious tome. Buffy mumbled an insincere apology and glared at the vampire who returned her gaze with a smirk.

Apart from Dawn and Meret, and Tara who wasn't even in that scene, you captured their characters perfectly all in one smooth, short paragraph.

From the initial levity and sense of cautious camaraderie you deftly switch us around. The descriptive of the spell was great and it restored the gravity of the situation. Willow's caution and acknowledged respect for her craft, together with her deference toward Spike and Meret went a long way in letting me feel as if she could be trusted. Although I was mildly surprised that they were all willing to wait around to test the spell on a living bird before performing it on Meret. Perhaps that's because my feeling is that the threat to Meret is imminent and there is no time for delay. Am I wrong there?

So much in this chapter, and despite it's unbeta'd state it's excellent. My one niggle is really me being pedantic. Although I really hate the use of phonetic 'Engerlish' when writers want to convey Spike's accent, I do recognise that it is a popular tool, so I thought I'd just mention that, “’At’s because you’ve got taste,” would probably be written as, " 's because you've got taste"... the whole beginning of 'that's' is omitted and the sss sound will actually merge with the word because... although why I'm pointing this out when JM's accent was uniquely his, I have no idea. Not as if you've got better things to do than be distracted by a pedant.

*slaps self & turns up volume on Rimsky-Korsakov's 'Flight of the Bumble Bee'*

Author's Response: As a native of the southern U.S., I shall bow in deference to your expertise. (And I understand your hang up on the typed "accent." Some of the southern accents you come across, in writing aswell as acting, are just scary.) I'm glad you're still enjoying the story in spite of my perverse desire to play with written dialect. Thanks for the advice! Oh, and no, you're not wrong. ;-)