i'm glad buffy is going back to la for her man. I'm just a little pissed that she was actually dating the imortal in this fic. I mean, really? does he even have a soul??? she gave spike so much crap about not having one before yet she moved on to the imortal. anyway, i love it so far. i can't wait for more. please post soon. great start.

Author's Response: Who knew what she was thinking in Rome?I'm glad I can make her behave in this story.

jeez, carri, long much? i'm sorry, but it doesn't even sound like you're a spuffy fan at all, so i'm wondering why you're even in here. whatever, i thought this was a good start, but i think buffy was a bit too nice to the immortal after finding out that he was keeping spike's return a secret. i never understood why she would date that guy. i know we never got to see him on the show, but it sounds like he's just another really, old, evil guy. i don't know what happened to trying to have a normal life. it does sound like he was just a spike replacement, and i didn't like her thinking that she loved him. that's just ridiculous, even with everything that happened, I really believed that she loved spike and i hope their reunion will be a good one.

Author's Response: I'm wondering now why I had her be nice to the Immortal when she left him. I'd like to think she's stopped using violence on her men. Thanks for commenting and reading!

Umm...I'm confused, this guy has been lying and manipulating her and keeping her away from Spike and she "touched his arm, caressing him gently." and says that she's sorry but she has to go??? I'm a Spuffy fan but I've hated Buffy ever since seeing red when she never bothered to correct Xander when he was telling everyone the Spike tried to rape her - which is ironic since Xander actually did try to rape Buffy (The Pack) but everyone just ignored that little fact - she just kept her mouth shut and played the poor helpless victim, never saying that ever since their relationship started her no's meant yes and fighting was foreplay, she's damn lucky that spike realized she wasn't playing and stopped when he did cause women in those types of affairs have actually been raped while the guy thought she was just acting like she did every other time before - in real life, rapists don't stop when the victim fights back nor do they leave horrified with themselves and go to ensure that it could never again like Spike did. And that bitch knew it too since she was willing to leave Dawn alone with Spike less than 12 hours after the supposed "attack" - no rape or near rape victim would ever leave their baby sister alone with the guy who attacked them. Honestly, how could anyone really believe Buffy's measely "I love you" when she was dating Wood, brushing Spike off when he bears his heart after "the best night of his life" and crushing his heart and kissing Angel, sending Spike to his death while getting Angel to saftey away from the "dangerous" amulet, and smiling over Spike's grave. I was glad Spike didn't go running back to her, plus I hoped that he'd finally forget about her after the girl in question since she's dating pyschotic sicko who has no moral problem about torturing or nearly killing people just so he can go screw their girlfriends - Buffy was blind and stupid to jump into bed with this guy, completely ignoring his past and his reputation and all of her friends warnings. That goes waaaay beyond being nonjudgemental about someone's past and into the realm of being cheap and moronic. Really, with a guy like that who lies, manipulates, tortures and tries to kill people just so her can screw some girl whose caught his eye (AND proudly brags about all of it), what happens if the girl tries to refuse him, cause rape falls weeeelll within the realm of all the stuff this guy does?

PLEASE don't let Spike take any of Buffy's crap when she gets to LA, he had absolutely no reason to go back to her. The Scoobies hated him, some tries to kill him, Dawn hated him threatened to kill him and given all of Buffy's actions against Spike, beating him down and using him, physically and emotionally - how could he honestly believe her weak little "I love you" when it was obvious that he was going to die - especially now that he's seen her with the guy who had him tortured FOR FUN and tried to kill him. One of my favorite lines in a post-chosen fic (can't remember the name) is when Buffy tells spike that she loves him and he responds "since when?" and another one is when she apoligizes to him for beating him and using him for all those months and he askes her for the reason why she sorry - because she was actually sorry for treating him like that or because she was sorry about it because it caused her to lose him when he moved on. I'm not a fan of all those fairy tale reunion fics where spike is the bad guy for not immediatley running back to Buffy after all the crap she did to him, especially when she's "The Immortal's" latest squeeze.

Author's Response: You'll be happy to know that at times I have felt exactly the same way as you, especially re: the Hyena!Xander! attempted rape, and the way Spike put up with her crap. To this end, I have a few fics in progress (not posted) in which he stands up for himself, and in one, he dumps her for someone nicer. Unfortunately, this fiction probably wouldn't be considered one of them. In my Spuffy heart, I just wanted them to start fresh and live happily ever after. And in terms of her "touching" gesture when leaving the Immortal; we really don't know how he treated her in canon. He might have even told her Spike and Angel were there and she didn't care. In this 'verse, he was good to her up until the boys came to Rome, and he eventually told her the truth, so she has no regrets. She's on her way to get her vamp! Thanks for reading and caring enough to comment.