Great chapter, SEB!!! Like I said, in the 'box, I'm hooked on this one!
And great line:
“We can hope so, Buffy. Blood is a powerful
thing.”
And they ARE. Blood, that is. "Blood" by choice.
Ultimately, Family. And lovely that Buffy proves that,
by giving BACK blood TO Spike. Ditto that Spike suddenly was so willing to give it TO Cam.
I didn't quite 'get' why Spike was only willing to talk with Cam alone. Was he afraid to talk in front of Buffy, or only comfortable talking to Cam because he remembered him from the Initiative ( I guess from when they allowed them to visit? Or was it Cam in his role as 'Doctor'?) Or was he embarrassed to tell Buffy, and the people who rescued him that he, unfortunately, remembered nothing at all about them?
I do see the safety factor, and Spike, reasonably could still wig out one way or another, but yet It felt ungrateful for them to lock him back up... both with him still weak, with only a little slayer blood back in him, and and was weak to begin with, having just woke up & all.
Buffy DOES hopefully still have documents with her proving that Spike does "belong" to her still. Hopefully the Initiative didn't break into her house and trash it to steal & destroy them.
Hey, hopefully, maybe Spike's blood can heal up Craig's arm, too, over time. In a warped way, it was because of him that Craig was maimed. Since Vamp blood heals humans, and in lore (fanon/canon?) Slayers and Vamps are possibly somewhat related (or one derived from the other?), does that mean that Slayer blood ALSO might be somewhat healing? How many slayers ARE there now, at least in your 'verse, since you mention there are more than one now?
Oh, and just out of curiousity--- since Cam noticed it (way chappies back), will they ever liberate Angel/his soul from the Initiative? What was DONE with him, if his soul is in a jar? Is he in the retirement sheds? Since the uploaded the extra personality/knowledge (sounds more like personality or soul/essence, since Cam describes it as feeling like "he" (the doctor) is locked away inside him wanting to get out, or somesuch thing) of the doctor was put into Cam, it definitely brings to mind the imprinting process (and little tapes/boxes that were kept, ie 'original imprints') that is used at "Rossum Corp" on Dollhouse. Should I gather that in your 'verse essentially The Initiative is taking advantage of Rossum's imprinting technology, as well as WR&H's (which Rossum is probably a subsidy of ) soul-sucking... errr... I mean soul-stealing... errr... I mean (PC-speaking) soul-removal/transferance processes? (Pesky things!)
Anyway, was nice to chit-chat & talk music, and can't wait til the next chapter!
Thanks!
~~Kara


Author's Response: I'm delighted that my story has got you hooked. Spike just feels a bit more of affinity with Cam than the others at the moment. Glad you're remembering about Angel's soul... Was fun to chat. :D Merry Christmas!