***this is NOT Whispers in the Dark by Ashlee which is a fantastic story.... just not the one I'm looking for***
Buffy dies when the Master drowns her & is permanently deaf after Xander revives her with CPR. Buffy feels ostracized from her friends who make no effort to learn to communicate with her or make her feel included which leads to her having a more demon inclusive friend set. Buffy's sign language teacher is a gay demon (I remember something about fire or flame in his eyes) and he & his partner later decided to adopt a child together which Riley has a huge problem with gays adopting when he crops up in the story. Buffy still meets Spike in the alley but is delightfully surprised when he uses sign language to threaten her.... eventually she discovers he learned sign language solely b/c he'd heard she was deaf & wanted to be able to communicate with her. Spike leaves town and later returns... he's at Buffy's house & stumbles into her art room where he discovers dozens of drawings/paintings of himself among her other works. They start dating & fall in love but Spike is still holding on to the problem he has with Buffy sleeping with Angel & him losing his soul although he never brings it up. Towards the end of the story Angel angrily confronts Buffy about her relationship with Spike & brings up when they had sex and Buffy sets the record straight by telling everyone that she never slept with Angel & that Dru had thralled him into thinking that. Spike claims Buffy but is disappointed when nothing is different afterwards. The Powers visit Buffy & tell her that Spikes demon didn't know that claims aren't real but they are granting her a boon that will make the claim real between the two. Buffy is able to hear Spike's voice through the claim & they all live happily ever after!!
***additionally..... if anyone has any other stories that haven't been available online in the past 2 years I would really love a copy of any & all of them!! I've just been re-reading stuff b/c I've read almost everything.***
Thanks in advance!!!! | 
