good update and i like seeing spike and buffy getting along but i'll be ok if they get dark again

Author's Response: Thanks :)

Great update, pet. Plenty of things to worry over in this chapter.

First, there's Cordelia's 'friendly' help for Buffy... done as a gesture of one strong woman to another, or was there annother 'ulterior' motive???

Then there's Amy. A crackhead who will do whatever her supplier wants her to do. While Spike has that control over her, he's fairly secure in the knowledge that she will do want he wants, but... there's no loyalty there, and the moment someone else offers her a better deal (e.g. freedom), she'll jump at the chance.

Then there's the chemistry between Buffy and Spike. I totally empathise with Buffy's frustration and anger at Spike in her conversations with him, and I'm sure that Spike's less than aggressive responses back to her are because he does recognise that he has indeed curtailed her freedom, of choice and liberty. However, I'm somewhat puzzled that she is still full of hatred internally toward him where their emotional feelings are concerned. An example,

Buffy closed her eyes, hating the way he made her feel. Wanted. And she would never admit it. It was wrong. Very wrong.

Why did she hate

Author's Response: Because it's him. Not because feeling wanted is bad, but because liking the fact that she feels wanted by HIM is bad, and so she thinks she hates the way he makes her feel. And the internal hate is, of course, going back to the rape. She tries very hard to remember that, even though sometimes she fails. The other stuff, I'll let you see when the time comes :) Thanks!