That went a bit too fast ...

Author's Response: I agree. It was one of my earlier stories and the fix was too simple and easily done. x

Saw this fic recced and oh my, you're breakng my heart... HOPE it gets better for Spike - poor, poor guy.

Author's Response: Thanks for reading. :) Looking forward to finding out your thoughts on the story.

Great fic! I loved every second of it. I'm guessing that the (for now...) part means a sequel? Please let there be a sequel!

Author's Response: Hi sc. Delighted that you liked it so much :) I may well go back and play with them in this world one day if I can think of a good plot! Busy writing sequel to Changing Lives at the mo! Thanks again for letting me know. I really appreciate it :)

poor spike : (

Author's Response: Yes, he has got it tough. Hopefully things will start to improve... :)

As I discover that only a rare few of my reviews for this story got though to you, I'll recap the essentials in this one general review for the entire story, and keep sending it till the site accepts:)

First, I just have to say that your way with words is amazing. you're not just writing, you're painting pictures with words. when I read this, I'm really there, feeling and seeing it all. the story stayed with me for days after finishing the read...

the initiative is really spot on, there was actually a time (after ch 10,) that I wondered whether I had the nerves to keep reading. :lol: The scoobies characterization is pretty good too.

But I have more mixed feelings when it comes to the portrait of our favorite vampire. (so here is where the review goes long.:lol:) you did a really good job at selling me Spike - the Victim, which under less extreme circumstances wouldnt have been him. I actually cried a few places, especially when he recognizes Dawn, and knows he's home.

But I have more problems with the soulless hero. please remember that soulless Spike is evil. he tries to be good for Buffy, but doesnt really have the "know how" for that task, since he's a vampire. (nicely illustrated by for instance his complete lack of ability to see Buffy's problem with Catrinas death - she's just another corpse to him. the only thing that bothers him is that buffy is upset about it. And his egg-selling project in AYW - he knows that many people likely will die from that project, but doesnt care, he doesnt even flinch when she's asking about the Doctor, completely guiltless) It therefore feels out of character when you present him as mister super-empathic, who sits up all night worrying about who Adam might kill. canon!Spike teamed up with him. (in season 4, and he has changed since then, but still... the first thing canon!Spike does when he thinks his chip is no longer responding in Smashed is to go find someone to kill)

It also gets weird how he always seem to know what to say to console the scoobies in the later chapters. But what bothered me the most is that I feel quite sure that soulless Spike would never have rescued Matt. If he really was as hungry and furious with the Initiative as you say, he would have killed him, if not, just walked past. (or perhaps rescued that first time, and spent some time manipulating him, if he instantly saw some tactical way of using him.) there was a good chance that Buffy would never know about this deed, and she has given him specific orders to just get out without heroism, so...

finally, a few things about the physical portrait of him. the brittle-bones were onee of the few that got though on my while-reading reviews. I accept that Buffy can break his bones, but in that scene it was a kick from Xander. he doesnt have slayer strength...

And the amount of blood he needs seems exxaggerated too. a vampire that we can see on screen rarely takes down more than one victim pr hunt, (another thing is massacres for fun) and this one is often shared with the rest of his gang, back at the nest. vampires are not known or their ability to put others before themselves, so... if one needed to eat the entire human himself, there wouldnt be any sharing.

there is some places, epsecially after fighting the venomous demon, while Adam is watching, that you talk about cleaning away necrotic flesh. hmm... isnt really all his flesh necrotic? I mean, how can any part of him get deader than dead? lol

I really liked other little details you put in about him, like that he's left-handed:D I never noticed that about him on screen, but James is, so i guess Spike is too lol But the analogy ought to stop there. Spike is genuinely and naturally blonde. making him handle peroxide goes out of the buffyverse, It feels about like having him complain that the scoobies are starving him of blood, as all he gets is fruit syrup and simular.

this is already growing into the longest reveiw I have ever written. (but yours is the longest story I have ever read too, so I guess thats fine) But there still is one more thing I would like to adrees. it gets a little unclear what of his initiative "programming" is tecnological, and which is psychological. it would be nie to have that a bit more explicit,

that's all the essentials, i suppose... Or, BTW, I could also mention that I loved the concept of Spike drinking Buffys blood. I have a fixation on that concept, to the degree that I have put it into one of my own fics too (and, in a some more concealed form, in yet another) So it was great to read your version of that!

Author's Response: Hi Callace. Firstly I'm delighted that my little fic has made you put so much thought and effort in to the review and thank you very much for saying that I paint pictures with words and that the story stayed with you :) I'd like to respond to some of the 'canon' issues you mention. Firstly I'd like to point out that once I put pen to paper (yep I'm old fashioned like that - first draft is scribbled by hand! lol) the characters are now in my universe and the story goes off canon. It had to be posted as canon because Spike is a vamp and Buffy the Slayer but it was never intended to slot in between episodes or even seasons. Switched is the only fic where i kept to canon to the extent that it could have been slotted in to the season. I am not making Spike into James by having him left-handed. In Something Blue when B and S are going to marry S is clearly seen writing wedding plans on a notepad with the pen in his left hand. Spike 'genuinely and naturally blond' - William 1880 - brown hair in fact the first time chronologically that we see blond Spike is in 1977 when killing Nicky Woods, (in Angel Spike is seen in forties and fifties with black hair so he is firmly established in the buffyverse as messing with his hair colour as the nick-name Captain Peroxide would indicate. As regards the breaking of ribs by Xander, I felt that S would be more vulnerable than normal due to the poor diet he had been having since being held captive. The quantity of blood that in my 'verse' that he requires once up to strength is a person a day - I felt that was reasonable! lol!! Perhaps I used the wrong word by describing the poisoned flesh as necrotic, putrid would have been better in hindsight as I meant rotting and not merely dead flesh - lets face it Spike didn't look like a rotting corpse on the show!! lol! So thanks for picking up on that! Sorry you felt I lacked detail in describing the programming as psychological or technological. For me both methods of 'conditioning' would lead to his psyche being affected dramatically and permanently by what he had experienced, this is why I had him as the 'hero' of the piece and saving Matt. He wasn't the same creature in my verse as the one who attacks when he thought his chip had failed in the series - that Spike wasn't in the Initiative very long!! Or put throught the horrors i put him through. I'm glad you loved the concept of him drinking B's blood - I always felt it would be a very sexual act for a vampire and to drink of one's lover would be the best!! I hope i've covered all of your points - you can find me on lj if you want to chat further, or message me vis Eysian Fields or fanfiction.net as messages from here don't get through to me unfortunately! Thank you once again for taking the time to comment - I hope you'll read my other fics and see what you think of them too :) Cheers! Mabel

Author's Response: I'd also like to point out that I did actually use new paragraphs and spacing in the response but it came out like that - sorry - not the easiest to read!!! LOL!

aww! the Inititive really has a way of causing nausea. Now you even have me feeling sorry for Adam!

Fluffy Spuffy! got to love that. having him cradled on her lap! I always SO want that image when watching The Killer in Me. Thanks for giving it. (although i got the feeling it was a tiny tad too perfect... Was Adam manipulating him more subtly now?)

Author's Response: Sorry for Adam? Now that's something I didn't expect!! Tee hee!! Thanks for reviewing, sorry if things were a tad too perfect for you! I'm just an old romantic I guess!! :)

LOL! “Vampire saliva,” said Spike, “Useful stuff.”

Author's Response: I love it when lines are picked out - so thank you for doing so! :)

I liked your OC and Spike helping a human. Nice touch.

Author's Response: figured it showed Spike to be more trustworthy than some of the humans!! tee hee!

Yikes. Maggie was bad enough as is. Now this? : )

Author's Response: Couldn't resist that little twist!!

Yikes. LOL!

Yes, I'm still reading.

Author's Response: glad you've found a bit of time!! Yikes indeed!! :)

Buffy and Spike and some alone time. Nice chapter : )

Author's Response: thanks Dawn! Had to give them a bit of pleasure some how!! :)

Oh my, what a horrible way to find him again. Hopefully Buffy is about to beat Maggie over the head with something very hard and then haul Spike out of there.

Author's Response: Poor spike indeed! Rest assured Buffy will do all she can to get him out! :)