Great insight into Rileys character I think. He is not a bad guy as portray quite a bit. He's a decent man in love with a woman he knows he's not going to be able to hold. It makes him insecure, and thus kind of a jerk. I think you captured his character from the show quite well.
He is also Quite boring on the other hand, so I'm glad he's not part of the story really.

Really great story so far.

Author's Response: Thank you for taking the time to tell me you're enjoying it. I hope you like the rest of it. :)

The one (and perhaps only) time I liked Dawn was when she was hiding in the cave with Spike and being remorseful for putting everyone in danger. I therefore already like your Dawn!

I admit that I was a little confused about Riley being here so close to the deadline for Glory's portal, then, of course, realized that without Spike there pushing everyone's buttons, he hadn't left as he had in canon (I guess that's the reason). The only other slightly confusing thing is the timing of Joyce's surgeries, as in canon they happened a fair time before Glory's deadline (and she'd been dead a fair while before The Gift), and I don't see how Spike leaving would have any real effect on that. I'm sure that I'm being much to literal and anal and it's not enough of a distraction to detract from the story, but it was just something that kept niggling at me as I read. Of course, there is a chance that Giles is wrong about the deadline too.

Anyway, that said, I'm enjoying the story and hope that Spike can kick Riley's ass soon. :P

Author's Response: I'd hoped the "this is pretty AU" in the summary would be enough to let me glide past much of season 5. :) It's not all because Spike left that it's AU - it's just an AU. The spell isn't in effect, the timeline is different, things are more condensed into a few months than a whole season. Riley's still there because, in canon, he was still there when Joyce got sick. The whole Glory thing has just advanced faster than in canon - including her deadline for opening the portal, which, yes, in canon was in late Spring because that's when the season ended. But in my story, her deadline is falling much sooner than that. And Joyce may or may not die. Probably not in this story, anyway. I know I'm playing fast and loose with canon, and I really don't like to do that, usually, but I also have no desire to rewrite the entire season, so some things have been combined or have happened other places (Spike's beatdown from Glory, for instance) and some things are just not going to be here at all. Hope that doesn't throw you out of the story too often. I know it can be annoying...