Fic update: THE PROPER SLAYER
NOTE: I have redacted the last two updates on this fic. I wasn't happy with my characterizations. The parts are still up, but struck-through and no longer linked directly. The story instead continues from here. Thanks for your patience with my writerly freak-outs! I hope this will mark the resumption of normal service. :)
Since Distance has been sent to its room to think about its sins, The Proper Slayer has come down and is tugging at my skirts instead.
This fic was last updated in early November, so herewith, a brief recap of the story so far:
First of all, it's a follow-on from Let's Get Lost. In that story, Buffy leaves Sunnydale after relegating Angel to hell through the maw of Acathla (season 2 finale). Instead of going to LA, she goes in her despair all the way to New York City. And what she doesn't know is that not only did Willow's spell re-ensoul Angel, it also ensouled all the vampires in range--ie, Spike and Drusilla. When Spike encounters Buffy by chance in Manhattan, he's still reeling from Drusilla's suicide and the effects of having his soul. He believes Buffy is the key to regaining his freedom--that "one night of bliss" with her will unshackle him from his soul, as it apparently unshackled Angelus. The elaborate courtship the pair play out in a posh townhouse leads to outcomes neither of them anticipate, and by time Spike does lose his soul, he's gone a long way from his original intentions. At the end he reunites Buffy with her mother, and disappears; she receives a letter from him telling her that soon he will return to finish her off.
The present story, The Proper Slayer, begins some time later; Buffy is back home, trying miserably to live her old life as student, daughter, friend and slayer. Faith has come to Sunnydale, and Joyce, taking pity on her, has installed her in the guest room. She and Buffy have a brief dalliance, but Buffy mainly feels as if Faith is usurping every part of her life, a life she doesn't fit back into anyway. Then soulless Spike reappears in Sunnydale, vowing to finish the job of killing her, He brags that her death will be sweeter because she had once been his willing mistress. But their clash is disrupted by a resurgence of mutual passion. With their affair resumed and their love acknowledged, Spike longs to take Buffy away from Sunnydale; Buffy is racked with guilt and uneasiness about her longing for Spike. When she leaves town with Spike, he thinks she's acquiescing, but instead she away from him, and disappears. After weeks of fruitless searching, Spike returns to Sunnydale, where he confesses his love to Joyce, who enlists him to help her locate her daughter. (I suck at writing synopses, so you might just want to reread the fic!)
Finally, thanks to anaross who suggested a direction for this fic to go in when I was feeling high and dry.