Slayer and Vampire. If history has taught us anything - and it has - this relationship promised to be anything but rosy. When Spike came to town, having previously killed two Slayers, he instantly set his sights on killing his third. Buffy was a constant obstacle to Spike's plans to cure Dru, so he dedicated himself to killing the Slayer with a determination that bordered on obsession. When Angelus returned, and Spike found himself stuck in a wheelchair, Spike's plans were waylaid. Then, the only creature Spike seemed to want dead more than the Slayer was Angelus. The two of them forged an unlikely alliance to thwart Angelus' plans, and Spike left town with Dru.

He returned over a year later, sans Dru, in search of a gem that would render him invulnerable. Buffy stopped him, and he was captured by The Initiative. In captivity, Spike's passionate hatred for Buffy grew. He blamed her for his imprisonment and determined to kill her once he escaped. When he went to her room, however, he found Willow there instead. He tried to bite her, but the Initiative had implanted him with a behaviour-modifying chip that prevented him from hurting humans. Unable to feed, he reluctantly turned to the Scoobies for sanctuary. Buffy was all for letting him waste away, but because he had information about The Initiative, they took him in.

Over the next year, he became an unlikely ally. He could still kill demons, but his hatred of Buffy continued unabated. She treated him coldly and violently, often punching him on a whim, despite his inability to defend himself. His obsession with her grew as well. He assumed his passion towards her was fueled by hatred, but a dream about kissing her opened his eyes to the terrible truth - somewhere along the line, he had fallen in love with the Slayer.

Spike began to find any excuse to talk to Buffy. She still rebuffed him coldly, but he persevered, trying to demonstrate his willingness to change and be a better man. The problem was, he wasn't a man. And Buffy never let him forget that. Finally, he confronted her with his feelings. She was horrified and rejected him, shutting him out of her house and her life. Out of desperation and loneliness, he had Warren build him the Buffybot. She was programmed with all of Buffy's power and skills but had two large differences. One, she was by and large happy and eager to please. And two, she was desperately in love with Spike.

Naturally, the Scoobies discovered the Buffybot and confiscated it after a fight against Glory. Buffy was disgusted and angry, of course, but she also saw that Spike had suffered great torture and pain in order to protect Dawn from Glory. She was grateful to Spike and gave him a soft kiss of thanks. Soon after, Buffy died to save the world, and Spike was utterly devastated.

When Buffy returned, Spike was overjoyed. He treated her with understanding, and they became friends. He still loved her, but her growing frustration with being thrust back into the world of the living began to take its toll on all her relationships. Desperate to feel alive, she began seeking solace in his kisses, but she also returned to her previous abusive disdain when he began to want more from her. Finally, he felt he had endured one punch too many and decided to hit her back, chip be damned. But it didn't fire. They clashed violently in a passionate struggle that culminated in bruising, house-demolishing sex.

Newly confident, Spike began to try to strengthen his hold on her, separating her from her friends and insisting she belonged in the dark with him. For her part, Buffy denied any feelings she had for him but continued to seek solace from the world in their encounters. Their relationship became a twisted mixture of sex and violence with both partners regularly doling out both physical and emotional abuse. Seeing that she was only using him - that they were no good for each other - Buffy ended things, but Spike wouldn't relent. He pressured her to return to him, to tell her friends about them, but she refused. He was convinced that if only she would let herself admit her feelings for him, they could be together again. She confessed that she did have some feelings for him, but she insisted firmly that she could never love him. He tried to force himself on her, demanding that she let herself love him, and she barely fought him off. Horrified at what he'd tried to do - and frustrated that he, a vampire, would care - he left town, threatening to return and give her what she deserved.

He found his way to Africa and endured a set of trials to prove himself worthy of his reward. From his swagger and rage, it seemed clear he wanted to have his chip removed, but as he passed the final trial, the demon in the cave planted his hand on Spike's chest and said "Very well. We will return your soul."

Their relationship during S7 was a hard thing for me to nail down. Obviously their first meeting, with Spike all insane in the basement ('what in the what-ment?') was an awkward surprise, to say the least. She continued to visit him down there, encouraging him to pull himself together, and when she saw that the basement itself was a factor in the crazy-making, Buffy decided that he would move in with Xander. She was shocked to find out that he'd gotten a soul for her, and throughout the season, she would help him wean himself back off human blood (after he'd begun killing again under The First's influence), instruct the Initiative to remove the chip from his head (when its deterioration threatened to kill him), and insist to everyone that Spike was her most valuable ally/warrior against The First. Whether she cared for him romantically through all this is unclear, but when the final battle went down and Spike's death was imminent, she told him that she did love him. Spike thanked her for saying it, even though he knew she didn't mean it, and he told her to go. He burned to death, bringing the Hellmouth down around him, and Buffy told the others of his sacrifice.

Apologies to any and all Buffy/Spike 'shippers who may feel shortchanged by the hurried summary of the B/S S7 story. I confess that I didn't exactly understand what was going on there, and to be honest, I had so many problems with the season that I doubt I could describe this couple's story any better without interjecting my own bias (which wouldn't serve this section very well).

Pivotal Episodes:
School Hard, Becoming II, Pangs, Something Blue, Doomed, Out of My Mind, Fool For Love, Crush, Intervention, The Gift, After Life, Life Serial, Once More With Feeling, Tabula Rasa, Smashed, Dead Things, As You Were, Seeing Red, Beneath You, Touched, Chosen

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