Question Spike/Buffy and Loyalty

[Joan the Vampire Slayer]

@Joan the Vampire Slayer was it a betrayal of omission that Spike didn't tell Buffy himself that he returned after his death in Chosen?

Betrayal? No. Ill-advised? Yes.

Spike absolutely should have told Buffy he was back from the dead - but I understand why he didn't.

 

[DeepBlueJoy]

It might not be a complete answer, but wasn't it impossible for Spike to leave the Wolfram & Hart building until he materialized in corporeal form? During that time, he could not pick up a telephone to call anyone so only the W&H staff knew about him. By the time we get to "Damage", his presence is known but no one from Sunnydale (other than Andrew) makes any kind of effort to meet him. Maybe the writers were just tired of Spuffy.

Well, we know WHY Spike was on Angel. He was there to help 'save' it -- to spice things up on a dying (dead) series. After season 4, they knew they had to do something big to keep the show on the air, so they revived Spike. They had to contrive a situation where he stuck around. Rushing off to be with Buffy would not make that happen.

My own head canon/musings.

One thought I had that would be consistent with who Spike was: Spike was somehow under the impression that Buffy knew he was alive and never reached out. Since he wasn't sure of her, he didn't go running to look for her. He might have assumed (or been told) that Andrew had told her he was alive. I could easily see him staying away if he felt that she's 'moved on' enough not even to contact him.

I could also believe that after months to process his soul and his actions before getting it, he truly came to believe he wasn't good enough to deserve her. After all, coming back to Sunnydale right after the soul means he didn't really think about coming back, his mind was a jangled mess and he just did what his instincts told him. Being in Sunnydale during a demonically altered (even more than usual) time, didn't give him time to process much of anything either. Also, he might have realized he was needed even if he thought staying wasn't in Buffy's personal best interest. After coming back from the dead incorporeal with nothing but time to think about his existence, I would not be surprised if he became afraid/hesitant to go searching for his Buffy dream.

Finally, he's in L.A. with Mr. "I'm doing what's good for Buffy and staying away" -- I cannot believe that wouldn't rub off on him just a little bit... At the same time as I believe his feelings of guilt over his past would increase once he was out of the emotion-warping ever-burning hell hole that was Sunnydale.

I always had a theory that the Hellmouth was bad for ALL relationships.

 

[debbicles]

I think, Deep Blue, your reasonings make perfect sense. I think Spike had been brought to a new sense of his unworthiness.

 

[thetopher]

Last time I looked this was a ship positive sub forum?

Not when I posted; when I posted it was just a Spike thread and then it got moved. I didn't mean to invade the Spuffy space. lol.

 

[Buffy Summers]

It wasn’t moved, actually, but mistakes happen and the post was removed earlier.

🙂

 

[NeonSlayer]

I think post s7 Spike is not loyal to Buffy. Before I list the reasons why I'll add that post GD#2 neither was Angel. If Buffy isn't in their direct eyesight on AtS they're like "Buffy who?" or "Eh Buffy isn't here and all these other women are sooooo" even though they leave her when they're still in love & lust and want to be with her and if there's nothing keeping them from other women then there's nothing keeping them from her except their preoccupation with the other women. They seem to think "Well, I'm single" while forgetting the reason they are single is that they chose to stay away from Buffy. Yet they both claim she's the love of their life.

In between the s7 finale and Spuffy getting together in s10 (3-4 years), Buffy only has sex with a man once (Angel), is asked out once and the guy immediately gets injured while she is portaled somewhere else, and tries a speed dating event (which doesn't involve actual dating, just sitting at a table talking for a couple of minutes).

Meanwhile Spike:

* fakes his death for 2 years
* first thing he does when corporeal (6 months after Buffy said "I love you") is have sex with Harmony
* has months of sex with Maria and brags about it
* the Spred friendship: James Marsters said he thought it was setting up the ship, flirting, by the ATF comics he's fantasizing about an idyllic life with her & spying on Illyria in the bathtub
* he kisses a girl in Buffy's home at Buffy's birthday party
* he takes off while telling her his belief in her is how he's got her back then propositions Giles' aunts for sex, propositions Faith for sex, then has sex with Harmony again (to "get over" Buffy) before returning to tell Buffy he's in love with her

 

[Skanky Vamp]

I think post s7 Spike is not loyal to Buffy.

A lot of that is because Spike really isn't Spike anymore. Just as the character of Angel changed when he went to the show Angel, so did Spike. They were like alt-universes of themselves.