The All Time Top Five
by Sangga
Fluff, season 5
Nice short piece with some sweet, friendly post-patrol bonding as Spike and Buffy talk about their likes, dislikes and musical tastes. I thought this was cute. I love this line: 'Buffy swiped at her neck and wriggled. “God, I feel like I’m covered with ants.” Spike took a long drag of his cigarette and ran a hand through his hair, wishing he was an ant.'

Girl on Film
by Rowan
Buffy/Spike
Vignette; S5
The summary - that it's about Spike stalking Buffy - was enough to put me off reading this for a long time. I'm very glad I finally gave it a chance; this is more melancholy than sinister as Spike reflects on his growing stack of furtively taken pictures, and that old story about the camera taking a part of the soul.

Here is Gone
by Terri Botta
Drama; Romance; season 5
Exhausted and injured in Lurky's cave, Spike gets sent back in time two years. With his knowledge of future events and his new soul, Spike tries to change the outcome of the fight against Glory. It's an interesting concept, especially as Spike begins to realise the limitations of what he knows (he knows that Joyce died of natural causes but not the exact date, for instance) and battles against Buffy's mistrust of him. Long.

If Tomorrow Never Comes
by Fyre
Humour; Drama; Romance; S5 (pre- The Body)
It's an old idea: a character gets trapped in a day that just keeps repeating over and over. This is a brilliant take on the Groundhog Day thing as Spike is stuck in perpetual Valentine's Day. An increasingly loony (and drunk) Spike makes for some very funny moments, but there's serious drama in there too - the only way to put time right is for Spike to save Willow from a demon and he fails over and over. Some of the goes round the loop are very surreal and there's plenty of laugh-out-loud bits.

On Impermeance: Buffy
by Dale Edmonds
Character Study; Vignette; Fool for Love
I love the opening lines of this story, one which usually I'd class as a PWP… except it isn't, really, because that would imply the focus was the sex. A look at a non-relationship that's messed-up and somehow tender at the same time, as Buffy 'persuades' Spike to give her Angel's story. Mention of B/A and Spike/Angel.

Serious Moonlight
by Mustang Sally and RivkaT
Action; Romance; alt S5
My favourite part of a terrific trilogy (tetralogy?). Buffy and Spike travel back in time to 1920s Egypt, where Spike's human and they have to battle a Mummy (you didn't think they'd go to 1920s Egypt and not find a mummy, did you?) Clever, tightly plotted, very sexy and it has a Spike who's true to the show.

Wagering History
by Annie Sewell Jennings
Romance; Angst; Post Intervention
Buffy, Spike, Willow and Xander play cards, mixed in with a little Truth. The character voices are absolutely right. I love the scene of Spike and Buffy alone in the Bronze at 4am guessing each other's secrets.

All characters