I've been saving this! I could never understand Joyce raving on about how dangerous an obsessive Spike could be in Crush. This seems far more reasonable to me. And a confused Buffy is always good. As for Spike and the research, that was another conflicting image on the show. He seemed to be often around for their meetings, seemingly welcome, even if quietly, and then others it was made obvious that he was such an outcast. I'm loving it, Dede.