Spoiler Slayer

This was posted on FanForum, but it is a repost from another board. Hopefully someone can track down the link for me (email please) or I'll hear from Wendy or ReddyGirl about this latest development.

Okay guys, brace yourself for some interesting news. I know some of you will consider this bad news, but I don't. This also goes along with the bad stuff Jen has been hinting at. Anyway, Wendy from SWZ has posted a rumor about an upcoming Spike storyline and she gave me permission to repost it here: Ok folks, I'm going to share with you all a rumor I've been hearing. I've now heard it from 3 or 4 different sources, and I have reasons to question them all (no offense to any sources currently reading--you know my reasons for skepticism), but I'm starting to wonder.

OK, now that I've made you nervous....

I've been hearing that Spike gets a new girlfriend. No clue when/how. The rumor doesn't go that far. Could be long-term, could be one-night-stand. No idea if vamp or human or whatever. What I am *suspecting* is that this happens in Episode 10. Seriously, how much of Yes-No Buffy is Spike expected to take? Kiss-kick-kiss-kick. It would make sense that he'd be receptive to *someone* who'd be more appreciative of his many charms.

In fact, we might go the soap opera route and combine Alane's strong feelings about Buffy Love Admission with this development. What if Ep. 10 Buffy finally realizes that she has to stop denying her feelings for Spike and goes to him only to walk in on him with someone else? Ooh, feel the pain. In some ways, it would serve her right. It would be payback for her ambivalence and the ways she used him. And it would put *her* on the defensive and, as so many of us want, even the playing field between them emotionally. WillingSlave!Spike is the stuff of fanfic, but not of onscreen drama.

We thus would have the next part of our arc. The question for me is how this doesn't cut off Spike from the rest of the Scoobies. Do we go back to WackyNeighbor/S4! Spike? Comes into the ep to get off a quick quip and a longing look at Buffy before disappearing for the rest of the episode? Does the alleged Willow/Spike alliance mentioned by KC fit in? (Eh, always skeptical of her.) And what if Willow is involved magically in making Spike receptive to another woman's advances? We know from Ep. 9 spoilers that Amy makes with the love spell to try to cheer up Willow by bringing her another woman.

And what would this mean for Redemption? If Spike joined up with a vamp, would that make him a less likely candidate for Redemption? Would he be inspired to do bad things? Would he ally with Willow against Buffy if it came down to that?

At first, I was completely skeptical of this latest twist. My main thoughts at the time were there are just too many characters in play already, why move Giles out of the picture, just to drag in yet another element. Especially in light of the fact that Amy (and this is the point in my thinking, this storyline suddenly became plausible). What if it isn't Willow at all that uses magic on Spike, but Amy? It fits Wendy's rumors perfectly in terms of timing and such, we know she has the power, and she is a bit of the bad girl. Plus, it would be funny if Amy has been conscious this entire time, and has developed a huge crush on Spike. But until it gets posted on BAPS, I'm not going to post it to the Spoiler Slayer. It could be idle rumor or it could be fact, either way it's a fun thing to speculate about.