My Top 5 Favourite Spike Het Pairings of 2005

My Top 5 Favourite Spike Het Pairings

Um, yeah. So I do tend to read mostly anyone who is paired with Spike. But in most cases that takes a lot of convincing or a really intriguing study into why Spike has chosen each particular character. All these stories qualify for that - and then some...

Item Title or Description: “Losing Eden”
Creator’s Name: [livejournal.com profile] bearfacedcheek
Rating: NC-17
Pairing: Spike/Dawn
Link: http://www.livejournal.com/tools/memories.bml?user=bearfacedcheek&keyword=spawn&filter=all
Why I chose this: Although I can appreciate schmoop in fic, what I particularly like is exploring the shades of grey. And this fic does that in spades. I was sucked in immediately from the opening sentence, beautifully atmospheric and poetic right to the very, twisted end.

Item Title or Description: “Sunday Girl”
Creator’s Name: [livejournal.com profile] deadsoul820
Rating: NC-17
Warning: BDSM, non-consensual sex, violence, bloodplay, language, f/f slash, inappropriate humor
Pairing: Spike/Sunday (also Spike/Dru; Drusilla/Sunday; Spike/Sunday/Dru)
Link: http://www.geocities.com/astraea111/SundayGirl.html
Why I chose this: By the time I'm old and grey, I will probably still be fangirling about this fic. Taking a character that appeared in one epsiode (Season 4's The Freshman) [livejournal.com profile] deadsoul820 creates a rich, intense, explicit, dark and immensely enjoyable back-history for the character. Most enjoyable are her interactions with Spike as he wavers in and out of those shades of grey.

Item Title or Description: “The Long and Winding Road” - WIP
Creator’s Name: [livejournal.com profile] ezagaaikwe
Rating: NC-17 (though not all chapters)
Pairing: Spike/Tara
Link: http://www.livejournal.com/tools/memories.bml?user=ezagaaikwe&keyword=The+Long+And+Winding+Road&filter=all
Why I chose this: Immense in scope and range, this fic stands at forty-seven chapters and still going very strong. [livejournal.com profile] ezagaaikwe gives you Spike and Tara, time travel, historical romance, missions of hope and desperation plus wonderfully explored characterisations of Buffy, Giles et al, and not least of all a completely different take on Season 6 and 7. So much to enjoy.

Item Title or Description: “Sunshine”
Creator’s Name: [livejournal.com profile] euro_fics
Rating: M
Warning: Lots of exceedingly well-written foreplay
Pairing: Spike/Sunshine
Link: http://www.geocities.com/europanya/sunshine.html
Why I chose this: Remember the girl from the Peppermint Stick that, er, twirled about for Spike in AtS Season 5? Well this is the encounter between the two of them - hot, spicy and extremely well-written, this fic gives Spike hope in a period of darkness.

Item Title or Description: “Zwischenzug”
Creator’s Name: [livejournal.com profile] zyrya
Rating: NC-17
Pairing: Spike/Sam
Link: http://220.244.124.18/fanfiction/zwischenzug.html
Why I chose this: This is Spike/Sam, as in the (former) Mrs Finn. I have an addage that an author can convince me of anything as long as it's well-written and believable. This fic is the essence of that addage.