Confessions of a Liberal Puritan

Thanks so much for seeing what I mean about Spike's pieta at the end of "The Gift". I was afraid that might be going too far, even for Buffy fans and scholars!

And Buffy practically hands over to Spike the primary responsibility for Dawn's care and protection (as Joyce had earlier done to Buffy, when they didn't know how the surgery might go) in that "I'm counting on you to protect her" moment before the battle. Once Buffy's dead and Willow and the other 'official Scoobies' are distracted with their secret plans for resurrection, how could Spike not feel a tad mother-hennish about Dawn? Poor vampire! He was so set up to become 'the woman' in season 6, even before Buffy came back and made him her sole emotional support and eventual love slave! Factor in the extent to which Spike is kept out of the loop at the beginning of season 6, and Spike looks more and more like he's being cast as Joyce's replacement in the extended 'family system' of the Scoobies.

Thanks to you, I just realized why I so enjoy missmurchison's Spara fics: they create the one functional nuclear family unit possible during season 6, with Spike as mother and Tara as father to Dawn! (I cast Tara as the father, of course, because that whole "I will always be there for you!" dynamic in "Smashed" fairly screamed with "divorcing-step-father-moves-out-but-is-still-committed-to-the-step-kid" sentiments.)