First of all, reccing your story was very much a pleasure - dunno if I got you more than 1 reader, but that's more than nothing... (the problem with a Spuffy-heavy flist. *sigh*)

And re. seasonal_spuffy then *I* am hopelessly behind. Thank you so much for reminding me, I've been saving it up!

So your appreciation means a lot to me - I know that you can look at the story more objectively, more in "out of the box" way.
Oh I know exactly what you mean. F.ex. my shanshued!Spike stories have gone down a treat, but I know that they are, in many ways, pure wish-fulfillment. Like giving people chocolate. It's when someone comes along who normally doesn't like chocolate, and still has a go and likes it, that the sense of accomplishment begins to come.

So I regularly tortured myself with questions "could Buffy say this?", "could Buffy say that?" and in the end I still wasn't sure I pulled it off.
Oh I can imagine how awkward it must ahve been! But I have to say, it worked very well IMO - Buffy was wonderfully Buffy-esque (and I *always* agonise over writing her dialogue, so I was very impressed), and Angel's reactions were spot-on! Well done you! *applauds*

(And look - I uploaded your icon. I had to delete my 'mock Bangel' one, but then I've barely used it for ages and ages...)