As to not telling Spike, it's because of my writing limitations: I can't write BA in Spike's presence.
Hee, I knew you had to get rid of him `cause duh - IWRY, but it fit suprisingly well with the whole story being a twist on Buffy instead of Spike. Including a bit of Spike (and Angel) not telling Buffy that Spike was back. Which translated here into Buffy and Angel not telling Spike.

And I'm glad you've got the comics, and also now I get the feeling of a comic collector having entire set - there's something very satisfying about it. :)