Oh, hooray! I'm so glad you like Kate. I think she's got plenty of her own issues, but she's still very well placed, in my opinion, to give Buffy some pointers of Life. Also, there's got to be someone who isn't in love with Doug Petrie's Riley. ;)

And thanks! I really wanted to try and stay true to the canon dynamics, even when I didn't particularly like them, and only alter things that it made sense to alter, so I'm glad the logic worked for you. Also, I find myself more fond of Sam every time I see the episode, so it was nice to have her being capable and slightly crush-worthy here too!