I have read Lynch's stuff. And yes, we need to know how that wraps up and how it is made to fit in with the Buffyverse before we can say what sort of appearance Spike could have. (I'm not even arguing that Spike himself must appear -- just that there has to be more story about him, either going forward or as a flashback to something happened between The Chosen and LWH).

I haven't read Frey yet, but I do know the basic premise. I'm not sure how to square that with AtF where we've seen flashforwards of both Spike and Angel into space agey futures.

I still need to know if Buffy is dealing with Spike's death, or his return (and whatever happened to keep them apart). However it goes, you're right that she sure seems to be closed off now.

I don't think we know yet if she was dressing up for Riley romantically, or just to improve his impression of her (last time he saw her was in As You Were), or because she's undercover and wants to make him think she's interested.

I agree Whedon wants to go in new directions. I'd be disappointed if he didn't. I still think he has to tell us how Buffy went from being very close to Spike to being back to fairly emotionally shut down. Just like he needs to tell us how she came to be robbing banks.