A/N: Thank you all for your patience while I have been out of action over the past five or six months. I have hopefully almost recovered from my writer's block, and I'm going to attempt another chapter of this fiction.

Amethyst Dragon, Spuffy2008, Shadow of a Good Girl, c00k1e and Shinki - I was going to write seperate messages to all of you, but I don't think you all remember what you wrote to me to begin with, so I thought I'd give you a huge mention at the start of this chapter and say THANK YOU for giving me the NEED to continue writing this fiction.

Without your wonderful reviews, I don't know where I'd be.

--

Finally, Buffy's PMSing ups-and-downs had stopped, and she could relax around Spike. Since that one occasion, just a week ago, she was determined to maintain a distance from him at that time of the month. He had seemed so broken when she had seen him clearly that day... she couldn't do that to him again.

She tapped on his door lightly with her finger and smiled sheepishly when he opened the door. "Hey you," she mumbled, pulling out a sachet of blood from behind her back. "Peace offering?"

He held up a finger, signaling for her to wait at the door as he disappeared, returning with a dainty white rose, which he twirled between his finger tips. "Found this for you... it was just lyin' around..." he grinned and held it out to her proudly.

With a smile, she took it from him and handed him the blood.

"So..." she inched past him into the hotel room, "Want to sit in your room for a while until the sun goes down and huddle on the couch watching," she pulled out 'the Notebook', "Sappy girly movies?"

He grimaced and shut the door behind her, "Uh... not really, pet."

She giggled and snapped open the DVD case. "Oh good, because Willow forgot to put the DVD back in."

With a small chuckle, Spike made his way back into the small kitchen and opened the fridge, slowly scanning its ingredients, frowning and closing it again.

"So what did you want to do then?" he asked, with a tilt of his head. "I mean, there are plenty of bloody movies, we could dance-"

"Dance?" Buffy asked incredulously. Was he insane?

He grinned widely, "Kinda. I meant train. Get you up to scratch again. Surely you're a little rusty."

A thoughtful look crossed her face. "I'm actually going to take you up on that."

He began to reply, but she cut him off.

"Not that I'm rusty. No, definitely not that. I have a lot of ... frustration to work out..."

Spike grinned. "Sure, blondie."

- -

The hit echoed through the night, and instantly, the mood changed. After innocently sparring for three hours stright, a gunshot rang through the darkness, with the keen sense of each the vampire and the Slayer, they were both able to drop to the ground, narrowly missing the next two.

"Spike! You okay?" Buffy asked, whipping her head around and looking him up and down from her place flat on the ground, arms poisted on either side of her chest, ready to lift herself back up.

He nodded. "You?"

She bit her lip, wincing a little as she moved. "Think I got one."

Looking down, she saw that a bullet had hit the right side of her stomach. A small amount of blood was making her shirt cling to her skin, and she felt the burn of the pain for the first time.

Hearing a growl, she looked to Spike, who had sprung up, and was racing towards the shooter, who was still madly firing from two handguns.

Each hit, Spike took, roaring like an animal. Tears sprung to Buffy's eyes, and she stood, racing after him. But he had to larger lead on her. He reached the shooter, dripping blood as though it were a river, with a look of hideous anger, that actually scared even him.

Ignoring the pain, and the aches, Spike pulled his arm back and punched the mysterious dark-haired shooter. A loud crunch, and his face changed. Spike growled, eager to stake this gun-equipped vampire.

Hell, eager to rip the damnned creatures head off. Eager to give him the most radical punishment and death known to man and monster.

He delivered numerous more punches, his chest burning from the amount of bullets lodged in. He didn't care. His girl had been shot. Spike reached to the dark haired vampire and took a tight hold on his head, his knee pressing into the vampire's back, holding him to the ground. His other hand took a hold of the vampire's chin and twisted his neck, even when it got harder, he twisted. And even when he heard the satisfying crack of his neck, he wasn't happy.

Dust appeared and Spike beat at the ground. Tears streamed from his eyes, from the pain coursing through his body and from the fact that Buffy was injured.

Buffy.

Spike span around and saw her standing near him, tears pouring from her own eyes.

"Buffy," he whispered, walking towards her until each of their blood stained chests were pressed together. He leaned towards her and nuzzled the side of her face with his nose. A soft purr erupted from his mouth. He inhaled her scent deeply, and kissed the side of her mouth.

She sobbed loudly, and pressed her lips to his, threading her fingers through his hair, and pulling his head towards hers, lifting herself up against him.

"I love you. Iloveyouiloveyouiloveyou," she whispered against his lips, holding him closely to her.

"You're okay? Apart from the bullet, are you okay?" he asked, eyes closed as they each peppered kisses over the other's face.

"I'm fine," she looked at him, at his torso, "but you aren't. We need to get those bullets out."

A tight grin from him and they turned in the direction of his hotel.

Buffy paused. "Spike?"

He looked at her.

"Well, you have no medical supplies, and you haven't seen it... so do you want to come back to my apartment?"

He tilted his head.

"You don't have to..." she said hurredly, "I'm just sayin-"

"I'd love to, Buffy."

- -

A/N: I want to get a start on another chapter of another fiction, so for now, farewell.

review if you have the time? id like to know if someone is reading this.