They all jumped as the doorbell rang. All of the scoobies were there, so basically that was Spike or the possible other person they'd summoned, or then it was the Rangers being very polite before they stormed in and attacked.

Willow got up from the sofa, gesturing to the others that she'd get it. Buffy protested but was silenced by Giles.

They were all quiet as Willow carefully unlocked the door and peered out. Her pose relaxed as she saw who it was and invited him in.

"Spike. It's him guys, see I don't mess everything up! But who's that?" She pointed to the dark complexioned woman standing partly behind him, looking a bit lost.

"It's a… friend of mine." Spike guessed that Giles had memorized all the Slayers' names right from the First one.

"Hi!" Nikki did a little wave with her hand.

"So, we can trust her, right?"

"Yeah I guess." Willow narrowed her eyes at the slayer, trying to point out the queer feeling she had about this new woman, but didn't find it. She moved for them to enter.

The minute Spike entered the living room, he was encountered with a strong smell of blood and healing wounds. His eyes found Buffy, half lying down on the sofa, looking a bit uncomfortable and trying not to meet his eyes.

"Buffy! What happened?" He didn't move, as she'd probably flinch if he touched her, but tried to put a bit of worry into his voice.

"She got attacked by a group of Gage demons. Actually, that's kinda why you're here." Willow answered him. "I did this sort of summoning spell on you, since we had no idea of where you were, and-"

"Who's she?" To Spike, Buffy's voice didn't sound like it used to. It now had a hard and flat tone to it.

Before Spike could answer, Nikki stepped forward.

"I'm Nikki, and it seems that you somehow summoned me too." Nikki smiled despite the somewhat cold way they seemed to receive her.

"Nikki! As in the Slayer who got killed by Spike?" Giles remembered seeing photos of that slayer, and although they were a bit bleached, it was most definitely this woman standing right in front of him.

Nikki started to nod as the living room window suddenly exploded all over them.

"It's the Rangers! Quick, get weapons!" Everyone rushed to the weapon chest, Buffy limped as best she could. Spike, empowered by the sudden adrenaline rush, only jumped into battle stance, eyes and fangs gleaming.

The Gage demons were about twenty, all equal in strength and agility, and not the easiest to beat, but with Spike and Nikki fighting the most lethal battles and the others holding the demons back for as long as they could, the Rangers were soon overpowered and losing.

In a minute, the house was embedded with the post-battle silence. Well, at least for a second.

"God, that demon slime's gonna be a bugger to get out of the carpet!" Buffy sighed.

Suddenly, Xander flew at Spike, stake raised, and pinned him to the wall. He brought the stake up so it was pointing into the blonde's chest.

"Xander! What are you doing!? He just saved our lives!" Willow tried to talk sense into him, but didn't dare to move closer.

Xander dry, scornful laughter echoed through the apartment.

"You don't know what he did to her." He said coldly.

"Xander, please, don't do this now." Buffy's voice was still tired and worn, but Xander ignored her and turned back to Spike.

"You motherfucking rapist. You asshole. How could you?" Xander's voice was quavering, alternating between whispers and screams, but all he got from Spike was a sad look. No smart comebacks, nothing.

"Xander, he didn't.." Buffy started.

"No, but he damned sure would've if it hadn't been for the chip!" Xander retorted.

Spike wasn't so sure he wanted to die right now, but he decided not to move, as it would probably agitate the Whelp even more.

"Xander, why are you doing this? When we decided to summon Spike, you seemed to be okay with it."

"That was just a fucking act. When he was needed to save my friends I agreed." Xander turned back to face Spike. "But you've just become useless, defanged." With that, he raised the stake.

Spike closed his eyes and just hoped it'd be painfree. If no one came to his aid, if no one thought he was worthy of living, what was the point?

"Wha-?" As Spike's chest didn't get pierced by the stake, he opened his eyes and found a confused looking Xander holding his fist to Spike's chest. The stake'd disappeared.

"Who took it?" Xander turned around, hatred and disgust in his eyes. "Who thinks this bastard's worth existing? Give me the goddamn stake back!" He was losing his chance to strike.

Willow, Dawn, Buffy, Giles and Anya had never seen him this angry, and were all completely speechless.

"Why don't you come and get it, Whelp?" Nikki stood nonchalantly leaning against the wall, holding the stake for Xander to see, all the time looking him straight into his eyes. Challenging him.

"You asshole! What did Spike do to you?! He turned you, didn't he? You're a vampire, not a Slayer!" Xander jumped, but was held up against the wall in a headlock before he knew it.

Spike, regarding the situation, found that Nikki was as eye-cheatingly fast as she'd always been.

"You're disgusting" Nikki whispered into Xander's ear from behind. "This man saved your life, not to mention your friends, and you'd stake him?" She turned to the rest of the room, angry. "And you were all gonna let him do it!?"

"You don't know what he's done…" Buffy tried to defend her friend.

"I bloody well do! He killed me! He murdered me in cold blood! He strangled me in a subway train twenty-five years ago!" She waited for her words to make an impact. "So don't you tell me what I know! I also know that he got his bloody soul back! He fought for it! All the while knowing what torment and pain it would cause him, but he still did it! He's as worthy of respect now as any of you are. So just…cut him some slack, would you?" Nikki let go of Xander, causing him to crumble down to the floor, panting.

All Spike could do was stare. Who woulda thought? Well, actually, Nikki was one of the few people on this earth who seemed to like him, and she'd never been the silent type. Seeing her now, her cheeks all flushed with anger, he could do nothing but smile.

As Nikki turned to make sure that he was all right, and saw the big goofy, grateful, adoring smile on his face, her face blossomed up to a big smile too.

The others were left completely flabbergasted as the odd pair walked out of the house together.

Buffy was the first one to recover.

"His…soul?"

"Why'd you do that? For me?"

"Well, he was gonna stake you, the asshole!" Nikki's smile took away the egde from her words.

"God, you're wonderful!" Spike put his arms around her and kissed her.

"Now let's get a room somewhere. There's gotta be a motel or something in the godforsaken town, hasn't there?" Nikki was used to big neon signs and the metropolitan life.

"There's one just up the road, we'll stay there, just in case they need something."

"I don't get why you even care 'bout them, I mean, yeah, soul and everything, but they were gonna let him stake you!"

"Well, the Nibblet's pretty much the only reason."

"The one with all the brown shiny hair and the big puppy eyes?"

"Yeah."

"And Buffy's the one with the blonde hair?" Spike nodded. "She seemed a bit…old. For a Slayer, I mean."

"It think Rupes once said that she's prob'ly the oldest Slayer ever."

"She wouldn't be if you hadn't fallen in love with her." Nikki pointed out.

"Thanks for the encouragement, luv. Here we are." The motel didn't look like much, but Nikki didn't actually care, she just longed for somewhere to sleep.

They decided to just lay in each others arms that night.

Spike couldn't bring himself to fall asleep after everything that had happened during the day, but forced himself to lay as still as possible so Nikki would get her well deserved beauty sleep.

She obviously thought he'd fallen asleep as he heard a soft whimpering accompanied by moisture on the arm he had around her.

"Nikki?" He, whispered, trying not to startle her. "What's the matter?"

She tried to stop crying so she could talk to him.

"Sorry, it's just that, I think I'm only starting to realize how stupid and ridiculous my life is. I mean, I'm lying here with you, a vampire – not that I wouldn't want to!" She added hastily. "I've been resurrected twenty-five years after my death, I've got no friends whatsoever, and, I guess I'm just lonely." She finished bluntly.

"Nikki, you're not alone, I'm with you, and I know I'm not the most ideal man, vampire, whatever, but I'm gonna try to be the one you want, and I'll do anything I can to make you enjoy this life." He pondered that for a second. "God, I sounded like a bloody nancy boy." He earned a giggle from Nikki.

"At least you're my nancy boy, right?" She turned around to kiss him, feeling the strangest sense of belonging in his arms, and right now, that was all that mattered.

'Whatever tomorrow brings, I'll be there' –Incubus

A/N: Feeback! I want it! Pretty please?