"Well, guys, duty calls," Buffy suddenly announced her impending
     departure as she rose to her feet. "Don't do anything I wouldn't
     do!" If only the opportunity would arise!

     "See ya, Buff," Xander acknowledged as she left our table. It was
     the most he had spoken in nearly an hour. He seemed quite
     distracted and I kept trying to figure out what had captured his
     attention so completely. The best I could tell was that he was
     looking at the two men sitting at the table next to ours, which
     doesn't make any sense. His distraction only worsened after
     Buffy's exit. For a few minutes I wondered if he even remembered
     that I was there.

     Then, he completely surprised me. Totally out of the blue, he
     popped the question. "So, Wills, want to dance?" I stared at him,
     not quite sure if he really asked, or if I was daydreaming again.

     "Dance? Me? With you?" The corners of his mouth curled up into
     the impish grin that I so adored. "Uh...okay!" I agreed before he
     could change his mind. He extended his hand to me, and I took it,
     still somewhat in shock. I couldn't believe that he had actually
     asked me to dance. My heart thumped wildly as he led me out
     onto the dance floor.

     As the next song started, we began to dance. Xander was a lot
     more subdued than normal--it was a fast song, but he wasn't
     jumping about wildly. Instead, he was just kind of swaying, looking
     past me at something. I wanted to turn around to find out what he
     was looking at. I didn't, though. If he was looking at someone in
     particular, I didn't want to embarrass him by making it more
     obvious...Well, admittedly, part of me did--maybe it would bring his
     fickle attentions back to me when the object of his affections
     rejected him. I felt horrible for thinking like that, but what else
     could I do? After a couple of minutes, Xander seemed to forget
     whatever (or whoever) it was that had him so distracted and he
     began to really dance...well, if you can call what he did "dancing."
     I'm not the world's greatest dancer, but I sure felt a lot less
     self-conscious about it when he was present. Next to him,
     I'm...well...not quite so bad.

     Time passed far too quickly and before I knew it, the band
     switched to a slow song. I prepared to leave the dance floor,
     thinking that Xander would never think to slow dance with me--that
     was something he reserved only for girls like Buffy. To my
     amazement, however, he pulled me closer, actually hugging me to
     him as we began moving in time to the music. I felt somewhat
     euphoric as I gazed up into his handsome face and caught him
     gazing back at me. It was almost like being in a dream as we
     danced, everything seemed so perfect. I didn't ever want to wake
     up.

     Unfortunately, reality kicked in a moment later when Xander
     suddenly seemed to become distant again. The smile faded from
     his lips, and from his eyes. Had I done something? A feeling of
     panic started to set in. "What is bothering you? Is something
     wrong? Did I step on--" I stammered.

     "Nah," he replied, trying to give me a reassuring smile. It didn't
     make me feel much better; the sparkle had left his eyes and he
     still looked pretty upset about something. "I'm just worn out. What
     do you say we get out of here? We could go for a walk, maybe?
     Or hey, how about we pick up some Rocky Road and a video?
     We can hang at my place--Mom's in Tahiti this week."

     "Sounds like fun," I answered, though I don't think he actually
     heard me. He was acting really strange as he steered me back to
     our booth. It was like he was afraid to let me get more than about
     a foot away from him. Not that I was complaining, mind you...it was
     just kind of weird.

     Xander's mood lightened as soon as we left The Bronze. His smile
     returned and he started getting back to being his normal...well,
     normal for Xander, anyway...self. We began discussing which
     video we should get when suddenly I felt Xander tense. A split
     second later a huge black car swung up onto the sidewalk a few
     yards ahead of us. Two really large men quickly stepped out of
     the car and started toward us. It took me a few moments to realize
     that they were the same men that had been sitting near us at The
     Bronze. I glanced at Xander to see if he knew what this could be
     about. Before I even got a chance to ask, he stepped in front of
     me and prepared to confront the men.

     "Hey, how's it going?" Xander called to them, his voice wavering
     ever so slightly. "Nice night, huh?" Neither of the men spoke as
     they approached, but one of them grinned evilly at us. I had the
     sinking feeling that this was not going to be a pleasant encounter.
     Instinctively I clutched Xander's arm. I was kind of hoping that we
     could make a break for it. Maybe we could out run them--they
     didn't look like they would be very good in a foot race. Knowing
     Xander, though, I figured that he was going to play the protector
     and try to keep them busy so that I could make my escape. He
     never seemed to realize that there was no way that I could ever
     leave him behind. I would never trade his life for mine, just like he
     would never trade my life for his. My suspicions of Xander's tactics
     was confirmed a moment later as he glanced over his shoulder at
     me, his eyes wide with fear. "Willow run," he prompted me, giving
     me a little push. I stayed there, not willing to leave him.

     "Don't worry yourself, we're not going to hurt you," the bigger of
     the two men greeted us. "We've got our orders."

     "And those orders would be...?" Xander asked, bravely standing
     his ground.

     The man's grin widened, obviously relishing the fear he was
     creating. "We've been instructed to retrieve Dalton's Bride." Bride?
     He was after me? I didn't even know anyone named Dalton...why
     would he possibly want to marry me?

     "Well, there you have it. She's not married. Not even engaged.
     See? No ring. You've found the wrong girl. Well, guess we'll be on
     our--" Xander grabbed my hand and tried to casually lead me past
     them. They didn't budge from our path, and when we tried to move
     around them, the big guy grabbed Xander and shoved him roughly
     to the ground. The second man grabbed me and started trying to
     pull me toward the waiting car. I hit him as hard as I could and was
     surprised when he stumbled backward, releasing his grip on me. I
     turned to see if I could help Xander. His attacker was on top of
     him, pinning him helplessly to the ground. I could see the man's
     lips moving, but couldn't hear what he was saying. I started toward
     them, knowing that there was no way I was strong enough to pull
     the man off of Xander, but maybe with both of us working against
     him...

     I didn't have time to find out. Before I even knew what hit me I
     found myself lying on my back with the second man on top of me.
     He slapped me across the face and I cried out involuntarily. "Hold
     still you little bitch," he growled slapping me again. I kicked at him,
     trying to slip out from beneath him, but he was too heavy. Kicking
     only made him angrier. He grabbed my head and slammed it back
     against the pavement. The last thing I heard before my world went
     black was Xander calling my name.

     I'm not sure how much time passed, but the next thing I knew
     Xander was calling my name again. My eyes didn't want to open,
     but I forced them. I had to blink a few times to clear my vision, but
     when I did, I found myself looking up at Xander.

     "Hey," he smiled down at me and pulled me into his embrace. He
     ran his fingers through my hair in a gentle gesture that seemed to
     conflict with the look of anger that burned in his eyes.

     Buffy knelt down beside us. I'm not sure when she arrived, but my
     guess was that she was largely responsible for the distinct lack of
     thugs. I absently wondered how she always managed to show up
     at just the right moment to save us. Not that it bothered me, of
     course. A look of relief crossed her face when she saw that I was alive
     and recovering from the attack. "So," she asked, "what was that all about?"

     "They were after Willow," Xander explained. "They followed us
     from The Bronze. One of them said something about claiming
     Dalton's bride...Who's Dalton?" I wished I had the answer, but I
     had absolutely no idea. Buffy shrugged, apparently as in the dark
     as we were about the mysterious being. Xander suddenly grinned
     as he looked back at me. "You didn't secretly get married did
     you?"

     "Mom wouldn't sign the permission slip," I retorted, trying to match
     his grin.

     "I didn't sense anything undead about them," Buffy mused. "Yet
     something about this gives me the wigs. Maybe we should go see
     if we can find anything out about this 'Dalton' guy." Xander and I
     both nodded in agreement, and in a moment Xander pulled me to
     my feet. I felt kind of dizzy, but Xander quickly steadied me. He
     seemed to half carry me as we headed back toward the school
     library. I had the sinking feeling that there was going to be a long
     night of research ahead of us. I only hoped that we could figure
     out who this "Dalton" person was, and what he wanted with me,
     before he struck again.

   Back to the Labyrinth