Normally I wouldn't have even noticed the two men as they came
     into The Bronze. Admittedly, the only reason that I did was that I
     happened to be staring at this really gorgeous...well, anyway they
     stopped in front of her, blocking my view. Once they caught my
     attention I felt compelled to keep an eye on them. They were older
     than the average Bronze crowd--perhaps in their thirties or
     so--and something about them made me feel uneasy, though I
     didn't know what. They looked normal enough--although I thought
     they looked a bit like thugs--and Buffy didn't show any sort of
     reaction as they sat down at the table next to ours, but I still felt
     wary of them. I tried to observe them without being obvious about
     it. Unfortunately I must not have done a terribly good job at being
     covert because they kept staring over at our table, forcing me to
     look away or risk a confrontation.

     At first, I figured they were just ogling Buffy--she is gorgeous, after
     all. However, even after she got up and announced that she had
     to be getting to work, they continued to gawk at us...or more
     specifically, I supposed, at Willow. The realization that these older
     guys were eyeing my best friend made me apprehensive. The way
     I saw it, Buffy could handle the jerks with ease, but Willow wasn't
     like her--not that she was helpless or anything, far from it. She just
     wasn't...well...as well equipped to deal with them. I figured it was
     up to me to deter them from bugging her.

     "So, Wills, want to dance?" I proposed, figuring the best tactic
     would be to make them realize that she wasn't available. While I
     wanted to confront them directly, I decided that should a fight
     ensue the odds would definitely not be in my favor. Perhaps if it
     had only been one guy, but not both--not when they were so much
     larger than me.

     She regarded me with surprise. "Dance? Me? With you?
     Uh...okay!" I smiled at her as she took my hand and let me lead
     her out onto the dance floor. For the first few minutes, I was too
     preoccupied with the men to really get into the dancing, and
     Willow seemed to sense that something was wrong. I didn't want
     to worry her, so I made more of an effort to pay attention. After a
     few minutes I really started to enjoy dancing with her and even
     managed to forget about them. That is until a slow dance started
     and I caught sight of them watching us again. My face must have
     shown my unease, because Willow suddenly pulled away from
     me. She looked up at me with a worried look. "What is bothering
     you? Is something wrong? Did I step on--"

     I smiled reassuringly at her and shook my head. "Nah. 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." I just wanted to get her away from those creeps. Perhaps
     they were just innocently admiring her, but I didn't want to take
     that chance. I didn't relax until we were outside and away from
     them.

     I guess I should have remained tense. We were a couple blocks
     from The Bronze when a passing car suddenly swung up onto the
     sidewalk a few yards ahead of us the same two men clambered
     out. Instinctively I pushed Willow behind me as they drew closer.
     "Hey, how's it going?" I asked trying to sound nonchalant. Even I
     wasn't fooled--I could hear my voice shaking. "Nice night, huh?"
     Neither of them spoke as they approached, but one of them--a
     particularly bulky man--grinned at me, further unnerving me. I
     could feel Willow clutch my arm and I glanced over my shoulder at
     her, our eyes connecting momentarily. "Willow, run!" I prodded,
     pushing her away from me. She didn't take my advice, she
     wouldn't leave me to fight alone. I didn't know exactly what the
     men wanted, but I sure wasn't going to let them near her--they
     would have to kill me first. I turned back to the men, preparing to
     battle.

     "Don't worry yourself, we're not going to hurt you," the bigger man
     informed me. "We've got our orders."

     "And those orders would be...?" I prompted nervously.

     His grin widened. "We've been instructed to retrieve Dalton's
     Bride."

     "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--" I snagged Willow's hand and tried to push past them, but
     they didn't budge from our path. When we tried to move around
     them, the leader grabbed me and shoved me to the ground. He
     was on me immediately, pinning me to the pavement.

     "I don't think you understand," the leader growled in my ear. "We
     will take what we have come for. You can make this easy, or we
     can do it the hard way."

     I heard Willow cry out from somewhere nearby and my whole
     being filled with rage. They would not take her! "Willow! Hang on!"
     I called to her, hoping to reassure her that everything was going to
     be okay. There was no way I was going to lose this battle--not
     with her life in the balance. I'm not sure where the strength came
     from, but somehow I managed to throw the bulky thug off of me. I
     rolled to my feet and hurried to help Willow. My anger intensified
     as I saw that he had knocked her to the ground and was
     straddling her unconscious body. I charged, barreling into him with
     as much force as I could muster. He lashed out as we toppled
     over, striking me in the face. My fury was so unwavering that I
     didn't even feel the blow. I think I must have been half crazy,
     because I wasn't even fully aware of what I was doing as I
     punched the man repeatedly. I didn't stop until I felt myself being
     pulled off of Willow's attacker by the bigger thug. He picked me up
     off the ground, one of his arms positioned across my windpipe,
     cutting off my air supply.

     "You couldn't make this easy, could you..." he growled as he
     squeezed harder. My vision began to cloud as I started to lose
     consciousness. I tried to kick free of him so that I could breathe,
     but his grip just tightened. "Don't make me hurt you," he warned.
     Despite his words, he sounded like hurting me would give him
     pleasure.

     "Make me hurt you," a familiar voice cut in. A moment later, the
     thug released me and I collapsed to the ground gasping for
     breath. As I slowly regained my senses I could hear Buffy
     grappling with my attacker. "Get out of here, or I will kill you," my
     rescuer threatened. "And take your loser friend with you." She
     knelt down next to me and peered into my eyes, checking to make
     sure I was okay. "Can't leave you guys alone for a minute, can I?"
     She grinned at me.

     "Willow," I croaked, still recovering from the near choking. Buffy
     raised her eyebrows, giving me a look of concern. "Is Willow
     okay?" I didn't wait for Buffy to answer, but quickly moved to check
     on her myself. I was relieved to see her eyes fluttering open.
     "Hey," I greeted, gathering her in my arms. I smoothed the hair out
     of her face, barely controlling the anger that again grew as I
     noticed the bruises that were already appearing on her face. I only
     hoped that I had managed to inflict worse damage on the bastard
     who had hit her.

     "So what was that all about?" Buffy queried after figuring out that
     both of us were okay.

     "They were after Willow," I informed her. "They followed us from
     The Bronze. One of them said something about claiming Dalton's
     bride...Who's Dalton?" When neither Buffy or Willow responded, I
     gazed back at my best friend and joked, "You didn't secretly get
     married did you?"

     "Mom wouldn't sign the permission slip," she returned, grinning
     slightly.

     "I didn't sense anything undead about them," Buffy seemed to be
     thinking aloud. "Yet something about this gives me the wigs.
     Maybe we should go see if we can find anything out about this
     'Dalton' guy."

     I helped Willow to her feet and we headed for the confines of the
     Sunnydale High Library for a night of research.