While Buffy waited for Angel to return, she thought back to when he first proposed to her.
It was shortly after he regained his humanity. It was fortunate that he'd done so, or else it was implied he wouldn've broken up with her.
She put this all out of her mind; she was more concerned with them getting married so they could start their new life together. Joyce, bowing to the inevitable, figured she could at least let her daughter wear her old wedding dress.
Which made Buffy feel that much worse about her current situation.
Even worse, she was now acting out the part of the helpless damsel she was NOT supposed to be. She'd killed numerous vampires and stopped an evil mayor's plans. And now she was just waiting for someone to come and save her?
Yeah. That was exactly what was happening.
Buffy soon managed to regain some of her usual calm. She went back inside, so the wind now blowing outside wouldn't fan the flames. She then sat down; spreading her skirt out on the floor would slow the fire's progress somewhat. Still, the flames were getting a little close for her comfort.
She had no doubt now that, whatever afterlife there was, her old enemies were laughing at her.
There wasn't any clock nearby, so Buffy had no way of knowing how long it had been. From where she was sitting she could see someone running toward the church. There was someone running alongside him; she immediately recognized him as Angel. They were carrying what looked like a rather large rug.
Not a moment too soon; Buffy could feel the heat coming near her hair. It was apparent by now that her veil had caught on fire. And after all the trouble she went through to grow her hair that long...
Finally, the two men arrived at the church.
"Buffy, I'm here!" said Angel. He took Buffy by the hand and helped her stand up, after which he and the other man used the rug to put out the fire. By some miracle, Buffy had escaped serious injury. The dress was a total loss, but neither of them really cared about that at the moment.
The other man ran off with the rug without giving the couple a chance to thank him. Then again, he didn't seem the type who wanted too much attention.
"I'm so glad you're okay," said Angel.
"And I'm glad you're here with me," said Buffy.
With that, they left the church to resume their earlier plans. When the newlyweds checked in, the hotel employees seemed rather puzzled by the sight of the bride in a burnt dress.
"They're looking at me funny," said Buffy.
"Let them look," said Angel. "We both know what's really important here."
Indeed, having put that whole incident behind them, Buffy and Angel got on with their married life.