Chapter Eight: Seventeen Forever

"So in the end, Cordelia turned out to be a real hero." Buffy Summers looked up at the brooding vampire walking beside her in the dark cemetery. "Wasn't that amazing, how she volunteered to take my place in the big fight?"

"I don't like it," Angel said, looking all dark and broody and gorgeous. "The way she voluntarily made the change. I don't think Cordelia understood what was happening when you brought her to Edwina."

"She understood all right," Buffy chuckled. "The last thing she said was 'goodbye Botox! I'm going to be seventeen forever!"

Angel turned on the perky, sexy little blonde with a look of fury on his handsome face. "Do you think throwing away your life just to stay young and beautiful forever is romantic? It's a terrible thing to give up daylight, Buffy. To give up your soul."

"Not if you give it up for love," the naughty little Slayer replied. And before Angel could argue anymore she kissed him, good and hard.

There was another couple walking in the cemetery, only a little way back from the Slayer and her vampire boyfriend. Willow and Xander were also discussing Cordelia's decision to run away with Edwina.

"You know, Will, I just don't get it," Xander mumbled, walking along with his hands in his pockets. "I mean sure, Cordelia was always vain, stuck up, incredibly self-centered and thoroughly narcissistic . . ."

The shy red-head giggled. "Narcissistic? Where did you pick up a word like that?"

Xander shrugged. "I hang around with smart people. It's sort of a survival mechanism for the intellectually challenged."

"You're not intellectually challenged," Willow scolded, in an almost motherly tone. "You're much smarter and braver than you realize!"

"Well, I am smart enough not to turn myself into a vampire, just because some crumpet-eating duchess can get me a discount on tweed! Seriously, Will, why would a girl like Cordelia give up being the queen bee of Sunnydale High to run off with a lady vampire twenty times her age?"

"Sometimes women feel things for each other." Willow shrugged, but there was a gleam in her eyes that Xander didn't understand.

"Well, at least we know Buffy would never be stupid enough to make that kind of deal," the dark-eyed boy said nervously.

"Never," Willow agreed. "Buffy would never be that stupid. Would she?"

And up ahead in the darkness, the vampire and the Slayer were kissing as if there were no tomorrow. As if heartbreak never followed happiness.

As if Buffy Summers would be seventeen forever.

A/N: Now, I am NOT saying that Angel is about to turn Buffy into a vampire! Only that she and Angel are ready to give their romance a chance, after seeing that not all vampires are bad. Well, that's the end of my first full length BUFFY fan fic. Please review if you would like me to write more - I'd love to hear your suggestions!