Unconventional Cordelia Shipping, An Overview

[ebailey140@xxxxxxx]

Tara: "Um, Hi!... I-I-I'm going to.. um..."
Willow: "Just relax. I'm here. We're all here."
Cordy: "Yeah, it's just some mailing lists, to a bunch of people who 
know every intimate detail of your life, both canon and otherwise..."
Tara: "Eep!"
Willow: "Cordelia!!!"
Faith: "Hey! What's goin' on?"
Cordy: "Well, Tara was supposed to do the intros last time, but you 
and Buffy left her in no condition to do it, so, she's going to do 
this one... Someday."
Willow: "Cordelia... I don't know why I put up with you..."
Cordy: "Because you love me?"
Anya: "Mmmm... I see why Xander was so Slayer fixated.."
Buffy: "Thanks... So, let's get this going..." (She and Faith 
stare intently at Tara)
Tara: "OK... Um.. Mmm...

Title: Unconventional Cordelia Shipping, An Overview
Writer: E
Email: ebailey140@xxxxxxx
Disclaimers: E owns none of this, Joss and some corporations do.
Notes: Continuing the Unconventional Shipping series, following the 
ones featuring Buffy, Willow, and Faith. 
Spoilers: Various episodes and fanfic, plus the previous 
installments of this series, like Anya currently being in the 
afterglow of events from the last one.
Archiving: Sure, just let E know."

Willow: "You did it! I'm so proud of you." (Hugs Tara)
Buffy: "So are we!" (She and Faith hug, kiss, and grope Tara)
Cordy: "Hello!!! We're doing my shipping overview, here!"
Faith: "Oh yeah... (She and Buffy begin groping Cordy)
Cordy: "No, no, that's not what I meant!!! After we're done with 
this, OK? Yeesh!!!"

Yes, we're back to look at unconventional shipping in Buffy fanfic, 
this time focusing on Cordelia, one time queen of Sunnydale High, 
currently assistant to Angel, the brooding vampire detective. Her 
family lost all their money, so she moved to LA in hopes of movie 
stardom, but instead became the recepiant of a "gift" from the Powers 
That Be, mind numbing visions of people in danger...

Cordy: "Yeah, gotta love the PTB..."

Cordy has had a few conventional ships on the series. First, there 
was Xander, her childhood enemy turned boyfriend. This ended on the 
series when Cordy caught him in an intimate situation with his long 
time friend, Willow...

Faith: "They were screwing?"

Um, no, but it split the two asunder. This hasn't stopped the C/X 
shippers, though, who see the couple as soulmates..

Buffy: "Yeah, when they weren't smooching they were insulting each 
other. Perfect couple, I think."

After a while, Cordy tried a rebound relationship with young Watcher, 
Wes...

Willow: "I never really saw what her attraction to him was."

I had a theory about that, and some writers seem to agree with me, 
but we'll get to that, later. There are, however, still C/W shippers 
out there...

Cordy: "Well, yeah, he's a dork, but he's a nice one."

After her move to LA, she became aquainted with Doyle, the half demon 
who was assisting Angel. This seemed to be leading somewhere, until 
Doyle's tragic and unexpected death...

Buffy: "What do you mean unexpected?!!! It was all over the net!"

...But writers have maintained this one, either through alternate 
timelines where he survived, or by ressurecting him. Others, 
however, chose other romantic paths for Cordy. We'll start with..

Cordy/Buffy...

Buffy: "Mmmmm..."

This one frequently builds at the time Cordy breaks up with Xander. 
Regardless of what Xander or Willow may feel, the Slayer wants to 
keep Cordy close. One thing leads to another, usually after a few 
wine coolers, and they fall in love. One writer managed to write an 
entire series fitting within Season 3 canon, and make it believable...

Willow: "Um, what about Wes?"
Cordy: "Oh, that was just for show, and to keep him distracted from 
Buffy."
Faith: "Um, one thing I'm wondering. With me, B, and Willow, there 
were hints on the show that we went for girls. Cordy always seemed 
to be batting for the other team. Not that I'm complainin'..."
Cordy: "You'd BETTER not be..."

True. But, with fanfic, writers aren't limited. As it's never been 
out and out stated on the series that Cordy is definately, 100%, 
hetero, she's free to be bi, at least."

Faith: "Oh, cool!"

Others have thought that she should have taken up with the other 
injured party during the W/X fluke, leading to...

Cordy/Oz...

Cordy: "A lot of people forget that I knew Oz long before Willow 
did. Harmony and I used to hang out with his band. We both dated 
the singer at one time or another..."
Harmony: "Yeah, 'til you decided Xander was more important than 
me..."
Willow: "Uh oh... Who invited her?"

Oh, that was me. Since she's a part of this discussion, I thought we 
should include her.

Buffy: "Oh.. Great..."
Harmony: "I LOVED you!!! I worshipped you!!! You called me a 
sheep!!! Well, I'm not a sheep, now..."

Yes, we have...

Cordy/Harmony...

The basis here is, since Cordy likes girls, she was probably playing 
around with Harmony, which would give Cordy's rejection of her for 
Xander a new wrinkle. Add to that that Cordy took the band with 
her. Now that Harmony's a vampire, there are all sorts of 
possibilities here. Speaking of vampires, now that Cordy's working 
for one, we have...

Cordy/Angel...

Harmony: "I remember him!!! Salty goodness!!!"
Buffy: "What?!"
Cordy: "Ohhh, nooo..."
Harmony: "We were at the Bronze one night, you know, the episode 
where you were trying to date Owen, and Angel walked in, and Cordy 
said 'Hello, salty goodness!'"
Willow: "Snicker..."
Harmony: "And then she said to call an ambulance because he was 
going to need oxygen when she was through with him..."
Buffy: "HAHAHAHA!!! He doesn't even breathe..!"
Cordy: "Just shoot me, now.."

But, that's not the only vampire she's been shipped with. There's 
also...

Cordy/Spike...

This one is based on, um, Spike saying she looked great, once. 
Another popular ship is...

Cordy/Giles...

This is based on the idea that Wes, who she initially described as 
Giles, the Next Generation, was just serving as a substitute for he 
real thing, and that Cordy had a thing for Ripper...

Willow: "You, too?"
Cordy: "Yeah..."

After Cordy broke up with Xander, he eventually took up with Anya, 
1100 year old vengeance demon. Some, however, have had her and Cordy 
bond, leading to...

Cordy/Anya...

Anya: "Yes, that was very pleasant and satisfying."
Willow: "Right, that sounded so romantic..."

And, of course, can anyone not be shipped with the other Slayer...?

Cordy/Faith...

Faith: "Hey, I want, I take, I have."

It also helps that you're one of the few potential ships Cordy has in 
LA. There are a couple of other options. For example...

Cordy/Kate...

Buffy: "But she hates all of us!"

True, but this started before she became adversarial. Not that being 
adversarial stops writers, as we see with...

Cordy/Lindsey...

Buffy: (shrug) "Why not?"

Of course, we can't forget what seems to be the most popular of 
lesbian shippings for Cordy...

Cordy/Willow...

Faith: "Oh yeah, they're such tight buds..."

Well, maybe all that hostility is just covering something deeper. 
There's been some truly amazing stories on this subject. Finally, 
there's the one some writers couldn't resist...

Cordy/Phantom Dennis...

Willow: "Who's that?"
Buffy: "Oh, he's her roommate, and a ghost."
Willow: "OK... That's getting a little weird..."
Faith: "Does that mean we're done?"

Yes, and you and Buffy can get back to what you were doing.

Buffy: "Cool!" (To Cordy) "And no mind numbing headaches, please.."