Hey there! I was asked – or rather, challenged, but in a good way – to do this AU Buffy oneshot with the pairing of Cordelia Chase and Xander Harris by a friend of mine named Ormus45, who favorited my Cordelia/Dawn songfic oneshot "Green Christmas", and suggested that I try my hand at a oneshot where Cordelia is either still with Xander or got back together with him. So I did. :)
So, after reading the story "Beauty Is Truth" by Anna Guest, I was so inspired that I cooked this up. (Of course, I decided to make it up as I go along, because, after all, making up a story as you go along is, and should be, a good thing.)
In this AU, the events of Lovers Walk never happened, and Cordelia and Xander are still together.
Disclaimer: Genius Joss Whedon owns Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I own the songfics, oneshots, poems, stories and novellas I cook up from time to time.
Beauty Is Truth
While her boyfriend Alexander "Xander" Harris sat next to her on the bed in her bedroom, Cordelia "Cordy" Chase was sitting looking at the poem "Ode on a Grecian Urn", which she had read was in a story called "Beauty Is Truth" by author Anna Guest. The story itself was quite something, Cordelia thought. The words that caught her eye were:
"Beauty is truth, truth beauty, –– that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know."
"I don't get it, Xander," Cordelia finally said. "What, exactly, do these lines mean, anyway?"
Xander thought for a moment, and then replied,
"Well, maybe it's talking about life, love, literature and pain. And by the way, speaking of pain, I've lived with that myself because of – well, you know."
Cordelia did know. She had seen what his father had done to him when Daddy Dearest was drunk.
"I'm really sorry, Xander," she said, feeling genuinely remorseful – something that, deep down, she usually kept to herself... until now, that is. "It's just that I look at you, and I wonder – how can anybody cope with being in an alcoholic home or being abused by their father when said father is an alcoholic?"
Xander couldn't think of anything to say, witty or otherwise. Luckily, Cordelia took that as a sign that he was asking himself that same question. But then, Xander said,
"I don't know, Cordy. I guess it's because I hold onto something very special."
"Really?" asked Cordelia. She was interested, and her curiosity was piqued as well.
"Yeah," Xander nodded. "It's called hope – hope with a capital H, of course."
Wow, thought Cordelia. For once in her life, she was unable to think of a reply to say to that.
It was the silence that spoke for the both of them.
Well, I hope you like this oneshot as much as I liked writing it. After all, making up a story as you go along is a good thing, especially for a writer like me. :)
~Nightcrawlerlover