Heather was not happy.
The vote was meant to be so simple. She, Gwen, and Cody were all meant to form a solid voting bloc against Courtney and get her eliminated for throwing challenges, but now thanks to the cord of Sierra's bungee slipping off of her during the challenge, she had to be medically evacuated so Courtney was able to stay for another day and what's worse is that with one of their strongest team members gone, there still being tension between Gwen and Courtney, and the fact Chris had yet to announce the merge, Heather was in quite a pickle.
If the next challenge was an elimination challenge, there was no doubt Courtney was going to not so subtly throw it so she can eliminate Gwen but what's worse is that Alejandro seemed to be controlling the game with his band full of testosterone brothers and having Courtney wrapped around his finger. Heather knew she needed an ally when the merge was announced and she knew Gwen was not a solid option due to their past rivalry and the fact that she was now involved with Duncan which meant Heather had to rely on Cody instead.
Heather knew that Cody was pretty loyal to Gwen but considering his reaction to the whole "Gwuncan situation", she was unsure how much his loyalty to Gwen would sway him forever and that was something she could use to his advantage. So once everyone was asleep, Heather had woke Cody up and told him to meet her in the cargo hold and although he was tired, he agreed to meet her there.
"What is so important that you had to wake me up so late in the night?" Cody asked crankily which made Heather roll her eyes but she knew she had to keep her cool.
"Look, I know you have this thing where you swore loyalty to Gwen even at her lowest but even if you keep saving her from elimination, do you really think she cares enough about you to save you over friends like Owen and especially her boyfriend later on?" Heather asked inquisitively which made Cody look downcast, which Heather was almost saddened to see, almost of course. That just meant he was processing her words.
"No… I doubt she'd want to keep me over Duncan." Cody sighed solemnly.
"Oh, chin up." Heather smirked enthusiastically at the geek, "Even if your chances with goth girl are basically zilch at this point, you can still potentially win a million dollars and I'm willing to help you reach the final two with me."
Cody just raised an eyebrow at this statement which worried Heather a bit.
"Why would you want to help me? We haven't spoken much." Cody asked curiously.
"Because out of everyone left, I am not working with any member of the love triangle, Alejandro gives me the ick, and Owen is way too annoying. Contrary to what you might believe, I have some level of respect for you." Heather said in annoyance which wasn't exactly a lie. Despite being an absolute geek, Cody has managed to do the bare minimum and not infuriate Heather. The closest he came to doing so was when how he failed to handle Sierra's issues properly in Paris and even then, even she's reasonable enough to realize that it was Sierra he had to deal with after all.
"Oh… thanks I guess." Cody said with a bit of surprise, "I guess we can work together, but you can't vote for Gwen until the final four at least."
"Fine." Heather rolled her eyes, of course he'd make that one of his conditions. Whatever, Gwen was the second least annoying contestant on the plane so far anyway and Cody was at least smart enough to only extend that deal to the final four so she could agree to those terms.
Once the two formed their alliance, they went back to sleep in economy class only for Heather to wake up to the sound of Alejandro and Courtney's obnoxious flirting. Seriously, why couldn't that idiot stay in first class? He already stole Team Amazon's rightful victory last time, there was no need to invade their space. Regardless, Heather knew that Alejandro was only doing this to spite her so of course, she decided to fight fire with fire.
"Oh. Did I just sit on some gum?" Heather feigned worry as she stood up with her butt facing Cody, hoping he would take the bait.
"Uh… I don't think so." Cody raised an eyebrow as he took a look behind Heather to make sure. Perfect, for as much as Heather could appreciate Cody's intellect, the boy was an absolute fool in social situations at times.
"You sure?" Heather smirked a bit seductively as she shook her butt a little in Cody's direction, making the geek blush a little.
"Uh… definitely sure. No gum to be found." Cody said with a nervous frown which got Alejandro to stop play-feeding Courtney a cookie to look at the scene in shock.
"Thanks. That's all I needed to know." Heather smiled at Cody as she grabbed his shoulder in appreciation which made Alejandro start to sweat while Gwen looked skeptical at Heather's antics.
"Uh… why did we stop?" Courtney asked, oblivious yet annoyed, at Alejandro's staring to which the Spaniard shook off his obvious jealousy and smiled nervously at Courtney.
"Apologies. That scene Heather was putting on was a bit distracting." Alejandro chuckled nervously but from Courtney's glare, it didn't look like she bought it. Excellent.
After that, the plane ended up landing in Sweden and since Chris McCheapskate didn't get them any coats, they decided to huddle up for body warmth. Heather was a bit surprised when she saw Gwen reject Duncan's attempt at hugging her but while Courtney still seemed a bit apprehensive of Alejandro's actions earlier, she still leaned into his embrace when he offered his "Latin warmth". Well if it worked once, she might as well do it again.
"Mind helping me stay warm?" Heather asked in an overly affectionate tone as she embraced Cody which made the geek blush crimson red. Heather wasn't sure how she was able to provoke this strong of a reaction from him but she certainly wasn't going to complain, not when she could secure his loyalty away from Gwen and piss off Alejandro at the same time.
The events of the challenge however, were less than ideal. Courtney and Gwen constantly argued during the building process and Heather certainly wasn't going to interfere with that, and even when they did manage to make a boat, it was not nearly as well put together as the guys although she had to give credit to Cody, he was able to give their team a decent enough boat to compete with them, but when the teams went to war to race to catch the flag in the second part, it was clear their team was toast, especially once Owen used himself as a human cannonball.
Like Heather promised, she had ended up voting for Courtney at elimination but much to everyone's annoyance, it ended up being a reward challenge instead but today wasn't a total loss. She not only pissed off Alejandro but was able to get more leeway with Cody and learn that his hormones extend to more girls than just Gwen. However, that didn't stop Gwen from pulling Heather aside with a sour look on her face as the two were heading back to economy class.
"I know what you're trying to do with Cody. I may not be into him, but he doesn't deserve to be toyed with like the way you're doing." Gwen glared at the Queen Bee who just smirked at her.
"What I do with Cody is none of your business. You lost any right to complain about my morals after kissing Duncan back in London." Heather said haughtily, "And besides, if you had any claim to Cody, you've probably lost it by now."
Okay, that last part was probably a lie but the more she could taunt Gwen and throw off her game, the better.
After a near death experience involving Niagara Falls, it was finally merge day but in less happy news, a new competitor was joining the game. Some random blonde woman named Blaineley who claimed she was super famous. Heather gave her two episodes before she ended up getting eliminated.
The challenge ended up being marriage themed and as such, they had to work in pairs. The pairs ended up being Owen and Blaineley, Duncan and Courtney, Alejandro and Gwen, and her and Cody. This almost seemed too easy.
The first part of the challenge was for the grooms to guide their blindfolded bride through a wedding themed obstacle course. Despite a few hiccups with one involving Heather's face being smeared in cake, Cody managed to get Heather to the dress just before Alejandro and Gwen did, and after watching Duncan constantly mislead her, Alejandro ended up leading Courtney to her dress as well. Blaineley eventually made it to her dress despite Owen's horrible directions so all of them were cleared to head to the next challenge which was to walk on a tightrope to clear customs across the falls, aka answer trivia questions about Canada from Chef.
Since Heather and Cody won the first part of the challenge, they got to go first in which Heather, despite being the bride, immediately picked Cody up. She'd prefer to be carried herself but she wasn't stupid enough to let Cody drop her into shark infested waters, plus Cody looked kinda cute with the way Heather held him in her arms.
Wait, did I just say Cody was cute?! Ugh, I need to focus.
"So mind telling me why you were so distracted earlier?" Heather asked angrily to which Cody just sighed miserably.
"I'm sorry. I saw Alejandro whisper something into Gwen's ear and make her blush. I know I'm trying to get over her but it still hurts to know that even the newbie can entice Gwen more than me." Cody said solemnly, which made Heather narrow her eyes at the mention of the goth. She had expected for Cody to not be over Gwen by this point but for some reason, it still… hurt that Heather's flirting wasn't enough to dissuade Cody from his stupid crush but she didn't understand why.
"I… can't relate, but I'm sure the feeling sucks. I'm sorry to hear that." Heather said awkwardly which surprised Cody before he smiled at her.
"Thanks Heather, you can be really nice at times." Cody complimented Heather which made her blush a little. Heather chalked it up to her secret desire to be seen as the good guy for once in her life. Nothing more, nothing less.
Thankfully, the rest of the challenge was smooth sailing and Heather and Cody were able to get themselves immunity. Much to her surprise, Gwen had confided in Heather and Cody to vote off Duncan. Apparently, Gwen was annoyed with how he was fighting Alejandro for Courtney's affections back in Australia and Alejandro had managed to convince her and Courtney into voting the delinquent off.
Heather was a little confused by this but was all too happy to oblige to eliminating a big threat but now that Gwen was single again, Heather might start to loosen her grip on Cody due to the goth being available and Heather did not want to lose what she had with Cody at this point.
So once the two of them were sitting on a couch in first class together, Heather finally decided to pull out her biggest move yet.
"Hey Cody… being allies with you has been quite an experience for me so far and I kinda wanna try something to help you get over Gwen… that is if you'll let me." Heather said with some timidness in her voice as she cupped Cody's cheek as if to insinuate to Cody what she was planning and given his blush, it seemed to be processing.
"I guess you can… just do what makes you feel comfortable." Cody smiled reassuringly which made Heather smirk before enveloping Cody into a kiss and immediately leaning Cody's head onto the armchair of the couch so that Heather could assume a dominant position over him.
It all immediately clicked into Heather's brain once she kissed Cody that she actually had feelings for the geek. That explained why she was so jealous of his crush on Gwen and why she was having so many positive thoughts surrounding him.
Heather was no fool of course. What she had with Cody right now wasn't love or anything but there was definitely something between the two of them and she was going to enjoy exploring it.
Though she might need to start plotting Gwen's elimination sooner than later, if only to guarantee Cody stays her's no matter what.
Author's Note: Not gonna lie, this version of Codeather lowkey reminds me of Jaiden pre-development in Disventure Camp but since it's Codeather, it is still infinitely more likable. Hope you enjoyed this.