Option B

"Why couldn't I have a mother who gave a shit about me?" Cordelia softly said.

Looking at Anya and making sure she was looking at him and not his sobbing girlfriend, a scorned woman being Anyanka's normal source of work, Xander made a wish.

"I wish you had that mother, Cordy, a mother who loved you and cared about you and put your wellbeing and emotions over anything else."

Xander watched with anticipation as Anya bowed her head and worked her magic.

Cordy paused in her soft crying. Eventually there was a strangled chuckle.

"What?" Xander asked.

Cordy wiped away the tears on her cheeks and looked up at Xander. "I've got a great Mom, Y'know?"

Xander raised his eyebrows in a silent question. Wondering how his wish changed things.

"After Daddy got picked up by the feds... well, you know how Mom stoll does modeling work?" Actually, he hadnt known that. Mainly because in the old timeline Chelsea Chase stopped modeling after getting married to David Chase almost twenty years ago. Cordy unaware of his reality rewriting wish continued with him barely having time to nod, "Well, she was in the virgin islands on a swimsuit photo shoot but once I called her she bailed on the job, jumped a red eye and was here as fast as she could be."

Xander smiled down at Cordelia and rubbed her shoulders, "That's great. I'm glad you weren't all alone with all... that... happening."

Cordelia pressed her head back into his chest and nodded. "Mom's been great. If she wasn't here.... God, I dont want to even think about how I would have handled that."

"You would have handled it like an absolute badass, cause you are you." Xander said with conviction having just dealt with version of Cordelia who had to deal with being abandoned by her parents.

Cordy giggled into his chest. "Doofus."

"So are things okay with you Mom, finance wise? Did the I.R.S. take her money too?" He asked.

"Thank god, no. Mom had her money seperate."

Xander tried to think of what else she might have lost to the I.R.S. "Your house?"

Cordelia winced, "We, ugh, we lost the mansion." Cordelia tried to smile, "But Mom does own that beach house, the one she turned into a rental. So we moved into that."

"It's a nice place." Xander tried to sound supportive.

"It's not home." Cordelia frowned.

Xander was silent. He knew it was better than a federally funded one bedroom apartment. But he couldn't say that.

Cordelia groaned, "Of course if we live in that house it means Mom's not earning anything from it. We were lucky that the last renter moved out two months ago, so its free and any damage has been fixed. I dont want to think about how screwed we'd be if it was occupied."

"True." He ran his hand through her long hair reassuringly. "So what is your mom going to do?"

Cordelia made a face, "She hit up everyone she's ever known or met in the biz for work. She practically went begging hat in hand." Cordelia sniffed, "Because of me."

Xander pulled her head back and kissed her forehead, "I think thats one of the bravest things I've ever heard. It must have been very hard on her. But I know, like me, your mom thinks you are worth it."

Cordelia winced, "Mom said the same thing. She is gonna bust her butt to make sure that I can still go to college at Columbia."

"That's great." He had no idea she'd been accpeted into a big league school like Columbia. He idly wondered if that was a wish effect or something that had happened even in the old time line.

Cordelia still looked upset, "Yay, whoopity doo, my mother has to debase herself for me to get a stupid overpriced diploma. I told her I could go to college here in Sunnydale. Ugh, we got into a huge fight about it."

"Okay, I'm obviously missing some context here. What is your mom doing that so debasing?"

Cordelia let her head drop and let out a long low groan. "Mom got a Playboy shoot locked in. Chelsea Chase finally showing all the goods is a big selling point, apparently. Just in time for the new millennium or whatever. No more no nudity clauses in her contracts. Its a big payday... supposedly. "

Xander blinked in surprise. He didnt really know this version of Chelsea Chase but that would have been a big no-no for the old Chelsea Chase. "Right. I can see the reason for that. But... I mean... not to be callus... but Playboy isn't that, erm, bad?"

Cordelia groaned again, "It isnt. But..." she groaned angrily.

"But?" He prodded.

Cordelia whined. "But Mom actually heard back from a producer guy she knew in Hollywood and he's willing to pay her six million bucks, two million each movie, to star in a trilogy he's making."

"And that's... bad?" Xander asked in confusion.

"It's porn. It's basically porn. One step up from, basically." Cordelia growled.

"Ah." Xander now understood. "Skinamax."

Cordelia hissed and slapped his chest, "NO!"

Rubbing his chest and being very confused he just raised his eyebrows in question.

"Ugggh." Cordelia stomped her foot. "This skeevy producer guy wants to do something like Nine and Half Weeks meets Basic Instinct meets Body of Evidence and American Gigolo."

Xander blinked, "I understood all of those words, but everything you just said makes no sense."

"Its the story of a normal housewife who meets a younger man and has an affair and things get out of control and then theresomes, lesbianism and bondage and kinky crap, then murders happen and things fall apart and it all ends with her divorced and happily living as a highly paid dominatrix."

Xander stared blankly at Cordelia. "Well... that's... something."

Cordelia huffed and leveled a glare at him.

He shrugged his shoulders, "What else can I say? That's so far out there...."

Cordelia groaned an pushed her head back into his chest. "Fuuuuck. I know." She whimpered, "God, at least I won't be in high school when the really pervy shit comes out."

Keeping his mouth shut Xander didnt mention that he kinda wanted to see those movies. And Cordelia's very attractive mother in them.