[Hsadman]

Heh, I can understand why previous romance threads would of been closed :P

Anyhow, here's my 2 cents

Please note these are all my own personal opinions based on how I viewed the show

The three main candidates for Lelouch -

C.C. - His comrade, one he can get close to.

Kallen - His sub coordinate, who falls for him for his acts as Zero

Shirley - His classmate, who had feelings for him before even the start of the series, for 'Lelouch'

Remember, these are just my opinions.

C.C.

Now, I'm gonna say this off the bat, I just don't see a romantic essence for Lelouch x C.C.

Don't kill me now.

Even though it was a wonderful companionship, I never really felt anything that evolved past 'Brother - Sister'

Sorry


Kallen

Ok, this is perhaps a somewhat unrequited love, let me repeat, Somewhat.

Not really because he doesn't like Kallen, more because he didn't let anyone get too close to him, in fear he might hurt them. (Ironic, is it not?) Although, if Lelouch slipped for her, and let her get close to him, things would've ended up quite differently.

So in reality, the poor girl never had a chance, however, you can see that Lelouch acts in a different manner to her, he definitely had feelings for her, and wished for her to not get involved with him.


Shirley


Here it is, Wonder Girl.

Ok now, in this case Shirley has an unfair advantage over the other two, she knew Lelouch for the longest period of time, so she was already in Lelouch's heart at some degree.

Lelouch decided to lock her out as well, but was unsuccessful, leading to the Mao Arc. So he made as much of a distance as possible between the two, as wished for Kallen, he didn't want to hurt her.

Now comes R2,

Again, he decides to lock Shirley out, but ends up reaching for her as emotional support, he opened for her, (He could've done so for Kallen, or C.C.)

I can see two reasons to why he picked Shirley

A - He wanted to pursue a normal life with Shirley (However in that way I don't see why Kallen wouldn't be fit, maybe Shirley just fits better in that scenario?)

And the more likely

B - He realizes that even through all the struggles her puts her through, she repetitively falls for him, for 'Lelouch'. He felt as if he could reach out to someone and connect with who he really was, some sort of support to overlap the solitude caused by his 'Masked Life'. She becomes his emotional support.

I wouldn't really stress this point if it weren't for his actions upon her death. I mean, he didn't even react that way on Nunally's 'Deaths' (The one with Mao, then the one before his Rolo scene.)

He simply lost what he made his emotional support. A support even before Shirley, would've been Euphie.

Think of it this way, he has feelings for Shirley, but does not allow himself to love Shirley, exact same statement works for Kallen. However, he failed in completely not allowing himself to have feelings for Shirley, not love, but enough for him to open up to her.

Verdict

As I see it, if all girls survived to the end, and Lelouch had the opportunity to pick one of them to pursue a normal life with

It would probably be Shirley, just because she has the least affiliation with 'The Black Knights,' and with Geass in general. And would be happy with him as 'Lelouch.'

However, with some more development with Kallen and 'Lelouch', the same scenario can be achieved with her.

But for C.C., again I don't see a romantic spark, that and well, she's incredibly involved in the whole Geass predicament, can't really go after a 'Normal Life' with her. Maybe with more development, he could've taken up relation with her.

(Oh and if you must know, I ship LelouShirley. Only because of the tragic speech by her. But the Harem is very close behind. The juicy...juicy harem....what were we talking about?)