All spelling errors in the text messages are Britta's.

Chapter Five

Jeff could normally sleep through anything, especially when he was exhausted, like now. However, he woke up quickly, holding up his phone in the dark to check the time, seeing it was just after five in the morning. Four hours' sleep, he thought groggily, I should be out like a light. He slowly scanned the room, finally turning and looking at the bed next to his chair. Starting at his hand, where Annie's warm, soft hand covered his own, he slowly trailed his eyes up - Wait. My hand was covering hers when I went to sleep, right? - and found himself staring into a pair of achingly beautiful blue doe eyes he'd recognize anywhere.

Annie stared back at him, clearly with a question in her eyes. Jeff allowed himself to drown in them for a minute that seemed to last forever while at the same time ending way too quickly before breaking off to close his eyes and rub his free hand over his face and hair in relief.

Releasing her hand, he stood. "I'm going to get a nurse. I'll be right back, okay?" He waited until she acknowledged him with a tiny nod, then walked briskly to the nurse's station down the hall. He returned with a nurse in tow, and leaned silently in the doorway while the nurse checked Annie's vitals and made some notations on her chart. The nurse departed as quickly as she had appeared, leaving them alone once more.

"How do you feel?" he asked as he took his seat next to her. Annie opened her mouth to respond, but no sound came out. She paused, her hand going to her throat before miming that she wanted a drink. Jeff smiled, his eyes crinkling as he poured her a glass from a pitcher of ice water on the side table. He put a straw in it and handed it to her, and after a few sips Annie cleared her throat and was able to rasp "Worn out. Sick to my stomach. Humiliated. All of the above, actually." She paused and lowered her eyes before quietly asking in a quavering voice "I really screwed up, didn't I?"

"We both did, Annie." When she looked up at him, tears staining her cheeks, he continued "Your mistake was in not trusting me or your other friends to help you when you needed it. Mine was not being a good friend and ignoring you for two months."

"Jeff, you stayed away from me because I told you to."

"You told me to because I was being a terrible friend. I led the charge to get Pierce out of the study group and didn't consider your feelings about it - All right, Winger. Here we go - or pretty much anything else between us." He stopped himself, turning his head sideways to look at her.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that there have been a lot of times when you tried to talk to me about us, and I shut you down every time, and you deserve mo-"

The rest of his sentence is drowned out by the arrival of Shirley and Britta, who immediately surround Annie on both sides of the bed. Shirley wraps Annie up in a hug, tears streaming down her cheeks as Britta awkwardly tries to join in by leaning across the bed. When they finally broke away from each other, all three women were crying silently.

"Ann-ie, we've been so worried about you, sweetie! Haven't we, Britta?"

"Yeah, Annie. You really scared us," Britta replied. "Why didn't you tell us you were hooked again?"

Annie glanced at Jeff before turning to Britta, "Because I didn't want to bother anyone. I wanted to prove I could be an adult and handle work and school instead of the child everyone thinks I am, and I ended up proving you guys right all along!" she managed to get out before she broke down, sobbing. Shirley and Britta quickly hugged Annie again as Jeff stood at the foot of the bed.

Shirley sat up and looked kindly at Jeff. "Jeff, you can go home and get some sleep. I'll be here for awhile."

"Yeah, Jeff. You look like crap. Especially your hair," Britta said. "Thanks for that," Jeff sarcastically replied.

"Don't mention it. Besides, that'll give me time to tell Annie about my summer protesting adventures."

"I thought Annie was your friend," Jeff smirked before adding "On second thought, the nurse did say Annie should get as much sleep as she can, so go for it." He looked at Annie, who was still wiping her cheeks when she laughed at their back-and-forth. She met his eyes, blushing slightly before saying "Hurry back."

He smiled and headed for the door, walking to the elevator. When the doors opened, he got in, hitting the Lobby button. When the doors closed, he groaned out loud, banging the back of his head against the wall. You blew it, Jeff. Very smooth. You managed to leave her hanging AGAIN. He couldn't help feeling a little resentful towards Shirley and Britta for showing up when they did. They have terrible timing. Why couldn't they have shown up just a few minutes later? Of course, I didn't help matters by scurrying out of there with my tail between my legs. He stood up from where he'd been leaning against the wall when the doors opened onto the lobby, starting for the parking lot. As he neared the reception desk, he noticed a familiar figure turning to head towards the waiting area.

"Pierce?"

Pierce stopped and turned to face him. "Hello, Jeffrey."

"Aren't you going up to see Annie?"

"I was going to wait until she's alone. I'd hate to cramp anyone's style more than I already have the past two years."

"Listen, Pierce-"

"No, you listen, Jeff. I don't want your pity. I'm here for Annie. Not you or anyone else in the study group."

"Pierce we're all here for Annie. Well, not Troy and Abed. They're somewhere between LA and Denver, probably trying to make an indie hijack movie on their plane…You know what - not the point. The point is, Annie's not just your favorite, she's everybody's. Doesn't that give us some common ground? The fact that you're paying all of her medical bills tells me that you do genuinely care, and that's enough for me."

Pierce muttered under his breath before reluctantly nodding his head. He walked into the elevator and hit the button for Annie's floor, looking at Jeff just as the door was closing. "That was gayer than most of your Winger speeches, Jeff. Did you finally come out of the closet this summer?"

Jeff didn't have time to respond before the doors closed. He shook his head and resumed his trek to the parking lot, realizing that he couldn't expect a complete one-eighty from Pierce overnight. Baby steps, Jeff. No matter how annoying he is, he's a part of Annie's support system, and she needs all of us right now.

Twenty minutes later, he unlocked the door to his apartment and walked in, heading directly to the bedroom. He pulled a shirt from his closet, adding it to the jeans, socks, briefs, and belt already laid out on his bed. He pulled off his clothes and turned the shower onto it's hottest setting, letting it beat down on his head, neck and shoulders as he stood under it. When he finally turned it off and stepped out to dry off, he saw that he had a few texts from Britta:

6:04 am

Pierce just left. That was wierd. He asked for a few minutes w Annie, and when he left he looked like he'd been crying. Annie's eyes were red too when we came back in. She wouldn't say why though.

6:37 am

Hey Douche. Annies asleep and probly will b for awhile so go ahead and get some sleep cuz Shirley is staying with her. Im going to Denver to wait for Troy and Abed.

He looked at the alarm clock on his nightstand. 6:48. I need some sleep so I'm making sense when I talk to Annie. Huh. When, not if. That's new. Jeff smiled at the thought as he thoroughly brushed and flossed his teeth, finishing with some mouthwash before grabbing his phone and texting Shirley:

How's she doing?

Better. The poor dear is exhausted. The doctor was here and gave her a sleeping pill. He told me she'll be asleep for at least 12 hours, so you go ahead and get some sleep too. Just make sure you're back by five, I have to pick up Ben from Andre's parents before six.

OK. I'll be back at five.

That's fine, Jeffrey. Sweet dreams.

He hooked his phone up to it's charger when his stomach growled and he realized he hadn't eaten since his lunch break the day before. He went to the kitchen and made himself a quick meal of scrambled eggs and toast, eating it standing at the kitchen counter.

Jeff set his alarm for 3 pm before turning off the light and tumbling into bed in boxers and a t-shirt, falling asleep again almost immediately. He barely stirred before his alarm went off eight hours later. He stood up and looked in the mirror. Time to man up, Winger.