Author's note: This is the last chapter of this story and contains it's own epilogue so there'll be no more. Thanks to everybody who has read, commented and given kudos and especially thanks to Jeffwik who has beta read every last chapter and contributed in countless ways to making it a better written and constructed story. Cheers:-)

XXXXXX

Well, I worked up more than a light sweat for her this time, Jeff thought with a soft smile on his face as he looked down at Annie - naked, glowing Annie - curled up against the left side of his body with her hand idly tracing patterns on his chest. Jeff's left hand traced the line of her backbone all the way down, ending with Annie shifting position to get closer while Jeff marvelled that her ass seemed to be exactly the right size for his hand and wondering why the heck he'd taken so long to find that particular important fact out.

"Uh-hmm?" Annie mumbled questioningly. Jeff had just chuckled softly at something.

Oh, nothing," he said.

"Jeeeeffff-" Annie looked straight up at him, her eyes huge and bright.

Oh crap, it's even worse now! Jeff thought wryly. "It just occured to me," he said, smirking at her. "You approach sex the same way you approach making a diorama. Don't make a diorama of this by the way."

"What?" Annie sat up, shocked.

Jeff allowed himself to be distracted for a brief moment then looked her in the eyes, still smirking. "You attack it with a ferocious, single minded attention to detail, regular demands on me to work harder and an absolute refusal to be satisfied with a mere passing grade and a determination to continue until you're guaranteed an A+."

Annie beamed suddenly. " I got an A+?"

Trust that to be what makes her happy, Jeff thought fondly. "Good luck exchanging it for college credit-" Annie's face actually fell slightly at that "-but yes Annie, you got an A+."

Annie's eyes went intense and her smile changed in a way that sent shivers up Jeff's spine. "Let me show you it wasn't a fluke…" she said, kissing his chest and starting to work her way upwards.

Jeff gasped. This girl is going to be the death of me, he thought. But it's going to be one heck of a way to go…

XXXXXX

Annie stayed at Jeff's for the rest of the weekend. Apart from one visit to her old apartment to fetch some more of her things and listen to her landlord's excuses about how long it would take to get things fixed, they never went out until it was time to go to work on Monday morning. When Annie started looking at bus timetables, Jeff told her not to be so absurd and took her in in the Lexus.

When she made it down to the Archives, Simon took one hard look at the expression on her face and nodded. "About time too," he said. "If he starts acting like a jerk again, tell me. I have friends."

"Thanks Simon," Annie said softly, her face melting as she closed in for a hug. "I think it's going to be okay."

Jeff and Annie fell into a comfortable pattern. They would go in together, meet up for lunch and whoever finished first would go and hang out at the other's workplace until they were ready to go. One night Jeff was working late and offered to arrange a cab for her, Annie told him not to be so absurd and fetched coffee and sandwiches for the both of them. She sat on the guest chair in the corner of his office for the rest of the night, acting as a sounding board as required but otherwise just keeping him company.

The following week Jeff's friend Mark returned from his diving holiday in Australia. After greetings and stories had been exchanged Mark dolefully told him about how when Ted had returned from New York he had poached Mark's secretary. Jeff slapped Mark across the shoulder, told him he was about to do him a really big favour, and took him down to the archives to meet a highly organised, ferociously hardworking temp who was coming to the end of her contract and would be more than willing to fill in until he could recruit a permanent secretary.

After ten minutes talking to Annie, Mark offered her a week's trial. At the end of the week, he turned up at Jeff's office with a bottle of Scotch and told him that Annie had a job until she went back to school.

When she saw him that evening, Annie excitedly embraced Jeff and asked how she could possibly repay him, so Jeff told her about his dreams - especially the first one, which remained his favorite and which he'd had several times since. Annie blushed bright red, but with some money from her first pay cheque she bought a slinky new dress and the highest heels she could stand up in. Afterwards she told Jeff she'd been dreaming too, and shortly after that a day came when she squee'd with delight as Jeff showed her the sleeveless leather jacket he'd got to match his cowboy hat.

XXXXXX

Annie never really moved back into the apartment above Dildopolis. She went back most days, had an argument with her landlord about how much time the repairs were taking and moved a few more of her things out. After two weeks had passed by, she felt a conversation was needed.

"Jeff, are we living together?" she asked while they were sitting on the couch watching a TV show.

"Why would you think that, Annie?" Jeff looked slightly shocked by the question.

"It's been fourteen nights since Shirley's barbecue, and apart from once when you had to pull an all-nighter and I stayed over with Simon and Donny I've slept here ever since."

By now, Jeff had something of a deer in the headlights look. "You know I don't like labelling things, Annie…"

"Jeff." Annie's tone was serious. "I really need to know what's going on - are we living together or are you just putting me up while my landlord fails to fix my apartment? Are we in a relationship or are we-" Annie's breath caught a little "-just friends with benefits?"

Jeff looked like he was on the verge of panicking. "Do we need to do this Annie? We're having fun, aren't we? Can't we just take it one day at a time?"

Annie fought a losing battle to stay calm. "I need certainty Jeff! I need to know whether to tell my landlord if I'm keeping the apartment or not! I need to know this -" she gestured at the space that opened up between them as she sat up and turned to face him "-means something!" She took a deep breath.

"Annie, you're overreacting-"

"I have to know where we stand, Jeff! I'm not the sort of girl who can sleep with a guy and not have it mean anything. I'm not-" Annie slammed her mouth shut as she realised what she was about to say.

"You're not what, Annie?" Jeff's tone of voice shifted from bemusement and panic to concern as he registered the depth of Annie's distress.

Annie took one look at him and all her fears and uncertainty boiled over. "I'm not Britta, okay?" she cried. "If that's what you want, go back to her!"

Jeff was knocked speechless as Annie pivoted on a heel, turned and stormed into the bedroom. The door slammed, then the was a second thud as she jammed a chair under the handle.

Jeff tried the door while yelling her name through it. It wouldn't budge and only silence came back.

XXXXXX

Annie soon learned that one disadvantage to locking herself in the bedroom during a temper tantrum was that the bathroom was on the other side of the door. She was too angry, upset and - yes - embarrassed to go back out however so she tried to force herself to go to sleep. It was useless of course, but she managed to hold out for a good four hours, by which time there had been no light or noise from the other side of the door for over an hour. Maybe he really has gone out to be with… her, Annie thought desolately. After all I told him to.

She padded over to the door and, without turning the light on, removed the chair as quietly as she could. As she moved to open the door she gasped in sudden pain as she trod on something. This time she did put the light on and saw with a puzzled frown that an envelope had been pushed under the door with her name written on the outside. She opened it and slid the note out that was inside it.

You're right, you deserve an honest answer. And the simplest one I can give you is the one that's in this envelope -

Annie interrupted her reading to tip the envelope over and she gasped slightly as a key - with a stupid, souvenir chain attached that was the perfect size to dig into someone's foot - slid out into her hand. She nodded slightly as she realised suddenly what had hurt her when she stood on it and carried on reading.

- and if I haven't ruined everything by being me then I would be honoured if this key was the only door key you ever needed again.

Jeff

Annie's face melted with relief. She went out into the main room where Jeff was curled up on the couch. She shook him gently by the shoulder.

"Annie?" he mumbled, his voice thick with sleep.

"Come on doofus, let's go to bed." Annie waved the key in front of his eyes to show him what had prompted the change of heart.

Jeff smiled back and sat up. "Hey - where are you going?"

"Bathroom," Annie said as she scurried in that direction. "I'll be with you in a few minutes."

XXXXXX

They had something approaching a proper talk the following morning. Jeff acknowledged that, yes, they were in a relationship even if they had done everything the wrong way round - going straight to sex and living together with virtually no time for dating.

"So take me out somewhere we have to dress up for then," Annie responded with a challenging expression in her eyes.

Jeff acknowledged the hit with a rueful grin and made a note to arrange something. (A few days later, when he did so, Annie put on the femme fatale outfit she'd bought after Jeff had told her about his dreams but hadn't quite had the courage to wear in public. He was quiet for a long moment afterwards - "It's just a well we're going to a really expensive restaurant," he said finally.)

Also, Annie acknowledged it probably wasn't a good idea to tell the study group just yet.

"So when are we going to do it, Jeff?"

"Erm, when's your thirtieth birthday?"

"December 19th 2020. We are not keeping it a secret that long." Annie said, pretending to glare at him while suppressing a smile at the thought Jeff seemed to be taking it for granted they'd still be together then. They eventually agreed to just enjoy the summer and tell the others some time after everyone was back at Greendale.

This presented a small problem of its own however - when they agreed that Annie would have to move her stuff out of the apartment over Dildopolis, they also realised they couldn't ask the study group for help as they would want to know where Annie was moving to.

"I'll call Simon." Annie said, reaching for her phone.

"Hi Annie, how's things?" he said when he answered the phone.

"Really good, thanks!" Annie replied brightly. "Simon, can I ask you a favour?"

"Of course girlfriend, anything."

Jeff raised an eyebrow at Annie - she had put her phone on speaker - she stuck her tongue out at him.

"Erm, you know you said you had friends…"

"Good grief! That didn't take long - do you want Jeff beaten up already? What was that?" Jeff had snorted loudly in the background.

"Erm, you're on speaker Si." Annie was blushing heavily.

"Good morning, Simon." Jeff said.

"Morning, Jeff. You know that was only half a joke, right? Annie's good people, she deserves to be treated right."

"Wouldn't have it any other way, buddy." Jeff said blandly as Annie aaawwed happily before bringing the conversation back to the subject she'd intend to raise, namely would Simon and his friends be willing to help her move out of the apartment above Dildopolis?

"And you can tell them Jeff will be laying on pizzas and beer for everyone at his place afterwards," she finished, silencing Jeff with her formidable face. He rolled his eyes at her, already knowing it was pointless arguing.

XXXXXX

"Pierce would be feeling so vindicated if he could see this," Jeff said, a smirk on his face. It was evening the following Saturday, and Simon had come through, rounding up Donny and six other guys to load up a van Jeff had hired to move Annie's things into storage while she decided what to do with everything. Afterwards, as Annie had promised they'd all come back to Jeff's and were seated in the lounge area opening pizza boxes while Annie helped Jeff get bottles of beer out of the refrigerator.

"What do you mean, Jeff?"

"Me, hosting a party consisting entirely of gay guys except for one token girl so I could keep lying to myself."

Annie rolled her eyes at him. "Only half of them are gay, Jeff. The rest are just friends."

Jeff took a good, long at Annie and especially the way she was dressed - shorts and halter top for hard work in hot weather - and grinned in a way that still made her blush slightly. Yeah, you will have found out who the straight guys are, he thought to himself. "That explains something," he said instead.

"What, Jeff?" Annie was looking puzzled.

"Only two guys asked for my phone number. I was getting worried domesticity was causing me to lose my sex appeal," he smirked at her.

"Then we're going to have to show them you're taken then, aren't we?" Annie beamed up at him before wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him in for a kiss.

"Eeeewww, straight people making out!" a cheerful voice cried from the lounge.

XXXXXX

The plan to keep their relationship secret from the rest of the study group almost collapsed a couple of weeks later when Abed reminded Jeff of his promise to host a guy's film night, and unable to think of a good reason to refuse, they managed to schedule it for a Saturday when Simon and Donny had invited Annie out nightclubbing (to be fair they did invite Jeff too, but he backed out of it when he realised he would have real competition for the title of sharpest dressed guy in the room for once). After spending most of the day frantically de-Annieing the apartment, followed by showering and getting dressed, Annie was finally ready to go.

"That outfit's going to be wasted tonight, you know." Jeff said with a soft smile - Annie was wearing her yellow dress again, though with flats this time ("easier for dancing," she'd said).

"It's so Simon can tell his mom I'm wearing it and it looks good on me," she said doing the happy little bob she still did whenever Jeff complimented her.

"Yeah it does," Jeff was still looking fondly at her as he pulled her in for a soft kiss. "You go and have a good time, but not too good." he finished with a wink.

Annie tsked him with a quick eye roll. "You don't need to worry - Britta will be chaperoning me."

This took Jeff by surprise. "Britta?"

"She's been nagging me to take her partying with the boys ever since she found out I had gay friends," Annie said. "I think she's desperate to show how relaxed and tolerant she is."

"After all she did live in New York," said Jeff as they shared a slightly exasperated smirk at their friend's expense.

"So I think you can rely on her to gossip up a storm if I hook up with anybody," Annie finished. She stood up on tiptoe to give him another kiss - they hadn't separated since the previous one - and reluctantly eased herself free. "Have a nice night with the boys Jeff, and I'll see you tomorrow."

"You too, Annie." He said as she skipped over to the door and, with a final wave and smile, slipped through.

As the door closed, Jeff attended to the last piece of de-Anniefication by taking out a can of air freshener and liberally spraying it around to mask any lingering scent of her perfume, then poured himself a Scotch to pass the time while waiting for the guys to arrive, feeling pretty good that they'd managed to outsmart his guests.

XXXXXX

"Co do cholery!" Pavel yelled in surprise as he pulled something out from behind a pillow and held it up - the guys had been there barely five minutes, and had only had time to exchange greetings, put out snacks, help themselves to beer (and in Abed's case, hand over a bag of his dad's coffee beans) and make themselves comfortable.

"Yes Jeff, what is that?" Abed said as Pavel held up something flimsy, white and lacy.

Jeff could almost see the gears going round in Abed's brain as he processed this piece of evidence. "It's a bra, Abed." He practically froze as he desperately sought a way to explain it away. I swear, if any of you recognise it as Annie's…

"Jeff, why is there a bra in your couch?" Troy had on his 'my brain is wrinkled' expression.

"Troy," Jeff adopted a slightly impatient tone of voice that hid his gratitude at Troy's interruption giving him time to think. "Are you really surprised to find out that I bring women back to my apartment, and that some of them lose track of their underwear?"

"Dude…" Troy uttered in a tone of awed understanding as Pavel swore again in Polish. Abed just tilted his head to one side and nodded slightly, as though accepting the explanation.

"Now that you've all had this insight into my love life, can we please watch a movie?" Jeff said.

XXXXXX

"Why are we watching porn, buddy?" Troy said as the science-fictiony opening scrawl about the second American civil war of 2017 gave way to a leather clad woman, her top open to the waist and her modesty only just preserved by a spray of water, writhing against the opening credits.

"Yeah - I wouldn't have thought that was your style, Abed." Jeff said.

"It's not porn." Abed answered both of them, somehow managing to convey huge offence in his normal tone of voice. "Casablanca has been something of a theme of this summer, so I thought it'd be fun to watch Barb Wire, the 1996 remake with Pamela Anderson in the Humphrey Bogart role."

"Whaaat?"

(An hour and a half later)

"Congratulations Abed," Jeff said, a tone of appalled awe in his voice. "I think you have finally succeeded in your quest to find the worst movie ever made."

Abed shook his head. "Everybody knows that's Plan Nine From Outer Space Jeff."

"Does that take the memory of a much loved classic and publicly defile it?"

"No…"

"Then this is worse." Jeff said firmly.

"I think the next film will be more to your taste," Abed said, slipping a DVD into the player. Jeff relaxed and grinned as the classic theme tune started to play.

"The Magnificent Seven? This is more like it, Abed."

"Jeff, why is the bald guy wearing your cowboy outfit?" Troy asked a few minutes later, with a confused expression on his face.

"Jeff modelled his costume on the outfit worn by Yul Brynner here and which he reprised in the SciFi western Westworld," Abed said. "It's arguably the coolest cowboy outfit in the history of cinema."

"Definitely the coolest - why do you think I copied it?" Jeff said, though he saluted Abed with a bottle of beer anyway.

XXXXXX

The following morning Jeff dished up breakfast for the guys and made them coffee from the beans Abed brought with him. After they said their farewells he sent Annie a text message saying it was safe for her to come home, which she did about an hour later.

"Aaaww, you missed me!" She said with a huge smile on her face as the welcoming hug died down.

"What? No!" He grinned back at her. "We just had a narrow escape that's all - Pavel found this down the side of the couch…" he showed her the bra.

"That's not one of mine." Annie said, a grim expression on her face. As Jeff froze, going slack-jawed with shock, Annie's grim expression slowly morphed into one of intense glee as she desperately sought to repress an attack of the giggles.

"Why you little-" Jeff gasped as he lunged for her. Annie yelped in mock terror as she scurried off across the apartment with Jeff in pursuit. He finally caught her by the simple expedient of flinging himself bodily across the kitchen island while she attempted to circle it, then hoisted her over his shoulder, with legs pounding his chest, fists his back and loud cries of "put me down you ape!" - though the effect was somewhat spoiled by laughter amidst the outrage.

He carried her into the bedroom, dropped her onto the bed and landed beside her on the second bounce. "I did miss you, you know." He said softly.

Annie's mixed expressions - amusement, outrage, even mild arousal - were promptly replaced by a soft glow of happiness. "I missed you too," she said. "Now come here," and she pulled him in for a long, slow kiss.

XXXXXX

Even the most perfect of summers comes to an end. At the start of this one, Annie Edison had drawn up a list of goals to achieve over the break. Now, as she was riding to Greendale in the passenger seat of Jeff's car, she called them back to mind and checked her progress against them.

Meet people unconnected with Greendale? She thought of Simon and Donny and smiled softly. Check.

Get a job and earn enough money to get through the next year? That one was easy. Check.

Meet a nice, normal guy who will know how lucky he is to date me? She looked sideways at Jeff and smiled softly. He turned his head slightly as he registered the movement and smiled back, not knowing why but just happy to see her happy. Nice? Most of the time. Knows how lucky he is? I think so, yes. Normal? Well, two out of three ain't bad. Check. She smiled at him again and moved on to the final item on her list.

Return to school a grown woman in full control of her life and with a mature, healthy relationship? She took out her compact, ostensibly to check her make-up but actually to give a good hard look into the eyes of the woman looking back at her. I am Annie Edison and I am living the life I chose for myself. She sat up straight in the seat. Check, check, check and check.

The car came to a halt. Annie looked out the window and saw they had arrived at Greendale. Jeff got out of the driver's side, walked around the car, opened the passenger door, took Annie's bag and offered her his hand to help her out.

"Milady?" He said with a soft smile.

"Milord," she beamed back at him as she took his hand.

Annie Edison's perfect summer was over. She straightened her back and stepped forward into the rest of her life.