Chapter 34: Finale Vibe?

Summary: The gang wraps up their third year at Greendale while weathering some semi-dramatic events.

xxxxx

A/N: Apologies for the delay! This is the last chapter for part three. It's a little longer to make up for the lag, and also because I really wanted to capture the vibe of the S3 finale, which necessitated including a bunch of Greendale characters.

xxxxx

It was a sad day for Greendale Community College. Starburns died, and the Dean was downright hysterical. He had never lost a student before.

Well, technically he had lost a student. Maybe a student or, err, two. Five tops.

Ten?

But not to death. He had literally lost them.

Are they in the vents?

He was literally slapped back to the present moment.

"Get it together, Craig!"

He looked up at Stephen Spreck, his eyes wide in disbelief. Stephen took a step back and examined his hand in horror, a tear running down his cheek.

He stammered, "I didn't mean to…. You were screaming. I just wanted you to be okay." He looked over at the Dean with the expectation of a sullen pout.

Although usually one to attempt to maintain composure when in the presence of such an attractive and slender specimen, the Dean found himself shrieking once again, "Starburns is dead, Stephen! On my watch! And apparently he was running a meth lab! Oh my god, I am such a bad dean!"

Annie stepped forward, her mouth in a tight grimace, and attempted to hand the Dean some seltzer water. He shooed her away but then paused, seeming to reconsider a moment before grabbing the glass from her and taking a satisfying sip.

Stephen said in a lower and tender voice, "It's not your fault. There's no way you could have known."

The Dean cleared his throat, placed his elbows on his desk, and gently laced his fingers together. Narrowing his eyes, he blurted, "That's, excuse me, bullcrap. We all knew the guy was shady. But we all looked the other way. And now I have to tell the whole school about it. And we probably have to plan a memorial service. The students need closure. I owe it to them. We need to process."

At that moment, Kevin Chang threw open the door and shoved a wide-eyed and platinum-haired Starburns in front of the Dean's desk. Annie sat up straighter from her spot on the couch and gasped.

Starburns fell to his knees and began scanning the room frantically.

"He faked his death. I found him hiding in the school stables."

They all stared, mouths open in complete astonishment.

Starburns eyes went to Kevin as he muttered under his breath, "I can't believe you ratted me out. Not cool."

A defiant Kevin nodded as he reached down to grab one of his flip-flops, pushing it back onto his left foot. As he stood and pulled up his Bermuda shorts ever so not subtly, he puffed out his chest and said with a smirk, "That'll teach you for never getting me my frozen pizza."

The Dean shook himself in disbelief. Staring at Starburns, he said with a screech, "Why on earth would you hide in the stables?"

Starburns shrugged. "I dunno."

Annie and Stephen continued to exchange incredulous looks as they attempted to process what had just occurred. At the Dean's nonverbal insistence, Stephen joined Annie on the couch. The movement of Kevin out of the corner of her eye momentarily diverted Annie's attention. She turned her head slightly so that she could watch him as he smugly waltzed over to the Dean's mini-fridge and leaned over, popping it open and grabbing a lime soda. She rolled her eyes in annoyance and resumed her focus on the fantastic scene in front of her.

"Well now, this will never do. You realize I have to hand you over to the police now, don't you?"

"For what?"

The Dean began to list on his fingers, "Well, for one there's the whole faking your death thing…"

-"That's not a crime."

"Yes it is!" Annie chimed in.

Kevin chuckled in the background as he flipped the tab on the soda can.

The Dean continued, "Two, there's the whole meth lab…"

-"What meth lab? You have no proof!"

The Dean, momentarily startled, said, "Well, I suppose we don't…"

Annie interjected, "Your car exploded! They found the ingredients to make meth in the trunk!"

Starburns turned toward her with wide eyes and stammered, "I don't know how any of that got there! I swear. Why would I blow up my own car?"

The Dean sighed in exasperation. "To fake your death."

Starburns turned back to him. "Hey, I didn't fake my death. And actually man, I have no idea what you're talking about with any of this. I think I hit my head or something. I woke up in the stables. I don't even know my name. It's really scary!" He began to rub his head with an exaggerated wince.

The Dean groaned, "Oh come on! Why is your hair bleached?"

"You mean this isn't the color of my hair?!" There were frantic pats on the frizzy and straw-colored head.

Annie shouted, "Of course it isn't!"

"My hair must have lost all its pigment due to fright!"

Annie began to emit a series of incredulous gasps. Stephen turned to her and gave her a reassuring pat on the shoulder.

Kevin, who had plopped himself down on the floor and was now sitting cross legged, piped in with what no one present could determine was a sarcastic tone, "Oooooh, maybe he has Changnesia. That's what I have. But my last name is Chang. Would we call it Starnesia? Cause that sounds way cooler than Changnesia."

In what could only be described as way-beyond-Greendale-Crazy, the situation quickly escalated as the Dean concluded the whole thing was too much of a bother and readily accepted the notion that Starburns had in fact contracted Starnesia and was therefore not to be held responsible for his actions. Starburns eagerly agreed this was the case and added he might be willing to offer some services while he 'recuperated.'

Annie sputtered as the Dean and Stephen pushed her and Kevin out of the room so that they could finalize the details, with the Dean issuing her a strict 'gag' order.

Determining that the Dean probably didn't know what a gag order was or how to really enforce it, Annie made her way with a huff down the corridor toward the faculty offices, hoping to find someone more receptive to common sense.

Kevin's voice trailed after her, "Annie! I wasn't serious about Starnesia! Even I know that no tiene ningún sentido!"

X

X

X

Annie sat across from an aggrieved looking Professor Hickey.

She pounded a fist into the palm of her other hand. "So you see, we have to do something! He's committed a serious crime! Multiple crimes, in fact!"

Professor Hickey let out a wearied sigh. "Miss Edison, these are serious charges."

"That's what I've been saying!"

"But you have no evidence. And criminy, you know it." Hickey pushed his chair forward and plopped his elbows on his desk.

Annie deflated somewhat as she crossed her arms. "I know. But how can we just let him get away with it?"

Hickey shrugged. "Sometimes they get away with it. But really, may I suggest you have Chang conduct surveillance? Always use the weirdos to do stuff like that so it'll free you up to do more important work. And it'll keep him busy. Worst case you turn up nothing."

Annie nodded.

"So let's talk about the real reason you're here."

She startled. "I'm sorry?"

"You're exam's in an hour. What do you want? You'll get an A, by the way, not because I'm psychic or granting specific favors, but you always do. So I wouldn't worry about it."

Annie smiled sheepishly. "Thanks. I did study a lot, so I feel prepared."

Grunt.

"But there is something I wanted to talk to you about."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Given the recent developments after the Yam Case, there was no need to have a memorial service. Consequently, the school year seemed to be wrapping up peacefully. The students were enjoying their last meals of the week in the cafeteria, and everyone remained civilized, for GCC standards that is.

The Subway eatery remained intact.

For some reason, Starburns, or 'Alex' as he was now called, was doing odd jobs for the Dean, such as mopping up the cafeteria after the last lunch rush and resuming his work as a fry cook. There were rumors that he wasn't being paid but then again most GCC workers weren't necessarily paid on time or had worked out bartering arrangements.

Annie watched Alex with steady eyes from the lunch table as the rest of the Study Group chatted amicably about the upcoming end of Biology 101. Well, everyone else seemed in good spirits, except Jeff who sat crammed over his biology textbook as he muttered, "Cellular mitosis. What is it?"

X

X

X

The Dean, although attempting to think of himself as more of a regular for the past year, had been preoccupied by his rivalry with Vice Dean Laybourne. At some moments it had almost consumed him. If it hadn't been for Annie's wise counsel, he might have allowed himself to get completely derailed by the whole thing. He thanked the heavens that he had instead eventually channeled his energy into his war with City College.

Of course Annie had given him a good scolding about that and with a long sigh had told him that's not what she meant when she had told him to focus his attentions on Stephen Spreck instead. But he eventually had gotten the hint. He had to admit Annie Edison was even smarter than he had ever given her credit for, and he had certainly always appreciated her brains. She was a reminder to him that he owed his students to be a good dean.

In keeping with being a good dean, he smoothed things over with Vice Dean Laybourne. After all, they had coexisted for many years without too much drama, so he saw no reason to escalate things. But when Vice Dean Laybourne came to him in his office with a demand for Troy Barnes, he held his ground.

Standing in his most intimidating pose, chest thrust out and eyes appropriately squinty, the Dean stated, "Absolutely not. He told me he didn't want to join the Air Conditioning Repair School. He said you've been almost stalking him!"

Vice Dean Laybourne let out a low thundering laugh. "Oh please, he wants to join us. I don't care how many times he says no! I can see it. He has the makings of a True Repairman!"

Placing his hands on his hips to give a slight edge to his gravitas, the Dean countered, "Have you never heard anything about consent? Why if I went around and indulged every whim I had and didn't respect boundaries, I'd be sexually harassing Jeff Winger!"

"Wouldn't we all, my dear bald friend, wouldn't we all!"

The Dean took a step back and paused. "Sorry, what?"

"What?" Vice Dean Laybourne blinked twice as he adjusted his tie.

The Dean gave an exasperated sigh as he motioned with one hand in a shooing gesture. "Anyway, I can't because Annie would kill me, but that's besides the point, it's wrong. And you're wrong in thinking you can force Troy Barnes, our star quarterback into your stupid little cult!'

"How dare you talk to me that way!"

Both Deans stepped forward and stared at each other with steely eyes.

A slightly trembling voice broke in, "Um, excuse me guys, but since this is about me, can I say something?"

The Dean instantly melted, his head ducking as he placed one hand on his chest and turned with a small smile. "Sorry Troy, I forgot you were sitting there."

Troy rose to his feet from his spot on the couch. "Please stop! Dean, I so appreciate you defending my honor really…"

-"You're very welcome."

"But I can do this myself." Troy turned to face the Air Conditioning Repair administrator. "Vice Dean Laybourne, there is no way I'm joining the Air Conditioning Repair School. You guys, and I mean this most respectfully, are crazy."

Perched in the corner and chomping on his popcorn, Abed piped in, "This scene has taken an unexpected turn. I like it." Cocking his head, he added, "I hope this episode doesn't wrap things up too neatly though. The way we have been going lately, I worry we might be heading for a nice series finale vibe. That would be a shame."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"I not a baby!"

Jeff looked up from efforts at preparing Sophie's breakfast. It was the day of their biology final; he pushed his textbook to the side, as he had been attempting to both study and scramble her eggs. So far, he had been scrambling to find time to study, almost frantic at the thought of failing. But he was doing his best to present a cool vibe.

Casting a bemused glance at the perhaps not-so-baby hobbit, he said, "Wow. First person. Kudos, munchkin."

"I not a baby! Daddy, I not!"

He took a moment to register the expression on her face. She was sitting in her booster seat at the table and her face was contorted into what he could only describe as rage. He made every effort to suppress his laughter as she slammed a fist on the table.

Clearing his throat, he said, "I didn't say you were a baby. I know you're not a baby."

"Yah, Daddy! Dey say I a baby! I not!"

He pushed a slice of bread into the toaster and asked, "Who says you're a baby?"

"Kids! Dey call me a baby dat cries! I not a baby!"

Jeff turned off the stovetop and scooped some of the egg pieces onto a purple plastic plate. He placed this to the side while he awaited her toast. He then walked over to her and sat down opposite.

"Did someone call you a crybaby?"

He watched as some tears dripped down her cheeks. With a sigh, he reached over and gently removed her glasses and placed them on the table. He grabbed her napkin and carefully dabbed her face.

"Yah. I sad. Mama und Daddy go."

Nodding in comprehension, he said, "I see. So kids at school called you a crybaby when Mama and Daddy left yesterday?"

Appearing to calm down, Sophie relaxed her fists and looked at him despondently. "Yah."

"Wow. That wasn't very nice of them. It's okay if you cry when we leave."

"Yah. But I NOT a baby. Okay, Daddy?"

"Oh, I see. It's not the crying part. It's the baby part. Gotcha." He winked.

"I a big kid."

"Of course you are. And one day they'll see that. You'll grow so big that you'll stomp all over them."

"Yah. I get big like daddy. Daddy big!" She raised her arms up to illustrate her point.

Jeff smiled at her sadly. "Sure."

It was moments like these when his warm feelings were interrupted by a punch to the gut. He always attempted to keep perspective. There was nothing that could change the situation, that they didn't have biological ties. And while Adam was tall, he wasn't nearly as tall as him, and at any rate, it was looking like the hobbit was going to be at the lower end of the height spectrum. He took a deep breath and attempted to divert his attention from what he could only describe as a low ache.

He hunched in closer to her and squinted, which elicited a smile. He told himself none of it mattered; he thought he understood Sophie Ariel Edison quite well.

Hearing the popping of the toast, he stood and patted her on the head. "You okay?"

"Yah. Kiss?"

"But of course."He planted one smack on her cheek, and she giggled in response.

"I wan bed."

"Sure. Bread coming up. And I'm really liking this first person stuff. Good job for the second to last day of school."

He walked into the kitchen, cut the toast in half, buttered it, added a little peanut butter, and placed it on the plate right next to the eggs. He added a few banana slices to round out the plate.

As he made his way back to the table, he reflected on how he really needed to review cellular mitosis again. For some reason that concept just would not stick in his mind. He figured the hobmuncher would spend at least a few minutes, perhaps as much as ten if she lingered as she sometimes did over her bananas, which would give him a chance to quickly review. So far he had been interrupted a zillion times this morning.

He glanced down the hallway to see the closed bedroom door, realizing Annie was still getting ready. He hadn't wanted to clue her in to his panic, as she seemed stressed out enough about the end of the school year as it was and had been ranting about something with the Dean. He honestly hadn't been paying too much attention to it, figuring it was just another one of the Dean's cases of wildly poor judgment and misguided affections for the students of Greendale.

He put the plate down on the table with another wink and then turned to jog back into the kitchen so that he could grab his textbook. As he reached for it and pivoted around, he heard the hobmonster erupt into a high-pitched scream.

x

x

x

He didn't have any luck in figuring out what was freaking her out. She kept shrieking as she stared at her plate. He was sitting next to her and making loud shushing noises. Finally, he did what he should have done immediately. He made the shushing hand gesture right in front of her face.

To his relief, she stopped, silent tears rolling down her cheeks. He leaned over and made eye contact with her. "So what's the deal?"

She stared at him and smiled slightly. "Daddy fix id."

"Sure, I'll fix it."

"Dank you, Daddy."

"What do I need to fix? What's wrong?"

Her eyes popped open in first disbelief, and then he could have sworn betrayal, and finally a look of sheer panic.

The screaming resumed.

x

x

x

Annie rushed from the bedroom, her hair half wet and her blouse unbuttoned. She stopped suddenly as she took in the sight of an exasperated Jeff attempting to reason with a crying Sophie.

"I don't know what you want. I don't know what's wrong."

The crying turned into soft sobbing.

Jeff pleaded, "Why don't you eat a piece of banana? That'll make everything better."

The high-pitched shrieking resumed.

Annie placed her hands over her ears and walked over to them. Jeff looked up at her and shrugged.

Narrowing her eyes, she glanced down at the plate. She immediately sighed. "Oh, well, you did it wrong." She picked it up and gave Sophie a kiss on the head.

Sophie instantly stopped screaming and appeared to be almost dazed in relief.

Jeff frowned. "I did what wrong?"

"Her food is touching. You can't have the eggs, toast, and bananas too close to one another."

Jeff stared at her in disbelief. "Crap, you have to be kidding me."

Annie grimaced. "No, Jeff, she's been doing this lately. I've been making her breakfast, and for the past week she's insisted on this. I told you all about it, but you weren't listening."

"But I make her dinner, and she's…"

-"You make her spaghetti, and it's all together. That's fine. It's the individual items."

He groaned and placed his forehead down on the table.

"Are you okay?" She patted his shoulder.

"Yah daddy, you okay?"

"Peachy."

He reached out his hand and grabbed his textbook and pondered if he really knew Sophie that well at all. She was always surprising him. Sometimes he felt like a really lousy father.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Turns out Subway was fickle. After dealing with too many poor health code violations after a surprise inspection – there were rumors of an anonymous tipster but none of that could be proven – they announced they were cutting their losses and leaving GCC. The Dean, although initially miffed, was quickly put at ease by Shirley and Pierce, who jumped in with offers to begin their business at Subway's old location in the cafeteria. It was a seemingly random and fortunate timing for the beginning of Shirley's Sandwiches.

Kevin peeked out from under the cafeteria table as he watched Pierce hand Alex a wad of cash. Shirley looked on, grinning gleefully as she pressed her fingers together.

X

X

X

Despite his detective work, which for some reason Annie told him to put on hold after he came to her with his latest tip, Kevin Chang finished the semester with honors. The new Spanish teacher, Professor Perez, had never seen a student with such quick grasp of the Spanish language, especially given that said student had Changnesia. Kevin felt confident in his work and ended up helping Ian keep up their apartment more. He even did some more cooking. Although they had their differences, Ian was finding that Kevin Chang was a much more agreeable roommate than Ben Chang and therefore they opted to make the arrangement more permanent, deciding to go apartment-hunting for a larger place so that they could each have more privacy.

The only condition was that Kevin wear proper footwear. No one needed to see his toes.

X

X

X

The Dean sighed happily as he felt Stephen's arms around him. He mumbled, "The best decision I made this year was not letting our petty community college wars come between us."

"Shh….stop talking. City College is still better than Greendale. We have no need to prove ourselves."

"Why, I never! Listen here, just because you're good at spooning doesn't mean you can talk to me that way."

"I said shhh… you'll ruin it."

"Well, um, fine, I guess."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Jeff knew he was turning into a sucker. Well, who was he kidding? He was always a softie for Annie and the not-so-baby hobbit, even before Annie first batted her eyes at him.

He could do this. He could do this and study for his biology final. And graduate on time. And then go back to law, easing his way out of Hamish, Hamish, & Hamlin and into a nice little cushy law firm with Mark. And then he could keep the hobbit in carb and cheese laden comforts, and he'd have enough money to make sure she'd grow up to be a well-adjusted adult without any of the emotional scars he and Annie had. And he and Annie could live happily ever after.

That was the plan.

But first, he needed to rescue the hobsobber, as he had gotten word from Julie, Henry's mom, that Sophie had been having a meltdown after he and Annie dropped her off that morning. It was really the second-to-last-day of daycare anyway before she'd be home with him or Annie in the summer. And he remembered her frustrated face from that morning. His heart almost hurt. For doing a crappy job at speaking her language, the least he could do was to make it up to her and pull her out of that hellhole.

Despite not being called by the daycare, he knew what he had to do. And he couldn't bother Annie with it, as she was taking her calculus final that morning.

So he slapped his biology textbook under his arm, grabbed the bear from the backseat of the Lexus, and went off to go do the goddamn right thing.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Jeff was with Sophie at Annie's desk, waiting for Annie to finish up her final. Although part of him initially loathed the idea of hanging out near the Dean's office, he had acquiesced at the Dean's suggestion due to the fact that perhaps surprisingly for Greendale, all of the study rooms were currently in use due to it being final exam week. The rest of the Study Group were busy either attempting to open a Sandwich shop or taking other exams. But Jeff had only one left. The dreaded Biology 101 final.

He stood hunched over his textbook as he muttered to himself, "Cellular mitosis. What is it?"

"Datosis! Id geen."

"I don't think cellular mitosis is green, munchkin."

"Id IS, Daddy. Id geen und it cool cool cool."

He looked up from his book to see Sophie staring at him through her candy striped glasses, looking earnest in her attempt to help him study biology.

He smirked and began to push her around in the swivel chair as she clutched her bear and gasped into hearty chuckles.

"Hold on, munchkin."

"Ya, Daddy! Go go go!"

As he found himself grinning like an idiot he saw a shadow out of the corner of his eye and heard a loud clearing of a throat. He gently moved the chair around one more rotation before helping it come to a complete stop. He looked over to see Professor Hickey standing in front of the counter.

"Oh, hello, Professor Hickey, isn't it? It's good to see you again. I don't think we've officially met. I'm Jeff Winger."

He extended his hand. Professor Hickey regarded it with skepticism before casting a look over toward a smiling Sophie. As his gruff expression softened, he almost absentmindedly shook it.

"Oh hey, this must be Sophie."

Jeff, surprised at the change in tone, said, "Yup. This is Sophie Edison. Munchkin, can you say hello to Professor Hickey? He's Mommy's teacher."

"Hi. You like mama?"

Hickey nodded, the corners of his mouth moving up slightly into what Jeff could have sworn was almost a smile. His answer was in a serious tone, but with the hint of bemusement, "Yes, your mommy's all right. She's one of my better students."

"Mama nice. I miss mama."

Jeff motioned Hickey to move around past the counter. As Hickey was coming behind the desk, Sophie asked, "You like Daddy? Daddy nice too."

Hickey paused for a moment, his eyes moving from Sophie to Jeff. He replied with a huff, "I don't know your daddy very well. We'll see."

Jeff's eyes widened in disbelief.

"But if he's your daddy I'm sure he can't be that bad."

Remembering the time their eyes had locked in the courtroom, err, biology lab, Jeff handed Sophie a packet of cheese crackers, whispered something to her, and then stood upright and said in a casual tone, "Hey, I know we sort of met in Ian's office a little bit ago; he's an old friend of mine actually."

"Yeah, he told me. We chat." Hickey leaned down and actually smiled at Sophie as he gently poked her bear in the chest. Sophie giggled through her bites of cracker.

Jeff watched this interaction curiously as he added, "Right. But I think we also saw each other at the yam trial. You were in the audience."

"You might be correct."

Frustrated at what appeared to be unnecessarily guarded answers, Jeff pushed on, "It might have been my imagination, but you seemed surprised to see me. Why is that?"

Hickey visibly tensed and stood. Resuming his blank stare of likely affected boredom but more resembling constipation, he grunted, "You seem to be full of questions, Mr. Winger."

"One might say you looked astonished. Let me guess, you weren't expecting me to be older than Annie, is that it? You've done the math, you see Sophie here, you…"

Hickey winced. "Oh for crying out loud. I'm offended by that question." He lowered his voice as he said, "I know the origin of the kid. I've heard all about it. I merely didn't know what you looked like until that moment."

Jeff tilted his head. "I still don't understand why that matters."

Hickey let out a loud groan. "I'm not being judgmental. I have a gay son, and I love my gay son, but that was something I really had to adjust to. So I really don't care about some stupid age difference."

"But see, I still don't get why you reacted to the sight of me like that."

Hickey shrugged. "Sometimes when you see a person, they become real to you."

Jeff squinted. "Huh?"

Hickey grunted again, "I have an appointment with the Dean. I'll let myself back, shall I?" He smiled once again at Sophie and gave her a slight wave before looking back up at Jeff with a stern and unreadable expression.

Taken aback at the abrupt shift in tone, Jeff said, "Yes. Good to meet you."

There was a grunt in response.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Study Group, plus Ian and Kevin, looked up from their spots around the long picnic table outside near the quad. Jeff again was the only one who did not, as his face was plastered in his biology textbook while he maneuvered Sophie on his lap.

Abed continued, his hands waving in a dramatic fashion, "So Subway left without any fires, Shirley and Pierce seem to be getting along, the Dean was not held hostage, Troy stood up to Vice Dean Laybourne and became his own man…"

"Thanks, buddy."

Finger guns back at Troy.

-"And he doesn't even have to move out. Britta is canoodling with the evil Santa Wizard…"

"Why Bloody hell! I am not an evil wizard!"

Chocking gasps. "Abed, I am not canababling with anyone!"

"Well, err, that's not entirely true, love."

"Love?"

"That was just, err, an expression! It was an expression! Hey, come back here!"

Abed watched as Britta jumped up and ran from the table, Ian following. He continued, unfazed, "Starburns, or as we must now call him, Alex, is alive. I don't foresee this having much of an impact on our group or Greendale as a whole, despite Annie's protests…"

-"Abed! He's faking it!'

"He very well may be. But frankly, and I say this with all due respect, Annie, but does anyone besides you really care? And I suspect your indignation is more of an excuse to investigate a cause, to really sink your teeth into your passion, and perhaps, dare I say it, to seek the mentorship of a trusted male figure…"

Annie's eyes went wide. Shirley smiled sweetly and not-so-carefully jabbed Abed in the side.

He noticeably winced, but merely paused for a moment before, while casting a curious look at Annie, continued, "And Jeff, well, what can I say, is kind of a low point. He hasn't been doing much in his episode, I'm afraid. Which is unexpected, since he should be our protagonist. And yet, here he sits, the only one of us actually studying for our biology final."

Jeff hummed something but didn't look up from his book, again shifting Sophie on his lap.

Abed added, "So everything seems nice and neat. Yada yada yada. Boring."

"Da boring, Bed." Sophie chomped down on her sandwich.

Abed tilted his head as he replied, "Yes, Sophie, it is indeed boring. I was really hoping we'd have more exciting adventures."

With a groan, Jeff lifted his head slightly and made eye contact with Abed, who as usual appeared to be studying him.

"Can you please knock it off? And doesn't anyone here care about studying? We have our last final this afternoon. And I don't know about the rest of you, but I cannot fail this class." He paused to place a kiss on the top of Sophie's head. "It is not an option."

Kevin leaned forward eagerly. "Can I babysit Sophie while you guys take the final? I can't remember, but I bet I'm really good with kids."

Annie and Jeff exchanged alarmed looks. Annie squeaked, "That's sweet, Kevin, but we're going to put her back at daycare for a couple hours."

Jeff opened his mouth but Annie arched a brow as she added, "Right, Jeff? She can go back. She's fine there."

"Fine or fyne?"

Ignoring Abed's question, Jeff nodded and said, "Yeah, you're right. I guess our final won't take too long."

Annie smiled softly. "She'll be okay. She's just having separation anxiety again. But if we act like it's a big deal, then she'll only get more upset."

Shirley nodded. "She's right, Jeffrey. Just throw her back in there, and she'll calm right down."

Jeff frowned at both of them and then leaned down and whispered something to Sophie, eliciting a little chuckle from her.

"You silly, Daddy."

"Yeah, I know."

Annie watched the interplay, a small smile forming. As the others began to talk amongst themselves, Jeff lifted his head and met Annie's gaze.

He mouthed silently, "What?"

She shook her head, seemingly bemused. She then mouthed back, "You're adorable."

He smirked and gave a shrug before handing Sophie her sippy cup and resuming his perusal of chapter five.

"All right. Cellular mitosis. What is it?"

Annie continued to watch them thoughtfully.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

They took their biology final. Jeff paced frantically in the quad as he waited for Annie to finish up. He knew she tended to double-check her responses just to make sure. Normally he would find this kind of hot in a way, but today he was impatient. He found himself irritated with the fact he had an urge to double-check his answers with hers.

God what is happening to me? We should really just cut loose, let the cards fall where they may, and show up tomorrow and see how we did on the exam. No need to agonize over it. Yeah, I'll just be loose. What's it Annie always says, loosey goosey?

His eyes shot up as he heard the soft yet determined steps of her approach. She was smiling radiantly at him as she almost skipped to his spot. He relaxed his shoulders slightly and affected what he hoped was a convincing return smile.

As she neared, her expression shifted to concern. "What's wrong?"

He shrugged and scoffed.

She lowered her voice. "I'm sure you did fine."

"Yeah, um, of course. Hey, what did you put for question five?"

She straightened up slightly, pulling on her backpack straps. "This won't help, Jeff. Trust me."

He sighed and looked up at the sky. "You're right."

She nodded thoughtfully as she scanned the quad. "I haven't had the best day either. Professor Hickey confirmed I won't be able to graduate on time since I need to take more classes after switching my major."

Jeff looked back down at her with concern. "Crap. Really?"

She rolled her eyes in an attempt at loosey-goosiness. "Yeah. It's what I suspected, but I think part of me thought I could figure out a way to get out of a few classes, claiming some of my other coursework might count, but it won't. Plus, he thinks I should do an internship before I graduate, which would add on a whole semester in itself but make me much more competitive for jobs and grad school."

"Well, then you should definitely do an internship."

"I know. But this means I won't graduate for a whole other year."

"It'll be okay, Annie. A year's not a big deal."

She bit her lip and then said with a slight tremble, "Sophie will be almost five."

He looked at her with confusion. "Well, I guess. But I'm sure she won't care when you graduate. I think she's barely aware we actually have other existences outside of her sphere."

Annie gave a tight smile, hesitating for a moment before she appeared to switch gears and say, "We should pick her up and get dinner. Maybe we could join the others at Shirley's Sandwiches? She hasn't opened officially yet, but she's doing a trial run in about an hour and she said she'd feed us all for free. Andre's bringing the boys too. Maybe Sophie can play with Ben."

"Right. Yeah."

"It'll be fun."

He finally kissed her briefly in a belated greeting and they walked off toward the daycare center, hand in hand. Annie gave his a squeeze as she said wistfully, "I bet Sophie had a better afternoon. I know you were worried about her."

He grumbled, "I just don't like kids making fun of her."

"They're so little, Jeff. They don't mean it."

"And she was sad we left. I don't want her to feel abandoned."

"That's a really strong word. She knows we always come back. She's just going through a phase."

"Which we should help her out with. But at any rate, you're right, I'm sure she's fine. And we'll have her with us this summer anyway, so hopefully she'll feel more secure."

Annie stopped walking and tugged on his hand. They turned to each other, and she looked up at him with a smile. "I love the way you look out for her. You're a really good father."

Jeff bit his lip. "Um, thanks. I try."

Her eyes widening, Annie added, "It makes me love you even more when I see how much you love her."

He felt his cheeks blush as he said, "Thank you. I love you too, you know. And you're a wonderful mother."

He watched as her eyes teared slightly. She batted her lashes twice before resuming eye contact and then taking his other hand in hers.

"What is it?"

Annie hesitated a moment before she replied, "I was thinking. Since my graduation is delayed, maybe we could think of the whole situation in a different way, one that might give us certain advantages."

He furrowed his brow. "I don't follow."

She smiled nervously and began to jut out her jaw slightly, the way she did when she was attempting to give herself a pep talk. "We have a lot of flexibility at Greendale. I have a close relationship with the Dean, and I'm pretty sure if I frame it to him in the right way, he'd be more than happy to figure out a way so that the daycare center is an option."

Jeff squinted at her. "Daycare? But I thought we were going to put her in 4K? I suppose that's not a full day anyway, but I don't know if it makes much sense to get her from school and haul her back to Greendale daycare."

"That's not really what I meant…"

-"Look, I know you and your mom are still working things out, but her suggestion of paying for an afterschool program is not a bad one, Annie. While Greendale daycare might be fine for her now, I think by age four she'd do a lot better in something more shall we say, structured. And with fewer amnesia victims nearby."

Annie rolled her eyes. "I agree. And I'm even open to the idea of my mother paying for it. It'll make her feel useful and maybe she'll leave me alone."

"Annie."

Shifting her expression to one more soft, she continued, "What I meant was babies need their moms. When Sophie was an infant, it was really nice to be able to have her so close to me and to be able to run over to the daycare center in between classes to nurse her. It's actually a much better situation than it would be if I were working some place."

She looked up at him hopefully.

His eyes widened as he finally understood what she was saying. He cleared his throat. "Ahh."

She continued to regard him with an eager intensity he hadn't been expecting right now. He found himself unnerved.

He let out a long sigh. "Annie."

She gave his hands a squeeze. "Let's have another baby."

He felt his head become dizzy, the blush from his cheeks now transforming into a full on flush encompassing his throat and upper chest. "Can we, um sit down for a sec?"

She nodded and followed him over to a bench. Turning to him with an earnest expression, she said in an almost pleading tone, "You said we could keep her baby stuff."

He leaned forward and cradled his head in hands for a few moments. He then managed to say, "I thought we were talking later. What, um, are you thinking?"

She shrugged and prattled on with hypomanic energy, "Soon I guess? If I do an internship in my last semester, then I'd want to have the baby before then and be able to nurse them up until that point, and then I guess if I were working full time I'd have to pump, but I'm sure I could do it, but I'd want them to be a little bit bigger by then, so…."

He sat up and interjected, "So you mean like soon, soon?"

She nodded, a gleam in her eye.

He took a moment to steady himself before he looked at her intently and said, "Annie, this doesn't make any sense. How do you expect to give birth to a baby and finish up your fourth year? You'd be behind, and then your fifth year internship plans won't even line up. It'll take you six years."

She frowned and appeared to ponder this for a moment.

"But if I have the baby next summer, that would work, right? Just like I did with Sophie. I could start classes again in the fall."

Jeff winced. "You're only twenty one."

"So? You're thirty three."

He let out a long sigh and leaned back against the bench. "I know you have it in your head you want our kids to be close in age, but frankly, I don't think that's such a good idea. You have stuff you want to do, and while yes, I suppose we could go ahead with this plan, remember things don't always work out like you think. Suppose, for instance, we couldn't conceive for a while? What then? The timeline's shot to hell. And heck, what if we can't have a kid at all? You can't get attached to this idea, you can't…"

Annie shook her head and broke in, "Are you worried that we can't have a baby?"

"No, of course not." He scoffed as he moved his eyes toward the quad.

She regarded him thoughtfully, reaching over to gently pat his leg. "I still want to be with you, even if we can't. But I want to try."

He found himself saying abruptly, "I think we should be married first."

Uncharacteristically, Annie waived her hand. "We can wait until I graduate and then plan something really nice."

Jeff stared at her incredulously. "Do I get a say in any of this?"

She sputtered, "Of course you do!"

He cleared his throat and sat up straighter, leaning in so that he could look directly into her eyes. "Annie, I think we should put a pin in this idea. Today is not the day we make this decision. And to be honest, right now I'm heavily leaning toward no."

She looked at him sharply.

He continued, "It's not that I don't want to do it. It's that I don't want to rush into it. We have a lot of changes coming up. And frankly, I don't really like the idea of us having another kid, you rushing off in a scramble to finish your degree, and then us someday putting together a wedding. I kind of think we should go the more traditional route in our not-so-traditional relationship."

"Well, I suppose we could elope…"

-"Annie, we are not eloping. I promised you that, and I know what you want. And right now, I don't think you're thinking clearly."

She scoffed but then her lip began to tremble as she looked down.

He continued, his voice softening, "You just found out your perfect graduation plan is shot, and you're panicking. But see I have faith that we can figure this out. But before we decide anything, I think we should find out if we passed Biology 101."

He watched her as she stared at their entwined hands for several moments of silence. Finally, she looked up and met his gaze, an embarrassed smile on her lips.

"You're right. I may be panicking. Just a little."

"Um hmm."

She rolled her eyes. "I'm sorry." Tilting her head, she regarded him curiously. "Since when did you become so emotionally aware?"

"I may be familiar with making impulsive decisions in a state of panic."

She let out a low laugh.

"Don't tell anyone."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

They all passed biology.

As the Study Group strutted down the hall, high fiving each other and giddily discussing summer plans, Abed interjected, "So we're wrapping it up. Troy and I are moving our bedroom into the Dreamatorium. You're welcome, Britta."

There was a snort.

Abed continued, "Shirley's Sandwiches is having it's grand opening later today, and Jeff and Annie seem to be cozier than ever, which while sweet is somewhat concerning to me, as I would have expected another development to have occurred, to end us on a cliffhanger if you will."

Jeff came to an abrupt stop in the hallway, the group following his lead. They all stared at Abed.

Jeff cleared his throat and said, "Can we just end this year on a good note? Everything's fine. Yes, f-y-n-e. Okay?"

Abed seemed to consider this for a moment and then nodded. "Yes."

"Good."

As Jeff was about to resume leading the group, Abed added, "But given that the second half of this year's theme seems to been coming to terms with one's family of origins, I would think we'd see a resurgence of interest on your behalf in reuniting with your father. He's cast a shadow over you, Jeff, and in a traditional man conquers world story you'd be feeling compelled to seek him out, to unleash your disappointments and anger on him, and in the process perhaps learn something about yourself, finally healing and being able to fully emotionally commit to Annie, Sophie, your friends, and your career in a more honest and authentic way."

Annie cast Jeff a look of alarm, as there was an eerie bubble of silence encasing the group in the otherwise busy corridor. Jeff smiled tightly at her and gave her hand a squeeze.

"Abed, I have no interest in seeking out my father."

"That's interesting. Why not?"

"Because he was a drunken abusive asshole who made my life a living hell for the years I was with him and who as you put so eloquently, cast a shadow over my life. He is not someone I want to get to know. In fact, I think trying to forge a relationship with him or even vent my frustrations is not something that would make me a better person. I'm pretty sure I might murder him. And then I would not be very emotionally available to have an authentic and honest relationship with all of you, now would I?"

Abed gulped quickly, looked down for a brief moment, and then returned Jeff's stare. He nodded.

"So this isn't a man conquers world story."

"No, Abed, it is not."

As the group marched on, Abed lingered and muttered to himself, "It's a very different story indeed."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Shirley gleefully waived over her patrons, the Study Group included, after she and Pierce finished cutting the ceremonial ribbon at the grand opening of Shirley's Sandwiches.

Alex pushed a mop in the background, nervously touching his dark sideburns, which were starting to grow out from their usual star shape.

Kevin eyed him suspiciously before Ian punched him in the shoulder and handed him a listing for a two bedroom on Fifth Street.

Britta attempted to give Troy a hug, as he had just finished telling her about the horribleness of the Air Conditioning Repair School, when Abed cut in and Troy and Abed embraced.

Pierce bent down to pick up Sophie and Jeff swooped in to scoop her up. He carried her off to Annie, who awaited him on the dance floor.

The Dean had also announced the end of the year Greendale Community College Sandwich Dance. No one tried to think too hard on that one.

Jeff placed Sophie down and took her hand, his other reaching for Annie.

"We made it through another year."

"We did."

"I love you."

"I love you too."

xxxxxx

A/N: A big thank you to all my readers for making it this far. It's been a lot of fun writing part three of this AU. Please be on the look out for part four, to be posted soon. As always, make sure to follow celerylapel if you wish to be notified when the next part comes out.