Pairing: Jeff/Annie (Though the entire Greendale Seven shows up throughout the story, and Jeff and/or Annie may be 'paired' with any of the others for story (not romantic) purposes, the main backbone of the story is with Jeff/Annie. There may be other ships that appear...I'm as of yet unsure, or even which would show up if they do.
Spoilers: Through the finale of Season 4, and the events of my last story, Remedial Studies in 360-Degree Revolutions
Word Count: 11,074
Rating: PG-13 (language)
Disclaimer: If I owned Community, you'd all probably absolutely hate it.
Author's Notes: I take liberties with character's motivations and thoughts...but that's kind of the name of the game if you're going to write fan fiction. I try as hard as I can to stay within the limits of the developed character though. Also...this is incredibly long. I'm aware of this. I'm writing this as an AU 5th Season, with each chapter serving as an 'episode.' Basically...I'm writing the sort of thing that I want to read, which is a bit of a conceit. If ficlets are more your thing, you will hate this. Additionally, if awkwardly written fan fiction is not your thing, you will also hate this. Extended A/N is after the story itself.

Also...I'm aware that the timeline is a little funky, thanks to Season 4. I decided between this, and my last story to cut all the BS out, and just say that Jeff's graduation was at the end of Spring Semester of last year (and thus, just prior to summer...and hardly considered early) but everyone thought of it as 'early' due to the troubles with Chang messing up their schedule in S3. This AU Season 5 takes place in what amounts to the group's fifth year together.

Prologue

At the end of spring semester of 2013, Jeff Winger graduated from Greendale Community College, thus fulfilling the requirements the Colorado state bar had set for his readmission to the bar, and the reinstatement of his ability to practice law. Finally facing having to move on from the bubble of safety he had created in the surrogate family of his study group, he prepared to become a lawyer again. Although he knew he would see his friends regularly, and that he wasn't losing them, the idea of not seeing them on a daily basis terrified him. It brought back bad memories of their temporary expulsion from Greendale, as well as the person he used to be, and nearly made him avoid graduating altogether.

Although Jeff ended up graduating as he was supposed to (though proceeded briefly by Pierce Hawthorne,) he still feared the change in the group dynamic, and although he wasn't afraid of losing his friends, Jeff had realized that the oft-criticized (even by himself) flirtation and subtextual romance between himself and Annie Edison had built within his heart to levels of love that he hadn't experienced previously. Jeff found he feared the loss of the opportunity to both make his feelings known to Annie, as well as to try to set right events where he had once wronged Annie in their relationship. Abed was later to refer to it as "an awesome homage to Quantum Leap," which always made Jeff shake his head and wonder if his friend would ever be a little less meta.

The night of his graduation day, Jeff took Annie on a whirlwind tour of campus, where over the course of several hours, they both apologized, kissed (for the first time in years,) fought (like they did on a regular basis,) ran from an unidentified creature in terror (which in retrospect, both found surprisingly unsurprising), and declared their love for each other (which both found unsurprisingly surprising.) The next morning, Annie answered Jeff's door to find Dean Pelton there, and Jeff left her alone to spend a "half day at the mall with Craig" in order to pay him back for getting access to Greendale. While alone in Jeff's apartment (alone except for his cat, Gizmo...three of whose siblings resided in her apartment, Casa Trobed,) Annie discovered Jeff had left her an unexpected, and uncharacteristic gift of a key to his apartment, with the instructions that she was welcome there anytime. He had basically asked her to move in. Annie was shocked by the sudden change in her relationship with the man she'd grown to love, and spent a fair amount of time that morning considering the changes in her life over just the past 24 hours, as well as checking Craig Pelton's Twitter feed to see how Jeff's torture was going, and got ready to enjoy her summer with Jeff.

Three Months Later: The First Day of Classes at Greendale Community College, Fall Semester 2013

For most of the past summer, Annie Edison had been enjoying learning how to sleep in, and how to generally start her day as lazy as she could, with lessons happily provided by, and her performance happily critiqued by Jeff Winger. She figured she ended up spending a little over half her nights there, and waking up alongside him, with no alarms to tell her it was time to get up and get ready for class, and no apocalyptic noises telling her that her roommates were in the middle of risking their security deposit, she was learning how truly wonderful it was to be able to just relax on occasion.

Jeff being there to personally tutor her in the fine art of extraordinary relaxation wasn't so bad either, she had to admit to herself…

For the past three weeks, however, she'd had to relearn how to wake up alone. She absolutely hated it, but it had been a decision made together with Jeff, and they had decided it was the best thing for both of them. She desperately missed waking up with his arm around her, or clinging to him, and half wished that things had turned out differently.

Still, as she applied some of what she'd learned, and stretched luxuriously in a bed she had entirely to herself, she realized that there were some minor benefits to waking up alone. Especially since Jeff tended to use very, very nice bedding. She almost felt guilty at enjoying the ability to sprawl anywhere in the entire bed.

"Hey, Sleeping Beauty…what are you doing up so early?"

Annie's eyes slowly opened and a smile crept onto her features as she eased herself from her sprawl into a reclined position, and Jeff walked from the bedroom door to her side of the bed, where he sat himself on the edge.

"What are you still doing here?" Annie had grown used to Jeff already being gone when she got up for the day. At first it was jarring, but by now, it was just part of the routine, whether she liked it or not. She still felt a bit strange to have made herself so at home at an apartment that technically, wasn't hers, but Jeff had made it perfectly clear that he enjoyed having her there. As Annie thought about it, it wasn't a struggle for her to realize that she enjoyed being there too.

"I never leave by now…you're just up earlier than normal. I'm guessing I taught you well in the fine art of relaxation this summer. Little nervous about the first day of classes though?"

"No, just excited. Soon the rest of us are going to be joining you in the realm of the legitimate. And yes, you were an excellent teacher, when it came to relaxation…as well as other things." Annie used the opportunity to drag Jeff down for a kiss, relishing the chance for some closeness. Lately, she'd barely stirred when he'd leave for work, even though he'd always say goodbye, and drop a kiss on her forehead.

Jeff pulled away before too long. "Hey…you know what happens when we go at that too long. I've got a client meeting this morning, and this suit? No wrinkles. I look amazing, and I need to stay looking amazing."

Annie grinned up at her boyfriend. "You always look amazing, even after getting kicked in the face. The only time I can remember you didn't was like, the monkey gas thing…you looked pretty scary then."

"Don't remind me about that time. That wasn't my best day." Jeff grimaced, as he headed towards the bedroom door on his way out of the apartment.

"No, but you learned your lesson!" Annie teased "See you tonight?"

Jeff called back from the living room, "Yeah, I'll see you later today!" Annie just barely managed to get out a "Love you!" before the door closed, muting any reply Jeff may have made.

With one last stretch, Annie decided it was time to get up, and get ready for her first day of the semester.

The morning classes had gone uneventfully. Annie was consistently happier and happier with her choice to switch majors into Forensics, and now that she was getting deeper into the more interesting, higher-level classes, she was really starting to learn about topics that were of interest to her. It was a bit jarring that there literally wasn't anyone she knew in any of her classes, and Astronomy with the (depleted) study group wasn't until later in the day, but now that she had really finished most of her general education courses, and gotten into Forensics after most of the cliques had already established themselves, it was a little difficult to find her way in. She didn't mind too much, because she was more than capable of studying on her own, and she had her study group 'family' to look forward to, but she just never had to go through a first day for so long without seeing anyone.

Finally, the time that everyone had arranged to have free for study group, scheduled prior to the Astronomy class itself, arrived. Annie made her way to Study Room F, and prepared to greet everyone. As usual it went off like long-lost friends seeing each other for the first time in years, even though they'd gathered at Pierce's less than a week previously for a barbecue.

Since he had graduated, Pierce had suddenly shown a high level of interest in hosting activities at his mansion. Annie suspected he feared he'd lose touch with everyone if he didn't. In part to quell the nervousness she worried he felt over being cut off from the group, as well as to help reinforce the idea of Jeff and herself as a couple in the eyes of everyone, they had hosted a few evenings at his apartment as well, and Annie had made sure to play hostess, not guest.

The remaining five members of the study group seated themselves in their normal spots, and pointedly tried to ignore the lopsided feel of the table. Pierce missing next to Troy had a definite effect, but even more pronounced was Jeff's absence, leaving an entire side of the table empty. Annie decided to take decisive action.

"Ok. Hopefully this isn't too jarring for anyone…but it's obvious that the sudden change in our group makeup is proving to be a distraction. So, I'm going to take drastic action to try to even things out a bit." With that, Annie slid her books and study materials across the table, stood and picked up her bag, decidedly walking over to Jeff's old spot, and sitting down.

She took a look around the table, surveying the group's expressions. Britta raised a cautious eyebrow at her, as if uncertain as to what to make of this new development. Troy looked completely unaware of any change, and Annie half expected him to not realize that she had moved until an hour or so later. Abed's expression was, as usual, inscrutable, and Shirley looked like she wasn't sure if she should be offended or not by the change. Annie hoped she didn't feel like she had moved in order to get away from her, but she couldn't worry that right now. She felt a responsibility to rein the group in, and keep things moving.

"Ok, well, while we're not on anything else…should we discuss the possibility of new group members to study Astronomy?"

The entire study group had focused on her since she made the abrupt shift across the table. Now, every last eye suddenly slid off of her, and into their own conversations. Troy and Abed turned to each other and got into an animated discussion about…something, she wasn't sure what. Shirley and Britta got talking across the table about what they had done the previous weekend.

Annie knew what they were doing…this was a filibuster.

"You guys! This is something we seriously need to discuss! We've gotten so close over the past few years that inviting someone else in, even if they just study with us for a semester, is a serious decision."

"I'd think you guys would have realized by now that inviting new people into the group is just plain dumb. It's not like we died." A voice came from behind Annie that she didn't expect to hear in this room again, but then it was followed by a second voice that really threw Annie for a loop.

"It's not only that, Pierce, but it seems like someone has decided they like my chair better than her own. I'm not sure what to make of this…"

Like one, four voices ring out. Annie is the only one who doesn't shout the names along with the rest of the group. "Pierce! Jeff!"

Annie slowly turns her head around as if in a daze. She's positive she's imagining things, but as she turns around…the sight of her boyfriend, wearing the same suit and tie she saw him in when he left, and the older man who'd been a cross between a surrogate father and a child to babysit, depending on how mature he was feeling that day, were both standing there. Jeff looked down at her with a patented crooked Winger grin. She only lasted a couple of seconds before rushing into him, crashing with both arms around him for a hug.

"Ok, ok, we get it…you're happy to see your man-toy. Is he the only one you're happy to see?" Pierce said, with clear pique in his voice, even though Annie thought it was forced. Oddly enough, as much as he complained about Jeff, and his not being good enough for her, Pierce had seemed strangely comfortable once they were officially together. Annie's theory, with some input by Jeff as to the relationship between Pierce and himself, was that that the older man saw Jeff as a younger version of himself…and maybe the idea of Jeff getting the happiness Pierce never managed to find was satisfying, on some weird level.

"Of course not, don't be silly." Annie said as she detached from Jeff, and threw a bear hug on Pierce. She let go of him, and he made his way around to his typical seat at the table. Annie turned towards the table as well, and realized that Jeff's old seat, the one she had taken over, was still open. Jeff had seated himself next to Shirley, where Annie herself had sat for years, an open challenge to her in his eyes.

"Sooo, what are you two graduates doing here, anyway?" Britta breaks the awkward silence caused by Annie and Jeff's staredown, while Annie sits in her new seat.

"It's good for me to get out and try to expand my mind…that's what Doc Potterywood did, remember? Besides, they don't have me meeting with that many clients yet, just drafting briefs, doing discovery, etc. So, if I go in early, and then spend little time at night getting in some billable hours…I have a little time during the day to come take Astronomy with you guys."

Suddenly Annie understands why Jeff had started going into work earlier, and leaving her alone in bed in the mornings. It wasn't just because they wanted him to…he was trying to make time to come take this one last class with them. She had distinctly mixed emotions, since she was happy he wanted to be there with them, but wasn't thrilled he had to make her wake up alone to do so.

"Wait…when are you going to be doing work at night?" Annie didn't like the idea of his work interfering with the time she got with him. Selfish as it may be…she'd finally gotten Jeff, which made her slightly possessive.

"When you're studying." Jeff said with zero hesitation.

"But then when will you study?"

"Annie…I graduated. I don't care about the grade. I could fail, for all I care."

With that, Annie blanched, and made a scandalized noise. Her mouth worked up and down, but no words issued forth.

"Jeff! Say something…you're sending Annie into a scholastic BSOD!" Abed, of course, was always on hand to dispense completely incomprehensible advice, which Pierce then had to nose into. "Bee Ess…Ay-bed, what are you going on about?"

"BSOD. Blue Screen of Death…like old computers used to do when they'd crash. Like, really crash. You've got to find a way to reboot her."

Jeff felt like his eyes were going to pop out of his head as he boggled at Abed. "Abed…she isn't a computer. We can't just reboot her. He stood and walked over to Annie, putting his hands on her upper arms, and gently rubbing them. "Now, Annie…I'll do my best not to fail, but you've got to snap out of this, or I'm going to have to take drastic action, and hide every copy of your study schedule and every purple pen that you've stashed around my apartment…and yes, I know you've been creating secret stashes of study materials in my place, like a squirrel gathering nuts for the winter."

Jeff's threat made Annie break out of her catatonia, only to whirl on him with angry eyes. She opens her mouth to speak, but the words never get a chance to come out.

"Dean Morning, everyone!" Jeff cocked his head at the ever-worsening dean puns that Pelton continually persists in, perhaps noticing that they have only gotten worse over the break, but doesn't say anything. "Pierce? Jeffrey?! What are you two doing here?"

"We go to school here, dummy." Pierce's reply is as eloquent as everyone has come to expect from him, and leaves the Dean confused.

"But you two graduated?"

Now it was Jeff's turn to throw a monkey wrench into the cogs of the Dean's already shaky thought process. "Well, clearly you must be confused, Dean, because we're here for class. Maybe it's time travel?" Jeff suggests sardonically, but his tone falls on deaf ears, as the Dean reacts as if he were punched in the gut.

"The time desk works!" he hisses in a hushed voice. The study group members just look around the table, wondering how to handle this without breaking the Dean's already fragile psyche. Abed jumps in, but no one expects the advice that he gives the school administrator.

"Yes, Dean…the time desk works. You've come back prior to Jeff and Pierce graduating, but you know what that means, right?"

"I do?" The Dean is clueless, which comes as a shock to no one.

"You need to make sure your past self doesn't see you, or you could cause serious damage to the space time continuum!" Abed intones dramatically, resulting in the Dean blanching. "Oh my God! What would happen then, Abed?"

"Everything stops. That's it. No more existence."

Pelton looks up at Abed with horror, over at Jeff, then back up at Abed. "Everything?" He subtly indicates to Abed with a motion of his eyes that he's asking if even Jeff would stop existing, as if he somehow had difficulty comprehending Jeff being bound by something as mundane as the laws of physics and the universe. Abed just nods down at him sincerely. "Yes…everything. You'll have to go someplace you know your past self won't find you, or else!"

The Dean's eyes grow wide as platters, and he lets off a sound that Jeff could later only describe as 'half-shriek/half-whimper' as he ran off, hands flailing about in the air.

Abed turned back to the group, expression blank as always. "That ought to keep him out of our hair for awhile."

Everyone sits down, except for Jeff, who is still standing, starting at Abed in awe. He hadn't moved from the spot at Annie's side, where she was sitting in his old chair during the entire ordeal. She hisses up at him "Jeff, you can go sit down now…"

He doesn't. He stands, and a big stupid grin grows on his face. In a hushed voice, he addresses his impassive friend.

"Abed…you are…the wind beneath my wings."

Everyone around the table starts snickering in laughter at the level of Jeff's relief with Abed's successful banishing of the Dean, except Abed, who just shoots his signature finger guns at Jeff, who finally moves back to Annie's old spot by Shirley and sits down. Once he's settled in, Annie takes the lead again. It's nothing unusual…she always was one of the major influences pushing them to keep focused. It's just that now she's sitting in the spot that's always been thought of as "the leader's seat." Something about her sitting there seemed off, somehow. The balance that had always been present previously had been disrupted.

"Ok, should we start getting ready for Astronomy this afternoon?"

"Annie…we've got more important problems to solve. Astronomy isn't for a couple of hours. This was just our traditional 'seeing our friends at the beginning of the semester, even though we have nothing to study, and making sure everyone else on campus gets the hint that this room is ours' meeting. Right now, we've got to make sure the Dean stays in hiding. That means that we've got to make him think he'll run into his 'past self' at any moment." Annie made a scandalized noise at Abed's suggestion that anything was more important than class, but everyone else nodded at the idea of keeping the Dean locked away.

"I'll take point on that particular mission. I've got something in mind. Troy, I'm going to need your help for some of it." But when Abed looked over at his best friend, he sadly shook his head.

"Sorry man…I've got to be at the A/C school in 15 minutes to talk to them about policies and such. I'm thinking I might issue a decree ordering that everyone brings me cupcakes on a rotating basis."

Abed looked troubled by this, as if he couldn't conceive of engaging in hijinks without his best friend, he started looking back and forth across the table rapidly, scanning the other members of the group. As the speed of his head-turning increased, Jeff jumped in before it reached a point where they would have to worry about Abed snapping his own neck through the rapid changes in velocity, as physically impossible as that seemed, their expressionless friend had been known for stranger things.

"I've got your back for this one, Abed, if that'll work for you?"

Abed relaxed quickly and visibly. Everyone knew he didn't do well with change, but this was familiar territory.

"Cool, it'll be like old times. Britta…I'm going to need you and Annie to standby to be our B team."

Britta just nods at Abed as if she understood what was going on, but the expression on her face clearly says otherwise. Fortunately, this was one time that Abed's self-proclaimed lack of skill in reading facial expressions paid off for the group, who didn't want to listen to a lecture on how to properly carry out an 'A' and 'B' plot in a caper story. Pierce and Shirley seemed to be making subtle gestures and mouthing words to each other that an onlooker might have caught 'sandwich shop,' and 'hide out' from. For these two to plan to hide out together away from everyone else spoke volumes about how much they wanted to avoid getting involved in whatever may come out of all of this 'nonsense,' as Shirley delicately stated in a mutter.

"C'mon Jeff, we've got to move quick, or else the Dean might wise up." Abed turned to Britta, "Remember, keep your phone on you at all times, and answer it when I call, and you and Annie stick together, no matter what."

With that, Abed marched out of the room, and Jeff followed, stopping only briefly at the door to turn and look back at the rest of his friends and shrug.

Abed set a brisk pace as he headed with a purpose down the halls, but Jeff's long stride meant he had little difficulty keeping up. They finally arrived at a door Jeff was entirely unfamiliar with. It was labeled 'Security,' which threw up red flags to Jeff, for obvious, Chang-related reasons. He was about to bring this point up to Abed, when he was surprised further by Abed digging a key out of his pocket and unlocking the door, throwing it wide for their entry.

The duo stepped into the small room, and Abed tossed back a directive to him to 'keep a lookout' while he seated himself at the desk, which contained a couple of monitors and a handful of controls. He pulled out his laptop, and plugged a USB cable from the security system into it. He opened up a program that Jeff wasn't familiar with, but appeared to be streaming security camera feeds at a rapid pace, entered a couple of commands, and turned back to Jeff while a timer ran on the screen.

Now that Abed appeared to be free, at least for the moment, Jeff felt more comfortable engaging him with some questions.

"Abed, who exactly am I keeping a lookout for? Greendale hasn't had a security force since Chang was ousted."

"Oh, nobody. We aren't going to get caught in here. Besides, I got the key from the Dean. He knows I come in here for footage all the time."

Jeff was perplexed. "Then why did you tell me to keep a lookout?!"

Abed shrugged, "Seemed to fit well with the cloak and dagger, secret agent type stuff we're doing right now. Besides, it's what I always tell Troy to do…he just already knows he doesn't really have to. Don't tell anyone that though, it's one of the ways we've worked out to escape the group when we want to go goof off and do our own thing."

Jeff just shook his head…first day back was already turning out to be a totally Greendale experience. "So…why did you call out Annie and Britta for the 'B team,' or was that just more stuff that 'fit well?'"

Abed shook his head at this question "No, they actually were both needed. Annie is compulsively prepared to study, and Britta uses a Totorola."

"What?!" Jeff boggled at this completely bizarre answer.

"Relax Jeff, all will become clear in time."

"Whatever, Abed." Jeff looked over the screen of Abed's laptop, and from what he could see, streaming at several times normal speed was a steady flow of the security camera feed from the Dean's office. Abed entered a few commands, then turned back to Jeff.

"So, how are things with Annie?"

Jeff stiffened. This wasn't a conversation he'd normally be thrilled to have under any circumstances. In this instance…he loved Abed without reservation, but he also knew how his friend's overly analytical nature and/or love of pop culture could lead to his life taking sudden, unexpected, and often undesired turns that Abed orchestrated to make things align with an homage or tribute that he had decided he wanted to do. He didn't like the idea of something involving his relationship being a target of opportunity.

"They're fine, Abed. Things are great. Annie and I are very happy."

"Are they? She didn't appear to expect that you were coming back to school here when you and Pierce showed up, and she spent the night at your place last night, which suggests that she was in the dark, and you deceived her as to your schedule for the day."

"It was supposed to be a fun surprise. We thought you'd all enjoy it. I'm sorry, next time I'll make sure we sync up our Google calendars, ok?"

"Don't get upset, Jeff. I'm just saying…something seems off between you. For example, she spends more than half of her nights sleeping at your apartment, but she hasn't simply moved in yet. Why?"

Jeff buried his face in his hands. "Hasn't she? It sure feels like she does, with the amount of her stuff that's made it to my place. Hell, even her cat has come over. Now I have two of the things running around. At least they get along."

Abed nodded. "True, Orson and Troy seemed to miss her at first, but she never quite got along with them that well."

Like Jeff, upon receiving the gift of a kitten from the Dean, each of the study group members had promptly renamed their new pets. Abed had named his after a favorite actor/director…which shocked no one. Reversing Jeff's action when he renamed 'Jeffrey' to 'Gizmo,' Troy had bestowed his own name on his cat, which also shocked no one. As he had said at the time "All my pets growing up were named Troy, why would I change the pattern now?" Abed's cat had promptly become the most roly-poly out of the litter, while Troy's…Troy became rambunctious and to any casual observer, appeared slightly denser than the rest of his littermates, but someone who watched him long enough would see a depth of cunning that usually went unnoticed. Annie's cat Chloe, prim, graceful, and fastidious, even to a cat's standards, didn't often join in on their antics and cavorting around the apartment, and on the rare occasion she did, she stopped long before the two boys did.

"Yeah, Gizmo's pretty lazy, so he doesn't bug Chloe nearly as much as your two hairballs seemed to."

"So, Jeff…why is Annie still one of our roommates? We love her, but we kinda figured she'd have moved in with you already, and we're a little worried about what it says about your relationship."

Jeff was slightly taken aback by this. "Abed! Our relationship is going great, thank you…the fact that she still technically has a room with you doesn't mean anything. Like you said, she spends more than half her nights over at my place, and trust me…she's made herself at home. I think that you-"

"Let me stop you right there, Jeff. We'll come back to this. First, there's a call I have to make." With that, Abed turned back to his computer, where it had apparently finished whatever task Abed had it performing. Jeff watched as he quickly addressed and composed an email to someone, attached a file, and sent it, before pulling out his cell phone.

"Watch the monitor…I've wanted to do this for a long time." With that, Abed switched security camera feeds until he reached the one covering the study room, with the image pointed directly at the study table. Britta and Annie were sitting across from each other, engaged in an animated conversation. Abed thumbed a couple of buttons on his phone, and apparently set it to speaker, since Jeff could hear it ringing loud and clear. On the screen, he saw Britta reach for her phone and raise it to her ear.

"Hey Abed!"

"Good morning, Ms. Perry. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, involves crawling through the duct work using the access in the study room to reach the vent above Dean Pelton's desk. From there, you will be lowering Annie's digital recorder, after starting a looped playback of the file that has been emailed to her, which she needs to upload to the device immediately. As always, should any member of your team be caught or killed, Jeff and I will disavow all knowledge of your actions."

"What?! No, wait, Abed! I don't choose to accept this…whatever the hell it is!" Britta sounded panicked, and Abed frowned at the phone in his hands, as if he hadn't anticipated the possibility that she may not want this 'mission.' Seemingly unsure of any other path, he proceeded forward with what was left of his prepared speech.

"This message will self-destruct in five seconds."

"WHAT?!"

Jeff's gaze flipped back and forth between Abed beginning to quietly count down from five and the monitor showing the two women, now appearing slightly disturbed by the recent call. He wondered what would happen when Abed reached 'one.' He heard Britta's confused shouting coming out of the phone, and could hear Annie in the background asking what was going on, and what was this email she had just received?

He didn't need to. No sooner was the whispered 'three' out of his mouth when they heard Britta yelp, and the connection suddenly died. On the screen, they saw what looked like small flames bursting out of Britta's hand before she dropped her phone on the floor, and began stomping on it. After a couple of stomps, she turned to face the security camera in the study room, and angrily shouted something that Jeff couldn't make out by reading her lips and expression.

"Abed…did you just blow up Britta's phone somehow?"

"Like I said, Jeff…Britta uses a Totorola. And if she hadn't stopped me…it would have happened right on time, instead of two seconds early. It was an amateur move, but I guess I should have seen it coming. Plus, she totally broke the fourth wall. I didn't think she'd guess we were in here." Abed shook his head in dismay at Britta's performance.

As Jeff mentally put the pieces together, he couldn't help but to start chuckling at his friend's ingenuity. "Abed…I'm not normally a fan of the homage thing, but this one was one of your better ones." He said, patting his slender compatriot on the shoulder as he watched Britta circle the table to look over Annie's shoulder at the email Abed had sent her, which would give further instructions on the mission she was supposed to perform.

Without looking up, Abed started speaking again. "Do you think they've been talking about you?"

"Of course they have been, Abed. Britta and I used to have…whatever we had, and Annie and I have been dating for three months now. Do you really think they could resist comparing notes?"

Study Room F

"What are you knitting now, Britta?"

"Going to tease me for my hobby, Annie? You guys give me enough crap for it as it is."

Annie scrunched her face up as she frowned at Britta. Always on the defensive.

"No, not at all. I'm just curious about what it is. It's not another suit to make your cat look fancy or anything, is it?"

"No! It's for protection…"

Annie was more than a little confused by this statement. She'd never work up the nerve to ask, but was Britta making some form of kitty condom or something? Instead, she just raised her eyebrows in a clear question.

"Well…some of my older cats pick on Gertrude…so, I'm making her an extra thick sweater type thing to act as a layer of protection."

"Britta, isn't Gertrude your only cat that has all of her body parts still? I mean, when you got her from the Dean, she had both eyes and all her legs, so unless you amputated one to make her fit in or something…"

Britta looked shocked that Annie would even suggest such a thing. "Annie! That's horrible! No, she's still on one piece."

Annie felt herself getting more and more lost. "Admittedly, most of us have cat experiences that vary wildly from yours, but I'd think a cat with both eyes and all four legs would have a pretty distinct advantage in fighting and escaping the rest of your herd."

Britta stuck her chin out in defiance as she responded. "She's still small and kind of timid, but she's toughening up. I just want to make sure that as she becomes an adult, she doesn't lose a limb to an infected bite or something. That way, she'll eventually be the toughest of them all."

"Infected bite? Britta, you really have to get your cats into the vet to make sure none of them have anything dangerous if you really have to worry about that. And I also think if you're going to insist on renaming your cat from the Dean 'Gertrude,' you should call her 'Trudy.' It's way prettier." Annie ended her caution to her friend on a note that left no doubt that she didn't care for the name Britta had chosen for her newest member of her feline clan.

"Ugh, no. I told you, I named her after Gertrude Stein, not the character on Mad Men that Jeff drools over." Britta scoffed, but it turned into a smirk as she saw Annie narrow her eyes slightly at the mention of Jeff looking at another woman, even a fictional one. Annie looked like she was going to respond, but before she could, Britta broke back in with a sudden realization.

"Crap! Jeff and Abed! Have you heard anything from them about what this big mission they told us we had to stay here for was all about?"

Annie shook her head in the negative. "Actually, I forgot all about them…"

Britta cringed slightly. "Me too."

Just then, Britta's phone rang. She and Annie looked at each other with relief. Abed had spooky levels of accurate timing sometimes.

"Hey Abed!"

Annie couldn't hear anything Abed said on the other end of the line, just saw Britta's face becoming more confused, at the same time she saw an email from Abed with an attached file spool into her inbox.

"What?! No, wait, Abed! I don't choose to accept this…whatever the hell it is!" Britta's voice was starting to sound panicky, and then it increased to a full on yelp. "WHAT?!"

"Britta, while you're on the phone with Abed, can you ask him what this email is all about? It's got instructions…but they're wei-" Annie's sentence never got finished as the cell phone in Britta's hands burst into flame. She yelled, and dropped it on the floor, rising from her chair to stomp out the fire. After she was sure the flames were out, she turned towards the security camera mounted in the corner of the room, and shouted at it. "That wasn't five seconds!"

"Who are you shouting at, Britta?"

"Your pointy-faced boyfriend and our socially awkward mastermind. They've gone all Mission: Impossible on us, and I'm betting they're watching us from the room that controls the security cameras."

Annie gave her laptop a tight little nod, trying to avoid looking at Britta, and potentially draw her anger. "That'd explain this email. I'm uploading the file to my digital recorder now, and I'm supposed to tell you that once you start it playing, it's got 45 seconds of dead air before any sounds start. That way, you don't panic and waste time if you don't immediately hear anything once you start the loop."

Britta looked at Annie with a hint of rage crossing her features as she circled behind the younger woman to try to read the email for herself. "Annie, what on earth is going on here?" Annie just raised her hands in mock surrender. "You're on your own…I'm just following the instructions Abed emailed to me." Annie pulled the recorder loose from the USB cable connecting it to her laptop, and handed it to Britta, quickly demonstrating how to start a looped playback. Britta snipped a long piece of yarn off of the skein she was knitting from, and stuffed it into her pocket along with the recorder. She crossed to the vent she'd seen so many people use to enter the ductwork over the years, never guessing she'd end up as one of them, and opened it, before turning to Annie.

"When I get out of here…I'm going to make sure that Abed and Jeff both pay dearly for this. Let them know that if you see them or talk to them again before I get out of there."

With that, Britta disappeared into the vent, grumbling the whole way.

Greendale Security Room

Once they saw Britta enter the ductwork, Abed shifted the view over to one showing Dean Pelton's office. It wasn't the best view for seeing the vent, but they'd get a clear picture of when the recorder made it onto the desk. After what seemed like ages, they finally saw the small device dangling above the administrator's desk, and reach a resting spot.

"Awesome, Abed…she did it. Now, what exactly is that going to do?"

Abed turned around in his chair to face Jeff. "Simple. I grabbed a bunch of audio of the Dean doing various business in his office, and spliced it together. He doesn't really do much of use, so as long as I cut out anything that involved someone else, like a meeting in his office or something, it was all generic enough that he shouldn't recognize that it's all stuff that he's said within the last week or so. This way, he thinks his past self is in his office, and he won't leave his closet."

"He's hiding in his closet?" Jeff asked, a note of astonishment in his voice. Abed just nodded. "Thank God Pierce isn't here…there's a certain poetic quality to his choice of hiding places, but Pierce wouldn't be able to leave it alone."

Abed just looked at him impassively for a moment before starting an entirely new conversation, completely ignoring the open comment Jeff had made.

"You can head on back now. I just want to review the recent footage to see if there's been anything good. We've got a little time before our first class."

Jeff just folded his arms and leaned back against the desk. "Not so fast, Abed. Let's talk turkey first."

"Turkey?"

"Yeah…your security cameras cover pretty much every room on campus?"

"I don't like what you're driving at, Jeff. I kept cameras out of the locker rooms for ethical reasons, so I don't have any footage stockpiled from the girls locker room to share with you." Abed obviously thought Jeff just wanted to get a free peep show, and thankfully, didn't have anything to offer him there, but the older man just shook his head.

"That isn't what I want, Abed. You want to keep your and Troy's little 'come down to the security room to watch footage, and Troy watches the door for no real reason' game quiet, don't you? I don't get why, but you seemed to want me to zip my lips about it."

Abed just looked at Jeff with wide eyes, "If Shirley thinks we're going to go goof off, she tries to guilt us into volunteering at the sandwich shop. You can't tell her, or anyone."

Jeff nodded with a tight lipped smile. "I can keep my mouth shut, Abed…but I have a price."

"Name it."

"There's a room I want to become completely invisible to you. 24/7."

Abed blanched. "You're asking me to compromise my artistic integrity." His statement just made Jeff laugh. "And you're asking me to deceive our friends. Trust me, Abed…no one uses this room anyway. You'll be better off if you don't have to review it on a daily basis."

As Jeff began explaining which room he wanted blacked out, Abed just nodded. This wouldn't be so bad after all.

Study Room F

Annie sat alone in the study room, just waiting for Britta to return, and getting a head start on reading the first chapters in some of her Forensics texts. She was suddenly startled by a voice behind her, which she tuned out as she muttered to herself.

"How did Jeff ever focus with the study room door right behind him? Oh…that's right, Jeff? Focus? Ha!"

"Helloooo…earth to Annie Edison!"

Annie startled for the second time in mere moments, as she realized that the first instance of being startled sent her down a line of thought that had her end up completely ignoring the person calling her name. She turned around to find out what Jeff wanted. Startled or not, she still recognized his voice.

"What, Jeff? Where's Abed?"

"Busy. Pack up and come with me, quick!"

"Where are we going? We've got class soon." Annie protested, even as she started collecting her things. "Annie...class isn't for almost an hour." Jeff rolled his eyes at her. Even after a summer of teaching her how to slack, she still fell back into her old habits when she was in a familiar environment. "Forty-five minutes, Jeff…hardly an hour."

Jeff rolled his eyes once again. "Ok, so we can be fast. C'mon!"

Annie finished gathering her belongings and stood, striding over to join him at the door. "But what about Britta? She should be out of the vents soon."

"Yeah, I'm hoping to actually get out of here before that happens." Jeff acknowledged.

"But where are we going? And I'm still mad at you!" Annie began to protest as Jeff weaved his fingers with hers, and began walking off, forcing her to practically run to keep up. They made it as far as the end of the hall when Jeff stopped, and turned to Annie. "Wait…why are you mad at me?"

"Because you didn't tell me that that you were taking classes! I figured you'd want to let your girlfriend know that you were going to show up today." Annie said, putting on her formidable face.

"Annie…it's called a surprise. I thought you'd think it was cute. Pierce and I planned this out because we figured you all would have fun with it." Jeff gave Annie a completely stone-faced look to match her own, which made her start to cave.

"I know…it's just keeping things from me, it almost makes me feel like you're treating me like a kid, instead of a partner. It's just one of those things that sets me off with you, I guess." Annie admitted, her doe-eyes getting large, but refraining from moistening. Jeff was having very little to do with her tactics though. "Sure, I get it. How about instead of getting you gifts for birthdays, anniversaries or holidays, I just hand you some cash, because you don't like having surprises kept from you? And heaven forbid I ever take you out on a surprise date anywhere."

Annie's face clearly showed that she knew her argument sucked, and she decided to take her medicine. "Fine…you aren't necessarily in trouble. We can talk more about this later."

Astonishment bloomed on Jeff's face. "Talk about it later? Not necessarily in trouble? I can't win here!" Annie just grinned at him, and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him down for a kiss, which he gladly returned.

"C'mon Winger, get a room already!" A passing voice got their attention and caused them to break apart. For once, Annie was the one to deliver the retort.

"Shut up, Leonard! No one believes that you invented breakdancing!"

The old man cackled as he continued on his way. "Wait until I tweet it. People believe anything on there!"

Annie just shook her head, before turning her attention back to Jeff, who was looking at her in wonder.

"What?"

Jeff barely managed to stammer out the words..."That was amazing…God, I love you." Annie just grinned back at him, before she brought things back on track. "Ok, what was it you wanted to show me?" Jeff's face turned sly as he responded. "Something awesome…c'mon. Let's just say that for the first time in the several centuries he has to have lived by now, Leonard finally had a good idea. You remember the room they set up for a front for night school, right?"

With that, Jeff resumed leading Annie down the hall.

Meanwhile, back in the study room, Britta finally emerged from the vent to an abandoned room. She looked around to see only her own possessions still around, making it abundantly clear that no one else was planning to come back before class. She scowled and shook her head in disbelief.

"Figures. Jags."

Greendale Security

Abed didn't betray any signs of noticing as the door to the security room opened, and closed, with a new occupant in the room with him, his gaze focused on the monitor, running through footage at high speed. He only briefly looked away when a baked good was held out in his peripheral vision. He hit the pause button, and turned to his best friend.

"Cupcake? Fresh baked by the A/C guys." Troy said. Abed took the treat, and setting it on the table, he and Troy did their signature handshake.

"How's it been without me in here? Bet it's real boring, like being alone in your head without multiple personalities to keep you company." Troy's mind obviously began to wander contemplating the possibilities.

"Not too bad. Jeff was with me for awhile. I had to tell him our secret about this room to keep him from telling Shirley, and we made Britta's phone blow up before she went crawling through the ducts." Troy's eyes grew wide at this news.

"You what?! Tell me everything!"

"I'll show it to you later. I need to sync up the sound, and run it through some filters to clean up the sound and video quality, but I think you'll like it. Jeff, Britta, Annie and I got to play Mission: Impossible." Troy looked completely dejected now. "Man…and I thought my A/C cupcakes were awesome. You don't get to have fun adventures without me anymore."

Abed had returned to reviewing footage by this point, but still responded. "I have no problem with that. Jeff exacted a price from me to maintain his silence. I don't have to do that with you."

Troy's shock was evident in his voice. "What did he make you do to keep quiet?"

"I had to promise a total surveillance blackout in one room, in perpetuity. At least no one ever uses it, so it's not like I'm going to really miss anything, but it's the principle of the matter. Plus…what if someone randomly uses it someday? It'd probably be something interesting, and I'd totally miss it."

"Which room?"

Abed pointed at the monitor, still running footage at four times normal speed. "Actually, that one, behind that door."

As they were watching, they saw the door open, and Jeff and Annie step out, movements exaggerated, due to the increased tempo. As they watched, Annie clearly adjusted her clothing as if it weren't quite on right, as well as buttoning up a previously undone blouse button, before pressing Jeff up against the doorframe for a kiss. While they were kissing, Abed thought he saw Jeff's eyes open and flicker up to look directly into the camera.

After the kiss broke, Jeff said a few silent words to Annie who nodded, hugged him, and walked off screen at a comic pace. After she was gone, Jeff's gaze clearly drifted up to engage the camera directly, which didn't go unnoticed by Abed or Troy. He then also walked off screen, in quadruple time. Troy and Abed turned to look at each other, with nervousness evident on both faces.

"Hey, Abed…how long ago was this taken?"

Abed started to check the time stamp on the footage, when suddenly a student passing down the hall slowed down dramatically.

"Uh oh."

Troy's eyes grew wide at his friend's pronouncement. "Uh oh is bad, Abed. What's going on?"

"You see how that student suddenly slowed down?" Troy nodded in response. "Well, that means we've caught up to the present and we're watching in real ti-" Abed was cut off by the door slamming open, revealing an out of breath Jeff, who had clearly run here from the door they had just seen him stepping out of on camera. Troy was the first to react, Abed sat stock still, not turning away from the monitor, eyes wide like a deer caught in the headlights.

"Heeeeeey, Jeff. You're looking…exercised."

"I try to keep in shape, Troy. The ladies like it."

Troy couldn't decide whether it was a laughing moment or not, but decided to play it straight. "Yeah, bet they do. So, how's Annie?"

Jeff shook his head. "We don't have time for this, we've got to get to class, but first, Abed! The camera in the hall outside that room too. Kill it."

Abed still didn't look away from the monitor. "Cool. Cool cool cool."

Jeff stalked out of the room towards the Astronomy classroom, and Abed and Troy sank in their respective spots, grateful that the situation, which could have turned out much worse, ended up being so simple.

"C'mon man, we've got to get to class." Troy was the first to recover, and Abed nodded, only reaching to his laptop to access the security system one last time to remove the offending camera from use, as per Jeff's demands.

The first Astronomy class went quietly enough, with only a minor quibble between Jeff and Annie about whether or not they'd sit on the front row. Of course, Annie insisted on being in the front, and Jeff insisted on not being in the front. The rest of the group, and even most of the rest of the class knew better than to butt in, but one of the German students was foolish enough to suggest that they consider not sitting together, as way of compromise. Neither Jeff nor Annie said a word, but their steely glares were enough to cow him into silence.

They ended up compromising in a different way, and sitting on the second row. Not quite as far back as Jeff liked to be, but he allowed that he didn't really care if the teacher called him out for playing on his phone during class, since he already had his degree. Annie would have still preferred to be on the front row, but decided that since her first go-round with 'senioritis' ended up as a bit of a flop, she could try this to kick off a second attempt. Plus, during the times when Jeff actually put his phone down, sitting next to him meant he could put his hand on her knee under the table, and she could reach down with her left hand and lightly stroke his hand, while still taking notes with her right, of course. They both seemed to enjoy the opportunity for such brazen physical contact in public after having danced around each other for so many years.

After class, the group headed back to the study room, with each of them taking up their familiar seats, except for Jeff and Annie, who remained swapped in position after a false start that both had them nearly sitting in their usual spots. Suddenly, an air of tension that had been broken since prior to class returned.

Annie started trying to dispel the tension by beginning to discuss study strategies for Astronomy, but she didn't get very far when she was interrupted by everyone else in the study group looking past her with wide-eyed expressions. She slowly turned to see a fuming Dean Pelton standing behind her, holding her digital recorder as if it were a dead animal.

"I believe this belongs to you, Annie." He said, with the most steel anyone had ever heard in his normally petulant voice.

Britta was the first to get her bearings and to try to salvage the situation. "Dean! Shouldn't you be hiding in your closet still, so your past self doesn't see you and make the universe…do something bad?"

The Dean turned his attention to Britta. "Now, how did you know I was in the closet?" which earned a guffaw and a comment from Pierce, "Everyone knows that!" but the Dean acted like he hadn't heard a word the older man had said, which the rest of the group knew would just pique him to try even harder the next time.

"Well, do you know what happened when I came out of the closet, Ms. Perry?"

"No one was surprised?" Pierce's second comment didn't go unnoticed this time. "No, Pierce, actually…I was surprised to find Ms. Edison's little toy on my desk as the source of my own voice that I'd been hearing while I hid in my closet, frightened for the very fabric of reality, thanks to Abed over there."

Abed's eyes narrowed slightly. "How did you know it was safe to come out of the closet?" Both Pierce and Troy started chuckling at this, and even Jeff gave an out of character snicker, but Dean Pelton was undeterred. "Well, you see, I knew what day of the week it was, and I know that after a certain hour of the day, I leave for a certain meeting down at the hotel by the airport. I never miss it. Ever." This declaration spurred a lot of shifty eyes going back and forth between the study group members as they valiantly tried to avoid thinking about what such a 'meeting' might involve. "Now, when that time had passed, and I could still hear myself talking, I got confused, so I came out of the closet, and lo and behold…Annie's recorder. I then took it upon myself to check the records of Jeff and Pierce here, or…rather, have my secretary check them, and she confirmed what I had thought this morning. You two both graduated last spring, and you're taking the Astronomy class without applying it to a specific major. You guys were tricking me all along, and that isn't how friends treat friends!" The Dean's voice built up to being more petulant as he reached his conclusion. The group again, looked around at each other, with facial expressions ranging between something approximating attempted shame, and quiet pride at their practical joke.

"Now, for punishment, I think that Mr. Winger and Ms. Edison should switch back to their normal seats." The Greendale administrator made his final declaration, trying as hard as he could to make it sound like he had deeply considered this as a suitable punishment for all involved. Annie was scandalized the most, but Jeff's eyes had just grown wide with fear. He couldn't say anything in his defense for once, leaving Annie to speak up.

"What?! Why is that a punishment?"

The Dean clearly didn't want to explain, because he simply snapped his next words, sounding oddly similar to a child throwing a tantrum. "Because that's what I've decided, now do it!"

Jeff and Annie both stood up, and as they passed each other, Jeff laid his hand on Annie's shoulder, as if to communicate that he had her back on this. Annie looked up and gave Jeff a deep, soulful look communicating her own sympathies.

As Jeff sat down, the Dean acted like an addict who'd been without a fix for too long, bending nearly double to touch Jeff's abs, and as he stood and walked out of the room, allowed his hand to trail up Jeff's chest, and off his shoulder, muttering as he did so. "Ohhhh yeah, that's how it's supposed to be."

Jeff sat there after the Dean had left the room, maintaining a wince on his face, as they heard the shrill voice carry back from the library. "And there aren't any more switchsies, got it?!"

No one said a word for several minutes. Finally, Jeff broke the silence.

"Well, I guess all that remains to be said is, 'Welcome back to Greendale. Nothing's changed.'"

From inside the vents they heard an echoing voice, "You mean nothing's Chang'd. Get it right, Winger."

Britta just groaned, "Ugh…we're going to have to deal with THAT again? Maybe we ought to just let him in the group already." Abed nodded at Britta, "I kinda already made it seem like he was part of it last spring…and he did come to the Christmas party."

Pierce couldn't just let that go without putting in his piece though. "I say if we're talking about inviting anyone at all, we need to have another mixer. Maybe someone could bring kettle corn?" This idea brought a huge smile to Troy's face, but the conversation in the room devolved into a chorus of groans, grumbles and general dissent as everyone gathered up their stuff to leave for the rest of their day.

Outside of the study room, Jeff held Annie by the waist, while she gripped him by the arms, just above his elbow. "So, are you still mad at me?" She rolled her eyes at him and flipped her head back and forth a little as she considered her answer. "I dunno, Jeff…I just wish you'd told me. I hate waking up alone when I've gotten used to waking up with you holding me. I know, it sounds cheesy…but c'mon, you're the guy who used to brag about never cuddling afterwards…and now, I've got gotten used to waking up in your arms. It's kind of a proud thing for me, and even though I know you're still waking up holding me, having you gone when I wake up is a bit jarring. Maybe if we'd discussed it first…it was just a shock and a surprise when you showed up today, and I feel like I'm running at the mouth, am I running at the mouth?"

Jeff smirked down at his petite girlfriend, pulling her in close for a tight hug. "Annie, I wanted to do something that you'd appreciate, and I figured that showing up for a class I didn't even need to take, and 'getting in bed' with Pierce to keep the whole group together while the rest of you finished up would be something you'd love. I'm sorry that there were drawbacks, but there had to be a sacrifice somewhere, and I figured the surprise was the bigger deal."

Annie nodded up at him, extending her arms to wrap around his neck as she did. "You did good. It's just one of those examples of crossed signals. We're fine." As if to prove the point behind her words, she pulled him down for a deep kiss, whispering to him after she broke it, "I still love you, Jeff. Crossed signals and all."

Jeff pulled away, his affection for this woman clearly showing in his eyes. "I love you too, Annie. I've got to get back to work though, and you've got more classes. Are you coming over tonight?"

She nodded. "You bet. I just have to grab a couple of things from my place first."

Jeff had begun to walk away. "Ok, I'll get dinner going as soon as I get home. I think there's something we should talk about tonight."

Jeff's final words gave Annie pause as she stood there, stunned, as Jeff just walked away. He was long gone before she really processed what he had said.

"Wait…what?! Talk?"

Later that Night: Jeff's Apartment

Annie rolled off of Jeff, exhausted and content. As she snuggled up next to him, and gently started pressing kisses into his shoulder and chest, she felt a wave of happiness roll across her as Jeff wrapped his arm around her to start stroking her hair gently.

"So, Annie…I've got a bit of a tough question for you here." Jeff pressed his lips together tightly and Annie's nervousness began to grow, having completely forgotten about the ominous talk he'd mentioned earlier that day.

"You sure know how to pick your moments, Jeff. Wait until she's had dinner, and basking in the afterglow? Well…lay it on me."

"Well…if you remember, which you should, since you use it all the time…back on that morning after our first night together, I gave you a key, and let you know you were always welcome here."

Annie stiffened. This could go several places, and most were bad. "Yes…of course I remember."

"And you've been over quite a bit…and I've thought you've been happy here."

Annie pulled herself closer to Jeff, rolling up onto her side. "I have been. I love coming over. That's why I'm over here pretty much all the time! Is it becoming a problem?"

Jeff finally turned his head to meet her gaze instead of staring at the ceiling. "What? No. I was just wondering why you hadn't just moved in yet. I mean…your cat is more of an official resident than you, and I just haven't been able to figure out why you still have 'your place.'"

Annie felt herself melting inside. Jeff wanted her to live with him, officially. At least…that's what she was gathering from what he was saying, but she still needed to explain. "Well, I just kinda figured…you probably like your space, and if anything happened between us, like you got bored of me, or decided I was too clingy or something, then I'd have my place for backup."

Jeff's expression didn't change. "Annie, let me rephrase that. Will you move in here with me?"

The only answer he got immediately was Annie's lips pressed up against his.

"So, should I take that as a yes?" he asked, with a smirk beginning to cross his lips. Annie just nodded at him, still unable to speak. Surprise registered on her face as he rolled out of bed, and beckoned for her to come with him.

Jeff led her out to the kitchen, and pulled out two small tumblers. Annie looked at him inquisitively as he started pouring scotch, and found her voice enough to say "Just a single for me, thanks."

"God…you have no idea how hot it is that you've learned to appreciate scotch…I should just mention that."

"Well, dating you leaves me little choice. I still prefer something like an appletini, but I see the appeal of scotch on occasion. Speaking of…what's the big deal with rolling out of bed all of the sudden for a nightcap?"

Jeff tossed off a sly smile, "Well, I figured you agreeing to move in with me was worthy of a toast. You see…I've never actually cohabited with a girlfriend before. We're crossing entirely new bridges here, Edison."

Annie wasn't sure if the warmth in her stomach was from the scotch, or Jeff's words. She set her tumbler down on the counter, and wrapped her arms around his midsection, pressing the side of her face into his chest as she held him tightly. "God, I want to say you aren't the same man I met back when I was 18, but you are…you're just better."

Jeff chuckled. "Part of that's thanks to the study group…but a lot of it is thanks to you. You're the one person who never let up on making sure I was becoming a decent person. You're the best, kiddo."

Annie gasped at that, and slapped his chest at the return of his habit of diminishing her because of her age, but she did it with a smile on her face. She knew the age difference was of next to no consequence to Jeff anymore, and he was just trying to bait her. Still, the mood had shifted into something far more playful now.

"Anyway, it'll be good to have you here permanently. And Annie…it won't bother me if you want that spot at the study table. If you want the 'head spot,' you can have it."

"No she can't!" the voice of Craig Pelton came through the wall of Jeff's kitchen, where the apartments shared a common wall.

"You know what, Annie…maybe your moving in here was a bad idea."

Annie looked at him, hurt clear on her face. She'd just agreed to move in, and now Jeff was rescinding the offer?

"Yeah…maybe we should both move in together someplace else entirely, and we'll set up a PO Box, so no undesirables can figure out where we live!" Jeff shouted this last statement, earning a yelp through the wall of someone who'd just heard something terrifying.

Jeff's chuckle rumbled deep in his chest, and Annie pulled herself back in to be wrapped in his arms. She was going to move in with Jeff…everything seemed totally perfect.

Things could only keep getting better from here, right?

A/N: If you made it this far, you're a trooper. I've got quite a bit to cover here, and it's actually somewhat important.

Length: Like I said at the start...these are going to be long. I don't want to split the 'episodes' up into different chapters, even though it might ultimately be better, I feel like it would be too jarring of a break. I apologize.

Formatting: I'm really unhappy here...if you read this before I had a chance to update it, where I had a triple dash signifying a sudden change in scene when I had it written in my word processor...it all ran together when I copied it over, which forced me to hurriedly edit it, putting in the full screen lines for cuts, which then felt weird if I didn't then label the new scene. It feels very jarring and inorganic to me. If anyone has a suggestion, I would love you forever.

Characters: You'll notice Pierce and Troy are both present. I have every intention of keeping them thus. I love both characters, and I'm betting Dan Harmon would keep them around if he could too. Additionally...I think that if I DID write them out, however I did it would end up just looking ridiculously stupid once we see how it's done on the show. Thus, I'll play it safe, and just keep them in my toolbox of available characters.

Abandonment: Here's the deal. Abandoned fics can be frustrating. Even if you don't like the story, sometimes you still want to see how it resolves. That's why I'm committing to finish this, or delete it. If I can't get a chapter up regularly (I will be setting a reminder in my calendar 45 days after the posting of a chapter at first, but I intend to reduce that down to 30 days as I complete other projects, and I hope to ultimately be knocking out a chapter a week until completed, reminder or not) I will just delete everything as not to have some orphaned story up here.

Future Chapters: Here's where I'm going to ask for some help. I've got some outlines for future chapters...but not nearly a full season (13 or 24...probably 13, to be honest, but we'll see how many ideas I manage to put together into a greater whole.) I am soliciting any ideas from readers who have something they've thought they'd like to see written into a story like this. This can include whole episode concepts, plots, even just gags or one-liners. I can't promise I'll use everything that gets submitted (if anything does,) because some won't fit, and some I just won't be good enough to write. I am grateful for any submissions though. They can be PM'd to me here, or submitted via my tumblr (link is on my profile.) Submissions on my tumblr can be sent anonymously, or by your account. If you send it anon, and wish to be credited...please include a name. If you send it non-anon, but don't want to be credited, please make sure it's clearly noted. I would love to credit everyone who gives me ideas though. Don't hesitate to send any ideas...but I should give a heads up now, I don't want to overload on 'concept episodes,' and I've already got a few outlined.

References: I will post a list of the references made in each chapter on my tumblr, because some of them might be a bit tough to get without getting too heavy handed and obvious about them. I will use the tag #badfanficreferences in case anyone is looking for them.

Hopefully this doesn't turn out to be too much of an epic disaster! Looking forward to getting the next chapter underway.