Community: Britta Calling

The rest of the study group had found out that Jeff and Britta had been sleeping together. Like, for realsies. Though they tried to remain evasive about their hookups, Abed was the one who suspected. Abed was the one who saw everything, who observed everything. Abed was the one who was right to suspect all along, but hadn't said anything until they were reminiscing about the times they shared this past year, their second year at Greendale.

But there was still one secret Jeff and Britta shared that the rest of the group didn't know about. Well, maybe Abed knew about it. Then again, what didn't Abed know about?

Britta was lying on her back in Jeff's bed and flipped the covers down, blonde hair covering part of her face. "So if the group already knows about us, then why are we doing this?"

Jeff moved a bit beside her. "They might know about us now, but do they really know about us now?"

"Why should they? Except maybe for Abed, but he knows everything."

"Yeah, but it's Abed. Do you really think the rest of the study group would believe some cock n' bull story about us relieving days?" Jeff asked.

"Pierce would probably say I'd spend that relived day screwing some lesbian I met in my Underrepresented Minorities class."

"Annie would say I'd spend it on 10 different kinds of hair product, an oil-free facial scrub and an eyebrow wax."

Britta gave Jeff a horrified look. He looked directly into her eyes, responding quickly.

"My face is a sacred vessel, Britta. What better lips to kiss you with, my dear…"

"Ugh."

"You know you love me, especially when my face smells like peppermint aftershave," Jeff knowingly smirked.

"Oh, that's aftershave? It smells worse than Mr. Meowskers' kitty litter!"

"Then why do you keep kissing me behind closed doors, bathroom stalls, against the walls of the Greendale City Morgue…"

"Shut up, Douche Street. After they fired me at the diner, I started working at the morgue for longer hours. The night shift is strange, but I need the dough."

"Do you really need the dough or do you just feel obligated to help those poor, dead souls who ask for your help?"

Britta bit her lip before retorting, "I'm doing what's best for human kind! If they ask for my help, then I am going to try and save them – in-between classes and study group, of course. But why are you so intent on stopping me anyway? What's it to you who lives or who dies?"

"A corpse is a corpse! People live, sometimes they love each other, sometimes they hate each other, sometimes none of the above, but by that time no one gives a crap and then they die. End of story."

"Wow, now who's the jaded one? And what about when the corpse lying on that cold metal table was Annie?"

"I saw Rich kill Annie. I see the victim's day when we rewind, remember?"

"But I saved her!" Britta objected. "You wanted her to die!"

"I didn't want her to die! I wanted Rich to die. She was the innocent bait he had lured into his inviting trap. I wanted to see that bastard choke on his own blood and-…"

Britta was glaring at him with that horrified look on her face again.

"Sorry. It's hard being 'Death,' you know. Not exactly a job I'm cut out for."

"How did you get assigned to balance the proverbial scales anyway? You hardly seem the type."

"Oh, Britta," Jeff said, leaning forward and placing a gentle kiss on her bare shoulder. "You have so much to learn about me."

"Well, then, enlighten me, Wing-Douche."

"Okay, you really wanna know? I got hit on the back of the head with a case back in my lawyer days. No, really. I think it was one of those hard leather cases. Anyway… I got a pretty severe concussion from getting hit by that case. Somehow I ended up in a coma. But… while I was in that coma, I saw The Powers That Be. They told me I had this job to do. So I used my lawyer finesse and bargained with them for my life. When I came to, I knew what I had to do. I had to come here to Greendale and find you, lure you into a study group with me, work the same night shifts that you do at the Greendale City Morgue and here we are now."

Britta just listened, speaking up after only a few moments. Her voice was dry, soft, low. "You make it sound easy."

"Trust me… it's not. I know we relive days, but if I could do it over again I would… I would do it over again, if only to see you every day."

"Careful," Britta teased. "I bite."

"Noted," Jeff said, smiling slightly mischievously as he closed the gap between them with a kiss. After he pulled away, he looked into her eyes, his fingers already tangled in the perfect blonde curls of her hair. "What about you? It must be really hard to carry the weight of the world on your shoulders."

"Yeah, it is. But you get used to it. I've lost so many people around me that getting this gift, reliving days and saving people's lives is one of the best things I could ever ask for."

"I understand," Jeff said knowingly.

"You do? Because not everyone does," Britta told him.

"Well, I'm not everyone, am I?" Jeff joked lightly as Britta smiled.

"I just wanted to make something of myself. My family pretty much deserted me. I even lost contact with my brothers after I moved here from New York. I don't think anyone had any expectations of me, no one held me to any high standards. No one rooted for me. Then one day, some part of that changed. I had this friend in high school… someone who everyone looked up to, you know? A real over-achiever. She was gonna go to some really good college, graduate from some top tier medical school and become one hell of a doctor. She was the one who told me not to give up. She said I should move and that maybe New York wasn't the right place for me. She knew that I wanted to help people, even if it was for my own screwed up reasons."

"So what happened?" Jeff asked softly.

"Well, the day I was supposed to leave New York… she… she died. Car accident. I had a friend hack into the investigative police reports and they all claim it was an accident. I don't believe that, though. I think it was a set-up. Someone purposely wanted her to die!"

She hastily wiped a tear from her eye.

Jeff's face softened as his hand caressed her cheek. "Britta… I'm so sorry."

Britta took a deep breath before continuing. "She came to me that night in a dream. She told me that in a few years I'd have this… gift and that I should use it wisely. I never did find out who killed her, though I suspect it was her father. He was never a big part of her life when I knew her, but somehow I just have the strangest feeling that he was the one responsible for orchestrating his own daughter's death. The first night that I took the job at the Greendale City Morgue, a body asked for my help, a girl who reminded me of my friend from high school, the day rewound and the rest…" she let her voice trail off.

"I've had my moments of doubt with this whole reliving days thing, too," Jeff replied. "Comes with the territory, I guess."

"Yeah, I guess. It's just…"

"What? It's just what?"

"Let's not tell the group about this, okay?" Britta asked. "Not yet anyway. I know we said Abed will probably figure it out and he's been quite suspicious on rewind days, but my calling – our callings – these things we are destined to do… no one should know about that."

"Agreed. No one has to know about our sixth sense."

"Is that what you're calling it?" Britta nearly gasped, wide-eyed.

"Do you have any other names for it, Ms. Wearing-Pink-Hello-Kitty-Underwear-Even-When-I-Told-Her-To-Wear-The-Lacy-Black-Underwear-She-Wore-On-Saint-Patrick's-Day?"

Britta gave Jeff her best sour face.

"You're welcome," Jeff said with faux pleasantness. "Trust me, you'll thank me later."

"I don't know what to call it unless Abed has some super meta name for it, which I wouldn't doubt that he does, but… we should just forget about it, Jeff." Britta yawned just then as she felt his hand move through her hair again.

"Stay with me tonight, Britta," Jeff coaxed her. "I don't care what part of the Feminist Constitutional Amendment that violates, but you should stay and get some sleep. We both need sleep right now. We'll worry about the other repercussions if they ever come up."

"Mmm… yeah…" Britta said, curling into the perfect curve of his body and resting her head on his chest. "But I want to know something else."

"What's that?"

"If something happened to me and I…" She can barely will the words to come out of her mouth. "And I died… what would happen then? Would you save me and risk all that exposure?"

"Britta, don't say things like that."

"Would you?" she pressed further, gazing up into his eyes.

"I…" he faltered. He could feel the faint sound of her heart beating against his chest right along with the beating of his own heart. Silence permeated the air for a few moments.

He would never admit this or tell this to the group. He wasn't the kind of person to put others before himself. That much the group knew about him. And Britta, for that matter. But when it came to life and death and what they respectively represented – the balance – he realized that she meant more to him than just about anything or anyone.

"Yes," he whispered softly, gazing down at Britta who was already fast asleep. He smiled contentedly and pulled the blankets tighter around her.

"Yes, I would," he finally whispered, leaving his words hanging in the air around them.

Soon, he was overtaken by sleep himself and reunited with Britta again in a secret dreamland that only the two of them shared.

Fin.

Author's Note: This fic was inspired by this past week's episode of Community entitled "Paradigms of Human Memory" as well as FOX's short-lived series Tru Calling. This story is basically Community Tru Calling style. I just used the basic premise of Tru Calling as a template for this fic. I really wanted to see if I could make this work, namely because I see many parallels between the relationships of Jeff and Britta and Tru and Jack respectively. Reviews are ALWAYS appreciated!