In the next three days, Annie kept true to her word and stayed away from both Jeff and the group. Somehow, Jeff managed to tell the group what happened while editing out every trace of his real role in it. Fortunately, the others bought it and did their best to give Annie her space. And according to Troy and Abed, they stopped trying to invite her to their Dreamatorium and imagine herself a new mother after the first day.

It was pretty hard for the group when she sat away from them in class and when she wasn't there to bail them out in studying. Of course, the strain that the others felt over her absence had nothing on Jeff's. Whatever strength he had was spent on not looking like he had no strength left to the group, so they couldn't poke more holes in his story. It used to be that putting an effort into looking careless wasn't necessary, but that was what Annie did to you; even when she wasn't there.

As such, Jeff thought he was hallucinating at first on Friday morning, when he arrived in the study room and saw Annie sitting in her usual seat; just like the last time he saw her. But when the rest of the group confirmed she was really there, Jeff only felt slightly better. He wasn't cracking up, yet now it was actually time to face Annie full time for what he'd done. At least he wasn't alone in this first post "I slept with your evil mother" scene, so maybe this would be a good warm up.

Fortunately, Annie got up from her seat and walked over to the group, so it didn't look completely like the end of their last meeting. And her focus seemed to be on the group and not Jeff in particular; although he could swear she was looking more at those around him. Perhaps she wanted to warm up by seeing the whole group before facing him one on one too.

"Guys, I'm really sorry. Not just for ignoring you lately, but….for trying to make you change for my mother. It just played right into her hands, and you couldn't help but go nuts because of her. Trust me, no one needs to apologize for that." Jeff tried not to hope that this was a coded message of forgiveness to him; even if it would be unearned on his part and anticlimactic.

"Are you….not nuts anymore now that the Mom-stapo is gone?" Britta asked. Annie actually laughed at her pun, which had to be a good sign; or one that she had finally permanently cracked.

"I'm fine, Britta. I said what I needed to say to her, and I should have said it before I let her meet you. I love you guys for all of who you are, even the annoying unscripted parts….you taught me to do that a lot better than she ever did." Jeff somehow managed to pretend that he didn't hope "guys" was Annie-code for Jeff. "Oh, and this week's notes are in my backpack and in personalized folders for you," Annie concluded.

"Oh, praise your Jewish God! Just let him know it's a one-time praise, okay?" Shirley insisted. Annie just giggled as if the last four days never happened, and went in for a full group hug. Usually Jeff triggered the group hugs, but it was probably for the best that he was in the back of this one. It seemed Annie could act like her old self in front of the group, since it was easier to make up with them. But her and Jeff were likely something else entirely.

Jeff got that feeling again when they broke apart and sat back in their chairs, as Annie didn't look at him on her way back. When she got out her folders of notes for the group, she passed Jeff's to him with only a little fleeting glance; a blank one and not the bubbly ones she usually had for him. Naturally, it seemed Abed had taken note, but Jeff gave him a glare of his own to make him keep it to himself. Yet Abed had been thankfully discreet about his knowledge of Jeff's situation, and his likely deductions of what really happened on Monday. So Jeff figured he owed him one at some point.

Of course, Jeff had bigger debts he needed to repay first. But he couldn't as long as he and Annie weren't alone together, which was hard enough to wait for when she wasn't in the group. Now that she was back, the fact that they still weren't speaking to each other hit even harder today.

Ignoring issues and waiting for them to be swept away deep down was Jeff's normal speed in his Annie pattern. It usually took a few days before Annie talked to Jeff like normal again and started their cycle anew. But if Jeff couldn't even endure this one day, the next week wasn't going to be any better.

Besides, this was…..uncharted territory and several days of awkward silence could stretch out to a whole semester this time. Given that there were only three semesters left to go in Greendale, this wasn't the time to waste away one of them.

So when Jeff finally saw Annie by herself, he swore to take action; even if she was sitting in the same lounge area where Carol set up her fight with the group. Yet before he went over to the couch, Jeff willed himself to actually think this through, like an Edison would; or at least just one Edison. It was probably way too soon for Annie to hear most of the things Jeff wanted to say. But he realized he could get through the long wait if there wasn't this awkward silence in the meantime.

As such, he revised his goal and came over just looking to somehow break the ice. To his credit, he did think of a good way to do it before he sat down. That helped Jeff act quickly when Annie noticed him and looked like she was straining not to get up and leave.

"Annie, I'm not here to talk about…." Jeff just circled his hand around the area to indicate the two of them. "Or about…" Jeff then circled his hand away from them to try and symbolize him and Carol. Annie got the meaning and was trying not to look grossed out, although part of her face was still scrunching up. But Jeff pressed on and offered, "I just want to ask one question, and then I won't bother you again until you're ready to bother me. Okay?"

Annie returned her face to normal as she thought this through, and as Jeff tried not to wish that her face would be Disney-fied around him soon. He couldn't afford to dream that big right now, as he had to aim smaller for now. This made it even more of a relief when Annie answered, "Okay. What do you want to know?"

Jeff kept his relief in check, calling to mind one of the questions that had been needling him since Monday. It wasn't the only question he wanted to eventually ask Annie, yet this would do for a start. "When you hugged Carol, I thought she did get you back in her Mom-stapo. But then I saw you thinking and turning those brain gears in that Annie way of yours. Then you came up with the greatest speech in study room history, even bigger than mine! So my actual question is….how did you break her spell, exactly?"

Annie didn't say anything for a while, so Jeff steeled himself in case it was too soon for her to go into this. However, she once again managed to break her silence, this time with more than a six word question.

"I didn't hug her because she convinced me to go. I just needed someone to hold me and calm me down, and you…." Now Annie waved her hands to show that hugging Jeff wasn't an option then. "You might not believe it, but she wasn't always….what you saw this week. She actually did hug me and comfort me and make me feel like I was her little girl once. Probably because I actually did everything she said back then. When she hugged me on Monday, it made me remember all that….and then I almost did want to get away from Greendale and you and go back with her. I wanted at least one thing left to count on and help me…." Annie then trailed off either for dramatic effect or because she'd ran out of words.

"So we're up to when you opened your eyes and kept looking at her. And then?" Jeff urged on.

"Then I remembered when she didn't help me too. I guess her calming me down gave me a clear head to remember things like that." Jeff barely kept from chuckling at how that was Carol's undoing. "I mean, she cut me off when I wanted to cure my addiction, and then she's hugging me and promising to help me get over….this thing? That didn't make sense, and I know now that people don't change instantly like that. No matter how much you try to nag and force them to." Jeff knew that he probably taught Annie that the hard way, so he just took the dig and let her go on.

"It didn't take me long to work out the rest. How she obviously manipulated my friends and blackmailed you to keep quiet. Then she played that tape anyway just to traumatize me so I'd go back to her! What kind of person toys with her own daughter like that?" Annie was getting louder than she did in her big speeches on Monday, so she got herself to quiet down again. "Then it hit me that she wanted me to be that person. That she would have made me that person if I stayed with her, then and now. It wouldn't have taken much…..like I said, a lot of her is still in me, and vice versa. You sensed that even before Monday."

Jeff lost his chance to deny that on Monday, and this wasn't the time to get in a final denial now. So he again took that dig at him in silence and let Annie finish. "But I got myself in rehab and came here because I didn't want to be like that. I don't want to run from my problems, just because dealing with them doesn't look good to strangers. I don't want to manipulate people I'm supposed to care about, or make their feelings less important to me than mine. I've done that a few times here already, and look how that turned out." Memories of how Annie ratted out Chang and nearly derailed Jeff's four-year Greendale plan ran through his head, before they remembered this wasn't the time to show up.

"I want to take the good things I got from Mom and use them better than she did. I want to have a career and a family and keep them both longer than 13 years. I want to share my abilities with everyone I can and not just 'proper' people. I want to maybe have fun someday that isn't planned out to the minute! And I never, ever want to abandon people I care about, and not be there for them in every way when they really need me…..like she wasn't with me. I couldn't have done all that if I went with her and left Greendale…..so I realized I had to be the one to cut her off this time. And here I am."

"Yeah…" was all Jeff could say as his Annie pedestal went higher than ever before. More than ever, he regretted all the times he dismissed her as a naïve do-gooder, now that he knew where that really came from. Eventually he added "Well, I don't think you'll have to worry about that ever again now." Annie nodded and tried to form a small, hopeful smile, yet Jeff concluded that even that was hard in front of him. In any case, he did get his answer, so it would have to do for this reunion.

"You know, as long as you're here, there's something I should ask you too." Jeff cursed himself for thinking this could possibly end so simply. But if they were going to go forward before the end of 2013, Annie would have to get in a few rants at him eventually. So Jeff stayed put and waited for her to lay into him.

"You left me with her in the study room because she showed you that backup tape. I know she was going to play it no matter what either of us did. But if she actually kept her word and didn't rat you out….would you have let her take me away from here?" That wasn't a rant, but Jeff was sure it would inspire one once he told her the answer. Yet after she poured her heart out, Jeff knew he owed her at least a spoonful of his.

"At that time….yes. I knew what she'd do to you if she won, but I didn't want to…..go all out to stop her. I cared more about you hating me and being grossed out by me if the truth got out, not more about actually trying to help you. I knew that and I still left you alone with her until she exposed me." Yet once Jeff saw Annie's face crumbling again, he added a postscript to his answer. "But the guilt was already driving me crazy even then. In another day or two, I knew I would have cracked up and tried to make up for my mistakes, like usual when it's too late. So by the end, I'm sure I would have played it myself if it got you away from her."

"Jeff, you go out of your way not to feel guilty for anything, even when it doesn't work. And you went all out not to expose yourself to me on Monday. Why would you have changed all that for me in the end?"

This was a loaded question, but not an unfamiliar one. Once again, even now, Annie was asking Jeff to say what he really felt about her, and why he would do more for her than anyone else he ever knew. And once again, Jeff didn't know how to answer.

It wasn't because he didn't know or didn't want to know. He knew exactly why, and he knew what he should say to answer her. He knew full well what three words to say to her; but he couldn't say them. Not because he didn't want to admit it to her or himself, or didn't want anyone else to know; but because this really wasn't the right time for them. Things were confusing and hard enough for Annie without Jeff finally saying….those words she likely dreamed of hearing from him before Monday.

The minute that it was okay to say those words to her, Jeff wanted to will himself to do it. Yet doing it now would just make things worse instead of instantly better. However, it hit him that there were other words he wanted to say and could say.

He had used the…..words he couldn't say yet a bunch of times before, and they wound up meaning nothing before long. But these new words were ones that Jeff had never said to another living or dead soul in his life. Hopefully Annie would realize that, see how significant it was even if it wasn't….those other words, and take it the right way.

"Because you're my best friend, Annie. You're pretty much the best friend I've ever had. Definitely the best person I know, too. I don't ever want to give up something like that for good, even if I go nuts for a little while. I mean, I'm not Carol."

And there it was. Jeff finally said something heartfelt and he had to mess it up at the finish line. Abed would say that it helped his character stay realistic by not suddenly becoming flawless. Yet Jeff was now convinced that reality was overrated.

Despite all those confessions, he messed it up by comparing himself to Carol; even if it was to show how he wouldn't abandon Annie like she did. But all it likely did was remind Annie that although Jeff wasn't Carol, he slept with her anyway. And in spite of how strongly Jeff said he felt about Annie, he still slept with her rotten mother after doing everything not to sleep with or get close to her.

No matter what Jeff and Annie became or didn't become now, that would always hang over them in some way and make everything awkward; even by their standards. And no big speech or confession would change that right now, if ever again. In spite of how Jeff was finally on the same emotional page with Annie; or at least her old page; it was ruined by this one final series of mistakes along the way. Too big for even him to totally make up for, and maybe too big for even Annie to totally forgive and forget.

With that putting a damper on the moment, Jeff got himself up and left the lounge area. And Annie stayed on the couch and didn't make a sound to him or anyone else.

They weren't alone together for the rest of the day, and Jeff made extra sure not to be bothered for most of Saturday. But by Saturday night, he felt masochistic enough to go back to the same bar where he first met Carol exactly one week ago. Since last week was her allotted time to hook up with someone, Jeff was sure he wouldn't run into her and get his head bitten off. Yet on the off chance he was wrong again, he wasn't sure he would really fight to keep his head. Not when it was torturing him for a week and likely wouldn't stop for a long time.

Jeff didn't even drink too much, as he wanted to stay sober enough to leave the bar by himself this time. Yet one of the bartenders soon approached him and laid down his favorite drink. "A young woman asked me to give this to you," Jeff was informed. Normally this would be a pretty good setup for a lucky night; normally.

"Tell her I wouldn't be good company for a young woman tonight. In fact, you make sure the older women know that too, just in case," Jeff explained.

"She said you might say something like that. But she told me you'd change your mind when I said this was from Caroline Decker."

No. Freaking. Way.

But when Jeff scanned the bar, he soon found Caroline Decker herself sitting at one of the booths. At that moment, Caroline – in the form of alter ego Annie Edison – smiled and waved him over. As if absolutely nothing had happened in the past week. As if she wasn't in the exact same bar where Jeff picked up her mother and triggered a week from hell. As if she didn't probably already know that and came here anyway; and as if she didn't just reuse an alter ego with virtually the same first name as her mother.

Since none of that was true, Jeff figured he would take a drink now. The fact that Annie ordered it for him did explain why it was his favorite, so at least she was softening him up. She probably made extra sure that the bartender called her a young woman too, just for another in joke/guilt trip. After gulping down half the glass, Jeff took the rest with him and went to Annie's booth to sit across from her. "What the hell, Decker?" was all Jeff could ask as an intro.

"Well, fancy my Texas mind finally finding you!" Annie exclaimed in her Caroline Decker accent. "I went through three bars until I found the one you were at last week! And heavens to Corpus Christi, you're back here just like I thought! Guess I can leave my hog-tying rope outside with my motorcycle after all, y'all!" Annie then giggled and reverted back to her old voice, saying "Took me three bar trips to get that line perfect!"

"Why….are you working through lines in bars? Why are you working them in this bar? Why did you want to say them in this bar? And why…..why Caroline?" Jeff asked incredulously.

"Why are you back here too?" Annie asked right back. "Like I said, you don't let yourself feel guilty that often. But you're pretty predictable when you do, and you should be, too."

So Annie wanted to drop the hammer on him at the scene of his first crime. Made sense in a twisted Annie way. "Jeff, it's going to be a very long time before I can look at you….the same way I did a week ago. You know why, and I'm sure you knew why the second you saw my mother come in on Monday morning. On top of that, you helped make this week a nightmare for me, and I had to pretty much get out of it by myself. You really should be back here feeling sorry for yourself….but I don't think it should be that easy for you."

Jeff sat there willing to let Annie eviscerate him; but as she went on, he noticed that her formidable face was softening just a little bit. She still had a serious look, and yet there was just the tiniest hint of the regular, sweet Annie there. This made Jeff more curious as to where she was going with this. "So how are you supposed to make this any harder?" Jeff asked curiously.

"You could just come here tonight, get drunk, pick up someone else to forget about me and put this behind you. I don't believe you've earned that easy way out." Despite her threatening words, now Jeff sensed a little warmth behind Annie's eyes and tightened lips. And although her next words had a menacing look to them, the tone was playful and tongue-in-cheek and in no way inherited from her mother.

"That's why you're going to sit here with a younger Edison this Saturday night. And you're going to do it right here next week, and the next week, and maybe for a few weeks after that. Think of it….every Saturday night, you'll be with me on the anniversary of the day you were with my mother in this very bar. Try running away from what you've done then….but I won't let you forget until I've rubbed it in and made you suffer enough. Still, if you wind up having fun and feeling better after a while, I guess I could concede defeat. Just know that I'm a sore loser….must be from my mother's side or something."

She was actually screwing with him. After all that happened, Annie Edison was actually having fun putting the screws to Jeff. And she was using this little "revenge" scheme as a gesture of reconciliation. She wasn't promising to get together or totally brush aside what happened….she was just giving Jeff a chance to have a do-over at this bar with a younger Edison. A whole series of do-overs, at that. There's no way it could be completely comfortable, for either of them….but she seemed willing to work through that with him together.

Then again, she did say she never wanted to run away from her problems again; or abandon someone in need that she cared about. And for some reason, that still applied to him.

Jeff thought for so long that she was naïve and childish for feeling something for a guy like him. Truthfully, it made even less sense than ever before now. At this moment, however, he would take naïve and childish over all the cynicism in the world; although he knew better to believe that really defined Annie anymore.

But being Jeff, he still had to give Annie a way out before she attached herself to him again. "As elaborate as your evil plan is, you don't have to follow through to prove you're not her. Not wanting to be around me doesn't make you Carol. I didn't do anything to earn this little revenge scheme….you're the one that saved yourself from her on your own again."

"I know. This isn't just for you, I have some….things I've got to get through too. I could do it by myself, but I've had to do that too much this week. I like knowing I can work things out on my own, but it's easier and more fun with a…..best friend who's on probation. Don't you think?"

Whether Annie actually knew what else Jeff had "best friend" stand for, or was ready to figure it out, none of those concerns mattered at the moment. In fact, there were no concerns that mattered at all for the first time in about a week. Right now, instead of feeling hopeless or guilty or worried or….other feelings he wasn't denying anymore; Jeff just felt like bantering with his friend again.

"In that case, I'm sorry….sorry that I'd like to talk to Caroline for a bit again. Can you get her back here?" The return of Annie's Disney smile, followed by her muttering vocal warm-ups in her Caroline Decker voice, suggested it was a yes. When she was finished, Jeff started the bit by asking "So Caroline….I didn't ask you about your name last time we met. Is it a family name?"

Although alluding to Carol might still be a bit dangerous and awkward even now, Annie brushed it aside and answered in her Caroline Decker twang. "Yep, I got it right from my good old momma, all right!" Jeff couldn't help but laugh at how Annie strained to pronounce "momma" in improper grammer. "She's a real piece of work, my momma! She drinks all the time, makes a scene at every party, and she even ran through a barn door once! She's the talk of the town in a pretty scandalous way….if you care about that sort of five dollar word."

"Clearly she doesn't. It's too bad, she sounds better than other women her age that I know," Jeff played along further.

"That's funny, the big city folk that sell her Vicodin say the same thing," Caroline/Annie answered before the three people in the booth nearly choked on their laughter.

They went on with this bit for several more minutes, as they kept making Caroline's mother look like everything Carol hated. Eventually Caroline became Annie again, sharing with Jeff how she spent all afternoon rehearsing and figuring out what drug to have Mrs. Caroline addicted to. Jeff went on to tell Annie what she missed at the study room this week; which he actually paid attention to since he needed some kind of distraction from Annie. He didn't actually say that, but he and Annie knew that it was implied.

For the second straight Saturday, Jeff spent a good 60-90 minutes or so chatting with an Edison at this bar. And for the second straight Saturday, he left the bar with an Edison. Yet in this case, he didn't take the younger version to his apartment and have his way with her. He just escorted her back to her own apartment and didn't even come in with her. They didn't even kiss before she went inside, as all they did was hug for a few still somewhat awkward moments.

But seeing that Jeff was actually the one to initiate this hug, and that Annie did say "We really should do this again sometime,"; and the small fact that he was with the right Edison this time; it blew the last Saturday out of the water without a fight. The next Saturday would probably do that as well, and the next one and the one after that. And if one of them finally ended like the one with the older Edison did, it would surely blow away that Saturday and all other Saturdays before it too.

That Saturday night could still be a very long way away. Yet after waiting the wrong way for it for two years, Jeff was going to get this waiting period right. He didn't do much of anything to earn this last chance, but by the grace and boundless mercy of Annie, he was not going to screw up with her again. Or at least never again to the extent he had before.

He had a feeling that when he eventually spent the whole night with an Edison again, and he blabbed on and on about Annie the next morning, Annie would be much happier about the aftermath on that Monday….and the various Mondays after that.

THE END