Annie wished she was surprised about this. She really did. But at least she knew what she was in for.

As she feared/expected, Britta and Troy had stalled because Britta's insecurities, inferiority complex, and fear of healthy relationships kept her from getting closer to him. Despite their fun adventures, she just wouldn't take the next step, although he was ready for them to officially be together.

Apparently it got pretty bad last night, and since it was now Saturday, Troy had been venting to Annie and Abed in the apartment. "I don't get it, guys!" he went on. "She gives me these long looks and glances that say she really likes me! But when I say anything about it, she says she doesn't know what I'm talking about! Like I'm reading into things!"

Oh yeah. There were also the uncomfortable parallels between Britta/Troy and a certain ex-lawyer/future hospital administrator. Annie had been prepared to have that rubbed in her face once Britta pulled a Jeff on Troy. It didn't make it easier to listen to, though.

"She even did it when she kissed me at the bar last night!" Troy continued. "I thought she was into it, but then she panicked like she…choked me with a bike chain or something! She just told me to be discreet and not tell anyone, like I would really…" To his credit, Troy realized where he went wrong there.

"Yeah. Um, you guys can do what Britta told me not to do, right? But way better?" Abed and Annie nodded, which made Troy sigh in relief. "Good! Britta already said I'm too young and sweet for her. Being a secret-blabbing jerk might go too far to prove her wrong. Now I just gotta be five years older so our age difference isn't creepy anymore! So….let me know when time travel exists, okay?"

Annie sighed at the ironies and at Troy's strange/sad ramblings in general. Then Abed quietly said, "Don't worry, Troy's reached his limit for reminding you about you and Jeff. Normally there's a rule of three to this kind of gag. But he did it at least four or five times, so you're extra safe for a while."

"Gee, thanks Abed," Annie deadpanned. "Weird you only needed one reference, though."

"You're right," Abed realized, then came up with. "Britta's denying the Troy of it All. And Troy's tried everything short of singing in a skimpy Santa costume." With that, Abed looked relieved. "Phew, another classic running gag preserved."

"Hooray," Annie pretended to cheer, then focused back on Troy. If this had to remind her of the past, maybe she could pass on some survival tactics, at least.

"Troy, you know this has little to do with you. Britta's scared because of her own rotten love life. It's stopping her from seeing there's something, or someone, who could really make her happy and not abandon her," Annie assured. "I know you know that already. So don't take it personally, try not to lose faith in her, but don't let her off the hook when she really acts out. Just try not to embarrass her too much in public. If it gets to that."

Some of this was stuff Annie wish she knew before, some of it was stuff she told herself now, and some of it was just wishful thinking. Back when she did more wishful thinking about Jeff, anyway. In any case, Troy seemed to take this to heart.

"Yeah, you're probably right. It's her hang-ups that are the problem, not me! I don't have to cry and make a scene about it….more than three times!" Well, Annie did it at least three major times in sophomore year, so they were at least even.

Troy kept looking on the bright side, adding, "And I still got a whole weekend to have fun before I try again! Unless she comes over and trusts me to be her boyfriend after all. Then it'd still be a fun weekend, but….it'd be gross to have you guys there." On that, Annie couldn't argue. Still, he continued, "But even if I can't get gross, I can take my mind off it with my two best friends."

On that, Annie had to nitpick a little. "Troy, hold on. I know you're upset, but don't demote Britta as your second best friend."

"Oh, she's not in the best friend race. She's in a best friend/girlfriend category that's just for her," Troy explained. "She needed her own category somehow! I can't give her an unfair advantage over the other non-Abeds! No matter how gross she may or may not get!"

"Okay, leaving that aside for more than a few reasons," Annie started before it hit her. "You're serious? Among the non-Abed people who are just your friends….I'm your best friend?"

"Of course!" Troy said as it if was the most obvious, true thing in the world.

But instead of elaborating, his attention span slipped and he said, "Ooh, wait, great weekend idea! We watch all nine Kickpuncher movies, that kills 18 hours of weekend right there! Then we'll get great Kickpuncher dreams for the next 14!"

"If we watch the director's cut of Kickpuncher Nein: They Punched Hitler's Kick, we'll kill 19 hours and dream for 16. If only to dream up far better time travel twists," Abed pointed out.

"Yes! Make sure we go back to dinosaur times first, k? I gotta see Kickpuncher out kick a t-rex once before I die!" Troy exclaimed. "Annie, you're gonna see it too, right?"

"Um, I kind of have work to do later," Annie hemmed and hawed. "But I can watch the first three this afternoon. That'd give me…..two hours of Kickpuncher time travel dreams?"

"Cool, that'd at least get you to colonial Williamsburg times! That's not bad, buddy!" Troy called back, which put Annie back in awe of what just happened.

Having friends for this long was still rare for Annie. But being called someone's best friend, in any way, no matter what the context, was unprecedented. And to have it come from Troy – the second great addiction of Annie's high school life – was astonishing.

Five years ago, anything remotely close to such affection from Troy would have made Annie even crazier. She would have killed for him just so he'd notice her – but back then, he never would have even if she did. Now he just casually called her a best friend like it was nothing. Like it was a given he cared for her that deeply.

To know someone she obsessed over so….wrongly could still do that, and care so much for her in any way – it felt like the greatest payoff imaginable. And made her feel hopeful, to her slight surprise.

Well, Annie hoped Britta finally saw what she could have in Troy soon. God, to think now she hoped another woman would do that. If this was high school and if Annie and Troy were closer – well, if Britta thought Annie stole guys she liked in Greendale, then –

Wait. That seemed relevant again all of a sudden. Very relevant indeed. In fact….

Annie soon recognized that as a best friend of Troy's, she had a responsibility to help him with Britta. Especially since she sucked at setting him up before. She let her jealousy and schoolgirl insanity drive her nuts when she 'helped' Troy on that date in freshman year. Then when she first set Britta and Troy up for lunch, Abed proved it was for selfish reasons that had little to do with Troy.

She really owed Troy some proper romantic help. She had to help him land the real woman of his dreams once and for all.

Perhaps there might well be a way to do that. And this time, it wouldn't be for deep down selfish reasons at all.

Annie fleshed it out in her head through most of the Kickpuncher 1 screening – then after somehow avoiding Troy's kicking practice, she brought it up with him. With that, the Kickpuncher weekend marathon ended 16 hours early.

Yet Annie did spend the next 13 hours selling Troy on the plan, getting Abed to see the plan could work, storyboarding the plan, going over each act of the plan, writing a script for the plan, and then rehearsing the plan. After six hours of plan-inspired dreams, the rehearsals and the script revisions took a good seven hours more.

The final plan that resulted may have been manipulative and a bit overboard. Troy certainly needed extra convincing to go through with it, and Annie admitted – if only to herself – that it might jerk Britta around too much. And that kind of jerking around wasn't really like Annie – even if the voice in her head that sounded like Jeff said otherwise.

Yet there were still good reasons to go this route. Britta would be too scared and closed off to be reasoned with any other way – and anything smaller might only work for a few weeks. Annie wanted her ready to want Troy for good – and this was the only way she could see it happening.

By Monday morning, Annie had gotten Troy ready and willing, filled all potential plot holes to Abed's approval, and made sure she covered every possible detail. Except for the big one she would cover first thing that morning. Or whenever Jeff arrived to school.

Fortunately, he wasn't much later than usual – at least not to get to the library, where Annie was waiting for him. "Morning, Jeff," she started to break the ice.

"Morning. Um, quick question. Did you study so hard this weekend, you forgot the study room was in there?" Jeff asked while pointing to the study room Annie wasn't in. "Granted, I'm surprised it took you this long to make that mistake. Then if studying wasn't enough, you sat at the wrong table."

"That's not it, Jeff," Annie assured, ignoring her real sleepiness. "I told them I needed a private cramming session. But I'm mainly here to talk to you. To tell you something you can't tell anyone else. Especially Britta."

"It's cute you think that's deterring me from telling Britta. But go on, what do I not tell her?" Jeff teased, yet Annie stayed on script anyway.

"Me and Troy are starting a project today. A kind of play, really. One where….I pretend to fall in love with Troy again," Annie got to the point. At the least, it froze Jeff up.

"I'm not falling for him for real, remember that! I'm just going to pretend for a day or two. Or however long it takes to make Britta jealous. She's too scared to take the next step with Troy, but not if she thinks I'm taking another man she likes! After some flirty banter, some touches, and maybe a near kiss, Britta will find her guts and tell Troy how she feels before I finally nab him! At least that's the plan," Annie hoped.

"That's your plan," was all Jeff had at first. "How do you make up a plan like that, exactly?"

"It makes perfect sense, Jeff," Annie reviewed. "Britta won't let herself get closer to Troy. But there's no way she'd let anyone else do it, especially me. With my history of liking her old boyfriends, and me and Troy's special history together, this'll make total sense to her. Then she'll panic and make Troy her's before I can!"

"And what makes you think she will?" Jeff got out. "Maybe she'll just keep quiet and do nothing. Even if she isn't quiet, it's no guarantee she'll do something. I mean, you're no….serial killer. So maybe if you're what makes Troy happy, she'll stay back and spare him from her."

Okay, Annie could not let Jeff talk that much for the rest of this. She just couldn't. Not if he was being that painfully obvious.

Obviously she had to rush to the larger point faster. So she breezed by with, "I know that's a risk, but I've got it all worked out. And that's why I'm telling you all this. Because telling you so you don't ruin this is a big part of the plan."

"Oh, way to find me guilty already, pre-cog! You don't think I really-" Jeff started before Annie shut him down.

"Jeff, no. I don't want to hear you being jealous, or denying that you're jealous. That's the whole point," Annie laid down. "The only reason I'm telling you at all is so you know this means nothing. If I didn't, you'd go crazy and do something like let Leonard into the group to stop us!"

"Oh come on, I have a little bit of a soul left, thank you!" Jeff scoffed. "You think I'd be that desperate to stop something I don't care about?"

"The last time you were, you almost put the psycho who got us expelled and almost killed us in the study group. That says it all," Annie checkmated.

"He waited over a year to expel us. Give him that much," Jeff lamely defended.

"Like I said, I don't want to hear it," Annie repeated. "You tell yourself whatever lies you want about how you feel. But how you feel, or don't feel, is not going to ruin this for Troy. I won't let it. And since I'm only pretending to like Troy until Britta kisses him, you have no reason to say or do anything. Do you understand?"

"That's not the right word for it," Jeff stated. "You realize you're manipulating Britta into falling in love, right? Something she's not ready to do, or is capable of doing? And do you really think she'll buy Troy moving on like that? Her ego won't allow it, you know! And how'd you even get him to try?"

"I know Britta won't confess for the best reasons. But she has to take baby steps first. Once she lets Troy in before I do, the rest will come," Annie expressed her confidence. "And Troy can act the part like he acts in everything else with Abed! He'd better after a weekend of rehearsals, anyway. And Britta's probably looking for any excuse to think he's a jerk, so she'll buy it! But when we're done, he'll be totally devoted to Britta again and she'll want him to be, no problem!"

"Yeah, 'no problem' still isn't the right phrase here," Jeff insisted.

"Well, you need to pretend it is, okay?" Annie came back. "I'm sorry to be hard on you, Jeff. But if you keep quiet, let me do this and don't act jealous – or whatever you call it – this'll be over much faster! Then Troy will have Britta, I'll be unattached again, and you can pretend you didn't care all along. Okay?" When Jeff had no okay or anything else to say, she repeated "Okay?" in her maximum formidable tone.

"Okay, okay! You want to be paranoid for no reason, go right ahead! You'll get no argument from me," Jeff claimed. He was in full on denial mode and barely hiding it as well as he used to – which wasn't enough as it was – but at least she got a yes out of him.

"Good. Now we can both go in the study room. I'm going to start things off with Troy, as we planned because it's all fake. You can make one snide comment or two, just so Britta doesn't get suspicious, but that's it. Resolved?"

Jeff glared for a second, but then said "Resolved," and had his face go blank again. Annie would take that as a victory. In truth, it felt good to put Jeff in his place, and stop his nonsense before it started for once. Of course, there was still no guarantee she'd really stopped it, knowing him.

But that was the risk she had to take, and at the least, it stood a better chance of success now. With that final loose end taken care of, it was time to get to work. Troy's second best just-a-friend needed her, and it was time to start coming through for him.