Annie opened her eyes and looked over at the still lit candle on top of the dresser. It was still dark outside. And while there was no working clock to tell her what time it was, somehow she guessed she hadn't been sleeping for very long.

She glanced over at Jeff, seeing that he was sound asleep, before turning around and looking off into the distance. She used to imagine how she would feel after having sex with Jeff, and truthfully it wasn't like this. It wasn't the sex itself that made her feel off. That had been great, the best she had ever had. Not that she'd had a ton of reference to work from. Counting Jeff she had only had sex six times so far. First there was the disastrous time she lost her virginity to her high school boyfriend. Then she had slept with Vaughn three times during her relationship with the song writing hippie. And then there was the one night stand she had with a guy she met at a concert over the past summer. And while each other time had been good (with the obvious exception of her first time), having sex with Jeff was the first time she could finally understand why people made such a big deal out of it.

And yet once it was over, she felt unfulfilled instead of satisfied, like something was missing. It was similar to how she felt after the one night stand, only on a deeper and sadder level. She didn't understand it. She had felt such affection towards Jeff just before she kissed him tonight. In spite of all the issues that lay between them, there was something about that moment that made a part of her think they could just push past it all. But now that they had sex, it just seemed like the distance between them was even greater than ever. She almost wanted to cry at the feeling of loneliness and heartache that was overtaking her.

Desperate to distract herself and forget about her feelings she slipped on the t-shirt Jeff had given her and got out of bed. She took the candle from the dresser and got her textbooks from the bathroom before going to the couch in the living room. Luckily her books weren't too damaged from the rain. The edges of the pages were a bit wrinkled, but she could still read them easily. Annie smiled as she opened her journalism ethics book, feeling a sense of true satisfaction that she finally realized was missing in her life.

While it had been subconsciously brewing for a while, this realization really all began after their expulsion ended and they began summer school. After being away from her healthcare classes for three months, Annie expected to be giddy to be taking them again. But once they started she found she didn't like them that much anymore. And after doing some deep soul searching she began to realize she wasn't that crazy about working in health care management or the health care field in general. While it was a noble profession that would secure her a comfortable lifestyle, it wasn't something that made her particularly happy. The truth was it was always something her mom had planned out for her, and Annie just went along with it because it was easier than going off book and doing something else.

After finally realizing that health care wasn't for her, she spent a long time trying to figure out what career path she should choose. She thought about what she could do that helped people, and what she would like to do. She considered going into teaching when the idea of journalism came to her. Though she had stopped writing for the Greendale paper after her sophomore year to focus on her education, she couldn't ignore how much she had loved being on the paper. Investigative reporting and breaking a story had given her a real sense of pride and accomplishment. Despite how crazy it seemed, that was the career path for her. Even if it meant she would have to spend at least another year at Greendale, it was worth it to finally know she would be happy with her life.

Ironically, Jeff had been the one who had started her on this path. Before he was made editor she simply spent an hour a week editing the crossword puzzles. He had made her an actual journalist, and if he hadn't done that she never would have discovered how much she loved reporting. In an ideal world she would have been able to go to him for advice on this monumental life decision. But sadly, she had been unable to do that. She came close the night she almost flashed him, but in the end he made her realize it would have been futile to bring the subject up with him, and instead it became just another example of how they kept drifting away from each other. The fact that he had barely acknowledged her when she finally told the group she was switching her major to journalism even further proved this. As much as she hated to think this, maybe Jeff was just too emotionally unavailable for her to sustain any kind of relationship with him, friendship or otherwise.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Jeff felt himself drift back into consciousness and reluctantly opened his eyes. It took him a few moments for the haze to clear from his mind before he was suddenly wide awake as he remembered exactly what had happened before he fell asleep. He and Annie had had sex. After over three years of knowing her, of the back and forth and all of his denying the attraction between them, it had finally happened.

He looked over, fully expecting to see her sound asleep next to him. But he was the only one in his bed. That's a first, he thought. The only other time he had been the one to wake up alone after sex was when he was sleeping with Britta. But with Britta he hadn't really cared if she was next to him or not when he woke up. Annie not being next to him afterwards filled him with a strange, unaccustomed feeling of loneliness.

He wondered if she had actually tried going home in this storm, when he noticed the flickering candlelight outside his door. He threw on his sweat pants and went outside into the living room. Annie was curled on his couch reading a book, wearing just her borrowed t-shirt. He tried not to notice how much of her bare legs were revealed as he cleared his throat. "Couldn't sleep?"

"Nope," she said without looking up from her book.

He was about to say something about what had happened earlier when he noticed the titles of her textbooks: Prose in Journalism, Keeping Ethics in Journalism, and Old School Reporting in the Digital Age. "How come you've got so many journalism books? I thought you were going into health care?"

Annie slowly brought her head up as she stared at Jeff in disbelief. "What?" she questioned in a low, cold voice.

"I'm just saying it seems-."

"What?" she repeated, her voice becoming higher and angrier.

Jeff frowned in confusion as he saw her becoming angrier by the second. "Annie, why are you-."

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?" she practically roared. "Is this actually happening right now?"

"Annie, what the hell is going-."

"I TOLD you over a month ago that I was switching my major from health care management to journalism. I came into the study room and told everyone I had a major announcement and was switching majors. You really don't remember that?"

Jeff searched his mind as he desperately tried to recall Annie telling him something so major. But he couldn't remember ever hearing her say it. "Annie, I'm sorry. But I don't-."

"Of course you don't," she shrilly said. "You never remember or pay attention to anything that's not related to you. What, you can't tear your eyes away from a riveting game of Angry Birds to listen to anyone?"

"Hey, I listen to you guys."

Annie shook her head as sadness mixed in with her anger. "You're right, you do listen to us. You just don't listen to me."

"Annie-."

She took a shaky breath as she forced herself to finally face something she had grown to suspect for a while. "It just seems…"

"What?" Jeff asked as he sat down next to her.

"In the last three years you've grown and changed a lot, and you've grown closer to everyone else in the group. But when it comes to us, it seems like we were so much closer during our first year at Greendale than we are now."

"Annie, that's not true at all. I treated everyone like shit our first year."

"Then what would you call how you treated me our second year? A diarrhea monsoon? And what about when we danced on Halloween at the Dia de los Muertos party? That only happened during our first year. Or the fact that I took Pottery, even though it was just a blow off class? You're the only one who could have talked me into doing that. I mean, our first year I thought you were…"

"What?"

"I thought you were my best friend."

As soon as he heard that Jeff let out an involuntary laugh. Instantly he regretted it when Annie's face collapsed in hurt anger. "I'm sorry. But, come on? Your best friend? That's really stretching things."

"Yes Jeff," she said. "There was a time I thought of you as my best friend. I mean, you were the only one I was going to tell in person that I was transferring to Delaware. Everyone else I was prepared to call or e-mail to tell them I wouldn't be coming back, but I couldn't leave without telling you. What does that say about our relationship back then? Or what about the fact that you helped me realize that being a journalist was what I wanted to do? If you never made me a reporter I would have spent my life working in a hospital hating what I was doing. Because of what you did back then you made me realize my career."

"Annie, you're reading way too much into this. I just made you a reporter so you'd be out of my office so I could goof off."

Instantly Jeff realized he had said the wrong thing. Annie's eyes grew wide in shock as her face and voice became even angrier. "Of course you would say that! Because I'm always reading too much into things! You said so yourself when we found all that stuff Annie's Boobs stole, so it must be true!"

"Annie, have you ever stopped to think that I said that because it was true!" Jeff exclaimed as anger made its way into his voice. "Not everything between us has some deep hidden meaning. Sometimes when I say stuff to you, it's meant to be taken at face value!"

"Then what should I make about you always getting mad whenever I've shown an interest in any guy that isn't you."

"I haven't…" Jeff took a breath before continuing. "It hasn't been every guy."

"OH, COME ON!" Annie said in her most sarcastic voice. "First you did everything you could to keep Vaughn away from me."

"So I thought you could do better than a crunchy, non-bathing hippie. And I think you forget that I tried to keep him from you by getting you and Troy together."

"And I seem to recall Troy saying you were very descriptive when describing me to him," Annie countered with. "What does that say?"

"That I'm good at describing women to people," Jeff said to try and defuse some of the anger in the room. "And if you want to recall how that whole incident went down, the only real reason I tried to get Troy to go out with you instead of Vaughn was because Britta warped me into thinking that was better. I mean, if you dated Troy-." He quickly shut his mouth and quit talking, even though Annie picked up on what he said.

"SEE, you're doing it again! You can't stand the notion of me being with anyone but you."

"That's not what I meant!" he yelled back. "I meant you being with either of them would be a disaster."

"Why!"

"It's THEM!" Jeff yelled. "It just would…at least nothing ever did happen with either of them."

"I wouldn't say nothing ever…" Annie said softly.

"What?" Jeff asked.

Annie glanced down at the ground before looking Jeff in the eyes. "If you have to know, Abed and I made out once."

"WHAT?"

"It was during paintball our second year. He was pretending to be Han Solo and had me as Leia and it just happened. And BEFORE you say anything," she yelled at seeing the look on Jeff's face. "You have no right to be judgmental of any with it. You don't own me or have ever made any kind of commitment to me, so there's no reason why I should feel guilty if someone other than you shows an interest in me. It doesn't matter if it's Vaughn, or Abed, or Rich. Which by the way, I can lecture you on that whole subject for an hour if you'd like."

"OKAY, I'm not even going to mention Rich because still I'm in shock. You and Abed!"

"Yes, Abed. What's wrong with Abed?"

"It's Abed. He's strange and robot like and-."

"And he once showed an interest in me. So what! It was just a onetime thing," she said before inwardly cringing at the thought that she was essentially trying to explain herself when she had no reason to. "Jeff, if you refuse to do anything, then why should I not do something when someone else is interested in me? Because that's not fair."

"I'm still trying to work out how to go about things with you," Jeff tried to explain.

"Then work it out all ready! You've had plenty of time! Three years' worth!"

"What about what just happened between us tonight! That's a pretty big something."

"If you think that's enough to completely change everything between us, you're sadly mistaken. It was great sex, but I still don't feel closer to you because of it. Maybe if you had made a move and actually followed through it would have. But now I just see it as an empty gesture."

"Empty gesture?" Jeff yelled. "That's what you think that was?"

"What would you call it when you make a move after keeping someone at arms' length for well over two years?"

"First of all, you kissed me tonight! This whole thing started because of you! And I kept you away because I didn't know what to do about us. It's you and me; there are many things wrong with us being together: the group, our age difference, the fact that we're such different people….it's complicated."

"And where have I heard that before! Do you ever have anything else to say?"

"All right! Here's something new: why did you ignore me this semester?"

"What?" she asked, flabbergasted by the sudden change in conversation.

"This whole semester you haven't been on my case or done any of the other stuff we used to do together. I'm asking what happened."

"You're actually mad that I haven't been focusing entirely on you? That I've focused on myself instead of the almighty Jeff? I have my own life and I'm finally focusing on it."

"Annie, I'm glad you're finding yourself, but that doesn't mean I should just be cut out of your life."

"THEN DO SOMETHING, JEFF!" she screamed as she got to her feet. "Don't just keep me dangling and off limits. Though, at this point, I don't think there's any way to prove you're not just going to toss me aside and ignore me like you always do because you're scared of what-."

Her words were silenced as Jeff lunged forward and crashed his lips against hers, bruising them as he kissed her with a furious intensity. He groaned in pain as she bit his lips, taking a step back as he licked them tentatively. With a yell Annie charged at Jeff, using a tackle and a leg sweep to knock him to the ground. She dropped right on his lap, causing his yell to morph into a groan as she ground her core against his groin, feeling his erection grow harder by the second. He gripped her hips roughly as he sat up and resumed kissing her. They fiercely fought for dominance over their kisses, bruising their lips and tongues with their bites and nibbles. Annie pushed Jeff onto his back and violently dropped onto his body, her nails raking his cheek as her fingers roughly rubbed against his face.

"OW!" he yelled.

As she watched Jeff grab his cheek she found she didn't care that she had hurt him. For once she was glad she caused him pain after everything he had done to her. He glared at her as he tightly grabbed her arms and pushed her onto her back. He roughly squeezed and pinched her breasts through her shirt as he yanked his pants off. He jerked the hem of her shirt up before filling her with a single hard stroke. Annie gasped as Jeff fucked her, hitting every spot of arousal inside of her. She raked her nails down his back, enjoying the groans of pain that escaped him as she left deep fingernail gashes on his precious body.

She suddenly felt Jeff pull out of her completely, before she was unexpectedly rolled onto her stomach. As she pushed herself onto her hands and knees she moaned as Jeff entered her from behind, moving within her with powerful, almost animal-like thrusts. She growled as she met each of his thrusts with a powerful thrust of her own, their skin slapping so hard together it stung. Annie's fingers gripped the carpet as she was moved against it, feeling the skin on her palms and knees tear from the continued friction. But she didn't care. All she cared about was finally getting rid of all the anger and frustration that lay between them. She couldn't talk it away, so she'd settle for fucking it away.

Jeff moaned deeply as her wet warm walls grew even hotter and he felt her come hard underneath him. Her howling like screams became lost in his own yells as he filled her completely, pounding into her as he came with a ferocious intensity. After several seconds he finally felt himself drain completely. He groaned as he pulled out of her, feeling every muscle in his body sag in exhaustion.

Annie moaned as she fell to her stomach, feeling their mixed fluids drip out of her and run down her thighs. She didn't have the strength to move an inch, let alone clean herself up. Jeff collapsed next to her, trying to catch his breath. Almost simultaneously, they passed out together, feeling exhausted but also sated in some weird way.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

As Jeff opened his eyes, he wondered why he woke up on the floor and why he felt so sore. After a couple moments, it all came rushing back to him. The yelling and fighting and the most intense sex he had ever had. He gingerly got up and put his pants back on, feeling his back sting every time he moved. As he rubbed his eyes he hissed when he touched his face. What's wrong with my face, he wondered.

He heard the water in the bathroom sink run, followed by the door opening and Annie walking out into the living room, again wearing only his borrowed shirt. His eyes ran down her body and stopped at her legs. Her knees were covered in Band-Aids, and he could see rug burn sores around the skin that wasn't bandaged.

"You're legs are a mess, Annie."

"So is your face."

Jeff quickly went onto the bathroom, gasping in shock when he was three scratch marks on his left cheek. "Son of a bitch."

"Sorry," she said softly.

He sighed deeply as he stepped out into the bathroom. "Least it's not a black eye or a broken nose. That would have been grounds for a lawsuit."

Annie sat down on the couch, where Jeff walked over and joined her. "Jeff, what happens now?"

"You're asking me?"

"Look, last night I got out whatever anger I still had towards you. Now we need to figure out where we go from here."

Jeff sighed as he gingerly felt his face before turning towards her. "This all happened because I couldn't be honest with you, so I'll be honest. After last night, we can't go back to what we had before. The half friendship and half…it just isn't working. The way I see it is we have two choices. The first choice is we cut ourselves out of each other's lives and only see each other when we have to because of the group. Then after graduation, we go our separate ways."

Annie nodded her head sadly as she contemplated what she just heard. "What's the second choice?"

"The second choice is to stop denying this thing between us. Know that it isn't going away, and do something about it. No matter what issues it might cause or how many reasons we have for it not to work out…" He paused for several moments before unexpectedly saying "I can't not have you in my life, Annie."

"What?" she said in shock.

"I know I've treated you terribly, and that I probably don't deserve you, but I'm sick of driving you away from me. I've tried keeping you away, but we both know I've never been able to fully let you go. I don't know which of those options you want, but there's no way I can stand not having you around." With that, Jeff laid down on the couch, feeling physically and emotionally drained.

Annie looked down at him, knowing it would be easier if she was mad or resentful after everything, but she wasn't. Thought it would be easier if she stayed away, in a bizarre way it somehow all made sense. They had to fight their way there, but somehow they had both finally gotten on the same page. It's darkest before the dawn, and as impossible as it seemed, the dawn might just have arrived.

Jeff readjusted himself as Annie lay down next to him, pulling her against his body. They laid there in each other's arms, feeling content in the easy silence they shared. While they couldn't see into the future, somehow they were hopeful it would involve being in each other's lives.