The sheets drift down around them, shutting them off from the rest of the inhabitants of the erstwhile blanket metropolis. As the shouts and turmoil recede into the background, Annie watches Jeff's face, uncertain whether the vulnerable look there is genuine, or a trick played by the softened light. She closes her eyes and blindly turns her face toward his as if by instinct, but instead of bringing his mouth to hers, his lips touch the corner of her mouth, her cheek, the indentation where her earlobe meets her jawline. Annie's eyes flutter open in surprise and she draws back to look at Jeff, but he just smiles and shakes his head.

As if aware that conversation would destroy the bubble they inhabit, neither of them speak, and when Jeff tilts her chin back so that he can press his lips to her throat, all she can hear is their rapid breathing and her own pulse pounding in her ears. His right hand is cradling the back of her head, his fingers tangled into her hair, and when he brings his left around to brush the neckline of her blouse, under her cardigan and over the tops of her breasts, she gasps and clutches at his shoulders. At that, Jeff abandons gentleness, and she feels the rasp of his stubble, followed by the hot, wet slide of his tongue against her neck.

Her mind hazy from the strange lassitude possessing her, Annie thinks she would be content to lie there forever, stranded with Jeff on the cusp of unreality, his mouth and hands doing what they will. It's Jeff who hears the siren in the distance and moves away from her, so that when the sheet above them is removed to reveal Troy and Abed's faces, they're reclined side by side as they were at the moment when the group's conversation had ended, as chaste and subdued as any of the survivors passively waiting to be rescued.

"You guys weren't the ones we expected to have to haul out of here," Troy says, switching his battery-powered toy siren to the other hand as he helps Annie up.

Abed's look is stern. "Our resources are stretched thin already. We need everyone we can get to help the hipsters out of Old Town."

"Old Town," Jeff chuckles as he gets to his feet and brushes off his jeans.

"It's the part that was built first. Show some respect." Abed shakes his head as he leads Troy and Jeff away.

Annie watches them go, running her sweaty palms down the front of her skirt. Before they round a corner and vanish from sight, Jeff turns back to look at her. He's not smiling, but his eyes are crinkled at the corners, and he lifts a hand to her. Farewell? Apology? Acknowledgement? She's not sure.