Age 9

Annie happily opened her eyes, excited that today had finally arrived. It was Valentine's Day, which meant exchanging cards with her classmates, getting chocolate candies, and watching the Arthur Valentine's Day episode after school. She couldn't wait.

She got out of bed and went downstairs, where her father was sitting at the table drinking a cup of coffee. "Hey there Annie."

"Hi Daddy." She went over to the cabinet and got a coffee mug and filled it with milk, since it made her feel like a grown up. "Guess what today is."

"Groundhogs Day?"

"NO, that already passed Daddy. It's Valentine's Day."

"Yes it is, thanks for reminding me," he said with a smile. He waited until she came over to the table and made herself a bowl of cereal before picking up a small bouquet of flowers from the counter and handing them to her. "These are for you, my favorite girl in all the world."

"Daddy, they're beautiful." She inhaled their scent deeply before going over and giving her dad a hug. "Thank you very much. Did you give mommy flowers?"

"Not yet," he said with a frown. "She left for work early so I wasn't able to. I'll give her her flowers later."

"She keeps going to work early. She never used to."

"I know Annie. It's just…" He put on a cheery smile, not wanting his daughter to know that her mother had been going to work early so she didn't have to see him first thing in the morning. "I'm sure it won't go on for too much longer. Now eat your breakfast and get dressed so I can take you to school."

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Age 17

Annie sighed in frustration as she opened her locker and pulled out her books for her next class, trying desperately to fight back tears. Why did life have to be so cruel and unfair?

She had been standing in line for lunch in the cafeteria when Troy Barnes walked by, along with Jennifer Poolos and Brad Rennings. She had tried to tell him how well he played in last Saturday's game, but he just walked right past her as if he didn't know she existed. Then Jennifer stopped in front of her and said, "Hey Annie, they're serving pasta for lunch. Can I use your face to grate some cheese?" Luckily Troy wasn't around to hear, but it was humiliating all the same. Annie knew her face was horribly broken out. She had already been to a dermatologist to try and fix it. She didn't need it pointed out in such a cruel way.

Ignore her, Annie thought. Eventually people like her won't matter. You're going to keep studying hard and graduate, and go to college, and have a great future in healthcare. And it's not like you're alone. You have your boyfriend, Zackary. True, he never wants to kiss or do anything like that. And when he takes you out it's usually to go to the mall and shop for clothes. But he's your boyfriend.

"Annie." She looked over as Zackary came over to her. "Hey, there you are."

"Hi Zackary." She leaned in and kissed him. After a moment he returned the kiss, although with much less enthusiasm then she would have liked. As she always did, she simply brushed it aside, knowing he was a bit shy. "What are we doing tonight?"

"I thought we could go to the mall. I need a couple of new shirts, and I'm sure you can pick out something."

"Great," she said with little enthusiasm.

"Is something wrong," he said with a frown.

"It's just, today's Valentine's Day. Can't we do something different then going shopping? Something romantic?"

"Don't worry, I didn't forget what today was." He reached into his backpack and pulled out a bouquet of flowers made out of tin foil, each one colored with a different colored marker. "I made these for you. This way they won't die and you can enjoy them forever."

"Thank you. That's very…clever."

"Thanks. And you're right; we should do something different tonight. There's a Ross Bleckner exhibit at City College that I wanted to check out."

"Who's he?"

"He's an artist who paints these really great abstract collage like works. I think you'll really like it."

"Okay," Annie said with a bit of uncertainty.

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Age 19

"Oh, now it has arrows. That's safe," Jeff said.

Annie looked at the Cupid Being hopefully as he handed a box of chocolates to Shirley, then beamed with happiness when she was handed a rose with a card attached to it. Vaughn had gotten her a flower for Valentine's Day. Even when he was away he was romantic.

"A flower from Vaughn. He's away on a vision quest," she told everyone before reading the card out loud. "And his note says 'For my flower, to my flower, with a flower'. That's sweet…ly confusing."

As the study session ended and she left the library Annie practically skipped to her next class. It may have taken a while, but she finally had a boyfriend. A real boyfriend, instead of someone she thought was a boyfriend but treated her like a platonic friend. Vaughn constantly told her how beautiful she was and loved to kiss her. And even though they hadn't slept together yet, there had been a few times during heated make out sessions where she had felt his…desire pressed against her. And since her last boyfriend had cried the only time they slept together, it made her feel good to know she could actually turn a man on.

Yes, Vaughn wasn't perfect. He was a bit dim if she was completely honest with herself. He had a habit of going off for days on end on vision quests, or spiritual journeys, or local walkabouts. And she was sure his poetry would never be thought of as great literary masterpieces. But he was sweet, and kind, and treated her like a princess.

Though she hoped if they made it to next year, he'd put off going on a journey until after Valentine's Day.

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Age 23

Annie desperately wiped the tears from her eyes as she drove, her vision obscured from her moisture in her eyes. She knew she shouldn't be driving right now. But she couldn't be alone right now. She had to be with someone.

As she pulled in front of Jeff's place and got out of her car, the logical part of her brain wondered why she was running to him. She was sure he would just end up saying 'I told you so'. And it would make more sense to go to someone like Shirley, who had experience when it came to men stomping on your heart. But as soon as she got in the car she just automatically drove to Jeff's.

She rang the doorbell frantically, fearing he might be out. But to her relief he answered after the fourth ring. "Annie-." He paused in uncomfortable silence as he took in her nice dress and tear stained face. "What happened? What's wrong?"

"Vincent broke up with me." She immediately threw her arms around Jeff's neck as a fresh round of tears made their way out of her. Jeff held onto her tightly as they stood in the doorway while she sobbed. He could hear a few of his neighbors stick their heads out into the hallway to see what the noise was, but kept his head down as all his attention was on Annie.

"It's okay. Come on." He steered her inside and over to the couch, where he handed her a box of tissues. "Just sit here, I'll get you something." He went into the kitchen and made her some tea, having a flashback of doing that for his mom after a guy she dated when he was in middle school ended things with her.

As the water boiled he looked at Annie, wondering why she came over here. He wasn't exactly the best candidate for dealing with something like this. Though maybe it wasn't that odd when you thought about it. Despite everyone's fears about him abandoning the group, he had found himself growing closer to them ever since he graduated from Greendale. But of all of them, he had grown closest to Annie. They pretty much talked to each other everyday, and she dropped by so often you'd have thought she lived in the same building; so maybe her coming over to him wasn't as unusual as he originally thought.

Once the tea was ready he added a dash of alcohol to it. Not nearly enough to get her drunk, just enough to take some of the edge off. "Here you go," he said as he sat next to her on the couch. Jeff waited until she took a few sips before asking, "So what happened between you and Vince?"

"We went out to dinner for Valentine's Day, even though it's tomorrow. I thought we just went out tonight because he couldn't get a table tomorrow. But then right in the middle of dinner he told me he took me out because he wanted to end things and didn't want me making a scene if he told me when we were alone. Then he said he met some woman at his job and wanted to see how things went with her."

Jeff forced himself to resist storming out and pounding the daylights out of Vince. He had never liked the guy at all. To Jeff he was just a douche whose idea of dressing nice for a date was wearing a clean t-shirt. But Jeff kept most of his feelings in check for Annie's sake (since whenever he brought up his reservations it resulted in the two of them getting into a fight). Instead he pulled Annie into him as he wrapped an arm around her. "That's…that sucks. What did you do?"

"I threw a glass of wine in his face and stormed out of there."

Jeff let out an involuntary laugh at hearing that, proud of Annie for letting him know exactly how she felt. "Sorry."

To his surprise she let out a laugh as she looked up at him. "It was kind of funny. Especially when he said 'I was going to wear this shirt tomorrow.'" She sighed deeply as she extracted herself from Jeff and dried her eyes. "I really know how to pick them."

"Don't feel too bad. Everyone dates someone they later realize was completely wrong for them. Just look at me and Slater."

"I guess. I just feel like a fool. I spent almost three months with him, and now it's like I wasted all that time. I'm an idiot."

"No you're not Annie. You're a beautiful amazing woman who just happened to fall for the wrong guy. It's his loss, and someday he'll realize how stupid he was to let you go."

Annie smiled at Jeff before it slowly melted away. "I just hate that he had to do this now, right before Valentine's Day."

Jeff looked at her for a few moments before he got up and went into his bedroom. He returned a moment later with a bouquet of assorted flowers. "I was going to give these to you tomorrow. But I think you could use them now."

"Jeff," Annie said as he sat back down and handed the flowers to her. "They're beautiful." She tried not to cry as she read the card. Milady. To my one and only. Milord. "Thank you Jeff. This is just so sweet." She scoffed as she sat the flowers down on the coffee table. "Why is it I'm treated better by you then I am by the guys I date?"

Jeff shifted a bit uncomfortably at that one. "I don't know. Maybe because the guys you've dated don't see what a great woman you are. Guys usually don't see what's right in front of them."

As Annie looked at him, Jeff hoped he hadn't gone over the line. But she didn't seem mad. Instead she looked like him like she was seeing something she hadn't realized herself. After a moment she leaned into him, their lips meeting. He wrapped his arms around her as their kisses increased in passion.

"This is wrong," she mumbled against his lips.

"So wrong," Jeff agreed, continuing to kiss her in between words.

"I was just dumped less than an hour ago."

"We should stop."

"Right, we should stop."

But despite what they said, neither made any move to stop. Instead, they kept going at it as if they were both dehydrated and the other was a bottle of water.

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Age 24

"Happy Anniversary," Jeff said as he carefully handed her a bouquet of roses wrapped in purple paper.

"Jeff, thank you. They're beautiful," Annie said as she kissed him. "Although, isn't our anniversary technically tomorrow, since that's when we went on our first date?"

"Well, if you want to get technical, it was probably one year yesterday, when we made out for three hours just after that douchebag dumped you."

Annie groaned lightly at remembering that. Even though she'd had her heart broken, it still seemed a bit wrong that she had kissed Jeff so soon after her relationship had ended. Though even if it might not have happened at the ideal time, she wasn't sorry it happened. After all, that's what finally caused the two of them to stop dancing around their feelings and actually give it a shot. And Annie was so glad they did. They might have had some ups and downs, but this past year had been more amazing than she could have ever thought possible.

"Let me just put these in water and I'll get your gift."

"Wait Annie. Why don't you look at those flowers a little more closely."

Annie looked at them, but they appeared to be just roses. "I don't see anything."

"Look underneath the paper."

Annie carefully unwrapped the paper before she noticed something small and metallic underneath the paper. She removed the object and saw that it was a silver key. She looked at Jeff as he looked back at her a bit nervously. "I wanted to give you something special, since you're more amazing then words can express. Something that showed you just how much you truly mean to me. So I made this for you so you could let yourself in anytime you wanted. But once I had the key I thought about how often you're here, and how much I miss you on the few nights you don't stay over. And I realized that I didn't want you to go. I want to be able to see you every night, and for you to know that this isn't something I want to end anytime soon, or even at all. So for Valentine's Day, I'm asking you if you'll move in with me."

Jeff barely waited a second before Annie dropped the flowers and kissed him, which was, if possible, even more mind blowing then all of the other kisses they'd shared. Jeff didn't even ask her for an answer, since it was clear what it was. He pulled her into him as they slid to the floor, crushing the bouquet beneath them.

They never did make their dinner reservation. Or even make it into the bedroom. Instead they spent the rest of the night in the kitchen, celebrating how they were now going to be living together.

Age 34

Annie moaned as she opened her eyes. She hated getting out of bed on a cold winter morning. Especially when she was snuggling next Jeff (he could keep her warm better the any space heater could.) Reluctantly she pulled herself from Jeff and turned the alarm clock off.

"Just five more minutes," he said sleepily.

Annie smiled as she shook Jeff's shoulder. "Come on Jeff, up and at 'em."

"Okay, okay," he groaned as he pulled himself out of bed. "I'm getting old."

"No you're not. You're distinguished."

"You have to say that or else I'll divorce you."

"Maybe. But that doesn't mean it isn't true. You're just as handsome as you've ever been."

Jeff chuckled as he went to the closet and pulled a small package from the top shelf. "Here you go. Happy Valentine's Day."

"Thanks." She unwrapped and opened the box, seeing that he had gotten her a pair of earrings. "Jeff, thank you. They're gorgeous. I'm going to put them on after my shower." She opened the bedside dresser and handed Jeff a similarly wrapped gift. "Happy Valentine's Day."

Jeff unwrapped his gift, smiling when he saw that she had gotten him a pair of cufflinks. "Thank you. They're great." He looked at her with a curious smile. "Did you get these for the Ludwick case?"

"Maybe," she said playfully.

"Every time I think I can't possibly love you anymore you manage to surprise me," he said as he kissed his wife. "I was going to also get you flowers, but you know how Katelyn reacts when they die."

"Wise move. We don't need another flower memorial service."

"Our daughter spends way too much time with Troy and Abed. And Britta."

"What does Britta have to do with anything?"

"Nothing now. Just saying, when she's driving us crazy as a teenager, I'm sure Britta's influence will have played a part."

Annie just rolled her eyes as she left their bedroom and went downstairs. She pulled out two small boxes of candy from the cabinet and put them on the table in front of Katelyn and Peter's plates before making a pot of coffee. As the coffee boiled Katelyn came into the kitchen, followed by her younger brother. "Morning Mom."

"Morning Katelyn."

"Happy Valentine's Day mommy."

"Aw. Happy Valentine's Day to you too Peter."

"We made this for you, Mom," Katelyn said as she gave her mother a large handmade card covered in glitter.

"Oh wow, this is great! Thank you so much. I'm going to hang this up right now." Annie hugged her children before tacking the card to the bulletin board.

As Jeff came in and greeted the kids, Annie smiled as she thought about all she had at the moment; an amazing husband, two wonderful kids….things had really worked out for her.

This really was a great Valentine's Day.