Annie shuffled around her small apartment, triple checking that she had packed everything she would need for her trip back to Greendale. She didn't pack much; she needed to be back in DC in two weeks to start her new job with the FBI. She had done so well interning that summer that the agency had offered her a full time job. The pay was pretty great, and more importantly she was able to finally have a fulfilling job. Despite how amazing she knew the new job would be, she couldn't help but feel guilty. She had meant to return to Greendale; she never thought that the internship would go as well as it did, she never realized she would love the position so much that she would contemplate staying in DC for the next few years. As she checked her luggage one last time, Annie pushed down her guilt. She had made her decision, and everyone was going to have to accept that.
Still, when Annie thought of Jeff and his confession that he loved her it felt wrong to do this to him; to abandon him so completely. Sure they had texted and talked on the phone while she had been in DC over the summer, but it hadn't been the same and he had sounded more than a little off. In fact, if Annie was being honest with herself, he sounded inebriated every time they talked. That was part of the reason Annie was going back. Two weeks earlier she had received a call from Britta during which she offhandedly mentioned that she, Frankie, and the dean were going to stage an intervention. Apparently, since she and Abed had left, Jeff had sought solace in scotch. Britta said that the group had barely seen him, and that the only reason she knew Jeff was drinking so much was because the dean had snuck into his apartment to check on him and was greeted by a plethora of empty bottles of scotch. When the dean had tried to confront him about it Jeff had been evasive, making some excuse about having thrown a party with people from his old office (Annie knew immediately when Britta had mentioned this that he had been lying; Jeff had hated the majority of the people from his old firm and Annie doubted he would invite them into his little apartment).
Annie sighed, shaking her head as she walked out of her apartment, carefully locking the door behind her. Throughout the ride to the airport Annie kept thinking about Jeff. She wondered how he would react when he saw her – she hadn't told him when she was coming back. She also worried about what he would do when she told him that she wasn't staying. Jeff had worrisome abandonment issues and Annie didn't want to exacerbate them by letting him know that she wouldn't be living in Greendale anymore. Still, she had made her decision and she would keep it. This job was a once in a lifetime opportunity and she wasn't going to waste it. She'd just have to figure out a way to break the news to him gently. He'd be fine, he was Jeff Winger! Annie tried to keep that in mind and she scrambled through the airport and got on her plane. She tried not to think about how devastated he had looked when she had said she would be gone for the summer during the flight. She tried even harder not to think of the feel of his lips on hers as her plane landed and neared the gate. Why did everything have to be so difficult between them? It had never been easy for them! Annie let out a frustrated noise at the thought as she walked through the airport exit. She stood on the street looking for a taxi – Abed was still in L.A., Britta had work, Frankie was with her sister, the dean was at his mother's, Chang was god knows where, and Jeff didn't know that she was here in the first place, which left Annie standing outside the airport looking for a ride home.
Once in the taxi Annie realized she didn't have a key to the apartment – Britta had changed the locks over the summer due to a break-in – and struggled finding a place for the taxi to go. She finally decided that she might as well visit Jeff first and get everything dramatic between them out of the way early in the week. Plus, she had missed him more than she would dare to admit. She loved him, more than she had ever loved anyone else, and being away from him the last three months had been harder than she had expected – especially once she realized he was struggling. She told the driver Jeff's address, praying that he was home so she wouldn't have to awkwardly wait outside his front door with her suitcase. Annie hesitated when they pulled up at the apartment complex. Maybe it wasn't a good idea to see him when she was jet lagged and tired from the plane ride; maybe talking to him now would create problems. She didn't have much time to revel in these thoughts though before the cabbie reminded her that the meter was still running and that he would like to get going unless she needed something else. Annie nodded, handed him some cash, pulled her suitcase out of the trunk, and proceeded to walk upstairs to Jeff's apartment building.
She froze in front of the door. What would she even say to him? Hi, I'm back but I'm not staying? Deciding that in this instance improvisation would probably be best, Annie rapped on the door praying that he would answer. She heard a muffle from inside and the jingling of bottles before he opened the door. She looked up at him, smiling sweetly and he looked back at her in shock.