Disclaimer: Characters belong to the amazing Dan Harmon.

A Ride Home

"I don't know why you couldn't just walk home with Troy and Abed," Jeff said as he pulled his Lexus up to the curb outside the apartment Annie shared with the two boys.

"Jeff, we've been over this," Annie said, flipping her long brown hair back from her face, her lips set in an adorable little pout. Jeff wondered what if she still used bubble gum lip gloss as he lost himself in their shine, imagining them caressing his own perfect pink pucker. "I just couldn't handle another Inspector Spacetime marathon in Pavel's dorm room."

Annie crossed her arms across her chest. "Jeff, are you even listening to me?"

Jeff shook himself from his reverie long enough to mumble some kind of reply before pulling himself together. "What about public transportation? I know for a fact that there's a bus stop not three blocks from this very corner."

"You know I can't ride the bus anymore. Not since that time I freaked out because I thought those two guys were zombies and it turned out they just had bad colds. There's a picture of my face at the front of every city bus." She turned away from him. "Besides, it's not like you actually had anything else to do tonight…right?"

She braced herself for the answer, hoping she wouldn't have to hear that he'd met someone new, that he was on the trail of some new sexual conquest.

"Other than monitor the Internet for lingering copies of that video Dean Pelton uploaded and page through the new J. Crew catalog, I guess not," he admitted.

Jeff didn't know why he was being so honest with Annie lately, or rather, didn't want to admit why. He didn't want to let on that she made him feel things he had never felt before, like the desire to actually be a good person or the drive to care about issues that didn't immediately affect his life. He was starting to care about other people, and it was seriously shaking him up.

"So this is where you get off then," he said, his voice thick.

"You don't want to walk me up?" Annie asked, and immediately gave herself a mental kick. "I didn't mean for that to sound the way you think," she added before opening the door and quickly getting out of the car, swinging her bag up to her shoulder.

"I guess I could at least make sure you get home okay," Jeff said, much to her surprise. He got out of the Lexus and clicked the locks, though these days the car was much less apt to be stolen, as it looked as if it had already been to Hell and back. Walking around to Annie's side, he held out his arm. "Milady," he said, looking into her beautiful blue eyes from under his own lashes.

"Milord," she replied, a classic Annie smile playing upon her lips as her cheeks grew slightly pink.

Again Jeff didn't want to admit it, but he reveled in the pressure of her body against his, the feel of her arm wrapping gently around his own. This close to her body, he could smell her perfume, and it stirred him in places other than his nostrils.

On the other side of the pair, Annie's heart was doing flip-flops. She knew Jeff was just being nice and playing the gentleman like he always did for her, but she couldn't help but imagine them entwined together, his lips gently brushing her skin as she ran a hand slowly up his spine. Her cheeks reddened further as they approached the entrance to her building, and she took the opportunity to dig for her keys to hide this fact from Jeff.

She opened the door and turned to say goodbye, but Jeff was insistent that he should see her all the way to her apartment.

"What kind of escort would I be if I didn't go all the way?" he asked, flashing a cheeky grin.

"He didn't mean that like you think, Mrs. Schlossenberg," Annie said, and Jeff turned to see a gray-haired woman who resembled a slightly saggy pudding looking at them with shock written across her face.

"And so what if I had," Jeff said, suddenly defiant. "Annie's a grown woman." It was one of the few times he had allowed himself to admit it, and suddenly he realized that perhaps it wasn't one of the best.

"Just take me upstairs, Jeff," Annie muttered through gritted teeth, "before the rest of the neighborhood thinks I'm soliciting sexual favors from Gap models."

He followed her inside the building and up the stairs to her apartment, not being able to resist watching the way her ass moved as she climbed the steps, like two firm little piglets wriggling beneath a plaid blanket. He felt his groin twitch as they climbed the last few stairs, and his internal warning system went off. This couldn't be good.

Annie put her key into the lock and turned to Jeff. "Thanks for bringing me home tonight, Jeff, even if you did ruin my reputation among the "Murder, She Wrote" set."

"I do what I can, Annie," he said, and smiled as she turned the key to no avail.

"Something's wrong," she said, her brows knit together in adorable bewilderment. "I can't get the key to work."

"Let me try," Jeff said, and reached around her to try the key himself. Annie turned her body, her back against the door, and suddenly they were almost face-to-face, her breasts pressing against his chest. They could both feel the other's heart racing, and knew that this was something that couldn't be ignored.

"Jeff, I-" Annie began, but Jeff shook his head and leaned in for a kiss. Suddenly the door gave way and they fell into the apartment.

"Hey guys," Abed said. "We thought we heard voices in the hallway."

"What are you doing here?" Jeff asked, pulling himself off of Annie before his dignity suffered further injury that evening. "I thought you were having some nerd marathon at Pavel's."

"His TV went out so we moved the party here," Abed said, cocking his head. "Jeff, that looked remarkably like "The Lean," featured in the 1995 film "While You Were Sleeping" starring then-rising talent Sandra Bullock and Bill Pullman."

"I don't know what you're talking about, Abed, nor have I ever seen that movie. And I'm quite puzzled as to why you have."

"Research for the romantic comedy genre," Abed answered, taking Jeff's hand to help pull him from the floor before returning to the blanket fort-slash-TV room he shared with Troy.

As the "Inspector Spacetime" theme played in the background, Jeff held out his own hand to help Annie up from the floor. "Milady."

"Milord," she said, her voice having lost some of its buoyancy.

They both looked toward the blanket fort, sighed, and then Jeff reached out and patted Annie on the head as always.

"Have a good weekend, kiddo," he said, then made his exit.

For more than the first time, Annie wished she had never left Dildopolis.