AN: Hey! So, welcome to my first Community fanfic! I wrote this in the course of a couple hours, so it's really rough. But I had the writing bug so I pushed it out. It could be a lot worse. It could've been Rachel/Leonard.

God, this was supposed to be fun and quirky but it ended with a horrible attempt at angst. I'm the worst.

The only real thing you need to know going into this is that I personally think that VCR Maintenance and Educational Publishing will end with both Rachel and Annie's brother moving in, so I wrote that into this.

At any rate, enjoy!

New AN: There was a whole bunch of typos and I think I fixed most of them. Please let me know if any remain.

Annie had been the first and in hindsight, the easiest. Although that was probably because the whole bulletin board thing had tired her out and by the time she came home she barely had time to question who the girl sitting in Troy's chair was.

Abed had introduced them to each other as his friend Rachel and his roommate Annie. At the time that was good enough for both of them.

What was more difficult was the morning after. Rachel had already gone home, but Annie's curious nature had just arrived. "Abed, who was that girl you had over last night?"

"I already told you, she's my friend Rachel."

"Okay, but who is she? How did you meet? Why have I never heard of her? Why aren't your dishes in the sink?"

Those were only some of the many questions that the conversation created.

Duncan had pretended not to see them. Nadir and his bat shit disciples caused him enough pain on school grounds. Although in retrospect he should've expected to see Nadir at the local Wal-Mart the same day the entire 4th Inspector's run was rereleased on DVD with all new commentary.

Apparently, Abed didn't share the disdain that Ian Duncan harbored for him, as evidenced from the wave and smile. "Uh, hello Abed and…Abed's friend." He greeted awkwardly. Ian had met Rachel in the past. She was what inspired him to coin the term "Nadir's bat shit disciples" after she decided to nest behind the bar counter.

"This is…"

Abed started to introduce the girl, but he was cut off by the two replying in unison "We've met."

He could tell from the context that maybe Rachel and Duncan weren't exactly on the friendliest terms.

Shirley thought they were, in her words "making the angels cry as they enjoyed premarital entanglements."

First Rachel chocked on her sandwich. Then they both made it very clear that there was no "premarital entanglements" going on.

"Oh!" she replied cheerfully "That's nice."

Chang decided right away that he liked her. Which was more than a bit unsettling. Chang didn't like anyone right away. Both Abed and Rachel handled themselves with extreme caution every other time they saw him, just in case.

Jeff and Britta didn't meet her until after she had moved in. And quite honestly, they were more interested in the mysterious figure that was supposedly Annie's brother.

Rachel decided that it was probably for the best. She had worked under the Dean long enough to have heard more than she ever wanted to about Jeff Winger, and if Britta studied under Duncan, it stood to reason that she would also assume she was bat shit crazy.

It wasn't until a month or so later when Annie's brother became a permanent fixture that Britta started question Rachel about all kinds of uncomfortable things, supposedly in the name of "science".

Troy's return had everyone in a tizzy.

It was a good year and a half since he left, and everyone was beyond thrilled to see him. Well, everyone except one person, but she had decided to keep her mouth shut.

Annie was busy directing the group and giving out tasks. Jeff and Chang were decorating, Shirley was in charge of the food (naturally), Hickey and Duncan were quietly boozing in the corner hoping Annie wouldn't notice that they weren't helping, Britta was on look out duty, and Abed was supervising. Everything had to be perfect for his best friend's return.

Due to the high level of excitement, Rachel figured it would be a safe time to slip out and go unnoticed. Deep down, she knew what she was – a replacement for Troy. That was all she ever was in the group. She never really fit in with them. She was a temp.

She decided that she could pack her things now, join the rest of them when Troy returned (because honestly, she had heard such good thing about him and she didn't want to pass up meeting him) and then grab her packed luggage and slip out once the partied winded down. No one would wonder where she went, not when Troy was back. And honestly, she was acceptant of that.

She was about halfway through step one of that plan when she heard the light delicate footsteps enter the room. "What…what are you doing?"

Sighing, Rachel didn't even bother to turn around. "You know as well as I do I was only ever replacing him. Now he's back. I'm just surplus."

"You are not!" Annie replied, "You live in 303 now and that makes you part of this crazy messed up family."

Turning slightly to look at the girl, Rachel smiled softly as she replied, her voice boarding on emotionless. "It felt really good, fitting in somewhere for once. But I've known since before I moved in this was the way things were going to happen. Troy and I can't fill the same gap."

"So fill the gap you'll be leaving when you leave!" Annie tried, before gasping. Her facial expression became nothing short of skeptical as she asked "Are you doing this for a bit?"

The humorless laugh that escaped Rachel's lips was nothing short of unsettling. "I wish."

About to protest again, Annie was interrupted by her phone ringing. She sometimes forgot Britta still used her phone as a phone. "Hello? Okay! Okay. Distract him for like two minutes." She instructed as she darted into the hallway. "He's on his way! Get a move on people!"

Troy was, of course, in a fit of happy tears upon walking through the door. There was a group hug that Rachel, Hickey, and Duncan decided to opt out on. There was so much happy babbling and tries for his attention that Rachel was surprised that Troy didn't have his head fall off. But most of all, there was sense of completion. Now that Troy was back, everything just felt…whole.

And yet, it also made Rachel feel like it was the final push she needed. Everyone was happy and talkative and so busy hugging Troy that no one would notice or care that she left. It was perfect. She'd get a nice clean break.

Wheeling her suitcase through the foyer would garner some attention, so she went with the second best option, throwing her suitcase out the third level window. While internally debating if it would be better to sneak out the front door or climb out the window, the doorknob moved.

She silently cursed under her breath, knowing that if it was Annie on the other end she'd be guilted into staying. To her surprise, it wasn't Annie on the other side of the door.

It was Troy.

"Uh, who are you and what are you doing in the apartment?" Troy asked, doing his best to mask the fact that he was freaking out over the stranger inside.

"Sorry. I'm Rachel. I...I lived here, while you were gone." She decided. "But I'm just going to head off now, so no need to worry about…"

"Aren't you going stay?" Troy asked, raising an eyebrow "Shirley made cake!" Sure, he didn't know the girl, but she had to be cool if Annie and Abed let her move in. And everyone liked Shirley's cake.

"Thanks." She replied, a little confused, but her thankfulness genuine. "But I think I might've overstayed my welcome. You go enjoy your party."

"If you say so…" he replied cautiously before watching her climb out the window.

Shaking his head, he returned to the foyer only to be immediately asked by Annie "Troy, I thought you were grabbing the candles?"

"Sorry," he replied "I got distracted by the girl climbing out of the window…"

Of course, this was met with murmured replies of confusion, but he had just gotten off a boat so he was probably tired and seeing things.

But it took both Abed and Annie about 30 seconds to realize Rachel wasn't around, and she went into the bedroom before Troy did.

"Troy," Annie began cautiously, "Did this girl say anything before climbing out the window?"

"Yeah, she said that she used to live here but overstayed her welcome?" he relayed, although not entirely grasping the situation.

Annie let out a cry of frustration. "No. Not this again. Abed, you go find your girlfriend and you straighten this mess out!"

"But…"

"I AM NOT LOSING THE ONLY ROOMMATE WHO PAYS RENT!" Annie cried, thrusting her arm towards the door for emphasis.

This time, Abed did as he was told. It didn't take him long. He knew where she'd be heading. "Why are you doing this?" he questioned when he was sure he was within her ear shot.

"Because the bit was over." She explained, shrugging lightly. "I was your replacement for Troy. Now Troy is back and I'm no longer needed."

A silence passed. It was a long, and heavy silence. But there was nothing left to say.

The silence was broken by the sound of her shoes moving against the sidewalk, soon followed by the rolling of her suitcase. She paused suddenly, and turned around. "Tell Annie I'll get the rest of my stuff next week." Her voice had once again dropped to the emotionless tone she had gotten used to using so sparingly. So sparingly that it was out of practice, a small crack shattering the foundation she had worked so hard to build.

She turned and walked briskly away. Abed didn't like it when people cried over things like this. She didn't want to make him upset. Not when Troy was finally back.