Margin Notes on Re-Pilot Season
by Taygeta
Summary: Abed has a few things to say to Jeff regarding Re-pilot season. Jeff x Britta emphasized. Spoilers up to Season 5 - "Bondage and Beta Male Sexuality".
Author's Note: This story just came to me. It's not much of a story - I just wanted to write about Abed talking to Jeff about Britta. :)
Abed almost walked passed Jeff's office on his way home, but he stopped at the door - compelled by a compulsion to question him.
Jeff was sitting at his desk - in between classes - playing a game on his cell phone. Without looking up, he said, "What do you want, Abed?"
"How did you know it was me?"
Jeff sighed looking up, "I heard the Abed shuffle almost pass the door. I took a moment to breathe a sigh of relief, but then it was cut short by the fact that here you are. What's going on, Abed?"
"Why is it that this re-pilot still maintains a main thread labeled 'Jeff and Britta'?"
Jeff laughed a little too quickly, "What are you even talking about, Abed?"
"At first it seems as if we were walking toward appeasing the Annie and Jeff fandom, but then rumor has it that you were attempting to go after Britta again."
"Rumor?"
Abed paused before saying frankly, "Professor Duncan may have had one drink too many from a flask as he sat next to me in the couch."
"And what did he say?"
"Something about being 'so close', but then having to default to the 'bro code' related to you and Britta." At the words "so close" and "bro code", Abed's voice deepened in an imitation of a stereotypical frat boy before switching back to his less emotional face.
"Nothing is going on between me and Britta," Jeff said plainly. "That was SO first pilot."
Abed raised an index finger, "Well you see - that's where you're wrong. We wouldn't really function if nothing is ever going on between you and Britta. I know that, but I wonder how you know that."
"What are you talking about?"
"No matter how I try to reframe it - even with the whole Troy and Britta pairing in this and other timelines - you and Britta hold a significance that extends beyond any script I could ever create."
Jeff rolled his eyes, "It was just weird - okay, Abed? Duncan going after Britta after I had been with her. Guys don't do that to each other."
"Well...what about when she was dating Troy?"
"That was - different."
"How?"
"I - It...wasn't something in my control, okay?"
"Fascinating," said Abed taking a seat much to Jeff's frustration. "So if that had been in your control...what would you have done?"
"I would have wanted them to be happy," said Jeff. "To see it out - they both deserved to be happy."
"So - by letting them try and be happy - that was you being in control?"
"No. It was me not trying to be in control. Contrary to rumors and most of our scenarios and my grand speeches, I don't have to be in control of everything."
"Right. Fascinating…"
"Can you stop saying that?"
"You realize you just admitted that you could have only been happy with the Troy and Britta pairing, by giving them permission you didn't actually have power to give?"
"I didn't admit that," said Jeff, with an exasperated sigh. "You inferred that. Abed - what do you want from me? Why are you here?"
"I think you need to admit that you're in love with Britta," said Abed. He tapped a notebook he held in his hand, "It's carry over from my pilot notes - I've just never figured out the right spot for it. In some twist of first season fate, she admitted being in love with you and you ran for the hills until the tables turned in Anthropology class. But that was all a lie and I couldn't even help it along. Also - too early."
"I'm not in love with Britta. Besides, didn't you call this the re-pilot?"
"Don't deflect, Jeff," said Abed opening his notebook. "Do you have feelings for Britta?"
"I obviously care about her, but I care about all of you guys...wait, why am I telling you any of this?"
"Perhaps it's because you don't also want to admit that she really is your therapist and you can't tell any of this to her."
"She is not my therapist. I pay someone else a lot of money for therapizing - I mean, therapy."
"Hmm...fascinating," said Abed making a notation in his notebook.
Jeff glanced over at the notebook and saw something mysteriously like the "Crazy Quilt of Destiny."
"Abed, what is this now…?"
"This - is the 'Great Outline of Greendale'," said Abed. "Try as we all might, we don't leave this place." Before Jeff could bring up Troy, Abed replied, "Clone Troy may one day comeback - Original Troy remains here in spirit."
"Okay…"
"Because this place ties us all together in this repilot - I've decided to branch out from looking at the past and look toward the future. But - perhaps in a heavy dose of dramatic irony - to predict the future I need to look at the past." He opened the pages of the notebook into larger taped up sections, "And you and Britta - may or may not be what people call the 'real deal'."
Jeff laughed, "Me and Britta? Please."
"I've read the signs, I've made the notes," said Abed.
"Oh, so it must be true."
Abed shrugged, "Stranger things have happened - especially in Greendale." He tucked the notebook back under his arm as he stood up.
"So you're just going to walk in here and tell me I'm supposed to be with Britta and go on your merry way?"
"Or maybe it's all a part of the outline, Jeff," said Abed as he walked out the door leaving Jeff to his thoughts. "See you later."
"Would you like to play again?" a cutesy voice from Jeff's video game said suddenly from his smart phone.
Jeff had forgotten about the game and pressed the "No" button, but out loud he said, "I don't know."
In the hallway Abed stood by the door and smiled widely as he walked away.
"...and we're back."
End. Feedback appreciated!