Disclaimer: Nope, I don't own Community. I would like to think I have a little reign over this alternate timeline I've invented, though :D
A/N: Hello, my precious blueberries! This is the first of a handful of outtakes for my previous fic "A Toast to Innocence." These will be mostly disconnected scenes, and not in any particular order from here on. Yall asked for Jeff meeting Annie's kids, so here it is...sort of... ;)
He looks down at the little slip of paper in his hand, reading over the address one more time. This is it. His GPS didn't steer him wrong. The address is written in neat, if slightly curly, handwriting, and matches the gold numbering on the front of the cream-colored house he's parked in front of. The front lawn is smallish, but well-watered and perfectly manicured. He can see blue curtains fluttering at the edges of the windows on both stories. The front door is made of solid dark wood with a little segmented semicircular window at the top and a burnished bronze door handle. The house is neat, elegant.
Very Annie.
He should get out of the car. He should get out and walk up the steps and knock on the front door and stop being such a goddamn coward.
What is he so afraid of? A couple of kids? Annie's kids? The kids Annie had with the man she'd been married to for the past twelve years? Yeah, that sounded about right.
"They'll like you," she'd assured him, standing on tiptoe to give him a quick kiss on the lips. "I promise." They've been doing this little dance for a few weeks now, meeting for lunch, spending the weekend together when the kids are at their father's, not exactly sneaking around but trying for subtlety anyway. But it's time for him to meet her kids, she'd decided. It's time for the kids to meet him.
This is the first time he's been to her house. So far, he's managed to always arrange things so they either meet in town somewhere or go back to his place. Her house has been, in his mind, off limits – not because he thinks Annie wouldn't welcome him there, but because there are three little people who he knows aren't in love with him like their mother is.
Somewhere deep inside him, in the dark little hole that years of therapy have at least taught him how to face and control if not ever actually rid him of, Jeff looks into a mirror and sees his father's face looking back at him.
What could he ever be to these kids? What does Annie possibly expect of him?
He should drive away. Right now. He should spare them all.
That's when the little knock sounds on his window, and he blinks in confusion for a moment before spotting the tuft of brown hair and the wide eyes peering up over the edge of the door at him. The kid is standing on tiptoe, and he scuttles back a few feet as Jeff slowly rolls the glass down.
"Yes?" he asks, then clears his throat when his voice comes out shaky and rough.
"Is your name Jeff-er-y?" the little boy asks shyly, peeking up at him again. He pronounces the name with extreme care, reminding Jeff of his own childhood struggle against saying 'Jeffwey.'
"Uh."
"My mom says your name is Jeffery, and my name is Jeffery too," the kid says dubiously, studying Jeff through his eyelashes.
Jeff's eyes dart back up to the house, where, sure enough, Annie is leaning in the doorway, smiling knowingly at them. When he looks down again, the kid is still watching, teetering between curiosity and suspicion. "Your mom's a smart lady," he murmurs.
Jeffery's face breaks into a wide smile at that, and, before he can give it another thought, Jeff opens the door and gets out of the car.
A/N: Until next time, blueberries! :D