July 2016

Jeff took a deep breath as he straightened his bow tie for what was probably the fiftieth time. He was nervous, but not terrified nervous. Rather he was feeling the kind of nervous excitement you felt as a kid when you woke up on your birthday.

He had expected to be terrified today. Everyone else had expected it (Britta kept half joking that they would need to have guards posted at all the exits in case he tried to run.) But instead he simply felt joyous excitement. In just a few minutes he was about to severely disappoint the female population by officially being taken off the market. Because Jeff Winger, the man who once couldn't eat 'Chubby Hubby' ice cream because it signified too much of a commitment, was about to become a married man.

A part of him still couldn't believe they had gotten to this point. That after all the ups and downs, the emotional hiding, the arguments and fights and doubts, he and Annie were about to actually become husband and wife. It seemed both so surreal and more right than anything else.

As he stood there thinking of all the many moments they had shared together, right now one memory stood out clearer than the rest. Like almost everything about them, it was an incredible touching moment that took place during the oddest of circumstances.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

April 2012

"Jeff come on, this wasn't that terrible of a day."

"Oh no. First my car broke down. Then I was talked into going to another oneof the many dances The Dean insists on throwing. And to top it off Abed and Troy destroyed my phone during their 'Lethal Weapon' reenactment. So I wouldn't call this the greatest day."

Jeff rubbed his eyes as he and Annie walked down the hallway. It had been a very trying day and all he wanted to do was go home, drink a few beers and just veg out. He would have been able to do that sooner if he had a working car. Annie had volunteered to drive him home, but that meant he had to wait until she was ready to leave (he suspected she offered to be his chauffeur because it meant he would have to stay for the entire dance.) By the time she had finished helping taking down the decorations it was after 11 and they were the only ones left.

He held the door open for her as they went outside and walked to her car. "At least it's not raining yet. I heard it was supposed to really pour tonight."

"Annie, you know that by saying that it's guaranteed to rain now. Hasn't Abed taught us anything?"

She simply rolled her eyes as she unlocked the car. They got in and she put the key in the ignition. But when she turned it all they heard was a click-click noise. "Oh no."

"Please tell me you're just playing a practical joke."

Annie kept turning the key, but the car just kept making the same clicking noise. She turned on the headlights, where they lit dimly before completely dying.

"I think the battery's dead."

"Oh great, that's just…" Jeff looked all around the parking lot, seeing that they were the only car around. "Of course, the one time I actually want people to be around we're by ourselves. Try calling Troy and Abed so they can come pick us up."

Jeff looked at Annie apprehensively as the look of a deer caught in headlights formed on her face. "UUUUMMMMIIIAAAWWA."

"Why do you seem unnervingly evasive?"

"I left my phone at home."

"WHAT!"

"I didn't mean to! I didn't know I'd left it until after we got to the dance. And besides, you're always with your phone. I didn't think it was that big of a deal."

"That was before Tweedledum and Tweedledumber destroyed my phone! All right, let's try not to panic. We'll just go back inside and find a phone so we can call someone."

"We can't…We were the last ones to leave and The Dean said he was locking the school down."

"Are you, are you…" Jeff groaned as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "So we're stranded here with no car, no phone, and no way to call for help. Great. I'd almost guess Abed was secretly filming a horror movie and set this whole thing up!"

"Stop trying to freak me out Jeff!"

"Well I'm not staying here all night." Jeff opened the door and got out of the car.

"Jeff, where are you going?" Annie said as she got also got out.

"I'm walking home. Or at least far enough to call a cab."

"Jeff, that's miles away."

"I'm not waiting around all here all night. And I'm not leaving you here by yourself. So come on."

Annie looked unsure of what to do before finally grabbing her purse and umbrella and locking her car. She fell into step beside Jeff (her legs moving faster to keep up with his longer strides) as they set off.

After only a few minutes the ominous sound of thunder filled the air, followed not long afterwards by a downpour of rain. "Great, that's just great." As Annie opened the umbrella Jeff took it out of her hand.

"Jeff, I can hold an umbrella."

"Unless you've forgotten, I'm taller then you Annie. If I hold it both of us will be covered."

"Fine, have it your way Unjolly Green Giant." They continued walking as Annie thought about the dance. "It wasn't that bad of a dance Jeff."

"On a scale of one to ten, one being relatively normal and ten being the most mind scaring Greendale experience imaginable, I'd say that was a 5. Maybe a 6 and a half."

"Well maybe you would have had more fun if you had actually tried dancing instead of standing in the corner making your 'I'm too cool to do anything that might actually be fun' pose."

"Sorry if I didn't want to prance around like an idiot. What was that thing you, Troy, Abed and Britta were doing during that one song?"

"You mean the Reverse Buffalo Bunny Hop? Here, let me show you. First you lift your right leg and hold onto it. Then you spin around and-."

Just then Annie tripped as she lost her footing. Jeff tried grabbing her but wasn't fast enough as she crashed to the ground." OOOOOOOWWWWWWWWW!" Jeff dropped the umbrella as he knelt beside Annie. He barely noticed it blow away as he tended to her.

"Are you ok?"

"My ankle hurts!" She inched her sock down and gently felt her ankle, wincing as she touched it. "Ow! I think it's broken."

"Let me see." Jeff carefully inspected her ankle, being exceedingly gentle as he felt around the area. "It's not swollen or black and blue. I think it might just be a sprain. Can you walk on it?"

"I don't know." Jeff helped Annie up and held onto her as she tried putting weight on it. "OW! It hurts. Oh, oh god. I can't walk. I'm stranded in the rain in the middle of the night and I can't walk. Jeff, what are we, JEFF, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

Before she could protest Jeff lifted Annie into his arms, holding her close to his body. He tried to block out the sudden image of a husband carrying his bride over the threshold that was entering his head. "Come on, let's go."

"Jeff, you can't walk with me in your arms the whole way. You'll hurt yourself."

"Annie, I'm fine. Let's go." Annie wrapped her arms around Jeff's neck as they set off, feeling very safe and protected in his arms. As she rested her head against his chest Jeff tried not to feel too cocky about coming to her rescue.

Though she weighed nothing in his arms, and Jeff would have liked to have held her the entire way, holding her in this position was severely affecting his line of sight. After narrowly avoiding the umpteenth trashcan he finally stopped. "Ok, I can't see where I'm going. Let's try something else." He lifted Annie up and put her over his shoulder, with her facing behind him. "You ok?"

"Yea I'm fine."

"Ok, let's go."

However this position, and the fact that she was of course wearing one of those devilishly short skirts of hers, made it so his eyes kept inadvertently checking out her butt. He used to think of that as her sixth best feature (after her eyes, smile, overall face, breasts, and legs), but now he was seriously considering moving it up to number five.

After only a block he stopped, knowing it wouldn't be long before became fully hard. "This isn't going to work either. Let's try something else."

They tried a few different positions, well aware of how ridiculous it looked that she was climbing around his body like he was a jungle gym, until they finally settled on her dangling from Jeff's back piggyback style. Annie held onto the back of Jeff's neck and wrapped her legs around his sides as they set off.

"If you say 'giddy up' I'm dropping you."

"And if you call me a kid I'm kicking you."

"Fair enough Edison." Jeff couldn't help smiling as they walked down the streets of Greendale. It was pouring rain and both of them were soaked. And to top it off he was literally carrying Annie on his back. But somehow he wasn't mad. He actually felt happy over this amusing predicament.

A part of him thought it was just due to the ridiculous of the situation. But somehow he knew if this was happening to him with anyone else he would be royally pissed. That wasn't the case with Annie. Like most of the situations the two of them got into, this was just another instance where the company he was with made something terrible enjoyable.

There was once a time he would have just chalked it up to being lenient with her because of her youth. But if that was the case he would also show the same allowances to Troy. No, the reason he felt differently around Annie was because she made him feel different. When he was with her situations weren't so terrible. In fact, most of them were actually enjoyable when he looked at them afterwards. That was something that couldn't really happen with anyone else.

Jeff looked at Annie out of the corner of his eye. Her eyes were closed as she rested her head on his shoulder. She seemed so peaceful despite the pain she was probably in. So utterly beautiful. So very…Annie. He felt his heart speed up as he looked at her. He once thought he was incapable of feeling anything, and was just meant to go through life looking out for himself. But being with her made him see that there could be more to life. He didn't always listen and still fell back on old habits, but he was at least aware of it. And more importantly he didn't think it was such a terrible idea.

As much as he might like to deny it he was aware of what had happened. It was something that he never planned on and did everything possible not to encourage it. That in spite of the many, MANY, women he had slept with. That while he managed to both kept her at arm's length and yet never let her go. That while he kept trying to deny that there was anything between them, one simple fact remained. And that was that he, Jeffrey Winger, had fallen head over heels for Annie Edison.

"I love you." Jeff said, before his brain could stop and filter his thoughts.

Annie's eyes snapped open as she looked at Jeff, certain she had either been dreaming or had misheard him due to the pouring rain. "What?"

Jeff abruptly stopped, not sure what to do. His first natural instinct was to deny everything, and pretend she had misheard him. But a stronger instinct slowly took hold of him, where for once he actually manned up and owned up to his feelings, regardless of the consequences of what it might do. He grabbed hold of her hips and pulled Annie in front of him as he gently lowered her to the ground, keeping hold of her so she didn't put weight on her injured ankle.

"I said…I love you Annie."

Annie looked at him, unable to believe what she was hearing. "What, where did, what?"

Jeff wiped some sopping wet hair out of her face as he looked into her eyes. "Annie, look at me. I've had more meaningless one night stands then I'd care to count. I like going out with simple easy to please women. You're pushy and annoying and meddle way too much in my life. We've never had sex. We've never gone out on an actual date. And yet through it all you've become the one I've been looking for, when I wasn't even looking for her. I know I've given you more than enough reasons not to warrant you. But I'm finally ready to accept how I feel and speak the truth. And the utter truth is that I love you."

Jeff waited apprehensively as she continued to look at him unbelievably. After several of the longest moments of his life Annie reached up to his shoulders and pulled him down into a kiss. As she pulled back Jeff smiled at the big grin on her face. "Ok, first, you're a jerk for picking NOW to tell me all this. You know that right? Two, I'm not putting out until at least the fourth date. Maybe the third if I really like the guy. And three, I love you too."

Jeff pulled her close to him as he kissed her back, feeling warmer in spite of the weather. After a few moments Annie pulled back again. "Can we please continue this when we're not being drenched in a downpour?"

"Sure." Jeff waited for Annie to climb onto his back. He took hold of her hand as he set off for his apartment.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Jeff turned as the door opened and Abed stuck his head in. "Jeff, it's time to go out there."

"Thanks Abed." Jeff straightened his tie one final time before setting off to marry the woman of his dreams.