This is set near the tail end of the two months when the Greendale 7 was expelled in S3. Assuming that they were expelled in late April, Fathers Day would fall just a few weeks before the events of "Curriculum Unavailable" and "The First Chang Dynasty"
Jeff groaned when he was woken up by a knock on his front door. When he remembered what day it was, he groaned deeper – and not because it was a Sunday. Normally Sundays were good for Jeff – at least better than Mondays – except when he was woken up this early and when it was the third Sunday in June.
Unfortunately, today was that Sunday, as June 17 honored the millions of real fathers in the world –none of which had any part in Jeff's life. On top of having that thrown in his face today, someone was waking him and foiling his plan to sleep through all of Fathers Day.
Maybe if he gathered enough energy for a good five seconds of yelling, he'd be left alone. After all, Fathers Day was a symbol of…..something that could barely resemble loneliness for Jeff. So he should be left alone as such. And if he needed to yell to get that point across-
"Jeff? It's Annie! Annie Edison? From study group?" Okay, so maybe yelling was out. "Are you awake or sober enough to recognize my voice?"
"Sober for now. Awake…..just a little," Jeff brought himself to answer, while performing the harder task of getting up on his feet.
"Good. Don't open the door, okay?" Jeff was barely out of his bedroom, so there was no danger of defying her there. He didn't want to defy her and open his door for anyone today, so this should have been good news. But since Annie was obviously on one of her "help Jeff although he doesn't want or need help" kicks, why didn't she want to come in?
"I wasn't planning on it. Why weren't you?" Jeff asked. He would have kicked himself for giving her the chance to keep talking – if his feet could lift off the ground.
"I just want you to unlock the door, okay? Then go back to bed, get under the covers and close your eyes until I tell you. Okay?" Jeff heard Annie ask.
"And this is a sane thing to do because….?" Jeff inquired.
"Come on, Jeff, this is the only thing you really need to do all day! And at least you can get back in bed!" Annie quite wisely told him. Of course, this probably meant Annie would come in and see Jeff try to sleep in bed. Well, there could be worse outcomes – or maybe Jeff was too sleepy to think otherwise.
But Jeff concluded that the sooner he did this, the sooner Annie would get her kicks and leave him alone. So he unlocked the front door, dragged himself back to bed, got under the covers and then yelled "Okay, it's open!"
Jeff closed his eyes, not wanting to see whatever Annie was planning – and somewhat hoping he could fall back asleep before seeing it. But he did hear Annie making "Sshhh!" noises and heard more than one set of feet walking, so obviously she wasn't alone. Maybe she just brought Troy and Abed here for some kind of surprise movie or documentary shoot.
"Okay, you can open up now!" When Jeff followed Annie's request and opened his eyes, he noticed it wasn't just her, Troy and Abed there. So was the rest of the study group. Well, this was a…..turn of events.
"Why are you all here without my permission?" Jeff asked as nicely as possible.
"Well, good morning to you too, Jeffrey," Shirley commented. "I got up extra early to make this, but since I don't have your permission…." With that, Jeff noticed there was a sealed Tupperware container in Shirley's hands.
"Okay, I'll bite, what is this?" Jeff had no choice but to check. Shirley put it in Jeff's lap, then he looked up to see Annie beaming. There was no resisting that, so Jeff just opened the container – and was met with the sights and smells of his favorite Sunday eggs on a plate. They were even the ones with low carbs and everything.
"It's your breakfast in bed, Jeff," Annie added. "You don't have to start yet, it's pretty well preserved. You can open this first," she further filled in as Jeff noticed she was holding a larger box in her hands. Only this one had wrapping paper covering it.
Jeff put his 'breakfast in bed' next to his lamp, then took Annie's box and started unwrapping it. When he finished, he opened the actual box and nearly gasped at what was in it.
"You're one of those rare people who'd like getting a suit and tie today. So I saved up to get the tie, and I saved up as much as I could for the suit! I got the others to chip in for the rest," Annie explained.
"I gave up four dollars of my own money to feed your narcissism, Jeff!" Britta objected. "So don't make me regret losing my integrity too much."
"This is the first time I wasn't trying to do that," Jeff said distractedly while still staring at his new perfectly folded and flawless suit and tie. But he finally looked up, focused on Annie and asked, "Okay, I'm still biting. What the hell is all this for?"
"This is what you're supposed to do for Father's Day, Jeff. I haven't had a dad in years and even I know that," Annie started. "And in our little family, you're our dad. I know we had problems with those labels a few years ago, but that's what you still are. You made us a family, you take care of us like a dad, and you're often more irrational than most real dads," she conveyed with as much humor as possible.
"And in these dark times when we're still…the e-word….you've helped keep this family together anyway. That's why the best Greendale dad deserves the best Father's Day ever. And that's why we're all here to give it to you."
Jeff tried to focus on Annie's cute way of saying "expelled" which she was still doing a month and a half after being kicked out of Greendale. Otherwise he'd focus more on those other sappy words and feel….sappy himself. Doing that in front of Annie was more tolerable for him these days, yet the rest of the group was another matter. Remembering this helped Jeff brush his sappy feelings aside to ask the others, "So how did she bribe you all into this?"
"Jeffrey, we're all here because we love you and we wanted to give you a special day!" Shirley insisted, then less forcefully added, "And if Annie offered longer babysitting hours, that was just a small bonus."
"I just figured we were due for a special Fathers Day episode. We never seem to air them for some reason," Abed noted. "Plus it's a Sunday, so I can take a break from my other projects for today," he hinted, although no one wanted to discuss his creepy post-Greendale projects/stalking today.
"This is the first Fathers Day I don't have to waste honoring my Dad, or putting my name on Gilbert's gifts! All because you killed him! You get one day of no gay jokes for that, so make it last! At least it'll last longer than your…..damn it, why did I have to think of that one today?" Pierce lamented.
"Yeah, I sold my soul to take part in this daddy propaganda machine! At least Annie will defend me for a month when you call me the worst, so there!" Britta informed. "But I should have gotten two months! I still don't know how Annie made me drive the price down…." Seriously, why was she going into health care again?
"I have theories, but Annie shouldn't have to spend hours defending you afterwards. Takes away from honoring me and all," Jeff stated to make Britta roll her eyes – and to avoid speaking about Annie honoring him in a more sentimental fashion. But he went back to Annie and just asked, "So what other honors am I getting today?"
"First eat your breakfast before it gets cold. And eat it all in bed, even if you get crumbs on the sheets. Otherwise it defeats the purpose," Annie pointed out. "While you do that, we'll be outside watching TV, and we won't mess up your stuff or anything. Right, Troy?"she singled out.
"Hey, I only did that in five Dreamatorium simulations! What about the two I didn't? What about those?" Troy protested emotionally.
"It's all right, Troy. Let's let 'Daddy' eat his food and just joke about 'Daddy's' stuff later – and I got a lot of good ones. K?" Britta calmed Troy down, then followed Annie and the rest of the group out of Jeff's bedroom.
Jeff was relieved that Britta was the one to call him 'Daddy' – at least more than if other females did it. Still a bit concerned that they would mess up his stuff if he didn't hurry, he took his eggs, reached for the knife and fork in the container, made sure to eat directly over it so nothing landed on his sheets, and finally took a bite. Then he groaned as quietly as he could over the sweet, only mildly fattening taste.
It figured Shirley's eggs would be far superior to his. Leaving aside how he only found out because Annie bribed Shirley into baking these. Leaving aside how she bribed everyone to bother him on a rotten day….for a not quite so rotten reason.
Well, if it got Jeff these eggs and that new suit and tie, maybe he could let it play out for a little while.
When Jeff finished his first ever breakfast in bed, he got dressed in his old awesome clothes, went to the living room and found that the group didn't mess it up. There were no dance routines, no arguments triggered by Britta and Pierce, and no Troy and Abed turning his stuff into movie props. They were actually on their best behavior – as they further showed by letting him watch his bad Sunday morning TV and not bothering him.
For lunch, they took him over to a local diner, where they got him a special Fathers Day discount on his favorite lunch foods. Of course, they had to do this by passing him off as an actual father, with Shirley as his wife and Troy as their son.
Fortunately, Jeff wasn't forced to actually kiss Shirley as part of the ruse. And apparently Annie made Troy rehearse his part very thoroughly in Dreamatorium simulations so he wouldn't blow the routine. At least that's how Annie explained it after they were safe and far away from prying ears at the diner.
No ruses were needed for their next activity, as the group had just sprung for him to get a special manicure, complete with extra special hair care. Apparently Annie promised Pierce at least one "best friend" day out at the next local carnival to make him spring for that one. In any case, Jeff barely minded Annie's sacrifice when his hair looked extra perfect and effortless as a result.
By then it was time for dinner, so they went back to the apartment for Jeff to change into his new suit and tie. The group then took him and his new ensemble to Bob's Steakhouse for another special Fathers Day meal. They were forgoing Morty's Steakhouse, due to the memories of Jeff's May 2013 post-graduation reservation there, which now looked less necessary. Yet Bob's still had enough delicious, non figure-ruining food to balance it out – and its Father's Day specials were cheaper.
Jeff again had to pretend that Shirley was his wife and Troy was his son to get the discounts, although they still played their parts better than he expected. Annie pointed out it was better than the alternate plan to have Pierce pose as his dad – which Jeff and Pierce readily agreed with. But Jeff still noticed that no one mentioned a plan where Annie posed as Jeff's daughter – to his great relief.
Jeff was stuffed from Fathers Day meals by then anyway, so the group had him come with them to Casa de Trobed to digest. In the meantime, they set up a special Die Hard 1 marathon for him to cap the night off. And it wasn't a school night – which would have been the case on June 17 even if they weren't expelled – so they could watch as long as they wanted.
After so many Die Hard marathons in the past, both Jeff and Abed spent more time talking about the movie and sharing tidbits than watching it. But the group put up with it, chipped in whenever they had room, and soon they all wound up talking more than watching it. By the time they finished watching Die Hard a second time, it was almost 11:30 pm and the marathon had turned into one of their usual late night, post-expelled hangouts.
Jeff finally got some breathing room by getting a beer at the Trobed kitchen. Yet Annie cramped him up again by coming over to him – although that wasn't the worst thing ever. "So, how are you doing? Now that your special day is almost over and everything," Annie wondered.
"I had many names for today 24 hours ago. None of them were close to being special," Jeff reminded her.
"I know. That's a big reason why I did this," Annie pointed out.
"Mind filling me in on the other reasons now? Since this special day of yours is almost over and everything," Jeff asked, hoping for once that he didn't sound too sarcastic. Annie paused for several seconds, making Jeff wonder if he failed – then she spoke and quieted his thoughts down.
"Mothers Day isn't my favorite holiday, Jeff. I'm sure you know why by now. And this year, it was held just after we got….the e-word," Annie whispered. "Picturing Mom hearing about it, being ashamed of me all over again….thinking she made the right call to cut me off…." she made herself stop reflecting on. "Well, between that and the e-word, it wasn't the best day of my life."
"Well, why didn't you say anything then?" Jeff questioned. "We could have thrown together a special day for you too!" he offered before realizing what he offered – over a month too late.
"None of us could throw anything together then," Annie reminded. "Anyway, the point is as bad as Mother's Day can get for me, I know Father's Day is just as bad for you. So I wanted to make things easier for one of us, at least! And over the next month, this is what I came up with," she concluded.
"By promoting me to Greendale dad again," Jeff repeated, which was the best thing he could say without feeling…..more feelings. Yet he found some reserve snark and recollected, "And by bribing all of my other kids to participate. I've got to say, Annie, that really is some Greendale mom material," Jeff joked, then quickly hoped that calling her the Greendale mom wouldn't make things awkward with the Greendale dad.
Yet Annie powered on and stated, "I didn't really bribe anyone that much! Maybe Britta and Pierce for a few things. In everything else, they were happy to just give you a special Fathers Day."
"But not nearly as much as you," Jeff figured out. "Are there any more big reasons for that? Did you need some big project to distract you from the e-word?"
He wanted to be more teasing than accusing – as he still couldn't quite accept that they really had done this to give him a good Fathers Day. That even Annie wasn't that thoughtful enough to do this out of her own big, Disney heart. Not for the likes of him.
"I have a lot of distractions for that already, Jeff. Six of them, really," Annie gestured to him and the entire group over in the living room. "Jeff, this whole ordeal is a nightmare for me, and I'm scared it'll never end. But the only reason I'm getting through it is because I have you guys. And the only reason I have you guys….the only real family I've ever had….is because you brought us together. Leaving aside why you did it," Annie gestured toward Britta, who seemed to be further building her own little world with Troy.
"Yeah, funny how that turned out," Jeff reflected, although this wasn't the time to be thinking of Britta right now. Not with Annie and her words demanding his attention.
"Jeff, the only reason I can still laugh right now is because of you guys. And you," Annie repeated. "Okay, so maybe I'm stronger and more mature and confident and well rounded because of me. Mostly. But I wouldn't have gotten to be all these things without you in my life. And that's more than my real father ever did for me."
"Annie, maybe you should stop there before you go any deeper with….that comparison," Jeff warned.
"I know, I know, but bare with me!" Annie insisted. "I hate thinking of you like my dad! You're more than that….you're my best friend. You protect me, look out for me and care for me more than anyone I've ever met. You've helped me make new friends, become a better person and made me more ready to really face life on my own. And you've done that for everyone else here, whether you meant to or you tried to or not. All of that iswhat a father's supposed to do and supposed to be!"
"I guess you would know about that better than I would," Jeff admitted.
"But you do it better than a lot of real dads! Including both of ours!" Annie illuminated. "That's the kind of man Fathers Day is really all about! So it really should honor you too!The fact you did all this without your own dad just makes it more obvious. Even without him, you've provided for us, cared for us, brought us together and made sure we're not alone anymore! Especially now when we need it the most! When we still need it!"
With that, Annie gave up some of the pretense of her speech. "We….I owe you so much for that, Jeff. The very, very least I could do is give you your first happy Fathers Day in return."
Jeff came very, very close to admitting he felt the same way around Annie. Far closer than he cared to admit, even to himself. Even realizing he felt it was more than he cared to admit to himself. Not that telling himself that was helping right now.
"So now, maybe Fathers Day won't be about the ass who broke your family anymore," Annie concluded. "Now maybe it can be about your new family…..and how we couldn't ask for a better dad, or leader, or friend to honor today. Or on any future Fathers Days, too." Annie took a deep breath and then admitted, "Okay, maybe that got too sappy for even me, I'll give you that."
"I'll take it," Jeff nodded, then turned around to get his beer from the counter and take a drink. However, it was clear when he scratched his head in the meantime, he was discreetly wiping a bit of water from the corner of his eye. Albeit not as discreetly as he wanted.
When Jeff could compose himself better and turned around, he saw the biggest, briefest Disney smile on Annie's face for a split-second before she wiped it off. But not quick enough to hide that she did know what Jeff was really doing a moment ago.
Jeff wanted to distract them both from all the recent sentiment, yet he knew he now owed Annie some of it himself. It was the very, very least he could do after what she did for him today. What she did for the last three years, really. After a while, he went with the best thing he could think of.
"There is one thing I appreciated today. You didn't try to pass yourself off as my daughter. Or call me a Greendale dad or daddy yourself," Jeff shared. "That would have made…..certain things between us a bit too weird and awkward. And there's enough of that already."
"Yeah, I already know that, Jeff. That's why I avoided it," Annie revealed, now looking a bit awkward anyway. So Jeff looked to stop that by taking her hand and making himself admit….certain things. The best way he could at this particular moment.
"Good. I don't want those things to be awkward anymore. I want feeling them to make me the furthest thing from awkward." Jeff squeezed her hand as gently as he could, to try and clear his words up with actions – if not with actual clear, unambiguous words. "I really, really want that someday. Hopefully soon."
Jeff cringed a bit, fearing he made things awkward again or that he wasn't clear enough. The last thing he needed was to fill Annie with awkwardness and doubt after a day like today – and it was hard enough doing that on all those other days. Maybe he needed something clearer – like a hug or real words about his feelings or even a….
"Jeff." And with one use of his name in her "I love butterflies" voice, one squeeze back from her hand and one bright Annie smile, Annie quelled all of Jeff's doubts. Just in time too, or he would have considered a kiss as a nuclear option. Yes. Just in time.
"Today wasn't about….all that, anyway. So no harm done," Annie assured him. "Just….happy Fathers Day, Jeff."
For the first time since he could remember, Jeff felt like he followed that wish to the letter. To celebrate, he returned the extra hand squeeze and smile that Annie gave him.
Annie then noticed a nearby clock and gasped, officially ending the moment. "Only 20 minutes until midnight! Come on, we can watch your favorite Die Hard scenes one more time until then!"
Jeff stood there for a while as Annie broke off and got everyone back in front of the TV. When they did, he finally went back into Abed's recliner as Annie went through the Die Hard DVD scene menu. They were indeed able to fit in one more screening of Jeff's very favorite scenes right under the midnight wire.
Yet Jeff didn't pay that much attention to those classic scenes for once. Half of the time was spent focusing on Annie, sitting in Troy's recliner alongside Jeff. It made him remember that he might have been the Greendale dad of this family – but it was still a broken family without a Greendale mom by his side.
Having Britta as the Greendale mom didn't work out, and they couldn't stay together for the kids. This family still needed an official mom's touch. Someone who could keep the dad in line, lift the dad up, and was finally allowed to be there for the dad in every way possible.
By next Fathers Day, Jeff really did hope he could give Annie the official job. Or at least be ready to give it to her before next Mothers Day – which was her turn to get a special day like this one. Fortunately, he had 11 months to plan out how he would do this for her.
Of course, Mothers Day 2013 would be more of a special day if they would all graduate from Greendale a few weeks later. And that didn't seem likely to happen now – no matter what Abed's Inspector Spacetime character was saying about Dean Pelton being replaced by some cyborg. Or something he couldn't be bothered to listen to.
But at least Fathers Day was a distraction from misery like that, for the first time ever. Or rather, the people who were honoring him for it were. That and John McClane cursing out Hans Gruber could hold him over for 10 more minutes today.