Community and everything to do with it does not belong to me. I'm just writing this for fun and have little to no money so suing me over it really wouldn't accomplish anything.

It was an unseasonably chilly late autumn night in Greendale, Colorado as Jeff Winger trudged alone through the quiet city streets. He shivered slightly and pulled his very fashionable wool trenchcoat tighter against his body as he walked. He had spent the night at his favorite bar, L Street, but closing time had come and Jeff needed somewhere else to go. He was walking instead of driving because he knew he was probably too inebriated to drive and already felt miserable enough without the prospect of spending the rest of the night in jail. So he walked through the campus, hoping that the walk would sober him up a bit. But instead of heading home, he was heading somewhere far more important tonight.

After a few more blocks, Jeff finally reached the apartment complex he was looking for. He smirked to himself as he casually opened the front door still being propped open by a brick after all this time. As he climbed the staircase, Jeff suddenly realized just how late it was and that chances are, he wasn't going to be greeted warmly upon his arrival. But this was something that couldn't wait and once his friends knew why, they'd understand. Finally he came to apartment 303 and rapped on the door. On the other side, Jeff heard some faint rumblings and after a moment, the door opened to reveal a tired, disheveled Britta Perry.

"Jeff," whined Britta, fighting back a yawn, "it's almost 3:00 in the morning. What do you want?"

"I'm really sorry to bother you all at this late hour but I really need to talk to Annie."

"This really can't wait until morning," asked Troy, appearing beside Britta and looking annoyed. He was soon joined by Abed, who on the surface didn't appear to be too put off by Jeff's sudden appearance in the middle of the night. "What is so important that you need to barge in here in the middle of the night just to talk to Annie?"

Jeff reached into the inside pocket of his coat and pulled out a folded piece of paper. "This," Jeff replied, handing the paper to Britta. She unfolded it and began to read while Troy and Abed peered over her shoulders to read it themselves. As they read, all three pairs of eyes widened in surprise and then looked back at Jeff, silently nodding in confirmation. Just then, the door to Annie's bedroom opened and she stepped out yawning sleepily.

"Guys, what's going on? Why's everyone up? Is something going on?"

The three at the door stepped aside and let Jeff enter the apartment. Annie squeaked a little bit when she saw Jeff walk in.

"Um, Annie, is it okay if I talk to you in private? It's really important."

"Well, are you sure it can't wait until tomorrow? We've got midterms coming up soon and I really need to get-"

"Annie," Jeff interrupted, "it really can't wait." Even in the dim light coming from the hall, Annie could see the urgency and pain in Jeff's eyes and knew it must be something serious. Annie nodded and beckoned Jeff into her room. Jeff received the piece of paper he'd given Britta and entered into Annie's bedroom, flicking on the light as he walked in. Annie followed closely behind him and closed the door behind them. Jeff sat down heavily on Annie's bed and stared at the floor while Annie remained at the door, trying to get herself fully awake so she could try to help Jeff as best as possible. She had never seen him like this before. He looked so fragile and vulnerable and knew that something must really be wrong for him to want to involve someone else because Jeff usually just tried to work through his problems on his own with a lot of help from expensive booze.

"What happened Jeff? Is everything okay?" Annie asked delicately, trying to be as gentle as possible to make sure Jeff felt safe.

"I got a letter from my father," Jeff replied, not taking his eyes off of the floor.

"What? Oh my god, what did he say?"

Jeff continued to stare at the floor and didn't give her an answer. Instead he just flicked his wrist up to display the paper he still had clenched between his fingers. Annie took the paper from him and opened it up to indeed find a letter from Jeff's estranged father.

"Dear Jeff,

Suffice to say, I was quite surprised when I got your letter. After thirty years, I'd have figured you'd have just written me out of your life and pretended like I never existed. Not that I could have blamed you one bit for that due to me making no effort to include myself in your life. Cutting you and your mother out of my life was difficult and is something I regret but at the time I felt it was necessary and no matter how much I wanted to try and reconnect with you, I could never bring myself to do it. Until your call, that is. I would love to have the chance to meet up with you to talk at some point. I was planning on visiting Denver next weekend to go skiing and was hoping the two of us could maybe meet for dinner. I've made reservations at Rioja for Saturday night and would really like you to join me so we can chat and catch up.

Yours,

William Winger"

Annie swallowed hard as she finished reading the letter. Peering over the top of the paper, she saw Jeff still sitting slouched over on her bed, his face completely blank as he looked at one spot on her floor. She set the letter on top of her dresser and slowly walked over to Jeff and sat down beside him, never taking her eyes off of him, looking for any sort of reaction from him.

"Jeff?" Annie asked softly as she put her hand on his. As she said it, she saw Jeff's mouth twitch and then a single tear rolled out of the corner of his eye and down his nose. Within a few seconds, Jeff broke down completely and started sobbing loudly. Annie quickly wrapped her arms around him and hugged him tightly, feeling her camisole getting damp from Jeff's tears. She gently stroked his hair and back, trying to soothe Jeff as he shook in her arms. Over Jeff's crying, Annie heard a creak and saw her door open as Troy, Abed and Britta looked in. Troy wrote something on the whiteboard usually attached to the refrigerator and held it up for Annie to see.

"Is everything okay?"

Annie shook her head and jerked her head down to indicate the crying Jeff to them. The three in the doorway traded worried looks before Troy erased the message and wrote a new one.

"Be sure to let us know if you need anything. We're all worried about Jeff too."

Annie nodded and mouthed to them, "He'll be fine." Satisfied, the group slowly closed Annie's door again and she once again turned her focus to Jeff, still sobbing his eyes out. After a few minutes, Jeff had cried himself out and sat back up. Annie offered him a tissue from her nightstand which he gratefully took and blew his nose loudly into. The noise made Annie giggle despite herself.

"Well, it's nice to see that you find my emotional trauma humorous," Jeff said in a mock-offended tone that Annie saw right through.

"Sorry, it's really late at night and I'm still tired and a little delirious so things are funny to me. Speaking of, why did you wait until now to come over?"

"Well, when I got the letter, I thought the most logical thing to do would be to pretend it didn't exist and try to use alcohol to make that easier. So I went to L Street and started drinking. But then closing time rolled around and all drinking had done was made me realize that I really needed to talk to somebody about this. And I couldn't think of anyone better than you." Annie smiled at that, knowing that it was probably the alcohol causing him to say that but it was still a nice compliment anyway.

"Jeff, that's awfully nice but why would I make the best choice?"

"Because you know what it's like to have a parent abandon you," Jeff answered, looking up at her for the first time since sitting down on her bed as he said it, his face more serious than Annie had ever seen from him. Annie's face fell as the painful memories of just a few years ago came flooding back but she swallowed hard and fought back the pain because Jeff needed her to be strong for him right now.

"Yes, that's true, I do," said Annie, looking away from Jeff so he wouldn't see tears welling up in her eyes.

"You understand better than anybody else I know just how screwed up it can make someone and how conflicting it is to now have the person who abandoned you suddenly want you back in their life, don't you?"

"I do understand Jeff," whispered Annie, returning to look at him and seeing just how scared he looked. "You can tell me anything and I'll help in any way I can."

"I just don't know what to do about this. I mean, when I wrote that letter, I never figured I'd actually get a reply from him. I haven't gotten so much as a birthday card or Christmas present or any acknowledgment that I even existed from this man in over 30 years so why would I expect he'd suddenly acknowledge me now? But now he's contacted me and wants to meet with me and I don't know what I'm going to do Annie. What should I do?"

"Honestly Jeff, I think you should go. I know how scary facing your past can be but if you can, I know it'll make you a stronger person."

"How will it do that?" Jeff asked, sounding genuinely curious and not sarcastic like he normally would have asked that question.

"Because I do that every day Jeff. Here, let me show you something I've never shown anybody before." Annie got up from her bed and grabbed her purse. She dug around inside of it for a moment before pulling out a prescription pill bottle. "This was the last bottle of Adderall I was prescribed before my breakdown. I only took a couple of them and they're the ones that caused me to freak out. Since I finished rehab, I've carried these around with me every day to remind myself of just how far I've come since then and how much better my life has gotten. I look at these pills ever day and remind myself that they are in my past and I don't need them anymore because I am stronger now without them. And I think that if you can manage to face your dad, you'll become stronger too." Jeff mulled this around in his head before nodding and wrapping Annie up in a hug.

"Okay Annie, I'll do it. But could you please do me one favor?"

"Anything for you Jeff."

"Would you please come with me for this? It'll make me feel a whole lot better and more comfortable about doing this if I have you with me for support."

Annie was stunned by this and stammered a bit to herself in shock before composing herself again and replying with, "Of course Jeff, it would be my honor to accompany you."

Jeff smiled for the first time since he got to the apartment and kissed Annie on the top of her head, sending shivers all through her body. Jeff pulled her down on her bed and continued holding her, finally feeling some relief for the first time since that afternoon when he'd found the letter in the mail.

"You're the best, Annie," mumbled Jeff sleepily as he cuddled closer against her. Annie could tell that Jeff must be real drunk since normally he was not the snuggling type but she was feeling too much bliss to really care at the moment. Within a few minutes, she heard Jeff lightly snoring and realized that he wasn't going to be leaving anytime soon. So Annie simply snuggled deeper into Jeff's chest and listened to the soft beating of his heart as she dozed back off to sleep herself with the knowledge that next weekend, she had a pseudo-date with Jeff Winger to be excited for.