She sits in the garden staring at the trees and the fences in the far off distance. If she squints, she can see the barbed wire that lines the top of the fence. She isn't sure if that's meant to keep the patients in or the world's dangers out. She thinks about it for a minute before deciding that it doesn't really matter. She's in here and everything else is out there - she doesn't want to leave and nothing (nobody)/ wants to come in after her.

When she finally has the energy to return to her room, lethargic and listless, she's proven wrong.

Jeff Winger, one-armed lawyer extraordinaire, is sitting in her room waiting for her. Beyond her surprised gasp, they've both stayed silent. She isn't sure what to say and he doesn't appear to be in any hurry to speak. Instead, she eyes him warily. She can feel something hot pulsing below her skin. She thinks it might be anticipation but it's been a while since she was excited about anything so she just sits with it. They've got her on a fancy cocktail of meds and therapy and it's been so long since she felt anything at all. She's going to savour this, whatever it is.

He's the one that breaks the silence finally.

"Annie." His voice is hoarse but steady. She meets his gaze. "Are you with me?" She thinks he's asking about her mental state but she understands the real question that lies underneath. Either way, the answer remains the same.

"Yes."

He leaves after an hour that day. He told her little details about the study group, how they had changed, how they hadn't. She smiles a vague sort of smile upon learning that Britta totally britta'd being evil. It was sort of comforting in its familiarity. It was also stifling in its stubborn attachment to the past. Abed and Troy have moved on. Shirley has changed. Despite his snark, Jeff has too. But not Britta. It bothers Annie, just a little, because she knows she's different too. This evil thing, she thinks, has potential. It feels like a clean break from the past. And now, more than ever, she needs (wants) that.

He comes back two days later. He gives her a little felt goatee, a gift from Abed he explains, and takes a picture of her wearing it. For posterity, he says. She smiles in response. It's the first time her smile is clear and bright and genuine since the accident. He doesn't tell her that he takes a picture of that too. He doesn't need to, though, because Jeff with one arm isn't all that good at being subtle.

Annie can tell this new inability to be subtle is going to be something she enjoys.

He comes to visit her on Monday, immediately after the weekend. She hasn't seen him in almost three days. She's surprised when he turns her touching his sleeve for reassurance into a hug. It's not unwelcome but it is unexpected. She feels the absence of his arm keenly all of a sudden. She holds him even tighter. It's a long hug. Something they both needed, she thinks. She wonders if anyone in the study group hugs anymore. It's not like they used to hug all the time... Before. Usually once or twice a semester. Jeff hugs her like he hasn't hugged anyone in a long time, though. Desperate and hard with full-body contact.

She can feel every inch of his body against hers. Annie knows this hug is about familiarity and comfort and kindness but she can't stop the ever so slight shift of her hips against his. Annie can feel Jeff's cock clearly now. If Jeff is displeased, he's not showing it. There's no further movement from either of them but the hug breaks a few moments later anyway. Annie brushes away the disappointment.

Rather than the usual two day break, Jeff returns the next day. Annie's smiles come faster and feel better on her face these days. It's been just over a week of Jeff visiting but her doctors are amazed at the improvements. They've started reducing her prescriptions and Annie can feel herself waking up. She's still foggy and there's still so much pain but she doesn't feel the way she did before. She has a new coping mechanism - it's called the darkest timeline. But mostly, Annie acknowledges privately, it goes by Jeff.

She's sure that if she found a way to touch him, regularly, she would be back to normal. No, she corrects herself, she would be better than normal.

This time, Annie is proven right.

She decides, after that day, that Jeff must not have been aware of his reaction. Or maybe he thought she was unaware. Either way, she comes to this decision mostly because Jeff does nothing to stop similar, subtle touching. And a one-armed Jeff Winger isn't good at subtle she remembers. Every time he casually brushes against her, his hand holds hers, he hugs her and his hand drops dangerously close to her ass, pressing against the small of her back, molding her to him, she feels great.

He's been visiting her for three and a half weeks, nearly daily for the last week and a half. They're in her room which is pretty nice considering she's a patient in a mental health facility. But then, she has the money to pay for it thanks to Pierce. The door is closed and Jeff is lounging on her bed when he gestures her over. Annie goes because it's Jeff and because she wants to and because he's her only human contact that isn't paid for or a fellow patient. Annie moves toward him for a lot of reasons.

He sits up and takes her hand as she approaches his personal space. He tugs her right into that bubble, until she's standing between his spread legs, and draws his fingers up and down over her wrist and hand. She can't hide the shiver that courses down her spine. Jeff merely smiles. He exerts the tiniest bit of pressure on her wrist, gently propelling her toward him, and she curves her body down, toward him. When their lips meet, she sighs.

It progresses quickly from there because isn't that the story of her life now?

Within moments, she's straddling his thighs, her legs open to accommodate him, her sneakered feet just barely resting on the ground beside her bed. His single arm is around her waist, holding her to him. It's Annie who leans back and looks at him. He's slightly flushed and it's more colour she's seen in his face than in the last three and a half weeks prior combined. She pushes him back until he's lying flat. She moves away from him, just slightly, so that he can pull his legs up on to the bed. She doesn't give him any more time to think or react or think. Instead, she crawls over him, settling on his legs once more, her dress rucked up around her thighs.

She reaches for his belt and he groans as she brushes his cock. It's a hard ridge beneath his pants and she considers it even as she works on undoing Jeff's pants. She wants to look at it and touch it and taste and feel it inside of her and use every sense she has to experience this. She realizes suddenly what she didn't before. Jeff grounds her, he's a full-body experience for her, and now her hands can't work fast enough.

She recalls somewhere in the back of her mind that staring is rude but Annie doesn't stop. She finally manages to shift her gaze up to his eyes and finds Jeff watching her. His eyes are dark in the otherwise sunny room and her lips curve up into a smile. She keeps her eyes fixed on him as she swipes her tongue across the head of his cock. He sucks in a breath between his teeth but his stare doesn't waver. Annie slides him into her mouth, curling her tongue around the head and still, his eyes remain steady. She drops her gaze, a curtain of hair concealing the small, private smile that graces her face.

She works him in deeper, letting her teeth graze him very, very gently. She pulls back slightly, only to sink her head down further on the next go. His thighs have the slightest of tremors running through them. She brings a hand down to caress his balls, and moments later, removes her mouth from his cock to taste those too. She noses against the neatly maintained pubic hair, tracing shapes against his balls with her tongue. Her hand strokes his cock while she does so and she's taken entirely by surprise when Jeff suddenly sits up, sliding away from her.

"Wha-" She knows the confusion is clear on her face. She can only hope the hurt is better concealed. "What's wrong?" He doesn't answer her. His hand, like a band of iron, locks around her wrist and hauls her over his legs until she's seated squarely in his lap. He kisses her hard, forceful and aggressive.

"God, Annie, nothing is wrong. But I haven't touched a woman, I haven't touched you, in such a long time." He kisses her again, fingers tangling in her hair.

She's lying on the bed, entirely naked, and she thinks she should be in her head but no, that's impossible because all she can think about is Jeff. He's leaning on his forearm, hand loosely grasping her hip, as he buries his face between her legs. Annie has lost track of time at this point because all she can really focus on is Jeff and her body and the sheer sensation overload. She tries to breathe deeply but she can't. Every single time Jeff shifts or his tongue maps a different spot, her entire world spirals in a new direction.

She fucking loves it (him) more than she thought possible.

It feels like hours but the digital clock sitting unobtrusively in the corner tells her it's been maybe 20 minutes, 30 max. She's twitching slightly, thighs clenching against air, as she comes down from an intense orgasm. Or maybe it's only intense because she hasn't had a sex drive since the accident. Her head lolls from side to side in an effort to clear it but it does nothing to shake the heavy-headed feeling away.

It's not actually unpleasant so Annie stops trying to rid herself of it and resolves to just feel.

Her decision comes at an opportune time because Jeff has chosen now to raise his head where it was pillowed on her hip and crawl up to meet her lips. Annie assumes that was his intention, at least, but it's hard to tell because her breasts have clearly distracted him. He nudges at one of the peaks with his nose before catching her puckered nipple between his lips. She's still shuddering occasionally and the feeling of Jeff's hot mouth pulling at her sensitive tits prolongs it. No, Annie realizes, it's building her up again.

They've been closeted in her room for about an hour. It's not unusual and it's the middle of the day, that long stretch between lunch and dinner that's even longer in summer, so the staff won't bother her. Even if they did, the lovely thing about paying expensive fees means you get perks like a modicum of privacy and a lock on your door.

She bucks up under his tongue and pulls at his arm until he pays attention to her. She sees his dark eyes meet her hazy ones and pulls her his mouth to hers. He goes willingly, gently relaxing into her body, his solid weight resting against her. She widens her legs and he shifts. His cock twitches against her and she rolls her hips against him in reaction.

It should probably be weird and awful and not right that they're doing this in the place in which she's been locked away from the world. Annie figures this is what's normal for them. Besides, she reminds herself, this is nothing if not the darkest timeline.

He pushes into her and it's the first time that Annie has sex without a condom. She's not sure if it's better or worse. If she could bring herself to feel fear or anxiety over the thought of pregnancy or an STI, it would probably be worse. Since she can't, it's mostly just nice to not wait for that awkward fumbling.

It's slow.

It takes her a minute to realize that her world hasn't stopped, only Jeff has. He's still against her, cock buried all the way, and unmoving. His breath is coming in gasps and Annie tightens around him involuntarily as she suddenly understands that maybe she wasn't the only one who needed an anchor.

When he does start moving, it's still slow and Annie wouldn't have it any other way, all her old fantasies to the contrary.

There's no clawing at his back, no screaming like a banshee, no theatrical moaning.

Annie holds him to her, hands scratching through his hair, skating down the planes of his chest, and back up. There are distracted kisses and muffled pants as he draws his hips back and pushes in again. His face is damp with sweat and Annie licks at the hollow between his neck and shoulder to taste it. She feels him shudder but he doesn't lose pace.

He comes with a jerk of his hips and a low moan against her hair. She thinks there might be tears but it doesn't really matter. His weight stays on her, heavy and blazing with heat, and Annie is thankful for the air conditioning for the first time.

Her pussy throbs pleasantly still stretched around his softening cock. She didn't come this time. It's not something she's really concerned about. This feeling of being here is better than any orgasm. And they have plenty of time for wild sex later, she's still busy savouring the unexpected depth of intimacy.

It takes another two weeks before the doctors cautiously start discussing a possible discharge with her. It takes everything in her not to crow with satisfaction. She smiles and nods and says all the right things.

It's been nearly three months since Jeff started visiting when she's actually released. He comes and picks her up and brings her home, his word, not hers, and she sees Troy and Abed for the first time.

She's not shocked at their appearances, felt goatees and artificial voiceboxes, and they aren't shocked at hers, long hair and a gravitational pull centred around Jeff. They aren't shocked when Jeff sets her stuff down in his room either. Annie remembers why she loves these men, all of them, yet again.

She gets to see Britta the next day. The blue streak in her hair is interesting and Annie's a little jealous that she can pull it off. The envy crumbles away when Britta sweeps her into a hug before she can speak. She pulls back to look at her and Annie can tell that whatever she sees confuses her.

"Annie." She hums in response. "Why do you look so happy?"

"Should I be curled in a ball crying?" She appends her question. "Again?" Britta shakes her head in the negative.

"No! No, no, that's not what I meant, of course not! But." She searches for the right words and Annie stays quiet. "You were in a hospital for almost a year." Annie shrugs.

"It was closer to nine months." She cocks her head, thinking. "Is it bad that I'm out? That I'm… Better?" Predictably, Britta rushes to reassure her once more.

"No! It's great that you're doing well! Annie, no, we're all so happy you're here. I just…" She spots Annie's bags just inside the doorway of Jeff's room. "I don't know." They don't talk a lot after that.

She's been back for a month and she's surprised at how fine she is. She can't sleep at night without Jeff beside her now but that aside, she's more independent than she thought she would be. She only sees Shirley once a week because the woman still has a family and is still working toward sobriety but she spends every day with Troy and Abed and Britta and it's good. They're good.

Until Abed tells her they need to be bad.

It's the first time someone other than Jeff has talked to her about the darkest timeline and being evil. She finds herself less sure about it than she was when Jeff first brought it up but she knows how precarious, how fragile, this happiness here is. So she resolves to do whatever needs to be done and if that means committing to evilness? Annie can do that.

She's nothing if not a planner so when she tells them about her plan to rob a bunch of pharmacies and for Jeff to get her off during a criminal trial using his spectacular oral skills (#sorrynotsorry), nobody is surprised.