A/N: The story technically takes place during season 3 but I actually wrote it during the summer hiatus between seasons 2 and 3 so no references to Inspector Spacetime and such. Consider it a slightly alternate reality ;)
Chapter 1
Nearly six P.M. and here he was still at Greendale.
There were quite a few things that Jeff hated. Making a list would have been an exercise in exhaustion due to length. But Greendale After hours, was easily near the top of it. Sure, in two and a half years of attending this college he'd grown to accept it, but there were still so many days he wanted to torch the damn thing. And he always wanted to do it whenever circumstances trapped him there past his final class.
It wouldn't be so bad if there was an event going on. But no. He just stalked the halls like an idiot, throwing open occasional doors and looking inside them. He'd already checked the study room, the storage closet, and even checked a couple of girl's bathrooms. He figured he was probably the only person left in this hell hole. The slap to the face said otherwise.
Still he persisted. If she'd just answer her damn phone he could find her, give her a speech and then call it a day.
"Well Jeffery! What brings you these hallowed halls so late?" Dean Pelton's voice squeaked with glee from behind. Jeff stiffened up for a second, exactly the last person he wanted to see after hours.
He about faced and looked the Dean over. The squirrely man wore a black leather trench coat over a silver suit that shimmered just a bit whenever it caught the light. He framed his head with a dark pair of shades and the beard he'd grown at the beginning of the year was as pedophiley as ever.
"What are you supposed to be?" Jeff asked. "Neo's ambiguous brother?"
Even as he said it, Jeff had to admit that this was one of the 'less' creepy get ups he'd seen the dean in. At least it wasn't the Ronald McDonald costume again. Jeff had never been afraid of clowns but after that waking nightmare he wanted to be.
"We're hosting the Greendale Movie festival in the cafeteria," the dean puffed up his chest as if that was something important. "To kick it off we're viewing the nineties classic, Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure!"
"I see," Jeff said. "So you're Rufus' ambiguous cousin."
"Close," the dean laughed. "Actually, after the movie we'll be screening part one of a little indie film I had Abed do for me, and I figured I'd dress like the titular character. Dean Dangerous!"
"What time is the screening?" Jeff said in spite of himself. There was just too much morbid curiosity running in his brain now. Before the dean could answer, Jeff's brain kicked back in and he banished the thought of watching the worst movie ever. "Nevermind, have you seen Annie?"
"Annie?" the dean tilted his head a little. "What for? You and her have been-"
"Look have you seen her or not!" Jeff cut him off. The last thing he wanted was the dean's opinion on what had been going on between Annie and himself this year.
"She just left the cafeteria, a few minutes ago. She was looking for Abed."
"Abed," Jeff did his best to keep his face straight.
"Yeah, what's been going on with you and Abed th-"
"Which way did she go?"
The moment the dean pointed Jeff broke into a run. Stupid dean, stupid Abed. He was sick of this. Things just hadn't been the same after he found out about the "Han and Leia" kiss. Abed kept insisting it meant nothing but Jeff just couldn't let it go.
He wanted to. Abed was like the little brother he never had. But he knew that kiss and Annie's subsequent crush on Abed was the reason why things were just… off between him and Annie. No more 'milords'. No more lingering stares. No more being the first to him in group hugs. It was like she shut off around him. It had to be the kiss's fault. Why couldn't things just get back to normal with them? That's all he wanted.
Well deep down he knew that was a lie but he wasn't going to admit it.
But she was impossible. Today was a perfect example. He'd noticed that she was unusually quiet in study group. Not that he spent a lot of time looking at her. For the most part she only nodded or gave one word answers. Clearly something was bothering her, but when he tried to talk she just told him he wouldn't understand and tried to leave. He'd had enough of this cold shoulder routine and insisted she tell him the problem. Her answer was as cold as her eyes had been.
"What do you care Jeff? I'm not someone you can just fix with pretty words! It takes hard work and dedication to help someone! Something you wouldn't know a thing about!"
"What do you mean I don't know anything about hard work? I haven't run the dean down with my Lexus in spite of him walking in front of it almost every morning."
"That's so typical," she shook her head. " Jeff Winger makes a joke instead of actually talking to someone. I've heard this before. I'll go swim in the shallow end where I'm welcome now."
"What are you talking… Annie! You're acting crazy!"
Her eyes widened at this and Jeff actually stepped back when they seemed to fill with fire and she clenched her fists. "I'm not crazy Jeff! I'm not!"
She stormed off and he spent the rest of the day looking for her. Something much bigger than he thought was going on and he had to show her that she was wrong. He did care about her and wanted her to be happy. She just couldn't understand it.
A familiar voice caught his attention when he passed the storage closet. He'd already checked it once but Annie had probably been searching for Abed at that point. He slowed his pace as he neared the door. He heard another voice, also familiar, and one he didn't want to hear.
"Well I'm glad you're okay," Rich said as Jeff creaked the door open. "You were so worked up, you looked like one of the puppies I babysit on the weekend! I just hope this warm coco I keep in this thermos cheers you up!"
"Thanks Rich!" Annie's voice came out with the tiniest sniffle. "That really helped!"
"I'm always here if you need me.," Rich said and held out his arms. Annie rushed into them and squeezed tightly. Jeff gripped the doorknob hard enough his knuckles cracked. Why did this feel like walking in on a girlfriend sleeping with someone in his own bed?
They broke from the hug and that's when they noticed him standing in the doorway. Annie's eyes went from surprised, to nervous, to furious in the space of two seconds and Rich only beamed at him.
"Jeff!" he said. "I was just leaving! I'm due at Greendale General in about thirty minutes. It's not far but I like to get there early so I can serve this chocolate to the nurses and secretaries."
"Don't let me keep you," Jeff said but kept his eyes on Annie. She just crossed her arms defiantly.
"Okay…" Rich glanced between the two and somehow got the message. As he passed Jeff he put a hand on his shoulder and whispered in his ear. "Just be nice okay? She's only twenty."
Jeff nearly punched the other man. He never hated Rich more than when he knew the good doctor was right. He watched Rich leave the closet then walked all the way in and closed the door behind him. He was going to sort this out one way or another.
"Annie," he decided to skip right to the heart of the matter. "What's going on with you today? What's wrong?"
"I told you that you wouldn't understand." She said and grabbed the steaming cup of coco Rich left on a nearby shelf. "I don't want to talk about it."
"Unless it's Abed or Doctor Do-know-wrong. You'll talk their ears off."
"I needed someone to talk to," she shrugged.
"Yeah, and I offered to listen several hours ago! So what you really mean is that you don't want to talk about it with me. Annie what's going on? You used to come to me with your problems all the time. Somehow they're better than me?"
"I don't need you to hold my hand," she turned away. "I can take care of myself in case you haven't noticed."
"And I'd believe you if you hadn't been pouring your heart out to Rich or looking for Abed."
"Rich and Abed don't patronize me!"
"Patronize? What are you talking about?"
"I'm not stupid Jeff!" she snapped. "I figured it out last year before paintball. I used to come to you because I thought you cared for me and respected me. But after… I mean… I realized that all times I thought you were there for me because you cared or were interested, you just saw me as some kid that couldn't take care of herself. And no matter how hard I've tried to show you that I can do fin on my own you keep relegating me to the 'kid's table'. I can handle you not wanting to be anything but my friend, but I can't handle you not respecting me."
Jeff almost took a step back. All the behavior she'd mentioned was a defense mechanism for himself, to keep their relationship the way it was supposed to be. But at no time did he want her to think he didn't respect her. And here he had thought that this was all about the awkwardness with Abed.
Still there was something else that bothered him.
"Annie… we need to talk about what you just said but there's more, isn't there? If you wanted to show me that you could take care of yourself, then why were you leaning on others for support?"
The line's on Annie's face tightened and she hugged her arms around herself self but refused to look at him. "I can take care of myself," she said firmly, but emotion was cracking in just a bit. "I know I can handle myself… on any day but today."
Jeff's brows furrowed together as her eyes sort of wandered off to a memory and her bottom lip pressed the top into a frown.
"Why? What happened to you today?"
Annie shook her head. "Just forget it."
He grabbed her shoulders until she actually made eye contact. "Annie, just tell me."
She suddenly became very interested in her hands, folding her fingers over each other and playing with the hem of her blouse. She backed away so he wasn't touching her anymore before she sighed and paid him a small glance before throwing her gaze elsewhere.
"Okay, not today today. This is kind of… kind of an anniversary for me."
"Anniversary?"
"Yeah, four years ago today I OD'd on Adderall and had a mental breakdown."
"Oh."
"It's always a hard day for me to remember. I look back on myself and I can't believe I was that dumb. Did you know I forged a doctor's signature to get a prescription? I thought I was so clever for it. A couple hours later I was running through the hall screaming that everybody was a robot."
"And I called you crazy," now Jeff didn't want to look her in the eye. "Annie, I'm really sorry."
"You didn't know," she shook her head. "I shouldn't have reacted the way I did. I'm sorry."
"No," Jeff shook his head and managed to look at her. She looked so small and sad. For half a second he had to stop himself from reaching out to her. She seemed determined to not let him touch her right now. "Annie, I know I really suck at being that guy that's sensitive or whatever, and I know that you don't want to talk about it with me… but I really want to help if I can."
She eyed him like a trapped animal stares at a human trying to release it. Jeff almost held out his hand to her, but stopped because it would have been overly dramatic. All he could do was hope that she would see he was sincere and that he never meant to hurt her. All he wanted now was to get the forlorn look off her face.
Finally she shook her head and took another step away.
"I can't keep doing it Jeff," she said. "Not if you're doing this because you think I look like a lost puppy or a kid sister that bruised her knee. This is the worst day of my life we're talking about. I've opened myself up too many times and been slapped away."
A strange twist hit Jeff in the gut. Yes, things were strained between them but he had no idea it was this bad.
"Annie, I wouldn't slap you away, you know that I care about you."
Her features fell and her voice came out cold. "My mom said something a lot like that when she asked me to tell her about my addiction. She said she'd never abandon me. That lasted right until I checked myself in for rehab. We haven't spoken in three years."
In spite of several instincts telling him otherwise, Jeff took a step toward her. "I'm not your mom. I'm here right now, you don't have to be alone today."
"I'm always alone on this day Jeff," she said but she didn't back away. "Nobody was there for me on that day. Not even after I crashed through the plate glass door. I just laid there bleeding and nobody came to help me. None of my classmates, none of my teachers. It was janitor that barely spoke English that finally called the ambulance."
"Wait… no one tried to help you?" Jeff stepped closer to her again. "So you just bled on the concrete until the ambulance came?"
Annie nodded but her head froze mid way through. Her eyes were still distant. "Well… there was only one person. I… it's not really a very clear memory. I remember wondering why this was happening to me, and then someone, a doctor I think, spoke to my mom when the paramedics were wheeling me into the hospital. The doctor told my mom that everything would turn out alright and that this was happening for a reason. I was in and out of consciousness but for some reason it made me feel like it was true. That things would be alright."
"A doctor," Jeff repeated and couldn't help but think of Rich. It was too big of a coincidence but in some morbid way, it made sense to him that Rich would have been that doctor. He was perfect after all. Jeff had finally come to grips with that much at least. He just didn't know how to deal with being second best. Especially when it came to Annie.
But there was something more. Something about the way she described the events. An uneasy feeling crept up his spine and he tried to remember what he would have been doing four years ago. It would have been not very long before Allan got him disbarred. He would have been doing his lawyer thing, probably sleeping with a co-ed or client. He shook the memories away and turned his attention back to her.
"I guess you can take a picture," he said with a half smile. "Because I think this is the first time I have no idea what to say."
Annie cracked a small smile in spite of herself and cleared some hair over her ear. "You don't have to say anything, I'm not usually like this, just today. Normally I realize that in some weird way, that day led me here so it turned out alright."
"So if you could go back and change it… would you?"
Jeff wasn't even sure why he was asking. The entire idea of thinking that past tragedies meaning something bigger just because they changed your life's direction smacked of idiotic concepts of destiny and fate. He certainly would never believe that getting disbarred was ultimately a good thing. He knew for a fact that if he had the chance to change things he would.
"Well, I…" she said but stopped when the door opened and Abed appeared.
Ever since the revelation of the kiss happened, Jeff had to bite back a bit of resentment toward his friend whenever he saw him. He hated it, but he couldn't help it. However, this time was different. Abed's appearance stole that away. He was dressed in black jeans and a tiger striped t-shirt. On his face he had a bandit's mask and one hand carried a cricket bat.
"Hey," Abed's eyes darted between them. "Have you guys seen Troy?"
"No," Jeff said with an undertone of 'get lost', then almost cringed when he heard Annie let out frustrated sigh.
"I'm really not in the mood for this today," she said. "Jeff the kiss between-"
Jeff's eyes already searched for a way out. He'd already pushed his emotional capacity to the limit today, he didn't need having this conversation added to it. Thankfully his escape appeared in the sound of Troy's overly animated voice.
"I'm back! Guys I'm back! I'm back!"
Troy appeared in the doorway behind Abed. It took a moment for Jeff to see past the frenzied hugging that Troy wore the same bandit mask. But he didn't have the tiger stripes, instead he sported a black and red striped shirt and black shorts. A bent golf club strapped to his back topped off the bizarre look.
"Troy!" Abed beamed. "I guess you win! I couldn't find you for a whole 10 minutes."
"Ten minutes?" Troy stepped back. "What do you mean ten minutes! I've been gone for like four hours!"
"Guys what's going on?" Annie stepped forward. "Why are you dressed like that?"
"Later Annie," Troy waved her off. "Abed, what do you mean only ten minutes?"
"Are you guys doing some weird homage again?" Jeff crossed his arms.
"We were just playing Calvinball," Abed shook his head. "But I'm just as clueless as you right now. Troy, look at your watch. It's only been ten minutes since you hid."
Troy frowned but did exactly as his BFF said. His eyes bugged out when he saw the time and he backed away. "That's wrinkling my brain! That's… that's… awesome!"
"What the hell are you talking about?" Jeff said.
"You guys won't believe me if I tell you," Troy said. "But I can totally show you!"
Abed ran right after Troy but Jeff and Annie lingered for a second, both them trying to figure out if this Greendale insanity was worth breaking up the moment they were having. Jeff was the first to go after them. Things had been getting uncomfortable after all. Annie was right behind him.
They turned a corner just in time to see Troy and Abed run into the dean's office. Didn't that man ever lock the damn thing? Jeff pushed the thought to the back burner and sprinted into the office, only to find it empty. However, it was easy to figure out where they'd gone.
The top of the desk had flipped open and revealed a spiral staircase beneath. Annie caught up to Jeff and gasped at the sight. He circled the desk, and peered down the stairs. How was this even possible? The dean had a secret stairway under his desk? Jeff pushed the chair aside and looked beneath the desk, only to find solid floor.
"…the hell?"
"Troy? Abed?" Annie called down the staircase.
Jeff came around to her side and capped his hand over his brow to get a better look at the staircase. Troy and Abed's voices floated from deep down inside. Still they only caught snippets.
"…bigger on the…"
"…dinosaurs…"
"…watched enough BBC to work this thing…"
Annie lifted one leg over the edge of the desk, but Jeff grabbed her and pulled her away from the staircase.
"Hold on, what do you think you're doing? I'm not letting you go down into… wherever the hell that is!"
"Troy and Abed are down there! You seriously don't want to see what's going on?"
Jeff's fingers only tightened on her shoulder. "I just know there's some strange shit going on and I don't want you to—"
He was cut off when the desktop snapped shut over the staircase. The desk now appeared to be just a regular old desk. Then a strange sound fired from it, kind of a seesaw sound or a car engine that couldn't quite start. Jeff pulled Annie closer as the desk became transparent then disappeared all together.
"Okay what the hell!" he let go and wandered to the space where the desk had been. No trace of it or the weird spiral stairs. Just gone, as if it had never been there. Gone with Troy and Abed. Annie started toward him but the sound reappeared, like it was coming from far away but getting closer. Jeff took several quick steps, latched onto her again and led her to the corner. There was no telling what was going to happen now.
Just where it had been before, the desk reappeared. The pair of them stared at it like it was some sort of living creature and Annie tightened her grip on Jeff's torso when the door slid open again. The sound of footsteps reverberating on spiral stairs caught their ears before Troy then Abed popped their heads up from underneath the edge of the desk.
"I told you I could get us back just when we left," Abed grinned and came all the way out. Gone were his Calvinball clothes, replaced with a pinstriped suit, sneakers and a long brown overcoat. His hair was longer too, combed all up front and kinda scraggily. Troy came next, also in new clothes. Jeans, blue denim jacket over a striped button up shirt and a life preserver orange puffer vest on top of it all.
"You proved me wrong Doc," Troy laughed as he jumped out.
They turned to Jeff and Annie and regarded them with curious eyes, as if wondering why Jeff and Annie were looking at them like ghosts. They exchanged knowing looks before Jeff snapped.
"Okay you want to explain exactly what the hell is going on?" Jeff yelled. "What's with the desk!? And the clothes! Where'd you go?"
"You mean when did we go?" Troy grinned. "This desk isn't a normal desk, it's a time desk!"
"TARDIS, to be exact," Abed held up a finger.
"No it's not!" Troy snapped. "Dude there's totally a flux capacitor down there!"
That's when Jeff recognized Troy's outfit. Marty Mcfly. Though Abed wasn't dressed like Doc Brown at all. If it hadn't been for the disappearing desk and the freaky stairs he would have thought this was all another joke.
"Wait," Annie held up a hand. "You're saying that that desk is a time machine… and you just time traveled? You were barely gone for a few seconds."
"Six months, twelve days," Abed said.
"This is insane!" Jeff ran his hands through his hair. And to think that only a few minutes ago his only concern was making Annie feel good without exposing his emotions.
"No, Caligula was insane," Troy said. "I'll never look at horses the same way again."
"We just came back as a test," Abed neared the desk again. "To make sure we could arrive just when we left. We're planning on taking another trip… in case you guy want to come with us."
Annie rushed over to Abed and peered down the staircase. "Is it safe?"
"No," Abed said. "Time travel never is. But we can manage. None of us would ever let anything happen to you. You'll be like my companion!"
She didn't waste a single second. She just hugged Abed then hopped onto the staircase and made her way down. Jeff ran over.
"Annie wait! He said it was dangerous! Just wait!"
"Stop being such a girl Jeff!" she looked up at him.
Troy laughed and jumped in next. Leaving Abed and Jeff staring at each other. Every part of him told Jeff to get the hell out of here and… call the police or something. But he could hear Annie down there and he wasn't about to let her out of his sight. Not today and certainly not with Abed nearby. In fact, he sort of reached the end of his rope where Abed was concerned.
"Let's get one thing clear," he stood up straight in front of him. "If anything happens to her…"
"Jeff, we both know that you're coming so you won't be able to blame me if anything happens to her," Abed cut him off. "So why don't we forget the speech for now and get going. Or do you want to explain to Dean Dangerous why his desk is actually a time desk?"
Before he could respond Abed jumped onto the stairs and made his way down. Jeff looked around for a second and contemplated what it actually would be like to try and explain this. He'd wind up in the madhouse again. And maybe he should be in one.
"Abed this is amazing!" Annie's voice echoed and dashed all resistance from Jeff.
He vaulted over the side of the desk and planted his feet on the stairs. The door started to close just as he began to descend into whatever madness he must have stepped into. He could still hear Troy, Abed, and Annie talking down below him and he gritted his teeth.
"Roads?" Troy said. "Where we're going, we don't need roads."
