Disclaimer - 'Community' doesn't belong to me, obviously. I'm merely borrowing the characters for my own pleasure. I promise to give them back mostly unscathed.

A/N - Hello, and welcome to my first foray into the 'Community' fandom. I'm a little bit nervous about this one - mainly because I've never written for a comedy-based show before - but hopefully I've pulled it off. I tend to lean towards angst in my stories, but since relationship angst (mainly Jeff/Annie) has been done a lot already in the 'Community' community, I've chosen to go in a different direction. It's still angsty, but the focus is definitely on friendship rather than romance. Hopefully that won't put you off! Enjoy!

~ Advanced Genealogy ~

"Batman's gay!" argued Pierce.

"You're gay!" Troy shot back childishly.

"Your mom's gay!" Pierce retorted.

"Jeffrey," Shirley began with a frown as Troy and Pierce continued to bicker loudly in the background. "Why aren't you saying anything?"

"Yeah, isn't this the point where you usually jump in with a conveniently timed and moving speech that saves the study group from self-destruction?" added Britta.

"It's what the Inspector would do in Inspector Spacetime," interjected Abed, who suddenly looked much more interested in the conversation.

At the mention of their favourite T.V. show, Troy immediately stopped arguing with Pierce and turned to face Abed, already gearing up for one of their trademark hand slaps. Jeff had to make a special effort not to roll his eyes.

"I'm not Inspector Spacetime, Abed," Jeff told them - sadly not for the first time - as he switched his attention back to his phone.

"Actually, he prefers to just be called 'the Inspector' now," Troy told him. "It's way cooler. Like the Doctor in Doctor who, or the Terminator in the Terminator."

"Whatever," Jeff replied. "Nerds."

"Jeffrey!"

"What?" he snapped, the word coming out a little more harshly than he'd intended. "They are."

"But we don't say it out loud anymore," Annie reminded him. "Just like we don't call you an arrogant jerk, or Pierce a racist. Because we're friends."

"Yeah, you're being such a blorgon," Troy added. Abed nodded in agreement. "What's up with you today?"

"He's been upset since yesterday evening," Abed told the group matter-of-factly.

Jeff froze. "How would you know - ?"

"I know things, Jeff," Abed replied. "Just like I know that Britta is considering eating meat and that Pierce is thinking of starting another business."

"I wouldn't do it," mumbled Britta.

"I'm going to call it Gay Bluetooth," Pierce added. "Because you know who doesn't already love Bluetooth?

No one offered an answer.

"Gays," Pierce told them with a shrug. "It's an untouched market."

"Right," Jeff replied, returning his attention to his phone.

Of course, that was the cue for the second worst thing to happen to him that week.

"Who let the Dean out? Woof, Woof, Woof, Woof!" came the Dean, bursting into the study room, dressed as what could only be described as a hooker dog, complete with a long tail, floppy ears, and 9 inch hooker heels.

"Oh, wonderful," Jeff muttered sarcastically. "Just what I needed. Excuse me."

He stood up and put his phone away, dead set on leaving Greendale entirely for the next week. Maybe even the next decade.

"Oh, are you leaving for the funeral already, Jeffrey?" Dean asked, frowning. Jeff froze, halfway out the door.

"Funeral?" Britta asked, wide eyed.

"You're going to a funeral?" Shirley asked. "Without us?"

"Who died?" Abed asked.

"The dean's dignity," Jeff retorted without missing a beat, turning round to face them with no small amount of trepidation. Dammit. There was no way in hell that they were going to leave this alone now...

"Ouch," Dean replied, acting mock-hurt as he tucked one of his dog ears more firmly behind his own ear. "Well that particular Jeffrey Winger zinger was uncalled for. Just for that, I won't even bother trying to keep your little secret now."

"You never do anyway," Jeff rolled his eyes, trying to hide just how much he didn't want the Dean to continue. Because he didn't care. He didn't…

"Be that as it may," the Dean continued, before finally getting to the point. "Group, yesterday our Jeffrey got the sad news that his father passed away over the weekend."

"Your dad died?" Troy asked, and Jeff sighed.

"Yes, he died," Jeff replied with an exaggerated eye roll. "From a heart attack."

"Why didn't you tell us?" Shirley asked, looking upset.

"Because I don't care," Jeff replied, with a shrug. "So I don't see why you should."

"Every life is precious, Jeff," Abed told him. "Even the most evil among us should be celebrated. We all have good inside of us; even Darth Vader, or the Kardashians."

"My dad wasn't evil," Jeff replied. "He wasn't…anything."

"He was your dad," Annie told him.

"Not really," Jeff shrugged. "Honestly, the only reason I'm going to the stupid funeral is because Willy Jr asked me to be there."

"Ah, your half-brother," Abed supplied.

"Brother?" the Dean perked up. "There's two of you?"

"Go away!" Jeff snapped.

"Jeffrey!" Shirley admonished.

"There's no need to take it out on the Dean," Britta continued. "Your unresolved father issues are causing you to act out, and what you need is structured therapy –"

"You can go away too," Jeff interrupted. "In fact, you know what? I'll go away. Honestly, I don't know why I didn't think of it sooner."

"You can run from your issues, but you can't hide!" Britta called out as he picked up his books and stormed out of the study room.

"Watch me," he called back petulantly.

Jeff decided to hide back at his apartment, which turned out to be a stupid idea in hindsight. In his defence though, his TV was in his apartment and so was his scotch. And he liked scotch.

He ended up drinking a lot of it that afternoon. Thankfully none of the group decided to come and see how he was, which was good because he didn't really have any idea himself.

Jeff took another sip of his scotch as he tried to work it out. Ever since he had heard the news about his father, he had been avoiding his feelings like the plague. It was his default position, it always had been, but now that he was alone, he couldn't stop his feelings from coming anymore.

His first instinct was to feel angry, mainly because he still hated his dad. Now that the man had gone and died on him though, Jeff couldn't help but feel like he wasn't supposed to hate the guy. He knew it was sort of frowned upon to hate dead people, but truthfully, that only served to make him angrier.

He also felt sad, although even he wasn't really sure why. His dad had been an asshole of the highest calibre, even before he'd left, so he wouldn't be missed from the world. In fact, Jeff knew that he and his mom had been better off without William Winger in their lives - much better off. And yet even in spite of that, Jeff couldn't help but be sad that there had never been a moment when things had been simple between them. Not one moment in which they'd been like a real father and son, like all the other kids had had at school. He'd hated those kids - all of them - but now he just felt sad.

Mostly, though, he felt cheated. He'd always imagined some big show down between him and his dad, in which he finally bested the old man in a battle of wits, showing him that he'd made the biggest mistake of his life when he'd left all those years ago. He supposed Abed and Troy had rubbed off on him a little bit, making him hope for a Hollywood moment to give him the closure he'd wanted all his life.

In the end though, it was all a bit anticlimactic. There would be no show-down now, no battle of good versus evil. Just a dead old man, and his annoyed adult son, left behind to pick up the pieces once again. Only instead of a depressed mother, now he had to deal with a distraught man-child half-brother.

In truth, Jeff had no idea what he was going to do with Willy Jr, but he knew there was no way in hell the kid was coming to stay with him. Jeff shook his head, and tried to dispel the murmurings of guilt building in his mind. Willy was old enough to look after himself now, and who knew, maybe he would thrive in his father's absence. Jeff certainly had.

A knocking at his door, loud and obnoxious, interrupted his thoughts. He knew immediately who it was, since no one else ever visited him here. So much for his friends leaving him alone…

He considered not answering it, but decided that Abed and Troy would probably only end up blowing the door off its hinges if he didn't.

"Yes?" he asked, opening the door a crack. He reeked of scotch, and he knew he probably looked a mess. For once though, he didn't really care. Well, mostly…

He ran a hand though his hair self-consciously.

"We're worried about you, Jeff," Annie said softly. He could see the rest of the group looking at him with much more sympathy than they had ever shown him before. The trouble was, it felt like pity, and he hated pity…

"We've been texting you for hours," Troy told him. "Britta said that we should give you some space, but Shirley said that you should know that we're thinking about you."

"But you didn't reply to the texts," Abed continued. "So here we are."

"I haven't been looking at my phone," Jeff told them, still reluctant to open his door. Strangely, none of his friends seemed to think it was weird that he didn't want to let them in. There was a metaphor in there somewhere…

"See," Pierce told them, "I told you he wasn't okay. Honestly, Jeff Winger, not looking at his phone…"

"What are you doing here?" Jeff asked them through clenched teeth.

"We're your friends," Abed told him simply. "Since you're not answering our texts, we're here to show you that we're thinking of you."

"Well, as nice as that is…"

"Let us in, Jeffrey," Shirley told him, using her 'angry mom' voice. "Or so help me God…"

"Fine," Jeff relented. "But I don't want to talk about my dad."

"We thought you'd say that," Troy said, as Jeff opened the door completed. "So we came prepared."

Abed held out his hands, and offered Jeff the box he was holding.

"Monopoly," Abed said. "The ultimate board game."

"No," Jeff replied immediately.

"No, what?" replied Abed. "No it's not the ultimate board game, or no, it's not monopoly...?"

"No, we're not playing Monopoly," Jeff replied. "It's a stupid game."

Troy and Abed gasped theatrically.

"Jeffrey!" Shirley admonished again.

"Fine, I'm sorry," Jeff told them, without the slightest idea what he was apologising for. "Let's play Monopoly."

At the end of the day, it was better than talking about his dad, he supposed.

The first game lasted for hours, and nearly destroyed their friendship. They only started the second game because Pierce threatened to streak around naked if they didn't.

Thankfully, Jeff won the second game, which put him in a slightly better mood, and by the time his friends began to gather up their things to go home, Jeff was glad they had come.

"Thanks for tonight, guys," he told them quietly, trying to make it clear that he was being sincere.

"We're your friends, Jeff," Annie told him. "We'll always be there for you when you need us."

"And when you want to talk about your feelings," Britta began, "We'll be there for you then, too."

"Right," Jeff rolled his eyes again. "And pigs will grow tiny little wings and fly. Goodnight, guys."

"Goodnight, Jeff."

Despite the intervention of his friends, Jeff still had nightmares that night. First, he dreamt that he was a kid again, and that his father was shouting at him for crying at the TV, something that had happened all the time during his early childhood - the shouting, not the crying. Then he dreamt that he was his father, which scared him more than anything else.

He didn't sleep at all after that, and spent the rest of the night watching infomercials on his TV and trying to forget that he'd ever had a dad in the first place.

Unfortunately, the next few days passed quickly, and it wasn't long before he was sat in an almost empty church, listening to his half-brother wax lyrical about the man they had both hated.

As funerals went, his father's was a particularly dank affair, and it seemed, judging by the lack of turn-out, that the man hadn't really been popular with anyone. In any other situation, Jeff would've felt vindicated, but in truth he just felt empty. Empty and sad.

"How are you holding up, Jeff?" asked Annie from the pew behind him. The group had insisted on coming with him to the funeral, and so far they hadn't made him regret allowing them to come. Even Pierce had been fairly considerate so far, if you discounted the incident in which he'd pointed out the excellent 'melons' on the statue of Mary, mother of Jesus.

"I'm fine," Jeff told them, as they began to stand. The service was winding down now, and Jeff couldn't wait to get out of there.

He said a quick goodbye to Willy Jr, before heading out into the bright sunshine, his friends following closely behind him.

"Anyone up for a drink?" he asked, and then without waiting for a reply, stalked straight over to his car. He was going to find the nearest bar, and he was going to drink until he couldn't even remember his own name, let alone his dad's.

"I could go for a drink," Pierce said, and the group nodded in agreement.

"Me too," added Annie.

"A traditional post-funeral bar scene. Cool," noted Abed with a nod. "Cool, cool, cool."

Jeff made to the end of his second drink before the stares started to get on his nerves. The group all had their own drinks, but it was clear that they were only in the bar to keep an eye on him.

"You don't have to stay, you know," Jeff told them. "I'm a big boy."

"We want to be here, Jeff," Shirley told him. "You need us."

"I don't need anyone," Jeff told them. Judging by the looks on their faces, his friends didn't believe him.

"Jeff..."

"Fine," he sighed. "But don't expect me to bare my soul to you guys. I'm not talking about this, and you can't make me."

Unfortunately, his alcohol soaked brain had other ideas, and by the end of his sixth drink, most of his resolve had gone, and he'd pretty much changed his mind completely about the no-talking thing. He felt warm, fuzzy, yes, but oddly incomplete. Something was still missing. His therapist had been going on at him to trust his friends more, and honestly, even though he knew he'd probably regret it in the morning, he couldn't think of a better time than his seventh drink to finally put that advice to the test.

"I don't even know why I still care," Jeff told his friends quietly, eyes fixed to the beer in his hand. "My dad was an asshole."

"Because he left?" Abed asked, genuinely curious as far as Jeff could tell.

"Nah," Jeff replied with a sigh. "Well...yes, but he was actually more of an asshole before he left. He drank a lot, and he had a hell of a temper - mostly of the violent-kind. I can't remember much, because I was only a kid, but I…remember enough."

"He was…violent towards you and your mom?" asked Annie, reading between the lines of what Jeff was saying.

"Sometimes, but not always," Jeff replied, trying to stay calm, even with his heart thumping loudly in his chest. He didn't talk about this stuff. He never talked about this stuff. Why the hell was he talking about this stuff...?

"Oh, Jeffrey…"

"The worst thing was the way he spoke to my mom," Jeff continued, still not really sure why he was still speaking. "He…he used to make her feel like she was two inches tall. Like she was worthless. And when he finally left, it was like nothing could undo that. Nothing I said or did made anything better. In her mind, the fact that he'd left had only proven him right. She never stopped feeling worthless."

"That's…awful," Britta said.

Jeff just nodded in agreement. Because it was.

"What an idiot!" Pierce said suddenly.

"Excuse me?"

"Not you, Jeff," Pierce told him. "Your father. He was an idiot."

"Takes one to know one," muttered Troy.

"Hey!" complained Pierce.

"Sorry," Troy replied, looking sincere. "I guess you're not quite as bad as Jeff's dad. If someone was going to win an idiot award, it would definitely be him first, then you."

"Thank you," Pierce nodded, then realisation hit. "Hey!"

"I'm confused, who's the idiot now?" asked Annie. "Is Pierce the idiot, or is Jeff's father the idiot?"

"Maybe they're both idiots?" suggested Britta.

"Idiot, idiot, idiot," added Abed unhelpfully.

"Can everyone please stop saying idiot!?" Jeff snapped.

"Sorry, Jeff," they all told him, to varying degrees of sincerity.

"Anyway," Pierce continued, "As I was saying before this idiot interrupted me –"

"Hey!"

"Your father was a fool," Pierce continued. "He had a perfectly good family, and he ruined it. I have absolutely no patience for men like that."

"You have no patience for anybody," Jeff pointed out.

"True," Pierce conceded. "But I'd have even less for him, if he wasn't dead of course."

"Well I, for one, am glad he's dead," Britta announced. "He was a horrible human being, and the world is better off without him."

"Britta's right," Shirley said. "God tells us that we should forgive those who do us wrong, but your father is burning in hell right now, and rightly so."

Jeff swallowed hard. "Guys…

"I'm sorry you didn't get closure, Jeff," Abed interrupted suddenly, his eyes fixed on Jeff as if he could see into his very soul.

"I don't need…"

"Everyone needs closure," Abed continued. "Every hero needs a battle to cement his place in history. Now that your dad's dead, you won't get that battle. I'm sorry."

"It's…fine," Jeff replied. "Well, it's mostly fine. Closure's overrated anyway."

"We could just drink ourselves stupid instead?" suggested Annie. She turned to Jeff. "You can tell us more stories about your dad, and we call all talk about how much he sucked. It'll be like a wake and a roast all in one. Only probably much meaner…"

"Drinking sounds good to me," Jeff sighed, already eyeing up his seventh drink. Abed was still on his first. "Are you sure you guys want to join me? It'll probably get pretty dark. And there might be crying…"

Which probably wasn't that far off the truth, but even in spite of all that, Jeff really didn't want to be alone tonight. Thankfully, his friends came through for him, as he'd known they would.

"We're not going anywhere, Jeff," Pierce said. "Don't be an idiot."

"Idiot, idiot, idiot," added Abed.

"Yeah, Jeff," Annie continued, shooting a glare at Abed and Pierce. "Like I said, we'll always be there when you need us."

"Yeah, that's what friends do," added Troy.

And with that, Jeff smiled for the first time since he had heard the news of his dad's death, because above all else, he knew it was the truth.

This weird group of people would be there for him, for as long as he needed them. Because they were his friends, and that's what friends did.

A/N - So, how was it? Was everyone relatively in character? I tried to make everyone 'sound' like themselves, but I found it really difficult by the end so I'm not entirely sure I pulled it off. Hopefully you found it okay though? If you did, I'd really appreciate it if you could take a minute or two to let me know your thoughts in a review. I'll probably write some more stories for this fandom in the future, so it would really help me if I could get some pointers on what I did right, and where I can improve. For now, though, and until next time, thanks for reading!