A/N: So this is my alternate ending to the 16th episode of the second season when Pierce tries to trick Jeff into thinking his father was coming to meet him. It kind of ties in to my other Community story, but you don't really need to have read it to understand what's going on. Let me know what you guys think of it!
His brown booted foot taps repeatedly against the cold tiles of the hospital floor. His eyes focus and unfocus on the words of a half ripped magazine, which he had earlier dismantled in a fit of frustration. Next to him, a blonde stares at him and his tapping foot worriedly before turning her attention back to the check in her hands. In the background, the hospital bustles on as normal – machines beeping, doctors being called over the PA system, the shuffling of papers – but the man in the brown boots hears nothing but the loudly foreboding ticking of the clock on the wall and the tap tapping of his own foot. That is, until a gut-wrenchingly familiar voice pulls him out of his reprieve.
"Hey there, Johnny Boy, been a long time."
Jeff Winger freezes. His boot stops tapping and cold dread seeps out from his heart. He looks up slowly, knowing what he was about to see but hoping he was wrong anyway, and looks straight into the face of his father.
Shock envelopes the four people in that waiting room. Britta, Annie and Shirley all correctly assuming who the newcomer must be, and waiting with baited breath to see Jeff's reaction. Seconds tick by, but it feels like hours to the close-knit study group. Finally, Jeff sets down the torn magazine and stands. Three pairs of eyes flicker from father to son in anticipation.
"My name is Jeff." Jeff spits through clenched teeth before storming past his father and out of the hospital doors. "I knew that." The old man says, mostly to himself, before chasing after his enraged son. The group sits in stunned silence for a second before leaping from their seats as one and rushing outside to watch the scene unfold.
As the three women stood on the top step on the hospital entry and watched the heated reunion between father and son, they were soon joined by Troy and Abed, who had returned from filming Troy's breakdown just in time to witness the girls running outside.
"What's going on?" Troy asked the girls in a whisper. Shirley produced a bag of pop corn from her oversized handbag before replying. "Well, turns out Pierce really did find Jeff's no-good daddy and now he's here asking for a chance to explain and what-not, but Jeff was all like, um-mm! No way in hell!" She waggled her finger back and forth to illustrate her point.
On the ground below, Jeff's hands were balled into fists at his side. The nerve of his father to appear now, after all these years, asking for the chance to talk, to explain himself. "Please son, I know I wasn't much of a father back then, but we're both grown adults now, don't you think we could put the past behind us?" William Winger pleaded.
"Don't call me that! I'm not your son, and you're not my father." Britta could see that Jeff was literally shaking with rage. "Someone needs to calm him down before this gets ugly." She told the group before jogging down the stairs. Abed followed her, camera in tow, seeking a better angle. "Jeff?" She called out gently, lightly placing her hand on his arm. He turned to face her as she tugged on his sleeve. "Jeff, c'mon, he's not worth it."
As Jeff took a step back towards Britta, his father called out in desperation. "It's what your mother would have wanted!" Jeff froze, and William took that as his cue to continue. "She would have wanted us to reconcile one day, she would have wanted us to be a family again, she-"
"HOW WOULD YOU KNOW WHAT MUM WANTED?!" Jeff's outburst shocked everyone into fearful silence. "You never cared about what mum wanted, you never cared about what either of us wanted! All you cared about was yourself! And now we'll never know what mum wanted because she's dead! And it's your fault!" Jeff's chest heaved and Britta's mouth dropped open.
William looked flustered. "Jeff, I wasn't even there, it was hardly my fau-" But once again Jeff interrupted him. "Exactly! You weren't there, you were never there, so you wouldn't know that mum named you as being the sole reason for her death in the suicide note that she left for her ten year old son to find when she HUNG HERSELF FROM THE CEILING FAN!" He advanced on his father, jabbing his finger towards him for emphasis, until they were almost nose to nose.
Britta's hand dropped from Jeff's jacket in order to stifle the gasp that escaped her lips. At the top of the stairs, Annie let out a small squeak as tears stung her eyes, Shirley crossed herself and began to pray, and Troy made a strange noise of indignation from behind the closed fist he had brought to his mouth.
William Winger had the decency to look horrified. Everyone stood in silence as they recovered from the bombshell that had just been dropped. Minutes ticked by as Jeff's breathing returned to normal, but the burning rage still simmered beneath his skin. "Oh, Jeff." Britta breathed, blinking back tears as she slipped her hand into his. The warm, gentle touch of her skin on his seemed to ground Jeff, and he looked, first to their entwined hands and then to her eyes, searching for the reassurance and understanding that she was trying to send him in that look. But the connection was broken by Jeff's father.
"Jeffery, you can't really believe that? You realise that it can't actually be my fault, right? People get divorced all the time, it's not my fault that she couldn't handle it. And honestly, your mother always was over dramatic, it's a wonder-" But William's defence was cut off by the flying fist that connected forcefully with his face and sent him crashing to the ground. The group 'ohh'ed in sympathetic pain, like a crowd at a football match when a player gets injured.
Jeff merely stood over his father, watching with heartless distain as the elderly man writhed on the ground, clutching his broken nose with his hands as he tried to stem the bleeding. "What's wrong dad?" Jeff cooed in an eerily calm voice that only frightened everyone more. When William didn't respond, Jeff's anger returned full force. "Get up dad!" He spat. "Get up and fight me! C'mon, what's wrong? Not in the mood to beat your son now that he's actually old enough to hit you back?!" Annie was full on bawling by this point and Troy had to help Shirley sit down and was now fanning her after she had turned very pale and looked like she would pass out. Britta decided something had to be done.
"Jeff, enough!" Britta stepped between the father and son, placing her hands on his chiselled (she noticed) chest and trying to talk some sense to him. "Jeff, can't you see that this is not just hurting him, you're hurting yourself and everyone around you." She gestured up the stairs to the debilitated group. "Don't let him get to you Jeff. You're the better man, you can take the high road and walk away. You are one thousand times the man that he will ever be, and even if you don't believe that, I believe it, and those people up there, your real family, they believe it too."
Jeff looked up the stairs to the study group he had formed almost two years ago. Annie came down the stairs, tear stains streaking her face, and declared forcefully, "I believe." Shirley stood and descended the stairs, aided by Troy, and affirmed, "I believe." Troy nodded in agreement, "I believe too."
Abed then surprised everyone by turning off his camera, placing it by the stairs and stating blankly, "I believe."
Jeff looked into the faces of each of his friends. Troy and Abed, Shirley, Annie, and of course, Britta. Britta, who understood him better than anybody. Staring into her blue eyes, he feels his anger begin to slowly dissipate, and his balled fists subconsciously relax and release. "You're right." He mutters, then turns to address the group as a whole.
"I know I'm normally the one saving you guys with a 'Winger speech', but this time you saved me – from myself. I've always told myself that I didn't need a father, that I didn't need a family, that I could do everything by myself. I believed that I didn't need to be helped or saved. But I do. You guys are my real family, this right here," he gestured towards the ground, "is the only family I will ever need. And as long as we're together, I know we can get through anything."
Annie and Shirley 'aww'ed simultaneously, and Jeff held his arms out wide as everyone swooped in for a group hug. They began to chat amongst themselves about Jeff's lovely speech and what to do about his father, but it was the faint scent of strawberry body wash and the comforting warmth that was Britta Perry, snuggled under his arm, that drew Jeff's attention. She smiled up at him, holding his gaze for a moment, before she was distracted by a commotion at the hospital entrance.
Jeff followed her line of sight as a group of shouting men in white uniforms bust out of the hospital doors, followed by two nurses in pink scrubs. "Uh-oh, here come the fuzz!" Troy whisper-yelled. Britta turned to Jeff. "You gotta get out of here. Go, now! Don't worry we'll cover you." She winked at him conspiratorially and the others all nodded in agreement. A strange feeling surfaced in Jeff as he watched his friends all prepare to protect him. "You guys, thank you." He smiled goofily as he backpedalled hastily towards the safety of his Lexus.
They say you can't choose your family, but if Jeff could, he still wouldn't choose any differently.
Well, except maybe Pierce.