After staying at their spot for most of the day, Jeff and Annie decided to head back to the cabin. Like the previous night they arrived to find the group sitting down at the kitchen table for dinner (this time at the start of the meal instead of the end). After being vague on where they had been all day they dug into the somewhat burnt vegetarian meal Britta had prepared. After dinner they all cleaned up and then watched another movie, with Jeff and Annie fidgeting during the entire time. They barely focused on what was on the screen, since they were both waiting for Shirley, Britta and Abed to go to bed so they could embark on their latest adventure.

After the movie was over Jeff went to his room, not trusting the others to not notice his anxiousness. He checked his e-mail on his phone when he heard a knock on the door. "It's open." He looked in surprise as Shirley came into his room. "Hey Shirley."

"Hello Jeffrey. Can I talk to you for a moment?"

"Okay," he answered apprehensively, figuring she was sent to grill him on where he'd been this whole time.

"I know you and Annie have been spending a lot of time together since we got here," she began.

"We're just friends having fun," he quickly stated, noticing the frown on her face at his words.

"Yes, I know you both are going out and…having fun," she said disapprovingly.

"Hey," he insisted as he got what she was implying. "We've just been hanging out as friends. I know it might look like something, since we keep sneaking off, but we're just friends."

"Right, just like you and Britta were once 'just friends', or you and Slater were 'just friends'." She sighed as anger entered her eyes. "I'm aware that Annie isn't exactly a kid anymore, but she's still a sweet young woman who's been pushed around way too often. And I'm telling you right now that if you're just messing around with her and hurt her in any way, Big Cheddar making you pee your pant will be a pleasant memory compared to what I will do to you."

Jeff gulped at her words, not doubting for a second that she was prepared to destroy him if she had to. "I'm not going to hurt Annie. We're just hanging out as friends. Nothing's going on."

"I hope so, for both your sakes. Have a good night Jeff." With that Shirley walked out of the room, leaving a nervous Jeff in his wake.

Jeff sat down on the bed, pondering what had just happened. From that little encounter it seemed everyone thought he and Annie were sneaking off to have sex. It wasn't that surprising they'd jump to that conclusion, given his history with women. But this was one time they were completely wrong, since nothing at all was going on between him and Annie.

But that doesn't mean something can't happen, Jeff thought. He knew he were about to go out and skinny dip with a very attractive woman, in a secluded river at night. He also was aware that despite how much he denied it, he did indeed have feelings towards Annie. Even his powers of denial couldn't ignore what had happened in the computer lab. That made what they were about to do a dangerous situation to be in.

Just then his phone buzzed. He looked at it, seeing it was a text from Annie.

Annie: Britta's in her room and Shirley just went into hers. After Abed turns in let's wait a ½ hour and then we can go.

Jeff knew he should tell her that they shouldn't go. That it would be better for both of them to just stay in. But instead he simply texted her back, 'Sure'. It was like the rational part of his brain was ignoring him when it came to embarking on this adventure with Annie.

You're just friends, Jeff reminded himself. And friends can swim together naked. It's perfectly normal to swim naked with your friend. Even if that friend has smooth skin…and perfect breasts…and a smile that lights up…damn it.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Once they were sure everyone was turned in for the night Jeff and Annie crept outside and made their way to the river. The moon hung brightly in the night sky, and made it easy to walk through the forest trail. In no time they made it to their secret spot. While they had seen it before, it had a whole different feeling at night. The water almost seemed to glow from the moon light reflected off its surface, and the night sky made the area seem even more majestic then it did during the daytime.

Annie walked over to the edge and slipped out of her sandals before dipping a foot through the water. "Its cooler then it was during the day, but it doesn't seem that cold."

"That's good. Cold water doesn't really agree with guys. Especially when they're swimming without anything on." He chuckled as Annie gigged nervously along with him. "So…how do you want to do this?"

Annie fidgeted with the collar of her shirt before dropping her towel and giving Jeff a look. "Turn around and don't look until I'm in the water."

Jeff nodded and turned around on the spot. He was very tempted to sneak a peek, but instead kept his body firmly turned away from her. He wasn't going to take something from Annie she wasn't willing to give. As he heard her clothes rustle and the sound of a zipper unzipping he let out a low groan as he cock twitched. Just knowing that Annie was undressing a foot away from him was getting him excited. For his sake he hoped the water was cold. At least then it could maybe quell the attraction he wanted to keep hidden.

He then heard a loud splash, followed by Annie yelling, "Hold shit its cold." He turned around, seeing her in the water. While he could see a general outline of her pale body, he couldn't make out anything more than if she was swimming in her bikini. She wiped her hair out of her face as she smiled up at him. "Aren't you coming in?"

"Be right there." As he began undressing Jeff considered turning around, but decided to just do it and let her see what he had, since it wouldn't matter once he was in the water. Annie watched as Jeff pulled his clothes off, trying to ignore the flushed feeling her body was getting. She tried looking away once he pulled his underwear off, but couldn't help sneaking in a few peeks.

Once he had all his clothes off Jeff jumped into the water. "Fuck its cold."

"Told you."

He moved his arms and legs and sank to where everything below his eyes was below the water. After a few moments his body became adjusted to the cool water and he stood fully up so his head and shoulders were above the surface. "It's not bad once you're used to it."

"It's not freezing. It's just colder at night then it was during the day. See." With that Annie splashed Jeff in the face. He fought right back and splashed her giggling face, leading to an epic splash fight. Their laughter seemed amplified in the night surroundings as they went at it.

"Truce, truce okay?" Annie held up her hands in surrender, spitting water out of her mouth. Jeff was tempted to get one more splash in, but decided to let her be. Instead they swam in the water, looking around at the area. "It's beautiful here at night."

"Yup," Jeff replied. See, it's not so bad, he thought. This isn't any different from if we were swimming in our bathing suits.

Of course, Annie choose that moment to suddenly jump upward, causing Jeff to see her breasts for a blink-and-you'd-miss-it second before she sunk back into the water. "What are you doing?"

"I stepped on a rock."

"Well don't do that," he quickly stated. Jeff swam around, trying to get that image out of his head. It had only been for a moment, but it was enough to tell him she really did have a spectacular pair on her. That newfound knowledge made thinking of her in a purely non-sexual manor all the more difficult.

He turned around as she swam over to him. "This is fun. I don't know why I haven't done this before. I'd definitely do it again."

"I'm sure guys would just line up to skinny dip with you," Jeff said with general sincerity.

To Jeff's surprise Annie scoffed at his remark. "Yeah, cause guys are racing to do anything with me. I can count on my fingers the number of dates I've had, including before going to Greendale, during and afterwards."

"Okay, first all Annie, most of the guys who go to Greendale are creepy idiots you're better off avoiding. And second, when are you going to get it through your head that you're a catch and any guy would be lucky to be with you."

Annie looked at Jeff, surprised by what he was saying. "Really…any guy," she said tentatively.

"Yeah," Jeff responded softly. He looked into Annie's eyes, seeing the moonlight reflected in those magnificent blues. Her bright smile extended to her entire face, making it even lovelier than normal. He gently wiped away some water from her lips as his head slowly moved towards her.

Stop right now, the rational part of his brain yelled at him. This is the exact opposite of what you should be doing! Code red, code red!

The rational voice in his head was silenced as his lips connected with hers. They both sighed in content as she kissed him right back. Their kisses were tender at first, but quickly increased in passion. In the years since their first year outside the Tranny dance he had forgotten just how amazing it was to kiss her, to the point where he couldn't believe he had waited so long to do this again. He pulled her even closer into him, stroking her wet hair and slippery back.

"Jeff, wait," Annie suddenly said as she pulled back. "What are we doing?"

"I think it's pretty obvious what's going on here?"

"Is it?" she asked. "Because I honestly don't know what's going on anymore. I thought we were just out here as friends, and then you kiss me-"

"Hey, you kissed me right back," Jeff insisted.

"I know," she stressed. "I'm not saying I'm not blameless for this. But…" Annie groaned in frustration as she stepped/swam back a couple feet. "How long are we going to keep doing this? Every time I'm sure I know where we stand you do something to make me question everything. I just want some closure." She sighed before calmly asking Jeff, "Do you want to be with me or not."

Jeff shivered slightly as he looked at Annie's calm yet determined face, his body reacting from her question rather than from the cool water they were standing in. "You asked me this once before and-"

"I swear, if you even think of saying relationships are complicated-"

"They are when it comes to me."

Annie scoffed at that, giving Jeff the epic eye roll to end all epic eye rolls. "Right, you so can't do relationships. That's why you were willing to marry Britta when Greendale was being sold to subway."

"That was an overreaction to a terrible situation. We already told you guys that after we got back the school. And didn't you say you would have been happy for us if we got married," Jeff stressed.

"I said I would support you in whatever decision makes you happy. I never thought for a moment that you and Britta getting married was a good idea." Annie let out another scoff, which was sadder than her previous one. "I mean...even if you were panicking, you two just decided to get married after constantly telling us how much you hate marriage. Though there must be something there, since that was the second time you almost married Britta."

"What? When was the first time…" Jeff chuckled as it came back to him. "Right, Shirley's second wedding. I forgot about that."

"So how can I believe you like me when you keep running back to Britta? You obviously want to be with her if you keep wanting to marry her."

"That's not why we did it. The first time was just us drunkenly trying to one up each other. I don't know if you've noticed, but we have a habit of egging each other on. We're not the best influence for one another."

Annie was silent as she took that in. "Okay…and the second time was…just blind panic?"

"Exactly. It was just a stupid mistake we made because were caught up in losing Greendale. We were just egging each other on again. I mean, if you had been there I never would asked you to marry…" he stopped when he saw the look on Annie's face. "Wait, that's not-."

"Jeff, its fine," she said, her voice a little high, but otherwise free of sadness. "It's not like I'm pining away writing 'Jeff & Annie forever' in a notebook. I know you'd never-."

"Stop," he said firmly. "I meant I wouldn't have asked you to marry me like that, like it was nothing. You mean…you're too important to just ask without a thought…" Jeff sighed, feeling very exposed and naked, which was saying something since he was fine literally standing naked in front of her. He tried to state exactly what he wanted to say when he suddenly blurted out, "You caused the door to open."

"What? What are you talking about?" Annie asked in confusion.

"When we were trapped in the computer lab and I put on that helmet because a burst of emption was supposed to get the doors to open. I looked at everyone and could read their thoughts. And when I looked at you…you thought 'Milord' just after I thought 'Milady'."

Annie looked at Jeff, her face softening as she took in what he was saying. "I know," she said in a soft voice.

"You…wait, you could ready my mind too?"

"No, I couldn't read your mind. But when we were down there and had our backs turned to you, I felt you looking at me and…I don't know, I just sensed you were saying 'Milady' in your head. So…I just answered you back."

"And once that happened, the doors opened. Thinking about you is what caused them to open," Jeff stressed. "Do you get what I'm saying?"

As Jeff looked at Annie he was surprised to see her face become sad instead of happy like he was expecting. "Yes Jeff, I get it. A part of you wants to be with me. That's why you leap to have adventures with me, like solving the mystery of the Ass Crack Bandit or teaming with me to win a school wide game of Hot Lava. But if you really want to be with me, why don't you just do it. Why do you have to always fake a reason or pull back when it starts to become real? Why are you so afraid of actually being with me?"

"Because then it's real and there's no going back," Jeff spat out. He forced himself to get it out, since he knew he might never be this emotionally vulnerable again. "Annie, you're one of my closest friends, and I care about you greatly. And I would love to be able to kiss you, and go out on a date with you, and have sex with you. But I'm terrible when it comes to relationships. And if we were together, and it didn't work out…I'd lose you as a friend and as a girlfriend. And I couldn't stand it if that happened. So…not being with you ensures that I still get to be with you."

Annie shivered herself at Jeff's words, both touched by what he was saying and peeved that he was too afraid to give them a chance. "Then get over it," she unexpectedly said.

"What?" Jeff asked in disbelief.

"No one knows if a relationship will work out when they first go into one. And I would hate it if we broke up and couldn't even be friends. But you shouldn't let fear decide how you live your life. You said yourself you want to be with me. And no matter how much I try to tell myself otherwise, I want to be with you. So…get over your fears and let's be together already."

Jeff stared at her in disbelief. He knew she was formidable, but this was beyond anything he would have thought she was capable of. Even after knowing her for five years she still could surprise him (though he guessed that she could still surprise her even if they knew each other for fifty years.) His surprise in her grew as Annie swam over and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him down until their lips connected again. He held onto her tightly as his tongue slid into her mouth, both of them letting out moans as they realized there was truly no going back this time.

Screw fear, he thought. I'm done running from this.