"It was you, okay?" Annie said tearfully as she backed away from Jeff, extracting her hands from his. Taking a deep breath she continued. "That speech I gave in Borchert's lab. The one about letting the people love want what they want? I was talking about you. I want you to have the things you want and I'm not going to try to stop you anymore, okay?"

"Annie-" Jeff tried to start, tried to stop her so that he could explain that what he wanted was her.

"No, Jeff. Please. Don't." She wrapped her arms around herself protectively. "You want Britta. You were going to marry her. I know that you guys aren't going to get married now, but the fact that you guys went right to each other and got engaged when you thought you were losing Greendale shows how much you two want to be together. And if I love you enough to let you want what you want, then that means I need to stop thinking about myself and help you see what you want and help you get it. So I'm not going to let you do this just because you're scared of actually having the things you want."

Jeff turned Annie's words over and over in his head, trying to figure out a way to convince her that he didn't want Britta, that he couldn't want Britta, not after the realization he'd had in Borchert's lab. He kept going through her speech, over and over, trying to ignore the silencing that had enveloped them, when finally, he hit on something.

"You love me."

Annie's eyes shot to Jeff's, wide and startled. "I- what? No, I-"

"You said 'if I love you enough to let you want what you want'," he said, slowly stepping close to her. "You said that you love me."

"I didn't mean…" she looked around the room and let out an exasperated breath. "I didn't mean like that. You're my friend, of course I love you."

"That's not how you meant it."

"Please don't do this. Please, don't try to use my words to make me sound like some stupid kid so you can make fun of me. Don't."

"I'm not. I wouldn't."

He stepped into her, his hands going to her upper arms and grasping lightly. "I know how you really meant it because I meant it in the same way you do."

"Jeff," she whispered tremulously. "You were going to marry Britta."

"Because we were both scared shitless of losing Greendale."

"That doesn't make any sense."

"Of course it does. We were scared of losing Greendale without anything to show for it. We were scared that we would go back to where we were before we came back to Greendale. We were afraid of losing everyone else so we clung to each other."

"Why her, then?" Annie's voice continued to tremble as she asked. "Why would you go to Britta? Why would you ask her to marry you if she wasn't what you wanted."

"Because I was scared. I wanted something immediate, not something real."

His hand ran up her arms slowly before cupping her face. "If I had wanted something real I would have gone to you."

Annie closed her eyes. "Jeff…"

"I want something real now."

A tear escaped Annie's eye as she shook her head, not willing to believe what she was hearing.

"When we were down in Borchert's lab," Jeff started, ready to lay all his cards on the table, "I put on that ridiculous head gear. And I looked at every one of you, trying to muster up enough something to open that door. I love all of you guys. I do. But when I thought of the Dean and Abed, I couldn't do it. And I absolutely couldn't do it when I thought of Britta."

At hearing that, Annie finally opened her eyes.

"It was you," he finished.

THE END