Middles:

'There are a couple of things we were hoping you would help us with'.

'Like where does the water go in the iron?'

'And what's the iron for?'

'And what gets out Kool Aid stains'

'We already know the opposite colour Kool Aid doesn't work'.

She climbed into bed in her new room.

It was done. She had moved in.

Casa del Tro-bed-nie. She'd talk to them about that in the morning.

It had been a long, tiring, emotional day. She knew she wouldn't see much of her security deposit, but as angry as she was with Pierce other events had side-tracked that rage.

These had mostly included – or as it had turned out, had mostly not included – Jeff. She hadn't let it on to any of the group but she was really upset with him. She had really wanted his help in sorting out her move (and let's be honest if anyone was going to be up for some heavy lifting and the chance to flex his muscles it was going to be Jeff), yet he had done everything he possibly could have done including faking illness to avoid it. While he had later admitted to it and brought drinks to the flat to apologise it seemed like the only reason he had done this was because he had been "caught" by the Dean.

It was just another in a growing list of things he had done recently that had made her see his selfish side. If he had been moving she would have been there to help like a shot. It almost felt like he did not care.

Truth told she had been questioning her feelings for him recently. Things had changed. She couldn't pinpoint the exact moment, but everything between them just felt different. Maybe it had been the time they'd shared a moment after her "freak out" during the Model UN. They'd come so close to kissing and yet as he had moved closer it had just not felt right at all. It had felt… well, creepy. And he had obviously felt it too because he had quickly pulled away.

She had spent hours afterwards wondering and analysing why it had felt so weird but she could find no answers. All she knew was that as far as her feelings for Jeff were concerned she was confused.

As she turned off her bedside light she focused back on the here and now. She knew moving in with the boys had been a good idea and she knew she would have an awesome time.

There had been the Puppet Show, #AnniesMove and her Room. Other than the throw issue she couldn't have decorated it better.

It had been so cute, so caring. It showed the guys liked her.

Then she replayed a conversation she had had earlier in the evening.

'Thanks. Thanks for everything' she had said to Troy when they were alone for a moment.

'Hey, no worries', he had chirped back. 'I have to say though most of it wasn't my idea' motioning over to his best friend.

'Abed planned all this?'

Troy smiled and had begun telling her about the fun they were going to have. But she hadn't really been listening, her mind had been elsewhere.

Abed had planned everything?

'Do you know how many sitcoms have done the 'secretly-replace-a-broken-priceless-item' thing?! Because Abed does, Abed knows everything!'

So it hadn't been the landlord.

But she had apologised.

'Apology accepted', Batman said. 'I wouldn't mention it to Abed though' he warned, 'that guy is pretty ruthless'.

They both nodded.

Yet even as Abed, he couldn't be mad.

It was Annie, how could anyone be mad at her?

Such thoughts just didn't feel right. Not long ago he had practically taken Britta apart for stealing… well okay, borrowing-even-if-it-was-for-fully-good-intentions -that-Britta-had-,-well-,- Britta'd one of his DVDs.

But Annie…

They had become best friends. Not quite on the same level as Troy. He doubted that could happen. But they weren't far off.

The problem was he found himself wanting more.

She'd moved in. It was the best idea he had ever had.

But now the danger was real and constant. They lived together. He saw her every day.

He saw her all prim, pretty and dressed up at college.

But he also now saw her in her slacks in front of the TV.

And you know what? Whichever way it was, she looked awesome.

He suddenly began to panic.

This wasn't good.

It was beginning to influence his everyday life.

For his sake, for the groups sake, and for her sake he needed to put this back into its box, and quickly.

It wasn't fair.

It just wouldn't work.

'Who hates Glee? Listen to how that sounds. Glee literally means Glee!'

The weird happy musical fog was beginning to descend again. Much like the last time they had done Glee she was beginning to struggle to remember a lot of what had actually happened.

She could, however, remember her role in getting Jeff on board.

At first she had agreed to do it because he had an integral part in the show. It would not have worked without him. The Group had all also known that he wouldn't get sucked in the same way she had, or Shirley had, or Pierce had. It was going to take something… special.

She hadn't told anyone but she had also been secretly very excited by her plan. She had been questioning her feelings for him for a few weeks now. Doing this, she had hoped, would wash away all these doubts and help her realise that she had been wrong and that he was really the one.

And yet as she had been dancing and prancing she had felt…

Very little.

Less than very little.

Nothing.

She had been so excited to do it because she knew exactly how she was going to feel during, and what would happen after.

And yet she hadn't and it hadn't.

As much as she didn't want to admit it, it seemed like further proof that she really was no longer 'into him' as much as she had once been. It was a realisation that was hard to fathom. After so long… so many shared moments… so much of the 'Annie of it all… the Debate… the Tranny Dance… it seemed odd that now it had just all… vanished. Could that just happen?

She sighed, careful not to disturb the rest of the Group as they sat relaxed and laughing at the Inspector Spacetime Christmas Special Abed had put on.

It was nice to have her 'College Family' together for this special Christmas moment. Abed had worked so hard to make it happen, and it was just another example of how much he cared about all of them.

He'd asked her to move in when she was close to her lowest ebb living above Dildopolis… Then he'd worked really hard to make her feel welcome… then he'd come up with a way in which she could beat the other Annie at the Model UN… Yeah okay the whole journal thing from last year had been creepy weird. But then in its own special way had it not shown that he cared about her? He had wanted her to be happy and so he had devised a way to know when – you know – so he could avoid saying anything that would upset her…

Hold on, she told herself, examples of how he cared about all of them. Not just Her…

And yet she couldn't shake the feeling that she was finally home. After so long and so many challenges and struggles she was finally where she wanted to be. With whom she wanted to be with.

She looked across at her roommate. He must have sensed this as he tilted his head up and met her gaze and smiled.

And then it happened.

In those seconds of eye contact her heart fluttered and she could swear she had started to blush.

Hold on, that wasn't right. These were things that only happened around Jeff.

Those were Jeff feelings.

Suddenly without thinking she found herself reaching out and taking hold of his hand. To show him that she was here and that they were all here all because of him.

As her hand made contact with his and as he closed his around hers the butterflies began to dance in her stomach again.

Jeff feelings resurfaced.

Just not for Jeff.

'And it's going to continue to be a good time! If we win Regionals, then it's straight onto Sectionals! And then a week later is Semi's, the Semi-Regionals, then Regional Semi's, and THEN National Lower Zone Semi's!'

He was sat content; his family had come to him for Christmas. Okay it was not his real family, but he knew what he meant. Whilst it hadn't happened the way he had thought it would, it had happened nonetheless and he could not have been happier.

He took looked around at his friends as they were chilled out and seemingly enjoying the frankly awful Christmas Special. To be fair, he told himself, it was probably more to do with the side effects of being 'Glee'd' rather than them all having a lack of taste in TV. Or at least that was what he hoped.

Then his eyes met hers.

His "Annie Reactions" immediately kicked in, but he'd become good at hiding them. She smiled, he smiled back. The contact lingered probably a second longer than it should have so he flinched away, hoping she had not noticed.

He knew where he was, where he stood. He was under no illusions as to how she had got Jeff on the Glee team. It was only a matter of time before…

He was interrupted.

Suddenly he felt a hand take hold of his.

He froze.

It wasn't a new experience to him. There had been Meghan, they had shared moments like this but they had quickly died off. There had been Vollers, but despite his best efforts he had not been 'a more obvious threat to the security of the country'.

This, however, was Annie.

He turned his head to hers once again.

She smiled.

He smiled back.

At that very moment he knew one thing.

He was in trouble.

'I'm not petty Annie, I'm mad at you because you tampered with the fabric of the group. How do you know Troy and Britta pairing up wouldn't destroy everything? I run the scenarios, I analyse this stuff from every conceivable angle'.

At first he'd been upset. He'd been angry.

She had broken the Dreamatorium.

He needed to prove to her that no one else understood him other than Troy. As close as he and she had got recently, Troy and Britta getting together would mean bad news for him. Troy and Britta together would lead to her and Jeff getting together and that in turn would lead to him being filtered out. He wouldn't be needed. He wouldn't be necessary.

He needed her to understand. So he had tried to show her. He was just sorry that he had had to go about it this way but it had needed to be done.

Their time in the Dreamatorium had been going on for over an hour when she had finally lost patience and demanded to be taken to where she wanted to go. She meant to where Abed was hiding, but he had switched the context. He had taken her back to where he thought she really wanted to go: the last day of the first year, the Tranny Dance and her and Jeff's kiss.

He knew she loved him and getting her to admit it would both aid her in her quest and give him his own closure on the feelings he had been struggling with.

Suddenly, however, she had fought back. She dismissed the notion and forced them back into the study room. He hadn't been expecting this.

He was confused. She loved Jeff, didn't she?

'But we love Jeff' he said to her as herself.

He wasn't expecting her reply.

'No we don't! We're just in love with the idea of being loved. And if we can teach a guy like Jeff to do it we'll never be unloved'

He was taken aback.

Did he hear that right?

She wasn't in love with Jeff?