a/n: This story has taken an interesting turn and has become something I didn't originally think it would end up being... Also, some House of Mirth Spoilers for anyone that cares.

"Alright. We did alright, Abed," Troy said as he walked into apartment 303.

Abed shrugged, "Yeah. We need a better speech."

"Or more practice. Probably more practice," Troy said.

Abed paused to think. "I'll write a speech out tonight. That will make them better." He walked into the kitchen area and saw Annie at the table filling out paperwork.

"Or we could just have more practice," Troy said as he restrained his frustration.

"Hey, guys," Annie said without looking up.

"What are you doing?" Troy asked.

"Resigning from my grad program. How was the game?"

"We won," Abed said.

"But only by, like, three points," Troy said.

"But you still won," Annie said.

"Yeah. I guess." Troy said.

"Once I get the perfect speech down, we'll be fine," Abed said. He nodded and went into his room.

Troy walked over to the fridge and took out some left-over mac and cheese.

"Oh, someone came here looking for you," Annie said as she focused on her paperwork.

"What?" Troy asked with his mouth half-full. "Was it Pierce? Did he lock himself out of his house when he went to his outdoor sauna, again? Because, trust me, seeing Pierce in only a towel is eerily reminiscent of the shower lady from The Shining."

"Eww," Annie cringed, "No, it wasn't Pierce...We need to check up on him soon though. We haven't seen him since the, um, incident."

"True," Troy nodded. "Well, who was it? Everyone else I know was busy, except maybe my dad." His eyes widened, "Was it my dad?"

"No," Annie shook her head, "It was a guy who wanted to talk to you about a job or something. He said he couldn't contact you because the only number he had was your dad's house and your dad wasn't telling him your number for some reason. He left a number. I put it on the fridge. The whole thing was so strange."

Troy walked over to the fridge and took the post-it note with a phone number off of it.

Britta sat cross legged on her living room couch as she became engrossed with the assigned book for her class. Her eyes scanned the pages as her mouth slowly dropped open.

"Trenor, you asshole!" Britta said aloud to herself as she turned the page. Her cell phone vibrated on the table as she received a text. She ignored it, but then it started to ring. She sighed and picked up the phone, "What, Jeff?"

"What are you doing?" Jeff asked.

"I'm busy."

"Feeding your cats doesn't qualify as being busy."

"Shouldn't you be looking for a job?" she asked with agitation.

"Shouldn't you be on your way to L Street to meet me for a drink?"

"It's the Red Door and no I shouldn't as I am busy."

"What could you of all people possibly be busy with? You quit knitting-"

"I never quit. I'm in the middle of making a sweater for Daniel-" Britta's eyes shifted to the not even half-finished cat sweater that sat in a basket in the corner of the room.

"That you haven't knitted a stitch on in almost two years. Everyone you know is either sleeping or watching Inspector Spacetime right now-"

"That is definitely not true-"

"We both know it is and we both know you're not busy."

"I can't. I need to read this book."

"Seriously? Just get the Cliff Notes."

"You know, I still haven't gotten a clear answer from you?"

"I think that I've explicitly stated that I would like to get drunk and then-"

"No, that is crystal clear. What I want to know is Have. You. Found. A. Job. Yet?"

"The thing about looking for jobs is that with the way the modern economy is and the new factor of the internet and-"

"Don't give me that bull-shit."

"Fine you want the answer?"

"Um. Dah-doy," Britta rolled her eyes.

"Then come down to L Street and I'll tell you."

"Does this mean that you have a job?"

"It means that if you want an answer, you're going to have to come to L Street."

Britta sighed, "It's the Red Door and I'll be there in ten minutes."

Troy, stunned, slowly sauntered out of his room and into the living room area where Abed and Annie were not watching Inspector Spacetime, but instead were watching Cougar Town.

"Troy, you're missing it," Abed said.

"Um, yeah," Troy said with disinterest as he sat on the couch next to Annie. He snapped out of his daze and asked, "I mean, the show or Annie's reaction to the show?"

"Annie's reaction, of course" Abed nodded.

"He likes to study the way women respond differently to jokes than men," Annie laughed.

"Ye-ah, that's probably the reason," Troy said with slight sarcasm. He sucked in air and paused for a moment; rubbing his hands together and biting his bottom lip.

Annie's eyes shifted away from Courtney Cox guzzling her wine and over to Troy, "What's wrong?"

"I met with that guy," Troy said.

"What guy?" Abed tilted his head.

"The guy who was looking for me and, ah, I need to make an important announcement tomorrow at the Study Session, like, one where everyone needs to come."

"What happened?" Annie asked. Her forehead was crinkled.

"I wanna tell everyone...together," Troy nodded and walked back into his room.

Abed's eyes widened. He got up from his chair and knocked on Troy's door. He walked into Troy's room and closed the door. "I knew this would happen at some point," Abed nodded.

Troy walked over and said as his voice cracked, "I'm sorry, man."

"It's cool," Abed nodded and did his handshake with Troy. He said with a slight sadness, "I just didn't think it would happen this fast..."

"What about the project?" Troy asked.

"We'll figure something out," Abed nodded. "You gotta do this, though. It essential to what will come later."

"Will you and Annie be okay?"

Abed nodded again.

"Well, of all the bars in Greendale, Colorado-" Jeff smirked.

"Stop trying to be cute," Britta sighed. She sat on the bar stool next to Jeff's without taking her coat off and added with sarcasm, "No track pants? Aren't I a lucky girl?"

"I'm at a bar. I wouldn't dare wear track pants to a bar. Then I might as well start wearing a wife beater and go to seedy, wood paneled sports bars during the day, which would mean I would be turning into my Uncle Ted and I promised myself at age seven that would never happen...You want a drink?"

"No. I'm withholding my own enjoyment and by extension of that your own enjoyment, until you tell me about your job-"

"I never said that I had a job-"

"If you're going to dance around this subject all night like the annoying ass that you just love to be, then I'm going to ignore you," Britta forced a smile at Jeff, then took the book out of her bag and began to read it.

"We're at a bar, with dim lighting I might add, and you're pretending to read a book just to make me think you're ignoring me?"

"I'm not pretending," Britta snapped, "This book has gotten pretty awesome."

"Oh really? Then what's happening right now in it?"

"Some old dude-"

"An old dude?" Jeff asked, amused.

"An older gentleman," Britta narrowed her eyes at Jeff, "just forced himself on Lily because he lent her money and she can't pay him back-see I'm reading it. I can read entire books and thoroughly enjoy them and stuff."

"I never said I doubted that you were reading it," Jeff said as he waived over the bartender, "I just doubted that you were actually-she'll have a martini with four olives- that you were actually busy."

"I'm busy...sometimes."

"I thought it was already established that cat related things don't-"

"Job! What's with the job related stuff in your life?" Britta interrupted as the bartender sat her martini down in front of her.

"Fine," Jeff said. He took a swig of his scotch and said, "I've found a job and-"

"You did!" Britta smiled wide. "Did you listen to me and open your own practice so you don't support corporations with tax fraud and sexual harassment vio-"

"No," Jeff interrupted, "I'm not opening my own practice."

"Well, what are you gonna do then?"

"Well, you know that Annie needs to get her record expunged and-"

"Don't remind me," Britta rolled her eyes, "The last thing I need is Annie lecturing me even more on illegal substances than she already does and once you add giving her the ability to issue people speeding tickets and the permission to carry a visible weapon then you've got-"

"And once I help her with that I'm," Jeff started to mumble, "taking a job at the Denver District Attorney's office."

"What was the last part?" Britta asked with a smirk she tried to contain from becoming a beaming smile.

"I'm going to take a job with the District Attorney's Office," Jeff said.

"Really?" Britta bit her bottom lip.

Jeff nodded.

"Okay," she nodded with a smile and picked up her book. She took a sip of her drink without taking her eyes away from the book.

"So you're not going to be all annoying about how this is such a noble thing of me to do and that I'm fighting for justice and all that kind of bull-shit? You're going to be coy about this?"

"All lawyers are the same," Britta said casually as she turned the page of her book. "They stretch the truth like silly putty and only care about squeezing every single dime out of their clients."

"All lawyers are not the same," Jeff shook his head.

"If you say so, Jeff," she shrugged and took another sip of her drink.

"I must say, I'm slightly disappointed that you didn't give me a speech about how excited I thought you would be."

"You're drunk," she let out a short laugh.

"I'm not drunk."

"Why are you taking this job?" Britta asked.

"I dunno," Jeff shrugged, "Maybe-maybe I don't want to help out 'skeezeballs,' anymore?"

Britta set her book down on the counter and looked at Jeff. With a serious expression, she leaned over to him and lightly kissed him. When she pulled away, Jeff looked at her, slightly confused. She tilted her head at him and said, "It doesn't matter what I think. Are you happy with your decision?"

"Yeah," Jeff nodded.

"Then that's awesome," she whispered with a slight smile.

"Okay, spill," Britta said as she ran after Abed in the hallway the next morning, "Why have you not decided to graduate yet?"

"Fine, I guess this would be the right scene to tell you in," Abed nodded, "Troy needed me. I couldn't leave him here and graduate without him. Plus, we're working on something important together. It's going to be big. But it's a process. Anything worth doing is a process, take Kaufman's Scynecdoche..."

Britta put her hand on his shoulder; looking at him sympathetically.

Abed looked at her hand. His eyes scanned up her arm and to her face. "I do understand that every life decision should not be-"

"Wait- I am the one therapizing, here."

"Fine, then what were you going to say?"

Britta said meekly, "I was going to say how every life decision of yours should not be made with Troy in mind and that-"

"I make decisions after careful analyzation of every possibility, like rolling a die," Abed said, "You see, Britta, sometimes the little decisions matter more than the larger ones. Sometimes, the larger ones aren't even decisions at all, maybe it's just fate? Maybe all the small discussions are what leads up to the bigger ones having a clear, definitive answer with only one logical path to take?"

"Ok-ay, I did not intend for this to get this philosophical and-"

"And the point is, there's more at work here than me just wanting to hang out with Troy at Greendale everyday," Abed nodded and added, "I have to go, I'll see you at the Study meeting later."

"It's going to be okay, right? They're going to see that I am a law abiding citizen who volunteers and may have gotten into some pretend gun problems-" Annie, dressed professionally, said as she began to panic and pace back and forth in the hallway of the courthouse.

"Annie, they're not going to care about that fake gun lecture. It's not going to be on your record. I guarantee it," Jeff, dressed in a suit, said.

"Yeah, I know, but what if someone told them or if-"

"Listen," Jeff cupped both her shoulders and said, "They're going to expunge your record. You're a beautiful, middle class, educated white woman. You could probably get away with murder," he smirked.

Annie laughed, "Okay." She smiled up at him and said, "Thanks, so much for this, Jeff."

"You're my friend, Annie, and I care about what happens to you," he smiled.

"You do?"

"Of course I do," he nodded.

Annie then hugged him tightly.

The doors to the court room opened. Jeff looked at the doors and asked, "You ready?"

"Yeah," Annie said before she let go of Jeff.

"Hellooo, everyone!" Shirley said. She walked into the study room, "I brought brow-nies!"

"Cool," Abed said, disinterested.

"Yum," Troy said glumly.

"Not the kind of I like," Britta absently said as she scanned the pages of her book.

Shirley set the plate of brownies on the table and said, "What did I miss? You all do know that I am literally in the same exact building as all of you every single day?"

"Sorry, Shirley," Abed said, "nothing's happened just yet, Troy and I have an announcement."

Shirley's face dropped, "You-you do? You both do? Ab-about what, may I ask?"

"My future," Troy said.

"Really?" Shirley asked with wide, mortified eyes.

"Guess who's going to now be able to enroll in the police academy come this January?' Jeff announced as he walked into he room.

Shirley exclaimed, "Did she get it expunged?"

"I got it expunged" Annie said with excitement as she followed Jeff into the room and started to do a victory dance.

"Sweetie, that's great," Shirley said. She went up to Annie and hugged her, "Would you like a brownie?"

"No, thanks. That's okay," Annie said.

"Shirley, just sit down," Troy said.

"Excuse me, Troy?" Shirley narrowed her eyes at him.

"I'm sorry, it's just that I have an announcement to make."

Jeff sat in his chair and said, "Go ahead."

Troy stood up and said, "I'm moving to Canada."

"Thank the Lord, it's not what I was thinking it was!" Shirley said, "Wait a minute! Canada?"

"What?" Annie asked with wide eyes.

Britta didn't respond, as she was too focused on the last remaining pages of her book.

"Yeah, Canada?" Jeff tilted his head.

"I've been recruited to play Canadian football," he looked at Annie in the eyes, "That's who that guy was. He was a Canadian Football scout."

"You wanna move to...Canada?" Annie asked. "Canada?"

Troy nodded.

"Troy, are you sure this is what you want to do?" Shirley asked.

"Totally sure," Troy nodded.

Shirley nodded back, "You promise to visit and Skype?"

"Um. Of course I will. Abed and I will be watching Inspector Spacetime over Skype, like, every night.

Shirley said with tears in her eyes, 'We're going to miss you."

"He can't move to Canada," Jeff interrupted, "What do you think, Britta?" He looked over at her.

Britta's eyes were focused on the pages of her book; she had become engrossed with the story and only had a couple of pages left. Without her eyes leaving the page, she ignored Jeff and slowly turned the page with her index finger.

As everyone argued, Britta, with an expression of complete and utter shock, slowly closed her book and quietly set it on the table.

"Britta?" Annie crinkled her forehead.

"Hey," Jeff waved his hand in front of Britta's eye-line, "Earth to Britta."

"She died. Lily died," Britta uttered. "She-she killed herself."

'That's actually debatable beca-" Abed began.

"She's a fictional character, Britta. She can't die. She never existed," Jeff said.

"She just paid off her debt. Seldon was coming to tell her how he-you know-and-and she-she died! What the absolute fuck?" Britta tilted her head, confused and bit her lip. "I-I need to go and think and stuff. Um. I'll talk to you guys later."

Britta slowly packed up her things into her bag with a dazed stare and was about to leave the room.

"Britta?" Jeff said without turning around, "Troy is moving to Canada."

Britta stopped dead before leaving the Study Room. "What?" She turned around and looked at Troy, "Why? Is this a joke?"

"What was that?" Annie looked over at Abed, "I read that book in ninth grade and it didn't have any prolific effect on me."

"Britta relates to the protagonist differently than you did," Abed replied back at Annie.

"O-kay," Jeff rolled his eyes at Britta, "Are we all at least in agreement that Troy needs to think this over?"

Everyone except Abed began to nod.

"Wait," Troy sucked on his bottom lip and looked at Jeff seriously, "This is-this is what I wanna do."

"What happened to you saying that football wasn't fun anymore?" Annie asked.

"Yeah, but..." Troy shrugged, "But neither is air-conditioning...or plumbing...or-or anything else really except watching TV with Abed and Annie." He paused as he struggled to explain. "I've talked it over with Abed and I think that it's best for me to play, like, at least one season and figure out what exactly I want to do forever and stuff. Because as much as I love you guys and Abed, I think that I need to figure out stuff for myself, by myself."

He nodded and left the Study Room; leaving the group stunned.

Sweat dripped down his forehead. His arms ached and his joints felt like they were filled with fluids. He heard cracks as twigs and leaves became crunched underneath his shoes. It was dark. So dark that he could barely see what was in front of him. Although he knew where he was going because he had done this before.

Many times before.

The sounds of the crashing of the swells from the Colorado River helped him gauge where he needed to be heading. The way back would be easier, must easier. He groaned and set down the laundry bag he was carrying on his back. He needed a break.

Once he had a break it would be easier.

The crashes became louder. The river was close. The crinkles of the leaves blowing in the wind suppressed the sounds of the river.

He wished there was another way; an easier way. However, this was the only, surefire way no one would know.

Know one would know.

No one suspected.

Step one: Drop the bag in the river.

Step two: Watch it sink; The current would take it away.

Step three: Go back to his campsite. He always camped on Fridays. It was normal.

Step four: Volunteer to trudge the river tomorrow. He always volunteered on Saturdays. No one would know. It was normal.

Step five: Go to South America to 'help people.' If something was found. He would already be out of the country.

Step six: When nothing turns up, return and go back to the States.

It was just another normal weekend for Dr. Rich Stephenson.