September 2012

When the fall semester rolls around, the group realize their final year means they have to do something they rarely do: study. Annie is tougher than usual, demanding a strict timetable of revision combined with 90 second study breaks. Everyone groans at her focus, Jeff included, but he also thinks it's kind of cute.

Since last month, things had been semi-awkward between himself and Annie, and hanging out together had fallen slightly by the wayside. While their habit of talking and texting had not changed - maybe it had lessened slightly - there was still an awareness between them that giving each other space was probably for the best.

But he's kind of missed her, if he lets himself think about it – and thoughts of their kiss still lingered like a thick dust – but he reasons that you don't go from seeing someone daily to very little contact and not have some residual opinions on the matter. It's an adjustment period.

Soon though, the summer feels like a distant dream and with the flurry of school activity, new classes and group adventures, the dust settles and everything feels normal.

Well, as normal as life at Greendale can be.

After his last class of a pretty long day - he's been on campus since before nine that morning - Jeff's pretty eager to head home for a drink and maybe chill out in front of the TV. He heads across the quad to his car, powered by thoughts of an iced cold beer followed by a much-needed nap, when Annie appears beside him. She's reading from a huge folder as she walks, talking rapidly to herself over and over like she's memorizing something, and barely drawing breath.

It takes Jeff a minute to realize she has no idea he's even there which actually, stupidly, stings a little.

He walks alongside her for a moment, listening to her random babble, before waving a hand in front of her face. She swats it away aimlessly, not even looking away from whatever she's reading.

"Annie? Annie." He leans toward her ear and shouts, "ANNIE!"

She stumbles briefly, clutching at the folder desperately, before righting herself. "Oh, hi Jeff."

Barely giving him a second glance she continues on her mindless ramble, her speed quickening somehow, and Jeff tugs on her arm to pull her to a stop, pretty concerned by her frazzled state.

"Whoa," he says. "Slow down."

"There's no time to slow down, Jeff. No time at all."

"Okay, I'm not practiced in the art of crazy. You'll have to talk me through it."

Annie looks at him as though he's a fly she can't wait to swat. "Oh, I guess I imagined that time you attacked our table with an axe, huh? If that's not crazy I don't know what is."

He grins at that. "While you make very good points, Miss Edison, your argument has one major flaw."

"Oh, what's that?"

"I was under the influence of monkey gas, therefore I wasn't truly crazy."

She rolls her eyes at him, the way she always does when he tries to bullshit his way out of something. "Psssh. Whatever you say, Mr Winger."

"You, on the other hand, are clearly a little…." He winds his finger in a circular motion by his temple.

She gasps. "I am not crazy!"

Jeff lets his eyes trail the length of her body, lingering in a few places here and there. "Yeah, all that talking to yourself and the wrongly buttoned cardigan, and the pencils in your hair completely disproves your theory. You even have a post-it stuck to your skirt."

"What?" She glances down and squeaks at the sight of the yellow sticker on the side of her skirt, peeling it away and scrunching it in a tight fist. She stares confusedly at a pencil Jeff removes from her hair, like she can't even remember how it got there in the first place, and her shoulders slouch with a heavy sigh.

"I'm freaking out aren't I?" she asks, cringing and closing her eyes for a moment.

"Just a little." He smiles softly. "What's wrong?"

"It's the LSATs! They're only a month away, Jeff. And then I need to finish my personal statement, as well as update my résumé and this is all on top of regular deadlines! I can't even…what am I supposed to do?"

Jeff snatches the folder out of her hands, ignoring the squeak of protest, and tucks it under his arm. "You study and then have a break, preferably longer than 90 seconds. Come on. Let's go get a drink."

Annie makes a lunge for the folder but Jeff launches it high above his head. "Jeff! Give it back."

"Nuh-uh. Noooo."

She jumps up, stretching for his hand, but Jeff is too tall and she's too small and the whole scene is so ridiculous he laughs. Annie stops, breathless, and folds her arms tight across her chest before a smile teases her lips and inches wide.

"Okay, point proved. You're tall, I'm not. Well done. Now can I have my folder back, please?"

Her eyelashes flutter and damn, she's good at this.

"Nope, Disney face doesn't work on me anymore. I spent six days this summer watching every Disney film known to man. I'm immune. Seriously, you could sing right now and all the animals could crawl out from the forest to join you and it would have no effect on me whatsoever."

She laughs. "Oh, is that right? I didn't realize my face had such an effect on you. I should have used my power more often."

"I think you used it plenty, Annie."

"Oh no. I didn't get my own way nearly as much as I wanted."

He smirks. "Really?"

"Mmm hmm." She nods, a cheeky smile grazing her face. "Right, well, clearly I have to try a new tactic."

"You do realize I could just pick you up and put you in my pocket, right?"

Her eyes gleam wild, and she fastens her hands on her hips like she means business now. "Are you really going to mess with me?"

"Maybe," Jeff says with a shrug. "If it will get you to calm down and stop thinking about the LSATs, sure."

She eyes him thoughtfully, one finger tapping her chin, before she shrugs off her backpack. Jeff follows her with a frown as she circles his body like prey and he's clueless to her intentions until he feels her arms around his neck as she tackles him from behind and jumps on his back.

"What the hell…?"

Annie Edison is climbing him like a tree.

Her legs tighten around his waist as she stretches for the lengthy branch of his arm high in the air. Jeff's heart quickens at all this close proximity and he leans forward in attempt to get her off – as though she was a cat – but she clamps her thighs tighter. Jeff instinctively grabs her leg to pry it off and as they wrestle he realizes how they must look and she does too and soon they're vibrating with laughter that he feels all the way through his chest.

"A-ha! Got it!"

Annie clutches the folder in her hands like a prize, sliding down his back to the ground, and straightens her clothes.

"That was…." He shakes his head, still snickering. "Impressive."

She smiles and bows, a little breathless still. "Thanks!"

"Doesn't mean I can't do this again." Once more he tugs the folder out of her grasp, her grip so tight he pulls her with it and she stumbles into his chest, nose first.

"Ow!" She rubs and clutches at her nose and her voice is close to whiny when she says, "Jeff, I need to study!"

"You need to chill out. It's September. You shouldn't be this stressed at the start of semester. You'll burn yourself out if you're not careful."

Annie picks up her backpack with a heavy sigh. "I know but it's a month till the LSATs and I need – no, I want - to pass. I feel like I've found something that finally fits me, you know?"

He nods because boy, does he know that feeling.

"Annie, you'll pass. Jesus, you're already a better lawyer than half the guys at my old firm and you haven't even been to Law School yet. Trust me."

"Really?" she asks, and the doubt in her voice genuinely surprises him.

"Yes." He holds her gaze until he sees the acknowledgment in her eyes and the smile on her lips. "Now, how about that drink? I'll even buy you one of those sugary cherry cokes you like so much, you know, because I'm nice like that."

She smiles and links her arm through his, resting her cheek against his upper arm as they walk, and Jeff suddenly feels happy and kind of proud that he managed to calm her down.

"What about the threat of diabetes you're always warning me about?"

"Well, you can worry about that and this…" He wiggles her folder. "Tomorrow. Deal?"

"Deal."

A week later the group go bowling to celebrate Britta acing her first Psych test of the semester, well, her first test ever. "I got 75 guys, a 75! Does this mean I'm Annie now?"

As they pile into Shirley's minivan, Abed starts a lengthy discussion about TV tropes and tells them that a sports episode usually results in a man facing humiliation when a woman beats them at a game. It's not long before he demands a male/female pairing policy, and by the time Shirley pulls into the parking lot at Greendale's Bowling Alley twenty minutes later, Shirley is paired with Troy, "Because they never have storylines together," Annie is with Abed and Britta with Jeff.

"What about me?" Pierce asks from the back of the minivan.

Abed blinks at him. "Oh, you're like Chandler in Friends. You're a dropper. You can sit one out."

"I'd never drop my balls, A-bed." The group all groan in varying levels of disgust. "What?" he asks with a shrug. "It came up organically."

Jeff really isn't a bowling kind of guy and once inside, he immediately regrets his decision to join the group outing when he eyes the bowling shoes that have graced a million other feet.

"What a surprise…" Annie says, smiling and shaking her head at the sight of him holding the bowling shoes in a disgusted pinch.

"Annie, these are not worthy enough for my perfect feet."

She rolls her eyes. "You're just worried about how you'll look without your designer boots on. Look around, Jeff. We're all wearing the same. No one cares. Let loose. Loosey goosey," she says, flapping her arms and twisting her hips in a little jig that shouldn't be sexy but totally is.

It's like she can read his damn mind.

"I can think of much better ways to let loose than stick my feet into stinky clown shoes." He sniffs the shoes again and pulls away sharply, gagging a little. "Nope. I can't do it."

"More like won't do it because you're afraid Britta will beat you."

He scoffs. "She can try but she will fail."

"Prove it."

The fire in her eyes and determined stance of her hands on her hips is a kick to his system.

"Oh, I can rise to the challenge, Annie. You'll see."

"I look forward to it," she says with finality and a flirty little smile.

Her hair swirls as she spins and prances over to Abed, grasping his hand to lead him to one of the free lanes. Jeff's jaw clenches at that and he forces the shoes on with a grimace and oh my God did she do that on purpose because that totally worked. He joins Britta as she awkwardly picks up a bowling ball and nearly drops it. Jeff bats Annie a challenging smile and the little minx throws it back and just like that, this game is on.

Although Abed bemoans the lack of an appropriate soundtrack - cheesy disco music is all wrong for the atmosphere he's trying to achieve, apparently - everyone is pretty competitive and both Annie and Shirley prove his theory correct, although neither Troy nor Abed look particularly humiliated by their loss. Britta, on the other hand, fails miserably and every time her ball rolls off to the side and she squawks at the injustice of it all, Jeff and Annie's gazes meet and clash, his smug and hers a cheeky smile.

After they've finished their first game and Shirley and Troy have returned with trays of cheese nachos and a round of drinks, Abed draws the fun to a halt.

"Wait," he says. "It's time to switch up these pairings. Shirley you're with Pierce, Britta with Troy, Annie with Jeff. Oh, and instead of playing against each other, I want to see teamwork. Let's do this people."

"Abed, sweetie," Britta says softly, rubbing his arm. "You're not actually a director."

"I know," he says to her face and then mumbles low, "That's what you think," when she turns away.

"Abed!" Annie huffs. "Why are you changing the rules now?"

"Just experimenting with the plot."

Jeff bumps Annie's shoulders. "Hey, why so annoyed? Now you don't have to lose…to me."

"I'm annoyed because I didn't get the chance to beat you."

"As if that would ever happen, Annie. Come on."

She tilts her head. "Huh. I guess you've forgotten about me kicking your ass at that game on your Xbox…"

He stifles a grin and shrugs. "Beginners luck."

She squares her jaw and starts mouthing with her hands. "You speak but all I hear is blah blah arrogant blah."

Jeff chuckles, holding her gaze all fiery and intense and he's kicked by a surge of arousal and how hot she looks when she's all forceful and fighting for her cause.

"Why don't we pause this for another time and channel our competitiveness to beat those guys." He points to their friends changing their score cards. "Come on Annie, you can almost taste the victory…"

Her eyes twinkle in the low light as she sizes him up. "Okay," she concedes after a long moment. "But this isn't over. I demand a rematch and I'll show you how much it wasn't beginners luck!"

"I look forward to it."

Annie bounces over to the score screen to add her name. "Oooh, we should have our own handshake or fist bump every time we strike!"

"Let's win first and figure out how to celebrate later."

Six frames in, Jeff and Annie are leading, with Shirley and Pierce second. Troy and Britta bicker and bond over their lack of bowling skill, while Abed sits on a plastic seat watching everything with what looks like absolute content. Every time either one of them gets a strike Annie leaps, punching air, and bounces excitedly on foot and Jeff finds himself swept away by her excitement, fisting the air and grinning like an idiot.

By the end of the eighth frame, Annie notices him staring a bit longer than necessary and eyes him nervously. "What?" Her hand hovers a little hesitantly against her cheek. "Do I have something on my face?"

"No, it's just nice seeing you relaxed and having fun."

"Hey! I can be fun."

"I know. It's just you've been so stressed recently I was starting to worry. I guess I'm happy seeing you happy." His eyes snap shut for a second. "Oh God, that was cheesy. Kill me, just kill me now."

Seriously, why wasn't the ground opening up and swallowing him whole?

Annie laughs and bumps his arm, and the gesture makes him feel less like a bumbling idiot, if only for a moment.

"No it wasn't, it was lovely. You used your words." His eyebrows raise at that because that goes back to a whole other issue, and Annie flushes, adding, "I like seeing you like this too. When you loosen up and stop caring what people think of you, we kick everyone's butt."

"Yeah, we make a pretty good team."

"Like a perfect duet?"

"Abso-fucking-lutely," he says, his grin as wicked as it's ever been.

While most people treat their bodies like trash, Jeff treats his like a temple. Intake of scotch aside, he keeps his calories controlled, eats five fruits and vegetables per day, and works out daily - religiously even. So when he wakes up one morning with a stuffed nose, wheezing chest and scratchy throat, he can't help but think life just isn't fair.

He's shivery and hot, can barely lift his head from the pillow and every muscle in him aches, but he knows the group have a diorama to finish, so he forces himself out of bed. Arriving in the study room an hour or so later, Jeff slumps wearily, unable to stop the descent of his head to the table and he has a fleeting, ridiculous wish for his mom.

What is he, five?

"Jeff, are you okay?"

He rolls his head sideways but even that hurts so he groans a little. "No, Annie, I feel like the crap of crap on crap. I blame you for this."

"Me?" she gasps. "Why? I've not been sick."

"You made me wear those stupid smelly bowling shoes last week. It was the shoes. I caught something from the shoes."

She snaps her arms across her chest. "Oh, don't be so ridiculous."

He groans and sneezes loudly, making Shirley jump in her seat.

"Oh Jeffrey!" she says, in a sweet motherly tone. "You should go home pumpkin. Get some rest."

Pierce just rolls his eyes. "Real men don't get sick, Winger."

"Hmm." Britta leans back in her chair, folding her arms slowly as she studies him. "This is probably another excuse to get out of helping with the diorama."

He mumbles obscenities into the desk.

"Well, if you're really sick, you should go home but if you're lying, I hope you choke on a pretzel."

"I don't eat pretzels, Britta." His voice is gravely, nose blocked, and he has to close his eyes against the brightness of the harsh study room lights.

"Well, I'll buy you one and then you can choke on it."

Annie gasps. "Britta!"

"Oh come on. He's done this before. Don't you remember that lie he told to get out of helping you move?"

"Oh, yeah." Annie's quiet now, frowning at the table. "I forgot about that."

"Hey! I said I was sorry for -" His sentence trails off into huge racking coughs that make the muscles running down his sides twinge and ache. When he's finished he wipes his palms down his jeans and makes a mental note to buy tissues.

The group stares at him with wrinkled faces of disgust, all of their chairs now pushed far from the table.

"Yeah…" Troy says. "He's sick."

With a low and drawn out moan, Jeff presses his cheek back on the table, closing his eyes from the blinding lights again. He's pretty sure they're getting brighter somehow. He's about to complain when he feels a soft cooling palm against his forehead and opens one eye to see Annie leaning across the table.

"Jeff, go home, you've got a temperature." She eases back into her seat and starts digging around in her backpack, pulling out a small bottle of hand sanitizer. "I don't want your germs, not with the tests coming up. I need to be healthy and on my A-game."

"An-nie!" Shirley gasps in shock and maybe a little disappointment.

"Obviously I want Jeff to get better too…" Annie adds hurriedly, flushing slightly. "Make sure you drink plenty of fluids."

Abed's eyes widen then. "Hawkeye is sick and Hot Lips is a nurse. It just writes itself."

"A-bed, why are you talking about M*A*S*H? Is that still on the air?" Pierce glances around the table. "I mean, of course it's still on the air, I knew that."

"It's an on-going theme we have at the newspaper. Jeff is Hawkeye, Annie is Hot Lips."

"You guys are still on the newspaper?" Shirley frowns. "You never mention it."

"It's because there's no relevance to our usual storylines. Now, back to Hot Lips…"

Annie toys with her pen. "Abed, I'm not Hot Lips."

Hmm. Jeff heartily objects to that statement. He could prove otherwise in court too. He'll just need Annie for a personal in-depth demonstration…no, stop it…Oh what the hell, he's sick, he'll let himself have this one.

"No, she is not," Britta says firmly, with a flap of her arms that narrowly miss his head. "That is so sexist, talk about the degradation of -"

The group groans and Britta scowls and pouts sourly as she slumps back in her seat.

Abed points one finger ceiling-bound. "I need to include this in the Community College Chronicles, although I couldn't predict this so it will be a week late. Spoiler alert."

Jeff sneezes and sniffs against his knuckles. "I'm glad my sickness is providing you with writing material, Abed."

"Me too, Jeff. Me too."

Later Jeff is sprawled in bed, sheets discarded in a lumpy pile where he'd kicked them in frustration, his shirt on the floor and a sheen of sweat on his torso. He considers going to the pharmacy but he's struggling to stand and everything is sort of pulsing in his head, and he has to beat the thought that he kind of wishes he had someone to go for him. He supposes he could call, they wouldn't mind. He is God-like and the group practically worship the ground he walks on.

No. He needs to pull himself together. He doesn't need anyone. He's Jeff Winger, lone wolf.

Just as he wonders if it's possible to burst a blood vessel by blowing your nose, there's a knock at the door. He's afraid to answer it, worried that Troy and Abed are out there dressed like Doctors and he just can't be bothered today. He can't be bothered on the best of days, either, but that's neither here nor there.

Still, he rolls out of bed, mindful of the infection pulsing behind his ears and swaying his balance, and pads slowly to the door. In his daze he forgets to check the peephole and blinks in surprise when he opens the door to find Annie gazing up at him with a bright efficient smile.

"Annie?" He coughs and splutters into his fist and holy crap, he feels like shit.

Her eyes drop to his chest, briefly, and that action alone perks Jeff more than she'll ever know. Annie walks inside, dumping her purse and carrier bag on the floor. She pauses for a moment and seems to take a deep breath before her hands settle on the buttons of her coat, strangely closed all the way to her neck.

When she unbuttons finally and hooks it over the coat rack, Jeff thinks he might pass out and he can't blame the fever. Not now. Not with...this...

"Whaaaat…"

Annie bounces on feet and looks at him with nervous eyes. "Too much?" she asks, wincing a little.

Jeff shakes his head almost robotically, eyes trailing the short white dress unbuttoned to her cleavage, and he's honestly having trouble even thinking right now. "Um…"

"Oh wait, I forgot!" She bends over to rifle through her purse and holy shit she's wiggling her perfect ass in front of him and Jeff is aware that if he wasn't sick right now, he would probably ravish her, just rip off the outfit and throw her down and just go for it. Hundred percent.

From her purse Annie pulls out a little white hat with a red cross on the front and settles it on her head. "Abed said this would make it authentic," she says, like that makes all the difference.

"Abed put you up to this?"

My god she was confusing him – wanting to forget their kiss last month and now turning up at his apartment dressed like this... though, honestly, Annie Edison can confuse him all she likes, anytime she wants, over and over…

Annie nods. "After study group he got really into the idea of filming a hospital scene so I've been playing Doctors and Nurses all afternoon."

"Really?" He smirks.

Her cheeks flood with color. "Oh, hush. Not like that! It was professional. Even Britta got dragged into it, although she blathered on about reinforced gender roles and demanded to be a Doctor, so Troy was the other nurse." She giggles at the memory. "But I was coming to check on you anyway and Abed said that I should come like this, even though it was a cliché, and I thought, what the hell. So I didn't bother changing."

As she starts fussing with the hem of her dress, Jeff wonders if he should buy Abed a gift. Maybe a new box set of DVDs or a signed poster of his favorite actor…anything to show his appreciation.

"Well, I'm…speechless," he says.

Annie beams and nods in accomplishment and Jeff momentarily forgets that he feels like trash.

"I'm not Hot Lips but will Nurse Edison do?" she says with a laugh.

Jeff smiles wide. "She'll more than do."

Her gaze flutters quickly to the carrier bag at her feet, suddenly remembering the real reason why she's there, and she rifles through it. "I wasn't sure of your diagnosis so I picked up painkillers, decongestants, cough syrup and tissues. They're even the balm ones so they'll be softer on your nose. Oh, and I know you say orange juice has too much sugar but you need your vitamin C." She pulls out a plastic container. "Shirley made you chicken soup too."

"I have the best friends," Jeff says, shaking his head a little, though he immediately regrets it as he sways slightly.

"Nice to hear you admit it." She reaches up on tiptoes to rest the back of her hand against his forehead. "Right, let's get you to bed, mister."

Jeff groans. "Annie, you can't say things like that to me, dressed like that, when I'm feeling this ill."

"Why not?"

"Because I've already got a fever and if I get any hotter, you might actually kill me."

Her eyes widen. "Jeff!"

"What? I can't help it. I'm delirious with infection."

She rolls her eyes and pushes him into his bedroom, her soft hands cool against his burning skin makes him shiver slightly. He settles on the bed as she wanders into his bathroom, returning a moment later with a wet washcloth to fold against his forehead.

"Mmm. That's nice."

"Okay, Shirley," she teases.

"I'd think of some clever retort but I'm too sick."

"Don't worry. You're secret's safe with me."

She wanders off into the living room, returns with the carrier bag and starts to line up his medicines on the bedside table, opening the box of tissues so they're ready when he needs them.

"Annie?" he asks, and she hums her response. "Why are you here?"

"Isn't that obvious?" she says.

"I meant, why are you really here?"

She sighs then. "Well, I felt really guilty for what I said earlier, you know, getting you to leave because I didn't want to get sick. It was selfish of me and I'm sorry."

"Hey, self-preservation isn't selfish." She looks at him with narrowed eyes and a "Yeah right!" expression and Jeff smiles. "Okay, okay, but I don't hold it against you. You've got a lot going on, I get it."

"I'm glad, though I am really sorry."

"And what about the outfit?" he asks quietly, because he has to at this point. He has to know. "Why did you wear that?"

Annie twists her hands together and she opens and closes her mouth a couple of times before committing to an answer. "Yeah, I, uh...I just thought it might make you feel better." She cringes at that, face flushed. "Sorry, I know that doesn't sound too good on my part after everything I said and I genuinely only realized the implications as I was waiting for you to answer your door and -"

He laughs, though he thinks she might be lying; Annie's not naive to what her nurse outfit would do to a straight, virile horny man such as himself and it's obvious how much he's attracted to her.

"Hey, it's okay, it did make me feel better so, mission accomplished."

Meeting his smile she hovers by the side of the mattress, her fingers toying with the sheet, hesitation biting her shiny lower lip. "I just…I also came because I know how lonely it is when you're sick and you just want someone to take care of you, no matter how strong you are. We all need someone to look after us sometimes, even you Jeff Winger."

Jeff feels warm for reasons beyond his fever now and he catches her wrist as she turns away, feels the flutter of her pulse. "You're amazing, Annie. Thank you."

Her wide smile is all he sees before he closes his eyes.