Five Years Later

by Amrywiol

It's been eleven years since he met her, five years since they last kissed and four and a half since he last heard from her and Jeff Winger thought he'd moved on. Then a familiar figure walked into a room.

7. Chapter 7 - Flowers In Her Hair

"The girl with flowers in her hair" is an idea I had as the title of a story literally weeks ago, but I've been unable to write a standalone to go with it - any other writers out there who have an idea are warmly welcomed to give it a go. It did however fit this chapter, so I went for it here. It's a line from "Going to California" by Led Zeppelin.

XXXXXX

In the end, Jeff didn't tell Annie he was on his way until on the morning of his departure he'd posted a picture of the Jaguar on Facebook with the caption "Road trip - putting the Jag through it's paces to visit Mark Petrocelli in Maryland #tangoandcash!" And followed it up with a private message essentially saying he'd be in the area for a week and if she had any free time it'd be cool to do lunch or something. Then he'd thrown his suitcase in the trunk, put down the sunroof, put on his sunglasses, connected his phone to the car's sound system, set the playlist to random and put the car in gear and pointed it towards the I-70.

XXXXXX

Annie saw the message while she was checking her updates over breakfast - she was surprised to see Jeff had posted it about 5AM Colorado time - and found herself puzzling over what it meant.

Is he coming all this way just to see me? Then why didn't he give me more notice? So I couldn't tell him not to come while allowing him to pretend it's no big deal if I don't drop everything and run to him, of course. This is Jeff Winger after all. She checked a few more updates then found her concentration drifting back to Jeff's message.

But what if it really is no big deal? Things change after five years. Yes, he kissed me - but that was at the end of a long evening and he's never said anything weird since or got even remotely jealous or angry about Paul - she looked across the table at her boyfriend, who looked up and smiled when he felt her watching him, then went back to reading his paper - and if Britta is to be believed he's spent pretty much the whole summer in bed with that redhead. Well, if it's no big deal for him then it's no big deal for me.

Annie decided to play it just as cool as he had. The case she was working on at the moment required her to spend several days a fortnight in DC and it so happened the coming week was one of the ones she was due to go so she didn't have to make any decisions yet.

Due in DC Wed-Fri. I'll let you know if I can arrange any free time. Love, Annie. She hesitated for a moment, replaced the second-last word with "Best wishes" and hit the Send button.

"Anything interesting, babe?" Paul said.

"Britta's posting cat videos again."

"So no, then?" He smiled at her.

Annie suddenly found herself thinking it was exactly the same smile he'd used a thousand times before to a hundred different people and a treacherous part of her memory leapt back through the years to another smile she used to see across a table. Paul doesn't have a smile that's just for me, she found herself thinking. Not like - but she shut that line of thought down before it turned dangerous.

"No, nothing."

XXXXXX

Ever since his Lexus had finally died and he'd replaced it with the Jaguar - courtesy of a grateful client who owned a dealership and let Jeff have every conceivable discount and financing deal - he'd loved his car. No seriously, he loved it.

("You look at that car the way Craig looks at a Dalmatian." Britta had said when he first drove it to Greendale.

"Bite me, Britta." But he couldn't stop smiling.

"Seriously Jeff, it's not healthy - and think of what it'll do to the environment!"

Jeff put on a pair of sunglasses and leaned back against the car door with a cocky grin on his face. "Admit it, Britta - we look good together."

"That's… not relevant.")

But even true love needs a break and after fourteen hours of driving, with one meal break and three toilet breaks and only eight hours of music stored on his phone, Jeff climbed out of the Jag in the car park of a motel just outside of Dayton and locked the door with a sigh of relief. He booked a room, deposited his suitcase and walked over to the diner next door for dinner. While he waited for his food to arrive, he looked at the messages waiting for him on his phone. He made a point of leaving Annie's until last, so he looked at the rest first - Britta snarkily hoping he'd find what he was looking for; Mel somewhat more gently saying something similar; Mark looking forward to him arriving; Craig plaintively saying he'd always wanted to do a road trip in a Jag and Jeff should have asked; and Abed forwarding a music video he thought Jeff would be interested in and which he saved for later. Then he finally gave in to temptation and read Annie's private message:

Due in DC Wed-Fri. I'll let you know if I can arrange any free time. Best wishes, Annie.

Jeff read it three times over and frowned slightly. Well, that's… almost as casual and stand-offish as the message I sent her. He also noticed she seemed to be reserving the right to contact him and not inviting him to contact her. I hope she's okay with this.

The following morning, Jeff got up at 8AM and was on the road by nine. Overnight, he'd downloaded another couple of hours worth of music for the next leg of his journey, but on a whim for the first track he played Abed's recommendation. By the time the song wound down to it's final verses, Jeff felt that Abed was sending much the same message Mel and Britta had, but just being more Abed-ish about it -

I was a-ready to die for you, baby

Doesn't mean I'm ready to stay.

What good is livin' a life you've been given

If all you do is stand in one place?

I'm on a river that winds on forever

Follow 'til I get where I'm goin'.

Maybe I'm headin' to die but I'm still gonna try

I guess I'm goin' alone.

XXXXXX

Jeff wondered for a moment if his GPS had brought him to the right house as he swept up the drive to something that was more like a small mansion than a large house. His doubts were dispelled however when he pulled up to the front door and it opened and Mark stepped out, looking tanned, healthy and every inch as though he belonged.

"Tango!"

"Cash!"

The two men embraced like old friends who had not seen each other for several years – as indeed they were.

"Nice wheels, Jeff." Mark grinned. "The law lecturer business is doing well I see."

"I'm also running a small non-profit and doing some private consulting work," Jeff said, smiling back. Enough to pay for – why hello…"

A statuesque blonde in her early twenties and wearing a wrap that barely reached past her hips had just sashayed out of the front door and linked arms with Mark. She smiled at Jeff.

"Jeff, this is my girlfriend Nataliya, she's a model."

Of course she is, Jeff thought to himself.

"Natasha dear, this is my friend Jeff that I told you about."

"Dobre' dyenn, Jeff." She said with another smile as she held out her hand, Jeff shook it, resisting the urge to kiss it.

"She's Russian," Mark said by way of explanation. "She doesn't speak much English, but we manage to communicate." This time, he really did look like the cat who had got the cream.

I bet you do, Jeff thought.

Mark tapped Jeff good naturedly on the back.

"Come on, let me show you your room and then give you the tour."

The guest room was larger and better equipped than any hotel room Jeff had ever been in, complete with en suite bathroom and balcony overlooking the swimming pool where Nataliya had retreated to work on her suntan. Jeff made a point of not staring at his friend's girlfriend – not easy, as she was only wearing the bottom half of her bikini – and then went back inside the house where Mark showed him the kitchen/breakfast room that was larger than Jeff's apartment, the lounge, dining room, private cinema, private gym and pool room with a fully equipped bar all the while keeping up an easy conversation as they caught up with each other's lives.

Is this what my life could have been like if Alan hadn't ratted me out to the State bar? Jeff thought. I was only a couple of years behind Mark on the career path and he would have taken me with him if I'd asked him to.

Then he thought about all the things he wouldn't have had in his life if that hadn't happened – Annie and Britta, Abed and Shirley and Troy, Mel and even Craig; crazy people and crazy adventures and being a teacher students looked up to and a lawyer with a choice of clients that didn't require medication by Scotch to justify defending. There's more to life than sleeping with Russian supermodels.

Damn, but I am getting old...

XXXXXX

Facebook updates -

Sunday -

(A picture of Mark and Nataliya smiling in his kitchen) - "Arrived! With Mark and his girlfriend Nataliya in their house in Chevy Chase."

Monday -

(A picture of the view from Jeff's terrace, Jeff's feet are visible on the balcony rail) - "Chillaxing at Mark's place."

(A picture of a pile of shopping bags with names like Old Navy, J. Crew, Saks.) - "Sweating my bank card in Friendship Heights."

(A picture of Jeff and Mark holding cigars in one hand and glasses in the other and grinning into the camera.) - "With Mark in Civil Cigar Lounge, get well soon Nat."

Tuesday -

(A picture of Mount Vernon, another of Jeff standing in front of a portrait of George Washington.) - "Two great men who had to change career in mid-life."

(A picture of Jeff, Mark, another man, and four stunning young women, Jeff is standing between two of them with a huge grin on his face.) - "Helping Mark entertain one of his clients - Nataliya brought along some friends for the evening, does anyone speak Russian?"

XXXXXX

Annie closed her phone. Well, it looks like he's enjoying himself at least. She turned the bedside light off and turned over to go to sleep, she had an early start in the morning for the drive to DC. Paul was still going over legal documents in his home office and would try not to disturb her when he came up.

XXXXXX

(Wednesday morning)

As always, Jeff was up first and spent an hour in Mark's private gym, for the last half of it he was joined by Nataliya, who set a blistering pace on the running machine while Jeff worked the weights. When he finished he did a couple of minutes of cool down exercises before heading up to the kitchen, Nataliya stopped at the same time and followed him up. Jeff went over to the refrigerator, took out two bottles of chilled water and passed her one.

"Spassiba," she said with a smile.

"You know I'm a professor, right?"

"Da?" she replied with a puzzled look on her face.

"One of the skills you learn as a teacher is how to separate the genuinely dumb kids from the smart ones who are trying to look dumb to avoid standing out. You're not a dumb blonde, and your English is a lot better than you're letting on. What I don't understand is why you're doing it."

She didn't move at all, and yet somehow her face changed completely. She looks like Annie when she's angry about something. Jeff suddenly thought. Anything but dumb.

"How long have you known?" She said with barely the faintest trace of an accent.

"Since Monday night, when Mark and I went to the bar and you stayed behind with a headache. The TV was on the Discovery channel when we went out and C-Span when we came back. I doubt dumb models are a major part of their audience demographic. So, why do it?"

"Can you keep a secret, Jeff?"

"Yes I can."

She smiled at him. "Will you keep a secret? For me?"

She's doing the doe eyes thing. Unfortunately for her I learned to resist that from a master practitioner.

"Your English is good. Yes, so long as it doesn't hurt Mark."

"Fair enough. The truth? Mark is a good man, he's kind to me and doesn't get angry or violent. He's also rich and enjoys buying me things and lets me live in his nice house and come and go as I want. In return, I sleep with him at home, look good on his arm when we go out and indulge his fantasy that his –" she muttered something in Russian "- sexual magnetism?" Jeff nodded, she smiled and continued. "His sexual magnetism is such that it's obvious even to a girl half his age who barely speaks English."

"And is it?"

"I can keep secrets too, Jeff."

They smiled knowingly at each other.

"I'll keep yours, on one condition," he said. She raised a questioning eyebrow. "That when you get bored and decide to move on you make the break up as gentle as possible and wait a bit before hooking up with someone younger and hotter. He's my friend after all, leave him with as much of his pride as you can."

She didn't bother to deny Jeff's prediction. "It's a deal, Jeff. I really do like him, you know."

"Deal then. Do you want anything for breakfast?"

"I'll have what you have. You eat like a model."

XXXXXX

Facebook updates -

(A picture of the Capitol.) - "Visiting the sausage factory. #Bismarck." (Comment: AnnieE - It wasn't Bismarck. F- professor. So you are following my posts after all, Jeff smiled to himself as he read the comment.)

(A picture of the entrance to a bar. Jeff is in a suit and tie, Nataliya by his side in a short, sleeveless dress the same shade of gold as her hair and her arm linked through Jeff's.) - "Mark working late in DC, asked me to keep Nat out of trouble for the evening. #luckiestguyalive."

Annie was working late in the J Edgar Hoover Building trying to extract something useful out of a mass of surveillance reports when her phone vibrated as that one came in. She rolled her eyes. Seriously, Jeff? Stereotypical mid life crisis, much? But she smiled as she put the phone down and went back to the reports.

XXXXXX

(Thursday)

Facebook updates -

(Jeff in the courtroom of the Supreme Court) - "Next time, I'll be here in my professional capacity:-)" (Comment: BrittatheTherapist: representing a pig being sued by the FAA for not having a pilot's licence?)

(Jeff in front of the Lunar lander at the National Air and Space Museum) - "This one's for JTW, aged 5." (Comment: AnnieE: Aaaaaaww!; Shirley Bennett: What she said:-))

(Jeff shaking hands with the senior Senator from Colorado) - "I voted for this guy! At a lobbying bash as a guest of Mark's."

XXXXXX

It was almost 9PM when Captain Austin (USN) wound up the multi-agency coordination committee. Annie sighed with relief as Meg called for any other business and nobody answered and then wished everyone a good evening and reminded them the next meeting would be in two weeks' time. Annie was just getting up and starting to leave when Captain Austin called her name.

"Annie?"

"Yes, Meg?"

"Good work on the data analysis." The older woman had a tired smile on her face. Annie looked puzzled.

"But I didn't find anything!"

"You did more than that - you proved there was nothing to be found. That means we can shut down a whole line of enquiry and concentrate resources on a more productive line. That's good work. Thank you and get some rest, Special Agent."

Annie almost stood to attention, though with a genuine smile on her face. "Thank you, Captain. I will."

XXXXX

As she left the building and headed to the Metro station for the ride back to her hotel, Annie switched her phone back on and proceeded to check her updates. After she saw Jeff's latest update she rolled her eyes. He's spent the whole week partying with Russian models and now schmoozing politicians. Maybe he really didn't come here to see me after all. She sighed slightly. I really have no reason to be disappointed, but -

The part of Annie that was an FBI Agent, trained to recognise patterns in seemingly random data, was shouting to be heard. She looked at her phone again, flicked back through Jeff's most recent updates, and smiled suddenly.

Monday and Tuesday he spent outside DC, but after I arrived on Wednesday he's spent his days at the Capitol, the Supreme Court and the Smithsonian - all within half an hour's walk of the Hoover Building. He's organised his time so he can drop everything and come to me if I call him. She found herself smiling suddenly as her phone lost connection as she entered the Metro.

XXXXXX

(Friday)

Facebook update -

(Picture of Jeff outside the White House) - "Scouting out future living quarters. #presidentjeff." (Comment: BrittatheTherapist - I'm moving to Canada.)

XXXXXX

It was approaching lunchtime, and Annie had finished checking her tablet was fully loaded with material to read over the weekend and essential hard copies were packed for despatch to Norfolk and had said goodbye to her DC colleagues when she saw Jeff's latest update, time stamped a couple of hours previously. She started typing immediately, refusing to allow herself to second guess what she was doing and hit send without reviewing. Then she let out the breath she'd been holding in and shivered slightly before heading out.

XXXXXX

After finishing at the White House - he hadn't gone on a tour because he didn't realise he had to pre-book - Jeff had wandered down to the Washington Monument and persuaded a park ranger to take a picture of him in front of it. He was about to post it to Facebook when his phone vibrated with an incoming message -

I've finished work for the week and I'll be having lunch in the Pavilion Café on the Mall in half an hour before heading home. It'd be nice to meet up if you can make it. Best wishes, Annie.

He checked the time, checked his pocket map of the Mall and headed back along Madison Drive, firing back a brief "on my way" as he did. As he passed the Natural History Museum he forced himself to slow down, take a few deep breaths and stroll casually into the Sculpture Garden and towards the Café. Calm down Jeff, he said to himself as his heart continued to race. You're not some fifteen year old going on his first date - you're just meeting an old friend for lunch. Nothing more than that.

(Yeah, right.)

Then he entered the café and looked around for a moment and there she was, sitting at a table reading a menu. She was wearing a sleeveless white dress with a yellow flower pattern on it and sunglasses perched high on her forehead. As Jeff walked towards her with his heart in his mouth, a petrified expression on his face and his legs trembling so badly he was terrified he'd collapse on the spot, she looked up. As she saw him approach, he saw her stand up out of her chair with the fluid grace and elegance of the mermaid he'd once compared her to and a cool, sophisticated smile spread across her face as she watched him approach.

XXXXXX

Annie had arrived ten minutes before Jeff. She'd asked the waitress for a table for two, a glass of iced water and a menu. As she sat down, she took her phone out again and, with slightly trembling hands, read Jeff's reply once again and once again failed to extract any clue from those three words as to how far away he was or how long he would take to get there. She felt her foot twitch nervously under the table, and furiously compelled it to stop. Stop that, Annie! You're not a teenager in awe of the coolest guy in school anymore - Jeff is just a friend now and you are going to have a pleasant lunch, as friends do. Nothing freaky is going to happen, you're going to behave like mature adults who are comfortable with each other, nothing more.

(Yeah, right.)

She picked up the menu and forced herself to try and read it, but she was spending so much energy stopping her hands from trembling that she couldn't make out a word. Giving up, she put the menu down and looked around. And there he was, in a glowing white shirt with sleeves rolled up past his elbows, cream coloured slacks and a distressed leather manbag bouncing off his hip walking towards her with the patented Winger swagger and cocky grin as though he knew damn well he was the best looking man in the room (he is, teenage Annie said in the back of her head). Annie saw a group of office girls sitting by the entrance go quiet and then giggle behind their hands as he walked past them and their eyes started to track him, and then she shot out of her seat as though electrocuted and a rictus grin spread across her face as his own smile changed from cocky into the much softer smile he'd always reserved for her.

"Hi Jeff, so you made it."

"As if I'd miss it, hi Annie." He smiled again and leaned forward. They hugged, and briefly kissed each other on the cheek. Annie couldn't quite contain a satisfied smile as she saw the faces of the office girls fall slightly as they stopped watching and went back to their conversation. They took their seats opposite each other across the table.

"So," said Jeff, gesturing at Annie's outfit. "Dress-down Friday in the Hoover Building?"

Annie rolled her eyes and smiled at him. "It's August in DC Jeff, and the humidity's insane. There's no way I'm wearing a suit in this weather."

And just as easily as that they were themselves again, swapping friendly banter and meeting each other's eyes with soft smiles in the comfortable silences and barely noticing as the rest of the world slipped out of focus. Food came and went, as did coffee. A bill arrived and was settled. Long afterwards, when asked to recall that lunch Jeff would not be able to say much of what they had talked about. Instead, he would recall the way her lightly tanned skin shone golden in the afternoon light, the way her hair would dance when she moved her head, the way a breeze would bring him a sudden scent of her perfume. (And, because he is a man and man is evil, the way her cleavage bounced when she laughed at a joke. Jeff made sure to tell a lot of jokes.)

And finally, as they were leaving the café -

"So Jeff, what were you planning to do for the rest of the afternoon?"

"Well, if you hadn't texted me I would have walked down to the Lincoln Memorial to take a few more pictures, I've still got plenty of time to do that."

"Then let's do that." Annie smiled up at him, and threaded her arm through his.

"Are you sure, Annie? Don't you have to be somewhere?" Jeff looked like he hated himself for saying that. Annie thought that if she wasn't on her way out of DC in oh, the next half hour at most, she'd get stuck in rush hour traffic and it would add at least an hour to her drive back to Norfolk.

"No," she said. "I'm free for the rest of the day and Paul isn't expecting me back at any particular time. Let's walk."

So, they walked. Down the Mall, back towards the Washington Monument, where Annie bought ice cream for them both. Jeff chuckled as Annie got some on the end of her nose, then he wiped it off with the edge of his thumb. She rolled her eyes, but smiled and let him. Annie laughed as he jumped backwards and squealed like a girl as a dollop of melting ice cream fell off his cone and threatened to land on his shirt. ("It's a Paul Smith shirt, Annie." He said, as though that explained everything.)

As they were about to start the long walk down the length of the reflecting pool, they heard a cheery voice call out -

"Flowers for your lady friend, sir?" Jeff went still for a moment as a thought that had been nagging at him since he first sat down for lunch came to the surface. She looks absolutely exhausted. He thought. What's the FBI making her do? My Annie always took on more than her fair share of burdens, but she knew how to smile brightly enough to light up a room too. I want that Annie back.

"Close your eyes, Annie."

"What? Don't be ridiculous, Jeff!"

"Please, Annie just for a couple of minutes?"

She sighed. "This had better not be a trick, Jeff." She shut her eyes and, feeling slightly foolish, forced herself to relax and listen to the sounds around her. After what seemed like an age but was probably only a minute or so she heard Jeff come back.

"Keep still, and keep you eyes closed," he said. Rather to her surprise, she felt his hands start to play with her hair, he seemed to be arranging it somehow.

"Jeff - what is going on?"

"Since before I've known you," he said. "You've taken on the burdens on the world. First there was high school, drugs and rehab then carrying a bunch of idle, crazy misfits through the worst college in the state, and then protecting the whole country as a badass FBI agent - I don't know what they're doing to you, but you looked exhausted when I first saw you. You've always worked harder, planned more thoroughly, cared more, than anybody I've ever known."

He stepped away from her. "Open your eyes, and smile."

She opened her eyes, she hadn't intended to smile but one look at the hopeful expression on Jeff's face and she felt her mouth curl upwards at the corners - it's difficult not to smile at him when he looks at me like that, she thought. He lifted his camera up, snapped a picture and smiled back. "Just for a few hours, I want you to put all that aside and be the girl with flowers in her hair, dancing barefoot in the grass."

"I'm not taking my shoes off Jeff, people exercise their dogs here - oh…" He'd turned the camera around so the display screen was visible. It was a simple shot, head and shoulders only, with a small bunch of white carnations tucked in her hair over her right ear and with a soft, natural smile on her face. I look… happy. She thought to herself. Damn you Winger, I really didn't want you to do this to me again. I really did just want us to be friends.

"What are we doing, Jeff?" She said instead. "This -" pointing at the camera display "- isn't what platonic best friends do."

Jeff had a brief expression of panic on his face, as though afraid he'd taken things too far again - the last time he'd seen an expression like the one on Annie's face was the last time they met, just after she pulled away from the kiss and just before she ran away. Please, not again -

"Does it have to be anything, Annie?" He said with a note of desperation in his voice. "Can't it just be two people who care about each other enjoying some time in each other's company before they go their separate ways again? Does it need any more labelling than that?"

"This is me, Jeff - you know I have to have everything labelled and organised!"

"Annie Edison has to, but what about the girl with flowers in her hair?" Jeff, in his desperation, had played his last card - an appeal to the Annie he used to know, the girl who collected stuffed toys and had posters of teen heartthrobs on her bedroom wall, the girl who dreamed about being loved, who fantasised about being married. The girl who, despite being the smartest person he knew, still somehow thought Jeff Winger was a man worth getting close to. Now I'll see how much of her is left, he thought to himself.

And because he looked so nervous and hopeful, and because he was still Jeff Winger and she was still Annie Edison, she allowed herself to melt, a little. It's not like you're likely to see him again any time soon. You can afford to live inside a dream for an hour or two. "I think… that that girl would like to live in the moment for a while." She smiled up at him. This is a really bad idea. She knew she should regret it, she really did, but when she looked at the relieved smile on his face she just couldn't bring herself to.

This time, when they turned and resumed their walk to the Lincoln Memorial, instead of looping her arm through his she took hold of his hand - Jeff's eyes went wide when this happened, but then he looked down at her and smiled the soft smile only Annie ever saw before returning the grip.

"So Jeff," she said. "When did Mr Too-Cool-To-Care become a manic pixie dream girl?"

"I listened to 'Going to California' about a dozen times on the drive over here. It's possible it may have affected my judgement."

XXXXXX

And so they walked down to the Lincoln Memorial together. Jeff took a few more pictures of Annie, she took a couple of him, and an elderly couple from Nebraska who thought they looked adorable together took a picture of the two of them with the reflecting pool on their left and the Washington Monument in the background - neither Jeff nor Annie corrected their happy assumption and Jeff took a picture of the Nebraskans in return.

When they reached the memorial they rested for a moment sitting side by side on the steps, shoulders brushing each other and looking back the length of the Mall. Jeff resisted the temptation to put his arm around her, instead pulling a bottle of water out of his manbag and handing it to her. She drank a little less than half of it, smiled her thanks and passed it back. Jeff drank the rest of it, finding himself suddenly intensely aware of the faint taste of lipstick on the neck of the bottle. Don't even think it! He said wryly to himself.

After they finished at the Memorial - they took a few more photos, Annie crouching down and chuckling at Jeff's vanity as he insisted on one with him in the foreground and Lincoln in the background, making it look like they were side to side, with Jeff the taller - they turned away and headed slowly back to the city in search of a Metro station.

"Jeff?"

"Yes, Annie?"

Can you do me a favour?"

He smiled warmly. "For you? Anything."

She hesitated for a moment. "Please don't post any pictures with me in them on Facebook or - well, anywhere."

"Sure, but why?"

She sighed. "It's complicated, Jeff -"

He actually stopped dead in surprise and gaped at her with a smile forming on his face. "Do we need to find a men's room?"

She looked baffled for a moment, then a blush and a smile crossed her face as she remembered. "Okay - so maybe relationships are more complicated than I thought they were when I was twenty." She acknowledged ruefully. "But - please, Jeff?" She can still do the eye thing! Jeff thought to himself, smiling inwardly as he watched her look at him in the way he remembered so well. Any desire he may have had to turn her down melted away.

"Paul?" He asked, softly.

She nodded. "Don't get me wrong - he doesn't jealously stalk my newsfeed or anything like that. It's just an argument we don't need to have." Paul hasn't been happy we're still friends since I told him about the Tranny Dance. I really don't need to set him off again.

"Of course, Annie."

Her eyes returned to normal size, as though their work was done. "Thanks Jeff," she smiled again, still remembering that argument long ago and the way it ended. "So, what happened with Rich?" She said teasingly.

"Oh, he's married now. He got a big job with Doctors Without Borders and moved to New York."

"Married?" Annie sounded slightly disappointed.

"Yes, his husband's a very nice man."

"That's - what?" She turned to face him, Jeff had a big smirk on his face.

"Yep - he came out when he applied for the DWB job. It turns out the reason why he turned you down back then wasn't because you were too young, but because you had - have - boobs." He said, pointing at the articles in question with another smile on his face.

Annie suddenly had a smile of her own on her face. "Didn't you once spend all night at his apartment getting him to show you how he was so 'awesome'?" She made airquote gestures.

"Not you too," Jeff shuddered good-naturedly. "Britta wouldn't stop laughing for a week when she remembered that - it got so bad I wished Pierce was there."

XXXXXX

Well -" Jeff said.

Well -" Annie said. They had arrived at the Metro station, and were hesitating as though they could delay returning to the real world. All of a sudden, Annie dived into her bag and pulled something out.

"Pass me your camera, Jeff." He did, with a somewhat baffled expression on his face. "Hold this," he found himself holding a safety pin. Annie reached up and carefully took one of the carnations out of her hair, reclaimed the safety pin and fastened the flower to the front of Jeff's shirt. Then she stood back a couple of paces and took a picture.

"There - " she said, handing the camera back with a sad smile on her face. "Something to remember the girl with flowers in her hair by."

I don't need a picture for that. "Thanks, Annie." He said, with a sad smile of his own on his face.

She closed in for a tight hug - somewhat awkwardly, to avoid crushing the flower on his chest - then pulled away again out of arm's reach before either of them could do something foolish. "I've really got to go now - it was good to catch up again, 'bye Jeff."

"Goodbye, Annie." But she was already turning and, with a brief wave, disappeared into the crowd.

XXXXXX

There won't be an update next weekend because of Christmas, but there'll be another one at the same time next week. Have a great holiday everyone:-)

And -

Natasha - standard Russian diminutive of Nataliya. She doesn't have two first names.

Dobre'dyenn - Hello, good day.

Spassiba - thank you.