It was difficult for Annie to believe they were just a few blocks from the expensive beachfront apartment where they were staying. The land down the coast from Shirley's condo and on the bay shore behind the building was set aside as a nature preserve, leaving an expanse of dense woodland and tidal creeks across the street from crowded neighborhoods. Abed had been right: the tangle of shrubs and palm trees that surrounded the little trail they were following would make a perfect backdrop for a scene set in the Jurassic. At the moment, however, with their co-star still at sea, the swamp only had to pass for the eighteenth century.
"This way, Geneva," Abed called from further down the path. "And have the quantum spanner ready. The timeline may depend on those pirates escaping the navy's trap, but that doesn't mean we can trust them. If they manage to steal future technology, history could get much more topsy-turvy than it already has."
Neither of them had spoken about their improvisations in the movie rehearsal the previous evening. Annie was still worried about making things awkward, but Abed had invited her to join him scouting for filming locations without any obvious sign that anything was off. Annie was relieved that they could go back to normal—but she still struggled to suppress a feeling of irritation that Abed hadn't reacted more strongly. After finding some good spots to film the ending of Time-osaurs 2, Abed had suggested an Inspector Spacetime simulation. Annie worried that running more scenarios would add tension to the situation, but she assumed that if Abed was concerned about it at all he saw the familiar subject matter as something that would help restore equilibrium. This was less likely to have romantic overtones than the movie, right? In any case, once she got into character as Constable Geneva Annie felt more relaxed. The silly storyline about time-traveling aliens interfering with history and the exotic landscape were good distractions from trying to figure out where her relationship with Abed stood.
The trail led down a gentle incline, the little trees on either side getting taller and closer together. Around a bend, a narrow creek came into view, the water flowing slowly between muddy banks. Off to their left, the stream tapered off into standing water among the half-submerged trunks of mangroves. Beyond there were the open waters of a small cove that opened into the bay.
"There's the ship," Abed announced, pointing towards the cove. Where there had been only a motorboat in the distance, Annie pictured a pirate ship under full sail, bristling with simulated cannons. She waded into the shallow waters of the creek to get a better view of the bay. Even this warm and murky water felt refreshing compared to the hot, humid air. "The soldiers are waiting in rowboats upriver, ready to ambush the pirates the moment they drop anchor. We must find some way to stop that from happening."
"That seems easy enough," Annie said hopefully. "If we create some kind of disturbance on shore, they'll get suspicious and sail away, won't they?"
"It may not be that simple," Abed cautioned. "The pirates or the navy or both might decide to investigate, the aliens will be watching to make sure their scheme succeeds, and there's an alligator heading for you."
Annie smiled with amused self-satisfaction. It wasn't often one got a chance to correct Abed about the details of a science-fiction scenario. "Why, Inspector, surely you've forgotten that the Caribbean islands where pirates roam are inhabited by crocodiles, not—"
"Annie! Alligator."
Finally glancing down at the water, Annie saw a twelve-foot, decidedly non-simulated reptile drifting slowly down the channel towards her feet. She quickly jumped to the bank and retreated to where Abed stood, a safe distance from the water. She grabbed his hand nervously, although the alligator did nothing particularly alarming, stopping to float calmly in a deep pool a few feet upstream from where she had stood. Annie and Abed stood there and watched in silence for a couple of minutes, until the animal turned around and disappeared in the brush upstream. Annie realized she was leaning against Abed and backed away, missing the sensation but wary of embarrassing herself again. Abed looked at her with an alert expression, seeming to take careful note of her movements, but spoke only to suggest that they resume the simulation and devise a plan that could be executed entirely on dry land. I wonder if drawing attention to ourselves might be a good plan after all? Annie thought, contemplating a new strategy to save history.
By the time the pirates, navy, and aliens had all joined in a four-sided battle with the Inspector and Geneva, Abed was realizing he hadn't given Annie enough credit for her skills in rendering scenarios. Her suggestions for new plans had led them into a much more epic adventure than he initially envisioned. He thought her improvisations would have improved the ending of Time-osaurs 2, as well; but it was a bad idea to dwell on that. However right it might seem when in-character, moments like that were too risky for their friendship. Even if she was over Jeff as she claimed, any romantic connection between him and Annie seemed to violate the usual tropes. And he had observed her hesitancy with him today; that presumably meant she regretted almost kissing him the night before.
Trying to forget the subject, Abed turned his mind to potential endings for their current scenario. There were several strategies that the Inspector could use to get out of the situation, but they seemed too simple for the conclusion of such an exciting episode. Besides, Annie had earned the starring role in this one.
As he dueled an imaginary pirate with a stick that could pass for a sword, Abed intentionally stumbled over a tree root. Falling to the ground, he clutched his right shoulder. Annie gasped and ran over to him, easily chasing off his foe. She knelt beside him.
"Geneva! I'm wounded. You need to get to the alien spaceship and activate the self-destruct mechanism. That will force them to teleport back to their space station and ensure no future technology is left here."
Annie nodded determinedly. "I'll do whatever it takes, Inspector."
"Don't you mean whenever it takes?"
"Wait, what? That doesn't make sense."
"Okay, I may have stretched the catchphrase too far."
Annie sprang into action, fighting her way through the battle and onto the spaceship. As the self-destruct system counted down, she ran for shelter. Abed was impressed by her decision to take cover behind a tree that kept her out of his line of sight; it added dramatic tension if the Inspector couldn't see that Geneva was safe. After the spaceship exploded and the pirates and soldiers retreated, she leapt out and ran back to him. Leaning down, she clutched his hand.
"Inspector! Are you all right?"
"I'll soon be as good as new, Constable," Abed replied, slowly standing up and brushing off some ants that had crawled onto him. Running scenarios on-location offered some excellent visuals, but it involved complications not found in the old Dreamatorium. "You know I can heal faster than a human. But what about you? If I'd known the device would activate so quickly, I'd never have let you do that."
Annie smiled with relief. "Then you shouldn't scare me like that again. I might do something reckless." She raised a hand to his cheek and moved closer, staring at him. Seeing where this scene was heading, Abed scrambled to recalibrate his assessment of recent events. This was a major deviation from Inspector Spacetime canon, and threw off all his assumptions about the aftermath of last night's rehearsal. Abed considered calling off the simulation before things got out of hand. Instead he found himself once again leaning slowly towards Annie.
A tremendous explosion jolted them out of the scene.
Engrossed in the simulation, the two of them had failed to notice the building storm clouds looming over them. Lightning flashed, followed quickly by another loud thunderclap. Annie and Abed, still just inches apart, exchanged an awkward glance, then turned to run from the storm as the rain began to fall.
By the time the two of them dashed across a flooded street and into the lobby of Shirley's building, the storm had arrived in full force and they were soaking wet. Abed stood a few feet away from Annie in the elevator, not sure how to react to any of this when not in character. No one answered when they knocked on Shirley's door, but Annie had made sure to bring the spare key. Abed found a note on the kitchen table—I'm showing Jeff and Britta the sights downtown. Be back late tonight. There are leftovers in the fridge for you. "They're out for the day," he announced.
"Good. We left some things unfinished there."
"I know we never officially ended the simulation. Do you want to pick up the story after a time jump?" Abed adjusted his bowler hat.
"No, I want to talk to Abed."
"OK, end simulation." He removed the hat.
"Why do we do this?" Annie asked sharply.
"Rendering imaginated dreamscapes is a way to exercise our creativity and experience any fictional world we want." Abed suspected he wasn't answering the right question, but he didn't know how to explain the end of that storyline and the potential consequences were alarming.
"You know that's not what I'm talking about!" Apparently a diversion wouldn't be possible. "Paintball, last night, now this—I keep thinking I'll mess everything up by getting too involved, but then why do we keep doing things like that?"
Abed stood still, frantically trying to assess Annie's motivation in this scene. It sounded as if, contrary to his calculations, she really thought they could—but that was too risky. "These scenarios can get pretty intense," he replied cautiously. "If they're putting strain on our friendship when we're not in character, maybe we need to be more careful—"
"You know what, Abed, never mind. I get the idea, the context demanded it, endangering the fabric of the study group, whatever. I should've known better than to bring it up." Her expression looked like it had when she threatened to leave Greendale over their planned attack ad against a dog last semester—or maybe more like when she punched Jeff way back at the start of their second year. Abed had been uncharacteristically furious at Jeff for the damage he'd done in that episode; was he now doing the same thing himself? But nothing as dramatic happened this time. Instead Annie just turned away and walked out the door without another word.
