Life does not like me right now. There's that thing I mentioned with my dad but now things have happened on my mom's side of the family and close friends like family (and someone I never met that she takes care of at work but I learned this through my sister). Thursday night mom comes home and says she can't take any more bad news: she tells me that Uncle (technically my great-uncle) Buzz had a massive stroke, she tells Tiffany (my little sister) Friday morning one of her 'clients' had a stroke- and then I tell Tiffany about our great-uncle because Mom didn't tell her about that-, and that my mom's best friend's mother who happens to also be a longtime friend wouldn't make it through the night. Sadly, Sally passed away around 10:30 Friday night- even sadder Sally's daughter Stacy, my mom's best friend, couldn't get there on time. And don't get me started on the sink fiasco that could have been avoided had my parents placed a maintenance call BEFORE the sink broke!

UGH! Thank God I started doing this fic. It's very therapeutical. But I've gotten in the habit of uploading a chapter a day so if for some reason there isn't like there wasn't yesterday…now you'd know why. And it's strange; writing this fic has been so helpful that I have yet to get a case of writer's block. I mean sure there's a question of how to word something or dance around another thing but this is very new for me.

I can't thank you guys enough for the nice reviews and feedback. I'm truly humbled that many of you like this when even I have doubts about this myself (I'm my own worst critic). I feel like quoting Colin Mochrie from a "world's worst" game of Whose Line is it Anyway

"You tolerate me! You really, really tolerate me!"

Oh, the sink did get fixed that night...my night for dishes of course.

Okay, enough with the long semi-rant that I needed to get off my chest. Here is a chapter that I promise will be even longer than the intro.

Usually in most circumstances Abed would be the one staring off into the distance just waiting for something to happen. This time, it was Troy. Okay, technically Abed was staring at his staring friend, but every once in a while Abed would glance at his food and what not. He never once bothered Troy. Once Abed observed the guest's bed's absence he deduced why Troy was staring off.

Once Abed had been awake for nearly three hours, he then decided to join Troy on the fire escape. "You have romantic feelings for her."

"Yeah."

"I can tell. Britta's pretty cool, and her being romantically involved with one of us wouldn't ruin our friendship."

"It's more than that Abed. Britta is like a thousand year old witch and I'm a twenty-three year old regular guy."

"So there's an age difference."

"I don't mind that; it's the witch part. If I do ask her out and things do get serious...she can't turn me magic, Abed. And if I wanted her to stay with us forever I wouldn't want her to give up her magic," Troy sighed. "It sucks when you have romantic feelings."

"Personally, I don't mind the age difference either- I'd rather be in a relationship with an older woman than a younger one. And marrying a witch would be kinda cool."

"It'd be like Bewitched except real…and hopefully the husband wouldn't be recasted. Maybe if Samantha got a new husband…"

"They were a loving couple, a divorce wouldn't make sense. I like to think the second Darrin is a result of a spell gone awry."

"I don't know I'd do without you Abed."

"Play football."

"Okay, I know one thing I'd do without you. And I can't thank you enough for helping get rid of the nightmares."

"Just think: if I didn't order that specific spellbook none of this would be happening. We would have never met the witches, Britta wouldn't practically be living with us, and that whole thing with Jeff and Annie never would have happened."

"Yeah and Toucan Sam would still be gouging out the Lucky Charms leprechaun's eyes out with his beak," Troy's eyes went wide in a frightened realization. "Why did I put that image back in my brain?"

"I also came out here because Jeff's been trying to reach us."

"What does he want?"

Abed shrugged. "I respect other people's privacies. I thought it would be rude just to sneak onto your phone."

"You're so polite," Troy read over his messages. "Jeff's moving?"

"It's about time; I still get an uncomfortable vibe from his dead uncle's townhouse."

"Really? I thought I was the only one."

"Nope."

"Anyway, Jeff wants our help with his stuff. He says we're the only ones he can trust with this."

"I'll go; you can stay and wait for her."

"Britta said she had to do something for Annie."

"But she won't know where Annie is unless she goes to you."

"But I won't know where Annie is unless I go with you."

"I'll text you the new address, maybe send you some stay here, I'll go by myself."

"You'd really do that for me?"

"What are best friends for?"

Troy hugged his best friend. "I love you man."

"I know."

…

It was times like this that Dean Pelton was grateful the public library was open on Sundays. "Hi, yeah, I was wondering if I could get a pass to the library's copy machine room."

"Sure," the librarian's assistant readied the key for Craig.

"You're not gonna ask why?"

"I don't care so please don't-"

"See, I'm supposed to be watching these two animals but earlier when I opened my apartment door they just ran out. I can't find them but it's very important that I do. I regret not taking pictures so I drew their caricatures."

"Did I ask to hear your life story?" this shut Pelton up. "There's a ten minute time limit in the copy machine room but for you, you have five."

"Well," Craig took the key, "someone isn't a morning person." He whistled his way over toward the copy machine room. En route, he happened to notice a woman in the corner reading. The peculiar thing about this was it was as if she was trying to hide. He opted to get his copies first before disturbing the woman. So he did. Pelton carried the stack of paper with him over toward the woman. "Excuse me," when the woman let out a startled scream and dropped the book, he let out a startled scream and dropped his papers.

This earned a much clichéd "Ssh," from an elderly librarian nearby.

Craig started gathering up his missing pets posters. "I am really sorry."

She grabbed her book before he could see the title. "Don't you know you shouldn't sneak up on a woman like that?"

The dean pointed at her. "Do I know you?" he tilted his head. "You seem familiar…like I just met you."

"It's possible."

"You don't go to Greendale Community College?"

"No."

"And you're not in my yoga class either."

"Does this have a point?"

"But I can't shake this feeling that your name is Shirley."

She narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously. "My name is Shirley." Shirley remembered him. "You were at Pierce's."

"Technically the house belongs to Duncan."

"The poor sucker Pierce turned into a cat?"

"Yeah, I took him home with me and Changmatian."

"Changmatian?"

"Part Chang, part Dalmatian."

"What's a Chang?"

"Yeah, I'm not sure." An idea occurred in Pelton's mind. "You can help me find them!"

"Excuse you?"

"You're the only one who knows they're not really animals. And I know you're a…witch," Pelton mouthed the last part so no one heard. "Couldn't you like use a magic GPS deal or something like what you did with the barrier?"

"Well…I suppose I could use a tracking spell if I had something that had their fingerprints or hair. Then the logical thing to do next would be to take them to Pierce so he can undo what he did."

"Couldn't you do it without that guy?"

"You can't undo a full-blooded warlock's transformation spells, not even with…" it dawned on Shirley what she needed. "I need to get that spellbook back!"

"From who? Pierce?"

Shirley stomped her foot when she remembered something. "Dang it I left that man in jail! Alright, alright now before we do anything else, I have to figure out what needs to be done."

"Ooh, can I make you a to-do list! I love making to-do lists."

"You are one strange man."

…

"Hey R2-D2 where's C3-PO?" this was Jeff's way of greeting Abed.

"Troy needed to do something important," Abed lied.

Jeff let out an obviously sarcastic gasp. "Without his boyfriend?"

Abed was unaffected by this subtle insult toward him. "So you bought a house. It's about time."

"I just signed for it and got the keys. I asked you to come by earlier and help Annie pack but apparently she didn't need any help." When Abed followed Jeff inside, he took in the view of packed boxes all along the townhouse.

"Everything in the house is all packed in record time."

"Isn't that awesome? I don't know how she did this in thirty minutes."

"I've got a few ideas how."

"Start loading these in your car robot," Jeff ordered. Abed said nothing and took boxes as Jeff went upstairs.

Annie was in the master bedroom pacing and occasionally biting her nails in anxiety. "If I tell him tomorrow he might not be focused for the last day of his trial. But I can't tell him tonight either. Calm down Annie! Maybe he won't believe you."

"Penny for your thoughts?"

Annie screamed and jumped in fear. She put her hand over her heart. "Jeff, don't scare me like that!"

"Sorry. Look Annie if you're stressing over this secret thing why don't you just tell me?"

"Right now?"

"No, obviously not right now, Abed's here."

"Would it make a difference if I told you with him here?"

"Whatever you have to tell me is like scary important to you. I want you to tell me when it's just the two of us and you're more comfortable. Okay?"

"Okay."

"I mean, you're gonna have to tell me eventually; you said so yourself."

"I know, I know. It's just a matter of when and how."

"How?"

"What I have to tell you might not be so easy to explain, or easy for you to understand."

Jeff went over to his wife and put his hands on her shoulders. "I promise that whatever it is you tell me, I'll understand."

"Don't make that promise Jeff."

"Try not to think about this now. Let's focus on getting some of this stuff in the car for the move." Annie just nodded and picked up a nearby box. "Oh and sorry you had to see those magazines under the bed. I swear I keep them for the articles."

…

"Duncan," Changmatian sniffed around for Duncan Cat. He turned his back on the feline and then Duncan disappeared. Changmatian's nose indicated Duncan Cat was nearby, however. "Why can't humans have noses like this?" He kept moving forward until he noticed a shadow in the corner. "There you are you sneaky bastard! I…oh my God!" Chang turned away in disgust.

Duncan quickly put his leg down in embarrassment. "You uh…you weren't supposed to see that."

"Why? How?"

"I don't know! I felt this sudden urge to be clean. I had no idea how flexible cats were."

"What possessed you to do that?"

"I don't know! One minute I was thinking of finding my way back home and the next minute I'm thinking of eating cat food out of a cat dish!" Duncan Cat sighed. "I'm keeping up appearances but underneath I'm really MEOW."

"Really meow?"

Duncan screamed. "I'm becoming more and more feline by the minute!"

"Screw the original plan. We gotta find that old wizard before WOOF!" Changmatian backed away in horror. "I'm becoming more feline by the minute too!"

"Canine."

"IT MATTERS!"

"Yes, it does you wanker!"

"Duncan."

"What now?"

"Get away from me."

"As much as I would love that I need you to venture with me. Why are you so interested in getting rid of me?"

"I have an uncontrollable urge to start chasing you."

"Yes! Yes! Work with the urge. The uncontrollable ones can often…why are you staring at me like that?" Changmatian inched closer while Duncan Cat backed away. "Chang?"

Chang stopped, sat on the ground, and smiled. "Woof."

And even though it was just a random, quiet little word with no purpose; it was still enough to send Duncan Cat running and meowing in fear with Changmatian on his tail.

…

"Don't nag me now Shirley," Pierce begged as Craig held a bag of ice over his head. "I've learned my lesson."

"Yeah I bet you have," Shirley muttered as she finished pouring him a glass. "Drink this," the glass flew its way over to Pierce, "you'll feel better." Pierce did as she was told. "Of course this will put you to sleep for a few hours once you finish drinking it."

Pierce finished drinking. "It'll what?"

"Never mind."

"I could've swore you…" and Pierce was out like that.

Pelton waved his hand in Pierce's face to make sure he was asleep. "Wow, that worked fast."

Shirley took charge. "His sleep should give us enough time to do what we have to do. You start looking for your animal friends and I'll join you later."

"Where are you going?"

"I have to pick up a book and a Britta."

"Like the water filtering system?"

"Let's focus on one thing at a time skinny man."

"Fair enough." Shirley waved her hand. Pelton was unaware why, so he waved back. "Um, hello to you too."

"I put up a barrier spell in case he wakes up. I ain't takin' no chances with this man-child."

"Good thinking."

"I'll meet up with you later."

"Wait! Aren't you gonna do a tracking spell thing on Changmatian and Duncan Cat?"

"I will when I get back to help you. I shouldn't be too long." Shirley tossed him a pocket-sized crystal ball similar to the one she had. "Use this to keep in touch with me."

"You don't have a cell phone."

"A what now?"

"Never mind, just do your thing."

"Uhm hmm," Shirley grabbed a broom, headed outside, and flew off.

…

Troy was holding binoculars as he sat on the fire escape listening to music on his headphones. "Where are you Britta?" he asked himself. "What could you possibly be doing?" He smiled at the song change. "Ooh, Daybreak," he started humming along.

Meanwhile, Shirley had poofed herself into the apartment. "Troy! Abed! Sorry for poofing in so unexpectedly but I'm kind of in a hurry." She looked around the house. "Boys? Boys, I'm taking the spellbook back!" Shirley picked up the spellbook on the coffee room table in the living room. "Is Britta here? Britta?" Shirley stomped her foot. "Where else could that girl be?" Shirley tried to track her with magic, but Britta had used a tracking blocker spell. "Great, now I gotta find two witches! Honestly, why do I have to play mother to these people?" Shirley kept muttering in lament as she flew out of the opposite window from Troy.

…

Much like Saturday, the day wasn't much of an event. Everyone spent their day moving, searching, chasing, or sleeping. Again, it wasn't until nighttime that things started to progress.

At least on Jeff and Annie's front. Once the moving van got there, the furniture was loaded in along with a few other small boxes. So all in all, the actual moving took one trip. Abed then decided it would be easier to stay and help them unpack and maybe order some pizza. And seeing as how Jeff was a total perfectionist on things, he didn't exactly make the unpacking easy or fun. Still, they managed to get everything done before eight-thirty and get their pizza by nine.

"Good job guys," Jeff complimented. "It actually looks livable."

"It is a pretty cool house," Abed commentated, "though it seems kinda big for two people."

"We'll get a goldfish." Jeff opened a can of beer.

"One would assume a newlywed couple buys a house like this so that they can start expanding on their family." This comment made Jeff spit out his drink and choke. "It's just an observation."

Annie looked at Abed, then at Jeff. "Does Abed mean…like…have a baby?"

Jeff clapped his hands together. "How about that goldfish? Hey, goldfish die fast; we might as well get two."

"Jeff, do you want a family with me?"

Jeff started rubbing the back of his neck in apprehension. "I dunno…maybe…sometime in the future. It's not necessarily a law that married people have to reproduce."

"Is that a yes or a no?"

"It's a not right now. Sure, I'd like to have kids with you someday but…" Jeff didn't finish his sentence because Annie suddenly ran off. "Annie?" he followed her to the bathroom, but she locked the door. "Annie?"

"I need to be alone right now!"

"Good choice with the bathroom then."

"Please go away!"

Jeff sighed and rejoined Abed in the kitchen. "Thanks a lot Abed." Jeff looked back at the bathroom door. "I wonder what's gotten into her?"

Abed swallowed his pizza. "She has a secret Jeff. She probably feels that her secret has an effect on having on a family with you."

"How do you know that?"

"I know her secret."

"What?"

"It's kind of hard not to know in my case."

"I should be miffed by this but strangely I'm not. Abed, what is it?"

"I can't tell you. This is something Annie has to tell you for herself," Abed instantly sat upright. "My Troy senses are tingling."

There was a knock on the front door. "Okay, that is weird on so many levels. And no, I don't want to know how you have a Troy sense." Jeff answered the door. "Hello Troy, and…lady whose name I don't know."

"Britta," Britta pushed past him while carrying a box with a blanket over it. "I need to talk to Annie. Where is she?"

"Good luck with that. She's in the bathroom."

"Oh my God did you say something to her?"

"Do you women have a sixth sense with this kind of thing?"

Britta tapped on the bathroom door. "Annie, it's Britta. I have some things you need to see."

Annie unlocked the bathroom door. She gave Britta a small hug when she saw her, and then led her upstairs to the master bedroom.

"Women!" Jeff slumped in his seat. "How do they know what to do with the emotional stuff? God, it's like they're all witches." Jeff didn't notice Troy and Abed exchange glances.

…

Britta sat on the bed as Annie pulled back the blanket covering the box. Inside the box was a collection of antique looking books and a freaky Norwegian troll doll, which appearance made Annie let out a startled gasp. "God, that thing is still freaky after three hundred twenty years." She sat across from Britta on the bed. "Where did you find this?"

"Buried in what used to be our front yard."

"I remember Pierce put it there to scare people off."

"I guess someone came across it and buried it. Smart thinking on their part."

"Why did you look for this?"

"I thought I'd bring back some souvenirs from my trip back east. I couldn't find anything for Shirley but I did find this for Pierce."

"So all those books are for me?"

"Especially for you."

"Are they fairy tales or spellbooks?"

Britta smiled and handed her a book. "Why don't you read it for yourself?"

Annie gave her a strange look before opening the book. When Annie started to read, she placed her hand to her chest and gasped. "Britta? What…where…wha-"

"Your mom loved to write so Shirley gave her a journal. She filled the first one up in less than a day that we had to buy her a new, bigger one. The one I gave you was her first," Britta passed her another one. "I read them over and numbered them; the number is on the inside cover."

Annie tried hard not to cry. "It's like she's here with me," Annie kept reading, and then let out a dry laugh.

"What's so funny?"

"She didn't like her name."

"Violet was never fond of being named after a flower. Honestly, I would have rather had her name than be named Daisy."

"But then I wouldn't have been named Violet."

"Please. You would have been Lilly."

"Lilly?"

"I never told you this, but I snuck off one night to talk to your mother a few days before you were born. We spent some time together, just the two of us, and she said she tried this thing she heard from a woman in the village where you could determine the gender of your unborn child. It predicted you were going to be a girl."

"Really?"

"I asked what Miles thought of that, but she didn't tell him. Violet only wanted to tell me and Shirley, but she never got the chance to tell Shirley. Your mom said she was going to keep the flower child trend going and name you Lilly. I kind of wish she did, you seem more like a Lilly than you do a Violet. But, Pierce originally named you after your mother, Shirley and I had no say so."

"Miles?"

"Yeah Miles…your dad."

"My father's name was Miles?"

"Is this the first time you've ever heard his name?"

"Yes. Yes, it is. You guys never said his name, and when I asked about him Pierce always avoided the subject and talked more about my mother. Sometimes he would say 'your mother, your namesake, would' blah, blah, blah, blah, blah." This made Britta laugh. "This is the first time I've ever heard my father's name. Miles. My father's name was Miles."

"I wish I could remember his last name for you, but I can't."

"It's okay Britta, you don't have to."

"Maybe I missed it in one of her journals."

"Did you get every single one of them?"

"Your mom filled them in a hope chest and buried them in different locations. She magically marked them so that only witches could find them. But…there's one missing."

"Which one?"

"Her very last one." Annie's face fell a tad "The last few journal collections were never buried so they were sent to different museums around the country, and even a few places in Europe. But I couldn't find the very last one."

"How do you even know?"

"Because I read the second to last one. The last sentence in the last one I found was incomplete."

"Oh."

"But at least you have all the rest."

"And you read them?"

"It was as if I went back in time and my best friend's voice narrated her own words. And you know what?"

"What?"

"My best friend sounded exactly like you."

"Oh Britta," each of them let out a few tears as they embraced each other in a warm hug.

"The boys and I should probably get going."

"Britta, I can't thank you enough for this."

"It was nothing, really," Britta reached for the troll before heading to the door. "Better take this for Pierce."

"Britta!"

Britta turned around. "Yeah?"

"You read over everything?"

"I wanted to find the answer for you."

"Is it in here?"

"It's in the second to last one." Annie was about to speak, but Britta answered the question for her. "No, it didn't get cut out."

"Phew!"

"But if I were you, I'd read everything else first. Who's to say she didn't have the same dilemma as you."

"To tell or not to tell."

"I'll see you later Annie."

"Bye Britta, and thanks again."

"Don't mention it," Britta went downstairs, leaving Annie alone with her mother's diaries.

…

"Hello boys," Britta greeted the three men as she made her way into the kitchen.

"Britta," Jeff sounded suspicious, "what did you give my wife?"

"Why do you sound so suspicious?"

"I'm not," Britta raised an eyebrow to him, "I'm curious."

"Let's just say I gave her something to guide her."

"Guide her in what?" Britta said nothing and set the troll on the table. The next response everyone got was a frightened, high pitch scream followed by Troy running out of the room in fear. Jeff glanced at the troll, the scared Troy, then back at the troll. "Uh...did Troy run out in fear of a doll?"

"That troll doll is creepy," Abed noted. "Is it from Norway?"

"Yeah," Britta eyed Abed funny, "how did you know that?"

"It's creepy; Norway makes creepy faces on toys."

This time Jeff gave Abed a funny, suspicious look. "How do you know this?"

"I have a whole other life you know nothing about."

"One that involves Norwegian toys with creepy faces?"

Abed shrugged and took another sip of beer.

I hope we've gotten some closure. Not only did we find out what Britta was doing, we learned that Annie's parents actually had names. Go figure.

I promise, in the next chapter Annie will make her decision about telling Jeff. Until then, yes it's another filler chapter, but yes this does have some important stuff in here.

And no, I don't know if Norwegian toys have creepy faces. I just wanted to bring in that freaky troll doll from the Remedial Chaos Theory episode.