Annie is sweating when she wakes up. She estimates it must be at least 70°F in the room, with the windows closed and the sunlight streaming in, and although all that is covering her is the flimsy hotel bedsheet, she still feels far too warm, so she kicks it away.

Beside her, Jeff stirs in his sleep and rolls over, throwing one arm over her waist and tucking his head into the crook of her neck. His breath tickles her skin, and she can't help but squirm a little, not wanting to rouse him.

"Mmmm - huh?"

Ah, shoot. It's too late.

"Annie?"

"Did I wake you?"

Jeff is silent for a long moment, and Annie wonders if he's fallen back asleep. "Nuh," he mumbles, semi-incoherently.

"Sorry," she says anyway.

"'s'alright." He finally shifts away, lying so he can rest on his pillow and still see her. "'Don't mind."

"Yeah…" Annie mirrors his position, grinning at him. Adds, in a sing-song: "Because you looooove meeee!"

Jeff groans, turning his face into the pillow. "Don't make me regret telling you that."

"You could never."

"Mmm. I guess." Once again he slings an arm over her hips, pulling her closer across the bed. Annie nuzzles her face into his neck, content just to stay there for a while. Jeff is warm and comfortable and she never wants to leave.

"I love you," she sighs, partly because it's true, and partly due to a newfound resolution imprinted onto her brain. She never wants to go a day without saying those words to him. Not when they've been trapped inside her heart for the past 5 years, and definitely not now, when saying them is permitted, welcomed, with the phrase just waiting to be returned to her.

Jeff buries his face in her hair, and she can feel the slow, embarrassed stretch of his grin against her scalp. In Jeff terms, she knows, a bashful smile is the equivalent of one of her own awwws or happy squeals.

"What's the plan for today, then?" He murmurs; a soft rumble she can feel against her own chest.

Annie immediately springs into Planner Mode. "Well, there's a couple of options. There's the Air and Space Museum, which I'm guessing you were planning on visiting, anyway…"

"Maybe."

"Yeah, sure. And then there's also the National Zoo - they have pandas! Or, we could go to the Arlington Cinema - a couple people at work recommended it."

"And you're telling me you have absolutely no preference, here?" Jeff raises an eyebrow.

"Okay, fine." Annie concedes. "I guess I've been meaning to go to the zoo since I got here, but I haven't really found the time… But we can do something else, if you want."

"Let's go to the zoo." He insists.

"Are you sure?" She hedges, reining her excitement in a little just in case.

Jeff nods seriously.

"Great!" She pushes herself up a little - awkwardly pinning her own arm underneath her in the process - so she can give him a one-armed hug. "We should get out of bed soon, though."

"Mm. Five more minutes." As arguments go, it's fairly weak, but it persuades Annie nonetheless.

"So," Annie begins, and Jeff knows there's something wrong. The past few conversations have mostly been excited remarks about how 'absolutely adorable!' the tiny monkeys in the mammal centre were, and other than that, the outing has thoroughly been spent just looking and smiling and enjoying each other's company.

"Yeah?" And her (warm, comforting, albeit slightly sweaty) palm slides out of his, so he stuffs his hands in his pockets and hopes the perfect day isn't going south.

"You're leaving in two days, right?"

"Right." He tries not to trail off too much, but can't help but wonder what she means. It was the agreement from the beginning, from before the beginning - he didn't want to cramp her style or interfere with her internship, and besides, neither of them could have known things would work out so… Good. Great, really.

"I was gonna wait to talk about this later, but. I guess I'm just - worried? I mean, I don't. Um." She shakes her head, studies the ground at her feet. "I need to know the plan. Like, what's gonna happen once you leave? I still have three weeks until I'm back home and I just-"

"Just…?"

Annie pauses a moment while she apparently tries to collect herself, taking a moment or so before finally meeting his gaze. "I don't want things to go back to the way they were before I left."

And it's his turn to scrutinise his feet, because he knows exactly what she's getting at, and it's something he's wondered about himself. Jeff Winger is not blind - he knows his own patterns, and it's not a stretch that he might try to forget it all happened when he returns to Greendale.

(Not out of malice or ill-intentions - he thinks 'misplaced guilt' is far more likely. Perhaps self destruction. Either way, he knows it'd have nothing to do with Annie herself.

But maybe she doesn't.)

"I don't want that, either." He responds, trying to convey as much sincerity in his tone as possible. "The past couple days have been amazing. Of course I want it to continue when - when you come back." He steals a glance at her face, but her expression is hard to read. So he asks. "But. I've got to know - what do you want?"

"More of this - all of it." Her smile is almost blinding. "Skype dates and photos and texting about benign details of your day. I'll miss you too much, otherwise."

"I think I already miss you."

"Oh," and it's not really a gasp, more of a flutter, but it's enough to convince Jeff to wrap his arms around her, rest his chin on the top of her head, and just b-r-e-a-t-h-e i-n. The noise and the smell and the gusts of humid wind fade away until it's simply. Them. Annie-and-Jeff.

He eventually has to disentangle himself from her (and it's far too adorable, the way she sort of sighs at the loss) and pull himself together a little. (Zoo. Public place. Many, many spectators.)

Annie must be thinking the same thing, because she takes a moment to right herself before slipping an arm through his. "Let's get this back on track." She offers. "Minimal angst for the rest of the day, okay?"

Thank God, he thinks, and follows her lead.