History 201: The Western Desert Campaign
Author's Note: "This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. but it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning." - Sir Winston Churchill
(Jeff Winger's apartment, a couple of weeks after seeing his mother)
Jeff wasn't sure what it was about that evening that prompted him to take the plunge. Annie had come over in the afternoon, had spread a bundle of forms, leaflets and prospectuses over the dining table and solemnly told Jeff they needed to get on with planning their next semester's courses.
As promised, he'd dug out a copy of his four year plan and passed it over – she tsk'ed at it, suggested a couple of improvements, then dived into the paperwork she'd brought. Occasionally she'd stop to shout a suggestion at him, he'd agree or disagree and keep her supplied with coffee. After a couple of hours of this, she announced the forms were ready and just needed signing and posting with a deposit cheque. He cooked dinner – nothing elaborate, just pasta with homemade sauce, some diced salami and olives washed down with a chilled white wine – and she loaded up the dishwasher. It was just stupid, routine domestic stuff, bumbling around getting in each other's way, smiling idiotically at odd moments and it all just felt right, and normal and the way life should be.
Afterwards, Jeff flopped down on the sofa and Annie curled up next to him, making herself comfortable in the crook of his arm. Jeff called up his Netflix account and, on a whim, called up M*A*S*H, which he'd started watching on Abed's recommendation after taking the job as editor of the school paper.
"This is the show you and Abed got your nicknames from for the paper, isn't it?" Annie said after a few minutes. Jeff uh-hmmed an affirmative response.
"How come I never got one? I was as much involved as you guys." She sounded slightly hurt.
Jeff looked down and smiled at her. "You did."
"I think I'd have noticed, Jeff."
"Annie 'hotlips' Edison, Abed called you." She squawked slightly. Jeff smiled again in response. "Given that I was seeing Slater at the time it wasn't a nickname I was prepared to go anywhere near, even if –" he tilted her head up and gave her a soft, lingering kiss "-I've since learned just how accurate it is." She swatted him lightly on the chest, but smiled back.
It was then that he said it.
"Let's get a place together." Annie's eyes suddenly widened as she sat up and looked straight at him.
"Look, I know why having your own place is important to you and why just moving in with me would be a step back but –"
"Yes."
Jeff was concentrating on his prepared speech and couldn't hear anything except his own heartbeat.
"-if we picked somewhere together, it would be as much your place as mine and I think that would be a step forward –"
"Yes."
"-not a step back. I've done some research, and we could get a two bedroom apartment in a nice part of town and it would still cost less than we are spending on two one bed apartments. And –"
Annie silenced him by the simple expedient of kissing him.
"I said yes, you idiot." She said after she separated from him again. "I would love for us to get our own place together." And she smiled a big, goofy smile and snuggled up into him again.
XXXXXX
By the end of the week, Jeff was starting to regret his romantic impulse as Annie had approached apartment hunting with exactly the same obsessive care for detail she gave to really important matters, such as picking a new bag. She'd spent half a day drawing up a list of features she wanted an apartment to have then another half a day checking websites of rental agencies and making appointments to view. Then they'd spent the next three days viewing at least five apartments a day with each visit following a pattern – Annie would go around each apartment with a fine toothed comb, checking it against her list while Jeff made small talk with the realtor, who assured him there was nothing in the slightest bit unusual about Annie's behaviour and that he'd seen it dozens of times before. Jeff then watched the realtor flinch slightly as Annie opened the fusebox and counted the number of fuses and observed to himself that real estate brokers were almost as good at embroidering the truth as lawyers.
On the Friday, Annie sat down at Jeff's table again with fifteen checklists, and methodically whittled them down - Jeff had long since given up attempting to express an opinion - until she had a shortlist of three.
"It's one of these," she triumphantly announced. Then she picked up a phone to arrange repeat visits and drew up another checklist of what she called tie-breakers, then they spent Saturday morning revisiting the apartments. Much to Jeff's relief, the third one produced a happy sigh, a "this is the one" and a hug from Annie. When Jeff expressed some mild concern that it was near the top of their agreed budget range, Annie simply turned on the doe eyes, added a saucy twist to them and said -
"The building has a pool Jeff, and I love to swim." Jeff's mind was suddenly overwhelmed by the mental image of Annie in a bikini and resistance collapsed.
XXXXXX
(1st day of Fall Semester, Sophomore year)
To say Britta Perry was not happy would be putting it mildly. Her summer break had been fun – she had spent much of it chained to a tree in the Pacific Northwest trying to prevent loggers from felling some old-growth forest, smoking pot and setting the world to rights with a bunch of like-minded activists – but now she was back at Greendale, and the sniggers, sneers and occasional ironic cries of "your majesty" were making it painfully clear that the night of the Tranny Dance had not been forgotten.
For if there was one thing that could have been more humiliating than getting nominated for Tranny Queen and watching Jeff Winger suck the face off his little friend only thirty seconds after Britta had declared her love for him – not that she had meant it oh no, she was just doing the pointy faced jag a favour, the little bitch would have walked straight out if she'd seen him kissing Slater – it was being told she'd won the damn thing as soon as the dean managed to restore order!
She'd worked out how it happened – you didn't have to be Michelle Slater (may her perfect legs develop varicose veins and an allergy to trousers) to work out that with nine nominees and only thirty six votes cast the votes of the five other members of her study group plus whoever had nominated her would probably have been enough to put her over the top. No, as she strode across Greendale campus heading for Study Room F and fended off what felt like the hundredth catcall and the thousandth snigger, Britta Perry had just about reached a point where she almost wished she believed in God just so she could imagine Michelle Slater, Jeff Winger and Annie freaking Edison roasting in a pit of fire for all eternity.
It was therefore with something approaching relief that she finally made it to Study Room F and flopped herself down in her usual seat to see Pierce, Shirley, Troy and Abed were there but Jeff wasn't.
"So, how was your summer, Brit-ta?" Shirley said cautiously. She'd picked up on Britta's mood. Britta at least was happy to talk about that, but such was her luck she never got to.
"Hi guys." Jeff sounded nervous, if anything.
" Hello Jeffrey." Shirley.
"Jeff." Pierce.
"Hi Jeff, hi Annie." Abed and Troy, almost simultaneously. Britta whipped around, to see Jeff and his little friend standing in the doorway, holding hands. He looked nervous, she looked terrified though defiant. What now? Britta thought to herself. As if this day could get any worse.
"I'm sorry for the lack of warning," Jeff said. "But I'd like to talk about adding Annie to the group."
It just got worse.
XXXXXX
Jeff and Annie had only finished moving into their new apartment a week before Fall semester started, the rest of the summer had been spent sorting out leasing agreements - getting out of old ones as well as getting new ones in place - consolidating two sets of furniture down to one (which caused several, occasionally furious, arguments) and whose furniture would go in the master bedroom and whose in the spare.
But they got everything in order eventually, and on the day they were due to go back to Greendale Jeff once again woke first and spent a few moments admiring the way the morning sunlight fell across Annie's body. After a few minutes, Annie rolled over and smiled.
"Good morning, boyfriend."
"Good morning, girlfriend." Jeff no longer felt cheesy or embarrassed to start a day like that - the way Annie's face would still light up when he said it made it seem like the most rational thing in the world to do.
They got up, took it in turns to shower, and while Jeff prepared breakfast Annie made sure they had the right coursebooks and schedules. Then one final check they had everything and that Jeff understood his schedule ("don't forget we're meeting Abed and Joelle for coffee in the free period before lunch, okay?") and they left the apartment and went down to the car park.
"Seriously, Annie?" Jeff said as she headed over to her beat up old Accord.
"Sorry, force of habit." She had an embarrassed smile on her face as she walked over to the Lexus.
They didn't talk much for the fifteen minute journey to school - they were both feeling surprisingly nervous. They parked the car, got out and started walking. After a fractional hesitation, Jeff reached out and took Annie's hand. She looked up at him and smiled, "once more unto the breach, dear friend," she said.
Jeff looked at her in surprise. "You've read the book already?" She raised an eyebrow at him. "Of course you have," he said. "Remind me again, why are we doing Shakespeare?"
"You need a literature credit to go with the language one you got for running the paper to meet your English requirement. And when you were told it was either Shakespeare or Emily Dickinson you went for the one that had been adapted into an action movie."
"Now I remember," Jeff said, smiling at a recent memory. "We really must try and finish the Branagh version soon."
"If you'd kept your hands to yourself the other night, we would have." Annie replied dryly.
"And if you'd kept still instead of - ah, here we are." They'd reached the library steps. "Are you ready to do this?"
Annie nodded. "As I'll ever be."
They walked through the doors and on to Study Room F, the door was open.
"Hi guys," Jeff said, squeezing Annie's hand as he did. He was greeted by a chorus of welcomes.
"I'm sorry for the lack of warning," he continued. "But I'd like to talk about adding Annie to the group."
XXXXXX
An awkward silence fell over the room in response to Jeff's statement, nobody seemed willing to break it. Jeff sighed and turned to Annie.
"Can you wait outside for a few minutes, babe? This shouldn't take long."
"Sure, Jeff." They hugged, Annie stepped outside and the door closed.
"What the hell, Jeff?" Britta cried out.
"Look, I really am sorry about the lack of warning, but I promised Annie we'd be together and that means I'd like her to be in the study group."
"You can't just decide that for all of us, Jeff!" Britta said. "We need to have a vote, at least."
"I appreciate that Britta, so let's vote."
"Oh no, Jeff – you don't get a vote. You're too close to this." The two of them were glaring daggers at each other by this point.
"I agree with Brittles." Pierce said.
"Uh-hmm." Shirley added, nodding vigorously.
"Sorry Jeff, but Britta's got a point." Abed added, with Troy nodding along.
"Fine, guys." Jeff stood up and started to go for the door. "But remember, I meant it when I told you I'd promised Annie we'd be together."
"Are you threatening to quit the group if we don't let your little friend in?" Britta sounded shocked.
Jeff had reached the door, but he turned around. "First of all, she's not 'my little friend' she's my girlfriend, and her name is Annie. I'd be grateful if you used it. And second, that's exactly what I mean." Jeff walked out of the room.
"Does anybody else have anything to say," Britta said somewhat bitterly. "Or am I being left alone as the bad guy here?"
XXXXXX
"Hi Jeff." Annie looked up with a smile. "That was quick."
"They threw me out." He smiled wryly. "Apparently I'm too involved to be allowed a say, or something."
He sat down on the sofa next to her. Annie shuffled up next to him and drew him into a hug. Jeff put his arm around her shoulders.
"So, what do you think is going on in there?" She said.
"Abed will be on our side, and even if he didn't like you – and he does – Troy will vote with Abed. Shirley on the other hand will probably be saying something self-righteous about Jezebels not being able to sleep their way into the study group-" Annie humphed at that "-and I think Pierce will probably relish the chance to poke me in the eye."
"Which leaves the girl we humiliated at the Tranny Dance with the swing vote." She looked up at Jeff. "we're out of here, aren't we?"
"So long as we're together everything will work out fine, don't worry." He squeezed her shoulders as if for emphasis.
"I love you, Jeff." She said, and stiffened suddenly with shock as she realised she'd said it out loud for the first time. She felt him stiffen suddenly – oh no, please don't make him panic now - she thought to herself.
Jeff did indeed feel a moment of terror, but rather than panic he sought refuge in memories of the last year -
You seem to be good for each other somehow.
You're allowed to tell her, you know - you will only hurt yourself if you don't.
I like you Jeff. And I like Annie. And somehow - I've no idea how - you guys work together.
There's a word for what you just described, you know.
He forced his muscles to relax, and in a voice almost too faint to hear said the thing Jeff Winger would never say, that he never believed in until he met this girl.
"I love you too, milady."
Annie looked up at him with suspiciously bright eyes and a broad smile, then snuggled up tight against his chest. Jeff gently kissed the top of her head as he felt his shirt go slightly damp.
XXXXXX
"Seriously guys? You're going to leave me with the casting vote?" The voting had gone as Jeff had predicted, and Britta was not happy.
"It's dramatic necessity, Britta." Abed said. "There always had to be a casting vote, and it always had to be you if the new season was to get off to a sufficiently dramatic start."
"Well, give me a moment at least." She got up from her seat.
"Sure, Britta."
She walked over to a window, where she had a clear view of Jeff and Annie on a sofa in the main part of the library. She was curled up in a tiny ball next to him with her arms wrapped around his torso and her head resting on his chest. He had his arm over her shoulders and she watched him press a gentle kiss into the top of her head and rest his head on hers.
Have you really found somebody you care about more than yourself, Jeff? Britta found herself thinking. She watched them for a moment longer, they barely moved, obviously comfortable with the intimacy. You really do love her, don't you? The thought hit Britta with the force of the blindingly obvious. I can't do this. I just can't.
"Abed, let's tell them they can stay. Both of them."
"Brit-ta!" Shirley sounded outraged. "How can you, after she took –"
"Shirley, come over here and look at this."
Britta didn't look away, but the combination of the noise of furniture moving and Shirley grumbling was enough to make it clear the other woman was on her way.
"Oh." Shirley said as she came alongside Britta. Followed by "Awww…" Britta turned to face her, the other woman's face had melted into a soft smile.
"I really think he likes her, Shirley." Britta said. "I've never seen him like that with anyone else."
Shirley nodded. "Abed, I've changed my mind." She said. "Let's give the girl a chance."
"What about you, Pierce?" Britta said, the rest of the group had joined Shirley and her at the window. "Can we tell them it was unanimous?"
"Whatever." He grumbled. "This group needs at least one chick in it who isn't past her best."
"Pierce!"
"Hey – I'm only saying what everybody's thinking. That has value."
"Do you want to give them the news, Britta?" Shirley said.
XXXXXX
Annie sat upright as the door to the study room opened and Britta walked out, followed by the rest.
"Annie," Britta said. "We took a vote, and it was unanimous - we'd love to have you in our study group."
Annie yelped with surprise and jumped to her feet. "Thanks guys!" She ran over and enveloped Britta in a hug, which the blonde somewhat hesitantly returned. The rest of the group joined in with a group hug. As they separated, Shirley looped her arm through Annie's.
"Come and sit in the empty seat next to me, dear." She said with a warm but slightly scary smile on her face. Annie looked over to Jeff, who just smiled and nodded. The rest of the group followed them except for Britta who dropped back.
Jeff walked over to her.
"Thanks, Britta." He said. "You really are a damn fine friend."
"Don't you forget it, mister." She said with a broad smile on her face. "Now lets get in there - your girlfriend had better be as good at studying as you've been telling us for the last year." Like the old friends they were, they instinctively fell into step with each other as they walked into the study room together. Jeff looked across to where Annie was sitting next to Shirley, already looking radiantly happy as she engaged the rest of the group in lively conversation.
This is going to work out okay. Jeff thought to himself.
XXXXXX
Author's note: well, that's it for the main storyline folks. This has been a story of Annie outside the study group, and now that she has joined it it seems right to draw it to a close here. I have one more post planned, an epilogue giving a high level overview of the rest of their time at Greendale and beyond and then that really will be it. Thanks for reading, and especially thanks to everybody who favorited, followed and especially commented on this little vanity project of mine, and most especially to Jeffwik for kindly beta reading several of the most important chapters and making sure they worked properly. You guys made all the effort worth it.