Chapter 27 - Blasted:
The sky was relatively clear at midnight, dark blue with a full moon, with no trace of cloud in any direction. Jeff looked up and wondered if it meant spring was coming soon, and more importantly, if it meant there would be no rain tonight. Troy sat on another horse and looked grim. He was nervous. That was fine, it was Jeff's job to do the talking. The horse he was sitting on was from Pierce's stable, not his Binky who was left behind in the military camp. But this was a good horse, and Jeff stroked his neck as he waited impatiently outside the sheriff's office.
The street was dark, but the office was full of people. The only window in front of the office was covered. At first glance there seemed to be no one inside.
Jeff adjusted his sheriff's hat. He wore a thick coat and boots, but his ribs bothered him in the cold that still penetrated the bones, and it would probably bother him forever. He will just have to accept it.
It was midnight.
Thumping on the ground echoed in the quiet streets as an entire band of bandits passed through the town and stopped only when they reached the sheriff's office. Rogue Bill led the way, and Stephen was among them too, sticking out with his white hat.
"Winger," Rogue Bill called as a greeting. "Fair night."
"Indeed, sir," Jeff replied. "You've met my deputy, Mr. Barnes."
"Nice to meet you," the bandit touched his hat with redundant politeness, before turning to Jeff again. "Our money isn't in town, I gather?"
"Exactly. We put it far away from town, hoping we can convince you to get out of here as soon as possible."
"Far from town? You got busy today, hmm?"
"Yes," Jeff replied, frowning, still bitter that he had to give his money away. "We emptied the safes. The women didn't want to part with their jewelry." He couldn't gesture with his hands, as they were holding the reins, so he just moved his head. "Before we go…"
"Where are you taking us?" Rogue Bill brought his horse closer to Jeff. He was already suspicious.
The other bandits wanted to know as well, but the darkness and quiet at this hour probably affected them, for the noise was half of what they were capable of producing.
"It's an abandoned mine just outside town," Jeff said. It was time to add the distraction, before the head of the bandits posed more questions. "As a sign of our good will, we've brought you entertainment for the road."
He motioned for Pierce who stood on the sheriff's office porch, and Pierce opened the door and said to those inside, "ladies, you can come out!"
Someone whistled when out of the door they walked, one after the other, fair ladies and lasses, all made up, wearing unambiguous dresses.
"Oooh, what men you brought us!"
"Good lads, which one of you wants me to warm him up today?"
"It's your lucky day, lads!"
These women certainly knew the job.
Pierce undertook bringing the women from the brothel down the road, explained the work to them and brought in almost thirty women who agreed to volunteer for what was, for lack of a better word, charity on their part. They couldn't be sure that they would be paid at the end of the evening, but they came anyway.
At first, when Pierce proposed the idea, most of the room rejected the offer with contempt and disgust, until Miss Dart said, "I think there's something to it."
Brita said she could pretend to be a woman of 'questionable-morals', and Troy strongly objected. Jeff thought it was for the better - she would probably find a way to ruin it; She wasn't the most graceful creature in the area. Pierce explained that he was thinking of the brothel outside of town, and after a minute of silence in which no one asked him why he was offering the place, Miss Dart agreed and thus the matter was closed.
The women immediately approached the bandits' horses, giggling behind hands and fans and calling out to the bandits. Some of them reached out to the mounted men, and Rogue Bill's men certainly appreciated the gesture. About five minutes later most bandits sat with women in their lap, and those who didn't, received a promise from the giggling women that no man would be left behind. Among them Jeff saw Stephen sitting alone on the horse, having rejected the attempts of every woman who smiled at him. Rogue Bill, on the other hand, had a broad in his arms and was laughing as she pulled on his mustache and whispered in his ear.
"Yes, honey," the head of the bandits told her before turning to Jeff and grabbing the reins again. "Winger, I don't appreciate your moral loftiness, but I must say, you do things with style!"
Jeff gave Bill a soulless smile. "Shall we go?"
"Why not? We'll see what treasures you have collected for us!"
Jeff turned his horse to the exit and rushed it to gallop, Troy by his side. Almost immediately all fifty were after them, and though they followed him, not chased him, Jeff's first reaction was to flee and hide. But he tightened his grip on the reins, looking forward rather than backward.
Halfway to the mine Stephen caught up with him, when he wasn't within Troy's earshot. "Prostitutes, Winger? Really?"
"Some of us thought your people would appreciate it," Jeff said with a shrug.
"Well, it didn't work for me. I'm watching you, Winger."
"Would you rather we brought you a man?" It may have been a petty blow, but he wanted to get under Stephen's skin, like Stephen did to him when he came to town a few months ago, and put Jeff into a world of constant worries and sleepless nights. He got the response he wanted.
"Go to hell, Winger!" Stephen certainly didn't like the allusion. After a minute of silent seething, he told Jeff, "For your information, no one would have gotten my attention. Not that it's your business."
It made sense. When he first met Stephen, Jeff assumed he was extremely professional at all times, but over time it became clear that he just wasn't interested in sex, at least not in the way other men around him were interested. Jeff knew men who were more interested in males than females, but Stephen showed no interest in anyone. The only thing that interested him was the money.
"I'm merely saying," Jeff shrugged. He couldn't care less about Stephen's preferences, but Stephen cared what his associates thought of him. The lawyer-turned-bandit frowned and left him to go back to riding at the end of the party, and for Jeff it was a success - he managed to distract the man from his distrust, at least for a while.
He kept an eye on the women, making sure they amused the bandits in a non-committal manner that didn't endanger them. There was no opportunity for more than a kiss while riding a horse, and that was the intention.
:::
The road to the mine lasted about twenty minutes on horseback, and the outline of the town could still be seen from the hill at the entrance to the mine. Jeff and Troy got off their horses and tied them to the entrance.
There were lanterns beside the opening, and Jeff lit one and brought it to Bill. "There are more lanterns, take them," he told the rest of the group. Troy helped distribute the lamps to the men, while the head of the bandits helped the woman in his lap get off the horse before getting off himself. "Wait here, doll."
"Of course, I'm not going anywhere, baby!"
The head of the bandits gave her a proper kiss, as a promise of what would come when he returned.
Stephen grabbed Jeff's shoulder. "It's inside the mine?"
"Yes," Jeff said. "You wouldn't want us to leave a pile of money outside, where anyone could see, right?"
"Inside a mine!"
Rogue Bill approached them, wiping his mouth. "What are you two blabbering on?"
"Bill, they're clearly planni-"
"Stephen! Stephen James!"
Stephen turned slowly on his axis, and Jeff saw his thoughts stop like a train at the end of the tracks. Behind him stood, blatantly implausible, Nicole James. In the night she looked pale, and Jeff wondered if she, too, had put on make-up like the women Pierce had brought.
"Nicole," Stephen said in a restrained voice. "What are you doing here?"
"Stephen," she touched his arm. "Please, I need to talk to you. I knew today would be my last chance to talk to you before you disappear again, so I snuck up behind you all while you were riding. No one saw me…"
"Nicole," Stephen's voice was dangerous. The bandits around him took lanterns and lit them, parting from the prostitutes with the promise that when they went out with the money, they would give the women an unforgettable night. Stephen didn't notice any of this. "It's a bad time."
"I know, but this is my last chance… Please, I just want to talk. Can you come with me for a moment?"
Stephen looked around, and when he realized that no one took notice of them, he grabbed her hand and pulled her away, far from the entrance, behind the trees.
Only when they disappeared did Jeff exhale.
He went to Bill and told him, "Troy will show you where we put the sacks."
"You're not coming in with us, Winger? You know that's likely suspicious, pal."
"Since my injury it hurts to go into such cold places," Jeff told him. "But there's no reason for suspicion. Troy is my right hand man. Why should I send him in my place? How will that benefit me?"
Bill debated this for a minute or two, and finally decided there was no reason it could help Jeff.
"You know if you're trying to pull a trick on me, I will unleash my people on you and your deputy faster than a prostitute demands her money!"
"I know, sir," Jeff said, blanked face. "What trick could I possibly try? Ambush? You know I have no people to fight you. You exposed my lie about the corn fields. If I had people, I would've used them already."
Bill stroked his long mustache. "Yes, that's true. It was rather embarrassing for you, wasn't it? Such a convoluted lie, and we dismantled it like eagles dismantle a dead cow in the desert."
"Yes," Jeff let out with a tight jaw. It was embarrassing, so embarrassing that he didn't allow himself to linger on it when the bandits arrived yesterday, because otherwise he would have been kneeling under the shame. But the guilt was worse: he was so sure it had worked, that he didn't bother to do anything else to prepare against the bandits. The fact that they were caught so unprepared was on him, and he would never forget it.
"Don't beat yourself up too much," Bill laughed and patted Jeff hard on the shoulder. "You did your best, but you left the sting world a long time ago. It makes sense that you should be rusty."
Many thanks. "Troy," Jeff called, "are you ready?"
"Yeah, boss. I was just handing out all the lanterns." All the lamps but one were filled with oil that would last only a quarter of an hour, to make it difficult for the bandits to come back out.
"Good, then go show them where we put the sacks."
Jeff watched as Troy led them inside. His stomach was full of eels when his young deputy disappeared into the mouth of the tunnel, and the bandits followed him. Bill was the last to enter. "Winger," he told him before entering. "When I get out of here I want to see a smile on that face. It could have ended much worse for your people, my boy."
Jeff gave a fake smile that only made the bandit laugh. "That's the spirit!" Then he walked inside with his lantern.
And left Jeff outside. The pale moonlight illuminated the ladies who moved away from the mouth of the mine, following the instructions Pierce gave them. None of them approached Jeff, because Stephen was still outside somewhere, and although he was currently having a heated argument with Nicole, he might come back at any moment and notice anything potentially fishy.
Still, Jeff approached the place where Abed, Andre and Mayor Pelton were hiding behind rocks, to check on them. They wore black clothes and covered their mouths and heads with black kerchiefs courtesy of the Greendale women, and though the night was bright thanks to the full moon, they were almost invisible.
Jeff wanted to be the one to lead the bandits inside, since he was the sheriff. But when they realized the carrier would have to sneak out afterwards, Troy informed Jeff that he was too big and clumsy for them to not notice he was gone. Troy was smaller than him, and surprisingly, good at stealth. Jeff was forced to give up, but that didn't stop him from going over the route in his mind, along with Troy.
He remembered the way he took with Annie on their trip with Pierce. The road wasn't long, but walking inside a mine is a slower and more mindful affair than out in the sun, so it should take at least a quarter of an hour. Troy, who knew the road and practiced it that afternoon five times in a row, managed to make his way back from the carts room in two minutes, even without light. At the moment he was leading the men to the room with the carts, which they filled with sacks.
That was the job of the Greendale women: to make something that would look like piles of money from the whole town, to make the bandits stay inside long enough for Troy to come out. It quickly became clear that the townspeople would have to give up at least some of their money, because there was no quick way to create fake money in the little time they had, even money that would be looked at in the dark.
The women sent the children of the town to collect stones to fill the sacks, and went to collect coins and bills to fill the tops of the sacks, so that if the bandits decided to look inside - a likely possibility - they would see that the sacks contained real money. One sack was filled entirely with gold coins, for Troy to pointedly present to the bandits, in case they wanted to bury their hands up to the elbow in money.
Jeff didn't lie to Bill - the women did have to part with some jewelry, even Annie gave a necklace for the cause. Annie didn't leave the inn but still helped, listed how many people donated, and what each one gave, with the intention that once the whole incident was over, they would go back to the mine and give people back their money and jewelry. Jeff helped place the sacks in the carts room, and he and Troy decided together that the first cart would have the sack which was full of real gold.
Soon they will arrive at the room with the sacks, and Troy will show them the sack. According to the plan, Bill will want to check the bag himself. After that, other bandits will check other sacks. At this point Troy would snick behind them and get back out, and once he got far enough away, Jeff would give the signal and the men in the hiding would light the wicks. Troy was supposed to be out any second now...
"I love you," Nicole called after Stephen, who had come out of the trees and approached the mine opening. Jeff folded his arms, trying to look as innocent as possible. Nicole continued, "Isn't it worth something?"
"It's worth nothing," Stephen spat. "Who cares about love? What has love ever given to the world?"
"Please, don't leave me here," Nicole insisted on following him, continuing the conversation. "I can not stay with Kyle. I will die if I have to continue living with him in the same house."
Stephen approached Jeff, ignoring her. "Where is everybody?"
"Went inside with Mr. Barnes," Jeff said. "He's showing them where the gold is."
"Entered the mine in the middle of the night? Has Bill lost his mind?"
"What exactly could we do to you?" Jeff shook his head, trying to convey to Stephen the same logic that convinced Bill. "You saw for yourself that we have no men. The war has dissolved all the power out of this town. And now you're going to take our money as well."
"You're trying to distract me," Stephen said, "how can I trust you after what you did to Dirty Bob?"
"That was a decade ago!" Jeff rolled his eyes. "When will you let it go already?"
Stephen snorted, and finally made a decision. He turned to the mine entrance. "I'm going to call them out."
"No, don't go!" Nicole called, throwing herself on his back. She was a surprisingly strong woman, and Jeff was impressed when she was able to both turn Stephen around, and kiss him.
Light footsteps were heard from the cave entrance, and Troy came out into the moonlight, with an extinguished lantern. When he saw Nicole and Stephen, who was still locked in her grip, he gasped.
Jeff grabbed his shoulder and whispered urgently, "Report!"
"When I left they were still laughing and talking about what they would do when they left the mine," Troy whispered. "But they were going to check the sacks again. We have to hurry!"
Jeff turned and signaled to the guys behind the rocks. "Now!"
Stephen managed to disengage from Nicole, pushed her - she fell to the ground, and he wiped his mouth with disgust. "What the hell do you think you're doing?!"
Then he saw Troy. "What are you doing here? Where's everyone else?"
"They're still inside," Troy said, backing away from the cave entrance. Everyone needed to get away, so as not to be in the area of blast and destruction.
"You went out without them?" Stephen stepped to the entrance of the mine and began to shout. "Hey! Get out of there! They're up to something!"
Dammit, he was standing under the first plank in the cave. Jeff pounced on him from behind, wrapped his hands around his stomach and dragged him back. "Shut up!"
"Winger, I knew you're a traitor, you piece of-" Stephen struggled with Jeff. He probably thought Jeff was trying to knock him down, though he only grabbed him and was trying to pull him backwards. Stephen managed to turn around and kick Jeff's leg, which hurt, but Jeff didn't stop. He grabbed Stephen's hands and continued to struggle with him away from the danger zone.
Clamor of running and pounding came from within, and shouting. "Winger, where are you?!" The roar of the bandits' leader was heard from the depths of the tunnel. They were discovered.
The steps got closer as they tried to find the way back in the darkness, but there was nothing Jeff could do now, other than keep fighting Stephen, who managed to punch him in the jaw, then in the ribs.
The pain zoomed through all of him, and he folded on the ground next to the trees, where he managed to drag Stephen to. Stephen started running towards the mine opening, not seeing the wicks that burned quickly into the mine, shouting, "I told you he couldn't be trusted! I told you-"
Boo-
...oo-
...oooo-
...oooooooooo-
...oooooooooooooooo-
...oooooooooooooooooooo-
...ooooooooooooooooooooooooooommmm-
...mmmmmmmmmmm
...mmmmmmm
...mmm
...m
...
..
.
The noise shook the ground as the whole entrance collapsed, huge rocks crackling with reverberation and blocking the opening completely to anyone who wanted to get out. Jeff hoped none of them got caught under the rubble, but it was a risk they were willing to take.
After the horrible noise of the black powder bombs and the fall of the mine there was a strange, unnatural quiet that originated in a temporary hearing loss and not in the fact that the world held its breath after the deadly event that transpired unto it. Jeff knew that, as this was the case for those who were too close to firing cannons.
Because he was used to the hearing loss, he recovered faster than Stephen who was still lying on the ground, and took the opportunity to take his handcuffs out of his coat and grab the man's hands behind his back. The handcuffs closed with a click that he felt. Stephen looked up at him and the expression of contempt on his smooth features expressed his thoughts while his mouth produced sounds that Jeff couldn't yet hear. Jeff tried to say something back, but gave up.
"...Jeff, Jeff? Are you alright? I don't hear anything!" Troy's voice grew louder as Jeff pulled Stephen up and tied him to his horse.
"And now?" Jeff asked. "Do you hear me?"
Troy exhaled with relief, falling on Jeff's shoulder. "Yes, I can hear, a little. Is that normal?"
"It's because of the boom," Jeff said. "We should have backed away more. We were too close."
Abed, Andre and the mayor finally got out from behind the rocks and hurried to them. "Did we do it?" The mayor asked, wringing his hands. "I'm not sure…"
Andre patted his shoulder. "We did it! It was a bit stressful for a moment, but we lit the wicks in time."
The mayor squealed and ran to hug Jeff. For once, Jeff didn't mind. He stopped the hug only after his ribs complained that they had received enough punches for the day. He rubbed his ribs as he held the mayor away from him, grimacing, and Mr. Pelton said, "Jeffrey, you did a great service to the town today."
"I am honored."
"I'll have to ask my sister how we can compensate you for what you did today…"
"Hey," Jeff gave him a crooked smile, "if you want to give me a vacation, I won't object."
"I'll see what I can do."
Abed told Troy in a thoughtful tone, "The wicks didn't burn at first. It was expected that it wouldn't be easy, but when they didn't burn I realized I really didn't want to die. It may be entertaining to read about such things, but it's really not fun to live it. I would be happy if we don't have similar adventures in the future."
Troy told him, "I also hope we don't have to deal with these bandits anymore. I almost peed my pants when they shouted inside the cave!"
"Well. Problems until the last minute. That is to be expected." Abed pondered this. "Actually, I might be happy to have another adventure, but let us have a few years' rest before we have to go through it again."
Jeff said emphatically: "May we never have such adventures again. That's what you want, trust me."
"Oh, Jeff." Abed shook his head. "Too bad you said that. Now you certainly won't have a rest."
The women, who until the explosion sat between the trees and talked among themselves as instructed, approached the group. Some of them were waving at themselves with their fans, even though it was so cold that Jeff closed the top button on his coat. One of them came to him. "You're the boss man, yes?"
"I'm the sheriff."
"Yes," the woman said. "I'm Madame LeClair."
Jeff recognized her as the woman who sat on Rogue Bill's lap. "Did you come to ask about the payment?"
"Why, Mr. Hawthorne didn't tell you? We came today voluntarily!" she spoke with a slight British accent that came and went as she talked. "Such a heroic operation, how can we require money from you?" The woman shook her head.
"Truly?"
She seemed convinced; He was impressed. "Your contribution is appreciated, ma'am." They were the perfect distraction. The bandits enjoyed the female attention so much that they didn't even want to suspect that they were going straight into the lions' den.
"'Twas nothing, honey, don't mention it." She patted his hand good-heartedly. "'Twas our pleasure. But what I came to ask you is: How are we supposed to get back?"
"Oh," Jeff said, his mouth not working when he realized they hadn't really thought of it while they prepared the plan. After all, the women rode the bandits' horses on the way to the mine...
The horses that were still tied outside.
"Hey, any chance you ladies know how to ride?"
The woman smiled a self-conscious smile. "Why, Sheriff, I hope you pardon my French - but that's our most notorious skill..."
:::
It was hard to pile Stephen on the horse, but Jeff wasn't willing to wait for the carriage - he didn't want to leave Stephen alone by the mine. With their luck, he was still able to free himself from the handcuffs. Jeff didn't want to take the chance.
Andre rode with the tied man at the end of the convoy heading back to town, and Jeff rode up front. After the whole thing was over, he was impatient to get back to Annie. Until the explosion knocked down the mine and signaled that they had succeeded, he didn't realize how much he worried that he wouldn't be able to return in one piece from the operation, to return to Annie, and he was afraid he missed his opportunity to tell her how he felt. And now all he wanted to do was grab her and let everything out.
"Mr. Winger," Nicole James caught up with him. "Thank you. I owe you and your wife a debt of honor."
"Hmm," Jeff didn't want to tell her anything. Annie might have been willing to ignore the things Nicole did, but Jeff was proud of his ability to hold a grudge for a long time.
"I apologized to your wife," Nicole said. "And she forgave me. I apologize to you as well."
"I'll think about it."
"You don't have to forgive me," Nicole murmured. "But I wanted to say thank you for agreeing to spare Stephen's life."
"I didn't do it for you."
"I know, and yet, thank you."
Annie is the one who suggested that Nicole distracts Stephen. And since Stephen wasn't distracted by the ladies, it turned out that Annie knew what she was talking about.
"Listen," Jeff said. "Stephen is not interested in anyone, you know? He's not like other men, who chase every skirt. He's... different."
Mrs. James kept her eyes on the road. "Perhaps so, but it doesn't matter. He wouldn't want me even if he were an ordinary man. I am simply not his taste. He prefers ambitious people like him, and I have never been ambitious."
It was somewhat true. Although she had better understand that what Stephen wanted or not, wasn't affected by her.
Jeff shook his head, annoyed. He won't pity her. She made her own bed, and it was foolish in the first place to want a man who proudly declared himself a criminal. And most importantly, Nicole wasn't his problem.
Nicole said, "I'll always love him, but I think now I can stop dreaming about him."
It wasn't his problem, so he wasn't happy for her for detaching herself from the thing that made her give hell to herself and to everyone around her for years.
He rode on.
:::
It was around one-thirty at night when they entered the town through the town square: Jeff, Troy, Abed, Mrs. James, Mayor Pelton, Andre and Stephen - followed by dozens of 'questionable-moraled' women, as Brita called them, in their ornate clothes on top the muscular horses of the bandits.
Cheers rose around them, and the moonlight revealed women, men and children filling the square.
They cheered for them.
In contrast to the darkness when they left for the mine, now lit lamps hung over every house and porch, and candles flickered in the windows, dozens of little lights illuminating the people, the smiling faces and the hands raised in the air with enthusiasm.
There was warmth in Jeff's chest as they advanced among the townspeople who applauded the returnees, and searched for the women who participated in executing the plan - Shirley, Miss Dart, Rachel, Brita, and most importantly - Annie. Where were they?
Mayor Platon rode to a high porch, made his way through and climbed on a chair, clasped both hands to the sides of his mouth and called out, "We defeated them!"
The shouts filled the air and made the bats and night birds fly off the roofs in panic, but no one noticed because everyone was busy hugging their heroes.
"Annie, where's Annie?" Jeff asked no one in particular because no one could hear him. He couldn't stop smiling, but nothing else was as important as seeing Annie.
There she is!
She stood on the porch of one of the buildings, along with the other women, smiling and whistling, adding to the general excitement. He hurried to her, jumped off the horse and didn't even look if anyone was holding the animal, and ran to her.
Then she was finally in his arms, and she laughed in his ear as he crushed her to him and closed his eyes.
"You succeeded!" She called, trying to rise above the noise. "You did it, Jeff!"
"I know," he didn't bother to raise his voice. He didn't care if she heard him or not. It was more important to hold her and know that she existed, that every part of her was there, and that she was with him.
"Are you alright?"
"I'm fine," he pulled away and leaned over to kiss her, ignoring everything going on around him. He thought he saw Brita hugging Troy, Shirley wondering where Andre was and Troy telling her he went to put Stephen in jail, and Rachel and Abed talking at a speed of eighty words per minute. But none of that was as important as Annie, and kissing her was his first priority right now.
She let it continue for a while, until the sounds around them turned into embarrassing whistles, then Annie pushed him lightly, her hand on his chest. She gave him a look with a mischievous twinkle. "Maybe we should save it for later..."
"Yes," he agreed, because he would agree to anything she'd say. "Yes, absolutely." And he breathed before saying, "Annie, I love you."
She went silent, stunned, her eyes gray in the moonlight, her lips slightly open, but no sound came out. She didn't know what to say. That was fine, he will talk now.
He caught her hands between his and kissed her fingers. "You gave me everything I thought I would never have: a home. Not any calm - the times I worried for you were some of the worst - but somewhere somehow, I acquired... peace of mind. I thought I had a home, but I didn't understand its meaning until you entered my place of residence and made it our place, the place to which I could return at the end of the day and feel safe. I never even dared to dream about children, until you presented to me your want and forced me to do something about it, and it took a long time for me to admit that I didn't dare to want them, thinking I would never have children the way I wanted: with a woman I admire, who will be a good mother to them. And most importantly, most importantly…" His speech faltered, and he stopped to breathe some air, trying not to let Annie's startled expression stop him from finishing, "that you didn't let me drown in the smoke. You kept believing I could be better, until eventually... it became true."
"Jeff…" She bit her lip. "You've always been good. At least as long as I've known you…"
"Yeah, well, I don't need to remind you where I started." Jeff murmured. "We've talked about it enough in the past day."
Annie was silent, her wide eyes looking at him, and he couldn't read her mind, no matter how hard he tried.
"Annie? Say something..."
She sighed. "You are such a fool, God!" She groaned. "I love you, obviously!"
He let out a long sigh before pulling her face to kiss her again, this time letting his mouth wander from her lips to her cheek, and down to her neck, to the soft, fragrant skin that surrendered easily to his mouth. She pulled his head away. "Not here, Jeffrey!" But she was laughing.
Since she didn't allow him to kiss her neck, he took her hands and began to cover them with kisses, all the while looking at her, grinning and promising with his eyes that when they are alone there would be other parts of her body that he would kiss like that.
"Jeff…" Annie looked around and he realized that the crowd was finally starting to thin, even though most of their friends were still around them. "Shall we go home?"
He let her pull him off the porch toward their house, and didn't complain when the two young couples went with them - Abed and Rachel, and Troy and Brita. Abed and Rachel still spoke, albeit in muffled voices, and Brita was holding Troy's arm and her head was on his shoulder, and she looked like she was never going to leave. Troy looked astonished but pleased, and his other arm was wraped around her shoulders. Maybe they loved each other too. Maybe their wedding wouldn't be such a terrible mistake.
But Jeff was interested in something else at the moment: Annie, her hand in his, walking resolutely to their house.
"Annie," he murmured as a thought came to his mind. "Did it occur to you how weird it was that we both realized it at the same time?"
"What?" She asked absently.
"That we... love each other."
She glanced at him and just said, "Ummm…"
He stopped walking. That was suspicious.
"What do you mean, ummm? Didn't you realize now that you love me? Why are we going home?"
"Jeffrey," she chuckled lightly. "We're going home because we've had a very long day, and we all need to sleep. Besides… No, I didn't realize it now."
Cold water filled his stomach. "You don't love me?"
"No, no, it's not that…"
Abed said behind him, "Come on, Jeff."
Brita snorted.
Jeff turned to them. Oh, now they're joining the conversation? He stared at them, trying to figure out what they knew that he didn't. "What's wrong with you people?"
Annie pulled his hand. "Jeffrey," she said, breathless, "it's not new, that's all."
He looked back at her. "What's not new?"
"I… I have known for a long time that I love you."
He opened his mouth. He wanted to say something clever, but nothing came out.
Annie avoided his gaze, biting her lip. "I realized it before you went to war."
"You…" all this time? It was hard to put his thoughts into words. He managed to elicit something. "Since the war?"
"Before that. Just before you left."
It was… seven months. So long ago. His mind had a hard time wrapping around all that time.
Brita was hollering with laughter now, and to his annoyance, Troy laughed too, and even Rachel Duncan chuckled. Abed didn't laugh, but it was only because he didn't express amusement with audible laughter.
Jeff tried to silence them, and when his desperate movements only made them laughter worse, he gave up. "Did everyone know about it except me?"
Brita managed to say between sharp bursts of laughter, "I told you that you think you're much smarter than you actually are!"
Annie pulled him to look at her, and to his relief, she didn't laugh at him, but she was smiling. She grabbed his cheeks with both hands. "What does it matter when?" She asked him. "The important thing is that now you know…" She pulled his face to her, but he had to ask.
"Why didn't you tell me before?" Her breathing warmed his mouth and chin, but he didn't let it distract him. "Well?"
"You couldn't accept it," Annie said. "You told me over and over that love is a lie. And after that you tried to convince me that you were not good to me. If I told you how I felt, you would tell me it's another reason you're not good, because you don't love me in return, and try to get out of our marriage in some other way... "
He wanted to protest, but that was absolutely something he would have done. "Dammit to hell."
"It's fine," Annie said, stroking his cheek. "I forgive you. It doesn't matter now. You love me…" she hesitated. "You love Me?"
He didn't know much. He was an idiot, for so long. And it was one of the longest and most tiring days he has had in months, since the war. So what if he made a mistake and made her hide the truth from him? And maybe it was better that way. That way he wasn't affected by the knowledge. Who knows, maybe he would have felt pressure to tell her he loved her before he realized it himself, and would have forced himself to lie to her. But when she asked that question now, he knew the answer.
"Yes."
And this time he leaned over and pressed his mouth to hers, and his tongue was inside her mouth, and she moaned into it and all he wanted was to absorb her, all of her, to sink into her and be a part of her. Annie leaned against him, and though he felt the fatigue from the pressure that was finally released, and the pain in the places Stephen had beaten him, which were sure to be blue tomorrow, he had no intention of stopping her now. He loved her, and she loved him back.
"Arrghhh, why, God, why?" Brita complained somewhere, and Jeff was forced to recall that she still existed in the world, too close to where he was.
He buried his face in Annie's neck and wanted to cry in frustration.
Troy laughed and mumbled something Jeff hadn't heard, and Abed said, "Come on Rachel, I'll take you home."
And Annie, his Annie, the woman who loved him and endured him with all the nonsense and suffering he caused her and still managed to get the best out of him - Annie laughed over his head, her fingers woven into his hair, her nails scratching his scalp in a way that made him want to ravish her where they stood. And she murmured, "Let's go home, Jeff."
He took her home, and carried her through the door.
:::
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AN:
This is, technically, the end. I have one more, but it's more of an epilogue.
I'm sad to see this one done, but everything must come to an end. It was fun to write and filled my time when I needed some escape from real life.
Thank you so much for all the encouragement and support! Love you and hope your doing alright!
Next up (for the last time): what happened after, and a baby - finally :)
DFTBA