Part 2: Lead Me Home

Annie: Hey, I am in DC, just landed.

Jeff: glad u'r ok

Annie: *hearemoji*

Jeff: *eyerollemoji*

Annie: Don't be mean! I know you love me.

Jeff: i do, but still *eyerollemoji*
Jeff: call me when u get to the apartment.

Annie: I will *kissyemoji*

Jeff rolled his eyes, but couldn't help smirking. Not that he wasn't expecting it, of course now that they are dating, Annie will unleash on him the world of hearts and vanilla texting. Not that he minded, but he was definitely not going to encourage it, he was still Jeff Winger, not Zac Efron in one of Annie's ridiculous movies.

He arrived at the bar a couple of hours after dropping off Annie and Abed at the airport, the remaining gang was all there wondering what it will be like when the semester starts. Jeff was sincerely hoping that by that time he will be able to leave Greendale, but this was a little bit of a challenge. Annie will be in Washington for ten weeks and she will probably be way too busy to house hunt and complete their "moving in together" plan. So, in order not fall out completely, Jeff agreed to teach a few classes at summer school. Frankie and dean were thrilled, it would give them time to focus on finding the suitable replacement. Jeff, as much as he resented the idea of working during summer, was satisfied with this situation, he could use some extra money, especially now and being at Greendale regularly will definitely motivate him to prepare and, eventually, get the BAR he needed to go back to law in DC.

'Who are you texting? Is it Annie?' asked Britta looking over his shoulder. He turned off his screen quickly. He really didn't want to share with anybody a newfound relationshippy side of him, especially not her. He was still mad at Britta for all the comments she made when he and Annie got together.

'Yes,' he answered avoiding looking at his no-personal- boundaries friend. 'Said she landed safely. I need to go home, we agreed to skype once she is at apartment.'

'Hah, so that's what is going to be like while you here? You ditching us any time Annie calls?' snorted Britta, Jeff looked at her not even bothering to hide his annoyance.

'Yes. Is there anything else you want to add?'

'What? No, I didn't mean to…'

'I am getting a little tired of your opinion on the matter. We get it, you don't approve!'

'No, Jeff, wait…' he stood up and looked at his friends who didn't dare to interrupt the scene.

'I'll see you guys on Monday.'

'See yahh!' waved Frankie and dean, Chang was now banging the jukebox with his foot and ignoring anything that was happening.

Jeff was already at the parking lot when he heard a rigid breathing behind him, he turned around and saw Britta's concerned face.

'Is there anything else you wanted to say to me, Britta?'

'Why are you like this?'

'Oh, I don't know, maybe because you've been crapping on the best thing that ever happened to me?! Or maybe your nice comment from the other day, when you, of all people, should have known how hard all this for me? That the age thing was a huge issue for me and Annie all these years? Is it you being jealous or something? If so, I need to know now, because I don't see us being friends if there is something going with you!'

'You are such a jerk!' squinted Britta, Jeff turned around and was about to get in his car. 'Hey, wait! Listen, I am sorry, OK? I am sorry about being insensitive or whatever and I certainly didn't want to spoil things for you or Annie, I was just a little mad and confused I guess, but I got over it, I promise. Back in the bar now, I was just joking, I swear!'

'Why were you mad?' Jeff asked pouting a little.

'It's my things, don't worry about it, and besides Annie and I talked and we are fine, we are all fine, I promise! It's not about you and Annie really, it's more about me and all the change that is going on.'

He could understand that, hell he had a first-hand experience of dealing poorly with changes, last time it resulted them getting engaged and him almost losing everything he truly cared for.

'I get it,' he nodded slightly. 'Hey, I am sorry too, for lashing out, I was just…'

'An ass?' she smiled at him and Jeff grinned back.

'Yes, old habits die hard.'

'I am really happy for you, you know that, right? And I am very proud that you finally managed to get over yourself and clean the vacuum with Annie. It's been killing all of us way too long.'

'Clean the vacuum? What that even mean?' Britta rolled her eyes in annoyance and Jeff gave up the idea to tease her absolute lack of knowledge on basic expressions, but he was happy they got back to normal. 'Thank you. But I really need to go now, you know how Annie with time management.'

'Yeah, yeah, you should go. Don't want to get your *girlfriend* upset, do you?'

'Aghh, you are still the worst. See yah!'

'Can you see me now?'

'Nope, still nothing.'

Jeff pressed a few buttons on his phone.

'And now?' camera flicked and Jeff saw Annie's tired but happy face, his lips broke into a grin. 'How was your flight?'

'Mehh, it was OK, a little cramped, you should have seen the Dulles International Airport, it's huge! I was so confused by all the exists that nearly missed my cab!'

'Well, hopefully, I will see it in three weeks, if you don't change your mind and I will not get into the air crash,' he smirked jokingly.

'Jeff! That is not a thing to joke about! And besides, plane is the safest way for travelling, statistically speaking…'

'Please, I am begging you, let's not talk about statistics!'

Annie rolled her eyes and laughed at his grumpy face. She pulled up her long dark hair and Jeff noticed that she wasn't wearing a bra, well that turned quickly.

'OK, fine, how you've been doing?'

'Well, Annie, we haven't seen each other in four hours, so nothing changed that much,' he was sure Annie would have smacked him if she could, he changed his mocking voice to normal one. 'It's fine really, I went to Britta's bar, me and her talked and sorted things out.'

'Yeah, she told me she wanted to talk to you,' nodded Annie slightly concerned.

'We are all good, don't worry. So how is DC so far?'

'Jeff, I literally saw just the airport and some buildings on my way here. I will go sight-seeing tomorrow. My roommate seems nice though, although we did talk like five minutes only. Do you think I should ask her to join me tomorrow? Or is it too pushy? I just really want us to get along you know.'

'Yeah, I think you can ask her, I mean, you two are going to spend a lot of time living and working together, and if our study group taught us anything it's that spending time doing dumb stuff unites better than anything. Do you like the apartment by the way?'

'Ehh, it's a bit too corporate, no life in it, but I think I will buy some decoration at least for my room, I know it's only temporary, but still.'

'Yeah, I remember how you stormed into my place a few years ago and made it your art project,' Jeff grinned to his memory, Annie being all bossy and domestic at his place, considering it didn't bother him one bit even then, he should have known what was going on with him, well he did, kind of.

'I know you loved it! I saw that you kept the pillows!'

'I just didn't want to hurt your feelings!'

'Haha, nice try, now I know for sure how are you really!'

'Are you going to use it against me from now on?'

Annie squinted her blue eyes a little and then giggled.

'Occasionally, but only for good. I promise I will never use my superpower for evil.'

'Superpower? You know, sometimes, I think that your time with Abed turned you into even bigger nerd than you originally were.'

'Very funny, Jeff,' she looked annoyed for a second and then her features softened. She laid her head on the pillow, her face was relaxed and a little sleepy, Jeff glanced at time it was 11 p.m, meaning it was one in the morning in DC, they should really wrap up the conversation.

'Is it crazy that I already miss you?' she asked him quietly.

'Who would have thought that you would make such a clingy girlfriend?' he teased and could swear that if Annie's eyes could kill, he would be dead this instant. He softened his voice and said sincerely. 'Same here, I miss you too,' he sighed. Jeff wanted so badly to be there besides her, to touch her, to kiss her. Synergy, damn it, or as Frankie would put it, codependence. Good or bad, it was definitely there.

'But we'll see each other in three weeks, right? It's not that long.'

'No, it's not, but I still miss you,' she smiled at his words and then yawned a little. 'You should really get some sleep if you are planning to go out tomorrow. When is your pre-orientation?'

'It's Sunday afternoon, but it's only going to be for a couple of hours. I guess they just want us to meet each other and stuff like that. Call me tomorrow?'

'Sure.'

'I'll send you all the pictures I'll take!'

'I have no doubt about that,' he grinned enjoying Annie's enthusiasm. He was so proud of her.

'By the way, I know you are not that kind of guy, so please don't get mad and if you want to, I will delete it, I promise!' Annie's voice was slightly nervous and she was biting her lower lip.

'What is it?'

'I kind of posted the picture on the Instagram of the two of us?' she said carefully, clearly not sure how he will react to such a sentimental thing. 'The couple kind? The one that Abed took at the bar today where you and me were hugging.'

'Annie, it's fine don't worry about it,' he was a little amused she would worry so much about such a silly thing. True, he wasn't a fan of promoting his personal life in social media, and to be completely honest, he didn't like posting pictures of himself anywhere, but he knew how Annie was. He wanted to make it perfectly clear that he was totally cool with it. 'If anything, it will be a signal for all your cool FBI colleagues that there is somebody in your life.'

'So you are fine with it?'

'Absolutely, you really should get some sleep.'

'Yeah, good night. I love you.'

'Love you too,' when Annie disappeared from his screen, Jeff decided to see the picture Annie was talking about, he found it immediately, it was the last one in her profile and, of course, had a heart under it. The two of them, Annie in her travelling clothes, with her long hair and no makeup and him in black sweater and with a stubble. His hand was wrapped securely around her shoulder and hers was around his waist, both of them had identical giddy smiles on their faces. It was a nice picture, the first one of them being, well "them". He took a snapshot of it and decided that maybe it wasn't such a bad idea to post it too, like he said to Annie at this date and age it will be a signal that there is somebody in her life and he wanted to make sure that everybody knew she was in his. He didn't add any hashtags or anything, just one word "annie".