It's been two years since Jeff Winger took a permanent teaching job at Greendale, and everything is fine.

He leans back in his chair and twirls the single ice cube around in his glass. "Never thought I'd say it, but I almost miss getting into crazy shenanigans every other week."

Britta smirks. "Jeff, you're a teacher. You're the one who puts a stop to the shenanigans."

"Don't remind me." Greendale had chewed him up and spit him back out, and he'd found practicing law again to be a new frontier. Ending up back here wasn't anything he'd wanted, but it was safe. Greendale was a bubble that shielded him from the normalcy of the real world.

And yet, everyone else had escaped. Annie and Abed were working their dream jobs several states away. Shirley had found her purpose in raising her kids while running her sandwich shop, and who knew where Troy was. Even Pierce's essence was in a lava lamp far away from Greendale, Colorado.

"What if we did something crazy?" Jeff says carefully. "We could get up to some shenanigans ourselves."

Britta laughs. "I believe this is what we psychologists call a midlife crisis."

"You've been working on your psych degree for nearly seven years. Anyone else would have taken the hint by now."

She's right, though. Jeff has been going through something lately, something that one might call a midlife crisis if they didn't know better. Britta clearly doesn't know better.

"Come to think of it, you did just buy a fancy new car…"

"On my salary as a tenured college professor. How many Tummy Tuesdays does it take for you to afford your rent?"

"How did you get tenure? You've been teaching for three years."

Jeff rolls his eyes. "The Dean insisted," he explains.

For some reason, though, Britta's words make an impact. Three years here. Three years of a job he doesn't like and isn't good at. Jeff is forty-three and can feel his life slipping through his fingers.

"The school year ends in May. There'll be more time for crazy things when you don't have Fundamentals of Law classes to teach." Britta pauses. "Although teach is a pretty strong word for what you do."

"Yeah, yeah."

He'll never admit it, but Jeff finds himself counting down the days until the school year ends. He considers bleaching his hair, going vegan, adding some tasteful florals to his wardrobe. Finally, as he's on the verge of buying a plane ticket out to Washington DC - just for sightseeing, of course, but if he happens to run into Annie he'd be open to it - Jeff decides that things will happen on their own time.

"You can't manufacture shenanigans," he says to Shirley as he stops by her sandwich shop one day during lunch.

She gives a condescending smile. "Are you sure you're not just afraid to see Annie?"

"What? No, why would I - Of course not!" The words spill out of Jeff's mouth a little too quickly.

"Whatever you say," Shirley says sweetly, turning to check on some sandwiches that are toasting in her oven. "Oh, and by the way, Annie emailed me the other day. She was asking about you."

"What did she say?"

"Oh, you know, just asking how you were… and wondering why you won't respond to her emails."

"Tell her I never check my school email," Jeff says. This isn't entirely true. He's stopped using it for personal communication ever since he found out the Dean was snooping through it, but he still used it to email with his students. Jeff has seen Annie's emails, he's read every single one, but he can't figure out what to say to her.

"Why don't you tell her yourself?" Shirley suggests.

Jeff laughs. "I'd really rather you do it," he says, getting up from his perch against the counter and leaving before she can say another word.

As it turns out, Jeff is right about crazy things happening on their own time. He's sitting in his office on the evening after the last day of classes, absently looking at the moon out his window, phone clutched in one hand. A knock sounds at the door and Jeff sits up. "Come in," he says, expecting Shirley or Britta.

He glances down at his phone, a trick he has to establish a power dynamic by showing people he doesn't care.

"Hi Jeff."

Jeff Winger looks up and staring down at him is Annie Edison.

"Annie. Hi." He's not sure how to react. It's not like he hasn't had any contact with her in the past few years, but something is different now. There's a barrier between them that can't be crossed.

Jeff stands up and goes to hug her. As they let go, she gives a small smile. "So," Jeff says, not knowing how to start, "how have you been?"

"Wait. We can catch up in a minute, but there's someone else you need to see," she says. Annie grabs him by the arm and leads him over to the library. There, in the study room, sits Troy.

Troy looks up at him and grins broadly. He has a full beard now, and his face is saddened and set by three years of hardships Jeff can only imagine. He stands up to embrace him, and Jeff hugs him tightly, suddenly overwhelmed by a wave of emotion at seeing these two people he'd missed so much.

Jeff offers his hand and Troy shakes it with a firm grip. "God, Troy, I can't believe you're back!" he says. "You're... you're really a man now, huh?"

"I hope so," Troy says. Jeff smiles.

"Troy emailed me as soon as he got back and I responded, since I actually check my email -" Annie interjects.

Jeff sighs. "What did Shirley tell you?"

"Not now, guys," Troy says.

"Anyway, we met up last night and decided to surprise you."

"Well, you can color me surprised," Jeff says. "Have you seen Britta or Shirley yet?"

Annie shakes her head. "No. Just you."

Troy continues. "Obviously I tried calling Abed first thing, but I think he changed his number."

"I can give you his number if you need it -" Jeff starts.

"Actually, me and Annie sort of had an idea, but we wanted to talk to you first."

Jeff pulls out his old chair at the head of the table and sits down, leaning back in his old power position. "What's your idea?"

"We wanted to go visit Abed," Annie says. "All of us."

He sits there. And considers it. Five people travelling to a state a thousand miles away, to reunite their family of six and to get a pair of best friends back together. It's crazy, but after two years of monotony, this is exactly what he's been waiting for.

Britta, of course, insists on a road trip when she hears the plan. Jeff's apprehensive - "Troy's a multimillionaire now, why not charter a private plane or something?" - but Annie manages to win him over.

"I actually think it'll be fun," she says cheerfully. "It'll be a good change of pace.

Jeff looks up from his phone. "Fine. I can leave in a week."

"So..." Troy starts awkwardly, clearly trying to be casual. "How is Abed?"

Jeff's taken him out to lunch, and after fifteen minutes or so of catching up, it's clear Troy can't hold the question in any longer. Although Jeff would love to live vicariously through Troy's exciting anecdotes about life at sea, he can see the look of anticipation in Troy's eyes. He supposes his questions can wait.

"I haven't heard from him in a while," Jeff says, shrugging. "He's a camera operator now, out in LA, but I'm sure Annie already told you that. He has a bunch of hipster friends. It's like a group of Brittas."

Troy nods. "And he's... happy?"

"Probably, yeah. Why wouldn't he be?"

"I don't know, I just -" Troy takes a deep breath. "I've been worried about him since I left. No one's gonna try to understand him like I did, and I'm so scared he forgot about me, and I just love him -" He pauses. "Shit, I should not have said that out loud."

Jeff can't help but let out a laugh. "So you're in love with Abed. What a shocking development."

Troy stares down at his plate. "Yeah, I guess you could say that."

"Then we need to get you to California as fast as possible," Jeff says, as if beginning one of his famous speeches. "Seems like you two have a lot to talk about."