Epilogue
Months later, nothing much has changed, except Annie sleeps at Jeff's place three or four nights a week, and Jeff still visits the bike – now on Mondays and Thursdays, to avoid conflicts with the Zoom. Annie rearranges her own apartment bedroom to prioritize office space, and she loves having a commute and an office again. They've avoided any complicated conversations about 'what they are', which is surprisingly easy during a pandemic.
On an ordinary afternoon, Annie is waiting next to Jeff's open apartment door, tapping her foot. "Aren't you ready?" she calls.
"Annie?!"
She turns slowly. Dean Craig Pelton is in the hallway, his hand and key arrested halfway to his own front door. "Deeeaaan," Annie says, smiling as hard as she can with frightened eyes. "I can explain."
Jeff emerges from the living room, head down, looking through the pile on the hall table. "Babe, have you seen my mask?"
"No need to explain. It's quite clear."
Jeff freezes at the Dean's voice and looks up. "Jeffrey." The Dean nods at them both, inscrutable behind his mask. "Anne." He goes into his own apartment without another word, the door slowly closing behind him with a menacing but quiet finality.
Annie slams their own door shut and presses her back against it. "He knows."
"So everyone is going to know." Annie's phone pings already. Jeff rushes forward and takes her hands as she starts to reach for it. "We need to have that talk right now. Before you hear what anyone else thinks…are you in or out?" His phone beeps too, multiple times. Frustrated, he pulls it out of his jacket pocket and tosses it down the hall.
Annie tracks the phone with her eyes, then looks up and meets Jeff's earnest gaze. "Boyfriend and girlfriend?"
"Boyfriend and girlfriend."
"I'm…in. Of course I'm in!"
They smile at each other. Annie's phone is making a ton of noise too. Exasperated, she lets go of Jeff's hand to check the multiple texts. "Wow, I knew they'd have opinions, but this seems extreme – um, Jeff?"
"What?"
"People are storming the capitol."
"What?!"
Abed has sent a Zoom link to the group text, and they log in immediately, sitting shoulder to shoulder. Everyone else is already there.
"Have you seen the news?" Britta demands. "Wait – you're in the same place?!"
Jeff waves it away. "Yes, we're dating. Like six months now."
"Five and a half," Annie pipes up.
"Great, terrific, can we talk about the terrorism now?" Abed says.
Engrossed by the news, no one has energy left over to interrogate Jeff and Annie. They might have questions later, and they might not. Shirley relinquishes her dream of beautiful blond godchildren and starts wondering if beautiful dark-haired Jewish children can have godmothers. Britta wonders if it's gross that her surrogate sister is dating her surrogate brother, and decides that it is, but also kind of sweet. Abed thinks it's a little contrived, but it might work as a C-plot.
Jeff and Annie hold hands under the table.