(Post 6.01)
"What is this, Jeff?" Frankie said. He'd appeared at the door of her office in a stylish sports jacket, open necked button through shirt and what were presumably designer jeans.
"These are for you," he pulled a bunch of flowers from behind his back.
"What are these for?" She said, then a thought struck her. "You're not still apologising are you?" She scanned the space behind him. "Is Abed lurking? It's not necessary Jeff, I've accepted and come back." She made a sweeping gesture indicating her office to stress the point.
"No," Jeff said. "These are 'thank you' flowers - nobody has said thank you for coming back yet, so this is me saying 'Thank you, Frankie'."
She stepped up from behind her desk and walked around, somewhat bemusedly taking the flowers from him as he thrust them towards her.
She looked around again, there was still no sign of anybody else. "Is the thank you going to take as long as the apology?"
A small smirk spread across Jeff's face. "That depends."
"On what?"
"On whether you let me buy you dinner tonight."
"What is this?" Frankie looked him straight in the eyes, a confrontational expression on her face. "Is this a rite of passage for new female employees at Greendale, getting hit on by Jeff Winger in their first week?"
The smirk was well and truly wiped from Jeff's face. "I'll have you know it's been almost five years since I last hit on a woman who worked here."
"Michelle Slater." Frankie said, somewhat to Jeff's surprise.
"How do you know about her?" He blurted out.
"The dean keeps records. Very detailed records about certain things." She looked briefly repulsed. "Especially about you."
Now it was Jeff's turn to look repulsed. "I can imagine. I don't want to, but I can."
"Then what is this about, Jeff? Are you trying to score points with me so I don't axe your job as a cost-saving measure?"
"What? No!" Now it was Jeff's turn to look exasperated. "Why does it have to be about anything other than you being somebody who's smart, tough, knows what she wants and looks smoking hot in a black power suit?" A shocked expression crashed over Jeff's face as his mouth slammed shut, as though in his irritation he'd said more than he meant.
Now it was Frankie's turn to look annoyed. "I don't wear this to look 'smoking hot'-" she made air quotes gestures "-I wear it because it's the sort of thing women have to wear to be taken seriously in management!"
"It's not an either/or you know!" Jeff was practically yelling back. He forced himself to calm down. "You're the most serious person who's come here in years - this whole day should have shown you how seriously we take you has nothing to do with how you dress." He sighed. "Look, I'm sorry. This was obviously a bad idea. I'll-"
Frankie looked like she'd come to a decision. "I try to eat a balanced meal every day between six-thirty and eight to give me time to digest it so it doesn't interfere with my sleep pattern. I normally eat on my own, but that's more of a guideline than a rule."
"Does that mean-" Jeff was completely knocked off balance by her sudden decision, but she'd already turned away to fetch her jacket from the coat hanger.
"Well?" She said, as she put the flowers down to put her jacket on.
Jeff's smirk was well and truly back. He opened the door and gestured to it. "After you-"
"Just one warning Jeff," Frankie interrupted him. "The first hint of a cheesy chat-up line and I'm in a taxi heading home."
"Yes Frankie," Jeff said humbly, but there was an amused glint in his eyes.
She pivoted on a heel and strode past him, his eyes followed her. She really does look smoking hot in a black power suit - he thought.
"Bring the flowers, Jeff - we'll give them to the dean's secretary on the way out to put in a vase."
"Yes Frankie."
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Author's Note: This story was inspired by a comment on "The Darkest Timeline" podcast, when Joel McHale said the character of Frankie Dart was originally introduced to him as Jeff's S6 love interest and he played at least the first episode with this in mind, so I thought I'd see how it would go.