The next morning after Jeff got the invitation, he was on his way to Malibu. He typically was the guy who didn't want to do anything, but he was so excited to see everyone again he didn't care if he came off as super eager.

Malibu was about a sixteen hour drive from his apartment so he figured if he started driving at eight in the morning he'd be there by midnight. He would go to a bar, get drunk then he could check into a hotel for the night and spend tomorrow checking out Malibu before Monday's boat trip.

Jeff's Lexus had better days but, he loved it. It had a special story behind it. After he became a lawyer he decided he was going to buy a lawyer car. Until that point he'd been driving his mother's station wagon which was so old he practically had to push from behind in order to make any distance. So the second he could afford it, he went car shopping. It took a while to find a good fit for him however and one day while he was going to defend someone who was accused of chopping down his neighbours tree without permission, the station wagon broke down and he missed the trial. His client had to defend himself and it went terribly. About a month later after Jeff started taking the bus to work everyday he was in a case in which a man was convicted of grand theft auto after stealing not one, but six police cruisers. From the station parking lot! It was his biggest case yet and he was determined to win it. He had gone in there, gave it everything he had but, it wasn't enough. The outlook was bleak to say the least. However, they were allowed one night no collect their thoughts and closing statements would be tomorrow. Jeff decided he was going to take that night to review his notes, try to find a loophole and then get drunk. Then as he was driving home he saw it: a shiny blue Lexus practically screaming at him to buy it. Jeff got off at the next stop and ran back to the dealership. He shouldn't be making such a big deal about a stupid car but, it was gorgeous he bought it without hesitation and drove it home with a new passion in him. The next day he took a Hail Mary final statement and he won the case! Now most people will tell you Jeff won with his ability to make the most blatant lie sound like a universal truth and truth be told off you asked Jeff that's what he would say too, but deep down Jeff always thought he turned that case around because of a shiny blue Lexus. After that case he finally felt like a winner, a force to be reckoned with. Jeff Winger finally felt like a lawyer.

Fast forward 18 years and Jeff's Lexus was in a similar condition to what his mothers now scrapped station wagon was in. But, Jeff didn't want to lose it because with it he lost the only part of him that was still a lawyer.

Jeff Had Dave Matthews Band playing from his phone. He would have played a CD since he had all of them, but his cars CD player was fried. Jeff decided he was going to practice what he's going to say to Annie when he sees her Monday. Only because he wants to kill the time. No other reason, None, so stop asking.

"Hey Annie, long time no see how's it been?" Jeff said "no that's terrible"

"Hey, I've missed you- no that's way to direct" he continued

"Ugh, why does this have to be so hard?" Jeff moaned "I text her all the time, it's not like we're complete strangers now." Although he didn't want to admit it he knew exactly why it was so hard coming up with what he was going to say to her. He hadn't been in the same room as her in years and the last time he was, he was saying goodbye to her and he knew better than to think she was coming back.

After literally hours of Jeff practicing every different scenario that could happen when he sees Annie on Monday from her laughing at his current state to her telling him off for how she regretted ever kissing the hollow shell of a man that Jeff was to her just being his friend and nothing more, that was his favourite outcome. Jeff finally made it to Malibu. He immediately let out an immense yawn right as he pulled up to a red light. He was incredibly tired. He picked up his phone which was playing Tripping Billies for the 5th time this drive and checked the time. "Midnight" Jeff laughed "I got the time right in the nose, I guess that's what happens when you don't stop to eat, sleep or use the bathroom for sixteen straight hours" it then occurred to Jeff he desperately needed to do all three of those things as soon as he could. Jeff turned off Dave as Jeff liked to call him and decided he was going to skip the bar tonight and go straight to the hotel. Just as well, drinking seemed to be all Jeff wanted to do recently, if he didn't put a cap on this he might become an alcoholic which really isn't an issue he feels like dealing with in this lifetime.

After driving around for about 10 minutes Jeff pulled into the hotel. Jeff quickly decided a place could not fit a beach vibe better if it tried. First of all, the place had palm trees everywhere. Jeff had never seen a palm tree in person before and thought they looked messier in person that they did in pictures. The palm leaves looked so perfect, so flawless and pictures but in person what you saw wasn't what you got. It looked more real and more leafy. Full of imperfections and impurities. "There's probably a lesson in their somewhere" Jeff murmured. Jeff still figured they were quite good looking, for a tree that is. Over at the actual hotel the wall were painted in a creamy light brown, A very light brown. The roof looked like it was made of bamboo and it stretched down either side of the building. Jeff could only make out the features of the building thanks to a glaring amount of light coming from every window. Jeff smiled to himself. He's gonna enjoy his short time here, he knows it.

The hotel was called the Malibu Beach Inn. It seemed very pleasant but very expensive. However Jeff figured he could dip into his vacation fund. Jeff started a vacation fund about 4 years ago after he had dinner with Troy when shortly after he came back from his boat trip around the world. Troy had told him all about the places he visited with LeVar Burton and Jeff had to admit he was quite fascinated by all of it. After that dinner Jeff decided he wanted to travel more so he set up a vacation fund. After every pay check Jeff would set aside 10% for the vacation fund in the hopes that once a year Jeff would have enough money to visit one new place in the world. Four years later and Jeff hadn't used a single penny from the fund. He couldn't ever find the time or people to travel around the world with. So when he got the opportunity to go on this trip he finally had a reason to use his vacation fund. He was elated and was determined to make his first trip outside of Colorado count. So he booked a room at the nicest hotel he could find on such short notice. That luckily wasn't a problem since finals were coming up at school and most people were waiting until the beginning of their time off to travel. However, the lady on the phone told him he got the last room available. Jeff was amazed at his good fortune. It was about time he won one.

Jeff pulled into the parking lot and walked into the hotel. The lobby was modest, having only a small lounge area by the reception desk. He walked up to reception and the lady behind the counter smiled to him.

"Hello sir, how may I help you?"

He checked into the hotel and was told he was in room 307 so he brought one of his suitcases to the elevator. He figured he'd only need one tonight and the rest could stay in the car until he loaded them onto the boat Monday. Another man came into the elevator with him. Jeff smiled and nodded to him.

The man was about twenty to thirty years older than Jeff. His hair was as white as a ghost but the man had seemed to keep most of it. Jeff wondered what his secret was. The man pressed the button for the 4th floor and wore a warm smile on his face as he waited for the doors on the elevator to slide shut.

"Little late to be checking in isn't it?" The man finally spoke

"Yeah, well I was on the road for a long time" Jeff replied

"What brings you to Malibu?" The man asked

Jeff paused "visiting some old friends" he said "how about you?"

"My wife and I are celebrating our wedding anniversary" the old man chuckled "Fifty years! Can you believe it?"

"To be honest with you no I can't. I mean..." Jeff paused

"Congratulations, you two must be very happy"

"We are" the man looked at Jeff "it just took us so long, too long even, for us to finally get together that when we did, we knew it was meant to be. You know there's nothing better than marriage. Waking up everyday beside someone you've dedicated your life to and then taking on the world together one day at a time. You just can't beat it."

"So you never once had any doubts? I don't mean for you to take offence to that. It's just in my experience..." Jeff trailed off regretting what he said

The old man held up a hand to stop Jeff "I understand" he began "and to answer your question, no I've never once doubted even for a second that I love my wife. Now surely..." the man paused as to allow Jeff tell him his name

"Jeff"

The old man looked at him surprised then smiled "Now surely Jeffery you must feel that way with someone in this giant world. Am I correct?"

"As a matter of fact, you are" Jeff chuckled

"Then I suppose 'in your experience' you have felt something other than pain." The old man smugly said

"I suppose your right" Jeff laughed "I'm sorry for doubting you and your marriage"

"It's quite alright" the man smiled "I used to be like you to. I didn't believe in marriage or love. That was until Annie came into my life and showed me that love was all too real and then when I finally realized I loved her I had to let her go. Then I experienced another thing I didn't believe in: heartbreak. It took five years until she came back and we finally got together. I've cherished every moment I've spent with her since."

Jeff looked bewildered "y-your wife's name is Annie?" He said shocked

The man nodded

"Hey can I ask you something?" Jeff asked doing his best to put the name coincidence aside "Did you, at any point, think 'she could do better' 'Annie could do better' and it's only a matter of time before she realizes it herself and kicks you to the curb. Sorry once again if this is comes off the wrong way"

The old mans warm smile faded and he slowly nodded "I did, for a long time I though that I was just a roadblock in her life. We have quite a sizeable age difference you know, I thought people would think I was a monster for loving her. That's why I let her go. Then one day she said to me after we got reunited, she said 'you can't decide who's good enough for me. Only I can do that.' You see Jeffery you can't decide what's best for anyone in this world, only they can. Now you can think whatever you want but in truth, it won't change anything. The heart, wants what it wants and if they want you, you're really only hurting them by denying them that. And in terms of the age difference, you might turn a few heads but as long as you're not committing a crime, people don't mind. Love is love, that's all its ever been and it's all it ever will be. Now, who are we to stand in they way of that?"

Jeff stared speechless. "I... um..." he stammered. "Wow, just... wow"

Before Jeff could think of something to say he heard a tiny ding and the elevator doors opened. The third floor. Jeff wiped the look of pure shock off his face and stepped out of the elevator and turned to the man

"Thank you for this, it really helped" Jeff admitted

"Anytime, happy to help" the man smiled

Jeff went to turn away but stopped and stuck out his arm to prevent the elevator doors from closing

"One more thing before you go," Jeff said "I never got your name."

"Jeffery" the man answered "my names Jeffery"

Jeff went pale and slowly removed his arm from the door. Jeff couldn't think of a response and the old man gave a sweet laugh as Jeff Winger watched the elevator doors closed and old Jeff disappeared. He was completely dumbfounded.

"Nope. Too much for me to think about tonight" Jeff to himself as he walked to his hotel room.

When Jeff reached room 307 he swiped the keycard on the door to be let in. He opened the door to find a queen sized bed, bathroom, mini fridge, TV and couch.

Jeff turned on the lights and all the lamps in the room suddenly turned on like clockwork. A red plaid curtain directly opposite from him

"Ugh, tacky" Jeff said to himself. He strode a cross the room to the curtain and opened it. A sliding glass door was on the other side of it. Jeff slid opened the door and stepped onto the balcony there were two metal chairs with a checked pattern cut into them and a metal table with an ash tray welded to it. The building had a no smoking policy but the table was clearly around before the rule was put in place and the ash trays were stuck to them.

Jeff looked ahead at the beach the moon was reflected in the water and it was the only light that the beach gave off. So it was very notable when Jeff looked to his left and saw downtown Malibu in the distance. The whole place was lit up like a firework show. It was all neon lights too which only made things worse for Jeff's eyes.

The only things Jeff could hear were waves crashing and the faint noise of the TV coming from the room next door. They had left their screen door open.

Jeff yawned. Oh yeah, sleep he walked back inside making sure to close the door behind him. He opened his suitcase and changed into his pyjamas which were just baggy blue pants and a loose fitting grey T-shirt.

Jeff hopped into bed and turned on the TV so he could fall asleep to it. The TV came on to the movie Thor: Ragnorok.

Jeff groaned "They're still making these? When will people get over them? They're so one note." Jeff smiled to himself and thought of Annie, the only other person in the world who saw Marvel movies for what they really were: boring.

Jeff turned off the TV having lost his appetite for falling asleep to it and decided to sleep to the sound of ocean waves crashing onto the beach instead.

Jeff woke up in a cold sweat. He has that dream all of the time yet it never feels like one. It always feels like he's back in that study room, the air is stale and the room and the only noise is a low hum coming from the vent. It's home for him, well at least it was.

Jeff looked at his phone 28 missed calls from Dean Pelton. Jeff sighed and checked the time. His phone read 6 am.

"I need some air" Jeff said to himself and he walked out on to the balcony. The beach was nearly empty with the exception of some early risers who wanted to get got spots on the sand so when the masses come later they were prepared. Jeff could barely make out the tiny sailboats on the water on their way to explore the open seas much like Troy did years ago. The city was just beginning to come to life for the day and Jeff watched all of it.

Jeff sat on the balcony for about an hour watching the sun rise and the beach populate when the balcony door to room 305 opened. A girl in red pyjamas stepped out. She had Burnett's hair she was wearing in a pony tail she was only up to Jeff shoulders in height and had beautiful, blue doe eyes. She looked over at Jeff and got started. Jeff equally started took in her appearance and couldn't help but smile. She was more stunning than he remembered. They looked at each other for about a minute before one of them spoke

"H- Hi Jeff" the girl said with a smile but eyes resembling the look a deer in headlights has.

"Hey Annie" Jeff replied barely managing to keep himself together.

Authors notes: so it took me a while to do this chapter because I simply forgot about it. Whoops, my bad.

Expect a pretty long delay between my next few chapters because I think I want to write them all in advance before posting, plus I have two other fics I'm currently working on: one that's also community which will be an AnniexOC and a Harry Potter one which will be OCxOC. So I'll keep you updated on those as well.

Thanks for the follows and reviews!

Finally, I really wanted to focus on the internal struggles of Jeff for this story, that's why he hasn't been his sarcastic self yet. Also, there's this great JeffAnnie fic out there that I can't remember the name of but it involves Jeff and Annie going to Australia to help Troy with some legal stuff and Troy being kidnapped by pirates is mentioned. Turns out that's canon so I promise I'm not ripping them off if I bring it up in the future

That's all for now

~ Disco

(That's gonna be my nickname)