A/N: Chapter 3! nearly 5 months later :( Sorry it took me a bit longer to finish, while I have a very clear vision in my head, getting it into words is not as easy for me. Hopefully the next chapter won't take as long to get out.

"How do you, the jury, find the defendant?" The judge's voice radiated authority as she asked for the verdict.

"We, the jury find the defendant, Rich Stephenson, guilty of murder in the second degree." The foreman's voice rang loud and clear in the courtroom. Jeff had lost his case. His client was now going to jail for 15 years on account of murder and Jeff had never felt worse.

Never in his entire career had he lost a case of this magnitude, mainly because he's never been give a case of this magnitude, but that's not the point. He thought this was going to be an open and shut case, which it was, but he saw it going in his favor especially since he believed his client was innocent. It was one thing to lose a case when you knew who you were defending was guilty, but this is the first time he'd lost with someone innocent and he felt awful.

Rich looked over to Jeff as the bailiffs escorted him out of the room. He didn't even look angry, he just looked apologetic which made Jeff feel even worse. The world's most perfect human being was being sent to jail for a crime he didn't commit all because Jeff couldn't do his job correctly. His usual antics didn't work for this court and his client paid the price.

He needed a drink and he needed to be alone, somewhere no one he knows would bother him especially about this case. He haphazardly gathered his documents and stuffed them into his brief case and all but ran out to his Lexus in the parking lot.

On days like this he'd usually go to L Street for his usual McAllen neat, but that was a place that was sure to be crawling with his colleagues. So he decided to go to The Ballroom, a bar he hadn't frequented for many years, but he knew none of his colleagues would be there, mainly due to the fact that they didn't know it existed.

He looked at his phone and saw that it was his wife calling. He'd usually answer, mainly because she'd call him relentlessly until he answered, but he didn't feel like hearing from her especially after such a big loss. She'd be happy he lost the case because she believed he defended the scum of the earth. Usually that was true, but not in this case. His client was the epitome of perfect and didn't deserve to go to jail and he didn't need a lecture from Britta about how him losing was a good thing and he should just quit his job and become an environmental lawyer. So, with that in mind he did something he never did and turned off his phone and threw it in the back seat for good measure. He was determined not to be bothered until he absolutely had to. Until he realized how dead the bar was and how was he going to survive an evening without at least his phone for entertainment. He puts his phone back in his pocket, but leaves it off. He'll see how the night goes before he resorts to his phone.

He parked his car and rushed his way into the bar paying no mind the bouncer outside of it. It was one of the few instances where he didn't mind someone thinking he was old. He walk right up to one of the stools and sat right in front of the bartender. One of the few things he preferred about this place is that they actually call it bartender and not something like mixologist to make their job sound more important than it is.

"What can I get you?" The bartender was a petite slender woman with short hair who looked about his age. She had a demeanor about her that said she wasn't going to try and play psychologist with him, which he preferred.

"McAllen, neat" No other words were needed as she made his drink right in front of him and served it quickly. The moment the amber liquid met his tongue, he felt some of the tension built throughout the day melt away. Sadly his conscience couldn't be quelled as quickly, he knew it was going to take a few more drinks to numb his mind into distraction.

He was about three drinks in when a beautiful brunette who looked like a bar, let alone this bar, was the last place she belonged stood across to bar to order a root beer. She kept unnecessarily saying her name was Caroline Decker from Corpus Christi, which explained the overdone southern accent.

He studied her nervous overdrawn behavior and determined she was lying about something. He didn't know what, but guessing from her age he guessed it had something to do with a fake ID. This amused him for the moment, so he decided to study her more and see if she slips. She did technically slip, but no one would really notice because she seemed really good at telling stories. Her stories, although ridiculous and quite unrealistic, were so well told that you couldn't help but listen. But then he caught her. She was talking about her "friend" Annie with way too many details than a friend should have and the look on her face told him that she was speaking about herself. Her bubbliness died down after that and she ordered herself a screw driver.

As the saying goes, misery loves company and Jeff definitely needed company, so he decided to go talk to her.

"What's a pretty girl like you doing alone in a bar?" It's not his best line, but he imagines it'll work on someone as naïve as her.

She moves her eyes to look at him and gives a small sad smile. Though she's flattered this handsome man in a suit is hitting on her, her mood had taken a downward shift that not even she could "think positive" her way through. But what harm could talking to him do? "I'm actually not alone. I came with some friends."

"Well kind of friends would just leave you sitting at the bar all by yourself?" He sits down on the barstool next to her.

"Ones that tend to get so far in their own world that they forget other people." She lamented bitterly. She always knew no matter where they went that she was the third wheel in Troy and Abed's twosome. Although tonight was a rare occasion where she forgot about them so she couldn't be too annoyed that they were huddled by themselves at the arcade machine without her.

"Sounds like you need new friends."

Annie was slightly taken aback by his statement. She may not have liked being exclude by them most of the time, but she never want to get rid of them. "Sounds like you make judgements about people without really knowing them."

Jeff holds his hands up in surrender. He didn't mean to hit a nerve. "Sorry, didn't mean to make any judgements, it's just you made them sound a little inconsiderate."

"Well they are a little inconsiderate, but that doesn't mean I should just cut them out of my life and replace them. They're still my friends regardless. I accept them for who they are like they accept me for who I am. That's how a friendship works, you don't just cut them out because you don't like one little thing about them. That'd be ridiculous. I'd have no friends if I did that." She laughs at her last statement finding the concept funny.

"Yeah, that'd be ridiculous." He says almost too quietly.

Jeff finds her outlook on friendship a little naïve, but it's refreshing regardless. He spends most of his time with people who only use friendship as a means to an end, himself included in that crowd, so someone who genuinely cared about their friends despite the fact that they treat her badly was a rare siting for him. Sure Britta cared about Shirley, but that probably had more to with the fact that Shirley was the only one to ever listen to her protest rant and challenge her on them rather than a real friendship. Britta liked the attention more than Shirley and Shirley just liked the distraction from her home life. That's what Jeff was used to, people using each other for selfish means.

"So keeping the friends, got it. How do you feel about making friends?" His best charming smile accompanies this statement.

Annie smiles at him dreamily. "I'm not opposed to it. Why? See any potential candidates?"

Jeff smirks and then scans the bar. "Well, there's the old man over there with the glasses that can't take a hint that no one's interested." He points to a grey haired man with a receding hairline sitting in a booth alone hitting on any woman that crosses. "There's the two man children who haven't left the arcade accept to go to the bathroom." He points to Troy and Abed. "There's also the guy that followed them into the bathroom." He points to a mustached gentleman talking with a bald man on the other side of the bar. "Or you can go for convenience and befriend the handsome specimen right in front of you."

Annie laughs at his blatant egotism. "Well you have given me quite a few options. I mean I bet the old man could be sweet if you got to know him, but it depends on how much creepy you're willing to endure. And the 'man children' as you like to call them are already my roommates, so that eliminates them from the list. The guy who followed them into the bathroom seems only interested in making male friends. So I guess that leaves me with…" She pauses, "the handsome man with the trucker hat and beer gut." She points to the guy a little ways away from them at the bar. "How did you know he was my type? It's like you rigged that whole speech for me to pick him?" She laughs at her own cleverness. She's never felt so comfortable in her own skin with a stranger than right now. She usually has to breakout fake smiles and vague statements before she gradually starts to show her true self. With him, things were easy. Well his ego made it easy because it was something easy she could tease him about.

Jeff gave her a slight frown, but still bemused. "Yeah, well I didn't tell you earlier, but I'm a little psychic and when I heard the thoughts you had about him made it my mission to come over just solely so I could get you to talk to him because he too thinks of you fondly."

Annie breaks out into a fit of laughter. He may think too much of himself, but he was at least funny. "Hey, what's your name?" Wanting to call him by something other than handsome stranger when she recalls him in her memory.

"Jeff. Jeff Winger."

"Well I'm-"

"Caroline Decker. I heard you say it earlier." Her eyes widen as she realizes that she wasn't Annie Edison tonight and she's supposed to be talking in a southern accent, which she dropped somewhere around her musings on friends. "Although I think it's safe to say that that's not your real name, nor are you from Texas."

Annie is speechless. All of her fears of coming out tonight had just became a reality. She was about to have a panic attack before Jeff spoke.

"It's alright; I'm not going to tell anyone. But it would be nice if you told me your real name."

She lets out a sigh of relief and becomes calm, or at least however calm she could get with her high strung personality. She gives him a timid smile before she speaks. "It's Annie. Annie Edison."

His hunch was correct. The mysterious overtalkative girl was named Annie. He thinks about telling her this, but doesn't want to be found out as the creep who eavesdropped on her all night. Instead he goes for a simple, "Nice to meet you Annie."

Her smile widens when he says her name. Never had her boring name sounded so perfect.

She was taken out of her reverie when Troy and Abed literally ran up to her nearly knocking her out of her chair. "Umm…we need to go." Troy said in his high "something's wrong" voice.

Annie blinked a few times taking them in. What could have possible gone on at the arcade machine to get them this jumpy? Even Abed seemed on edge with his stoic face permanently stuck in the wide eyed position. "Why?" she says tentatively.

Both Troy and Abed eye Jeff as they thought of how to word their problem with a stranger present. "Well we may or may not have used all our money play Space Invaders; and we may or may not be able to pay the check." Troy says the last part in his not so quiet whisper looking at with a side eye.

Annie sobers up quick as she has a slight mini-freak-out in her head. "What?" Her voice gets high and pitch, but she's trying to stay calm. She looks at Jeff. "Would you excuse us please?"

She's about to grab both of them and leave when Jeff says, "I can cover the check."

They all stare blankly at Jeff. He was the answer to all of their problem, well tonight anyways. Both Abed and Troy let out breaths of relief while Annie still stood tense. "Jeff, I can't let you do that. We wouldn't be able to pay you back." It was sadly true. They were beyond broke college students and that had barely enough for tonight and now a nothing.

"Okay, well how about this. You give me your phone number and we'll call it even." He used his award winning smile that no could resist. If Annie wasn't going to give the number, Troy or Abed definitely were."

She looks at him timidly and speaks in a low voice. "My number? That's it?"

"That's it."

"You're not going to send me unsolicited pictures of your penis, are you?" That she gets out firmer.

Jeff looks bemused. "I wasn't, but now I am." She stomps her foot which makes him genuinely laugh for the first time in years. He holds his hands up in surrender to her response. "Okay, I promise I won't send any dick pics. I just wanted to make sure this wasn't the last night I see you ever again."

She smiles coyly at him. "Okay I'll give you my number. Hand the phone over."

He turns on his phone bypassing the 15 missed calls from Britta and goes in to the create contact before giving her the phone. She promptly puts the digits in along with her name before pressing save and giving him his phone back. When he gets his phone back he immediately presses call. She hears her phone go off in her purse and curiously looks at who's calling her. She doesn't recognize the number so she answers it.

"Hello?"

Jeff puts the phone to his ear. "Had to make sure this was really your number."

She lets out a little huff of air as though wanting to say you think I would give you a fake number?

He again is bemused by this. "Plus now you have my number, so it's a two way street now."

They both smile at this meanwhile Troy and Abed are just drinking in the movie scene that's playing out in front of them. This usually only happened when there was writers involved. It was an entirely surreal experience watching it in real life.

Annie let's out a little squeak and hangs up the phone. "Well, Jeff. It was nice meeting you." She slowly walks out of the bar taking Troy and Abed with her. She's never felt so light on her feet. This never happens to her. She never gets the handsome guy, but rather the cheap one who won't even pay for her dinner. She is entirely entranced in Jeff Winger and she doesn't want it to stop.

It doesn't hit Jeff what he's done until he's in his driveway and sees the lights are still on. He's a married man, while not happily, he's never seen that as a justifiable reason to cheat. Had her friends not come when they did, he probably would have tried to have sex with her in the bathroom, maybe succeeding and became his worst nightmare: his father.

Jeff quickly reigns himself telling himself he didn't have sex with her, he didn't kiss, he hasn't cheated. And calling her doesn't mean that has to change. He could just be her friend. He could stand to have one friendship not base off of quid quo pro. Once he's successfully lawyered himself he ushers himself into his house.

Britta's on the couch again, but with a sympathetic look on her face. "I heard you lost the case."

He's hanging up his coat and scarf. "Yeah, well it happens. I thought you'd be giddier about."

"I'm not a complete bitch. I'm not going to kick you while you're down. Plus I knew how you felt about this case. It's make me kind of a hypocrite if I got happy about you losing this case."

"Look, Britta I don't really feel like talking about, at least tonight. Can we just go to bed?"

She looks at her husband assessing him before just nodding her head compliance and walking with him to their room. He really looked beat and there was nothing ever satisfying about fighting someone weaker than you.

Later in bed Jeff thinks about how crappy his day was and how is all pick with one little brunette. He knows he should stay away from her, but something about her won't let him.