A/N: Still don't own it. BIG thank you to tktktk for being a lovely beta!

Chapter 5.

Annie woke up far too early. Her dreams had been plagued by images of herself tearfully confessing her love to Jeff over and over as he'd laughed at her and told her she was only good for a little fun. That nobody would ever actually fall in love with a pushy control freak like her. She briefly considered trying to go back to sleep but she knew it was useless. She never was able to go back to sleep once she woke up. And the last thing she wanted was to give her subconscious more opportunity to torment her with her fears.

She took a quick shower, applied minimal makeup, and spritzed on a touch of perfume. After tidying her room she stood in front of her closet and snagged a silky crossover tank with bold black and white horizontal stripes. She paired it with a cute pair of black shorts with a black lace overlay and a some white sandals. The bracing shower had helped her calm her torturous thoughts. On reflection she was proud of her self-control but terrified she'd gone too far. That she'd made a huge mistake in turning Jeff down. Yes, Jeff had insulted her and was a giant jerk who clearly didn't think as much of her as she'd hoped he did. And what was important was that she had fought her urges and won. But would she always wonder now what might have happened if she hadn't reacted so badly?

At some point she would have to have an actual conversation with him about what had happened, though. If he even remembered. He had been clearly drunk. But even the thought of talking to him made her mad all over again. How dare he treat her so disrespectfully! So yes they should talk, but maybe not for a few days. Or weeks. Or months.

She opened her bedroom door and stumbled back a few feet in shock. Britta was standing right in front of her door with a notepad and purple pen in her hands.

"Finally!" Britta greeted her with entirely too much energy. "Abed wouldn't let me talk to you last night. Something about it being against the rules since your door was locked but I stayed over because we're friends and I knew you would need me this morning. I heard your hair-dryer so I knew you were up. Are you ready to talk or do you need coffee or something first? I already had like three cups of coffee so if you're ready to start then I'm ready to start. Are you ready to start? Let's start. Come on."

Britta pushed past Annie into her room and sat down in the middle of her neatly made bed, opening the notepad and poising her pen over the paper. She looked up at Annie and her brow crinkled when she saw the other woman hadn't moved. "So. Coffee then? Thought you were a morning person. There's some left if you need it."

Annie's eyes had glazed over a bit when Britta's energetic speech started to run together but she was catching back up. Britta wanted to therapize her. That was sweet but totally unnecessary. "Britta, there's nothing to talk about."

Britta dropped her notebook and pen in surprise and gave Annie a knowing look. "I think we both know that's not true. I know what I saw last night, Annie. And honestly I'm confused. I think you're probably confused, too." She looked down at the notebook and sighed before looking at the younger woman again. "Hey, this can be off the record if you'd prefer but it really would help to talk to someone about it. If you'd let me I'd like that someone to be me. We don't always agree on everything but you really are one of my best friends. I want to be here for you."

Wow that was actually pretty thoughtful. If misguided. Annie gave her friend a sad smile. "Britta, no offense. But I don't need to talk about what happened. Yes it was unfortunate, but it's over and hopefully won't ever happen again. I'm not going to dwell on it and I would take it as a personal favor if you didn't either."

"Yeah," Britta said. "But what exactly did happen?"

"You were there," Annie said harshly. "Jeff tried to hook up with me and when I turned him down he tried using the old 'I love you' gambit. Like saying that to me even when he clearly didn't mean it would make me change my mind. Like I'm some dizzy barfly bimbo without a scrap of self-respect."

Britta processed what the other woman had said and the way she had said it. It sounded like she was more upset that he had tossed out the I love you than she was about him trying to sleep with her. And in that moment Britta had a flash of intuition. Though because she rarely had these she didn't recognize it for such at the time. Only later would she wonder at how quickly she had made the connection. "Oh, Annie. This isn't about Jeff at all, is it? This is about you."

It was Britta's quick grasp of why Annie was actually upset that made her change her mind about talking. Holding up a finger for the blond to hang on for a moment, she went into the kitchen and made herself a cup of coffee. She added a touch of her precious blueberry cobbler creamer and went back into her room to sit next to her friend.

"Here's the deal." Annie started after taking a sip of coffee. She held it carefully in her hands and stared at it as she talked. "I have feelings for Jeff."

Britta nodded sagely. "I figured as much. No offense, Annie, but you're not that great at hiding your body language. When you found out he and I weren't getting married it was pretty obvious you were like, extra relieved."

Annie threw her a quick side-eye. "Yeah, well. My feelings for Jeff are strong. Like really strong. Like. Really strong. But he doesn't feel like that about me. And he never will. And it's high time I get over him and focus on my future. Britta, I don't really have a relationship with my family. If I want to succeed in this world I'm going to have to do it all on my own. And that's fine. I can handle it. I've been on my own since I was a senior in high school. I kicked Adderall on my own. I got my GED on my own. I graduated from college on my own. I had to. Most people have a support network they know they can fall back on if their life gets bad enough or hard enough. Well I hit my lowest point when I was 18 and I've clawed my way back from that without and help from anyone."

She paused for a moment before adding, "Except for Pierce. Pierce was a lot of things, Britta. But he was the only one who took care of me. He genuinely cared about me and made sure I was okay."

"Pierce?" Britta interrupted sarcastically. "Annie I know you don't think of yourself of naive but come on. He didn't care about anyone but himself. I know he supposedly left Troy millions but I'll believe it when I see it."

Annie was quickly incensed. She set her mug on the coaster sitting on her nightstand a bit more harshly than she'd intended. It splashed over and while normally she would have cleaned it up right away in that moment she was too angry. She turned and pierced the blond with a furious glare.

"You're wrong! And I can prove it! You know that tiara he bequeathed to me? Yeah well out of curiosity I had it appraised. He wasn't lying about it. Britta, it's old. Like really old. Like late 1700's old. The appraiser thinks it could go for as much as half a million dollars if I ever decide to auction it off. Pierce made sure that if I ever hit a point in my life where I have no where else to turn that I won't end up back out on the streets!"

Tears welled up in her eyes at the reminder of Pierce's unexpected generosity. "He did more for me than any other person in my entire life. And I can never thank him for that because he was gone before I found out what he had really done. So don't you ever say anything bad about that man. Not in front of me."

Britta sat in stunned silence. She'd had no idea. None of them had. "Annie why didn't you tell us? And more importantly why haven't you sold the tiara?" She gestured around her head wildly. "Why are you still living here and going to school at Greendale?"

Annie set her jaw and narrowed her eyes. "Because I've done everything on my own for years and I'm not about to stop now. Yes if I ever hit rock bottom again I have a safety net. But I intend to pass that tiara down to a child of my own someday. It deserves to stay with family."

Britta was properly chastised and impulsively reached over to envelop the other woman in a tight hug. "I'm sorry," she said into her ear before easing back so that they were facing each other again. "I had no idea. I promise I won't ever say anything bad about Pierce again. You're right. He wasn't as selfish as I thought he was. But that still doesn't answer my original question. What the hell happened last night? I mean if you feel that strongly about Jeff why did you turn him down like that?"

Annie tried to explain her own snarled and wayward thoughts. "Honestly I can't really even explain it to myself. All I know is that I need to focus on me. And I can't do that if I'm pining after Jeff. It's pathetic and I'm not going to be pathetic anymore."

Britta narrowed her eyes at her friend in disapproval. "Annie, love isn't pathetic. It's one of the things that most people try to find their whole lives."

"Yeah?" Annie retorted. "And how's that working out for all of us? Besides. It's not like I'm even in a relationship with Jeff. He doesn't DO relationships. He does casual. Look at me, Britta. Is there anything even remotely casual about me?"

Britta took in the brunette's perfectly coordinated outfit, flawless makeup & hair, meticulous room. Nope. Nothing casual here. Fair point.

She was prevented from continuing when they heard the front door open and close again. "Annie?" Abed called from the living room. "Are you up yet?"

"We're in here!" Annie called out.

A moment later Abed appeared in the doorway. "Girl talk session. Classic post-drama action. I'll leave you be."

He didn't get any further before Annie hopped of the bed and ran over to nearly smother him with a fierce bear hug.

He looked down at her head buried in his chest and patted her shoulder. "Still upset about last night, I take it?" He asked flatly.

Annie nodded into his chest and mumbled so that he could barely make out what she was saying. "Oh God Abed it was so hard and so awful and what if I made a huge mistake?"

Britta watched with interest as Abed continued to pat Annie's shoulder and back. She couldn't make out what they were saying to each other but it was clear that they were much better friends than she'd thought they were. And since when did Abed know how to calm down an upset woman?

It took a few minutes for Annie to compose herself again then Annie was dragging her roommate over to sit on the bed with them. "Britta knows everything." She pulled up short and turned to the blond. "Actually, you haven't told me what you think about this. Did I do the right thing?"

Britta nodded sagely. "You put your own self-worth above a night of at-best average sex with a narcissist. Yeah. You did the right thing."

"Actually," Abed surprised the women by interrupting. "I don't know if we can be sure what Jeff was trying to do last night. We don't have access to his inner monologue. And he was drunk."

"Umm no offence, but I know Jeff Winger," Britta said. "Annie I assure you that you're right. He was trying to score and you blocked his attempt." She paused abruptly and pulled her phone from her pocket before smiling and getting up off of the bed. "Listen, I'm going to go bring Ian some breakfast and drive him back over here to get his car. But Annie if you need to talk more later just text me, okay?"

Annie nodded at the blond's retreating back. Well that was interesting. Since when did Britta call Duncan by his first name? Abed recognized the look on her face and filled her in. "That's the B Plot. You didn't notice because you're in the A Plot but that's a thing that's going to happen."

Once they'd heard the front door open and close again Abed looked at Annie with his head cocked to the side. "How are you really? Do you need more comfort and understanding?"

Annie grabbed his hand and held it tight. Stuff like this didn't come naturally to her friend and she appreciated that he made the effort for her. "I think I'm going to be okay. I mean yeah that was a crappy way to find out exactly what Jeff thinks of me but maybe that's exactly what needed to happen in order for me to get over him."

"I can only tell you what I've seen in movies and on TV but I don't think Jeff is quite that one dimensional of a character. We've seen that there's more to him than what he tries to display. If Jeff apologizes or tries to talk to you I think you need to listen. You can't ignore him completely. Not if you want to be the person you say you want to be. Silk Covering Steel isn't bitter or intentionally cruel. Just resolute and capable."

She groaned and collapsed to bury her head in her pillow. It was so annoying when Abed was right. She flopped over and glared at him. "I have no idea what you just said but you're probably right. I don't have to like it, though. And I'm not texting him. If he wants to be friends again and make things right he needs to prove to me that he doesn't see me just as an object.

Jeff stared at the keys Craig had dropped in his hands as he had left. He fleetingly wondered if the little imp had made a spare. Just to be sure he would be changing the locks first thing tomorrow morning. But first he had to come up with a plan to apologize to Annie. Then another plan to get her to be friends with him again. Then yet another plan to woo her. Woo. Who even used that word? Irrelevant. Of course each of those plans had to have individual backup plans. And how many layers of backup plans did he need?

He started getting bogged down in thinking about the mountain of work ahead of him but he shook himself out of it. It's like Annie always said. Make an outline then complete each task in turn. He had the outline. Now he just had to fill things in. First things first. Apologize to Annie Plan A. Okay he could make a plan. He was the king of plans.

15 minutes later and all he had typed into his memo app was 'Flowers?' He rolled his eyes. How original. Maybe working out would help him think.

Nope. After his second shower of the day he still was no further than he had been before he started. Although his arms felt fantastic and he was reasonably certain his back was just a little bit more defined. So at least the day wasn't a total loss.

He sat back down to think more. After another fifteen minutes he barely restrained the urge to throw his phone across the room in irritation. Maybe he needed to bring in additional council. Craig had been pretty cool this morning. But he had also been adamant that Jeff had to figure this part out for himself so he was out. Who else did he know. Abed? As Annie's roommate he probably had inside information that would be useful. But then again he was Annie's roommate so she had probably already made him swear not to talk to him or something. Okay so Craig and Abed were out. What about Duncan? No. Britta? No. Shirley? Hell no.

For a minute Jeff let himself miss Pierce. Sure he had been a colossal pain in the ass but he had also been married seven times. And that combination meant that he probably had years of experience in apologizing to women he cared about. It was too bad he didn't know anyone else with that kind of experience. The only older man he knew was Hickey.

Wait. Hickey had been married three times!

He quickly switched over to messaging and typed a quick message to his officemate.

Jeff: Hey Buzz, you were married three times. Any advice on how to apologize to a woman when you actually care?

15 minutes later he received the brief and frustrating answer.

Hickey: Hell no. I'm not getting involved

But he was determined to bring in this expert witness and sent his reply less than ten seconds later.

Jeff: Buzz please. I'm asking for your help. Don't make me beg. Don't force me to make this weird.

He finally received a response one hour and one episode of Ancient Aliens later.

Hickey: Fine. But nobody knows about this.

"Wait," Duncan interrupted Britta. "So you mean to tell me that the reason Annie shot Jeff down was because she likes him too much to sleep with him?" He nearly fell from his chair in hysterical laughter. "That is perhaps the most hilarious thing I have ever heard in my life."

Britta grinned at him. "I'm glad you think this is so funny. But I think it's good for Jeff. He needs to learn that he can't use just his charm to get by in life. It's nice to see him knocked down a few pegs."

Duncan stopped laughing long enough to eat another bite of his bagel. "Oh I couldn't agree more. But what's so funny to me isn't that he got turned down. But that he got turned down because the girl in question thinks too much of him. Who else but Jeff bloody Winger would have a woman like that interested in him and manage to screw it up by trying to screw her?"

What kind of advice was be honest with her? Umm he had already tried that. Drunkenly and by accident. But still. Thanks for nothing, Buzz.

But Craig had made a point, too. He had to look at it from Annie's point of view. He did spring all of this on her. Maybe he just had to show her how well he knew her and that she was important to him. That it wasn't just drunken rambling.

He thought back to his Mom and her boyfriends growing up. She always loved getting presents.

A plan started to come together for Jeff. He knew that he and Annie were perfect for each other. More than that he knew her. Knew what she liked. Knows the little things about her that nobody else paid attention to. They balanced each other. She pushed him to succeed and he wanted her to appreciate the now. He liked it when she called him on his shit. He liked the way she wasn't lazy like him. That she actually cared about things. Her motivation motivated him.

He would have to use that information to get her to talk to him. Because he knew Annie held a grudge. He'd once sat in a classroom snickering as she tore down a classmate asking her for help by passive-aggressively using the girl's own words from a particularly heated in-class discussion the two had engaged in more than two years prior. He would have to make a big gesture to break through her walls.

Jeff opened his phone's web browser and went to work. Operation Win Annie Phase 1 Plan A would go into effect immediately.