The rest of the week had progressed fairly normally. Or, at least as normal as Greendale could be. The group got wrapped up in some conspiracy involving pirates, a bouncy house, and a whole lot of brownies. It took up enough of their time to the point where Annie had virtually stopped thinking about her mother. In usual fashion the study group went to Annie and Abed's place to celebrate.

The smell of pizza was filling the air. Britta hopped her way over to Annie, making her almost fall over with the weight of the pizzas, "Can anyone give me a hand?"

"Me so hungy!"

"Are you gonna Britta your own catchphrase, Britta?" Jeff mocked.

Hickey groaned through his pizza, "What is Britta-ing?"

"Forgot that you were new this season. Britta-ing is messing up-" Abed was interrupted but the culprit herself.

"-In a small reasonable way!"

"What the hell do you mean this season?"

"You just have to roll with Abed. I tried working with him once. Let me tell you, it ended in disaster." Duncan was in his own corner which just happened to be where the beer was.

"Maybe because you exploited him? You guys know the state of the patient-doctor trust is in total chaos!"

"Come on Britta did you run out of issues to complain about?"

Annie was moving a box to her room when Jeff finally moved from his vantage point of the entertainment that was his friends. He could see her furrow her brow as she started to read the label. Slowly her eyes turned from determined to sunken in just a couple moments. She kicked around a couple things under her bed and quickly shoved the box underneath. She left the room as quickly as she entered and slammed the door as quietly as one could.

"Did they send you the wrong shipment of blood splatter books again?" Jeff really sucked at lightening the mood, "Um, can I do anything?"

She gave him a half-hearted smile, "Thanks, but I don't need anything."

"How about you can punch me?" That earned him a quick smile this time, "Was it her?"

Just like that it was gone, "Ya. It was the rest of my stuff that was left at her house." She had to start getting used to saying that. "Her house." Not: "my mom's" "my," just "her house."

Jeff's eyes wandered back to the party before he leaned over, "After everyone goes, how about we do a little book burning, except with stuff. Do you have roof access?"

They brought up the largest tin can they could find, newspaper for kindling, oil, and many many matches.

"Ready?"

Annie nodded. She pulled out a butterfly knife and quite forcefully jammed it into the cardboard box. Jeff took a step back. He pressed his lips together to keep from laughing, "Is that from the dildopolis days?"

"Ha. ha." She ripped the rest of the box apart, "What should we burn first?"

"Probably whatever is most flammable, so we get a good fire burning for the harder stuff."

"Then lets do these certificates."

"Certificates of excellence? Ya that will burn qui-" He stopped when Annie pulled out a stack of paper that was as thick as the files Jeff used to work on when he was a lawyer, "Jesus."

"I'm flattered." She immediately through it into the can and set the first match. There was something very therapeutic going on. Her breathing got slower, and she started to exhale as if she was in a yoga class. It took a little bit for the fire to burn through all the paper, but the moment it started to dwindle, Annie started pulling out everything else: old clothes, trophies, CDs. Sometimes Annie would get impatient with the fire and pour more oil on it to make it go faster. Every time she did this Jeff would move the fire extinguisher closer to him.

He felt it was a little messed up to admit, but he really enjoyed doing this. Jeff was never the guy who came to move in day, who remembered sentimental days, and all that more, feelings-oriented, stuff. However he could do this: the anger, the offense.

"Only one more thing." Annie was on a roll.

"Perfect, we are about to run out of matches. We could've had to wait a full day to finish this angry bonfire."

"These will burn quick. Plus we will have the cardboard to help." Something started to turn dark in Annie. The last thing she lifted out of the box was pretty small. It was maybe a third as thick as the certificates from the beginning. This time though, Annie slowed down, she started going through them. It wasn't until Jeff got closer that he noticed they were pictures. Pictures of Annie standing on stage at the spelling bee, science far, city hall chambers, etc. etc.

"Before the divorce my dad liked taking pictures," she said dryly. Up close Jeff could see that in most of the pictures Annie was standing alone. In the few where her mom and dad were in it they would kind of be off to the side, he didn't even realize they were her parents until he looked long enough to see some physical similarities. Before he could blink again Annie threw them into the fire and started burning again. She must not have noticed but one fell out to the floor. Except this one wasn't a picture, but a tiny envelope.

Jeff made sure Annie couldn't see as he opened it up. At the bottom there was a pre-printed "Edison" stamp. The only thing in it was practically a scribble, except it was in exquisite handwriting:

I was hoping that I could have added more to this.

He quickly shoved the note into his pocket and rejoined Annie at the fire, "I think it's time to put it out." She gave a small nod in response.

By the time they cleaned everything up and were back in the apartment it was two in the morning.

"Well I better go," Jeff started making his way to the door.

"Thanks for tonight. I really needed it." Annie smiled, "Thanks for this week actually, and I know you aren't 'feely' but if you ever-"

"I know." he started to turn before a thought, "Hey, my mom is coming back this weekend, I could actually use a buffer if you're interested. She's been complaining that I don't spend enough time with her and I don't think I can take another day in such a short time period, I mean if you don't feel like it I get-"

"It's fine. I'd love to. Call me when she's around?" She was getting back to normal Annie.

"Yeah, um yeah, I'll see you."

"See you."

As he walked out to his car, his hand went to his pocket to get his keys, and then he remembered the note. There was one thing he had to do before he would call Annie.