Disclaimer - I don't own Community, but if I did Craig Pelton would move to Las Vegas to run a dalmatian themed nightclub leaving Frankie Dart to turn Greendale into a place that actually educates people.
Author's note: fair warning - this is a somewhat darker themed chapter than previous ones (but then it is the Halloween Special…). We'll be back to the lighter stuff with the next chapter.
Chapter 5 - Syncretism for Beginners
Week 7
(Lacking study group friends, Annie lacks the confidence to set up a Halloween party. Jeff strikes out with Slater and doesn't find out about the faculty party.)
Study Room B
Annie's last session of the week with Marcia and Joelle was wrapping up.
"So," said Marcia. "Are you guys coming to my Halloween party? There's going to be boys there. And beer," she practically whispered.
"Sure," said Joelle. "Why not?"
"What about you Annie?"
"Oh, I don't know Marcia. Beer and boys? That doesn't sound very safe."
Marcia had a big smile on her face. "Of course it is! It's going to be fun. When was the last time you let your hair down and just had fun, Annie?"
Yes Annie, when was the last time? She asked herself. Nobody's invited YOU to a party since Suzie Brown's 12th birthday - and she was made to do it by her mother.
Annie sat up straight and put a smile on her face. "You're right, Marcia. Count me in!"
XXXXXX
Study Room F
"So, what's everybody doing for Halloween?" said Pierce. "I'll be having a seance with a trio of sexy -"
"I'll be working," said Britta, cutting in desperately. "It's one of the busiest nights of the year at the bar and my boss wants a full turnout."
"Halloween is the devil's work." Said Shirley. "I'll be at church praying for all the lost souls being led astray."
"I'm hosting a film party." Said Abed. "we'll be watching all of the Halloween films in order until there's nobody left awake. Everybody's welcome."
"Cool!" Said Troy. "Count me in." The boys did their signature handshake.
"So brown Jamie Lee Curtis is going to have a film festival dedicated to white Jamie Lee Curtis?" Said Jeff. "That's very meta."
Britta rolled her eyes. "So what are you doing then Jeff?"
"What I do every year." Said Jeff. "Hit L Street, find a slutty witch and take her back to my place to practice some very sympathetic magic." He smirked as the rest of the room groaned.
(Saturday night, Halloween)
Annie checked the number on the door matched the one she'd been given by Marcia, even though the noise coming from behind it made it clear there was a party in full swing. She took a firm grip on the big bag of chips she'd bought as an offering, and knocked on the door. She had to knock twice more before Marcia opened it.
"Hi Annie! Glad you made it - nice mask and cape - just go through and put the chips in the kitchen." Marcia was wearing a very short witch's costume which would have been sexier if she'd been a few sizes smaller, though Annie suspected the amount of cleavage on display would distract the boys from imperfections elsewhere.
Annie weaved her way through the main lounge of the house and saw Joelle had already arrived - smile and wave - and was sitting on a couch talking to some boy. She found the kitchen leading off the back of the lounge and saw there were already three boys and two girls in there. Annie dropped her chips off and turned to leave, thinking she could go and sit with Joelle.
"Hi." Somebody said. "I haven't seen you around before, what's your name?"
Annie turned around and saw one of the boys smiling at her. He was about half a head taller than her, with sandy blond hair and blue eyes and wearing what looked like a cowboy costume.
"Hi, I'm Annie," she smiled back. "I'm a friend of Marcia's." His smile widened, Annie thought it made him look cute. "Well Annie friend of Marcia's, I'm Dave and can I get you something to drink? There's beer, wine, fruit punch…"
Annie thought the fruit punch sounded safest, so she asked for some of that. Dave poured a ladle full into a plastic cup and gave it to Annie. She took a sip of it.
"This is nice," in truth the taste was sharper than she expected and she suspected there was more than just fruit in it, but she took another sip anyway. She found she wanted to keep Dave talking to her, so she asked him a question.
"What's your outfit? Is it a cowboy?" He looked pained for a moment.
"A lot of people make that mistake, but it's actually Captain Reynolds from 'Firefly'."
"Oh I'm sorry! I've heard of the show, but never seen it."
"You should. What about you? Is that some sort of sexy skeleton get up?"
Annie took another sip of her fruit punch, to her surprise it was almost half gone and she was starting to feel a bit giddy. "It's a skeleton anyway, the other bit is a matter of opinion." She said slightly sadly. "Is it just me, or is it a bit warm in here?"
"It's probably your cloak." Dave said. "There's a pile of coats on the table by the back door, just throw it on there and come back. I'll wait for you here." He smiled again.
Annie had kept her cloak on because she was worried her skin tight skeleton suit might be going too far, but most of the other girls - and a few of the guys - at the party were showing far more skin than she was so she had no qualms about taking it off and adding it to the growing pile of coats. She kept hold of her small handbag which she'd decorated with a spider and some web though.
She weaved her way back to the kitchen, where she found Dave waiting for her as he'd promised. He handed her back her cup of punch, she barely noticed it seemed to have filled itself up again.
XXXXXX
Jeff took one final look in the mirror and adjusted the hang of his jacket by a minute fraction. Perfect, as always. He smiled to himself and slipped out the door of his condo, went to his Lexus and drove into the centre of Greendale where he parked and walked the last hundred yards to L Street. He decided on the Red Door first - they usually had a policy of no single guys on a Saturday night, but he'd taken the trouble to get to know the doorman (old cop's - and lawyer's - trick, always befriend the little people who get ignored but who see everything) and he let Jeff in with a smile and a "Nice to see you again, Mr Winger."
"And you, Doug. How's business tonight?"
The doorman smiled. "For you? Target rich environment." Doug was a former marine, and still had the muscles. Jeff laughed easily and shook Doug's hand, palming him a ten dollar bill as he did so. The tip disappeared without anyone else seeing it. Jeff bid him farewell and went into the bar.
XXXXXX
Annie felt amazing. She took another slug of her fruit punch, handed the almost empty cup to Dave and climbed onto the table - she'd somehow found herself playing "truth or dare" with him and the others in the kitchen and her dare had been to climb on the table in the main room and dance for 30 seconds. It felt like the entire party was cheering as she jiggled unsteadily to "Devil Woman" - she'd never felt so popular in her life. As her time was up she tried to climb down, but suddenly her legs wouldn't support her and she fell. She giggled happily as Dave caught her, set her on the ground and gave her back her full cup of fruit punch.
XXXXXX
Jeff had made his way to the bar and ordered the lightest beer they had - he was planning the sort of night that would require a clear head. A blonde sidled up next to him and ordered a Cuba Libre. Jeff took a look at her out of the corner of his eye - black dress, stockings and heels and a small pointy hat perched on the back of her head with a jewelled broach in the shape of a cat pinned just below her neckline. Slutty witch, he thought to himself. You'll do.
"Did you know that was the only cocktail to be invented by a president of the United States?" He said to her with his usual lazy smile on his face.
She turned to face him in some surprise, took one look at him and smiled back. "Really?"
"Yup. Teddy Roosevelt, when he was fighting in Cuba. The drink was so popular they carved his face into Mount Rushmore. Hi, I'm Jeff." He held out his hand.
"Chantelle." She replied with a broad smile and shaking his hand. And Jeff was on his way.
XXXXXX
Marcia was having a good time - a really good time. So good, she almost didn't notice Dave basically carrying Annie towards the stairs. But she did, and she couldn't shake a really bad feeling about what she saw so she kissed - Glen, she thought he said his name was - one last time and made some excuse about needing the little girl's room. She followed Dave up the stairs, saw him weave his way through the people on the landing and push open a bedroom door. Marcia grabbed his elbow.
"What are you doing with Annie, Dave?"
"She's flaked out. She needs somewhere dark and quiet."
"That's nice of you, I'll take it from here."
"No, I've got it."
"Dave - put her down."
"Dave dropped all attempts at being polite. "Run along fat girl - the grown ups want to play."
Marcia turned as though intimidated, then clenched her fist and pivoted back again, hitting Dave square on the nose with as much force as she could muster. Annie fell to the ground as he rocked backward.
"WHAT THE HELL?" Dave cried. He put one hand to his face, when it came away bloody he clenched his own fists and stepped towards Marcia.
A meaty hand landed on his arm before he could finish his move.
"I think you need to leave, buddy." One of the guys on the landing who'd been watching the whole thing had stepped in.
"Let me - aaargh!" Dave screamed suddenly as he was put in a vicious arm lock and pushed towards the stairs.
"Thanks, Jack." Marcia smiled at the new guy.
"Look after your friend, Marcie." Jack replied.
Marcia looked down at Annie, and saw she hadn't moved since being dropped. Her face was deathly pale and she barely seemed to be awake. Marcia slapped her - hard - and barely got a mumbled "...waah?" for her pains. This isn't good. This isn't good at all.
Marcia grabbed Annie's bag, took out her phone and scrolled down the contact list. It wasn't a long one, but Marcia hit the dial button on the first name she recognised.
XXXXXX
Jeff had just finished telling Chantelle a scurrilous anecdote from his days at the law firm - he had neglected to mention that he no longer worked there - when his phone rang. He opened it up, saw "Annie" flash up on the caller ID and hit the button to hang up.
"Now where was I?" He said. The phone rang again, he hung up again.
"Who was that?" Chantelle said.
"My kid sister, probably having a makeup crisis - " his phone rang a third time.
"I'm sorry, I think I'm going to have to take this."
He turned away and hit the connect button. "Edison? What the hell -"
"Jeff - this is Marcia, Annie's friend. She's in real trouble."
Jeff probably set some sort of record for crossing Greendale that day. After hearing what Marcia had to say he said something about a family emergency and ran out of the bar, back to his car and did the six minute drive to the address Marcia gave him in three. Less than ten minutes after answering his phone he was hammering on the door. It was opened by a big man who looked like he was spoiling for a fight, when he saw Jeff however he relaxed and nodded. "She's upstairs," he said. He took the stairs three at a time, scattering drunken college kids in all directions. A girl - Marcia he presumed - was kneeling at the top of the stairs supporting Annie's head in her lap.
"Jeff - " she said. Jeff cut her off. "I'm taking her now."
He picked Annie up in his arms, she was completely out of it and her breath reeked of booze. "Where's the bathroom?" Marcia pointed at a door. Jeff had his hands full with Annie, so he kicked it open. There were three people inside, smoking pot. "Get out. Now."
They took one look at the expression on Jeff's face and fled. He lay Annie down on the floor next to the bath. "You" - he pointed to Marcia - "get a bottle of water and some of whatever she's been drinking. You" - he pointed to the big guy who'd opened the door and followed him upstairs - "get the windows open. The last thing she needs is pot fumes on top of whatever crap is inside her."
Jack nodded and opened the windows. Jeff took off his jacket and passed it to Jack, "hold this - don't crease it - it's Armani." He rolled up his sleeves. "And stand back. This isn't going to be pretty."
Jeff knelt down next to Annie and turned her over so her head was hanging over the edge of the bath. With one hand, he grabbed hold of Annie's hair and lifted her head up slightly while the other was used to open her mouth and then Jeff stuck two fingers down her throat as far as they would go. Jeff easily held Annie still against her desperate struggles, but he removed his fingers when the convulsions started and Annie began to vomit up the entire contents of her stomach.
By the time she'd finished, Annie was curled up in a ball and shivering. Marcia had returned, so Jeff gave Annie the bottle of water and told her to try to drink it. She took it, but Jeff honestly wasn't sure how much she was capable of understanding.
Jeff took the fruit punch Marcia was also carrying and took one swig of it, grimaced and spat it out. "Bloody hell - that's almost neat rum! If you're letting 18 year old girls drink that by the cupful no wonder Annie's passed out!"
Marcia had gone white as a sheet. "It wasn't like that at the start of the night." She said.
"So someone's been spiking it, then?" Said Jeff. He was barely holding his temper in as he gently bent down to pick up Annie. He stood up holding her in his arms and turned again to face Marcia.
"Look, I am going to do you a very big favour because you did the right thing calling me so I am not going to tell anybody else about this so long as you flush that punch and start handing out bottles of water to anybody who looks like they've had too much." Marcia nodded. "But rest assured - you and I will be having a talk in school next week."
Jeff walked out of the bathroom with Annie in his arms and carried her carefully downstairs. He had just reached the front door when the big guy - Jack, Jeff had heard his name was - caught up with him.
"Look," said Jack. "I understand you're upset about what happened to your girlfriend -" Jeff started, but didn't correct him "- but don't take it out on Marcie. She's the only reason this didn't go a lot worse for her - she spotted the creep who got her drunk as he was dragging your girl to a bedroom and broke his nose when he tried to get Marcie to back off. She's one of the good guys. And don't forget this." He laid Jeff's jacket on top of Annie where she was lying in Jeff's arms.
"Thanks, I'll bear that in mind."Jeff grated out. "Now if you'll excuse me." He started walking to his car. When he got there, he carefully propped Annie against the side, put his jacket on and unlocked the car door. Then he put Annie in the passenger seat and fastened the belt before getting in the driver side, started the car up and headed - slowly, this time - back to his condo.
Annie was unconscious most of the way back, only once did she wake up enough to try talking.
"Jeff, whatchya doin' at Marcia's party?"
"Annie, you're not at Marcia's party anymore. You drank something that didn't agree with you and Marcia asked me to take you home."
"Thanks Jeff. Your'a good frien'."
She drifted back into unconsciousness shortly after, and was well away when they finally arrived back at Jeff's place. Jeff picked her up again, locked his car and carried her inside the condo. She was still fast asleep, so Jeff laid her on his bed as she was and pulled his soft, cotton sheets over her, fetched a big glass of water and put in on the bedside table in case she woke up in the night. Then he took a spare blanket and a pillow out of the cupboard, looked at Annie fast asleep in his bed one last time and allowed a curious smile to spread across his face. He closed the door on her, made a bed on his couch, brushed his teeth and then went to sleep.
XXXXXX
Week 8
The following morning, Annie was woken up by sunlight streaming in through the bedroom window. The first thing she noticed was the glass of water on the bedside table, which she grabbed and drained in a single gulp. The second thing she noticed was that she had not the faintest idea where she was. She sat up in shock as she realised she had never seen this bedroom before in her life - other than clearly being large and expensive, she had no idea at all who it belonged to. A horrible thought flooded her mind, and she threw off the bedsheets. To her immense relief, she was still wearing her costume from the night before and it still seemed to be intact.
At least I haven't been - she refused to complete the thought.
I think.
Then she noticed the smell - fresh coffee, gradually percolating through from the main apartment. Curiosity slowly overcame her fear, and she tiptoed to the bedroom door and cracked it open, peering round the edge. She gasped with relief as she saw a familiar figure sitting at the dining table drinking a coffee and reading a newspaper.
"So, Sleeping Beauty has awoken." Jeff said with a smile on his face.
Jeff, how the hell did I get here - ow!" Annie's head suddenly felt like it wanted to split apart.
"You got drunk at Marcia's party - as in flat out, comatose drunk - and she called me to come and collect you. I don't know where you live so I brought you back here, and in case you're wondering I slept on the couch last night." Annie had been, but didn't want to admit that to Jeff so she was grateful he'd volunteered the information.
"Now, have some of this." He'd walked over to the kitchen while he was talking and poured out a cup of coffee and a glass of fresh orange juice. "Vitamin C and caffeine, that's what you need." Annie took a seat at the table, chugged down the orange juice and began sipping the coffee.
Jeff went into the bedroom and re-emerged a couple of minutes later with a selection of t-shirts, shorts and exercise trousers. "You'll probably want to change - what you've got on isn't exactly Sunday best - but I don't have anything remotely your size, though you're welcome to try." He said, offering her the clothes. "If you want to have a shower too, the bathroom's over there and I can get on with breakfast while you sort yourself out, there are towels and soap in the cupboard."
Annie thanked Jeff, drained her coffee and went to the bathroom where she locked the door and stripped off her skeleton suit. Now that she knew she was at Jeff's she was no longer seriously concerned anything bad had happened in the night, but she was still relieved to see her underwear was undisturbed. She put her knickers in the sink to soak with some soap then climbed in the shower and turned the temperature up as hot as she could stand and proceeded to revel in the sensation of a really good power shower pounding her body.
When she finished, she wrapped herself up in a towel and used Jeff's hairdryer - a seriously expensive model - to dry her hair and her underwear. Then she sorted through the clothes he'd offered her, the trousers were hopelessly long and his t-shirts were almost big enough to pass for an Annie-sized dress. She did however find a pair of shorts which were anything but short on her - they came down to her knees - but did at least have a drawstring she could pull tight. She paired these up with one of Jeff's t-shirts and had a look at the completed effect in a mirror. I look like a twelve year old who's borrowed her big brother's clothes. She thought with dismay. Jeff's going to think I look ridiculous. She dismissed the part of her that wondered exactly why she cared that Jeff saw her as a grown up as a side effect of all the alcohol she'd drunk. Still, she couldn't hide in the bathroom forever, so she opened the door and crept out.
Jeff caught sight of her. She swore his face lit up with an expression of extreme amusement.
"Oh no - I look ridiculous, don't I?"
Jeff's smile got even wider. "You look adorable Edison, now sit down."
Adorable! He really does think I look like a kid sister.
Crap.
Annie sat down at the breakfast bar opposite Jeff. He handed her a plate of scrambled egg whites on toast made from granary bread. He put a similar plate down where he was sitting, gave Annie another orange juice and topped up both of their coffee mugs. Annie suddenly realised she was ravenously hungry and demolished the whole meal in a matter of moments. Jeff watched this performance with a raised eyebrow and without saying a word put some more bread in the toaster and a pot of organic honey on the table.
Annie was starting to feel normal by the time she demolished this batch of toast too, so she asked the question that had been haunting her.
"Jeff, just what exactly happened last night?"
"I put on my best shirt, jacket and designer jeans then headed down to L Street where I was on the verge of scoring with a seriously hot blonde when I got distracted."
"Jeeeefffff…."
"The Disney eyes are malfunctioning Edison, it must be the hangover."
Annie was getting to know Jeff well enough that she was starting to suspect what was going on - Mr too-cool-to-care didn't want to have a conversation about him actually caring, but she wasn't going to let him get away with it. "Jeff! I'm serious - what happened? I can't remember a thing from shortly after arriving at Marcia's and that scares me."
Jeff sighed, but it wasn't as if he hadn't spent most of the time since waking up thinking about what it was safe to tell Annie.
"Some douchebag was spiking your drink. You ended up drinking far more than you thought and passed out. Marcia spotted what was going on, had the douchebag thrown out then called me. I collected you, brought you back here, and the rest you know."
Annie was dredging her memory. "Dave? Why would he do that? - Actually forget that, I'm not that naive." She said grimly, remembering the thoughts that had gone through her head when she woke up.
"I never got his name," Jeff said. "But… yes. Probably something like that. But the important thing to remember is that nothing happened or got close to happening. Your friends looked after you and kept you safe."
Annie actually smiled at that. "I've never really had friends like that before."
Oh you poor kid, Jeff thought to himself.
"It's nice." Annie finished as Jeff topped up their coffee mugs.
"Oh no!" Annie was feeling another memory come back. "I think I may have danced on a table at one point…"
Jeff actually did laugh at this. "Sweet little Annie Edison, table dancing for an audience? Say it ain't so!"
Annie's face was buried in her arms on the table. "Stop it Jeff - and you were doing so well too!"
"Sorry Edison." But Annie could tell he was still smiling even though she couldn't see him.
She straightened up again and tried to put on her formidable face. It didn't stick, sliding into an embarrassed smile instead. The conversation drifted off into a comfortable silence as they finished off Jeff's coffee and he took the dishes away to load them in the dishwasher. Annie watched Jeff perform the routine domestic task with an odd feeling of… contentment, she thought it was. Almost as if Jeff was the last guy in the world to do something as mundane as wash his own dishes and how seeing him do it humanised him somehow.
"A penny for them, Edison." She hadn't noticed him turn around.
"Oh, just mildly surprised to see you doing your own housework. I kind of thought you'd have a hot maid for that sort of thing." She smiled to show she wasn't being serious.
"It's her day off." Jeff smiled back at her.
Annie went serious again.
"So, are you going to take me back to collect my car?"
"No." Said Jeff. He ignored Annie's surprised expression and carried on speaking. "Take it from a lawyer who specialised in DUI cases, but the amount of alcohol you took on board last night would need more than 12 hours to clear your system - you'd probably still fail a breath test if you took one now. You're going to spend a couple of hours relaxing - you can watch trashy TV on my cable or have another nap if you wish - then have some lunch, and then we'll take you back to your car."
"Oh! Umm, okay." Annie wasn't used to Jeff telling her what to do - their study sessions usually worked the other way round.
Jeff passed her the remote for the TV. "I've got some work to do, so knock yourself out Edison."
Annie curled up on the sofa in front of the TV, flicked through some channels and finally settled on a wildlife documentary as sufficiently grown up so that Jeff wouldn't think of her as a kid again while not requiring much concentration in case she dozed off. She didn't think she would, but when she blinked once and saw the programme change to a car show after she opened her eyes again she realised almost an hour had passed. She sat up, stretched and saw Jeff was in the back of the lounge stacking boxes.
"What's happening Jeff?" She said, pointing at the boxes.
"Nothing much, I just have to move some stuff into storage."
"Is everything okay?"
Jeff looked at Annie, briefly considered trying to deflect her or come up with a lie, but thought how the next five minutes would go - more questions, Disney eyes, disappointment, and finally the truth to make the disappointment go away - so he decided to cut out the hassle and give her the truth straight away.
"I've got until Tuesday to pay a three month backlog on service charges on this place or I lose it. I don't have three months worth of cash, so I'm packing. Virtually all my savings from when I was a lawyer are tied up in this condo, I have virtually no actual cash - once it's sold I'll be fine again, but until then I have to move out."
"Oh Jeff - I'm so sorry. Look, I'll help - tell me what I can box up for you, and when I've got my car back I'll help you move everything into storage."
"That's… really decent of you. You don't have to do that."
"Nonsense - I'm sure you'd do the same for me."
"...Yeah, probably..."
The nap on the sofa had pretty much cleared the last of Annie's headache, so she followed Jeff's directions about packing up his books and DVDs and such kitchen goods as he wouldn't need again before moving out. Jeff bluntly forbad her from touching his bathroom products or his clothes, but there was still enough left to get them through to lunchtime when Jeff made a salad of - well, whatever was left in his fridge basically, which meant mostly boiled eggs, lettuce, cheese and cold meats.
After that, Jeff kept his word and drove Annie back to Marcia's place to pick up her car - and after that, Annie kept her word and spent the rest of the afternoon helping Jeff move boxes to the storage unit he'd hired. When they finally shifted the last of the boxes that had been packed, Annie said that she really needed to get back to her own apartment as she still hadn't done her weekend homework yet.
Jeff smiled. "Of course you must, thanks for everything Edison - it's actually been a good day."
He held out his hand for her to shake. Impulsively, Annie ignored it and closed in for a hug instead - Jeff stiffened for a second, and then returned it.
"See you tomorrow, Jeff."
"And you, Edison."
XXXXXX
Monday morning saw Jeff at Greendale unnaturally early. He had an unpleasant job to do and didn't want to put it off. He knew from Annie's schedule that she had an 8AM study session with Marcia and Joelle in Study Room B, so he made sure to arrive twenty minutes early and hid so Annie wouldn't see him when she arrived, then he came out of hiding and waited for Marcia to arrive. When she did, she didn't look pleased to see him, resigned at best.
"Hi, Jeff."
"Marcia. I said we'd talk." In truth Jeff was no longer sure what to say after what he'd heard from Jack when carrying Annie away.
"So, did you really break the douchebag's nose?" Marcia was visibly surprised he opened with that.
"Yes, and I think Jack all but broke his arm when throwing him out of the house too."
"Good. Look, you've probably worked it out for yourself now but regardless of all the grief and trauma she's been through, Annie has much less experience of the real world than the likes of me - and you, I'm assuming." Marcia nodded. "She can't just be exposed to predators like that and have it assumed that she knows how to handle them."
Marcia nodded. "Yeah, I see that now. But we can't just wrap her up in cotton wool, you know?"
Jeff sighed. "Look, just be careful with her okay? And if you see that guy around - call me."
"How can I do that? I don't have your number."
Jeff took out his phone, called up his contacts and pressed a button. Marcia's phone rang. "Now you do."
Marcia raised a questioning eyebrow. "I took it off Annie's phone. I thought I would probably need it at some point."
"So what does that make us? Team Annie?" Marcia said.
Jeff half smiled. "Something like that. Look, Annie's got potential and she's going to go places - it won't be long before the likes of us are a drag on her, not a support. But until then…"
"Got it, Jeff. So, what do we tell her about what happened?"
"I told her that guy spiked her drink, she passed out and you threw him out of the party when you saw what was going on and then called me. She really doesn't need to know any more than that."
"Are you sure? Jack thinks you may have saved her life by getting the alcohol out of her before it poisoned her."
"As I said Marcia, she doesn't need all the details."
"Well, it's your call I suppose."
"See you around Marcia. Enjoy your study session."
"See you around too, Jeff."
Jeff still had almost an hour to go before he was late for the 9AM start of his own study group's Monday morning session so he wandered over to the cafeteria to get a leisurely breakfast and a cup of coffee. He finished on the stroke of nine and wandered over to Study Room F, getting there about five minutes late, as usual. He gave everyone a cheery greeting and pulled out his usual chair, only to see a gift bag on the seat.
"Who put this here?" He asked.
"No idea," Britta said. "Did any of you guys see anybody drop it off?" Everybody shook their heads.
"I was first in," said Abed "and nobody outside our group came in after me. It must have been dropped off before anybody arrived."
His curiosity thoroughly aroused, Jeff opened the bag and saw a small cardboard box inside. He opened the box and saw a note and a small plastic figure. He took a closer look at the figure - it was a cheap, plastic toy soldier, a mediaeval knight holding a sword up in the air and completely covered in silver paint with a sprinkling of glitter. The note only consisted of one word and two letters - Thanks, AE.
Jeff looked again at the toy and remembered the end of his first ever conversation with Annie. He smiled the softest, most genuinely warm smile anybody in the study group could remember seeing on him. A knight in shining armour. Thank you, Annie.
Jeff looked up to see the rest of the Study Group staring at him as though he'd grown another head. "Let's study, shall we?"
It's fair to say the rest of the week went somewhat downhill from there for Jeff - he lost his Condo on Tuesday, tried living out of his car for a couple of days only for it to go so badly that his Study Group staged an intervention and forced him to move into the spare bunk in Abed's room by the weekend. The little plastic figure got pride of place on the shelf Abed cleared for his stuff though.