Disclaimer: I don't own Community, but I did once read that Alison Brie enjoys reading Jeff/Annie fics. Which is kinda scary...

Chapter 10 - Interpersonal Relations

Week 15

Britta has just run into Jeff in the Quad. "Missed you at lunch today. Did you slip out for a quickie with professor hot stuff?"

" Her name is Michelle, and how did you know?"

"There's a gold star on your fly."

Jeff looks down. "Ha! You weren't kidding. You know, it's nice to have a girlfriend with a sense of humour and who recognizes good work."

Jeff stops dead and pulls Britta to a halt. Up ahead, Annie is with Vaughn and she's looking starstruck.

"You'd better be careful Jeff, your little friend has got eyes for someone else now."

Jeff isn't happy. "Micro-nipples? Whatever. You know what I don't get? He never wears a shirt. He never wears shoes. He probably doesn't even shower. Why hasn't he died from lack of service?"

Britta looks up at him with a severely amused expression on her face. "You're jealous!"

"That's ridiculous Britta, she's just -"

"A friend. Yes Jeff, we've heard it all before. And if you tell yourself that often enough you might even believe it."

"It's got nothing to do with me Britta - she's a good kid and deserves better than that."

"He's not that bad."

"Yeah, not if you're a grown woman and you're fooling around with him - you can handle him. She's only 19, her taste in men is still being established. Creepier and creepier dudes will start thinking of her as an option, and it all starts with Vaughn. He's a gateway douche bag."

"Whatever gets you through the day Jeff - she's your friend, you're on your own on this one." Britta shakes her head and walks away.

Jeff walks off in the other direction, fuming quietly to himself.

xxxxxx

(Study Room F, next morning)

Jeff is still churning over what to do about Vaughn and Annie as he walks through the door. He looks around the table and gives everyone a cheery greeting when it hits him. Troy, of course. He smiles to himself and settles down to the study session with good humour. At the end of the session he walks over to the younger man. "Troy, can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Sure Jeff, what's it about?" Jeff throws a friendly arm around the football player's shoulder and leads him away from the others. Abed and Britta look at each other with surprised expressions on their faces.

"It's about my friend Annie, Troy. You do know she's had a crush on you since high school, right?"

Troy grinned, broadly. "Yeah dude, pretty much every chick did."

"Well, here's what I don't understand Troy. You're a super-hot guy -"

"Dude - I'm not sure I'm past the 'biceps, tight ass' thing yet…" Troy moved away slightly.

"Are you denying it Troy, as an objective statement of fact?"

Troy grinned. "Heck no, I can't do that."

Jeff grinned back. "As I was saying, you're a super hot guy with a great personality, and Annie's a super hot girl with a great personality, you kids really should get together."

"Annie? Super hot? I don't see it."

Jeff looks astonished. "Well, every other guy at Greendale does. You really don't see it?

"Maybe it's because I knew her back in high school, before she dropped out. She was overweight, had braces and acne and a pill addiction and a nervous breakdown ending with her running through a plate-glass door screaming 'everyone's a robot!'"

Jeff nodded with understanding. "I see what's happening here. Troy - clear your head."

"Done."

"I'm going to describe to you a complete stranger." Jeff starts whispering in his ear.

"Annie? No kidding!" Troy says. Jeff keeps whispering. "Come on, man!"

Troy is sounding increasingly awestruck. "I can't believe I didn't see that. Well, I guess she deserves another shot. Oh, wait, Britta said she's hooking up with Vaughn."

I thought you were staying out if this, Perry! Jeff said to himself.

"Only to make you jealous!" He said. "She's only hanging out with Vaughn to make you notice her! But you haven't got much time - he's a musician remember, he's already started writing songs for her."

"Yeah," Troy said. A faraway expression in his eyes. "Thanks for the talk, Jeff."

Jeff smiled. "Hey Troy, I didn't say anything - I only helped you see what was in front of you."

Troy wandered off.

"Oh Jeff, you're a very, very, bad man." Britta was walking up to him, wagging a finger as though scolding a naughty boy.

"Are you really going to tell me, of all people, that you're not seething with jealousy about Vaughn getting his hands on your debate-slash-make-out buddy?"

"Bite me, Britta. If I was jealous of Annie being with another guy would I really have locked and loaded Troy and fired him at her? Why is it so difficult to understand it's Vaughn I have a problem with?"

"You really are an exceptionally good liar, Jeff." Britta said. "I could almost swear you even manage to convince yourself sometimes."

XXXXXX

(Later that day, after Troy tries to hit on Annie, gets shot down in flames but Vaughn dumps her anyway after witnessing it.)

Annie is livid. Jeff is in the student lounge when she runs him to ground.

"Hey Jeff, thanks for getting involved in my love life! That was super cool and mature of you. Oh, and since you're clearly an idiot, I should probably let you know this is me being really good at sarcasm!"

"Annie? What…"

"Oh, don't even try to deny it Jeff – Troy spilled the beans after Vaughn dumped me!"

Despite the fury being directed at him, Jeff felt a twinge of relief. "Vaughn did what?"

"Oh you love that don't you, well I've got news for you mister – your little plot failed. I ran after him and he's forgiven me and agreed to take me back. So there!"

Jeff can't believe what he's just heard, he stands up and turns to face her. "I'm sorry – some guy hits on you, Vaughn gets jealous and dumps you, and he gets to be the one who forgives you? What the hell, Annie?"

Annie ignores him and thrusts her face only inches from his. "Why, Jeff? Why did you do this? When you got with Slater I put aside any feelings I had about the situation and concentrated on supporting you, why couldn't you do the same for me? Isn't that what friends are supposed to do?"

Jeff's shoulders slumped slightly. When all else fails, try the truth. Some of it, at least. "It's because you're not the first of my friends he's dated."

"WHAT? You messed me around because that blonde… friend" - she practically spat the word out - "of yours is jealous?"

"She isn't jealous and I didn't do it for Britta, I did it for you."

Annie was now standing with her arms crossed across her chest, an expression of deadly calm on her face. "This had better be good, Jeff. It had better be really good."

"Do you remember what happened when he dumped Britta?" Annie was silent. Jeff sighed and carried on.

"He wrote a song about it – 'Getting Rid of Britta'. He performed it at a free concert in the quad with half of Greendale watching and got them all singing along – Britta was humiliated. Worse, she couldn't go anywhere around here for days afterwards without someone humming that stupid tune. And that's not even the worst bit – he uploaded it on Youtube and it went viral. It got almost a quarter of a million hits – there are people in China and Africa who think 'Britta' is American slang for a crazy ex-girlfriend, Annie!

"And do you know what she did to deserve this?" Annie shook her head.

"He wrote her a poem, she thought it was a bit intense and showed it to me asking if it looked like he was moving too fast. I showed it to Shirley –"

"The Sherri Sheppard lady." Annie muttered for some reason. Jeff refused to be distracted.

"- for a second opinion. And that was all, Annie! That was really it! She shared a poem! Look, I'm sorry for sneaking around behind your back, I really am – but I really did not want 'Getting rid of Annie' to be the next Youtube sensation to come out of Greendale."

Annie was still silent.

"I'm sure he's a great guy when everything is going well," Jeff continued. "But if you're going to be involved with him you need to understand just how vicious he gets when things don't go well – and how easy it is for things not to go well."

Annie still didn't say anything. Instead she turned around and started walking away.

"Annie –"

She stopped walking, but didn't turn back to face him. "I need to think, Jeff. Then I need to see Vaughn." She resumed walking and left the lounge without turning back.

"What's everyone looking at?" Jeff said to the gathered audience.

xxxxxx

(That evening, after school)

Annie is walking back to her car with her head down, she's determined not to cry but doesn't want anyone to see, just in case. As a result, she almost gets to her car before she notices a familiar figure leaning against it.

"What are you doing here, Jeff?"

"I know I'm probably not your favorite person at the moment, but you were right about one thing - I don't support you enough when you need it. This is me, here to support you if you need it. If you can't stand to have me around just yet, just say the word -"

Annie looked at him for a moment. "Go away, Jeff."

A hurt expression crossed Jeff's face for a moment, but he put his phone in his pocket, picked up his bag and started to walk away.

Annie sighed. "No, wait."

Jeff turned around, carefully keeping his expression as neutral as possible.

"I checked some things." She said. "And spoke to Abed - he confirmed pretty much everything you said. Then I went to speak to Vaughn."

She could feel her eyes start to prickle. I am not going to cry! Not in front of him!

"He was proud of it! He said music is how his soul talks to the world, or something like that and that he could never silence his music - and if I didn't understand that I was a robot with a clock for a soul! I'm not a robot, Jeff!"

Despite her best intentions, Annie couldn't keep the tears at bay. When he saw her start to cry, Jeff closed the distance between them and wrapped his arms around her as tightly as he could.

"Take it from a guy who probably sold his long ago, but you've got the biggest soul of anyone I know, and anybody who says otherwise just doesn't know what it means to have one."

The floodgates opened. Annie buried her face in Jeff's chest and started crying her eyes out, great, gusting sobs of tears. Jeff was stiff with shock, he had no idea what to do with the heartbroken girl in his arms - in all his dealings with women in the past he had usually left the building long before the tears started. So instead he did and said nothing, just concentrated on holding on to Annie as long as she needed it and trying not to think of the mess she was probably making of his expensive shirt.

Eventually, the tears died down enough that Annie could try to form words.

"I really, really liked him, Jeff! I thought this was it, I was finally going to have a proper boyfriend - not somebody who was in denial about what he was or a stupid one sided crush!" Jeff flinched at that. She's talking about Troy. She's got to be.

Jeff still didn't have a clue what to say, so he gently patted the back of her head instead.

"What is it about me? I must be the most pathetic person in the world to -"

"No."

Annie looked up in surprise. Jeff had finally found something to say.

"You're the girl who, when other girls were mocking you and flirting with football players, walked through Hell and came out the far side still somehow believing in the fundamental decency of humanity. You're the girl who, when fate took all your dreams and plans and tore them to shreds, picked up the pieces and wove a new pattern out of them that was entirely your own making. You're the girl who allows losers, misfits and frauds into your life and makes them think that, because you believe they can be good people they're allowed to believe it too. You're Annie Edison, and you're the least pathetic person I know."

Annie was starting to smile through her tears. "That's what they call a Winger Speech, isn't it?"

Jeff smiled back. "All yours, milady. Free to a good home." Jeff relaxed his grip and the two of them separated slightly.

Annie looked seriously at Jeff. The sobs had stopped and her eyes were dry. "I don't know if I can forgive everything you did yet, but I'm glad you were here for me tonight and I'm glad you're my friend. Thanks Jeff." Annie closed in for another hug, a proper one this time.

"Thanks, Annie." They separated.

Annie moved towards her car. "See you tomorrow, Jeff."

"See you tomorrow, Edison."

xxxxxx

(Later that evening)

Jeff arrives at Slater's apartment. "Hi Jeff - what on earth happened to your shirt?"

Jeff looked down with a rueful grin. "My friend Annie has just had a nasty breakup - a really nasty one. She needed someone to hold her while she cried her eyes out, I was the closest and my shirt took the brunt of it."

Michelle Slater is neither stupid nor naive, and although she said nothing she had a pretty good idea of just how long and how close the other woman - girl, really - would have to hang on to Jeff to make that much mess with tears.

She had a headache that night.

xxxxxx

(The next day)

Jeff, Troy and Abed were walking across the Quad heading for the gym. They heard somebody start singing –

"Little robot Annie,

Has a clock for a soul.

Would sooner write a schedule

Than dance to rock and roll!"

"Excuse me for a minute, guys." Jeff pivoted on the spot and stormed off in the direction of the music. Abed and Troy looked each other in the eye, nodded and followed him.

"Stay away from me Annie,

With your little clock –"

Jeff had reached Vaughn and was standing over him, face pale with rage. "hiya, good day, nice to –" Vaughn said, just as Jeff ripped the guitar out of his hands and proceeded to smash it to pieces on the ground.

"NOT COOL, DUDE!" Vaughn screamed as he jumped to his feet and confronted Jeff.

Jeff wasn't backing down. "Listen to me, micro-nipples!" He said. "Your Annie privileges are over – if I so much as hear a rumour that you are writing, speaking, singing, expressing through interpretive dance or miming anything even slightly disrespectful about her again it won't be your guitar that gets broken next time. Do you understand?"

"What do you want us to do with this guy, Vaughn?" The other hackeysack players had got up and were starting to gather around Jeff.

"Are you okay, Jeff?" Troy and Abed had arrived. Vaughn saw his buddies hesitate.

"Do you understand?" Jeff hissed again.

"Sure dude, everything's fine. Bye, seeya, lates." Vaughn backed off and left with his buddies.

Jeff breathed a sigh of relief. "Thanks guys."

"No problem, papa wolf." Abed said. "That's what friends are for, right?"

XXXXXX

Author's note: this is another chapter that caused me no end of grief. The reason is simple enough - I've tended to write chapters out of order as inspiration hits, and the Tranny Dance chapter in particular got written very early, with the default assumption at that point that Annie would be in a relationship with Vaughn. Then, when it came to write this chapter, I couldn't make it work. In particular I could think of no sensible reason why a desperate Jeff would not bring up the whole "Getting Rid of Britta" thing and use it to paint Vaughn's attitude towards women in the blackest possible way, and that Annie would not want to be with a guy who treats women that way. So that's what I ended up writing. I now have a whole bunch of already written chapters that either need extensive rewriting or throwing out and starting again. As to why he didn't do it on the show? Dunno. Maybe because he was tag-teaming with Britta instead of going solo and she didn't want to be reminded of it, or maybe the scriptwriters just forgot. Hopefully you all agree that the way I've done it here works in the context of this timeline.