Chapter 22: Introduction to Baking
Summary: Sophie celebrates her fifth birthday with cake while other dishes simmer in the background
"And then there are the balloons of course, we need to consider they can't possibly all be purple."
Annie bristled at her mother's words, making sure to place the silverware back into the appropriate spots in the drawer, almost rattled enough to put a knife in with the spoons. She wondered if this was how Jeff felt sometimes when he had his occasional ulcer, the one she was fairly certain was psychosomatic, and she considered perhaps she had let some things linger too long.
She raised her head and regarded her mother, who was now walking around the kitchen and peering into her cupboards.
With an intensity that she tried to dampen, she managed, "Mom, we need to talk."
"We are, sweetie. Sophie wants all her balloons purple but you know of course we should add in some lighter colors, perhaps some whites and even pinks, and it would look so much better. I mentioned this to her and she seemed upset but that's only because she doesn't yet understand the importance of presentation." She half gasped at seeming memory and continued, "Her socks clash with the rest of her outfits and the other day they didn't even match each other, Anna."
"Are you serious?"
Rachel leaned back a little in indication and then slowly turned around to face her daughter with an expression of genuine puzzlement.
"Why yes, I am serious, Anna. I don't know why you're looking at me like that. I'm only trying to help."
Annie sighed in exasperation while still trying to hold her nerve. It was now or never.
"Mom, I appreciate you helping plan Sophie's party, but I want to talk to you about the Gregory situation."
The words hung in the air, Annie knowing full well her mother was internally screaming, she could see it in her eyes. What did she expect, that she'd never say anything about what had happened a couple weeks ago? Probably, and that filled her with more than a little bit of rage.
Taking a gulp before responding, Rachel seemed to be doing some mental calculations. To Annie's surprise, she motioned her over to the kitchen table and they both sat, Rachel then looking almost wistfully out the window.
"I suppose I should have expected you to ask, silly me."
"How long have you been seeing Andy's cousin?"
Rachel turned to regard her and replied through more than a hint of a blush, "I don't think of Gregory that way, as being your Andy's cousin. I think of him as a neighbor, as a friend. He has been so helpful to me that well one thing led to another and it turned into something else. I don't think either of us was expecting it."
"Mom…"
"And before you say anything, I am aware of the age difference, which is why we've kept it discreet. And it hasn't really been a big deal, it's been more casual. I explained that to Jeff and he seemed to understand."
Annie furrowed her brow and was again annoyed at her mother's familiarity with her husband with a tendency to see Jeff as a friend. She was aware she was attracted to him since she had made no secret of that, but then something was gnawing at her.
"When did you talk to Jeff about it?"
"Oh," her mother faltered for a second before continuing, "I just touched base with him, because I was concerned about your feelings, sweetie. He assured me he understood the whole situation and he wasn't judgemental at all. Which makes me extra glad the two of you seem to have worked out whatever it was that happened between you, or whatever it was that he did. You insisted that he hadn't cheated with Brittany, but sweetie, I hope you understand that you can confide in me. I've been there."
"He didn't cheat with Britta, he used to date her before we got together." Annie didn't know why she said that, and Jeff and Britta hadn't actually dated, but she didn't really want to get into those details either. She knew her mom smelled something, and part of her thought she'd give her just enough.
"Aaah, so I was right, just not about the timeline."
Annie rolled her eyes.
"She's an attractive woman. You may want to ban her from the house."
"Mom, can we not?"
"I'm merely hoping to save you from the misery of my past mistakes, sweetie. And anyway," she leaned forward with an almost conspiring expression, "you can tell me what he did."
Once again, Annie rolled her eyes.
"It was all a misunderstanding. And no, it didn't have anything to do with cheating, mom. I've never worried about Jeff doing that. He's loyal to me."
"I would certainly hope so."
"So he and I have made up, it turned out it was nothing, and I don't feel like sharing any more details than that." She took a breath and continued, "What I do want to know is if you'll be bringing Gregory around again. I guess I understand why you didn't tell me about him but," Annie suddenly found herself feeling empathy as she added, "I guess maybe I get that you need to see someone, even if it's casual. I want you to be happy, mom."
She certainly surprised herself by saying all of that, and she told herself it had nothing to do with feeling insecure around Michelle, of going through the whiplash of the past couple weeks, of feeling oddly threatened. That suddenly she had wondered what her mom had been through with her father. She couldn't say that all outloud or her mom would pounce on it, and it would be suffocating. But she supposed she could be understanding about the Gregory thing.
The Gregory, her ex Andy's cousin, thing.
Her mom was now staring at her with almost alarm, that showed how unexpected her declaration was.
"I'm serious, mom. You don't have to hide him from me. I'm okay."
"That means so much to me, Anna. You have no idea." Rachel suddenly wiped a tear from her eye and turned and looked back out the window.
"Mom?"
"It's fine, Anna. Like I said, it had been casual. But see, I suppose I should let you know that we ended things the other day. Just decided to go our separate ways."
Annie found herself suddenly a little deflated, and that also took her by surprise.
"I'm so sorry, mom. I hope it wasn't because of what happened when he came over?"
Rachel chuckled, still facing away, "Oh of course not, sweetie. Like I said, it was casual anyway, and really it had run its course. It's completely fine."
X
X
Jeff was sitting on the back steps regarding the remnants of Sophie's fifth birthday party, some smashed purple balloons, streamers, and what looked to be gobs of frosting in the grass, and he found himself chuckling.
The whole thing had been bananas in the greatest way, and he would never look at worms the same after the worm cake. Britta had really been inspired in helping craft it with tutelage from Shirley via videoconference and several burnt attempts, Quendra finally coming to the rescue with surprising baking skills she had picked up in Cakes!CakesCakes! 101. The fake dirt made from oreo cookie crumbs and then the jelly worms themselves were gross and hilarious. The expressions on the grandparent's faces had been the best, with even Hickey's stoicness almost cracking before he began a lecture on worm dissection with a fork. Of course Rachel had been the most aghast, as no one had prepped her. His mom took most of it in stride but seemed a little perplexed. And Anthony had found the whole thing a riot so he and Jeff had gotten along pretty well throughout the whole thing.
This year it was mostly child guests with some parents coming in and out, Troy and Abed being the exceptions as they always needed to help Sophie celebrate her birthday. And Jeff had relented and allowed Jamie to come, with Eustice bringing him over without Michelle, but this time Jeff had been prepared to see her, then a sense of relief washing over him when she had bowed out. It was weird enough seeing Eustice again, but true to what Annie had said, he didn't seem to have a clue anything was strange. Holly had brought the boys over too, and of course Thanos had come by with Dino, Andre with Ben. Little Elizabeth made an appearance for a briefer time and then Nancy took her home. There had been some of Sophie's classmates from preschool, too.
The most important thing was that the munchkin was now five and she seemed pretty darn proud of that. He ran one hand through her freshly cut curls and regarded her as his heart about exploded out of his chest because she was so cute.
"Daddy, how old am I?"
"Hmmmm…. Seventy four?"
"No, I'm FIVE." She stared into his face, gave him a kiss on the nose before grabbing a gummy worm and running away, laughing at high pitched volume. He watched her go and cracked up a little.
"Hey Jeff."
Abed sat down at his side and looked off at the backyard where Sophie was playing with some stragglers near Annie and her mom. Jeff was holding a sleeping Sebastian and wondering if he should take him inside but he had a hunch that Abed was expecting some profound conversation.
"Hey, buddy. What's up?"
"That was a fun party. Troy and I enjoyed it."
"Thanks for coming. Munchkin had a blast. You're welcome to stay over for dinner later if you want."
"We brought our sleeping bags."
He sighed and probably should have expected this, and his heart warmed because he wasn't that annoyed. The munchkin loved her uncles.
Abed continued, "Annie told Troy that you took Sebastian to see Dr. Rich."
Jeff groaned and closed his eyes, figuring of course he had to bring that up. "Yeah, we did. He's a good pediatrician."
"I'm curious, Jeff. Given your past hatred of him, how was that for you?
He began to busy himself by making sure Sebastian's socks were on straight. Although it was July, there seemed to be a breeze in the air and he didn't want him to get a chill.
He mumbled, "It was fine."
"Ahhh, so not fyne."
"Goddamn it."
He tried to suppress the memory of he and Annie sitting down a plump Sebastian on the exam table and holding him while Rich leaned over and listened to his heart and checked his other vitals, all the while with an over the top cheery disposition that Jeff had almost forgotten was syrupy and extra suspicious. Sebastian seemed to like him though, and then Rich made some chit chat with them that again seemed super fake nice and finally had regarded their son with a broad grin as he addressed him.
"Well, Sebastian. It's been so good getting to know you today. You take after both your parents, I can tell that already. And I suspect you're going to be super tall like your daddy and extra smart like your mommy,"
Annie preened and Jeff rolled his eyes.
–"But, as delightful as your future will be, we have to make sure you're protected against some nasty germs. That means I have to give you some vaccinations today. Okay, buckeroo?"
"Gooo!"
"Yeah, that's right, buddy."
And then Jeff had watched as Rich had proceeded to stab his son, Annie only correcting him later with thinly veiled frustration that he had merely vaccinated him for diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, influenza, and polio. Seemed like a lot for the squirt, and Jeff had been extra vocal later when Sebastian was cranky and tired. He blamed Rich, and then Annie had told him to knock it off.
He snapped back to the present moment and noticed Abed was staring at him, only a few inches from his face, so he slightly backed up and frowned.
"You were flashing back. How did you do it?'
"Let's just start to get some of this stuff cleaned up. I'm gonna put the squirt upstairs."
"Oh, Troy and I can do that."
"That would be awesome, thank you."
"So you still hate Rich."
"I'll be FYNE, Abed. I'll get over it. He did his job, and Annie's happy so you know what, I don't care anymore."
"Cool. Cool cool cool."
Troy came bounding up with some gummy worms hanging out of his pockets, but Jeff made the tactical decision not to get into it. He stood and placed the baby into Troy's arms, knowing full well that Troy was really good at putting babies down for bed. Once again his heart warmed and he smiled.
"Would you and Abed mind putting him upstairs so he can nap?"
"Yeah, no problem."
"Thank you."
As Jeff walked toward the yard, Abed stood and watched him as he explained, "I checked in about the Rich thing, I'm not sure if it'll be that interesting as a plot development, but I suspect there's a chance that Jeff might lose it."
Troy nodded sagely and remarked, "Yeah, that guy doesn't really have any chill. I love him, but wow."
"There's a chance he'll pull it together for Annie's sake. He seems to have developed a lot since Pottery."
"I would hope he'd grown since season one. And we've been flashing back too much to that maybe with the Michelle thing?" Troy regarded him hopefully.
Abed sighed with a world weariness that he felt befit the situation and nodded before saying, "At least it's not Vaughn."
"Dude, should I not mention that I just saw him in that used t-shirt shop over on Claremont street? He said he moved back."
Abed's eyes widened in surprise before he quickly said, "No."
"Yeah, you're right. Even if Jeff does run into him, it's not like it'll be too weird. Clearly Vaughn's evolved now that he's wearing shirts."
They both nodded and proceeded to take Sebastian into the house.
"Let's not ever talk about that again, Troy."
"Gotcha, man."
X
X
Annie sat across from Jeff at the dinner table, her eyes dancing as she took in the sight of their chaotic family all talking over each other, Troy and Abed in animated discussion with Sophie as Anthony interjected a word here and there and Sam and Braden cackled about some joke. Her mother was quiet, seeming to sit off to the side, likely feeling out of place, and Holly had just gotten up to put the boys' things upstairs so they could all camp out tonight.
She and Jeff were in for it, and she couldn't be happier.
He was smiling over at her and then he turned to wipe Sebastian's mouth from his rice cereal, as the baby was sitting in the high chair next to him.
"Gooo! Yay!"
Sebastian slapped his hands down on the tray and was shrieking with enthusiasm, likely picking up on the vibe.
"Aww. He's loving this."
Sophie seemed extra pleased at her brother's outburst and noted, "He's my number one fan."
Jeff chuckled, "Yeah, he is." He looked over at Annie and said, "Thank god he doesn't seem to mind noise."
Rachel placed one hand in between her temples and smiled tightly, and Annie sighed.
"Mom, do you want to go home?"
"I was just thinking I might, sweetie. It's not that I haven't enjoyed myself, but well, I have some things I need to do."
"It's okay. I appreciate all your help today and Sophie was glad you could come."
"It was fun." Rachel smiled extra broadly and stood and walked over to Sophie to give her a kiss on top of her head.
"Bubbe's going to go, sweetie. Happy birthday."
"Awww, thank you, Bubbe. I love you."
"Love you too."
"I can go get Mister Flufferstein so she can say goodbye too." Sophie started to climb out of her chair and Rachel swiftly placed one hand gently on her arm to stop her.
"That's okay, sweetie. I think your guinea pig and I have already said goodbye."
"But she wants to go back up your leg."
"We said goodbye."
"Are you going to say goodbye to Ruffles? She wants a hug."
Rachel stared down at the dog now sitting on one of her feet and gave a very tentative smile. "Goodbye, Ruffles."
"Woof!"
"How about I give you a hug," Rachel leaned down and Sophie wrapped her arms around her neck for a moment and sighed with contentment. Annie watched the whole thing while on the verge of tears.
Anthony chimed in, "Mom, I'll be home in a little bit."
"Ok."
Rachel made her way over to Sebastian and kissed him on the head, Sebastian then staring up at her in what appeared to be wonder. Rachel looked down at him and remarked, "He definitely has the Edison eyes."
"Yeah, all Annie." Jeff shrugged.
"Paul always did have nice eyes."
Annie bristled a little at the mention of her father and stood so she could help her mother get her things together and then walked her to the door. As the cacophony continued in the background, she whispered, "Mom, I'm glad things are better between us." She paused and added, "And I'm sorry about Gregory."
"I'm completely fine, sweetie. Don't you worry about me."
"Okay."
She reached forward to hug her, but it wasn't reciprocated, and Annie once again felt a little deflated. Yet, she suspected none of it was about her.
After her mother left, she closed the door and rejoined the table, this time deciding not to sit and to begin putting some things away. Trusting that between Anthony, Abed, and Troy that the kids were supervised, she motioned for Jeff to join her, and he did, them both taking the chance to quickly bus some plates into the kitchen.
"Oh my god." Jeff leaned against the kitchen wall as the shrieking continued.
Annie laughed, "So loud."
"So fun though."
"Yeah."
He opened his eyes and walked over to her, taking her into his arms and she felt all cozy.
"Awww."
She inhaled the scent of his aftershave and then looked up to see him smiling sappily down at her. She was suddenly feeling a little frisky and wondered if he'd be into it. She started to run her fingers over his pecs and his smile turned even sappier.
"Hey there, we got the kiddos in the next room."
She inched up and whispered into his ear, for he had been ducking his head toward her, "Maybe after they go to bed?"
He growled, "You wanna get started on Edison-Winger baby number three?"
She narrowed her eyes at him and he was grinning, and she of course gave him the swat.
He chuckled. "Probably not the time."
"Maybe next year."
"Hm?"
Changing the subject, she leaned her head back onto his chest and mused, "It was a good party."
He inhaled the scent of her shampoo and seemed to linger for a moment before he remarked, "For sure. And I'm kind of glad it's over."
"My mom was pretty good. I don't think she really understood what was going on, but it means a lot to me that she tried. And she was so sweet with Sophie." She sighed and added, "I'm grateful that we've gotten this far."
"I notice you two keep discussing something in hushed tones as Abed says. Anything I should know?"
She rubbed her head against him as her hands began to make their way around his waist and said, "Oh, it was just the Gregory thing."
"Ah."
"She says they broke up."
Jeff's chest tightened a little, she could feel it.
She continued, "Yeah, I was surprised too. She insists it had nothing to do with what happened when he came over, but of course it had to have. I feel bad. She seems sad but she'll never admit it."
"Well, that sucks."
"And she made sure to tell me how much you weren't judgemental about it, that you understood the situation. It's always so weird when she does that, like mentions a special little thing between the two of you."
His chest definitely tightened this time, and she was suddenly puzzled.
"What is it?"
"God, I'm so sorry. On top of everything lately, I know I said there would be no more secrets, but I honestly thought I was doing the right thing. I want you and your mom to get along, and I just thought you didn't need to know."
She pulled back and stared at him, noting his panicked expression.
"What are you talking about?"
"Um…"
The silence enveloped them, as Jeff kept staring down at her and perspiring and the pieces started to click. Her mom said she had talked to him, she had been confused as to when. And now he said something about keeping a secret.
With narrowed eyes she observed, "You knew about him before this, didn't you?"
He cocked his head as he explained, "Yeah, but I didn't realize he was Andy's cousin."
"Oh my god."
"I'm sorry, I know now I should have told you."
"But you didn't because you wanted me to like my mom? Who says I wouldn't have been understanding, Jeff? And how did you know? Did she tell you?!"
His eyes widened as he shook his head adamantly. ""Nooo, it was nothing like that, I swear. I just happened to almost catch them once." He paused, licked his lips as he recalled something and continued, "Let's just say I came over to her house and it was very clear a man had just left. And then she confessed, and she begged me not to tell you. So I didn't."
He let out a long breath, and added, "That feels like a relief. I think we've got out all the secrets now."
She squinted at him, both annoyed and confused. And more than a little surprised. "I don't know what to make of this, Jeff."
He was seeming pretty remorseful, his eyes almost puppy dog-like.
"I was in an awkward position. I didn't really know how you would have reacted since things were so new between each other after getting back in touch."
She frowned, "When was this?"
"Oh crap."
She'd forgive him, but she'd wait a minute. Good thing he was so lovable.