FIC: Pillows and Life Jackets (Jeff/Annie)
Title: Pillows and Life Jackets
Author: fangirl_101
Pairing: Jeff/Annie
Spoilers: Future fic, established relationship
Disclaimer: Just having some fluffy fun
Word Count: 670
It was the longest three days of his life. Jeff decided he was never, ever, ever going out of town on a business trip again. Well, that wasn't exactly possible. So OK, he amended, for all future business trips, he'd take Annie with him. Even if it was just for a day, that didn't matter-he needed his Annie. He realized this made him totally whipped. But he didn't care.
For three days, all he could think about was getting back to her, seeing her, touching her. Although they talked and texted throughout the day, it didn't matter. It wasn't the same-he missed her too damn much. Too much to really be productive. Too much to be of actual use to anyone. He could hardly concentrate on work and so, really, the trip was kind of a waste anyway.
The hardest part was sleeping alone. He had grown so used to her lying next to him, feeling the sheet move slightly as she shifted positions before settling down again. He couldn't get a restful night's sleep without her there. It was simply not going to happen. So, on top of already going out of his mind with missing her to death, he was also sleep deprived. This all made for a very grumpy, unhappy and miserable Jeff, which made the three-day trip feel more like three weeks.
After two days, 6 hours, and 24 minutes of being Annie deprived, nothing short of a miracle happened that almost sent Jeff searching for a church to thank God Himself (or the priest, or the organist, or whoever was there)... almost. His last meeting was cancelled (someone got food poisoning, or something... he could care less) which meant he could catch a red eye and be home early Thursday morning instead of his scheduled flight Thursday afternoon.
His plan was to go to his place, grab a few hours sleep, and then surprise Annie at her apartment bright and early with coffee and donuts and best of all-himself. She'd be so excited to see him, he might even be able to get her to skip her morning classes and spend the day in bed. Well, probably not. But he could try, right?
When he walked into his bedroom and found Annie curled up fast asleep, he was calm enough not to shriek like a little girl, but still caught off guard enough to drop his bag with a loud thud. Thankfully, she's a sound sleeper and, thankfully again, he hadn't flipped on the light, so he hadn't woken her up.
They'd exchanged apartment keys two weeks ago, but he still wasn't used to her being there when he wasn't, especially in the middle of the night.
Not that he minded.
At all.
This was even better than showing up at her place in four hours. He quietly walked over to the bed, ready to gently wake her up and tell her how much he missed her and how much he loved her. But as he got closer and his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he noticed she was wearing one of his ratty old T-shirts and was hugging one of his pillows like a life jacket on the Titanic.
It was pretty much the most adorable thing he'd ever seen. She held the pillow close to her face breathing in the scent-his scent-and he realized that she had missed him as much as he missed her. A warmth like he'd never felt filled him up, starting in his center and spreading all throughout his body. The smile on his face would have been infectious, if anyone else in the room had been awake.
He softly slid into bed and propped his head up on his arm (not at all minding the fact that he didn't have a pillow) ready to just watch Annie sleep for as long as his body could stay awake. He'd wait 'til morning to tell her he loved her.
And every day after that.