Fic: You Forgave, and I Won't Forget (16/20)
Title: You Forgave, and I Won't Forget
Author: cgkm2099z
Pairing: Jeff/Annie
Spoilers: 6.02
Rating: PG
Warning None
Word Count: 7,961
Disclaimer: I do not own Community. Community, and its characters, are the creation of the great Dan Harmon. I think it's still owned by Sony Pictures Television, but after the hack, I'm not so sure. The title is from the song "I Will Wait" by Mumford and Sons.
A/N: Paintball, part two! As always, your comments are greatly appreciated!
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Annie could hear the distant popping noise of paintball guns being fired as she rummaged around in the trunk of her car for more decorating supplies. It was now late-afternoon and the game had been going on since the early morning. Nine hours! I said this would get out of hand, but did anyone listen to me? Nooooooo, of course not. “Most students won’t be back, Annie.” “Don’t be a buzzkill, Annie.” They better not come crawling to me to clean up their- ooh! There they are. Annie grabbed the package of puffy glitter paint she’d been searching for and closed her trunk. She paused to pick up the extra poster board she and Rachel needed to finish the wall decorations, then headed back towards the cafeteria building. The theme they’d been using to decorate had mainly been puns on the name Shirley: “We will Shirley miss you!” “Shirley the best!” and “We Shirley hope you’ll be back.”
Annie was glad to have Rachel for company. She realized she had hardly spent any time alone with her, and the two women had quickly bonded over their shared love of silly puns. They’d also spent a good deal of time dishing about their respective relationships. Annie was surprised to discover that Rachel had many of the same frustrations in regards to Abed that she was finding with Jeff. Both were stubborn, had issues with communication (rather than talk, Abed would bury himself in TV or movies and Jeff his phone), both could be immature, and both were emotionally unavailable to varying degrees (though Annie thought Jeff was actually making some progress on the last one). Yet, despite their many flaws, Annie loved her big lug, and Rachel loved her skinny one.
As Annie approached the entrance to the cafeteria building, the sound of approaching footfalls made her ears prickle. It sounded like someone was running. Annie ducked behind one of the tall bushes and peeked around to see who was coming. She wasn’t playing, but whoever it was might decide to shoot first and ask questions later. The footfalls grew progressively louder until finally someone came around the far corner of the building at a full sprint. Annie didn’t recognize the student, but they were wearing a rather strange gray body suit and a gray baseball cap. Three quick pops sounded from where the student had emerged and Annie saw him pitch forward and fall, rolling several times before finally coming to a stop. The student sat up and groaned, then felt his back. When he saw the paint on his hands, he slowly picked himself up off the concrete and trudged away.
Annie glanced down at the ground where the student’s gun lay about ten feet from her. He had dropped it when he fell, and it had skidded towards her hiding spot. Playing or not, it never hurt to be prepared. Annie darted out from behind the bush, snapped up the gun and tucked it into her jeans behind her back, then quickly retreated towards the sanctuary of the cafeteria. As she neared the door, she heard slight rustling noise behind her. She spun and put her back to the door, scanning around for the source of the noise, but didn’t see anything.
“Hello?” she said nervously. “Whoever’s there, I’m not part of the game. And the cafeteria is off limits, so just leave me alone.” Annie’s eyes swept around a few more times, but she didn’t detect any movement. She turned hurriedly back to the door and pulled out the keys the Dean had given her. In order to ensure the cafeteria remained off limits, they had locked it down and given Annie and Rachel keys to use. Annie fumbled around for a moment to get the key into the lock, but just as she began turning it, a hand clamped down on her shoulder. Annie gasped in surprise as the hand pulled on her and spun her around. She was about to scream when another hand clamped over her mouth. The hand on her shoulder came away and moved to a pair of lips, the index finger raised in a shushing gesture. Annie’s eyes drifted upwards and finally focused on the face of her assailant.
It was Jeff.
Annie’s momentary alarm quickly faded into annoyance and she shook herself loose from Jeff’s grasp. “Jeff! What are you doing here?” she hissed. “You scared me!”
“Shh! Let’s get inside,” Jeff said quietly but insistently. “There were a bunch more of them on the other side of the building.”
“Them who?” Annie turned back to the door and opened it carefully. Jeff didn’t answer and kept an anxious lookout until they were safely inside. As the door closed behind them and the lock clicked into place, Jeff finally seemed to relax slightly.
“The machines…” Jeff mumbled as he peered back out through the glass door. “I thought someone was following me, but then I stumbled onto that scouting party and had to take them out. The one got away from me… briefly.”
“Machines? What are you talking about?”
“Borchert is leading a group of students, actually, most of the students, in the paintball game. We call them the machines. Did you see the getup that student I shot was wearing?” Annie nodded. “That’s the uniform they all wear. Some of them are actually acting like they’re robots or something. Not sure if Borchert told them to do that or if they’re just screwing around.”
“Ok, that’s… weird. But why are you here? The cafeteria is off limits for the paintball game.”
Jeff directed his gaze over Annie’s shoulder and down the hall. “Is Rachel here? I’d rather not have to explain this twice.”
Annie nodded. “She’s in the cafeteria working on more decorations.” They started towards the cafeteria, but Annie’s curiosity wouldn’t allow her to remain silent. “I hope you’ve got a good reason for being here,” she prodded. “You could be disqualified. It’s against the rules to-”
The sound of glass shattering reverberated down the hall from the direction of the cafeteria. Jeff and Annie tensed and instinctively pressed themselves up against the wall. Jeff had his gun at the ready and began creeping towards the double doors that led into the dining area. Annie felt the itching need to reach for the gun at her back, but forced herself to resist. Rachel probably just dropped something. Yeah. I mean, there’s no reason for-
A scream sounded from up ahead, and Jeff and Annie moved with increased urgency. Only one of the double doors leading into the cafeteria was propped open, so they snuck up to the closed one and used it as cover. Annie could hear voices emerging from the cafeteria, but it wasn’t until she was settled in place that she could start to understand what was being said.
“-said to let me go!” Rachel’s voice was tinged with fear, but mostly she sounded angry. “This area is off limits, and I’m not part of this game.”
“Everyone’s part of this game, sweetie,” a gravelly voice that sounded vaguely familiar replied. “Borchert wants a word with you, so you’ll come along. It’s up to you if the trip is easy,” the voice dropped menacingly, “or hard.”
“I already told you. I’m not Annie.” Jeff inched close to the door and peeked around ever so slightly.
“Well, now that’s funny.” The gravelly voice apparently came with a gravelly chuckle as well. “Borchert see, he tells me he wants a talk with a cute little brunette that’s supposed to be over in the cafeteria. And here I come to the cafeteria, and find a cute little brunette who tells me she’s not the one I’m looking for, but can’t prove it.” Another smug chuckle wafted through the door. “Awfully convenient, don’t you think?”
“Like I said, my purse is-”
“In Annie’s car, yeah yeah. Sorry sweetie. I’ve got my orders. Borchert says to round up the girl in the cafeteria. You just so happen to be the girl in the cafeteria. So I guess that means you’re coming with us.”
Annie had heard enough. She didn’t know what was going on, but it was time to end it. Whoever was in the cafeteria had no right to kidnap anyone, and Annie certainly wasn’t about to let Rachel take her place. She started moving towards the open door, but before she could reach it, Jeff’s arms clamped around her from behind.
“What are you doing?” he hissed in a low voice.
“I’m putting a stop to this!” she hissed back.
“Like hell you are.” Jeff clapped a hand over her mouth again and pulled her back against the wall while Annie struggled ineffectually against his grip. Geez he was strong. Conversation continued to emanate from the cafeteria, but Annie’s struggles with Jeff kept her from making any of it out. It was easily apparent that she couldn’t force her way free from Jeff’s grasp, so instead she resorted to an old childhood trick.
Annie stuck her tongue out and licked Jeff’s palm. His hand jerked back reflexively, loosening his grip with his other arm in the process. Annie applied all the leverage she could and for an instant she was free and moving towards the door again. Jeff recovered quickly though, and before she knew it her back was pressed against the wall and his hand was over her mouth again. His face was inches away from hers and he shook his head slightly. “Don’t do that,” he whispered.
Annie’s eyes stared back defiantly over Jeff’s hand, and she immediately began licking his palm again. This time Jeff was prepared and didn’t flinch. “I said stop that.” His hand had a metallic taste to it and he clearly hadn’t washed them in a while, but Annie was already committed and kept right on going. “Stop.” As Jeff repeated his demands for her to stop and Annie continued to ignore them, his eyes made subtle shifts from annoyed to determined, and then from determined to amused. It wasn’t long before both of them were giggling quietly at the sheer absurdity of the situation.
“You leave me no choice then,” Jeff whispered amidst another chortle. His hand moved away from her lips and was immediately replaced by his own. Annie’s mouth opened to allow his tongue inside, and all thoughts of rescuing Rachel were temporarily forgotten. Jeff’s arms quickly shifted from restraining to cradling, and hers slithered around him and she began caressing the back of his head. In the month that they’d been dating, Jeff and Annie had done a lot of kissing. But somehow despite her added experience with it, kissing Jeff still made Annie feel like love-struck teenager. Not that she minded, though. In fact, losing herself in one of Jeff’s kisses had become her new favorite hobby.
When they finally broke apart, Jeff turned back to peek around the door, leaving a wobbly Annie panting breathlessly against the wall. The cafeteria had gone silent, and Jeff motioned for her to stay where she was before creeping through the door to investigate further. A few moments later she heard him call out that the coast was clear.
Annie followed him into the now empty cafeteria. Her eyes lingered on a few half-finished posters that Rachel had been working on, her art supplies unceremoniously strewn about by whoever had come and taken her away. Annie tore her eyes away from last vestiges of Rachel’s presence and made her way over to where Jeff was standing next to the vending machines in the lounge. He was inspecting the door, which still remained firmly closed and locked, however, the pane of glass had been smashed out with a trash can. Shards of glass were strewn across the floor of the lounge and the concrete outside.
“This is destruction of school property…” Annie mumbled in disbelief. “The cafeteria was supposed to be off limits,” she insisted. “Coming in here is against the-”
“Rules?” Jeff finished for her. “I think they just changed the rules.”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
“I think it’s time you told me what’s going on.”
Jeff looked up from the glass covering the floor and nodded. “Ok, but we can’t stay here long. Whoever took Rachel might not know you, but Borchert does. They’ll be back.” Jeff started towards the dining area and motioned for Annie to follow. “But as long as we’re here, I want to grab something to eat. We don’t exactly get lunch breaks during these things.” They walked over to Shirley’s Sandwiches, and Jeff began recounting the events of the day while putting together a turkey sub. When he finished, he cut it down the middle and handed one half to Annie.
“The Dean begged us to stop Borchert from winning, but he got shot and then Chang showed up with an army before he could tell us why.” Jeff related the information Chang had revealed and then described their escape and Shirley’s subsequent sacrifice. By the time he’d finished, Annie’s eyes were as wide as dinner plates. “Abed and I were hoping that you’d have some idea why they’re after you. If we figure that out, then maybe we can figure out what Borchert is up to.”
Annie frowned in concentration. “A paper I wrote for one of Mrs. Plimpton’s classes?”
Jeff nodded as he swallowed a bite of his sub. “And the Dean mentioned Borchert finding something in the Greendale bylaws that he-” Annie’s face had gone white. “What is it?”
“I might know what he’s after.” Jeff arched an eyebrow and waited for her to elaborate. “We had to do projects analyzing a number of public organizations as part of my Public Power Structures class. For one of them, I picked Greendale as my topic. I already knew a lot about Greendale, but thought it would be fun to learn more.”
Jeff eyed her with amusement. “Did Annie Edison pick a blowoff topic for one of her projects?”
Annie planted one hand on her hip and gave an indignant huff. “It wasn’t a blowoff topic, Jeff. I did a lot of research into the history of Greendale and its deans. Including major amendments to the school’s bylaws.” Annie paused to take a bite of her sub, a pensive look crossing her face as she chewed slowly. When she resumed, her tone had shifted from indignant to lecturing. “Ok, so as you know, after Borchert disappeared, the city bought the campus and converted Greendale into a community college. But after the school’s first dean resigned under allegations of corruption, there was an effort to turn Greendale into a trade school. Two main factions emerged, the group that wanted to change the school were known as the Trade Federation, and the group that wanted to keep it a community college were called the Communists.”
“How very Greendale,” Jeff said dryly. “Has this place always been nuts?”
Annie ignored Jeff’s interruption and continued with her recounting. “There were years of political infighting where no dean lasted more than a few months on the job and the school board was in constant disarray. The two factions were locked in a struggle for power, and each time one gained the upper hand, they’d undo changes the other had made. It happened so frequently that a series of bylaws were enacted that expedited the process. Among them were provisions for reverting to earlier versions of the bylaws and for making changes without board intervention.” Annie paused to let the significance of what she said sink in. “The back and forth got so bad that students basically had to change majors every semester and eventually enrollment dropped to dangerously low levels. It wasn’t until 1984 that a strong dean finally took over and put an end to the conflict. Otto Von Grünestal, whose personal motto was ‘blood and iron.’”
Jeff arched an eyebrow at Annie. “Blood and iron? Did they fight a war or something?”
“War?” Annie tilted her head in puzzlement. “No, he suffered from anemia.”
Jeff rolled his eyes. “Right. How silly of me.”
Annie shrugged. “Von Grünestal was finally able to bring stability to the school. He was a communist, so he kept Greendale as a community college, but he also made concessions to the Trade Federation, and that’s how the A/C repair annex was founded. He served as dean for over twenty years, until he died in 2006. And that’s when a certain Craig Pelton was hired to take over.”
“What about those bylaws you mentioned? What sort of changes did they allow someone to make?”
Annie directed a serious look at Jeff. “Anything from changing the school mission and curriculum to replacing the dean.” Annie nodded as Jeff whistled in amazement. “Von Grünestal removed all of those bylaws during his tenure, but the one for reverting to earlier versions of the bylaws is still in effect! In order to trigger the bylaw, you need the approval of the dean and one of the two vice deans. And if Borchert wins this game, for twenty four hours he’ll be both! He could install himself as dean permanently and turn Greendale back into a computer school!”
Jeff remained silent for several moments while he digested what Annie had just told him. “Damn, I really wanted that $500,” he said at last. Annie’s face bore a look of slight relief, as though she wasn’t entirely sure which side Jeff would choose. “One thing I don’t understand though, if Borchert already knows all that, then why does he need you?”
“Because,” Annie sighed, “in order to revert to the old bylaws, you have to have them. They didn’t have digital records in the early eighties, and I found the last remaining copy in the Greendale archives as part of my research. Have you ever seen the archives?”
Jeff gave her a flat stare. “What do you think?”
Annie giggled in spite of herself, “It’s basically a giant basement full of endless and unsorted boxes of paper. They’d never be able to find them before Borchert’s twenty four hours were up. And now that Mrs. Plimpton is dead, I’m the only one that knows where they are.”
Jeff eyed Annie curiously. “Do I even want to know how much time you spent finding those?” Annie blushed and stared at her feet, causing Jeff to smirk in amusement. “Never mind. It sounds like we have two ways of stopping Borchert. Win the game, or destroy the last copy of those bylaws. I don’t like leaving things to chance, so I say we do both.”
“Alright,” Annie agreed. “The archives are over in the administration building.”
Jeff frowned. “I was just over there. A lot of enemies between here and there, so make sure you stay close. I’m responsible for keeping you safe.”
Annie rolled her eyes and fell in beside Jeff as they headed towards the exit. They were about half way across the cafeteria when the sound of broken glass crunching underneath boots pierced Jeff’s ears. He looked up just in time to see Chang approaching, his Bengal tiger-colored automatic paintball gun in his hands and already pointed towards him and Annie. In one panicked motion, Jeff reached out and gave Annie a sharp shove to the side as he dove the other direction behind one of the cafeteria tables. Paintballs began flying overhead and splattering against tables as Chang sprayed fire around indiscriminately.
“Konichiwa, bitches!” Chang shouted triumphantly when he finally took a break from redecorating the cafeteria. “I knew you’d lead me to Edison eventually, Winger. After Shirley held up most of my forces, I snuck around a different way and followed you. And now my cunning has finally paid off!”
Jeff reached for his gun that he’d stashed in the waistline of his jeans, but his fingers grasped only air. Panic surged through him and he glanced around franticly until he saw it lying on the floor just past the next row of tables. He must have knocked it away during his desperate dive for cover. Jeff cursed silently to himself and tried to formulate a quick plan to retrieve it. The first step meant keeping Chang busy.
“Chang, you were there when we planned this whole thing. You knew Annie was going to be here setting up for the party.” Jeff readied himself to make a dive towards the next row of tables, but Chang had positioned himself at the end of the row Jeff was hiding behind and began coating the aisle with paint.
“I knew you knew that I was there,” Chang shouted over the noise of his gun, “so I knew that you would plan that into your master plan. Very clever of you to know that I knew that you would know that you would plan that into your plan and plan for that!”
Jeff shook his head to dispel the momentary disorientation that came from trying to follow Chang’s circular reasoning. He grabbed ahold of the table he was hidden behind and prepared to use it as a mobile shield. Chang anticipated the move, however, and began quickly advancing down the aisle, continuing his suppressing fire. He only had a few moments before Chang would have him cornered, so Jeff hefted the table up and lunged across the aisle. But as he did, his boot slipped on the paint that was coating the floor. He pitched forward, losing his hold on the table which crashed loudly to the ground, followed quickly by Jeff. He found himself on his back between two tables in the next row, his erstwhile shield laying on its side next to him. Before he even had time to try to scramble around to search for his gun, he looked up to find Chang standing over him, a fiendish grin covering his face. Chang tossed his automatic rifle aside, drew out one of his gold-colored pistols and pointed it at Jeff’s head.
A maniacal laugh sprang from Chang’s lips. “This… is the best day of my life!” Jeff closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable.
Please just not in the moneymaker…
The gun fired and Jeff flinched instinctively.
Only… he never felt the impact. Had Chang missed? Jeff slowly opened his eyes to find Chang clutching the back of his head, paint oozing through his fingers.
“Owwwww! You shot me in the head! You’re not even supposed to be playing!”
“Everyone’s playing,” Annie said in a menacing tone. “That’s what you get for ruining our decorations. Now get out of here. I don’t talk to dead people.” Chang turned and slunk away towards the exit. Annie sauntered up and stood over Jeff, placing one hand on her hip and blowing over the barrel of her gun. “Are you sure you’re here to protect me?”
Jeff smirked at her. “Took you long enough.” Annie rolled her eyes as she helped Jeff to his feet. He swiftly retrieved his gun, then nodded towards the automatic rifle Chang had left behind. “You want it?”
Annie shook her head. “I prefer pistols.”
Jeff shrugged and flipped his gun in his hand, offering it to Annie hilt first, then retrieved the rifle. Annie waited, a gun in each hand, as Jeff loaded more paintballs into the rifle’s reservoir. When he finished, he turned to face her. “Ready?”
Annie dithered for a moment. “Actually, wait.” Jeff arched an expectant eyebrow at her. “Before we go, I’d like to point out that this paintball game has been going on for the better part of the day, and has now reached the point where my decorations have been ruined, school property destroyed, Rachel kidnapped and the school is suddenly fighting for its survival again.”
Jeff shrugged. “Yeah, it’s been crazy. But when is Greendale ever not crazy?”
A gleam appeared in Annie’s eye. “So, in a sense, what happened is, you guys decided to play paintball, annnnnnnnd?” Annie gestured with her hand to indicate she expected Jeff to complete the sentence.
“Annie,” Jeff gave her an exasperated look, “you really need me to say it? You were-”
Annie raised her hand to cut him off. “Eh, whoa whoa, yeah, I need you to say it. Let me just get settled.” Annie made a show of stretching her shoulders and neck before closing her eyes. “Ok, go.”
Jeff stared at her for a moment. This wasn’t fair. He shouldn’t be the one having to say this, paintball wasn’t his idea. He’d even tried to limit it to the gym. He knew the look on Annie’s face though, and knew she wouldn’t budge until she got what she wanted.
“You were right.”
“Ohh- Ahhhhhhhhhh, yeah.” Jeff tapped his foot impatiently as Annie rode out her fake orgasm. When she was finished, she smiled brightly at him and headed for the exit. Jeff fell in behind her, grumbling to himself about Abed owing him. They made for the hallway, since Rachel’s kidnappers would no doubt use the door they had shattered if and when they eventually returned. Annie unlocked the door where Jeff had initially found her and they slipped outside before setting off towards the administration building.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Their trip back across campus was surprisingly uneventful. Aside from one roving squad of machines that Jeff easily dispatched with the automatic rifle, they saw no one. But what made things even more eerie was the quiet. Earlier in the day it had seemed like you couldn’t go anywhere without hearing at least sporadic gunfire. But as dusk descended, a pall of silence had settled over Greendale. Jeff didn’t know what to make of it. Had the rest of Abed’s forces been wiped out? Was one or both sides marshalling their strength for something big? There was no way to tell.
Once inside the administration building they quickly made their way down to the basement level where the archives were housed. As they approached the entrance Annie whispered, “Be careful. They may have people here already searching.”
Jeff nodded grimly. There were no guards posted in the dank, poorly lit hallway, which was a good sign. Either there was no one here, or whoever was here wasn’t too bright. Jeff cautiously approached the doorway and placed his ear against it, but couldn’t hear anything beyond the drone of the hallway’s fluorescent lights. Waiting won’t make it any better. Jeff glanced at Annie to see if she was ready and received a determined nod in response. He gripped the cold metal handle of the door and took a steadying breath, then swiftly pushed the door open, gun at the ready, his eyes sweeping around the room for potential threats.
The archives, however, were just as empty as the hallway was. The tension eased out of him and he heard Annie exhale in relief. Jeff turned and secured the door behind them before facing Annie. “Alright, where do we need to look?”
Annie tucked one gun into the front of her waist and one at the back, then motioned for Jeff to follow her. “Over here.” The Greendale archives were much the way Annie had described them. An oversized unfinished basement full of endless stacks of boxes. The damp, musty air hung heavy around them, and a thick coating of dust covered every surface Jeff could see. She led him past row after row of brown, unlabeled boxes that were devoid of any discernable filing system. At the third row from the back, Annie broke off to the right and began counting off boxes as she worked her way down the aisle. Just past the halfway point she paused and looked up, and Jeff saw a look of consternation cross her face. She looked back towards the beginning of the aisle and quickly counted down again to the stack she was standing by.
“Oh dear.”
“What is it?”
Annie pointed towards the top of the stack where a rectangular hole created a gap between the two adjacent stacks of boxes. Jeff felt a sinking feeling in his gut as he stared at the empty space. The dust on the surrounding boxes looked as though it had been recently disturbed.
“Shit.”
Annie’s eyes had gone wide as she nodded agreement with Jeff’s assessment of the situation. “What do we do now?”
“The only thing we can do,” Jeff shrugged. “Win the game.”
A look of determination settled over Annie and she pursed her lips and gave a firm nod. “Well there’s no reason why we have to do it alone. Let’s see if we can link back up with Abed and the rest.”
Jeff grimaced. “That would be good, except there’s no way for us to know where they are, or if they’re even still alive.”
“Alive?” Annie gave Jeff an incredulous look. “Don’t be so dramatic, Jeff.” She pulled out her cell phone and tapped in her code to unlock it.
“What are you doing?”
Annie directed her best duh-doy face at him. “Texting Abed.”
Jeff stared dumbly at her for a second, then a wave of embarrassment hit him. What the hell is wrong with me? Why do I let Abed suck me into these post-apocalyptic fantasies of his?
“Crap, I don’t get signal down here. We’ll have to head upstairs.” Annie stashed her phone back in her pocket.
“I’m not sure he’ll answer,” Jeff said. “He’s busy playing-”
A light rustling noise came from nearby, causing Jeff to freeze in place. Annie, however, had drawn her weapons in a flash and was already stalking slowly down the aisle towards the main corridor, her toes touching the ground first to soften her steps. Jeff recovered after an instant and followed after her, the rifle cradled in both his hands. The sound had come from the other side of one huge wall of boxes, in the direction of the back wall. They rounded the corner cautiously into the main corridor, and Annie peeked into the second-to-last row. Jeff held his breath until she gave the all clear signal and they crept on towards the very back of the room.
When they reached the final row, Jeff tapped Annie on the shoulder and motioned for her to stay back. He then quickly lunged around the corner and fired a spray of paintballs down the aisle. He saw his shots splatter harmlessly against the far wall in what at first glance appeared to be another empty row full of nothing but boxes.
“What the bloody hell?” a familiar voice sounded from the darkness, and Jeff noticed a slight movement on the floor. The voice had removed all tension from him though, and soon a familiar face appeared to go with the voice.
“Professor Duncan?!” Annie exclaimed. “What are you doing in here?”
Ian Duncan stumbled out of the darkened aisle, rubbing at his eyes under his glasses. He paused and stretched before letting out a loud yawn. “I was catching up on some sleep until you two wankers had to go and give me a heart attack.”
Jeff gave him an appraising look. “As much as I admire your work ethic, you have an office with a couch in it. Why are you sleeping on the floor of a basement?”
“For the same reason you don’t sleep in the checkout line at Bath and Body Works. People know to look for me there.” Annie guffawed and her hand shot up to cover her mouth as she continued snickering, drawing a sidelong glare from Jeff.
“What?” Annie said amidst another giggle. “It’s funny because it’s true.”
Jeff rolled his eyes and turned back to Duncan. “I don’t suppose you noticed anyone come in here and remove one of the boxes?”
Duncan thought for a moment, then shook his head. “No. I can sleep through most anything, though.” He directed a pointed look at Jeff’s rifle. “Except gunfire, that is.”
“Well get used to the gunfire because we need all the help we can get,” Annie said as she held out one of her guns to Duncan.
Duncan raised his hands in protest. “Oh I don’t know, Annie. I’m not cut out for shooting anyone. Or anything that involves physical coordination, for that matter.”
Jeff stepped close and put a hand on Duncan’s shoulder. “She’s right. We need every available person to join the resistance if we’re going to stop Borchert and the machines from taking over Greendale.”
Duncan looked completely flummoxed. “I didn’t understand any of that, but ok.”
“Long story short? We need to stop Borchert from winning the paintball game. Because unless you know how to teach computer science, you’re going to be out of a job if we don’t.” Duncan paled and reluctantly took the offered gun from Annie, holding it awkwardly as if unsure of how to use it.
The trio departed the archives and made their way upstairs where Annie again pulled out her phone to contact Abed. Satisfied that her signal was strong enough, she began typing out a message as they walked slowly towards the exit. The administration building was one of the oldest buildings on campus and the hallways were drab and narrow. The occasional bulletin board was the only feature of the walls aside from the evenly spaced doorways.
“We should get out of this hallway,” Jeff warned. “It’s too narrow and there’s no cover. If someone came in here we’d-”
Shots suddenly rang out from behind them and Annie almost dropped her phone as she and Jeff spun to face the potential threat. The hallway was still empty, but they could begin to hear the sound of pounding feet. They were smack in the middle of the long hallway. Retreat towards the basement was not an option, with the threat approaching from that direction. They were left with two options, make a run for the building exit, or stand and fight. Duncan looked ready to flee, but Jeff had no desire to be shot in the back while running away. The look on Annie’s face indicated that she agreed with him.
“Man, I’m tired of being right,” Jeff grumbled as he tried the doors on either side of the hallway. They were both locked. He glanced around quickly, then reached for the nearest bulletin board and pulled on the side. After a moment’s protest, the anchors gave way from the old and crumbly drywall and Jeff propped the board on its end and motioned for Annie and Duncan to get behind it.
“I hope you’re prepared to deal with red tape it’ll take to get that board replaced,” Annie said in a slightly annoyed tone.
Jeff shrugged. “If we win, one of us will be dean. If we lose, it’s Borchert’s problem.” At the end of the hall, a solitary figure came running around the corner, blond hair streaming behind her as she ran.
“Britta!” Annie exclaimed. She raised herself part way out of her crouch and waved. “Over here!”
“Get ready to lay down covering fire,” Jeff said through gritted teeth.
Britta was halfway towards them when several gray clad students rounded the corner behind her. “Wait for them to commit…” Annie said with steely resolve. The students advanced farther down the hall, and finally began to raise their weapons.
“Now!” Jeff and Annie yelled together as they both began firing. Duncan managed to squeeze off one shot and promptly dropped his gun. Jeff saw the two leading students take hits and adjusted his fire slightly to the side to take out a third. Two more students were trailing them, however, and ducked behind their compatriots for cover, firing blindly down the hall at them.
Let’s see how willing these kids are to be human shields… Jeff continued firing a stream of paintballs into the leading students until they had had enough punishment, turning back the way they’d come and leaving the last two exposed. Jeff tracked his fire back across the hall, striking one of the students before his gun suddenly made a rapid clicking noise. He glanced down quickly and cursed. The CO2 canister was empty. A paintball struck the bulletin board just below his eye level and Jeff ducked instinctively. Britta came flying past and dropped to the floor behind them, panting with exhaustion. Jeff was about to ask her to toss him her gun when he noticed Annie take careful aim and calmly squeeze off a single shot.
“I’m out…” a disappointed voice sounded from down the hall.
“Leave your guns!” Annie hollered after the departing students. Jeff stood and dropped the bulletin board to the floor. When he turned to check on Britta, he found her kneeling over a groaning Duncan. A paintball had struck him square in the glasses and yellow paint had splattered over much of his face.
“Professor Duncan,” Britta said in a distraught voice, “did you just take a bullet for me?”
Ian Duncan stopped groaning and went silent for a moment. “Yes, Britta… yes I did.” Jeff hadn’t seen it, but he was virtually positive that was not the way it had happened. Britta then made a sound that Jeff never thought he’d hear from her.
“Awwww!”
“What’s going on?” Annie asked as she came walking up with the guns she’d collected from the students they’d defeated.
Duncan sat up and ran a hand over his face to wipe away some of the paint. “Oh nothing. I simply did what any true hero would do and sacrificed myself to save a comrade in arms.” The look on Annie’s face made it clear that she didn’t believe it any more than Jeff did. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I must be getting home. I have a documentary on the mistreatment of animals by the food industry that I’ve been meaning to watch.”
Duncan picked himself up off the floor and strolled slowly towards the exit. Britta watched him as he left, an uncertain look on her face.
“Britta,” Britta jumped and turned towards Jeff, “what’s been going on? Have you seen Abed?”
“Uh, yeah. I got back to the camp not long after you left to find Annie. Abed led us on a few hit and run raids and things seemed to be going really well but then…” A look of distress crossed Britta’s face. “Word got back to us that Borchert had captured Rachel. Abed lost it. He led us on an all-out assault on Borchert’s stronghold to try to rescue her. And we were actually winning, until…” Britta’s expression turned glum. “Until he showed up.”
Jeff and Annie exchanged wary glances before Annie spoke. “He who?”
“The man in black,” Britta said reluctantly. “They’re calling him the Terminator. I don’t know who he is, I never saw his face. He cut through the middle of us, shattered our line… and then everyone ran.” Britta hung her head in shame. “It was everyone for themselves. I ended up with Magnitude and we made it over to the old library, but those machines were still after us…” Britta’s face crumpled. “He… he got pop popped right in front of me…”
Annie stepped close to Britta and rubbed her arm reassuringly. “It’s ok, Britta. Everything’s ok.”
Britta shook her head and looked to be on the brink of tears. “No Annie, it’s not. It’s too much. I’m tired. I’m tired of this war, tired of losing my friends one by one, tired of always running, tired of always being afraid…”
Annie glanced helplessly at Jeff as she continued trying to comfort Britta. Jeff cleared his throat. “Um, listen Britta,” he began hesitantly, “we think we know what Borchert is up to. I know it’s tough, but it’s really important that we stop him from winning. We have to keep fighting until the end. We don’t have a choice.”
Britta raised her head to meet Jeff’s gaze, her watery eyes on the verge of spilling over. “We always have a choice, Jeff,” she said in a hollow voice. Jeff gave her a puzzled look, but then her expression changed to something softer. Her eyes drifted closed as the last of the fight seemed to drain out of her, and Jeff knew what she was about to do. He lunged forward, but the gun fired before he could reach her.
“Britta, no!” Annie screamed.
Jeff looked down to where paint covered the top of Britta’s shoe. He let out a sigh as her gun clattered to the floor.
Britta took a deep breath, then she actually smiled. “I’m sorry, you guys. Borchert’s over in the CPU Lab. Good luck.” Annie gave Britta a tight hug before she jogged away down the hall. When she reached the door, she quickly exited and Jeff could hear her call out, “Professor Duncan? Professor Duncan, wait up!”
Jeff shook his head and turned to Annie. “Well, what now?”
Annie remained silent for a few moments, a despondent look on her face. But she soon recovered and lifted her eyes to meet his. “I don’t know if we can take on Borchert at his fortress all by ourselves, not to mention this mystery soldier of his.” Annie paused and furrowed her brow in thought. “Let’s see if we can find any other survivors. At the very least they may be able to tell us how many enemies are left.”
They picked through the guns that were left and selected the four with the most CO2 remaining and stripped the others of ammo. Armed with two pistols each, they departed the administration building and entered the deepening darkness outside.
Three hours later, they found themselves holed up in a familiar space. Annie sat Indian style on Table Mk II, preparing a meal of Slim Jims, crackers and fake cheese that they’d scavenged from a vending machine, while Jeff checked the brooms they’d placed through the door handles to make certain they were secure. Their search for other survivors had been quite fruitless. They had managed to eliminate several more small bands of machines, but the last few had been solitary individuals, and they hadn’t even seen any of those in over an hour.
“There must not be many of them left,” Annie was saying as she finished prying open the last of the Slim Jims.
Jeff strolled over to the table and picked up a cracker with some cheese on it. “Agreed.” He bit into the cracker and grimaced as he chewed.
“Maybe it’s time we think about going after Borchert?”
Jeff gave a half-hearted nod. “Yeah, but I want to wait until the right time. We’ll hold here and get some rest, then hit them around four in the morning when most of whoever’s left will be asleep.”
Annie swallowed the last bit of a Slim Jim and cracker sandwich she’d made, then picked up her phone and stared at it in consternation. “I wish Abed would respond.”
“That might actually be a good thing,” Jeff mused. “If he’d been eliminated from game, he probably would have texted you by now. Since he hasn’t, it might mean he’s still in it.”
Annie tilted her head in confusion. “Why wouldn’t he text me back if he’s still in the game?”
“You know Abed,” Jeff shrugged, “when he gets into a role, he really commits to it.”
“I still don’t understand,” Annie said slowly, “what role is he playing?”
Jeff choked down another bite of processed meat and artificial cheese. “Oh, he started out the day pretending to be an army general, but after the whole thing with the machines started, he said we’d switched over to The Terminator. He said he’s John Connor, you’re Sarah and I’m Kyle Reese.” Jeff waved his hand dismissively. “I guess this mystery soldier of Borchert’s is the terminator.”
A glint appeared in Annie’s eyes and Jeff gave her a questioning look. “Soooo, if he said we’re doing The Terminator now, did he… give you anything…?”
Jeff rolled his eyes and exhaled loudly. “Yes, he gave me the picture.”
“Ooooh, yay!” Annie bounced excitedly. “I never thought that would be the first one we’d get to use though…”
Jeff gave her a sardonic look. “Why do you guys do stuff like that?”
“Like what?” she asked innocently.
“I don’t know, stupid stuff like try to make life like the movies, or take pictures you’ll never get to use.”
Annie frowned. “It’s not stupid Jeff. And I’d like to point out that we did just use one of those pictures.”
“Ok,” Jeff allowed, “but what’s the point? It’s not like giving me that picture actually makes this into The Terminator.”
Annie let out an indignant huff. “Of course it doesn’t, Jeff. But Abed loves it when life imitates TV or the movies. He loves this sort of thing and it makes me happy to see him happy.”
“But the dreamatorium, the dress up and make-believe… isn’t it time for him to let go of the fairy tales? I mean, grow up already.”
As soon as the words left his mouth, Jeff wished he could take them back. Annie’s eyes flashed with hurt and she looked down into her lap.
“What if I don’t want to let go of the fairy tales?” she said quietly. “What if I was the one that suggested we take those pictures because I thought it would be something fun to do with one of my best friends? What if I was the one who loved the idea of me being Sarah Connor?”
Jeff started in shock. “But… you don’t even like movies like The Terminator…” was all he could manage.
Annie lifted her gaze to meet his, her eyes filled with pain. “Usually no, but I like love stories. Kyle Reese fell in love with a photograph. He didn’t know anything about Sarah Connor other than that he loved her. He loved her so completely and selflessly that when her life was in danger he traveled through time to protect her from an enemy he knew he couldn’t defeat. He gave up everything for her, including his life, because of that love. Is it…” Annie’s voice cracked, “is it wrong to want someone to love you like that too?”
Annie turned away from him and buried her face in her hands, her shoulders shaking slightly. Jeff stood like a statue for several long moments until finally he took a few tentative steps towards her. He knew he had to do something, but he didn’t know what. His hand felt like stone as he reached out hesitantly and laid it on her shoulder. But Annie just shook him off and continued crying softly.
Aww hell…
He didn’t quite know where the words came from, but before he knew it, they were there.
“Abed gave me a picture of you once,” he said quietly. “I didn’t know why at the time. It was very old - torn, faded. You were young like you are now.” Annie’s shoulders had stopped their shaking, she seemed to be holding her breath. “You seemed just a little sad. I used to always wonder what you were thinking at that moment.” Annie turned towards him, her face lined with tears but her expression melting into a wide smile. Jeff reached out and ran a finger down her cheek. “I memorized every line, every curve… I came across campus for you, Annie. I love you; I always have.”
Annie apparently had had enough of quoting and launched herself at Jeff, her arms wrapping tightly around his neck and shoulders as she kissed him with desperate intensity. She might have skipped over the dialogue that should have immediately followed, but it turned out that Annie was more than willing to reenact the rest of the scene. And for once, Jeff was perfectly happy to have life imitate the movies.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Author: cgkm2099z
Pairing: Jeff/Annie
Spoilers: 6.02
Rating: PG
Warning None
Word Count: 7,961
Disclaimer: I do not own Community. Community, and its characters, are the creation of the great Dan Harmon. I think it's still owned by Sony Pictures Television, but after the hack, I'm not so sure. The title is from the song "I Will Wait" by Mumford and Sons.
A/N: Paintball, part two! As always, your comments are greatly appreciated!
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Annie could hear the distant popping noise of paintball guns being fired as she rummaged around in the trunk of her car for more decorating supplies. It was now late-afternoon and the game had been going on since the early morning. Nine hours! I said this would get out of hand, but did anyone listen to me? Nooooooo, of course not. “Most students won’t be back, Annie.” “Don’t be a buzzkill, Annie.” They better not come crawling to me to clean up their- ooh! There they are. Annie grabbed the package of puffy glitter paint she’d been searching for and closed her trunk. She paused to pick up the extra poster board she and Rachel needed to finish the wall decorations, then headed back towards the cafeteria building. The theme they’d been using to decorate had mainly been puns on the name Shirley: “We will Shirley miss you!” “Shirley the best!” and “We Shirley hope you’ll be back.”
Annie was glad to have Rachel for company. She realized she had hardly spent any time alone with her, and the two women had quickly bonded over their shared love of silly puns. They’d also spent a good deal of time dishing about their respective relationships. Annie was surprised to discover that Rachel had many of the same frustrations in regards to Abed that she was finding with Jeff. Both were stubborn, had issues with communication (rather than talk, Abed would bury himself in TV or movies and Jeff his phone), both could be immature, and both were emotionally unavailable to varying degrees (though Annie thought Jeff was actually making some progress on the last one). Yet, despite their many flaws, Annie loved her big lug, and Rachel loved her skinny one.
As Annie approached the entrance to the cafeteria building, the sound of approaching footfalls made her ears prickle. It sounded like someone was running. Annie ducked behind one of the tall bushes and peeked around to see who was coming. She wasn’t playing, but whoever it was might decide to shoot first and ask questions later. The footfalls grew progressively louder until finally someone came around the far corner of the building at a full sprint. Annie didn’t recognize the student, but they were wearing a rather strange gray body suit and a gray baseball cap. Three quick pops sounded from where the student had emerged and Annie saw him pitch forward and fall, rolling several times before finally coming to a stop. The student sat up and groaned, then felt his back. When he saw the paint on his hands, he slowly picked himself up off the concrete and trudged away.
Annie glanced down at the ground where the student’s gun lay about ten feet from her. He had dropped it when he fell, and it had skidded towards her hiding spot. Playing or not, it never hurt to be prepared. Annie darted out from behind the bush, snapped up the gun and tucked it into her jeans behind her back, then quickly retreated towards the sanctuary of the cafeteria. As she neared the door, she heard slight rustling noise behind her. She spun and put her back to the door, scanning around for the source of the noise, but didn’t see anything.
“Hello?” she said nervously. “Whoever’s there, I’m not part of the game. And the cafeteria is off limits, so just leave me alone.” Annie’s eyes swept around a few more times, but she didn’t detect any movement. She turned hurriedly back to the door and pulled out the keys the Dean had given her. In order to ensure the cafeteria remained off limits, they had locked it down and given Annie and Rachel keys to use. Annie fumbled around for a moment to get the key into the lock, but just as she began turning it, a hand clamped down on her shoulder. Annie gasped in surprise as the hand pulled on her and spun her around. She was about to scream when another hand clamped over her mouth. The hand on her shoulder came away and moved to a pair of lips, the index finger raised in a shushing gesture. Annie’s eyes drifted upwards and finally focused on the face of her assailant.
It was Jeff.
Annie’s momentary alarm quickly faded into annoyance and she shook herself loose from Jeff’s grasp. “Jeff! What are you doing here?” she hissed. “You scared me!”
“Shh! Let’s get inside,” Jeff said quietly but insistently. “There were a bunch more of them on the other side of the building.”
“Them who?” Annie turned back to the door and opened it carefully. Jeff didn’t answer and kept an anxious lookout until they were safely inside. As the door closed behind them and the lock clicked into place, Jeff finally seemed to relax slightly.
“The machines…” Jeff mumbled as he peered back out through the glass door. “I thought someone was following me, but then I stumbled onto that scouting party and had to take them out. The one got away from me… briefly.”
“Machines? What are you talking about?”
“Borchert is leading a group of students, actually, most of the students, in the paintball game. We call them the machines. Did you see the getup that student I shot was wearing?” Annie nodded. “That’s the uniform they all wear. Some of them are actually acting like they’re robots or something. Not sure if Borchert told them to do that or if they’re just screwing around.”
“Ok, that’s… weird. But why are you here? The cafeteria is off limits for the paintball game.”
Jeff directed his gaze over Annie’s shoulder and down the hall. “Is Rachel here? I’d rather not have to explain this twice.”
Annie nodded. “She’s in the cafeteria working on more decorations.” They started towards the cafeteria, but Annie’s curiosity wouldn’t allow her to remain silent. “I hope you’ve got a good reason for being here,” she prodded. “You could be disqualified. It’s against the rules to-”
The sound of glass shattering reverberated down the hall from the direction of the cafeteria. Jeff and Annie tensed and instinctively pressed themselves up against the wall. Jeff had his gun at the ready and began creeping towards the double doors that led into the dining area. Annie felt the itching need to reach for the gun at her back, but forced herself to resist. Rachel probably just dropped something. Yeah. I mean, there’s no reason for-
A scream sounded from up ahead, and Jeff and Annie moved with increased urgency. Only one of the double doors leading into the cafeteria was propped open, so they snuck up to the closed one and used it as cover. Annie could hear voices emerging from the cafeteria, but it wasn’t until she was settled in place that she could start to understand what was being said.
“-said to let me go!” Rachel’s voice was tinged with fear, but mostly she sounded angry. “This area is off limits, and I’m not part of this game.”
“Everyone’s part of this game, sweetie,” a gravelly voice that sounded vaguely familiar replied. “Borchert wants a word with you, so you’ll come along. It’s up to you if the trip is easy,” the voice dropped menacingly, “or hard.”
“I already told you. I’m not Annie.” Jeff inched close to the door and peeked around ever so slightly.
“Well, now that’s funny.” The gravelly voice apparently came with a gravelly chuckle as well. “Borchert see, he tells me he wants a talk with a cute little brunette that’s supposed to be over in the cafeteria. And here I come to the cafeteria, and find a cute little brunette who tells me she’s not the one I’m looking for, but can’t prove it.” Another smug chuckle wafted through the door. “Awfully convenient, don’t you think?”
“Like I said, my purse is-”
“In Annie’s car, yeah yeah. Sorry sweetie. I’ve got my orders. Borchert says to round up the girl in the cafeteria. You just so happen to be the girl in the cafeteria. So I guess that means you’re coming with us.”
Annie had heard enough. She didn’t know what was going on, but it was time to end it. Whoever was in the cafeteria had no right to kidnap anyone, and Annie certainly wasn’t about to let Rachel take her place. She started moving towards the open door, but before she could reach it, Jeff’s arms clamped around her from behind.
“What are you doing?” he hissed in a low voice.
“I’m putting a stop to this!” she hissed back.
“Like hell you are.” Jeff clapped a hand over her mouth again and pulled her back against the wall while Annie struggled ineffectually against his grip. Geez he was strong. Conversation continued to emanate from the cafeteria, but Annie’s struggles with Jeff kept her from making any of it out. It was easily apparent that she couldn’t force her way free from Jeff’s grasp, so instead she resorted to an old childhood trick.
Annie stuck her tongue out and licked Jeff’s palm. His hand jerked back reflexively, loosening his grip with his other arm in the process. Annie applied all the leverage she could and for an instant she was free and moving towards the door again. Jeff recovered quickly though, and before she knew it her back was pressed against the wall and his hand was over her mouth again. His face was inches away from hers and he shook his head slightly. “Don’t do that,” he whispered.
Annie’s eyes stared back defiantly over Jeff’s hand, and she immediately began licking his palm again. This time Jeff was prepared and didn’t flinch. “I said stop that.” His hand had a metallic taste to it and he clearly hadn’t washed them in a while, but Annie was already committed and kept right on going. “Stop.” As Jeff repeated his demands for her to stop and Annie continued to ignore them, his eyes made subtle shifts from annoyed to determined, and then from determined to amused. It wasn’t long before both of them were giggling quietly at the sheer absurdity of the situation.
“You leave me no choice then,” Jeff whispered amidst another chortle. His hand moved away from her lips and was immediately replaced by his own. Annie’s mouth opened to allow his tongue inside, and all thoughts of rescuing Rachel were temporarily forgotten. Jeff’s arms quickly shifted from restraining to cradling, and hers slithered around him and she began caressing the back of his head. In the month that they’d been dating, Jeff and Annie had done a lot of kissing. But somehow despite her added experience with it, kissing Jeff still made Annie feel like love-struck teenager. Not that she minded, though. In fact, losing herself in one of Jeff’s kisses had become her new favorite hobby.
When they finally broke apart, Jeff turned back to peek around the door, leaving a wobbly Annie panting breathlessly against the wall. The cafeteria had gone silent, and Jeff motioned for her to stay where she was before creeping through the door to investigate further. A few moments later she heard him call out that the coast was clear.
Annie followed him into the now empty cafeteria. Her eyes lingered on a few half-finished posters that Rachel had been working on, her art supplies unceremoniously strewn about by whoever had come and taken her away. Annie tore her eyes away from last vestiges of Rachel’s presence and made her way over to where Jeff was standing next to the vending machines in the lounge. He was inspecting the door, which still remained firmly closed and locked, however, the pane of glass had been smashed out with a trash can. Shards of glass were strewn across the floor of the lounge and the concrete outside.
“This is destruction of school property…” Annie mumbled in disbelief. “The cafeteria was supposed to be off limits,” she insisted. “Coming in here is against the-”
“Rules?” Jeff finished for her. “I think they just changed the rules.”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
“I think it’s time you told me what’s going on.”
Jeff looked up from the glass covering the floor and nodded. “Ok, but we can’t stay here long. Whoever took Rachel might not know you, but Borchert does. They’ll be back.” Jeff started towards the dining area and motioned for Annie to follow. “But as long as we’re here, I want to grab something to eat. We don’t exactly get lunch breaks during these things.” They walked over to Shirley’s Sandwiches, and Jeff began recounting the events of the day while putting together a turkey sub. When he finished, he cut it down the middle and handed one half to Annie.
“The Dean begged us to stop Borchert from winning, but he got shot and then Chang showed up with an army before he could tell us why.” Jeff related the information Chang had revealed and then described their escape and Shirley’s subsequent sacrifice. By the time he’d finished, Annie’s eyes were as wide as dinner plates. “Abed and I were hoping that you’d have some idea why they’re after you. If we figure that out, then maybe we can figure out what Borchert is up to.”
Annie frowned in concentration. “A paper I wrote for one of Mrs. Plimpton’s classes?”
Jeff nodded as he swallowed a bite of his sub. “And the Dean mentioned Borchert finding something in the Greendale bylaws that he-” Annie’s face had gone white. “What is it?”
“I might know what he’s after.” Jeff arched an eyebrow and waited for her to elaborate. “We had to do projects analyzing a number of public organizations as part of my Public Power Structures class. For one of them, I picked Greendale as my topic. I already knew a lot about Greendale, but thought it would be fun to learn more.”
Jeff eyed her with amusement. “Did Annie Edison pick a blowoff topic for one of her projects?”
Annie planted one hand on her hip and gave an indignant huff. “It wasn’t a blowoff topic, Jeff. I did a lot of research into the history of Greendale and its deans. Including major amendments to the school’s bylaws.” Annie paused to take a bite of her sub, a pensive look crossing her face as she chewed slowly. When she resumed, her tone had shifted from indignant to lecturing. “Ok, so as you know, after Borchert disappeared, the city bought the campus and converted Greendale into a community college. But after the school’s first dean resigned under allegations of corruption, there was an effort to turn Greendale into a trade school. Two main factions emerged, the group that wanted to change the school were known as the Trade Federation, and the group that wanted to keep it a community college were called the Communists.”
“How very Greendale,” Jeff said dryly. “Has this place always been nuts?”
Annie ignored Jeff’s interruption and continued with her recounting. “There were years of political infighting where no dean lasted more than a few months on the job and the school board was in constant disarray. The two factions were locked in a struggle for power, and each time one gained the upper hand, they’d undo changes the other had made. It happened so frequently that a series of bylaws were enacted that expedited the process. Among them were provisions for reverting to earlier versions of the bylaws and for making changes without board intervention.” Annie paused to let the significance of what she said sink in. “The back and forth got so bad that students basically had to change majors every semester and eventually enrollment dropped to dangerously low levels. It wasn’t until 1984 that a strong dean finally took over and put an end to the conflict. Otto Von Grünestal, whose personal motto was ‘blood and iron.’”
Jeff arched an eyebrow at Annie. “Blood and iron? Did they fight a war or something?”
“War?” Annie tilted her head in puzzlement. “No, he suffered from anemia.”
Jeff rolled his eyes. “Right. How silly of me.”
Annie shrugged. “Von Grünestal was finally able to bring stability to the school. He was a communist, so he kept Greendale as a community college, but he also made concessions to the Trade Federation, and that’s how the A/C repair annex was founded. He served as dean for over twenty years, until he died in 2006. And that’s when a certain Craig Pelton was hired to take over.”
“What about those bylaws you mentioned? What sort of changes did they allow someone to make?”
Annie directed a serious look at Jeff. “Anything from changing the school mission and curriculum to replacing the dean.” Annie nodded as Jeff whistled in amazement. “Von Grünestal removed all of those bylaws during his tenure, but the one for reverting to earlier versions of the bylaws is still in effect! In order to trigger the bylaw, you need the approval of the dean and one of the two vice deans. And if Borchert wins this game, for twenty four hours he’ll be both! He could install himself as dean permanently and turn Greendale back into a computer school!”
Jeff remained silent for several moments while he digested what Annie had just told him. “Damn, I really wanted that $500,” he said at last. Annie’s face bore a look of slight relief, as though she wasn’t entirely sure which side Jeff would choose. “One thing I don’t understand though, if Borchert already knows all that, then why does he need you?”
“Because,” Annie sighed, “in order to revert to the old bylaws, you have to have them. They didn’t have digital records in the early eighties, and I found the last remaining copy in the Greendale archives as part of my research. Have you ever seen the archives?”
Jeff gave her a flat stare. “What do you think?”
Annie giggled in spite of herself, “It’s basically a giant basement full of endless and unsorted boxes of paper. They’d never be able to find them before Borchert’s twenty four hours were up. And now that Mrs. Plimpton is dead, I’m the only one that knows where they are.”
Jeff eyed Annie curiously. “Do I even want to know how much time you spent finding those?” Annie blushed and stared at her feet, causing Jeff to smirk in amusement. “Never mind. It sounds like we have two ways of stopping Borchert. Win the game, or destroy the last copy of those bylaws. I don’t like leaving things to chance, so I say we do both.”
“Alright,” Annie agreed. “The archives are over in the administration building.”
Jeff frowned. “I was just over there. A lot of enemies between here and there, so make sure you stay close. I’m responsible for keeping you safe.”
Annie rolled her eyes and fell in beside Jeff as they headed towards the exit. They were about half way across the cafeteria when the sound of broken glass crunching underneath boots pierced Jeff’s ears. He looked up just in time to see Chang approaching, his Bengal tiger-colored automatic paintball gun in his hands and already pointed towards him and Annie. In one panicked motion, Jeff reached out and gave Annie a sharp shove to the side as he dove the other direction behind one of the cafeteria tables. Paintballs began flying overhead and splattering against tables as Chang sprayed fire around indiscriminately.
“Konichiwa, bitches!” Chang shouted triumphantly when he finally took a break from redecorating the cafeteria. “I knew you’d lead me to Edison eventually, Winger. After Shirley held up most of my forces, I snuck around a different way and followed you. And now my cunning has finally paid off!”
Jeff reached for his gun that he’d stashed in the waistline of his jeans, but his fingers grasped only air. Panic surged through him and he glanced around franticly until he saw it lying on the floor just past the next row of tables. He must have knocked it away during his desperate dive for cover. Jeff cursed silently to himself and tried to formulate a quick plan to retrieve it. The first step meant keeping Chang busy.
“Chang, you were there when we planned this whole thing. You knew Annie was going to be here setting up for the party.” Jeff readied himself to make a dive towards the next row of tables, but Chang had positioned himself at the end of the row Jeff was hiding behind and began coating the aisle with paint.
“I knew you knew that I was there,” Chang shouted over the noise of his gun, “so I knew that you would plan that into your master plan. Very clever of you to know that I knew that you would know that you would plan that into your plan and plan for that!”
Jeff shook his head to dispel the momentary disorientation that came from trying to follow Chang’s circular reasoning. He grabbed ahold of the table he was hidden behind and prepared to use it as a mobile shield. Chang anticipated the move, however, and began quickly advancing down the aisle, continuing his suppressing fire. He only had a few moments before Chang would have him cornered, so Jeff hefted the table up and lunged across the aisle. But as he did, his boot slipped on the paint that was coating the floor. He pitched forward, losing his hold on the table which crashed loudly to the ground, followed quickly by Jeff. He found himself on his back between two tables in the next row, his erstwhile shield laying on its side next to him. Before he even had time to try to scramble around to search for his gun, he looked up to find Chang standing over him, a fiendish grin covering his face. Chang tossed his automatic rifle aside, drew out one of his gold-colored pistols and pointed it at Jeff’s head.
A maniacal laugh sprang from Chang’s lips. “This… is the best day of my life!” Jeff closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable.
Please just not in the moneymaker…
The gun fired and Jeff flinched instinctively.
Only… he never felt the impact. Had Chang missed? Jeff slowly opened his eyes to find Chang clutching the back of his head, paint oozing through his fingers.
“Owwwww! You shot me in the head! You’re not even supposed to be playing!”
“Everyone’s playing,” Annie said in a menacing tone. “That’s what you get for ruining our decorations. Now get out of here. I don’t talk to dead people.” Chang turned and slunk away towards the exit. Annie sauntered up and stood over Jeff, placing one hand on her hip and blowing over the barrel of her gun. “Are you sure you’re here to protect me?”
Jeff smirked at her. “Took you long enough.” Annie rolled her eyes as she helped Jeff to his feet. He swiftly retrieved his gun, then nodded towards the automatic rifle Chang had left behind. “You want it?”
Annie shook her head. “I prefer pistols.”
Jeff shrugged and flipped his gun in his hand, offering it to Annie hilt first, then retrieved the rifle. Annie waited, a gun in each hand, as Jeff loaded more paintballs into the rifle’s reservoir. When he finished, he turned to face her. “Ready?”
Annie dithered for a moment. “Actually, wait.” Jeff arched an expectant eyebrow at her. “Before we go, I’d like to point out that this paintball game has been going on for the better part of the day, and has now reached the point where my decorations have been ruined, school property destroyed, Rachel kidnapped and the school is suddenly fighting for its survival again.”
Jeff shrugged. “Yeah, it’s been crazy. But when is Greendale ever not crazy?”
A gleam appeared in Annie’s eye. “So, in a sense, what happened is, you guys decided to play paintball, annnnnnnnd?” Annie gestured with her hand to indicate she expected Jeff to complete the sentence.
“Annie,” Jeff gave her an exasperated look, “you really need me to say it? You were-”
Annie raised her hand to cut him off. “Eh, whoa whoa, yeah, I need you to say it. Let me just get settled.” Annie made a show of stretching her shoulders and neck before closing her eyes. “Ok, go.”
Jeff stared at her for a moment. This wasn’t fair. He shouldn’t be the one having to say this, paintball wasn’t his idea. He’d even tried to limit it to the gym. He knew the look on Annie’s face though, and knew she wouldn’t budge until she got what she wanted.
“You were right.”
“Ohh- Ahhhhhhhhhh, yeah.” Jeff tapped his foot impatiently as Annie rode out her fake orgasm. When she was finished, she smiled brightly at him and headed for the exit. Jeff fell in behind her, grumbling to himself about Abed owing him. They made for the hallway, since Rachel’s kidnappers would no doubt use the door they had shattered if and when they eventually returned. Annie unlocked the door where Jeff had initially found her and they slipped outside before setting off towards the administration building.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Their trip back across campus was surprisingly uneventful. Aside from one roving squad of machines that Jeff easily dispatched with the automatic rifle, they saw no one. But what made things even more eerie was the quiet. Earlier in the day it had seemed like you couldn’t go anywhere without hearing at least sporadic gunfire. But as dusk descended, a pall of silence had settled over Greendale. Jeff didn’t know what to make of it. Had the rest of Abed’s forces been wiped out? Was one or both sides marshalling their strength for something big? There was no way to tell.
Once inside the administration building they quickly made their way down to the basement level where the archives were housed. As they approached the entrance Annie whispered, “Be careful. They may have people here already searching.”
Jeff nodded grimly. There were no guards posted in the dank, poorly lit hallway, which was a good sign. Either there was no one here, or whoever was here wasn’t too bright. Jeff cautiously approached the doorway and placed his ear against it, but couldn’t hear anything beyond the drone of the hallway’s fluorescent lights. Waiting won’t make it any better. Jeff glanced at Annie to see if she was ready and received a determined nod in response. He gripped the cold metal handle of the door and took a steadying breath, then swiftly pushed the door open, gun at the ready, his eyes sweeping around the room for potential threats.
The archives, however, were just as empty as the hallway was. The tension eased out of him and he heard Annie exhale in relief. Jeff turned and secured the door behind them before facing Annie. “Alright, where do we need to look?”
Annie tucked one gun into the front of her waist and one at the back, then motioned for Jeff to follow her. “Over here.” The Greendale archives were much the way Annie had described them. An oversized unfinished basement full of endless stacks of boxes. The damp, musty air hung heavy around them, and a thick coating of dust covered every surface Jeff could see. She led him past row after row of brown, unlabeled boxes that were devoid of any discernable filing system. At the third row from the back, Annie broke off to the right and began counting off boxes as she worked her way down the aisle. Just past the halfway point she paused and looked up, and Jeff saw a look of consternation cross her face. She looked back towards the beginning of the aisle and quickly counted down again to the stack she was standing by.
“Oh dear.”
“What is it?”
Annie pointed towards the top of the stack where a rectangular hole created a gap between the two adjacent stacks of boxes. Jeff felt a sinking feeling in his gut as he stared at the empty space. The dust on the surrounding boxes looked as though it had been recently disturbed.
“Shit.”
Annie’s eyes had gone wide as she nodded agreement with Jeff’s assessment of the situation. “What do we do now?”
“The only thing we can do,” Jeff shrugged. “Win the game.”
A look of determination settled over Annie and she pursed her lips and gave a firm nod. “Well there’s no reason why we have to do it alone. Let’s see if we can link back up with Abed and the rest.”
Jeff grimaced. “That would be good, except there’s no way for us to know where they are, or if they’re even still alive.”
“Alive?” Annie gave Jeff an incredulous look. “Don’t be so dramatic, Jeff.” She pulled out her cell phone and tapped in her code to unlock it.
“What are you doing?”
Annie directed her best duh-doy face at him. “Texting Abed.”
Jeff stared dumbly at her for a second, then a wave of embarrassment hit him. What the hell is wrong with me? Why do I let Abed suck me into these post-apocalyptic fantasies of his?
“Crap, I don’t get signal down here. We’ll have to head upstairs.” Annie stashed her phone back in her pocket.
“I’m not sure he’ll answer,” Jeff said. “He’s busy playing-”
A light rustling noise came from nearby, causing Jeff to freeze in place. Annie, however, had drawn her weapons in a flash and was already stalking slowly down the aisle towards the main corridor, her toes touching the ground first to soften her steps. Jeff recovered after an instant and followed after her, the rifle cradled in both his hands. The sound had come from the other side of one huge wall of boxes, in the direction of the back wall. They rounded the corner cautiously into the main corridor, and Annie peeked into the second-to-last row. Jeff held his breath until she gave the all clear signal and they crept on towards the very back of the room.
When they reached the final row, Jeff tapped Annie on the shoulder and motioned for her to stay back. He then quickly lunged around the corner and fired a spray of paintballs down the aisle. He saw his shots splatter harmlessly against the far wall in what at first glance appeared to be another empty row full of nothing but boxes.
“What the bloody hell?” a familiar voice sounded from the darkness, and Jeff noticed a slight movement on the floor. The voice had removed all tension from him though, and soon a familiar face appeared to go with the voice.
“Professor Duncan?!” Annie exclaimed. “What are you doing in here?”
Ian Duncan stumbled out of the darkened aisle, rubbing at his eyes under his glasses. He paused and stretched before letting out a loud yawn. “I was catching up on some sleep until you two wankers had to go and give me a heart attack.”
Jeff gave him an appraising look. “As much as I admire your work ethic, you have an office with a couch in it. Why are you sleeping on the floor of a basement?”
“For the same reason you don’t sleep in the checkout line at Bath and Body Works. People know to look for me there.” Annie guffawed and her hand shot up to cover her mouth as she continued snickering, drawing a sidelong glare from Jeff.
“What?” Annie said amidst another giggle. “It’s funny because it’s true.”
Jeff rolled his eyes and turned back to Duncan. “I don’t suppose you noticed anyone come in here and remove one of the boxes?”
Duncan thought for a moment, then shook his head. “No. I can sleep through most anything, though.” He directed a pointed look at Jeff’s rifle. “Except gunfire, that is.”
“Well get used to the gunfire because we need all the help we can get,” Annie said as she held out one of her guns to Duncan.
Duncan raised his hands in protest. “Oh I don’t know, Annie. I’m not cut out for shooting anyone. Or anything that involves physical coordination, for that matter.”
Jeff stepped close and put a hand on Duncan’s shoulder. “She’s right. We need every available person to join the resistance if we’re going to stop Borchert and the machines from taking over Greendale.”
Duncan looked completely flummoxed. “I didn’t understand any of that, but ok.”
“Long story short? We need to stop Borchert from winning the paintball game. Because unless you know how to teach computer science, you’re going to be out of a job if we don’t.” Duncan paled and reluctantly took the offered gun from Annie, holding it awkwardly as if unsure of how to use it.
The trio departed the archives and made their way upstairs where Annie again pulled out her phone to contact Abed. Satisfied that her signal was strong enough, she began typing out a message as they walked slowly towards the exit. The administration building was one of the oldest buildings on campus and the hallways were drab and narrow. The occasional bulletin board was the only feature of the walls aside from the evenly spaced doorways.
“We should get out of this hallway,” Jeff warned. “It’s too narrow and there’s no cover. If someone came in here we’d-”
Shots suddenly rang out from behind them and Annie almost dropped her phone as she and Jeff spun to face the potential threat. The hallway was still empty, but they could begin to hear the sound of pounding feet. They were smack in the middle of the long hallway. Retreat towards the basement was not an option, with the threat approaching from that direction. They were left with two options, make a run for the building exit, or stand and fight. Duncan looked ready to flee, but Jeff had no desire to be shot in the back while running away. The look on Annie’s face indicated that she agreed with him.
“Man, I’m tired of being right,” Jeff grumbled as he tried the doors on either side of the hallway. They were both locked. He glanced around quickly, then reached for the nearest bulletin board and pulled on the side. After a moment’s protest, the anchors gave way from the old and crumbly drywall and Jeff propped the board on its end and motioned for Annie and Duncan to get behind it.
“I hope you’re prepared to deal with red tape it’ll take to get that board replaced,” Annie said in a slightly annoyed tone.
Jeff shrugged. “If we win, one of us will be dean. If we lose, it’s Borchert’s problem.” At the end of the hall, a solitary figure came running around the corner, blond hair streaming behind her as she ran.
“Britta!” Annie exclaimed. She raised herself part way out of her crouch and waved. “Over here!”
“Get ready to lay down covering fire,” Jeff said through gritted teeth.
Britta was halfway towards them when several gray clad students rounded the corner behind her. “Wait for them to commit…” Annie said with steely resolve. The students advanced farther down the hall, and finally began to raise their weapons.
“Now!” Jeff and Annie yelled together as they both began firing. Duncan managed to squeeze off one shot and promptly dropped his gun. Jeff saw the two leading students take hits and adjusted his fire slightly to the side to take out a third. Two more students were trailing them, however, and ducked behind their compatriots for cover, firing blindly down the hall at them.
Let’s see how willing these kids are to be human shields… Jeff continued firing a stream of paintballs into the leading students until they had had enough punishment, turning back the way they’d come and leaving the last two exposed. Jeff tracked his fire back across the hall, striking one of the students before his gun suddenly made a rapid clicking noise. He glanced down quickly and cursed. The CO2 canister was empty. A paintball struck the bulletin board just below his eye level and Jeff ducked instinctively. Britta came flying past and dropped to the floor behind them, panting with exhaustion. Jeff was about to ask her to toss him her gun when he noticed Annie take careful aim and calmly squeeze off a single shot.
“I’m out…” a disappointed voice sounded from down the hall.
“Leave your guns!” Annie hollered after the departing students. Jeff stood and dropped the bulletin board to the floor. When he turned to check on Britta, he found her kneeling over a groaning Duncan. A paintball had struck him square in the glasses and yellow paint had splattered over much of his face.
“Professor Duncan,” Britta said in a distraught voice, “did you just take a bullet for me?”
Ian Duncan stopped groaning and went silent for a moment. “Yes, Britta… yes I did.” Jeff hadn’t seen it, but he was virtually positive that was not the way it had happened. Britta then made a sound that Jeff never thought he’d hear from her.
“Awwww!”
“What’s going on?” Annie asked as she came walking up with the guns she’d collected from the students they’d defeated.
Duncan sat up and ran a hand over his face to wipe away some of the paint. “Oh nothing. I simply did what any true hero would do and sacrificed myself to save a comrade in arms.” The look on Annie’s face made it clear that she didn’t believe it any more than Jeff did. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I must be getting home. I have a documentary on the mistreatment of animals by the food industry that I’ve been meaning to watch.”
Duncan picked himself up off the floor and strolled slowly towards the exit. Britta watched him as he left, an uncertain look on her face.
“Britta,” Britta jumped and turned towards Jeff, “what’s been going on? Have you seen Abed?”
“Uh, yeah. I got back to the camp not long after you left to find Annie. Abed led us on a few hit and run raids and things seemed to be going really well but then…” A look of distress crossed Britta’s face. “Word got back to us that Borchert had captured Rachel. Abed lost it. He led us on an all-out assault on Borchert’s stronghold to try to rescue her. And we were actually winning, until…” Britta’s expression turned glum. “Until he showed up.”
Jeff and Annie exchanged wary glances before Annie spoke. “He who?”
“The man in black,” Britta said reluctantly. “They’re calling him the Terminator. I don’t know who he is, I never saw his face. He cut through the middle of us, shattered our line… and then everyone ran.” Britta hung her head in shame. “It was everyone for themselves. I ended up with Magnitude and we made it over to the old library, but those machines were still after us…” Britta’s face crumpled. “He… he got pop popped right in front of me…”
Annie stepped close to Britta and rubbed her arm reassuringly. “It’s ok, Britta. Everything’s ok.”
Britta shook her head and looked to be on the brink of tears. “No Annie, it’s not. It’s too much. I’m tired. I’m tired of this war, tired of losing my friends one by one, tired of always running, tired of always being afraid…”
Annie glanced helplessly at Jeff as she continued trying to comfort Britta. Jeff cleared his throat. “Um, listen Britta,” he began hesitantly, “we think we know what Borchert is up to. I know it’s tough, but it’s really important that we stop him from winning. We have to keep fighting until the end. We don’t have a choice.”
Britta raised her head to meet Jeff’s gaze, her watery eyes on the verge of spilling over. “We always have a choice, Jeff,” she said in a hollow voice. Jeff gave her a puzzled look, but then her expression changed to something softer. Her eyes drifted closed as the last of the fight seemed to drain out of her, and Jeff knew what she was about to do. He lunged forward, but the gun fired before he could reach her.
“Britta, no!” Annie screamed.
Jeff looked down to where paint covered the top of Britta’s shoe. He let out a sigh as her gun clattered to the floor.
Britta took a deep breath, then she actually smiled. “I’m sorry, you guys. Borchert’s over in the CPU Lab. Good luck.” Annie gave Britta a tight hug before she jogged away down the hall. When she reached the door, she quickly exited and Jeff could hear her call out, “Professor Duncan? Professor Duncan, wait up!”
Jeff shook his head and turned to Annie. “Well, what now?”
Annie remained silent for a few moments, a despondent look on her face. But she soon recovered and lifted her eyes to meet his. “I don’t know if we can take on Borchert at his fortress all by ourselves, not to mention this mystery soldier of his.” Annie paused and furrowed her brow in thought. “Let’s see if we can find any other survivors. At the very least they may be able to tell us how many enemies are left.”
They picked through the guns that were left and selected the four with the most CO2 remaining and stripped the others of ammo. Armed with two pistols each, they departed the administration building and entered the deepening darkness outside.
Three hours later, they found themselves holed up in a familiar space. Annie sat Indian style on Table Mk II, preparing a meal of Slim Jims, crackers and fake cheese that they’d scavenged from a vending machine, while Jeff checked the brooms they’d placed through the door handles to make certain they were secure. Their search for other survivors had been quite fruitless. They had managed to eliminate several more small bands of machines, but the last few had been solitary individuals, and they hadn’t even seen any of those in over an hour.
“There must not be many of them left,” Annie was saying as she finished prying open the last of the Slim Jims.
Jeff strolled over to the table and picked up a cracker with some cheese on it. “Agreed.” He bit into the cracker and grimaced as he chewed.
“Maybe it’s time we think about going after Borchert?”
Jeff gave a half-hearted nod. “Yeah, but I want to wait until the right time. We’ll hold here and get some rest, then hit them around four in the morning when most of whoever’s left will be asleep.”
Annie swallowed the last bit of a Slim Jim and cracker sandwich she’d made, then picked up her phone and stared at it in consternation. “I wish Abed would respond.”
“That might actually be a good thing,” Jeff mused. “If he’d been eliminated from game, he probably would have texted you by now. Since he hasn’t, it might mean he’s still in it.”
Annie tilted her head in confusion. “Why wouldn’t he text me back if he’s still in the game?”
“You know Abed,” Jeff shrugged, “when he gets into a role, he really commits to it.”
“I still don’t understand,” Annie said slowly, “what role is he playing?”
Jeff choked down another bite of processed meat and artificial cheese. “Oh, he started out the day pretending to be an army general, but after the whole thing with the machines started, he said we’d switched over to The Terminator. He said he’s John Connor, you’re Sarah and I’m Kyle Reese.” Jeff waved his hand dismissively. “I guess this mystery soldier of Borchert’s is the terminator.”
A glint appeared in Annie’s eyes and Jeff gave her a questioning look. “Soooo, if he said we’re doing The Terminator now, did he… give you anything…?”
Jeff rolled his eyes and exhaled loudly. “Yes, he gave me the picture.”
“Ooooh, yay!” Annie bounced excitedly. “I never thought that would be the first one we’d get to use though…”
Jeff gave her a sardonic look. “Why do you guys do stuff like that?”
“Like what?” she asked innocently.
“I don’t know, stupid stuff like try to make life like the movies, or take pictures you’ll never get to use.”
Annie frowned. “It’s not stupid Jeff. And I’d like to point out that we did just use one of those pictures.”
“Ok,” Jeff allowed, “but what’s the point? It’s not like giving me that picture actually makes this into The Terminator.”
Annie let out an indignant huff. “Of course it doesn’t, Jeff. But Abed loves it when life imitates TV or the movies. He loves this sort of thing and it makes me happy to see him happy.”
“But the dreamatorium, the dress up and make-believe… isn’t it time for him to let go of the fairy tales? I mean, grow up already.”
As soon as the words left his mouth, Jeff wished he could take them back. Annie’s eyes flashed with hurt and she looked down into her lap.
“What if I don’t want to let go of the fairy tales?” she said quietly. “What if I was the one that suggested we take those pictures because I thought it would be something fun to do with one of my best friends? What if I was the one who loved the idea of me being Sarah Connor?”
Jeff started in shock. “But… you don’t even like movies like The Terminator…” was all he could manage.
Annie lifted her gaze to meet his, her eyes filled with pain. “Usually no, but I like love stories. Kyle Reese fell in love with a photograph. He didn’t know anything about Sarah Connor other than that he loved her. He loved her so completely and selflessly that when her life was in danger he traveled through time to protect her from an enemy he knew he couldn’t defeat. He gave up everything for her, including his life, because of that love. Is it…” Annie’s voice cracked, “is it wrong to want someone to love you like that too?”
Annie turned away from him and buried her face in her hands, her shoulders shaking slightly. Jeff stood like a statue for several long moments until finally he took a few tentative steps towards her. He knew he had to do something, but he didn’t know what. His hand felt like stone as he reached out hesitantly and laid it on her shoulder. But Annie just shook him off and continued crying softly.
Aww hell…
He didn’t quite know where the words came from, but before he knew it, they were there.
“Abed gave me a picture of you once,” he said quietly. “I didn’t know why at the time. It was very old - torn, faded. You were young like you are now.” Annie’s shoulders had stopped their shaking, she seemed to be holding her breath. “You seemed just a little sad. I used to always wonder what you were thinking at that moment.” Annie turned towards him, her face lined with tears but her expression melting into a wide smile. Jeff reached out and ran a finger down her cheek. “I memorized every line, every curve… I came across campus for you, Annie. I love you; I always have.”
Annie apparently had had enough of quoting and launched herself at Jeff, her arms wrapping tightly around his neck and shoulders as she kissed him with desperate intensity. She might have skipped over the dialogue that should have immediately followed, but it turned out that Annie was more than willing to reenact the rest of the scene. And for once, Jeff was perfectly happy to have life imitate the movies.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~