Disclaimer: I do not own, nor am I in any way associated with Community. No profit is made from this work.

AN: A Christmas present for Poet on the Run. This takes place during "Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas."

Hands and Feet

This was so much better than last year. Granted, Abed kind of going crazy was scarier than the fight had been, but he was okay now and there were claymation movies and special drink and honestly, Annie was hoping they'd make this their new holiday tradition.

"Hey," Pierce said as Rudolph ended and Troy hurried to put in the next movie, "I'm out of special drink."

"I'm up," Troy said quickly, "I'll get it."

"I don't know why you call it 'special drink,' Ay-bed. I can't even taste the special in it."

"It's hot cocoa and chocolate milk, Pierce," Jeff said dryly. "There's no alcohol."

"Well there should be! Does anyone have a flask?"

Troy returned to his seat and passed the new cup of special drink over to Annie, saying, "If anyone does, don't give it to him. He's not allowed to have blood thinners with the pain killers he's on."

Pierce harrumphed but at least tried to return Annie's smile when she passed along his drink.

"Quiet!" Shirley snapped. "It's starting."

Jack Frost had always been one of Annie's favorite claymation specials and she quickly resumed her seat to watch. About the time Jack was finding himself in the middle of a love square Shirley shifted on the couch and accidentally kicked Annie in the back.

"Oh! I'm sorry, sweetie."

"It's okay," Annie said while Jeff shushed them both loudly. He and Britta had been getting overly invested in the claymation characters' plights all night. Annie was genuinely concerned about how they'd handle the end of this movie. She shifted slightly so Shirley had more room and realized all of a sudden that her hand was on someone's foot. And she'd been rubbing the foot. Totally unaware that it was a foot. Totally unaware!

She did a quick mental recap of everyone's seats. Pierce was on her right, with his legs still in casts so it couldn't be him. Jeff, Britta, and Troy were all at the other end. Shirley had just moved both her feet so it couldn't be her. That only left…

Annie slowly turned just far enough to see Abed. He was fully immersed in the show and didn't seem to notice her hand - still on his foot! Why was it still on his foot?

She snatched her hand away and, of course, that drew his attention. She winced, giving him an apologetic smile. He smiled genuinely back. It wasn't even an "it's okay" smile. It was just a "you're my friend and aren't we having fun?" smile. He looked back up at the screen and Annie sighed in relief. Maybe he hadn't even realized. This was Abed after all. He was probably totally immersed in the show and didn't notice a thing happening in the real world. And wasn't that just more depressing than any negative reaction he could have had?

She sighed again, wistfully this time, and rested her hand on the floor - she was sure, she watched her traitorous hand this time.

Moments later Annie felt something rub against her fingers and looked down to see Abed's foot. When she looked back at him he didn't seem to notice her.

His foot didn't move again for the whole night and neither did her hand.


reviews=love