May 2013

It's early Wednesday and there's a smattering of drizzly rain against the window when Jeff is stirred from a deep slumber, drawn to consciousness by a low whispering of his name, over and over. He's aware of slightly cold palms pressing into his chest a couple of times, and the warm burn of a soft pair of lips against his collarbone.

The perspective and glow of his alarm clock is blurred and distorted when he lets one eye flutter open to check the time, and he groans at the digits that really should be illegal first thing in the morning.

"Jeff, wake up! Jeff!"

He tries to roll over, bury his face in his pillow, but the mattress shifts as Annie climbs on top of him, straddling his hips and bouncing almost frantically and not in a good way.

He's not even naked enough to enjoy this or, you know, conscious.

"Annie," he groans, voice deep and croaky with sleep. "We've discussed this. I'm not a morning person. Mornings are the Jim Belushi of daytime."

"I'm too excited to sleep!" she whisper-shouts, even though they're the only two in the room.

"In that case, go bounce somewhere else, preferably to the living room. And if you happen to bounce over to the coffee pot I wouldn't mind." He smacks her ass a couple of times to get her to move and closes his eyes again, exhaling heavily as he tries to resettle, tries to lure back that sweep warmth of sleep.

Annie huffs and shifts her weight lower, grinding against him determinedly this time. "Jeeffff…"

"You little..." Jeff lurches, snatching her hips and gripping firmly to stop her movements. "Don't play dirty, Annie. You. Will. Lose."

"Oh really?" She tests her theory with a slow roll of her hips, smiling wildly at his response as he starts to harden beneath her. "Just what I thought," she says smugly.

He groans again, low and husky, and lifts himself into a seated position against the headboard, rubbing his eyes with the heel of his hand. "Okay, I'm up. I'm up."

"In more ways than one," Annie says with laughter in her voice, and trails the sculpted line down the centre of his torso with one teasing fingertip, circling his navel and then down the happy trail disappearing underneath the sheet.

"Well, Annie. It's the morning and I'm a man and you're naked -"

"Not exactly. I'm wearing your t-shirt," she says, pinching the fabric in the way that grates on his nerves and letting it fall back again.

"Okay, Miss Pedantic, you're naked where it counts and..." he trails off, eyes drawn to the way his t-shirt is now clinging to the slope of her braless breasts and how he can pretty much see everything through the material. "Why am I annoyed about this?" he wonders, shakes his head and grips the hem of her t-shirt, her hair crackling with static as he pulls it over her head.

Annie shivers as the cooler air hits her skin but grins triumphantly and shifts closer in his lap until they're just skin against skin. She leans forward to kiss his collarbone and Jeff shudders, grasping her ass to steady himself. His eyes close as she nuzzles the length of his neck with her nose and flicks his earlobe with the flat of her tongue.

"We're graduating tomorrow," she says, low and almost suggestively, before she bites and tugs at his earlobe a little.

Jeff rolls his neck to one side, allowing her to suck the line of his pulse because he really loves it when she does that, and swallows hard. "Are you trying to talk dirty to me? Because it needs some work."

She snatches her mouth away, ignoring his moan of disappointment, and glares at him.

"What? I know you're excited about tomorrow, Annie, but when you're grinding naked in my lap I don't really want to talk about Greendale or diplomas or where I see myself in ten years."

He walks his fingertips along the line of her collarbone and down to her breasts, lifting and squeezing them in both hands.

Annie's spine arches involuntarily. "Yes, but…"

"But?" Jeff peppers her shoulder with soft wet kisses as his hand traces her sternum now, trailing lower and lower down her abdomen and between her legs until he's cupping her. "You were saying?"

"It's a…um…momentous occasion, for both of us." She bites her lip and tightens her grip against him with his every touch. "You've been building to this… Stop that!"

"See? It's distracting." Jeff smirks and smoothes Annie's hair over her shoulder. "Here's a novel idea. Why don't we talk about graduation once we've actually graduated? Everyone will be looking ridiculous in those stupid gowns and those stupid caps and -"

"For the last time, you have to wear the cap, Jeff. It's compulsory."

"I know that Annie, but I think people should have a choice. You know how long it takes me to do my hair first thing and then I'm expected to flatten it with that polyester crap. It's not fair."

She folds her arms sharply beneath her bare breasts, pushing everything upwards in the best kind of way.

"You're so predictable," she says.

"Depends on your definition. What you call predictable, I call dedication to my ravishing good looks." He grins and winks and ignores Annie's epic eye roll, adding, "Anyway, as I was saying, we'll discuss all our hopes and dreams for the future tomorrow."

"Jeff."

"And afterwards we can hold hands and skip off into the sunset."

"Jeff."

"And maybe we can even sing a song," he smirks and then laughs "Hey! I thought you liked singing!" when Annie slaps his chest a couple of times.

"Jeff! I get it, okay? You don't want to talk about graduation. Understood. Message received." She links her fingers behind his neck, her thumbs tracing idly and soft against the sensitive spot behind his ear. "Just shut up and kiss me," she says.

So he does.

Late afternoon the following day, Jeff stands beside the Luis Guzmán statue with his rolled up diploma in one hand.

The quad is teeming with students and families, filling the air with cheers and chatter, but it all sounds so distant – like the noise is in another room. He lost sight of the group after the ceremony and now he's just waiting and watching and feeling a little lost for words and thoughts and everything.

It's just…holy shit, he did it.

He graduated.

Even though he didn't work that hard most of the time, Jeff feels a strange sense of achievement – ridiculous for someone who faked a degree and practiced law successfully for years.

But this time, the diploma he hangs on the wall will be honest and real.

He's still lost in that thought when Annie comes charging towards him, blue robes billowing in the breeze and speed of her movements, and jumps and wraps her arms around his shoulders as much as she can. H

Jeff catches her, though he stumbles a little from the force of her embrace, and holds her steady for a long, slow kiss.

"We did it, Jeff! We did it!" she says, once he's set her back on her feet, and her excitement vibrates through his chest as she bounces and jiggles, completely unable to stay still.

'I know," Jeff laughs and smoothes the hair away from her face. "I was there."

"Did you hear me cheer for you when your name was called?"

"Yes. I think the whole campus heard you."

"Actually, the Dean made that noise. He's going to miss you, poor thing. You are his favorite." Her smile fades at the look on his face. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, I'm just…"

"Overwhelmed?" she guesses.

He nods. "A little. It's weird, though. I don't even know why."

Annie grasps his hand and stares at their interlinked fingers intently. "This is why you didn't want to talk yesterday morning, because you're sad that it's over."

"Well, I kinda think it was because it was 6am and you were naked but yeah, I guess. Don't tell anyone though."

"Aww, you're such a big softie." She kisses the back of his hand with so much tenderness, nuzzles his knuckles with the tip of her nose. "Don't worry, your secret's safe with me."

He chuckles lightly but his humor drains away as he stares off into the crowds, feeling Annie watching him from beneath her eyelashes, nibbling the pink glaze from her lips for a long moment of silence.

Jeff finally inhales and exhales and squeezes her hand.

"This is it, Annie. The end."

"It's not the end," she says quietly, squeezing his hand back. "It's just the beginning."

"Ugh, that sounds like something you read on one of those cheesy quotable cards. I'm judging you right now."

"Regardless of where I read it, the sentiment still stands. How could you possibly think this is the end? You have your whole life ahead of you."

"Okay, gag, you're making it worse."

"Nope. I'm not letting you do this. We're together and we're happy, aren't we?"

"I have very few complaints," he says with a smile.

"You're going to be a lawyer again. I'm off to law school. Britta's going to do her master's degree, Shirley and Pierce are developing their own business. Greendale was just a means to an end but not the end. What? Why are you looking at me like that?"

"I'm just thinking that you're going to be one fucking amazing lawyer," Jeff says, a little awed and proud at how far she's come.

Annie beams, delighted and hopeful. "You really think so?"

"Oh, I know so," he says, and he really does. If there's one thing he knows for certain, it's that Annie Edison is going to be fucking amazing, in whatever she does.

"I only hope I never come up against you in court," he finishes.

"Charmer. But that would never happen because it would be a conflict of interest, you know, the defence sleeping with the prosecution, assuming we'd be on opposing sides." She gazes up at him pointedly, planting her hands on her hips when he just throws her a shit-eating grin. "Jeffrey Tobias Winger, you should know this."

"Yeaaahhh… You don't honestly believe I was the kind of lawyer who obeyed shit like that do you?"

"I guess not. But it's different now. Right?"

Jeff gazes at her blue eyes, full of hope and expectation, and there's a trust in him there that still makes his pulse race after all this time and he wonders if it will always be that way. He smiles softly. "Right."

She grins proudly, clearly pleased with that answer, and threads an arm around his waist. "Come on. Abed wants a picture taken on the library steps. Something about symmetry, I'm not sure why."

Jeff throws his arm around her shoulder, pressing a kiss into her hair as they walk. "You know, I've got to retake the Bar soon. Maybe you could help me study? Seeing as you're such an expert on this."

"I've already started the study cards."

Jeff laughs, a deep rumbling in his chest, because of course she has. He expected nothing less.

"Shit, what have I just unleashed? Am I going to regret this?"

"Well, if you're a good boy and do all your assigned study tasks, I'll give you a reward."

His eyes narrow with interest. "I'm listening."

"You remember a few weeks ago we were talking about our..." She glances around, whispering, "Fantasies?"

Jeff nods, pulse quickening as he recalls the moment they stretched out on his bed and confessed everything they ever wanted to do as they undressed each other slowly, and he somehow manages to croak out a husky, "Yeah..."

"Well, for every successful study session, I'll act one out." Annie comes to a halt a few feet away from the library steps where their friends are waiting, and stretches up to whisper, her breath all hot against his ear, "I've already bought a red wig."

He swallows hard at the thought, confused by the mix of arousal and the heart fluttering he gets at the things Annie would do for him.

"Well. I do love to study, and by study I mean -"

Annie slaps a hand across his mouth. "I know exactly what you mean and I can't wait."

She spins and flounces over to their friends, leaving him dazed and partially aroused and never more eager to study in his life.

That night Jeff wanders into Morty's steakhouse in downtown Denver. He follows the hostess silently, weaving between ivory-clothed tables and the low chatter of diners, the clink of glasses and cutlery on china plates. There's some kind of piano music tinkering unobtrusively in the background.

Jeff is dazed by the memory of this place – where he used to wine and dine clients and two-week flings – and it almost feels like he doesn't fit anymore.

It's surreal.

In all the years he's built up to this date, to this moment, he never imagined it would feel like this, kind of anticlimactic and sad. His feet itch to leave and the sight of his six friends sat around a large round table in the corner could not be more welcome.

He smiles in relief, smoothing his tie as he takes his seat and nods his greetings. To his left Annie beams at him, bare shoulders glowing pale in the low light. He leans over to kiss her cheek softly, just once, and when he finds her knee under the table, Annie rests her hand on top of his, squeezing encouragingly as if she knows his thoughts and emotions are a tumultuous mess beneath the surface and he's barely holding it together inside.

"As you're predictably late I ordered you a scotch," she tells him.

"Annie, c'mon. It would be out of character if I arrived on time." He pauses, noticing the rise of every pair of eyebrows at the table. "Shit, it's happened. I've turned into Abed. No offence."

"None taken."

Jeff smiles at his expressionless friend. "Anyway, thanks for coming guys. I'm glad you're here."

"We wouldn't miss it. This is your big series finale moment, Jeff. Personally, I would have preferred this to happen on Greendale's library steps for some sort of symmetry but this works too."

"Jeffrey, I don't know what Abed's talking about but we're very happy to be here," Shirley chirps happily behind a large leather-bound menu, then lowers her voice to murmur, "And momma's looking forward to letting her hair down."

"Your hair is already down." Abed tilts his head a little. "I don't understand."

The talk descends into another round of weird explanations, and Annie takes the opportunity to slide her hand up Jeff's arm to tickle and tease the soft skin of his neck above his collar. She leans to the side, dusting his jawline with delicate kisses and Jeff grins, humming his pleasure quietly. He's certain she can hear the vibrations beneath her fingertips when their eyes meet knowingly, smiles soft, and he reaches over to finger the necklace he got her for her birthday all those months ago.

Shirley coughs pointedly, drawing their eyes away. "Do you two lovebirds need to do that at the dinner table?"

"Yeah, I'm eating."

Jeff rolls his eyes. "We haven't even ordered yet, Pierce."

"Shirley has a point though. We're at a group dinner and you're acting like you're the only two here. And as a licenced Psych major I feel it's important you learn to restrain yourself."

"Says the woman playing footsie under the table with Troy."

Britta's jaw drops wide and then glares and pouts sourly as Annie continues smugly, "Yeah, that's right missy, I saw you when I picked up my napkin from the floor. And also Britta, that makes no sense."

"All I'm saying is you're helping to feed Jeff's ego and that's the kind of thing that could do with missing a few meals, if you know what I'm saying."

Jeff smirks. "You've got a set of Rorschach inkblots in your bag, haven't you?"

"No!" Britta pauses, sheepish, before adding, "They're in my car."

Jeff can't help but smile.

"Anyway, Annie, as I was saying before your boyfriend rudely interrupted me," she continues. "Do you really want a repeat of the Bar Mitzvah disaster of 2012? Do you?"

"Troy sips his drink. "Yeah, that whole Jeff-Hulk thing you had going on was not pretty dude."

"Mmmhmm," Shirley says, glancing up from her menu. "I don't want Jeffrey's tongue down my throat again. I'm a happily married woman."

"Wow," Troy says in awe. "You really have licked all the donuts at this table, Jeff."

Pierce frowns. "Donuts?"

"This is getting good." Abed pulls out his cell phone. "Can I film this?"

"NO!" Britta, Annie and Shirley snap simultaneously.

A few diners on surrounding tables look up from their meals and Jeff smiles back awkwardly.

"Guys, I didn't keep this reservation for four years to get kicked out of the restaurant after ten minutes. Shirley, you can only dream of having my tongue down your throat." He ignores her loud gasp. "Troy, yes, I've licked every donut here. I regret nothing. Pierce, donuts are women in this scenario. And Britta, Annie can't help it that I'm irresistible."

Britta rolls her eyes and Annie swats at his arm, though it lacks her usual strength.

"Yeah, and Britta can't help playing footsie because she likes my…feet…?" Troy frowns, weighing his words confusedly.

"Everyone…" Shirley begins sweetly. "Can we please stop talking about all this pre-marital fornicating at the dinner table?"

"Oh please," Britta scoffs loudly. "You're the one that started this conversation and we're hardly going at it on the tablecloths!"

"Did I ever tell you guys about that time I had sex with -"

"Pierce!" Shirley snaps. "If you even think about finishing that sentence so help me God…"

The air fills with the sound of six voices all fighting for dominance as Abed gets up to film the group with his phone, and Jeff rests his elbows on the table, aware of the heat and weight of Annie's palm on his thigh as he watches everyone with a wistful sort of smile.

Two hours later, the group gather outside the restaurant to hug their goodbyes.

Despite promises to see each other over the summer, and the fact that they're meeting tomorrow for Abed's debut at the local film festival, there's something so final about this dinner and everyone knows it, and it makes for a sobering and sombre mood that no one can seem to shake.

Shirley, Annie, Troy and Pierce are a mass of tears and tissues as they hug each other, while Abed stands to one side, unblinkingly passive as usual but Jeff knows there's another story going on behind that mask, and he makes a mental note to text him later to make sure he's okay.

Britta is quiet – too quiet – with her arms curled around herself, and Jeff bumps her shoulder with his, drawing a thoughtful smile to her lips as she repeats his gesture with a softness she tries so hard not to show.

The muffled wailing grows loud and fitful and someone cries "We're a family!" between loud and stilted sobs and Britta finally starts to crumble, rushing over to wrap and fold herself into the mass of hugs happening right there on the sidewalk.

Jeff stands beside Abed quietly, feeling a rising swell of emotion in the base of his throat, but maybe that's just his twelve year old self talking. He still blames him for the whole crying-at-the-death-of-Horsebot-3000 thing.

Who is he kidding?

It's the end of an era. An insane life-changing era.

He should be more poignant than that but hey, he's got nothing.

It takes them another five minutes before they eventually part and go their separate ways, and Jeff throws one arm around Annie's shoulder and tucks her close as they amble back to his car.

The streets are quiet and the trees along the sidewalk are lit with strings of lights for the start of the film festival, drawing Jeff back to that moment outside the Tranny Dance, where the night was bathed in a warm yellow glow from the lights twinkling in the bushes. The memory of it is so distant that it's now kind of ethereal, unreal almost. He thinks of everything they said, everything they didn't, everything that led them to this moment, here, now.

It's overwhelming.

"You're quiet," Annie says, and tightens her grip on his waist, her voice jolting his thoughts. "Are you okay?"

Jeff nods soundlessly and when they reach his car a moment later, he smiles down at her beautiful albeit tear stained face, pausing to thumb away a watery line of mascara underneath her eyes.

"I love you," he says. "You know that, right?"

The brightness of her smile is almost blinding as Annie bobs her head, bouncing lightly on foot as though she'll never tire of hearing those words and she just can't contain the emotion behind them.

"Of course I do," she says softly, and steps closer, tugging on his tie to pull him to her lips, hovering just a whisper away from his mouth. "I love you too."

Their mouths meet eagerly but there's a tenderness there that still catches his breath and makes his fingers melt into the flesh of her hips like he can't get close enough. When they eventually pull apart, mouths wet and slightly breathless, Annie gazes up at him inquisitively and starts toying with the end of his tie, smoothing her fingers up the length of it where it rests against his shirt.

"Are you happy we crashed your infamous graduation dinner?" she asks.

"You didn't crash it. I invited you."

"Yeah, but only after we all bothered you about it." She looks sheepish for a second. "After I bothered you."

Jeff strokes a soft warm path up and down the length of Annie's arms when he notices the goose bumps rising there. "Well, you're wrong. I changed my reservation ages ago."

Her features brighten in surprise. "When?"

"At the end of our second year. Why are you so surprised? I accepted the group as my family a long time ago. You know that."

"I know it's just…really?"

He laughs and shucks off his jacket, throwing it around her shoulders. "Yes. Really. Although the reservation did change a couple of times."

"Oh?" She slides her arms into the sleeves, humming delightedly at the feel of his lingering body heat as she tightens the jacket around her, carefully so not to crease it.

"First, I changed from a table for one to a table for seven. Then a table for six, thinking Pierce was never coming back, and then I left it like that for a long time because I was in denial that Pierce did return."

Annie giggles into her fingertips.

"And then I changed it to a table for two…" He tugs the lapels of his jacket to pull her closer. "Me and you."

"Aww. When did you do that?"

"At the end of last summer, around about the time I discovered how much I enjoyed spending time with you."

"Oh, you mean that time when we weren't really dating?"

He smiles, shaking his head softly. "Okay, okay, I concede. We were probably kind of dating back then. Maybe. Although I stand by the opinion that dating means fooling around and not once did I get to cop a feel. It was thoroughly disappointing."

"We had that hot kiss last August and my butt had an imprint of your hand for days."

He chuckles, eyebrows raised at the memory. "It was pretty hot, wasn't it?"

"Pretty hot? Jeff, I was seconds away from throwing you on my picnic blanket and having my way with you." Her voice drops to a scandalous whisper, even though no one is around, "In public."

"Ditto baby, ditto."

Annie stretches up on tiptoes, hands barely peeking through the lengthy sleeves of his jacket as they link behind his neck. Jeff clutches the swell of her behind to pull her close and they stand on the sidewalk, smiles wide and silent.

"So. I have a question."

"Oh, I see. This is the moment where we discuss all our hopes and dreams for the future, right?"

She smiles. "Before we run off into the sunset and sing a song?"

"You know I don't sing, Annie," he grins.

"Yeah, and for that I'm grateful. We all are."

"Hey! You keep this up and I might leave you to find your own way home."

"Eh. Empty threats," she beams cheekily. "You love me too much."

"What was your question, Annie?" he asks, trying to sound serious and failing epically.

"I just wondered, now that you can look back, did everything work out the way you hoped?"

Jeff studies Annie's expectant face, a wistful smile grazing his lips slowly as he thinks back to that first semester and everything he had planned.

"No." He presses his forehead to hers, breathing her scent before kissing her softly. "It's better."

A/N: If you would like to know more about the sexy times between Jeff and Annie that were mentioned in this fic, you might like to read, 'The Final Year: Missing Moments.' It's rated M. ;P

Finally, I'd just like to say a HUGE thank you to everyone who has read, commented and added this story to their favourites. I've read every review and your words and enthusiasm have meant so much to me. I can't thank you enough. It's been a blast. :)