Disclaimer: Don't own Community. Thought it'd be fun. Jeff's awesome, so why not?

Surprise, Surprise

Books were not meant to be used as bongos. Right? So why was that asshole across the library banging his hands on them, bobbing his head to the beat, eyes closed as he hummed something stupid?

Rolling my eyes, I strolled up to him, slapping the back of his head and holding out a hand, "Give 'em here…"

Starburns stared up at me, a pout on his face, as he held the books to his chest, "You can't just waltz up here and…"

"She's basically a library cop. If you hurt the books, she'll beat you up. That's what she did to Troy; actually, that's how she became part of our study group… Everyone thought it was funny that she beat up a football player over a book…"

Glancing at Abed, I offered him a smile, one he immediately returned, before turning my attention back to Starburns, "Not kidding. Hand it over or I'll beat your ass, too…"

"Fine," he huffed, handing the book over and jumping to his feet. Retrieving his backpack, he headed out of the library, probably off to smoke weed or something.

Brushing a hand over the book cover, I toted it toward the cart of books to go back on the shelves, glancing curiously at Abed, "What's up? I thought we weren't meeting 'til five?"

"Well, I thought I'd come see if you wanted to get something to eat before we all met up," he replied, shrugging a bony shoulder and regarding me curiously, "you've been up here all day…"

"That's cuz I can write here without some people breathing down my neck," I replied, a playful edge to my threatening tone. I know, I know; I wasn't nearly as intimidating as I liked to think I was. I was the smallest one in the group, reaching only five feet even, with a pixie hairstyle that made me look even less terrifying. The guys knew, though, that I wasn't one to mess with; I'd gotten into an actual fight with Jeff once because he wouldn't stop teasing me about my one-time crush on Professor Duncan. He ended up with a broken nose, but refused to fight back, claiming it wasn't right to hit a girl.

Even if she was kicking your ass?

"We just want to know if you're writing about us," Abed replied nonchalantly, pushing the door open for me, his wide eyes rolling upward in thought as he amended, "well, that's mostly Jeff, but then he made us all start thinking about it… If I am in your book, am I at least something cool, like a robot or an alien?"

"Oh yeah," I rolled my eyes, sarcasm dripping from my tone, "because I love writing about aliens and robots, Abed…"

So I may have based some of my characters off of the people I knew. Annie may have been the cousin of the heroine and there may have been an annoyingly obnoxious older guy – the butler, of course. There may have been an awkwardly adorable Middle Eastern guy who had a penchant for pop culture. And there may have been a very tall, attractive man with stylishly messy, dark hair and intense, chocolate eyes that may have played the heroine's love interest.

Oh God, if they ever knew about it…

Of course Annie did; she'd read all of my works. She was the only one in our family who actually thought I had the chops to be a professional writer someday. She knew that Jeff was the guy I based my handsome, semi-arrogant character off of. It wasn't hard to decipher, no matter how differently I'd tried to portray him. Same appearance, same indifferent attitude covering up the fact that he cared – way too much actually – about the people around him. Especially, the cute, younger heroine…

"…and then, the ending's really cool, by the way… Bane…"

"You tell me how the movie ends and I'll hurt you, Abed," I warned, glancing sharply at him; the one fault he had – besides talking a little too much – was that he always gave the endings to stuff away. Where's the fun in seeing it when you know what happens?

"Well, me and Troy will take you to see it tomorrow, if you want," he stated, leading me toward the cafeteria, positioning himself between me and the door, "ya know, a late birthday present… I'll even dress up like Batman and do the voice…"

"I do love the voice," I smirked, patting his shoulder and brushing past him. One hand on the door, I paused, brow furrowing low over my eyes at the lack of sound coming from the usually boisterous dining hall.

Suspicious now, I turned and peered, chestnut eyes narrowed, up at Abed; he quickly glanced the ceiling, dark eyes betraying nothing. Shaking my head – it was a goddamn surprise party – I shoved the door open only to find… nothing out of the ordinary. Just super quiet eaters.

"Huh," I frowned, brow furrowed and disappointment settling in my stomach. That was… weird. While I hadn't exactly wanted a party for my birthday, I was kind of… excited for one.

"Last one in line has to dress up as Mr. Freeze!" Abed belted out, racing toward the line. Shaking my head, I laughed and followed him, catching sight of Britta and waving her over. She looked surprised – and a little anxious – at being spotted, but strolled over anyway.

"Hey guys," she grinned, ignoring Abed's comment of 'oh, looks like Britta's Mr. Freeze' and hugging me, "happy birthday, Jamie!"

"Thanks," I replied, retrieving some chocolate milk and a few cookies, "is it just me or is it strangely quiet in here?"

She glanced around, eyes darting quickly to and fro, "Uh, no, I don't think so. Why? I think it sounds normal, right, Abed?"

"I thought for a second there was gonna be a party in here or something," I stated, glancing between the two of them slowly, trying to pry an answer out of either of them. Both were tight-lipped though, chatting as though nothing smelled funky to them.

Right.

We paid for our food – both Abed and Britta got little, claiming they weren't hungry – and made out way toward the library. Britta nudged my shoulder, peering up at Abed, who didn't seem to notice, before muttering with a grin, "So I heard you have a character based off of Jeff…"

"Where'd you hear that?" I queried, my tone low, terror mingling with irritation, "did Annie say anything?"

"No, but Shirley did," she laughed, giving Vaughn a half-grimace as he passed, shirtless and minutely nippled, "I thought she wasn't allowed to read your book yet? You were still working on it and everything?"

"She needed practicing proofreading," I groaned, a hand to my forehead, feeling even paler than usual, "and no, it's not based on him… any similarities are… unintentional…"

"That doesn't mean there aren't similarities," she noted, smirking triumphantly as we reached the library, "I'm glad you finally admitted that you're attracted to Jeff… We were starting to think you'd never…"

"I didn't say I do like him!" I replied heatedly, flustered, glancing quickly around the lobby, hoping he wasn't around to catch us and, more importantly, make fun of me, "it's just, it's surprisingly easy to base a character off of him, that's all. It has nothing to do with me liking him..."

"Whatever," Britta laughed, rolling her eyes upward, "just keep telling yourself that… We all know it's true…"

"What, that my secret identity is Batman?" I queried dryly, earning a sharp look from Abed. He gave me a quick, curious onceover, before shaking his head; no, I could never be Batman, though I'm sure he thought me being a woman would be a clever disguise. No one would ever think twice about me being a superhero... I needed to stop thinking like Abed and focus... "Listen, it's nothing. There's a robot in my book; are you gonna assume it's Abed?"

"I knew it," he pounded a fist into his hand, disappearing into the designated study group room behind me.

The door swung wide suddenly, Britta and about a dozen other screaming 'Surprise!' in my face. Blinking rapidly, I shook my head, offering her an evil frown; the blonde simply raised her hands in surrender, "Had to make sure you didn't realize what was going on."

A hand shot out and dragged me into the room, Troy wrapping his arms around my waist and nearly flinging me through the air, "Happy birthday, girl!"

Laughing, I thanked him, before swatting him and forcing him to put me down, "Funny, Troy… You got me!" Raising my arms in the air, I spun, glancing at the others – Shirley, Annie, Pierce… Jeff, "I didn't see it coming."

"Yes you did," Annie protested, folding her arms across her chest and frowning, "you knew when Abed took you to the cafeteria, didn't you?"

"Well that doesn't matter, cuz," I laughed, hugging her, "it threw me for a loop, honestly. Thought it was a little too quiet down there… Then again, I thought you were all gonna pop up from behind the counter and start singing Feliz Cumpleaños or something…"

Señor Chang – who had somehow finagled an invitation – scoffed by the beverage table, "No Spanish. Alcohol."

Quickly making my rounds, the party was in full swing in a matter of minutes. More people kept showing up, much to Annie's dismay, since I didn't know any of them, but they were quickly ushered out unless completely approved by me.

Jeff leaned against the wall beside me, arms folded loosely across his chest. Immediately hit with the intoxicating scent of his cologne, I fought the urge to blush and glanced up at him, "What'd you have to cancel to come to this tonight?"

"Actually nothing," he laughed, his tone amused, a slight grin on his handsome face. He nudged my shoulder with his, earning a soft laugh from me. "What? You think I wouldn't come to your surprise party? You only turn twenty-five once ya know…"

"You only turn every other age only once, too," I smirked, shaking my head as he pursed his lips in thought. Shrugging, he glanced out over the crowd of our friends, chuckling as Pierce tried to have a dance-off with Troy. It gave me a chance to study him, like I didn't do that enough already.

He looked mildly anxious, a surprising thing to cross Jeff Winger's face, not focusing on me, but something only he was aware of. He didn't seem like his normal relaxed self.

"What's up, Jeff?" I questioned, brow furrowing low in concern.

"Why do you think something's up?" he questioned innocently, smiling down at me with a perfectly lovely grin, "everything's cool… So, what do you think? Like it?"

"Well, it's not what I was expecting," I laughed, offering him a teasing smile before glancing down at the hastily decorated room. It was cute, the room dotted with things I loved, with people I loved. "It's great. I love it."

"So I'm planning your next surprise party, too, then?" he questioned with a laugh, dropping his arms from his chest and catching my hand with his own.

The surprise must have been evident on my face, because he offered me a mockingly offended frown, "What? You thought Shirley did this?"

"Maybe," I replied, blinking rapidly, my heart in my throat, "or Annie."

His thumb brushed soft, light circles on the back of my hand, his dark eyes scanning my face intently. Without a word, he caught the back of my neck with his free hand, closing the distance between us and molding his lips to mine. Eyes fluttering shut, I melted into the kiss, into the soft, gentle rhythm of our mouths moving in sync. I barely noticed the wolf-whistle from Troy and Annie's delighted shriek.

Pulling back, I stared up at Jeff, eyes narrowing despite the goofy smile on my face, "You know I hate surprises…"

"Yeah, well I think that's two in a row that you didn't," he smirked, the pad of his thumb tracing my lips, "happy birthday, Jamie."

"Girl, get your behind on the dance floor!" Shirley smiled, clapping her hands and muttering matter-of-factly to Pierce, "I knew they were going to end up together. Since I first saw the two of them; it really wasn't..."

"Well, birthday girl," Jeff caught my hand, spinning me into the middle of the room, "hows the whole 'throwing you a surprise party for your birthday' thing chalk up on the 'I'm gonna base my character off of you' scale?"

Rolling my eyes, I allowed him to dip me, arms around his neck, and smirked, "Pretty high up there..."

He laughed, righting me and dropping his hands to my hips. Before I could say another word, Abed appeared by my side, a drawing of a robot in hand, "Hey, Jamie, is this what I look like in your book?"