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Abed has always noticed the threads of chemistry and possibility between Annie and Jeff. He first noticed it at Annie's Halloween party when Jeff and Annie did a little dance together. She was laughing, he was smiling, the party was swinging and nobody was leaving contrary to Annie's worries.
The thought crosses his mind every once in a while. Whenever Annie and Jeff exchange conversation in the library or outside of it, whenever Abed is making his films, and he has to compose a script, whenever they all need Jeff to do something and it's ultimately Annie's voice that sways him to their cause. Abed notices of course.
If Britta notices, it's only in a moments notice and she probably forgets about it. Shirley tends to lump all single people into the same carnal category. Pierce misses most social cues. Troy never noticed anything between Jeff and Annie until Jeff had put himself in the spotlight. It was when Annie was with Vaughn, and Jeff decided on an intervention. Abed remembers Troy recounting exactly the way Jeff described Annie's body. With perfect, objectifying accuracy.
Abed incorporates all of this in his earlier films about the group. He decides, if Jeff and Annie aren't going to make decisions themselves, he'll make them for them in his films. It doesn't go over well when he films the fictional versions of Jeff and Annie making out, only for the entire group witness their real life make out at debate.
Abed remembers "I took that kiss for the team", and "Yeah, it was strategic and joyless". He wasn't very good at reading most situations, but he understood their shared silent glances in that exchange. He saw their almost agreement. Whether they were saying 'I actually liked our kiss' in silence, he understood some undertone of disagreement with they actually said.
Abed remembers everything, being the only real observer in their group. He remembers Annie losing her pen and Jeff taking charge of the search, even if it was to ridicule her in the process. He noticed their shared smile before they left the study room. He's made a mental note of every shared smile they had when they thought nobody else was watching.
He feels it especially during the Ass Crack Bandit spree in the days when Troy became a victim. Annie had successfully persuaded Jeff into becoming her partner in tracking down the bandit, despite his willingness to stay out of it. He remembers the Summer where he and Britta had a human genome project. Blood was required from a few participants. It just so happened that Annie was a little more jumpy that summer, and it was Jeff that voiced the concern.
"You don't think she's on drugs again, do you?" Jeff asked. They'd met half an hour earlier that day to discuss the issue without Annie being there.
"She did get an A- in her History of Forensics class. She's been reeling ever since. I heard her crying in the shower, but then she came out of the bathroom smiling" Abed said. Everyone glanced around and Jeff sighed.
"All in favour of Abed and Britta using their Human Genome project as a front to get Annie's blood, so we can test it?"
Everyone present raised their hand in agreement, and that was that. Jeff and Abed went together to the clinic to get the results back, and was Jeff visibly relieved when it came back negative for amphetamines. He was quick to email the rest of the group and let them know the results.
"That still doesn't explain the jumpiness" Abed said.
Annie was the one that voiced her concern to Abed about Jeff's increased drinking. It began after Jeff became a teacher. Annie knew he had a bottle and glass in his drawer in both his office and his class. It increased when Pierce died, then more when Troy left, and even more when Shirley had to leave abruptly. Buzz Hickey encouraged it and the one time Annie had seen the faculty lounge, it looked like a horrible smoke friendly bar.
When Frankie came and turned things around, it looked fine at first. She called Jeff out on being an addict and it was the one thing she liked about her at first. But when they made their underground bar free from Frankie's gaze, she couldn't help but join in the fun. She wasn't one to get drunk often and it was nice while it lasted.
Annie voiced her concern to Abed at home.
"Don't you think Jeff is drinking too much? He doesn't even get hangovers anymore, he's just always tipsy. Every time I go to Jeff's office, he's got a glass of whiskey in his hand. There's a bottle of whiskey on the bookshelf in the study room"
"Yeah, Jeff put it there when Troy left. He's a grown man, habits are hard to break. He's also significantly sadder this year. Britta's in her own story line, Pierce and Hickey are dead, Shirley and Troy are gone. Jeff's not studying anymore, and he's got his bachelor's, but he's not living the life he wanted. The only way he thinks he can deal with that is to have it all blur by in a tipsy state" Abed explained. Annie didn't say anything back but the issue obviously concerned her.
The day of Garrett's wedding, Jeff and Annie are at it again with the codependency. Jeff made himself comfortable in their apartment and Annie was quick to serve him his whiskey. Abed observed as he put his arm around her in a playful way, and it was the same way he put his arm around her whenever anyone called out their relationship. He had a camera set up in advance at the Model UN meeting knowing Jeff and Annie would burst in, so when Annie Kim asked 'Is he your father or your lover?' Jeff put him arm around and they both laughed uncomfortably.
At the wedding reception, he was filming Frankie and Annie when the conversation turned to Jeff and Frankie looked concerned about the look Annie had on her face. 'And then we need to get you away from Jeff' Frankie explained in a post conversation interview. Abed wasn't good at reading subtext, but he understood the implication here. Frankie thought Annie was too...something for Jeff. Maybe too immature or too young. Or maybe Jeff was too seasoned, or immature in his own man-child way.
While Annie was at her interview for the internship at the FBI, Jeff was obviously miffed at how fast everything was coming to a close. When Annie came in and announced she was leaving, Abed noticed the way he paused and his eyes glossed over. He was out for almost a minute amidst the groups' discussion before Annie brought him out of his thoughts. Moments ago, he was ranting about how he didn't want to plan ahead, but when Annie announced she was leaving, he was quick to jump back on the 'season 7' idea.
"You're proposing a show in which Annie comes back and it hinges on the murder of my parents?" Britta asked Jeff pointedly as he smiled.
He wants her to come back, Abed thought to himself, he probably just doesn't want her leave like everyone else. But Abed could help but think it was also Jeff's subconscious not wanting Annie to leave specifically.
Jeff and Annie had shared so many stolen glances while at the bar that Abed had stopped bothering to count them. Jeff's pitch of everyone returning to Greendale as teachers had Abed strained to agree with, but what he did notice (amongst everything else he always noticed) was Jeff's focus on Annie teaching Criminology, and her returning to her original dress style while maturing personally. At the same time, he removed Frankie from any possible future courting by calling her out as a lesbian in his ideal world.
Hickey was the Criminology professor, and he shared an office with Jeff. Jeff and Annie would be sharing an office in his ideal world, Abed thought while everyone pondered Jeff's ideal season 7.
Abed noticed Jeff had a similar look on his face when he announced he was leaving as well. Ultimately, when Jeff left with a solemn look, it was Annie who went after him. When he and the rest of the group got to the study room, they were pulling away from each other. Abed had only ever seen them kiss back in their first year, but he knew in his mind that they needed this time alone. This time to connect and speak their minds without any current pressing school issues or others from the group around.
Abed notices their smile again. When Annie mentions season 7 would be out of their hands. When Jeff is saying 'You saved my life and changed me forever' he's referencing the group, but he's looking directly at Annie with a smile.
When Jeff drops them at the airport, Abed notices a shift. It's silent all the way, except for the few moments where Jeff tells them all the things they should experience. He tells Abed to get drunk more often, and tells Annie to have regrettable nights and productive days. He tells them not to lie through everything, the way he wasted his twenties doing. He tells them to keep in touch, and Annie says she already has everyone on speed dial, with Jeff at 1.
When he kisses her and hugs her goodbye, he watches. He feels privileged that he gets to watch their goodbye, as if he's watching something special but also hard. Abed feels sad as well. Not only is he leaving behind Jeff, but he's leaving Annie as well when they split to get to their respective flights.
It's hard for everyone, and Abed can see in the reflection of a car window that Jeff is standing there with a far off look as he watches them walk away. He noticed, again, and possibly for the last time. Despite all the timelines he disliked and all the pitches he disliked featured Annie and Jeff in some romantic atmosphere, he genuinely wishes they meet again. Because they bring out the best in each other.
He noticed it back in their first year, he's noticed it all the way until their goodbye, and he hopes in the future when they all reunite again, he'll notice it again.