jQuery disable a link

Anyone know how to disable a link in jquery WITHOUT using return false;?

Specifically, what I’m trying to do is disable the link of an item, performing a click on it using jquery which triggers some stuff, then re-enabling that link so that if it’s clicked again it works as default.

Thanks.
Dave

UPDATE
Here’s the code. What it needs to do after the .expanded class has been applied is to re-enable the disabled link.

$('ul li').click(function(e) {
    e.preventDefault();
    $('ul').addClass('expanded');
    $('ul.expanded').fadeIn(300);
    //return false;
});