Painfully beautiful. 

Excellent. You say so much in very few words; I'm always impressed by your characterizations.

Oh, man, that last line.  And the paragraph before.  Nice. 

Oof, here's a tip, Geinnob: never preface a fic with mentions of booze and General Hospital. Seriously. The only reason I read more was because I worship your stories. 

As always, same reaction for this one.

First of all: loved the brief descriptions of both Kelly and Karen here - Karen's [sad] timing, coming in sleek, and Kelly adding as many 'o's to 'so', abusing exclamation marks, etc., is just so very her that even without the name upfront I would know exactly who it was, how she'd be saying it. 

And PAM! I love 'she sits and waits (which is what she does for him now)', because that's [sadly] true, I love how she knows what he's thinking about, going to say, and how he doesn't have to say anything directly before she goes 'give me a reason'. And I love her reasons, her solutions for getting a reason, I loved that bit about her plans tonight, and I loved the how please, just don't go is so incredibly potent, real, powerful - brilliant. So much silence, too, still, but they're getting closer. 

And at first I was feeling mildly irritated with Jim, for asking something of her this way, even though he can't, he won't do anything about it yet, but then I figured this is just a step closer [or miles closer, maybe, comparing this to the 'steps' we see on the show] from what they were before - there's some sort of hope, in there, and you got that across so well in the last sentence: ...it's a lot, actually.

Gorgeous, as always. If General Hospital was even a quarter-written this way, I may be able to survive ten minutes of it. I may need that alcohol, though, of course. ;)

I really like the succinctness of this...how she can still read his reactions so well - and she's just had enough (perfect timing that Karen walks by looking all sleek.) I love how she just puts it on the line - not even needing to say what it is. And when he says 'Please, just don't go' it was such an understated, but powerful moment. It's like in that one exchange, they finally meet each other half way...not there yet, but as you end this so beautifully 'it's a lot, actually.'

Author's Response: Each time I receive a review from you, I am humbled.  Thank you so much.  Also, you managed to sum up my whole point in, like, two sentences - how do you do that?

This was so good! I love it when I see that you posted a story because it never disappoints :) I like these little moments rather than Pam coming straight out to say "I love you" and this line:

so much that Pam is certain the coffee pot is retaining its shape by sheer force of will.

had me cracking up!  

It's a perfect snapshot--and since a picture's worth a thousand words, your economy was fitting.  Sometimes it's what's not said that's important.  :)

Great job with this.  I loved it.