Exciting stuff! I did like that, after Pam's little burst of confidence & innuendo, Jim had to get her, uh, started on the actual business at hand. That seemed in character to me.

Oh, and your cylon blew through the chapter too fast. I found a couple of things I missed. (Oops...) I sent you an email with a few more corrections.

Loving this! Looking forward to an update :)

Author's Response: Thanks OfficeKristin! Update coming very soon. Done with it, I think. lol. Just waiting to hear if it's totally insane.

9

This keeps getting better! The hickey and Pam's scent on Jim had me in a tizzy--great details. Their chemistry and the tension are outstanding. Must remember to breath when I read this!
Oh! Can't forget to mention that I adored their interaction as they're about to jump in, about their expectations. I could envision that conversation. It was perfectly in character--sexy, tense, awkward, cute and really just perfect

Author's Response: Thanks NanReg! Yes, please remember to breath! HAHA. I'm so glad that you're enjoying their interaction. We'll focus more on just them next chapter, so more sexy, tense, awkward, and cute coming up.

Oh my goodness, I love it! I'm so happy that they decided that they would just go with it and decide in May how they should proceed. Its funny, in the previous chapters I never even considered the fact that Jim doesn't live there as part of the issue they'd have. Cue uh-oh music...

I really like Pam's style, deny no matter what! Although my go to was always to freak out and call it a spider bite.... She may want to get some coverup to stay in her purse or invest in some scarves, it had gotta be chilly in the office during the day, right...

But a couple of things I got confused over... Why was Mean Nick nice to Pam? And did they have thier end of chapter conversation in the hallway just outside of where all the coworkers were? They got daring quickly if so...

An entire weekend off! I'm so excited for updates! I cannot wait for more sneaky...

Author's Response: Thanks Aivilo! Oh, spider bite. That's a good one! For the confusion stuff, you'll see soon why Mean Nick (as I've now decided to refer to him always. lol) was nice. And yes, they were just right outside in the hallway. So slightly daring, really sloppy. Remember their first kiss was also in a hallway where crew and coworkers were bound to go to eventually.

Hello my dear, this is going so well, I loved Jim being jealous and that kiss, yes! it was hot. This is very enjoyable and as always, I am a total groupie for your stories. I liked the desperation Jim felt, to risk it anyway and kiss her. Looking forward to more.

Author's Response: Thanks so much! We should email soon. Catch up. Are you going to finish The Treehouse?

The more you write, the more I fall in love with this story. Jim saying “I can’t do it. I can’t just flirt with you and turn it off like you do.” was just.... really HOT. And him kissing her like that and admitting he liked her, so freaking perfect. Screw work and stuff, stay home and writeeeeeee!

Author's Response: Thank you! More hotness to come. And yes, screw work!

LOVE this fic! I've been catching up and cannot wait for the next update. I can sense the tension between them!

Author's Response: Thank you, Bayjb! Things will become really fun between these two next chapter! So watch out for that.

10

OMG I was SOOOOO excited to see this update today. You have spoiled me with the quick updates and great stories so I was checking for an update CONSTANTLY! I thought for sure this was going to be another chapter where they didn't connect but OMG did you make this one worth the wait! It made me SOOOOO happy!

At the start of the chapter Pam was exactly where I thought she was going to be mentally after Jim told her they wanted to see her dating, she was doubting herself and everything she had thought was happening between her and Jim. I loved that she felt compelled to go and talk to Roy, ask him what is wrong with her. I love even more that Roy actually gave her a confidence boost, one that was greatly needed after what she felt was, or should I say what she now thought wasn't, going on with Jim. I also love that Roy gives her advice telling her that if a guy doesn't want her, he isn't worth it so she shouldn't waste her time. That's something I think he was only able to do because he HAD actually moved on.

SO next, brilliant move bringing in that part in Ben Franklin where she asks Ryan to set her up with one of his friends. That was aside from Beach Day and the job, that was one of the very few parts of season three that I really liked. I loved on the show how Jim, standing there with the confidence of hiding behind having a girlfriend he doesn't even want, teases Pam about the Ben Franklin guy hitting on her because I think Jim would have felt pretty darn safe that Pam simply isn't going to be into that oddball. So I loved how she turned it around so quick with the , 'Gosh, I need a boyfriend. Hey Ryan, I'm ready to be set up with one of your business school friends. Whenever.' Then she walks out without even looking back at the stunned Jim whose comments just completely backfired on him and he is left standing there, the smug look having been wiped right off of his face and instead he looked to me to be a bit of a mix between panicky and stunned. That right there is why I always thought Jim was simply a jerk in how he took Pam getting back with Roy a week after that. I mean, she just said there in not so many words that she's lonely and she needs someone. Why wouldn't she go back to the one guy that was familiar to her and who had appeared to have cleaned up his act and who kept anging in there and trying as hard as he could to get her back.

Okay, sorry I talked not about your story but about the show. Like I said, it was just a rare season three moment that I really liked so it was awesome that you were able to bring it in to this story but you did what I wished they would have done and that was you basically used that as the catalyst to prompt our Jim, who I think felt relatively safe in that Pam wasn't really interested in dating at this point, it spurred him into action. I have to say, I sure wish he could find a way to get stick in the mud Nick sent back to CA and get someone nicer, more agreeable, to replace him. I mean, the only way anyone higher up would know about Jim and Pam is if a member of the crew found out and told and heck, why do that? Live and let live! Especially if it doesn't apear that he's just trying to get her into bed or something which obviously he isn't. SO, I love how this Jeremy goes in and tells Jim about Pam going down and talking to Roy and then coming up and not only asking Ryan about fixing her up, but actually agreeing to gom out that very night. Jim can no longer just play it safe. It's so great how Jim then immediately decides to interview her which I think is abvious that he doesn't really so much want to interview her for the show, he wants o hear from her just what she is doing and let her see how it makes him feel. I think Jim needed ths because I don't think he really understood that him just flirting around with her and then basically asking her to date for the sake of the show, without presenting the rest of the story, that she didn't have to and that he really REALLY idn't want her to, it was really messing with her mind. I LOVE how he basically decides, if she is going on a date, he's going to be there too. I think the whole time, even if he didn't realize it was his intention, he was going to run interference if things seemed to be going well, which is exactly what he did. Oh, and I was so glad that Jim realized that it just may be worth osing his job because she just may be that something special and he may never get another chance with a relationship like this.

You were brilliant the way you had Jim sitting in the bar, watching, seeing exactly what this guy was doing to loosen her up and I imagine his imagination was working overtime as to what might happen after she got loosened up, and as he is sitting there watching it happen he is chastising himself realizing that he is the one that put this entire thing in motion and that he could have been patient, explained himself fully and worked out a solution to their problem, anything but this. I thought it was great that he immediately intervened when he thought she was getting a bit too comfy and the things that she said when they were intervieing here there at the bar wee PERFECT to let him know just how she was feeling.

I have to say, I totally did not see the next part coming and I think I actually squeeled out loud! When she came out of the bathroom flirty and he told he not to flirt because he couldn't do it like she oes, it was a confident (and a bit intoxicated) Pam that was able to be honest and tell him, hey, it's all on him because after all, HE is the one that told her to date. When he just decided the heck with it and went for it and kissed her I was just SO excited and also ike FINALLY, way to stop dancing around it all and show her how you feel. The second kiss was the cherry on top! Hopefully they won't fall back into classic Jim/Pam miscommunication 101 and can tal about their feelings and how they are going to handle things since this is an extremely touchy situation that has the potential to become explosive.

GREAT job with tis chapter and I'll say, the wait was agonizing but this chapter was worth it. You really are SO extremely talented, I LOVE reading your work SO much! I Love it all but I really love Learing to love again becauseof how much you followed them into the future as they got married and started a family and you also had them start a family at the end of Would you still love me. I LOVE getting those glimpses of what happens after the issues are resolved. Where do they go from there and you have such wonderful talent with telling the story. Thank you for sharing your talent wit us in each of your stories! I will absolutely be on pins and needles waiting for the net chapter!

Author's Response: And you spoil me with long reviews. Glad I could keep you on your toes with the last part. I have something slightly different planned with this story. I don't really want the angst which is normally what I write but I still want to add the drama. And yay for Learning love. I've ironically only read the whole story once while writing it. lol

I really liked the format you used, with the o'clocks. It made for great pacing on the chapter.

Poor Pam, I can imagine her that morning, spending time with Jim, the two of them exchanging banter or flirty conversation, at that point she is feeling good about things because, she is right, friends don't get to work at 6:30am, just to see each other. But as the day wears on, Jim has to be professional and keep his distance, so now, when he comes to her and tells her they want to see her dating, she doubts the time they spend together in the office early in the morning with the lights off.

I guess then I'll feel bad for poor Jim as well, his
morning getting off to the start he likes only to have a wrench tossed in there when his California bosses let him know they want to see the girl he likes dating. I wish he had waited and told her during thier early am rendezvous, this way he could've really explained to her that she should say no and gotten it across to her that he wanted her to say no as well.

Hopefully we will get an update soon and see how this all will play out.

PS- I like it alot when they sneak around, so more of that please!

Author's Response: There will be a lot more sneaking around! And you won't have to feel bad for either for too much longer. :D

I really loved that layout :) Ahhh this is so frustrating, but in a good way. I want them to secretly date, and have her "date" guys for the show, but after work they're a couple LOL

Author's Response: Less frustrating soon. Not next chapter but very soon. But you know this and I don't want to give anything away! :D

Oh wow! First... so excited to see the update! I swear I no longer have ANY patience! I really loved how this chapter started and I thought, yes, this is the chapter where tey are really going to start things for real. But then I was so incredibly sad by the end of it.
The stuff about them each getting up so early in the morning just to be able to go in and spend a solid hour of uninterrupte time together, that was so sweet. Showing them taking those steps to get in some time however they can. It was really cute that Jim went so far as to leave then, taking the evidence of their meeting with him, then buying coffees for the crew and meeting him downstairs as if he had never even been there. Oh and her having Jim stand there while she draws a picture of Dwight, priceless! I mean, you can't tell me that by that time she doesn't have a stack of drawing of Jim somewhere anyhow that she could whip out and show him. Really good play on Dwight coming in and picking up the expense reports for Angela, neat that you worked that into the storyline and it was a good way to have them get 'caught' but no way would Dwight tell because he is more desperate for no one to know he was there than he would be to tell anyone that he saw them there.

Anyhow, my heart sunk when he first read te email saying about the dating stuff with Pam but I thought, oh,he'll find some way to pull her aside privately and work something out. I wasn't really concerned when he was asking the guys in the office about her, the only real concern at all would be Toby, but that wouldn't really go anywhere becase, well, they just aren't a match. The thing is, I get the idea that Pam thinks Jim might be interested in her, but she just can't be sure. She doesn't know really how to classify what this is that they are doing and she still isn't a real confident person yet. So, she thinks there is interest, but she knows it's not allowed and she questions probably why any guy would risk anything especially his job, for her. I think this probably all goes into her thought when she is trying to figure out just what she and Jim are doing. Sooooo... I think Jim coming up to her so casually, with an office full of people, and saying that they want to see more of her with guys and dating, that's probably all it takes to convince Pam that she had it all wrong all along. She is probably asking herself how she ever thought that some producer from Ca would ever be interested in her anyhow and all the doubts creep in and any confidence she had drains and it just makes me so. sad. You know, theres a big part of me that thinks Jim feels he doesn't really have to show his intentions, at least not right away because she has told him that her attempts at dating since Roy have flopped and I think she has conveyed enough for him to not feel threatened that she is even going to date much less meet someone because right now she jus isn't interested so he can sit back ad realy do nothing. It makes me think that maybe, just maybe he SHOULD see her going on some dates. Having some fun on them, not really connecting on a romantic level, but he doesn't need to know THAT. I think that would shake Ji up a great deal. I mean, he has had this thing for her ever since he first saw her on tape and it has grown a great deal since he has spent real life time with her. Maybe it takes him feeling threatened, like he's going to lose her if he doesn't make a move. Oh, I like how you put his thoughts... he knew there would come a time when he would have to pick between his job and Pam, (which shows how deeply he feels to feel he'll need to make such a drastic choice) but he never thought he would have to choose between some other guy having Pam and his job. I think that last part speaks to what I was saying about him feeling safe, like she isn't going to date/fall in love because she sn't interested so there is no other guy to think about.

Really great, if sad, chapter. I hope they can soon really find some solid footing, make a conection where they each truly know where they stand. I mean, if Jim IS truly felling for her, jobs, while they may not be EASY to come by, especially a producer job like that, there are jobs to be had all over. OTOH, if he truly thinks she IS something special, the person maybe he is meant to be with and maybe just maybe the whole reason for this trip was fates way of introducing each of them to their sould mate, well, there's only ONE sould mate out there... don't blow it Jim. I am WAYYYYY anxious for the next chapter(s)!!!!

Author's Response: Yay! You're back! Where to start... I think you will find the next chapters close to what you were thinking about Jim's thought process. And that's exactly what Pam is thinking, that maybe she isn't up to par for this producer. I really hope you like where this goes! And so happy that you are feeling good enough to leave me this wonderfully long reviews. They really make me smile.

This is such an interesting take on Jim and Pam's "story".  And you've made it completely plausible.  Great fun!

Author's Response: Thanks Mr Bill!