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Really great analysis for what happened. And I appreciate that you highlight things aren’t magically better now, but they’re starting to level out. Great work!

I enjoyed that so much-- I'm so glad there's some writing on here with the new episodes and all.
Thank you for that-- I hope many more new stories appear in the near near future. Much enjoyed!!

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Oh WOW! I don't know how you do it, putting out one story after another and every single one of them is absolutely amazing. I want to say, I especially appreciate that you focused a lot on the kids through the morning time because the show kinda seems to have forgotten that Jim is even a dad and it's been driving me crazy. I LOVE the way you have Jim characterize each of his kids. Cece telling him that he has bunnies (or was it rabbits) in his ears was so adorable because it's absolutely the type of random thing that could very well come out of the mouth of a three year old. I also think your description of Cece with the curls piled to one side and pillow creases still on her face is just absolutely awesome. I also like the apace cadet characterization, I think it really fits with the Cece we saw spinning in circles outside their house in the Roy's wedding episode. Where it get VERY real is the descrition of a three year old who is not happy, such a great job with that. I have to say, I often wonder, with Jim gone so much and it sounds like when he is home he is probably either tired or still focused on his Philly work, maybe bringing stuff home with him. That;s all I can come up with for why Pam would say she'd been putting the kids to bed by herself for months, when we know Jim is there part time. I mean, it shows just how far gone he was, how right Pam was when she was asking Brian (though I didn;t think she should have been asking HIM anything since he would have a lot to gain by making Jim look bad. I also thought there was NO way she should have been at his house, alone with him!)but anyhow when she was saying that she just really felt that Jim had changed, I think we really got a true look into why she felt that way and just how much he had changed. I think Jim had to get to the point where he truly WAS on the edge of loosing the one thing that he had wanted the most in this world, waited fo long for... according to his speech at the rehersal dinner he waited 4 years for a date. How sad if he were to have let it slip away after just 3 years of marriage!

Anyhow... I got away from what I was saying... so I have wondered about how Phillip even responds to Jim. At the tender age of one, with Jim gone as much as he is and even when he is home having his mind elsewhere, I get the feeling that he may almost be like a stranger to Phillip. I would love to have someone write a fic after this episode tonight that explores more of Jim and Pam getting reaquainted but even more, Jim working to be the dad we always knew he would be and the dad I believe he was before he became obsessed with the new job. Anyhow, I find it interesting that Cece went for Jim right away when he came downstairs but when Pam put Phillip down he didn't pay attention to daddy but headed for something else. I must say, your description of Phillip going across the room was pure gold. I love that he sees his kids that way.

Anyhow, the kids aside, I think this was such a fantastic representation of what was going on between Jim and Pam, and what was happening in Jim's mind, before that last scene last week. It was just awkward and you described well them just really having no idea how to act with each other these days. I found it interesting but seeminingly accurate that even when Jim would offer to help with the kids Pam would tell him he didn't need to, she'd do it. I got the sense that by this point she was just used to doing it alone and maybe was even preparing herself for if she ended up alone doing it all. The sad thing is, and I also thought this felt accurate, Jim didn;t ever push her on helping out. I have always felt Jim would be a dad that did at the very least half the work with the kids so it made me so sad to see it had gotten to this. I also lover so much how Jim smelledPam's hair and how much he loves the smell and feels he could pick her out by smell alone.

SO I love pretty much everything about hw you describe the things from the episode. I wondered how Jim was feeling when Pam demanded that he hang up the phone but it was awful the way he just brushed her off and answered it. I LOVE that you have him really kicking himself, regretting that move. The way you describe Jim's feelings after he leans down by Pam's desk and talks to her is just brilliant. Him saying he knows what it's like to live without her and how he can feel her slipping away, I just don't know that he was even really realizing at that point that it was all within HIS power to stop it all. Loke one thing that really bothered me last week, he bent doen and said those things then left to go back to Philly, I assume for several days, without hugging or kissing his wife in any way. I feel like for Pam, the umbrella was just an excuse to go after Jim and I hope he ended up seeing that. But after that, it was ALL GOLD. I really like how you explain that even when Pam wasn't responding, that didn't matter. All that mattered is that he had her in his arms. I really felt that when Jim was holding Pam, particularly when she did start responding and he was holding her so tight, digging his hands in her hair and nuzzling himelf into her shoulder, I felt that's when the present day Jim was remembering the Casino Night Jim and how that Jim would have given anything, ANYTHING, to have Pam, PAM, in his arms as his wife and there was NO WAY that Jim would have allowed it all to slip away, especially over a job. I think right then Jim came to the realization of what his life would be like ifnhe were to lose Pam and it's something he couldn't live with.

I even like your ending. You so obviously understand marriage because just because you have a realization and decide to change and know what needs changes, once there's damage done it takes time and work to fix it.

This is just really really fantastic. An excellent way to cap off a really great episode! (Okay, the episode in general was weird and awkward for our couple but hey, the ending kinda made us forget all of that and made the episode worth it!) Keep writing PLEASE cause you always give us TRUE GEMS!

Also, I want to say thank you. I know it's frustrating that for whatever reason it's getting harder and harder to get people to review but please know... for people like me who are ill and often stuck in bed in pain, this gets me through the day. So please, keep writing because every story means a lot to me! :)