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‘ “Actually, now that you ask, I see myself clearly. A wife, a home, maybe a couple of kids." ‘ Oh, I know what Jim actually meant by wife.
Good thing the memo with the gold medal gave him courage to say no and go be with Pam.
Although I like to think if Pam didn’t do that, they would still find their way back to each other. They are soulmates, after all.
Like how supportive David is here. Good advice. Wish Jim remembered it in season nine.
Yes, going to be a uncomfortable conversation indeed with Karen.
The break up. How he did it probably not the best decision but it makes good tv. And I do understand why Jim want to get it over with. And if she wasn’t with her friends he would have waited until they got to Scranton. Jim is trying here to at least make it better. Like suggesting to pay her bus flare. I do feel a little bad for Karen… but she’s not Pam. Honestly she shouldn’t have just move to Scranton for a guy she barely knew and she should have break up with him ages ago. Granted it doesn’t justify his actions towards her (or toward Pam). I understand she is hurting and I feel for her but she should have seen it coming. There were signs and red flags all over the place. Although Jim probably should have timed the break up more better. Or not date her at all in the first place. A series of bad decisions on both ends.
On the way back to Scranton I can see Scranton Jim slowly coming back. With the grape soda, coke and memories running through his head. Jim is coming back for real. The fake Stamford Jim is gone.
Eeep! The “it’s a date” scene! Love the note Jim left Pam. Hmm… he want her to wear the Casino Night dress.
Recreating Casino Night. Except with a better ending… sweet idea.
Pam was hurting for a long time.
Season three was a learning curve for Pam I don’t think they can reset it all. Restart is a better word.
Yay! They kissed!
I love their teasing banter. And with the cheesecake hehe.
So beautiful. First time Pam says “I love you”.
Love this!

Author's Response: Always love getting reviews for my old stories. Thank you. Yup, as soon as Jim saw that note and yogurt medal I think he finally escaped the fog he was in and saw exactly where he was supposed to be. Not in New York, but back with Pam. David always seemed to have a soft spot for Jim and I had fun exploring that a bit more. Yeah, Jim never handled things well with Karen. From start to finish. How could he when there's only one woman who could command his heart? So to his mind, rip it off like a band-aid. It'll hurt for a bit, but better to have it off.

Scranton Jim was starting to peak through after the coal walk, but yeah he fully comes back on the ride back from New York. Thanks for the vote of confidence on the "it's a date scene." It was a lot of fun to bring that all together. Though I figured they needed to start healing a bit first before the real sparks fly. However once they do, yeah they can start in on the wonderful couple they were always meant to be.

Thanks for the review. I'm glad you liked it.

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What a cute fic! The explaining of the motivation for Pam walking the hot coals was excellent too. Laughed out loud at Jim describing people referring to him as stick in the mud - that's definitely a verbal sketch of his dance moves 😂. The ah ha moment when this all came together, when you see they are going to turn back time for themselves was great. Their humour was so in canon too. Can't wait to read more from you b29;a039;

Author's Response: First of all I'm honored that your first review is for the first story I wrote here on MTT. I'm glad you liked it. I had to go back a re-read that stick in the mud comment Jim said. I remember I had a lot of fun writing this one so I'm glad people still enjoy it. 

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I finally was able to read this story. I started reading it a little while back. I was already somewhat deep in writing my own first date fic with the outline written up until the end of the first night. Anyway I began reading this and got to the part where he stops for gas and that was almost where I stopped scared of the similarities. But I read on, similar but still different enough until I got to his note. And that's where I shut the iPad down. I knew where my Pam and Jim were going at the end of their date. It was too late for me to be unique in that but at least I wanted to come at it unifluenced and with my own vision. Now that I finally finished fleshing it out and posted it I immediately came back to finish the story I started reading weeks maybe months ago.

Wow. We have a lot of similar vision don't we?Still enough is different too.

I really appreciated the speech from David. Always like seeing wisdom passed down. And it was very sage advice.

Likewise the honesty at the office. You know I'm all about unpacking the feelings and releasing themselves of all that was unsaid so they can move on. But also the way they fell right back into their playful banter. It goes without saying I was all in for that too.
Over dinner they got to know a little more of each other's past, all the makings for a true connection and the start of something with that deep connection.

And while they already know they love each other glad you made the choice to not have them do more than kiss on the first date. You know I'm on board with that decision and feel it is completely in character.

I'm so glad I finally got to read this first fic of yours. I loved it.

Author's Response:

Glad you liked this one. You're right in we have similar ideas, but there's enough that's not the same to keep things our own. There's the briefest of shots in "The Job" when Pam has her talking head but there's a montage of shots of Jim, of Jim still in the office with this small little smile on his face. He's already seen the note from Pam. That's where I envision him listening to David.

Meeting at his desk and the conversation in the office are fairly similar to what you thought too. Go back to where it fell apart, heal the scar, move on from there. Glad you liked my take on it.

As for what happened after the date, well, I actually flesh that out a bit more in "This Thing Called Life." Hopefully when/if you get around to that you'll get why I wrote what I did.

Thanks for coming back to this one. It's always fun to see what people think of my early stories as well as the newer projects. 

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Ok, that was sweet and a great job for being your first Office fic! I am always up for post "The Job" stories, and this one doesn't disappoint - well written and original in that I never thought of them having a "redo" of casino night. This is one I will come back to and read again!

Author's Response: I was very pleasantly surprised to see a new review for this story. I'm very glad you liked it. It was a lot of fun to come up with everything for it. I remember I'd just finished binge watching the series and thought there had to be fanfic out there for The Office. A couple days later this was the result. Thanks for taking the time to leave a review. 

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This is a very nice take on that first date. I liked the fact that they go back to the office to redo Casino Night.

(You misspelled Meredith at the beginning, btw).

The dialogues flow nicely, too. Both of them in character.

Author's Response: Thanks for pointing out the typo. Only fair since I've done the same for you. I wanted to do something different with this one. Re-creating where it all went wrong and making it where it all went right was a fun challenge. I'm glad you liked it.

Okay, is there anything I can do to make sure you continue this one? 😂

Author's Response: Glad you liked it. Like I said, I have a few ideas for a longer story and this could very well end up being a chapter in said story. Thanks for the review.

Oh, so very sweet. Honestly, I thought I'd read every version of the First Date there could be, but this surprised me! The recreation of Casino Night was a lovely visual, and oh-so-satisfying to end that night on a happy note! They have an easy back-and-forth and make the transition to romance about as seamlessly as possible. Thank you for this new and different scenario that is a fun road to travel! Great first fic! :)

Author's Response: Thank you. I just recently got into watching "The Office." Thank you Netflix. Jim and Pam quickly became my favorite characters. After reading a bunch of other fics here and on fanfiction.net the ideas for this came up. I'm glad you liked it. It was fun to write.