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Oh, and five jellybeans for Dawn Tinsley! So clever!

Author's Response: d84;a039;d84;a039;d84;a039;

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I love seeing this version of Karen.
Best line of the chapter:
"“That thing you’ve always done. Stand in a room full of people and look at her like you’ve never seen a woman before.” Happy sigh.

Author's Response: Oh thank you! I had forgotten that line but I really think it describes him, right? 

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So nice to have this story back, having to go back and read the whole thing again from the beginning, which is a pleasure in itself. Slight shades of Carrie and Aiden from AJLT (in a good way, let's hope that comparison doesn't come back to haunt me)

Author's Response: Oh thank you for the reread! That really means so much! And *gasp* because someone told me to watch that Carrie & Aiden date scene and it made me swooooon! Yes, here’s hoping all of our fictional ships sail into a happy ending. 

pls update this more often, it's too good to stop :)

Author's Response: Oh thank you! It’s too much fun to stop writing them too!

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Somehow I missed this story back when it was first posted so I just spent the last 2 days reading the whole thing and slightly neglecting my family. Worth it. What a masterpiece. Looking forward to seeing the next update.

Author's Response: Oh I’ve had some fics like that so I take that as the HIGHEST of compliments. Thank you for your really kind words. I look forward to keeping up with these two yahoos a little more. 🙂

So....there was equal parts excitement and trepidation that hit me when I saw this update. Excitement because of the fact you're back and that means a chapter of superb writing. Trepidation because your superb writing also tends to throw everyone's feelings through the emotional wringer. But dive in we go.

Starting out with that flashback of wonderful, lovely, JAMMY flirting. Excellent! That's just classic JAM flirty fun banter. Contrasted to the levels of uncertainty we see Pam relate to Karen and then Jo. It had been so good at one point, then it fell apart and someone new grew out of those ashes. Now Jim's back and they're falling in love again. Have fallen in love again. It crashed once, it feels very real that it could happen again and what would THAT fall out mean? Good on Jo though to power through some of that and get it all out of the way.

Then the call from Mark. I mean if she's still looking for a sign, there it is in big flashing neon lights. And of course Jim's right there to support her.

Great bit of honest connection too with getting rid of the number old flames. Dawn Tinsley's name coming up. Nice one.

But also the "I love you" squeezes coming back. It's really starting to feel like the great parts of their past are starting to make themselves known. Love seeing that.

Hopefully we won't have to wait as long for an update, but I for one will be here whenever the next chapter does drop. Welcome back. You've been missed.

Author's Response: Thank you for taking the time to review! I hope it won’t be as long either. 😁 I’ve definitely missed this group as well. 

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Oh my goodness what a wonderful surprise to see an update to this awesome story! Frankly I had given up waiting for an update, wrote it off as another awesome story abandoned. Thank you so much for not abandoning this story, please keep the updates coming!!

Author's Response: Ha! Frankly, there were times I had decided to abandon it. Thank you for reading and reviewing with your kind words. 

The sound I made when I saw this update...

DC!! I'm being so genuine when I say this fic may be my very favorite fic ever. It's so amazing and this chapter is no exception. I mean, three years is kind of a long time, but I forgive you wholeheartedly. The three squeezes. Jo Bennett's moments. THE THREE SQUEEZES. Ugh.

But listen, I had an entire child who is basically a toddler now since the last time this was updated and lady, I simply cannot have another child to pass the time between now and the next update so try and make it quick.

In all seriousness, it's so so good to see you and this fic back! It makes me very happy. :)

Author's Response: Oh this makes my heart soar with the eagles nest. Thank you for loving this fic so much and for such incredibly kind words. Also I laughed really hard that you can’t just keep having babies to pass the time between updates. I honestly can’t believe it’s been that long!! 

I wholeheartedly support your use of a whole Grey's Anatomy scene!

I've read this a few times, one of my favorites. I adore the Karen & Pam friendship & you have Karen's voice down perfectly.

I'd like to knock Jim & Pam's heads together! It's obvious they belong together but Jim has changed so much, could it possibly work?

Hope there will be more updates! Your writing is just brilliant!

“They both knew”
The anticipation. I can’t even deal. This build up is actual perfection. Them both making their respective purchases? It’s too much (in the very best way).

“An impressive feat for two people practically vibrating with pent up sexual tension” And this whole story is a testament to you being the master of writing two people vibrating with pent up sexual tension.

His old pajama pants. I —

"You can stay," Oh. Just fuck me right up why don’t you.

Cool girl Dana! What a perfect name choice.

“Not uttering a word but saying a million things” The way this is a perfect line.

“her brain is only functioning on the level of bright lights and explosions and freefalling” DC. Girl. This line, these passages. Holy god. They are so, so very brilliant.

“Pam easily allows herself to slip back into 2011” That... that gets me right in the heart.

Oh. OH. DC. We’re back to miscommunication & misunderstandings because of course we are. The way you nail these characters never ceases to amaze me.

If those aren’t about to be the most famous of last words...

Look. I was trying to review this as I read & then we got to the bowling alley & there went that plan...
You know that feeling where something is so damn good that you literally can’t put it down, not even for a second? That was this chapter. That’s my review. That’s all I’ve got.

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After all the praise I've been seeing for this fic I had to. Once I started it all other fics I had been reading were put on hold.

This story is captivating in a break your heart and want to scream at both of these love fools kind of way.

There is so much I loved about everything so far but this chapter really did me in. They way you describe how much he's learned about her. The use of music for each of her moods or activities. The Jim rationale and Jim quips "lady Macbeth"

The stuff about the shoes and the robe. The paintings. My god you have such a talent for crafting a story that is new and intriguing and so different yet uses storylines, characters and dialogue we know.

I'm all in for Karen the best friend despite having disliked her by the end of her run on the show. How did you do that? And I'm hating on Pam's dad though I had little opinion on him from show.

I don't need to spit back everything since you know It all, you wrote it. Just know I'm captivated and loving it just as I was told I would. Thanks for sharing this story. I didn't know I needed to know this story and now I can't imagine not. (I've got lots more to read and not sure where it will go but hope some happiness lies ahead)

Ok gushing over until my next reading break.

I love this story. I love the sophistication and maturity written into your Jim/Pam; the complicated decisions that range between entirely adult and entirely selfish. You’ve managed to tap past the multifaceted characters we met in the show to create truly dimensional people that are simultaneously familiar and fresh, and I am Here. For. It.

In a similar vein, I adore how you’ve drawn so many individuals and plot lines from of the full series and woven them into a beautiful and intricate web of missed and fruitful connections. Your conceptualized take on the Athlead plot, which in the show I think has moments of feeling contrived and clumsy, is poignant and woefully believable. Also, Karen = A+, everything I wanted for her character in the show. I could write a dissertation on the tragedy that is Pam’s lack of (healthy) female companionship within the series. But I feel far less need to do so as I read this fic. So, cheers to your BA depiction of Karen, the friend and human influence everyone (but especially Pam) needs in their lives.

Finally, I’m really thrilled you are continuing with this story. I tend to shy away from in-progress works because, although I am a very patient person, I am also an empath. My ability to internalize the emotions of others apparently does not stop at fictionalizations and I am pathetically wrecked by abandoned emotional cliff hangers. But I saw you had updated this and I decided to risk it...and I just have to let you know, it has been worth whatever carnage might befall my heart to read this opus. So thank you for reviving it this year, I desperately hope you will continue updating as much as life allows, but also just thank you for writing what you have, because it’s glorious!