Is this the fluffiest version of Casino Night I've ever read? Yep, yep, yep!
One thing made me sigh sadly — Toby's complaint (poor, poor Toby...).
And three things made me grin — Pam's surprise, the whole Bond banter, and “Let’s go home.”
Thank you!

Author's Response:

I'm glad I could fulfill a seeming gap in our fanfiction archive for you.

I'll be honest, I put the Toby part in because some of your previous reviews, so you are partially to blame! 

I'm happy to hear you liked those moments, they were my favourite too, although I guess I may be a little biased ;)

You're welcome! Thank you for your kind words! 

It's interesting seeing the impact of these changes in the timeline - Pam seems to be having something of an easier time at the internship than she did at Pratt, Jim not being thrown so much by the listing of his pranks because he feels like they've had a positive result. And good heavens is it nice to read a stress-free version of Casino Night!

Author's Response:

So a little off topic, but I've always felt that an internship does a much better job at preparing someone for a job then schooling ever will - there's certainly a place for schools for learning fundamentals etc, but you can almost never beat on the job training. That's sort of the feel I was going for here: Pam is still not quite sure graphic design is what she wants to do - she more lands on the art side of the spectrum, but she has a support structure in the form of her coworkers (Ok, not really, they haven't acknowledged she exists yet) and supervisor. I feel like you can get more one on one time in a work environment, so that's why she's not as frustrated at this point. Sure, photoshop isn't her favourite, but if she needs help she can just snag someone from a desk over and get it sorted. That kind of idea, anyhow.

Ok, wow, rant about practical work experience over, on to the rest! 

Jim knew exactly what he was doing with those pranks ;) They were his way of flirting - and in a roundabout way this time it worked!

I'm glad you liked the low-fat version of Casino Night!

Thank you for your kind words! 

Lovely way to combine two episodes. Jim being a little despondent without Pam in the office makes sense. He's without his office buddy and fiancé so yeah it makes sense he'd be a little down.

Nice to see Pam doing well in New York. Also nice to see her wanting to leave quickly to get back to Jim.

The surprise welcome back was all sorts of sweet. Same with their afternoon off at home.

I like the change from sweater to tux this time around. Felt very classy.

Nice to have Casino Night go in a good direction this time too. Nice job as always.

Author's Response:

Yes, Jim is very much missing his best friend/partner in crime/life partner/fiance/... the list goes on! I'm happy to hear you liked this mashup, I felt like I should at least acknowledge Conflict Resolution happened so... there it was!

Pam can only distract herself with New York for so long, understandably. She's having a good time and being challenged, but the person she want's to share with is just over two hours away!

I'm glad you liked that unabashed fluff, I enjoyed writing that. It was fun to play with Ryan a little bit before he became the jerk that he was in later episodes too.

Jim is all about classy, as we may recall from the time he wore a tux in canon. I'm glad that fit for you, I just felt like it was a natural progression. This is Jim and Pam's outing in the middle of wedding planning/saving, so they went a little over the top.

Thank you for your kind words as always! We're almost at the end of this one. 

I can't believe I missed this update...
I like this sweet sadness of parting, but I had so much joy reading about their jinx trick on Dwight! I'm looking forward to seeing how Pam deals with her internship and how Jim deals on his own.
Thanks :)

Author's Response:

You didn't miss anything, you were just saving it for later ;)

I'm glad the Jinx prank was sweet enough the cleanse the palate of the bittersweet that we started the chapter with. We'll definitely get to see some slice of life from both of them next chapter and how they're handling things.

You're welcome! Thank you for the kind words! 

1

This was adorable and sweet and so so funny. Thank you for sharing it with us today. :)

Author's Response: Well shucks, thank YOU for leaving such a kind review, hopefully this chapter brought a smile to your face like your review did for me!

1

This is the sort of fluff I want to inject directly into my veins.

It also, I think, shines a light on how fundamentally sweet an episode Drug Testing is for Jim and Pam - they have this one painfully sharp moment of angst (which doesn't really linger like it does in The Client) in what was otherwise a really great day with them. In that sense, it's probably a lot more indicative of their real day-to-day relationship than a lot of the rest of Season 2. So this AU is reteaching canon, which is neat.

Author's Response:

Hah, thanks. If I could mass produce this and ship it I would, trust me! I would even offer chewables instead of needles - no, scratch that, gel capsules, everyone loves gel capsules.

I agree, aside from the downer in the breakroom this is a really sweet episode in canon. 

Thank you for taking the time to review, I love hearing your thoughts! 

1

Awwww I love it! The adorable ways Pam avoids talking rivals Jim’s ways in the show, I think. And I loved how you incorporated the scene between Jim and Dwight.

Author's Response:

I'm so happy to hear you enjoyed this one, it was a pleasure to write. Let's just all be glad I didn't go with the draft that had Pam doing real tears for the conference room upon realising how much she was going to miss Jim. I'm glad you liked that remix of the interrogation - I couldn't just drop that wonderful moment, it's priceless.

Thanks for dropping by to review! 

I wondered how you were going to change things up here - bringing Nikita in for Kevin is such a lovely touch!
“P B N J,” Well, that’s a bit perfect.

“Great, so we’re going to pay him off,” Oh, that made me laugh.
It’s nice that Pam got the internship! It really speeds up the timeline on her doing something with her art here. Episode by episode the little things stay mostly the same, but boy does this all change the big things in a very big way. I’m glad you’ve included this!

Author's Response:

Well, she's an emotional support dog - and cute! I have to shoehorn her in at every opportunity ;) 

You have no idea how long I've been holding onto the PBnJ moment... just like Kevin had 'gaycation' stored up the moment after Oscar left, hah.

I'm glad you got some form of my mental image there with the bribery scene - I wasn't sure how people were going to read that one because obviously I the author thought it was funny... anyhow, glad it landed for you.

Yeah! We'll see how this changes things on the homefront in some of the final chapters of the arc too, so stay tuned! 

Thanks for stopping by Jenna, great as always to hear from you! 

The canon version of this day is sweet. This version is just as sweet. Love the kind and caring soul Pam is here. to bring Nikita around to keep Kevin company was lovely.

Likewise all their interactions while shopping and at the rink were all the more fun since here they're together for real. Nice job.

Author's Response:

I'm glad to hear this lives up to canon levels of sweetness, that's a tough mark to make sometimes! Glad you liked Pam's demeanor here, I think she and Jim really bring out the best in each other and I like trying to show that through the little things like that.

Thank you for your consistent feedback and praise, I really appreciate it! 

1

A) I love the idea of a JAM wedding at Schrute Farms. That has some amazing comic potential.

B) The remix of The Secret to be about Jim and Pam's secret engagement is maybe my favorite thing you've done so far.

Author's Response:

Indeed it does, I only hope that I can do it justice.

Thank you! I'm glad you liked that, it just fit the timeline so well that I couldn't help but repurpose that premise! 

Thanks for taking the time to review! 

Your story makes me giddy and this time wasn't an exception :)
"They're just little people, talk to them, treat them with respect, learn their interests. And I guess bribing them with candy couldn't hurt either," I laughed aloud at his line!
And I giggled at the part about 'improving kids skills.' Oh, I'm sure they have to discuss that!
I don't quite remember that episode, but wasn't Abby that girl who gave Pam a hard time? If yes, I'd say it was a fantastic improvement of the canon!
And their mutual thoughts about future parenting... so sweet!
"Everything was going to work out, even if she had to get married in her tiny back yard with Nikita as the ring bearer," — not a bad scenario, actually :)
Thank you!

Author's Response:

I'm so glad you liked this chapter, and I'm happy to hear I got a laugh out of you with the bribery line. Yes, Jim and Pam likely will need to touch base on the kids thing, not sure if it'll happen "on screen" as it were though, I'll have to see if it fits somewhere. 

Abby was indeed the on that was giving Pam a hard time, "You're already grown up" was the line that I chose to flip on it's head this time around.

Glad you liked their mutual observations. 

I know right? It was actually kind of my original thought, but a backyard wedding has been done before, and thus in the game of absurdist one-upmanship, the Halpert-Beesly Schrute Farms wedding was born. 

You're welcome, but thank YOU for reading and reviewing, I love hearing from you! 

Lots of fun with this chapter. I loved that you kept in Pam tries to bribe the kids with candy. It's a solid plan. Also that she does make a connection with Abby with art. Abby was also fun saying Pam is already an artist and asking if Pam and Jim are already married. Very sweet.

It seems a nice balance of some of the traits of pre-Fancy New Beesly we see in canon S1 and the new more confident Pam we see in this AU. A lot of that seems to be since she's with Jim now, which is fun. She's got someone in her corner to really be there and help her so she doesn't have to do things (like wedding planning) completely alone. Loved that.

Glad you got some time to post a chapter. This one was fun.

Author's Response:

I'm glad you liked it. Not only did I keep the candy... I added more, because really, how could she not have chocolates up there!? Abby and the art was fun, I don't remember if that scene was deleted or not but it was a real downer, so flipping it around felt great, glad you got something from that. I couldn't help but through some of that child-like perceptive bluntness in there, sometimes kids say the darndest things. I wish one of them would have commented on it in canon, but oh well, that's what we're here for!

Of course, she is after all, Pam 6.0 ;). Jim being in her corner is definitely a huge plus though, you've got that bang on. In canon she almost went for the internship before Roy shut her down, so with no active discouragement this time around she's in much better shape in that regard.

Happy to hear you liked the chapter, thanks for sharing your thoughts!