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Six months. Pamela Beesly had moved far away from Scranton and had been enjoying an up-and-coming career in graphic design in Chicago for the last six months after she finally decided to up and move on. Six months away from Dunder Mifflin. Six months of no contact with Michael, Dwight, Phyllis, Angela, Kelly and...oh yeah, Jim.
Her eyebrows instantly furrowed at the mere thought of her best friend. Her former best friend. Jim had made the decision of moving to Chicago easy for her. After she finally gathered enough courage to come clean to him about her feelings, he rebuffed her, never even giving her the chance to continue after "I know this is horrible timing, but I'm in love with you." He brushed her off, saying she just had too much to drink that night. Even worse, he accused her of wanting to ruin his relationship with Karen because she was looking for someone who she could be miserable with.
After that incident, Fancy New Beesly finally found the balls to give up on the guy who showed no signs of maturing. If evolving meant acting like a prissy, stuck-up corporate puppet who saw fault in everyone else but himself, then she wanted nothing to do with the new and improved, evolved Jim. She fought for him, perhaps in the smallest of ways, but she tried. Dear God, she really did try. Eventually, however, she realized that it wasn't really Karen that she had to embattle, but Jim's pride. It took her a while longer to realize that things were never going to be the same, but the minute did, she realized nothing else was holding her back in Scranton. Days in the office grew increasingly unbearable, and finally she decided to fill out an application for an apprenticeship at a graphic design company in Chicago. She never looked back.
Living in an unfamiliar city was melancholy at the start, but it was nowhere as lonely as she felt sitting in reception at Dunder Mifflin, pathetically staring at the back of the head of a man who refused to love her. A month into the move, she finally began to get the hang of things, and soon she was convinced that she was living the kind of life Fancy New Beesly was supposed to be living.
It was unfortunate, therefore, that come Christmas time, she found herself back in Scranton, shopping for honeyed ham in the local supermarket. Even with her new life in Chicago, she was still obliged to spend Christmases with her parents. Not that she minded, of course. She was just wary about bumping into people she had no intentions of seeing again. Then again, she had already gone three whole days without crossing paths with any of her former officemates, and so she was starting to think that maybe she was worrying over nothing.
"Pam...?" A shy, unsure voice shattered her reverie while she stood in line for the butcher.
Pam's eyes widened the minute she turned around and saw who had greeted her.
"Oh my God. Toby! Uh...hi. Hey." So much for not seeing any one from the old office. Oh well, better Toby than Michael, right? Or Jim. Ugh.
Pam's face softened as she looked up again at Toby. He seemed genuinely happy to see her.
"I'm sorry. Toby...hi." she said gingerly, moving in to hug her former co-worker. "Merry Christmas."
Toby smiled and pulled back from her hug to fully admire the girl standing before him. After a couple of seconds, he noticed the confused expression on Pam's face as he found himself staring longer than he should have.
"I...I didn't know you were going to be in town. Visiting your parents? I'm sorry. I'm...I'm... of course you're visiting your parents."
"I wouldn't dare miss a Beesly Christmas. Wouldn't want to get disowned." Pam quipped, as she watched Toby chuckle softly.
"I've been sent to fulfill the oh-so important duty of... picking out the ham. I'm here on official Beesly family business." she added.
"Wow. That's...great." Toby stammered, still visibly surprised, not only at seeing Pam after six months with no word from her, but also by the little changes he observed in her. The extra chattiness. The straight wispy hair pulled in a loose ponytail. The soft makeup that made her glow. The soft pink color that stained her cheeks from the cold.
"How are you? How's..."
"Jim?" Toby offered, regretting it the minute he uttered the name.
Pam pursed her lips, trying not to wince at the sound of his name. "I was gonna say Sasha."
"Oh. Oh yeah, she's good. She's in kindergarten right now. She's...learning how to read. She really likes The Cat in the Hat."
"That's great, Toby. That sounds really great. Tell her I said hi, okay?" Pam said, as the butcher finally gave her the ham she had bought. She carefully placed the package on her cart and smiled at Toby. "I guess I should be on my way," she said, gesturing for the counter.
"Hey, do you have plans today?" Toby asked, in a voice more hopeful than he willed it to sound.
"That depends. Are you asking me out?" Pam said, playfully batting her eyelashes at him.
Toby was taken aback by the new forwardness Pam seemed to display. "Actually, I was uh...hoping maybe you'd like to drop by the office party?" But coffee would be good too! Dinner? Oh. Too late. Damn, Toby.
"Oh. Don't take this the wrong way, but I don't think I should." Pam said, suddenly uncomfortable again.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to..." Toby stammered, looking embarrassed for even asking.
"No, no... I'm sorry. I don't want to seem like a bitch, Toby. I miss you guys a lot and I wish I could see you all again. It's just that...there are a lot of bad memories I've been trying to run away from, and I guess I'm just scared that if I go back, everything I've done the last few months might... I might...do you know what I mean?"
"Uh..."
"Oh God. I'm sorry. Did I just unload on you? I'm sorry, Toby. I hope you understand." Pam said, smiling apologetically, while tucking a stray wisp of her hair behind her ear.
"Don't worry about it. It's my fault. I didn't mean to seem so pushy. I just thought seeing you there would lift everyone's spirits this year... Michael's especially..."
"What's up with Michael?" Pam asked, trying to act uninterested to no avail.
"Well...to make a long story short, we're actually throwing a Christmas Bon Voyage for Michael."
"Bon voyage, huh? Is he off to Sandals again for another Carribean romp with Jan?" Pam joked.
"He's been fired, Pam." Toby said morosely, immediately silencing the girl in front of him. "And he and Jan broke up months ago."
"Oh... Oh my god. That's horrible. They broke up? And he's being let go a few days before Christmas? That is just...brutal."
"Yeah. He's been moping around the office the last two weeks. We hardly get any work done anymore, but it's not like we can blame him, you know? The whole office has been trying to cheer him up, but he's just so brokenhearted. Jim's been feeding him That's what she said moments, but he's hardly spoken a word. He keeps taking pictures of every single object in the office and crying about it. It's all weird and sad at the same time."
"I didn't know. Wow." Pam said, now visibly perturbed by what Toby had told her.
"I guess, well, you two seemed to have some sort of connection.. I just thought it'd be good if he saw you, you know? A reminder of the good old times."
"Good old times, huh?" Pam retorted bitterly, briefly remembering what she had gone through during her last few weeks in Dunder Mifflin.
"I'm sorry, forget about it. I..." Toby began.
"Will everyone be there?"
"Yeah. Michael, Ryan, Dwight, Kelly, Phyllis...the whole gang."
Pam smiled gratefully at Toby not mentioning Jim and Karen. She really didn't want to start thinking about them now. But thinking of what Michael was going through ate at her, and so she realized that maybe she can try to stay for at least an hour. She didn't have to talk to everyone, right?
"I'm probably going to regret this, but okay. I'll swing by to say hi. For you guys. And Michael, definitely."
"Really? Hey... hey that's great!"
"Yeah." Pam huffed, already starting to regret her decision.
"I'll need to pick up one more thing before leaving though. Angela put me in charge of streamers." Toby said, as he and Pam began walking around the supermarket to look for the said item.
"Really? Angela actually delegated work?"
"She asked everyone to chip in. We're all trying to make this special for Michael, given the circumstances. We're not really best friends, Michael and I, but he's a good guy."
"Yeah." Pam said earnestly. "I'd love to be there for him with you guys."
Toby and Pam stopped at the seventh aisle, with Toby checking his shopping list for what he needed to buy next.
"Here we go. Streamers." Toby said, surveying the selection of streamers stacked carelessly on the supermarket shelves. He dipped his head, as if to carefully assess which ones to but. When he started to reach for the green streamers, Pam stopped him.
"Buy the red ones. Green is whorish." Pam said with a smirk as they grabbed several packs and headed for the counter.
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Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
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"You lost that loving feeling...whoa, that loving feeling. You lost that loving feeling now it's gone... gone... gone... whoa-whoa-whoa..."
Jim sighed as he plopped on a chair in defeat, watching Michael sob through a drunken rendition of "You Lost that Loving Feeling." He looked back at Angela and raised his eyebrows at her. Maybe a karaoke-themed Christmas party wasn't such a good idea after all.
An hour into Michael's Christmas Bon Voyage and already most of the people in the office were getting restless. No one was prepared for a drunken, hysterical Michael Scott attempting to let out his frustrations through song, and things were getting increasingly awkward as Michael made a bigger fool of himself with his antics. His first song was met with a few snickers from Daryll and the other guys from the warehouse, but by the time he sang the last few notes of "It Must've Been Love But It's Over Now," every one decided it was far wiser to remain quiet.
Michael buckled to his knees during the closing chorus of sixth straight song, "You Lost that Loving Feeling," and so Angela was forced to help him back to his seat. But before Michael gave up the microphone, he slurred, "You lost that loving feeling, Dunder Mifflin! That goes for you too, Jan," leaving everyone stunned.
"Maybe we should call it a day," Phyllis whispered, breaking the silence that had enveloped the room.
"Come on guys, this is Michael's send-off. We can't leave things like this." Jim said, half-pleading to his co-workers to stay.
"Hey Ryan, Michael's always seemed to like you best. Do something." Kevin snickered.
"That's funny, Kev." Ryan deadpanned.
"Oh my god, you guys can't send Ryan again. Have you seen his shirt? Those tear stains on his shoulder have so not dried yet from when you sent him in for a heart-to-heart with Michael earlier." Kelly said, stroking Ryan's hand in support.
"I never knew he was just a big a cryer as Kelly." Ryan continued.
"Hey!"
"There's no way Angela's gonna let us end the party this early . Toby hasn't even gotten back yet from getting the streamers." Oscar noted.
Everyone sat back in their seats and groaned.
"So leave! Leave!!! No one's forcing you to be here." Michael screamed from the opposite end of the room, while Angela stood stiffly beside him.
"Angela is." Kelly whispered disdainfully. Angela looked back at her sternly and cocked an eyebrow.
Jim looked back at Michael who had sat back on his chair, still in tears. He surveyed the room, and observed his fellow co-workers who were getting uncomfortable with the gloominess that hung above them. He noticed Dwight's absence from the group, remembering that Dwight was so distraught with the news of Michael's dismissal, that he vowed to boycott the Christmas Bon Voyage in protest. Times like these he wished Pam was still around. The two of them always managed to bring the whole office together, even during the oddest of times. He remembered the day the toaster caught fire, forcing everyone to wait at the office parking lot and play silly little games. The day they organized the office olympics. The day they held a reading for Michael's screenplay. Jim suddenly felt a lump in his throat. He once again found himself missing Pam. Horribly.
For four months after Pam had left, Jim moped around the office, quietly mourning the end of a real friendship and the loss of a great love. Three days after she left, he thought it unusual that Pam had still not shown up for work, initially thinking that she had come down with the virus that had been going around the office. But when a loud-mouthed, busty blonde showed up in the office a week later and sat in reception, answering the phone with a nonchalant, "Dunder-Mifflin this is Janine," realization quickly set in. He staggered into Michael's office after working up the nerve (and strength) to ask about Pam, and when Michael confirmed his suspicions, he felt so ill that he wound up in the bathroom, heaving his breakfast through his tears.
He skipped work for the rest of that day and unceremoniously broke things off with Karen. He apologized for not being completely honest with her and himself. In the guise of self-preservation, he wound up pushing away the woman of his dreams, his best friend. Karen refused to talk to him for days, and eventually accepted a transfer to New York for a corporate position. When she started dropping by the Scranton Branch with Jan a few months later, she and Jim took steps to straighten things out between them, and now they were back to being good friends. Jim and Pam however, were another story. They, as things seemed, were irrepairable.
He eventually found out that Pam did move to Chicago, but even if Toby caved and gave Jim Pam's Chicago address, he never went after her. He did go to Chicago, for a sales convention, but after standing on the street across Pam's apartment building, mustering up the courage to see her, he chickened out dejectedly walked back to his hotel.
Although he was miserable without her, a bigger part of him was proud of Pam for finally having the courage to do something for herself, to first realize her dream of making a career in arts and design, and for starting a new life on her own, according to her own terms. He respected Pam's need for a change of scenery and he was not about to jeopardize her newfound peace just because he was finally ready to admit that he couldn't quite live without her.
He shook his head and tried to clear his head of Pam-related thoughts. These days, with it being the holidays and all, he found himself dwelling on things he wished he could have done differently to make Pam stay, but he realized that at that very moment, someone more important merited his attention -- Michael. Over the years, he had developed a soft spot for his boss, eccentricities and all, and he wanted to make his Michael's last day in the office a memorable one.
So, with another look around the room, he stood up from his chair and headed to the karaoke area. He tapped the head of the microphone several times to catch everyone's attention and cleared his throat. "Okay. Hey there everyone! My name's Jim, and today I'm taking requests." He toyed with the buttons of the karaoke machine until he found the song he intended to sing.
"This first song is for a certain special someone... the one who got away." he said, playfully looking at Michael's direction. In this situation, he knew all Michael really needed was to feel the least bit appreciated, and so he was ready to make a fool of himself if only to lift his boss's and the entire office's spirits.
"So Michael..." he trailed off, waiting for the opening notes of the song to start playing.
"And I...am telling you, I'm not going. You're the best man I'll ever know. There's no way I can ever go..."
Several of his co-workers started cheering, egging Jim on. Even Michael looked to be in better spirirts, visibly touched and surprised by Jim's inane gesture.
"Oh my God Jim, you CAN'T be serious. That's, like, a classic! I am so mad. If I were Jennifer Hudson, I would like totally be insulted," Kelly protested.
Jim paused for dramatic effect and smirked at the crowd before continuing. "No, no, there's no way. No, no, no, no way I'm living without you..."
Jim had been so preoccupied with his singing hat he didn't notice two figures slowly enter the office, carrying two large paper bags each.
"PAM?!?!?" Jim heard Michael say within earshot.
"Uh, no Michael" he replied, chuckling uneasily. "You know I'm singing this for you."
"Hey everyone." Jim heard an achingly familiar voice say, with his back still facing the door.
"Oh my God. PAM!!!" Kelly shrieked.
The room erupted in a chorus of Hey Pam's and It's good to see you's as Kelly and Michael both raced to welcome their former receptionist with a hug.
Jim met Kevin's eye as the latter stood up to greet Pam. "Is it really...?" Jim whispered still refusing to turn around.
Kevin waggled his eyebrows in an almost lascivious manner and moved towards the door.
When Jim finally decided to turn around and met Pam's gaze, his face had turned an unhealthy shade of white.
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