5:07 PM:

Everyone besides Jim and Pam had gathered their things and shuffled out of the office by 5:03. Jim really wished his computer hadn't crashed in the middle of the sale he'd just been closing. He only had to finish one little thing, but he was antsy to just get out of there and spend some time alone with Pam.

He and Pam had been together for a couple of months, but they tried not to be too obvious about their relationship at work. They were sure everyone knew about it, but they wanted to draw as little attention to it as possible, being aware of the kinds of comments their coworkers were capable of. So by the end of each day, Jim just couldn't wait to be alone with Pam, to be able to touch her and kiss her without wondering who might be watching.

They'd gotten some time alone at lunch, like they do every day, taking their lunches to the park and picnicking in the sun, lazing in the grass together, and sharing almost enough kisses to hold them over until the evening. But as usual, the next four hours after lunch were spent calculating just how much physical contact they could get away with for the rest of the day without Michael announcing "PDA!" from his office.

"Hey, are you almost ready yet?" Pam asked, coming up beside him at his desk; the impatient expression she wore- eyebrows knit, mouth pouting- made her even more irresistible.

Jim looked around quickly to make sure the office was empty, and then he swivelled his chair towards her and smiled. "C'mere," he murmured before wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her sideways into his lap. She giggled softly and leaned her forehead against his, one hand resting on the back of his neck, the other on his stomach. Her eyes fluttered closed, and she breathed him in.

"Missed you," she said before opening her eyes and meeting his.

"Mmm," Jim responded in agreement, tilting his head to gently press his lips to hers a few times.

"Oops, um, sorry, guys."

They looked up and saw a blushing Toby sneaking by.

Pam felt heat creeping up her face, and extricated herself from Jim's grasp. "No, yeah, it's okay. We were just--" she pointed to the door.

"Yeah," Jim cleared his throat. "We were just leaving," he said, turning back to his monitor to save his work. "We didn't know anyone else was still here."

"No, it's fine," Toby said, opening the door. "Sorry about that. See you guys tomorrow."

"Okay," they both said in unison, and as soon as the door closed behind Toby, they dissolved into giggles.

"Come on, let's get out of here," Jim said standing and grabbing hold of Pam's hand.

Jim and Pam attend a fourth of July picnic at Pam's parents' house. Jim enjoys getting to know Pam's family, enjoys the food, the long conversation he has with her cousin, Brad, about football and music. But after a few hours, he's itching to explore the expansive back yard, which is lush green and slopes away from the house. The grass is dotted with old trees, and eventually disappears into the woods. He can't wait to be alone with Pam for the first time since the morning, and to hear all about her childhood growing up in this house.

So after dessert, Jim comes up behind Pam, who is chatting with her mom over the dessert table. He slips his fingers between Pam's, and then addresses her mom. "Excuse me Mrs. Beesley. Mind if I steal Pam for a little while?"

"Oh no, go ahead," she answers with a smile.

As Jim and Pam head down the back yard, the noise of the party fades away slowly, replaced with the sounds of birds and crickets chirping in the trees. The sweet smell of grass surrounds them, and the coolness of shade cast by huge trees kisses their warm skin.

"So... What's up?" she asks, swinging their hands between them.

"Just wanted to be with you for a little while. Missed you," he says simply.

Pam smiles. "Me too."

They walk silently, hand-in-hand past giant Maples and Weeping Willows, past the long-unused bonfire pit, until they come up to an old swing tied to an enormous Oak tree near the woods.

"Oh Jim, push me in the swing!" She sits herself down on the wooden seat of the almost-forgotten swing, and pushes herself off with her feet. Jim pushes her from behind when she swings back to him, higher and higher, and she glows as she tells him of her history with this swing. Of all the times growing up that she came out here to think, the times she swung to get her mind off of something, the times she and her sister would take turns pushing each other and talking for hours.

On her next back-swing, Jim catches the swing by the ropes long enough to lean in and kiss the side of her neck. He lets her go again, and repeats each time she swings back to him. She's smiling and laughing, and by the seventh or eighth time, she finally twists around fast enough to catch his mouth with hers. He teases her by only giving her a peck before letting her go. This continues through a few more passes of the swing until finally, he holds her there, kissing her long and slow while walking the swing back to it's stationary position. She stands to meet him as he walks around the swing to face her, wrapping her arms around his waist and resting her cheek on his chest.

Sighing, he lets his fingers wander up the hem of her tank top to lightly stroke the skin of her lower back.

"We should get back before the mosquitoes come out in full force," she says dreamily into his shirt.

He reluctantly loosens his grip on her, and they walk back to the now-glowing house on the hill in the purple dusk of a summer night.

 Jim's heard enough of Michael's insane ramblings, and is still trying to get used to this thing with Pam: having to turn it off in front of their coworkers and the cameras. It's exhausting. He hopes Pam gets his hint when he volunteers to do research for whatever the hell Michael just went on about, and thrills a little when she volunteers to help.

He gets back to his desk, and she to hers without any eye contact. He glances up from his monitor (where he'd typed "Demon Animals" into Google just to kill some time) a few moments later to see her signal with her eyes. The coast is clear, and he turns back to his monitor, watching out of the corner of his eyes as she gets up and walks out the front office door. He counts to fifteen, and makes sure no one in the conference room is looking his way and then he follows, stepping lightly across the carpet, letting the door close behind him without a sound.

His shoes echo on the tile of the stairs, and he finds her a flight and a half down, leaning against the railing and staring down to the floor way below. She turns towards him when he approaches, and gives him a brilliant smile. "Hey! It's the body of a giraffe with the head of a baboon!"

Jim's eyes go wide, and he can't help but smile. "Oh, you're going to get it, Beesly." Before she can run, he scoops her up, and carries her down the rest of the stairs, all the while she's laughing and saying, "It's a compliment! Monkeys are adorable!"

When they reach the bottom floor, he sets her down so they're behind the last case of stairs. She's still laughing, and he shakes his head, and with a mischievous smile, he presses her up against the wall and kisses a quick trail up her throat before landing roughly on her mouth. She makes a sound like a delighted squeak, and he's kissing her like he can't get enough, as if he's starving for her like he hadn't just made love to her that morning ten minutes before they left for work.

Her hands reach up to entwine with his, twisting and pressing. He nips at her bottom lip, and then slides his hands from hers, bringing them up to touch her face. She sighs shakily as he slows his pace, his kisses becoming languid and gentle, and he tenderly strokes her cheeks with his thumbs.

He pulls away after a couple of additional small pecks, and her eyes are still half closed, and she's smiling dreamily at him. He can't help but chuckle.

"How come we never did this before?" she asks, smiling.

"I don't really know. If you ask me, we would have started doing this a long time ago."

She looks at him seriously now. "I know."

"From now on, Whenever Michael is acting crazy, or Dwight is annoying the heck out of me, I'll give you a signal, and we'll meet down here." He knows that means they'll be down here doing this about twenty times a day, but that sounds good to him."

"Deal," she says.

They stay for a while longer, just enjoying this reprieve from the craziness upstairs. Jim still has her pinned to the wall, and they're holding each other. Pam's nuzzling his neck, and he's sighing into her ear.

After enough time passes that they think they might actually be missed, he kisses the tip of her nose. "Come on, we should get back. There's research to be done."

Christmas night, 2009 
10:04 P.M.

Pam makes herself a cup of tea in the kitchen. The scent of turkey and sweet potatoes and pie and eggnog still linger in the house. She's about to relax with Jim for a little while after a hectic day of hosting Christmas dinner. It had been the second time they'd hosted Christmas at their house, but the difference this year is that they have an 8-month old baby who had been vying for their attention all day.

Sam's been sleeping upstairs in her crib now for an hour, since just before the last guests had left, and now the house is all quiet and peaceful. Pam prepares her tea- adding milk and sugar- and stirs for a few moments, letting herself wind down. Jim had been such a big help, lending a hand with dinner preparations, keeping Sam occupied, and entertaining guests while Pam had been making last-minute preparations in the kitchen.

She carries her steaming mug into the living room, where the lights are out except for the colorful twinkle lights on the Christmas tree, and Jim is nowhere to be seen. She stands there and looks around for a moment, letting her eyes adjust to the darkness. Not seeing anything, she reaches for the light switch.

"No lights." She hears laughter in his voice, and it's coming from the corner behind the tree.

"Where are you?" She's whispering, and she doesn't quite know why.

"Back here," he says, and she had been right- his voice is, mysteriously, coming from behind the Christmas tree.

She smiles to herself and sets her tea down on the coffee table near the couch. The only way to get behind the tree into the corner is to crawl underneath it. So she gets down on her hands and knees, and she sees his feet. He wiggles his toes at her. "There you are," she says, creeping underneath the tree low enough that she has to be on her elbows. Once into the opening behind the tree, she struggles a little to fold herself into the small space, using Jim as leverage to be able to pull her legs in behind her. She turns around to lean against the wall like he is.

"It's like a fort back here," she says smiling. She looks over at Jim, and he's smiling softly at her.

"I love it back here," he says.

The twinkle lights cast a dim, joyous glow over their little secret corner, bathing the two of them in orange light.

"How often do you come back here?" she asks, looking at him. She'd never known him to hide behind Christmas trees.

"Last week, when you were taking your painting final, Sam crawled back here, and I came in after her, and we ended up hanging out here for an hour or more. She loves it back here."

She smiles and leans against him, sighing. "I like it back here, too."

They sit in silence for a while, enjoying their little moment together in their own little world after a day filled with family and friends and a little baby needing their attention.

Jim picks a few pine needles out of Pam's hair.

"Today was a good day," Pam says sleepily.

"Yeah, it was," Jim agrees.

Pam links her fingers with his.

"Your cousin really likes yams, doesn't he?"

"Oh my gosh, did you see how many he ate?" Jim says, laughing.

"I know. Leave some for everyone else, right?"

"His plate was like Yam Mountain."

"Mount Yam."

"It was like Donkey Kong's Banana Hoard."

Pam laughs and nuzzles her nose into his shoulder. Her laughter dies after a few moments, and she looks up at him. "Seriously, though, thanks for all your help today."

He presses his nose to her hair and plants a kiss there.

"I feel like I haven't talked to you all day, though, with all the cooking, and all the people around..." she yawns.

"I know. Totally unacceptable." He smiles.

She leans in and kisses his neck. He subconsciously tilts his chin to give her better access, and his arms slide around her waist.

"Whoa," he says in mock seriousness after giving in for a minute or two. "I thought you said you wanted to talk to me after not being able to all day."

"This is better, though, don't you think?"

He pretends to think for a moment, raising his eyes to the ceiling and quirking up his mouth. "Yes."

She giggles, and then his mouth is on hers, soft but insistent. He kisses her languidly, lovingly, and before she realizes it, they are lying on the floor in their own little world, just loving each other- kissing, and nuzzling, and touching.

"This is nice," she says, placing a few more pecks on his lips. Her knees press into the sides of his hips.

"I know what can make it even nicer." His eyebrows bounce up and down exaggeratedly.

"Mm-hm," she agrees with a laugh, and pulls his shirt up over his head.