Pam couldn’t stop the grin that had appeared on her face as they left the Utica office from growing. The moment that Karen had congratulated Pam and embraced her, Pam felt a little more at peace. It was like that one last thing on her list of things to do had been crossed off. Not that Karen was on her mind all the time, or was keeping her relationship with Jim from moving forward, but whenever her name was mentioned or the past was brought up, it stung Pam a little. But now there was no more hesitation, no more worries.

Pam couldn’t wait to call Jim and tell him everything, but she didn’t really want to have the discussion with Michael Scott in the back seat of the car. She was just about to call him and let him know she would tell him the entire story later when her cell phone chirped. “He can read my mind from this far away,” she thought to herself, chuckling as she flipped open the phone.

“Hey you,” she answered cheerfully. She was sure he could hear the smile in her voice.

“Hey yourself,” Jim replied, “you sound excited. What’s going on? Is Michael entertaining you with his hilarious jokes?”

“Absolutely, what else is new?” she joked back, taking a moment to glance at Michael through the rearview mirror. He was passed out, head turned towards the window. “No, actually, he’s asleep in the backseat. I just had a really good day today, surprisingly.”

“Really? So things went well with Karen then? She didn’t try to bitch slap you and start a riot like you were worried about?” he asked sarcastically.

Pam just rolled her eyes and smiled again. “No, she didn’t. She was actually really nice, and…” Pam’s voice drifted for a second, not sure if she wanted to bring up the pregnancy issue at this moment.

“Aaaaand what?” Jim asked, obviously curious when it came to Pam’s interactions with his ex. He could only guess what was coming next, but surprisingly, Pam didn’t seem upset in the least.

“Well, she was really nice, and really, um, pregnant?” Why she said it like a question, she wasn’t sure, but for some reason she was a little shy about talking about it.

Jim’ eyes went wide for a moment, digesting the information that Pam had just told him, but after a few seconds he relaxed. “She’s pregnant? Wow, um, that’s cool, I guess. Right?” He wasn’t exactly sure what to say.

“Yeah, yeah, I mean when we first saw her, Michael made some inappropriate comment about the baby being yours, but after the presentation we got to talking, and she told me about her husband, and I could tell she was really happy. And I actually told her we were engaged, and she congratulated me, and she seemed really, truly happy for us. It just feels good to know she doesn’t hate me,” Pam finished quietly.

“I’m really glad to hear that,” Jim responded, “I don’t want you to be worried about what she’s thinking, but I’m happy.” Jim paused for a moment. “So she’s married? And pregnant? Wow, she didn’t waste too much time after me.” Jim joked, knowing Pam would appreciate the humor.

Pam laughed at his disbelief. “I know right! It was awfully fast.” She was about to continue, but Michael chose that moment to wake up.

“Where are we?” Michael asked, still drowsy from his nap.

Pam figured this would be a good time to let Jim go, so she ignored Michael for a moment. “Hey, Jim, Michael just woke up, so I’ll give you a call later when I get into the hotel. Should be about an hour or two.”

“Alright, drive safe. I love you,” he said, smiling.
“I love you too,” she responded, the smile on her face somehow managing to grow even bigger. Loving Jim never failed to make her glow.

A few days after Pam and Michael had returned from their lecture circuit Tour de Dunder Mifflin, Jim and Pam had already talked in great length about Karen and Pam’s visit to Utica, but Pam still couldn’t shake something from the back of her mind. She found herself wondering about Karen constantly, and she wanted to continue the conversation they had started back in her office. Pam had always liked Karen — as much as she could like someone dating the man she was in love with. She thought that Karen was a genuinely nice person, and Pam had always thought that under different circumstances, they may have been friends.

Pam was weary about sharing her thoughts on Karen with Jim, though, because although she knew Jim would support her in whatever she wanted to do, she didn’t want to bring up something that would make him uncomfortable or scrape at any raw feelings he may have.

Eventually, though, Pam decided she just needed to talk to Jim about it, feelings be damned. She knew he wanted her to be honest with him, and she figured he wouldn’t be too upset; they had talked about Karen and their relationship before, and he seemed content with the fact that Karen and Pam had gotten along well.

She broached the topic one day while they were eating lunch in the break room.

“So I was thinking…” she began cautiously, a small smile on her face as she glanced up from her salad to look at Jim’s face.

“What are you up to Beesly? What’s with that smirk on your face?” Jim questioned. He knew Pam’s looks, and the one she was wearing currently meant she was about to bring up something she herself wasn’t even sure about.

“I just, well, okay, here’s the thing: I’ve been thinking a lot about the conversation I had with Karen last week, and I’ve been thinking about her a lot lately. And I kind of wanted to maybe talk to her some more. You know, just to find out about how she is now and stuff. And if that’s weird for you, I totally understand, and I won’t talk to her, I just need to know how you feel about it,” Pam finished with a breath. There it was. “Not so hard, Beesly,” she thought to herself.

Jim studied Pam for a moment and digested the information she had just told him. He could tell she was trying to gauge her reaction. Finally his face broke into a smile.

“Pam, I’m totally fine with that. If this has been bothering you, you should have told me sooner.”

“Really? ‘Cause I just didn’t want you to be uncomfortable with me talking to her. Or I guess, with the idea of me talking to her. Not sure she really does.” Pam’s face fell a little as she said the last part, and Jim noticed. Reaching around her shoulder, he pulled her into him and gave her a quick kiss on top her head.

“Hey, hey, if you make the effort, then that’s all you can do. And you’ve already made progress, right?”

“Yeah,” Pam replied, “I think I’ll send her an email this afternoon.”

----
From: PBeesly@DunderMifflin.Scranton.com
To: KRichards@DunderMifflin.Utica.com
Sent: Tues. 02/03/2009 2: 17 PM
Subject: (none)
Hey Karen, it’s Pam, which I’m sure you figured out because the email says I sent it to you. Duh. Anyways, I just wanted to let you know that it was really nice to see you last week, and I enjoyed talking to you. I was wondering if you wanted to maybe get together sometime and talk. I completely understand if you don’t want to, I just really enjoyed seeing you the other day. I know it’s a bit of a drive so we could meet half way and grab a coffee. Or lunch, because pregnant women aren’t supposed to drink coffee, are they? I’m rambling now, and I didn’t know that you could ramble in an email, but I am, so I’ll just cut it off here. Talk to you soon:) Pam

Pam was pleasantly surprised when her computer chimed an hour later, alerting her of a new email from one Karen Richards, previously known as Filippelli.

From: KRichards@DunderMifflin.Utica.com
To: PBeesly@DunderMifflin.Scranton.com
Sent: Tues. 02/03/2009 3:23 PM
Subject: RE: (none)
Hey Pam,
I enjoyed seeing you last week also. Lunch would definitely be good, we could meet this weekend if you’re available. There’s a couple of towns between here and Scranton that would be perfect to meet up at; we can figure that out later. Also, I’m not really sure about the coffee and pregnant woman thing either. I’ve been told repeatedly I shouldn’t drink it, but there is some controversy on the issue. I’ve been trying to avoid it as much as possible, in the hopes that my child isn’t born wailing for caffeine:) Talk to you soon,
Karen

----

Karen had actually taken her up on her offer for lunch, and Pam couldn’t be happier. She was just about to let Jim know about Karen’s response in an email when she noticed him getting up from his desk and heading in her direction.

”Perfect timing,” Pam said as Jim reached her desk.

”Why’s that?” Jim asked as he leaned against the desk and glanced over the top.

”Karen just emailed me back, and she wants to meet for lunch, too. I was just going to let you know.”

“Well that’s good,” Jim responded. “When are you going to get together?”

“This weekend sometime. Is that okay? We don’t have any plans already right?” Pam asked.

“Nope, anytime this weekend is good. I’ll just have to suffer alone for a few hours without you. Maybe I’ll give Mark a call,” Jim answered.

“Well you could always come with us, be the third wheel,” Pam replied, stifling a giggle, “I’m sure Karen would be happy to see you.”

”Hmm, yeah I’m sure she would,” Jim said, cocking his head a bit and giving her a mock glare. “Things between us were so friendly the last time we spoke. You remember, that was the time Michael and Dwight kidnapped me and pushed her industrial copier down the stairs. And silly-stringed the stairwell. And said they were going to burn Utica to the ground. And made me wear a ladies warehouse uniform. Do I need to keep going?”

Pam couldn’t help but laugh. “I know, I know, poor baby. But really, Karen doesn’t seem so angry anymore. Not that I do think you should come to lunch or anything, but maybe the whole marriage thing has finally helped her realize that she was too good for you.”

”Oh, too good for ME?” Jim laughed incredulously. “Very nice, Beesly, very nice. But let me ask you, if she was too good for me, where does that leave you?”

”Well, I think I was originally tricked by your charm, just as she was. But the whole being-in-love-with-me thing really helped your cause, in my case. Not to mention I was crazy in love with you too, but I’m not sure how that came about,” Pam joked.

Jim couldn’t help but grin. ”Aww, Beesly, you really know how to make a man feel special.”

”What can I say, I try.” She returned the smile.

”Yeah, yeah,” Jim chuckled, “you do. But honestly, I’m glad she agreed to lunch. It’ll be good for you two.”

”Yeah, it will be,” Pam said thoughtfully.

Jim and Pam returned to their work shortly after. Pam was excited about getting to talk to Karen again. She knew she and Karen weren’t going to be instantaneous best friends, but it would be nice to have a girlfriend to talk to occasionally. Pam didn’t have very many, as many of her friends throughout high school and beyond were Roy’s friends. The few girlfriends she still talked to from college lived too far away to get together with, so she looked forward to being able to sit down and chat with Karen. “This is a good thing,” Pam thought to herself as she exited her email and grabbed some paper to shred.