--------------


Season 1/Season2:
”You Don’t Know Me” (Ray Charles & Diana Krall)
Lyrics




You give your hand to me
And then you say, "Hello."
And I can hardly speak
My heart is beating so

Jim used to always wonder what people really meant when they talked about love at first sight. How was it possible to feel so deeply for another person without knowing anything about them? Maybe they meant lust at first sight. That was something he had experienced before and could safely say that lust is not the same as love. It wasn’t that he was a cynic. Not at all, actually. Not when he grew up witnessing his parents. They were everything that he thought love should be. And they never tried to convince him or his siblings that they fell in love at first sight. Theirs was a love that grew and deepened over time, happy and sad and everything in between.

Yet, even thinking and believing all of this, when he met Pam, he just knew. At first sight (he wanted to look at her forever), first sound (he wanted to listen to her forever), and first touch (he wanted to hold her forever). He fell so hard and so fast that he began to wonder why people didn’t believe in love at first sight. So what if he didn’t know her entire family history? He knows that her smiles make him happy. Her laughter makes him feel alive. Her presence brightens his day. He knows that he would lay the world at her feet…if only she would let him.

But that ring on her finger makes Jim wish that he remained ignorant of that “love at first sight” business.




No you don't know the one
Who dreams of you each night
And longs to kiss your lips
And longs to hold you tight

They’ve reached a level of comfort in their friendship where they can joke around and playfully hit one another. A quick hug was even permitted on those special occasions like his birthdays or hers. They were best friends. To Jim, though, Pam was so much more than a best friend. He documented each of those moments in his mind, like a miser hoarding something precious.

When she fell asleep on his shoulder during an interminable meeting, he closed his eyes and allowed himself the luxury of pretending that they were alone, on his couch after a nice evening out. If only she were his, he would watch her as she slept and then kiss her awake.

As he held her hand and told her about convincing Dwight to dye his hair and go to Stamford, he couldn’t help but think that, if she were his, he would always hold her hand. He would hold her hand in the car and from the car into the office. He would hold her hand as they strolled down the street. He wouldn’t need an excuse to take her hand in his.

If he was forced to choose a favorite from his collection of memories, it would have to be her drunken kiss. He replayed that most in his mind. He imagined kissing her much deeper than just closed lips and clumsy hugs. He would pull her close to him, all the while looking at her, lowering his lips and slowly tasting her. Each kiss would be deeper and longer than the last. If he was honest with himself, his imagination always took him further than kisses. Sometimes when he was awake, but more often as he slept. And when his guilt passed, he would look forward to the next day when, maybe, he could add another moment to his growing collection.




To you I'm just a friend
That's all I've ever been.
No you don't know me

He thinks that sometimes Pam doesn’t really know him as much as she’d like to think she does. Granted, they talked about a lot of things best friends talked about--their families and friends, their likes and dislikes, every-day occurrences and special events. In some instances, Pam probably knows him better than everyone else.

But because their relationship is strictly as friends, there were some topics that were never broached in their conversations. She was allowed to complain about Roy and find a sympathetic listener in him, but they rarely talked about any fun times that she and Roy shared. He was grateful for this unspoken rule because, otherwise, he might have taken to alcohol to dull those images.

His dating life was another forbidden topic of discussion. He was allowed to laugh with her over his crazy dates. If they were normal and he managed to enjoy himself, the same rule applied. He could never tell Pam that, while he enjoyed those dates, she was never far from his mind. Truth be told, those other women were only poor substitutes for Pam in his mind. He was glad that she didn’t know him well enough to guess the depth and depravity of his feelings and thoughts.




I watched you walk away
Beside the lucky guy

It’s hard to figure out when he should have stopped. Maybe he should have played along with her joke and both could have gone back inside the makeshift casino. Except the words “I’m in love with you” carried more meaning now than ever before. Maybe he shouldn’t have followed her back into the office. But then, he finally tasted her lips the way he’d always imagined and that wasn’t something he could bring himself to regret.

Maybe he should have stopped even before that. Removing himself from the path of temptation would have been wise. Not going to the reception desk every day. Not spending all his lunches and breaks with her. Not finding excuses to email or IM or even phone her. But he realized long ago that when it came to Pam, logic didn’t apply. Otherwise, that ring on her finger would have put a stop to all of this longing and heartbreak.

And even as he berated himself for his foolish behavior, he still sat in his car on the darkened street and waited. He wasn’t sure if he was courageous enough to try for the third time. Maybe he was simply hoping against hope that she would run out and tell him that she lied. He didn’t realize that there was still hope in his heart until he saw Roy’s truck pull in to pick her up.




Oh, you'll never ever know
The one who loved you so
Well, you don't know me

The drive to Stamford was nice. It gave him time to get used to the emptiness that seemed to be his companion these days. Not seeing her since that night helped. And he guessed she knew him well enough to not make any contact. But then, if she really knew him, he wouldn’t be driving away from her.

As he reached the city limit of his new life, he thought that maybe the people who were skeptical of love at first sight were right after all. Maybe believing in that would bring less pain.

Maybe.



--------------

--------------


Season 3:
”Sorry Seems To Be the Hardest Word” (Ray Charles & Elton John)
Lyrics




What do I do when lightning strikes me
And I wake to find that you're not there

Pam didn’t know when she finally accepted the fact that Jim had really left. Sometimes when she looked up from her desk, her eyes would play a trick on her and give her a glimpse of him turning toward her with a smile. A smile would hover at her lips, but then she would blink and it would all disappear.

When she came home that night, she stayed awake trying to find a way to talk to him and move on. They had done that before, pretending nothing happened. They were good at pretending. That night she didn’t know that none of the excuses she came up with would matter.

Relief was the first emotion that came to her when she didn’t see him at work. Relief soon gave way to concern, then anger that he was pulling this disappearing act. And when she saw his bare desk when she came in to work one morning, she stared until everything became blurry.

When she moved into her new apartment and experienced the exhilaration of being free and unencumbered, her hand reached out to her cell phone. Her fingers paused when she realized he had probably changed his number, and her excitement dimmed when the enormity of it hit her: Jim had truly left.




What do I say when it's all over
And sorry seems to be the hardest word

When she finally talked to him one evening, the word “sorry” was on the tip of her tongue. It never came out because they were laughing and joking and talking nonsense as if nothing had happened—as if he had never left. It was the best time she had had in a long time, so she refrained from saying “sorry”. She also thought he deserved to have her say it to him in person.

By the time the Stamford staff joined the Scranton branch, she realized that what she felt when she realized Jim had left was nothing compared to seeing him return…not hers. The scenario in her head was of them having coffee and her finally telling him that she was sorry and…because he loved her, he would forgive her. Jim with someone else was not part of any of those scenarios. Jim moving on without her was not part of those scenarios. Jim’s warmth and laughter and smiles for someone else...

They met again in the parking lot and she never said “sorry.” But she was sorry for many things that he would never know. Most of all, she was sorry that it was too late.




It's sad, so sad
It's a sad, sad situation
And it's getting more and more absurd

A lot of times she wondered if everything would be better if she’d leave the same way Jim did. Just…leave. Her job was easily replaced. There was nothing to hold her here at Dunder Mifflin. Not when she realized that the best friend she had fallen in love with was no longer her friend. Not when she spent almost half an hour crying in a darkened hallway next to Dwight. Not when the view from her desk included the back of him and the occasional exchange of looks between him and his girlfriend. Not when she realized that his indifference hurt as much as his leaving had.

More than all of that was the fact that they were now merely good acquaintances. She didn’t know any more about him than Angela or Oscar or what she accidentally pried out of him. And he didn’t know she had begun to immerse herself in art again, partially thanks to him. There were so many things she wanted to share with him again, if only he would let her.

It then occurred to her that maybe there weren’t second chances for some things in life. Anywhere but Scranton looked better and better each day. But then he would look over and smile and she thought that ‘anywhere but Scranton’ didn’t have him.




What do I do to make you love me
What have I got to do to be heard

She didn’t know why she gave him that CIA prank for Christmas. Or why she went along with his prank on Andy. Actually, she did. She wanted to show him that she was still the same. And hopefully by showing him that, he’d finally come back.

But another missed opportunity at a wedding led her back where she began, with the man who was not him. She willed herself to be content because when you hurt someone as much as she had hurt him, maybe things worked out for the best and he was with someone who wasn’t as careless with him as she was.

His non-appearance at her art show and near violent skirmish with her ex-fianc� seemed like the last nails in the coffin of whatever used to exist between the two of them. Then when she finally told him she was sorry, it was for all the wrong reasons.

A day of looking at what-ifs and a night of staring at embers finally pulled her out of the inertia of her life and gave her voice to finally, finally tell him everything that she was waiting to tell him since he came back into her life. When she came home that night, she felt a freedom that had nothing to do with physical space and everything to do with being honest with herself.

It was only a fleeting ache she experienced when she wrote the note and dropped it in his file. She truly wished only happiness for him in whatever road he chose to take, even if she couldn’t witness any of it. She smiled when he waved goodbye, because she thought maybe this was a sort of happy ending.




What have I got to do
What have I got to do
When sorry seems to be the hardest word

Some people were right when they said that if you have no expectation, you won’t face disappointment. But what was the saying when you expected nothing and got everything? The only word that came to her mind was “bliss.”

At the end of their third date, as she watched him get up from her couch to head home, it finally occurred to her that there was one more thing she needed to tell him.

“Jim?”

At the sound of his name , Jim looked over at her and smiled. She was wonderfully mussed from his kisses. All he could do was grin at her and say, “Yeah?”

She walked over to him and cupped the side of his face. “I’m sorry.”

His grin turned into a puzzled look. “For what?” When she didn’t say anything, he pulled her closer and tipped her face up to his. “Pam?”

“For everything! It was because of me that…” She stopped when he shook his head.

“It stopped mattering, Pam. We’re here now,” he said. “And that wasn’t what I needed to hear from you anyway,” Jim murmured while staring straight in her eyes. “But I can wait to hear those words.” Having said that, he leaned down and kissed her.

When he lifted his head, she stood on tiptoes and threaded her fingers in his hair. “Jim? I love you.”

His fingers pressed into her back as he brought her flush against him. “What?”

“I said…I love you. I really do, you know. With all my heart.”

“Say it again,” he whispered. And she did, between his kisses.

Jim didn’t leave that night. Or the many other nights that followed.


--------------

--------------


Season 4:
”Fever” (Ray Charles & Natalie Cole)
Lyrics




When you put your arms around me
I get a fever that's so hard to bear

Pam knows that she’s a grown woman and not a teenage girl. Yet, she can’t help the blush that tints her face every time she looks at Jim. And she does it a lot. Sometimes he’ll catch her looking and give her a wide smile, which only makes her blush even more. Sometimes when he’s engrossed in his work (admittedly rarely), she is able to look at him freely without the guilt or unfilled longing of early times. And that would make her blush too because it would occur to her that he was all hers.

At home, doing nothing more than cuddling on the couch watching TV, her face would become a bit warm at his closeness. Or when they’re cooking together in her tiny kitchen and he’s finding all sorts of excuses to put his hands on her. Or walking in the park and they’re just holding hands. And when they’re in bed, wrapped tightly around one another, her blush is of another reason altogether.

The truth is: all of it is the result of the pleasure of knowing they are finally together.




Fever ... in the mornin'
Fever all through the night

It’s our first night away together. The phrase kept going through Jim’s head as he looked at a sleeping Pam in his arms. As soon as the door closed behind Dwight and Mose, he’d pushed the beds together. There was no way they were sleeping apart tonight. And now, after coming back from Dwight’s room and seeing his misery, the phrase went through his mind again as that once familiar lovesick feeling came over him.

He and Pam had talked about this before, on occasions when he’d wake up in the middle of the night, aching and lovesick for her, the way he had when they were ‘just friends’. He just couldn’t stop himself from drowsily reaching for her, kissing her awake, pushing so deeply inside her that it almost seemed like one of the erotic dreams that he would have BP, Before Pam.

Now, looking at her, Jim knew that this was one of those nights when love and lust for her overwhelmed him and the only way he could calm those jumbled feelings was to thrust inside her, to feel her wrapped around him. It was the post-coital bliss, when she’s half on top of him, one leg between his that calmed him.

And he knew that she understood when he slowly kissed her awake. It only took her a moment to look in his eyes and draw her tank top over her head, to reach beneath the covers and cup him in her hands. It only took a moment for her to shift onto her back and open herself to him, encouraging him to fill her. When she wrapped her arms around him and breathed I love you in his ear, he thought: This is bliss.




Sun lights up the day time
Moon lights up the night
I light up when you call my name

“Who is it?”

Pam looked up at her sister from her cell phone, not realizing the smile hovering at her lips. “What?”

Penny and Isabel exchanged a look and simultaneously said, “It’s Jim.”

Pam blushed. “Um, yeah. How’d you guys know? He just called to…why are you guys smiling like that?”

“Because Pam,” Isabel told her best friend. “It’s so obvious when Jim calls you. You have this perma-grin attached to your face.”

Before Pam could protest, Penny nodded. “Yup, you do. By the way, you wouldn’t make a good poker player.”

Penny smiled and hugged her sister’s side as the trio walked to the next store.

-----

“Pam!”

Even before turning around, Pam already knew it was her boyfriend and grinned widely as she looked over her shoulder at him.

As he walked across the parking lot of her apartment, she said, “You’re early!”

“I know. But I had packed my stuff already.” Jim replied when he reached her. He leaned down to kiss her lips in greeting. “Why do you look extra happy?”

Pam just shrugged as she opened the door to her apartment. “No reason.” But the smile in her eyes told Jim differently.

-----

“It’s Pam.” Larissa said to her mom as both looked on at Jim from the kitchen window. He was smiling and laughing as he talked on the phone.

Pete chimed in, “It’s definitely Pam. Did you see the goofy look on his face when he answered?”

Sure enough, the first thing Jim said when he walked through the kitchen door was, “Pam called to say that she’s on her way here and…what are you guys shaking your heads at?”




Fever isn't such a new thing
Fever started long time ago

Jim guessed he shouldn’t be surprised at the lack of surprise among the documentary crew when he showed them the engagement ring he’d bought for Pam. After all, these were the same people who had captured, on camera, the lows and highs of his story with Pam. And he shouldn’t have been surprised when his parents just smiled and nodded when he told them of his plans to marry Pam. After all, these were the same two people who worried and fretted over his move to Stamford and correctly assumed that it had something to do with a woman they’d never met. And it wouldn’t have surprised his siblings or friends if they knew, even if they would have ribbed him about it.

Most of all, it didn’t surprise him that he’d already bought Pam’s ring. It wasn’t a secret that he was crazy in love with her. Nor was it a secret that now that they were together, they were permanent, as in, til death do us part. He knew it since practically the first moment he laid eyes on her. He knew it through their friendship, even when she wouldn’t admit it to herself. He knew it when he left and came back, even when he wouldn’t admit it to himself. And he definitely knew when he picked her up that night he came back from New York, when everything was finally right for the first time in so long and she held him close and whispered how much she missed him.

All that was left to do was find the right time and the right place. But all of those didn’t matter that much because he already had the right woman--the only one for him.




You give me fever

“Achoo!”

“I don’t think we’ll ever get better.” Pam said, bleary eyes and sniffy nose.

“Yeah...but at least we’ll die together.”

She swatted him weakly. “Don’t make me laugh! My throat hurts. And this is your fault.”

He pulled her a bit closer and drew the blankets more tightly over them. “Shhh…the cold medicine is kicking in. We’ll be better after a good night’s sleep.”



--------------

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Season 5:
”Crazy Love” (Ray Charles & Van Morrison)
Lyrics




I can hear her heart beat for a thousand miles
And the heavens open every time she smiles

“I really…mmmm….planned something more….” Jim mumbled against Pam’s lips.

“Don’t care.” Pam said as she tried to kiss him back.

She was so beautifully disheveled (naked save for the bra and panties) that he wondered how he survived the last ten days without a glimpse of her. The rest of her (and his) clothes formed a trail from the door to the bed.

“No, I really did!” He insisted against her throat as he nipped and licked his way down to her covered breasts.

“Jim…” A moan escaped when he bit her nipple through the lace bra. “I…really don’t care!”

She protested when he leaned up to look at her, leaving her breasts aching and needing him.

“I know you don’t believe me, but I was planning a more romantic proposal and…” Jim didn’t get a chance to finish his sentence when Pam pushed him onto his back and climbed atop him. His hands automatically went to her hips. He groaned at the feel of her, hot and wet through her panties.

“And I said that I really don’t care.” Pam repeated to her fianc�. Her fianc�! “Jim, you could’ve thrown the ring at me while we were watching TV and said “We’re getting married” and I’d still be happy.” She shook her head and gave him a smile, willing him to understand. “It doesn’t matter how you ask or…or where you ask…it’s just…I just want to marry you, you know?”

Jim looked up into the face of this incredible woman who was going to be his wife and felt his heart grow. “Yeah . . . I know.”

And as the rain continued its rhythmic beat outside the window, inside, the two lovers set a different kind of rhythm.




And when I come to her that's where I belong
Yet I'm running to her like a river's song

He knew that if he’d said anything else, tried to influence her choice in any way, Pam loved him enough to come back for him. He would have her next to him every night and she…..she would have that lingering “What if?” and he loved her too much to want that for her. So in the end, he left that choice up to her, knowing that whatever her decision, he would continue loving and supporting her.

And he almost convinced himself that another three months was not a big deal when there she was, waiting for him. She was all smiles and gorgeous in the waning sunlight, saying everything that he thought he didn’t need to hear. I missed you. But nothing else mattered then as he shuffled her into his car, saying they’d pick up her car later. When he ushered her into their apartment and threw all their belongings on the floor, he didn’t think she’d mind that he picked her up and took her straight to their bedroom. I need you. And he didn’t think she’d mind when he drove himself deep into her, again and again, making up for all those nights they had to spend apart. I love you.




Take away my trouble, take away my grief
Take away my heartache, in the night like a thief

“I don’t deserve you.” Pam mumbled sleepily as she cuddled closer to Jim. Her dad had left earlier that day, having found a place and made a swift move to his new apartment.

“Hmmm?” His voice sounded like he was on the verge of sleep, tired from the events of the day and what they’d been . . . doing . . . for the last couple of hours. She held her breath, waiting to see if he was going to say anything else when she realized her fianc� had fallen asleep.

Propping up on her elbows, Pam leaned over and looked at Jim, feeling an odd protectiveness and overwhelming tenderness toward this man lying beside her. Feeling amazed at who he was. Pam had no words to describe all he meant to her. His goodness, his kindness, his strength, his beauty (inside and out)—everything about him—made her so grateful and proud to be the woman that he chose to share his life with.

Had anyone ever loved her the way Jim did? When she didn’t have the guts to apply to art school, he was the first to tell her otherwise. When she failed said art school, he made her feel like it was less of a failure and more of a life experience. And this recent separation of her parents, he’d done what she asked even when she wrongly blamed him. When she felt sad, happy, mad, angry, and everything in between, he was . . . he was just there.

And she knew that sometimes she didn’t really deserve him (although they’d had this conversation before and he’d just tell her that that’s not how it works, this deserving business).

Instead, Pam just kissed him softly on lips and said, “But I will spend the rest of our lives loving you. And making you happy.” Then she hugged his side and, placing her hand over his heart, fell asleep.




She give me love, love, love, love, crazy love
She give me love, love, love, love, crazy love

Jim snapped his fingers, drawing Pam’s attention away from the TV for a moment. “I know! Between the two of us, we can bully Michael into making Ryan sit somewhere else so that you can sit next to me.”

“Are you still thinking about that seating arrangement?”

Jim looked at her incredulously, “Of course! The table next to me is prime real estate, Pam!”

He saw her rolling her eyes and smiling, he dumped her off his lap where she was sitting. “If you’re going to be like that, you can sit at the end of the sofa, away from me.”

His smile became a grin when she promptly climbed back onto his lap and said, “What I meant was that we don’t need to tell Michael a thing. I’d already moved all of my stuff into the desk next to yours. No way are they going to make us sit apart! How else are we going to torture Dwight?”




Yes it makes me righteous, yes it makes me feel whole
Yes it makes me mellow down in to my soul

She didn’t know how other women in her situation reacted when they found out that they were pregnant, but she didn’t think she was doing it right. There was the initial shock and surprise when the doctor said, “Congratulations, Ms. Beesly. You’re pregnant.” She was sure that her mouth was gaping like a trout, unable to make any noise until Jim came in and hugged her so tight that she squeaked.

But she was sure the happiness that bubbled inside of her was not normal. Where’s the freaking out part? Isn’t that what people do when they found out they were having a baby that they hadn’t planned for? What about the part where they felt like they were not ready to be parents? Weren’t there supposed to be tears and recriminations? Blaming and fretting about how they were going to do this parents thing?

Yet, the only thing she knew was the way Jim looked at her, as if she cured cancer or found the answer to world peace. The awed look on his face every time he looked at her, each time he touched her, each time he kissed her made her feel invincible and peaceful and ecstatic all at the same time.

There it is: they’re having a baby.


--------------

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Season 6:
”Somewhere Over the Rainbow” (Ray Charles & Johnny Mathis)
Lyrics




Somewhere over the rainbow
Way up high
There's a land that I heard of
Once in a lullaby

“What are you doing down here?”

Distracted, Pam dragged her gaze from the laptop screen to her fianc� who was nipping at her shoulder.

She hunched up. “Jim…stop! That tickles!” She laughed when he started to playfully gnaw at her instead.

“Why aren’t you in bed with me? Is Baby giving you trouble?”

Pulling his head down for a quick kiss, Pam pointed to the screen. “I couldn’t sleep so I decided to work on our wedding site. That way, people don’t need to bug us when they need info about our wedding.”

Arms enveloping her waist and one hand settling directly on the growing swell of their unborn child, Jim started to click on the tabs to observe his wife-to-be’s progress. When he clicked on the last tab, he turned to her. “Wow! Pam…this is amazing! Just…wow!”

“It wasn’t that difficult.” Pam said while feeling ridiculously proud at how impressed Jim was with her little project.

Shaking his head, Jim took a last look at their wedding site and focused his attention on her. “Well, this is just brilliant no matter how easy it is for you. C’mon, let’s go back to bed.”

“Wait! Let me finish writing a mini bio about us and then I’ll go up.” She paused. “Actually, why don’t you do it?”

Pretending to heave a long-suffering sigh, Jim pulled Pam up from the chair. “If I have to. Can I just do the gift registry section? I want to put us down for a Ferrari.”

She grinned at the hopeful expression on his face. “I hate to break this to you but it’s not gonna happen.”

“You’re no fun.” Then he sat down at the chair vacated by Pam, pulled her onto his lap and began typing. Pam read when he was done and turned to bury her face in his neck, whispering, “I love you.”

In the ‘About Us” section, he wrote just one sentence: Jim Halpert is the luckiest man in the world.




Someday I'll wish upon a star
And wake up where the clouds are far
Behind me

“Why not, Pam?” Jim teasingly asked Pam once again.

“Because.”

The sky was overcast as they drove to Niagara. And even knowing that soon their relatives (not to mention the whole office) would be descending on them didn’t put a damper on their moods. They were getting married.

“Because what? Remind me once again why we have two separate hotel rooms? You know I have a hard time sleeping without you next to me.”

Pam finally took her gaze from the scenery passing outside their car. “Because I want you to be surprised when I walk down the aisle!”

They shared a quick glance as Jim brought their entwined hands up to his lips. “Well, then come out with me after the party. No one has to know. Plus, what’s the worst that could happen? I already got you pregnant.”

She laughed and poked him in the arm. “Don’t Tom and Pete have some kind of plans for you? I heard some rumors about them trying to get you drunk. Which, by the way, better not happen before our big day.”

“That’s why you need to keep me company.” Jim exclaimed. “Why would I want to spend time with them when I could be hanging out with my wife? We can paint the town red. Or whatever crazy kids do nowadays.”

“Oh, you mean like getting pregnant before getting married? Also, I’m not your wife yet.”

Feigning an innocent expression, Jim said, “You’re right. Those things you do to me in bed are definitely not wife-like.”

When she burst out laughing again, Jim smiled to himself and waited for her retort. He didn’t have to wait long.

And so it went for the rest of the drive. The talking, teasing, bantering, and the occasional kissing. And when they entered the vicinity of Niagara, there was a momentary silence as they both took a mental picture.

They were here.




Where troubles melt like lemon drops
Away above the chimney tops
That's where you'll find me

“Jim, where are we going?” Pam asked as Jim shuffled her into their car.

He seemed both elated and nervous at the same time when he answered. “You’ll see. Just…trust me, okay?”

She looked at his half tie and beamed at him as she threw her torn veil into the back seat. “Always.”

Both let out a laugh they didn’t realize they needed as Jim hightailed them away from the church and from their crazy friends and families.

Pam finally got a clue where they were going when she heard the roaring sounds of water. Her suspicion was confirmed when they passed the sign that pointed to Niagara Falls. “We’re going to the Falls?”

Jim nodded, “Yep.” But he didn’t add anything else until they reached the parking lot and he helped her out of the car.

When Pam stopped and pulled him back to her, wanting to remind him that they were still in their wedding attire, he just took both her hands in his. “When we decided to get married here, I got two tickets for a tour to see the Falls.” He paused and looked uncertainly into her eyes. “And if we ask the captain of the ship, he will marry us.”

Whatever Pam was expecting, it was not this. But then again, when it came to this amazing man, nothing was expected. Not when he first confessed his love, not when he asked her out on their first real date, not when he proposed. Not the house that they were making their home and then…their baby. And she didn’t realize tears were rolling down her cheeks until his thumbs started to wipe them away.

“Pam? We can go back to the church now and…” Jim stopped mid-sentence when she hugged him close and shook her head.

“No…no! I want to marry you here.” She kissed him on the lips. “I’ll marry you anywhere! As long as it’s you.” And then, no more words were needed.

As the cool mist enveloped them and strangers watched on, Jim and Pam repeated the vows and placed the rings on each other’s fingers, both ignoring the slight tremor of the other’s hands. When the captain of The Maid of the Mist pronounced them man and wife and the onlookers cheered at the impromptu wedding, they only had eyes for each other.

Man and wife. Mr. and Mrs. Halpert. Jim and Pam. Best friends. Lovers. Soul mates.

Forever.




Somewhere over the rainbow
Skies are blue
And the dreams that you dare to dream
Really do come true

25 years later:

“Pam?” Jim called out, wondering where his wife was.

“In here.” Her voice came from her newly renovated art studio (former garage turned art studio turned storage for their kids’ stuff turned garage for their children’s cars turned back to art studio).

When Jim entered, he saw that his wife was in full painter mode. The easel was up with a canvas half done. Paints were on the ground, on her clothes (even with the painting apron), her hands and some even made it onto her face. Instead of the barren walls that used to be here when he first set up her studio, one wall was now shelves filled with various artists’ tools. On the other two walls hung various pieces that she worked on and experimented with. The place looked well-used. Cheerful.

She automatically tipped her head up for his kiss. It was the way they’ve been greeting each other for the last twenty plus years. “Lauren and Liz just called.” Jim said about their daughters. “They’ll be home early for winter break.”

“Oh. I wonder why they needed to call instead of just coming home?”

Jim just shrugged. “Who knows? Our kids are weird like their mother, I guess.” He grinned and evaded her easily when she jabbed the paintbrush at him.

“What about Nick?” Pam asked, referring to their youngest child and only son.

“I think he might be coming home a bit after his sisters.”

Pam was about to say something when she noticed her husband looking intently at her painting. “What?”

He shook his head. “Nothing. Just…you’re painting our house.”

“Yeah. Do you like it?” They both stared at the colors and swirls and lines that made up their home. Changes were made from when they first bought the house. The front door was finally fixed. They added rooms to the house, expanded the kitchen. But the scary clown picture was still there.

“I do. But I remembered you used to have these drawings of houses with some kind of balconies, right?”

It no longer surprised Pam that her husband remembered these little details. “Terraces. A house with a terrace.”

Of course Jim remembered when her grandest dream was a house with a terrace. And now, even though she didn’t have her terrace (just a half-finished patio that Jim promised to get to soon), she had more than she could ever dream of.

Turning to her husband, she said. “You know, that sofa looks very comfortable now, doesn’t it?” Then she squealed when Jim whipped off her apron and walked her backward until she fell onto the sofa with him.

Life was sweet. She was living her dream.






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