I Ain't 'Fraid of No Ghost by MrsKHalpert
Summary: Jim doesn't believe in ghosts. Right?
Categories: Jim and Pam, Episode Related Characters: Jim, Jim/Pam, Pam
Genres: Fluff, Holiday, Humor, Married
Warnings: None
Challenges: None
Series: Ghost stories
Chapters: 4 Completed: Yes Word count: 6670 Read: 1562 Published: October 31, 2022 Updated: October 31, 2022
Story Notes:

Big thanks to both Yellowberry22 and Robert Dunder for their help with this one.

I don't own anything here, but one of my favourite ever Jam interactions is their ‘phone call' during this episode.

1. Chapter 1 by MrsKHalpert

2. Chapter 2 by MrsKHalpert

3. Chapter 3 by MrsKHalpert

4. Epilogue by MrsKHalpert

Chapter 1 by MrsKHalpert
Author's Notes:

Set immediately after the season 8 Halloween episode ‘Spooked'.

"After you," Jim grinned, as he opened the door for Pam at 5.03pm following one of the strangest Halloween parties that Dunder Mifflin had ever hosted. 

"Thank you," she smiled back at him, her eyes sparkling with love for the husband that she'd been arguing with all day. She watched him as he closed her door and walked over to his side of the car, worry still very much filling her mind. As Jim pulled out of the parking lot and started the drive home, obliviously humming along to a song on the radio, Pam stared out of the passenger window in silence. Although she and Jim had shared a kiss in the elevator ride down to the parking lot, which in Jim's eyes meant their little tiff had been put to bed, Robert California's ‘scary story' was still playing on Pam's mind.

Jim pulled up to a red light and heard Pam sigh softly, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw her roll her head on the headrest to look at him. He turned to look at her, a small smile tugging its way onto his lips and a slightly raised eyebrow. 

"Look, if you want to be the one who explains to Cece that ghosts aren't real, whenever that could happen, then I guess I'm ok with it," Pam said shyly, her head leaning on the headrest, with doe eyes staring up at Jim.

"So you finally admit ghosts aren't real huh?" he smirked, letting his head fall back on the headrest, mirroring his wife's position. The car behind them beeped, causing Jim to sit back up in his seat and hit the gas.

"No, it's not that, it was Robert's story. I don't want us to be the couple that sleeps an inch further apart until one of us leaves and then we..." she sobbed, unable to finish the end of her sentence. 

"Woahh, Beesly," he said, reaching his hand over the centre console to hold hers, but keeping his eyes on the road. As much as he was used to seeing her pregnancy induced weeping, Jim still couldn't stand to see Pam cry. "What are you talking about?"

"I just don't want us to disagree about stupid stuff that might tear us apart eventually," she sniffed with a small shrug. 

"I promise you, nothing like that is going to happen. If anything, it's going to be the half drunk mugs of tea you leave lying all over the house that drives us apart," he smirked, earning him a swat on the arm from Pam. "But, you know, I really don't think we need to worry about something like that. I think we're gonna be ok." 

"Even if I believe in ghosts?"

"Even if you believe in something made up like ghosts, yes," he said with a roll of his eyes, "we'll be ok." 

They carried on the short journey home in a more contented silence, humming along to the radio as Jim drove. He eventually pulled into the driveway and put the car into park, before jumping out and racing around to Pam's side to help her out of her seat.

"Thank you," she smiled at him as she placed her hand in his and heaved herself out of the car.

"Anytime," he replied with a quick kiss to her hand, before they walked over to the front door.  Jim fumbled around with the key, trying to get it into the lock, as Pam rubbed her hand over his suit jacket between his shoulder blades. 

"Hey mom, we're home," Pam called as she stepped inside the house, dropping her purse on the floor by the coat rack in the hallway. 

"We're in here," Helene called from the kitchen. "We're just having dinner. Fish sticks and peas. So how was the party?"  

"Um, kinda weird," Pam replied, as she walked into the kitchen. She went over to give Cece a kiss on the top of her head as she sat in her highchair, pincering peas into her mouth, one by one. "There was this really creepy video that was played during the party. I think it was meant to be scary or something. But it was just," she paused, thinking of the best way to describe it, "gross. And then our boss, or I guess our boss's boss, told this weird story. I don't know, just it wasn't as fun as last year's party," she said, somewhat sadly, thinking about how Jim had dressed up as Popeye for her the previous year. 

"Oh well, work isn't really for parties anyway," Helene replied, trying to get a fish stick into Cece's mouth, but failing miserably as the toddler clamped her mouth firmly shut and thrashed her head about. 

Pam laughed as Jim came into the kitchen and walked over to give Cece a kiss and swipe a fish stick. "I can tell you've never worked at Dunder Mifflin," he smirked. "Has she been ok today?" He shoved half the fish stick into his mouth, before he caught Pam's glare and he put the remainder back down on Cece's tray.

"An angel, as always," Helene replied with a smile, as Cece threw the fish stick onto the floor and peered over the side to look at it on the ground. 

"Ok, so angels," Pam said, holding out her hand, palm upwards, towards her mother. "Do you believe in angels?"

"What?" Jim and Helene both replied simultaneously, looking to Pam in question.

"We were having an argument," Pam began, but was interrupted. 

"Woah, it wasn't an argument, it was," Jim paused to think for the correct word. "It was a conversation that led to a slight disagreement." He waved his hand in front of Pam to signal for her to carry on.

She rolled her eyes before continuing. "We were having a slight disagreement at work about whether ghosts exist, and I wondered if Jim thinks angels exist or not as well." 

"Definitely," Helene replied. 

"Absolutely not," Jim said at the same time. Both women shot him a warning look. "What?" he asked, hiking his shoulders up around his ears.  

Pam narrowed her eyes at him as if in warning, before digging her hands into her pouch in defiance. "Oh shoot, I've lost the kangaroo that was in my pouch," she said as she rooted through the large pocket on the front of her costume. "Do you mind checking if I dropped it in the car?" she asked Jim. 

"Oh sure, no problem," he replied, their little tiff already forgotten as he grabbed the car keys off of the kitchen counter and headed back to the front door. He stopped to place a kiss on the top of Cece's head on the way out. 

"Alright, I'm going to get going," Helene said, placing her hands on her thighs and pushing herself out of the chair. She then started to look for her belongings that were scattered all over the kitchen, talking to herself as she did so. "Oh I meant to say," she said, turning to Pam, "those bulbs that Jim bought for me at the weekend must be faulty or something. I've tried three of them and they keep blowing whenever I turn the TV on. Or the radio. Or the oven. Any appliance really. It's the strangest thing. So anyway, I brought the rest of the box back and left it in the den. Can you ask him to return them for me and get a new box sweetheart?" 

"Oh sure thing," Pam replied. "We'll see you tomorrow morning right?"

"Bright and early, as always," Helene replied with a smile. 

"Thanks mom, you're a lifesaver." Pam kissed her mother goodbye and went to find the dustpan and brush to sweep up the peas and fish sticks that Cece had dropped all over the floor.

A few minutes later, Jim came back into the kitchen holding the toy kangaroo that had fallen out of Pam's pouch. "He was under your seat," he grinned. "Oh and also that mini projector I ordered finally arrived." He walked around the kitchen trying to rip open the package with his hands, with Pam giggling slightly at his inability to do so. 

She opened the utensils drawer, expecting to find a pair of scissors, but after rifling through the mess of stainless steel and black plastic, couldn't find them. "Where have the scissors gone?"

"Hmm?" he asked, still trying to open the package unsuccessfully. 

"I'm sure the scissors were in here this morning," she said, pushing the contents of the drawer about. 

"Oh, I used them to cut a packet of bacon open this morning. They're over on the window sill," he said, distractedly pointing towards the sink.

"You're terrible with putting things away. You gotta get better," she sighed as she reached over to grab the scissors from the tiled shelf and passed them to him. 

"Oh I'm sorry ‘Miss Puts Things Away Exactly Where They Should Go All The Time'," he said, rolling his eyes.

"I'm just saying, you need to start putting things back in their places. Makes things a lot easier when you do babe," she laughed as Jim sliced open the package. "So what is it you ordered again?" 

"It's this little projector that you can slot your phone into and it'll project like a picture or video from it. I thought I could use it to convince Dwight that he could make the wall into a computer if I shined a picture of his desktop onto it. Maybe make it voice controlled? I'm not sure, I haven't figured out the details yet, but it's got a lot of potential," he grinned as he carried on examining the small black machine. 

"Sounds great," Pam said as she heaved Cece out of her highchair. "I'm gonna go give her a bath. Oh hey, can you close the window, it's cold in here." 

"Sure. We should really talk to your mom about not opening so many windows. It's gonna get too cold for Cece soon." 

"Yeah, I know, I know. Wanna order a pizza while I bathe her?" she asked, with Cece balanced on her hip.

"Yeah, sure. Mushroom, pineapple and meatballs?" he asked with a slight shudder. 

"Hmmm, no you know what. I think chicken, peppers and pickles." 

"Oh gross. Can you even get pickles on a pizza?" 

"Just try. I think we have a jar in the refrigerator. Or if not, you can go get one," she said, smiling sweetly, her tongue between her teeth. Jim gave her a mock salute. "Oh, and did you think about what movie you want to watch later? And before you say it, don't say Ghostbusters again. It wasn't funny then, and it won't be funny now," she warned with an arched eyebrow. 

"Come on Beesly, give me some credit. No, um, there's this film I haven't seen." He dropped his voice ever so slightly. "It's meant to be kinda romantic and sexy," he said with a slight rise of his eyebrows. 

"Oh yeah?" Pam said, her face visibly relaxing and a slight blush creeping up her neck.

"Yeah," Jim swallowed. "It's, uh, got Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore in it."

"I hate you," she deadpanned, with a slight glint in her eye, before turning and heading to the stairs. 

"Love you too," he called after her.

Chapter 2 by MrsKHalpert

"So what do you want to watch?" Jim asked as he moved his bottle of beer out of the way and opened the pizza box on the coffee table in the living room. "How about The Sixth Sense?" 

Pam leaned forward and started separating the pre-cut slices of pizza. "Ummm, nah," she said with a scrunched up nose. 

"The Others?" he asked nonchalantly as he picked up a slice and knocked the pickles off so that they landed on the brown cardboard with a slight wet thud. She shook her head again. "Beetlejuice?"

"Does it have to be a ghost film?" she asked before taking a bite of pizza.

"What's wrong with a ghost film? You believe in ghosts right? So what's scary about movies about them?" 

"Jim," she said in a warning tone with her eyebrow raised.

"I'm just saying, if you believe in ghosts, and aren't afraid of them, then it should be fine to watch a ghost movie. Right?" he said, matching her arched eyebrow with his own.

"No, it's just," she tried to say, but Jim cut her off.

"No, no, no, Beesly. Admit it. You're scared of ghosts. You've spent the whole day telling me they're real..."

"Which they are," she butted in.

"So why are you scared of them?" he asked, putting the slice of pizza back in the box and turning to face her more fully with a slight smirk on his face.

"No, I, I'm not. It's just. We don't need to watch a movie about them right? Like, you can get murdered, so why would we want to watch a movie about that? It's just kinda..."

"Scary?" Jim suggested. Pam threw the pillow she was leaning on at him, hitting the top of his head and mussing up his styled hair. He laughed and bent over the arm of the couch so that he could grab the pillow and passed it back to her. 

"So you're not scared at all by ghost films or like the Saw films or anything?" she asked, putting the pillow back under her arm. 

"No, why would I be? Ghosts aren't real, and that murder stuff doesn't exactly happen in a place like Scranton."

"What about the Scranton Strangler?" she asked, reaching for another slice. 

"Well, yeah, I mean," he stumbled. "No, that's, that's different."

"How?"

"It just is. Like movie stuff isn't real, so it's just not scary," he shrugged, before leaning forward to grab the bottle of beer and taking a sip. "So, how about Hocus Pocus? I'm pretty sure witches from the 17th century aren't gonna come back and terrorise us."

Pam grabbed the pillow and hit him with it again. "Ok fine." He laughed and got up to grab the DVD from the shelf, before walking over and slotting the disc into the machine. He came back to the couch, turning off the lights on the way, and relaxed straight into the corner, slinging his arm over the back of the couch. Pam threw the remainder of her crust into the box and leant back into Jim's side, snuggling into him underneath his arm. She rested her head on his shoulder and smiled as she felt his hand begin to stroke the top of her arm where his hand had settled.  

The movie began playing, and within a few minutes, both Jim and Pam were engrossed. As the scenes moved from 17th century Salem to the 90s, the room filled with the brighter ambient light radiating from the TV, and Pam was able to see Jim's features in profile more clearly. On the screen, Max screamed as his sister jumped out of his closet, and in Scranton, Jim jumped at the slight scare, causing Pam to giggle. 

"What?"

"Just funny, you're scared of a little girl jumping out of a closet," she laughed.

"I wasn't scared!" he protested. "I just got a little shocked, was all."

"Sure, sure," she smirked. As Jim sat staring at the screen, wrapped up in the Sanderson sisters, Pam phased out the movie and slipped into her own little world.

-- 

"Pam, pam," Jim whispered as the movie finished. "Beesly, wake up," he tried again, a little louder, nudging her shoulder. 

"Hmm?" Pam said, her eyelids fluttering open to see the credits rolling in the darkened room.

"Come on," Jim said, standing and holding out his hand to help Pam up. "Let's go to bed." 

"Ok," she yawned. "I'm just gonna grab a glass of water from the kitchen. I'll be up in a minute." 

"Alright," he said, before giving her a quick kiss on the top of her head. "I'll see you up there." 

Pam walked through to the kitchen on autopilot in the dark, and grabbed a glass from the cabinet. As she waited for the water from the faucet to run cold, she absentmindedly stared around the room, until her eyes fell onto the small projector that Jim had purchased. As she slipped the glass under the stream of water, a smile crept across her face. 

--

"Morning mom," Pam called out, as she heard her mother unlock the front door. "We're in the den." 

"Morning sweetheart," Helene cooed to Cece as she walked into the room. "How are you today honey?" she asked Pam.

"Oh fine, nothing to complain about. Just tired. Between the baby kicking and Cece up about 4 times, I think I managed a solid 2 hours of sleep," Pam said with a small laugh.

"It doesn't get any better, let me tell you. You didn't sleep properly until you were about 9, but then Penny was still waking. And if it's not the waking, it's the early starts. Until you were a teenager of course, and then I couldn't drag you out of bed. If it's not one thing, it's the other. And your father was no use." Pam sucked a breath in as she listened to her mother drone on about how useless men are. Her eyes glazed over and her gaze drifted down, landing on the box of lightbulbs that Helene had given her the night before to be returned to the store. Helene noticed Pam vacantly staring at the box and piped up. "And I bet that box stays there for at least another week," she tutted. "Men never do the things you ask."  

"Mom," Pam whined. "Jim's gonna return them at the weekend, I promise." Pam cursed herself for forgetting to even tell Jim that her mom had asked him to return the faulty light bulbs. As Helene carried on talking about how hard it is to get a man to do anything, Pam got lost in her own thoughts.  

"Pam?" Helene tried again, after getting no response the first time she said her name. 

"Hmm?" 

"Remember I need to leave early for my doctor's appointment today. You'll be home by 3pm right?" Helene asked. 

"Oh yeah, it's fine. I'll be home by then. Jim's gonna grab a lift with Kevin at 5pm," Pam said as she started to get up off of the floor where she had been playing with Cece. Helene held out her hand to help Pam up, and Pam smiled gratefully at her as she got up with a slight grunt. "I'm just going to finish getting ready." 

"No problem. Oh, do me a favour and open the window," Helene said, pointing to the small window on the other side of the room. "It's stifling in here."

"Oh, um, actually mom," Pam began hesitantly. "We, uh, we're a little worried it's a bit too cold for Cece with all the windows open. Would you mind keeping them closed today?"

"Pam, how can I possibly get through the day without the windows open?" Helene exclaimed, fanning herself with her hand as if to get her point across of how hot she was. "You know how I am at the moment." She made wide eyes and pinched her mouth to the side, silently communicating the effects that the menopause was having on her body temperature. 

Pam thought for a moment. "Oh, hey, I've got a hand held fan I bought in the summer. Want me to get that?"

"I suppose," Helene said, fluttering her eyelids in annoyance.

"I'll be right back," Pam said with a forced smile. She walked through to the kitchen and rifled through one of the cupboards to try to find the fan for her mom. As she was stretching up on her tiptoes, she felt Jim's hands stretch over her bump and pull her backwards slightly. She lowered herself down and melted into his arms, letting his freshly showered scent envelop her. 

"What you doing?" Jim asked as he placed a kiss on her shoulder before letting go of her and moving to the side to lean against the counter. 

"Oh just looking for that fan I bought in the summer to give to my mom, rather than her opening up all the windows and freezing Cece to death." 

"Great idea," he smirked as he reached for a mug to pour some orange juice into. "You sure the fan is in there though?" 

"Yeah, this is where it always lives," she said, still rooting around in the cupboard.

"Oh, wait. I used it a couple of weeks ago when I was trying to roll ping pong balls with Cece. Where did I put it?" he said, turning in a circle and scratching his head. He walked back over to the utensil drawer and opened it, before rummaging around inside. "Aha!" he exclaimed, pulling the fan out of the drawer. "I knew it was somewhere." 

"‘Somewhere'," she laughed with a slight shake of her head. "You're terrible. You need to work on putting things back where they're meant to go."

"Yes ma'am," he said in a serious tone, that made a shiver run up Pam's spine.  

Pam just laughed and rolled her eyes. "Come on," she giggled. "We better get to work."

Chapter 3 by MrsKHalpert

"Coffee?" Pam asked Jim as they set their bags down beside their chairs. She stayed hovering in the air awaiting his answer as Jim pulled his chair out to sit down. 

"I'll get it," he replied, tucking the chair back in. "Tea?"

"Please," she smiled, pulling her chair out and lowering herself down, holding her bump as she did so. She watched Jim through the blinds into the kitchen take down two cups and fill them both up, before her attention was drawn away by Phyllis walking in the door.

"Morning," Phyllis chirped as she walked by to her desk. 

"Hey Phyllis," Pam said, leaning over to the side to see past Dwight. Her eyes flicked to the kitchen door that Jim had kicked open with his foot, and she watched him carefully carry the two mugs towards their clump. "Oh how was the walking tour?" she asked Phyllis, just loudly enough for Jim to notice she was talking, but not specifically listen into the conversation.

"Oh it was so much fun. Bob tipped the guy really well so he took us to the extra spooky places," Phyllis replied with a glint in her eye. "Couple of secluded places too," she giggled, pushing her glasses up her nose slightly. 

Pam refrained from pulling the face that she wanted to, and instead swallowed down the bile that had risen in her throat. "Oh thanks," she smiled at Jim, as he placed the pink mug of tea on her desk. She turned her attention back to Phyllis. "So did he take you to The Banshee?" she asked.

"Oh yeah, we stopped by there for some food. We had..." 

"Did you see him?" Pam excitedly interrupted, getting out of her seat to walk over to Phyllis's desk. Jim followed her with his gaze, mouth hung slightly open as he watched his wife delve back into the madness. "The man in black?" Pam reminded Phyllis.

"Oh I don't,,," 

"He's always in the mirror behind the bar. You can't miss him. All dressed in black."

"Um, I, maybe. It was kinda dark," Phyllis said, quite unsure of herself. 

"Oh then it was definitely the Man in Black," Pam said, noticing that Jim was watching her out of the corner of her eye. "Did the lights do that flickery thing?"

"Uh, maybe. Bobby was buying everyone there a drink so I didn't really notice too much," Phyllis said, trying to turn back to her computer. 

"That's the Man in Black. Whenever he's around, something weird always happens with the lights. We used to go through like a ton of lightbulbs and the manager was constantly getting the wires looked at. But no one could ever find anything," she said with a raised eyebrow. Jim shook his head as if in disbelief and turned his attention to his computer, to try and engross himself in his work, rather than listen to his wife's storytelling. "Did you lose anything?" Pam asked loudly. 

"Hmm?" Phyllis said, turning back around to face Pam. 

"Did you lose anything while you were in the pub?" 

"I, I don't think so," Phyllis replied, incredibly confused.

"Oh it's just that..."

"I would ask you to keep your personal conversations to your designated lunch break," Dwight butted in, finally annoyed enough with the conversation that was happening around him. 

"Oh I'm not taking a lunch break because I have to leave early...," Pam began to say, but Dwight cut her off again. 

"What a shame. I guess we'll never hear the end of this story," he said curtly, before picking up his telephone receiver and dialling a number. Phyllis had taken the opportunity to turn her back on the conversation and was pulling up a website on her computer screen. Pam looked over at Jim who gave her a lopsided grin and a shoulder shrug, before picking up his own phone and dialling a client's number. Pam sat back in her chair, both hands wrapped around her streaming mug of tea and smiled slightly to herself as she took a sip. 

--

"Hey babe," Pam called out as she heard Jim open the front door later that day. "How was the rest of the afternoon?" 

"Fine," Jim said absentmindedly as he walked into the kitchen, flicking through a pile of mail that had been left on the table in the hall. "Cece ok?"

"Yeah, nothing to report really, just having some spaghetti for dinner. What do you want to eat? I really don't feel like cooking tonight," she moaned. 

"Want me to make some grilled cheese? Or maybe Chinese?"

"Oh you know what," Pam thought, realising that their favourite Chinese place was right next door to The Banshee Pub, "Chinese sounds great. Do you mind getting it while I give her a bath?" she asked with a nod of her head towards Cece. 

"Sure thing," Jim said, walking over to grab the car keys from where he'd tossed them on the counter. "Usual?" 

"Please," she smiled. 

"I'll see you shortly. Night night baby girl," he said, bending down to give Cece a kiss in her highchair and then turning to give Pam a kiss on the cheek. "Love you both." 

--

Forty five minutes later, Cece was clean and fast asleep in bed, while Pam was laying the table with forks, spoons and napkins downstairs. "Did you have a beer?" she asked as Jim walked into the kitchen carrying the white plastic bag full of takeout.

"How did you know?" he asked suspiciously, setting the bag down on the table.

"First of all, you smell of beer," she laughed. "And second. I don't know, there's something about you. Can't put my finger on it."

"Okkk," he laughed. "Do you mind grabbing me a glass of water?" 

"No problem," she smiled. Pam paused until she was standing in front of the kettle before speaking again. "So where did you go?" 

"Oh, just The Banshee," Jim said obliviously, as he pulled out a take out container from the bag. As he said the words ‘The Banshee', the lights in the kitchen went out. "Woahh, what was that?" he asked, confused as to why both of the spotlights would have blown at the same time. 

"Oh weird. Is the power out?" Pam asked.

"No, look, the hallway light is still on," he said, pointing to the well lit hall. "Weird. Shall we eat in front of the TV instead?

"Sure," Pam agreed, before walking over and grabbing the cutlery and napkins from the table and following Jim into the living room.  

They placed everything onto the coffee table and settled themselves on the couch. Jim leaned forward to grab the box of noodles and a fork, but noticed the curtain blowing on the other side of the room. "Dammit, your mom left a window open again," he sighed as he put his food down and walked over to the window. He pulled open the curtain and reached up to close the window that he knew would be open, but found that it was already closed. "That's weird." 

"What is?" Pam said around an egg roll.

"The window isn't open," he said, closing the curtains again. He walked back over to the couch and sat down, picking up the noodles again. "I swear the curtain was blowing though. I don't understand." He looked up again, and sure enough, the curtain was blowing gently as if there was a light breeze behind it. "Look!" he exclaimed, jumping up again to go to the window. He pulled the curtain back again as if looking for what was behind it, but found nothing. 

"That's weird. I didn't see anything," Pam shrugged. "Come on, sit down and eat before it gets cold." 

Jim sighed and sat down, and once again picked up the box of noodles. He kept his eyes on the curtains, and for the third time, saw them billowing. "Ok, that's it. What is going on?" he asked loudly, an edge present in his voice, as he went to get up again. 

"Let me go and look," Pam suggested, putting her hand on Jim's knee to stop him getting up again. She hoisted herself up and shuffled over to the window to investigate. She rattled the window to make sure it was secured, and moved the wedding photo sitting on the sill to make sure nothing was behind it. "Nothing weird going on here babe," she said, closing the curtains for the third time. She walked back over to the couch and sat down, whilst Jim kept staring at the window. "Look, the curtains are totally normal. Sure you're feeling ok?" she asked, holding the back of her hand to Jim's forehead. 

Jim nodded, his eyes still trained on the curtains, which were now unmoving. "Weird," he sighed as he picked up his fork again. They carried on eating, and Jim turned on the TV so that they could catch up on the episode of Game of Thrones that they had missed the week before.  

Once they were finished, Jim relaxed back into the couch as Pam lay her head on the armrest, close to the end table that held a small portable CD player, and lay her feet on Jim's lap. "Oh, so you never told me where you went for your drink earlier," she said, stretching her arms above her head. 

"Oh, it was The Banshee," Jim replied. A moment later, the lights in the living room went out. "Again?" Jim moaned into the air. "What is going on tonight?" 

"Yeah, that was kinda weird," Pam said, looking around the darkened room. "So you went to The Banshee?" she asked, grinning slightly. 

"Yeah. Oh wait. No. Don't even," he said in a fed up voice. 

"What?" she asked, feigning innocence. 

"Don't even try to say there's some ghost in the house with the curtain and the lights because I went to have a drink at The Banshee." 

"Did I say a word?" she protested with a wide smile and her tongue between her teeth. Jim just sighed and shook his head as he returned his gaze back to the TV. "You did say hi to him though?"

"Who?"

"The man in black. You have to say hi to him otherwise he haunts you until you do. That's what the other staff used to tell me. You always say hi to him when you see him," she said seriously, sitting up on her elbows slightly. 

"Shut up Beesly. There was no ghost, I just had one drink while I waited for the food and that was it." 

"I'm just saying, maybe you brought him back here. Might explain the lights blowing and the curtain," she tried to reason. 

"You know what," he sighed. "Maybe we should just go to bed."

"Alright," she said with a small knowing smile. 

-- 

"Pam, where's the remote?" Jim called out from the bedroom to the en-suite bathroom where Pam was brushing her teeth. 

"Huh?" came her muffled reply around her toothbrush. 

"The remote control, it's not on my nightstand," he said, searching around his messy side table looking for the remote control. He moved a couple of magazines out of the way, lifted up his alarm clock to look underneath and put the three half empty glasses of water on the floor. He heard Pam spit out her toothpaste into the sink before walking back into their bedroom, holding her bump with one hand, and her aching back with the other. 

"Are you sure you didn't leave it somewhere else? You know what you're like," she said, pulling back the red and white floral comforter. 

"No, this is where it always lives," Jim said, scratching his head. 

Pam looked down at her own tidy nightstand, with only a dog eared book, a photo frame holding a picture of Jim, Pam and Cece and a glass of water that she had just placed there. And sure enough, sitting on top of the book was the remote control "Oh look," she said, holding it  up. "You must have left it on my nightstand." She passed the remote back to a thoroughly confused Jim.

"But. What? I don't get it. I never move this. It's always on my nightstand."

"I don't know what to tell you babe," Pam shrugged as she began to position various pillows around herself so that she would be able to sleep properly.

"So weird," he said quietly to himself as he got into bed. "What the hell?" he shrieked, pulling back the covers to find his Men's Health magazine at the foot of the bed. "What is this doing here?" 

"Maybe Cece put it there?" Pam suggested, her eyes already beginning to close.

"Hmm, maybe," Jim said, thoroughly unconvinced. "Mind if I read a little?" he asked, turning his side light on and switching the main light off. 

"No," she replied sleepily. "Dammit, I need to pee again." She hauled herself out of bed and went to the bathroom. "I can't wait to stop peeing every five minutes," she yawned, as she made her way back to bed a few minutes later. "Ow," she shouted, tripping over the pile of laundry that was at the end of the bed. 

"You ok?" Jim asked, sitting up quickly, worried about his pregnant wife hurting herself. 

"Yeah, just hit my toe. I'm fine," she said, climbing back into bed and laying back into her mountain of pillows. "Night baby, I love you." 

"Love you too," he replied, leaning over to give her a kiss. As he sat back up, ready to read his new found copy of Men's Health, he noticed a shadowy figure of a man dressed in black staring at him from the end of the bed. "Pam, Pam," he hissed, shaking her shoulder. "Pam, wake up." 

"What?" she yawned, unhappy about being woken before she'd even had the chance to fall asleep.

"There's a, uh, there's something at the end of the bed," he said, his voice a little shaky.

"Huh?" she asked again, sitting up slightly on her elbows. "I don't see anything."  

"Look, right there. It's a man dressed all in black," he said, pointing towards the wall. 

"I thought you don't believe in ghosts," she replied, a smirk forming on her lips. 

"No, it's. I don't. There's just, I don't know what it is. It's," he trailed off as Pam hit the light switch and whatever he had seen disappeared. 

"Want me to have a look?" she asked, once again throwing the covers off. 

"No, it's ok. You don't have to," he said as Pam heaved herself out of bed. "Well, you know, seeing as you're up and all." 

Pam went to the end of the bed and looked at the fall, assessing that there was nothing there. She bent down to examine the pile of laundry and move a pair of shoes out of the way. "There's nothing here Jim. Coast is clear. Can I get back into bed now please?" she sleepily asked. 

"Uh yeah," he replied, his eyes still fixated on the wall at the end of the bed.

"Night babe," she said before stretching up to turn the light off, leaving Jim staring at the wall in the dim room, only illuminated by the small light on his night stand. As Pam slept, Jim kept staring at the blank wall long into the night, wondering if the man in black was going to come back to visit him.

Epilogue by MrsKHalpert

"Ok, so how did you do it?" Jim asked the next morning when he walked into Cece's room to find Pam comforting Cece in the rocking chair.

"Do what?" she asked innocently, looking up at him.

"You know, the whole ghost thing," he said expectantly as he folded his arms and cocked his  head to the side.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she replied, looking down at Cece in her arms, as a slight blush crept up her neck. 

"Beesly, are you about to break a wedding vow?" he asked, in mock shock. "I thought we were always going to tell each other about pranks. That's what we promised at least." He watched her flinch ever so slightly. "Plus, I found this in the pile of laundry," he said smugly, holding up the small projector. "So?" he asked again, his eyebrows raised in anticipation. 

Pam tried to stare up at Jim as cooly as she could, but couldn't help the smile that was breaking across her face.  She sighed with a small giggle. "Well, you were so adamant that ghosts didn't exist, so I just wanted to see what would happen if you thought there was one in the house," she began to explain with a grin. "It was actually Hocus Pocus that gave me the idea to give you a little scare. And it was pretty easy really, I mean you bringing the projector home was just the cherry on top." 

"Go on," Jim said, with a rolling gesture of his hand.

"So you know those lightbulbs you bought for my mom last week?" she asked, and he nodded. "They were faulty, and anytime an appliance gets turned on, they blow apparently. So when I came early yesterday, I changed a few of the bulbs out." She saw Jim open his mouth as if to lecture her about climbing on a stepladder at almost 8 months pregnant, and quickly shut him down. "I was totally fine, I was really careful climbing up onto the ladder and it was just for a second. But anyway, later on it was just a case of asking you well timed questions and turning the kettle and the CD player on without you noticing."

"And the curtain?"

"That was the little fan," she smiled, clearly proud of herself. She passed Cece up to Jim to hold so that she could push herself up from the rocking chair. "I just put it behind our wedding photo and then when I went to ‘investigate'," she said with air quotes, "I just turned it off."

"Ohh. Nice work," he smiled, before bending down to give Cece a kiss. "What about the stuff that was moved around?"

"Oh yeah, no idea. Pretty sure that was Cece," she laughed. "Worked out pretty well though." She took Cece back and went to place her on the changing table to change her diaper.

"So safe to say, while it was a good prank, I most definitely don't believe in ghosts," Jim said with a grin as he folded his arms against his chest and leaned against the wall. Just then, a door slammed from down the hall, causing both him and Pam to jump in shock.

"Sure about that?" she asked with a giggle and a raised eyebrow.

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