Jim continually glances over at reception. He overhears bits and pieces of the conversation between Pam and Emily. Emily tells Pam about England, Pam tells Emily about art. Thankfully, they seem to be getting along, with a minimum of embarrassing childhood stories. He feels Dwight glaring at him, and goes back to calling clients.

Emily looks over at Jim, and notices he is deep in a phone call. “Okay, want to know an embarrassing story now?” she asks Pam quietly, nodding to Jim.

Pam excitedly nods yes.

“Well, it happened one Easter when he was like… 4. We were over at a relative’s house. Jim was upset because he hadn’t been able to eat any of his Easter candy before church, and there was none there for him. One of our older cousins told him there were chocolate eggs hidden outside. So, the two of them went outside and Jim started looking. Well, he found some eggs. Or at least he thought he did. He picked up some dog poop, ran inside to find our mom and said ‘I found chocolate eggs and you can’t stop me from eating them!’ Thankfully she did. I don’t think we could ever forgive him if he actually ate them!”

Pam burst out laughing, and Jim looks up, certain that he was going to hear about something for a long time. “Chocolate eggs!!!” Pam couldn’t stop laughing, and Emily had a smug smile on her face.

“You will pay, Em. You will pay!”

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“I was four and I had a devious cousin. I didn’t eat it.” Jim shrugs his shoulders, trying to pass it off as no big deal

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By the time five o’clock came around, Michael had already made a fool of himself two more times, once trying to talk to Emily in a British accent, but failing horribly, and the second time, spouting off random facts about England, trying to sound important.

“Em, you going back home?” Jim asked as they were leaving.

“Yeah, free food, and then crashing. It already feels like it is 10 for me.” She looks obviously exhausted, and stumbles a bit while walking to her car.

“Okay, yeah, I will drive you. You can’t even walk. You can come get your car again tomorrow morning.”

Emily agrees, to tired to protest. She says goodbye to Pam, saying they will have to talk again soon.

Emily climbs into Jim’s car, and curls up on the seat. Even before Jim starts the car, she is asleep.

Jim smiles, ‘Jetlag can be pretty powerful.’

The ride was quiet, Jim trying to let his little sister sleep. He was glad she was back. They were 8 years apart in age, but he felt closer to her than his brother sometimes. He couldn’t get over that she had the guts to live in England for a year, a combination of jealousy and pride. The only reason he had left for Australia was because of Pam. Oh well, that was the past now. Him and Pam were happy. And he was glad Pam and Emily got along. Even with the embarrassing story. Oh god, he couldn’t believe Emily had told Pam that. He would never hear the end of it.

As he pulled into his parents’ neighborhood, he gently nudged Emily awake. “Em, wake up. Almost home.”

She woke up, startled that she had slept that long.

The both enter the house, with their mother fawning over both of them. Jim hadn’t visited for a while, even though he lived so close, so it was like both were returning home after a long time.

Larissa Halpert had prepared a chicken pot pie for dinner. It was like a family reunion, all three of her children were home, Jonathon had stopped by to welcome home Emily also.

At dinnertime, there was a lot of catching up for all members of the family. Even though they had emailed extensively when Emily was in England, there were some things that could just not be explained fully in type. Jim caught everyone up on Pam, including the fact that Emily had told her about the ‘chocolate eggs.’

“Wow, and she still likes you. That is one classy girl,” Jonathon teased.

“Yeah, well, at least I didn’t get up in front of the movie theater and tried to act out The Karate Kid,” Jim shot back.

After dinner ended, Emily climbed up the stairs. She was utterly exhausted, and could not stay awake for another minute. As she got into bed, she smiled as she listened to the voices downstairs. She was home.

Downstairs, the conversation continued, having moved to the family room.

“Yeah, Mags is great. Emily totally needs to meet her. Science nerd and all,” Jonathon speaks about his girlfriend. His family can tell he cares about her, and that science nerd is a term of affection more than anything else.

“Oh yeah, Emily would love that. Probably spend all afternoon discussing DNA and … science,” Jim’s father, Richard, says. Emily was certainly his odd duckling of a child. His only daughter, and a science nerd at heart, she held a special place in his heart. She was a true daddy’s girl. However when it came to science, no one could relate to her love.

“So, what about Pam?” Larissa questioned her middle child. “Besides the fact that she now knows you tried to eat dog doo.”

Jim glares at her. “Well, I will never hear the end of it. I will be on my death bed and she will mention that story.” Like all childhood stories, he acts like he is angry about her knowing, but inside he is smiling. “Other than that, its great. She has her first art show soon, so she is completely freaking out, but her pieces are amazing, so, she has no reason to worry.”

“Oh, her own show. That is great. When is it, we will have to visit!” Larissa exclaims.

“Well, its not her own show, its her class’ show, but its next weekend at the Scott Building. Over on 5th.”

“Still impressive. She must be great.”

“Yeah, she is.” Larissa could tell by her son’s eyes that he wasn’t just talking about her art.