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Story Notes:

Once again, this is a piece I had to do to make myself feel better after Business School. Thanks to fireworkfiasco for the awesome beta!

Do I own these characters? No. Do I wish I did? Yes. I also wished I had a pony when I was a kid, but that didn't happen. So yeah, I don't think NBC will be giving me any Office peeps anytime soon.

The Desk

Karen hung up her coat and turned to walk, nearly running into Jim. He was frozen in shock and as she looked over his shoulder, she immediately saw the problem. His desk was gone.

"Jimbo!" Michael yelled as he bounded out of his office. "Ok, I have officially forgiven you for abandoning us. Your post-Stamford desk has been destroyed! No offense, Karen."

"None taken," she responded in a half-hearted way. She could never understand why Jim liked this guy.

"Um...where am I sitting?" Jim asked, his eyes narrowing.

"Your old desk," Michael said matter-of-factly.

"Where's Ryan?"

"Ryan?" Michael's voice started to sound angry. "Ryan crossed me in a very maliciavous way so he had to be punished."

"Did you fire Ryan?" Jim asked incredulously.

"Worse. He's now sitting next to Kelly," Michael explained. "So take it! It's yours. Welcome back, buddy!"

"Um...thanks," Jim said, walking slowly over to the new desk. He hung his bag over the chair and smiled.

"So I take it from that smile that you're happy about this?" Karen asked him as she followed behind.

Jim's smile disappeared as he turned to Karen. "Um...yeah. It's just that...well, this was my first desk here and I just...I had a lot of success sitting here," he stammered.

"Oh, well, good luck then. I guess I'll just have to turn my head a bit more to see you."

"I guess so," Jim said, giving her a quick smile before sitting down eagerly.

Karen sat down and turned on her computer. As she waited for it to boot up, she looked over at Jim and his new desk. His head was turned, but not in her direction. In fact, she looked over at him eight times that morning -- she kept track. Half the time he was doing work, the other half he was looking at Pam.

Karen realized she would have to have another late-night talk with Jim.

The Cubicle in the Annex

"Oh my GOD! Did you see this week's People magazine, Ryan?"

He hated hearing her say his name every five seconds, but it was worse when she did it in that giggly sing-songy voice.

"John Mayer is soooo dating Jessica Simpson. But he didn't tell Ryan Seacrest that!" Then her voice went lower. "Well, he did, but he told Ryan in Japanese and the people at E! had to translate it. And can I tell you how much I love the fact that you have the same name as Ryan Seacrest? It's so awesome!"

No, no it was not. Especially when she reminded him of this fact at least once an hour.

"I love watching American Idol over and over again just to hear Simon Cowell say your name. I wish I could get an MP3 of just Simon saying your name -- well, Ryan Seacrest's name -- on a loop so whenever my phone rang it would say 'Ryan, Ryan, Ryan,' in British."

He started playing the "Would you rather...?" game in his head. What would he rather do: listen to that ringtone or walk a mile on hot coals? The coals were looking good right now.

"I can't wait for the Oscars, Ryan! I wonder what Bennifer is going to wear. Well, actually, Bennifer was Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez, but Ben is with Jennifer Garner so they're no Bennifer anymore. I wonder what they decided for their official celebrity name."

Ryan would never ever ever question Michael again. If Michael wanted to look at him with that weird, guy love look, it was ok. Ryan would rather have Creepy Michael than Talkative Kelly.

The Weekend Plans

"Hey."

Pam looked up to see Roy standing at her desk. Again. "Hi," she said, turning back to her game of Sudoku. She was glad she just started a new game so she would be fully distracted during this conversation.

"So you know how we were talking about doing something this weekend? Well, the cabin is free and my brother and I thought it would be cool to go up and hang out, maybe do some sledding. What do you think about coming with us?"

Wow, thought Pam. Less than a week after deciding to try this again and it was back to more of the same. What did she think? She thought Roy and his brother would take the sleds for themselves, just like the jet skis in the summer. She thought she would be the one that would get stuck cooking and doing the dishes while the boys got drunk by the warm fire. She thought that she would have to drive the three hours back to Scranton while Roy slept.

She thought she would have to make up an excuse for not seeing Roy this weekend.

"Umm...Well, I may have to skip. Some of the people from my art class are getting together to talk about the show and how to make it better for next time."

"You don't need to make it better. Your art was the prettiest there."

That didn't sound very convincing...again, Pam thought.

"C'mon, Pammy! Cabin for the weekend?"

She hated when he called her Pammy. "Sorry, I can't," was all she could muster with the added work of pasting on a fake smile.

"Your loss," Roy said. "I'll see you at Poor Richard's tonight?"

"I'll have to let you know. Michael's going to be here late."

As Roy walked out, she started thinking about how to stall Michael until she was sure Roy's truck was gone for the night so he didn't know she was lying.

The Alliance

Dwight always thought Creed was useless, but yesterday, he realized that there were some strategic advantages to knowing him.

Dwight loved Angela, but she was just a petite woman, which made her difficult to rely on in situations because of her weak muscles, high heels, and lack of endurance.

But Creed, he could handle an emergency. It was amazing that when Dwight needed a stake as a security measure in case Jim's vampirisms became violent that he could count on Creed to have one ready. And best of all -- Creed had four! Dwight conceded that the four Creed had weren't compatible for that particular situation, but they would be great for other circumstances like kung fu attacks or a bear mauling. And it was ok because Creed actually had the tools to make a specific vampire stake and he knew where to find an extra broom just for that purpose.

Dwight checked again this morning to make sure the broom handle was hidden under his desk, but still within reach. After all, Jim was acting better today, but he seemed a bit pale.

The Painting

"I realize now why I hate Valentine's Day," Jim said as he leaned over Pam's desk.

"Why's that?"

"You replace the jelly beans with those gross candy hearts," he explained as he picked out his favorite green apple Jelly Bellies.

Pam smiled up at him. "I had to get in the spirit."

Jim turned to see Michael deep in thought at his desk with the door closed. "Do you know what happened with Michael and Ryan?"

"I know it's bad if he banished Ryan to Kelly's cubicle."

He laughed a little and then Pam saw his face change. She realized he had spotted the painting Michael hung up. Her painting.

He quietly walked over and stood in front of it. Pam was curious to see what he thougth of it, but he just stood there, looking at it intensely.

She got up from her desk and stood next to him. "Michael put it up this morning. It was just something I painted," she tried to explain.

Jim smiled, his eyes still fixed on the framed piece. "I always love the little details you put in your paintings. You know, the little Dunder Mifflin sign and the cars." Jim's eyes narrowed. "Is that my old Corolla?"

"Yeah," Pam said sheepishly.

"Very cool! When did you do this?"

Pam started to get nervous. Then she remembered the conversation she overheard between Gil and Oscar about her lack of courage. "This summer," she heard herself spit out.

Jim turned suddenly to look at her. "I wasn't here this summer."

Pam looked back at the picture, knowing full well why she'd included the car. "I know. I just missed seeing it everyday so I put it in the painting." And that was enough courage for today, she thought. "Anyway, I should get back to work."

"Yeah," Jim said quietly before looking back at the painting. Pam noticed he stayed there staring at it for another minute or so before going back to old desk.


sharky is the author of 26 other stories.
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