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Stranded Challenge! I wish I could write steamy but I can't. Please enjoy and please leave a kind hearted review.

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

It was all Dwight’s fault. Really, it was.

At first, Pam was furious with Dwight. But as time passed, she seriously considered naming her first child after him (or maybe “Dwangela” if it was a girl). Her husband vetoed.
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At 5:24, Pam locked herself in a restroom stall for the twenty-eighth time that day.

At 5:29, Dwight stood outside of Michael’s office and informed his fellow co-workers that the work day would end in exactly thirty seconds. Everyone was expected to leave at 5:30 on the dot, not 5:35 or 5:45. Company time should not be wasted. He glanced over at the empty reception desk and muttered, “Insubordination.” Pam had a lot of nerve to leave the office early without consulting him. After all, he was the Regional Manager in lieu of Michael’s absence.

At 5:59, Dwight completed his end of the day report and left it on Michael’s desk. His report included:
- a record of his individual sales, he was up 17% since last week
- a complaint that Oscar “borrowed” his Wite-Out and had not returned it
- his observations that Kelly spent too much time flirting with Ryan, that Meredith had fallen asleep at her desk (again), and that two cases of ballpoint pens had mysteriously disappeared.
- a conspiracy theory on why Jim was not in the office today
- and a note saying that Pam had left work early without asking permission

At 6:02, after checking to see that every office in the building was empty, Dwight walked down the stairs (because it was better exercise than the elevator) and locked the outside of the building. He swelled with pride at being the Regional Manager for the day. He didn’t know at the same moment, Jim was stepping out of the upstairs elevator.

Pam hoped she could make it home before the tears started again. She washed her tearstained face at the bathroom sink and stepped back into the office. It was dark except for the dim blue lights emanating from a dozen computers. Suddenly, she heard a noise and saw a head bobbing up and down at her desk. Cautiously, she grabbed the first weapon she could find - a stapler from Stanley’s desk. She leaned against the wall and walked quietly over to reception. Her belongings were rustled around. She heard a crash and muttered curses.

With the stapler raised above her head, she yelled, “I have a weapon and I’ll use it!”

“Pam!” Jim was sitting on the floor behind her desk, picking up scattered pieces of paper. She laughed for the first time in three days.

“What are you doing here? I thought you were sick.”

Jim looked sheepish. “I forgot to take home my check on Friday. I remembered that Michael always forgot to lock the building door so I came to get it.”

Pam reached in front of him and opened a drawer. She handed him the check. He gratefully took it and they walked to the elevator together.

She asked concernedly, “Are you OK? It was weird not having you here today.”

The elevator door opened. “I’m fine. My roommate and I went to the Wilco concert in Pittsburgh last night. We didn’t get in until really late. I’m not very good at selling paper when I’m tired and hung over.”

Pam told him that Michael was out of the office for a couple days because of a corporate conference. Dwight had been made temporary manager for the time being. “And the power has gone to his head,” she concluded. Jim rolled his eyes and reached for the door handle to exit the building.

“Damn.” He pulled at the handle again. “It won’t move.” Pam helped to push as Jim leaned his weight into the door. No luck. They banged on the door and yelled loudly, but no one seemed to be around.

Jim turned to Pam, “Don’t you have a key?”

She shook her head. “No, I only have the keys for our office.”

“I guess we’ll just have to wait until housekeeping comes.”

“They won’t be here until tomorrow night. They only come three nights a week. Budget cuts.”

Jim tried the door one more time. “Damn it. I’ll have to call Dwight.” He pulled out his cell phone and dialed. “The number you have called is no longer available.”

“What? No longer available! Dwight always has his cell with him.”

Pam turned back toward the elevator. “I know we have his home phone number on file. Come on.” They returned to the office and left a message on Dwight’s answering machine.

Pam slumped down in her chair as Jim leaned against the desk. “What should we do until Dwight comes to unlock the door?” His eyes twinkled. He ran over to Dwight’s desk and logged on to his computer. “I know his password.”

First, they changed his wallpaper from the Dunder-Mifflin logo to a picture of Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn. Then, they relabeled all of his icons and folders with the names of American Idol contestants. For good measure, they moved his mini-me bobble head to a different location on his desk. “That’s gonna blow his mind!”

After an hour, they called Dwight at home - again no answer.

Pam’s face grew red with anger. “I’m so mad at him! How could he lock us in? I don’t want to spend the night here.” Her fists balled up. Then, her stomach loudly rumbled.

Jim hunched over in laughter at the fact that petite Pam’s stomach could make such a huge noise. “Wow Beesly, I guess we better feed the beast.”

“I’m so hungry. I skipped lunch today. Let’s order pizza.”

“Pam, who’s going to open the door? The pizza delivery person?”

She giggled. “I forgot about the door. I’m so delirious with hunger, I can’t think straight.”

They took out all of the contents of the refrigerator, making sure to eat the food that was labeled with someone else’s name. Jim was surprised by how much Pam was eating. It was as if she hadn’t eaten in days. For dessert, they raided Kevin’s private M&M stash and competed to see who could stuff the most in their mouth. Jim won. While in accounting, they drew mustaches on Angela’s baby poster, the one that Oscar hated.

They sat on the floor together, leaning against the wall. For the first time that evening, he noticed how sad Pam’s eyes were. He nudged her with his elbow, “Hey, how was your weekend?”

She looked at him with swollen eyes. “Not good.” She paused. “Roy and I broke on Friday night.” Jim’s eyes grew wide but he didn’t say anything. “He moved out yesterday.”

“Pam, I’m sorry,” he breathed. His heart stopped beating for a brief moment. He had been hoping, wanting, praying for this moment for so long. He wanted to hold her but he knew that it would be for all the wrong reasons. Suddenly, he stood up. “I’m such a horrible friend. Hold on, I’ll be back in a second.”

Pam was confused but watched as Jim ran into the kitchen. He returned with two coffee mugs, a bottle of vodka, a carton of orange juice, and a canned soda. He placed the items on the floor and ran to Dwight’s desk. He rummaged through the drawers before pulling out a small bottle of champagne. Then he opened a drawer in Meredith’s desk and found three half-empty bottles of various alcohol. He was proud of himself as he sat down, next to Pam.

“Now, I’m a good friend.” She laughed, but was still confused.

“I didn’t know we worked in the ABC store.”

He explained, “The vodka is leftover from the Christmas party. I saw Toby hide it. I gave Dwight the champagne after he stole my client on diversity day, remember?” She nodded. He looked sheepishly at the other bottles. “And I found those one day when I looked in Meredith’s desk for aspirin. Don’t worry, I’ll pay her back.”

Without saying a word, Pam poured herself a rum and Coke. She looked at Jim. He was such a good friend, her best friend, in fact. He wasn’t pushing her for details about the breakup, but she knew that he would listen and not judge her. They toasted and she rested her head on his shoulder. A minute later, he gently took her hand in his.

A bottle of champagne and several rum and Cokes later…

“Roy and I…we just didn’t work anymore. I don’t know…when it happened. But it did, you know.” Jim was having a hard time keeping up with Pam’s incoherent speech. “I mean, I wanted to get married…but at the same time,…I didn’t want to, you know. He wasn’t the one for me…No, he wasn’t.” She shook her head with emphasis.

She had been talking non-stop for almost an hour. Jim just sat there on the floor and listened to her. When she wanted another drink, he poured her a glass of water instead.

She leaned on his arm. “You’re such a good friend. A good, good friend. A friend who’s good.” She closed her eyes. “Do you think I’ll love someone again?”

He whispered softly, “I hope so.” He glanced over at her. The alcohol was finally making her sleepy. He sat motionless.

Suddenly, she sprang up. “We should call Angela.” She stood up and almost fell over. Jim caught her in his arms.

“We should call Angela,” she repeated.

“Why?”

“Dwight’s probably with her.”

“What? I don’t-” A light bulb went off in his head. “Eww!”

“I know.”

“But we can’t. Its after 11. They’re probably asleep.”

“Yeah.” She slumped against him again and he eased her back onto the floor. He stretched out his legs and she laid her head on his lap. He ran a hand through her hair until she fell asleep. He closed his eyes and tried to shut off his mind.

A couple of hours later, Jim stirred when he felt Pam move and stand up. His eyes tried to adjust to the darkness of the empty office as she walked toward the bathroom. He collected the bottles and threw them away.

“How are you?” he asked when she returned.

“I have a splitting headache. I just want to sleep.”

“Why don’t you sleep on the couch by your desk. I’ll sleep on the floor.”

Jim arranged a coat around her as she curled up on the couch. He laid down on the floor next to her, using his coat as a pillow.

They laid in the dark for a while. Finally, Pam sighed. “Jim?”

“Yeah.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. What did I do?”

“You’re just being you.” He smiled and he turned to look at her in the dark. The features of her face were faintly blue from the light of the computer screens. He wanted to kiss her so badly.

She lowered her arm from the couch and reached for his hand on the floor, intertwining their fingers. He sat up next to the couch, right in front of her. He gazed at her and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. Her eyes were glistening. She traced his jaw with her finger. They looked into each other eyes.

He gently wiped a tear that escaped down her cheek before taking her face in his hands and lightly brushing her lips with his. He pulled back and looked at her. He expected to see fear in her eyes. There was none. He leaned in and kissed her again. He breathed “I love you, Pam” onto her warm mouth.

“I know,” she whispered as she draped her arms around his neck.

At 7:19 A.M., Dwight hovered over them as they laid on the couch together. Jim’s arms were wrapped lovingly around her waist.  They opened their eyes when the overhead fluorescent lights flickered on.

“This is unacceptable behavior for the workplace. I’m going to report the two of you to Michael and then he’ll report you to corporate. I can just imagine the ramifications of this incident.” Dwight had a look of glee on his face.

“Don’t blame us, this is all your fault.” Jim replied as he shut his eyes again and snuggled closer to Pam.


bonorocks is the author of 9 other stories.
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