Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Jim had always secretly enjoyed putting her in situations which forced her to shed her tough, tomboyish exterior and just act like a girl. At work it often felt like she was just some drinking buddy of his who happened to come in a much more appealing package, and he liked being reminded that she was more than that... a real living, breathing, woman. It made him feel more like a man, as the noble chivalrous gentleman persona that he so aspired for didn't work so well when his lady didn't seem to need it. These reminders were infrequent but not exceedingly rare. She did wear a dress every once in a while and she looked great whenever she did. As the Spring weather had arrived, they had started taking morning walks together at the park, and it warmed Jim's heart seeing her melt whenever they saw a puppy. She also loved babies, although for some reason he didn't find this quite as cool.

He had planned on taking Karen to the beach one of these days, as it offered a great opportunity for him to get to glimpse the vulnerable side of his girlfriend that so moved him. She was a beautiful woman, but like many women approaching 30, she was very hard on herself, very conscious of her self-perceived flaws. Like Jim, she had gained a little weight since college, which is totally natural, but unlike Jim who simply ignored his hint of a beer gut, Karen fretted, paced in front of the mirror, and sporadically dieted and worked out. Spending a day with Jim in a swimsuit without her high heels would be good for her. She might start to believe him when he told her she was pretty just the way she was. More importantly, though, Karen was a terrible swimmer and afraid of the water. She even avoided baths in favor of showering, because the feeling of all that water touching her skin made her uneasy. He pictured the two if them chest-high water, her trying to cling to him as he lifted her body, forcing it horizontal on the water's surface... forcing her to swim... forcing her to trust him. Her vulnerability would indeed touch them both...

They had finally made it to the beach. It was nothing like Jim had imagined. First off, Dwight was there. So were the rest of his co-workers. Michael was subjecting them to a series of ill-thought out beach games to determine who among them was worthy of being named his successor. For some reason, Jim didn't feel any threat to his status as the designated number-two man, regardless of who Michael crowned beach-champion. Maybe that's why he had been eliminated from the first game by Creed of all people. The contest was a single elimination gladiatorial redux where two employees enter a circle of sand and wrestle each other for control of a wooden stick -- the winner being the one who gets the stick out of the circle in his or her possession. Jim had been taking it easy, and well on his way to victory, when Creed unleashed his secret weapon, an extremely dirty tactic known in wrestling circles as the Five on Two. (the human male has five fingers...) Jim's balls still hurt as he stared bug-eyed at what he was seeing in the ring.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAH. STOP!!! PLEASE!! NO!!"

Kelly was flailing... close to tears. Karen hissed at her.

"Just drop the stick and all this can end."

Kelly was instinctively grasping the stick. She was face down on the sand, her head pinned there by the back of Karen's knee. Karen was pushing her face into the sand, forcing her to eat some. Through the corner of her eye, she could see Ryan watching, his mouth hanging open.

"OK OK!"

Kelly let go of the stick and Karen grabbed it. As she got up to triumphantly escape the circle, she gave Kelly's head one last push... one last mouthful of sand. Yes, she was a tough chick, but that was just mean. Karen held her arms up in celebration and looked over at Jim and smiled. He forced himself to smile back.

The sheer madness of the whole situation had him fighting his old instinct to go sit by Pam so they could make light of the absurdity together. He looked over at her. She was sitting a good 30 yards away, alone on a small towel that she had brought with her and spread out for herself. She didn't have a book or a magazine or anything to keep her busy. Michael hadn't told her until the last minute that she would be excluded from the beach games because her status as receptionist precluded her from being named his heir. She just sat quietly, holding her knees gently against her chest, only halfheartedly watching the chaos unfolding in front of her. Jim turned to look at Karen, but she had her back to him, watching intently as Meredith and Angela went at each other, scouting her competition.

Fuck it. Jim stood up and waddled over to Pam as quickly as his sore balls would allow. She looked beautiful. He had resigned himself to the fact that she always would. Although was wearing a modest black one-piece swimsuit and loose fitting red boardshorts, she was showing a lot more skin than he was used to seeing, and Jim couldn't keep his eyes from looking her over thoroughly as he approached. She seemed to sense this and curled up ever so slightly. She looked up at him, squinting in the afternoon sunlight.

"Hey Jim."

Jim didn't answer. He just plopped himself down beside her and smiled. Pam smiled back, sliding over to make room for him on her towel. He nudged over after her. The towel was narrow. He was sitting as close to her as he could without touching... She couldn't resist.

"Having a ball?"

Despite the painful, lingering protest from the southern contingent of Team Halpert, Jim couldn't help but laugh. He replied through a toothy grin.

"Shut up, Beesly. That may be funny in about 10 minutes but it isn't now..."

She turned and looked at him. Staring... smiling... those eyes... It had been a while since he'd seen them like this, since he'd really let himself look at them without fear of getting caught. He remembered those eyes all right. The images were burnt into his memory. The boat, the poker table, the parking lot, and now, almost a year later... the beach.

As was the case whenever these two had locked gazes like this over the years, it was Pam who had to eventually break the stare... Jim had never had the strength, and to his amazement, to his horror, he still didn't. The strength that he had fought so hard to draw from Karen had failed him completely. This time it lasted nearly ten seconds. Pam broadened her smile even more.

"So... what have you been feeding Karen?"

Jim opened his mouth to reply but nothing came out... he had been here before, in this exact situation, more than one year ago. Only that time the question had been "What's it like dating a cheerleader?" Jim could only force a smile and shake his head. He finally produced a feeble attempt to end the awkwardness...

"Uncooked bull testicles."

Pam giggled a bit and gave him a playful swat.

They sat for over ten minutes. The words flowed easily. The laughter was not forced. The smiles were genuine. God I missed this. Jim was so lost in the moment that he barely noticed Karen, who just 30 yards away was pinned in the sand face down, her arms and legs flailing against the sand like an angry child, a gently smiling Phyllis sitting square on her back.

*******************

Pam fetched a tiny medicine bottle from her handbag and turned to Jim.

"Can you help me out? I have to put these eye drops in and I can't keep my eye open when I know it's coming."

"Sure."

Jim took the bottle from her and uncapped it. Pam leaned back until her head was laying gently on the ground, her hair splayed easily behind her. Jim pivoted to face her, leaned over, and placed his left hand over her left eye and gently coaxed it open. He slowly squeezed the bottle, but before he could get the drop to fall, Pam squealed, sat up a bit, and pulled his right hand away.

"OK this isn't working either... I'm just too chicken..."

"Shhhhhhh." Jim hushed her. With his hand against her forehead, he gently pushed her head back down. After telling her to put her arms at her sides, he swung his leg over her stomach, pressing down just hard enough to pin her arms down. His hand was up in her hair now, stroking it gently. Pam tightened up, opened her eye, and faced her fears. Jim wasted no time. Bullseye.

She flinched, but didn't make a sound. Jim continued to run his hand through her bangs. He tightened his leg around her body, letting himself steal a forbidden hug in plain view.

He had just finished doing her other eye when a shadow appeared suddenly and moved over both of them. Jim looked up. Oh crap.

Karen.

And she looked pissed. Jim jerked his leg off of Pam... too quickly, dammit... she'll know. Pam sat up.

"Karen it's not what it looks like -- I was helping her put in eye drops."

Karen looked unmoved, but as she had so many times in the past, she let Jim talk her down. It took less than 30 seconds. It actually helped that Pam backed him up, offering up herself to take the blame, saying it was her fault for asking him in the first place.

Karen spoke up.

"Its OK... Come on Jim, let's go."

Jim looked over at Pam one last time as he stood up. He turned slowly to Karen, who was waiting for him with her hands on her hips.

Karen suddenly gasped. It was total surprise mixed with horror. They all saw it at once. Well, Jim didn't exactly see it. Rather he felt it, bulging against his shorts from the inside, pushing against his waistband... betraying everything. He couldn't believe he'd been so lost in Pam that he hadn't felt it. Oh Shit. All he knew was the next 30 seconds of his life weren't going to be very fun...