It’s the first day the cameras are back, and already Pam’s sick of them. It was different before, kind of fun, definitely interesting, but now…now they are more like an intrusion in a life that she would much rather keep to herself.
They corner her immediately, and she can feel the camera panning in on her ring finger, her bare ring finger. She folds her hands behind her back immediately, but that’s not good enough for them, and they usher her into the conference room where she sits in the familiar chair with a plop.
They want to know about the wedding first.
“Postponed,” she says with a sigh. “Indefinitely.”
She knows what’s coming next, even before they say it. So what about Jim?
She clears her throat. “Jim is in Stamford.”
She can tell they’re getting frustrated with her, waiting for her to give more details, but her mouth remains in a firm thin line, and as she’s leaving the conference room they ask her how she feels about that.
She doesn’t say anything because she doesn’t know. It’s been two—no, almost three months since she’s seen him. He left as soon as the transfer went through, packed his bags and was gone in a whirlwind.
And she’s a little mad at him. He made her doubt—the wedding postponed and he’s gone and, yes, she’s mad at him. And aside from an e-mail every now and then he might as well not even exist to her anymore.
She returns to her desk to find a voice-mail from Jan. She’ll be in to see Michael after lunch.
They are able to sit down with Michael before Jan arrives, and unlike Pam he’s more than willing to divulge all kinds of information.
“Jan called me yesterday and said she would be down today with some rather important information. She told me it would be best if no one knew until a little later, so you know, don’t tell anyone, guys.”
Jan arrives around one, looking slightly frazzled. She asks Pam to let Michael know that she’s here, and while she’s waiting the cameras sneak up to her and ask about the big news.
She narrows her eyes at them and asks coolly, “I see Michael understands all about confidentiality.”
Steve, the camera guy, grins sheepishly. Michael leaves his office and begins to greet Jan boisterously, catches one look of the glare on her face, and stops dead in his tracks.
The camera zooms in on his dumfounded expression as he struggles to find the words to explain himself.
Jan calls the attention of the entire office, and Michael cowers back in fear. He tries to shrink back into his office, but one menacing look from Jan and he freezes just outside the door.
“Excuse me, sorry to interrupt. Since Michael can’t seem to comprehend confidentiality I suppose I’ll just make the announcement now, and save some office gossiping.”
The group stares at her. Phyllis fixes her glasses and sits up straighter in her chair. Kelly appears from the back, positioning herself just by Ryan’s desk. Creed’s elbow slips and his head hits the desk with a deafening thud.
“Unfortunately, or maybe surprisingly, production at the Stamford office has been at an all-time low. Corporate has decided to close that branch and merge with Scranton. All necessary personnel will be relocated here.”
Michael shouts, “Yes! We did it!” and high-fives Dwight. The rest of the office sits in stunned silence. The camera pans to Pam, a look on her face like she’s been slapped.
“I have to say I’m disappointed,” Angela says later in the conference room, “Our branch obviously did better than Stamford, so why are we being punished by being forced to share our already limited office space with them?”
Kevin smiles slowly at the camera. “This is going to be awesome. I bet Stamford has some really hot chicks. I got an e-mail from Jim a while ago, and he told me—” his smiles widens, “—that they have some really hot chicks.”
“We’re merging?” Toby asks at his desk. “Thanks for…telling me.”
Pam looks downright panicked. “What does necessary personnel mean?”
She’s eating her lunch at her desk. She’s been doing that a lot lately. Sometimes she finds herself looking up at his empty desk. Dunder-Mifflin has been interviewing for the past few months, trying to find a replacement for him, but surprisingly…not many people want to work at a paper company.
Pam eats her cup of soup and stares at the paper clip medal she still has wrapped around her lamp. It seems like another life, the olympics, the pranks, the jokes. Sometimes when she thinks about when he worked here, she can’t even remember what it was like. Three months…that’s not that long to go without seeing someone. Why then does it seem like years and years have passed?
But she’s relieved they never found a new salesman. It might have been too much to handle…seeing someone else sitting at his desk.
Towards the end of the week the warehouse crew comes up to add the new desks and move some of the old ones around. Pam pretends to be engrossed in something on her computer screen, but Roy approaches her anyway. He has some rough stubble on his face and he’s lost a lot of weight, and when she looks up she can’t help thinking how…horrible he looks.
He greets her quietly and she looks around to make sure the cameras are still filming Ryan throwing things at Creed while he sleeps.
“I uh, needed to give this to you. Just make sure you sign it so it will transfer over into your name,” he hands her the title for the Escort, and when she takes it from his hand, he seems unwilling to let go.
“Thanks.”
He looks down at the floor and back up at her. She knows that look. That look where he has something important to say but just…can’t. She’s seen Jim give her that same look countless times.
“Pammy…”
“Roy, please,” she begs him.
He nods his head silently and turns to leave.
Steve turns the camera around to reception just in time to see Pam grabbing her coat and heading out the door.
He watches her leave, then films Roy and Daryl struggling to move a desk that Michael is sitting cross-legged on.
An hour later and Pam hasn’t returned. The camera films the phone ringing at her desk.
The main office is crowded with three extra desks. Everyone is looking more irritated than usual, all except Michael who is grinning broadly at the new arrangement. He calls everyone into the conference room for an impromptu meeting. Creed stays at his desk.
“This is our last meeting as a group, as this group. As the brat pack--or to modernize it…the frat pack. I just want to say…you’ve done good.”
Stanley yawns and Toby crosses his arms tiredly. Outside, Creed is going through Ryan’s desk. He spots his wallet, reaches past it and grabs his stapler. He looks around before sliding it into his pocket.
“Oh yeah,” Ryan says and rolls his eyes. “I know Creed keeps stealing my stapler. But after he leaves for the day I just take it and…put it back.”
“And so,” Michael continues, “I just want to say how proud I am of you all. And—” he pauses for a moment, choking back tears. “I’m really going to miss you all.”
“Uh, we’re not going anywhere,” Kevin says slowly.
“I know, I know, but it will be different, you know?”
Stanley gets up with a sigh and leaves the room, followed quickly by everyone else.
“…I wish I could quit you!” Michael calls after them.
Dwight remains sitting in the front row and says with a smile, “Nice touch.”
“Shut-up, Dwight. Don’t be so gay.”
Dwight frowns and returns to his desk. “I have a girlfriend!” he shouts to Michael.
Angela is at the filing cabinet with Kevin. She looks up, glares angrily at Dwight and slams the drawer shut, closing Kevin’s hand in it.
Pam returns around four. The camera zooms in on her and she holds up a bag from Office Max.
“We were out of post-its.”
A stack already sits on her desk and she quickly covers it with some papers.
Kevin is sitting at his desk trying to maneuver his computer mouse. His right hand sits heavily bandaged in his lap.
Pam sits down at her desk and starts checking the voice-mail. She puts it on speakerphone as she grabs one of her new post-it notes and starts jotting messages down.
“Hi Pam,” the message begins, and she freezes. “It’s Jim. Listen I was just calling—”
She snatches the phone up and puts it to her ear. She sees the camera watching her eagerly and turns her back to them
Pam listens intently to his message. He doesn’t say anything she doesn’t know already, just that the Stamford branch is closing and that he’ll be back in town on Monday. He says he looks forward to seeing her, jokes and thanks her for “holding down the fort without him.” Gets quiet for a minute, then asks if Dwight missed him.
When she hangs up the phone her stomach gets a funny, familiar feeling. She brings a hand to her mouth and blinks really hard before running to the bathroom.
“I think this is going to be great,” Dwight says, as he sits in the conference room, “It’ll be just like the Buffy/Angel crossover,” he pauses thoughtfully. “Except with less vampires.”
Creed grabs his coat and walks out the door. Ryan glances up and walks to Creed’s desk, takes his stapler out and places it back in his own drawer.
Pam shuts down her computer and grabs her purse. She rides the elevator alone, and more than ever it seems like the walls are closing in on her.
As she walks by Angela she hears her mutter under her breath, “They better not park in my spot.”
Author's Chapter Notes:
This came to me because of all the recent speculation about season three. No spoilers for season three, it is all purely speculation. Also, it is based loosley on what happened in the British version. Enjoy!
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.
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.
