Sometimes Pam comes in early. She likes to be in the still, quiet office before the cameras arrive, before Dwight weirds it up, before Michael is loud and obnoxious.
And now, she realizes as the elevator door opens, before Jim comes in all smiles and cheerful because that silly girl is walking in next to him.
Besides, and she lets out a hollow laugh, it’s not like she has anything better to do.
But of course on the one morning she’d like to be alone, she turns the corner and her eyes fall on the very last person she would like to see.
“Pam, what are you doing here so early?” Jim asks as he looks up from his desk.
She’s frozen just inside the doorway. “I have some work to do,” she finally stammers, and hurries to her desk.
She pretends to drop something on the floor so she can duck down under her desk and have a quick moment to silently regain her senses. When she comes back up, she sees that he’s focused intently on his computer screen.
It’s strange being alone with him in the office, and she can’t help but think of the last time that they were alone there together. She closes her eyes for a minute. She remembers everything. The dim of the soft lights, the feel of his hair in her hands, the broken look in his eyes that she was sure was mirrored in her own.
How can it possibly be that now, nearly four months later, they’re barely speaking to each other? The last few days had been even more heartbreaking than she could possibly have ever imagined. Just having him back in her life was painful enough, but having to see him with someone else, happy and carefree, intensified it tenfold.
“Where’s Mel?” she asks casually, and he looks up at her, his eyes like daggers.
“I’m sorry?”
“You know, Melissa. Is she at home still sleeping?” She pretends to glance through a stack of papers and he is silent for a long time.
Finally he says, “I don’t see how that’s any of your business.”
The anger flares up inside her. She jumps up from her seat and says, “Any of my business—”
But he’s quick to interrupt. “Yes, Pam, it’s not any of your business. It was never any of my business. How come now that the tables are turned, you’re suddenly treating me like I’ve done something wrong?”
“Oh you haven’t done anything wrong, Jim? You chased after me all those years, you kissed me a month before I was supposed to get married, you led me to cancel my wedding. And then you have the nerve to not even mention me to her?” She pauses and glares at him before hissing, “You Jim, you ruined everything.”
The words are out of her mouth before she can even think about them. The second she says them, she wishes she could take them back, if only to stop the look on his face like he’s been slapped. His mouth hangs open and she can’t stand it anymore.
“God, Jim I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it…”
But he’s staring back at his computer screen, his jaw clenched, his mouth set in a firm thin line.
She’s begging him to forgive her but he ignores her plea. Finally he says, “I think you made yourself perfectly clear.”
“But Jim, please—”
“Oh,” a voice says suddenly, and they look up to see Kevin standing at the door. “Were you guys about to have sex? Cause I can come back later.”
They both say nothing and as Pam returns to her seat, Kevin shrugs and walks to his desk.
The cameras arrive and begin filming immediately. It’s like Steve as a sixth sense where he can just sense drama in the air. Jim supposes it has something to do with being in television.
Even so, when Jim sits down in the conference room, he’s sure to squelch the sense of anything that might still be lingering outside.
“Yeah, Pam and I both came in early. But so did Kevin. He was here the whole time.”
“I walked in on them,” Kevin exhales slowly, “I felt like that extra guy just watching in a porno. It was hot. They weren’t doing anything. But I have like a sixth sense. I can sense things like that,” he pauses, and his eyes widen in alarm. “Not that I watch things like that.”
“Besides, Melissa invited me back up to Connecticut to meet her parents,” Jim pauses and glances away from the camera briefly. “And I said yes.”
Maybe it’s because of his argument with Pam, or maybe it’s because he feels like he has to convince the cameras (when has he ever not felt like he needs to convince someone in his relationships?), but when Melissa walks through the door he strides over to her, smile on his face, and kisses her warmly.
Inappropriate? Yes. But for some reason he’s so furious he doesn’t even care.
The cameras zoom in on Pam, but she doesn’t even look up from her computer.
Ryan walks in. He’s carrying a Staples bag. He walks over to Creed, takes a brand new stapler out of the bag and places it on his desk. Creed doesn’t look up.
Angela is in the kitchen scowling at Kevin. Evelyn walks by and smiles warmly at her.
“Don’t frown so much, darling. It makes you look like a frigid bitch.”
Angela’s jaw drops as Evelyn leaves the room and Kevin says “Score!” and raises his hand for a high five. He realizes suddenly that he’s alone in the room with Angela. He lowers his hand back down to his side and turns back to his hot pocket.
After lunch, Michael calls everyone into the office for a meeting. Melissa raises her eyebrows at Jim, as if to ask Again?
He laughs and says, “Yeah, get used to it.”
“So!” Michael begins with a broad grin on his face. “I know we’re all glad Josh is out of the office today—”
“Not me,” Phyllis says, and Kelly and Meredith echo her. Dwight turns around in his seat and glares at them.
“God, what is the big deal about him? So he’s young, handsome, and built—”
Jim coughs loudly as Michael continues. “What does he have that I don’t?”
“Um, wasn’t that just covered?” Jim asks, and Melissa giggles. Pam cringes. Out of the corner of her eye she sees Jim’s shoulders tense momentarily.
Michael doesn’t seem to hear him. “So last night I was watching Oprah on my TiVo…”
Dwight nods approvingly. “…and she was doing a special on Siamese twins. They had these girls that were joined at the hip. It was kind of hot, but I was like, ‘God, that is tragedy right there.’ So I decided we should do an activity to put ourselves in those poor twins’ shoes.” He holds up a hat. “I have everyone’s names on slips of paper. You will all draw a name to pair up, and as soon as you do, we will tie one of your arms to your partners at the wrist and elbow. You will have to work together for the rest of the day, until you really know what it’s like to be a sexy, disabled twin.”
Kevin raises a hand tentatively. “What if we have to use the bathroom?”
“You’re just going to have to work that out.”
“Michael, you can’t do that!” Pam protests and Michael groans irritably
“Fine, okay, we’ll untie you first.” He pauses. “That’s what she said.”
Michael starts at the far side of the room. Kevin draws a name out.
“Richard,” he says, and stares at him. Richard stares back.
“What if we have to scratch…somewhere?” Kevin asks later, as he sits alone in the conference room.
When Michael gets to her, Pam silently prays. Maybe she’ll get lucky and be paired with Angela. Or Dwight. Anyone except—
“Jim.”
Of course. Fate likes to screw with her.
The camera is focused intently on Dwight as he sits in the conference room once everyone has left.
“I got paired with Kelly. Kelly talks a lot. Kelly does not work hard. And someone…told me that Kelly is a loose woman.”
The camera zooms out to show Kelly sitting beside Dwight, the two connected at the arm.
“Oh my god, that is so mean? Who said that?”
“Who did I get paired with?” Toby asks as he sits as his desk. “What are you talking about? What meeting?”
Ryan sits beside Creed at his desk. Creed reaches into his drawer, takes out two staplers, and places them in front of Ryan. Ryan buries his head tiredly in his free hand.
Jim sits at reception with Pam. It’s been thirty minutes and they haven’t said a word to each other.
She’s scrolling down through an e-mail when Jim reaches across her and pushes her hand off the mouse. He maneuvers it awkwardly with his left hand and closes the window.
“What do you think you’re doing?” she asks.
He opens up a game of solitaire.
“What do you say? Should we beat your previous time of…one thousand seconds? Damn, Beesly.”
She says nothing, and he finally takes his eyes away from the computer screen.
“Look, I’m really sorry. I should have mentioned you to her. I should have done more than that. I should have raved about you to her…” he pauses. “…And if you can ever forgive me, I think we should work on getting your win rate back up to a positive number.”
She smiles. Finally. “Seven on eight.”
“This is going really well,” Michael says, as he sits in his chair in his office. “Everyone is loving it. And I got a really great partner.”
The camera zooms out to show a disgruntled Melissa crouched awkwardly at his side.
“I told Oscar I have irritable bowl syndrome,” Stanley says as he stands in the restroom.
Oscar is standing beside him. “Yeah, I have it too.”
“Angela, Evelyn and I are getting on superbly,” Phyllis says with a smile, “There was one person left over. We’re triplets.”
The camera films the three of them trying to fit through the door into the kitchen. Evelyn and Phyllis make it through, but Angela gets caught and hits the wall.
“Oh sorry dear,” Evelyn says with a small smile.
She winks at Phyllis who says, “It was an accident.”
The camera is focused on Jim and Pam.
“So she brought her kid into work, and she was like, ‘This is Nicky. He’s four.’ And the kid had really long hair. So I was like, ‘What an adorable little girl.’”
Pam snickers. “It was a boy, wasn’t it?”
“Yeah, there is absolutely no way to backpedal out of that.”
The phone rings and Pam puts it on speakerphone. “Dunder Mifflin, this is Pam.”
“…And Jim.”
Pam pretends to glare at him, but has to hold back a laugh.
“This is Tate from security. UPS just left a package down here.”
“Oh,” Pam says, “Can you bring it up?”
“Sure,” he says, “Let me stop doing my job so I can bring you something you need for your job.”
“Nevermind, buddy, we’ll be right down,” Jim says, and raises his eyebrows at Pam.
They get downstairs to find a fairly large package waiting for them. They try several times to lift it with their three arms, but it keeps falling. Tate rolls his eyes.
“Okay, what if we like…hug it,” Jim says.
“Hug it?”
“Yeah. I think that will work.”
They manage to get it into the elevator and are almost to the office when it falls with a crash. Pam groans, and Jim leans against the wall, Pam awkwardly falling in suit beside him.
“Maybe we can just kick it,” he finally says.
She stares at the box in disgust. “Hopefully it wasn’t fragile.”
Jim shrugs, “You dropped it.”
She squints her eyes and turns her head slightly, “Oh I dropped it?”
“Yes, you practically threw it on the ground. I tried to stop her Michael, but you know what they say…hell hath no fury…”
She’s laughing, and Jim’s not sure how it happens, but suddenly they practically fold together and she’s kissing him. Their arms are awkwardly twisted and the twine is cutting into Jim’s wrist, but he doesn’t care because everything’s a rush of Pam and the way she tastes and hands everywhere and nothing except the sound of their mouths moving together.
But in a second it’s over, and she’s ripping the twine and walking briskly away from him.
He wants to chase after her, but he’s completely frozen. He remembers suddenly that he has a girlfriend.
He’ll have to do something about that.
Author's Chapter Notes:
The idea for the siamese twin activity came from my darling friend, TheKStandsForDanger. She gets all the credit for that, because she's so clever and awesome and always my number one fan.
And I have to apologize and say that this will be the last chapter for about a week. I have a friend coming into town, and I unfortunately will crazy busy. But don't worry, I'm not abandoning this story!
And I have to apologize and say that this will be the last chapter for about a week. I have a friend coming into town, and I unfortunately will crazy busy. But don't worry, I'm not abandoning this story!
