Karen smiled. It wasn't the kind smile she'd shown Pam during their dinner last night. It was cold and proud. "I've convinced Andy to stop hassling Jim and give me the first crack at any job in Corporate." Her smile became terrifying. "In return, he thinks I'll help him get Michael fired and maybe persuade you to have sex with us."

"What?" Pam asked. Then realized that wasn't nearly enough. "You can't be..." The look on Karen's face showed she was serious. Finally, Pam managed, "Why are you doing this?"

Karen's face softened a little and she leaned against the wall. "Did you ever wonder what happened to the number two guy in the Stamford office before Jim?"

Pam was desperately trying to follow this. "No, not really."

"His name was Carl," Karen said as she lit a cigarette and made sure the smoke wouldn't blow towards Pam. "Sorry, bad habit, I know. He was a nice guy with a kid and a wife who drank way too much and didn't understand him."

Pam suddenly understood why Karen had brought this up. "Oh."

"Yeah, oh. He quit last year. On Josh's last day he told me that Andy had filed a complaint with HR about us, ‘flaunting our relationship' and creating a hostile work environment. He'd taken it all the way to Corporate. Carl couldn't afford any trouble, so he quit and took a job in Vermont. Andy thought he'd get the number two position. You should have seen how he acted when Jim was hired. But he never managed to get to Jim. The closest he came was one night when we had to do sales reports and he tried to get Jim drunk. I got him out before anything happened."

"So you're doing this because..."

"Because Carl and I deserved a chance, because Jim's a nice guy and doesn't need any more hassles while he's sick..." Karen's face got that hard look again, "And because Andy should pay for what he's done. Anyway, at least he shouldn't be here. He'll wreck this office and the people in it if it helps him get ahead."

Pam didn't know what to think about this. "Wow."

Karen said, "Andy had already called Jim three times in the hour you were gone. He was the one who called Jan yesterday."

"Yeah, I kind of figured that," Pam said.

"So, I convinced Andy that you'd told me last night that Jim would never be able to have sex again and that you were kinda into me." Pam couldn't hold back a gasp. "For some reason, he already thought you were some kind of sex addict," Pam remembered Andy observing her and Roy yesterday. "So it would only be a matter of time before you needed..."

"Please don't finish that," Pam cut in.

Karen laughed. "Okay. Sorry."

Pam leaned back against the wall of the office building beside Karen. "Can we talk to Jim about this?" She asked.

"Sure, if you think he's up for it," Karen said, fully missing the pun.

"I can pick up dinner from the Chinese place I showed you last night."

"Thanks, I'd like that," Karen said.

"Okay. There are a couple of things though." Pam flushed as she said, "Can you not grope me in front of everyone? Kevin could have really hurt himself on Ryan's desk."

Karen laughed. It was a full-out guffaw and Pam saw how pretty she was when she wasn't trying to act tough.

"Seriously, if Michael would have seen you earlier, I'd never live it down."

"Sure."

"And..." Pam wasn't sure about how to mention this. "Can we not tell Jim about the part where you told Andy he'll never have sex again?"

"Halpert a little insecure?" Karen joked. Then she saw Pam's reaction. "Oh, yeah. I won't mention it." She dropped the cigarette and put it out and gave Pam's hand a quick squeeze as they went back into the office.

Michael was still in his office with the door closed when Pam and Karen returned. Pam debated about checking on him when Phyllis and Kelly approached her desk. "Jim didn't look good this morning," Phyllis said.

"Yeah," Kelly agreed. "I don't care what Jan told him, he should have stayed home."

"Well, he's resting now," Pam said, uncomfortable about sharing what Jim had told her.

"Is he really coming into the office again this week," Phyllis asked.

"I hope not," Pam replied, "but that's kind of up to him."

"He's being stupid," Kelly said.

Pam was beginning to feel like they were ganging up on her. As much as she would love to be able to tell Jim to stay at home, she knew why he did what he did and she had to let him make his own choices.

"I think you both have work to do," Angela said to Phyllis and Kelly.

Shocked, the two women looked at the petite accountant, but went back to their desks.

Pam smiled at Angela and mouthed, "Thanks."

Angela looked embarrassed, but returned the smile and resumed working.

Finally, Pam went to check on Michael. He was sitting in his office with the lights off and the blinds drawn. He looked up and saw Pam and said, "You must really be mad at me. Normally you would have came in before now."

"Michael, I'm not mad at you. Are you okay?"

"This day is like the worst," Michael moaned, theatrically. "I mean, with Jan and Jim having to come in and Creed... It's like everything's falling apart."

"It'll be okay," Pam promised.

"Oh really," Michael was pouting now. "How-how will this be okay? I'm supposed to be the leader here. Jan told Jim it was his responsibility to keep me from making a fool of myself with the Stamford people. Like I was someone to be ashamed of." He was looking out the window into the pale autumn sky.

"Michael, Jan was just angry about the people quitting. Everyone here respects you. I know Jim and I do."

That brought a small grin from her boss. "Thanks. I guess it'll all blow over in a day or two. Maybe we should do something together. We could have an office picnic or something. Maybe a beach day..."

"Michael, it's like forty degrees outside..."

"Some other time, then. Still we could have a beach party in the office. You know, Hawaiian shirts and bikinis..."

"No Michael," Pam said, in what she called her "Michael's Mom" voice.

"Yeah, you're probably right, somebody would be ‘Offended.'" Michael couldn't help using air quotes.

"What if we did a potluck thing?" Pam suggested. "With Creed gone, we don't have to worry about anyone taking that literally." Her mind went back to a previous, spectacularly awful pre-Thanksgiving party. After sampling some of Creeds "special brownies," Michael had eaten all of the desserts and gotten violently ill. Dwight had tried to kiss Kelly. Phyllis had been mysteriously absent that afternoon, as had Toby. Stanley had serenaded the office and Jim had kissed Pam's palm as the two of them sat in the break room drawing on the table. If only she'd known then....

"That could work," Michael said, bringing Pam back to the present. "Can you ask Angela about it?"

"Sure, I think she'd like to be in charge," Pam said.

Angela actually seemed to be happy about this party. Pam promised to bring a vegetarian-friendly entrée that wasn't too spicy.

At four, Pam got a call from Larissa Halpert. "Jim's asleep. I'm going to leave so I can beat the rush hour traffic."

"Are you sure?" Pam asked. "I was going to bring home some Chinese food."

"I'm positive. It's been a long day, and I want to be home before dark. Oh, by the way, if Jim asks where his pants are, just tell him I took them with me."

Pam started giggling, "No. Really?"

"Honestly, no. I'm leaving two pairs in the hall closet. But officially, he gets his pants back for this doctor's appointment on Friday and not before. If he wants to leave the apartment, he can do it in his pajamas. And tomorrow I'm bringing all of our old photo albums. I think it's time you were introduced to our little Jimmy, his sailor costume, and his baby pictures."

"I promise I will try my best never to make you mad at me," Pam promised.

"Do you really think Jim didn't inherit his talents honestly?" Larissa asked. "I'll see you tomorrow, dear. Thanks again for looking after him."

"My pleasure," Pam replied.

As Pam was getting ready to leave, she walked by Karen's desk. "So, what do you want from the Chinese place?"

Karen snuck a look around and saw that only Andy was watching them. She took Pam's hand and said, "Tofu with mixed vegetables and vegetarian fried rice. Oh and hot and sour soup if they have it. What are you getting Jim?"

Pam thought about that. She didn't think the restaurant served ham and cheese sandwiches. "I don't know, we never... Maybe beef and broccoli."

"He and I want out for Chinese after a sales call once," Karen remembered. "He had curry chicken and egg drop soup."

"Oh," Pam said, trying not to sound jealous. "Maybe I'll get that. I was going to get sesame chicken for me."

"Great," Karen replied, "I'll steal some of that." She kissed Pam's hand and grinned. Pam tried not to look over at Andy.

When Pam got home Jim was still asleep. She stood in the doorway of her bedroom, watching him breathe in and out. She had imagined this scenario countless times, especially since Jim had left for Stamford. She never thought it would turn out like this. She held back her tears and waited for Karen to arrive.

Karen arrived and Jim hadn't awoken, so Pam served dinner.

"So, tell me," Karen asked. "What's the deal with Stanley? Does he ever talk to anyone?"

"Not willingly," Pam replied. "You should hear Jim's impression of him." She tried to reach a Stanley baritone, "Why do you keep cc'ing me on things that have nothing to do with me." She saw Karen's curious look. "Jim does it so much better than me. He does everyone in the office."

"Really?" Karen seemed intrigued.

"Oh yeah" Pam answered, her enthusiasm growing. "One time we were trying to get Dwight a job at another company and Jim pretended to be Michael over the phone. It would have worked, but when the guy called Dwight he had to go on and on about his ninja skills."

Suddenly a voice rang out from the bedroom, "Where are my pants?"

"Who kissed Sleeping Beauty?" Karen giggled.

Jim walked out into the living room wearing powder blue, flannel pajamas. "Mom, where did you put my..." He saw Pam and Karen. He suddenly looked embarrassed.

Pam took pity on him and got up, "Your mom went home. You're stuck with us, but we brought you Chinese." She kissed him on the cheek. "Karen said you liked curry chicken."

"Yeah," Jim said, giving Pam a quick peck on the mouth, careful not to make too much of a big deal of things around Karen. He turned to his former Stamford coworker and said, "Thanks for remembering that. Sorry I'm a little underdressed." He turned back to Pam, "My mom, right?"

"Yep," Pam replied.

Jim joined them for a nice meal, although Karen raided Jim and Pam's meals mercilessly. Jim and Pam talked about several of their Scranton coworkers and Jim performed his Stanley impersonation. Finally, Pam and Karen talked about Andy.

"I thought I was in for a really long afternoon," Jim admitted. "Andy called three times after I got here."

"Karen got him to stop," Pam said.

"Do I want to know how?" Jim asked nervously as he saw Pam look away.

Karen answered, "I told him that you were too sick to be a threat and that if he kept up bothering you it would only make Pam mad."

"Oh," Jim said, not really understanding.

Karen continued smoothly, "And I told him that I was going to seduce Pam and that if he played his cards right I'd share her with him."

The spoonful of eggdrop soup that Jim had just taken had absolutely no chance of staying in his mouth. Fortunately the spray fell between Karen and Pam.

Pam had a towel handy, so she wiped up the spill as Karen finished. "I also told him that I'd help him get rid of Michael and become the regional manager if he'd give me first crack at any job in New York."

Jim looked back and forth between Pam and Karen. Slowly he said, "But Andy has to know that you hate him, right? I mean there's no way he could possibly believe..."

Karen patted Jim's hand. "Jim, I just mentioned the possibility of hot, three-way sex to a former Ivy league frat boy. Not only does he believe it, I can pretty much guarantee that it'll be on his mind, to the exclusion of almost everything else, for most of his waking hours over the next week."

"Ugh," Jim said. "I could have done without that mental image."

"It's worse from our perspective," Pam said.

"So how do we play this?" Karen asked. "Michael seems like an idiot..."

"Actually," Jim said, "he's not. He's shallow, self-obsessed, and pretty clueless, but he's also the best salesman I've ever seen."

"Really?" Karen asked, surprised.

"Yeah," Jim chuckled. "After I accidentally told him how I felt about Pam," Jim said, looking over at his new girlfriend and smiling, "he took me on some sales calls to try to get my mind off of things."

"And to Hooter's" Pam added with a frown.

"That's another story," Jim replied. "Anyway, we went to this funeral home. The director was the owner and he was having like the worst day ever. When we showed up there was this lady who was hysterical because she didn't want her husband buried without his toupee, somebody had just quit, and the guy's son called to say he was suspended from school all right when we showed up. Normally I would have just bailed."

Pam was listening closely. Jim had never shared this story with her. Of course, they weren't talking as much after Michael had let slip about Jim's crush. She looked over and saw that Karen was listening intently as well.

"Michael wouldn't leave. We just sat there for thirty minutes, letting the guy talk. He even cried. By the time we'd left, the guy was smiling and he's a client now. Honestly, I don't know if there's anyone else who could have even been able to make their pitch to the guy that day, much less get a sale out of it. On those calls, I learned more about sales and how to connect with clients than in the four years I'd been working with Dwight and Stanley."

"That's why you're numbers are so much better now?" Pam asked.

Jim frowned, "How do you know how good my numbers are?"

Pam mumbled, "Well, I kind of queried them a few times over the last few months, just to see how you were doing."

"Wow," Jim said, "you really did miss me."

"And you didn't?" Pam asked, a little hurt.

"Okay," Jim admitted. "I did call the office a lot after five so I could hear you on the Scranton voicemail."

"So you weren't just calling Kevin that night?" Pam asked.

"No," Jim admitted. "I just had that as an excuse." He smiled bashfully.

"Getting back on the subject," Karen said. "Okay, so we don't want Michael to get fired. What do we do about Andy?"

Jim thought for a moment and an evil smile crossed his lips. It reminded Pam of the one she'd seen from Karen. "You know, I've been dying to try out my Andy impression. Here's what we could do..."

And so the plan was created. Shortly after dinner, Karen went back to her hotel room. Jim insisted on paying Pam for the food and on helping to clean up. As they put the last dishes away, Jim said softly. "I'm sorry."

"Why."

"The other night you mentioned all the things you'd done on your own since I'd left. I was your friend. Regardless of everything else, I should have called you when I found out you cancelled the wedding."

"Jim..."

"No. I was wrong. I should have sucked it up and been there for you. I owed it to you to try to help you get to a good place before I walked away."

Pam carefully drew Jim into a hug.

Jim whispered into her hair. "It's no excuse, but I felt like I was drowning. The closer the wedding got, the harder it was for me to breathe. It was like if I didn't get away from here I'd never get over you."

"I'm glad you didn't." Pam said. "We both should have done things differently. But it's not too late. We have each other now."

"I want to be there for you," Jim said. For the first time, Pam felt that Jim was really afraid. "I just hope that I can." He looked into her eyes nervously. "You don't know what it's like to be here with you and not be able to..."

"Shhh. Believe me, I understand. It'll be okay," Pam said, leading him into the bedroom. She kissed him once and left him in her bed, alone. She promised herself that she wouldn't cry where he could hear her. Not until they'd put this behind them and could really be together.