pbees: Hey. I know it's been a long time since we've chatted but

That didn't sound right. She quickly erased her words.

pbees: I know I already said this, but it's REALLY nice to see you.

No, not that either. It's just... hmm.

pbees: Hey.

That'd do for now. No response came immediately, and she tried to busy herself with other things, anything besides looking at him. Her palms sweated as she began making an unnecessary to-do list on a fresh Post-It.

jhalpert: hey

Her computer speakers were set just loud enough that only she could hear the 'ping', and when it came she was still startled. She stared at her screen for a full minute before she could even begin to think of what to say.

pbees: I'm not going to let you blow off that invitation for coffee.

No, too forward. She decided to start off a little... safer...

pbees: Crazy day, huh?

God, way to pansy out of that one, Beesly. She began to slowly tear the edges of the Post-It she'd been doodling on, cautiously awaiting a reply.

It didn't come.

pbees: Ignoring me, Halpert?

She glanced over and saw him acknowledge the message, and then hunch back over whatever it was he was pretending to be working on. She noticed his neck became a little more tense.

pbees: I just think we need to talk.

His lack of response was perhaps a blessing; she was feeling empowered by it. A few minutes passed and she still got no response, egging her on.

pbees: Too evolved for IMing, too? Too concerned with that CAREER of yours?

That was just getting a little too mean; she didn't want to just piss him off, she just wanted a reaction. She deleted the last line and sat for a few moments formulating the right phrasing. The phone interrupted her for a moment, and after that was settled, she got back to typing.

pbees: Too evolved for IMing, too? Look, please talk to me. I've only been looking forward to this day for like forever and I'm not going to let you avoid me.

She stared at the screen for a moment before adding,

pbees: Again.

When she looked at him this time, she saw him sigh. She couldn't really discern if it was angry, exasperated, or just sad. When she saw him typing, she quickly looked away, focusing all her attention at the computer screen, a knot building in her stomach.

jhalpert: sorry, it's all just a little much right now.

She didn't have time to formulate a response to his rather cryptic message before she saw another line appear across her screen.

jhalpert: and by the way I wanted to let you know that I've started seeing someone.

Her eyes burned as they glanced over his words again and again. Fuck that. Just... fuck it. This was not how the day was supposed to go; she was finally ready for him and he'd already found someone else-- someone better, probably. It wasn't that she wasn't expecting it, that she didn't feel she deserved it, but to see it in writing just broke her heart.

pbees: Oh. Cool.

She wanted to cry. Her eyes darted over to him and she almost thought she saw him flinch as her message popped up.

pbees: So much for matching underwear...

She didn't mean to send it. She definitely, most certainly did not intend on pressing 'enter'. It wasn't even that suggestive, and with the way things were going, he might not even get what she meant by it, but it was definitely embarrassing enough for her to close AIM immediately. Which probably made the whole situation worse, but she didn't have time to think of that as she tried to make her way as nonchalantly as possible to the restroom.

She knew that if she let herself really cry, it'd be too hard to stop. She didn't want to risk any questions, and certainly didn't want anyone to find her in a mopey mess in the ladies' room. A splash of water to the face helped a bit, but she still wasn't satisfied with the broken reflection she saw gazing at her in the mirror. She had to stay calm, had to keep her emotions at bay, because there was just too much there to let it all come out now. Normally, she was pretty good at it. She could keep it all inside, refuse to let her mind focus on certain subjects until she was really alone. And it wasn't like Jim was gone forever; he'd just started seeing someone. But repeating the words in her mind just made her eyes burn harder.

When she heard the creak of the door opening, she tried to pull her head down and busy herself with washing her hands, anything to avoid confrontation. Because she really, really didn't want to have to explain anything.

"Are you okay?" She heard a new voice ask. Karen. One of the only promising new employees; Pam could really use a work friend if Jim wasn't going to resume that position.

"Yeah," Pam murmured quietly in response, letting a small sniffle escape. "It's nothing, this day just isn't going quite as I'd expected."

"Like, the stress of meeting new people or-- ?" Pam could tell from Karen's tone that she wasn't exactly thrilled to be the one to have to deal with Pam's issues.

"Yeah, you could say that," Pam replied, attempting a laugh. "It's really no big deal. I'm sure you're probably scared off enough already-- I swear I'm normal most of the time."

Karen looked at her with a more genuine smile. "Yeah, Jim tried to prepare me for this place, and he certainly didn't exaggerate... I thought he was kidding about Dwight."

Pam tried not to look pained at the mention of Jim's name. It dawned on her that Karen was probably the person he'd 'started seeing', as it wasn't likely that he'd bother with a long-distance relationship (even if it was just a few hours) for someone he'd just met in Stamford. Pam recalled him saying he hadn't developed much of a social life there when they'd spoke on the phone.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Karen's new words, which sounded slightly more concerned than her earlier ones, startled her out of her contemplations.

"Yeah, totally. Just hormones." Pam rolled her eyes for emphasis, and Karen seemed to buy the excuse. "Um, I'll see you," she added hastily, wiping her eyes once more before leaving. She did everything in her power not to glance at Jim-- dear god, anything to not look at Jim-- as she scurried back to her desk.

She took a deep breath and decided to just focus on work for the rest of the day. She really wasn't ready for all of this emotional crap.

"Dunder-Mifflin, this is Pam."

---

Pam's plan seemed to work for the half-hour or so before Michael's 'Integration Celebration'. As Michael called everyone into the conference room, Pam decided to stay back and avoid any accidental confrontation with Jim. She grimaced when she saw him lingering behind. Conceding to her fate, she gave him a tight grin and headed straight for the 'celebration'.

"Pam." She heard her name cut through the air, and turned cooly to face him. "Can I talk to you for a second?" He pointed casually to the break room.

"They're expecting us in there," she replied with as much nonchalance as she could muster. "'Mandatory'," she quoted.

"Pam." His tone was softer, almost pleading. She followed him into the break room. "I'm just, um, a little confused about that whole thing earlier, and then... you seemed upset..." He trailed off as if he expected her to fill in the blanks. She really wasn't prepared for that, and simply stared at him. "Is there, um-- what's up?"

"I don't know, I guess I just had different expectations for today." She avoided looking at him. "It doesn't matter," she added, trying to brush the whole thing off. She didn't even know what the thing really was. "It's cool, I mean, you found someone else and that's... that's fine--"

"What do you mean 'someone else'?" He interrupted.

She looked at him incredulously. "Karen?"

He was taken aback. "She's not someone else, she's just someone."

Pam didn't know how to respond to this; she thought she should be offended, but there was hopeful confusion in Jim's eyes that told her otherwise. "Um." She laughed nervously, lacking any other reaction. "We should really get to Michael's thing," she said quickly, turning around, hoping he wouldn't try to stop her.

"Pam."

"We should..." she began, gesturing to the conference room to avoid repeating herself. He didn't move, not until she turned on her heels and walked out.

Pam waited until Michael's Night at the Roxbury impression was over before going in, quietly wondering if Jim was ever going to follow her.

"Pamela, I did not realize you were not in attendance," Michael began, noticing her at the door. "You missed a great show."

"Yeah."

"Where were you?"

"Bathroom," she replied quickly, taking a seat.

"Is everyone else here?" Michael asked, scanning the room.

"I believe Jim is not--" Dwight began.

"Hey, sorry, uh, bathroom," Jim interjected, taking the open seat in front next to Pam.

"Okay, now are we all here?" Michael asked, quickly resuming his role as host of the 'celebration'.

Pam leaned over to Jim, and whispered, "We apparently missed a great show."

Jim looked over at Michael, noting the jacket. "Apparently," he replied, his tone light. She stifled a laugh.

---

If things weren't already so awkward, Pam would have been excited about Michael's announcement that they'd been 'Punk'd'; she had to admit, she loved office antics when she had someone to laugh with. But she didn't know where she stood with Jim; their meeting in the break room had been awkward at best, and then they'd acted like it was a year ago and nothing had changed in the conference room. She wondered if Jim was really seeing Karen, or had just said it. She couldn't figure out why he'd lie to her like that, but then Jim Halpert was becoming pretty unpredictable these days.

She waited until most everyone had filtered out before joining them, fearing Michael had set the whole thing up himself and that maybe she wouldn't be able to get home as early as she'd like to. As she took too much time putting away her pen, she noticed Jim leaving with Karen. She thought he looked at her as he left, almost sadly, but it happened so quickly she was convinced she'd imagined it.

Outside Pam stayed by herself, trying to observe whatever was going on with Jim and Karen without being obvious.

"I'm not sure I like these new people," she heard Phyllis say, looking on as she was to Jim and Karen. Karen had her hands at her hips, looking almost angry as Jim stood a little too close to her and rambled on about something she couldn't hear.

"Yeah," Pam offered meekly in return. "I wonder how long they'll last."

"Not too long, I imagine." The way Phyllis said it made her wonder if she didn't know a lot more than she let on about Jim and Pam's relationship. Pam merely nodded, and focused her attention back to Michael's shenanigans.

---

After all that, there wasn't much time left in the day. Pam stared at the clock on her computer, willing it to move just a little bit faster. She noticed her AIM icon still had a red 'x' through it, and decided to sign on again, just in case Jim had something to say. To be honest, she was getting a little too fed up with everything to care much about her earlier embarrassment.

She worked for a good twenty minutes before she got a message.

jhalpert: I lied about seeing someone.

jhalpert: well, sort of.

A smile slowly crept upon her lips.

pbees: What do you mean?

jhalpert: I think Karen took the job because of me. but I don't think I'm really ready for a relationship with a girl like her yet.

pbees: A girl like her?

She knew it was maybe too bold a question; things were looking promising and she didn't want to push it, so she added,

pbees: I think you were just trying to think of an excuse for turning down that invitation for coffee ;-) You're too nice a guy to reject a girl like that.

jhalpert: about that...

jhalpert: were you asking me out?

She felt herself blushing immensely.

pbees: Sure seems like I was. But it's cool, people go for coffee as friends, too. Either way.

She stared for a good minute at that line, thinking it was much too forward, but she didn't want to miss any opportunities here. He'd put much more on the line (even if he was a pussy about it). She clicked finally 'enter', and then of course immediately regretted it.

pbees: Wait, so what's the deal with Karen?

pbees: If she moved here for you, then...

jhalpert: I told her I wasn't really ready for a relationship with her. she was rightly pissed, since I did kind of lead her on, but she said something about taking my time... so I'm not sure, I guess she expects something. but it'd be more unfair to her to jump into a relationship I wasn't sure about.

jhalpert: Karen Filippelli is no Pam Beesly

Strange how over IM her and Jim seemed to make a lot more progress in the communication department than they ever did otherwise.

pbees: Ooh, my heart's all aflutter

jhalpert: you better not be mocking me, Beesly

pbees: Never ;-)

jhalpert: you know, I was serious about still settling in. I'm not done unpacking and I seriously can't do anything until that's through. it's all I think about if it's not done. so, valid excuse for turning down coffee.

pbees: Want some help then? i.e. someone to sit on the couch and look through your boxes to make fun of the stuff you own?

jhalpert: yeah, actually, I could use someone to make fun of me

pbees: That's what I'm here for!

jhalpert: if you're serious, then my apartment's at the corner of dartmouth and main (the blue ones, I'm #110), and I would appreciate the company.

pbees: Should I stop by around 6?

jhalpert: whenever. my door's always open

jhalpert: and bring a box cutter if you've got one

pbees: So you're really going to be unpacking?

jhalpert: only if I don't get too distracted...

pbees: I can't promise anything

jhalpert: yeah you're already too much of a distraction. I actually have work to do, you know

pbees: Only 30 minutes to five, you better hurry up.

jhalpert: hurrying

She looked over and saw him pick up the phone, and smiled to herself. Maybe matching underwear weren't such a waste, after all.

---

She arrived five minutes early.

"Hey, um, I tried to get as much done before you got here, but--"

"I thought this was supposed to be a group effort," she replied, peeking behind his shoulder to look inside. He gestured her in, and she took a seat on an unopened box.

"Helping someone unpack just isn't, uh, the ideal first date scenario." He paused. "Oh, why don't you sit on the couch. Probably a lot more comfortable." She laughed awkwardly and nodded, taking him up on his suggestion.

"So this is a date, then?" She asked once she was seated, eyes glowing.

"I don't know, I don't mean to be too presumptuous," he replied nervously.

"You're not," she said, pulling him down next to her. "Being presumptuous, I mean." She looked at her shoes.

"So, this is a date?" He asked, a little more confident.

She looked up at him then, trying to come up with something witty to say in response, and falling short when she saw the way he was looking at her. "Um, you sure you can't do anything until you're unfinished packing?" she finally asked nervously, her voice lacking the sex appeal she wanted to convey. She blushed, looking away, and while she was busy chastising herself for her awkwardness, his hands moved to her waist. She barely had time to register the 'Pam' he murmured so fucking seductively before his lips were on hers.

Despite the surprise, she was quick in responding, and it didn't take long to realize that this was definitely not anything like a drunk-at-Chili's kiss, nor a careful-but-tender-Casino-Night kiss. This was definitely more... passionate, and certainly more disorienting, because she was nearly topless before she realized it and she shivered when she saw he was, too.

He seemed to notice this at the same time, and for a brief moment they just stared at each other, panting, before he managed to so eloquently ask, "Bedroom?"

She shook her head, and murmured, "Here", and he was kissing her again. Her pants eventually came off, too, and after they did she saw him smiling, almost laughing, above her. "What?"

"Matching underwear," he responded before kissing her again.

She giggled against his lips, and the next time he drew breath, she whispered, "Fuck me."

---

It was 3 a.m. before Pam announced she couldn't handle any more. They'd tried to sleep a few times earlier, but it had always quickly led to other activities, because damn, Jim sure had stamina.

"What are we going to do tomorrow?" she asked, still spooned up against him.

"More of this?" He whispered against her hair, and when she laughed in response, he felt it everywhere.

"I mean at work," she clarified. "I'm going to be sleepy all day with a very sore vagina. And it looks like I'll be wearing yesterday's clothes."

"I'll drive you home for a shower," he assured her. "Although your car is here. Do you think we should take separate cars?"

"Mmm," she replied sleepily.

"Pam, wake up, 'mmm' is not an adequate response. You're the one who brought it up, anyway." Why was he so much more awake than her, too? Let alone probably good for another round or two.

"Well, I need some sleep," she mumbled. "Let's... morning."

He acquiesced, brushing a kiss to her head, and closed his eyes.

---

Morning, of course, came too soon, and was full of hurried dressing and showering and planning rather than lazy morning after sex, which was what Pam deemed absolutely necessary.

"Pam, do you want the whole office to know about this? Walk in with ruffled hair and yesterday's clothes, looking dreamily at each other while claiming to have 'overslept'?" He asked laughingly, quickly gathering clothes for the day while she used his toothbrush. "Let's just shower here and then rush over to your place to get dressed. Then your hair will have time to dry."

She giggled and thought of the time he bought fabric softener. "You're full of surprises, Halpert," she laughed as she spit out a mouthful of his toothpaste.

"What?" He asked genuinely, wondering if anyone would notice if he wore a brown belt with black shoes because he couldn't find his black one.

"Allowing time for my hair to dry? How do you think of things like that?" She'd finished and was trying to figure out his shower. "Your shower looks complicated," she added. "I can't figure out what controls the heat or which way's hot or anything."

"Here," he replied, rushing in to help her. "Also, you have a lot of hair, so I assume it must take some time to dry. I'm just trying to think of time here, Miss I-will-push-snooze-for-you-before-you-can-even-wake-up."

"Hey!" she cried in mock defense. "I told you, it's instinct; my alarm goes off an hour early so I have an hour's worth of snoozing before my real alarm goes off."

"Who's full of surprises?" He laughed, pulling out a clean towel for her. "Now, if we shower together, you promise to keep your hands off me? This is purely a time concern."

"Hey, don't look at me," she giggled, gesturing to his partially-erect cock.

"That is not my fault, you've been walking around my apartment naked for fifteen minutes."

"Well, I think we can take care of that pretty quickly and manage to get clean, too," she replied, smiling, and pulled him into the shower.

---

They drove to her place in his car, both clad in oversized t-shirts and underwear, and thankful for the fact that Pam's duplex had its own garage.

"This is a big place," Jim noted as they made their way inside.

"What, surprised I can afford it?" She asked, feigning offense.

"I know your salary, Pam."

"Well, this was the only decent place I could find on such short notice that had a month-to-month lease. I didn't really know what I was doing, and the whole moving out thing was decided pretty quickly." She paused, thoughtful. "Plus, I guess I was hoping it wouldn't remain single-occupant for too long. Maybe I was too optimistic."

He didn't have a response to that, and was especially at a loss for words when Pam took off her t-shirt and reminded him what exactly she had on underneath. "For the record," he said, once again a little breathless, "I appreciate your effort for matching underwear."