August 15, 2009

Pam smoothed the light brown fabric over her stomach. She certainly wasn’t visibly pregnant at just over twelve weeks. In the morning before and after her shower, she would stand sideways to the mirror and check out her stomach. It really didn’t look that different than it had beforehand. There was a soft curve in her abdomen, but walking down the street she was certain there was no way that anyone could remotely tell yet. She kind of looked forward to the months that lay ahead where she would grow a large baby belly and she would have to buy maternity clothing. For now though, she was happy that she didn’t have to buy a dress to wear to Angela and Dwight’s wedding.

“What do you think Dwight will be wearing?” Jim asked as she straightened his tie in the mirror.

“You afraid that you’re going to come dressed wearing the same thing he is?” Pam joked as she slid a bracelet over her hand.

“It’s my greatest fear.” Jim choked as he wiped an imaginary tear from the corner of his eye.

“I think you look fine.” Pam said with a smile.

“You think I’m going to look better than him?” Jim asked.

“Is that even a question?” Pam giggled as she smoothed the fabric over her stomach again and turned sideways to examine her figure in the mirror.

“What are you doing?” Jim asked curiously as Pam held the fabric tight against her abdomen. “Are you feeling sick again?”

“No, I feel fine.” she replied quietly. “Do you think I look pregnant?”

“Do I think you look pregnant?” he asked turning around to look at her. He leaned against the counter top and eyed her carefully from head to toe.

“So?” she asked expectantly.

“What do you want me to say?” he asked carefully, not wanting to tell her that she did if she didn’t or the other way around.

“Will people be able to tell?” she asked.

“Do you not want people to know?” he asked and she shrugged in reply.

He couldn’t imagine why she wouldn’t want people to know. He knew that she had been having a bit of a hard time keeping it a secret over the past couple of months and just earlier in the week she had finally told her mother. He figured after she had been told, everyone could know; though he had still kept the secret to himself.

“No…I don’t know.” she said after a pause in the conversation.

“We are…” he stammered around the words, not wanting to rile up any sad feelings or bad memories. “We’re in the clear now…aren’t we?”

“As clear as we’re going to be.” Pam said.

“And we’re allowed to tell people now?” Jim asked cautiously.

“Sure.” she replied with a simple shrug of her shoulders.

“Okay.” Jim nodded.

“Well, wait.” Pam said quickly. “I don’t want you announcing this like some apocalyptic prophecy at Dwight and Angela’s wedding. Please don’t stand up and say something like, ‘Pam and I are pleased to announce that we’re giving birth to the new anti-Christ! His name will be Damien and he will rule you all!’”

“Wow.” Jim said wide-eyed. She giggled at the ridiculousness of what she had just said and he continued, “Well, I had all of these plans of what to say and now…you just have to bring me down, don’t you?”

“I just don’t want to take away the importance of Dwight and Angela’s big day.” Pam said with a smile.

“Fair enough.” he said. “No speak of babies unless it is brought up.”

“Sounds good.” she said as she took her previous stance in front of the mirror and studied her figure closely.

“Seriously, Pam.” he said with a smile on his face as his gaze met hers in the mirror. “Why do you keep doing that?”

“When do you think I’m going to show?” she asked.

“You already are showing.” he replied.

“No I’m not.” she said.

Jim smirked and took a step back. He quickly grabbed the hem of the dress that hung around her knees and pulled it up around her waist.

“What the hell are you doing?” she asked, however she didn’t sound angry, she didn’t even look angry. She stood with a goofy grin on her face as he lifted the skirt of her dress above her waist and pressed his hand against the small curve in her stomach.

“What’s this then?” he asked, smoothing his palm over her soft skin. She smiled and closed her eyes as his fingertips caressed her stomach. She had always loved it when anyone rubbed her there. Even though she knew that Jim was trying to prove a point, she couldn’t help but feel the intimacy in the gesture.

“That’s the baby.” she said quietly and she felt her heart happily skip a little as she heard the words reverberate in the air.

“Little evil Damien.” he said as his fingers brushed lower.

“I was just kidding about the name.” she said with a smile and she quickly took a small, tentative step back as Jim’s fingertips danced along the hem of her underwear.

“I kind of like it.” he said.

“Really?” she asked, cocking her head to the side and ignoring Jim’s insistent fingertips nearing the hem of her underwear again.

“Little evil Damien Halpert.” he said.

“Beesly-Halpert.” she corrected.

“Beesly-Halpert?” he asked.

“I want our child to have my last name too.” she replied.

“Oh.” he said, a little bit of uncertainty in his voice.

“What?” she asked, noticing the hesitation in his response.

“It’s just…” he replied, searching for the right thing to say in such a situation. “Well, why?”

Pam smiled knowingly and replied, “It’s just something that my mom did with my sister and me.”

“Your last name is just Beesly though.” he interrupted.

“I only used Beesly.” she said. “My full name has my mom’s maiden name in it.”

“So, why can’t we just use Halpert?” he asked.

Pam shrugged and replied, “I guess it’s just a family thing. And you know, my dad isn’t around anymore. It would be nice to give his name to our child…especially if it’s a girl.”

“Okay.” Jim said nodding. There was still a little bit of hesitation in his voice, but at least he knew now why she was always so steadfast when it came to using the name “Beesly”.

Pam nodded quickly, “Listen, we can talk more about it later, okay? Right now, we need to get ready for this wedding.”

“Right.” he said nodding. “We need to prepare for the apocalyptic wedding that will then give rise to our apocalyptic evil baby.”

“You watch what you say.” she said playfully swatting him against his shoulder. “Babies can hear when they’re in the womb. You keep talking about evil babies he or she might decide that sounds like a fun idea.”

“Well, my baby can be as evil as it wants to be,” he said patting at Pam’s stomach, “as long as he uses…”

“Or she.” Pam quickly interjected.

“As long as he or she doesn’t use the evil powers against his…or her…parents.” Jim finished with a smile.

“You’re horrible.” Pam said giggling as she turned away and left the room.

***

Angela and Dwight’s wedding was in a small, Presbyterian church located in Brooklyn. Angela insisted that she and Dwight get married in a church because it was “sacrilegious” to have a wedding anywhere else. Pam had found it funny to see Angela in a white wedding gown and she found it equally amusing to see Dwight in a suit. It was so far from what she had ever seen either of them wearing before. Pretty much the only setting she had ever seen either of them in was the restaurant – even outside of the restaurant, their attire wasn’t too different.

In a white wedding dress though, Pam thought that Angela looked like a princess. And she had looked so happy that light seemed to radiate from every inch of her body.

Furthermore, Dwight seemed to simply exude pride from his statue-like stance at the altar as he waited for her to walk down the aisle and he held the same proud, happy expression throughout the entire ceremony. Pam had never seen him look so happy – ever.

***

“How much do you want to bet that every course is going to have beets in it?” Jim asked in a hushed voice as the first course of a small beet salad was served to everyone in the reception hall.

“You are horrible!” Pam exclaimed.

“Hey, it’s an honest question.” Jim said with a shrug.

A server materialized behind Pam and extended a bottle of wine towards her.

“Ma’am, would you care for a glass?” he asked. Pam bit her lip and shook her head ‘no’, even though if there hadn’t been a small being growing inside of her she definitely would have said ‘yes’.

“C’mon Pam! You need to try it!” Kelly exclaimed happily as she cradled her own glass of red wine in her hands.

“I…I really can’t.” she said. She turned to the server, “Thank you though. I just want a glass of water.”

“Pam! It’s free!” Kelly cried.

“Well, it’s free for us,” she said, “it’s not so free for Angela or Dwight.”

“You need to loosen up a little.” Kelly said, and quickly extended her glass towards Pam. “Here, try some of mine.”

“No, Kelly.” she pushed away Kelly’s hand. “I really, really can’t.”

Kelly smiled and giggled, “God, Pam, you’re acting like you’re pregnant.”

Jim and Pam both shot a knowing glance towards one another. If there was one person that could have gone without knowing about Pam’s pregnancy this evening, it was Kelly.

“Oh my god.” Kelly said quickly, her eyes as big as the plate that sat in front of her.

“Kelly.” Pam said in a hushed voice.

“Oh my god!” Kelly squealed, and she cried it so loudly that the guests at the surrounding tables looked over to see what the commotion was about.

“Well, everyone is going to know in a minute.” Pam mumbled.

“You’re pregnant!?” Kelly cried so loudly Pam was shocked that the people back in the kitchen hadn’t heard it.

Pam’s face turned as red as the beets that sat on the plate in front of her and she immediately buried her head in her hands as she kicked Jim in the shin and he nodded in Kelly’s direction.

“Oh my god!” Kelly exclaimed, a bit quieter, though the people surrounding their table were definitely well aware of both Kelly’s presence and Pam’s pregnancy at this point.

“We didn’t really want everyone knowing about it.” Jim muttered.

“Oh my god, are you having a boy or a girl?” Kelly asked.

“No idea.” Pam replied shaking her head.

“What are you going to name the baby?” Kelly asked.

“No idea.” Pam replied.

“You think he’s going to look like you or Jim?” Kelly asked quickly, shooting a glance between the two of them. “I hope that the baby looks like you, Pam. I think it would be really unfortunate if you two had a girl that ended up with Jim’s nose. Can you imagine?”

Jim and Pam quickly shot a glance at one another which quickly turned into a shared smile because they knew that they were both thinking, “How the hell do we get out of this one?”

“Can you imagine, Jim?” Pam teased.

“So unfortunate.” he replied, trying not to laugh as he shook his head.

Pam felt someone poking on her shoulder and turned to face Dwight staring down at her with an expression that she couldn’t quite place. It looked like he was maybe angry at some point because his lips were pursed together tightly, but then on the other hand he clearly had a gentle expression in his eyes and his forehead was completely relaxed.

“Dwight.” Pam said with a smile. “Congratulations.”

“Thank you, Pam.” he nodded down at her. “I have a message to relay to you from Angela.”

Pam looked over towards Angela sitting at the large table at the front of the room; she was poking her fork at her salad but didn’t exactly seem to be eating anything. Pam thought that she looked angry.

“Is something wrong?” Pam asked, feeling concerned all the sudden.

“Nothing is wrong.” Dwight replied. “Angela just wanted me to come and let you know that she feels like you and Jim are stealing the focus away from her big day.” Pam immediately shot a seething glance towards Kelly, who had completely turned away from the conversation between Dwight and Pam and didn’t even notice Pam’s cold stare.

“I’m really, really sorry, Dwight.” Pam said apologetically. “I really didn’t want to say anything at your wedding, I really didn’t. It’s just, Kelly offered me some wine, and I refused, and she made a comment about how I was acting like I was pregnant and…well…” she dropped her voice down to a whisper so Kelly couldn’t hear, “it’s Kelly.”

Dwight smiled and nodded. He understood; after all, he had been working with Kelly for years. He knew that when she heard exciting news there was no hope for it to remain a secret.

“Well, I’m not really angry about it,” he explained, “and well, you know how Angela can get sometimes.”

“Yeah.” Pam said as she nodded along with Dwight.

“And congratulations to you.” Dwight said quietly.

“Thank you.” she said with a big smile.

“I can only hope that Angela and I will be so lucky in our…endeavors.” he said quietly. Pam’s eyes immediately widened and she did everything she possibly could to fight the image of Dwight and Angela together – like that – out of her mind.

“Uh…yeah,” Pam said, forcing a smile, “yeah, good luck with that.” Dwight nodded and Pam continued quickly, “And congratulations to the two of you. All of this…the wedding was really, really lovely.”

“I’ll be sure to relay the message back to Angela.” he said as he looked over his shoulder back towards the front of the room towards his new bride. “She planned most of this. I was just in charge of the food.”

“And it is…” Pam looked down at her untouched beet salad in front of her, beets were definitely not on a list of food that sounded good for eating at the moment, “The food is wonderful.”

“I’m glad you like it.” he said with a grin, oblivious to the full plate in front of her. “The kitchen staff of The Golden Beet have been working extra hard the past week. I’m really happy that they pulled through for us.”

“Well, you can relay the message that they did a wonderful job.” Pam said with a gracious smile.

Her words seemed to do the trick because Dwight beamed with pride and said, “Well, I hope that you enjoy your evening here.”

“Thanks, we will.” she said as she looked towards Jim then her gaze turned towards Angela once more. “And I’ll try and keep the talk of the little one quiet for the rest of the night.”