February 27, 2010

Jim tentatively picked up a cube of cheese and sniffed at it curiously before setting it back on the platter.

“If you’re going to touch it, then eat it.” Pam muttered as she set two pale violet pillar candles on the dining room table.

“Tell me again why I’m not allowed to be here this afternoon?” Jim asked, grabbing the cube of cheese between his fingers and popping it into his mouth.

“Because it’s for women only.” she replied nonchalantly as she spread a handful of pastel colored napkins in the middle of the table in a fan shape.

“Aren’t baby showers usually held before the baby is born?” he asked, grabbing a small handful of pink and white M&Ms from a large bowl near the end of the counter and popping them one-by-one into his mouth.

Pam shrugged, “I guess…if you want to be all traditional about it.”

“And what, if anything, about you is traditional?” he teased.

“Pink decorations?” she tried hopelessly before walking over towards the small playpen that doubled as a crib in the corner of the living room and she scooped Amelia up in her arms.

“Nice try.” he said with a smile. “I just think it’s unfair that I can’t be with my daughter on her one month birthday.”

“Well, first of all, her one month birthday was two days ago. But…” Pam sighed, looking down at the baby in her arms, then back towards Jim. She knew that he would feel out of place. There was hardly going to be anyone over anyway, it would just be her, Angela, Kelly, Phyllis and maybe their mothers if they had decided they really wanted to drive into the city for the weekend. The last Pam had heard from her mother was that she was considering it, and the last she had heard from Jim’s mother she had said she would probably be there, but something may come up at the last minute.

“You can’t just parade all of these delicious appetizers under my nose and expect me not to want to join in with you guys.” he said, tapping a carrot stick against his bottom lip.

“Rumor has it that Phyllis is bringing a cheesecake sampler.” she said quietly, her lips against the top of Amelia’s golden brown wispy curls.

“Excuse me?” he asked incredulously. “Oh, I am so staying now.”

She giggled, “Okay, okay. You can stay. But! If you start feeling all squeamish around us girls squeeing and oohing and aahing, don’t say that I didn’t warn you.”

“Fair enough.” he said. “Consider me warned.”

***

“Dwight insisted on coming.” Angela muttered as she walked through the door with a large box from Pam’s favorite bakery in her arms. At first, she had barely even registered what Angela had said, she was too focused on the box that she figured would be filled with sugary petit fours or mind-numbingly sweet sugar cookies.

“Oh.” Pam said, looking at Dwight who had a large box wrapped in pink and yellow paper with little white ducks on it in his arms. “Well, Jim insisted on staying too, so I guess that he’ll have company.” She shot a glance over towards Jim, standing in the kitchen, whose eyes immediately widened. All the years that Jim had so vehemently avoided any social situation with Dwight was failing with only a simple sentence from his wife.

“Where can I put this?” Angela asked, pushing the bakery box forward slightly.

“What’s in it?” Pam asked with a wry smile.

“Sugar cookies.” Angela replied.

“I’ll take them.” Pam grinned.

“Oh…okay.” Angela said, reluctantly handing over the box. As soon as Pam had taken the box of cookies from Angela’s arms, Angela quickly wrapped her arms around her waist and Pam noticed what she hadn’t seen when she had been holding the box.

“Angela!” Pam gasped, wide eyed.

“Look at her.” Dwight said proudly, beaming from ear to ear as he wrapped his arm securely around Angela’s shoulders. “Pregnant on the very first try.”

“Congratulations you two.” was all that Pam could manage to say before she rushed behind the kitchen counter where Jim was still picking away at appetizer platters.

“What is it?” Jim asked, noticing the rather shocked look on her face.

“Angela and Dwight…” she replied. “She’s pregnant.”

“Oh my god.” Jim muttered. “You mean they’re reproducing?”

Pam’s mouth dropped open and she stifled a giggle by quickly clasping her hand over her mouth.

She composed herself quickly and swatted Jim on the shoulder, “Be nice. Dwight is staying so I’m sure that you can hear all about it.”

“Maybe I’ll take the afternoon off after all…” Jim said looking around, wondering if there was a way out.

“No. No way.” she said. “You’re job is to now keep the attention focused on me.”

Jim’s eyes widened and his mouth dropped open slightly, “I don’t believe I’ve ever seen this side of you!”

“And stop eating all of the food!” she teased as she set the box of sugar cookies down on the counter next to a plate of brownies she had made earlier in the day.

He quickly ate a cracker with cheese and said through a full mouth, “What’s in the box?”

“Sugar cookies.” she replied in a whisper. “Don’t you dare touch those.”

He grinned and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before she re-entered the dining room where Angela and Dwight had found a seat at the table.

“Phyllis!” Pam exclaimed as she answered the door. She pulled her co-worker into an embrace and immediately noticed the man standing behind her. “You brought…”

“Oh, I’m sorry, Pam.” Phyllis quickly explained. “This is my Bobby. He had the day off and…well, he wanted to spend it with me.”

Pam nodded and ushered Phyllis through the door, but she was immediately cornered in the door frame by Phyllis’ husband.

“Bob Vance, Vance Refrigeration.” he said, holding his hand out towards Pam.

“Pam.” she replied a little shakily, unaccustomed to such a formal greeting.

He quickly passed by her, satisfied with their introduction and made his way into the dining room to introduce himself to Jim, Dwight and Angela – with the exact same greeting he had given Pam.

Pam opened the door and didn’t even get a word before Kelly started squealing and jumping with joy.

“Oh my god, Pam!” she cried. “You had a baby! And you had a girl! Oh I’m so excited for you! Did you know that Angela is pregnant?”

“Hi Kelly.” Pam said with a smile. “Yes, I do know that Angela is pregnant.”

“Oh, is she adorable?” Kelly asked, walking a couple steps ahead of Pam into the dining room.

“Angela?” Pam asked, confused.

“No, silly!” Kelly exclaimed. “Your baby! Is she adorable? Oh my god. Does she have Jim’s nose? Please, please tell me she doesn’t have Jim’s nose.”

“She doesn’t have Jim’s nose.” Pam said with a smile as she glanced over in Jim’s direction to where he sat in the living room.

“Oh thank goodness,” Kelly said with a sigh of relief, “because that would have been so unfortunate.”

Pam giggled and shrugged, then waited until Kelly was out of earshot before quietly telling herself, “I don’t know…I think it might have been cute.”

***

Everyone sat around in a circle on the floor, couches and chairs of Jim and Pam’s living room. The party had grown to involve a few more people than Pam had originally intended to see there. Everyone she had invited had shown up: Angela, Phyllis, Kelly, Larissa – Jim’s mother, and Claire – her mother. However, Pam had not expected Dwight to come along, or Bob Vance. She welcomed the company though. After a month of being stuck inside their home with just Jim and Amelia, she was glad to see a larger variety of friendly faces.

“Should we start opening presents?” Phyllis asked with a mischievous smile on her face as she held up a three-tiered present in front of her.

“I should probably get Amelia first.” Pam said, standing from the couch. Just as she stood to her feet though, the doorbell rang. A look of confusion immediately crossed her face and she looked around the room. Everyone was there, including some people she had never invited in the first place.

“Jim?” Pam asked, turning towards him as he took a bite out of his slice of cheesecake. “Did you…”

“I have no idea.” he answered.

“Will you get the door?” she asked. She turned to everyone else in the room and excitedly said, “I’ll grab the baby.”

She walked up the stairs to the nursery to get Amelia – she had put her down for a nap just before Angela and Dwight had arrived to the party. She had been sleeping for a while, and Pam had heard a little bit of stirring over the baby monitor while engrossed in conversations with her friends minutes earlier. No one had seen little Amelia yet and Pam was quite excited to introduce her to everyone.

As she quickly made her way back down the stairs, baby in her arms she could swear that she heard a familiar voice – a familiar voice that she was anxious not to hear from for the next few months.

“Pamcasso!” Andy exclaimed as Pam rounded the corner of the stairs. Amelia let out a noise that sounded like a cross between a cry and a laugh and Pam stood speechless as she stared at Andy.

“Andy!” she finally said, staring wide-eyed at him. “What are you…how did you…what…”

“Oh god, Pam.” Phyllis muttered from the living room. “I’m sorry.”

“I overheard Phyllis talking about this one day at work, and then I saw the invitation hanging on her computer.” Andy explained. “And I figured…hey! A chance to see my lovely Pamcasso and her lovely little Pamcassoette!”

“Pamcasso what?” Pam asked.

“I’ll come up with a better nickname later.” he replied. “The point right now is…I made it!”

“Well…welcome.” Pam said with a bit of uncertainty, waving her hand over towards the crowd of rather confused people sitting around in the living room. “Everyone.” she said, addressing her guests. “This is Andy Bernard. I…uh…he shares an office with Phyllis and me at the publishing company.”

Everyone mumbled an uncertain, somewhat confused “hello” to Andy as he joined everyone in the living room and took a seat on the carpet next to Kelly.

“Andrew Bernard.” he said as he turned to her and held out his hand.

“Kelly Kapoor.” she said, taking his hand and smiling earnestly.

“How do you know Pam?” he asked as he watched Pam take a seat between Jim and Phyllis on the sofa.

“I used to waitress with her at Dwight’s restaurant.” Kelly said.

“Who is Dwight?” Andy asked.

“Dwight Schrute.” Dwight replied immediately, leaning down from an armchair and extending his hand towards Andy.

“You’re Dwight?” Andy asked.

“Yes, I am Dwight Schrute.” he replied and smiled in satisfaction with Andy’s firm handshake.

“Presents!” Phyllis exclaimed happily, turning back to the subject matter that had been brought up before Andy’s arrival.

“Me first!” Andy and Dwight cried in unison.

“You both brought gifts?” Pam asked incredulously, staring wide-eyed at the two men across the room from her.

“I thought that we would go clockwise.” Phyllis said.

“Of course you’d say that, Phyllis,” Andy said, “you’re sitting right next to her.”

“Well, it would be easier.” Phyllis argued.

“I like that idea.” Pam said, nodding happily. “But before I open anything, I want to take the opportunity to introduce Miss Amelia to you all.”

“She is so cute, Pam!” Kelly squealed, clasping her hands together at her chest and grinning wide.

“She looks just like you.” Phyllis said quietly. She quickly leaned forward to catch Jim’s gaze before she added, “And Jim, she definitely has your eyes.”

“Thank you, Phyllis.” Jim said quietly, with a proud nod.

“So…do I get the three tiered present first?” Pam asked excitedly. She quickly turned to Jim and held Amelia out to him.

“I don’t get to open the presents?” he teased as he took Amelia into his own arms and held her up on his lap.

Pam giggled, “I’m feeling greedy today.”

Phyllis passed the three tiered gift over into Pam’s lap and Pam greedily eyed the three boxes, each wrapped in a pastel pink and white wrapping paper with a big yellow ribbon holding them together.

“The top two are for Amelia,” Phyllis explained, “the one on the bottom is for you.” She quickly looked over at Jim. “Sorry Jim, if I had known you were going to be here, I would have gotten something for you too.”

Jim waved his hand, “No, no, it’s fine.” He pointed towards the box of half-eaten chocolate raspberry cheesecake sitting on the coffee table. “The cheesecake is my present.”

“So should I open mine or Amelia’s first?” Pam contemplated aloud. She quickly made up her mind to open the top two first. She deftly untied the ribbon at the top and picked the first box off from the top of the pile. It was a small box and very light. Pam quickly removed the paper and pulled the lid from the top. She nearly squealed and quickly covered her mouth as she saw what lay inside.

“Oh my god, Phyllis.” Pam said, holding the pink and blue baby jumper up by the straps for everyone in the room to see. “This is the cutest thing I’ve ever seen. Did you knit it yourself?”

“I did.” Phyllis said happily. “She’s probably too small for it right now, but it will fit her in a month or two.”

“Thank you.” Pam said with a grin as she quickly progressed to the second box and opened that. Again, she gasped aloud and gingerly touched the fabric that lay inside the box with the tips of her fingers.

“You did not make this too, did you?” Pam asked, running her fingers over the knit, cotton blanket. Phyllis nodded and Pam resisted the urge to throw her arms around Phyllis to show her gratitude. Pam shook her head and stammered before giving Phyllis a very heartfelt, “thank you” and handing the blanket over to Jim who spread the blanket out over his lap and handed Amelia a corner to play with.

The last gift from Phyllis – for Pam – was a large clear box filled with two large balls of yarn, a set of knitting needles and a couple of simple knitting patterns.

“I know that you’re going to be stuck inside a lot for the next few months.” Phyllis explained. “I don’t know if you have any desire at all to learn to knit, but it could help you pass the time.”

Pam nodded and thanked Phyllis for her gifts and Jim’s mother quickly handed her gift over to Pam, and her present was immediately followed by a gift from Pam’s mother.

“You both already gave me gifts.” Pam said with a smile as she took the two packages into her lap. “And Larissa, you gave us that amazing stroller! Why…why more?”

“Why not?” Larissa said with a smile.

Pam grinned and quickly tore the wrapping paper off of the large box while Jim watched curiously from next to her. When the paper was removed, he started to laugh to himself as he looked down at the full set of Sesame Street dinnerware complete with a matching bib. Pam glanced over at the sound of Jim’s snickering then suddenly realized why he was so amused by the gift – it was almost an exact duplicate of the entire set of children’s dinnerware that he had given to Dwight as a prank at The Golden Beet. She held back her own laugh and graciously thanked Jim’s mother before moving onto the gift from her own mother.

“It feels like a book.” she said as she ran her hands along the side of the wrapping paper. She pulled the paper away from the gift and looked down at the baby book in her lap.

“I filled it up with a few things already.” her mother said. Pam opened up the cover and saw that her mother had already embellished the entire first page with Amelia’s name and a few pictures that Pam had sent throughout the first month.

“Thank you, mom!” she exclaimed as she closed the cover and Phyllis placed a small bag next to Pam’s lap.

“From Angela.” Phyllis said as Pam pulled out a handful of purple tissue paper and immediately saw five, small paperback books inside.

“They’re all about cats.” Jim said as Pam took each book out of the bag one-by-one and displayed the covers to him.

“Cats are wonderful animals to have around small children.” Angela said. Pam smiled as she pulled a stuffed orange tabby from the bottom of the bag and handed it over towards Amelia who immediately squealed in delight at the toy and grasped at the paws of the cat.

“Well…thank you, Angela.” Pam said as she set the empty bag on the floor and placed the books on the coffee table.

“And this is from…” Phyllis said as she passed a large rectangular gift wrapped in a green paper to Pam. “There’s no tag.”

“That is from me.” Dwight said, raising his hand.

“You got me a gift?” Pam asked, not sure if she should be touched or apprehensive.

“Of course.” Dwight replied. “I figured that I should pass along some of my family traditions.”

“But you’re having a baby in a few months.” Pam said, pointing towards Angela.

“Doesn’t mean that I can’t pass on some family traditions to another family.” he argued. Pam shrugged and nodded before tearing the paper from the package. She stared down at a faded book in her arms that looked older than she was.

“What is it?” she asked, running her finger down the cracked leather spine of the book.

“It’s an English version of a book of Germanic fairytales and folklore that my Großmutter read to me as a child.” he explained. “I have the German version at home that I plan to read to my children…I figured you don’t know any, so I didn’t have any problems parting with this one.”

“Wow.” she and Jim said in unison as they stared down at the book. Regardless, Pam thanked him for the gift, though she felt it may have been a little less heartfelt than the thanks she had already given and before she could say another word, Phyllis was pushing an enormous, hot pink bag into Pam’s lap and Kelly was practically shaking with excitement.

“Let me guess.” Pam said looking over in Kelly’s direction. “This one is from…”

“It’s from me!” Kelly exclaimed loudly as she jumped onto her knees and walked herself a little closer to the coffee table. Pam smiled and pulled a large leather bag from the bag and turned it back and forth.

“Okay, okay.” Kelly said quickly before Pam had a chance to say anything, “I know what you’re thinking. ‘Kelly, oh my god! Why did you get me a diaper bag? I already have a diaper bag, silly!’ But no! Oh my god, Pam. Pam! This diaper bag is like the hottest diaper bag that you will ever see. Just last week, I was looking through People magazine and Angelina Jolie had the cutest diaper bag and I was like, ‘Oh my god! Where did she get that? Where can I get one?’ and then I realized that, duh, silly, I don’t have a baby! But then I realized that you do! And I just couldn’t let you get by without this.”

Pam, Jim and…well, just about everyone else sitting around them had a look of shock as Kelly spoke. Finally, Pam said, “Wow…thanks, Kelly. I…I don’t think I even own a purse this nice.”

“Well there’s more!” Kelly exclaimed happily.

“There’s more?” Pam asked, already shocked that Kelly had spent…well, she wasn’t quite sure how much Kelly had spent on the diaper bag, but judging by the looks of it and the price that she had seen similar bags sold at; Pam figured it was a lot.

Pam rifled through the bag but only found mounds and mounds of pink tissue paper.

“It’s in the diaper bag.” Kelly said, pointing towards the zipper.

“Oh.” Pam said, opening the bag and finding a card inside. She quickly opened the card and quickly read over the decorative printing.

“Classes?” Jim asked curiously.

“Yeah!” Kelly replied. “They have a whole bunch that you can choose from. For a baby Amelia’s age they have like, sign language classes or something like that so you can communicate with your baby before they start talking…and I think they have another one too. But once they get older, you can take them to painting classes and stuff like that! That gift certificate is good for a year, so you can take her to do whatever you want.”

“Wow.” Pam said with a smile, trying to even fathom how much money Kelly had spent on the gift. “This is all…this is really amazing, Kelly. Thank you.” She silently wondered how on earth she was ever going to repay her for the expensive gifts. Thanking her would require more than a card from Hallmark. She quickly made a mental note to figure out where Kelly’s favorite restaurant was; she would take her out for a nice lunch or dinner, maybe even drinks in order to thank her for the gifts.

“Of course! I hope that you enjoy them.” Kelly said with a smile as she returned to her previous spot on the floor between the armchair and Andy.

“So is that…” she looked around the circle towards everyone. “Oh wait, Andy! You said that you had something, right?”

“Oh, yeah.” he said, pulling a small box from his lap and handing across the coffee table to Pam. “It’s no…diaper bag or anything like that…”

Pam unwrapped the gift and smiled at the Baby Einstein CD in her hands. She silently thanked that it was as tame as this.

“I was going to get the little tyke a recorder or something like that.” Andy said while shrugging. “But I figured that she really wouldn’t get much use of it until she got a little older. A CD was the next best thing.”

“Thank you.” Pam said with a gracious smile. She was thrilled that he hadn’t gotten Amelia a recorder – she and Jim would have never heard the end of that one once Amelia reached the age that she would actually be able to blow into it. Pam was even more thrilled that he had gotten her something age appropriate. Pam started to think that maybe she hadn’t given Andy enough credit. When she glanced over towards Jim, beaming proudly and carrying on a conversation with Andy, she realized that he was probably thinking the same thing himself.

***

Phyllis and Bob Vance were the last people to leave that evening. Everyone stayed until nearly eight at night, and by that time Pam was exhausted and sleepy and she had put Amelia to sleep two hours earlier.

Pam sat cross-legged on the couch, chewing on a sugar cookie with the baby blanket that Phyllis had knit for Amelia spread out across her lap. She touched the small embroidered animals and smiled. It was quite possibly one of the nicest, most heartfelt gifts that she had ever received from a friend before. It was definitely something that Amelia would be able to keep for the rest of her life – willing she didn’t chew it to shreds at some point during her infancy.

“Well, Pam,” Phyllis said, sitting next to Pam on the sofa, “I think that Bobby and I are going to have to be on our way soon.” Pam silently nodded. “I’m really sorry that Andy showed up. I never thought that he would actually snoop around my desk and figure out the date and time of your shower.”

“No,” Pam said, shaking her head, “it’s okay. I…he wasn’t all that bad. Which really, is kind of shocking. I’ve been working with you two for how long now? Two years? I never realized that he was…”

“Human?” Phyllis finished and Pam laughed.

“Something like that.” she said, smiling.

“Well, I just wanted to take this last opportunity to tell you how beautiful Amelia is.” Phyllis said. “I could go on forever telling you how lucky you and Jim are. Of course, you already know that.” Pam nodded again. “And you know, if you ever need a babysitter.”

Pam’s gaze immediately focused in on Phyllis, “Really?”

“Of course.” Phyllis replied. “Especially if you have no one else in mind. Obviously, once you start working again, I can’t volunteer myself during the day. But if you and Jim ever want a night out, Bobby and I would be more than happy to look after her. We both love children, but we can’t exactly have any of our own at our age.”

“You could adopt.” Pam argued and Phyllis shook her head.

“As much as we’d love to, by the time we had the money and went through the selection process…” she shook her head again. “We’re happy being childless. We have plenty of people in our lives with children.”

Pam nodded, but she still felt some remorse for her friend – her friend that had been so kind to her at work, her friend that did so many kind things for her outside of work…

“Phyllis.” Pam said, an idea popping into her mind suddenly.

“What is it?” Phyllis asked.

“Well, I’ll have to discuss it more with Jim, and we’re not religious or anything…so it wouldn’t have the same connotation as it normally would but…” Pam replied. “Would you be interested in being Amelia’s godmother?”

Phyllis’ face brightened immediately and she beamed, “I would love to!”

“Like I said, I’ll have to talk with Jim about it,” Pam said quickly, “but I don’t know why he would have any problem with it.”

“That is so sweet of you.” Phyllis said. “And my offer to baby-sit…”

“Yes.” Pam said nodding. “You are definitely first in line. Kelly volunteered, but…well, I think that I will feel a little more confident with you than Kelly.” She laughed softly to herself. “And I’ll try not to abuse your offer.”

“Oh, don’t worry.” Phyllis said with a smile. She looked over her shoulder as Bob called for her from the door. “I guess Bobby wants to leave.”

“I think that it’s about time for me to sleep, anyway.” Pam said, standing up with Phyllis and walking with her to the door. “Thank you for coming, both of you.”

She and Jim waved them out and then quickly returned inside where it was warm.

“So that was a baby shower?” he asked as he looked around their living and dining room at platters of half-eaten appetizers and two boxes that were empty of their desserts with the exception of some frosting coating the cardboard.

“That,” Pam said with a smile, “was a baby shower.”

“I kind of liked it.” Jim said, nodding. “I’ll clean up, okay? You can go to bed, you look exhausted.”

“Thanks.” she said, wrapping her arms around his waist tightly and pressing her lips softly against his.

“Sleep tight.” he said as she pulled away and started walking towards the stairs.

“I will.” she said. She walked up the first step and quickly turned back around. “Oh, and Jim?” He turned towards her with an expectant look on his face. “We have a babysitter for whenever we may need one.” She quickly winked at him and giggled at his wide grin before facing forward once more and she made her way to the bedroom.