“Feed me PAMMY, FEED ME!” Michael’s voice echoes through the entire office and Pam’s lips were pulled into a grimace that she was trying to hide. The volume alone was enough to give her a headache; her tolerance for Michael had not improved over the years of working at Dunder-Mifflin.

She stared at him with that familiar patented ‘what’ look that he still couldn’t recognize after all these years.

“Little Shop of Horror’s Pam, It’s a classic,” Michael’s voice is so condescending she might scream and then turns to the camera with a goofy grin. “Nailed the joke!”

Without further preamble he slips his way into his office without stopping to get his messages which only means that she has to get up from the confines of her desk to go give them to him. Pam lets out a soft sigh which earns her Jim’s form turning around to give her a sympathetic look and a goofy half smile that makes her smile in return.

She gets up from her desk and heads into Michael’s office with a fax and three messages in her hand. He looks up when she comes in and for an instant Michael looks tired and she wonders how completely exhausting it must be to be a “performer” all the time. The look fades and he’s grinning again but before he can say anything inappropriate she’s listing off his messages.

“And Jan called, I guess right after you left the Condo, she wants you to pick up her hormones from the pharmacy on your way home,” Pam’s voice is kind of tight because she’d been forced to listen to Jan for about fifteen minutes. She’d always respected the older woman and hoped that one of these days she’d get her act together.

Michael sighs and she gets a glimpse of that tired look again, it’s coming up more often these days but she thinks he hides it well.

“Thanks pamalma ding-dong!” He says in another over-exaggerated voice.

Pam smiles at him and then heads back to her desk.

The day drones on without much incident. Dwight’s on a sales call so she and Jim are sufficiently bored. It’s almost too scary to think about trying to prank Andy again so they’ve been a little gun-shy on that front.

Karen’s out sick and Pam really wants to not feel relieved that the other woman’s eyes don’t bore holes into her skull every time Jim gets up to help himself to Jellybeans at her desk but oh well, she’s only human.

When she looks up he’s standing there with a grin, “So I was thinking that we should go see a movie tonight, Harry Potter just opened.”

She laughs lightly at him shaking her head.

“And clearly we must see the movie so we can sufficiently mock Dwight’s obsession?” She asks with a light grin.

“Exactly, you’ll have to keep your hands off me for a whole three hours though Beesly,” the way his eyes sparkle now when they flirt makes the butterflies in her stomach scramble around for purchase.

“I think I’ll manage,” she deadpans.

His mock wounded look makes her laugh, “You should dress up like Hermonie for Halloween, give Dwight a thrill.”

She laughs again, “Only if you come as Harry.”

He makes a face and laughs as well, “See I was just going to go with that whole fake knife through the head thing. Use your artistic skills to blood up my head.”

She makes her own face and shakes her head, “As fun as that sounds …”

He laughs and the phone rings and he sends her a wink before going back to his desk as she answers the phone in that monotone voice, “Dunder-Mifflin this is Pam.”

When Dwight gets back from his sales call with Phyllis in tow they both look unhappy. Pam raises her brow as Phyllis grabs her purse and murmurs that she’s going to see her husband. Jim gives her a look and starts in on Dwight.

He is, of course, interrupted from this task by Michael who comes out of his office with that look. The one that promises that the rest of the afternoon will be spent in the conference room or wishing there were more places to hide in the office.

“Pam, I want you to go online and order me the biggest snapdragon you can find. Okay?” He looks excited and she can’t help but be worried.

Another blank look from her prompts him to sigh.

“Now, please Pam. An office is only as productive as its receptionist.” He sighs and turns towards his office.

Jim’s voice stops him and he can’t help but be excited that someone is interested in talking to him.

“Why a snapdragon?” Jim asks, trying to muddle this one out in his head. She’s really not having much luck either. Maybe they’re Jan’s favourite?

“Well, if you must know Jim-bag. Jan and I watched Little Shop of Horror’s last night and I decided that instead of a guard dog for the condo to keep Jan safe during the day I’m going to breed my very own snapdragon!”

The silence following this admission is almost comical.

“But Michael …” Dwight starts and Michael’s eyes turn upward as if he’s begging for quite.

“Shuuuuuuuuut ittttttttt, Dwight.” He says before Dwight even has a chance to tell him what everyone else in the office is thinking – or at least those who pay any attention which leaves out Creed and Stanley.

“Uh Michael, that’s not a snapdragon,” Jim pipes up and Dwight sends him a death glare that is comical.

Michael just stares at Jim blankly and Pam has to hide her laughter behind her hand.

“It’s a venus flytrap. In both the movie and the musical,” Jim’s lips form into that line that tells Pam he’s trying not to laugh at the expression on Michael’s face.

“Yeah, one of those,” Michael says shortly and moves into his office without another word.

Pam takes that opportunity to laugh behind her desk and avoid another death glare from Dwight. She can practically see Jim’s grin and sparkling eyes turned towards her but she can’t look at him or she’ll loose all composure.

A few minutes later, while she’s engrossed in a game of free cell, she hears Dwight’s voice raise in anger.

“JIM!” He yells jumping up from his desk.

Pam’s eyes turn to the scene and there’s a plate of jello on Dwight’s desk. Inside the geletin is Dwight’s brown belt in a plastic bag. At least Jim hadn’t ruined it but Dwight’s face is red and Pam can hear Angela’s huff of indignance from the partition behind her head.

Jim’s face is glowing and she’s grinning and he’s looking at her.

“At least it’s not your stapler Dwight, you might need that today,” Jim says with a grin.

It’s less than five seconds before Dwight has stormed into Michael’s office and slammed the door shut behind him, his raised voice leaking throughout the office.

Jim’s up and by her desk not long after with a grin. “So do you think if I do dress up as Harry Potter I can convince him that I have magical powers?”

Her eyes sparkle, “I’m sure we can make that happen.”

He looks around, for the camera she figures and apparently he couldn’t find it cause the next thing she knows he’s leaning awkwardly over her desk and pressing a soft kiss to her lips. It’s short and sweet but she’s grinning when he pulls back.

She sighs, “I guess I’ll go see Harry Potter with you tonight.”

He winks again and heads back over to his desk. “I know it’s just an excuse to see it though, You’re so a closet Potter-head!”

He turns and gives her a look and she has to remind herself that she will have to keep her hands to herself through the movie. There’s going to be kids in there right? Damn, why couldn’t they just go see Die Hard or something that she doesn’t have to watch?