"What the hell are those?"

Pam followed Jim's gaze down to her feet. "Oh....these are my toe socks....cute right?"

"I'm sorry?" Jim said glancing up quickly from her socks. He met her eyes for only a moment though before training them on the socks again. "I...do not...like....those."

"Oh, stop...they're quirky," Pam said, wiggling her toes this time. Each little toe covered in it's own thick envelope of yarn.

Last winter when Pam had spent night after night alone in the midst of a severe cold spell, her mom had bought her a little something to cheer her up...toe socks. They were the perfect solution to popsicle toes.

"Those are...those are way freakier than any baby poster Angela's ever owned."

"Hey!" Pam said frowning.

"No...seriously, Pam - No!" He said yanking his leg away from her when she wiggled her toes towards him. He wouldn't have jerked away any more violently if she'd thrown a tarantula at him. She smiled a bit sadistically and her toes crept a bit closer.

"Stop...no....really...Pam!"  Jim spat, pushed parallel to the very edge of their bed.

"Oh my God, you're so weird..." Pam said giggling. "They're not that bad."

"Pam...they make your toes look like entities unto themselves."

"You never had a problem with my toes before, did you?"

"Your toes Pam...I think your toes are very cute...But not these...things. They gotta go."

"Ok, you're being silly...you know that...."

"Oh...I'm sorry, I'm being silly?...Pam, one of your toes is dressed like Santa, one like Rudolph, one like an elf, one like the Grinch -

"And one cried, ‘wee-wee-wee', all the way home," Pam said interrupting his speech and wiggling her baby toe, precariously close to his leg.

Jim shook his head. "That's....no...."

"Oh my God," Pam said giggling again. "You're really freaked out by them?"

"Uh that's what I've been trying to tell you..."

"Aw....I'm sorry," Pam said doing her best to squelch her smile. She pulled her feet back towards her own side of the bed and  pushed herself up so that she was sittng on her heels (her feet completely out of sight) and tried to pull him close. "Come here -

He fidgeted oddly in her arms, "Uh....no...see...you gotta take the socks off first...then...you know. That's when this," he said gesturing between them, "Is fine."

Pam shook her head. "Jim, it's time you got over your fear."

"Nope, not a fear. Just don't like them...and there will be zero physicality until you take them off and put them somewhere...somewhere I've never seen before."

"Did you just say physicality?" Pam said smiling.

"I'm serious."

"Jim...Jim," she said when he started to shake his head at the tone of her voice. "You need to face this.  I'll help you."

"No...don't want help."

"Jim...We'll do this together...you don't have to deal with this problem on your own anymore. You have me now."

"I don't have a problem," Jim said shaking his head. "Just take them off....and the problem goes away...just - real quickly."

Pam sighed and shook her head. She was not giving in. Fancy New Beesly was keeping her socks.

"This clearly calls for desperate measures...when people have an irrational fear like this they just have to jump right in...it's the only way."

"I'm not wearing your socks Pam."

"That's...." Pam shook her head. "That's not what I'm suggesting."

"Good...You're suggesting you burn them and that I never see them again...ever? Awesome.........What're you doing -

What she wasn't doing, was taking off her socks.  Instead, she seemed to be removing everything else...her little pajama shorts, tank top, underwear...each item was flung to the farthest reaches of their bedroom.

Jim swallowed...his eyes caught in a heated debate between the socks that he abhorred and the body he adored beyond measure.

"That is not....fair."

"The socks stay on Jim...it's time to conquer your fear."

And he did.

Several times.