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Disclaimer: I am sad to report it isn't mine. Not Jim, not Pam, not Dunder Mifflin, Scranton. Woe is me. No infringement is intended.
A/N: Oh my goodness, I don't know what I'm getting myself into here. Currently this has no set amount of chapters, so I'll probably just work on this until everyone's sick of it. This may or may not steal elements from License to Wed, which is kind of where the idea originated, but I hope it's not that lame. lol This will be an exercise in perseverence for me, so please bear with me. Let's see what we can do for these two on the road to wedded bliss. ;)I just came up with the title tonight because I couldn't think of anything else. lol Remember, feedback is love!

Author's Chapter Notes:
Chapter title is taken from You and Me by Plain White T's, which is such a Jim/Pam song. I don't own that either, shockingly enough.
If the dull roar in his ears was any indication, Jim was pretty sure he was going to pass out. There was a ring box weighing down his coat pocket, and he swore it was about to burn a hole through the material.

He’d had the ring for a week, but he had been plotting his moves for two months. He was truly grateful for the pay raise his promotion had given him (even if it meant that Dunder Mifflin was his career now), his modest way of life, and a huge sale at Christie’s in the mall. Thanks to all of that he had in his possession a three-quarter carat solitaire in a white gold setting that he was sure Pam would love, and he hadn’t had to mortgage his soul to get it. Not that he wouldn’t have for her, but he wanted to be practical and not start what would hopefully be their new life together in debt.

That was step one.

Step two had been to get out of Scranton.

When he had asked her earlier in the week where she would like to go for the weekend, it had been more than shocking when she said Connecticut.

He hadn’t been there since Stamford, and he wasn’t so sure it was a good idea to go back now. But she insisted that none of that mattered anymore, and she had never been there and wanted to go. He agreed because she wanted it, and he knew he couldn’t pin one horrible period of his life on an entire state.

Pam had found a bed and breakfast, that she assured him was adorable, in a quaint little town not far from Hartford.

Now he was pacing a very nice, comfortable room, waiting for her to get out of the shower. They had been horseback riding, a service the inn offered, earlier in the afternoon, and she was convinced she had to get clean afterward.

He had been so sure, until this very moment, that it was the right time to propose to her. They had been together for six months, and he had known he wanted to marry her for so much longer than that. He knew she wanted to marry him, because they had talked about it a few times, so he didn’t know why every doubt possible was creeping up on him now. He told himself it was only natural to be nervous about asking someone to spend the rest of their life with you.

Maybe that was so, but deep down he knew it was mainly because someone had asked her before. It wasn’t that he didn’t have faith things would work out this time. It was just that he had never proposed before, and she had already been engaged and he was worried that it might affect her answer. Even though he realized that was ridiculous, he still worried.

The door to the bathroom opened and he stopped pacing. She had taken her hair down, and her curls fell over her shoulders just the way he loved. All of his anxiety disappeared as she looked at him curiously.

“Are you all right?” she asked. He looked almost as if she had startled him.

He smiled. “I’m fine. I was just waiting for you to get ready.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t want to go to dinner smelling like a horse.” She hadn’t been horseback riding since she was a girl, and she had forgotten exactly what it was like to get that close to an animal. At least, one that didn’t live in the house or backyard.

He laughed. “It’s fine. I just changed clothes. Do I smell like a horse?”

She walked closer and sniffed him, barely able to keep a straight face. “No, actually.”

“You sound disappointed.”

“Hardly. Aftershave is much better than beast of burden.”

“Good to know.”

She smirked up at him, the deep green of her sweater making her eyes the color of moss. He leaned down and quickly kissed her.

“Are you ready to go?” he asked. The weight in his coat pocket seemed lighter, and he just hoped he could get through the evening without making an idiot of himself. He had one stop to make before they left, but she didn’t need to know what the delay was about.

“Sure,” she said, tugging at his hand. “Where have you decided to take me?”

*

Pam was happily devouring her chicken parmesan, but she was worried that Jim was only picking at his roast beef.

“Are you sure you’re all right, Jim?” she asked, taking a sip of her wine. “Because I know after the day we’ve had you’ve got to be hungrier than that.”

“I’m fine, really,” he said and he took a big bite hoping to prove it.

“Okay,” she said, but she wasn’t totally convinced. His normally laidback demeanor had been replaced by a tightly wound Jim in the last few days, and she was starting to think something was wrong.

She didn’t think he had any more stress at work than usual, at least not any that she had seen or he had told her about. Not much had changed around the office, so she couldn’t figure out why he seemed so distracted.

“So, do you want to walk around downtown when we’re finished here?” he asked. He hadn’t figured out where he was going to do it yet, but he wanted to propose to her tonight so they would have at least one more day together - and engaged - before they had to head back to reality.

“Sure, that would be fun,” she said, and she thought she saw him relax a little. They had driven out to Hartford to have dinner, and she had looked into the town a bit online from Jim’s laptop at the inn. They had some galleries she was interested in, and several coffee shops to pick from for coffee and dessert later.

When they were done with dinner, they held hands as they explored downtown. Pam oohed and aahed over the artwork in the galleries, and Jim enjoyed watching her in her element. She had been learning a lot in her art classes, and he was proud of her even if she wasn’t yet able to be a full time artist. He was hoping one day he could change that.

When she was with Roy, Pam never got to do things like leisurely browse art galleries, and she always worried she was boring Jim out of his mind. But he always encouraged her to take her time, and if he was ever bored he didn’t show it. He held her hand and smiled as she talked about the artist or studied the different techniques, and he waited patiently when she would pull her small notebook out of her purse and jot down names and other details she wanted to remember later.

“Still not bored?” she said looking over at him.

He looked down at her smiling face and shook his head. “I keep telling you that I’m never bored when I’m with you. Do I need to write it in blood or something?” he teased.

“Ew,” she said, wrinkling her nose. “I believe you. I was just wondering, because there’s a coffee shop down the street that looks worth checking out, and I think cheesecake is calling my name.”

“Really? Verbal cheesecake. This I have to see,” he said and she playfully swatted his arm. “Lead the way, Dessert Whisperer.”

“You’re such a dork,” she said with great affection. But he was her dork, and that was all that mattered. She was just grateful to have someone that understood her own dorkiness instead of looking at her like she was insane every time she tried to be funny.

“Takes one to know one,” he shot back, and she jokingly pulled him from the gallery and down the sidewalk.

“I can hear it more clearly now,” she said, looking over her shoulder with a smirk.

“What? The cheesecake? Come on, Pam. What if they don’t even have cheesecake?”

“They do. I checked the menu online.”

“You’re so thorough. Did they specify it cries out the name ’Pam’ through the streets?”

“Yes.” She giggled.

“Does it also say ’eat me’?”

“Jim!”

“Hey, you started it.”

“And it looks like you just finished it. I think that old lady we were walking by still has her jaw on the ground.”

“Maybe we should turn around and help her pick it up.”

“Don’t you dare, Jim.” She was trying not to laugh despite her firm tone. “What has gotten into you today?”

“I have no idea,” he said, but he knew he must still be nervous for the hits to come that fast and furious. He wasn’t slow on a bad day, but geez, he had to tone it down.

Once they reached their destination (The Gingerbread House, which was decorated appropriately), he was mostly silent as he watched her talk about the galleries and how cute the place was, and she generously fed him a couple of bites of her caramel cheesecake because he had said he was too full to order anything but coffee for himself.

He was worried that his proposal would be too dorky, even for them, and that he was going to mess everything up for them. He wasn’t so sure how perfect tonight was going to be after all.

Pam sighed as she took the last bite of her dessert and looked at her boyfriend curiously. He had gone from a smartass remark machine to a zombie in less than five minutes, and she wasn’t sure what to do with him anymore. It wasn’t like him to be unreadable, but whatever was on his mind, he wasn’t telling and she couldn’t guess. It was really starting to bother her.

She took his hand which was laying on the table and looked him straight in the eye. “Jim, seriously, are you all right? Because I’m starting to wonder if I wandered into The Invasion of the Body Snatchers or something. You don’t seem yourself.”

He smiled at her concern and wished he could tell her what was wrong so she could see it wasn’t that wrong. That’s when he realized he could probably ask her right here in this sickeningly adorable Hansel and Gretel bait, and she would probably say yes. That’s when he relaxed.

“I’m fine. I think Connecticut is still weirding me out,” he said with a laugh.

She shook her head. “Well, get over it.” She stood up and pulled on his hand. “Come on, let’s get out of here. I’ve had enough exploring for one day. At least of towns,” she said, waggling her eyebrows suggestively.

He shook his head, a look of mock disappointment on his face. “Your mind is always in the gutter,” he said with a sigh.

When she looked anything but apologetic, he paid the bill and led her out of the shop back onto the sidewalk. He drew her to him and kissed her breathless, and his confidence skyrocketed.

“What was that for?” she asked, looking up at him with wide eyes.

“Oh, wow, Pam, does there have to be a reason already? Are we already at the stage where there must be reasons to kiss you?” he teased. “Fine. You’re amazing, for one. Uh, beautiful, that goes without saying though I kind of like saying it anyway. You’re funny, smart, talented…”

She drew his head down for another kiss, glad that she seemingly had the correct Jim again. When she stepped back, she laughed. “That was for no reason, though I liked all of yours.” She grinned.

“What? I’m not amazing or beautiful?” he said as he took her hand and started down the sidewalk again.

“I never said that.”

“I know, you never tell me I’m beautiful.”

She was laughing so hard she almost tripped.

“And now we know that’s a hilarious thought…” he said good-naturedly.

“Shuddup,” she said happily.

The drive back to the inn was considerably less terrifying, even though he knew what he was about to do was for real. But he felt good about his chances, and her hand in his as she sang along to the radio helped him keep it together. They were solid, this was the right move. He wanted to be with her forever, and the sooner forever started, the better.

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