These characters do not belong to me, they belong to NBC, Greg Daniels,and the Office.  I do not intend to profit from this posting, no copyright or harm intended.

Chapter 1

“Jim, do you think the spark has gone out of our marriage?”  Pam timidly asked from behind her sketch pad.

Jim was stretched out in an overstuffed chair with a novel he’d been trying to finish for a week.  He sighed, frustrated at the interruption.  He put the book down, careful to not lose his place, and tilted his head towards Pam.  “Why would you say that?  Have you been talking to Kelly?  Or Michael?”

“No, it’s not that.  It’s just when we first started dating remember how we couldn’t keep our hands off each other?  And we would sneak kisses in the car and in the break room?”

A wide smile started to spread across Jim’s face and he instinctively licked his lips at the memories that flashed in his mind.  “Yes, of course I remember.”

“Well, it just seems like now you are more interested in that book than you are in me.”  Pam struggled to be sure her voice sounded disinterested, like she was stating a fact that was not open for argument.

Startled by her statement, Jim immediately responded, “That’s totally ridiculous.  It’s just that it was a long day, and Michael wouldn’t leave me alone and kept calling me Jimmy…..again.”

“I know,” Pam’s voice drifted off.

“And seriously, my back is still not at 100% since the last time we tried to spice things up.”  Jim shot her a playful look trying to lighten the mood.  He noticed that she seemed to sink lower in the couch, hiding a bit behind her sketch pad.

“I know.”  She said, a blush staining her cheeks.  “But, really, that was your idea, the whole let’s try something new, I just suggested the shower.”  The sound of Pam’s pencil on the paper seemed louder and more frantic.  “And it just seems like you wouldn’t have brought any of this up in the first place if you were completely satisfied.”

“You know that I only brought it up because I was foolish enough to let Michael get to me.”  Jim hung his head slightly realizing this conversation was not ending anytime soon, so he closed the book.  “And I, just, well…I thought it would be fun to try something different.  That’s all.  Although the trip to the ER pretty much squelched my desire for new and different.”  He lingered on the words, thinking back over his afternoon on the bathroom floor.

Pam shifted again, nearly squirming because she was so uncomfortable with this whole conversation.  “Just seems like we’ve lost our zip.  Our mo-jo if you will.”

“You think?”  He felt unsure about how to respond to her.  Okay so maybe things were tried and true as they say, but he never had any complaints.  Did she have complaints? 

Pam put her sketchpad down and sat up facing Jim, a serious expression on her face.  “I’m just saying, if you had any, um, fantasies you wanted to, well, try…we could.”

Jim’s eyebrows practically reached his hairline he was so shocked at the suggestion.

“I don’t think that we need to….”  Jim stumbled on the words as his mind wandered in a million different directions.  Should a husband really tell his wife his secret fantasies?  Isn’t there some kind of cautionary tale about this?  Or was that just a beer commercial? 

“I know you’re thinking this could be a bad idea, but I think we should.”  Pam’s words brought him back to the moment and he locked eyes with her.  He was always amazed that she could literally finish his thoughts.

Pam felt her insides twist a little as she saw the apprehension in her husband’s eyes.  Even though she knew Jim better than anyone in the world, she started to worry what kind of fantasy he had hidden under that normal boy next door exterior that he was scared to reveal to his own wife.  “Should I be worried at that look?”

“Huh?”  Jim blinked hard as if he were trying to wake up from a daydream; this whole conversation seemed surreal, like maybe he had drifted off to sleep while he was reading and had not yet realized it.  He loved how confident Pam had become when they finally got together, and she had worked hard over the years to keep that confidence, but to flat out ask if he wanted something different from their sex life, that was uncharted territory, even for her.  “No, really, I don’t have any kinky fantasies; at least I don’t think they’re weird.  Course I don’t swap notes with Dwight or Kevin, just to be sure that I haven’t become some kind of freak overnight.”

“Well okay then, start talking…..”

“Okay, but I think you’re making a mountain out of a molehill.  I mean everything’s fine isn’t it?”

“Yeah, everything’s great,” she paused, leaving Jim less than certain that she truly believed that everything was good.   “Anyway, I owe you after the shower thing…so it’s your turn to pick.” 

“So I pick a fantasy of mine and you comply, is that what you’re saying?”

“That’s it in a nutshell.”

“Wow…okay.   Um, well I do have an idea, which could be kind of …fun…are you sure about this?” 

“Yes, totally.  Go ahead, I’m ready.”  Pam nodded seriously, like she was ready to take notes or something.  He was distracted by the image of Pam in very businesslike attire taking notes while leaning on his desk in the office.  He tried to focus on just one fantasy at a time; that one would have to wait for another day.

“Okay, so Dwight gave me these handcuffs…”

Pam’s mouth dropped open at the idea that Jim owned handcuffs, much less from Dwight.  “Why did Dwight give you handcuffs?”

“Well they were apparently from his days as a volunteer for the Lackawanna County Sheriff’s Department.  That time that Roy came in the office…” Jim trailed off knowing that he didn’t need to spell out which day he meant, “Dwight thought that I should take the cuffs in case Roy came after me again.  I don’t know, I think he wanted me to make a citizen’s arrest.” 

 “Okay…so,” Pam cracked a shy smile, quickly recovering from the memory of that day, “What should we do with your official Lackawanna County Sheriff’s Department handcuffs?”

Jim leaned back in his chair, “Do I need to explain it?”

Pam couldn’t hold back the grin that stretched across her face, “So me or you?  In the handcuffs that is?”

Jim smiled smugly at her, arms crossed across his chest, “Oh, totally you.”

“Me?”

“Well, it is my fantasy.  And you do owe me…” 

Pam folded up her sketch book and took a deep breath, feeling nervous and excited all at the same time.  “So do you have them here?”

Jim put his book down on the coffee table and leaned forward towards Pam, “Yep, bottom drawer under the sweaters.” 

“So we’re really gonna do this.”  Pam’s voice trembled a little.

“Only if you want to.”

“Okay…”  She paused to sort out the knots in her stomach for a moment, then locking eyes with Jim she said firmly, “Let’s do it.”

She got up and walked towards the bedroom decisively.  Jim started to say something, but she turned quickly and interrupted, “Don’t even think about saying ‘that’s what she said.”

“Pam, …c’mon…would I do that?”

“Yes.”

Pam smiled and turned to go down the hall to their bedroom; Jim just watched her, a slight smirk on his face as he absentmindedly scratched the back of his head.  Truthfully, Jim had no idea what he wanted to do with the cuffs, but it seemed like a fun experiment nonetheless.

When they reached their bedroom, Jim fished the bag containing handcuffs out of their sweater drawer and handed it to Pam.  She reached in the crumpled plastic Giant Eagle bag and pulled out a shiny, open pair of handcuffs.  She eyed them for a moment like they weren’t quite real; slowly she reached out and touched them, cautiously, like she was afraid they would bite her.  She toyed with them a moment, mesmerized, trying to get used to the idea that they were really going to do this. 

“So do we just lock one hand or….”  Pam looked up at Jim expectantly.  He loved that look; it was so childlike and innocent even though she was asking about how their afternoon of bondage would work.

“Um, well, I was thinking that I could sort of loop them through one of the iron bars on the headboard, so…that way…it would be both hands.” 

“Ah, okay, sure.” 

Jim surveyed the head board a moment as he pulled off his sweatshirt, “Of course, it’s gonna be kind of hard to undress you once you’re, um, secured.”

Pam noticed that Jim couldn’t quite meet her gaze at this point he was definitely blushing.  She swallowed hard, feeling the nervousness start again.  “Right, of course.” 

She shook her head at her own embarrassment; how was this so difficult?  They were married, they had had sex more times than she could count at this point. She started to pull her shirt over her head, when Jim reached over and stilled her hand.

“Hey, wait, this is something I’m pretty good at.” 

“What? Undressing me?”  Pam smiled at him warmly.

“Yep, one of my favorite things.”  Jim pulled her shirt over head and brought her close as he dipped his head to kiss her.  Wrapping her arms around his neck, she relished his soft touch down her spine.  True to his word, Jim easily took care of the matter of

Pam’s clothing and he slowly put her down on the bed.  He watched her as she covered herself with a sheet, noticing for the first time the slight chill in the room.  He quickly shed most of his clothes, leaving on his boxers and a t-shirt and, taking a steadying breath, he picked up the cuffs.

Pam squirmed a little as Jim gently locked her hands in the cold silver cuffs.  She couldn’t help but giggle at the very careful and serious look on his face; she imagined that he was probably the only man in the world that would be so careful while tying up his lover.  She leaned up slightly to kiss his neck and he responded immediately by sweeping her auburn curls back from her face and kissing her slowly at first, quickly deepening the kiss and running his hands down her sides, loving the feel of her warmth through the sheets.  It was amazing to him that even after all the years, the feel of just her beneath his hands was better than any fantasy he had ever had. 

He pulled back to look her in the eyes, “Is this alright?”

She moved to touch him and was startled to find that she couldn’t with her hands securely fastened above her head.  “Well, it’s a little frustrating not being able to touch you.” 

Jim mumbled as he kissed his way down her neck, “Just returning the favor.”

“Hmmm….”  Overwhelmed by what he was doing to her, Pam didn’t quite register what he had said, “What?”

Jim pulled his t-shirt off and returned to hover over her, “Just saying, watching you at work, some days it’s a challenge.”  He moved back to kissing the other side of her neck,   “Let alone all the years before we were together.”  He punctuated his thought by nipping at the skin where her neck met her shoulder.

Pam giggled, “So this is punishment?”

Jim laughed against her skin, “Why have you been bad?”

“You so didn’t just say that.”

“I know….that was not good.”

“Not really….”   They both laughed, softly at first, but as the awkwardness of the moment dawned on them, they began to laugh heartily, Jim resting his head on her shoulder.  Once they had regained themselves, Jim continued his quest to slowly drive his wife to distraction.  He loved that about their relationship, that their ability to make each other laugh didn’t stop at the bedroom door.

He took his time enjoying his wife’s body, refusing to be rushed, even if Pam started to make the most adorable noises in the back of her throat asking him to move it along.   Soon his clothing was crumpled on the floor next to hers, all pretenses being left far behind; fantasy being slowly replaced by reality.  And the reality was that Jim did not find restraining his wife to be as sexy as it seemed in the movies.  “So enough kinky fantasy sex?”  Jim whispered in her ear as his body begged for release.

“Oh yeah, I would love to be let out for good behavior.  Besides I don’t like being a passive player in all this.”  She again leaned up to kiss him passionately leaving no doubt as to what she meant. 

“Good, cause I was starting to feel a little weirded out by the cuffs.”  He said quickly as he kissed her nose and moved to the bedside table to retrieve the bag that he had kept the handcuffs in.

Pam let out a breathy sigh, “You know this is not quite what I thought it would be; I had no idea that you start to lose circulation to your fingers.”

“I know, right?  I kept having these weird images of us as guest stars in Prison Break or something.”  He rustled through the bag looking for the key.

“Course I think this may have been a little too spicy, even for Fox.”

“Well, you did ask for spicy.”  He stopped moving for a moment and then frantically dug in the small plastic grocery store bag.

“What’s up?”  Pam asked, feeling impatient to be unlocked so she could stretch her shoulders out.

“Nothing, it’s all good.”  Jim smiled, but Pam thought that it seemed a little forced.

“Jim?”

“Um.”  He wadded up the bag and threw it across the room, “Well…I don’t really know how to tell you this….”

Pam’s eyes grew as wide as saucers when she suddenly realized that Jim was not unlocking her from the bed. “The key?”  She stammered, “You don’t have the key do you?”

He turned to her, trying to hide the panic, “Okay, well I clearly should have checked that, but it seems that …there is…no…key.” 

Pam felt her heart rate sky rocket, “If you don’t have the key, who does?”

They locked eyes as the realization slowly dawned on them both.  Horrified, they said in unison, “Dwight!”