Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
Authors Note: I promise to get to some Jim and Pam interaction in the next chapter.
---------------------------------------
Grandma, did you bring it? Did you?!” Ten year old Janie screeched as she ran to her grandmother the second she saw her open the door to the house. She brought letters from her mom every week; it’d been that way since her mom left. One letter a week for each of the children, they would normally consist of telling them how much she missed them and loved them. There’d also be something about telling their dad that she loved him too. Then she’d always ask if they were okay, ask if their dad was okay.
“I brought it.” Emily Beesly said with a smile as she looked down at her granddaughter who was smiling up at her excitedly. How could Pam have taken off? She still didn’t know, and she disagreed with her decision. However she’d promised her daughter when she contacted her that she would keep the secret of where she was. It wasn’t her place to tell anyone what was going on, even if it would have been for the best. She knew that if Jim had known where Pam was, and why she’d left that he’d try and go find her, she also knew that he would have brought her and the baby home. “Emily.” Jim greeted with a smile as he walked through the door pulling the older woman from her thoughts.
He’d been on his own raising his and Pam’s children for nearly three years now. After Pam had left he was positive that she would come back. She had to right? It wasn’t like he could really raise three children on his own, but he was. And he had been for the past three years. “Daddy grandma brought mommy’s letter.” Janie exclaimed excitedly as she reached for the piece of paper her grandmother handed her. She couldn’t wait to read it. Of course she knew that before opening it she had to find her siblings. Jimmy was probably out back playing basketball with their neighbor Ryan Scott. God how annoying that boy was. He was always picking on Janie and making these stupid jokes. Ryan Scott, son of Michael and Jane Scott. Ryan Scott-O. Janie rolled her eye’s thinking of the comments she’d get from him when she went to tell her brother that they’d gotten their letter.
‘Maybe I’ll go find Ty first.’ She thought to herself as she bounded from the kitchen, letter in hand in search of her younger brother. The seven year old didn’t have any annoying friends over. At least Janie hoped he didn’t as she opened the door to his bedroom to find him sitting on the floor with a pile of pictures. “Are those pictures of Mommy?” She asked her brother as she shut the door quietly before sitting beside him on the floor, letter in hand. There in the middle of his room was a little scrapbook type thing filled with pictures and letters from Pam. She and her brothers had begun it a few years back shortly after their mother had left. However there was one rule. Don’t tell daddy. They knew that it would just upset Jim if he saw what they had made. “Yeah.” He answered his sister quietly s he placed the birthday card his mother had sent him earlier that year back in its place.
“Well I have another letter here we can add to it.” Janie informed her brother, as she unfolded the tiny piece of scented paper. It smelled like Pam, and Janie loved the smell, it reminded her of when her mom was really there.
“Did you tell Gracie and Jimmy that we got a letter?” He asked his sister as he leaned in closer to look at some of the words his mother had written down.
“No not yet. He’s outside with Mister Scott’s son.” She said with an eye roll before standing up. “I’ll go get Gracie though, she’s in her bedroom.” Janie informed her brother as she headed out the door leaving the tiny piece of paper behind her.
As Ty watched his sister leave the room he decided to go ahead and take a peak of the letter. After all it wouldn’t hurt. Would it? “Nah it’ll be fine.” He said softly to himself as he opened the letter and began reading over the words his mom had written. As he sat their quietly reading over his mothers words his eyes grew wider with each sentence. She was coming home; she’d said she was coming home, finally the letter that he and his siblings had been waiting for. Their mother was coming home. “Janie, Gracie! Janie, Gracie!” Ty began shouting as he ran through the hallway to his little sister’s room and immediately jumped on her bed. “Mommy’s coming home!” he screeched out barely being able to contain his excitement as Janie grabbed the letter from him and began reading over it as well to make sure he was correct.
“Lets go tell daddy!” Gracie exclaimed as she jumped up on her bed, her long brown curls bouncing behind her as she did so. “No, we can’t tell daddy.” Janie said sternly looking her siblings in the eye.
“But Janie it says to let daddy see the letter so he knows that she’ll be here with ‘a big surprise’ next week.” Ty explained as he showed the piece of paper to his sister. “Why would we not tell daddy?”
“Because if he knows mommy is coming home then he’ll tell her not to come. I know he will, he still loves mommy, but he’s mad that she left. If he knows she is coming then he will stop her.” Janie explained as she sat down on the bed next to her sister and brother. “This has to be between us. Daddy can’t know, it’ll be better to be surprised.” She said knowingly, smiling widely as she read over the letter. It said that she could not begin to explain how sorry she was for leaving and she knew that she had to come home. She couldn’t be away from her family another second. The other part was something special to Jim. Just telling him that she was sorry she’d left and knew that they couldn’t go back to the way they were but she hoped, one day in time maybe he could forgive her. Although she’d not yet forgiven herself for leaving.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Pam sat quietly in the corner of her apartment rocking a small child of about two on her lap. The little girl was fast asleep as Pam reached for her phone. “Hi Helen.” Pam greeted her friend when she heard who was on the line “Yeah, I’m sure I’m leaving, I shouldn’t have left in the first place and when I heard from mom last week that Jim and the kids had moved back from New York to Scranton I knew I had no more excuses left.” Pam smiled as she whispered into the phone again, careful not to wake the sleeping child in her lap. “I’ll miss you all too but I can’t stay away from them anymore.” Pam laughed softly into the phone. “Okay I’ll see you guys in a few minutes then.” She said hanging the phone up as she stood with a still sleeping Mattie in her arms.
Nearly three years ago when Pam had come up with her crazy plan to leave she hadn’t made it very far. Just to Philadelphia where she got a job working at a small art gallery and found a small apartment. Sure, she’d immediately wanted to go back home but she was too afraid to. She’d realized her decision was the wrong one, the wrong one by far and she could not be sorrier for what she had done. But there was no way she could face Jim. She couldn’t do that, she wasn’t strong enough to go back. At least not back then she wasn’t. However she did make sure to keep tabs on the children and Jim through her mother, even sending letters to the woman so she could get them to the children. Pam had sworn her to secrecy over Matilda. Jim had a right to know about his daughter, but for some reason she just couldn’t bring herself to let him know.
If he knew then he would come looking for her, and she wasn’t ready then to tell him her only stupid reason for leaving the perfect life, with the perfect children, perfect job, and love of her life was because she was scared. No, not even fancy new Beesly could do that. At least not back then she couldn’t. However when her mom had informed her that Jim and the kids had moved back to Scranton from New York; well, right then Pam just knew she had to go back. Fear or no fear, she couldn’t stay away any longer. For two years and ten agonizing months she’d been gone and she couldn’t take another moment of it.
The light tapping on the door pulled her from her thoughts as she stood, placing a stray curl behind her ear as she made her way to the door, careful not to wake up Mattie. “Hi guys.” Pam greeted in a loud whisper as she greeted her friend and her friends son.
“Pam, can I watch T.V.” Daniel had asked her in a voice that showed how truly bored he was. This just earned him a small laugh from Pam as she pointed to the living room. “Go on and see if you can find anything to watch, I had the cable turned off a few days ago.” She informed him noticing a small groan as they all made their way to the living room that was filled with boxes.
Helen just laughed as she watched her son sit down and pull out a small hand held video game. “So, where do we begin the packing process?” She asked, tying her shoulder length brown hair into a ponytail as Pam clipped her long curls in a twist behind her head before picking up a box. “I figured we could start in my room, just let me move Mattie from the couch to her bed so we don’t wake her then we’ll start.” Pam said as she picked the little girl up off of the couch, careful not to wake her.
Chapter End Notes:
Reviews make me type faster ;-).
