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Story Notes:
DISCLAIMER: Not mine. At all.
Author's Chapter Notes:
A million and one thanks to my wonderful beta EmilyHalpert.. I am so happy with the finished product, which wouldn't exist without her! Thanks to kame too.. she polished my ego for me :D

The title comes from the Alanis Morissette song "Head Over Feet" (it's very very Jammy)
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It was 9:30 on quiet Wednesday morning and so far all Pam Beesly had accomplished was a 20 minute soduku victory and three consecutive wins in solitaire. Her game of freecell was interrupted by the muffled click of the office door. Her stomach fluttered in anticipation, hoping Jim had arrived, but when she looked up, the guest was most
definitely not Jim.

She swallowed nervously and greeted the guest, “Good morning, Karen, you look really nice today.” She said
warmly, as if giving Karen a compliment made up for stealing her boyfriend, resulting in Karen’s second move in less then eight months- to another state no less.

This being the first time Pam had seen her since she left Scranton, she didn’t really know what to expect, (besides the inevitable awkwardness).

Karen’s severe expression softened after a beat, as she greeted Pam benignly, “Hey Pam…” she paused to consider returning Pam’s compliment, but she really missed Jim and wasn’t done being petty just yet. Karen cleared her throat, willing her voice to melt and her manors to function, “Is um, is Michael in yet?”

“You know Michael,” Pam tried lightly, an uneasy chuckle mingled with her words, “9:30 in the morning is an early start for him; I’d give him another hour or so.”

Karen sighed and replied sarcastically, “Yeah, gosh what was I thinking, showing up on time for a business meeting?” She didn’t mean for it to sound as nasty as it did, but Pam’s wounded expression told her that it had been interpreted that way. Karen felt suddenly guilty, and lightened her tone, “You know Michael…” She added jokingly.

Pam smiled as sincerely as she could, and chuckled again. She wanted nothing more than to hide under her desk and wait for Jim, “Yeah, Michael is… like that.” Pam mentally cringed at her own words; this was very, very bad.

A disgustingly awkward pause followed. This could not get worse. She willed herself to say words, any words but her mind remained blank. Her empty stomach suddenly demanded her attention, and all she could think about was food; which maybe wasn’t such a bad thing, as she had finally thought of something to say, “The conference room is free!” she announced eagerly- too eagerly- “And, uhh…” She cleared she throat for effect, “And there’s coffee and donuts in the break room if you’re interested.” She offered proudly.

Karen nodded, “Thanks. Um-” her glance fell over Jim’s empty desk. “Uhh, is Jim around?” Karen asked sheepishly.

Pam felt herself blush. She knew this question was coming. Of course Karen would want to see Jim, especially since he’d shown up at Utica and reopened the proverbial wound; Pam herself felt that loss, once upon a time; she certainly knew what it was like.

She bit her lip and tried to muster together a response. She had to deal with this situation, she knew that much, and the best way to move forward was to answer the damn question. She cleared her throat for good measure and hoped her fragile confidence didn’t fail her, “He uh, he has a dentist appointment- he’ll be here in about 15 minutes. I’ll tell him you want him-”She choked on her phrasing and quickly recovered, “I mean, I’ll tell him you’re looking for him.” She said carefully, stressing every syllable.

“Alright, well, I’ll um… Yeah.”

“Yeah,” Pam parroted awkwardly.

Karen finally moved towards the conference room, and soon as the door closed behind her, Pam released a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding. She sunk deep into her computer chair, and for the first time in her career, she wished Michael were there.

At around 9:55, Jim entered the office.

“Hey!” Pam greeted warmly.

“Hey,” Jim replied, laughing. He quickly glanced around the office, checking for onlookers before placing a soft, but unfortunately brief, kiss on her cheek.

“How was the dentist?”

Jim gave Pam a lopsided grin and presented her with a cheerful sticker of a cartoon tooth dancing with a red toothbrush, proudly announcing: Cavity-Free is the way to be!

A wide smile stretched across Pam’s face, “You stole that when the receptionist wasn’t looking, didn’t you?”

“Absolutely I did not.”

Pam glared at him skeptically.

“It’s for my niece, Pam,” he pleaded.

“You don’t have a niece.”

“Ah, but I do have an adorable girlfriend who deserves a cute sticker.”

“How sweet!” She cooed, happily taking the sticker from Jim’s out-stretched hand. Her smile faded slightly when she noticed Jim watching the apparently occupied conference room with a questioning brow. Oh right, Pam thought, that

“Oh yeah, Karen’s here.” Pam said coolly, tugging timidly at the gold chain secured around her neck.

The colour drained from Jim face as his mouth fell open in wide ‘O’ shape, eyebrows darting toward the ceiling, “That was today?” He asked pointlessly, struggling to keep his tone light.

Pam nodded, a slight smile still bravely displayed on her face.

Jim’s expression softened at Pam’s warm smile, “Okay,” he said quietly with a slight smile of his own, “I’ll be right back.” Jim reached his desk and dropped his coat and bag haphazardly in his chair. He noticed Pam watching him adoringly from her desk, which he acknowledged with a flirty wink as he meandered towards the conference room.

Pam couldn’t help the smile that pulled at her mouth, or the colour that burned its way to the surface of her cheeks. In spite of everything, Pam was feeling much better already.

Noticing the sticker still clasped in her hand, Pam placed it carefully against her monitor, next to various pictures, paper clips and post-it notes that cluttered her desk. A flash of pink post-it caught her eye, and she remembered a message that had been left for Jim earlier that morning.

For a moment, she wondered if interrupting the two in the conference room was a good idea as she gnawed at her bottom lip in contemplation. If she waited, she would probably forget about the message and it would only take a second to deliver it anyway. Against her better judgment, she had decided give Jim the message anyway, and then she’d leave the pair to discuss (she thought, using the term loosely,) whatever may have come up concerning their relationship. Or lack there of… a petty voice in her mind reminded her with glee.

“Hey, Karen,” Pam heard Jim say cautiously when she had reached the conference room, “How have you been?”

Karen swayed dangerously close to Jim. Pam stood up a little straighter and cleared her throat, trying to make her presence known politely. Karen either didn’t hear Pam, or chose not to, as her gaze remained locked on Jim, who had stepped back from her.

“I miss you, Jim-” She pleaded.

“Karen,” he warned in a low, steady voice.

Karen ignored his warning and pulled him towards her abruptly. Pam’s breath caught in her throat. She felt some foreign, intense emotion burn through her. Unaware of what she intended to do; her body took command and moved her a few steps forward. Luckily, before she did something she may have regretted, Jim had already acted.

“Hey-” Pam heard him say firmly, while nudging Karen away with both hands on her shoulders. “Karen, what are you doing? You know I’m with Pam now, what are you trying to do here?” He announced, perhaps too loudly before removing his hands from her shoulders and joining Pam in the doorway.

He watched Pam’s face carefully, as if apologizing silently for what Pam already knew was not his fault.

Pam’s eyes were burning, trained dangerously on Karen, whose own expression was unfocused and unnaturally guilt-ridden.

Pam considered throwing a stapler at Karen’s head, but decided to be polite, rational, (and realizing that a: there were no staplers in sight and b: it would be a waste of a perfectly good stapler) Pam swallowed hard and spoke slowly and intentionally, “Please don’t kiss Jim again.” She finished, turning on her heel and took measured steps towards her desk, closely followed by a deviously grinning Jim.

Back at her desk, Pam’s breathing slowed to its normal pace, and her bright blushing dissolved into a delicate kiss of pink on her cheekbones. Jim was still grinning foolishly. Pam’s face twisted into a reluctant smile, and her arms loosened across her chest, “What?” She asked finally, her question mingled with laughter.

“It’s just- wow.” He chuckled in response, “I love Jealous New Beesly, she’s ruthless!”

She laughed softly and sighed, dropping her face into her hands, propped up by her elbows against her desk.

“You okay, Pam?” Jim asked gently.

“It’s just- It’s not fair,”

“I know, but-”

“I mean, I never got to kiss you when you were going out with Karen! No matter how much I wanted to! I mean it would totally be okay if I had done the same, but I didn’t and she did, which I mean is totally understandable because you’re adorable and just so kissable but that’s not the point, because I’ve known you longer and wanted to kiss you longer and it’s not fair that she just walked in here and kissed you, even though you already had a girlfriend, because if she can then I could’ve when you were dating her and then maybe we would have started dating a lot sooner and I wouldn’t have wasted 6 months being completely miserable and-” Her increasingly incoherent rant trailed off into a sigh when she noticed Jim had most likely stopped listening and proceeded to smirk ridiculously downwards at Pam.

“What, now?”

“You do realize that I actually stopped Karen before she kissed me, right?”

“And I appreciate that,” she cooed sweetly, letting a true smile shine through her expression.

“Good.” Jim finished, “But you’re okay, right? Any other barely concealed insecurities we wanna talk about this morning?”

Pam giggled and shook her head, “No, I’m good. I feel as though we covered a lot of very important material. Like for example, your irresistible charm and how cute you are,” she joked, “But you owe me big time for that non-kiss, Halpert.”

Jim’s mischievous grin resurfaced, “You can count on it,” he promised before returning to his desk.

Pam bit firmly down on her bottom lip, struggling to suppress the girlish giggles that bubbled up in her chest. Well that’s something to look forward to... Pam thought to herself before returning to her game of freecell.

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Chapter End Notes:
I'm so very glad this is finished =P

I'll love you forever and always if you write me a review.
Seriously. I will.


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