“Imma Drunk Driver,” his face overwhelmed by a childish pout.

            Karen laughed softly and smiled. Too cute, she thought as she gently pulled the bike out of Jim’s clammy hands so that she could put it in the back of her SUV. 

            “I can see that,” she teased but Jim was absently chewing on the inside of his bottom lip and reaching for the handle to the back door.  He missed the first time and landed against the side of the car before he got the door open.

            “Imm juss gonna lay down back here, kay?” He crawled into the back seat and shut the door behind him, shaking her head at the ridiculous picture that his lanky frame made curled up in the still to small seat.

            “Just don’t puke, or anything,” she warned as she buckled her seat belt.

            As she put the car in gear she heard his slurred reply, muffled by fabric. She stole a quick glance at him in her review and felt an unexpected pang in her chest at the sight of him curled up with his eyes closed, the lower half of his face buried in his balled up suit jacket.  Tonight had been the first night since he’d transferred in that Karen felt she had seen Jim completely open and untroubled.  She couldn’t explain why, but even when he had jokingly helped her track down her favorite chips, or laughed with her when they had fobbed the broken desk chair neither had wanted off on Any, Karen had sensed that Jim Halpert wasn’t as happy as he appeared to be. 

But tonight…tonight he had been adorable beyond endurance. She had to admit she thought he was hot, and he was a pretty cool guy to be around.  She hear him groan slightly into his jacket and she suddenly had a vivid picture of him naked, on top of her, and as sweaty as he’d been that morning as he thrust into her.  She cleared her throat and went with that thought.

“So, Jim,” she bean. “What have you got planned for tomorrow night?”

She glanced in the mirror again and almost lost it when she caught site of his expression.  His forehead was crinkled in confusion over his comically squinted eyes and he’d unconsciously stuck the tip of his tongue out the side of his mouth.

“What day was tonight, again?” he asked.

Karen was prevented from replying by a loud humming coming from the vicinity of Jim’s pants pocket and laugh loudly when he leapt into a seat position from surprise.

“Jeeze, Halpert,” She chuckled. “Calm down, its just a text message.”

She saw Jim purse his lips in concentration as he tried to pull them message up on his phone, the his eyes widened and his mouth dropped open at whatever he’d read. When she saw his fingers hit the redial button, she had another graphic image of him with his head between her thighs.  As soon as he was done drunk dialing whoever had sent him that text, she was making sure they’d be spending Friday night with each other, and possible Saturday and Sunday nights as well if she could.  Then his raspy voice came from the back seat just as she pulled into the parking lot of his apartment complex.

“B-Beesly,” he stuttered, as she put the car in par.  When she turned around in her seat his eyes were slightly unfocused and glassy, like he might cry. Then he was shaking his head vehemently, despite the fact the person on the other end couldn’t see it.

“No, didn’t get your first m-message,” he said. “I’m drunk.”

Listening to his half of the conversation, Karen wondered if it was a brother or some other buddy of his scolding him for seemly partying it up without them.

“No, no bar…had ta stay late. Andy made me do Jagger shots. Very important tradition. Nuh huh another co-lady, co-sales lady, person, work..ugh! Karen drove me home”

Then he got quiet, his voice small, like a lost little boy and his next words stalled the x-rated video playing on a loop in Karen’s imagination.

“It sucks here, Pam. I miss you ssoo much.” A fat tear actually slipped out of his eye. “Why didn’t you tell me you called it off?”

Thoughts bounced around Karen’s mind like a ball bearing in a pin ball machine. Who was Pam and what could have been so big that Jim was drunkenly crying over her not telling him.  Her hopes of starting something with him died a little more are she watched his shake his head again.

“No, I wanted you to. I thought you didn’t care when you never…I didn’t stop…” He trailed off, confusion clouding his eyes enough to override his tears. “No, I still gotta go in early. Um, yeah I guess I could, I haven’t taken one yet so…Um yeah, hang on.”

Jim raised his head up and held out his phone to her.

“Pam said she wants ta talk to you,” he said matter-of-factly

As she put the phone to her ear, Karen knew she didn’t really want to have the impending conversation.

“Hello,” she greeted as causally as possible.

“Hi, is this, Karen?” came a soft feminine voice and even through the phone it was impossible not to catch the kindness in it. Karen sucked in a breath. Well, there goes my big plans if this is what I’m up against, she thought.

“Uh, Yeah,” she managed. “This is Karen Fillipelli.”

“Can you do me a huge favor?” Pam asked, her voice a little anxious. Karen wasn’t quite sure her ego could stand to help the woman who had effectively beat her out for Jim’s attentions, even if he hadn’t known she was interested yet.  Still, she found her self saying yes, she could and that it wouldn’t be a problem. Pam sounded noticeably relieved. “Okay, could you make sure to help Jim into his apartment and hide his key somewhere so I can find it? I don’t know if you’ve ever seen Jim drink much before, but when he gets as far gone as he sounds right now, he’s like the walking dead the next day.”

As if on cue, Jim groaned and let his head fall back on the head rest.

“Uuugh, ev’ry tings spinning,” He moaned. “Why did you let me drink so many, Fillipelli!”

He’d obviously had been loud enough to be heard on the other end of the phone, because Pam giggled into Karen’s ear.

“Yeah, that’s what he gets for letting me get wasted at last year’s Dundies?”

“Dundies?” Karen was confused.

“It’s an awards thing our boss here in Scranton came up with. Its stupid,” Pam quickly explained. “But, can you make sure that he’s settled so that he won’t hurt himself before I get there?”

“You’re going to drive from Scranton tonight?” Karen asked, sounding skeptical. “Don’t you have to work tomorrow too?”

Pam sighed, and Karen heard a note of the same sadness she’s sensed in Jim all these months.

“Well, Jim and I…we need to work some stuff out. Before he left, he told me…, “ Pam stopped herself. “Well that doesn’t really matter, but I was to much of a coward and I made a huge mistake.  I need to fix that and the only way I can is to talk with him about it you know?”

“Yeah,” Karen found herself agreeing.

“And anyway, with a boss like Michael Scott it won’t be too hard to come up with an excuse to take an extra sick day.”

Karen laughed at that. The stories of Michael Scott were the stuff of Dunder Mifflin legend.  Despite herself, Karen found she liked this woman she’d never met. As she handed the phone back over to Jim, she started the process of getting him into his apartment alive. Before she left she made sure to slip his key under the mat.

 *           *           * 

The following Monday, Jim came into the office with a big grin and a significantly more confidant gait.  Even Andy’s teasing him over “Big Tuna” not handling his booze didn’t seem to effect him.  Whatever Pam had said they had needed to talk about had been worked through, and when she caught site of the “Voluntary Admission of Relationship” form on his desk she had a fairly good idea of just how the weekend had gone.  Karen sighed as the office lights went out and her co-workers pulled up Call of Duty on their computers. She counted her blessings that she wouldn’t have to worry that he’d remember she had tried to ask him out.