The rest of the week seemed to race by. Jim had gone back to Scranton Tuesday night and on Wednesday told Michael about the transfer. He took it better than Jim had thought he would. He only spent half of the day on the floor behind his desk making noises that could be construed as crying. After his mini-meltdown he set to work bugging Angela about throwing the best farewell party that the Scranton branch had ever seen. Angela reminded him that she still had two weeks and then stormed out when Michael told her that she needed to make up for the last party she threw because it was “egregious”. Thursday and Friday however Michael decided that he hadn’t shown Jim how he truly felt about him leaving and proceeded to spend all of Thursday at Jim’s desk and all of Friday trying to steal Jim’s car keys. Michael was convinced that if Jim couldn’t leave the building…then he wouldn’t leave Scranton. Jim stopped to grab a cup of coffee and then headed towards the freeway. He felt a twinge of sympathy for Michael’s mom. If he was this exhausting as an adult, Jim could only cringe at the thought of him as a child. When he had left Pam in New York they had decided that he would stay come up Friday night to do dinner with Jake and then he would help her pack a little so that he could take a load of her stuff back to Scranton. Pam’s art show was the next Friday and the Saturday after that they were going to Philadelphia to look for a place to live. He yawned and rolled down the windows slightly so that the cool air would help him to feel less tired. He was about to turn his iPod on when his phone rang.

“Hey Jake.”

“Later.” Jim hung up the phone and tossed it on the passenger seat. Luckily he had driven the road between Scranton and New York so many times in the past months that the drive passed quickly.

Pam was sitting on a bench in the front of her building when he pulled up. He couldn’t help but grin when he saw the huge smile spread across her face when she spotted his car. She was leaping into his arms before he even had a chance to close the door.

“Miss me much?” he said laughing as he pressed a gentle kiss to her lips.

“Not at all.” Pam said taking his hand and walking towards the building. “I just want you to think that I did.”

“Yeah, yeah….” Jim smiled as she pulled open the door. He waved to Frank, the doorman and then wrapped his arms around Pam while they waited for the elevator.

“So Jake called while I was driving and asked if I wanted to go to Philly with him tomorrow.” he said when they stepped inside the elevator. “He has to go for another meeting or something and he thought maybe we could catch a game.”

“That sounds fun. Give you a chance to see the city a little bit.” Pam said leaning her head against his shoulder.

Pam smiled at his thoughtfulness and then said, “I trust your judgment. Plus that could give us a good head start. It’s going to be busy trying to house search and move and everything in just a couple of weeks.” She reached up and kissed him softly on the cheek. “Thank you for asking me though.”

Pam quickly changed her clothes while Jim took a quick shower. She paused as she came across a couple of his shirts folded in her drawer, running her hand lightly across them. It made her happy to know that even with the geographical space between them their things were starting to intermingle and how right it felt.

Jim came into the room a few minutes later wearing jeans and long-sleeved white t-shirt. His wet hair was plastered across his forehead.

“So where are we going to dinner?” he asked sitting on the bed while Pam pulled her shirt on over her head.

“I was thinking South’s.” Pam said referring to the place that Natalee and Aidan had taken them a few weeks ago.

“Oh that sounds good.” Jim got up and walked over to her, pulling her into a tight hug. “Just think…one more week and we won’t have to say goodbye anymore.”

Pam laughed and then stretched up on her tiptoes to kiss him.

They were sitting on the couch laughing as Jim told Pam about his day with Michael, when there was a knock at the front door.

“Hey man…” Jim said pulling open the door.

“Hey brother…what’s with the hair? It’s looking a bit long.” Jake said stepping inside.

“Add that to the list of things that I don’t need your opinion on.” Jim laughed as he clapped Jake on the back in a hug.

“Hey Pam.” Jake said turning to look at her as she came into view.

Jim smiled down at Pam and then said, “Are you guys ready? I am starving.”

“Yeah. Let’s go.” Pam grabbed her purse and locked the door behind them.

They had a good time at dinner. Jake was a really great guy when he wasn’t being surly. Pam loved watching Jim interact with him. They were really similar in a lot of ways. They both had the same green eyes and great smile. After dinner Jake hugged both Jim and Pam goodbye after he hailed a cab to go back to his hotel.

“I’ll call you about plans tomorrow.” He said to Jim as he climbed inside.

“Sounds good man. See you later.” Jim waved as the cab pulled away, then he turned to Pam. “Ready to get started on all that packing?”

Pam groaned exaggeratedly and then laughed as Jim grabbed her hand and pulled her down the block.

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“Okay…so I’ll be back Friday morning with the truck.” Jim said as they stood outside Pam’s apartment at 6:00 on Saturday morning. She was wearing sweatpants and a sweatshirt and she had tried to tame her wild curls by pulling them up into a ponytail. She still had her glasses on and Jim thought she was beautiful. They had stayed up until about 1:30 packing most of Pam’s things, leaving out only the essentials that she would need for that week. Jim grinned as she yawned loudly and then leaned her head against his chest.

“Go back to bed…” he said kissing the top of her head. “I’ll call you later.”

“Have fun today.” She said wrapping her arms around his waist. “I’ll see you Friday.”

“Okay. Good luck with everything this week.” He reached down and gently tilted her head up so that he was looking at him. “The show is going to be amazing. I am really proud of you. If I haven’t told you that before I’m sorry…because I am.”

Pam blushed and said, “Thank you. I love you.”

Jim dipped his head down and before he pressed his lips to hers whispered, “I love you too.”

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Jim quickly unlocked the door to his apartment and tossed his keys on the table that sat in the entryway. He hurried into his room and waited impatiently for his laptop to boot up. He grabbed a soda from the fridge before sitting down in front of his computer. He nervously tapped his fingers on his desk and sighed loudly when his e-mail inbox finally appeared on screen. He scrolled through the list of e-mails and perked up instantly when he found the one he was looking for.

“Yes!” he exclaimed jumping up out of the chair spilling soda down the front of his shirt. He pulled it off over his head and threw it in to the hamper before sitting back down and hitting reply on the e-mail. He quickly typed a response and hit send before leaning back in his chair, a huge smile on his face. He re-read the e-mail a couple of times before pulling on a pair of blue pajama bottoms and climbing into bed.

He woke up early Monday morning even though he was exhausted. He had spent most of Saturday morning and early afternoon looking at different houses around the city. Luckily he and Pam had already narrowed down the neighborhoods that they liked, so that helped his search a bit. Saturday night was spent at the ball game with Jake and then at a bar celebrating the Phillies win over the Cubs. He had crashed at his brothers’ hotel room and then continued the house search all day Sunday. That’s when he had found it. It was the second to last house that he was going to look at and the minute he pulled up in front of it he knew this was the house. His feeling was further confirmed when the realtor had pushed aside a pair of curtains in the master bedroom to reveal a set of French doors and outside the French doors was a terrace. It was small, but there was a trellis that had ivy growing on it and along one whole side of the railing were small white flower boxes. And as if fate were trying to seal the deal the house was way in their price range and was a fairly decent commute away from the office, downtown and a couple of great museums. He sat down with the realtor that afternoon to draw up an offer. But here he was, up at 6:00, ready to go to work and he was happy…really happy, because the offer had been accepted.

He thought briefly after he left the realtors office that perhaps he should bring Pam to see the house first, but he knew deep down that this was the house and she was going to love it. How could she not? It really was perfect. He decided on his drive into work that wanted to surprise her with the news after the stress of her art show was finished.

Unfortunately all of the excitement that Jim was feeling about this being the last week that he and Pam would have to be apart and also the enormity of the steps they were taking made the week drag on. Dwight decided that it was his duty to make Jim’s last week as “rigorous” as possible to prepare him for the “intensity” of working for the corporate offices. He warned Jim more than once that other areas of the company didn’t have managers (and assistant managers) as magnanimous as Michael and Dwight and he better shape up or else he would be out of a job and crawling back to Scranton before beet season was over. In response to this Jim proceeded to steal Dwight’s cell phone while he was in the bathroom and change the keypad lock code.

Finally it was Thursday, Jim’s last day. There was a huge banner stretched a long the entire wall of the conference room and Michael had insisted on serving jell-o and grape soda. He tried to get chicken wings from Hooters in homage to the “wonderful” memories that Michael and Jim had in that place, but Toby and Angela wouldn’t approve the expense on the company credit card. It was nice enough…your typical office goodbye party. Kevin was in charge of music and luckily he conveniently “lost” the CD that had the goodbye song on it that Michael was going to sing. There was a cake, mint chocolate chip ice cream cake of course and it made Jim wonder if anyone had actually gotten a cake that they liked for their birthdays/farewells. Even still, despite the obvious hilarity of what working in this branch had been Jim began to feel a bit nostalgic. This has been his first “grown up” job. Despite his carefree attitude he had learned some things here, some valuable and some that would just be good stories to tell his kids. Most importantly though, this was where he met Pam. This was where they had developed their friendship. This place held the memories that made the foundation of their relationship. This was where they had fallen in love and as much as Jim didn’t want to admit it, it was going to be a little sad to say goodbye to this place.

The party ended around 5:30 and Jim said goodbye to people as they trickled out. Kevin gave him high five and Oscar shook his hand both making him promise that they’d grab a drink together before Jim and Pam left for Philly. Michael came out of his office long enough to grab Jim in a big hug and then run wailing out of the office. Andy gave Jim a handshake and said that he would always be ‘Big Tuna’ to him. Phyllis gave him a hug and made him promise to make sure that she and Bob Vance would be invited to the wedding. Meredith hugged him goodbye and it turned awkward when she held on to him a little bit too long. Angela curtly shook his hand and wished him and Pam the best. He could have sworn that he saw a tear in Angela’s eye before she whirled around the hurried out of the office. As Jim walked back to his desk he noticed Dwight sitting awkwardly on the edge of his chair.

“Well Dwight…” Jim said grabbing his bag and coat from the back of his chair. “Guess this is it.”

Dwight cleared his throat before standing up and pulling a small, brown, box from the top drawer of his desk.

“What’s this?” Jim asked as Dwight handed him the box.

“No Jim. You give presents to friends. You and I are…” Dwight paused. “…not friends.”

Jim smiled briefly. “I’m going to miss you Dwight.”

For just a moment Dwight looked at Jim and Jim saw something there, a friendliness, or at least responsiveness that he had never seen before. As soon as Jim saw it, it was gone and Dwight looked away, grabbing his briefcase.

“Don’t be an idiot Jim. You are just realizing that you always saw me as a superior. I always should have been Assistant to the Regional Manager.” Dwight mumbled walking towards the door.

“Don’t you mean Assistant Regional Manager?” Jim said causing Dwight to stop in his tracks. “Bye Dwight. Good luck with…everything.” Dwight glanced at Jim once more and then turned and walked away, but not before Jim noticed the small smile on Dwight’s face.

Jim tucked the box Dwight had given him into his bag and slung it over his shoulder. He glanced around the office once more before he made his way to the door. He stopped in front of the reception desk, tapping his fingers on the counter. He couldn’t count the number of times that he leaned on this country or saw Pam smile at him over the top of it. He remembered the heartbreak and the longing glances, but he also remembered the closeness and friendship…and the love. He ran his hand lightly over the counter one last time, smiling to himself before he turned and walked out the door.

As he climbed into his car, he pulled his phone out of his pocket and quickly dialed Pam’s number.

“Hey!” she said, answering the phone after one ring. “How was your party? Let me guess…mint chocolate chip ice cream cake right?”

Jim laughed, “How did you ever guess? It was your typical office party. Kevin did karaoke, Michael cried…oh and I have a present for you…from Dwight.”

“Wish you could have been there huh?” Jim said as he backed his car out of the parking spot.

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Pam woke up to the sound of the alarm buzzing angrily. She rolled over to shut it off and then sat up, rubbing her eyes. She climbed out of bed and opened the door to her bedroom.

“Morning!” Natalee said looking up from the paper that she was reading at the kitchen table.

“Hi.” Pam said grabbing a mug and pouring herself a cup a tea from the pot sitting on the stove.

Pam glanced at the clock above the stove and after taking a sip of her tea said, “Probably in about an hour. That way we can make sure that everything is done and we’ll have time to come back and get ready.”

“Look at you being all efficient.” Pam said, standing up and setting her tea cup on the counter.

“Can’t wait to hear about it.” Pam smiled and then headed down the hall to the bathroom.

Pam took a long hot shower and then pulling on her bathrobe headed back to her bedroom to get dressed. As she walked back into the kitchen she saw Natalee grinning at her from the table.

“What?” Pam said running a towel through her hair.

Natalee gestured to the coffee table, where a huge bouquet of flowers was sitting. “Those just came for you.”

A smile immediately filled Pam’s face as she hurried over to the flowers. She quickly opened the card.

**I am so proud of you Pam.

Tears sprung into Pam’s eyes and as she blinked them away a flash of gold caught her eye. Wrapped tightly around the vase was a chain of paper clips and a gold yogurt lid. She touched it gingerly and read the card again before carefully tucking it back inside the flowers.

“From Jim?” Natalee asked.

“Of course.” Pam said softly, unable to wipe the smile from her face. She went into her bedroom and before she got dressed she grabbed her phone and quickly called Jim.

“Thank you so much for the flowers.” Pam said when Jim answered the phone.

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Pam stood nervously in the corner of the main showroom watching the slowly growing crowd of people meander from painting to painting. She caught Natalee’s eye from across the room and Natalee gave a reassuring smile. The show was going well and Pam knew there was no reason to be nervous. She smoothed her hands over the skirt of the black dress she had bought specifically for the show and took a deep breath.

“Pam!” She heard someone say her name and quickly turned to see who it was. She instantly felt some of the stress lift from her shoulders when she saw her parents and Kate walking briskly towards her.

“Hi!” Pam said hurrying to meet them.

“This is awesome Pam. Look at all the people that are here.” Kate said looking around.

“Not too bad of a turn out.” Pam said with a smile.

“Yeah…he should be here anyti…” Pam stopped when she saw Jim from across the room. He looked amazing in a black suit and tie, yet there was something so Jim about the way that his hair fell across his forehead and the way his hands were shoved into his pockets. She watched him as he looked around the room clearly searching for her. She loved the way that his whole face lit up in a smile when he saw her.

The rest of the night passed quickly. Jim finally met Pam’s family and just as Pam had suspected they fell in love with him immediately. Even her dad, who was a little bit wary after everything Pam had been through with Roy, warmed up to him after only a little while. Pam stood proudly her hand resting comfortably on Jim’s arm as the art director introduced her to different people. Jim couldn’t keep his eyes off of her. She looked so beautiful and confident. He was broken out of his daze when he heard the art director saying, “We were disappointed when Pam turned down the job offer…especially considering how much she has done in such a short amount of time.”

Pam quietly cleared her throat and glanced up at Jim, hoping that he hadn’t heard. Soon the people moved on and they were left alone. Pam turned slowly to look at him, unable to meet his gaze.

“We don’t have to talk about this now.” Jim said softly, sensing the awkwardness of the situation.

“No…we do.” Pam said. She looked around quickly and then taking his hand led him out onto an adjoining patio. She took a deep breath and then looked up at him.

“Look, I was going to tell you about the job and everything. I just didn’t know when would be a good time.”

“When did you get the offer?” Jim asked.

Jim didn’t answer; he just smiled and bent down to kiss her gently.

When the art show was over, Jim and Pam went and got dessert with Pam’s parents and Kate. Then they went back to Pam’s apartment to finish packing. Around 1:00 AM Ben, Diane and Kate went back to their hotel and Jim and Pam collapsed into bed. The next morning Pam said a tearful goodbye to Natalee as Jim and her dad finished loading her stuff into the U-haul.

“So Aidan and I are coming down to Philly for the 4th of July weekend.” Natalee said. “And you’ll be back up here for the engagement party the last weekend of June right?”

“Yes…” Pam said wiping a tear from her cheek. It still sometimes amazed her how close her and Natalee had gotten in such a short period of time. She had never had many girlfriends and that made her relationship with Natalee that much more important. “I’m really going to miss you. Thank you so much…for everything.”

Natalee grabbed her in one more hug and then turned to look at Jim who was standing a short distance back.

“You take care of her. She‘s a good one.” she said with a smile giving Jim a quick hug.

“Believe me…” Jim said smiling at Pam. “…I know. We’ll see you in a few weeks. Tell Aidan he owed me a Madden rematch.”

“You can count on it.” Natalee said as Jim opened the door of the truck for Pam. Pam climbed inside and waved to Natalee as they pulled away from the curb. She sat quietly staring out the window at the passing buildings of the city. She had grown up here. She had followed her dream and finally got her love all at the same time. It was sad to say goodbye to the place that had taught her so much about life, but at the same time she could now look ahead at the life that lay in front of her and it was exciting and she was happy.

“You okay?” Jim asked gently, breaking Pam from her thoughts.

She looked over at him and smiled genuinely before reaching over and taking his hand. “Yep. I am just perfect.”