Jim was surprised to walk into work Tuesday morning and see Ryan behind the reception desk. Even though he and Pam had only exchanged brief hellos in the past month he still looked forward to seeing her every morning.
“Hey…” he nodded at Ryan as he made his way to his desk.
Karen came in a few minutes later pausing at his desk to give him a quick hug and to tell him thanks for dinner the night before. Everything was quiet until Michael came stomping in around 9:15. He hurried into his office and slammed the door. Jim and Karen exchanged confused looks, but no one said anything. Jim occasionally cast glances towards Michaels office. Sometimes he was on the phone gesturing exaggeratedly and other times he had his head down on his desk. Jim brushed it off seeing as it was Michael and continued about his work. A few minutes later when he went up to grab a jelly bean from the container that usually sat on Pam’s desk he was surprised to see that it wasn’t there, but he didn’t read too much into it.
Around 10:30 Dwight went over to reception to fax something.
“Hey Temp. What you doing over here? Michael make you answer the phones because you can’t make a sale?”
“No…” Ryan said looking a little embarrassed. “There was just a message on my phone this morning saying that I needed to cover reception because Pam was going to be gone.”
“Speaking of where is Pam? She doesn't have any sick days left since she called off the wedding.” Dwight said nosily.
“I don’t know Dwight. The message just said to cover reception.”
“I don’t believe you.” Dwight said storming off to Michael’s office. He flung open the door. “Michael…where is Pam? As Assistant Regional Manager it is my job to keep track of how many “sick” days our employees take. Question: Do I need to launch an investigation?"
“Shhhuuutt it Dwight. Today is not the day for your shenaninings.” Michael walked to the door of his office. “If you want to know where Pam is so badly why don’t you ask Jim. She probably told him all about it.”
"Um…Pam hasn't told me anything Michael." Jim said turning in his chair.
"Oh really? So you’re telling me that you have no idea why she abandoned our little family to move to New York?”
Jim immediately stiffened in his chair. Did he hear Michael right?
“What did you say?” he asked slowly.
“Listen up everybody! I have an announcement.” Michael said loudly. “I was informed last night that our very own Pam Beesly is no longer employed at the Dunder Mifflin Scranton Branch. According to the message left by Jan…on my home phone…late last night…Pam has left to go to New York and will probably never think of us little people again.”
Heat surged through Jim’s body. She’s gone? What the hell? When? He heart was beating so hard he thought it was going to explode. He had to get out. He stood up and shoved his chair towards his desk so hard that it knocked over his picture frame. He stormed out of the office slamming the door behind him leaving behind him an office full of stunned colleagues.
Jim couldn’t remember a time when he had felt so many emotions at once. He was angry, hurt and heartbroken. He banged open the door to the stairwell and sagged down against the wall. “How in the HELL could she do this?” Jim thought angrily accidentally bumping the back of his head against the wall. Thoughts were reaching through his mind, “Why didn’t she tell me she was leaving? Why did she leave? Will I ever see her again?” But was sure he knew the answer to those questions. He knew the tension that had been between them the past month since he had been back...hell, the tension that had been there since he left Scranton. As he sat in the quiet of the stairwell he thought back over his past month back at Scranton. He didn’t even pretend to be the kind of friend that he should've been when he came back. He had come back fully armored…even using Karen as a sort of shield. What did it matter? It's not like she loved him anyway. Not like he loved her. He could count the number of conversations they had on one hand. The sadness on her face when he had turned down her invitation to get coffee just about broke his heart, but there was no way he could go back to living for whatever little scrap of affection she would give him. He couldn't live like that anymore.
********************************************************************
Karen couldn’t help but stare at the direction in which Jim had just stormed off. He was usually so relaxed that to see him act that way came as a shock to her. She waited until the rest of the office refocused on their work and then slowly stood up and walked out of the office. She found him in the stairwell, slumped against the wall with his head in his hands. His head shot up as he heard the door click shut.
“Hey…” Karen said cautiously approaching him.
“Hey…” he muttered in a gruff tone that she didn’t recognize.
Karen leaned up against the wall next to him. He still didn’t look at her.
“So um…what happened up there?”
Jim sighed. As much as he appreciated Karen caring he did not want to talk about this with anyone. Especially not her. She didn’t know about him and Pam…about the kiss…the history. He knew he had to come up with something.
“Oh you know Dwight.” Jim said straightening up. “Some days I just really can’t handle him.”
“Dwight is like that all the time…” Karen said. “You never have reacted like that before. What did he say this time?”
“It‘s not important.“ Jim said.
Karen tried to ignore the fact that Jim wouldn’t make eye contact with her. She thought that maybe there was something he wasn’t telling her, but she didn’t want push him. Instead she reached down, grabbed his hand and said, “Come on Halpert. Go sell some paper and show Dwight who’s a better salesman.”
Jim smiled at her weakly and followed he back into the office.
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Pam was sitting in her living room surrounded by moving boxes. She had spent a great Christmas with her family and now her mom and Kate were in her apartment helping her pack. She quickly labeled another box and proceeded to tape it shut. She stood up and looked around. It was amazing that after only a couple of hours almost all of her belongings were packed away.
“We better hurry and get the rest of this closet packed up before your dad gets back with the U-haul” Diane said opening the small hall closet. She began taking things out and handing them to Kate who carefully began placing them in a large box. Pam just sat and stared…watching as her whole life was being condensed into a few cardboard boxes. Suddenly a familiar gray shoe box caught her eye.
“This isn’t labeled.” Diane said. “What do you want us to mark it as?”
“Oh..” Pam said. “Actually I’ll take that one.” She carefully took the box. “I’ll um..be right back.” Pam slowly walked back to her bedroom. After closing the door, Pam sunk to the floor and opened the box. It was filled with mementos of the past few years. It was her “Jim” box. She smiled to herself as she pulled out each item and thought of the memory that it contained. Paper doves from the Office Olympics, an empty grape soda can from dinner on the roof and a mix tape that Jim had made of songs he thought she’d like. There was also the contents of the teapot that Jim had given her for Christmas the year before. There was the small yellow pencil from when they had gone Putt-Putt golfing as one of Michael’s “team building” activities. Jim had bet her that if he won she would have to eat lunch with Dwight everyday for the whole next week. Luckily for Pam he wasn’t very good at putting, but he still accused her of changing his score. There was also the boggle timer that he had used see how much time it took for Dwight to get out of the box he had duct taped him into. There was his high school yearbook picture and a hot sauce packet. So many memories filled this box. She wondered if Jim did this when he packed up and moved to Stamford; if he had a box of memories just for them. She was sure that if he did he probably threw it out after that night…the night when he had laid it all on the line and she had said no…twice.
“Pam? The U-haul is here.” Pam heard her mom call.
Pam carefully packed all the memories back inside the box. Clutching it tightly she opened the door and walked back down the hall. Her dad and Kate were loading boxes into the truck.
“Want me to pack that box?” Diane asked gesturing to the box in Pam’s hands.
Pam looked down at the box and smiled. “No…that’s okay. This one stays with me.”
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Pam stared blankly out the window as the trees of Scranton raced by. Kate was driving her car and was talking non-stop about her adventures in grad school. It was a welcome distraction from Pam’s thoughts and she felt bad that she wasn’t paying more attention. She stiffened as they passed the road that led to Dunder Mifflin. She didn’t know why. It’s not like she would see him. She tried to turn her attention back to her sister, but ending up just staring out the window again.
“So anyways…Rachel told Craig that she didn’t want to see him anymore and so he took that as an invitation to start texting me. It is so annoying! At least 10 times a day…” Kate tapered off when she saw Pam’s blank stare.
“Pam?”
Pam jerked around to look at her sister. “What? Oh…Kate…I’m sorry. I guess my mind is just somewhere else right now.”
Kate smiled sympathetically at her sister. “Pam…I know this is hard. I can’t imagine…but your making a good choice. This is going to be great!”
Pam nodded. “It will be won’t it?”
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The rest of the drive passed by quickly. Pam and Kate talked and laughed and sung along with the radio. Before Pam knew it they had entered the city. After a couple of wrong turns they finally found their way to the building where Pam would be living. As they parked in front of it Pam looked up in awe. It was beautiful! Tall and shiny with great big windows.
“This can’t be the right place.” she said to Kate as they climbed out of the car.
“It has to be….” Kate said, checking the directions in her hand. “Yup…90 Washington Street. This is the place. You know…for a midsize paper company, Dunder Mifflin sure has style!”
“Yeah…” Pam breathed. After grabbing a couple bags from Pam’s car they made their way into the lobby. The sun the was pouring through the wide windows glistened off the white marble floors. “This is insane.” Pam thought to herself. A pleasant looking, older man sitting behind a desk called out to them, “Can I help you ladies with something?”
“Yes,” Pam said approaching the desk. “I am moving in. Pam Beesly…apartment 1214...”
“Ah…yes of course. You’re with Dunder Mifflin?”
“Yes.”
“Alright, well take this elevator up to the twelfth floor, make a left and your apartment will be on the right.”
“Great! Thanks….I didn’t catch your name.”
“Frank…”
“Nice to meet you Frank.” Pam said following Kate towards the elevator.
They took the elevator up to the twelfth floor and easily found apartment 1214.
“Well…this is it.” Pam said taking out the key. She slowly opened the door and was immediately blown away. Never before had she seen such a nice apartment. There were shiny wood floors and huge windows overlooking the Hudson river.
“Hello?” she heard a voice call out.
Pam turned to see a girl around her age coming down the hall. She had long dark hair and big brown eyes. Pam immediately felt self conscious. This was her roommate? This girl was gorgeous.
“Oh my gosh!” she exclaimed sticking out her hand. “You must be Pam! I‘m Natalee…Natalee Shepard.”
“Hi Natalee!” Pam said shaking her hand. She was surprised by Natalee’s immediate warmth and kindness.
“It’s so nice that your finally here! I was wondering when I was going to get to meet you!”
“It’s nice to meet you. This is my sister Kate.” Pam said setting a bag down on the floor.
“Hi! Come in! Come in! I will show you your room! I hope you don’t mind…I already picked a room…but we can switch if there is a problem.”
“Oh no…anything is fine.” Pam said. Natalee opened a door that was next to the kitchen and Pam stepped inside. It was a little on the smaller side, but Pam thought it was absolutely perfect.
“What do you think?” Natalee asked.
“It’s great! I love it!” Pam smiled.
“I’m glad…well hey I hate to run, but I was just on my way out. I didn’t know when you’d be here so I told some friends I’d meet them for dinner. Do you want to come?”
“Oh thanks…but I better get unpacked. Big day tomorrow!”
“I know! I think we’re going to have a great time! Well…I will see you a little later then?” Natalee asked.
“Yeah....sounds good!”
Pam waved as Natalee hurried out. After seeing her new place and meeting Natalee, Pam began to feel like maybe this wasn't such a bad idea after all and she was about to discover a whole new world.
Shortly after Natalee left Pam’s parents arrived with the U-haul. After many trips up and down the elevator everything was finally unloaded.
“Well honey…we hate to leave so fast, but we have to get the truck back.” Diane said. “Call us and let us know how your first day went.”
“I will…thanks so much…for everything.” Pam said wrapping her mom in a hug.
“Bye sweetheart.” said Ben as he gave Pam a hug. “Be careful.”
“I will Dad.” Pam smiled.
“So…” Kate said turning to Pam. “If you want I can stay…help you unpack. I hate that your alone on your first night here!”
“It’s okay. It’s good actually. I just need to do this…on my own…you know?”
“Yeah…I know.” Kate hugged Pam tightly. “Call me…anytime.”
“Thanks Kate. Love you!”
“Love you too!” and with that her family was gone and Pam was left alone facing the prospect of a new day.
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Author's Chapter Notes:
Still don't own them. Wish I did though.....
Switching POVs here. Starting off with Jim and his reaction..
Switching POVs here. Starting off with Jim and his reaction..
Chapter End Notes:
Review and let us know what you thought!
Natalee:http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg148/jinxcoke/Minka.jpg
Edited because I sometimes need help with spelling. Thanks Moxie!
Natalee:http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg148/jinxcoke/Minka.jpg
Edited because I sometimes need help with spelling. Thanks Moxie!
