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He surprises her; Michael does, when she tells him that she's leaving. He doesn't make any inappropriate comments, he doesn't mention that the whole office heard her fighting with Jim; he doesn't say the name Jim at all, or Pam, for that matter. He just kind of gives her a sympathetic look and tells her that he understands. In a strange way, she supposes he does.

Karen thinks that maybe he's not half bad when he's not trying so hard. When he's not trying to get everyone to like him so much, he's surprisingly okay.

"I just can't be here," she says, "And Wallace offered me the open position in Utica, and I think I'm going to take it." Michael tells her that they'll miss her, and only as she's leaving his office does he make an comment about the hotness quota going down, or something like that, she's only half listening, because Jim is leaning over the reception desk, grinning at Pam and popping a jelly bean into his mouth and she feels a little like she's just thrown up in her mouth.

She asks Michael not to say anything to anyone, and she can only imagine the relief Jim will feel when he comes in tomorrow and all of her stuff is gone. She almost wishes she could stay just so that she can torture him. But he's barely registering that she's there now, and she knows that her staying would only hurt herself. Pam and Jim were too happy, too giddy, too wrapped up in the shiny new-ness of their relationship to even notice her, let alone let her presence bother them.

Michael keeps his promise, and claps her on the back and gives her a sad smile and she nods at him as she waits for the office to clear out so that she can pack up her things into boxes for the second time in six months.

When she goes back to talk to Toby about the paperwork side of the transfer, she finds his desk empty and Kelly crying. Kelly doesn't even look up at Karen, and Karen wonders if she should be behaving like Kelly, if it would make her feel better to be all inconsolable and melodramatic. She almost feels a bond with Kelly, they've both recently been dumped in horrific ways by men who were using them, who never deserved them in the first place.

But Karen has always mocked Kelly, both in her head and to Jim, who just kind of shrugged and said,

"Kelly's really great in her own way."

He was forever defending the Scranton crew. It used to kind of annoy her, because when they were back in Stamford, one of his favorite pastimes was to tell her all about the ridiculous employees at the Scranton branch. He would imitate Michael, do impressions of Dwight, show her his best Stanley, and tell the most unbelievable stories about Creed and Meredith. He never talked about Pam, and she should have figured it out then that there was more to it than just the crush that he admitted to having on the pretty, quiet receptionist. But once they got to Scranton he would get defensive when she would talk about how pathetic Toby was, how ridiculous it was that Michael was still the boss, and how crazy it was that most of the staff hadn't been fired yet.

"Do you know where Toby went?" She asks Kelly, who shakes her head as she continues to cry. Karen awkwardly reaches out and pats Kelly on the back and Kelly takes that as an invitation to bounce out of her seat and throw her arms around Karen and wail in her ear.

"Can you believe he just dumped me like that? Something better came along and I don't matter, all that time doesn't matter. Can you believe it?" She wails, and Karen can, because that's exactly what Jim did. Only something better didn't really come along, it was there the whole time, and it was just a matter of time before Jim figured that he could have it if he wanted it. Or more specifically, figured out he could have Pam if he wanted her. Which he did.

"I'm sorry," was all Karen could think of to say. She almost wished that she could be like Kelly, just embrace her pain and wrap herself in for a little while and wallow. Instead of pretending that it didn't matter, that Jim didn't matter, that the fact that she was pretty sure she was in love with him didn't matter, that it was totally okay that he was madly in love with Pam, that it didn't matter that he meant far more to her than she had ever meant to him.

Kelly slumped back down into her chair, dropping her head into her arms and crying as Karen backed out of the annex.

Karen decides she can't take anymore, and leaves the office for a few hours, waiting for the place to clear out before going back and getting her things. When she goes back a little while later, she's surprised to find Pam there. She's sitting in Jim's chair, her legs curled up underneath her. She's fiddling with a necklace and she gives Karen a half smile when she comes in.

"Hi," Pam says. "I'm sorry, I'm sure I'm the last person you want to see."

"No," Karen says. "Not the last. The second to last maybe." Pam nods.

"Right, it's just that...well, Michael spilled the beans. About you leaving? Only to me though, he didn't tell anyone else. He just sort of had to tell someone. And I just," Pam shrugs, and Karen crosses her arms in front of her chest and wonders how rude she can be. Could she just pass Pam and pack her boxes and ignore Pam completely?

She can't though, because the thing is that as much as she wants to, she can't really blame Pam. She really liked Pam as a person and a friend, and she knows that Pam never wanted her to get hurt. Karen can't bring herself to ignore Pam completely.

"I'm sorry," Pam says again. "You probably just want to get out of here, and I'm not helping. I guess I just wanted to apologize. I never meant...it's just that Jim and I...and you were really awesome, really. I would have really liked us to have stayed friends." She stands. "I didn't tell Jim you were leaving. I thought...well, I didn't think it was my place to tell." At that she turns to leave. "I guess, too, I wanted to say goodbye? And good luck, and I hope you get everything you want, because you really, really deserve it." Impulsively, Pam leans forward and throws her arms around Karen, and Karen is taken aback, because she's not exactly that kind of person and this is the second time today this has happened.

She doesn't know why she does it, but her arms slip around Pam, and she's clinging to her, and the tears come then, fast and furious, and she sobs into Pam's shoulder, bunching Pam's shirt in her fists.

They stand like that for a minute, Pam is whispering soothing words like "it'll be all right" and "let it out," and Karen is struck with the thought that Pam will make a great mother some day, and it'll probably be with Jim, and she's okay with that. Pam deserves to be happy too.

"I'm sorry," Karen says finally as she swipes a hand over her cheeks.

"Don't," Pam replies, holding up a hand and silencing her. "You don't have to apologize." She gives Karen a soft smile, and leans forward and gives her another quick hug.

"Thanks," Karen whispers.

"Maybe, I mean, maybe we can email each other? If you don't want to, I understand," Pam amends quickly.

"That would be nice," Karen actually smiles and Pam nods, and gathers her purse and turns to head for the door, and Karen takes the empty box that Michael gave her and starts to place pictures and folders and books in the box. Starts to pack up to move on again.