“Uncle Jim! Uncle Jim! Uncle Jim!” Paige yelled as she across the grass, over to Jim. Pam held onto her hand and tried to keep up with her, but the little girl was too excited, so she let go, and let her run the few remaining feet over to where Jim was crouched down looking at the aquarium with Sam.

“Uncle Jim! Pam and me saw a ‘nelephant and a kangaroo! He hopped around like this!” Paige jumped up and down, imitating the kangaroo. “Then we got to feed a monkey, didn’t we, Pam?”

“Yep, we did!” Pam was grinning ear to ear, and Jim couldn’t help but stare lovingly at her. She’d been quiet for the first few minutes of their outing, clutching Jim’s hand as they began to walk around the zoo, but Paige had warmed right up to her, and was soon grabbing her hand, begging her to run and look at the other exhibits while Jim and Sam took their time looking at ‘the baby stuff’.

Jim gave Pam a wink as a smile as Paige grabbed her hand again, jabbering something about a giraffe and a llama and pulling her back the direction they had come from.

“Want to go look at the lions, buddy?” Sam looked up at Jim and gave him a toothy grin as Jim scooped him up and put him back in the stroller.

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An hour later, after the kids finally calmed down, they went to eat lunch. Paige’s energy level was visibly deteriorating, and she eventually climbed onto Aunt Pam’s (as she now called her) lap and promptly fell asleep. Sam had fallen asleep ten minutes prior, leaving Jim and Pam to eat together in silence…except for the fact that they couldn’t stop talking to each other.

Jim chuckled as he watched Pam try to balance Paige in one arm, and her hot dog in the other.

“You know…it’s a double stroller. We can put her in there if you want.”

Pam looked down at the little pig-tailed girl in her arms. She’d never really been comfortable around kids before, and didn’t have any of her own nieces or nephews, but for the first time in her life, she knew this was right. This was what she wanted.

Pam’s eyes watered as she continued to look at Paige, and she only hoped that one day this would be her little girl fast asleep in her mommy’s arms after spending the day at the zoo with her daddy.

She tried to control her emotions before looking up at Jim. As she slowly raised her head up, she caught him seemingly wiping a tear away from the corner of his eye. He had his eyes down, staring at the table, but she knew he’d been looking at her and Paige.

Pam smiled, put down the hot dog, and reached out for his hand. Their fingers intertwined from across the table, and she caught is eye, his expression unreadable. He had a smile on his face, but it was unlike any she’d seen before.

“You OK?”

Jim cleared his throat before speaking. He broke their eye contact, looking back down at the table, concentrating a little too intensely at Sam‘s sippy cup. “Yeah, I…um…I think you’re going to make a great mom someday.” He spoke softly, obviously having thought his words through before speaking them.

Pam didn’t respond, just squeezed his hand and tried to steady her breathing.

Jim opened his mouth to speak again, but was interrupted when a old lady passed by their table. “Oh my goodness, your children are so adorable!” she exclaimed.

“Oh…um, they’re not--”

“Thank you. We’re kind of fond of them, too.” Pam interrupted and grinned as the lady admired Paige and Sam. Jim had a stunned look on his face, and Pam couldn’t help but continue.

“This is Paige, she’s four.” Pam placed her hand on the girls back, then motioned over to Sam in the stroller. “And that’s Sam, he’s seven months.”

“Oh, they’re so precious!”

Jim bit his lip, hiding the grin that was trying to make its way out. He still held Pam’s hand as the lady said thank you and walked away. She gave him a wink and began to clean up the table.

“We’d better go put these kids to bed.” He nodded, and stood up, taking Paige from Pam’s arms and loading her up into the stroller.

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When they arrived at Jim’s apartment, Pam took Sam and layed him down in the playpen in the second bedroom as Jim took Paige and put her to bed in his bedroom.

Pam walked through the hall leading to the living room, when she heard voices coming from Jim’s bedroom. Apparently Paige had woken up, and she could hear them talking. She didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but couldn’t help it after she heard what Paige had just said.

“Are you and Aunt Pam going to get married, Uncle Jim?”

“I don’t know, Paigey. I’m not sure if Pam wants to marry me.”

“You have to get married! I saw you kissing her. Mommy and daddy kiss and they are married. You have to get married, too.”

Jim laughed, “I know. It’s complicated, Paigey. Besides, who would want to marry old Uncle Jim, anyway?"

“Pam does. She’s like Cinderella, and you’re like…Prince Charming!” Paige squealed, and Pam couldn’t help but think this kid had seen one too many Disney movies in her lifetime. “See, Uncle Jim? Price Charming gets to marry Cinderella! You‘ll get married, I know it!”

“I’ll see what I can do.” Jim smiled and pulled the covers over Paige. “You, little missy, need to go back to sleep. Your mom and dad are going to come get you in a few hours, and they said you needed a nap.”

“Oooookay.” She threw her arms around Jim’s neck and kissed his cheek. “Good night, Uncle Jim. I love you.”

Jim hugged her back, and placed a kiss on her own cheek as she laid her head down on the pillow. “I love you, too.”

Pam heard footsteps approaching the door where she was standing opposite of, but she didn’t make any attempt to move. Jim walked through the threshold, and turned around to shut the door, jumping back in surprise as he saw Pam standing there.

“Oh…Pam, I didn’t--”

She cut his sentence off when she took a step over to him and threw her arms around his middle, holding him tighter than she ever had before. Her tears soaked into his shirt, but she didn’t care. His own arms wrapped around her shoulders, if possible pulling her in closer.

“Are you alright?” he questioned, chin resting on the top of her head.

He hear a mumble come from near his chest where her face was pressed into it. He thought he knew what she said, but he needed to make sure.

“What?” he whispered, his breath catching in his throat.

She lifted her head off his chest just enough to say it again, clearer this time.

“I said…I want to marry you.”