Pam was feeling bold. She didn’t know exactly where it came from, but she was sure it had something to do with the person sitting in front of her, holding her hand as they quietly dined on Italian food at the cozy, romantic restaurant. Their conversation lingered somewhere between an upcoming Phillies game that Jim had asked her to go to with him, and her art class that was coming to an end next week. She was still stunned that Jim had invited her to the game, knowing that making plans for the future meant only one thing…

“I think we should date.” She blurted out.

Silence. Not quite the reaction she was hoping for…

“Jim?” Way to go, Pam, she thought to herself. You just screwed up the one thing that means more to you than anything.

He looked up from the plate of lasagna that he had been staring so intently at for the last few moments, and locked his eyes with hers. She tried to read him, as she had always been able to, but something was different in his eyes. Not a bad different, just…different. He parted his lips to speak.

“Yes.” It wasn’t a question, but an answer.

Pam let out a breath, and a smile crept into her eyes, similar to the smile that lit up her face when he asked her on the date, just a few days earlier. Jim, seeing Pam’s face light up, lifted himself up slightly from his chair and leaned far forward. His face was literally millimeters from hers, but he stopped just short, letting that feeling between the two of them boil over the surface, as Pam leaned her face forward slightly, meeting his lips. It looked like a pleasant kiss, nothing you would consider obscene in public, especially in a crowded restaurant, but for the two of them it may as well have been their first kiss. There was only slight pressure as their lips joined together, but the electricity that both of them felt made it feel like…well, something neither of them should be feeling in a crowded restaurant.

Jim pulled back first, but kept his face close to hers as he whispered, “You are so worth 5 years, Pam Beesly.” Pam smiled again, and leaned up to give him a quick peck before he finally pulled back and settled into his chair.

A few moments of comfortable silence to let it all soak in, before Pam spoke up, “So…how do we do…this?” She motioned her arm around in a circle between them, to explain what this meant.

“Well, I think it involves a lot of kissing, and even more-”

“Uh, yeah, not really what I meant…” She interrupted.

He had a mischievous smile on his face during his previous statement, but then in turned serious, in a Jim sort of way,

“I guess we just let it happen how it’s supposed to happen. I don’t want to mess this up, Pam. I can’t lose you again…”

She squeezed the hand that was still linked to his, and simply said. “I won’t let that happen, Jim.”

He let out a breath that he had been holding, and smiled back at her.

------------------

He drove her home, kissed her at her door (for a lot longer than he should have), and then drove home alone, longing for the day that ‘home’ would be with Pam.