Pam Beesly took a deep breath and then pulling open the glass door walked into the lobby of the Scranton Business Park. It was her first day at her new job as the receptionist for Dunder Mifflin Paper Incorporated. She had moved to Scranton a couple of years back to take care of her grandmother. Her grandmother had passed away 2 months ago and the week after that the grocery store that Pam worked at had announced that they were closing and she was out of a job. Her grandmother had left Pam her apartment and so Pam began the search for jobs in Scranton. The opening for the receptionist at Dunder Mifflin had been the first job she applied for and even though the boss seemed a little bit weird, it seemed like an easy enough job, at least one that would pay the bills. She punched the button for the elevator and waited nervously for the doors to open. The ride to the 3rd floor was too quick and before she knew it she was standing in front of the door with Dunder Mifflin written across it in white, block letters.

She opened the door and tentatively stepped inside. The office was quiet, just the small hum of the computers and occasional beep from a fax machine. She stood there, hands twisting together in front of her, a nervous habit she had had since childhood. She could see the manager of the office through the window. He was sitting at his desk, but his door was closed and he was speaking loudly into the phone.

"Hey…" a male voice behind her startled her and she jumped slightly. She turned to see a tall guy with floppy brown hair and nice green eyes smiling down at her. "Sorry…didn't mean to startle you."

"Oh…that's okay." Pam said with a small smile.

"Oh wow. Well welcome then. I'm Jim….Jim Halpert." He extended his hand accompanied by another friendly smile.

Pam immediately felt the warmth from his hand spread up her arm, causing her to blush slightly. "I'm Pam…Beesly. It's nice to meet you."

"Well Pam Beesly, how would you feel about the official Dunder Mifflin Paper Company Scranton Branch tour?" Jim asked. Something about his tone, the spark in his eyes made her feel immediately at ease. She dropped her hands to her sides and looked up at him.

"Is that the official title?" she asked lightly.

His eyes crinkled slightly as another smile spread across his face. "Oh yeah…we're having tour brochures printed up next week. Here…you can set your stuff down here. This is the highlight of the tour…my desk."

"Wow…riveting…" Pam said. Jim looked at her in surprise and then let out a small laugh at her inability to cover the smile that spread across her face.

"You better take notes…I won't go over this again." Jim said with mock seriousness.

"Okay…you're right. I'm sorry." Pam said looking up at him innocently.

"Actually I'm sorry….because of what is coming next." He said in a low voice, moving a bit closer to her.

"What do you mean?" she whispered back.

"Just wait." He said mysteriously. Then he turned to the guy that was sitting in the desk next to his. He looked about the same age as Pam, maybe a bit older. His hair was parted in the middle, and plastered to the sides of his head. He had on huge glasses that took up his whole face and Pam had the feeling that she was in for something interesting.

"Dwight…" Jim said. "This is Pam…she is the new receptionist."

"Hi…nice to meet you." Pam said extending her hand.

"Do you have security clearance?" Dwight said loudly, casting a disdainful glance at her hand.

"Um…yes?" Pam said slightly confused.

"You hesitated. Who sent you? Who do you work for?" Dwight said slowly rising from his desk.

Pam just stood there, dumbfounded. Slowly she turned and looked up at Jim who was looking at her with a look of utter amusement on his face. She knew how to play this one.

"I can't tell you. It's a secret." she added in a hushed tone.

"You are not her superior, Dwight." Jim said matter of factly.

"I'm sorry….Dwight…was it?" Pam said feigning confusion. "I was told to report straight to the manager.

"Assistant to the Regional Manager." Jim whispered just loud enough to ensure that Dwight would hear him.

"Damn it, Jim." Dwight said pounding a fist on his desk. "What is your purpose? You add nothing to our conversation."

"Thanks for all your help. You're such a girl." Dwight mumbled, sitting back down at his desk, keeping a wary eye on Pam.

Pam covered her mouth with her hand to keep from laughing out loud. She followed Jim into the kitchen before a small giggle finally escaped through her lips. Jim quickly shut the door behind them and turned to face her.

"And that…was Dwight." He said laughing.

"Oh…my…" Pam said. "There are just no words to explain…all that."

"I must say…for a newcomer that was very well played." Jim said pouring himself a cup of coffee.

"Why thank you." Pam said with a slight curtsy. Jim smiled down at her and when their eyes locked she once again felt a warmth spread through her body causing her to blush. She quickly looked away. "Please tell me that everyone else is…well not like that."

"Well let's see…" Jim said looking out the window in the door. "That…is the rest of the sales team. Stanley and Phyllis. They are pretty normal. Stanley seems to have a slightly abnormal obsession with crossword puzzles. Then over there…" he said gesturing, "…is the accounting department. Angela, Kevin and Oscar. Oscar is cool and Kevin is the only guy I know that can fit ten fun-size bags of peanut M & M's in his mouth at once."

"Wow…that's impressive." Pam said. "What about Angela?"

Pam looked at him, eyes wide and started to laugh again. This was turning out to be the best first day of anything that Pam had ever had.

The rest of the morning past quickly. She met with the boss, Michael Gary (as he pointed out at least 5 times) Scott and endured over half an hour of what Michael referred to as the 'Dunder Mifflin Scranton Branch New Employee Pre-Orientation Orientation' or DMSBNEPOO for short. When he finally led her out of his office towards her new desk, she smiled appreciatively at the sympathetic look that Jim cast her way. She spent the rest of the afternoon getting acquainted with the phone and computer systems. She ate a cup of yogurt at her desk for lunch and only had to deal with four visits from Michael and three weird encounters from the guy Jim had called Creed. Phyllis had come up and introduced herself, as well as Oscar and Devin. They all seemed nice enough, but Pam couldn't help but kick herself when she noticed that she was looking at Jim more times than would probably be considered normal. He was a good looking guy. Great smile and friendly eyes with just a bit of mischievousness behind them. She really appreciated how nice he had been to her and frankly she was a little surprised at how comfortable she felt with him. Pam wasn't usually an outgoing type of person. She had always been a shy, timid girl, hiding behind a book or sketchpad. She had always been nervous around boys and had never considered herself to be any good at flirting.

Before she knew it, it was 5:00 and the people around the office were packing up to go home. Pam was busy sending a stack of faxes, when she heard Jim's voice behind her.

"Have a good night, Pam." He said tapping lightly on the reception counter.

"Thanks. You too." Pam smiled, hoping that she was keeping her voice as a reasonable level. "See you tomorrow."

"Definitely." Jim smiled widely and then throwing his brown messenger bag over his shoulder disappeared through the doors. Pam watched after him for a moment before turning back to her pile of faxes. Once they were finished, she shut her computer down and bent to pick up her purse. That's when she saw it. A bright yellow post-it note stuck to the phone. She carefully picked it up and couldn't' control the smile that spread across her face as she read it.

Pam re-read the note again before carefully tucking it into her purse. She had the feeling that this was the just the beginning of an interesting ride