She was sixteen and it was around the time of the spring dance. She had always been a hard worker in school, just like her mother. She was a pretty girl. Brown hair and brown eyes, just like her father. Although she was pretty, she never was asked to any sort of social gathering or even on a date for that matter. She shared her father’s facial features, but she had her mother’s shyness, so the two canceled each other out. She would often work alone when it came to class work or projects, and only ate with a few close friends at lunch. She didn’t dress up much; she wasn’t one for fashion, but she dressed nicely enough. Her name was Mary Halpert, the daughter of Jim and Pam Halpert.
They lived in New York City now. Jim was able to get a job at corporate, still working for Dunder Mifflin. It was a little odd, because he still had to visit the Scranton branch constantly for sales calls and things of that nature. Michael was still there, so he always made Jim’s visits… interesting. Jim was the main supplier of money for his family. Pam owned her own small gallery downtown, her second home. She had a few shows here and there, and made a lot of great friends in the art business, but only made so much money. It was okay for her, because she was an artist and a mother at the same time, and she loved it. She also held many classes there. She was an art teacher.
Sometimes, but not very often, Pam would go to other galleries in other cities or towns. She had a lot of friends from art school and they often asked her to come to the galleries. One weekend she had to go to California to visit her friend, Sarah, from art school. Sarah was opening a new photography gallery, and some other people from art school would be there. Pam would be leaving on Friday night; it was now Thursday night.
Pam took out her simple navy blue suitcase from the closet in her bedroom. It was a little late, around 8:30 PM. They had just finished dinner, and Peter and Mary had gone to do their homework. Jim was lying on the bed, his face to the ceiling.
Jim let out a deep sigh. “I’m going to miss you.”
Pam smiled, getting a t-shirt out of her closet. “I’m going to miss you too. But I’ll be back on Tuesday. Before you know it, I’ll be back.”
“But that’s four days,” Jim groaned.
“Jim, it’s only four days.”
Jim sat up slightly on the bed. “What am I supposed to do without you for four whole days?”
“Why don’t you do something with Peter and Mary?”
Jim raised an eyebrow. “Like what? Take them out to ice cream? They’re teenagers now, Pam. They have lives that usually don’t include hanging out with their dad.” Jim sat straight up in the bed and sighed again. “Can’t you at least come back on Sunday?”
“We already bought the plane tickets.”
“We can buy new ones.”
Pam put her last article of clothing in the bag. Then she walked over to Jim and put her hands on his shoulders and looked directly in his eyes.
“Four days. That’s it, four days. You won’t even notice that I’m gone. Maybe you can even work on cleaning the house?”
Jim gave Pam a look. “Pam, that’s not happening.”
Pam let out a small laugh. “It was worth a try.”
“Well, you failed.”
Pam smiled. “I know.” Then she kissed Jim gently on the lips. She removed her hands from Jim’s shoulders and walked back to her suitcase. She pulled on the zipper and tried to close it. It wouldn’t budge. She looked over to Jim who had a smirk on his face.
“Having some problem’s there?”
Pam gave Jim a pleading expression. “Jim, the bag hates me.”
Jim walked over to Pam and gave her a kiss on her forehead. “Then maybe we should get a new one.”
“But I like this bag!”
“Well, it hates you.”
Pam sighed. “Just help me close it.”
“Yes ma’am.”
Jim started tugging on the zipper of the bag. After a few tugs the zipper finally budged and went around the suitcase. Jim picked the bag up and put it next to the door. He looked over to Pam who was lying on the bed.
Jim smiled and laid on the bed next to her. “You are so weak, Pam.”
Pam’s eyes were closed. She smiled and rolled over so her head was lying on his chest. Jim’s arm instinctively wrapped around Pam’s shoulders.
“I am so tired.”
Jim started rubbing his hand up and down Pam’s arm. “Then you should get to sleep. It’s 10:00. You have a long flight tomorrow and I know that you don’t sleep well on planes.”
She let out a sigh. “Yeah.”
A few minutes later, Pam was fast asleep, still in Jim’s arms. Jim moved Pam gently, as not to wake her, then slipped out of bed. He tucked her in so that she was lying on top of a pillow and under the blankets. Jim kissed Pam’s forehead and turned out the lights. He walked out the room and closed the doors. He walked to the kitchen to get a drink of water.
Peter and Mary were sitting at the dining room table.
“So then it would be… negative four?”
“Yep, negative four.”
“Yay.”
Jim finished his water and walked to the dining room table. He leaned against the wall.
“How are you doing?”
Mary looked up at her father and smiled. “I think that I’ve got it down.”
Jim looked at Peter, and he smiled his confirmation. “She’s actually doing really well.”
Mary wasn’t so good in math, so Jim and Peter usually helped her study for tests or finish her homework. Tonight, Jim wanted to spend a little time with Pam before she went on her trip, so Peter was helping Mary out.
“You think you’re ready for the test tomorrow?” he asked, pulling up a chair and looking over Mary’s homework.
Mary nodded her head and yawned. “I think that I’m going to head to bed. Where’s mom?”
“She fell asleep. She was exhausted.”
“Oh, okay. I’ll see you guys in the morning. Thanks for helping Peter. Goodnight.”
Mary got up and got her notebook. She hugged Peter and kissed Jim on the cheek, and then went into her room.
Jim yawned, “I’m going to bed, Pete. It’s been a long day. You should probably get some sleep soon too.”
As Jim was about to leave the room, Peter called, “Wait. Dad?”
“Yeah?”
“I need to talk to you about something.”
Jim turned around and walked back to the table, then sat down where Mary was sitting before. “Sure.”
Peter looked down at his hands. “Well, it’s not really something that I wanted to tell you, but Mary asked me if I could ask you something.”
Jim was a little confused. “Why didn’t she just ask me herself?”
“She didn’t really uh, know how. She asked me to ask mom about it as well. Mom was okay with it, she was just kind of concerned about you. I know that you can be a little over protective of Mary sometimes.”
“I’m not that over protective.”
“Dad…”
“Okay, okay. Just ask me what you wanted to ask me.”
“Well you see… there’s this kid, Harry, and he asked Mary to the spring dance-”
Jim groaned, his head falling into his hands. “Oh no. Was it a joke? Did he do it to prank her?”
Peter gave his father a strange look. “Dad, no one does that anymore. Like, ever. Harry asked Mary, and she said yes. She wanted to know if that was okay with you.”
Jim froze for a moment, but he slowly got up and started walking towards his room. “I’ll talk to Mary about it tomorrow.”
Peter nodded. “He’s a good kid,” he said, before heading to his room as well.
Jim laid down in his bed that night, barely able to get any sleep, because one thought was running through his head, my baby girl is growing up.
Growing Up by Morine
Story Notes:
BSan is my Beta.
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
This is a Disclaimer for the Disclaimer: Not mine, I copied and pasted from the example.
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
This is a Disclaimer for the Disclaimer: Not mine, I copied and pasted from the example.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Chapter One
