Note: Well, my Dwight chapter got no reviews. Was it not good, or did people just review other chapters instead? I would LOVE some reviews for this one :)
Pam
1. She tried to date.
After Jim left for Stamford, things got pretty lonely. She quickly realized just how much she relied on Jim to entertain her. The few girlfriends she had from high school and college just didn’t get her the way he did. So she went on a few blind dates, some Kelly had set up, one from Phyllis, and she may or may not have stood up Meredith’s choice. The dates were fine. She made a joke about Dwight and machine guns that someone else would have gotten, but Bill or John or whatever his name was didn’t. She met one guy on her own. She went for after-work drinks with Toby and Kelly, and he came up to her, asking if he knew her from somewhere. Pam, being inexperienced with men, didn’t realise it was a line and politely said no. Ten minutes later the waitress brought over a beer (which Meredith stole) and his name and number on a napkin. His name was Jim Anderson.
2. She had a best friend.
They met in kindergarten. Her name was Jessica Oliver. She had long red hair and freckles, and had absolutely no discomfort with meeting new people. They bonded over the fact that Susan McDonald got caught pulling Pam’s hair, and now had to have a time out during Craft Time. They became best friends. Throughout the years, Jessica was always “the popular one”, and Pam forever felt like her sidekick. In high school, she was head cheerleader and valedictorian, leaving Pam to hold her purse as she made her speech about dreams and values and never giving up. Being friends with her had its perks, however. Pam was always dragged along to parties and homecoming games, and was always introduced to cute football players and college guys. That’s how she met Roy. After high school, Jessica went to Northwestern while Pam went to Marywood, and slowly but surely they lost contact. After Diwali she almost called her, but every time Pam tried to dial the numbers she lost her nerve. It would have been nice to have a best friend that year.
3. She wants it to be a boy.
Don’t get her wrong, she really just wants the baby to be happy and healthy. In a perfect world though, she would have a boy, and then later a girl. When she was little and was picked on when her hair was too poofy, she would have loved an older brother to look out for her. When she was in middle school, a brother would have been handy to let all the older guys know that she was off limits. When she was in high school, she wished she had an older brother to weed out the jerks from the good guys, and to protect her from a boy who wouldn’t appreciate her. That might have saved her a lot of time. Now, she wants that for her future daughter. Not that Jim won’t be chasing away every young boy who knocks on their door with a baseball bat anyway.
4. She really did love Roy.
You don’t stay with someone for ten years without a reason. When she was seventeen and had never had a real boyfriend before, she fell in love. She fell in love with him when he ran up into the bleachers and kissed her after he won the football game. She fell in love with him when he told her about his dreams to become a firefighter, and how much he loved his grandma. She fell in love with him while they went on road trips to Boston or Philadelphia, albeit usually because he had tickets to a football game, where they would spend hours just talking or singing along to music from “the good old days”. The passion and the laughter and the romance slowly faded through the years however, and instead of happiness and commitment, they were left with boredom and the realization of how little they actually had in common. But when she was seventeen and relatively naïve, and he was cocky and felt as though the world was his, they loved each other.
5. She loves Jim more.
She isn’t exactly sure when it happened. Probably somewhere around that time he came up to her desk and made her laugh. What she does know, is that she could never love anyone else the way she loves him. On Thursday nights when it’s her turn to pick the movie, she always picks a romance. It’s not because she feels romance deprived or is sick of watching Die Hard (because as much as she‘ll never admit it, Die Hard never gets old). She picks them because the couples remind her of them. Jack and Rose, Romeo and Juliet, Scarlett and Rhett… Jim and Pam. They might not constantly declare their adoration, and they might not have sweaty and passionate sex in the back of a vintage car (…or do they?), but the love is most definitely there. It’s there when he kisses her forehead or calls her “Beesly”, or when he tells her she’s beautiful and she tells him he’s pretty too. Roy and Karen and Katy and every other person that’s stood in their way can suck it.
Author's Chapter Notes:
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.
