Chapter One 

Jim leaned back in his chair as he watched the two women sneak a quick glance, first toward him...then Pam's way.  Angela had sauntered over from accounting to whisper something in Phyllis' ear, but with the kind of harsh and annoyed look that made Jim's ears stand up and his brow curl.

It was just his third week on the job...junior sales rep for a company he'd never ever heard of before seeing a small two-line ‘Help Wanted’ ad in the Scranton Sunday Times.  He'd quit his call center job months earlier and a life of basically hanging out and binging on beer and pizza and video games with no discernable form of income had finally burned a pretty serious hole in his wallet.  Party time, he'd concluded, was over.   So he'd caved...called the number, gotten the interview and somehow managed to charm the boss just enough to score the gig.

It was all still really new and even strange to him...a desk mate who reeked of jackboots, mustard brown shirts and a penchant for bears and fictional mythological heroes; a black guy with his nose buried in a crossword puzzle about half the day; Angela, the perky little blonde with a severe case of moral indignation slapped firmly across her ass; and a boss who quite incredulously fancied himself the spiritual spawn of Robin Williams and Forest Gump with a splash of Eddie Murphy and a twist of Harry Houdini thrown in to top it off.

These people were so weird.

Well, not really all of them...there was Pam.

See, the thing was...he'd already fallen in love with Pam...head over heels in just his first couple of days.  He really couldn't explain it.  Nothing like it had ever happened to him before...but it had.  Sure she'd been nice to him right from the get go...even warning him about Dwight and how his life would never be quite the same. 

And damn if she hadn't been right.  His life had changed...it was definitely not the same.  Only it wasn't Dwight who'd changed it.  It was her. 

It was her frizzy curls and crooked smile and the way the tip of her tongue would sometimes sneak between her teeth when she was utterly surprised at just how amused she was by his lamest of lame jokes.  It was the tender lilt of her voice and the pure joy in her laugh.  And it was that unexpected, but genuine sparkle in her eye that very first time when he'd nervously asked her to secretly help him take all of Dwight's pencils and pens...and replace them with the Crayola crayons she'd kept half-hidden in her top drawer.

Yeah, he was a goner.  He knew it.  But, he just couldn't help himself...even with that one big, awkward catch. 

Pam was engaged!  Yeah...verrrrry awkward.

Phyllis and Angela turned their gaze back to him, only this time a quizzical look greeted him.

“What?”  Jim glared...a hint of exasperation in the near scowl that crossed his lips.

Startled by the bite of his voice, the two women winced...clearly surprised at being so flat out caught.  They thought they'd been subtle enough for him not to notice.  Obviously, they needed to work on that.“What?”  This time he leaned forward...looking for an answer.

Angela shot one more glance toward reception, then crossed her arms and leered at him.  “Hhrrrummmmph!”  With that, she quickly turned her tail and scurried back to her corner, but not before Jim saw Phyllis roll her eyes and purse her lips...almost sympathetically. 

                                                     ****** 

Phyllis was seated at the back of the break room, sipping a coffee and quietly reading an article from one of her women's magazines when Jim strolled in looking for his mid-morning hit of grape soda.  He fed the quarters into the slot and pushed the button.  As the can thumped to a stop he turned to his colleague with an almost weary resignation.

“So, what was that all about?”

Without looking up, and sounding totally disinterested Phyllis offered little.  “What was what all about?”

Jim chuckled...mostly to himself as she'd more or less come out with the kind of answer he'd pretty much expected.  But his laugh was just loud enough for Phyllis to hear.  “Oh, I don't know.  How about that thing earlier...with Angela?  Ring a bell?”

Her glasses perched halfway down her nose, Phyllis lowered the magazine and turned to stare at him.

“Jeeez, Phyllis...I saw the two of you looking at me!  What gives?”  He watched as the older woman bit down nervously on her lower lip, almost as though something about his line of inquiry was somehow making her feel guilty.

“Angela doesn't want anything to do with planning the party tomorrow.” 

Jim flinched, no idea what Phyllis was talking about.  “Planning the party?  What party?”

A slightly sly smile broke out on Phyllis' face as she gave it up.  “Pam's party.”  Her smile broadened when she saw Jim was still confused.  “Her birthday party...tomorrow is Pam's birthday!  We always have a party for someone's birthday...in the conference room.”

A flash of surprise washed across Jim's face, “Oh...I didn't know.”   This was something new...they'd never done ‘birthdays’ at his old job.  “So what's Angela's problem?”

“She doesn't think Pam deserves it...” the sarcasm dripped from each word, “....and Angela's the head of the party planning committee.”

Jim shook his head.  Sure he was still new, and Pam had somewhat clued him in on just how stern and rigid Angela could be.  But he really didn't want to believe that she'd actually be vindictive.   “So why does the ice queen think Pam shouldn't have a party...if everyone else gets one?”

Now it was Phyllis' turn to snicker.  “Gee...I don't know, Jim.  Why do you think a solid, upstanding, god-fearing woman like Angela might all of a sudden have a problem planning a party for a receptionist who just happens to be engaged, for who knows how many years, to one of the warehouse guys we all work with?”  A snide smile formed at the corners of Phyllis' mouth as she calmly awaited Jim's reply.

The words cut like a knife.  Jim knew exactly what she was driving at.  He'd seen the looks from a certain few people and heard rumblings from others about all the time he seemed to be spending around reception.  And he didn't need a knock on the  head to understand that it all had absolutely nothing to do with the number of Pam's jelly beans he'd been eating.

But the pang of guilt he felt was real.  He'd tried hard to play it cool, camouflaging his feelings for Pam in a screen of jokey banter and conspiratorial pranks.  But, truth be told, he just wasn't that good at it...never had been.  So the revelation that at least some of his co-workers had pretty much caught on didn't surprise him.  What it did do is make him angry...with himself.

"Pam hasn't done anything wrong?"

Phyllis cocked her head to the side and smirked, “Tell that to Angela.”

The very idea that his failure to hide what he felt could somehow be turned against Pam, especially by someone like Angela riding her almighty high horse...well, that was way more than he could take.  It hurt like hell...and it was his fault.

“So what's Angela going to do...just not have the party?”

“Well, if she could...but we all know it's Pam's birthday.  And Michael...well, Michael is expecting it...and if you haven’t already figured it out he just lives for these things...so she'd have to explain and everything.  She’s sneaky...but she’s not that brave.”  Phyllis looked nervous...as though Angela might suddenly rush in and slap her a good one...just for good measure.

Jim leaned against the vending machine, taking a quick glance toward the door... just to make sure.  “Well, what then?”

“She can make sure the party pretty much sucks!  She can certainly do that!"

Jim's brow furrowed.

"Oh it's easy.  Delay everything 'til the very end of the day when everyone just wants to get the hell home.  Maybe forget the decorations or get crappy food...order a yellow sheet cake.  Pam hates yellow sheet cake.” Phyllis half-smiled, “She's a double layer chocolate devil's food girl all the way...in case you're taking notes.”

He caught just the faintest hint of self-satisfaction in her voice.  “So...just who else is on this committee?”

“Just Angela and me...and Pam!”

Jim shook his head.  “She'd do that...Angela would really do that?”

“You don't really know Angela...do you?”

He hesitated, not really wanting to believe that someone who tried to pass herself off as such an almighty, holier than thou know it all...would stoop so low.  “I guess not.”

“She has very high...standards.  And she expects Pam...er...people to live up to them.”

Jim just bit his lip...and fumed. 

                                                     ***** 

“Hey, Jim...you've been busy.”  A distinct twinkle in her eye grabbed him. “We really haven't talked all day, have we?”

Every afternoon just about three, Pam would make her way to the kitchen for a relaxing cup of freshly brewed tea.  And lately...well lately Jim had found himself coming up with almost any kind of an excuse to wend his way through the kitchen at precisely that same time...in the hope of stealing just a few quiet moments with her.  Moments that helped get him through his day...and moments, he sensed, she was starting to look as forward to as he. 

“No we haven't...not really.”  Jim waited while she finished stirring...two lumps of sugar, then a dash of cream.  Wrapped around the pink ceramic mug, her hands were small and delicate as she softly blew across the still steaming brew before slowly raising the tea to her lips.  Her cheery sigh and the look of pure pleasure that spread across Pam’s face as she took the first tentative sip made him smile. 

Jim loved seeing her this way...all comfortably contented and calm.  And he’d definitely noticed that more and more, it seemed the case when he was around. 

Pam lifted her soft green eyes and nodded slowly.  “Yeah, it’s been that kind of a day.” 

Her eyebrows arched and Jim wasn’t surprised that he immediately understood that something was weighing on her mind.  “What?”

Pam took another sip, then shook her head slightly...not as an indication she didn’t wish to discuss it, but more an affirmation that she thought something, whatever it was, wasn’t making a whole lot of sense.  “Angela’s been acting kind of strange.”

Jim smirked, “Pam...would you just mind explaining to me how Angela acting kind of strange...is in fact, strange?”

She laughed, sheepishly.  “Yeah, right!”

Jim sat down at the table, leaning back and cocking his head to one side...an open invitation for Pam to continue.

“I don’t know, she’s just acting...sort of all...”

He interrupted, “Judgemental?”

Pam’s brow knitted, “Yeah...exactly.”  Her gaze honed in on Jim’s face trying to read him. “You saw something?”

“Uh...me? 

No!”  Under the circumstances, Jim thought it best if he didn’t say too much...at least for now.“But...how?”

“Well, I’ve certainly been here long enough to see firsthand what you’ve already pointed out to me...she can be harsh.”

“I think she called me a hussy!”

Jim’s head snapped back, “What?”

Pam’s eyes narrowed as she bit at the corner of her lower lip, obviously somewhat more shaken by the thought than she was letting on. Jim leaned in, folding his hands in front of him.  He didn’t want to push her too hard for a response...hoping instead that his patience would encourage her to open up. 

“She was making copies...talking to Meredith.  Kind of whispering...but not really.  I mean that’s how she is.  Sometimes she’ll just say something straight out...right to your face...and that’s fine."  Pam's head dipped...averting her eyes.  "I mean, it’s not fine...but at least it’s more honest.  But there are other times...like when she’s trying to be mean...she’ll drop some snide remark just loud enough for you to hear.” 

Pam turned away, a first glint of moisture beginning to well up in her eye.

Instinctively, Jim reached out, taking her hand in his...rubbing small, gentle circles over her skin with his thumb.  It actually took him a second or two to realize what he’d done...he was holding Pam’s hand.  He’d never touched her before.  Well, not unless he counted brushing her shoulder as he’d helped her with her coat that one time he’d invited her to lunch at Cujino’s on his second day at work.  But all he’d actually gotten was a fleeting touch of her cardigan....so that couldn’t really count, could it?

Now, he was touching her skin...her bare, naked skin.  And it was incredibly soft.  What was even more incredible was that Pam didn’t pull away...never even flinched.  Instead she slowly turned back, looking straight into his eyes...a quietly piercing look.  A look he hadn’t ever seen before, but one that inexplicably made his spine tingle, his breath catch and the bottom fall out of the pit of his stomach.  And, as he continued to caress the back of her hand he swore he could feel her tension ease and her breathing calm.  Of course, this was all happening at the very time his own heart appeared to be doing its damnedest impression of a sleek new race car throttling up for its first Indy 500. 

“Look, don’t even bother with her...she’s not worth it.  Just ignore her.”  As he spoke, Jim tried to keep it lighthearted, fighting to hold in any hint of his brooding anger.

“You think?”  Her voice barely a whisper, Pam smiled softly, allowing her hand to linger in his...her cheek showing only the slightest blush of pink. 

Jim nodded, “Besides, Beesly...I need your advice.”  He arched his brow and half rolled his eyes hoping to brighten her spirit.

Pam’s eyes widened at the mention of the pet name he’d adopted for her.  In her entire life, no one had ever just called her ‘Beesly’.  She should hate it....thinking how it sounded so ominous...even threatening when as a child she’d heard a teacher or some other adult call one of her friends by just their last name...it always meant trouble. 

But when Jim said it, in that oddly affectionate and conspiratorial way he had...it was just something else altogether.  It was about them, just him and her...and somehow that idea had become very special to her.

“Advice?”  Pam arched her brow and pursed her lips in a playful smirk.

"Ummm...yeah,"  Jim smirked, too as he gave a quick and knowing glance Dwight's way.  "I've been sort of thinking about...Jell-o.

"Pam's grin broadened, "Niiiiice!"

"But, Pam...I don't know...I'm kind of stuck." 

"Stuck...how?"  Pam leaned in, her brow knitted and her curiosity clearly aroused.

"What flavor do you think would go best with Dwight's calculator...raspberry or lime?"

Pam's eyes widened.  "Jim...raspberry, for sure!"

"Raspberry?  You think?"  Jim nodded affirmatively as he gave it his immediate and fullest consideration.

"Oh, definitely!"  Pam's lips pursed in a quick but vibrant smile.

Jim smiled back, "Well, then...raspberry it is."  As he saw the gleam return to her eye, his heart skipped and he was more determined than ever to make sure nothing...or no one was going to spoil Pam's party.