Pam woke up early the following morning. Despite her late night, she was still raring to go bright and early in the morning. She was excited to see Jim again after he kissed her goodnight at her door last night and she was even more excited to see her mom today. Her mom was driving in from Williamsport and meeting her at her office. Pam concluded that her mom’s motivation was to get a moment or two to meet Jim, whom Pam had been unknowingly talking about non-stop since she started her new job. Helene had made her aware of this when Pam had called to share the news of their first date.
“So, I have a date,” Pam had nervously blurted out in the middle of her mom blabbing on about something that had happened at work.
“With Jim?” Helene replied with a laugh.
“What? How did you know?”
“Oh, honey,” her mother continued, “I figured it was inevitable. You talk about him all the time. Talk of Jim seems to dominate our twice weekly phone calls.”
Apparently she had made her feelings obvious and now her mother was using the excuse of wanting to see Pam’s new office as a way to sneak a peak at Jim. Helene had initially suggested that they invite him along to their dinner, but Pam had quickly squashed the idea, deeming it too soon to meet the parents on that level. A quick hello and a handshake was fine, but a dinner out was out of the question.
Pam arrived at the office before everyone else, as per usual and was disappointed that the cameras arrived shortly after she did, but before Jim. She was hoping they would have a few minutes to chat, maybe make plans before the prying eyes of the camera arrived. They had decided to keep their budding relationship a secret from both their coworkers and the cameras for the time being.
She was still alone with the producer and cameramen when they asked her to do a talking head. She didn’t know what they had wanted to talk to her about so early in the morning and quickly became nervous, thinking they had somehow gotten wind of her date with Jim last night.
“So, you seem in a good mood today,” the producer Jen had started, “What’s up?”
“Oh, god, they know,” Pam thought to herself, “How did they know? Did they follow us?”
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“You just seem happy,” Jen answered, “Something exciting going on today?”
“My Mom is coming in to visit. And she lives like two hours away. And she doesn't have a cell phone, which is cool cause it's kind of adding some suspense to my day. And I keep looking over at the door hoping she'll walk in,” Pam answered and Jen seemed to accept her answer so she told Pam she could go.
When Pam exited the conference room, Jim was settling at his desk.
“Good morning, Jim,” she greeted him, trying to contain her excitement.
“Morning, Beesly.”
“I was just about to have some tea in the kitchen. Want to join me?” Pam asked after making sure there were no cameras on them.
Jim nodded and followed her to the kitchen and it wasn’t long before a camera was right behind them, watching their every moves. She had planned on asking him what his plans for the weekend were, but that would have to wait.
“I’m excited to meet your mom,” Jim spoke first, picking a safe topic for the cameras.
“You are?” Pam looked surprised, she was nervous that the cameramen or Jen would wonder why one of her coworkers was excited to meet her mom. “I’m excited to show her around. She really wants to meet everybody.”
“Oh, yeah?”
Pam nodded, making a “hmmm” sound as she chewed a piece of chocolate.
“Good, because I have a lot of questions.”
“Oh, really?” Pam’s interests were piqued.
“Yeah. As a child did Pam show any traits that would hint towards her future career as a receptionist?”
Pam erupted into a fit of giggles. As funny as she thought Jim was, the cameraman did not share her sentiment and had decided to move on. When Pam finally regained her composure, she tilted her head towards the kitchen door to signal Jim that the camera was gone. Jim nodded, knowing what she had meant.
“So…” both Jim and Pam whispered at the same time.
“Go ahead,” Pam deferred to Jim.
“So, I was wondering if you had any plans tomorrow night?” he asked.
“Well, actually,” Pam cleared her throat, “I have my art class tomorrow night, “But I’m free all weekend."
“Okay, great, we’ll play it by ear then.”
They were interrupted by Dwight informing them that their presence was required at Toby’s sexual harassment seminar. It was your standard corporate America sexual harassment speech that Pam had sat through dozens of times before at previous jobs. When Toby began speaking of office romances and disclosing them to HR, she glanced up at Jim, who blushed before the cameras were on him and he lowered his gaze back to his desk. Fortunately, it was then that Phyllis indirectly admitted to a one night stand with someone in the office so the focus shifted to her. Pam spent a few minutes trying to figure out who Phyllis’s one night stand was, but decided that she did not want to think of any of the possibilities.
Things took a turn for the weird when Michael returned. He had both suggested that she make out with a blow up doll (Where did that come from?) and she date him. “I would drown myself,” she announced to the office when that idea sprang from his mouth.
The rest of the day continued in true Dunder Mifflin fashion. She had lunch with Jim in the break room, careful to not give too much away. She was quietly working at her desk when she heard her mom’s voice.
“Well, hello.”
“Oh my god!” Pam exclaimed.
“I finally made it.”
“Hello!”
Pam was showing her mom around her workspace when she saw Jim approaching out of the corner of her eye. She was about to introduce them when the door opened again.
“Oh, no,” Pam let out, prompting both her mom and Jim to looks towards the door.
“Roy?” The single syllable was uttered by Pam, Jim, and Helene, all three shocked to see him enter the office.
“Helene, hi,” Roy said as he went to embrace her.
“Roy, what are you doing here?” Pam questioned.
“I was just downstairs interviewing for a job in the warehouse.”
Pam rolled her eyes. It was then that she noticed Jim patiently waiting at her desk, munching on a few jelly beans.
“Mom, this is Jim,” she said, “Jim, my mom, Helene. Would you mind getting her a cup of coffee while I talk to Roy in the hallway?”
Pam grabbed Roy by the forearm and dragged him into the hallway.
“What are you doing?” she questioned angrily.
“I told you, I was interviewing for a job.”
“You can’t work here.”
“Why not?” Roy pleaded.
“Why not? WHY NOT?” Pam was livid now, “Because I work here. Just stop, please. I knew letting you stay on my couch was a bad idea.”
“I’m not following you, Pammy.”
“You need to move on, Roy,” she pleaded, “And that won’t happen if you see me everyday at work.”
“I just thought you’d be happy I’m looking for a job,” Roy said, “And this looks pretty promising. I think the guy down there liked me. What’s his name, Darnell?”
“Darryl,” Pam sighed.
“Yeah, Darryl,” he continued, “So, I think this could be really good for us. I get this job and we can start working on fixing things.”
“Roy, how many times do I have to say it? I’m not getting back together with you. I’ve moved on.”
“But, baby,” Roy started.
“No, no buts, it’s over. I don’t know how to make it any clearer for you. I went on date last night!”
“Yeah, but it was just a date. I can get past that.”
“No, Roy, it wasn’t just a date. We’re together.”
“Who’s we?”
“Me and Jim,” she sighed.
“Jim?”
“Yes, Roy, Jim. Jim Halpert. We’re together, we’re dating. It’s over between us. You can’t take this job and I think it would be best if you left my apartment today and found somewhere else to stay.”
Pam left Roy in the hallway and returned quietly to the office.
*************************************************
Jim watched as Pam exited with Roy. He had been excited to meet Pam’s mom, but wasn’t expecting to be alone with her.
“So, Mrs. Beesly, can I get you that cup of coffee?” he asked nervously.
“Please, Jim, call me Helene,” she responded, “And, yes, I would love some coffee.”
Helene quietly followed him to the kitchen where he prepared two cups of coffee.
“So, Pam tells me this is quite an interesting place to work,” Helene attempted to break the ice.
“I don’t think interesting is the right word.”
“Just answer me this: Is Dwight as crazy as Pam makes him out to be?”
“Absolutely,” Jim replied with a chuckle.
The documentary producer, Jen, entered the break room then, asking Jim to answer some questions in the conference room. Jim excused himself, telling Helene he would be right back and that hopefully Pam wouldn’t be much longer.
“So, Jim,” Jen started, “We noticed during the sexual harassment seminar something between you and Pam when Toby began speaking of office romances. Are you in an office romance?”
“Crap,” Jim thought. He looked around the room, stalling, trying to come up with a plausible explanation.
It was then that he noticed Michael’s blow up doll from earlier. “I'm in an office relationship. It's special. Um... she's nice. She's shy. She's actually here. You want to meet her? Hold on one second.” He pulled the doll into the shot with him, hamming it up for the cameras for a few seconds. When Jen realized she wasn’t going to get a serious answer from him, she sent him on his way.
He emerged from the conference room to see Pam and her mom talking quietly in front of her desk. He started to make his way over to them to apologize for abandoning Helene in the break room when the door to the office opened and Roy entered. There was something different about him then there was ten minutes ago. He seemed angry and his eyes were dark.
“Hey, Halpert,” he shouted.
“Hey.”
Everything seemed to go in slow motion as Roy came at him, his fist cocked and ready to swing. Instinctively, he pushed Pam and Helene out of the way and braced himself for the punch. But the punch never came. Instead, he heard a distinct hissing sound and felt the spray of something hot and stinging in his eyes. He looked briefly at Roy, who was incapacitated on the floor, and then looked behind him to see Dwight, coughing with a now empty can of pepper spray in his hand.
Author's Chapter Notes:
I did not think I would get to update this until the weekend, but it's raining and my kids insisted on watching Rio for the 8 millionth time. There's only so many singing birds one person can handle.
I've actually been trying to get this chapter written for a few days now, but everytime I started it, it just wouldn't flow and I'd delete all my progress because I hated it. But, I think I finally got it to work.
Also, I want to apologize for posting this so soon after the final chapter of Fault Lines as that story deserves its time in the sun. It's fantastic. Seriously, if you haven't read the final chapter yet, do that first and then come back to this story. It's just that if I didn't update now, I don't know when I'd be able to. My apologies to Danielle.
Same disclaimers apply.
I've actually been trying to get this chapter written for a few days now, but everytime I started it, it just wouldn't flow and I'd delete all my progress because I hated it. But, I think I finally got it to work.
Also, I want to apologize for posting this so soon after the final chapter of Fault Lines as that story deserves its time in the sun. It's fantastic. Seriously, if you haven't read the final chapter yet, do that first and then come back to this story. It's just that if I didn't update now, I don't know when I'd be able to. My apologies to Danielle.
Same disclaimers apply.
Chapter End Notes:
So, what did you think? Please review. There will be one final chapter to wrap things up.
