Jim didn’t sleep well all night. He was like a kid on Christmas Eve. Pam kissed him. PAM. KISSED. HIM. His excitement level was off the charts and he could not wait to see her again. As a result, he was up on and off all night just waiting for his alarm to go off so he could go to work and see her again. He knows she said to give her a couple of days to deal with Roy, but he couldn’t wait to talk to her again and figure out where to go from here. Maybe he could even steal a few more kisses from her. There’s that spot in the stairwell where the cameras can’t catch you unless they get really close. “Calm down, lover boy,” he thought to himself, “You’re getting ahead of yourself.”
Jim popped out of bed well before his alarm went off, giving up any hope of getting solid sleep. He didn’t think he was going to need it anyway, his body was running on pure adrenaline. He found it ironic that a few months ago, he literally had to drag himself out of bed each morning, usually running late, and now he couldn’t wait to get to work.
Jim got ready for work in record time. He had time to actually iron his shirt and make himself a real breakfast, instead of his usual cereal. He did various things to kill time before leaving, folded some laundry, made his bed and even vacuumed, much to Mark’s annoyance as he was sleeping in. He didn’t want to arrive too early as he liked to get there after Pam. There was something about her being the first one he saw when he walked in that got his day off to the perfect start.
When he became restless and had to leave his apartment, he decided to stop at Starbucks to pick himself up a coffee and Pam a tea. The line at Starbucks had helped him kill some time and by the time he pulled into the parking lot, he noticed Pam’s little blue car in its usual spot. He couldn’t help but let a huge smile spread across his face. If seeing her car could elicit such a response, he worried what he would give away to the cameras and his coworkers when he actually saw her.
Pam’s smiling face was the first thing he saw when he opened the door to the office nearly an hour before everyone else was due to arrive. “Good morning, Pam,” he said smiling, “I got you a tea.” He played it cool because even though none of their coworkers where there, the documentary production team had already started their day.
Pam beamed up at him, “Thanks so much.”
He hung up his coat and strode to his desk. He knew he was grinning like an idiot right now and the best way to keep himself from declaring his love for Pam a la Tom Cruise on Oprah would be to act like nothing had changed and get started with his work.
“Pssst, Jim,” he heard Pam whisper for his attention, “You have a message.”
Pam handed him a message from her asking him to meet her in the spot in the stairwell in 5 minutes. He let out a little smirk recalling his thoughts of that same spot from earlier.
He busied himself for those five minutes, absently checking his e-mailing, but not really reading it and checking his voicemails, but not really hearing them. His sole focus was on Pam.
He found her in the stairwell exactly five minutes after she had asked him to meet her.
“Hi,” she said, noticing him.
“Hey,” he replied.
“How was the,” Pam started, but before she could finish, Jim had put his hands on either side of her face and kissed her. He couldn’t help himself. She kissed him back and this time she was the one to take it further, sliding her tongue into his mouth. He moved his hand down to her waist and around her back, pulling her closer to him. Her hands went to his hair as she pulled his lower lip into her mouth and sucked hard, eliciting a small moan from him. His hands found their way under her sweater and shirt, tracing small circles on the soft skin of her back causing her to shiver.
“Cold?” he whispered into her ear.
Pam let out a throaty giggle. “God, she’s so sexy,” Jim thought to himself as he started placing small kisses on Pam’s neck, paying extra attention to the spot behind her ear.
Pam let out another moan and then pulled back. “Jim,” she said, panting slightly.
Jim groaned, “Oh God, Pam. I’m sorry. I don’t know what gets into me when I’m around you.”
“No, it’s okay,” she said, Jim noticing her face was flush, “I liked it. It’s just we’re at work and I did actually ask you to meet me down her to talk to you.”
“Sure you did,” he said, smirking, “That’s why you jumped me as soon as you saw me.”
“I jumped you?” Pam responded with mock anger, “I think it was the other way around, Halpert.”
“Hmm, you may be right this time, but I do recall you jumping me at some point in the last 12 hours,” he said as he drew her close to him again, pulling her sleeve away from her shoulder, and began placing feather light kisses there and on her collar bone.
“Jim,” Pam breathed, “I don’t want to, but we really need to stop.”
“Okay,” Jim said, reluctantly pulling himself away from her.
“So what did you want to talk to me about?” Jim asked, throwing up air quotes when he said the word ‘talk.’
“Well, how was the rest of your night?” she asked.
“Uhh, fine,” Jim responded, “I went home, played some video games with Mark, had a couple of beers. What about you?”
“That’s what I wanted to talk to you about,” she said, her face turning serious.
“You’re scaring me, Beesly,” he replied, “What happened? Did you get back with Roy?”
Jim’s insides were churning. How could he go from so high to so low in such a short amount of time?
“No, NO! It’s nothing like that,” Pam responded, “Do you really think I’d be down here making out with you if I was getting back with him? What kind of hussy do you think I am?”
“Well, according to Angela,” he retorted.
“Haha, very funny,” she joked with a playful swat on his arm, “No, but seriously, I do have something to tell you. Roy is going to stay with me for a couple of weeks.”
Jim’s heart dropped into his stomach. This is not what he wanted to hear. Sure, she didn’t say they were getting back together, but this was not the ideal situation for the start of a relationship. That is what this is, right, the start of a relationship? Pam didn’t really strike him as the type of girl who just wants to casually hook up.
“Jim” Pam said, bringing Jim back to the conversation, “Say something.”
“Why?” was all he could manage.
“Well, we got to talking,” she said quietly, “And I’ve ruined his life. He lost his apartment, his house, and now his family’s not talking to him. It’s all my fault, so I’ve given him two weeks on my couch to start getting his life in order.”
Jim noticed Pam’s eyes were starting to water. He did not want to be that guy, the guy who made her cry.
“Hey, hey, hey,” he said, pulling her into a hug, “Don’t cry. His problems are not your fault, Pam. You couldn’t have known what would happen when you left him and even if you did know, what were you supposed to do? Stay with him even if you weren’t happy?”
He held her in a hug for several seconds, inhaling her scent as he ran his hands up and down her back.
“I know,” Pam finally responded sniffling, “I know it’s not my fault, but I’m all he has left. It’s the least I can do to help him out. When you’re with someone that long, they become family and I’ve always been the type of person who would do anything for family.”
Jim hugged her tighter and let out a small sigh. How could he not fall in love with her? As much as it pained him to know that her ex was going to be staying with her for two weeks, undoubtedly making attempts to win her back, her loyalty to the people she loved was adorable.
“Are you mad?” Pam asked quietly into Jim’s chest.
He pulled back from their hug and looked down at her. “Mad? No, I’m not mad. I’m just trying to figure out where this leaves us.”
“Well,” she started, “What do you want?”
“I want to be with you,” he answered honestly, “I’m not going to lie. You’re all I’ve thought about since the day you started here.”
Pam blushed and let herself smile a small smile, “I want to be with you, too.”
“But,” Jim continued, “I just feel weird starting a new relationship with you while your ex is living with you.”
“I understand,” Pam responded, “But he’s not really living with me. He’s just crashing on my couch and it’s only going to be two weeks. I’m not going to change my mind on that. Plus, I made him agree that after the two weeks, he can’t contact me anymore.”
A moment passed without either of them saying anything. Jim was inside his head, thinking about Pam coming home after work to Roy. Would he make attempts to win her back? Would he try to kiss her? Would he really leave her alone after the two weeks?
Pam was the first to break the silence, “All it really means is that we can’t really hang out at my place for the next two weeks. Which is probably a good thing considering you can’t keep your hands off of me.”
“Right,” Jim chuckled, “Let’s not forgot who kissed whom first.”
“Are you complaining?” she quipped.
“Absolutely not,” he replied, “I have an idea. How about I take you on an actual, proper date. A real dinner, in a restaurant, not pizza on your coffee table that you paid for. I have my weekly pick-up basketball tonight, how about tomorrow?”
“Sounds good,” Pam replied smiling.
“Alright, then it’s a date.”
“That it is,” Pam said, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek, “Now, let’s get back upstairs. Everyone else will be in soon and I don’t feel like getting a lecture from Dwight.”
Author's Chapter Notes:
Jim's back in this chapter, I missed him too much to keep him away. I'm quite proud of this chapter. I think it may be my most favorite of anything I've written. I hope you enjoy it, too! Also, I've update fairly quickly, so if you haven't read chapter 7 yet, please do!
Same disclaimers apply.
Same disclaimers apply.
Chapter End Notes:
I hope you liked it. Don't forget to review. Next update won't be until this weekend. I'm absolutely swamped at work!
