“My mom’s coming to Scranton, to stay with us.” Pam stated, flatly.
“So, according to the doctor, Pam needs to relax.” Jim sat beside his wife in the conference room, talking to the camera crew.
“Relaxing is not really on the cards when you have an eighteen month old child…” Pam reasoned.
“So, Helene is coming to lighten the load just until the baby comes, which is going to be… great. But, there was talk of the possibility of Pam needing to go on bed rest. This has gotta be… better.” Jim didn’t sound entirely enthused at the thought of having his mother-in-law stay with them, but there was a more prominent tone of concern and affection.
“It’s just that Cece’s a handful… and it can be hard work.” Pam sounded a little defeated, and her voice broke a little as she spoke.
“She’s got climbers legs.”
“Yeah.” Pam looked up affectionately to Jim, as though for reassurance. It was that feeling of failure again. She hated that she had to ask her mother for help, at thirty-two.
Jim could see through Pam’s glassy eyes that she felt like she was letting Cece, or Jim, or herself down and so kept his tone upbeat. The warmth of his voice eased her worries, always. “Yeah. You just gotta… take it easy.” He smiled lovingly at her, and the world smiled with him.
A reel of talking heads is then shown.
“Women are too weak for positions of authority. Pam has been defeated by her position.” Dwight spoke, coldly.
“Pam shouldn’t drink during the pregnancy.” Meredith shrugged, looking disheveled.
“I sure hope it wasn’t the chicken. Oh, man.” Kevin grumbled.
“Pam should have her baby now and quit making such a big freaking deal about it! P!nk was pregnant for like a year and no one even noticed. I’ve never seen it kick. She’s probably not even pregnant.” Kelly was still not appreciating the diversion of people’s attention.
“It begs the question, if Pam is under so much stress that it is affecting her baby, should she still even be manager?” Oscar questioned.
“Which one is Pam?” Creed said, and not for the first time.
“Hey, so I was thinking… we could organize a little surprise for Pam’s birthday. Not like streamers and amp speakers, but… something to just make her smile.” Jim said quietly to Jordan, as they crossed each other in the kitchen.
“I bet she’d like that.” Jordan nodded, smiling at him approvingly.
“I just want her to be as happy as she was before, and relax a little. I mean, I know it’s only been a few days, but I don’t want it to grow into something.”
“She’s just tired. I’m sure once her mom comes and she can slow down a little, it’ll all be fine again.”
“Yeah.” Jim sounded a little unsure before repeating himself, this time sounding firmer. “Yeah.”
“Well, I can sort out getting some decorations for the conference room. That’s no problem.” Jordan tried to offer as much help as possible, seeing how much strain Jim already seemed to be under from everything and touched that he was still making such an effort.
“Thank you. I appreciate that. Just, she likes pink so…”
“Got it.” Jordan nodded.
It was then that a trouble-seeking Kelly Kapoor opened the other door to the small kitchen. “Hey guys. Did I interrupt something? I’m sorry. I was just looking for Ryan. Jim, have you seen him?”
“Have you checked his cupboard?” Jim said, with just a hint of smugness still.
“Oh, yeah, right. That’s totally where he’ll be. Thanks Jim. Hi Jordan.” Kelly acted as though she had only just seen Jordan lurking beside Jim, despite having already addressed her, but neither Jim nor Jordan seemed surprised by Kelly’s bizarre behavior.
A talking head of Kelly beside Erin follows.
“Those two are totally hooking up.” Kelly said, confidently.
“Yeah.” Erin nodded beside her.
“If those two aren’t hooking up I will eat carbs.” Kelly bet.
“If those two aren’t hooking up I will eat meat. No, maybe fish. Like, a salmon or something… salmon paste, not proper salmon.” Erin continued, as Kelly looked at her a little confused.
“If those two aren’t hooking up I will let Ryan date other people.” As Kelly said it, Erin made a shocked face at her.
“If those two aren’t hooking up I will get back together with Gabe.” Erin giggled, as though she had sworn at her parents.
“Those two are definitely hooking up, though. Totally.” Kelly nodded, sure of her statement.
“Hey Pam, here’s those photocopies you asked me to sort out…” Erin left a pile of sheets on the front of Pam’s desk, as Pam looked up at her irritably. “Umm… no, it doesn’t matter…” Erin went to speak before cutting herself off. “Umm, actually… shouldn’t that be Jordan’s job though, technically. Whatever. It totally doesn’t matter. Who cares.” Erin went round in circles, talking to herself, wishing she’d never brought the subject up.
“You didn’t appear to be doing anything when I asked you to do it.” Pam said, coldly.
Erin timidly went to leave, but something stopped her. “Where is Jordan? I haven’t seen her in like a half hour…”
“Erin, what is it?” Pam was growing tired of Erin’s cautious attempts at talking to her.
“I was just wondering if Jordan was okay, that’s all… Jim seemed pretty concerned for her earlier.” Erin attempted to plant the seed a little, but Pam was too irritable to latch on to anything and looked up at her exasperated.
“I’m sure she’s fine. I’ll ask Jim about it later.” Pam shrugged.
“Umm, okay. Sure. You have all the photocopies you need now?”
“If you’ve done what I asked you to do then, yeah. Do I need to check?” Pam was genuinely busy working, and trying not to think about her personal life and get more stressed out. Erin’s anxious disposition was the last thing she wanted hovering about.
“Are you okay?”
“I'm fine Erin, honestly. Just busy.”
“You seem a little… tired.”
“Erin...” Pam sighed frustratedly, but her eyes were softer than her words and she felt herself falling apart. If it had been anyone else in the room with her, they would have known. Except maybe Creed. He probably wouldn’t even know what room they were in.
“Everyone’s just…” Erin tried.
“What?”
“People are just worried that you’re overdoing it.”
“Okay. Let me worry about how I’m doing and just do your job. I’m trying to do mine.” Pam was behaving entirely out of character, and it frightened Erin a little.
Pam got out of her chair, finding it more difficult, physically, than she had anticipated and walked to the doorway. “Listen up! Erin tells me that you’re all worried about me. And, half of you… most of you… everyone except Jim think I’m going fail at this. But I’m not. You are not going to slack off. I am focused. And I'm going to be on you all day long if that's what it takes for you to get focused.”
Dwight interrupted. “That’s what she said.”
Pam’s resolve weakened a little to a slight smile, and she shot Dwight a look. “Dwight, how many calls have you made this morning?”
“Twenty two.” Dwight responded sharply, playing with a stapler in his hand.
“And how many sales?”
“Two hundred reams.”
“False. Not enough.” Pam said, in a voice hauntingly similar to that of her husband’s arch nemesis. Even Dwight looked alarmed by it, and hastily picked up the phone again.
Having watched the dialogue, Jim gestured for Erin to go back to her desk and followed Pam back into her office himself. Once inside, Pam’s persona returned back to a more familiar one.
“I can’t do this Jim.” She rested her hand on her bump, and looked down at the floor as she sensed Jim coming closer to her. “They’re right.”
“Pam, Michael Scott managed to be the worst manager ever for years without ever having hormones and pregnancy and toddlers to blame! You're allowed to make mistakes. And, look.” Jim pointed out into the office and all the staff sitting obediently at their desks. “I’ve never seen Kevin work so hard. You’re doing an amazing job at this, I promise.”
“Really?” Pam looked up at him, tearfully.
“Yes.” Sometimes Jim could speak so reassuringly, with a slight laugh in his voice, and it was the most comforting thing in the world.
“I think I scared Dwight.” Pam giggled softly.
“I know. And I’m so proud of you.”
They were quiet for a minute, smiling at each other and just taking in the other person. Pam broke eye contact by shyly looking to the floor again.
“I am worried about you though. I don’t want you to feel stressed out. I think, maybe, it’s okay for you to have a lighter workload for a little workload. We could co-manage things for a little while. Just ‘til you know… everything with the new baby is done.”
“I hate that I can’t seem to do anything without help at the moment.”
“I know. But, thing is Pam… I wouldn’t be able to get through the day without you. Any day. So, being able to help you get through your days while you’re pregnant, that’s nothing. Because, I’m your husband and it’s what I’m here to do. So whenever you’re thinking about not being able to do stuff without help, I’ll think about what I’d be without you and we’ll be completely pathetic together.” Jim smiled at her, affectionately, and was once again overwhelmed by her. He could see she was trying not to cry.
Pam was in her office, distracted by a mountain of paperwork that Jim had dropped in front of her. She understood none of it. But, that was exactly the point. Jim, with Jordan’s help, was attempting to smuggle birthday banners and cake past Pam’s office which, frustratingly, was the closest to the door. On top of that, Helene had decided to drop by the party to help Jim set up so they had to smuggle a person in unnoticed too!
They’d managed it, however. And people had started assembling in the conference room when Jim went back to check on his wife.
“Jim, I don’t get any of this. Half of it seems to be dated from before Sabre bought out Dunder Mifflin.” Pam sighed desperately the moment she heard the door begin to open.
“Don’t worry about it.”
“What…”
“Just… come with me.” Jim smiled at her.
“I need to do this work though Jim.”
“Oh, I don’t know what that is but I’m pretty sure you don’t actually have to do that. Sorry.” Jim laughed lightly before taking Pam’s hand and leading her out to the conference room.
“Surprise!” Everyone called to Pam as she turned into the room that had been decorated with celebration to an extent far beyond anyone’s expectations of Jim.
“Oh. Wow.” Pam looked at her husband, not entirely happy and more confused. “My mom’s here?” Pam went over and embraced Helene.
“Did you do all this?” Pam looked at Jim, overwhelmed with the streamers, balloons and a cake that seemed far too grand for the occasion.
“Not… exactly. I will be right back.” Jim dashed off, leaving Pam with her mother and co-workers, who seemed all too happy to dig in to the array of cold food on offer. Pam put on a polite smile, while wishing she had Jim beside her for support. She was, however, amused by the distraction of Kevin’s speed-eating. A sight that was horrifying Angela.
“Anything with beef in. Pam hates beef! I didn’t want her throwing up at her own birthday. I was doing her a favor!” Kevin defended himself in a talking head that briefly interjected.
Moments later, just as Pam was in the middle of a piece of cold pizza, Jim appeared once more in the doorway. This time, he was wearing a wide grin and proudly holding his daughter on his hip. Pam lit up and rushed over to them, with Helene following slowly.
“How did you get her so quick?” Pam asked Jim, as she caressed Cece’s hair.
“I called in some help with that.”
“What do you…”
“Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you…” Pam was interrupted by the chorus of co-workers who, prompted by Jim, began singing the song of the day to her. Just as Pam turned back to Jim to complete her question, it was answered by another interruption.
“Happy birthday to Paaa-aaaaaam…” Appearing behind Jim, with his own baby in his arms, Michael Scott completed the next line in a pitch only he knew. And by baby, transate as: a little beagle puppy called Beagsly.
“Michael!” Pam lit up again, and soon embraced him.
“Wow. You’re huge!” Michael marveled at Pam’s bump, and to Jim’s relief, instead of shyly taking offence, she proudly stroked a hand over her bump and smiled.
“Thanks for coming Michael.” Pam said, sweetly. “And thanks for bringing Beagsly!” Her voice went up an octave as she stroked the adorable little puppy.
“Well, Cece’s gotta get used to sharing the attention sometime so…” Michael reasoned. He then noticed Helene hovering near Pam. “Oh hey, Helene. Don’t make this awkward. I have a puppy now. I’ve moved on. And I’ve got a Holly now. We’re getting married. And no, you can’t have Jim’s plus one if Pam gives birth on my wedding day. I don’t think the bride wants to see all of my exes lining up outside the church…” Michael just kept going.
“Wow. Okay. Michael, maybe you should go say hi to people. I’m sure Dwight’s missed you…” Jim directed Michael away from his horrified mother-in-law. Pam was giggling, though. She was smiling and laughing and happy.
“Happy birthday mommy.” Cece squeaked quietly, before nuzzling into Jim’s neck.
“Thank you sweetie.” Pam replied, looking at Jim all the while. She softly placed a hand on the back of his neck and planted a quick kiss on his lips over their child and her bump. As she moved towards him, Jim moved the hand that wasn't holding his daughter around to Pam's hip and affectionately let it rest there as she turned to look out on the room beside him.
"Michael didn't forget your birthday either..." Jim smiled with Pam, as they watched Michael reunite with his former employees. It wasn't just exciting to see an old friend, for Pam, Michael gave her a little more faith in running the Scranton branch.
They were then interrupted by blasting disco music, and watched as Michael made his return to the dance floor. “I guess it’s true what they say about Scranton parties!”
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