Pam glanced over at Jim for what had to be the thirtieth time since she had come back inside. He sat motionless at his desk, staring intently at his screen, still avoiding her. The few times she thought she had caught him looking at her, he had snapped his head back to his screen. Had she really been throwing herself at him? Was he as disgusted at her as Roy was? The thought that Jim would agree with what Roy said made her stomach turn. Roy was always upset at her about something it seemed, but if Jim was, too… she couldn't deal with that: a validation of all Roy's criticisms. It would just be too much.

Another half an hour of self-destructive thoughts passed before she felt eyes on her again and raised her eyes to finally meet his. He stared at her now, openly. Sad eyes and a furrowed brow told her that things were not back to normal. They probably wouldn't be for a while. She tried a tentative smile to feel him out, see if she ruined their friendship permanently. Relief flooded into her as he returned a smile that was sweet but more reserved than normal. Jim wasn't mad. Maybe he knew she was in trouble with Roy and blamed himself. He was so selfless like that, but it had been her fault. She was practically sitting in his lap. She'd have to let him know it was all her fault later, that he didn't have to worry. Maybe, she'd head to the kitchen soon for some tea.

Tea in her fancy new teapot always brought a smile to her face, at least since the Christmas Party a few weeks ago. She still had that high school photo of Jim taped up right behind her monitor, with the hot sauce and everything. Roy was so mad when she traded away the IPod, but she claimed it was because Michael had taken it back. She knew it was wrong to lie, but it just saved them both so much grief. It was a white lie. She got up and went to the kitchen, stopping by Jim's desk to see if he wanted anything. As she hoped, he got up to join her.

"That was crazy, earlier." Jim starts out, obviously put out by what happened earlier.

"I'm sorry about that"

"No, no. No need to be…" Jim cut in, looking down at his hands rather than making eye contact."It's just Roy, you know. I told him there's no reason to be jealous… I mean, we're just friends."

"Yeah, yeah. Friends. Nothing more than... friends"

"Exactly. And don't worry. I told him it was all me." Pam smiled cheerfully at Jim, completely missing the downtrodden look on his face as he stared at his shoes. She considered herself highly skilled at reassuring people she was fine. Reassuring her family was simple. A smile and a shrug combined with a little white lie and they thought her relationship with Roy was back to being great. The only person who didn't always buy it was Jim. His furrowed eyebrows and sad eyes told her it wasn't working. More lies were needed. Lies. But white lies. "He's not mad. Everything's fine. Really."

"Yeah." Jim took a long drink of coffee and looked Pam over carefully, like he was building up to say something. "He just-"

Before the words came, the women's bathroom door opened, interrupting their solitude. Creed, with headphones and a book in hand, confidently marched out, giving Pam and Jim a funny look. As he marched out the door Jim's eyes widened and his eyebrows shot up, but his mouth maintained a straight line, as though his eyes didn't give away his amusement. Pam grinned ear to ear and mouthed 'Oh My God,' unable to hide her joy. As the door to the break room closed they dissolved in to shock and giggles. With that, the events of the day were all but forgotten.

Creed, aside "What was I doing in the women's bathroom? Chill out, man. It's the 90s."

After sharing some laughter and horror over Creed using the women's room, Jim and Pam got back to work, hot drinks in hand. Not even half an hour had passed when Jim started feeling the urge to go hang out at her desk, see what she was up to, just be around her. She had looked so upset when she came back. And she had been gone such a long time. Her eyes were red. He hated that Roy made her cry. But it was her choice. She chose to be with Roy and that was that. As much as he hated it, he'd respect her choice.

For the most part, he tried to stay out of it. It's not his business, he's just a friend. Another half an hour passed and he noticed Pam walk over to accounting, talking to Angela. He couldn't catch much of the conversation and knew that he shouldn't be listening, but he listened anyway.

"Again?" Angela was talking loudly and looked annoyed. More angry really, there's not much middle ground with her. Pam said something to her in a low voice that he can't make out. The words "Roy" and "Sorry" made it through the office cacophony to his ears, but that was about it. Angela was clearly pissed off. "Well I have a life, too, you know." then, after a few more low words from Pam, "I'll consider it."

When Pam made it back to her desk, he hopped up from his seat to do a little digging. "Propositioning Angela again, I see."

"Yeah, turns out she's not into girls." Pam brushed him off and dug around her desk, as though to make herself look busy. That stuff didn’t work on Jim.

"I'm sure she'll make an exception for you." he leaned against her desk popping a couple jelly beans in his mouth, giving her his most charming smile. She continued moving around papers for a moment, hiding a smile, before completely giving in to banter, just like he knew she would.

"Oh, yeah?" She raised an eyebrow, finally giving Jim her full attention.

"I know you were so upset not to get the hottest in the office dundie this year,”

“So upset,” Pam played along.

“But from what I observed, Angela clearly did not agree with that decision." He continued as though uninterrupted, taking a glance over at Angela, who, luck would have it, was glaring at them over the cubicle wall. "Look, she's pining after you already."

"She did said she'd consider, that's a pretty big deal coming from her. I wonder if she's expecting dinner and a movie first." Pam joined in on the joking, her eyes warm again and a smile hidden in the corners of her mouth.

"I'd definitely go with dinner and a movie, but that's just what it takes to get me into bed." Jim winked. He knew he was being a little too flirtatious considering this morning, but he just couldn't help himself.

"I doubt she'd be as easy as you."

"Ouch. Low blow." He placed his hands dramatically over his heart and rocked back on his heels. "So, is that a new pastime of yours? Seducing unsuspecting women?"

"I'm trying it out." Pam's smile was fully back in place. "You think I'll make any progress with Angela?"

"How many times do I have to tell you, Beesly, She's clearly in love with Kevin. Though I think Meredith might give you a go."

Pam snorted in an attempt to not laugh. Making her happy like that was Jim's entire reason to get out of bed. She was just so damn cute when she laughed. Or smiled. Or breathed. "Oh, God, no!" Pam chuckled, "I was just asking for a ride home," She clarified. Jim's frown returned. "It's just that Roy has to work late is all."

"Well, I could give you a ride home?" Jim drummed his fingers on the side of the jelly bean dispenser, anxious to hear her answer. To have some alone time, just talking and laughing side by side in his car would be so amazing. Maybe today could lead to something that might lead to them hanging out more outside of the office. It was all wishful hypotheticals, but those little scraps of hope kept him going.

"It's pretty far out of the way." She frowned, looking uncomfortable with the offer, like it was too much or something.

"No, it's fine. You'd do the same for me," he shrugged. And she would, he knew that. He also knew that framing his offer that way would take any flirtation out of it, make it easier for her to agree. He knew her.

"Thanks, Jim." She said it so sincerely that he thought his heart was going to break. He maintained dreamy eye contact, both smiling from the deepest parts of their souls, for a few long moments before grabbing a few more jelly beans and heading back to his desk.

Angela, aside: “I’m not responsible for someone else's sin. I was unable to take Pam home today. She shouldn’t spring things like this on people. I don’t care if she and Roy fought. As far as I’m concerned that’s her fault as well. Roy is clearly a man of integrity, and he has reason to be upset when his fiance is so clearly throwing herself at other men. I think Roy seems rather strong,” Angela hid a smile and a blush before continuing in a stern, judgmental manner. “It is inappropriate for a practically married woman to be fraternizing so much with an unmarried man, especially a man like Jim Halpert.”

The work day ended just as any other, and Jim hung around Pam's desk until she was ready to go, drawing the usual glares intermixed with eye rolls from Angela.

"Thanks, so much Jim."

"It's seriously nothing." He grinned, leaning against her desk as she worked.

"I just gotta type this up for Michael real quick. Oh my god, I didn't tell you. He's having me type up his daily schedules and print them off for him because he doesn't like the way they look in the the new calendar program. I'm using lots of hard to read fonts and horribly bright colors. It's giving me a headache just looking at it." Pam rambled a bit, excited with her little prank.

"That's hilarious." Eager to see her project, Jim joined her behind her desk, leaning against the back of her chair as she worked, obliviously drawing even more venomous looks from Angela as she made her way to the door.

"Okay, okay, like three more seconds, change this to chiller and… perfect."

Jim looked down at the schedule of neon days and events in a wide array of comically bad fonts and smiled. "I hate to tell you this, but I think Michael might actually love this."

"No. It's way too hard to read."

"He's gonna love it."

"He'll get a headache. It'll make him sick."

"He's going to ask for this everyday now y'know?"

"No, no! That's part of the beauty. He's not going to be able to read it and I'll apologize, get Dwight to show him how to use the calendar software again, and I will have one less thing I have to do everyday. And it's such a stupid task, I can't even get in trouble!" She pulled on her keds as Jim grabbed her coat from the coat rack.

"He's gonna love it."

"Shut up!" She elbowed him lightly as she grabbed her coat and bag and skipped out the door. "You coming?"

They joke around about Michael's questionable taste in everything as they donned their coats and walked out to his car. For a moment Jim almost allowed himself to imagine being like this everyday. Going to work together, heading home together. To the same home. To have dinner and relax and talk and just be together. A larger part of him than he wanted to admit wanted to stay in this dream of easy comradery, domesticity, and love. Let him pretend that he loved and was loved in return. But it would be a lie. As he drove Pam back to her life with Roy, he couldn't help but steal glances over at the girls of his dreams. Her curls looked so soft; he wanted to touch. But that would be crossing a line. Her green eyes glittered in the red-gold of twilight; he want to tell her. But that would be crossing a line. Her hand rested elegantly on the arm rest so perilously close to his own; he wanted to hold it, hold her. But that would be crossing a line. She was so perfect with the sun setting just over her shoulder with a smile so sweet and genuine. Jim could do little more than smile and enjoy the moment.