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Author's Chapter Notes:
Doctors' visits.

“I did.” Pam wasn’t sure what else to say. She was seized by a sudden urge to beg Larissa’s forgiveness for her presumption in putting it by Jim’s bedside; for her arrogance in making this about her when it clearly should be about Jim, who was sitting there unconscious for god’s sake. What kind of selfish person was she? She was about to give a voice to all this, to offer to put it away until a more opportune time, or rip it up, or something, when she realized Larissa was already speaking.

“It’s lovely. I really like it. When did you have the time though? I was gone for eight hours, Pam! That’s barely enough time for me to start thinking of the basics of an architectural drawing.”

Pam became aware that Larissa was, in fact, smiling.

“I’m serious, Pam, this is good work. Jim always said you were a real artist, but I guess I figured it was rose-colored glasses, you know? Jim never thought anything but the best of you, so I discounted everything he said. I guess I shouldn’t have. After all, he was, like, totally right about how pretty you are, too, so…what?”

Pam realized she was staring at Larissa in something akin to disbelief. Jim said I was pretty? Jim said I was pretty so much that his sister remembers it? She thinks I’m pretty? And Jim said I was a real artist too? I think I must have fallen asleep harder than I thought last night, because I’m pretty sure I’m still dreaming. She struggled to form a response with all the thoughts whirling through her head, including the countercurrent that muttered Of course he did. He loves you.

“Um…do you think he’ll like it?”

“Oh! Yeah, totally. I mean, he’ll probably frame it in his bedroom or some dorky thing like that, so yeah, he’ll love it.” Larissa saw that Pam was still struggling with something—embarrassment? Shyness?—so she quickly changed the subject slightly. “Um, speaking of which! I got some Command strips, we can start sticking up the stuff you brought from his house.”

“Oh! Yeah, that sounds good.” Pam was a bit relieved to move on from the question of her sketch for Jim, which she now realized she’d given pride of place—everything else would be on the wall, but her sketch was by his side. Well, if it didn’t bother Larissa she was determined not to worry herself too much about it. For now.

They spent a few minutes putting everything up, finding not much disagreement between them about which of Jim’s pieces of memorabilia should go where. When the room was decorated to their satisfaction, they chatted for a little about more minor things (their opinions of Jim’s taste in music, favorite fabric softener brands, things like that) until the next in what proved to be an almost unending cavalcade of doctors came in. Cardiologists (his heart’s still pumping! You gotta like that), neurologists (hmm…it’s likely that he’ll come out of it soon, but if he’s really in what looks to be a deep sleep there’s probably nothing better for healing than that, so I don’t recommend taking any extraordinary efforts to wake him up), gastroenterologists (his stomach took a hit from that crash but we think he’ll be on regular food fairly soon after he wakes up), nephrologists (kidney function is normal in this patient), even a psychiatrist (I guess they sent me in early! There won’t be much to say until I can talk to him), as well as the Halperts’ GP (Hi Larissa, it’s good to see you again. How’s the knee? It looks like Jim’s coming along fine considering everything. And you must be Pam…) all came along trooping in one after the other, along with a nurse’s shift change and the apparently normal routine of changing out Jim’s IV drips, catheter bag (Pam looked away for that one, which Larissa teased her about), and sheets.

By the time the last doctor was out of the room (don’t let him eat anything solid until we have a chance to check him!) Pam was exhausted, and Larissa looked just like she had when Pam first came in the day before. She looked at Pam, quirked an eyebrow, and smiled.

“Welcome to the family, Pam. You’ve now met, like, all of Jim’s doctors, and I think Dr. Pederson in particular was very happy to see you. He’s been our family doctor for years and he keeps teasing us all about when we’re going to start dating and…”

Pam was at this point about three shades beyond crimson on the color scale her art teacher in high school made her memorize. Larissa grinned.

“…and I think he saw the sketchbook.”

Pam’s embarrassment was now beyond the point where it could express itself in blushes. She found herself giggling inanely and thought she saw Larissa’s grin grow even wider and more mischievous.

“Now, before I kill you with embarrassment and get Jim mad at me, how about we get something to eat at the hospital cafeteria? That neurologist told us that they don’t even want Jim to wake up right now, so we won’t miss anything, and we can compare notes on what they told us.”

Pam, still giggling and red, couldn’t quite muster the effort to actually speak, but she nodded vigorously. Food was a good idea. When you were eating food, it didn’t tend to ambush you with old family doctors who now knew more about your feelings for Jim than Jim did. Or at least, it didn’t in normal, well-run hospitals without Larissa Halpert in them. Who knew what might be lurking in this one. A grilled cheese sandwich that had been in the Halpert family for years and just thought Jim needed to settle down? A mixed-berry yogurt that thought it was sweet that little Jimmy had finally found a girl, since it remembered when he’d pulled Amy Vanderbeek’s pigtails in elementary school? She found herself wishing she could share these images with Jim, and the urge to giggle faded.

“Let’s go.”

Chapter End Notes:

Next chapter: Pam, Larissa, and food. 

Thank you to all who have been reading and reviewing, it makes my day to see your responses. 


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