He couldn’t believe she was there. Pam Beesly? He wondered what day it was. It was at least the 8th, since he’d gotten into the cab on the 8th, but was it possible it was the 10th already? Was she already married? And what was she even doing there? Not that it was that unreasonable, he thought, for her to be at the hospital for him. Certainly he’d have been there for her in the opposite situation—if he’d known about it. And how did she know to come?

The whirl of questions must have shown in his eyes, because both she and Larissa reacted to it, sitting down next to him and beginning to talk. To his surprise, Pam sat down in the chair next to his head while Larissa perched by his feet. He almost thought Pam’s hand reached out for his before she thought better of it and folded her hands in her lap, right over left.

Again to his surprise, Pam spoke first.

“It’s good to see you, Jim. I mean, I’ve seen you, you’ve been here, but that was just your body, so…”

He couldn’t resist. “So you’re telling me you’ve been checking out my body?” As soon as he said it, he wished he could bite off his tongue. This was the first thing he said to Pam? Really?

But when he looked at her, thinking of apologizing, he noticed she was blushing beet red. Larissa distracted him from that delightful sight with a sigh.

“Real mature, big bro. She means she’s been sitting up by your bedside worried sick.”

He crinkled his forehead in concern. “How long was I out?”

“Three days now.”

“Three days?!?” So it was June 11th. She was married. His head whipped around to Pam, who seemed to realize what his reaction meant he’d concluded. She grabbed his hand.

“Yes, Jim, it’s June 11th. And you were right, I was checking you out.”

He gaped at her. She raised her right hand to his face and touched his cheek, tenderly.

“But I have to say, your unconscious body doesn’t do much for me. And besides, you need a shower.” Her nose wrinkled delightfully. “I don’t think the nurses have done much more than a sponge bath since you’ve been here.”

Now it was his turn to blush, while his mind tried very hard to reconcile “It’s June 11th” with “I was checking you out.”

“Um…were you there for that?”

She and Larissa glanced at each other for a moment, each daring the other to say she was, only for them both to bust out laughing. “No, Halpert, we left you that much dignity,” giggled Pam, while Larissa choked out “Thank god.”

OK, where did that come from? When did my sister and my…Pam start exchanging glances like Pam and I do? Oh right. It’s June 11th.

“So how long have you been here?” A loaded question, in its own way. Had she come right from the wedding? The honeymoon? Oh god, was Roy out in the waiting room, about to wander in and slap him on the shoulder and say “Hey Halpert, thanks for getting better, now Pammy and I can get on our way?”

“Um…two days. Well, a day and a half.”

“Only because someone didn’t charge her cellphone in her new apartment, so it took me two days to find her.”

Wait, new apartment? She and Roy weren’t moving, they already live together.

“Hey, I’m just glad you kept trying. You should be proud of your sister, Jim, she managed to track me down despite everything. I came as soon as I could.”

“I’m always proud of her. So…you got here on the 10th?”

“Yeah.” Pam glanced down at her hands in her lap, and his eye followed hers—flinching away from her left hand. Until he realized there was nothing there to flinch away from: not the wedding ring he’d expected to see, not even the cheap little engagement ring he’d become so accustomed to hating. “It wasn’t like I had anything else to do.” She smiled. “Besides unpack all my stuff into my new apartment after breaking up with Roy. You kind of put a dent in that unpacking process, Halpert, so you owe me, and don’t think I won’t be calling to collect.”

He looked up at her in mingled awe and confusion. “You broke up with him?”

She nodded, not quite looking directly at his face. “I did.”

He grinned, and then sobered. “I’m…”

She turned to meet his eyes, and to his surprise hers had a look of determination he wasn’t sure he’d ever seen in them before. “Don’t you dare say you’re sorry.”

“…OK then. I won’t.”

“Good.” She looked smug. “I’m certainly not.”

“Good. But I’m…not sure how I interrupted your unpacking though. I was right here the whole time.” He gestured around him. “Or at least I assume so. I don’t exactly remember much.”

“Who said I was talking to you when I said Halpert?”

Larissa found this an opportune moment to re-enter the conversation. “Yeah, she meant me. I tracked her new home phone number down through 411—seriously useful, by the way, Jim, if you ever, say, want to keep in touch with Pam—and I gave her a call. She came right over—I’m not sure I want to know how many speeding laws she broke.”

Pam grinned at his sister. “I plead the fifth. Though I’m pretty sure that speeding is just one law.”

Larissa smiled back and rubbed his foot. “And she’s been here ever since. Just like you told me she would be if you ever needed her.”