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Author's Chapter Notes:
Jim's POV and a conversation with Larissa.

Jim was enjoying watching his family meet Pam. That was the order it was in his head, at least. He was sure an outside observer would refer to it as “Pam meeting his family,” and he knew it was technically correct, but to him Pam was the center. He was oddly not afraid at all of how she would react to them; if she liked Larissa, which evidently she did, there was no way she wouldn’t like his parents. But them…they’d spent years by now listening to him talk about Pam, moan about Pam, ultimately despair over Pam. So how would they react to finding her there at his bedside?

 

They seemed not just OK with it but actually happy, which he thought of as a minor miracle. It wasn’t that his parents weren’t usually happy; it was that they were extremely protective of him and Larissa, the two babies of the family. The few years between him and L had meant that they’d gotten used to thinking of him as the baby after Pete and Tom and he had come out boom-boom-boom, and that had still lingered after Larissa’s birth, maybe because he was (he knew) always the “sensitive one” of the three boys, maybe because he and L had gotten on with each other like a house on fire, and not so much with Pete and Tom. But for whatever reason it was, his parents had always been fiercely protective where their younger two children were concerned, and so he was surprised to see them welcome Pam with completely open arms—literally, in his mother’s case.

 

He glanced over at Larissa, who was looking smug, and realized that he had no idea what she’d told them on the phone, via email, or in the drive over from the airport about Pam. But he had no doubt that whatever it was, he owed Pam’s warm greeting to her, just as he owed her very presence to her as well. Larissa caught his eyes on her and winked, which only confirmed his suspicions. He left Pam talking kinds of tea with his mother—he hadn’t realized his mother had been advised to switch from coffee to tea by her doctor, but now that he knew, he was going to milk that for future advice on presents in both directions—while his father kibitzed, and whispered softly to his sister.

 

“Thanks.”

 

“For what? This is all her.”

 

“Come on, L, you remember how Mom got last time I mentioned Pam at family dinner.”

 

“Well, things are a little different now, aren’t they?”

 

“Yep.” He couldn’t help but grin. “So, thanks.”

 

She nudged his shoulder. “Welcome.”

 

“Hey, speaking of family dinner…”

 

She cocked an eyebrow. “Yeah?”

 

“Where are Pete and Tom?”

 

She shrugged, and whispered lower. “Not invited.”

 

He felt confused. “You didn’t call them when I got here?”

 

“Nah.” She rolled her eyes. “I said I needed help, not a lecture.”

 

“That’s…” He stopped himself. Thought about how Pete and Tom acted towards Larissa—full of macho certainty that they knew best. They were still Halperts, of course, so once they got off their high horse about their know-it-all little sister they weren’t so bad to be around—everyone in the family shared the same sense of humor, after all—but he could see why Larissa wouldn’t have wanted them there in the crisis. “That’s fair. But when you couldn’t get Mom, or Dad, or Mark…”

 

“…I found the person I figured was most likely to help.” She grinned. “You don’t like how that worked out?”

 

He sighed. “I like it, I like it. But Pete and Tom…”

 

“Aren’t exactly who I’d call in a crisis. Your girlfriend did way better.”

 

“She wasn’t my girlfriend then.”

 

“Fine. Your best friend who I was totally right about having feelings for you did way better. And then she became your girlfriend.” She kissed his forehead. “Besides, remember when I fell out of the tree when I was four and I fell out of that tree?”

 

He winced. He remembered. Now that things with Pam were sorted out, it was probably his worst regret. I should have caught her.

 

She went on as if she hadn’t noticed. “You were so great. You gathered me up, and you got Mom and Dad, and you held my other hand all the way to the hospital, and for the next several months you went out of your way to help me with anything I needed—carrying, writing, whatever. But Pete and Tom? When you and I said it was broken and we needed to go to the hospital, they both told me to suck it up. And then they spent the next month throwing things at me to see if I could catch them. I mean, it was funny because I’ve always been better with my left hand than either of them, so I caught a lot more than they expected, but…”

 

“But it didn’t exactly make you think positively about them when you thought about hospitals.”

 

“Nope.” She grinned. “And besides, I love you, big bro, and I wanted you to have the best of care. From your best friend. Who is way awesomer than our two brothers, by the way.”

 

He grinned. “OK, OK, I concede. Thank you, L. Which, I believe, was how I started this conversation anyway.”

 

She hugged him softly. “Anytime, big bro.”

 

“But you should probably tell the boys I’m here before Mom and Dad get suspicious.”

 

“Yeah, you’re probably right.”

 

“Wait, L, could you repeat that? Pam, Pam, Larissa just said something you need to hear.”

 

Pam turned from his mother and father with an inquisitive look on her face.

 

“Go on, L, tell her what you just told me.”

 

“You’re lucky I love you, Jim.” Larissa grinned. “I told Jim he was probably right about something, that’s all.”

 

Pam mock-gasped and put a hand to her chest. “Larissa, you never!”

 

“I know, right? No wonder he needed you to hear this monumental news. It’s such a rare occurrence!”

 

Jim couldn’t quite regret the mockery he was now suffering, since the sight of his mother and father reacting to Larissa and Pam’s easy connection was everything he could have wanted. He slipped an arm around Larissa’s waist from his sitting position.

 

“Hey, L?” he whispered. “I’m still sorry I didn’t catch you when you were four.”

 

She glanced down. “What would that have accomplished? You were ten. We’d both have broken something.” She hugged him closer. “But I always knew you had my back.”

 

“Always.”

Chapter End Notes:
Just tying up some loose canon ends. Next will be dinner! Thank you to everyone who has read and reviewed. I appreciate you.

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