Bright sunlight shone through the window of Jim’s bedroom. The golden rays of light perfectly complimented the glow in his chest as he woke up. He opened his eyes to see he was laying on his back with Pam resting against his right side facing him. She was basically laying half on him and had her head resting on his chest. He started tracing patterns on the bare skin of her back with his right hand, while curling the fingers of his left hand into her hair.

“Mmmmmm,” Pam hummed. “That feels wonderful.”

His lips curled up in a smile before he leaned down to kiss the top of her head. “Merry Christmas.”

She rolled slightly to get a better angle to look up at him. Her grin matched his. “Merry Christmas to you too.” She scooted up to give him a soft kiss before resting her head on his chest again. “That really does feel good, having your fingers in my hair.”

“I’m very glad to hear that,” he said. “I know I’ve told you this before, but it was something I’d been wanting to do for years. Run my hands through your hair. For a long time, it was one of those out-of-bounds areas. Friendly hugs, touching your arm, high-fives, all those I could get away with. It made me long to touch you other places.”

“Yeah?” An impish smile filled her face. “Like what other places?”

“Like your hair obviously. But also places like here.” Jim took his hand out of her hand and ran his fingertips from the base of her ear, down the side of her neck, along her shoulder, and to her upper arm. He was rewarded by the sight and feel of goose-bumps rising on her skin.

“Or here.” His hand left her shoulder to brush from the outside of her knee, along her outer thigh and across the curves of her hips.

“Ohhhh, Jim,” she shuddered

“Want me to stop?”

In reply she climbed the rest of the way on top of him. “Don’t you dare!” She leaned forward to claim his mouth with hers as his hands found other areas to roam.

Much later, after they finally crawled out of bed and the shower, they made their way down to the kitchen. Pam had liberated yet another of Jim’s sweatshirts as they made their way into the kitchen.

“Since we were in such a rush to get back here yesterday, we didn’t get a chance to stop by Dunkin’ Donuts for breakfast for today.” Jim opened his cupboard and pulled out a loaf of bread. “How does French toast and sausage sound for breakfast?”

“You were the one in the rush yesterday may I remind you,” she teased. “But French toast sounds lovely. I’ll get the sausage going.”

“You don’t have to,” Jim protested.

“I know,” she replied as she dug a frying pan out of a cupboard. “But I want to. Consider it to be the start of a new Christmas tradition. We cook breakfast together, that way we both have to do the dishes together too. That way neither one is left waiting for the other one to get done, to open presents.”

“Deal,” he nodded at her.

Breakfast was soon cooked, eaten, and cleared away. They walked into Jim’s living room to sit down next to the tree they’d set up at the beginning of the month. A small pile of presents sat ready and waiting for them.

“Are there any presents you want me to save for the end or anything like that?” Jim asked as he handed her presents to her.

“Yes, actually.” Pam told him while pushing his presents to him. “This one, save it for last.” She indicated a medium sized flat present.

“Ladies first.” Jim gave her a nod.

Grinning excitedly Pam reached for her first gift and tore off the paper. Her eyes grew wide with surprise when she saw what she’d unwrapped. “Jim! Old Holland oil paint! This is wonderful!”

“Oh good,” he said glad she enjoyed her first gift so much. “The guy at the art supply store said that’s a good one.”

“One of the best,” she told him as she opened the box containing the set of paint tubes to inspect one. She quickly set it aside and looked up at him. “Your turn.”

Jim selected medium sized present himself. “Hmmm what could it be?” He raised it to his head and gave it a couple gentle shakes. “I don’t head anything breaking so that rules out anything fragile.”

“Dork!” she leaned over and swatted his arm.

He just gave her a cheeky grin as he tore off the paper. It was a plain cardboard box secured with some tape. Using a fingernail to cut through the tape, Jim opened the flaps. “Nice!” he let out when he saw what was in the box. He pulled out two novels. Clear and Present Danger and The Sum of All Fears by Tom Clancy. “A continuation of my birthday presents I take it?”

“Yup,” Pam nodded. “You said you wanted all the Jack Ryan books.”

“I did,” he said and set the books off the side.

Pam reached for her next gift and made short work of the wrapping paper. A small black box was revealed. When she opened the lid, a ruby necklace set on a silver chain and matching earrings sparkled up at her. “Oh Jim!” she breathed out. “These are beautiful!” She leaned forward to give him a loving kiss. “Thank you!”

“You’re welcome. I figured they’d go good with that red sweater of yours.”

“The one I was wearing last year when we almost sent Dwight to the CIA?”

“That’s the one.” He nodded. “It’s a great sweater and it looks really good on you.”

Pam beamed at the compliment. “Thanks. Your turn again.”

Jim pulled another present to him and drummed his fingers on it. A distinct metal sound came from under the wrapping paper. “Beesly! You got me the all-metal camping mess kit I’ve always wanted?”

Pam giggled at his sarcastic but fun tone of voice while he tore off the paper.

“Excellent!” Jim held up the complete DVD set of the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers. The ten-episode mini-series came in a metal case that housed all the separate DVD’s. “This is great. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” she beamed back at him. “Okay last one.” She reached for another box about the same size as the one her necklace and earrings had come in. After tearing off the paper and removing the lid the only thing in the box was a folded piece of paper. Taking it out of the box she unfolded it and read aloud what he’d written on the note.

“’Good for one new easel and three blank canvases from A.C. Moore Arts and Crafts’” Her eyes grew wide as she finished reading the note. “You’re kidding! Do you know how much those can cost?”

“I do actually,” he replied. “That’s why you’ve got a note rather than the actual thing. I didn’t really know which one would work best for you. So, I figure we’ll head over there after work sometime so you can pick out an easel that fits your needs the best.”

Pam knee-walked over to him and wrapped her arms around his neck in a fierce embrace. “This is wonderful. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” said into her shoulder.

After a minute she leaned back and looked down at the last gift he had to unwrap. “Last one for you. I’ll be honest, I’m a little nervous about this one.”

“Oh?” he cocked an eyebrow at her. “How come?”

“You’ll find out,” she said simply.

When Jim ripped off the wrapping paper he was somewhat confused to see one of her portfolios from her art class in his hands. The cover read; ‘Second Chances.’

“Is this the big project you’ve been working on all semester that you wouldn’t let me see?”

“It is.”

To Jim’s trained ear, he thought he detected a hint of anxiety in her reply. He confused expression melted into one of speechlessness as he opened the cover to look at the first drawing. He recognized the scene instantly. It was a portrait of him and Pam standing outside the office listening to music after their grilled cheese meal on the roof. However rather than standing apart like they had been on the night, the figures on the page were wrapped in each other's arms.

Jim looked up at her. “Pam...I...um.”

“Keep going.” She pointed to the rest of the book. “There’s more.”

Turning the page Jim saw himself looking at another scene from their past. Rather than standing apart, the Jim and Pam on the page were kissing as they stood at the rail of the Lake Wallenpaupack Princess. Flipping the page, the next images showed him and her enjoying a cup of coffee. In the background the moon shined through the window of the diner they were sitting in. By the clothes Pam had drawn them in, Jim realized the image was supposed to have been the night of the Stamford-Scranton merger. The next page was of a scene he didn’t remember. In the picture Jim had the door to an apartment open to reveal Pam standing outside soaked to the bone from the rain falling outside.

“I don’t remember anything like this ever happening,” he said hoarsely and looked up at her.

“Yeah, that’s because it never did,” Pam agreed. “But if I had a second chance, I’d definitely have driven up to Stamford in the rain to tell you how I felt.”

It took Jim a moment to swallow the lump in this throat her explanation caused. The tightness returned in full force as he turned to the last image in the portfolio. Pam was in her Casino Night dress standing next to Jim’s desk. Jim saw himself there next to her. The two figures were wrapped in each other’s arms in an embrace that hadn’t happened in real life. Looking closely at the picture, Jim saw another detail that was different from what had happened that night. In the picture, Pam’s left ring finger was bare. The ring in question was laying on Jim’s desk as the two figures held each other.

Jim looked up at Pam, speechless as he tried to absorb her gift. She had moved so she was kneeling in front of him. Her eyes and expression glinted with kindness and love.

“I don’t think there’s any way either of us can fully make up for all the mistakes we made in the past,” she started. “I know we talked a lot about all that last summer when we first started going out and we forgave each other. The thing is, I couldn’t help but wonder what would have happened if something different would have happened in moments like those,” she tapped the portfolio. “I’d like to think we would have had out happy ever after, but we’ll really never know.
“I created all these pictures as a way for us to remember something important. That second chances don’t come around very often.” She reached a hand up to hold his cheek. “We got one, and I don’t want to waste it thinking about what could have been, when what we have now is so wonderful. That’s why I’m giving these to you. Because I know how much you would have wanted things to be different back then. But also, to remind you that even though things didn’t turn out the way they did in these pictures, we are now together. Not in a drawing or a painting, but for real. And that’s more wonderful than any picture could ever be.”

Jim closed the portfolio and set it aside. He reached out to her and she leaned forward into his arms. Words escaped him for several long minutes. Rather than saying anything, he simply held her close and rocked her gently from side to side. At last he was finally able to clear his throat enough to speak.

“Thank you,” he whispered to her.

“You’re welcome,” she whispered back.

After several more minutes of holding each other, which included Jim leaning back far enough to kiss her, they finally broke their embrace. They were both smiling at each other.

“Merry Christmas Jim,” she said softly.

“Merry Christmas Pam,” he smiled back.