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Author's Chapter Notes:
Jim and Pam after drinks.

If you’d asked Jim beforehand, he’d have said he would have expected to remember every moment of his reunion with Pam.

 

Well, first he’d have told you you were crazy, and there was no way he was going to run into Pam in Sydney—or if that he did, it would have been because she and Roy suddenly took it into their heads to honeymoon there and she’d just destroy him. But then, after he’d decided to entertain your hypothetical and answer you seriously, he’d have told you he expected to remember every detail of it.

 

But he didn’t. He was too busy actually enjoying himself; letting out the parts of him that had been held under such strict control for so long, first to avoid Pam finding out accidentally how he felt about her, and then to try to quash his own feelings so that he wouldn’t hurt so much. So while he remembered the conversation up to the point where they officially declared themselves a couple, much of the rest of their conversation over drinks was a blur. He knew they laughed; he knew they never moved more than a few inches apart; he knew they each avoided drinking too much, because—at least on his end—they were afraid that all of this would turn out to be a drunken dream, and besides, there was the hovering cloud of “I think we’re just drunk” over everything.

 

Although that cloud was a lot lighter now—less of a thunderhead and more one of those whispy things you saw floating overhead on a sunny day, as if God had put them there to confirm that yes, it was an exceptionally sunny day, you weren’t mistakenly looking at someone’s very blue ceiling, because there was a cloud.

 

But they didn’t drink too much, and because of that it was also a fairly quick conversation. Not that it wasn’t meaningful, he was sure. He remembered feeling happy and carefree for the first time since he didn’t know when. And she seemed the same. Heck, she was the same, because the next thing he could distinctly remember her saying (when he thought back on it later) was exactly that.

 

“I don’t know when I was last this happy and carefree.”

 

They’d been paying the check (well, he had been, because apparently one thing she’d forgotten to do was change most of her money over. She could use credit cards of course, but those were still joint with Roy, so it was a little awkward, she’d admitted haltingly. So he’d paid, because his dollars were Australian now, and she’d promised to get him back, which he’d waved off but appreciated as an offer). She’d taken his hand after he’d handed over a stack of bills and swung herself around on it—he was always amazed at how small she was, not petite but compact, like a Campbell’s Condensed Soup of Wonderfulness—and she’d let out that line and he hadn’t been able to do anything but kiss her, right then and there.

 

Fortunately the waitress thought they were cute, so she stood there with his change until he was done.

 

He wasn’t sure exactly how long that was, but it was worth every second.

 

**

 

Pam held onto Jim’s hand as they walked back down towards Macquarie St. under the streetlamps, occasionally twirling herself around. She wasn’t drunk. She was just floaty, like a gigantic weight had been loosed from her soul, and only her connection to Jim’s hand was keeping her from sailing away into the sky over the opera house.

 

“Hold on there, Beesly.” He dragged her back and she realized they’d come to the end of the pedestrian area, and she’d almost stepped straight into the street. “I’m not going to lose you that easily.”

 

“Lose me? You’re going to have a hard time getting rid of me.” She squeezed his arm and set off again, this time down the actual sidewalk. “You’re stuck with me for the duration, Halpert.”

 

“I like the sound of that.” He wrapped an arm around her—mostly for affection, but she could tell that part of it was also to make sure she didn’t walk out into the street again—and they meandered on in companionable, joyful silence.

 

Until her stomach decided that drinks were all well and good, but lunch had been far too long ago.

 

“Sorry about that.” She pressed on her stomach. Her mother had always told her that a growling stomach was unladylike, and while she knew that was ridiculous (women’s stomachs, like men’s, had gastric juices and whatever else it was that caused the growl) Roy had always made fun of her for her loud stomach and she’d never gotten over being embarrassed about it.

 

Jim, on the other hand, looked at her a little strangely and shrugged. “About what? About the reminder that tonight I get to take you out to dinner?” He kissed the top of her head. “I appreciate the chance to think about it. Our first date.”

 

“Hold on now.” She came to a stop and let momentum swing him around to face her. “It is not our first date.”

 

“But, I…” she could see the flinch behind his eyes, and she wished she’d phrased it better, but she bullrushed on past the feeling, ticking off fingers in front of his face with one hand while the other kept hold of him.

 

“One. We just had a date, at the Opera Bar.”

 

“Fair, fair.” He started to cut her off but she went on inexorably. “Two. I seem to recall someone making me grilled cheese on top of our office building and dancing with me.”

 

“I seem to recall that it was swaying, not dancing.”

 

“Come on Jim. Even I knew that was bullshit.” She rolled her eyes.

 

“Hah.” He smirked, but shrugged. “Anyway, it’s not really a date if the girl goes home to her fiancé.”

 

“Not usually. But sometimes there are extenuating circumstances. Anyway, three.” She gestured with a final finger. “Cugino’s. Your first week of work.”

 

“But…”

 

“No buts. You thought it was a date, didn’t you.” She didn’t even leave it a question, but he answered anyway.

 

“Well, yes.”

 

“And I hadn’t told you about Roy because…” she realized what she was about to admit but what the hell. “Because I kind of wished it was too.”

 

“Beesly…” he started in for a kiss and she stopped him with her three fingers across his mouth.

 

“So. Three dates. This will be our fourth date.” She removed the fingers and leaned up for the kiss. “So remember that when you’re picking the place.” Her stomach rumbled again. “But, uh, please pick quickly?”

Chapter End Notes:
I hope you enjoyed our heroes working out a little more of their past and what it means. Thanks to all who've read and reviewed! More to come, including that (fourth) date!

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