Pam had been looking forward to Saturday morning all week. Jim had offered to go to his Aunt and Uncle’s to pick up Nikita and bring her over for around ten thirty. The plan was to walk ‘Kiida down to the park, practice some commands, and then play. Pam ate her breakfast and started to get ready, cleaning up stray objects that might look chewable to an excited dog and then getting showered and dressed, throwing her hair back into a lazy ponytail and grabbing some jeans and a t-shirt to wear for the day before trying to track down some sunscreen. Pam looked at the clock to see how much time she had until Jim was supposed to drop in and figured that she had enough time to pack a cooler of sandwich supplies and a few different pop choices- including grape soda for Jim of course.

With all the prep done Pam opened the blinds in the living room and sat down on the couch to wait for Jim to come by but the combination of the warm sun on the soft couch caused her to drift off. The next thing Pam knew there was knocking on the front door as she bolted upright.

Jim woke up and lazily rolled over in bed to see what time it was and was startled to see that it was already just after ten, immediately regretting not setting an alarm for today. Jim jumped up from bed with a start and ran into the bathroom to take a quick shower, and then ran back to his room to throw on a t-shirt and shorts. He then rushed down the stairs, grabbed a piece of bread and slathered it with peanut butter, folded it in half, grabbed his keys and wallet, slipped on his shoes, and ran out the door.

Jim started his car and drove to his aunt and uncle’s place seven minutes away, obeying all traffic laws. Jim managed to get there in five. His aunt and uncle handed over the kennel with a few toys, a bag of dog food, and Nikita’s water bowl. After some quick hugs all around, Jim regretfully let them know that he was running behind and had to be going, and so he hooked up Kiida’s leash and let her hop into the kennel in the back seat, before taking off again.

Jim decided to drive directly to Pam’s, as according to his car radio clock he was already ten minutes behind schedule. Upon pulling up Jim got out of his car and walked around to the back door of his car to let Kiida out, and she walked with him up to the front door of Pam’s new house.

Jim knocked lightly on the storm door and waited for a few seconds, but didn’t hear anything, so he tried again with a bit more gusto, while peering into the large living room window to see if he could spy Pam. What he saw was a very frazzled looking Pam becoming rapidly upright from laying on the couch, and as she got her wits about her she ran over to open the door.

“Hey, sorry Jim, how long have you been out here,” She asked.

“No worries, we just got here,” Jim said, and then gestured down to Kiida sitting beside him, “Pam, say hi to Kiida!”

“Hey Kiida!” Pam said as she came out on to the front steps barefoot to crouch in front of Nikita and scratch her behind her ears, with Nikita closing her eyes and raising her head into the hand appreciatively.

“Watch this,” Jim said, preparing to show off one of Kiida’s cuter moves, “Stay crouched like that.”

“Ok,” Pam affirmed.

Pam wasn’t sure where Jim was going with this, but figured that Nikita would have bitten her already if that was going to happen, so she just did as Jim had instructed and remained crouched in front of the dog, with her big cute tongue lolling about as she panted and her perky ears.

“Kiida, hug,” Jim said in what Pam could only describe as a command voice.

Pam watched as Kiida placed her front paws on Pam’s knees and shoved her head over Pam’s shoulder.

“Aww, that is so cute,” Pam gushed as she embraced the dog, rubbing it’s back a little before letting go, as Kiida went back to sitting in front of her.

Pam remembered the cooler of food at that moment and excused herself to grab it and slipped on some shoes while she was at it.

“I figured we could make a picnic of it if we get hungry,” Pam explained at Jim’s raised eyebrow, “I’m all set, let’s go!”

As they were walking Jim explained how to control Nikita on a walk, explaining that the dog should not be leading her, and how to use the leash to remind Kiida of that.

“Once she gets used to you and knows you’re the boss,” Jim finished explaining, “She will just trot along beside you with no need for the leash. She’s very well trained.”

“I remember some of this from when my family had a dog as a kid,” Pam supplied, “but then again, our dog didn’t really behave most of the time.”

Pam spent the next hour or so in the park with Jim, having him teach her the various commands that Nikita would respond to, there were some of the standard ones like fetch, stay, come here, but also a new one ‘place,’ where Kiida would stay by whatever object you pointed at. Between learning commands, they played a mix of catch, monkey in the middle, and tug of war with Nikita thanks to various toys that Jim had brought.

Jim was sitting against a tree beside Pam where Kiida had draped herself over their feet and settled in to take a nap. Jim looked over to see that Pam looked like she was about to do the same, before suddenly he heard her stomach growl, and he didn’t catch himself before he laughed, startling her out of her haze.

“I guess we should feed the beast, hey Beesly,” he prodded, earning a smile and a light smack on his arm.

Jim cracked open the cooler Pam had brought to find various sandwich supplies and some pop, including grape soda. Jim was touched that Pam knew his favourite pop and recalled fondly the day when he had admitted to the documentary crew that he knew Pam’s favourite flavour of yogurt. Jim had wondered on occasion if there might be something more between them from Pam’s side of the sordid tale of Jim’s unspoken unrequited love for her, but for as many small ticks in the ‘yes’ column he got, he was never really convinced enough to risk their friendship over it.

Jim mentally added another tick to the ‘maybe she likes me too’ column, before chastising himself. She had just gotten out of a very serious long-term relationship with someone who worked in the same building as them, and who could definitely beat him up. Additionally, she had admitted to crying about this what seemed like once daily for the last week, although towards the end of the week this week she had been a bit more chipper than she had been before, just not back to where she had started.

As they ate, they catted idly, and Jim watched Pam run her left hand through the fur on Nikita’s head contentedly. This is what Jim wanted for Pam, regardless of his relationship woes. Jim just wanted to be able to see the look on her face right now, every day. And so, Jim decided, that he could wait and play the faithful friend for as long as it took her to realise that he was there, right under her nose. Of course his inner monologue then threatened him with the scenario where Pam started to date again, and he conceded to making an addendum that if she looked like she was going to start dating he would throw it all on the line at that point, maintaining friendship be damned. He could not watch Pam with another man.

Pam was having one of the best days of her life, and as she sat there against a tree with a hand in Nikita’s fur, another holding a sandwich, and her should bumping against her best friend, she sighed in contentment and just closed her eyes and leaned back with a smile. Before long, her sandwich was gone, and clouds were blowing over, blocking out the sun and bringing with them a chill.

“It’s getting chilly out, we should head back,” Pam said regretfully, as she got up to throw their garbage in some nearby bins, waking Nikita in the process who followed her over.

“I see how it is,” Jim said when she returned, nodding at Nikita sitting obediently beside her, “My best friend has stolen man’s best friend from me.”

“Well, she is cuter than you,” Pam said with a giggle as she watches Jim struggle to get up after sitting for so long.

“Seriously though, I’m glad to see that she’s taken to you,” Jim said earnestly as they began their walk back, “So do you think you’ll take her?”

“Yeah, I’d really like to,” Pam said with a smile and nodded.

They continued in companionable silence for a few minutes before Pam asked, “What are the next steps?”

“Well,” Jim said as they rounded the last corner and started walking towards her house, “I get the kennel, dogfood, and bowls from my car, place them in your house, and take the leash off her, how’s that sound?”

“What,” Pam asked in disbelief, “I meant like how much do your Aunt and Uncle want for her,” Pam tried to clarify.

“Zilch, Beesly, they just wanted to be sure that Kiida was going to a good home,” Jim explained as they mounted the steps, “And if I do say so myself I put in a pretty good word for you.”

“Oh,” Pam said as she opened the door, moving into the house with Nikita at her heels.

“And I can bring by the rest of her stuff by tomorrow if that works for you,” Jim continued behind her, heedless to her emotions bubbling up and threatening to spill over.

“Oh,” was all Pam could muster in response as she felt dizzy and started tearing up, so she took a few long strides to the couch to sit down.

“Pam, are you ok,” Jim asked, his voice coloured with concern as he could finally see her tears with her sitting on the couch.

“I’m fine,” Pam said giving him a watery smile and fanning herself, “These are happy tears.”

Pam was surprised to find Nikita had suddenly bounded up onto the couch, and before she could react the dog had placed her paws and head across Pam’s lap, looking up at her with those cute big brown eyes. Pam stroked behind Nikita’s ears with one hand while she wiped at her eyes and tried to control her tears.

“Ah, happy tears, of course, how could I have not know,” Jim said, and Pam could tell he was trying to spare her the embarrassment of having cried in front of him at least twice in the last week, “Regardless, Nikita is well trained to deal with situations such as these,” he finished in a mock serious tone, getting a chuckle out of Pam.

Jim left Pam to sit on the couch for a minute and leaned down to pick up the cooler from where she had left it and try to put it away why she collected herself. Jim entered the kitchen and started with unpacking everything, putting the sandwich stuff away in the fridge and pantry, before pondering where made the most sense to put the cooler. Eventually Jim settled for on top of the pantry, and just as he finished placing it there, he heard Pam enter the kitchen with the telltale clicking of Nikita’s paws behind her.

“Now just how do you expect me to get that down,” Pam said with a mock glare, seemingly back to her cheerful disposition of earlier this morning.

“Well you see,” Jim explained, “This is all a part of my master plan. You’ll have to recruit a certain tall individual to get it down for you, and in return they will be granted a share of whatever is going into the cooler.”

“Oh, really now, and why do I feel like you might know just who this tall individual might be,” she rebutted.

“Beesly, you wound me, how dare you insinuate such a thing,” Jim said with mock hurt, clutching his chest.

“You’re the one holding my cooler hostage for food,” Pam said with mock indignation, before breaking into a giggle that lit up her face, Jim smiled back at her.

“Well if that’s the way you want to play it, I shall away,” Jim said, returning to his character, and promptly exiting the house.

Jim used the opportunity to grab the rest of Nikita’s stuff from his car and lug it all back to Pam’s house in her kennel. After depositing it in Pam’s living room he looked to the clock and realised he had to be on his way if he was going to be on time for his weekly game. As Jim bid goodbye to Nikita with a rub between the eyes, he turned to say bye to Pam and was pleasantly surprised to find himself wrapped in a hug from her for what had to be at least the third time this last week.

“Thank you so much for today, Jim,” she said as she squeezed him a bit tighter, “You have no idea how much your friendship means to me.”

“Me too,” he said as he squeezed back and gave her back a few pats, before she broke away.

“We should do this again sometime,” Pam said, looking incredibly cute and shy in that moment.

“Absolutely, we should,” Jim agreed, before glancing at the clock again, he was running late. As much as he wanted to stay here with Pam a while longer he had promised Mark after missing last week’s game that he would be there today, and so, with great regret he bid goodbye and goodnight to Pam, and left.