Pam made Jim ask Dwight to see the farm on Friday. She claimed it was because Jim was in charge of the location, but Jim suspected she just wanted to see him squirm. It was an ordeal not to just walk away from the conversation at numerous points, as Dwight realised that he finally had the upper hand, but he powered through it and arranged to meet over the weekend to see a few locations on Dwight’s property. Pam was lucky that he loved her. Somehow that all lead to Jim driving down a gravel road on Dwight’s farm, scanning for any sign of the man. Jim was convinced that Dwight had given them bad directions on purpose as revenge for the years of office pranks, and he was about to suggest they turn around and go back when Pam nudged his arm and pointed him out along the side of the road just as an awful smell hit him full force.
Pam was excited to go see the farm, and regardless of the horrified façade that her fiancé put on she knew he was probably overflowing with glee at all of the possible prank ideas that a visit to the personal domain of Dwight Schrute could provide. The rest of the week after Roy’s episode and subsequent firing had left the office quieter than usual, but Pam didn’t mind because other than Jim and Oscar she didn’t really like talking to anyone there too much anyway, so it wasn’t really a huge loss. The others would come around eventually.
The directions that Dwight had provided to get to the farm had been comical, but once they were on the gravel road leading into the property, they made a twisted sort of sense. There were a few places on the farm that Dwight wanted to show them, the fist of which was about a mile east of the house. As they cleared the bush that surrounded the road, Pam sighted Dwight standing at the side of a field leaning against a shovel, and was hit by the smell of manure, prompting her to quickly roll up her window in a vain attempt of holding off the stench. Pam turned to Jim to make a reaction and found him with his shirt around his nose. Pam started to giggle but stifled it as the sudden intake of air left her retching. Jim brought the car to a halt next to Dwight and put the car in park. Pam shook her head vigorously, staying firmly in place.
“I am not going out there, if it’s this bad in the car,” Pam pleaded, as Jim made an exaggerated grab for his door handle, Pam glared at him as he made to pull it.
“You know, Dwight already has a shovel, and I bet he’d love to help me hide your body,” she threatened, and Jim held his hands up in mock surrender, “That’s what I thought,” Pam said with an indignant huff.
Jim noticed Dwight had grown impatient with waiting near the roadside and was coming towards the car, looking quite smug.
“Here comes Dwight,” Jim said with a nod, as Pam whipped around and to see for herself.
Dwight came to a stop beside Pam’s door and beckoned them out of the car, but Pam protested, yelling through the glass, “Nope, No, Dwight, I am not getting married in a manure soaked field, I refuse. I am not going out there!”
Dwight’s response was muffled, but he gestured somewhere behind Jim. Jim turned to look and spotted what he could only interpret as a cemetery in the clearing of the windbreak. Pam’s gaze met his and he could see she was not impressed so far.
Pam turned back to Dwight, again yelling, “I am not getting married in a graveyard Dwight!”
Dwight started to reply, moving towards the passenger rear door before letting himself in, “-s a longstanding Schrute tradition Pam, I thought as an artist you could appreciate the symbolism,” Dwight finished whatever he had been saying.
“Dwight,” Pam said as she twisted around in her seat to face him as he sat in the back, “I appreciate the thought, but I’d rather not be smelling manure the entire wedding.”
“Pfft, fine,” Dwight acquiesced, and after a bit more cajoling he agreed to show them around the farm to the other prospective locations.
They were shown two more spots by Dwight, each just as discouraging. The first was a pasture of some sort, and while it was visually appealing, when they got out to take a look Jim managed to find a brown landmine every ten feet or so, and thus they quickly ruled it out. The next was a all the way on the other side of the farm and consisted of long grass in a forest clearing. It lacked the manure that the previous two locations had in common, but it didn’t have much else going for it, and Pam found herself picking burrs off of her clothes after their short walk-through. When Pam and Jim didn’t bite on that one either, Dwight offered them one final location, and they reluctantly went along with it.
They drove past what must have been Dwight’s house, and they were directed down a dirt path towards a barn that was just on the other side of some trees a few hundred yards away. When they cleared the trees and pulled around the barn, Jim heard Pam gasp. Suddenly it was revealed to him that they were on top of a gently rolling hill, with a beautiful valley down below, and the sturdy rustic barn behind them. Jim looked over to Pam and she turned towards him with a huge smile on her face, nodding emphatically.
“This is it,” Pam declared, and Jim smiled back at her, his own excitement bubbling over as she turned to face Dwight, “We’ll take it.”
The next few weeks passed in a bit of a blur for Jim, between calling their parents for help with coordinating things for the wedding, deciding on a caterer for the reception, and lining up all sorts of things like tastings and fittings, Jim almost forgot that it was their first Valentines day as a couple coming up. Of course, he didn’t actually forget, but it was upon them so fast that it didn’t even feel real. Pam was also supposed to hear back from Corporate about the internship she had applied to soon, and having seen some of her recent projects that she had made in class for a mandatory showing that was happening at the end of the semester, Jim was sure she would get it. Jim was aware that he wasn’t the most qualified art critic, but after enough sitting with Oscar over enough lunch hours, he was confident in saying he could definitely point out how Pam’s form had been improving over the last year.
Valentines day came quickly, and Jim was anxious to see if Pam would like what he had planned for her. Watching her eyes light up as he greeted her in the morning to go to work with a bouquet of tulips was immensely gratifying, and the kiss when she after she spotted the daisies on her desk was very much worth staying late the previous day. When Pam invited him in after their late dinner out, she just about made his year. Jim couldn’t say it was the number one thing to happen to him, as she had agreed to marry him, which Jim had retroactively ranked number two as he figured that being married to Pam was likely to take the number one space. Jim could however say with confidence that what happened after dinner was definitely the third best thing that would happen to him in the year, and there was no going back.
Since that night it was rare that Jim went to sleep or woke up alone, which he was very much ok with, and he was pretty sure Pam was too with how often she was the initiator. Jim was quite honestly surprised at how forward Pam was now that she seemed to have decided that she was ready to go all in, and Jim wasn’t one to look a gift horse in the mouth and ask what all had brought this on. Loving, being loved, and making love to Pam were Jim’s favourite things to do, and not a day went by without one of those things it seemed. Jim existed in a state of bliss. Pam had an art show for her class in just under two months, she was supposed to hear back about the internship soon, and they were getting married in June, which was closing fast. To add to all that, most evenings were spent poring over Pam’s wedding planning notebook, making calls, going out to shops, and making and completing lists. Jim had no idea that so much logistical work went into planning a wedding.
It was a good thing that he didn’t intend to ever do it again, he reflected with a smile as he pulled Pam’s still sleeping form close before the start of another day.
