Jim distributed wedding invitations around the office the last day of April. It wasn’t as though they had been hiding the date, but when the crew mentioned they might hadn’t acquired the funding to keep filming past May, Jim and Pam may have forgotten to remind them about the wedding that they had reluctantly agreed to have filmed as part of the documentary. It was simply coincidence that when Jim heard all this from the crew that he suddenly remembered to hand the cards out the next week. Of course, family and friends had had invitations for a while at that point, but that wasn’t an important detail, it wasn’t as though they were trying to discourage their valued coworkers from attending or anything like that. Ok, so admittedly it was something like that, they didn’t want to hurt any feelings by not inviting people, but they also didn’t really want most of them to actually show up.

Jim was finding it difficult to adjust to a workplace without Pam, everyone and everything seemed to get on his nerves more readily, and he’d had to check himself on a couple of prank plans that may have been a bit too far. He of course had Pam’s extension for her desk at Corporate, but unfortunately, they couldn’t be on the phone all hours of the day. Since leaving Pam in New York weeks ago Jim had struggled to find ways to occupy his time other than calling Pam, thinking about Pam, and wedding planning. He’d started going to a few more pickup games than usual to let off some steam on weeknights, and taking Nikita for runs, but he still couldn’t push missing Pam from his mind. As a consequence, Jim had started looking at maybe taking some classes for himself at the local college to occupy himself, but as of yet he hadn’t really figured out what he would even be interested in taking at this point. Larissa and Penny popped by occasionally to help him with wedding plans ostensibly, but he was convinced they had ulterior motives and really just wanted to see Nikita. He couldn’t blame them though; she was a cute dog. Weekends were Jim’s only reprieve, as that was when he had unfettered access to Pam, regardless of whether he went to New York or she came to Scranton, the result was the same, he was at home with her.

Jim had something to look forward to today though, Michael was hosting some casino fundraiser and Pam had mentioned to him on the phone the other night that she was going to try to leave New York earlier than usual to make it down in time to join him. If it wasn’t for the promise of seeing Pam in less than eight hours Jim didn’t think that he would be able to make it through the day. Michael had seized the complaint files from Toby and was attempting to use his mediators’ handbook to resolve all of them, which was going about as disastrously as one might imagine. It was just another reminder to Jim that Pam wasn’t there to share in the experience, or steer Michael down a less destructive path. Ryan had been sitting at reception for the past few weeks and Jim was fairly certain that just egged Michael on. Jim hadn’t visited reception for weeks, he didn’t have to because Pam had moved the jellybean dispenser to the farthest corner of his desk with a sticky note on the front that read ‘Smile’ with a heart and a smiley face in the corner. Jim felt a tug at the corner of his mouth as his gaze landed on the dispenser, but his reminiscence was quickly shattered by Dwight storming into the bullpen holding a box demanding that Jim be fired. Jim, no matter how much he disliked his job, wasn’t going to take that lying down, and as such he reluctantly agreed to ‘family counseling’ with Michael and Dwight in the conference room.

Listening to all of his pranks read aloud one after another was an interesting experience, they didn’t seem nearly as funny in that context. Of course, the pranks weren’t about being funny to everyone, although that was certainly a bonus, he only ever really cared about the reactions of one person in particular, and he could almost remember every stifled giggle as the pranks were read to him. Jim had long ago decided that it was worth it to bring a smile to Pam’s face, because her joy was infectious. As they came nearer to the end of his supposed misdeeds, one in particular stood out to him, as it did Dwight.

“Read that one again,” Dwight demanded of Michael.

“Jim and Pam’s public displays of affection are unprofessional, the office is no place for that,” Michael read back, before widening his eyes and looking to Jim, “You guys were getting it on in the office and didn’t tell me?”

“No Michael,” Jim shut him down before he could get any other ideas.

“That is not my complaint,” Dwight declared, “I may agree with it, but it does not belong in my file,” he said before storming out of the room with the complaint in hand, “Toby!”

What followed had Jim embarrassed on Toby’s behalf, as he admitted that the complaint was his own and that he had put it in Dwight’s ‘Special File’ to be destroyed at a later date. In the past Jim had had an inkling that Toby might have a crush on Pam, but the whole debacle confirmed it. Jim didn’t really have anything to add though and so he just let it go and returned to his desk to burn time until he could see Pam.

If Pam didn’t allow herself to slow down and think about all of the things that made her miss Jim, she was having the time of her life in New York. Her accommodations where hilariously small, but she didn’t really spend much time in them, preferring to go exploring the city. The internship was giving her work that she could really sink her teeth into, it varied from drafting concepts for company logos, backgrounds for brochures, and even some website design. While Pam wasn’t particularly passionate about all aspects of the work, she was learning and that was enough to satisfy her after what felt like years of stagnation. Pam was in the office early this morning so that she could leave early and beat traffic on the way home to join Jim for some Michael fundraiser. Pam was looking forward to it, which wasn’t something she would have ever in a million years thought she would think about a Michael planned event, but it actually sounded like it might be fun. As Pam approached the elevator to go up to Dunder Mifflin’s floor she noticed the doors starting to close and picked up her pace. Pam held a hand out to stop them and slipped in, then hit the door close button and noticed that her floor was already selected.

“Good morning Pam,” a voice startled Pam from her slightly lethargic reverie, and Pam looked up to see that Jan was the sole occupant of the elevator with her.

“Oh, hey Jan,” she said, still a little startled, “Sorry, I haven’t had any tea yet and you scared me.”

“No, I’m sorry, I’ve already had an espresso this morning,” Jan waved her apology off, “What are you doing in so early, I thought you started at nine most days?”

“Oh, I’m trying to get back to Scranton for the evening to join Jim at Michael’s fundraiser thing,” Pam explained, not entirely used to having an actual conversation with Jan.

“I may have heard of that,” Jan said with a small smile, and Pam started to relax a bit, this wasn’t a job interview, “It’s nice that you and Jim are going together.”

“I think so, yeah,” Pam replied with a small smile of her own growing, thinking of seeing Jim again after a week apart, “I might be jinxing it, but I think it could be fun,” she ventured.

Their conversation was cut short by the ding of the elevator, the doors opened and they both stepped out. They walked together for a few paces before pausing, Pam needed to go left, and Jan’s office was to the right.

“Well, have a good day Pam.”

“Thanks Jan, you too,” Pam said as they went their separate ways.

Since Pam was in the office two hours earlier than she usually would be, she had the run of the place. None of her coworkers had rolled in yet. Damien, their team leader, was pretty laid back about hours worked so long as they got their projects done, so realistically Pam probably could have just come in like normal and left at three regardless, but there was a voice in the back of her head that sounded suspiciously like Dwight accusing her of being a time thief when she thought of that idea. So instead, here she was in a dark office with only some tea to keep her company, and a stack of drafts for various projects piled on her desk. So far for the internship Damien had her focussing on one area of their department per week, of which there were three: promotional materials like brochures and booklets, logo design, and other graphics for various things such as websites. Pam’s first week had been mainly shadowing folks around the office. After that though she worked on logos, which she wasn’t a fan of, but also didn’t hate. The next week she had been working on brochures, which she despised as it was mostly photo-shopping stock photos instead of creating something new. This week Pam had been on web design for the first time, which was challenging because she had no experience with it. At first, she thought making the graphics would be simple enough, but getting them to fit in and blend on a webpage was a unique challenge and she found herself struggling to get the hang of it. Damien had lent her a book on making a website that she had gotten a few chapters in to, and things were finally starting to click.

Pam was starting to think that she needn’t have come in early when in her two hours before her coworkers started to show up she got through half of her assigned graphics and sent them off for approval. She took a break to try and chat with some folks as they came in but other than Damien and a lady named Sherry that sat across the room from her no one really paid her any more mind than the standard good morning. Pam supposed to them she was just the intern so it wasn’t any use trying to get to know her when she would be gone by mid-July, but it still stung.

Pam didn’t let all that discourage her too much though, she didn’t really care what they thought of her. The person she cared about was in Scranton probably suffering from immense boredom, and if she managed to get her work done before three, she could probably make his day by surprising him at work. With that goal in mind Pam threw herself into completing her tasks.

Jim was going crazy and just wanted it to be five o’clock. He couldn’t wait to see Pam. Finally, having had enough of tapping his pen furiously against his desk, he picked up his phone and called her extension, just hearing her voice would be enough to tide him over until the evening. Jim was disheartened when he got the automated voicemail prompt. He tried calling Grace but she said she hadn’t seen Pam around and asked if he wanted her extension, which he grudgingly accepted, deciding to leave a message this time in case she came back to her desk from wherever she was.

“Hey Pam, it’s me, just calling to say that I can’t wait to see you tonight,” he paused as the phone ringing at reception distracted him.

“Dunder Mifflin, how may I direct your call,” Jim heard Ryan’s monotone, obviously not enthused with his new job as of late, after short pause he sounded a bit livelier, “Hey, yeah he’s just on the phone right now, can I take a message for you?”

“Uhm, yeah, I love you, and see you later, bye,” Jim returned the receiver to its cradle.

“Yeah, he’s been unbearable all day, and it doesn’t help that he can stare at me from his desk now,” Ryan replied to whoever was on the phone, sounding much more friendly.

“Ok, yeah he’s off the phone now,” Ryan informed whoever was on the line, “Yeah ok, see you later, bye.”

Jim was suspicious although he couldn’t quite place it, Ryan was almost never friendly with anyone on the phone. This latest conversation was a break from his usual cold routine of just transferring whoever regardless of whether they got the salesperson they asked for or voicemail.

“Hey Jim,” Ryan got his attention, “Something for you to sign for downstairs,” he said, back to his usual uninterested monotone.

Jim was suspicious before, now he was wary. Was Dwight getting back at him or something? Regardless, he thanked Ryan and made his way downstairs cautiously, taking the stairs to avoid any traps that Dwight may have laid. When Jim cracked the door to the stairwell open and saw Pam leaning up against Hank’s desk, he had to do a double take. In the time it took him to register that it really was Pam, she had already registered the door opening and turned to face him, a smile lighting up her face.

Pam enjoyed watching the realization spread across Jim’s face immensely. First, he was slack jawed, then a huge smile, and suddenly he was bridging the gap and had pulled her into a crushing hug.

“Surprise,” Pam squeaked out, feeling Jim chuckling into her hair.

“Yeah, you got me,” he breathed into her hair, before finally loosening his grip on her to tilt her head up and into a kiss.

They stayed like that in the foyer for a little before Jim finally broke away from her, “There is no way I’m getting any more work done today,” Jim admitted, fixing her with an accusatory look, “Let me go grab my things, I’ll be right back, stay right there,” he implored, leaving her with another sweet kiss before he spun away and ran up the stairs.

Jim slowed his pace as he approached the office doors, trying to control his breathing so as not to appear like he had just run up the stairs. As he entered the office, he immediately gathered his things before popping his head into Michael’s office, feeding him some line about a sales call in Dunmore. As Jim made his way towards the exit, he nodded to Ryan who smirked back at him for a second before looking back down at whatever he was doing on his computer. Evidently Ryan had been in on this and Pam had been the one who he was just talking to on the phone.

Jim returned to the foyer to find Pam waiting for him again, and couldn’t help but chuckle and shake his head at her, “You have no idea how glad I am to see you,” he said as they walked out, putting his arm around her shoulder as they walked towards their cars.

“Yeah, well I’m gladder to see you,” Pam shot back childishly as she wound her arm around his waist, joining them at the hip.

“Nice one Beesly, well played,” Jim chuckled as they reluctantly parted ways at their cars, “I’ll see you at home,” he shot off with a wink before he ducked into his car.

Pam noticed that he let her leave the parking lot first so that he followed her home, and she couldn’t wait to get there. It was only around three thirty in the afternoon because she had worked through lunch. They had plenty of time until they had to get ready for Michael’s casino thing, and she imagined that Jim would like to make the most of it with her. Pam parked her car in front of the house and beat Jim up the steps, opening the door to be greeted by an overeager Nikita jumping up to meet her. Pam embraced the dog and ruffled her ears affectionately, but Nikita suddenly wasn’t as important anymore when Jim closed the door behind her and pulled her into a decidedly less chaste embrace than the one they had shared in the foyer of the office. They didn’t make it to the bedroom, instead collapsing on the couch as things got heated, and they did their best to make up for lost time.

They were both feeling too lazy after their catching up to do anything exciting for dinner, so they ordered takeout to be delivered and ate it sitting together in front of the couch, with Nikita draped across their feet. Pam was content, sitting there with her two best friends, one of whom was the love of her life. In a little less than a month she was going to be married and this is what her life could look like every day. As Pam sat there basking in the warmth and love, she must have drifted off, because the next thing she knew Jim was bumping shoulders with her and letting her know if she still wanted to go to the casino night she’d probably want to start getting ready.

Pam made a show of trudging to the bedroom to get ready, and was joined by Nikita who seemed to be pleased enough with just sitting on the bed, Jim following shortly after citing that he couldn’t let ‘His girls’ out of sight for too long or he got antsy. Pam got changed into a blue dress that she recalled wearing as a bridesmaid a few years ago, but was too pleased with to get rid of, and let Jim help her with the zipper. Pam emerged from the bathroom having done her hair and makeup to the sight of Jim wearing a tuxedo and playing with Nikita. Pam just smiled down at him and offered her hand to help him up, which he took and kissed before pulling himself up.

“You look like a Bond villain,” Pam giggled as she walked with him to the car.

Jim stopped, aghast, “Excuse me Pam, my name is James, how could you mistake me for one of the villains?”

“Sorry James,” she said as she reached up to straighten his bowtie, “How silly of me to forget.”

“I mean come on Pam, you’ve got the Bond girl look down, you look beautiful, who else could I be,” Jim asked before leaning down to give her a quick peck.

Pam blushed at his compliment, “You win,” she acquiesced with a slight bow.

“Yes,” Jim enthused with a fist pump, “What do I win?”

“Find out later tonight,” Pam replied with a mischievous look that left Jim’s mouth dry.

“Wow,” Jim chuckled as he opened the car door for her, “Are you sure we still want to go to a fundraiser with everyone from work?”

“Get in the car and drive, dork,” she giggled as he closed the car door for her.

They arrived back at the office shortly after, and thankfully only Dwight was there to greet them, Michael was out of sight. Deciding to make the most of it, Jim moved to grab them some drinks and Pam went to save him a spot at a table that was starting for poker. Jim thought that he knew all of her tells, but Poker-Pam was a whole other beast entirely, and he struggled to match her in the games. After a few rounds Jim folded and went to go get some more drinks, electing to watch over her shoulder as he clearly couldn’t win against her. Jim watched as Pam got into the final three at the table before being forced out, leaving Phyllis to steal a win from Kevin.

Pam managed to talk him in to one more poker game, which he accepted purely because of the way she smiled when she managed to pull one over on him, and wasn’t disappointed when her last move of the game was to beat him on an all-in. Jim officially retired from Poker at that point, and Pam conceded that she could use another drink. They sat at the bar and nursed their drinks while looking out onto the floor and watched people together. Jim pointed out Creed stealing chips left and right, and he could feel that Pam was hardly containing herself as her shoulders shook under his arm, so he looked for anything else that he could use to push her over the edge.

“Oh my god, look Pam,” Jim nudged her in the direction he was looking, “Michael has two dates!”

That did it, Pam was curling into herself and finally failed to contain her giggles and he pulled her closer to his chest. Jim couldn’t help but shake his head as he watched Michael playing craps and offering the dice to each of his dates to blow on for luck, all of them looking incredibly awkward.

“Is that his realtor,” Pam asked as she finally uncurled, but didn’t move away, “And, Jan? Is that still happening?”

“I mean, I guess something must be going on,” Jim shrugged while still half embracing Pam, “Why else would she come here from New York?”

Pam snickered, “As someone who also came from New York, I can’t really think of any other reason.”

“Speaking of,” Jim trailed off as he made a great show of pulling her a little closer so that he could check his watch on the arm that was draped over her shoulders, “Do you think it’s time we called it quits?”

“Absolutely, it’s after my bedtime,” Pam deadpanned.

“Well that settles it,” Jim said as he got up, helping her down off of the stool she was sitting on and steering them towards the exit, “I can’t be seen keeping a lady out past curfew!”

“I think you’re just embarrassed I stole all your money,” Pam teased as they reached the parking lot.

Jim just shrugged, “You already stole my heart, what’s a little money?”

“Hold on now,” Pam stopped him, grabbing his elbow as they reached their car, “I seem to recall that we traded fair and square, no take-backs,” she emphasised, jabbing at his chest with her finger.

“Never,” Jim said as he captured her hand, leaning down for a kiss.

“Plus,” Jim pulled away from the kiss to whisper next to her ear, “In a month it’ll be our money.”

“That’s what you think,” Pam giggled in his grasp, “I have so many ideas for how I could spend it before then!”

“A fair point,” Jim conceded, “But then it could also be argued that whatever you bought would become ours too, so…”

“Jim, I love you, but you are such a dork sometimes,” Pam said exasperatedly.

“Yeah well, you’re a dork too, but I still love you,” Jim grinned back.

Pam sighed, “Take me home, dork.”

“You got it, dork.”

“You’re lucky I love you,” Pam said as she hit him lightly on his arm.

Jim was struck by her words, because he was incredibly lucky to be in love with his best friend. They were getting married next month. Jim was lucky to have Pam in his life, he couldn’t help but think about the what-ifs, what if she hadn’t broken up with Roy, what if there had never been a Roy, would they be married already, in either case? Jim discarded the what-ifs and focused on what was in front of him. Pam made him a better man, she made him strive to do better, to be kind, and bring joy to others. Jim couldn’t think of a way to say all of these things and he could tell by the way she was staring up at him with wide eyes she was starting to get worried as he was lost in his head, so he snapped himself out of it.

“Very,” was all Jim said before he leaned down to try and convey his feelings to Pam with a kiss, holding her tightly and never wanting to have to let go.

Eventually, because of being in the parking lot, the doors crashing open and closed across it jarred them back to the reality of where they were. Jim briefly registered Jan standing beside the building and lighting a cigarette before Pam stole his attention again, tugging on his hand lightly.

“Let’s go home.”

All Jim could do was nod and get in the car to take them away, because to him he already was home, sitting there beside her. When she looked over at him and he met her gaze, he thought he saw his sentiments reflected there. It didn’t matter for too much longer anyway because they soon pulled up to their house, and it became home as they crossed the threshold together.