Author's Chapter Notes:
I wanted to look at Jam as a couple in my story. As far as I know, I will not be looking at how they hooked up or anything like that... but Roy is no more, and they are now together. That said, I won't ignore the ramifications of Pam's breakup, etc., on the characters.
This is just about them, being cute... and sometimes a bit angsty, because even Jam hits some bumps on the road.
Anyway, enjoy. :D
The whole relationship was an adjustment, definately. After all, he was just the guy who made her laugh at work, who shared lunches with her like they were in the third grade, who was a regular customer at the Jellybean container at her reception desk.
Sometimes she would catch him in her house and get a bit of a shock from it-- should Jim really be coming out of her shower at 7 30 in the morning? Should Jim have an arm slung over her waist as they slept, his mouth open and slack against her pillow?
Not that she was complaining. Far from it. Because it was also Jim who made her skin tingle when he came too close, whose eyes made her a bit uncomfortable sometimes because when they looked into hers she felt like he was reading her mind.
"You've got a lot of stuff in here," he called from the bathroom.
And this is a definate adjustment, Pam thought, raising her eyebrow as Jim walked out of her bathroom and into her room, clad only in a t-shirt and boxers. Yeah, that was a change. He was holding a small bottle of product in his hand, his brow furrowed as he stared at it.
"What--"
"For the sleek, shiny, salon look," he read, a grin twisting on his face. "To ge--"
"Jim! That's..." She paused. "A secret."
"A secret," he repeated, raising his eyebrows. "Wow. What sort of stuff do you use?"
She gave him a mock indignant look as she twisted the cap to her moisturizer and set it on her nightstand. Jim flopped into bed next to her, and she got that now familiar, twisting happy feeling in her stomach. It had been a good night. It was a weekday, and they had an early meeting the next morning, so they'd just stayed over at her house. Cooked some dinner, watched a movie. Well, started to watch a movie, before they got distracted and one thing led to another, and... yeah. They lay together on the couch, the rise and fall of Jim's chest the only movement between them. And then Jim had suggested bed, because they had an early day, and they'd moved in here.
Quickly, she reached over and grabbed it from him, smiling. "It's 'anti-curl serum'. Duh."
"What... for you hair?" He reached over absently and twirled a strand around his finger.
She laughed, not really sure why, but she just felt like laughing. "Uh huh."
"Why would you want to do that?" He gave her that soft look that made her stomach do a somersault.
Pam blinked, a flush creeping onto her cheeks. "Um..." Nervously, she laughed again, looking at Jim and meeting his gaze-- he was looking at her seriously, with just a small smile on his lips. He actually expected an answer. "Well... I don't know. My hair can just be, um... really annoying sometimes."
"I love your hair," he responded, without hesitation.
Pam's heart fluttered in her chest. "Thanks," she said, stupidly, reprimanding herself for not being able to look him in the eyes. She toyed nervously with a loose string on her quilt.
"What?"
I don't like getting compliments like that. "Nothing." She kissed him quickly, then leaned over and turned off the light on her nightstand. "You're sweet."
He studied her face for a moment in the dark, that familiar ache gripping him when all that existed in his world at that moment was Pam and he just had to do something. Talk to her, make her laugh, anything. And now... now he could do those things that it'd almost killed him not to do before. He could touch her and get close to her and whisper things in her ear that were entirely inappropriate to whisper in the break room at work but it made her blush and giggle and fuck, he was more in love with her than he'd ever been before. He'd never thought that was possible.
And she was lying right next to him in bed.
"Hey..." He touched her shoulder, shuffling even closer. She turned over to face him, smiling to find how close they were.
"Yeah?"
"It's not just your hair. You know that, right?"
She frowned, as if not understanding. But she did, he could see it with that glimmer of anxiety in her eyes. "What?"
"I love... your eyes." He touched the light creases beside her eyes. "And your nose." He kissed the tip of it.
She laughed. "Jim..."
"And just, well..." He shook his head, his lips twisting into a goofy smile as his hand moved slowly over her stomach. "Just about everything about you--"
"Jim!" She erupted into giggles as his hands gripped her sides and he started planting light kisses everywhere-- her neck, lips, cheeks. "Stop it." She grabbed his wandering hands. "We have the meeting, tomorrow..."
He let her go, grinning brightly at her. "I love you."
He'd been saying that to her, since the first night they'd been together. It was strange and amazing and breathtaking, that first night, and when they were lying together, trying to sleep (definately a bit weird), she'd whispered his name. He'd opened his eyes to look at her in response, staring back at her with a ready expression on his face. Kind of like when she'd beckoned him over to her desk at work, but... very different.
"Yeah?" he asked, finally, smiling a bit at her. His hand was on her hip, his thumb rubbing her skin gently. Everything was so intimate but it felt so right.
"Um..." She struggled for the words for a moment. You make me happier than anything else in the world... You're the most adorable and beautiful thing I've ever seen in my life, right now at this moment... "I..." She fiddled with the collar of his T-shirt. "Are you uh, looking forward to work? Mondays, you know..." And then she closed her eyes tightly and hated herself and figured Jim would laugh at her and change his mind and wouldn't come back tomorrow night.
"Uhhh, work." He looked up at the ceiling for a moment, as if contemplating the question, then his eyes flicked back at her, and he smiled. "Doesn't seem so bad anymore."
He kissed her, and she touched his cheek lightly, her eyes fluttering closed. They pulled back after a few moments, and their lips were just milimeteres apart when he whispered it. "I love you."
She nodded and tucked her face into his chest, finding it a bit easier to fall asleep that night.
But now the words were there again, hanging in the air between them, wrapping themselves around her like a safe, suddenly familar blanket. She just grinned.
"Really?" she teased. "Because I thought it was just my hair, my eyes, and uh... probably these," she said, patting her chest.
He nodded. "Well, those are a perk. But I have it on good authority that Micheal feels those are your best asset."
Her face fell. "What?"
"Wow." He cringed at his own words. "That was probably the worst thing to say to you in bed. I..."
"Yes, it was." She tried to bite back her laugh. "You're just... well, you're not getting any now, Halpert. That comment ruined your chances."
"But--"
"Shut it and go to sleep."
"Yes, ma'am."
