Michael shifted impatiently on one foot, hateful eyes burning towards the man beside him. The guy was a walking sad sack, a fun sucker who was continually wasting everyone's time with ridiculous meetings like the one Michael was currently stuck in.

"Due to an unfortunate incident very recently, Corporate felt this necessary." Toby stammered, before fleeting a nervous glance towards Michael.

"Corporate." Michael scowled back at him, dispiritedly shoving his hands in his pockets and scuffing a shoe along the floor. He rolled his eyes theatrically as the man continued to speak to the staff.

"And so Corporate wants us to do a review of the company policy against sexual harassment and discrimination." Toby pointedly ignored Michael and shuffled the papers he was holding up. Another flash of annoyance surged through Michael – he was the manager, he was the boss – he should be the one to give any reviews or lectures. The only harassment in his eyes, was Toby, harassing all the fun out of the staff and boring everyone to tears.

"And Toby insists on doing this right now, since you are all so extremely busy and it's the middle of the day. Take it away then." Michael waved a dismissive hand to his right.      

"Well…. Okay." Toby stuttered. "I just have to remind you all that sexual harassment is prohibited whether it takes place within the office premises or outside, including at social events, business trips, training sessions or conferences arranged by Dunder Mifflin."

"What is meant by 'Sexual Harassment'?" Dwight asked. "You have to be clear. What if Kevin, for example, is at the copier at the same time as Meredith and he accidentally brushes against one of her lawsuit zones? That's open season as far as Meredith's concerned. Where's our safety line?"

"Hey!" Meredith leaned forward apathetically, arms folded across her stomach. Behind her, Kevin giggled at the suggestion.

"No, no, no… Meredith is off the table here. No Meredith. Wouldn't even go there, nobody wants that." Michael answered brusquely, heading Toby off.

"Ahmm, the policy includes all staff. And Meredith." Toby added, drawing a fierce glare from Michael.

"Hey!" Meredith half-heartedly objected, leaning forward again.

Watching the scene with amusement, Jim lazed back in his chair, brushing Pam's elbow as he did so. He cleared his throat loudly. "I just want to say, a few weeks ago, Dwight tried to kiss me. I'm not saying he was harassing me, but I'm not sure how I feel about it, and I just think we should talk about it."

"That did not happen." Dwight stated tersely.

Jim gave a nonchalant shrug. "I just think we should get it out into the open." To his right, Pam softly chuckled, raising a grin to his face.

"It's harassment if Dwight hits on you. It's not the same as if it was Oscar." Kevin chortled, his shoulders bouncing up and down with laughter.

Oscar frowned. "That's not how it works, Kevin."

Dwight turned his head behind him to look at Kevin in annoyance. "I did not kiss Jim." he stated.

"Dwight, there is no shame in admitting how you feel. Loving another person is a beautiful thing." Michael added.

"I do not accept that. I have no feelings for Jim. Except a burning desire to destroy him."

Jim raised an eyebrow, grinning innocently. "Well, Dwight, admitting you have a problem is the first step to solving it."

"I do not-"

Kevin stopped laughing. "What about Saddam Hussein?"

Glowering, Michael turned his back and pinched his nose. Letting out a groan, he faced the staff again. "You can't kiss Saddam. No Saddam."

"I mean, are you saying we can kiss anyone because love is beautiful, or just men like Saddam we should stay away from?"

Michael stared at Kevin for a moment, before shaking his head. "No, you can't… you can't… bunch of morons." he muttered. Jim smirked from his chair, catching Pam's eye with a twinkle, showing his pleasure at her amusement.

"It's a little off topic…" Toby mumbled. "Um… basic rule of thumb...Let's just say no one tries to kiss anyone else, ever."

Kevin giggled. "What about Pam, and Jim?"

"You and Jan." Andy added, motioning to Michael.

Michael shifted uncomfortably, looking down. "If you're referring to…. That was completely consensual, a one time thing and we cleaned everything afterward. I don't-"

"Michael?" Toby railed. "You can't-"

"It didn't happen on company time." Michael shot back quickly.

Toby rubbed the back of his neck. "You can't do it on company property…."

"Well, your prude-ness, technically it was on top of personal property." Michael muttered.

"It's still against company policy, Michael-"

"Alright, alright… get on with it."

"I have a question. What if we want guys to hit on us? I don't want a guy to think they can't, like, ask me to dinner."

Toby flushed. "Well…. the policy is harassment, Kelly, so I'm not sure that's-"

"It's about control." Karen said, jumping in.

"Right." Angela agreed. "Decent people don't treat the office like it's a glorified meat market. Some of us don't need this meeting."

"Ermm… you all have to sign this review afterwards for corporate." Toby waved the papers he was holding up in the air.

Kelly raised her hand. "Can we still date someone from here.. or corporate, for example?"

Rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly, Toby rolled his eyes over the staff, settling briefly on Pam. "Well.. technically you need to declare any office relationship to corporate… just you know, if anyone was…. The main other point is that if you feel you've been harassed then you come to me as your HR rep."

"I usually let Bob handle it. He just beats them up if they harass me."

Michael unfolded his arms. "Yes, I'm sure you have nothing to worry about, Phyllis."

Angela spoke with a tone of reproach. "A decent man knows when he's crossing a line."

"Oh, really, Angela? Meredith, is that accurate? Or do women harass men as much as men harass women?"

Kevin began to giggle again. "Men harassing men, Oscar."

"Let's just say that no one harasses anyone, basic rule of thumb." Toby said.

"A real woman knows how to deal with that." Karen said, somewhat harshly. "That kind of stuff doesn't happen to me, rough guys, guys being abusive or too friendly. It wouldn't happen to me, I know how to control my men. A strong man takes a strong woman."

"Not every time. Not in my experience." Meredith added nonchalantly.

"Actually," Jim said seriously, looking directly at Karen. "It should be about respect between both people."

"You can't be weak in a relationship, Jim. You can't be limp and let the guy get away with treating you badly. That's just pathetic. You're not much of a woman if you don't make yourself equal to your man." she replied, fixing Pam with a withering look.

"Woah." Kevin intoned from the back of the room.

Pam, having remained silent through the meeting, set a hostile stare directly at Karen, but chose not to speak. The room was suddenly plunged neck deep in tension; the only sound to be heard was a stray phone ringing from somebodies desk. Pam shuddered, feeling herself growing in anger. For a brief moment she considered fleeing the room – getting the hell out – as the room seemed to be shrinking around her. Her head hurt. Then she felt cool, comforting fingers interlocking with hers down by the side of the chair. Breaking her eyes away from Karen, she smiled appreciatively at Jim and squeezed his hand back tightly.

"Just sign the forms on your way out." Toby said, apparently giving up. He walked out of the conference room without a look behind him.

-TO-

Pam went straight to her desk after the meeting, leaving Jim no opportunity to speak to her. She quickly answered the phone without looking up at him. He went to his own desk, accepting she was probably angry as well as embarrassed and upset about the meeting, on top of everything else. He considered having another word with Toby – after all, Jim knew better than anyone why the review was ordered; despite his initial playing around and trying to make Pam laugh throughout it. He kept an eye on Pam throughout the afternoon, slipping out of his desk to the kitchen to surprise her with fresh hot chocolate which she accepted gratefully.

Pam herself was also watching closely; but her focus was not on Jim. She waited, her eyes on the corner leading to the annexe, for the familiar dark haired head to appear. Mid way through the afternoon, she saw her moment as Karen slipped past her desk and out of the office.

Karen was at the snack machine when Pam approached, determination playing over her face.

"Hey. Thanks for that earlier." she snapped.

Karen swung around to face her, shock set deep in her eyes. "Excuse me?"

"In the meeting." Pam told her. "You knew exactly what you were saying. And." she added, deciding she had had more than enough of games and manipulations and insults. "And. We both know why we had that meeting. If you have a problem with me, let's take it to Toby, now."

"Excuse me? I don't even know what you're talking about."

"I find that hard to believe. Considering you have made it clear how you feel about me and Jim."

Karen had the decency to blush at that. "I don't see a ring on his finger – or yours for that matter!" she replied hotly.

"Like I said, either take it to Toby right now, or leave it alone." Pam said, leaving no room for debate. Wanting to end the confrontation quickly, she decided she had given the woman enough warning and started to walk away. Karen stared after her with a stunned expression that only grew when Pam turned back to her again.

"Oh, and Jim made his choice. Deal with it." she said firmly, feeling victorious, and returned to her desk before the other woman could retaliate. Throwing a visibly confused Jim a wide smile as she sat down again, she hoped that was the end of that.

-TO-

It had been a long seventy two hours. She was tired; exhausted, emotionally wrung out. She felt like she had been drunk driving her way through the day, the events and revelations of the weekend following her around, nipping at her whenever she began feel a semblance of calm in herself.

To add to that, she'd had next to no sleep before coming into the office that morning. When the sky had finally rained itself out and the traffic thinned out enough for them to drive through, it was fairly late in the evening. Then, they'd split up and gone to their separate apartments for the night. They had kissed outside her door and bid each other goodnight, and Pam had fought an urge to beg Jim to stay the night, stay with her while she slept. She later realized, as she was laying awake watching shadows play over the darkness and form formidable man shaped silhouettes in front of her eyes, that she did in fact sleep much more easily – both in length and comfort – with Jim next to her. Coming back to her empty bedroom had been hard, scary even. But somewhere along the way, her rational mind also told her that if it was right for her, maybe that was wrong for Jim. She would be sending mixed messages, she was sure, if she asked him to stay simply because she didn't want to be alone and so she could get some sleep.

And yet, despite her giddying exhaustion, she was pushing herself with the tenacity of an Olympic runner – in spite of everything, here she was, on the precipice of another large – for her – step.

She had almost decided instantly as the idea popped into her head. Impulsively plans came to her and she followed them without question or reason. She knew Jim had a client meeting that would run over, she knew she'd have a little time before he got back. She wanted to do something nice for him. She wanted to understand something – reassure herself of one thing that was keeping her far away from him so that they could move forward together, as he had himself said.

So, she'd started with step one of her plan. She'd passed his desk that afternoon, stopping to whisper almost seductively into his ear. She offered to make him dinner that night. He'd accepted, as she knew he would.

Everything would be ready for him when he got home, she told him. And so, she'd managed to get out of work a little early and stopped off at the market for some items, then let herself into his house with her little key. First she did some spring cleaning. She set the dinner table, rounding off with two long red taper candles in the middle.

Then she got to work on their meal, preparing with great care, leaving the food ready to stay warm in the oven.

And so it had come to the point where she was upstairs in the bathroom in Jim's little house. She'd loosened her hair letting it fall around her face, smoothing mousse through her straying curls. She added a touch of lipstick. Mac Fanfare – a beautiful yellow-pink color she didn't wear too often. She wanted the night to be special. She wanted to look special. Framing her eyes with long, ebony lashes in black mascara, she then used desert rose to bring out some color in her cheeks. She worked to disguise the baggage under her eyes.

Once she was finished, she stood in front of the mirror in the bathroom. Wearing her blue-purple satin knee length dress – originally a bridesmaids dress, being the fanciest item of clothing she owned – and adjusted herself slightly. Sweet delicate fragrance floated in the air around her. She liked the way she looked that night, she hoped that Jim would. She also picked the dress because of its color, knowing full well that Jim tended to favor lighter, non shocking colors, blue's and greys etc.

She'd always loved the dress – it seemed to accentuate her collar bones and instilled a temporary confidence in her. Putting on her high heels, Pam stroked her leg, admiring the way the heels made her legs appear much longer and slinky, changing the whole shape of her posture.

Once she felt herself suitably ready, she headed downstairs to check on dinner and wait for Jim to come home, so she could surprise him.