Pam stared dolefully at the over familiar building sliding into view, her breath caught in her throat. Blood was rushing fast through her veins. There were a few cars already parked side by side in a series of glinting windows and rooftops. The sun was slowing rolling out into a peachy hue across the early morning sky, casting glittery sparkles of light off the metal nameplate adjacent to the door and giving the building a slightly less daunting impression.

It looked exactly the same as it had the last time she had seen it. The tree stood left of the entrance still as tall as the building itself, now bursting with greens and browns. She saw the moving reflections of low clouds in the glass windows. Everything was exactly the same.

Only it wasn't.

She saw the shadows stretching long and black darkening the sides of the building. She saw the scattered leaves dried up on the ground. She noted the threads of dark grey curling stealthily around the pink clouds. Chipped paint on the door frames at the entrance. Her eyes, long ago so positive, missed nothing of the small imperfections that tarnished the area around her.

"Ready?" Jim asked in a playful voice, pulling her out of her head.

She didn't respond, just simply pulled on the door handle and stepped out of the passenger side. Morosely she smoothed out the wrinkles in her skirt in nervous strokes, as Jim came around to her side of the car and casually slipped his arm around her shoulders. Her stomach fluttered at the small gesture, her eyes briefly lighting up with feeling. Impulsively she turned to him with a sudden urge to touch him. His shirt was warm and soft as she ran her thin cold fingers easily down his front, straightening creases, flattening bumps. Deftly she worked at adjusting his tie then quickly leaned up and kissed his cheek.

A wide smile came to her face and her blood thawed a little at the innocent color that flooded his cheeks at the sudden display of affection. Her earlier nerves assuaged, she lifted her head as they walked side by side into the building.

-TO-

They entered the office with a bang and a shock. It quickly became apparent that the staff had not been aware of their return and the quiet entrance Pam had been praying for was replaced with over-loud exaggerated exclamations and prying questions.

"I heard that the courthouse has a food truck every lunchtime with Tacos that have short ribs that are like, cooked in beer and you get totally wasted on just one of them." Kevin bellowed.

"So like was the judge totally hot? O-M-G the judge at Brad and Angelina's custody trial was super old, did you see? I like older men but there's a point when you can't go there… I mean can you even trust the judge if he doesn't know thick square glasses like that went out with disco?" Kelly chirped.

"Pam. You look…" Angela said hesitantly before giving Pam a prim smile. "Nice." she finished and walked off to her seat.

Pam stifled a grin and rubbed her hands on her skirt. That morning she had dressed with particular care. She wanted to look in control, dependable, perfect even. Not too perfect. Perfectly in control was her aim. She had chosen her clothes painstakingly, discarding three skirts and two cardigans, applied lipstick and gloss several times. Her hair was pinned neatly back and her shirt crisp and confidence made from soft black and beige wools she had felt almost normal. Like her old self.

When she had finally emerged from the bedroom and Jim, who had been waiting in the hall, saw her clicking down the stairs in an elegant pair of Stuart Weizman tan heels, the lopsided grin that spread across his face was enough to convince her that she looked as good as she had hoped. He had even told her she looked awesome, and it had been such a genuine Jim kind of manner that it made her stomach tingle with warmth. It had felt important to her that morning in some way that she couldn't understand, that he approved of her and liked what he saw.

Now as she was surrounded by the taxing commentary of her co-workers, she glanced at Jim as he set his messenger bag down on the floor beside his chair and moved a stack of papers away from his keyboard. Something stirred inside her. It was an oddly unfamiliar feeling, but simply watching him do those mundane everyday acts sent a shiver of excitement through her. It was a feeling she had been having more and more lately, a feeling that was growing with intensity. Something primitive, something alive. She watched unnoticed as Jim went about adjusting his chair and rearranging things, drinking in the lithe movements of his slender limbs with a focus that could only be attributed to someone who was deeply in love, perhaps for the first time. The way his fingers skipped over the keyboard, how his head leaned a little to the left when he was looking at the screen, it all seemed new to her. Boring, uninteresting actions that were ten times more exciting than anything she had felt in all of her time with Roy.

She didn't understand how she could love any man after what Roy had done to her.

Pam felt a wave of the past shadow over her and a sense of unreality settled uneasily in her. What if Roy got only a little jail time, or none at all? What would he do when he got out? What would she do? What if she and Jim weren't together? The fears hung over her like threatening storm clouds and hastily she stood up, almost tipping over the cactus plant sitting at the edge of the reception desk as she edged her way out and walked towards the kitchen.

When she returned with two hot coffees, Michael was standing at Jim's desk. Dwight stood beside him, smiling in the tight lipped way that she had seen many times before. She thought about quietly slipping back to her desk unseen but realizing it was too late to avoid, she decided it was wise to get the Michael routine over with, whatever it would be, and she walked through the space between the three men, setting one of the cups down on Jims desk.

"Hey hey hey! It's the Paminator." Michael cried in a deep, low voice, making exaggerated robot movements with his arms as he approached her. "The Paminator. Taking down the bad guys. Making the world safe for all of women…..uuh….kind."

"Hi Michael." she said with a rueful smile as he reached out and swallowed her in an enthusiastic hug that almost took her breath away.

"I gotta tell you I am so glad you're back." he mumbled, releasing her. "Stupid temps. The horrors this office has seen. Missed ya around here kiddo."

"Really?" Pam sounded surprised. A large smile spread over her face.

"Those temps his horribleness kept sending in couldn't wear your pantyhose. He is the worst. Stupid jerk."

Jim coughed suspiciously and spun mischievously around on his chair. "Didn't David tell you that you had to get along with Toby?"

Pam grinned in spite of her nerves as Michael's face darkened. He waved his hand dismissively in the air with a groan. "I tried. I tried but the guy's like an evil jar jar binks, and even more offensive." He started to turn away, flinching dramatically as he came within a breath of colliding with his worst enemy. "Oh jeez… it's like the candyman. Nobody say his name, like ever."

"Good morning Michael. Welcome back Pam." Toby appeared as Michael stepped away, greeting them as if Michael hadn't said a thing. "Oh, er, good morning Jim. Nice to see you too, of course."

Michael mumbled something unintelligible. Pam looked at the floor awkwardly and fiddled with her sleeve, absurdly wanting to laugh. There was something comforting in the familiarity of the whole ridiculous animosity between Michael and Toby, that some things never change.

"We're, uh, all set Michael. The conference room…." Toby pointed backwards gently with his thumb.

Michael's face twisted with disgust."No."

"It's mandatory. You know that." Toby said carefully. "Instructions from corporate."

Michael sighed and violently threw his hands up in the air, appalled. "Oh god. So I forwarded around an email that some people who have no sense of humor might have misconstrued as offensive. It was funny, so sue me for making people laugh."

Nodding slowly, Toby almost seemed to shrink under the glare of Michael's seething irritation. "All right, look, what you gotta understand is that not everybody found it funny." he said, rubbing his neck.

"Kevin laughed. He laughed so hard chocolate came out of his nose." From behind them, Kevin giggled loudly causing Michael to lift his palms up triumphantly. "The audience has spoken."

Toby stared at him doltishly and his lips moved slowly as though he was silently testing out his next words. Finally he said, "This is why corporate wants to have this workshop Michael. They don't think it was funny."

"No, you're right, you're right." Michael said peevishly. "There's always an exception to the rule. You for example. You're a great big annoying joke that isn't the least bit funny. You are so unfunny that even Chris Rock wouldn't have anything to say about you. Go back to the annexe, my friend."

Pam plucked at her sleeve absently, waiting for the situation to play out, as she knew it would. She always felt a little uncomfortable when Michael openly vented his hatred on Toby but even more so she felt sorry for Toby, in that he seemed to see this behavior towards him as some kind of normal. Even then, standing there he wasn't batting an eyelid, only watching Michael with his usual hangdog expression and attempting to continue on as business as usual.

"Let's say we'll just discuss this in the conference room….okay…?" Toby was saying. Michael, who had gone red in the face by then, started to respond when Pam suddenly decided she should intervene.

"Wait." she said, stopping Michael from his next onslaught. "Wait… um… I just wanted to say thanks to you guys, um… all three of you for showing up in court and everything…"

Toby turned to her gratefully. "You're welcome." he said. Michael looked at Pam for a moment like he wanted to say something and thought better of it. Then he was looking at Toby with an intensified look of irritation, before uttering a loud exasperated sound and flouncing off towards the conference room. Pam and Jim shared a knowing look before Pam moved off back to the reception desk.

"You wanna hear a joke? I'll tell you a joke…." Michaels voice disappeared into the conference room.

She settled herself into her seat behind the big reception desk, turning her computer on. It was as she looked up to turn the phones on that she saw the dark eyes staring at her with shock.

"Oh. Hi." Karen said casually – a little too casually, Pam thought, as she watched her pull her coat off and shake her long dark hair out. "Michael didn't tell us you were coming back."

Karen hung her coat up on the stand, and came over to the reception desk. Pam studied her cautiously, subconscious warning bells chiming in the back of her mind. "Yeah.. I got that… it's just, it's Michael." Pam said awkwardly. "You know he probably meant to say something but then…"

"Well, you look well." Karen interrupted abruptly.

Pam considered the last conversation she had had with the woman, and it was this memory that edged her voice warily. "Thanks." she smiled carefully. "You too."

The morning passed on quietly. Michael was sequestered in the conference room with Toby until lunch. Various noises and grunts of frustration floated out of the room in intervals and Pam thought about going in there and giving Michael his messages, giving him a break but as she reached for the door she found herself not wanting to after all. She went back to reception quietly and kept her head down.

With only twenty five minutes until her break, she was startled to see Phyllis approach the desk, and even more startled to see the woman wore a wide smile as she came close. Pam involuntarily moved her seat back as Phyllis leaned over the desk, an overpowering fragrance she couldn't identify assaulting her senses.

"Hey, Pam. You should check out the bathroom." she said smugly. Pam frowned in response, feeling a little uncomfortable.

"The bathroom?" she suddenly had a vision of there being some disgusting thing in there that no one had bothered to clean up, just as the office microwave was always left in a filthy state, the bathrooms were often just as gross. She wondered briefly if Phyllis was expecting her to clean up any mess in there.

"The bathroom?"

Whispering, Phyllis said. "It's something you should see. A little dirty justice."

"And then some." Meredith said lazily, passing by reception with an unlit cigar in her hand. Pam followed her with her eyes and then flicked back to Phyllis suspiciously, searching for any sign of a practical joke or any ill intent. Although she had tried it had been difficult to forget how some of the staff had shunned her after she and Roy split. However she saw nothing in Phyllis's dull eyes to cause her any reason to think the joke was on her.

She went to the bathroom and looked around the stalls. At first she couldn't see what she was supposed to be looking for, until she leaned over the sink wearily, hanging her head. It was when she looked up and caught sight of herself in the mirror that she saw it behind her. She spun around with a gasp. High up on the bathroom wall was the one face in the world she did not want to see ever again. A glossy photo from a Christmas party – some years ago – was tacked up high on the wall. However she saw that the face had been severed at the neck and below the photo was an extremely crude caricature.

The drawing was very explicit and detailed – it literally brought a flush into her cheeks. It was actually a very good likeness of him but whoever had done this had made some rather embarrassing alterations to his body, and looking up again she saw the photograph had also had some vengeful touches added to it.

She stared at it in shock, not hearing the door opening and closing behind her. She couldn't look away.

It was degrading. It was explicit. It was disgusting.

But it was one of the most wonderful things she had ever seen. Tears pooled in the corners of her eyes as she understood what had been done.

"Who did this?" she whispered, sensing there was someone behind her.

"It's sickening." Angela said from behind her.

"Prude." came Meredith's voice. "What you gotta complain about. All the good bits are gone. He got less use than a broom."

"It's really something, isn't it." Phyllis replied.

"It's pornography." Angela moved forward pointing at it angrily. "Decent people should not have to put up with this kind of exploitation."

"That's exactly right. Isn't it, Pam?" Phyllis said to her.

Pam was struck for words. Whoever had done this had carefully removed or not illustrated any of Roy's more threatening appendages. He had no hands. No feet to kick with. He was a eunuch. This Roy was powerless. She stared at the graffiti a long time in wonder. She didn't think she'd know who was responsible for this, or how many people were responsible. But as a small smile grew bigger and bigger over her face, she thought to herself, her coworkers might be self absorbed and sometimes downright crazy and judgemental at times, but in a whole, they were really okay. In fact, by way of an apology, she felt that she couldn't have asked for much more.

-TO-

She did not tell Jim about the drawing on the wall. Not then, anyway. As they were driving home, her head was tired, foggy. She hadn't realized how tired she actually had been over the last few months and after her first full day back to work in four weeks, she felt exhausted.

Jim was obviously thinking along the same lines. "You look shattered." he said.

"Yeah. Today really took it out of me. Probably an early night tonight."

"Probably." Jim agreed.

She let her eyes close a little as she lay her head back against the seat, content in the knowledge that he was driving, and she could take a moment to rest.

"Hey." Jim said lightly, rubbing her arm. "Watch out. Speed bumps ahead."

Pam straightened up a little and smiled at Jim. "Oh, hey." she suddenly remembered. "Hey, something weird happened today. Daryl came to see me. He apologized to me, about court. Can you believe that?"

Jim's expression did not move. "Wow, really?" he said brightly.

"Yeah, he seemed pretty genuine. I guess it's been eating at him." She plucked her bag up onto her lap and rooted around until her fingers reached her cell phone.

"It must have been." Jim agreed.

"It was kinda weird. He was so on Roy's side in court. Guess he must have been feeling guilty." she tapped on her phone, looking down. They went through a tunnel, and when they came out the other side Jim asked if Daryl apologizing had made her feel any better about things.

"Yeah. Yeah, I think it did. It was a pretty good day." she said, an image of the bathroom flashing before her. "I've gotta text my mom and tell her how it went."

"Okay." Jim said pleasantly. He continued to drive as she tapped out what looked to be a string of messages on her phone.

"I guess I was pretty hurt when Daryl took Roy's side like that." she mused softly. "But he seemed sincerely sorry for it today. Somehow that what he did in court now doesn't seem like such a big deal."

Jim pulled up into the driveway, switching the ignition off and unbuckling his seat belt. "Seems like you're really crossing all those T's now Ms Beesly."

Pam nodded happily and flashed him a genuine smile. She felt like things were going her way. She got out of the car and immediately linked hands with Jim. "Oh, that's not all, Halpert. Did I tell you about the graffiti in the ladies room…..?"