All too soon the sweet moment was forced to come to an end as the clock moved forward relentlessly, and begrudgingly they slipped off the couch, trudged up the stairs to get showered and dressed and ready to leave for court one final time.

Pam was pleased – also torn - with Jim's reaction to her asking him to read her statement at the sentencing. The realization that his only hesitation had been about whether it was right for her or not sent a kaleidoscope of butterflies fluttering through her stomach. He had waved off her concerns about it being too painful for him, never denying that it would hurt him, but not shying away from it either. And in its own way, it was one of the most wonderful things anyone had ever done for her.

Now, standing in front of the circular half length mirror that she had hung above the dresser, she tapped her heels on the bedroom carpet, tugging at her dress, prodding at her hair. She looked okay, nice even. The simple dress she had chosen for this final hearing was a rich deep blue color which she thought set off against the reddish brown tones of her hair nicely. She wore no jewellery, except Jim's bracelet. It had been a long time since she had put on a dress of any kind, and she liked it. She looked in control, there was a confidence in the gentle poise the outfit gave her. A sense of self that she was taking back. Her makeup was slight, her eyelashes natural without mascara, her lips brushed with the vaguest hint of red. She dabbed and smoothed concealer over the dark shadows under her eyes – eyes that projected a fearful, anxious edge at first glance but now she could see something new there in her eyes, something growing and bright and undeniable. Happiness.

Engrossed in the reflection, she flinched involuntarily when Jim sidled up behind her and twirled his arms around her waist, gently pulling her backwards against the warm, comforting fabric of his shirt. His face appeared next to hers in the mirror. She smiled back at this new reflection – a genuine smile that transformed the slightly tired, pale looking face into something briefly radiant. As she and her reflection smiled back at Jim, he dropped his chin on to her shoulder.

"You look nice." he said appreciatively. His breath blew hot on her neck and she leaned deeper into him, rolling her head to the side onto his shoulder contented to linger there for as long as she could.

"You know," he said slowly. "A few months ago you would have jumped out of your skin if I had come up behind you like this." His eyes locked knowingly with hers in the mirror. She smirked ruefully.

"Hmmm. And yet here I am." With confidence she lifted her right hand as high as it would go without forcing him to let go of her.

"Look at that." she said proudly, turning the palm face down.

"Woah! Not even a quiver."

"Steady as a rock."

His warm hands tightened around her waist comfortingly. "Well, alright Pam!" he cheered joyfully.

She couldn't help the flushed smile coming to her face. A rush of warmth flooded her cheeks as she glanced at Jim's reflection and saw that he was practically beaming. Her heart jumped at the happy sight and she wriggled around in his grasp until she was facing him. On her tip toes, she laid her palms against his chest, lifting her chin and letting her lips linger close to his, she teased and tempted him playfully, a kiss that was available but tantalisingly just out of reach. His breath grew hotter against her lips and with an almost kittenish giggle she swiftly lifted her chin and mischievously kissed his nose.

"How dare you." Mock outrage shaped Jim's face. He laid his hand against her lower back and gently guided her towards the door. "You're a wild one, Beesly."

"Oh, yeah." she snorted humorously. "Just consider me Joan Collins, without her feathers."

Jim snickered as he left the bedroom. Pam followed him, an impish glint in her eye as he disappeared down the stairs.

"Jim?" she called. At the bottom, he stopped, looking up at her questioningly. Pam laughed and stepped down to the last stair herself. "I just wanted to say… you look really hot in that shirt."

His cheeks grew pink. Pam, noticing how cute it was, refrained from commenting. "Well, thank you…" he replied almost bashfully. "Don't get too excited though….you should probably try to keep your hands off me in front of the judge."

"I'm serious. Maybe you should try a cotton one." she said, straightfaced. "Then you won't sweat as much." she added.

"Oh," he said nonchalantly, not missing a beat. "You think a sundress would be a better choice?"

"Oh definitely. I'm thinking light blue."

"I'll do it. I'm thinking we should stop at the outlet mall, pick up something cute and flouncy and-"

Her eyes rolled in jest. "I hate you." she groaned, fighting to keep the smile off her face and the laughter inside her mouth.

-to-

Pam didn't say much on the way to the court house. It was a journey that seemed both endless and brief, she dreaded the moment the car turned the corner where the building first came into view. With every bend in the road reality came closer and the good humour she had found simply drained away from her. It was all like a waking dream and before she managed to catch her breath again they were standing in the safe room once more, the court room where she would see Roy for what she prayed would be the last time only yards away.

She found herself staring into the corner of the room with a frown. The four confining off white walls were far too familiar now for her comfort. Always waiting to be called into court, always waiting to be in the same room as him as though she got some pleasure in the anticipation. Her humour had vanished the instant that she stepped out of the house, and here she was once more at the courthouse, branding her footsteps into the carpet again.

As little as fifteen minutes ago, she'd been laughing, joking – as though she didn't have a care on earth.

She cared a lot.

Jim, for his part, looked as sombre as she felt and suddenly the harsh ocean of salty tears flooded behind her eyes.

It wasn't meant to be like this.

This wasn't how she'd envisioned the future when she began dating Roy. She couldn't have imagined still being with him past even a few dates – this big, strong guy that was well liked by everyone around him. She couldn't have matched that. But to her enormous surprise and sickening gratitude, Roy had still shown an interest in her months after the initial phase of the relationship was past. By then she had dared dream of a future with Roy, not a future that included handcuffs and jail time, but a life to look forward to; a life with a wedding in the not too distant future, a child or two, a house, picket fence and all the cliches.

Now those normal things, all of them, could potentially be there for her in the far off future – she knew this now. But she was done planning, done worrying and done wanting. She would have more than she could ever want if she only managed to stay with Jim. He was more than she had expected in her life and she was grateful for him. Anything after that would just be a bonus.

"I guess it won't be long now." Jim peered out the door.

"Tell me something." she said, stopping pacing. Her nerves were alive again and singing Ave Maria. She shuddered.

"Tell you what?"

"Tell me something, anything." she rushed out. "Tell me something about you I don't know. Distract me, distractions are good. I mean, I think I'm going to freak out if I just keep standing here thinking about what's going to happen. Tell me a story about you when you were a kid."

"Um, okay…" Jim thought for a moment.

"Anything. Just talk. Please."

"Okay… first take a seat because I'm sure I'm about to rock your world." he laughed half-heartedly. Pam shuffled towards him and delicately perched onto the chair beside him, locking her hands between her knees.

"Ummm… well you've met my brothers, right?"

She nodded impatiently.

"Yeah, right, of course you have. Well you have to understand it was like a battlefield at times living with those two. I mean you couldn't even sit in a chair without checking it for something, whoopie cushions, peanut butter, even shoe polish… Larissa would get caught in on things sometimes but most of the time the pranks on her were pretty harmless. So you sort of got used to it, but there was this one summer when Pete really pissed me off. I mean, he got me mad, I can't even remember what he did now, it was a prank of course, but I was gonna get even with him no matter what. It became the most important thing in my life, getting revenge."

"Okay, you have my interest." Pam leaned to the side tiredly, resting her head on his shoulder. "Carry on."

Jim shook his head fondly at her. "Comfortable?" All he got for a response was a half yawn. Automatically his fingers travelled down her arm to find her hand, which he softly grasped in his own. "Jeez, your hands are cold Beesly. Want my jacket?"

She shook her head no, instead curling her fingers up inside of his.

"You were mad at Pete…." she prodded.

"Yes… okay? Okay… then," he continued after a pause. "Well, I tried different pranks at first. I jabbed some holes in the toothpaste tube right before he was going to use it. I put oxo cubes in the shower head when he was going to take a shower. Oh yeah – and I rubbed deep heat into his underwear…"

"Really? Deep heat?" Pam looked mildly disgusted. "Pete must have really got you mad. How old were you?"

Jim heard the slight bump in her voice, which meant his aim was working – she was close to, or trying not to laugh. "Uh… I think maybe ten or something, around ten. So Pete would have been fourteen or fifteen I guess. So," he went on, "I soon figured out that vandalising the toothpaste and the shower was only getting me in trouble, as it was kind of obvious it was me that did those things… and not really my idea of revenge. Thank god he never figured out about the deep heat though…"

"My evil Jim." she smirked.

"In the end I decided I needed to be a little more subtle… and, frankly, mean. I was also really mad at always being the target of all the pranks from those two. So I thought I'd wait it out. One night, I snuck into his bedroom while everyone was asleep. I slipped his comforter off him and dragged it into my bedroom. I switched the cover out for an old pink one of Larissa's with Barbie on it and put it back on him. It was hilarious, him trying to figure out what had happened when he woke up in the morning. So every other night I'd sneak in there and move something around, like switch the stuff on his book shelf with the stuff on his desk. He started to freak out after a while, then he began to think that he was sleepwalking, doing it all in his sleep. So I had to capitalise on that right? One night I just opened his bedroom door, scattered some of his clothes and his school bag down the stairs and put his speakers and denim jacket outside the front door. He was getting more and more freaked-"

"Evil. Pure evil. You were ten years old. What potential." Pam remarked, rolling her eyes up at him.

"It kind of backfired though," he rolled his eyes with a smirk. "My mom got worried about the potential of him wandering in the streets at night and hauled him to a doctor. Poor kid ended up seeing a therapist. I actually felt really bad about that. Worrying my mom, I mean."

"Did you ever own up?"

"Um, actually.. no." he smiled sheepishly. "Pete still doesn't know what really happened. I did tell Larissa though. She laughed, and begged me to never own up, she didn't want me to risk my working limbs if Pete found out… Of course I'd not only get beaten up by Pete, but Tom would help too."

"Hmmm so they're still in the dark, mmm? And so-" she stopped dead at the sound of the door to the little room creaking open.

Her heart smashed to the floor. "Shit." she mumbled, her breath caught fast in her throat. She needed to cough. She needed to breathe. Peripherally she saw Jim standing up. The shapes and colors in front her slid and merged and blurred disorientingly and her chest bounced with a fierceness that was painful. All of the hilarity was gone, replaced rapidly by a consuming terror – she was coming face to face with Roy one last time. He was going to be furious. With her.

And trying to remind herself that she was no longer with Roy, no longer answerable to him at that moment all at once seemed like an impossibility, even as she reached for Jim's outstretched hand the whiplash fast reflex of her emotion brought a dizzying sensation of unreality to her. She stood on legs that quivered like jello. The last time her brain chanted, the last time the last time the last in a vain attempt to ward off the feelings that things with Roy would never be over.

-TO-

Judge Summers was wearing glasses. Pam was struck by how effortlessly chic something so simple as a pair of spectacles made her look, alongside of the elegant way her long box braids were pulled high on her head, flowing freely around her face and shoulders. Quite simply, the woman looked both beautiful and ready for business.

Pam admired her. Weeks spent in in the hard courtroom seats in front of the Judge's bench and under her eye had given Pam a sort of kinship with the woman, she felt. This was a woman, no less, a woman who was strong, confident and successful. But what really drew Pam's admiration was an unspoken sense of solidarity between them – the woman believed her. She couldn't have put it into words if she had tried, but she knew it to be true. The Judge was on her side. Pam had seen her shout Roy down time and time again in the court room in a way she herself would have never dared; and the woman had actually thrownRoy out of the courtroom. Her usually stern eyes had darkened and turned steely and she had stared Roy out unflinchingly and ordered him back to the jail without a flicker of a falter and certainly no apologies.

The hushed whispers and murmurs that had cluttered the courtroom had abruptly vanished when the Judge had calmly strode through the off brown panelled door behind the bench and took her seat. There was an incredible sensation of deja vu for Pam as the court was in session at last – she had expected something different, something, she didn't know what but just not the same. This was the last time she'd be in the court room. Maybe it was the seating arrangement that slanted her outlook on the proceedings, she was sitting in a different seat, she herselfwas different. Pam wasn't the same girl who had tiptoed into the court room months ago on legs that threatened to buckle under her and a heart that was pumping so painfully against her ribs that it felt like it was trying to escape from her chest.

During those early court sessions she had steadfastly refused to look at Roy. Looking at him would have been to acknowledge him and she wasn't going to give him the satisfaction. Yet she could admit to herself the false bravado she had put up in the face of it all – she hadn't wanted to look at him, more than partly due to her being terrified. Terrified of his angry face, his hurt face in front of her – the faces that had always been able to manipulate her, scare her, bend her to his will. When he wasn't using his fists, of course.

This time though, she had watched, unblinking, as Roy was shepherded in to the court by three large male deputies. She didn't take her eyes off of him as he thumped into his seat, his own eyes narrowed and his face sulky. The obvious dark shadows around his eyes only stood out more prominently against his black suit and white button up shirt. From her vantage point, this time perched anxiously behind Murphy with Jim on her left side and her Mom on her right, she could see the slanted angle of his head, his full face only coming into view when he turned to his lawyer. Staring at him unaware, she took in all the lines and muscles and movements she had known so well, the squeezing of his hands into brief fists as he pondered his angry thoughts, the taut, tense jaw that was always a sure precursor of oncoming rage. All indicators that his temper had been untouched by his time in jail. He was wearing a tie, a black formal tie. The image of it made her want to laugh hysterically. Roy had never really suited formal clothes and being forced into that suit and black tie no less was not going to improve his temperament at all.

She thought she remembered the suit – It might even have been the same suit that he wore to his grandfathers funeral years ago, when Bush was still in office and the big blizzard hit Virginia, backing up the traffic on the interstate, leaving her and Roy stuck on the return journey, Roy chafing and complaining non stop about the 'three piece straightjacket' – noose included – that was so restrictive that his nads were crawling up inside him so much that he might never have kids. Judging from the not so subtle shifting and fidgeting in the hard wooden seat, the frustrated squirming of his shoulders at the neck of the tie, there was a probable chance it really was the same suit.

She wondered if he remembered that day in the car too. She wondered if he remembered the day he had proposed to her how about it then, you wanna get married? and the promises he had made to her. My job is to take care of you, Pam. Go ahead, marry me. That he'd done alright. Did he remember the day he had slammed his fist through the car window on the drivers side while Pam, stood by the door, was suddenly overwhelmed by a volley of small sharp projectiles that pricked her hands and chest?

Did he remember any of those potentially fatal moments of rage?

He didn't look like he remembered, he didn't look sorry – only angry and hard done by. This expression had only twisted and mutated into furious lines and eyes narrowed to slits when the Judge entered.

Pam's focus shifted to the bench. The hearing had begun without much flourish and this was what she hadn't expected – the same as always. The same laying out of the events, the procedures explained, the clarification of the sentencing. It was like a time loop. There was handing over of evidence by Murphy to the judge for consideration of sentence, there was a brief discussion of the meeting between Murphy and Roy's lawyers in the days earlier. Then, the next words the Judge spoke exploded inside of Pam's brain, heart and stomach simultaneously.

"My Murphy, I understand that your client wishes to make a statement to the court?"

"That's correct, your honor." Murphy said, standing up.

"Is there anyone else who would like to make a statement to the court?"

Pam gripped Jim's hand furiously, closing her eyes. It was all so unreal. Sharp acid flowed up the back of her throat and flooded into her mouth. She wasn't sure she could stand. Blurrily she saw the paper in Jim's hand, the words that she had written just that morning as the dawn broke. She saw Jim bracing himself to get up out of his seat too when suddenly a voice made them pause.

"I would like to say something."

Pam turned to her Mom in amazement. Silently she watched as Helene looked at her meaningfully, and gently reached forward and brushed Pam's hair back, softly cupping her cheek for a second before standing and making her way to the small wooden stand directly in front of Roy, which bore a long upright microphone.

This Pam had not expected at all. Seeing her Mom standing up there – mere feet from Roy – it hurt her. She hadn't remotely even suggested to Pam that she wanted to make any kind of statement. They had never discussed it. And yet, underneath the hurt there was an undeniably near fierce feeling of emotion for the act that her Mom was doing – for her. Pam had no doubts her Mom was doing it for her.

"I would like to say to the court, please," Helene began, before pausing and breathing in sharply. "My daughter Pam, has been through the deepest of hell for many years, years we didn't even know about, because of Roy Anderson. I have spent so much time fighting myself on this, because it's true that we loved Roy, we loved him like a son, and I didn't see this coming. That's my cross to bear. As a Mom, you raise your kids, your bring them up, you love them and you protect them. We failed to do that. Roy betrayed our trust and that hurts, but it hurts so much more what he's done to our daughter. My daughter who was – is – such a kind person, she would never hurt anyone or anything, she was in a relationship with this... this man -" she stopped dead. Murphy handed her a tissue.

"You trust your kids are going to be safe out in the world." she continued, patting her nose with the tissue. "God only knows what made Roy who he is and do all the things he did to Pam. Your honor, it has taken a long, long time for my daughter to begin telling us about what life was like for her with Roy. When she came to stay with us last year, she wasn't the same daughter that we raised. She was broken, empty. She told me little about Roy, but the scars were there. She woke up crying in the night, she didn't eat, she didn't go out. There's one thing that she told me that haunts me even now. She told me that he would leave out newspaper stories and printouts of women who had been murdered by their partners. He put them in her books and her bags. Your honor, Roy not only beat and abused my daughter but he tortured her, physically and mentally and emotionally. She was his prisoner no matter how you look at it. He drove a wedge between Pam and me and her dad, he played Pam and her sister off against each other – he isolated her. He didn't just use his hands. She told me once about an incident where he hit her several times with a belt."

Pam closed her eyes again, sticky tears sliding down her cheeks as she listened. It felt as though her whole body was frozen in place and her head bent low, seeing nothing, hearing only her Mom's crying voice.

"Your honor, to say I am angry at Roy is understating it, to say I am devastated is the truth. What gave him the right to put his hands on my daughter like that? To hurt our whole family, to destroy or trust and our faith that our kids will be safe out in the world. I do not believe he is sorry at all, and I do believe my daughter will always be at a definite risk from him. Pam is a very brave person, she has worked so hard to recover,, move on with her life, and she's a work in progress, and she understands that she is. No jail time can make up for the pain, fears and torture, the ideas about herself that he brutally beat into her. I don't believe I could ever forgive him. But I ask for a long sentence so that my daughter can finally begin to feel that she will be safe and she can continue to get well and again become the sweet, loving and kind person that she was. Thank you."

Pam opened her eyes to see her father lifting himself to his feet as Helene returned to the bench, red of face and sniffling. She watched as William took her arm and carefully guided her to sit down, Penny patting her arm and whispering something to her.

Before Pam even looked at her Mom directly, the judge was asking again for statements. Jim gently tugged on her hand and looked at her questioningly. Breathing heavily, Pam stared back at him a moment before nodding her head slowly. There was a dizzying pulsing sensation at her temple as she stood and walked over to the stand with Jim.

So close. She was so close to Roy now – another dizzying aspect of the whole mess as she realized there was only a wooden table between them. Roy, seated, snarling no doubt, directly behind her almost within arms reach. Immediately old fears resurfaced despite the presence of deputies beside him, despite the lawyer beside him. She deftly counted the deputies around him and suddenly she caught a glimpse of something silver, something metallic just below Roy's waist – and then it hit her. Roy's rigid posture, his grumbling at the deputies, his silence. He was wearing handcuffs.

It wasn't enough the erase all the fears instilled in her from her past with him, but somehow the brief sight of Roy restrained had a small calming effect on her.

She turned back to Jim, squinting her eyes at him thoughtfully. She thought of her Moms tears a few moments before. She thought about Jim, what he was about to say, because of her. It wasn't right. With one last gentle rub of her shoulder he lifted the statement.

" For a long time, I couldn't imagine any kind of future without-"

"Wait." she put her hand on his arm. He looked at her quizzically, he could see her mind working over something and then understanding dawned on him. A slow smile spread across his face as he nodded reassuringly at her and handed her the papers.

Pam gripped them into her right hand and clutched at Jim's with her left. She took another deep, steadying breath and looked straight ahead. Beside her Jim stood, a tower of silent support flowing in waves from him to her and he squeezed her hand meaningfully.

She opened her mouth and into the silence her voice plunged, deep and unwavering.

-TO-

The relief that overwhelmed her when they stepped out on to the sunny courtroom front was unparalleled. There was a sensation of euphoria there she hadn't thought possible under the circumstances. It was over. This part of it was over. The gratitude was enough to knock her down the steps.

"Congratulations, Pammy." Helene said softly, coming up on her left side. Swiftly she reached out and drew Pam into a hug. Pam smiled tiredly, hugging her back. "I'm so proud of you." Helene said when she released her.

Pam gripped both of her Mom's hands in her own. "You too, Mom."

Then came another hurricane in the form of her father, who nearly pulled her away from Helene and crushed her to his chest.

"Betsy." Pam called, spotting her over her fathers shoulder.

Betsy came gliding over, followed by a tall, white haired man. "Hello, Pam. You might have noticed this old man sitting next to me indoors. This is my husband, Gerald, Jim's father."

Nodding politely, Pam smiled at them both. "It's really nice to see you again. Are you feeling better?"

Betsy beamed. "Isn't she the sweetest?"

"It's nice to meet you properly, now that I'm not covered in tubes." Gerald joked. Now that she was meeting the man, restored to health, she could see a striking resemblance to Jim. It was in the mans' eyes, the quiet mischievous spark that gave his whole face a jovial outlook. As she did the last time she met him, she immediately warmed to him again.

"Um…" she started shyly, looking at Betsy. The woman nodded expectantly. "I just wanted to say, um, well thank you. For giving up all your time and coming here and all the advice you gave me."

"Quite alright Pam." Betsy smiled. "Now, how would you like to come to visit us soon? I would love to show you this beautiful blue pastel sweater I saw in this gorgeous little store not far from our house. I thought of you straight away."

"Oh, dear god." Gerald shook his head and looked at Jim with amusement.

Giving all three Halperts a hesitant look, she then nodded. "I'd really like that."

"Well, you must call soon and we'll arrange a visit." Betsy said, her face lighting up.

Gerald cleared his throat. "You can even bring Jim, if you want."

"Oh, I'm invited too?" Jim said, feigning surprise. "Thank you for thinking of me."

The Halperts were a funny – and wonderful family, Pam was discovering. She found herself quite looking forward to going to visit them. She imagined – hoped – this was how life would be in the future, so free and easy and relaxed. She tilted her head slightly towards the sun and inhaled deeply through her nose. It was a beautiful day out.

"Hey…" Jim lightly rubbed her upper arm. "Where'd ya go?"

Pam flushed a little. "I was just…" having the most beautiful dream she thought but didn't say. "Listen. Would you mind if we went home now? I'm really tired and it's been a long day."

That's was the truth. She wanted to go home and sleep and sleep and sleep and hope when she woke up the nightmare would finally be over for good. She had a good family, she knew that, including Jim's family, all of which had spent every second outside the court avoiding the elephant in the courtroom. She was grateful to all of them for not bombarding her with questions or asking her how she was feeling about the sentence. Other than relieved, she had no idea.

- to -

It was almost a dream come true. At least, that was what it felt like to Pam, as they stood high on the peak above the city.

Powerful, it felt powerful. She was full of power, energy. The steep gorge like drop opened out in front of them, incredible; and it was life giving. Staring down over the rows and rows of lit buildings, she was mesmerized.

It had been Jim's idea for them to go out that night. Pam, having slept almost five hours straight once they had got home from court, surprisingly readily agreed. She wanted to be outside and breathing in the fresh air. She waned to be outside, not stuck indoors. She had to remind herself fiercely that she was no longer stuck anywhere, and that Jim would never dissuade her from going any place she wanted to. So, he had got the car out, telling her he knew a quiet place they could drive to, that she would like.

So, she had trusted him, as always and he had driven them up and just out of the city and then winding through what almost seemed like a dense forest. Pam had winced and grimaced a couple of times as branches scraped the car, but then little by little the trees began to disappear and the path cleared into a large open space under a wide expanse of glittering sky.

Pam had been enthralled by the place the moment she stepped out of the car. It was simple, it was free, it was beautiful. They were standing at the top, the entire city laying below them. It took her breath away.

"Hey... what's wrong?" Jim brought her out of her head. She shrugged casually, not taking her eyes away from the world glowing in front of them. Wrapping her arms around her stomach she took in the life that was above and below.

"I feel so…" she murmured, emotion creeping into her voice. "Alive." she breathed the word, tasting it. Down below them a whole world was waiting. Right then she was on top of it all, it could all be hers.

Her voice broke. "I haven't felt so alive in such a long time." She was barely aware of the tear that rolled down her cheek. The city below them was changing somehow, the houses were becoming sharper, clearer, the properties larger, the lights brighter. Closer. Everything was closer. She envisioned her eyes closing and her reaching a willing hand out in the night sky and brushing her fingertips over the roofs of those homes. It was in her reach. The lights, the buildings, the rising smoke, warmth, the noise, the people, all of it was within her grasp and she wanted it. She wanted all of it.

Jim kept quiet, sensing she was doing some thinking, and hopefully some healing.

"I suppose," she spoke at last. "That this is the one thing I have to be grateful to Roy for. I mean, this. All this." she waved her hand over the edge facing down the city. She didn't need to turn to know that Jim was looking at her with confusion.

"I mean," she waved her hand again. "I suppose this all wouldn't mean so much if I hadn't fought so hard for it, would it?"

Jim moved towards her, circling his arm around her shoulder. "That's looking at it positively, Beesly." he said with wonder. She leaned against him. She was thinking again, thinking this time of Jim and their future. She thought of the past years and what they had achieved together.

"I love you. A lot." she blurted. The body heat from his chest was beginning to warm her up as she rested against him in the cool night air. "I really don't tell you that enough."

"It's okay-"

"Don't say that. Don't tell me you wouldn't be happy hearing it more often." she said softly.

It was Jim's turn to shrug. "I know you do, Pam. But, yeah, okay I wouldn't fight you on it if you did say it more often."

"I will." she promised. She fell silent again, looking over the world in front of them. A shiver took her by surprise, and then Jim was pulling her closer into the warmth of his arms and chest. She sighed contentedly. A memory struck her, of her hiding in the bathroom of the little house she had shared with Roy. When she lived there, the bath had become her safe space, her sanctuary from Roy. The hot water soothing away her aches, bruises, cuts and wounds. Her private space. Then another memory came to her. Curled up illicitly in Jim's bed while he was at work, sneaking afternoon naps on his bed – that had become her safe place. She'd not been able to explain it to him when he asked her about it.

But now she realized how foolish she had been. Of course she was a fool. As she snuggled comfortably against him, she saw how blind she had been. Her safe place had never truly been the bath or bed, but with Jim, really with him, like she was then, his arms wrapped around her – that was her safe space. It had been right there under her nose all of the time and she just hadn't allowed herself to see it.

"Let's never take each other for granted." she said, unclenching her arms from her waist and hugging Jim around his middle. He bent his neck and kissed her head softly.

"I swear."

The warmth between them was incredible, it felt so good. Together they warded off the cold night air.

"This is really over now, isn't it?" Pam was thinking out loud. She was having trouble believing it.

More kisses rained down on her, on her hair, her forehead, her cheek. A smile so wide stretched her cheeks she thought her face might split. An old joke of her mothers. Careful your cheeks don't split, Pammy.

"We don't have to worry about Roy anymore. He got what he deserved. He won't be out before he's forty, Pam. Think about that."

She did think about it. She would think about it. But as the days passed she thought she might just think about it a little less each day. "It's a relief that he's being transferred to Danville." she admitted.

Jim agreed. "The more miles between him and us the better."

"To be honest… I was frightened that he would blow up when the sentence was read. But he didn't, he just looked defeated."

Jim smirked, then kissed her again. "Guess he's not so tough after all, eh?"

"Guess not." she agreed. She wanted to point out that tough or not, he still had demolished her – but then a thought came to her, not in Jim's voice, but her own. Tough or not – she had managed to fight him off. That last night, she had stood up to him. And wasn't that was what the whole prosecution was about? Her standing up to him, her fighting back? And she had won. Jim was absolutely right, Roy wasn't so tough.

"This is just the beginning, you know." Jim said, nodding at the glowing city below them.

The cool night air drifted around them. Pam barely felt it. "I know."

She felt she could stand there forever, mounting possibilities on possibilities, planning their future, their dreams. Who wouldn't when they were almost literally standing at the top of the world?

"Where do you think we'll be ten years from now?" she mused quietly. She expected Jim to come up with some lengthy, slightly teasing monologue about how they'd be living in Maine somewhere or something. Instead he simply chuckled. It felt good against her neck.

"We've got the rest of our lives to figure it all out, Beesly."

That was good enough for her. Her heart exploded with warmth. She turned around in Jim's hold, catching him off guard as she threw her arms around his neck and pressed her mouth to his.

"I love you." she repeated when they had broken apart. Her face was inches from his and their noses were almost touching, her arms still circled around him. Then she kissed him again, a deep, rich kiss that set off fireworks in her stomach and butterflies around her body. There they stood, above the city, below the stars, together. As it all turned out, things couldn't have ended better.

THE END