Pam pulled into the parking lot, slowing to a stop beside a dauntingly large four-by-four and promptly cut off the engine. The building loomed in front of them, sharp and sterile with just enough shadow to impart an extra sense of foreboding into its visitors. Not that she needed any help with that.

She hated hospitals. For herself at least, they served as an incubator of painful memories, bloody noses, broken ribs, a mirror that reflected the true, ugly inside of you for everyone to see. Did someone inflict these injuries on you, Miss Beesly? Are you safe at home Miss Beesly? She shivered. Jim sat in his seat next to her calmly unbuckling the safety belt.

Jim. She was here for Jim.

"Okay?" she questioned, hesitating slightly, then put a hand on Jim's arm. She tilted her head, her eyes soft with concern. He nodded, flashing a nervous grin and got out. Observing him casually, Pam walked round to the passenger side, softly grasping his shoulder and quickly leaned up on her toes to kiss him on the cheek. He turned to her, his eyes wide and grateful. They linked hands, trudging along the gravel together.

An attractive young woman came hurrying in their direction. Pam didn't take much notice of her, merely raising an unconscious finger of anxiety at the sudden movement until Jim slipped his hand from hers, darting towards the woman excitedly. The woman flung herself on him like a whirlwind, chattering indecipherably. Pam watched the two hug with an amused smile, her artists eyes taking in the resemblances between them. The woman was all hair, soft brunette locks that fell down to her chest in a beautiful sheen, exactly the shade of Jim's hair. Good Halpert genes. They shared the same tentative smile, the same lip shape. Pam warmed to her immediately.

"This is Larissa!" Jim told her, releasing the woman, who stepped back and looked between the two of them curiously. Larissa raised her eyebrows towards her brother, quickly dropping them and smothering her surprise.

"That's Pam." Jim clarified, draping an arm around her shoulders comfortably. They followed his sisters lead into the reception. Larissa slowed down, taking hold of Jim's other arm.

"Jim." Pam heard her whisper as they walked towards the hospital elevators. "Who's Pam?"

Jim chuckled softly. Pam smiled to herself, liking the woman all the more.

-TO-

Jim's mom was alone in the waiting room, rising to her feet as the three of them walked in. She greeted Jim in a tight, controlled voice, pulling him against her chest in a fierce hug.

"Where's Pete?" Larissa complained loudly. "I told him not to leave you here alone."

Betsy had turned to Pam, not hearing her daughters words. Gently this time, she guided Pam into a soft embrace, before releasing her with a small smile. "It's lovely to see you again. Thank you for coming."

Pam blushed and opened her mouth to reply, but Jim beat her to it. "Mom- How's Dad? What's happening?"

Betsy's eyes were suddenly shining with unshed tears. "I don't know a thing about what's happening. We haven't even seen anyone yet. He, he kept saying he felt dizzy and he was sick. He absolutely insisted I didn't need to call the doctor- you know how your father is." Betsy bit her lip – a motion that was uncannily Jim in nature. She was clearly trying hard to present a calm, controlled front. "But when his chest began to hurt him, he couldn't breathe properly, I called for an ambulance. I don't know what's happening! It's been hours!"

"Mom, please sit down." Larissa said in a gentle voice, moving towards her to take her arm.

"I'll go see if I can find out what's happening." Jim volunteered. "Just sit down and take it easy Mom." He turned, looking to catch Pam's eye. Unspoken words passed between the two, and Pam nodded her head in reassurance, sitting down next to his mom. Jim moved to leave the room, nearly colliding with a taller, older man who Pam immediately presumed to be one of his brothers.

"You'd think those bathrooms are for kids, honestly… a man has to…" the man trailed off, looking at the extra faces in the room.

"Hey, uh, I was just going to look for the doctor." Jim told him, stepping out of his way.

The man grunted his approval and followed Jim out the door. "I'll come with. Who's the girl in there with Mom?" they heard him say as the two of them disappeared. Pam's eyes narrowed as she watched his retreating form with barely concealed concern.

Larissa shook her head. "That's Pete. He's a jerk sometimes."

"Larissa." Betsy admonished wearily. Pam watched the interaction curiously, sensing this was traditional Halpert family dialogue.

"Wait 'til Tom gets here." Larissa continued with a small laugh. "Chaos. Mayhem. You can't even blink safely."

Pam smiled, her curiosity piqued. She found herself kind of excited about the prospect of hearing all kinds of amusing stories about Jim as a kid, as a teenager, imagining him to have been an adorable child with an endearing grin and mischievous knack for fun and trouble.

"Last time Tom and Pete visited they got hold of my cell phone," Larissa was saying, "They switched all my contacts to different curry places. Every time I tried to call someone I got eat in or takeout. They didn't stop laughing for like a month."

"They do take after their father." Betsy added quietly, shaking her head. Then the woman paled, as if the simple mention of her husband struck her again with the full horror of the seriousness of his condition. Soundlessly she leaned forward, lifting a hand over her mouth, her chest heaving. Not liking the woman's color, or lack thereof, Pam stood up and walked across the room, returning with a paper cup filled with cool water.

"Here." she said softly. Betsy took the cup gratefully.

"Thank you." she said, looking at Pam. "Where is the doctor?" she added anxiously, tapping her foot. It made a strange echoing sound; a lonely noise inside the distant commotion of the hospital corridors.

"They'll probably be back any minute." Larissa said hopefully.

"That's right." Pam agreed.

"He couldn't breathe." Betsy said, to no one in particular. "He couldn't breathe and he was having chest pains. What if it's his heart?"

The woman looked absolutely terrified. Pam reached out to her. "Have they let you see him yet?"

Limply, Betsy shook her head. "I should have called the ambulance sooner. I knew something was wrong, why didn't I?"

Next to her, Larissa sat up straight then leaned her head back against the wall behind her, lifting her eyes to the ceiling. "Because he told you not to Mom."

They sat in silence a while, then Larissa sighed loudly. "I hate this."

All three tensed at the sound of footsteps and low, mumbled voices just outside the door. Pam could almost feel the woman next to her turning to stone, a hard shell capable of handling bad news. But the footsteps faded away and the owners of the voices disappeared again.

"What on earth is taking the boys so long?" Betsy twisted her hands together, her eyes anxiously trained on the door.

"The waiting is torture, isn't it." Pam said with sympathy. They lapsed into a morose quiet again. She lowered her eyes to the floor, feeling awkward. Typical hospital sounds travelled through the walls into the little room, electronic alarms, carts and wheelchairs being rolled down the corridor, the regular beeps and blips of hospital machines. She wondered how anyone could ever rest and heal in such an environment. Hopefully Jim's dad was in a room with less chaos, hopefully Jim would be back with good news soon. She couldn't bear to think of him coming back and hearing the worst possible news. Even though his mom wore a tough, resolute expression Pam was perceptive enough to see underneath the carefully composed face to the much paler, terrified woman inside. Her arms trembled with an unexpected urge to lean over and hug the woman.

"Are you Jim's girlfriend?" Larissa asked curiously, crossing her ankles.

Pam blushed further, leaning forward to face Jim's sister. She considered her response. "Yeah." she replied simply, after a moment's pause.

"Hmmm." The younger woman was visibly perplexed. "I thought your name was Katy."

Biting her lip to stifle a laugh at her bewildered expression, Pam sought to reassure her with a joke. "As far as I'm aware, I've always been a Pam. Unless this is a really bad joke my parent's have been playing on me."

"Katy was Jim's last girlfriend." Betsy clarified.

Larissa's eyes widened, then her head jerked slightly. Her lips pursed with amusement, her eyebrows raising in unison. It was Jim's expression; practiced and playful. She'd seen it a thousand times. Pam couldn't help but smile.

"Ooops." Larissa smiled back at Pam, diving into her purse. From the bag Pam could hear a deep rumbling, watching as Larissa rummaged inside a few moments, finally extracting a fairly large red covered cell phone.

"Hmm. It's Marci. Maybe Tom's arrived." She turned to her mother. "I'll take it outside, better reception out there."

Pam nodded, remembering the tinny phone call she had heard earlier. "Can I get you anything?" she asked Jim's mother as Larissa left the room. "Coffee or something else?"

Betsy smiled gratefully at her. "No, thank you. I don't think I could stomach anything."

Pam bit her tongue thoughtfully, awkwardly unsure of herself. She badly wanted to somehow to make things easier for the woman; even if it just was something as simple as bringing her drinks and tissues or just sitting with her in silence if that was what she wanted.

"Tests." Betsy said. "Tests, they are doing tests on him. He has high blood pressure. I don't suppose Jim has told you that."

Pam cast her mind back. No, Jim had not mentioned anything of the sort as far as she could recall. "Has anything like this happened before?"

Betsy blinked at her, as if clearing her head. "No, not like this. He was sick this morning, then his chest hurt him. The paramedics were worried. Took him with the lights on." She shook her head again.

"That must have been terrifying." Pam said genuinely. The door pushed open behind them.

"Mrs Halpert? If you'd like to come this way."

Without a word, the both of them rose to their feet and followed the nurse, a short, excessively thin woman with a kind, albeit timid expression. She led them down the opposite direction of the long corridor and through a doorway into a smaller, brighter room. Pam's stomach sank, fearing the worst. Instinctively she inched closer to Betsy, suddenly feeling a protectiveness towards her, yet it was Jim her concern immediately went to – Jim she wanted to shield from this. Her stomach turned to ice at the thought of receiving the worst news and how he would feel about it. He hadn't said much on the fairly long drive to the hospital, but she knew him well and she knew that what he projected on the outside was not always what was happening inside of him. This morning being a prime example. She had noted the subtle signs without comment; the constant lip biting, the over abundance of cheerfulness in his tone, the ever so slight quiver in his voice that someone not familiar with him would likely fail to notice. At least she had been there when the call came and had been able to accompany him to the hospital; she had briefly wondered if he had been alone things might have played out differently.

"Okay." The nurse began.

"My sons and my daughter-" Betsy began, distressed.

"The receptionist will bring them here." The nurse stood by, crossing her arms over her front. Seconds later they were joined by an older woman wearing a white coat. Soon she had introduced herself as the doctor and began to talk, using unnecessarily complicated words and medical jargon. One look at Betsy and Pam could see it was going over her head.

"I'm sorry, I'm not getting you - hypertension, that's his blood pressure, right?" Pam asked, for Betsy's benefit.

"Yes." the doctor straightened her back, standing stiffly in the center of the room. "This kind of episode – his chest pain, his nausea, the shortness of breath can be brought forward by many causes, sometimes something as simple as age, or as preventative as weight or smoking habits. We know he is not overweight –"

"– He's not a smoker either."

"Thank you, Mrs Halpert. We have more tests to run, however your husband has been extremely lucky – we don't suspect there is any damage to his organs, although we'll know more after the tests. Currently we're treating him intravenously and administering medication to lower his blood pressure."

Pam nearly turned as she felt a cold, trembling hand slip through her arm, gripping her gently at the elbow. "Is he at risk of another episode?" Pam asked. She felt this was a fear that was playing on Betsy's nerves.

The doctor nodded bluntly. "There is always risk present with hypertension. However with proper self care and medication the risks can be minimal. Your husband appears to be in good physical health otherwise. Currently he is stable and comfortable and we'll continue to monitor his blood pressure."

"I-is he going to recover?"

Pam felt Betsy squeeze her arm tightly, and she turned to give the woman a comforting look.

"He's responding well to treatment and if he continues to do so we can look at releasing him in a day or two." the doctor replied, and turned to the nurse.

Pam felt Betsy go weak with relief beside her.

-TO-

After helping the older woman into a seat, Pam rushed outside, returning quickly with a cool paper cup of water.

"Thank you." Betsy whispered. Pam noticed her body was trembling and reached out to steady the water in her hands. "Thank you." she repeated.

Pam went over and slid into the seat next to her. "Are you okay?"

"Okay." she replied softly. "Thank god."

"Hmmm?" Pam creased her forehead.

"Thank god he's alright. He's going to be alright." slowly the stiff, rigid posture leaked out of the woman, her body slumping in relief.

"That's right." Pam agreed, reaching to pat her shoulder blade in comfort.

Betsy managed a small shaky smile, looking at Pam gratefully. "Every time I see you, you're bringing me water." she noted. Then the smile slipped off her face and was replaced by an expression of quiet distress. "I was prepared for the worst. I quite thought…." she trailed off miserably. "He was white as milk. He couldn't breathe. I really thought…."

"I'm really sorry. That must have been awful to experience."

"He simply sat down, like everything was normal, as he would any other morning. Only he was so pale. Then he groaned in pain… it was the most horrifying thing. I felt so helpless."

Pam looked at her kindly. "You weren't helpless though. You called an ambulance, you got him here. You probably saved his life by doing that." she said, taking the woman's hand and leaning forward to her.

Pam felt her hand squeeze and Betsy lifted her head. Her eyes were bright, shining. "Thank you." she breathed. She took another sip of water before placing the cup on the empty seat next to her.

"Thank god for Larissa and the boys. And you. All of you dropped everything and came here straight away. Even Pete and Tom, who have quite a distance to travel." she let out a shaky breath. "How's Jim handling it?"

Pam hesitated. "Uh… he's not said much," she fought to find the words. "To be honest… I was a bit worried."

She looked away, fearing that she was being disloyal to Jim in some way – she had no experience in this situation. If she expressed her concern to Betsy was she breaking some rule or would Jim see it as her going behind his back as Roy absolutely would have seen it? She fought with herself, trying to figure out how much she was supposed to say.

It was as if Betsy had read her mind. "Don't worry. Jim isn't going to be upset with you. He's never really found it easy to open up when he's upset about anything. I suppose that may have something to do with his brothers. Sometimes their teasing would get a little out of hand."

Pam had suspected as much from the little Jim had let on to her. "I don't think I'm much good at helping him with that. He's a really… good guy." she admitted, flushing a little. "I just wish I could do a bit more for him."

Betsy reflected quietly a moment. "It was a few weeks ago," she mused. "That my husband made a comment that Jim was happier than he'd seen him in a long time." She turned to Pam, speaking quietly. "We're you aware that we've been quite concerned about him?"

Pam drew her eyebrows together, surprised. "No, I wasn't."

Betsy nodded and went on. "It's been obvious to us for a while that he hasn't been happy. Last year he came to us for a visit and we knew something was wrong but we just couldn't get him to open up."

"I'm sorry." Pam said immediately, her insides freezing. She had been so caught up in her own problems, her own mess of a life those few years… she hadn't noticed anything especially wrong with Jim. But reflecting back now she thought maybe there were signs there – signs she had been too self involved to see. The way he had sometimes brooded quietly at his desk, the way he really only came to life when he was planning something or messing around with her. Hindsight could be cruel. "How could I not have seen it?" she mumbled to herself.

"He's like his father in that respect. He wouldn't have wanted you to see it. I also expect his mood lifted around you."

Words drained away from her. Pam felt her face grow hot, her eyes fell to the floor.

"My son needs someone like you." Betsy went on. "I've listened to him talk about you for years. I've seen you with him. My husband was right, he has changed since he's been with you. Not all striking changes, things you may not have even noticed. I've never seen his house or any room of his so clean and tidy before. There was actual food in his fridge. There's a light in his eyes that we thought we'd not see again."

"Well… I'm not sure that I'm responsible – "

"He always seemed quite indifferent with his other girlfriends, laid back and casual. He never seemed to want to become serious about anyone." she looked at Pam cautiously. "Things are different with you, aren't they?"

"He's very good to me. Even though I'm a pain in the ass."

"Nonsense." Betsy said warmly, squeezing her hand again. "You know. I never worried about Jim in that respect as much as I did Tom and Pete. They always had each other and they often tended to hold each other back, to be too laid back. Jim was the more sensitive, the more level headed out of the boys. We've always thought it was the age difference, Tom and Pete were often getting into some mischief or other, they always had each other. Always trying to impress each other, who can come up with the best jokes, the best pranks to play on their sister and Jim. They rubbed off on each other a lot, where Jim had a chance to sit back from that due to his being younger, he was able to grow into his own person. No, we knew Jim would be okay in the end, he was the one out of the boys we were sure of. He and Larissa were close when they were kids, they would confide in each other at times."

"I'd really love to see some pictures of him when he was a kid." Pam told her.

Betsy's face seemed to light up. "That can most certainly be arranged."

They fell into a comfortable silence. Pam was beginning to feel concerned that Jim and the others had not returned yet. The doctor had been and gone and still they weren't back.

"No, my Jim is going to be just fine." Betsy mused softly.