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Author's Chapter Notes:

With this chapter we enter Part III- which for the most part occurs at Dunder Mifflin.

In case your forgot, here's what our time travelers have been up to.

Pam went home and did some painting. She got lonely and invited Michael over for lunch where he found her paintings and even bought one. After he left Pam went searching for a card she created for Roy. She found some other stuff instead including a note from a girl and a box of condoms with one missing... 

 

Boxes.

Rectangular receptacles, like the ones that held reams of paper and office supplies.

Only these repositories weren’t shelved in the warehouse or stacked up around their work space. They were lined up in her mind and the only reason she was able to sit calmly waiting with Michael in the Dunder Mifflin parking lot.

It was only by stashing away all the suspicions, the questions, the guilt, and the fear into neat little compartments it was possible for her to carry on as if it were any other Wednesday evening, never mind the fact that nothing about the day was typical.

Over the years Pam had become quite good at compartmentalizing her emotions, keeping separate all the nagging thoughts that would pop up in her everyday life, but now that she was living a second one, the boxes were filling up at an alarming rate and threatening to overflow.

But before she left her house, she made sure all the lids were on tight. She knew she would need every last bit of her tolerance and all her wits about her for the night she was about to spend with her boss.

It well after 7pm and still Dwight hadn't passed through the front doors of the Scranton Business Park building. His Firebird, Pam had to assume, was parked in his usual spot, the one he insisted had an extra inch and three quarters of space between the lines, making it the safest place for him to avoid being sideswiped by Meredith’s minivan or a wedged in because of Kevin’s lousy parking jobs.

On the rare occasions Jim beat him in to work, he would of course pull straight into that one, but it wasn’t often since Dwight was habitually early to arrive and frequently one of the last to leave, as he was again tonight.

According to Michael, who'd been waiting on him nightly for almost two weeks, his schedule was rather erratic. Sometimes, he'd be gone by six, another night it might be quarter to eight before he came out. Thankfully, Michael knew it could be a while before they could go inside and had suggested they pick up dinner to eat in the car while waiting on him to leave. They’d long since finished their meal, but the lingering aroma of the French fries was already making Pam’s stomach grumble with a touch of hunger again.

“I told you, you should have gotten the Triple Whopper.”

Michael rubbed at his belly, the wide-eyed smile of a minute ago contorting into a grimace before her eyes just as the glass doors they were watching swung open and out sauntered the hefty frame of Dunder Mifflin’s most dedicated, and yet aggravating paper salesman.

Without even being in his presence, his actions had a way of irritating her. In this case it was by imposing her to an extra hour confined to a car with Michael as he carried on about all the fun they were going to have during their stakeout while he scarfed down fast food.

“Thank God he’s out. I feel a different kind of whopper coming on.”

And now she was going to get another earful about his irritable bowels. Thanks a lot, Dwight.

The sour look on Michael’s face, Pam mirrored back to him with her response.

“Ugg, Michael, keep it to yourself.”

Pam turned back to watch Dwight disappear from view as his favorite spot was just beyond their line of sight, and waited for him to resurface behind the wheel of the retro muscle car she only just last week watched him drive into the gate they were currently waiting outside of.

She couldn’t help but wonder if their time travel resulted in his having a second concussion and what that meant for his health. As annoying as he could be, she realized during the first one he was her friend and would hate to think what was only supposed to be a prank could wind up having long-term, negative effects on his well-being.

Expecting him to drive back into view at any moment, Pam insisted to Michael they lower their seats back and get down beneath the windows so that they themselves wouldn’t be seen as he passed them.

After his snicker and the subsequent that's what she said, Pam hadn't predicted but should have, they ducked down and waited.

And waited.

And waited some more.

For all his constant talk of being impervious to even the most extreme winter temperatures, Dwight seemed to take forever waiting for his car to warm up.

When finally he emerged with a trail of billowing smoke rising out of his tailpipe as he passed their idling Honda, they slowly raised their seats back up.  Pam kept watch out the back to make sure the car continued off the block off in the direction of wherever his farm home was.

"Is that the newest fashion statement?" she heard Michael ask as she turned back to him.

"Is what the newest fashion statement?" she parroted back.

"Wearing only one earring?

She reached up to touch her ears. Yup, one of the blue studs was gone again. She might otherwise have checked in her hair or along the scarf that sat on her neck but she knew she wouldn’t find it. She knew it was lost again, this time perhaps for good. 

"Well that makes perfect sense."

Internally, she felt one of the lids of the boxes shift, leaving the contents exposed but the warehouse worker in her brain hurried over to shove it back down but not in time to keep one thought from escaping. Whatever it meant that she had found the earring a few days ago, the fact it was gone again had to mean something too, especially in light of what else she had found in the days since.

"I think you are wrong there. Two ears, two earrings, perfect sense. One earring makes imperfect sense."

"Can we forget about my earring and concentrate on getting inside. Or have you forgotten you have to use the bathroom?"

She couldn't believe she was bringing it up. At any other time, Michael's irritable bowel would be the last thing she would want to be talking about, but today the alternative was to dwell on her lost jewelry, and she knew that would open the Pandora’s box to all the other worries she was trying not to think about.

"I'm okay for now but we should probably get going. My bowels wait for no man. But they do wait for Charmin."

As Michael put the car into drive, Pam took the once again, lone earring out from her ear and tucked it into her coat pocket.

Michael pulled into the lot and reluctantly drove to the furthest spot from the door. He insisted Packer wouldn’t know the rental was Michael’s but Pam maintained it was still best to park where he might not notice the extra car when he got there.

Stepping out as soon as he turned off the motor, she noticed how much colder it had gotten while they had been waiting inside as if the weather was indicative of what her heart was trying not to feel. A shiver ran through her as she walked around to the back, meeting Michael at the trunk where they grabbed their bags. Michael was still grumbling about having to park so far when his spot was available.

Despite their hurry to get to the entrance, Michael still stopped short when he spotted a crack in the pavement.

"Pam, be careful. Don't step on that. It's bad luck."

Pam had never before noticed the long split in the concrete on this side of the lot. Roy always parked around back by the warehouse and when he didn't drop her off or pick her up from out front, she walked around the other way to where his truck was. If she had though, she would probably just as Michael advised now, try not to step on it, ever. Logically, she knew nothing bad would happen if she did, but why chance it?  

"One more reason why I'm glad I don't usually have to park all the way back here. All these cracks to have to avoid. No wonder terrible things keep happening here. I bet you guys are always stepping on this as you come in."

“I doubt that’s what it is, Michael,” she scoffed to him even as the superstitious side of her wondered if his theory had any merit.

There were no more obstacles blocking their way to the office but for the guard who she noticed as they got closer.

“What about him?” Pam nodded towards the watchman still at his post.

“Who Hank? Don’t worry, he’s used to me coming and going at all kinds of weird hours, even before I started sleeping here. He’ll barely even notice us.”

Michael was right. He said nothing as the unusual pair walked in, only nodded quietly as he gathered his things as if he was waiting on Michael’s arrival before he got up to leave himself.

She wondered what he thought they might be doing here after hours, but was more relieved he asked no questions as they made their way up to their home for the evening.

««««««

Five or so hours earlier Michael picked up Pam from her home and together they shopped for the provisions they would need for the night or nights. She knew they would have to stay at Dunder Mifflin keeping watch for Packer until he came and was, as planned, turned around after being deprived of leaving his, not the slightest bit funny and in truth quite disturbing, package. She was hoping following this overnight, Randall would take her in again for her last one as a time traveler, but she hadn’t been able to ask him yet having not seen him since their last meal almost a week ago.

Either way she knew she needed clothes for the next few days, one of them an outfit for work, the exact one she’d worn when she traveled back, only she couldn’t remember exactly which shirt she’d paired with her taupe skirt, black tights and gray cardigan. While there should have been duplicates of all the items she wore that Friday with the magic of time travel creating clones of not only people but also the clothes on their backs during the trip, but she couldn’t find a button-down in her closet that had a twin. Not in the hamper or laundry room either. She must have taken it with her to the Poconos.

It might not have mattered anyway, their goal for tonight was to alter the future, to prevent a certain event that would shift everything to follow, including quite possibly what she might choose to wear on Friday. 

Unsure what that would be, she grabbed a few shirt options. Knowing herself as well as she did, she just went with instinct and chose one with multi-colored stripes, one in pale green, and another striped in blue to pack with the rest of her workwear. Hopefully she’d be back to a single entity before the missing pieces were noticed by her duplicate self.

Between that and the other clothes items she packed she hoped she had enough to keep her cozy and warm for however many nights she had to sleep in the office with Michael.

She would have liked it to be none. She would have liked to leave Michael to be the sole watchman but knew that without her there to supervise, the mission would fail and she’d be no better off than she had been before he roped her into the fantastic voyage they were on.

The trip hadn't been all bad.

Complicated, yes, particularly so with needing shelter, clothes, and nourishment for two weeks and not always the means to secure it for herself. No wonder Hermione only went back a few hours at a time.

Confusing and mystifying, even more so. Even coming into it with the belief that unexplained phenomena were out there and the universe was full of signs and spiritual cues, had not prepared her to fully accept the magical muck she was knee deep in.

But there was a lot of good she gained while here, such as meeting Gabby who brought her to the Met, which in turn set off a spark to do more of the artistic endeavors she loved. There was the time she devoted to her painting. There was even her first sale of a piece, even if it was only to Michael.

Overnight she'd wrestled with her state of mind about everything else.  

Like learning Jim's true feelings, and recognizing her own, which knowing his seemed to draw out.

But it was what she found out about her own fiancé that had caused her the most anguish.

Still afraid he may have cheated, and uncertain if she could ever know for sure, she once again questioned whether marrying him was the right thing to do, but was just as unsure about calling it off. It still was possible he hadn’t, and then she’d be blowing up her life for a suspicion.

If life were a movie, it would be time for the fairy godmother or guardian angel or mysterious stranger to show up to tell her what to do. But the only one she expected to see tonight was Michael, and he was not definitely not someone she could talk over her love troubles with. No matter how close they were getting over this strange trip, she knew not to confide in him, nor did she expect he could provide useful advice. She still wasn’t sure what Jim had been thinking on the boat when he shared his own with him.

With only herself to rely on, her morning was consumed with packing and straightening up and making sure no ends were left loose in the house, but also tiding up the mess the time spent at home had left in her head.

All that she managed to pack up internally, she was well aware wouldn’t stay down for long. But it only needed to hold put for one more night.

She was hoping that after tonight was over, she could spend her last one with Randall and Gabby. Have the chance to talk her situation over with her new friend. Gabby knew what it was like to be torn between two lovers and somehow made the right choice. Plus, she was an unbiased party, unlike her mother who knew and loved Roy or Isabel who had been never his biggest fan.

That conversation however, would have to wait since tonight she was stuck here with Michael, babysitting him and his buddy Packer who they expected to show later, all so they could change the events to follow.

That day, the one that ended with a Time Turner around her neck, she absolutely did not want to relive.

She never thought about it before but if they failed, she might find herself in a permanent loop, stuck on a Möbius strip of time, just like Bill Murray, but instead of repeating February 2nd, she’d be forced into reliving a full two weeks over and over and it wouldn’t be with Andie MacDowell, who she had a bit of a girl crush on once upon a time, but Michael Scott she’d be trapped with for all eternity.

She shuttered thinking about it but when they made their last stop before the office, at Blockbuster for movies, which Michael said no slumber party stakeout should be without, she picked out Groundhog Day from the classic comedy section.

»»»»»»»

Michael dashed off to the bathroom almost the minute they walked in, leaving Pam alone in the bullpen. It felt somewhat strange entering the office again after having been away so long but only until she saw the note peeking out from under the keyboard on her desk. She didn't even have to look to know it was from Jim. For him it had only been a few days, but she expected he would have lots to share of his time left alone with Dwight and Michael.

It opened with Welcome Back Beesly, written in big bold letters, below which he listed with detailed description all the pranks he’d played on Dwight while she’d been gone and all the ridiculous things Michael said and did in her absence. Little did he know she was collecting her own treasure trove of Michaelisms with his time traveling double, not that she would ever be able to share them.

Feeling much more acclimated after reading the note, she looked around the rest of her space, careful not to move too much around until she remembered that Ryan had been in her spot the last few days and she didn’t need to be all that concerned with making sure things were as they were.

Before heading to the kitchen to join Michael, she took a look around the empty office for anything that might have changed from her absence and Michael's nightly visits.

Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Dwight had a new bobblehead, but otherwise his desk was as she remembered it.  Stanley’s cars were still as they were before. The amount of M&Ms in Kevin’s jar was significantly reduced but that would make perfect sense for the number of days since she last saw it.

Only the arrangement of her workspace was different but she assumed that was Ryan’s doing.

Seeing nothing to indicate the time travel had made any major impact on her other life, she returned the note to its spot under the keyboard and went to join Michael in the kitchen.

««««««

Tired after the drive home, she would have liked to get right into bed as it was pretty late and tomorrow at the office was some woman’s seminar that Jan was coming in for. She had no idea what to expect, but knew it would be a busier day than usual, especially on the heels of her few days off.

Sleepy as she was, she was also never one to be able to leave the unpacking for later, so upon entry into the bedroom she plopped her travel suitcase on the bed and started the process. Setting a pile of the dirty clothes on the ground beside her, she began the trips to return what was unworn to their regular homes in the closet and her dresser. Roy, in contrast was not at all concerned with his bags and was already stripped to his underwear, headed to the bathroom with his shaving kit, the only thing Pam knew he would take out of it until later in the week. The rest would get unpacked as he needed it, or when she told him she was starting the laundry and to bring her his dirty clothes from the trip. Knowing him, everything else would sit in the bag until she either nagged him about it or more likely, unpacked the remaining items herself.

It was on the third walk back to the bed when she felt the small prick under her foot.

“Oh my gosh. My earring!”

“What earring?” Roy asked coming back into the bedroom, hand down his boxers, scratching himself.

Pam bent down to pick up the cause of her slight pain, the stud she had to assume had been hiding in the bag for years, and hitchhiked with the laundry to the floor.

With the newly-found gemstone in her possession again, excitement superseded her judgement, and she blurted out excitedly what was better kept to herself.

“The sapphire stud. The something blue you gave me for my birthday to wear at our wedding. To be finding it again now, how perfect is that? Like the universe knew.”

Roy’s reaction however did not mirror hers.  He was less excited that it had been found and more angry to hear it have ever been lost.

“What do you mean finding it again now?”

It occurred to her he still hadn’t realized it was ever gone, which would make sense since she never told him. Still, having found it, she felt it safe to reveal it now, never thinking what she read as a sign of promise for them was actually a poisoned chalice.

“What the hell Pammy? I spend my hard-earned money on expensive jewelry for you and you lose them. I can’t believe it. That’s so wrong Pammy.”

“Yeah, Roy. I lost it on purpose. I decided you don’t get pissed enough when the remote is missing. Let’s up the game and lose an earring just to mess with you.”

She knew it was goading him. She knew it was better to just say sorry and he’d calm down sooner, but she was growing tired of his hot temper and the way he talked to her sometimes. Just before they left on this trip, he blew up over a small amount of cash he accused her of taking. Money, that even if she did, which she knew she didn’t, was missing from the pocket of jeans she repeatedly told him to empty before she did the wash. After the fight they had long ago, when she washed his fantasy picks, she’d told him it was his responsibility to make sure his pockets were empty before items were put in the hamper, or thrown on the floor near it.

“But you know what’s wrong. That for almost 3 years you didn’t notice I haven’t been wearing them.”

“How was I supposed to notice? I don’t look at your ears every day.”

"Well, that's not all you don't notice."

She was pretty hot herself now, feeling the emotions color her nose and cheeks red.

“Maybe if you paid a little more attention to me instead of your fantasy football and your beer, you…" she let the rest trail off, afraid to let things escalate even more when she just wanted to finish unpacking and get to bed.

"…never mind."

She began to leave for the bathroom when he grabbed her arm.

"No, not never mind. How am I the bad guy here? You lost the expensive topaz earring I got you and I'm at fault."

"Sapphire."

She felt her eyes well up with angry tears she knew would begin spilling if she didn't get out of the room, and pulled herself free from his grasp.  In minutes she'd gone from elation to ire, which was going to come out as a fountain that she didn't want him to see. It always did and she felt weak for not being able to express her anger without falling apart.

"What?"

She managed to keep it together long enough to bristle one last thing before she stormed off.

“It's a sapphire, not a topaz. See you don't even know what you bought me.”

“Whatever, Pammy. Thanks for ruining our vacation,” she heard him roar at her as he slammed the door behind her.

Once safely away from Roy in the bathroom, she let herself cry as she unclenched the fist holding the tiny stud and set it down on the vanity. The facets and post left a mark on her skin but it was the impression of the fight that hurt more. Big, fat, chunky tears stained her face while she sat on the lidded toilet pulling paper from the roll next to it to blow her nose and wipe her eyes.  He was right about one thing, what had up until now had been a rather fun vacation, felt ruined.

When the anger ebbed and the drops subsided, she rose to wash up. The sight of the gem next to where Roy had left his shaving kit nearly brought on a fresh round, but she sucked her emotions back and tried to tuck them away into the internal box where she stored all the other misgivings. The earring she picked up and put in the medicine chest for safety while she washed up. Now found, she had no intention of losing it again down the sink drain, but she also had no desire to wear them tomorrow as she initially had. She wasn’t even sure she wanted to dig out the mate tonight.

Turning on the faucet, she let the water warm up, looking up at her reflection while she waited. Into the mirror she stared at her swollen, red nose and her blotchy, tear-stained face, both expected after the session of weeping. But it was her eyes that she was drawn to fixate on. The crying had tinted them pink and irritated the lenses she wore, which should have clouded their focus. Instead, she saw clearly the sadness that was in them. Sadness that should not be there following a fun vacation with her future husband. Sadness that seemed to pop up when she should be at her most happy.

How the hell did it even sneak in this time? One minute she was ecstatically amazed at the timing of her finding, of a sign she thought was being sent from the universe.  Seconds later it was reason for another fight.

The fights were supposed to be happening less now that she now longer needed to bury resentment about his stalling. Things were supposed to be better now that they were going to be getting married soon, but if anything, ever since setting the date, their issues seemed to be multiplying.

The thing in the car last week. The argument over the missing money. The fact he seemed no more interested in planning a wedding than he had before. Now this.

All these little cracks in her relationship, the ones she thought would go away, they were not repairing themselves but rather seemed to be splintering in the last two weeks.

She never stopped to think they had not been brought about from waiting on a wedding, but perhaps they were there from the start. That they were faults in the foundation itself.

For the first time, she considered it before she dipped her head down to the sink to wet her face with the running water.

Chapter End Notes:
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