Remarkably, and with great thanks to Randall, she was able to wake up Michael and get him safely down to the secret room on the first floor. Leaving him made her nervous of course, but like on the boat she made him pinky swear not to move from the spot until she came to get him. Besides, from the way he was yawning and the glazed over look in his eyes, she was fairly confident the only place he was going was back to sleep.

In her rush to get back she herself forgot to grab anything from the stash of snacks she left there earlier. Reminded by a noiseless but brisk movement in her abdomen, it was only after she stepped up to the office door that she even thought about the food downstairs again. After the larger than normal breakfast she’d eaten, it seemed too soon to be hungry again but since the rumble she felt said otherwise she clamped her hands to her belly hoping to keep the gurgle from getting any louder.

Michael, the second version—or was this one the first; calling this one the primary Michael made sense as he was living his first experience with this day, but then again after the changes their other selves had made to the timeline, so was the other one. Whatever way she chose to classify the Michael currently pacing in front of the conference room, he seemed much more rested than the one she just left. Rested but not relaxed. In fact, he seemed so much more on edge than usual. Her view from just inside the doorway was not clear enough to make out the look on his face but still she knew him well enough to know just what he was thinking and doing. Even though he was preoccupied with the meeting that was occurring, everyone else in the bullpen was still carrying about their normal business and would surely see her if she tried to slip in.

But just as she was about to retreat and head around to the staircase leading to the annex, he called them to gather behind Jim’s desk for an impromptu men’s seminar of his own. As the shifting of seats and scooting together started she thought she might just have the window she needed to sneak back in unnoticed so she waited a moment more.

To her benefit, he began the session by having the group clap emotively, and it was during this distracting round of applause she was able to slide over from the front alcove without being seen and shrewdly tuck herself into the hideaway across from accounting.

It was clear from the overexaggerated laughter that he erupted into next, imitated by Kevin and outdone by Dwight, the true purpose of his meeting was to annoy Jan and interrupt whatever was happening behind the closed doors where the women were.

It wasn’t long before Jan stormed out the door to kick him and his band of merry men from the bullpen, banishing them to the warehouse.

What that resulted in was the females in the conference room and all the males downstairs —all but Toby who she saw evade the gang and head back to his space in the annex, and her spying on an empty room. As risk-averse as she was in her regular life, she had taken a huge chance in this one to get back into the room and was left with nothing to see. Her number one reason coming back upstairs was to observe Jim, to experience how this newly enlightened version would feel being near him and now he was downstairs, hanging out with Roy no less.

With nothing to do but wait, she found herself growing anxious. She needed something to keep her busy while she waited. After a quick glance around for cameramen, she was glad it was Matt and not Randall who followed the boys out, she felt safe to come out briefly from hiding. Still keeping low and furtive, she got over to her own desk where she had her pencils and paper. It could be some time before the groups took some sort of break, and sketching would help take her mind off what was going on in each of the gender specific meetings.

The longer she sat there, the more she drew, recreating the events of the recent past with graphite representations of items that stood out in her recent memory, things like the Time Turner, and a sleeping Eros, and a pair of studded earrings. Earrings, if she still had the complete set, meant to be worn at her wedding.

The one she was no longer sure she was going to have.

And yet still wasn’t sure she was ready to call off. Not without a more definitive sign directing her what to do.

Pushing away the paper given that it wasn’t bringing her any closer to making a decision, nor was it helping to curb the curiosity about what was being said on the other side of the glass wall, she began to wonder what was going to happen at the end of tomorrow.

Ever since the nauseating spin that took them back, the passing hours felt static. She knew time was still progressing and yet her sense of it felt irrelevant, the days ahead for her original life were preordained to exist much as they had been, as she remembered.

But now it was if she could feel time moving again. In the silence of the room, the ticks of the clock on the wall were thunderous, synchronized in step with her own beating heart that seemed almost as loud. No longer on a path she knew where was taking her, no more certain what her future had in store, she felt lost and unable to make decisions for the Pam that was that enclosed in the conference room. That Pam was still stuck in her past, acting without the knowledge she alone had.

The longer she sat there, the more she sympathized with Michael being unaware what was being said in Jan’s meeting. Except where in his case, there was little to suggest the conversation was about him, in hers, it very well could be since she was in there, engaged in it.

The strangest part to her was how as the minutes of this day passed by for the second time, still the only moments she could call up of how it had transpired before involved the debacle with the carpet, too much Michael and not enough Jim. Everything happening to her now was an element of her past and yet none of it was captured in her memory.

The sensation of her current state felt familiar in the way dreams often did upon waking. Like the times when she came to, all aflush and wildly happy, aware she’d been experiencing some amazing other existence as she slept but unable to summon back any part of where she’d been or what she’d been doing in her subconscious mind.

Somehow, even while those dreamlike episodes had evaporated into a black hole of her own oblivion, their remained a visceral sense of another life, leaving her feeling like she had retrograde amnesia of her own dreams.

Only this was her real life, and someone else was living it for her. But that someone was her.  

That is if it even was a real life. Once again, she imagined the worst, that this whole thing wasn’t some alternate reality her mind made up while she lay in a hospital bed or on the side of the road after a terrible car accident. A mechanism of her psyche to cope to the tragedy that had befallen her.

Whether or not that was what was happening to her, it was her current reality, at least until tomorrow.

The longer she sat the louder the ticking of the clock seemed to become, the staccato rhythm soon joined by the tiny grumbles beginning again in her stomach, each one a reminder to get back to the better hiding space before the groups broke for lunch. Knowing her own next meal could be awhile yet, she thought to grab a handful of jelly beans from where she kept the refill stash in the bottom drawer. Not a lot were left in the bag but hopefully it would be enough to quiet the noises rising from her belly.

Lifting herself from the where she’d been sitting cross-legged under her desk, she gathered up the drawings and peeked over the ledge to look around before slipping over to the crevice between her space and the accounting pod, and not a moment too soon because just as she got back in behind the boxes, the front door opened and in walked Jim, looking quite uncomfortable and not at all like his cheerful self.

It was pure luck she’d vacated the space when she did. From where she had been, she knew she wouldn’t have been seen by anyone merely walking by. What she hadn’t anticipated that Jim’s first stop would be at her desk to grab some jelly beans of his own. Even without her other version there to talk to, he lingered in his regular spot for a beat, looking almost lost as he scanned the items in her area before turning to peer wistfully over to the conference room. From her hidden alcove, she followed his gaze to the door when it swung open and none other than she, herself walked out.

The view from where she was tucked into a corner wasn’t great but she craned her head and body around in such a way to get a better look and eavesdrop on the pair while staying concealed. The first thing she noticed was that look again, the one she hadn’t been able to place when she saw it overcome Gabby’s face while she shared the story of her first meeting with Randall. Now, watching herself greet Jim it came back to her the other time she’d seen it.

It was on the boat, the last time she was witness to her own face when she was around him. There was no other way to describe the smile she wore as soon as she saw him but resplendent.

“How's it going down there?”

There was a lilt in her voice, a sing-songy quality that instantly seemed to change Jim’s cheerless disposition as well as her own.

“It's not going well…” he began, his tone getting lighter with every word until he seemed almost buoyantly happy.

“...actually nope, I take that back. It's exactly what you'd expect from a Michael-led male bonding session. What are you girls doing?”

The Pam behind the wall thought about what she might say in response at precisely the same moment the Pam out by Jim’s desk said pretty much the same thing she was thinking, word for word.

“We watched a video about our changing bodies.”

Jim took another peek inside the conference room, most likely looking for the TV, which she figured was where she wheeled it to after Michael left her last night to take Packer home. He might have even bought her story had she not directly given herself up with telling eyes and a cracking smirk.

Oh boy, my poker face needs a lot of work.

As she watched herself giggle, Jim opened his mouth to speak but before he could say anything he was cut off by a somewhat more serious version of herself.

“Um... but hey? Something kind of cool. There's this internship in graphic design that Jan was telling us about. She made it sound, like, really great.”

Pam’s eyes bounced from the glimmer in her own to the fascination in Jim’s and followed their glance to the folded brochure she held in her left hand.

Without missing a beat Jim responded, seeming almost as excited about whatever it was as she seemed to be.

“Nice. Well, what's it all about?”

Yeah, what is it about?

Now more than even before she wished she hadn’t repaired the Time Turner so fast. Had she waited even just until this afternoon then new memories of the day could be filling in her head, and she would have a little more information about this art-related internship. But in remembering the chaos that occurred when it cracked, she realized it was best they had. There was already an overload of confliction in her head making her existence feel fuzzy and illusory. Plus, the incongruity of messages from her brain and her heart were like flies at a picnic, relentless in their increasingly loud buzzing and becoming harder to ignore. Better she be the fly, unnoticed on the wall, catching small bits of information through the interaction with Jim. She knew she couldn’t trust what her other self might be remembering anyway; that version had long since accepted there were flies in her life and was content to live with them.

Watching herself and Jim she might be able to glean a few details being that he always expressed interest in what she talked about and was the type who would ask questions she would be only too happy to answer.

Except this time. He didn’t even wait to hear her out before he told her to go for it.

“I think you should do it. That's great!”

“It's really cool.”

“Hey, walk with me to the bathrooms. I want to hear more but I only have a few minutes before I have to get back down there.”

And like that, they were gone and so was anything more she was going to learn about this fascinating opportunity.

Jim came out first from the kitchen without her and after a quick stop at his desk left for the warehouse again. Knowing herself as well as she did, she didn't even have to see it to know she stayed behind to read over the entire pamphlet, likely with a yogurt or an early nibble of her 4:00 candy. The frozen chocolate she kept stashed in the freezer was her go-to in times of sadness, stress or even when she was super-excited. From what she knew of last night and what little she saw of today, she imagined it was all three she was feeling.

Thinking about herself eating in the other room brought her attention to her own stomach which somehow had stopped grumbling even though she hadn’t had anything more than the few jelly beans before. Lucky too, as the rest of the women came out one by one, Phyllis came out to make a phone call, Angela to input something at her computer, while Meredith and Kelly went right to the kitchen laughing about something as they passed through.

Quiet settled over the bullpen after each returned to the conference room, herself last. It was just the lull she needed to squeeze a trip downstairs to check on Michael and grab a bite from the food she’d stashed in the room where he was. She knew her stomach wouldn’t stay silent for long and she had hoped to be able to fill it and then get back upstairs in time to catch any more of the office gossip after the two meetings broke for the day. She might even be lucky enough to overhear an exchange with Jan back by her own desk. It was very interesting, this art internship, whatever it was.

She first heard the grumble of her stomach again before she even saw him come around from the front entrance. As if she knew he would be coming, her past version also reemerged from the conference room to greet him up by reception. The angle of her view was slightly blocked and they stood too far for her to make out any of her words but as the other Pam showed him the brochure, she knew she was not promoting it well. She had to give herself credit though; she didn’t give up right away. Standing firm in front of Roy she seemed to be advocating for herself, perhaps even using the tactics she’d seen Jim and Dwight both pull out when pushing upgraded paper to their customers. But it didn’t help. In the end, her salesmanship had a lot to be desired because though she couldn’t hear a word, she could see by the shaking of his head and the way he slapped the folded leaflet back into her hands he still wasn’t sold.

She should have known it was too good to be true, this opportunity that seemed to come from out of nowhere, and at a time when she was ready for something like it as Michael had just lit the fire in her to do something more with her skills and talent.

But she was no stranger to putting aside her desires and her feelings because they didn’t align with his. And the timing, while good for the Pam evolving into a stronger version of herself, might not be right for the one she watched argue with Roy. That one she knew was seeing his point, whatever that point was that had him rejecting the idea so hastily. As if proving which version held dominion, that the one behind the boxes was no more than the extension splintered off the original, resignation to Roy’s decision started to spill over to where she was once again accepting his rejection.

It left her operating in two simultaneous mental states where the pull of her hands to each other to twist at her ring was met by an opposite force repelling them from another. As the tautness between them ebbed and tightened over and over, something inside of her roared. It was probably her stomach again but even so, as she watched the crestfallen shadow of herself walk, head down, back into the conference room, this version managed to keep her hands apart, clenched them into fists and starting asking angry questions.

What happened to the woman who stood up to him last night? Where had she gone?

She knew. The other Pam would soon be back, the one who let him crush her spirit and her ambitions in order to keep their relationship from becoming volatile and unstable.

But when did she learn to accept his dismissal of her aspirations?

When did she come to hide what she was all about because her dreams weren’t aligned with his?

When did she become so quick to follow in his wake, even when it wasn’t the direction she wanted to go?

Just because his passions weren’t the same as her didn’t mean he shouldn’t be supportive, especially if he claimed to love her.

Jim had different interests from her too, he was just as into sports as Roy was and his knowledge of and regard for the world of art didn’t expand beyond collecting her doodles and sketches. And yet he seemed to know more about that side of her, more of what it meant to her to be offered a chance to create in her work. He, unlike Roy, saved more of what she created for him, even the silly little cartoons she never expected him to and he unquestionably encouraged her to pursue her talent. By contrast, Roy used her creations as a scratch pad, saw her passion as a hobby, an inconvenience even, and immediately railroaded her first chance to do something with it.

Suddenly when became why and for that she had no answer. But she knew she could no longer accept it and she knew that no matter what else she figured out before she returned to herself, she knew the most important thing was she had to make this version stick.

Upon her return to her own time, she intended to return something else too.

The ring back to Roy.

Intended, but she would she follow through? She was no closer to knowing what would happen to all the new memories she made while in this dimension. If the transition occurred like it did in the movie and she dissolved into nothing, leaving only her original self, would they all fade away also, or do they stay and become part of her? She still didn’t know if she’d remember all she’d learned, felt, experienced.

And even if she did remember, would she still have the resolve to do it. How could she ensure she didn’t lose the power and strength she’d found in her journey?

In one day more, the sorrow in her heart, fire in her feet and anger in her head might fizzle as she became good old Pammy again. And she didn’t want to be her anymore.

No, it would have to be tomorrow. She wasn’t sure how yet but she would have to do it. This Pam, the reformed version, the one activated after Michael’s super spin of the Time Turner and by the influence of new models and experiences seen with new and improved eyes.

What began as small observations and droplets of understanding had over the course of two weeks snowballed to an avalanche that with its collapse created this new Pam, somebody who had the strength to call off something she knew neither of the versions wanted any longer, even if only one of them knew it.

But there still was the aftermath if she did forget her experiences here. She had to hope that she knew herself enough, that deep down the other Pam also knew Roy was not the man she should be marrying, was not the man she truly loved.

That when she learned of what she’d done, she would be relieved to find she did. That whatever weird dream state that she might not understand or remember happening, would nonetheless leave her grateful it had; that while in some unexplainable trance she’d found the courage to do what she did.

She knew whichever version of herself she was left with on the other side, the one who remembered or did not, either way she was giving herself freedom just like Harry and Hermione gave Sirius Black and Buckbeak.

Somehow though, it didn’t seem enough. She would need to be sure she did know everything that transpired while here, otherwise she might too easily return to her old life, not knowing what gave her the strength to break away from it in the first place.

But how?

She gained little help from the two books she had hoped would be guides to understanding what she was going through. Her experience, though like Harry’s in some ways and Henry’s in others, had nuances making it too different to look to them for insight.

She closed her eyes to think, conjuring up visions of all the time travel movies she had ever seen to remember one with a plot where the traveler had to get a message to their future self. When she opened them again, unsuccessful in recalling anything that might help, they focused on the drawings she was working on earlier and it was all she needed to see to remind her of another movie, not quite about time travel but close and adorably cute with Drew Barrymore and Jim’s secret favorite, Adam Sandler. Though he would never admit it, she knew he’d seen and loved everything the SNL alum starred in, most notably, The Wedding Singer, which she like to tease was the real number one movie on his desert island list and not When Harry Met Sally as he liked to claim.

Taking a page from the plot of a more recent film from the funny man Jim loved so much and sneaking out from her space to grab a few more sheets from the stack of paper next to the printer, she snuck away to the kitchen while the office was still quiet.

Since her stomach was now anything but noiseless, she stopped at the freezer before making her way back into the closet where, as she wolfed down the entire frozen chocolate bar, she began to write down everything in her own unique way, complete with sketches and a shorthand language only she could understand. She planned to leave it for herself in the fax pile with a post-it on top to make sure tomorrow, after it happened and she went back to oblivion, the other her would find and read the entire manifesto before she went downstairs to meet Roy and go home for the night.

Mixed in with the account, she sprinkled secrets she and just a few others would know, like the story she told Jim back when he was new at Dunder Mifflin. The one where as a little girl she had a chipmunk jump into her lap while she read a book. She also wrote down about the pair of silver wings she received as a child, her favorite souvenir from her first airplane trip that she only just remembered about while back in the captain’s quarters on the boat. She covered the pages in other memories from long ago, ones she realized now she had only shared with Jim and not with Roy, her fiancé.

To be sure she could convince herself the journal and its contents weren’t part of some trick being played on her by him, more often she was his pranking partner as opposed to his target but one never knew what he might do in fun, she also included her dream about one day having a terrace with flowers. That dream she’d never told a soul.

»»»»»»»»»

Pam slammed closed the freezer.

She’d come home optimistic after the best vacation she’d had with Roy in some time. Strangely there had been some misgivings forming for her right up until they’d left. It was odd, as much as she was thrilled they’d finally set a date, the ticking clock seemed to add a layer of pressure that caused them to fight more. In some cases, it was about the same old things, his road rage, his drinking too much, his tendency to forget when they had plans, at least ones that didn’t involve hanging out at Poor Richards with the warehouse guys or entertaining his brother at the house. The upcoming wedding added some new issues like his disinterest in the planning and watching their finances, the latter issue brought about when he accused her of stealing pocket change from his jeans. However, the getaway was just what they needed to reconnect and just the thing to reassure herself marrying Roy was still the thing she wanted. Sure, there was her little accident that while not entirely Roy’s fault, may not have happened had he not left her on a run she wasn’t skilled enough to ski alone. Plus, there was the way he embarrassed her with the wedding coordinator at the hotel. But aside from those, it was a great trip.

But then they came home to have a row about earrings, spoiling the post-vacation high she was on and leaving such a bad feeling it spilled over to her morning even if he seemed to have let it go overnight.

The diminished affection when they arrived at work, whether due to the fight or just his regular lack of attentiveness, and the strange interactions with Michael on the elevator and at her desk added to her stress over the day ahead but it was thoughts of Jim that made her happy to be back. Prank or no prank, that maybe Michael’s spontaneous meeting had delayed, Jim seemed just as glad to see her again too, all the weirdness from before was gone. From there her day had only gotten better and quite exciting with the internship Jan presented, but as usual exhilaration soon turned to disappointment, when Roy showed up.

And now someone had eaten all her chocolate.

Cursing her co-workers, she stomped back over to her desk to grab her wallet and trek to the vending machines in the breakroom.

«««««««««

All the staff were back at their desks now that the women’s seminar and impromptu men’s session had ended. Most were too engaged in catching up on sales calls and expense reports and whatever other duties today’s events took them away from all day to notice Pam’s angry tread and gloomy countenance as she came back to her desk and quickly head back to the breakroom.

Everyone that is but Jim, who picked up on it right away and followed her back to see why she’d gone from elated to utterly dismal between the times they’d spoken, even though he was almost completely certain he knew what or rather who was the cause of her foul mood. 

»»»»»»»»»

Judging from the quiet in the kitchen, the office seemed to have emptied considerably fast and she almost felt safe to emerge but looking at her watch it was only 6:10. Someone was likely still here. Knowing how much time was lost today in meetings, catching up on work was sure to detain a few of her co-workers.

That’s why she jumped again when the door flew open, or at least tried to. There was little room to move, much less hide from the person at the door.  To her relief this time it was only Randall who assured her that they were alone. Michael, on Randall’s suggestion left early to avoid Darryl’s wrath and his departure spawned a mass exodus.

“Come on out sweetheart. After everyone tore out of here I told the rest of my guys they could leave considering all the craziness that went on.”

He reached his hand to help her out, which she took eagerly. In the long hours of waiting, her body seemed to have molded to the position she had curled herself into and she wasn’t sure she could pull herself up without his assistance.

“Come out and relax for a bit. You both had a pretty emotional day.”

Pam looked up at his kind eyes once again, thankful he was there but now curious what sort of trouble the duplicate Michael had caused today.

“Who me and Michael? What happened to him?”

“As a matter of fact, I haven’t even seen Michael, your Michael that is, a good thing since Michael one created enough turmoil for ten of them. No, I was talking about you and yourself. I don’t know what you know about today but it was a rough one. I’ve never seen you two fight before and I imagine your other self is feeling rather bad about everything.”

“Fight? I’d hardly call what happened a fight. I couldn’t exactly hear but I saw and the whole thing happened in less than a minute. I showed Roy the brochure, he said no, I tried to argue, he got mad and stormed off and as usual I let him have the final say. But not anymore. I’m done with…”

Something in Randall’s eyes stopped her, the look said it wasn’t what she witnessed while still hidden in the bullpen that he was talking about. Something happened after that.

“No, it wasn’t the thing with Roy. It was the thing with Jim in the breakroom.”

What thing with Jim?

She couldn’t imagine any situation where she would have fought with Jim but according to Randall she had and it was so bad that even the cameraman was experiencing distress over it.

“Listen, I’m really not supposed to do this but since you’re not really you it’s not technically breaking the rules. And I think you ought to see this.”

Pam had seen him and Matt playing back footage on the screen of a camera a time or two ever since they’d begun their filming at the office, but she’d never been invited to watch it together with them as they reviewed.

She wasn’t this time either.

Randall instead left her alone after he cued up what he caught of her and Jim arguing in the breakroom.

She braced herself for what she was about to see on the tiny monitor, unconsciously twisting at her fingers, mirroring the motion of her on-screen version just as Jim walked into the frame.  

“What happened? What’s changed? Why aren’t you doing it?”

He was gentle with her as he spoke, as he always was. It was her who got defensive almost immediately.

“It’s just it’s not the right thing at the right time. There’s like no big sign that says it’s right for me. My gut always tells me what…”

“Your gut or Roy’s?” Jim interrupted his tone still tender but with a little sharpness clinging to the edge as he spoke Roy’s name.

“Mine”, the Pam on the screen spit back. As she watched, she could hear her own voice laced with a venom directed at the wrong man.

“But he’s not wrong. There’s no assurance this could lead to anything and the timing’s not right. But it’s my choice and I just don’t feel it’s the direction I should be taking right now.”

“Pam, no one is going to hand you a road map for your future but this is pretty damn close. I hate to see him be the reason you can’t follow it.”

“He’s not,” she fired back. “This is my decision, my choice and I’m fine with my choices.”

Jim brushed his hand ferociously through his hair, as if he was trying to rub sense into his brain to shut this argument down and stay quiet but all it did was make him look angrier with his hair askew and his judgmental stare.

“You are?”

Randall, before he left her, showed her how to use the controls to pause the playback, assuring her it was not only protected from being erased but already backed up after she warned him about her limited competence with technology and her fear of messing something up.

On her first attempt, she was able to freeze the replay, wanting nothing more than to erase it but knowing even if she would, though she would never intentionally do that to Randall, or could, it wouldn’t change anything that had already happened in her past and according to Randall’s theories was probably the timeline correcting itself. 

Jim had never taken such a heated tone with her in all the time she’d known him but could she blame him with the way she was shooting daggers at him.

But why? Why was she lashing out at the man who recognized her talent and encouraged it and believed she could do more than answer phones and make copies? The man who made her smile every day, laugh harder than with anyone else and other than in the scene she had frozen on the tiny screen, light up whenever he was close. But even with angry words passing between them, there was still a glint of energy radiating from them that was charged, heated, passionate.

With Roy before all she saw was her sadness and cowardice, his toxicity draining the life and fire right out of her.

Why was she arguing about her choices? Choices he knew weren’t actually hers because Jim, not Roy knew her better than anyone and plainly wanted something more for her.

Here she was fighting with Jim when it was Roy she was mad at. Roy, who even though she’d not been able to hear a word of the exchange, she still knew had told her it was a stupid idea, that her art was a hobby and nothing more. Roy, who after 9 years still didn’t consider her feelings and made her feel small and told her what she could and couldn’t do. Roy who still didn’t get her while the man she watched now did.

She wanted to scream at herself, rush into the scene, shake the foolish girl taunting her from within the camera and smack the scowl right off her stupid, angry face.

Instead, she pressed play again to see what more her idiotic twin was going to say.

“I am and besides it’s none of your business!”

It was as if she cut him, the blade of her words had ripped him open and tore out his heart, but despite the pain she undoubtedly observed in his moistened eyes it didn’t stop the last bit he had to say before he walked out of the room.

“There’s never going to be a flashing billboard that says this way to your future. It’s not about signs, it’s about taking the opportunity to do what is best for Pam, not Roy, you. My business or not, unlike him, it’s only you I’m thinking of.”

And then it was just her in the room, in both scenes and they were both crying. She stopped the playback again before the next footage began. She didn’t need to see anymore. Through her tears it was hard to see anything clearly anyway.

So much for the perfect eyesight she attained here, her past self still had such a damned case of myopia she couldn’t see how right everything he said was.

But there was one thing he was wrong about, there were signs and they were everywhere.

Maybe not in the other timeline but in this one.

There was the one hanging under the plaque by the entrance and more were piled in a desk drawer. Both said she did have talent and her art was appreciated, even if it was only by Michael and Jim so far.

Every time Michael brought out his Elvis impersonation it was a callback to the story of Gabby and Randall and how they had almost lost the chance to be with each other solely because she had met someone else first.

Though her other self still refused to see it, or perhaps she did now that Kelly so persistently pointed it out, but that her song with Roy was about a couple who didn’t wind up together was a big tell. That Jewel believed her lover would come back to her was almost as delusional as Pam thinking Roy still made her happy.

Then there was this whole experience of hurdling through time —if that wasn’t like a huge flashing billboard then she didn’t know what was.

But truth was she didn’t need a sign, she just needed to open her eyes within this supernatural world where time travel existed and she didn’t even need corrective lenses to see what was right in front of her. What had been all along.

But what she needed was someone like Michael to admire the talent she had and let her know it was important she follow her own dreams.

She needed to see Randall bend the rules to let her see what she missed and hear his words of wisdom so she could learn the future was not immutable, not because of time travel but because she could control it herself.

She needed to meet Gabby, so she could show her it was okay to step away from something good to be even happier, even if that meant hurting someone you still cared about.

She needed to see Roy from a different angle to see how they’d grown apart, or how maybe they were just never right for each other to begin with.

She needed to understand she was the catalyst of her own happiness and while the whole world was singing songs and posting up signs to point her there, she had to be the one to make it happen.

The irony was how it took angry words and her first real fight with Jim to bring her to the decision that took way too long to come to.

She was choosing him.

Choosing him for the right reasons too. Not just because she found out he liked her. Deciding to be with someone just because of that, it wasn’t enough to build a lifetime relationship.

She learned that after being with Roy. It had only taken nine years.

But if she thought about it, it had only taken two weeks, two weeks over which she came to see her whole romance with Roy was predicated on him being interested in her back in high school. There was never really anything in him that made her feel true attraction to him. He was the popular jock and he was handsome so when he said I like you, she just felt like she should like him in return.

But in truth, they were not compatible. They never were.

But with Jim it was different. There was instant chemistry. She felt it at that very first meeting but had pushed it down to where it couldn’t interfere with what had begun long before she met him.

And it wasn’t just that, the more she got to know him, the more she found they had in common. And what they didn’t they both seemed interested in learning to like from each. Except baseball. She wasn’t sure she would ever like baseball. But with Jim she knew she didn’t have to.

Because Jim wasn’t about molding her to his specifications, he was about letting her be who she was and who she was, was one hundred percent in love with him.

And tomorrow, she was going to tell him.

Tomorrow was the day she would rewrite her destiny and Randall and Michael were going to help her do it.