The fields looked barren once more, from what she could see from her vantage point at the window, and that alone filled her with a soft sense of melancholy. She truly hated the coming season, even more so now with how hard things had gotten all over, because winter always seemed so…

Sad.

For lack of a better word. It summed it up perfectly in its simpleness, but hit the nail right on the head. Winter was sad. It was for a number of reasons, but being that it was nearing the end of 1948, with the war still fresh on everyone’s minds and the graves from all those boys who never got to come home proper having filled up so many plots in their local cemetery… Well, it was a sad time all around.

Pamela Beesly- No, it was Pamela Halpert now. She had been lucky enough that her boy, who had grown into a man while he was away in Germany, had come back to her safe and sound. They had married in the Spring, because she so loved how everything seemed to come back to life. It was a time of growth and renewal and she had explained it as such to her soon-to-be husband, Jim, when she laid out her reasoning for wanting to wait until that season to make their vows.

“This is your world, little miss. I’m just livin’ in it.” He had told her with his sparkling eyes and his lopsided grin. The very same one that had made her fall head over heels for him back when she still wore her hair in ribbons and had hand-me down dresses.

Jim had been the boy from down the road, he was closest to her in age out of all the Halpert boys, and she had struck up an immediate friendship with him when all the kids from these dusty back roads would meet up at whoever’s house to play or go adventuring in the woods. He had always been kind to her, even when she was so painfully shy, and still was, and that had always stuck with her. He was two years older than her, and back when she was young that seemed such a bigger difference than now, and she’d found him wiser and more trustworthy than most of the other boys. The other two Halperts included. The fact that he was “well-mannered” as Pam’s own mother used to say also helped.

He never shied away from his mama’s kisses, wasn’t afraid to tell her he loved her even when the other boys would tease and snicker.

“I’mma Mama’s boy. There’s no shame in that. So, I reckon they can’t make me feel bad about it. ‘Sides, what’s wrong with tellin’ your mama you love her anyway?” He had told her once as they sat on the Halpert’s porch swing one summer afternoon. She was braiding daisy chains and had made him a crown of them that he wore proudly right there on the front porch for the whole world to see. ‘Thank you, little miss.’ he had told her. He always called her ‘little miss’ because that’s how Pam’s own mother and father had introduced her to the Halperts. She liked it best when Jim called her that. As if it was something he had come up with on his own just for her.

She watched now, from their living room window of their house, as he pulled the tractor back into the barn after getting the last of the hay from the fields. Once they were married, they had moved into the ‘Home Place’ as the Halperts called it. Jim’s grandparents had passed away some years back and they had wanted one of the boys to inherit it and carry on the tradition of farming their land and living where they had always lived for decades.

Tom and Pete had run off as soon as they could. They hated growing up in ‘the sticks’ as they had always called it. All three of the Halpert boys had been enlisted and drafted, but only two of them had come back home without having to be in a body bag. Pete was now buried in the back field of the property with Pop and Mawmaw Halpert and all the others who had passed on long ago. Pam had just brought fresh flowers out earlier that day for all the graves. Even for the ones of the people they had never gotten to meet that had passed back before the turn of the century. She was sentimental like that and she was now a Halpert, too. They were hers to mourn over as well.

He came out of the barn then and talked to some of the farm hands helping him try and get the last of everything in before the weather turned colder once more. She saw Dwight, one of the boys they had grown up with as well, animated as ever as he talked away to her husband. He had his own farm just down the road a ways from them. Schrute Farms. The specialized in beets and while Pam wasn’t a particular fan of that vegetable, she was close to Dwight and his wife Angela. They could be odd, she figured that was from their heavy and dominant German upbringing, but she enjoyed their helpfulness and company nonetheless.

She watched from her little vantage point from the window, one of her most favorites spots in all the house because it had a ledge big enough for her to lit or lay and read while still having the sun shine down on her, as he her husband tipped his hat back off his head to let a cool breeze blow some of his sweaty bangs free. She noticed how his hair was getting shaggy once more and she had offered to cut it now numerous times, but he seemed resolute in not having her trim it up. She half wondered if it was because his mama always cut it and he couldn’t bear to break tradition now or if it was something entirely different.

When he had come back, after being gone for two years in the war, he was still her Jim. The one that would give her piggy-backs down her dirt driveway when her legs got too tired to carry her after a long day out playing. The same Jim who had promised himself to her before he left to Germany and said he was going to come back and marry her and raise a family with her in this very house.

Yet, he was different. She knew the horrors he must’ve seen over there were too gruesome to want to recollect, but she didn’t like the faraway or painful look on his face or in his beautiful eyes sometimes when everything was quiet and there was no work to be done until the next day. Usually at night, after supper, he’d come and sit in his chair in front of the TV, and stare off into nothing while the old gramophone played music from his grandparent’s day. She’d usually leave him be for awhile, knowing how important it was to have time to yourself, before she’d come and sit on his lap. That was something that still caused her to blush even though she was a married woman who had this man know her in the most intimate way someone could ever know, but she was still young and shy and newly married. The newness of their union hadn’t worn off and she still half expected her own mama to come storming through the door to tell her off about not acting properly with a boy.

She watched now as he bid Dwight farewell with a firm shake of the hand and a wave as the other man climbed into his truck and started off back down their driveway to his own homestead. Her nerves kicked up on her again as she saw him approach the house, because the news she was carrying with her, in her, was so close to being spoken out loud between them.

Pam hadn’t started her last period and was about two weeks past. Which only meant one thing for a woman who had just recently become sexually active of course. While she was overjoyed and excited when she had noticed this and made a quiet and discreet visit to the doctor to confirm her theory, she was always awash with nervousness and anxiety.

Would she make a good mother? She was always so timid, as if every adult in her life hadn’t told her that enough. Jim had assured her countless times at night as they lay naked against each other after an act that still left her blushing and embarrassed by the intimacy of it she still couldn’t make herself say the word out loud.

‘If I didn’t think you’d be a good mama I wouldn’t have wanted to start a family with you. Don’t worry yourself so much, little miss. When it happens, and it will, you will be a natural. I can’t wait to see you with a baby in your arms. Our baby. Givin’ me goosebumps just thinkin’ ‘about it.”

What better of a time, as well, to give him the news now that Christmas was a week away. She had wanted to keep it a secret until then, but she had finally decided this morning as she made him breakfast that she would tell him tonight because she couldn’t hold it in any longer. Truly, she would burst if she tried.

She swept back her hair from her face as some of the curls had come loose from the pins after a long day. She didn’t try to tame them as much now as she did back when she was but a girl, because Jim assured her he loved her curls just the way they were naturally. She recalled then a night, which seemed both forever and just a second ago, when she had snuck out of her house to sit with him and a few of the other kids from town to watch the stars. They had blankets laid on the ground out in the field and were spending their time gazing up and making wishes. Slowly, all the kids but them had trickled away and back home and it was just Jim and Pam.

“Why do you try and hide those curls so much for anyhow?” Jim had asked her from beside her on the blanket. They were laying on their backs and they were so close that each time either of them moved they’d brush up against the other one. “They’re real pretty when they’re loose and free like that.”

Ever since then she had made sure to keep her curls as natural and loose as possible just so he would smile at her and compliment her everyday at school.

Oh, how they had grown since then. Yet their fundamental attraction and affection for one another had stayed the same. She still looked at him as if he had hung the moon and all the stars just for her. He still treated her as much as a gentleman since their very first date. There was nowhere, and no one, on this earth she’d rather be or be with.

And now her life was becoming ever more complete with the tiny baby growing away inside. She still had the fears of the unknown that worried her day and night, but she felt more at peace with herself, and who she was, than she had ever been before.

This was where, and what, she was meant to be.

“Hello, darlin’” Jim said softly as he finally stepped inside their house and closed the door behind him. He went next to take his cowboy hat off and hang it on a peg by the door.

She watched as he shook some of his hair out and wiped a bit of the sweat from his brow and even when he looked this disheveled and dirty she couldn’t help but feel a deep pang of want that started in her center and radiated warmth from low in her belly down to her… Well, she blushed deeply when she thought of the word Jim had called it when he was grunting in her ear.

‘Such a tight little pussy...’

Of course, he only ever said those deliciously filthy things to her in the heat of the moment. In the privacy of their bed while they were tangled in each other. Pam, being the feather shy girl she was, was proud of that. It was their little secret for only them to know. That Jim whispered obscene compliments to her and she lavished under his praise.

Only for him. She thought with a deepening sense of pride. She’d only ever do that for him.

He caught the familiar flush on her cheeks and his lopsided grin he had when he entered had turned more sultry as he gazed at her fondly with his darkening eyes. The fact that he still stared at her, as if he couldn’t ever get enough, caused her an immense sense of pleasure. She smiled shyly at him and reached her left hand out to beckon him closer.

Her wedding ring caught the lights from above and flashed a million brilliant and dazzling colors. She was most proud of that piece of jewelry. More than anything else she ever owned, because it showed she belonged to him and he to her. It was simple, nothing too gaudy or extravagant, as he had saved up some of his money from the army to come back and buy it for her a week after he had been back.

The band was thin and silver and had a small emerald cut diamond in the center. She loved it and she loved the way it fit on her dainty fingers. She still marveled over it even after almost being married a year and knew she would never stop even if they made it to seventy years of marriage.

He crossed the room quickly, with his long legs that was easy, and wrapped her up in his arms and buried his face in her hair.

“Whaddya thinkin’ about, babydoll?” Jim asked her and the timbre of his voice sent shivers down her spine and right to that special place between her legs where only he had been and only he would ever go. She loved all of the pet-names and affection he always showered on her no matter how childish or girly they seemed. She adored them and could never get enough of his praise and attention.

“Oh, you know...” She started shyly and her face seemed to be burning with the thoughts going through her head, “Just… stuff.”

His hands dipped from where they were wrapped around her waist. They skimmed over her waist, nice and slow, which caused her to shiver before they reached around to cup her ass firmly. If there was anything she loved, besides everything about him, it was how strong and powerful his tanned and scarred hands were. The fact that there was so much power behind them, that he undoubtedly had the ability to hurt someone badly with them and had, but only touched her so tenderly and lovingly sent a thrill through her.

“Sure about that, sweetheart?” Jim asked lowly right into her ear and Pam couldn’t help but gasp at the sensation as goosebumps immediately blossomed down her neck. “S’just me. You can use those big girl words.”

“I was just...” she stopped once more, but was encouraged to continue by his lips on her neck and his gentle words breathed against her skin, “… thinking about how handsome you are and how much I love you.”

“Ah, ah, ah… S’not all you were thinkin’ ‘bout goin’ by that look on your face and that pretty pink blush...” Jim teased lightly and pulled back enough to look down into her emerald eyes.

“Well, I was thinking about how that makes me feel… down there.” She blushed even more fiercely and tried to duck her head only for Jim to catch her chin in his fingers and keep her gaze focused on him.

“Down where?” He inquired with a glint in his eyes and she couldn’t suppress a wiggle as her panties seemed to be growing damper by the minute.

“You know… My p- Well, you know.” She said softly as her face seemed ablaze now.

“Your pretty little pussy?” Jim asked boldly without a second thought. His determination and straightforwardness was another thing Pam loved about him. She would maybe be able to think more abstractly about that if she was currently in the process of being melted down into a puddle.

“Your pretty little… pussy.” She said in barely more than a whisper.

She watched as his eyes widened just a fraction, probably at the boldness of her statement and the fact he hadn’t expected her to say that, and then they lowered once more into his bedroom eyes and his face almost looked predatory. Yet, she couldn’t find herself to be afraid at all, because she always knew he would be gentle with her. He had never been anything else.

“Mine.” He seemed to say more to himself than to her and then leaned down to capture her lips in a fiery kiss that would’ve caused her to fall to the floor from the way her knees buckled had he not scooped her up and wrapped her legs around his waist.

Her hands tangled in his hair as she sucked, nibbled, and licked her way into his mouth as he gave back just as good as he got. He walked them through their living room and down the hallway until he reached their master bedroom and roughly kicked the door open with one booted foot. The sudden movement and noise startled her and she jumped a little in his arms and squeaked. He shushed her softly before he moved her over to the foot of the bed and then laid her down so gently. She felt like fine china that he was afraid would break if he moved to suddenly. She was once again awash with the feeling of complete adoration with how carefully he always treated her and touched her.

He stood then and gazed down at her from his spot at the foot of their bed. Her heart fluttered away in her chest, like a caged bird, from the look on his face alone as his eyes drank in the sight of her. It was both predatory and loving all at once. Two sides of the same coin that made up her Jim.

She had never felt safer nor more loved than she did with him. Even when his eyes raked over her as if she was a piece of meat ready to be devoured.

Her dress, which had just passed her knees when standing, had gotten rucked up when he had rather unceremoniously dumped her on the bed. The fabric, a pale and rich ivory cream color with floral print, that she had painstakingly stitched herself, was pooled up between her legs. She slowly, and deliberately, moved her legs to open them wider and the chasm between them widened and the fabric pulled away to reveal her soft white cotton panties underneath.

A pained sound from above her caused her eyes to dart back to Jim’s as she had looked down when she adjusted herself on the bed. What she saw caused her breath to catch in her throat and her heart to pound even harder against her delicate ribs.

His pupils were blown wide and his own face now had that same pinkish glow as her had earlier. The only difference being that it gave his tanned skin and rosy and warm look that made her want to kiss every inch of it while hers had only made her pale skin seem to be having some allergic reaction.

He wanted her, and if the tent that was pressing hard against the zipper of his worn blue jeans was anything to go by, he wanted her bad.

“Well, what are you waiting for?” she asked in her best attempt at being sultry. In her ears it didn’t sound like it hit the mark, but he smiled at her widely showing his pretty teeth and the canines seemed to be extra sharp.

‘But what sharp teeth you have!’ she heard in her head because he looked every bit of the big bad wolf ready to gobble her up bones and all. Yet, her heart wasn’t pounding from fear. The very look of him had caused her panties to become absolutely sodden with her want for him.

He didn’t bother to respond and just lunged at her then, or so it seemed, and covered her body with his own as his mouth found hers. One of his skilled hands went between them to sneak itself straight into her panties. His careful fingers found the bud that when touched always caused her to jolt in pleasure and surprise and rubbed it evenly with the pad of his thumb. She whined against his lips and squirmed to try and get him to do it just like that yes, yes, yes.

He chuckled darkly against her lips before he moved his attention to her neck while his fingers probed and then slid into her like a hot knife through butter. She hissed air into her lungs and arched her back as much as she could with him blanketed on top of her. She could never get over his hands and how they always seemed to know just how to touch her.

“Oh, darlin’, you’re practically soaked...” he said thickly against her neck as he peppered it with kisses and nips, “why didn’t you say somethin’ to me before? If I’da known you were this hot for me I woulda come inside sooner.”

“Well,” Pam said with a gasp as his finger curled inside of her just right which in turn caused her toes to curl and her eyes to nearly roll back in her head, “I wasn’t… really. Not until you came inside. ‘Sides, you’ve been busy.”

He stopped his ministrations suddenly then and she whined pitifully at the loss. He propped himself up on his free elbow to be able to look down at her and his eyes were suddenly serious as well as aroused.

“’M never too busy for you.” He said as he held her gaze. “Never.”

The swell of love and pride she felt in that moment was truly more than she had ever felt, besides on their wedding day when she finally got to be Mrs. Jim Halpert, and her eyes even started to water just the tiniest of bits. He leaned down and kissed her once more before pulling away to gaze at her with so much love and adoration that she thought she might explode with it.

“Well, why don’t you prove it to me, then?” she challenged him with a small smile. That was as forward as she could ever be with him because after all she was still Pam. She was still a shy little thing and probably always would be, but she was at her best and most comfortable with him. “No more teasin’, I’m ready for you.”

His eyes darkened once again and the hand that was still in her panties, with his fingers inside of her, pulled out slowly enough to not hurt her. She was always very sensitive down there and he never seemed to forget of which she was glad. He always knew how to handle and take care of her. Whilst putting all his weight on the opposite arm he merely used his free hand to unzip himself and pull his cock free from the confines of his jeans.

Her eyes widened slightly, because even though she had seen it numerous times before, the size was always daunting to see. She recalled on their wedding night just how terrified she was at the prospect of having something like that inside of her, but Jim had been oh so gently and even though the first time wasn’t all that pleasurable, which he remedied after with those same skilled fingers, the feeling of being so full and complete was enough to make it all worth it. They were finally one, as they were meant to be, and the soreness she felt for days after always caused her to both smile and blush with the memory of their intimacy.

“S’okay, sweetheart.” He hushed her softly, “you know I’d never hurt you. You’re wet enough for me now though. Always so wet for me. So damn perfect like you were made for me.”

“Only you,” she whispered back and felt the shudder that ran through him at her words.

“Only you,” he repeated as he had only ever been with her as well and he prided himself on that fact and had told her so numerous times. He had waited for her, he had told her on their wedding night. ‘Cause I knew, even then, that there would be no one else for me,’ he had said as they laid together, naked and spent, in their new home in their new bed.

When he entered her, he kissed her, and that took some of the sting that she still felt out of the first moments penetration. Her legs quickly wrapped themselves around his waist and he growled low in his throat which caused a shiver to run through her body.

“Such a good girl for me, you know that?” he groaned into her neck once they pulled apart for air and he buried his face into her neck to focus as he thrust into her ‘little wet pussy’ as he so affectionately called it. He could only moan in response as her brain seemed to short circuit as his fingers found that little bud again and he rubbed it hard while he fucked into her. She cried out then, loud, and arched her back enough for him to slip his arm underneath her for leverage as he sped up his thrust. She was dimly aware that the headboard was banging itself into the wall but she couldn’t find it in herself to care.

“Yeah, fuck, just like that,” he hissed as fucked into her hard and fast. She knew then that he really must’ve been carrying some pent up frustration during the day to be this talkative and energetic during their lovemaking. Not that he wasn’t all of the time, but he usually only got like this if he had been on edge for awhile.

Involuntarily, she felt herself clench deep inside as that familiar sensation built up low in her belly. She wasn’t going to be able to last long with him fucking her like this. She already felt sated and blissful and she could only imagine what the actual orgasm would feel like once it hit her.

A strangled groan sounded from beside her ear as Jim seemed to get lost in the sensation of her so tight around him.

“Ah, fuck… Baby, so tight and wet for me… m’not gonna last like this.” He said into her ear and planted a little kiss there as well, “Sorry if you were lookin’ for somethin’ longer.”

“No.” She said simply as it seemed her brain couldn’t come up with anything better, “S’okay. So close.”

His fingers went back and worked their magic on her whilst he snapped his hips against her. Each time it seemed he buried himself deeper and deeper and the only sounds she could make were little mewls and cries of delight at each thrust. He punctuated her little noises with ones of his own as well as sweet little nothings peppered throughout. ‘Right there, sweetheart?’ each time she’d moan low and sweet, ‘Feels good, so good for me, gonna make it better for you.’ every time she yelled out his name in ecstasy.

Neither of them were going to last much longer and his thrust were becoming more sloppy as he neared the edge of his own orgasm and she began to chase hers.

“Jim! Jim! Yes, there, yes, please, please!” she cried out like a prayer. Her hands dug into his back and her legs tightened around him as she felt herself crest. She was at the top and ready to tumble down into pleasure if he just kept going.

“Come for me, sweetheart. Wanna hear you screamin’ my name., Jim coaxed hoarsely as he seemed dangerously close to the edge himself, “Come on, babydoll. Who does this pussy belong to? Huh? Go ahead and scream it so they all know.”

With that she let go, because how could she not when asked like that? Her heart seemed to skip a beat and her vision went white as her orgasm hit her hard. Her walls clenched down tight around him to milk him of everything he had and she felt, too, as his release flooded her insides.

“Jim!” she screamed, “Jim, yes! M’yours. Only ever will be yours.”

“I love you so much, sweetheart,” he said into her ear as they rode their orgasms out together until they were too spent to do anything else but lay with each other, still joined, and a tangled mess of sweaty limbs and hair.

The air in their room was hot and humid from their lovemaking and Pam felt sweat beaded and rolled off of her temples and soaked into her hair. She felt as Jim softened inside her, but neither of them made any move to disentangle from the other. She loved sex with him, but she loved the afterglow just as much if not more. The feeling of still being connected to the one person in the world she loved more than anything after being so intimate was just as much of a release for her as an orgasm.

She’d still keep the orgasms though as long as they came from him and his hands on her.

She brought her hands up to comb her fingers through his hair and to scratch at his scalp. She didn’t mind that his full weight was on her and in fact loved the feeling of being held down by him as it meant he was sated and relaxed and she had done that for him.

His deep and even breathing let her know that he was coming down nicely from what seemed to have been a pretty intense orgasm on his part and she was almost certain he had fallen asleep until he spoke up from where his head was laying in the crook of her neck.

“Didn’t hurt you did I? It wasn’t too much was it?” Jim asked in his tired voice. When he was tired, or aroused, his tone took on a different quality. It was deeper and more gravelly like there were rocks in his throat that grated together each time he talked. It both excited her and relaxed her depending on the situation.

“Mm-mm, you never hurt me or go too far,” Pam assured him softly as she continued to card her fingers through his sweaty hair.

“The talkin’ wasn’t too… dirty for you? I didn’t make you feel… uncomfortable?” Jim asked again after a few moments of soft silence.

“No, I like it when you talk to me like that… when we’re doin’… that and all. Makes me feel...” She stopped and struggled to find the right word, but her endorphin filled mind seemed unable to comply. “Like I belong… to you. Makes me feel good. Does that make sense?”

“Makes perfect sense,” he answered back with a soft kiss to her neck as he moved to lean up to be able to look down at her. “It’s exactly how I feel about you.”

She smiled softly at him and he smiled back. It was her favorite. The slightly lopsided and goofy quality to it assured her that he was as he was and always would be; her Jim. He was grown now, as was she, but that fundamental part of them that had existed ever since they were kids was still there. The spark that kept them together and drawn to one another no matter how long or far they could be.

She believed in soulmates. She always did because she was a hopeless romantic. She had told Jim once, long ago when they were small, that she knew he was her soulmate. He had asked her what that even meant and she had explained that it was the person who looked after you and shared their peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and kissed your boo-boos when you fall of your tricycle.

“So… like your daddy?” He had asked a bit confused.

“Yeah, but no… it’s like mommies and daddies kinda… I think? We’re best friends, right? Like that, but better,” she had said simply.

“Oh, well… Yeah, you’re my soulmate, too, little miss.”

So it was said and so it would be and so it was.

“Stay here. M’gonna get somethin’ to clean you up.” Jim said then and moved, “Sorry,” he added when he moved to pull himself out of her and she had winced. Pam was always very sensitive after sex and sometimes it could get rather uncomfortable, but Jim was always careful with her and for that she would never tire of.

He did as he had said he would and came back with a wet washcloth and wiped her down as gently as he could before he cleaned himself off. It was small gestures like that, namely some a little less gross, that always made her heart flutter when he was near her. He put her first just as she did him.

“Thank you.” She said with a small smile, back to being shy now that their act of debauchery was completed.

“No problem, little miss,” he said back with a warm smile of his own as he shucked his jeans and underpants off and put them in the dirty hamper before he walked over to their dresser and fished some clean ones out. “So, what’s for dinner? A man can really work up an appetite doin’ somethin’ like that,” he teased from over his shoulder as he stepped into his new clothes.

“Pot roast with potatoes and carrots. It’s been slow cooking all day,” Pam answered back cheerily, because she knew he would love it as it was his favorite. True to form, he turned to face her with one hand over his heart and an adoring look plastered on his face.

“You really know how to capture my heart, don’t you?”

“Well, it’s your grandmother’s recipe. I wanted to give it my best shot and since you’ve been workin’ so hard and all gettin’ the farm ready for winter I thought you needed a little treat.” Pam said simply as he moved to sit herself up against the pillows and fixed her dress. She felt her wet panties against her skin and barely managed to not make a face. After she told him his surprise… She would change and get dinner served, but she needed to do this first.

“You’re everything I could have ever dreamed and more, Pamela Halpert,” Jim said as he walked over to her and crawled into the bed on his side. He snuggled up to her and she moved herself under his arm and rested her head against his chest and breathed in the scent of him.

“What if there was a little more to me now?” Pam asked quietly and her heart picked up once again from nervous excitement rather than sexual stimulation this time.

“Whaddya mean?” Jim asked lazily as his fingers played with her wedding band softly. As if he needed to remind himself that she was truly his forever and more.

“Like… what if I have a little Halpert that’s growing inside me right now?” she got out in a quiet rush and then waited through the poignant silence that seemed to follow her question.

“You...” Jim started and she could almost hear the gears as they turned in his head as his brain fought through the hazy fog of post-coital bliss as it tried to form a response that would be seen as reasonable to the announcement she had just made. “We’re gonna be… Are you pregnant?” he finally managed to get out.

“Yeah. My period is two weeks late and I went to the doctor yesterday as you know and… Dr. Scott confirmed it. Our little baby will be here next August.” Pam said with a small nod of her head and she waited again.

She needn’t have to wait long. As soon as it sunk in Jim flipped their positions and once more he hovered over her in bed as he gazed down at her with both wonder and awe. She could see where it still needed to compute in his head from his gaze, but his eyes had gone just a touch glassy and he looked the same he did when she had said yes to him when he got down on one knee. Or when she said ‘I do’ at the altar.

“I wanted it to be a surprise for Christmas, but as you can see I just couldn’t wait...” she said shyly.

“All I got you was a pearl necklace… This is way better than that!” Jim said with an almost childlike excitement. “It doesn’t even compare and m’sorry, darlin’… I wish I could give you somethin’ just as good as this.”

“Well, you did… You gave me this,” she said as she took one of his hands and placed it against her belly. “This little baby wouldn’t be in here if it weren’t for you. So, the best gift I could ever get… besides being your wife… is gettin’ to be a momma to your children.”

“I love you so much, Pamela Morgan Halpert,” Jim breathed on a sigh as he leaned down to kiss her.

“And I love you, too, James Duncan Halpert,” she answered back just before their lips met.

It seemed like a lifetime before they parted and they caught their breaths as they stared into each other's eyes. A lifetime and yet not long enough.

“We gonna tell our folks when they come over for dinner tomorrow?” Jim asked with a sappy smile on his face at the thought of getting to tell everyone that they were going to be parents. He was going to be a dad.

“If you want to… or we could wait ‘til Christmas. I couldn’t wait that long to tell you, but… I guess we'll just see what tomorrow brings, yeah?”

“Yeah, Jim agreed as he looked at her as if she hung the moon and stars.

Somehow, though, they both knew that by the time the sun set tomorrow their whole family would know that a new Halpert would make their appearance at the end of next summer.

They were perfectly alright with that.

“Merry Christmas, sweetheart.”

“Merry Christmas, dear.”

That’s what their Christmas was going to be all about. Family. Love. Tradition. Without it there was nothing else and with it they would always have everything they ever needed.