Jim gathers Pam in his arms and thinks to himself how grateful he is to have her in his life. Best friend, partner in pranking crime, soulmate.

The next morning Jim jolts awake to the sound of breaking glass coming from the kitchen. He jumps out of bed, and notices that Pam is not in the bedroom.

He thinks to himself, 'Oh my God! Where is she? Who's trying to break into the kitchen?'

He races into the kitchen trying to think where Pam keeps her knives in case he has to protect her from an intruder and skids to a halt when he sees what actually happened.  

Pam is sitting on the floor holding her left hand and crying. She has a pile of broken glass in front of her.

Jim starts to enter the room.

Pam looks up at him. 'No! Don't come in here. I need to sweep up the glass!'

Jim stops moving and holds up his hands. 'Ok Beesly, where is your broom?'

She points to a closet behind him. 'In there.'

He pulls out the broom and sweeps the kitchen free of the glass. Pam stands up and moves to the sink. 'Thanks.'

Jim notices that her finger on her left hand is bleeding. 'Oh no! Let's get that taken care of.' He turns on the cold water at the sink and gently holds her finger under it.

He looks over at her and sees she is still crying. 'It's not that bad honey.' He turns off the water and kisses her finger. 'Where's your band aids? Lets get this taken care of.' 

She walks with him to the bathroom and sits on the toilet cover as he bandages her finger.

When he's done he crouches down on the floor, so he can talk to her face to face.

'What's the matter Beesly?'

Pam continues crying. 'I don't know. I was going to surprise you with a big Christmas eve breakfast and the mixing bowl slipped out of my hands and broke. When I picked up a piece if cut my finger and I just sat down and started crying. I can't stop.'

Jim reaches over and hugs her. He murmurs to her as she cries. 'It is all right. We can go get breakfast. I'm sorry you are hurt. Don't worry about the bowl.'

He knows without her saying it that her crying is more about her father, than about a broken bowl or a cut finger. He keeps holding her until she finally stops, then looks at her. 'I love you Pam Beesly.' 

Pam quietly says, 'I love you too Jim Halpert. So, so much.'

Jim smiles. 'Well, thank God for that.' He stands up and holds his hand out to her. Should we go see if there's  a good place to have a Christmas eve breakfast?' 

Pam nods, takes his hand and stands up. 'Yes, please I'm starving.'

They change for breakfast and find a diner that neither one has been too and end up having a great meal. Jim tries his best too distract her with his banter and witty stories and mostly succeeds, but sometimes he hears the sorrow creep back into her voice.  

When they finish, they go back to her apartment. She turns on some Christmas music and they make holiday goodies together. No more bowls break and there are no more tears shed over cut fingers.  

They spend a nice, quiet Christmas eve together. Baking, watching movies and talking. As they cuddle while watching Meet Me In St. Louis, Jim gets up and pulls Pam to her feet.

"What are you doing?'

'Dancing with you.'

They hold each other and sway to Judy Garland singing Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas.

After a few minutes, Pam puts her head on Jim's shoulder and he holds onto her even tighter.  

She looks up at him as the song ends and says 'Merry Christmas Jim. I love you so much.'

'I love you too Pam. Now and forever.'

They turn off the TV, but leave on the Christmas lights. They hold each other as they sleep. Jim thinks to himself that even with everything going on, this has been the best day of his life.  

In the morning, they get up early so they can get ready to go too their respective family homes for Christmas.

 After breakfast Jim hugs Pam and they just hold each other for several minutes. No words are exchanged. No kisses. They don't even move, except for breathing. 

Finally Jim breaks the embrace and kisses her lightly on the top of her head.

'I love you more than anything Pam Beesly. Always have, always will.'

She looks up at him. 'I love you too. You are the love of my life.' They lightly kiss and she says 'Merry Christmas my love.' 

Jim turns to go. 'Call me if you need me, ok?'

She nods and holds his hand for a second longer and he finally turns to go.  

Jim goes to his parents house, where the rest of his family has gathered.

There is cheer and craziness and good times all around, but Jim finds himself continually thinking of Pam and wondering what she's doing at that moment. He checks his phone through out the day, but she hasn't called or texted him.  

As the day turns to evening and the Halpert household starts to quiet down, Jim finds himself full and content and ready to take a nap on the couch. he thinks he should call Pam, when there is a knock on the front door.  

His mother goes to answer it and returns a few minutes later. She beckons to Jim to follow her to the kitchen, where they can talk alone.  

Betsy says, 'Jim, honey, Pam is here. She is really upset, so I took her to your old room and told her you would be there in a moment. I'm going to make her some tea, but you go on up and comfort her now.' 

Jim is surprised to hear that Pam is there and upset. "yeah, of course mom. Thanks a lot.' 

She hugs him. 'I know she's having a really hard time right now. You tell her, is she needs anything, just let us know.' 

Jim nods. 'I will mom.'

He goes upstairs to his childhood bedroom and sees Pam sitting on his bed. She looks up at him with a tear stained face.

When she sees it is him, she jumps up and hugs him tightly. She continues to cry into his chest. He holds her and tries to comfort her.  

'Oh Beesly. What is going on? Can you please tell me?'

As he is comforting her, he gently guides her back to his bed. Then he picks her up and crawls onto his bed while holding her and she sits on his lap as he leans up against the headboard of the bed.  

After she cries for a few more minutes and stares to calm down she gradually stars talking. 

He rubs her shoulders and kisses the top of her head and she sniffles and hiccups and tells her story.  

'Your mom is so nice. She probably thinks I'm crazy now, just showing up like this.'

'No. My family knows what happened. They know you are having a hard time.  My mom said to let them know if you need anything. She is making tea right now for you.'

'Aww, that is so nice.'

Right at that moment, there is a light knock on the door. 

Betsy opens the door, 'Jim, is it ok if I come in?'

'Come on in mom.'

Betsy opens the door all the way and enters his room carrying a tray with a teapot and a couple tea cups. She places the tray on the nightstand next to the bed.  

She then sits on the bed next to Jim who was still holding Pam. She takes Pam's hand and holds it for a minute.  

'Oh dear, I know you are having a hard time right now. I lost my father years ago. Jim was a teenager. It's not the same as what you are going through, my dad was sick for a long time, but it is never easy to lose a loved one.' 

Pam nods. 'Yeah, it is hard.'

'Well, let us know if you need anything, ok? Jim loves you so much and I get the feeling that we will be seeing a lot more of you from now on.'

She pats Pam's hand and leans in to give her a hug.

'Thank you so much Mrs. Halpert. That means so much to me.' 

Betsy pulls back. 'Please call me Betsy, or mom if you'd rather.' She smiles and winks at Jim.

Jim yells, 'Mom!'

Pam smiles a little and squeezes Jim's hand. 'Thank you Betsy.'

Betsy gets up and leaves Jim's room. He leans over and pours some tea for him and Pam.

He hands her a mug and says, 'I'm sorry about my mom. Sometimes she doesn't know when to stop.'

Pam ducks her head and smiles a little. 'It's ok. She is very nice. I started crying as soon as she let me in and she ushered me up here right away. I am glad I remembered the address.'

'Me too.' They sip at the tea for a moment. Jim looks at her and she's staring straight ahead. 'Do you want to tell me what is going on, or do you want to wait?'

Pam nods. 'I'll tell you now.' She puts her tea down on the table next to her and tuns to Jim. She pulls her feet under her and he puts his arm around her shoulders. She buries her face into his neck.

She takes a deep breath and Jim waits patiently for her to tell him what has made her so upset.

Pam starts. 'Christmas was nice, for the most part. It was just me, mom and Pen. We had some goodies and exchanged presents. The ones from our parents said mom and dad, that was tough, but we got through it. After a couple hours mom got up and went to their bedroom, then came back with an old shoebox. She sat in between us on the couch and opened it. She said it was my dad's and that he had kept mementos in it from over the years. There were concert tickets, movie stubs, pamphlets from vacations and some pictures I had never seen before. Then she pulled out a couple envelopes. Our names were on one each.' 

Jim watches her as she takes a minute to collect herself, then continues.  

'Mom said she found the box while going thought his stuff. My dad was not good at being demonstrative about his feelings, but we always knew that he loved us. Anyway, mom said there was one envelope each for her, for Penny and for me. He wrote the letter to her on their wedding day and the ones to me and Pen on the days we were born.' 

As Pam said this, she leans over to get her purse from where she left if on the floor and pulls out a long envelope that said Pamela Morgan on the front.  

'We read them with mom. I didn't cry in front of her, but I told her I needed to go and she understood. I broke down as soon as I got in my car.'

She holds the envelope. Jim could tell that it had been written years before. he wonders again about Pam's father and the kind of man he was.

Pam turns it over and takes out a couple pieces of paper. She holds it for a moment, then turns to Jim.

'Do you want to read it?'

He looks at the letter in her hands, then into her eyes. he could see that the  tears were ready to fall again, so he takes the papers from her hands and lightly kisses her. 'Sure Beesly.'

He holds the papers for a moment imagining what it must have been like for Will Beesly 28 years before to become a father for the first time. 

Jim feels that he has his life planned out. A nice home, a couple children, a dog and a cat, getting promoted at a job he enjoys and Pam by his side.  

He puts his arm around her shoulders again and she curls up into his side. 

Jim looks at the letter and begins reading.

"My dearest Pamela Morgan,

You are 8 hours old now as I am writing this. Your incredible mother went though 10 hours of labor to have you. She is resting now as she needs to and you are sleeping in one of those hospital bassinets next to me. 

I'm still having a hard time accepting the fact that you are actually here. Even thought I had 9 months to get used to the idea, I can't believe I am actually your father.

I should tell you now that I am not good at showing emotions. Your grandfather did not believe that men should be emotional. I think I am better than he is at showing my love for those I care about, but know that even though I may have a hard time showing it, I truly love you and always will.

How can I love someone so much that I just met? You, little miss, are perfect. I am sure all parents think that way about their children, but in this case, it's true.

I feel good just being next to you. I feel comfortable and I feel warm. You make me feel warm. They wheeled your bassinet in here and I jumped up, because I needed to be near your warmth.  

Wow! You are so beautiful Pamela. Real beauty. You are going to give your mother a run for her money for being the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. (Don't tell her I said that.) You have these deep hazel eyes that change color. And the cutest curly hair. And I swear you smiled at me when I held you. I could live off your smile for the rest of my life.  

I already know you are going to be the best of us. A harsh word will never fall from your lips. People will want to be near you to feel your warmth and love.

I pray that I will be the best father I can be to you. I am sure I will make mistakes sometimes as your father, but please forgive me. No matter what, I will always love you.

Love,

your devoted father.

P. S. It will be a very long time from now, but whomever the man is who's going to marry you one day, better know what an amazing person you are and treat you like the princess that you are, or he will have me to answer to.  

Jim smiles a little and puts the letter back into its envelope.

Pam takes it and holds it. 'What do you think?'

Jim is quiet for a little while as he's thinking. 'I am sorry I will never get to meet him. What an incredible man.' He is quiet again. Then says, 'The way he describes you at a couple hours old is the way I would have described you now.'

Pam looks at him with those startling hazel eyes he fell in love with all those years ago. 

He takes her hand and kisses the back of it. 'You have the biggest heart of anyone I have ever known. A mean word has never been uttered by you. I feel good and comfortable and warm just by being around you. Even when we were having, ummm, issues, I still felt better just knowing you were near. I love your smile and your laugh because they're genuine. Whenever I have a day that I can make you smile, or laugh, I feel like my day has been full-filled. I pray that I get to be that man you father was talking about, because I will do anything to keep your love and make you the happiest woman on earth.' 

   Pam puts her hand on his cheek. 'Oh Jim, I knew coming to see you would help me feel better. I wish my dad could have met you too.'

 She leans in and lightly kisses him. They curl up together and hold each other.

After sitting and holding each other for awhile Jim says 'Are you ready to go home?'

'Yeah, let's go.'

They get up and go downstairs. Jim's family meets Pam briefly and give her their condolences. 

Jim follows Pam back to her apartment where they spend another quiet evening together.

As they go to bed Jim can tell that Pam is rather agitated. They lay down facing each other and he lightly smooths her hair down with his hand.  

He asks her, 'How are you doing?'

'I'm having a hard time. I can't believe I'll never see him again.'

'I know. I'm sorry babe. What can I do to help?' 

'You're doing it. I love that you are here with me. I really want this relationship to work out.'

'Me too. It will. We've already been through enough.'

Pam smiles. 'Yeah, we have.'

'Are you going to be able to sleep?'

Pam nods. 'I'll try.'

Jim gets up. 'I have and idea. I'll be right back.'

He goes to the living room and returns with something in his hands.  

'What's that?'

He holds it up. 'My IPOD. I thought I would play a list for you and maybe it will help you fall asleep.'

She smiles as he hands her an earbud. He lays back down facing her again and puts the other earbud in his ear.

As they listen, they don't talk. After a couple songs Pam asks, 'What is this list?'

'It's called Pam's list.'

Pam closes her eyes for a moment, then leans forward and kisses him. After a minute she pulls back. 'I love you so much Halpert.'

'Back at you Beesly.'

Jim watches as Pam's eyes close again, but this time they don't reopen.  

  He hears Kate Bush singing This Woman's Work.

"Give me these moments back.

Give them back to me.

Give me that little kiss.

Give me your hand." 

Jim moves in a little closer to Pam and she rests her head on his chest. He falls asleep listening to her breathing.