Accidents were commonplace in the Halpert household. A forgotten lunch. A stepped on toy that rendered it broken. A burnt hand while cooking. Cece Halpert herself. But for some reason, recently the amount of accidents had exponentially increased.

It started the day before Jim's birthday. He and Pam were due to go for a weekend away to celebrate and his parents were flying in to look after the kids. However, as Betsy and Gerald were getting on the plane, Gerald missed his footing and fell down the two steps that he'd climbed and landed on his backside on the runway with a thump. Four hours and one trip to the emergency room later, an apologetic Betsy had called to say they wouldn't be able to make it for the weekend as Gerald needed to stay in the hospital overnight to be monitored.

"Well this sucks," Jim whined, pulling out a bar stool at the kitchen island.

"I know baby, but I'll figure something out, I promise," Pam assured him. She desperately tried to call every sitter they'd ever used in the last two years since moving to Austin, but they either didn't pick up or were busy. She even tried her sister to see if there was any way she could fly halfway across the country that afternoon, but obviously Penny couldn't. So instead, Pam went to the store. She filled her cart with soft shell crab, chocolates, some good coffee, pots of Jim's favourite soup, crusty bread, artisan cheeses and meats, every breakfast food she could find, and all of the candles that Trader Joe's had on their shelves. Her plan was to spoil Jim all weekend and as she was rung up by the checkout girl, Pam booked tickets to a local pumpkin patch, found a family showing at their local movie theater, mentally tried to remember where she'd put her new but unworn lingerie, and made a note to stop at the liquor store for champagne and wine.

But as she was pulling out of the parking lot in her newly laden car, Pam hit the curb and her tire blew out. "I've had a small accident," she sheepishly said to Jim on her cellphone, "in the car."

"What?" he gasped. "Ohmygod are you ok? What happened?"

"I just hit the stupid curb and my tire blew. I'm ok though, I think," she replied, craning her neck from side to side as she spoke.

"You think?" Jim scoffed. "We should definitely go and get you checked out. Where are you? I'll come get you."

"No, no, the kids. We don't have a sitter and I don't wanna take them to the emergency room. I'll wait here to get the tire changed and then I'll head to the hospital," she said. "You'll be ok with the kids right?" 

"Of course," he laughed. "I'll get dinner ready for when you're back later." 

"Thanks babe. Ok, I'll let you know what happens, but I'm sure I'm fine."

After Pam hung up the phone, she called the tow truck company and an hour and a half later, she was on her way to the emergency room. She groaned when the receptionist informed her it would be a six hour wait, but she sighed and nodded and headed to the uncomfortable plastic seat to wait her turn. She messaged Jim to let him know how late she'd be, that she was feeling fine, and to not worry about dinner as she would pick something up on the way home. She reached into her purse for her book and decided to enjoy the ‘peace and quiet' and a chance to read for a few hours.

She eventually made it home, thankfully completely fine, but it was nearing 1am and the evening that she had been planning for a good 45 minutes earlier in the day was clearly out the window. Pam sighed as she put away the groceries, threw away the cheeses and meats that had gone bad sitting in her warm trunk for 8+ hours and surveyed the wreckage that was her kitchen. Then she saw the first aid kit out on the counter and wondered what had happened. 

Quietly, Pam tiptoed upstairs so as not to wake anyone. She held her breath as she opened the door to her bedroom, waiting for its inevitable squeak, and grimaced as the creak reverberated around the large hallway. The light from the hallway cast a long streak over Jim's sleeping body, naked from the waist up and covered in just the comforter from his hips down, however Pam's intrusion caused him to stir.

"Pam?" he croaked with a groggy voice, bringing his hand up to cover his eyes from the bright light escaping from the upstairs landing. The hand that Pam could now see was wrapped in a bandage. She rushed over to him. 

"What happened to your hand?" she gasped, taking Jim's hand carefully in her own.

"Oh, I burnt it," he mumbled. "How are you?"

"Totally fine, maybe just the tiniest bit of whiplash, but the doctor wasn't worried at all," she rushed out to reassure Jim. She turned his hand over in hers. "How did you burn it?"

"The stupid metal handle of the big pan. I'd put it in the oven and accidentally grabbed without using the mitt. It's not that bad," he winced as Pam stroked his bandaged palm.

"I'm sorry baby. Can I get you any painkillers?"

"No, I took some just before I got into bed. I just want to sleep it off," he said, already slinking down to lay back down on his pillow. 

Pam watched him turn to his side and rest his hand on his pillow, before drifting back to sleep. She thought about the pumpkin patch she'd booked for the following day, worked out when she could run out to the store to replace the spoiled cheese and meat and hoped that she'd be able to save Jim's birthday. 

But she couldn't. The next morning on Jim's actual birthday, the day started as it meant to go on. Breakfast was a disaster. Cece demanded the twirly straw that didn't bend, but she also couldn't reach it while sitting down like she could with the bendy straws, so when she tried to kneel up to drink, she ended up spilling her milk all over the table, herself and the floor. Tears ensued, as did a small pan fire when Pam left the bacon frying in the pan to attend to the spillage and ended up throwing one of the many paper towels used for mopping onto the counter but missed and it hit the pan.

The pumpkin patch was no better. After various tantrums and disagreements, the Halperts finally selected their pumpkin. As Jim bent down to pick it up however, he managed to trip backwards over a pumpkin behind him and landed on his butt with a thud.

"Jim!" Pam shrieked as she ran over to help him, but got her foot caught in a vine and ended up flying through the air with flailing arms before falling to the ground with a thump. "Owww," she moaned as she pushed herself up off the ground.

"You ok?" Jim groaned as he arched his back slightly.

"Just about. You?" 

"I think I'll live. Let's just grab a pumpkin and head to the movie theatre," he replied. 

But by the time Cece had dropped her bucket of popcorn, Jim had knocked over his drink and Pam had realised that they had accidentally been sitting in the wrong movie for five minutes, the Halperts decided to call it a day and head home.

"Shall I heat up that soup you like?" Pam asked later that evening after both kids were finally asleep. "You know what they say, it's not a birthday until you've blown on a hot spoon of soup," she smiled. 

"After the weekend we've had, I honestly think the safest thing to do is to make a sandwich and go to sleep," Jim replied, pulling Pam into a hug so that he could press a kiss to the top of her head. 

"Oh, ok. Yeah makes sense," she said into his chest, somewhat disappointed that her new lingerie would remain unworn.