Michael came in later than usual and decided to stop by Jim's desk before unlocking his office door.

"Jimbo! Are you working on those expense reports for me?"

"Yep, I should have them on your desk by noon."

"No problemo!" Michael told him cheerily. Then his smile turned to move of a quizzical look. "Hey, didn't you wear that same exact suit and tie yesterday?"

Busted. Jim looked over Michael's shoulder to see a look of shock on Pam's face. "Umm...."

1) "He really did it," a dejected Pam thought. "He really went back to Karen."

After trying Scranton out for a few months, Karen was done with this branch and headed to the corporate offices in New York. But Jim wasn't necessarily done with her.

Somehow, Karen had never found out about his deep feelings for Pam, which made things less awkward between Pam and Karen. They helped plan a much better Christmas party than Angela's, they played a prank on Dwight that just the two of them had concocted. Karen really did become a good friend to Pam and she appreciated that despite the fact that she herself had feelings for Jim.

Pam and Karen talked about alot of things -- in person when Karen was in the office and over email now that she had left -- but Pam always tried to steer the conversation away from guys and relationships. She didn't want to get into the whole Roy and Jim thing, her unrequited love for Jim, the pain it caused her to see him with Karen. She liked Karen as a friend for other reasons and felt it was better to just ignore that Jim stuff. However, she couldn't avoid talking to Karen about her break up and her decision to leave.

"I like you, Pam, but there are so many other issues here that I can't deal with," Karen told her the day she left. "And ghosts. I just can't stand seeing Jim everyday anymore, ya know? So I just need to leave."

Pam didn't understand where Karen was coming from, but she figured Jim felt the same way last year when he kissed her and she rejected him.

Then Pam got an email from Karen about Jim yesterday. About him calling her and leaving her a message about wanting to see her again. Pam didn't know how to respond and just told Karen to follow her instincts.

Pam knew Karen well enough to know what she ended up doing. She called Jim. He went running. And he showed up this morning in the clothes that were laying on Karen's floor last night.

2) Jim didn't know what to do. Karen had left him months ago and yea, it stung. But as soon as she was gone, all he could think about was Pam. Some days, Pam made him hopeful that they could get back to how things were. Some days, he felt like it was a lost cause. Yesterday was one of those days.

Jim was standing in the kitchen getting a cup of coffee when Pam came in. He thought it would be nice to maybe go with her to a movie or something this weekend. It was a way to just try and get things back to normal with him. So he asked Pam what she was planning on doing this weekend. She mentioned an art class on Saturday and going over to Roy's house on Sunday.

"Roy's?" Jim said. "Why is that?"

"Jealous?" asked Pam in a flirty way. Then she realized her error. Of course, he was jealous. He had laid his heart on the line for her and now she's teasing him about seeing her ex-fiance this weekend. "Jim, I'm sorry. I didn't mean..."

"No, it's ok," he said, trying to sound casual. "You can do what you want with your life."

"It's just that Roy has some old boxes we need to sort through before he moves out of the house and..."

"Really, Pam. It's ok. You don't have to feel the need to explain things to me."

He brushed past her and walked out. He didn't talk to her the rest of the day and sent an email to Kevin later in the afternoon asking if he wanted to head out for a drink that night at Poor Richard's. Jim walked out the door that night with Kevin, leaving Pam behind at her desk without even a "Good night."

A few hours later, Kevin left him sitting at the bar. He had to go home to his fiance, Stacy. She had apparently put him on a short lease after a drinking binge with the fantasy football boys last week. "Man, I'm sorry about the whole Pam thing. She's hot, but I don't know if that makes up for ripping out your heart and stomping on it."

"Thanks, Kevin, for those kind words," a drunken Jim responded.

"You gonna be ok, man?"

"I'll be fine," Jim said. "I'm drinking water after this."

Instead, Jim had three more beers before walking out to his car and climbing in. What the hell was he doing? He wanted to talk to Pam so bad and get all this cleared up, but he couldn't drive to her place because he was too drunk to talk coherently and too drunk to drive. So he decided to just take a little nap in the parking lot, sober up, and figure it out in a few hours.

He woke up at 9 o'clock this morning when Richard, the poor owner of Poor Richard's, was knocking on his car window. He figured he was already dressed for work so why not just start the car and skip going home? It was Friday after all, so he figured no one would notice he was wearing the same clothes.

3) Pam was an artist, but that didn't necessarily make her a good painter. She figured the best option for finally getting her living room the nice sea foam green she wanted was to call in help. And the best option for getting the ceiling the same color was someone tall. Maybe this would be a good thing.

"Jim? Are you doing anything tonight?"

Jim stopped typing at his computer to look up at the receptionist leaning against his desk. "Depends. I'm up for most things, but be aware that my clown suit is at the dry cleaners so no kids parties."

"Good because clowns scare me."

"Which is exactly why I bought the suit, Beesly."

She punched him lightly on the shoulder. "You suck! Anyway, I need to get my living room painted and I'm kind of short and the ceiling is kind of tall so I thought maybe you could help?"

Jim gave her one of those smiles that teased her heart. "I could do that. What's the payment for my services?"

"Homemade chicken pot pie."

"Done!"

Jim followed her home from work and grabbed the gym bag from his back seat. He planned on doing some weight lifting after work, but this seemed to be a much better option. He changed clothes in her bathroom that smelled like vanilla and brown sugar. By looking around, this bathroom was a Pam bathroom -- unlike the bathroom he saw at the house she shared with Roy. Jim had gone over one night to try and comfort Pam a few years ago after she got in a fight with her now ex-fiance. He liked this bathroom much better.

The dinner was delicious, but the painting was slow. They had to move and cover all the furniture, wait an hour for the first coat to dry, and then make sure all the details on the edges looked right. At one point, Jim had some of the paint from the ceiling drip on to his cheek and Pam quickly wiped it off, his skin burning where her hand had been.

They finally got done at one in the morning. Jim headed home and was too exhausted to change so he fell asleep in his gym clothes. The next day, he was too tired to think straight and just grabbed his work clothes from his gym bag. He figured they matched since he had worn the same outfit the day before. He didn't have time to clean the green paint from under his nails.

Pam hoped this wasn't going to be a day when Michael decided to micro manage and notice every little detail in the office. If he noticed Jim was wearing the same suit, would he notice the green paint under her nails matched the color under Jim's?

4) They had been planning this for a few days but as it got closer, the two of them started to get more nervous about the night and cut back on the amount of talking they did between them. Pam found it a little weird that they weren't doing very well communicating when the whole reason she invited Jim over was to communicate and clear the air between them.

But Jim brought over a bottle of wine that matched her angel hair pasta amazingly well. The bottle was nearly empty when she opened another one and they moved to go sit on the couch. Jim sat down at one end and Pam sat at the other, turning herself towards him and flopping her legs across his lap.

"You know what the problem was, Pam?"

"What?"

"You were engaged."

"And yet you kissed me anyway."

They laughed. It was a good joke to get rid of the awkwardness. And they talked and said the things they needed to say to each other so they could move on, could be something more.

And at the end, Pam was glad it was over but exhausted. "I'm just so sorry about all of it, Jim. I wish we could start over."

He looked at her. "I don't. I'm glad this is how it all ended up. We had to fight for each other, you know? And I think that's what will make us strong together."

She looked down at her empty glass of wine and started to cry. She didn't deserve all this after the pain she put Jim through. She just felt so lucky that he would forgive her for three years of all that.

"Shhh," he told her. "C'mere."

She moved over to his side of the couch and he wrapped his arms around her. He was warm and comfortable and Pam realized he was right. They were going to be strong together.

Then she heard her alarm ringing. It sounded far off like it was in another room. She stirred and realized Jim was still there, still holding her, still on the couch where they had fallen asleep together in each other's arms the night before.

She had left her apartment five minutes after he did, thinking someone would get suspicious if they arrived at work at the same time. She didn't count on Michael noticing Jim was wearing the clothes he slept in last night on her couch.

5) Pam and Jim had finally got all the demons out in the open and moved on. And it was nice. Hell, it was better than nice. It was amazing! But it was also just their thing. As soon as one of them would say something about their relationship at the office, it would be all over the place. They didn't need that just yet.

Instead of going out to dinner last night, Pam suggested ordering in. There was a great sushi place that had just opened and she wanted to try their delivery service. Jim didn't hestitate to say yes to the idea.

"You think it will take them more time than the pizza guy to show up?" she asked Jim.

"Well, I don't think they cook the sushi so probably less, although I don't cook the stuff. I just order it."

Pam laughed as she walked over to the couch and handed him a glass of wine. She set hers down on the coffee table and snuggled up next to him. That was one of her favorite parts of the day -- being able to finally touch him after looking at him from her receptionist desk.

"Jim? Um...I have an offer for you."

"There are SO many ways I can respond to that, Beesly."

She sat up and lightly hit his chest. "I'm serious."

"Ok, what are you serious about?"

"Well...it's just...you have been spending more and more nights here, and that's fine, but I was thinking it kind of sucks that you have to keep bringing your stuff over here every night. And I guess...would you like to have a drawer?"

"A drawer?"

"Yea, you know to put some things so you don't have to drag a bag over all the time."

Jim gave her one of those looks that made her realize he was genuinely touched. "I would like that."

"Good. Ok. So I'll move some stuff around and you'll have your drawer by this weekend. How's that?"

"Sounds great," he said, leaning over to kiss her.

His clothes ended up on Pam's bedroom floor that night -- again -- and she woke up a little earlier than usual to make sure they were at least ironed before the two of them headed off to work. She wouldn't have to be worrying about that much longer with a drawer for him to put his folded-up suit in at night.

They had been doing this for more than two months and no one noticed the fact that Jim or Pam would show up on random days wearing the same clothes...until Michael figured it out today.