Jim came in on Monday morning feeling a bit hungover despite the fact he didn't drink anything over the weekend. Frankly, he didn't do anything that weekend. He tried, but every time he brought up another idea for a date with Karen, she would shoot it down. So instead, he spent the entire weekend sitting on his couch, trying to figure out what he had done to piss her off.
He hung his coat on the rack near Pam, giving her a simple "Morning."
"Hey," she said. "Um...Jan wants you in the conference room."
Jim rolled his eyes. "What did Michael do this time?" he asked, dropping his bag on his chair.
"I don't know, but it has something to do with Karen," she responded with a bit of concern.
He stopped himself from asking Pam what Karen had to do with any of it. His head started to hurt, trying to run through all the possible things Michael could have said to offend her as he walked over to the conference room.
He opened the door and heard Jan's typical work voice in his ears. "Jim, you're just in time. Have a seat." He took the open chair next to Michael, sitting across from Jan and Karen.
He looked over at Karen, but couldn't read the expression on her face. He knew it was something bad by the way she was avoiding his eyes. His palms started to sweat, thinking he was about to be put in a position where he may have to choose between supporting Michael and supporting his secret girlfriend. Or Corporate may have found out about the relationship and he was being called in to explain why they didn't register it with Toby.
Jan's shuffling of papers snapped him out of his thought process. "Michael, Jim, I talked to Karen last week and we have decided to offer her a promotion to the corporate office in New York."
Jim's head snapped to look back at Karen. She looked dejected, staring at the table, doing everything she could to avoid acknowledging he was there. What was going on? He started looking around, hoping someone would give him something to work with. It was a joke, right? This was some sort of management training test or something, wasn't it? But all Jan did was shuffle more paperwork around. Michael was trying to look serious and professional, which was so weird. Why wasn't he taking this personally that another Stamford employee was leaving his office? Then Jim saw Michael's eyes start to light up. It was the same look Michael would get right before a sugar high kicked in. Why was he getting excited about Karen leaving?
"Jim," Jan said, pushing her paperwork his way. "Here are the transfer papers you need to sign as assistant regional manager. Also, Karen, you need to sign them as well on the 'Transferred Employee' line above Jim's signature." He knew exactly where all the lines were on these papers. And just like the last time he signed them, his head was spinning. It was like his life was on replay, only he was on the other side of the table and a different woman was involved.
"Karen, Michael and I will be in his office working on the details of your transfer so you can bring everything there when you're done," Jan politely explained.
As they left, Jim thought he saw Michael give him a little wink. That was the last thing he needed.
Jim looked down at the papers as he heard the door shut. He couldn't bring himself to look up at Karen. "You've been avoiding me because you planned to leave."
"Yeah," Karen replied. "I just need to go."
The words on the transfer papers started to blur together as he stared at them. "I don't know if I said something or did something to give you the impression I wanted to you leave, but I'm sorry if I did. I just..." He looked up at her. "Karen, I never wanted you to leave."
"Jim, don't make this harder for me."
"Why does it have to be hard? I just don't have to sign these papers and you don't go and it's fine."
"I need to leave, Jim," she said, finally looking up at him. He could see pain in her eyes and he felt himself go cold.
He started running through everything in the past two weeks -- DVD Night at her place a few weeks ago, dinners, drinks at Poor Richard's. He couldn't come up with anything he may have said to make her feel like she needed to go. "Why? When did this all start?"
"It was after Michael said something to me last week."
"Michael?!" Jim spat out. "Seriously? I mean, he's a decent guy at times, but you should know by now that Michael is alot of talk."
Karen took a deep breath. "He said you transferred to Stamford because you were in love with Pam."
He said what? Jim's mind was trying to figure out why Michael would tell her that. How did that come up in conversation? Why did Michael even say anything? And what did any of this have to do with Karen now? It was last year! He never intended to come back to Scranton and he surely didn't come back because of Pam.
"Karen, that's all over. It's in the past. I'm with you now and...Look, you don't need to leave just because of that. My crush on Pam...it was just a harmless crush, Karen. I'm over it now."
"Are you?" Karen snapped back. "Think about what you did this week at work. All those times you randomly got up from your desk to talk to her. Think about the way your face would brighten up when she walked into the break room and how it fell when she left. And I have no idea why, but whenever Roy from the warehouse comes up to talk to her, you look like you're threatened or something. Like he's hitting on your girlfriend. And those were only the things I noticed this week after Michael said something to me!" She took a deep breath and stared at him. "You need to ask yourself why you acted like that, Jim."
Karen grabbed the papers from in front of him and started signing them, pressing hard on the paper. "You're not over her, Jim, and I can't be in this office with you anymore."
She pushed the papers back to him with enough force that they slid past Jim's hand and off the table. By the time he had picked them up, she was already gone. He grabbed the pen that had been sitting in front of her and put his signature on the "Assistant Regional Manager" line.
* * *
Michael was sitting at his desk looking giddy when Jim walked in with the completed paperwork and closed the door.
"I think your final approval is needed somewhere in this," was all Jim could think of saying.
"It is, my friend!" Michael responded excitedly. "And then I'll send it on to corporate and they should have it just in time for Karen's move out there next week. By the way," Michael said slyly, "I'm getting her out of her as soon as possible for your own sake. I think you noticed all that flirting she was doing with you. Probably made you really pissed off to know that Pam saw another woman acting like that with you."
"Michael!" Jim blurted out, his face getting red with anger. "What are you talking about? I have no idea what you said to Karen, but my relationship with her was none of your business! Why did you even tell her about my crush on Pam?! It's over already! I've moved on!" Jim regretted everything he said after it came out of his mouth and he sank into one of the grey chairs. He knew Michael wasn't trying to be malicious or anything, but he totally messed up this all up and Jim was going to be stuck cleaning it all up.
Jim looked back at Michael, expecting him to look shocked at the outburst. Instead, he found Michael giving him a look of concern. "Jim," he said sincerely. "If I'm wrong, I'm wrong. But I see the way you still look at Pam, the way you still act around her. You're still in love in Pam. Now I forgive you for leaving for Stamford..."
"Gee, thanks," Jim whispered sarcastically.
"Jim, you left for Stamford to get away from your feelings for Pam, right?" Michael asked, his concern still evident in his voice. "You need to accept the fact that just because you left doesn't mean those feelings went away. You're still in love with Pam, Jim, and deep in your heart, you know that."
Jim stared at Michael in disbelief. How could a guy who could be so crass sometimes still be sincere when Jim needed it the most? Too bad Michael was wrong about this one, Jim thought. Then he started thinking about Pam, about that warm hug from her when he first came back, about how hard it was to tell her he was seeing someone else. About the night he kissed her and she kissed him back. Michael wasn't right, was he?
Michael put Karen's transfer papers in a manila envelope and sealed it shut. "Can you give this to Pam? Let her know it needs to be Fed-Exed to corporate today."
Jim grabbed the envelope and walked out the door. He dropped it on Pam's desk, giving her the instructions as he walked over to the rack to get his coat. He thought the cool air outside would clear his head a bit.
He came back after a three-hour walk, but only because he couldn't stand the cold anymore.
Story Notes:
There are too many people interested in Jim in Scranton, but Jim is only interested in one of them so the other has to get the boot.
This is the first time I've done a multi-part fic so bear with me as the other chapters get published. And no, none of these characters are mine.
