Author's Chapter Notes:
Jim's last Monday at Scranton.
May 14, 2006
Monday came faster than they wanted it to. Monday was the start of a countdown until the end. When Jim would be leaving for Stamford. When they would be apart. And Pam was dreading it for that reason, and facing up to everyone, who was sure to find out about the crumbling of her wedding before the day was over. Gossip spread like wildfire, and the office was about to burn down when this got out.
Luckily, Jim was there for her. Just like he was there for her as she painted the gray walls a vibrant shade of yellow. He was there when she put in some second hand furniture and the rest of her stuff from her old house. He was there for her the first night in her new apartment and he was going to be there for her when she told everyone the wedding was off. It wasn’t going to be exactly like that, but it would be close.
“Good morning, Pam.” Michael said, unable to come up with a witty play on Pam’s name. He just accepted his messages with a smile.
“Good morning. How was your date?” Pam asked a polite question, and Michael responded with wide eyes, and a mischievous grin.
“It was fine, thank you.” He said, turning towards the cameras. Then he avoided any more details than necessary, and ducked into the office.
“Hey Pam.” Jim said nonchalantly. They had decided for the sake of things in the office, they weren’t going to talk about them being together. She figured that since she had just broken up with Roy, that being with Jim would seem too sudden, and that he was the reason she called off the wedding. Which wasn’t the case at all. Because Roy was the reason she called off the wedding. And things never felt rushed between them. They had been best friends for four years; being more than that just seemed to come easily.
“Hey Jim.” Pam said sweetly, looking up at him with the kind of smile Angela greeted Dwight with. A smile that meant nothing to others, but leagues to them. “Did you have a good weekend?”
“Yeah.” He said, nodding. He put his messenger bag on his chair, and sat down. “You?”
“Oh, definitely.” She replied, and then jumped back in to her game of solitaire. Keeping this kind of secret would prove difficult.
Two hours passed, and there weren’t any interruptions. No conference room meetings, no spazz attacks from Michael, nothing. The quiet began to scare Jim and Pam. It was not a good sign, especially with all the drama that was to unfold in the next five days. Jim still hadn’t told Michael he was transferring to Stamford. He would be crushed, no doubt. He’d nearly broken down when they cancelled Arrested Development. And surely things would go down hill from there.
“Are you seriously going to tell him now?” Pam spoke in what she referred to as her “office voice”. Hushed tones so that no one, except for the camera, could hear what they were talking about. It was something she could tell would be used a lot in the next five days. “I mean, we’ve had a pretty quiet day.”
“It’ll give him a couple days to get over it.” Jim replied, sounding confident in his voice.
“You realize you’re not going to have to deal with him once you’re gone.” Pam said, trying to guilt trip him just because he was leaving. She had spent the entire weekend, dealing with the fact that he was going to be gone in a week. But all she could do about it now was put on her brave face.
“I know.” Jim winked at her as he began to walk away. Her face formed a very serious pout at him, and this caused him to walk into Michael’s office with a sense of a swagger.
“Jim. Jim Man. What can I do you for?” Michael asked, looking as if he had been sitting around, doing nothing all day. Typical, Jim thought to himself. He shook those thoughts out of his head, and began.
“I just wanted to talk to you for a second.” Jim said, shutting the door behind him.
“Uh oh, sounds serious.” Michael said in the gap, trying his hardest to be funny. “Do you want to
see other people?” He gave one dry laugh at his very un-funny joke. Jim was going to miss that, too.
“Sort of.” Jim said, looking down and chuckling. “I just thought I should let you know that I’m being transferred to Stamford at the end of the week.” Michael’s usual happy demeanor quickly turned into sobriety and uneasiness. “And it has nothing to do with you…”
“Oh, sure.” Michael said, his voice quickly filling with anger. “Just jump ship for a better boat.” Jim looked at the camera, confused at Michael’s sudden eagerness to use boat metaphors. “Tell me, what can I do to make you stay?” He sounded desperate. So desperate that he was actually being serious. Jim used to laugh at things like that, but he couldn’t help but feel bad for Michael.
“No, sorry.” Jim said, shrugging. “I mean, it has been a pleasure to work with you. I just think it’s time to move on.” Jim and Michael sat there for a moment, just looking at each other. Jim nodded and was about to head out the door, when Michael let out one yelp.
“Hug me.” Jim turned around, and looked at Michael. That was the kind of thing that he could’ve every easily misheard. He asked Michael for clarification, and Michael gladly obliged. “Hug me, Jim.” Jim reluctantly walked over to Michael, and stood over at his chair. Michael, on the brink of tears, latched on to him. “I’m going to miss you, Jim!” He spoke in a shrill tone, and somehow Jim felt as if he was going to miss Michael too.
“You hugged him?” Pam said, a few minutes after Jim had walked from Michael’s office. He shared all the gory details of Michael’s goodbye, and both Jim and Pam laughed until tears fell from their eyes. “Oh, that is great.”
“Yeah…” Jim said, calming down. “Well, I’m going to go sit down.” He popped a jelly bean in his mouth, and sat back at his desk. Soon, someone else would fill that desk. But no one would ever fill Jim’s shoes. Never.
“Attention everybody.” Michael said suddenly, his voice still heavy with emotion from Jim’s shocking revelation. Everybody looked up with tired faces at Michael, expecting yet another office distraction. “I thought that everybody should know…” He began, speaking slowly and staring at Jim. “That Jim is going to be transferring to Stamford at the end of the week. And that I had absolutely nothing to do with it.” Everyone didn’t know whether to laugh at Michael’s adamancy that he hadn’t pushed Jim away, or to be sad for Jim’s departure. There was one person in the office, though, whose face was very clear to read his emotions.
“Yes!” Dwight said, raising his fist and standing up. Clearly, hiding his emotions was not so easy. But he had been trying so hard to get Jim fired, and now Scranton was going to be Jim Halpert-less. And that made Dwight very, very happy.
“Oh, I’ll miss you too, Dwight.” Jim said with mock caring and raising his pitch slightly. Dwight looked disgusted at Jim’s sudden…femininity.
“You’re such a girl, Jim. I won’t miss you at all.” Dwight said, then turned back to his computer and work. Paranoia began to set in. Jim had spent nearly every day pulling pranks, making jokes, making Dwight miserable. Why would his last week be any different? So for the rest of the day, Dwight watched Jim out of the corner of his eyes, just waiting for suspicious movement. He found Jim actually doing work, all day.
“Oh my God, Pam. I am so excited for your wedding. And I know it’s only like a month away, but it’s just so awesome!” Kelly said in her normal way too fast tone as she did whenever excitement for something kicked in. All of a sudden, Kelly looked down at Pam’s ring-less hand, and exclaimed. “Oh my God, where’s your ring!” Pam froze. Would she admit the truth: that the wedding was off? Or would she make up some stupid lie, like she was having it cleaned. Time was running out. Kelly stood there, waiting for an answer. Usually with Kelly, you would just stand there for one second, and she would spin off into a verbal frenzy and forget whatever it was she was talking about. But not now. Pam swallowed hard, and admitted the truth.
“We broke up.” Pam said, her heart hanging heavy. Kelly just stood there, her mouth practically on the floor.
“Oh my Gosh, does that mean you’re not going to marry him?” Kelly began rapid-fire questions.
She had just told the entire office the wedding was off. Not directly, of course. But Kelly would soon spread the word around. The reality of it all sunk in at that precise moment. Her wedding wasn’t happening. The dizziness took a hold on her.
“Excuse me.” Pam felt herself say as she stood up and rushed to the bathroom. She ran right past Jim, who looked concerned for Pam. He followed her with his eyes until she was in the bathroom.
“Jim, did you hear?” Kelly asked, waiting for Jim to stop staring at the bathroom door. He turned to find Kelly mere inches away from him.
“Hear what, Kelly?” Jim replied, trying to calm himself down. She’s fine.
“Pam broke up with Roy.” She shared her own juicy piece of gossip. Jim then remembered he wasn’t supposed to know that.
“Really?” He lied. He’d known minutes after it happened. But appearances had to be upheld. He examined Kelly the way he would have had he not actually known.
“Totally.” Kelly looked up, and saw no one in her close vicinity. “Now that Pam’s single…” Smiling suggestively, Kelly walked away slow. Once Kelly was out of sight, a wide grin spread across his face. Pam returned to her desk after a few minutes, and Jim smiled at her. And she smiled back.
He opened up his email browser, and typed in a message asking if she was okay. She replied with a smiley face, and a yes I’m fine.
“Pam?” Angela called out in her normal, strict tone. She was standing in the doorway of the conference room. Jim looked at Pam for an explanation, and Pam stood up.
“What’s going on?” Jim asked, and Pam just shrugged.
“I’d tell you, but then I’d have to kill you.” She said with a secretive grin. Jim pleaded for answers. Pam didn’t budge. “Sorry, but that’s not my problem.” Before Jim could reply, Pam was snatched into the conference room.
“God, I hope Michael isn’t throwing a party.” Jim said under his breath.
“Come on, guys. Jim’s leaving! We have to send him off with a real Scranton party!”
“We are not having strippers come to the office.” Angela stood her ground, frowning at Michael’s tacky idea. “I don’t think that sort of thing would be appropriate. And I’m sure Toby would agree so.”
“Well, Toby Flenderson is a pervert, so I’m sure he’d love that sort of thing.” Ryan, Pam, Phyllis and Angela all stared at Michael, who was unaware of why everyone was so offended by this idea.
“Come on, Pam.” Jim persisted between bites of ham and cheese sandwich. “You have to tell me. Is Michael…”
“What makes you think that Michael would want to throw you a party?” Pam finished his sentence, and took a bite of her mixed berry yogurt. Jim’s eyes widened with curious excitement. “What?”
“I never asked if Michael, or anybody, was throwing me a party.” Jim said, and Pam realized she had just blown the whole thing. “Wow, Beesley. You are so easy to break!” They both were grinning, and they both just ate the rest of their lunch enjoying each other’s company.
“You know, you should probably get back to work.” Jim said sternly as Pam finished up the last bites of her yogurt. She looked at him. “I mean, who knows how many phone calls you’ve missed already.” She smiled, and nodded.
“What am I going to do when you’re gone?” She said, standing up. “I mean, who is going to monitor my productivity?” Jim shrugged, unable to stop smiling. On her way out, Pam bumped shoulders with Creed, who was carrying a small bag of mung beans. Jim acknowledged Creed’s presence, and Creed took a seat next to him.
“I see you’re getting pretty close with that engaged receptionist.” He said, popping a handful of the disgusting beans into his mouth. “You know, I was once in love with an engaged woman myself.” He said, proudly. Jim nodded, completely horrified this was happening.
“What did you do about it?” Jim asked, scared to know the answer.
“I left China.” Creed said, smirking with a content smile on his face. Jim just looked at the camera, one of his signature looks stuck on his face.
***
“You know what they say. If you love them, set them free. And if they don’t come back, they’re probably just not back in town yet. They probably just lost your address. Or forgot to call, and tell you they were late.” Michael said, trying to mask his sadness of Jim’s departure. The camera zoomed in on his face as he continued with his monologue. He says quietly to himself as he runs out of his office. “I better make sure Jim has my number.”
Chapter End Notes:
Next: The goodbye
