Hey, SO! Here you are, once again, keeping me company on a Saturday night :D You've been busy! This must surely be the longest piece you've written. You weren't kidding when you said this would be epic, and to that I say yyaaaaay! I was so pissed at Roy through this chap. Such a thoughtless douche :( he ruined a perfectly lovely time.

Greedily awaiting more!

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Callisto, a new fic from you is always cause for celebration.  Even if it wasn’t Friday, it would feel like one :)  Pam’s slow transition from patience to resignation to elation is a thing of beauty.  Karen is polite, if no longer friendly. Her smiles are forced, her eye contact fleeting and guarded. Pam feels like she needs to say something about what happened at the beach, but she can’t seem to get her alone, and she doesn’t want to do it in front of Jim.  I like this passage.  I could perfectly envision Pam’s little talk with Karen without your having to restate the dialog.  Still, she got to say goodbye, although she made sure to say good luck instead…It’s more than she got last time. Such a sense of melancholy.  Makes me so very happy that everything was just fine in the end : )  Thanks for the visit, buddy.  Stellar work, as always.

Author's Response: Hi Nan! Great to hear from you. It makes me happy that you pointed out that passage-- I like it too, and was struggling with a way to distill not only the awkwardness, but find some plausible explanation why she waited so long to talk to Karen (besides "it's TV and we had to see it"). It's fun to read the angst when you know how it ends, isn't it? :)

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Masterful, as always, Callisto. This was like water in the desert ;) So glad you're feeling inspired to write lately. You're particularly good at writing this time frame. Keep it up, girl!

Author's Response: Thanks, Nan. I'll see what else is in the folder. :)

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So unbelievably cute aaaaand there's ice cream! I'm beginning to wonder if you're actually a brilliant four year old, kaat...

Author's Response: HA oh NanReg, you caught me. I am secretly 19 going on 4. And ice cream - where would we be without it? Just HAD to include it AGAIN!

Oh my goodness!  This was so sweet I want to lick it :D  I love all the silly and happy and cute and delicious.  May I have another scoop, please?

Author's Response: Comparing my story to ice cream - now THAT is the highest compliment! Digging some more stuff out of my freezer as we speak. :)

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ivy!  Glad to have you back, girl :)  Your descriptions are beautifully evocative, sensuous, lush.  They make me want to know all the little details that preceded this moment.  I think they also convey the depth of the emotion being experienced between these two.  Sad but sexy--not a bad deal ;)

Well obviously this is scorching hot, Tuna.  As hot as it is, though, it's loving, too.  I found this to be so touching:  Since the last trimester of her pregnancy, she had become self-conscious about her body and rarely displayed herself so blatantly in the bright light of day. He found her beautiful, of course, and he thought the last few pounds of baby-weight that she’d retained had settled in all the right places but she often felt shy about revealing herself so completely and, wanting her to be comfortable, he rarely asked her to. He clearly loves her so much, and that's so beautiful.  The love and trust makes the "smut" much more erotic IMHO.  Still amazed that that little bit of this episode inspired such hotness :D 

One last thing that I keep forgetting to mention:  I hope you're feeling fully recovered from the flu! 

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I keep trying to leave this a nice long review, but my effing iPad is cutting it off :( Let's just say that I loved it. Bravo!

Author's Response: Aww, thank you! Your reviews mean the world to me so I'm really glad you loved it. :)

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Nostalgia?  You want to talk nostalgia?  I could just about cry myself right now reading this story by you, Annabel, ole buddy.  I do believe that your last entry was about this time last year.  Anyway, it is truly, madly and deeply wonderful to read this.  My heart's beating a little faster and my smile's a little bigger than it was about 10 minutes ago.  On to our review...

Wow.  This is truly unique.  I think I'm going to like this alternate universe of yours.  Through my powers of deduction, the first thing that leads me to believe that (other than it's yours) is that it has an "M" rating.  ::grins really, really widely::  Second, the banter is nothing short of awesome.  You got me to giggle while reading about the cello.  Don't think I've ever done that before.  It could also have to do with envisioning Jim Halpert as a cello enthusiast.  I love that they've fallen so quickly into this delightful banter.  I have so many questions.  I hope, hope, hope you'll answer them by updating this soon.  Please, oh, please? 

LOL--just read Sally's review :D See? General consensus says Annabel's a meanie : p

One more thing…  Your writing conveys the sense of breathless excitement, panic, of what it must feel like to be Jim in that moment where "all his ships [come] in together, his stars miraculously [align] and [point] the way to infinity.”  Just the fact that he still feels that love and desire for Pam after years and is able to act on it is thrilling.  Combining that with his worry and inner battle is simply delicious.

P.S.  Sorry--formatting difficulty below and no time to fix it :(

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Oh my stars, Miss Annabel.  Despite the fact that you're a tease, this was worth every minute of waiting--a delicious, meaty portion of tense museum slash pub slash hotel room love in all it's gooey wonder =)  It's sad how ecstatic I was to see this update.  Really.  I've been thinking of this story every day since your last update and had all but given up hope.  I'm just thrilled that you continued with it. 

I was holding my breath, waiting to find out about Karen.  I'm so relieved to hear that that relationship is very nearly a thing of the past.  Whew.