Oh, this is how that conversation happened. No doubt. Love Pam's subtle little prompts that Jim - of course - picks up. I have no doubt he's told her all those things many times before - but knowing he told her dad, and in that bittersweet context, was just so touching.Thanks for connecting the dots so well, Lovefool!

I probably don't need to tell you that these sorts of everyday moments are a personal fave - especially when they ring as true as these. Ditto what everyone has said about laundry, zombies, his not being a boy at all sometimes ;-) Luscious.

And count me in as another who thinks Jim is a reader. (In fact, he screams former English major to me.) I've written him that way in several fics too, and once got a comment along the lines: But he didn't read Angela's Ashes for the FTC! But I totally get that - I'm a big reader, yet if there's a book I'm not in the mood for, or it's not my cuppa, or whatever - just can't do it. (Thank god I was better about that when a student. lol.) Also, I think the point there wasn't about him not reading, but him not wanting to be excluded from anything involving Pam - plus his being such a goofball ;-) But I digress....I loved the part here about his having lots of books and his reaction to her suggesting he depart with any of them. That's my boy! This was great fun.

You know, I've always believed they never saw each other again, after that fateful night...and usually in fic when they do, it's far too melodramatic to convince me otherwise. But, dang, missy - you changed my mind. This fits so seamlessly into canon, capturing precisely each of their states of mind/moods during that mysterious moment of disconnection. So much to love about their encounter in the bar - Jim's utterly heartbroken melancholy mixed with his first glimmers of bitterness - yet still, needing to finally tell the truth even if it's the death knell (your line about Dwight is absolutely killer.) Pam's almost spastically desperate effort to pretend it's something she knows full well it's not - hanging onto that like a life preserver. Oh man, the humanity;-) You captured it all, without over-writing it, so bravo for that!

But, rather than quote every other line, here's something I especially loved: how you structured this, beginning and ending in the same place: It was the opening iteration of a pattern that had yet to emerge... fantastic. And so spot on, for precisely that feeling I always got from S3 - which, btw, always reminded me of the final lines in Gatsby (So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.) Just the profound sadness/loss of never really moving on from what had - or should have - been. 

So, yeah, I loved this. It's a sad and true thing. 

How clever was this? I could so imagine young Jim, kind of smart alecky, but well-intentioned and sweet and funny - nice back story. Also that final exchange about Minor having his sense of humor surgically removed - and Pam's quick retort - was perfect. (Nice connection to that scene in LC-2, where Jim tells Dwight about his dad taking him the the Museum of Natural History and buying him a plastic dino too.) Really enjoyed this!

Author's Response: Thanks Colette. Since I have a sordid past as a dinosaur nerd myself, that scene in LC 2 really made me happy, and I decided to incorporate it into this story. I find Jim an interesting character - bright, likeable, and yet somewhere in the past, he\'s been conditioned to avoid conflict and is terrified to himself on the line. Something happened. But what? \r\nAnyway, I\'m delighted you liked this, and thanks for the review.

I'm kind of thinking that a Sat. afternoon, going to a bookstore, coming home and having sex, then eating lasagna while watching a March Madness game and playing with your puppy sounds kind of ideal (with Jim involved, of course. ;-)

There are like a dozen great little details here that really make it come alive (the contents of her desk, her scuzzy mug, wanting to kiss her in the Cloister...) but what I find most interesting is how he knows her not drawing signals not being quite comfortable in her skin. I've kind of figured that after her intense experience at Pratt (and how it ended) she might be taking a break - just a little sketching on her own, maybe an informal drawing class here and there (as a veteran of art/design edu, I can relate to needing to go a bit low key with it, after a particularly demanding stint.) But, if she's not doing it at all - as you posit - absolutely Jim would know that meant something was off. And this: He said her name, kissed her navel, and parted her legs with a gentle but insistent hand...besides being hot as hell, in an understated way, it also says so much - he knows their intimacy is so tied up in reminding her how inextricably connected they are, despite whatever confusion she's going through. And finally, that last stanza - where he quite literally holds her together before she 'crumbles' -- just gorgeously put. I love his certainty here - I think you have that just right. Sad and hopeful and full of pure simple love. I'm rambling, so....done ;-)

There you go again with the little gems! I love how with the right guy - who really wanted her, Karen just stumbled upon him. Nice contrast with how futile it all was, despite how hard she pushed it, with Mr. Jim Wrong Guy Halpert :-) Also love her questions to him and your title (hee!) Well done, you!


Author's Response: Thank you so much, Colette! I was feeling really rusty, so for you to say it was a "gem" is doubly sweet. (And "little" - I actually had about 100 more words in the first draft. This "shortness" thing is a sickness, I tell ya!). I am happy that Karen got her happy ending. And even happier that it is far, far from Scranton!

He likes it all: the weirdness, the getting to know her like this; it’s overwhelming and wonderful and he feels clear-headed, awake after a long sleep.

So perfectly put. And: ...her soft skin is all he can comprehend wins besotted line of the year award, and two minutes just became sexier than two hours (one can only imagine round two, once they'd gotten past the initial kaboom.) So much sexy, so much heart, so character-specific. You're just too damn good at this, Emily.

This must sound like it's an auto-reaction, but it's not - I love this. Here's a few reasons why: hooray for fics that acknowledge that of course Pam secretly had these thoughts about Jim, even back then; the feeling of an actual episode - the pitch perfect interaction with Kelly, Phyllis, Dwight, etc. And that's where this excels - it detours from canon (her admitting her fantasy to Jim) - but just enough, in a way that requires no suspension of disbelief. Bravo. Also, I LOVE how once she confesses her dream, Jim doesn't quite know what to do with that info himself, how he sort of lets her off the hook by telling her she shouldn't be ashamed (how perfect that he specifies he doesn't mean all people, he means her) - and makes it okay for her, with a deflecting joke. But, it's also clear he kind of stores it away in his mind. They're both so palpably in that unformed, embryonic zone here, still figuring out where the - sometimes uncomfortably tacit - borders are.

I'd start quoting lines to you, but alas...that would become an endless ramble. I did love their little exchange about Dwight's attire ( "He - you know what? Just wait for it." Hee!) Little bits like that made it seem so rooted in the show back then...as did the drink orders (each was so funnily character-specific)...and her perception of Jim's ease with himself...and the atmospherically sexy/intimate feeling of their sweltering walk to the coffee shop - that just so captured the flavor of how their most mundane time together could be so charged in those days.

Okay, so there's that disorganized ramble I promised not to do ;-) I'll end here, by saying your ending line It means nothing pretty much sums up everything back in that day.

This moment just inside the door...just inside the rest of our lives together.

What a lovely way to put it...thanks for this, miss.

Nice working in Pam's old fears about kids - and also, how she knows (even if she's kidding...sort of) that Jim will compensate for her (misconceived) shortcomings. And oh no! The dreaded minivan! (Just priced renting one today, to get my little baby to school with all her belongings in a couple of months...sob.) Oh well, I'm rambling, but this fic is like a good sitcom - lots of good, consistent episodes that make me smile and look forward to the next.

Author's Response: Aww colette.  Hugs to you for seeing your baby off. :(  I figure Pam would eventually start to freak and thought that this was a good time to bring it up.   There's not a lot of time left. :)   Thank you as always for the review.  I'm so glad you're enjoying this.

What a great way to start this series - you really captured  Michael/Holly's patter. It's almost like they're scatting off each other - in some kind of syncopated dorky jazz ;-) And your ref to the improbable, but enthusiastic, French love for Jerry Lewis is the perfect analogy for how they appreciate each other. Really fun - and bittersweet now that she's gone.

Blanca, I meant what I said on the board - your fic works much better for me than the actual episode did. I love how you did the alternating structure - perfectly suited to their ying/yang day, how they seem not to be connecting, when subliminally they always are. So many great moments here, but I especially love her putting on his boxers and seeing herself as confident and sexy in the mirror. And the ending is so lovely, with them going to sleep together, apart. Will read this one again.