Very nice job with this story! I've been following this since you started it earlier this year and hoped you would continue to update. I like your "strong Pam". It's refreshing to see her speak up and take charge instead of wring her hands and stay silent. I am curious how things will go when she and Jim have more one-on-one time away from the hospital rooms later.

I appreciate your attention to detail, from the technical/medical stuff, to your descriptions of Jim's/Pam's thoughts throughout the story. You can really tell that this story is being told from an adult perspective and through adult eyes. In my opinion, it really helps make the story more authentic and true to Jim and Pam's characters. Very well done!

Sorry to read that you were not well because of your allergic reaction, hope you are doing better. Thanks for sharing this story. I hope you will continue to update, I look forward to reading more of this!

Author's Response:

Thanks for taking the time to leave such detailed comments, ShunUnshun.  I like strong Pam, too.  And I think she would've always had it in her if Jim needed her strength.  It's funny how a lot of times you can't find the inner resolve to be strong for yourself but, if someone you love needs you, you discover that your strength been there all along.

Thanks also for commenting on my attention to detail.  Honestly, sometimes I'm afraid I'm not detailed enough on the "texture" kind of stuff.  I think of stories by StablerGirl, Becky215 and Girl7 and I think I sound kind of dry.  I have to keep going back to add the "rich details."  So I'm relieved to hear it sounds like I'm getting enough in.

Reviews like yours are really helpful.  Thanks again for taking the time!

Great story so far! You do angst and happy resolution so well in your stories. I appreciate that you take the time to flesh out the characters (even the OC's) and let us get into their heads a bit. Thanks for sharing this story, looking forward to more.

Author's Response: First: Love your screen name!  I'm glad you like my moving slowly; it's always nice to hear that, as I really have a hard time with offering up shorter stories.  (People who can so consistently do incredible one shots just amaze me.)  So glad you're enjoying this, and I appreicate your reviewing!

So nice to see you back here!

You are one of those gifted authors who can pack so much imagery, story and meaning into so few words. Your Jim and Pam are so consistently within character in your stories and this one is no exception! Always a pleasure to read your work.

Very nicely done, looking forward to reading more of this one. Thanks for sharing!

Author's Response: I had a little bit of a day yesterday so that is certainly lovely to hear.  Thank you so much for taking the time to read.  I'm so glad you liked it!

Based on the Jim/Pam characterizations and interactions the Office writers have given us during Season 4, I was wondering if a Jim/Pam break-up story could be written without taking one (or both) of them out of character. I don't think you’re pulling it off with this story.

It seems to me that this Jim is OOC. Right from the start he allows his brother to talk him out of proposing to Pam before she goes to Pratt. Then, as he recalls the three months Pam was at Pratt, to me he comes off as whiny and petulant. On the show it was clear that Jim was very supportive of Pam going to Pratt. It seems a bit unbelievable that Jim wouldn’t expect Pam to very busy there. And why wouldn’t she make new friends? This Jim also seems a bit paranoid as he recalls Pam keeping in touch with said friends and what they could be discussing. To me it came off as a bit more than Jim showing some insecurity that he was “just a paper salesman.”

I guess the part that really clinched it for me was later in the story: “While I was in Stamford and then when I was back in Scranton and with Karen, people think Pam went through this huge transformation but the truth is, she was only slightly more honest with herself than she had been before. Getting her beer order right or changing a flat tire was great, but she still faked a friendship with Karen, got back together with Roy, only confessed a part of what she was feeling to me. I don’t think she really became Fancy New Beesly until she was by herself, away from Scranton, away from me.” Wow. Does this Jim really know Pam at all? From what we’ve seen on the show, I don’t see Jim thinking this. At all. Very OOC in my opinion.

Obviously we don’t see/hear much from Pam in this story since it’s told from Jim’s POV. Boy do I feel for her. She didn’t seem to do anything wrong here. She made some changes to her clothes and hair, made some new friends and took a job she would actually enjoy. She seemed truly bewildered to find the ring and wonder why Jim still hadn’t proposed. I just don’t buy that these two don’t communicate. The Office writers took a lot of time to show the viewers the “connection” these two have. How do you go from Jim buying a ring the week after they started dating to this? In this story it seems to me that this Jim was having more than just doubts. To me he came off as petulant, insecure, suspicious, and more than a bit self-absorbed. To me, OOC from how he is/was portrayed on the show.

The other aspect of this story that I find a bit unbelievable is that Jim takes up with Emily so soon after his break-up with Pam. To me it seems like Emily’s not that much different than Karen other than Emily knowing Jim’s baggage with Pam sooner and in more detail. The whole story with Jim/Emily screams rebound to me.

Maybe I’m just not getting what’s going on here. I read a few of the reviews for this story and was a bit puzzled at how easily some accepted the break-up and Jim’s new relationship. To me, I really haven’t seen enough to justify this Jim’s change of heart with Pam and remain consistent with the show’s characterization of him. Maybe you just haven’t gotten to it yet in this story. And, with the obvious connection that Pam/Jim have on the show, it seems like a stretch in this story that Jim would assume that Pam was growing away from him so much in such a short period of time. She was a two-hour drive away and was gone for only three months. It’s not like she was going to Europe for two years or something. And again I just don’t buy that these two don’t communicate or that they didn’t talk about what happened in the year or so before they started dating.

I give you credit for posting this story. It seems to have created quite a discussion, just based on the number of reviews you’ve gotten alone! I wouldn’t give it a low rating at all. I think you just have to forget about what you know about Jim/Pam from watching the show for this to be a believable story. I am curious how you will wrap this up, and doubly curious how you might tell this from Pam’s POV.

Author's Response: ShunUnshun, thanks so much for your feedback on this story. I\'m always glad to hear what works and what doesn\'t work for people, and obviously this one isn\'t working for you. I totally respect your right to disagree, but what it comes down to is our personal opinions of Jim and Pam and their relationship. First off I will say that there are a few concessions that I made to believability for the sake of the premise of this story. It is an AU, so I cut myself a little bit of slack. One is that Jim didn\'t propose immediately after Goodbye Toby. Personally, I think he would have based on what we saw in season 4. But for the purposes of this story I needed to think of what might have delayed him. I don\'t think it\'s that unrealistic for him to not want Pam to have to think about a wedding or anything else while she\'s going off on a huge new adventure for her. Going to school in New York City for her art is probably the bravest thing she\'s ever done (and for me, that includes the beach speech), and I could see Jim just wanting to wait until she came back to start that chapter of their life together. Maybe I didn\'t express that well, but that was my thought process.

I also think that the show has never truly shown us that Jim and Pam absolutely HAVE gotten over their communication issues. Sure, their relationship in season 4 seemed very happy and rosy, but what new relationship isn\'t? They\'ve always had a strong \"connection\" but that doesn\'t necessarily mean that they\'ve hashed out the past or are completely honest with each other about what they want. I think to assume that they are all of a sudden open books with each other after years of hiding feelings and keeping secrets is a bit of a stretch. Plus, again this is an AU -- we as viewers haven\'t seen what happens with Pam at Pratt yet. I\'m taking that story line in a drastic arc, one that some people might not find believable. But I could argue that you take a girl who has made concessions about what she wants for most of her life, who hasn\'t been brave or honest (quoting Gil there), who is just beginning to discover who she is, and you plop her down in the biggest city in the world with new friends and new experiences, and I\'d argue that she could go through a HUGE transformation in a very short amount of time. I\'m not saying that her transformation was the reason for their breakup, though. I\'m saying that Jim\'s response to her transformation and what it means, how he feels about himself, is the cause of their break up.

I hate to say this because I feel like a broken record, but I think whether people like this story or not comes down to how they feel about Pam. Do you think she was brave and went through a huge change in season 3? Or do you think she was just starting to become fancy new Beesly? Obviously, I\'m of the second camp. There were more changes for her in season 4, but I don\'t think we\'ve seen anything yet.

Re: how soon Jim starts dating Emily -- let me just say this. I have a good friend whose husband died suddenly and tragically and she was seeing someone fairly seriously within a year. If Jim was ready for the breakup and made peace with it, I don\'t think 6 months is so quick. And I haven\'t said that he hasn\'t dated anyone else in that time, actually. But again, that\'s just my opinion. I guess I\'m tired of seeing Jim portrayed as a sadsack mope and I wanted to write a story where he bounces back.

Also, just for my curiosity: how is Emily like Karen? Do you see them as being similar in personality?

Again, I\'m okay with people not buying this premise (or not wanting to read about it), but I just want to remind you (and others) that everyone looks at Jim and Pam\'s relationship differently. I\'ve never seen any real evidence that they\'ve solved some of their past problems (although they may have -- I just haven\'t seen it onscreen), and that is what led me to want to write this story. Thanks again for your feedback. Sorry you\'re not buying this one.

Wendolf, again, thanks for reading and responding to my comments. From this chapter I think I understand a bit more about where you’re coming from with Jim. It still doesn’t quite come together for me, though. Jim resented Pam for not taking more risks when it came to the two of them (i.e. Pam not calling Jim after she called off the wedding), I get that. What I don’t get, though, is why did this Jim come back to be with Pam after “The Job”? Did this just not bother him that much at the time, then he let this (and other instances where he felt that she didn’t take enough risks) fester through the relationship?

I get what you’re saying about Pam/Jim not addressing all of their issues after only being together a year. I’m still going to have to disagree with this, though. I find it hard to believe that after a year some situation hasn’t happened that wouldn’t bring up *something* contentious from their past. I also think the “glow” has dimmed from their relationship. At the beginning of Season 4 (“Fun Run”), they glowed, but by GT I thought that they seemed happy together, not necessarily glowing. I don’t think they were issue-free, but I don’t think that they appeared to be in a new “glowy” relationship, either.

I understand where you’re coming from with your thoughts about things being all or nothing with Jim sometimes. However, I think Jim’s departure to Stamford after Casino Night and Pam going to Pratt are two very different situations. I saw Casino Night like this –Jim never had Pam, he wanted Pam and took a big risk to try to get her. He left because there was nothing left for him in Scranton. With Pam going to Pratt, I’m not sure “all or nothing” fits here. Jim already had Pam, they’d been in a relationship for just about a year. On the show Jim encouraged Pam to go to Pratt. Would Jim (or anyone else for that matter) really expect or think that Pam wouldn’t change just a little bit after her experiences there? By “all or nothing” do you mean that Jim thought or expected that Pam wouldn’t or shouldn’t change after her experience? I think Jim’s “extreme” reaction to Pam’s changes was OOC, I think you might as well call him Roy here.

About the Karen/Emily/rebound point, let me put it this way. I view a rebound relationship as one where someone just gets out of a serious relationship, then jumps into a new relationship (not necessarily serious) relatively soon afterward without resolving the effects/feelings from the previous relationship. I think that Jim still seems bitter after his break-up with Pam. You said yourself that Jim is “still relatively fresh from the break up – would probably have a tendency to justify, make excuses, try to make himself feel better about how he handled things.” So, yeah, I think that Emily is a rebound after his relationship with Pam. He wanted to feel better about himself. I don’t think Emily is a replacement for Pam, nor do I think that Emily is the only woman that Jim could have a loving relationship with after Pam. I don’t think Jim/Emily’s relationship will necessarily be temporary (although that’s up to you, right?) ;) I think rebound relationships could work out. I hope I explained this a bit more clearly this time.

Again, thanks for reading and responding to my comments. If you find them helpful, that’s great. At this point, though, I think we’re trying to convince each other of things that I don’t think we will agree on. Can we just “agree to disagree”? :)

Author's Response: Yep, let\'s agree to disagree. I see your points and respect them, but we obviously are looking at this a bit differently. I\'m just going to answer the questions you asked directly.

RE: why Jim got together with Pam at all when he clearly still had issues-- this to me is sort of a no-brainer. I mean, I think he was overwhelmed by the chance of having what he\'d wanted for so long. I can\'t imagine him saying at that point \"No thanks. You had your chance.\" He was thrilled. But once they were together, and especially after he started to see the changes in Pam, his feelings of insecurity came back. I could give personal examples here ... but I won\'t ;-)

RE: Jim\'s extreme reaction -- I meant extreme in the way he handled things after Pam went to Pratt, not extreme in that he didn\'t expect her to change at all. I think (again, just in my fic) when he felt things changing (whether they really were or whether that was just his perception), that\'s when he got a little all or nothing. All his fears and issues kind of started to rear their ugly heads and ... well... things unraveled.

Lastly, again, I\'m not saying that they couldn\'t have dealt with their issues during their first year -- just that we didn\'t see any hard evidence that they had. So... it begs the question that sort of planted the seed for this fic: What if they hadn\'t?

Thanks again!

Really nice work with this story. Your characterizations are very well done and fit nicely within that time frame in Season 3. Thanks for sharing!

Author's Response: Thanks so much ShunUnshun - happy to hear this is working for you!

I love the dialogue between these two, very realistic and in character. It reminded me of Pam's talking head in Fun Run, when she says that she and Jim got together a few times for dinner and she talked him through his break-up. In this chapter, though, seems like Jim talked Pam through hers. Very well done. I'm looking forward to seeing how you tackle the discussion about Karen. You're doing a great job with this story!

Author's Response: Oh, I hadn't even thought of that talking head! Thanks for pointing that out. Thank you for the encouragement! Hopefully, I'll have more soon.