She figured the best option for finally getting her living room the nice sea foam green she wanted was to call in help

Pam owns a house? On the salary of a receptionist? Even in the financially depressed Rust Belt that would be quite a feat. If it isn't her house, she has no right to paint the walls. I can't imagine anyone who is just renting getting permission to paint the walls, let alone sea foam green.

If this seems a tad picky, it's because this is not the first fic I've read where someone has Pam painting her walls. Unless she's independently wealthy, I just don't see her having the money to own a house, and I don't see landlords allowing her to paint the walls of a rental unit. 

I loved the dialogue where Pam invites Jim to come over and paint, though. Jim's remark about buying the clown suit just to scare her was completely in character.

Jim just grabbed his work clothes from his gym bag

I shudder to think what his suit looked like after spending the night in his gym bag. "Wrinkled" doesn't begin to describe it. 

She looked down at her empty glass of wine and started to cry.

It's probably unfair of me to rag on this, but I've had it up to here with Weepy!Pam. Enough, already. I do think she's stronger than this. 

Having said that, I loved them falling asleep in one another's arms on her couch. Great scene.

That was one of her favorite parts of the day -- being able to finally touch him after looking at him from her receptionist desk.

Word. :) 

a drawer for him to put his folded-up suit in at night

ACK! NO! A suit needs to HANG. She can't give him a drawer AND a coat hanger? Just one? 

Great last line!

her breath still coming in short pants

Okay, this sounded funny. Sorry. Somewhere between an image of a tiny Pam in shorts and ... something more salacious. Unintended, I know, but still...

“The only thing I'm thankful for this year is that you are back,”

Word. 

I think this needs one more run past a copyeditor. Too many little niggly things threw me out of the story: "challange" instead of "challenge", "Saturday's" instead of "Saturdays", "hiking her skirt up so lightly" instead of "slightly", "Yea" (pronounced Yay) instead of "Yeah", "gentle" when you mean "gently", "sneazing " instead of "sneezing", "looked passed it " instead of "past it", "lieing " instead of "lying", etc. Most of these could have been fixed with a simple spelling check. Missing commas, absent periods...I had some trouble figuring out who was speaking when, and what they were trying to say. One or two such errors could be overlooked, but when I am brought up short time after time like this, it makes it hard to concentrate on the story.

I love these lines: There were no copies of that smell anywhere in the world. And at that moment his heart was filled with want. The kind you forget to breathe over.

Besides the sensuality of him smelling Pam (which I love), I like the parallelism you captured between him smelling the sweater and him forgetting to breathe over her.

when I picked it up, all that was there was you. I can't stop you, Pam. 

Wonderful way to put this.  

there was the spark he'd been looking for.

Yeah, we're all waiting for that spark to come back! 

Good luck with this, and thanks for posting it. 

8

She’d had a glimpse of what true candor was like

Ooo. Shiver. Good line.

she’d known without question that this was going to happen

That moment is ...just...so....erotic. 

right now, she didn’t want words; there would be time for words after.

Well, you know I'm definitely in the "they don't really need that conversation" camp, so I was all kinds of delighted to read this. 

she was on top of him, her hair a curtain over their faces.

Spectacular image! Well done. 

he knew what he was about to do to her…and it would be good

Whoa. I needed a cigarette after that sentence! 

It was like slaking a horrible thirst, this; the words like water rushing through him, bringing almost instant relief.

Wow. I hadn't thought of this angle before, but yeah. Jim is a talker; he likes conversation. Not being able to speak of the one thing most important to him for three years drove him nuts; now he finally is free to say whatever he needs to. It would be a real relief for him. Good insight!

it had felt good to just keep moving; sitting still meant giving in to the panic, the ache.

Oh, god, that hurts to read. So real. So painful. So Jim. 

you’re naked; I’m naked. I don’t think things can get much more okay than this

Oh, that Jim. Such a guy--so simple, so adorable. I love that line. 

She knew she'd see that image every time she looked across at him at work later;

And not get one bit of work done for, oh, a month. Who could focus with that in front of her? 

Well, I must congratulate you on smut well done. Except it wasn't smutty at all. It was erotic and loving and warm and totally believable. These two would never do anything so conventional as have sex for the first time in a bed. The living room floor even seems too tame, but I loved it anyway. Thanks for a well done story. 

he feels it…again.  It's still there.  It's still so easy.  Everything's easy except…what isn't.

Great line. And the last bit, where she's promising cover art and he's composing letters from Flonkerton Records...cute in-joke. And referencing David Hasselhoff gets you extra points! 

Ahhhhhhhh! No! Pam, for once, will you choose Jim over someone else? Who gives a damn about Karen? Argh!!!!!

xo, you're killing me, in a nice way. *sob*

Can't wait for the three French hens. 

5

As the door slowly swings open, she comes face to face with her future.

AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!! You MUST FINISH THIS. I have no fingernails left because I have gnawed them all to the quick. Very unsightly. All your fault. I love the Pam Voice in her head. I love AggressiveJim (oooo shiver). Can't wait for their next meeting. HURRY UP!! How dare you have a life? :D 

10

Beautiful lines: It’s three years of habit when he slides the second half of his sandwich over to her and takes her carrot sticks

and

 he says something that makes light spill all over her face

Thank you for both of them. 

I needed you to hear it.  Again.

Brilliant solution! I didn't buy the long speeches they gave each other on the couch--I would break those up, insert more long, awkward pauses, make it sound more like Jim and Pam. But replaying the Casino Night confession was a great idea! Totally worked.

And Pam in Jim's lap? Oh, yeah......:D 

10

She wasn’t beautiful right at the start, but she reminded me of something I couldn’t name.

Beautiful line. 

Her face was all wonderment and vulnerability and I felt this strong inclination to keep her safe then. 

What a lovely portrait of Pam. So true. 

when she laughed with a big chunk of orange ice in her mouth, it sounded like my childhood

Very good. [/Jim] 

ifI wasn’t in love with her then, it was only because I had no idea that was the name of what I was feeling

Poor shy, clueless Jim.

What a lovely piece. I am saving it. I love that you used Jim's voice. He says things to us he would never say even to Pam. It's a unique point of view; I don't know why more writers haven't used it. You've made it your own. Well done. Thank you. 

6

The air conditioning's broken.

My immediate reaction to this was, "Somebody call Bob Vance, Vance Refrigeration!" Seriously, though, just as a matter of professional pride, I don't see Bob Vance letting the AC go out in the building his refrigeration business is housed in. :) But otherwise, the idea of sweaty Jim and sweaty Pam is all kinds of erotic, so I like it. 

Go away, Beesley. I'm dead

This whole exchange is perfect. I can hear their voices in my head. Dead-on Jim and Pam. 

The last paragraph, with Jim placing the drawing next to his heart, just made me melt. So, so sweet. 

Uh. Did I miss something? We went from Jim pining to Jim and Pam being a couple? I guess I dropped a stitch somewhere. Quite a surprise.

this is love, not business

Heh heh heh. Wanna bet the wedding napkins are printed with a 10 percent off coupon for VR? Gotta love that Bob.

She's distracted by his long finger twirling around in the candy dish

Who doesn't love that? 

he's just really, really happy he doesn't have to deny how he feels about her any more, doesn't care who notices that she loves him back

I want to see this Jim so bad I can taste it. Sooo tired of lovelorn Jim and clueless Pam. Thanks for giving us these two being happy together.