Oh, Isabel. You clever devil. "God, Jim better have a hot best man." Please make this Dwight somehow.

Some interesting work with their personal histories here... you can see why these two might be drawn towards the idea of starting a new family quickly, and definite potential for conflict down the line.

"Is there a pam-chop here? I've got the mint sauce waiting." Oh, Michael. He really should've been a pediatrician.

"Ryan just tells me all the time now how enormous I am and to stop eating so much." Kelly. DMTFA.

Yikes. That's a hell of a note to leave us off on...

Author's Response:

Hehe I'll see what I can do Dwight wise!!

And yeah, Kelly has ALWAYS needed to get rid of Ryan. She really, really should

Sorry for the bombshell!!

Thanks for the review! 

I'm with Pam on this one. First impressions count for a lot, and if their love is for sale you'd better be willing to buy it.

I'm also with Pam on her having the right to be freaked out by learning major new life details about her baby daddy. Honestly, though, not having seen the Gilmore Girls is the biggest red flag in this chapter.

The hot seat prank feels very Jam.

LOL. Yellowberry reference!

"Like what if you're hiding some creepy doll collection from me? Or that every summer you make a sacrifice to the alien lord you worship. Or you write fanfiction for some TV show." Hey.

I appreciate you not dragging out the reveal to the Halperts here, especially with them having a heated conversation not too far away from them...

Author's Response:

Oh definitely. Hostess presents are an absolute definite in my book.

And Gilmore Girls. I honestly would expect Jim to at least know about the show. *shakes head sadly*

Yeah gotta get my gal YB in there!

The fanfic one made me chuckle hehe. No offence intended to anyone!

Yeah, you'll see what's coming up with the Halperts shortly!

Thanks as always for the review!! 

Lot of father issues in desperate need of resolution here... and of course there's definitely an explosion coming from Pam's mother. Plenty of drama ahead of us...

My personal headcanon will be that Michael himself was the guy who re-enacted the flashing. This is going to be complicated for them business-wise though...

I love the way you worked in Phyllis' rain cliches. And this is a very sweet moment with him loving Pam sriracha-faced and all.

A London trip! That feels like it heralds excitement!

Author's Response:

Yup there's a whole pile of daddy issues going on here!

Your personal headcanon sounds a lot like my headcanon hah!

Ah thanks! I really enjoyed writing her lines in there!

London will be a lot of fun. But jeeeeez it's so far away!! Hehehe!

Thanks so much for the review!! 

Oh, Karen. You're not quite on Cathy's level, but still. This is not a good look on you.

Humble request for Kandy endgame. The belligerent sexual tension is off the charts here. Also, really fun remixing of some great Kelly moments here.

Tea and Cola? That's me! We were ROBBED. (But seriously, thanks for the shoutout!)

Oh, these crazy kids. Good thing they don't have to worry about accidental pregnancy anymore...

Glad you're feeling better!

Author's Response:

Oh god, a Kandy endgame?! Could we do that to them? Could Andy handle Kelly and 2 babies?? I mean, I’m not sure Ryan can, but he’s in that pickle. Maybe they can have some fun as we go along, we’ll see :)

I’m sorry you didn’t win the award, but thank you for your continued support!! 

Ah, I love self-aware Michael, recognizing exactly what he's doing with his foot injury. Good for him. Live your best life, Michael.

Oh, Helene. Not a lot of great parenting role models for these two.

I love Kelly here. Jim and Pam should be careful what they're promising her.

And that, Jim, is why you don't drink before giving a speech, ya goofball.

Author's Response:

Hehe glad you liked this Michael! He was a bit of a pickle to write, so hopefully he was ok!!

I feel Kelly is about to get Jim and Pam into a WORLD of trouble with this one.

THANK YOU! Booze before a speech is a terrible idea! 

1

Oh, okay. MY idea. Sure, sure, just... right under the bus. Make sure you get a good picture of the tire tracks on my back when you're done.

Glad it worked out for Mikela, but I maintain that Michael did not deserve to be let off the hook for this one.

Author's Response:

Hey - thanks for that review and the idea...

Maybe not, but in that case, let's see the letter from the kid who did fare so well as a result of his Michaelness...

You post one and we can make it a series. 

1

OUCH. We clearly crushed Jim's fragile beating heart a little here. I mean, the wondering was probably torturous, but this casts a shadow over the whole thing.

“Oh, come on. No one deserves that.” Dwight. Dwight deserves that.

"You had a few of Roy’s nachos, but then he got mad and said you should have ordered your own appetizer." On the one hand, Roy sucks. On the other hand, order your own damn food, lady.

"Even the first time the two of you had lunch together, which was like two days after you met, he insisted on paying. You don’t think he had even met Roy yet." DAMMIT PAM.

"You realize that you’ve been getting into the habit of just apologizing when things get tense between you and Roy, hoping that an I’m sorry will smooth things out. It’s always easy to find something you could have done or said differently, and this situation is certainly no exception." Oooooof. This is... very Pam.

"You know that if this were any other situation, all it would take is a ten-minute conversation with Jim, and you would know exactly what to do." Your guardian angel is weeping, BEGGING you to take the hint.

Pam turning to Dwight can't possibly be a *good* idea. But it seems like it could be an extremely *entertaining* idea, and also like Pam would much rather do that than talk to Jim. So...

#1

1

“In case I need them in a survival situation.” Now I want to know exactly what survival situation would require battery-operated calculators, because I'm sure Dwight's got a specific one in mind.

"“This is highly classified,” he says in a low voice. “But I have strong suspicions that Michael’s hecklers from last night were planted spies from a rival paper company.”" Oh, Dwight. NEver change. And you were like... on the way to being at least not actively horrifying, and you blew it.

"In your hurry, you don’t look where you’re going, and suddenly you find your face smack in the middle of Jim’s button-down shirt. With Jim inside it." LOL.

(For the record, I too have always wondered and may or may not have a fic in progress that will never get finished about how Pam managed to kiss Jim in front of like 30 people and no one ever followed up on it.)

"As unintentionally insightful as Dwight can be, you refuse to believe that men and women always want different things from a relationship, even though you know there’s some truth to that. Just look at you and Roy." Accidentally Helpful Dwight is the best Dwight.

Ugh. Roy. The combination of the Chili's disaster with the hockey game disaster... you are not a smart man.

"You did think Roy had changed. Because you always think he will." OUCH. Very interesting psychological take on Pam. And realizing that's her rationalization and it's just not working anymore does seem to be the sort of thing that might push an early Season 2 Pam over the edge. Fancy New Beesly arrives early!

#1

Yeah. This feels like the canon version of what happened. Everything's less sharp in the morning, they both make some vague apologies and move forward without dealing with anything, Pam covers for her moment of wondering, she and Jim have a smaller moment, and Casino Night gets one day closer.

Also, I like the idea that Roy is genuinely amused by the story of Pam's Chili's ban. Makes me feel better about her sticking with him for so long.

"In a way it’s not surprising, you think, since no one really notices you much here. “Hey, Beesly, how’s it going? Feeling better?”" Yep.

#2

Okay, but what if Pam drunkenly kept her nerve here? WHAT IF?

"You suppose those days are less likely to happen when you work in the same building." iseewhatyoudidthere.gif

Roy in full passive-aggressive mode right here. Not a good look on him. And incidentally not a great way to keep Pam feeling guilty.

"It’s the thought that if you make a decision, you might have to actually do something about it." CANON PAM: *nods guiltily*

"But you could stay on the phone with him for the rest of the day. Just existing at the same time. Breathing, listening, waiting." LOVE THIS. And Jim calling to check in.

"Fine. Whatever. I’m still going out." Don't let the door hit you on the butt on the way out, Roy.

"He immediately gets a funny look on his face, as if he regrets saying that." This moment will haunt Jim's dreams.

You wrote them a heated moment over a game of chess. Let's just take a second and acknowledge that.

HE HAD MARK BUY HER CREAMER. HEART. EYES.

A very sweet ending to this. And so much pain and angst avoided. Which was your plan all along, wasn't it?

#3

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The idea that Murphy's Law has turned on post-Athleap Jim as he's gone more legit is hilarious. Hell hath no fury like a law of nature scorned, I suppose.

Honestly, though, Jim's been a father long enough to know that attempting to cook with two small children when you're outnumbered is a tough sled. A nice gesture for Pam, but the chaos was inevitable. Nice that Cece and Phil are getting along though! And the kitchen seems to have taken the brunt of the damage.

"I do it!" I picture this entire sequence shot like a slasher movie, and we're just waiting for the killer to jump out at us.

"It’ll only take fifteen minutes." Again, Jim. You're just tempting fate here. Even if you were on Murphy's good side.

Somewhere, Michael is trying to think of a bunch of jokes about Jim using a can of Pam.

Well, Jim tried. And he, like Pam and us, will see the humor in this eventually. Very fun!

Author's Response: Glad you liked the concept. It was fun to start things out like that. I'd say normally Jim can mulit-task with the kids pretty good by now, but with Murphy actively working against him this time around, he was doomed to hilarious failure. Yes, there was much tempting of fate and fate won. It's not always about the result but able the effort and yeah the good thing about Jim and Pam is they can take a joke. Glad you like this one. Thanks as ever for the review.

1

"Sometimes the mere thought of what she might have missed leaves her short of breath." A lovely line, really, and a nice bit of framing for the joy in what comes next. And of course she'll always be the shy receptionist he fell in love with, frizzy hair and all!

"Damn, she thinks. Like clockwork." Clearly Pam has had all of abstinence she can stand.

I thought you did well exploring the sensation of how much Pam's life has been overtaken by motherhood and how she's claiming some of herself and her body back here.

Also Jim's complete surprise and then immediately being on board is terrific.

Very sweet and very steamy, friend.

1

Creed as The Merchant does seem like perfect casting.

This very much captured the video game spirit, I think! Looking forward to reading Pam and Jim's adventures now that they're together...

Author's Response: He’s a creepy, dude in the game and he’s like EVERYWHERE. I shot him once to see what happened, he died, and then a little while later he was back at it asking me to buy or sell things. And I was like ???? HOW ????