Just a guy with Jim and Pam on the brain, trying to get the song out of his head by singing it.
A story about a boy, a girl, and a word.
1 Okay, STRONG opening line and opening exchange. I'm guffawing. And I love the idea of Pam repeatedly asserting girlfriend privilege and how charmed Jim is by it. AND you brought it all the way back around!
"That she’s never been more in love than she is right now, sharing a bag of pretzels with her best friend Jim in their boring break room." That's so them.
"How about the next Michael movie that shows up will be our code word" YOU DO FOSSE, FOSSE, FOSSE! MARTHA GRAHAM, MARTHA GRAHAM, MARTHA GRAHAM! This also feels like it fits the crafted scenario as a movie Michael would definitely watch but not want anyone to know he watched.
“Do you really think anyone here cares what we say? Or even pays any attention to us at all?” Delilah: *Jims the camera*
"It honestly doesn’t bother her, but the fact that it bothers him makes her love him even more." Too cute.
Very solid Oscar voice - him starting with the part that sounds clever and throwing in that he just happened upon them once as a side note.
This has a remarkable feeling of early Season 4 canon, right down to its socks.
Author's Response: Haha I love that Delilah is just hanging around in the background in all my fics for you whether she’s in them or not (she’s always in them). Thanks for the review, DJC!
A peak inside the date Jim and Pam had after the end of season 3 (We were robbed!!)
cross posted on ao3
1 This was delightfully fluffy, and I really liked the way you wrote Jim's sense of time passing - stretching for this one important moment of his life and shrinking during this weird pause between then and when the rest of his life begins.
Congratulations on posting your first story! Welcome to the ranks of MTT authors!
1 Pam's got good instincts with Dwight in this chapter... Jim would be proud!
"the next item on her list of ‘things FNB should look out for' would be to avoid blushing." Love it!
I really like the touch that the Cugino's lunch they first had together was equally important to Pam and that she understands the symbolism without having to think twice.
1 EEEEEEP. TOO CUTE. TOOOOOOOOOOO CUTE. HELP.
Author's Response: Hehehe! Thanks for the review!
Pam discovers Jim is gentle when he wants to be. She thinks he wants to be gentle with her.
1 "Is this what it felt like to join the Mile High Club?" Write THAT fic.
"It could be considered later to be the greatest accident to have happened to him when everything played out the way it did." EEEEP.
"Jim had carefully tested out this theory with Pam, but he was never certain if her glazed eyes that watched his fingers and hands with such rapt attention as they lounged over her desk and into her space were because she thought they were sexy or if she was just bored." Oh, poor Jim.
OOoooof. Roy. YOU SUCK.
"His mind's eye flashed with images of him and Pam at his parents house in the driveway while he worked on her car and she kept him company with glasses of cold lemonade." Really, the brazen-ness of their flirting here is just too much for my heart to take.
There's something very lovely about him taking her to an Olive Garden. Idk why, I just like the detail.
THE FAKE PROPOSAL. THE STEAMY PUBLIC KISS. I LOVE THIS.
Ooooof. Roy. You suck. Again.
Ahhh, this is a MUCH better conclusion to Basketball than canon.
As a consequence to several years of frustration for going out with numerous people, Jim and Pam have a best friend’s talk and decide to have a fake date to identify what’s what they do wrong when they have an affair. Will it become something else?
1 Interesting start to this one! Curious about the pre-existing relationship/dynamic between this Jim and this Pam, looking forward to seeing how you explore it.
1 A Jim POV on I'll Be Home! Outstanding! And honestly well timed - nice to think that one day it won't be this hot again. (And also a good answer to the Wallace's Party challenge.)
Very nice to see a little Jim-Karen closure here... and I think the Dan proposal justifies Karen being willing to hear this from Jim at this time in canon.
What a pile up of disasters here... very Northeastern, right down to the Dunkin run being a crucial part of any road trip.
"Give Pam a big old smacker from me." Oh, Michael. You are so deliriously awkward. He's really very Michael-ish in this fic, in all his inappropriateness and all his childish glee and all his sincerely wanting to be helpful and not quite managing it most of the time.
And a very sweet ending from Jim's perspective, too, seeing Pam making some significant steps towards becoming a Halpert even without him around. Nice job.
Author's Response: Thank you. It was fun to share it and I'm glad it brought some cooler vibes here in the warm months. Glad you liked the closure. Now that both Jim and Karen have calmed down I could see them getting there. They are both reasonable people for the most part after all.
Thanks for the words of encouragement on Michael. He can be tricky to write sometimes, especially in a time of chaos like that. And of course Pam keeps making nice with the Halperts. Here in Jamie/Morgan land, that's never been an issue and I love bringing that out.
Thanks as always for your great feedback.
1 Intriguing set up here! Lots of conflict and challenges established early, along with an easy and natural rapport and trust. Should be fun to see them fight their way out of this one...
Author's Response: Thank you for your review!
1 Well, thank goodness Betsy's got some sense, because Tom and Pete have none. Guess the brains in the Halpert family missed a few of the kids.
This was a good remix of the "How dare you" kiss. And the bit about the swing felt very real.
Love the mixture of flirtation and genuine burgeoning intimacy between them here!
1 This scene of Pam tentatively meeting Scamp is ADORABLE.
1 Okay, BIG twist with Betsy's history. And offers a lot of context to her somewhat ahistorical acceptance of Pam.
Poor Pam. Roy always manages to find some way to be an asshole to her. Glad he and Kevin got some just desserts here.
“Don’t call me a cowgirl until you’ve seen me ride.” BEESLY.
1 "Anderson’s always been a…” Pete glances at Betsy who waits for him to continue. “Person that I find distasteful.”" Not so dumb, are you, Pete.
The dance they're doing around defining the parameters of their relationship right now is delightful.
Jim, Pam, and Michael are office building tenants who share a love of true crime, but soon realize they’ve stumbled upon one in their own workplace.
1 "He was riveted. He was mesmerized. He was in trouble." This whole bit here is peak AU fanfic, in that it's both a really nice moment on its own AND it also makes me vividly imagine how similar their own first meeting might have been and how awkward Michael might have made it.
Brigitte Purr-dot cracks me up every time I think about it.
The Michael monologue in the intro is classic Michael. I love the expansion on the Scranton-Paris comparison in particular. And the triptych of lines about him hanging out with Packer is perfectly him - funny and also extremely depressing.
Michael is truly an excellent wingman. Packer clearly owes him credit. HE JUST WANTS TO BE A PART OF SOMETHING, DAMMIT.
“Harmless? Well, I suppose it depends on your pain tolerance." Oh, you two and your bonding over your weird mutual acquaintances.
RIP Brigitte Purr-dot. We hardly knew ye. But I have a feeling we're going to see a very smart... well, very well-meaning... team of detectives get you the justice you deserve.
1 The Jim-Dwight contempt is STRONG in this one. And I love the quickly replicating pattern of Pam as Jim's co-conspirator but also Dwight whisperer.
The image of Pam pointing the flashlight at her own face and teasing Jim is adorable and so very them.
Michael ripping his Ross-purchased pants to get into the cat cafe is a great remix of canon. Also, I very much want to see Michael end up with one of the cats now.
"Michael leaned in. “You know, you can just walk right under that stuff.”" Lol.
This was a *very* fun chapter. Sorry it comes on such a hard day. RIP Leia.
1 Okay, now THIS is fluff. Feels like a really good description of the joy of those early months for Jim, and how he managed to buy the ring after a week and wait a year.
I love his question being inspired by a glance at Ronnie and him putting himself in Pam’s Season Three shoes.
"This is the past you’re going to remember." HEART. EYES.
1 This was some really fun Michael dialogue!
Author's Response: Thank you so much!!!
1 Okay, I really love this taste of "their eyes meet across a crowded bar and Jim elbows his buddy and says 'see that girl? I'm gonna marry her'" Jam. AND I'm really glad to see you writing again!
Author's Response: Thanks, DJ! I'm having a great time writing myself! Thank you for reading and reviewing!
1 This is DELIGHTFUL.
Author's Response: Why thank you so much!
1 A very cute glimpse into their early days.
1 I think the linking of these two really makes it work - you get a lot of miles out of all the miles between them and the echoes of their happy earlier moments in their happy life together now.
1 YAY. Glad you brought this one over! I am a firm believer in the ideas that Pam really needed a good female friend during this time and that Karen would've been a good bro for Jim if they hadn't tried to date, and this is a clever way to explore that.
I really like Karen's impression of Angela here and seeing both Katy and the craziness of Booze Cruise through her fresh eyes. And seeing Jim share The Secret with Karen instead of Pam feels like it has a lot of potential.
A very warm welcome to MTT! Looking forward to seeing where you go with this.
Author's Response: Thank you! This fic is basically me giving Pam a female that can show her lovingly the errors of her way and give her a non-invested sounding board to start expressing herself. And Karen was a cool character that had the misfortune to come in the middle of the OTP to end all OTPs, so yeah. :)
1 I love Karen's continuing befuddlement here. Just such a blindingly bad fit for her. Her surface amusement and deep-down horror at realizing this isn't as bad as it gets is great. And Pam as her Scranton guide should be a lot of fun.
Author's Response: Thanks! Karen's befuddlement is really enjoyable for me to write :)
1 Feels like there's something significant in that it's Michael and not Dwight who really pushes Karen's buttons... like he's the one you really need to make peace with to function normally in the Scranton branch.
I also think you have Karen hit on something important here - Pam's unconscious sense that marrying Roy is going to change him somehow. I think just having someone unbiased telling her she deserves better is big, but making her confront that underlying assumption is a game-changer.
Author's Response: Thanks! To me, Karen would be more bothered by Michael because he is her boss whereas Dwight is at the same level as her and has very little power over her. Also Dwight has no qualms about alienating people because of who he is, whereas Michael does some crazy stupid stuff but still expects people to love him for it. That lack of awareness would drive her nuts I think.
1 “I will literally buy you anything you want from this machine if you promise never to tell me what those ideas were.” Lol. Love it.
Feels like a strong example of how both Jim and Pam would've benefited from someone to bounce things off of and offer them some perspective on their own behavior at this point in canon. And Karen has such a clear-eyed view of Pam... this idea of there being a difference between what Pam knows and what she accepts is crucial.
Author's Response: Thank you!
1 WHOA. TWIST.
“Maybe you’re right.” “I often am.” Lol again. This is a really fun Karen voice you've cultivated here.
"Michael had apparently called in from New York to say he was going to get a counseling certificate online to help Pam and Roy through this difficult time once he got back." It is a crime that we never got to see Michael's extremely well-meaning and totally counter-productive attempts to help Pam through her break-up with Roy.
This is exactly how Andy and Angela would've responded to a Roy-Pam breakup.
EEEEP. Love these moves for Pam.
Author's Response:
I really enjoy seeing what lines you enjoyed! And they are usually the ones I had the most fun coming up with.
Thanks for taking the time to comment :)