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Welcome to MTT. Glad to have you. Great job for your first fic here. You really captured all the pain and angst of S3 really well. Both in the things they said and did, but also if one reads between the lines in the things they're not saying or doing. Not talking to each other, not being brave enough to say what they're really feeling, being scared of being hurt. Great job.

That is until that last passage with the coal walk. The fear has been burned away and at long last they can finally really look at each other. And of course we all know what happens after that. Well done. Looking forward to seeing what else you come up with.

Author's Response: Aww, thanks for your review! :) 

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Ok so, yeah. Give me a moment here. Hoo, lots of stuff going on here. Jim's wall is back and in force. I love that Pam can see through the act he's putting on for the presentation. No, Karen wouldn't have seen it. Karen would have thought something like "he belongs here in New York, look at him go." Pam though knows the real Jim and can catch the missing spark.

Michael on speaker phone being upset that Jim's leavning out the "best stuff," was a delightful little bit of levity in a hard chapter.

Love that despite everything Jim is still protective of her. First with the seat guy and second with the shady cabbie. Almost felt like their classic banter there, but not quite.

The argument though on the sidewalk. There's the breaking point we need. Seems like those cracks in Jim's wall from last time widened due to the possible peril of a particularly putrid paid-to-order passenger car.

The wind though seems to have shifted and this time it's blowing from Jim. His anger and dissapointment that he finally lets out. But then in a absolutly great twist on an old classic comes "I can't." If anything is going to really shake the foundations of the Wall of Jim it's those two words. This new context though isn't so much a wrecking ball as a package of dynamite.

Then of course once the wind is there and blows the dust away leaving them finally open to each other. Love the trope of the argument turned make-out session. There's clearly still some rubble that needs to be dealth with.

Increasing the rating after how this chapter ended, yeah I don't think anyone's going to be mad at you.

Author's Response:

Yeah, there’s a lot going on... It’s probably a touch more dramatic than I’d usually write, but you know how it is once an idea sticks in your brain and refuses to leave... 

You’re totally right about what Karen’s reaction would have been. 

I can’t help myself with throwing Michael into things - even if it is a relatively serious moment. He’s so much fun to write. 

That’s some very impressive alliteration there with the p’s. 

There’s still a fair amount of rubble to deal with! Hopefully Jim’s wall will be a bit easier to understand after the third chapter...  

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Really liked how you filled out the rest of the chapter from the teaser you gave us in chat. I love how brave Pam's being here. It's really tough to break away from everything she's going through. The fact that she is speaks to some steel in her spine. I'm unfamiliar with either the book or movie this is based on which means it's not spoiled for me. So I can look forward to where this goes. Can't want to see an update. Great start.

P.S. Any guy that acts like how this Roy acts deserves repeated kicks in the groin, just sayin'.

Author's Response:

Agreed! No sympathy for people who act like Roy in this word!

Thank you! It IS tough to break from the cycle of ab*se, but we'll learn a bit more in the next few chapters more of her strength.

The book and movie are both good, but no worries of not knowing it. It'll be a new story to you then!

Thank you for your kind words! 

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Excellent follow-up chapter. As much fun as it would be to have the big fluffy finally together scene, that would have been the wrong tone for this one.

You nailed it though. After all the huge angry emotions of last time, this really rings true. When Pam says he doesn't know her anymore, that's probably one of the best moments of honesty I've ever read from Pam in a fic.

I'll admit you did have me going a few times. More than once I was worried Pam was going to kick him out leaving them both fractured husks of themselves. However not so there in the end. I love that she wants to be with him, but first wants to mend their relationship. Great sign of maturity. Also that Jim so readily agrees. They've both turned a corner and it's really nice to see.

Thanks for this add on. It added a lot of depth to the previous chapter.

Author's Response: Thank you so much, Warrior, for your amazing review! It made my evening. And I'm glad that this chapter turned out to be in the mood and fitted the story well. 

Very Michael. His confusion about seemingly obvious things, his child-like ability to come up with things. Nice job.

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So very apt. I've really been enjoying all of these.

Nice take on what can be a difficulty character to nail down. I liked it.

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I like this one because it really gets deeper than what one might think of Kelly. Not just how she's acting but why. All with great economy of words.

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Short cute and sweet. There are lots of PDA moments between the two of them, but I would agree that they're not as overt about it as some of the other characters can be. Nice job.

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This was so heartbreakingly sweet. Big impact for such a short story. You can feel Jim starting to slide down a cliff towards pure brokenhearted misery. Even more so when he sees Pam walk towards him. Then out of nowhere she throws him a rope and pulls him back to her. Just gorgeous. Great job with this one.

Author's Response: Thank you, Warrior! I like throwing in a plot twist here and there!

Probably more true than she would have realized had she gone through with that wedding.

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Very sweet!

I wonder if this is the one exception to her keeping the cards rule? Still fun.