Ah Jim, still thinking of Pam. Nice to know that something like that could give him pause.

Author's Response: In my stories, it is rare indeed to find a Jim who isn’t wholly preoccupied with Pam! Glad you’re still enjoying!

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Such a sweet way to bring thing around full circle. I love the new teapot idea and the new bonus gifts. Very well written. Thank you for sharing this one.

Author's Response: Thank you so much for taking the time to leave a comment on each chapter. I’m appreciate it so much! It’s so fun to revisit them and, in this case, see how things have been going. Happily Ever After is a nice Christmas gift, I think! 

Didn't review this one earlier when I read it for the first time. Very interesting concept. Looking forward to seeing how it pans out.

Thanks for the shout out at the end there. Here I am sitting in my chair happily reading, while my wife and her best friend are talking about Oreo's and the pack of "Most Stuffing Ever" currently on our counter prior to starting their D&D game, and then they just look over at me like I'm crazy due to me laughing at my computer. Good times.

Anyway I digress. Yes, angsty here, but also you can see Jim's thought process. From his viewpoint, Pam hasn't reached out to him. She's going out on dates, not with him, even though she's free of Roy. She's moving on. So it makes sense that why shouldn't he as well. The Pokemon reference was a nice little spot of fun there to break things up too. Who would have thought when he said he was evolving he was thinking of Charizard?

Author's Response:

Sounds like a pretty good Saturday :). Glad to contribute with the laughing.

And I like taking the words from the show (like evolving) and trying to find new spins on how the characters might be imagining them... 

Okay, so Roy is changing here, but again it's for selfish reasons. Now of course I get the fact that he wants Pam back. That much is clear in canon. However for him to think Pam's change in wardrobe is for his benefit just shows how little he's really changed. Still like before I can see the path forward. Roy makes some changes, catches Pam at a moment of vulnerability at Phyllis' wedding, briefly gets back together with Pam, but due to the fact he's always been in the relationship for what he can get out of it, rather than what he can put into it, the path eventually leads to pepper spray. However it's an interesting ride to see thus far.

As far as balance between characters, for one there's still quite a few Season 3 Roy moments I can think of. Showing up at Diwalli, joking with Pam in the warehouse, the art show, and then of course the confrontations at Poor Richards and in the Office. However far be it from me to tell you how to write your story. There's a lot more Jim and Pam moments to choose from as well. As always I look forward to what comes next.

Author's Response:

Yeah Roy is...changing but not changing? Like, he's ready to change outwardly but I don't think he's inwardly bettering himself.

 And don't worry--S3 will still have a bunch of stuff, it's just not going to be quite as much as S2... 

Oh Drunk Jim. Even now you still can't stop over analyzing things. But it also makes sense that Drunk Jim would have his thoughts ramble on like this. A return to form that Sober Jim would have probably thought he's evolved past.

Even though he's drunk, alone, and confused, the way you have his drunk ramblings is actually pretty funny at times. The D&D references, the constitution of a Yak lightened up the angst a bit to have those in there.

Author's Response: I very deliberately did this as pure stream of consciousness with minimal editing for grammar to get that sense of rambling drunkenness, glad it appealed. And I did hope those things would help lighten the mood a little, so I'm glad to hear they did!

Good job with all three here. Jim still feeling confused, hurt, and tortured by all the memories seems to makes sense. Yet there's still that ever so slight tendril that says his heart still belongs to Pam. Having him have his monitor angles so he can see her was a great way to get that across.

Roy is, well, Roy.

I do feel for Pam here. Her confused feelings also make a lot of sense. The un-returned email and text, the fact the last time she saw Jim he was saying he loved her and now she's getting the cold shoulder. Still some good points I liked her completely seeing through what Roy is up to, nice touch there. Then her final thought. It may taken her a while, and yes there's still more angst to come, but that she can at least admit her real feelings to herself shows that she is growing and moving forward.

Author's Response: Thank you! I appreciate your detailed thoughts (especially the ones on Roy).

Good on Jim for taking things out on the court. Roy's still being Roy. Looking in all the wrong places. Thanks for the little shout out there at the end.

Author's Response: Hey, when you're right, you're right, and it deserves to be acknowledged as such! I find it interesting that both you and Kuri33 are pro-Jim taking this out on the court on Roy, while I, as I was writing it, was thinking that this is pretty immature given that he's displacing everything onto Roy instead of dealing with problems he generated himself (Roy didn't start dating Karen...at least not until I write a different AU).

Considering how you've set things up in the previous chapters of this story, yes this works well. I do like the fact here that Jim is aware that his romantic feelings for Pam haven't changed. He knows she's still the one he wants to be with. However given their history it makes sense that he's scared to open his heart again.

Yes having the moment pranking Andy was a great return to form, and along with his admission to Karen should have been a catalyst to try and seek out Pam more. However the way you have his thoughts here organized shows just how hard he took her rejections. The fear of being hurt again is very powerful even if it's not seen on the surface. However here in Jim's thoughts it's still there. If only he could realize how much he DIDN'T misinterpret, I'm sure he would have found his courage a lot sooner.

Author's Response: Thanks. I do wish Jim had (well, the writers had let Jim) come back to Scranton more single. Technically, sure, you might argue he wasn't actually dating Karen until they got there, but really? For me, that's the root of the cowardice, or at least the original act of it: not being able to face Pam on his own.

Wow, Roy actually got a few more of the pieces put together here. Not all of them mind you, but more. Of course he's still an insensitive jerk. I mean if he's noticed since high school that Pam's been interested in art, and now wants to pursue that it shows that he's only in the relationship for what he can get out of it, not what he can do for Pam.

Again he thinks he's noticing things, but he's not really. Pam's still his girlfriend, not fiance. He's more worried about how he is perceived and that he's getting a raw deal than what Pam thinks or wants. That the fact that he can't even fathom that Pam might leave him shows just how unobservant he truly is. Well done for again being able to get all that out.

Author's Response: Thank you! It's interesting (though disturbing) to occupy that Roy headspace each time: trying to weigh exactly what he'd notice versus what deeper subtleties he can't even realize he's not realizing. Thanks for reading!

Great date chapter here. That they're getting things out in and the open for once is wonderful to see. I also like that you have them not making to big of a deal about their past. That yes it all happened, but why get upset about it now that they're together. Pam's comment that her Jim, the real Jim if you will, was there all the time was very cute and poignant of her.

All in all a great chapter as always. Wonderful to see them so happy together like this.

Author's Response: Thank you! I really enjoy different versions of the first date, but there are so many specific-to-that fics on this site that I wanted to kind of give an overview without getting too specific, so that was the aspect I wanted to cover (the getting things out in the open). Thank you for bearing with me in the angst on the way to their joy!

Good for Jim this time around. He's finally pulling his head out of his ass to realize what's been there this whole time. Well maybe not the whole time, Pam did have a lot of growing to do. So how about we say Jim's now realizing what's right there in front of him clearly for the first time since his return.

The analogy of the ream and the dump truck was a good one. Casino Night yes was huge, and you're right. This was in the same vein, but more subtle in these respects. Great job getting into Jim's head with this one.

Author's Response: Thank you! I feel like these last couple of episodes are done a lot on this site, so it means a lot to me to hear that you think I'm doing a good job of getting into Jim's head (as opposed to just wandering around in my own). 

First off let me say I'm glad that this is one of the few fics I've read where Pam doesn't go to bed with Roy after the wedding. I know a lot of fics have that in there, but it always leaves a bad taste in my mouth, so to speak. So good on you for that.

So there's Roy. At first I was kind of given the impression that him not remembering all the stuff about the aborted wedding wasn't really his fault. Maybe Pam really didn't do a lot of planning around him. Almost started making me feel not so angry at the guy. Then he lapsed back to form. He got the simple thing, but doesn't understand the complex issues.

Jim. Yes he's hurt, he's angry, he's frustrated. After everything he's been through, then seeing Pam leave with Roy? Yeah, I get why he can't really see that the problem is him. He's trying hard to be over her. Denying his feelings. I always saw this as the low point of Jim and Pam's relationship. Never mind all that stuff in Season 9 (close second mind you), but here and how you've written it shows how out of sync they are when usually they're on the same page. Even if at times they don't know it.

I'm glad you still have Pam seeing Roy for what he is. Yes, he's familiar, but the line in there that she knows he's not a long term prospect is great. The fact that there was stuff all over the house for the wedding made sense to. Roy wouldn't even go tot he cake tasting? That right there should have caused her to break up with him. Tasting the food is the best part of wedding planning. I know I wouldn't have missed it for the world when my wife and I got married. Anyway I digress. That Pam is basically using Roy as armor to ward off her feelings of jealousy and loss about Jim is a great take on this.

Great chapter. Now that we're past, hopefully, the really low part we can start seeing the train of events that lead to "Beach Games," and "The Job." Brilliant as always.

Author's Response:

Thanks! That's something I've also often thought about the wedding; Pam jumping into bed with Roy right then feels off. They do start dating again, but that feels strangely out of place for me too. Glad to hear someone else agrees with me.

 Thanks for the feedback on the rest of it; I realized as I was writing this that I feel fairly strongly about the Pam-using-Roy angle of this part of the story, so I'm very glad I could make it convincing.