Another AU fic about the post-Casino Night events. What if Pam found it in herself to tell Jim she called off her wedding? Based on the song Picture by Kid Rock and Sheryl Crow.
Angst on Casino Night is a requirement. If it's not codified somewhere beyond The Office's writer room, it should be. The word, angst, as I define it is a succinct way of including self-doubt, fears, insecurities, self-loathing, pessimism, indecision, misinterpretation, and missing information.
I like angst but don't want to live there forever. A nice thing about angst is all you need to do to get out of it is change one thing on the laundry list (make a decision or add information are the two easiest and quickest). Stay in angst and say hello to depression.
You have a wonderfully unique spin on similes and analogies to describe angst. Examples: child hell bent on using every crayon to describe Jim's whirling confused thoughts. “...his legs heavy and his chest shaking”; it's a shakeup from how we normally see lovesick described. “...house of cards when the bottom row was well on its way to collapsing.” to show Jim's view of his and Pam's relationship. Big props on the crayon reference as a nice artistic Pam subtle reference. Pam is indeed every where for him.
Good onya
Your title for this chapter jumped out and grabbed me by the throat with a Richard Marx song called Right Here Waiting for You.
The last line is heartbreaking.
Good onya
Author's Response: Thank you, Once, I truly appreciate it!
I love the phrase "...the moon weaved white in their hair." We all get grey, if we are lucky.
Author's Response: Thank you, I'm glad you liked it!
It's good to challenge yourself! What a good way to get your writing juices flowing.
This was lovely.
Author's Response: Thank you! I hope I'll won't give up on this challenge quickly.
I really like this one. I'm a sucker for a good ending line.
Author's Response: Thank you! Glad you liked it :)
Good onya. Your persistence is admirable.
Author's Response: Thank you!
Congratulations!
Author's Response: Thanks!
This one was really good. It hit home. I think I need to dance more.
Author's Response: Thank you! And I agree, there should be more dancing :)
Feel better and good luck. You get a pass on the streak.
Author's Response: Thank you very much, Once!
Take care of yourself. Do check in as you can.
It will be comforting that both Jim and Pam have the shared experience of feeding on crumbles.
Author's Response: That's true, and, I guess, after the crumbles, their everything together tastes even sweeter. Thank you!
Yay, you! The writing keeps getting better. Hope you are as well
Author's Response: Practice makes perfect, I guess :) Thank you!
1 "salty playfulness" is an outstanding way to summarize how the office women see Jim.
"She wasn’t used to sharing her secrets." Great sentence.
Congrats on the streak.
Author's Response: Thank you very much, Once!
As a former HR Manager, let me address DM's Love Contract and David Wallace's follow up letter.
No company would ever have a Love Contract. That is disallowing future plausible deniability in case of a third employee filing a toxic workplace law suit. While some companies take a more tolerant view of workplace romances, it is discouraged in all companies. Revealing a workplace romance, if it was revealed at all before coworkers got a wedding invitation, is most often handled with a meeting with both parties' direct supervisors (In my entire career, I have never known a supervisor as crazy as Michael Scott) who would do the yadda yadda about not allowing the relationship to interfere with work. The direct supervisor might contact a trusted HR Rep who would keep documentation in their offsite, unofficial Pearl Harbor file or not. Since Jim is not Pam's direct supervisor at this point being in different branches as well, more tolerant companies would shrug their shoulders UNLESS Monday and Friday absences became a regular occurrence. There would be no follow up letter, ever. See plausible deniability for future lawsuits.
I adore David Wallace; I wish I had worked with more like him. At DM, he operated as more of a Chief Operating Officer than CFO. I could see Wallace having a private conversation with Jim when they next saw each other or perhaps a phone call in lieu of the follow up letter. Let's face it, even for his slacker reputation in Scranton, Jim was considered by Wallace an up and comer.
A Pearl Harbor file is your own contemporaneous notes on situations where you may/should protect yourself.
Hope that helps.
Author's Response:
...Goodness. This helps EXTREMELY.
Bear in mind, I know nothing about this sort of thing, so reading this has been great. I'll probably edit the story accordingly, in this case.
Oh, and Wallace DEFINITELY saw something in Jim. I think it helps with him being an audience surrogate; the audience finds him charming, so does Wallace. David's role was certainly expanded from the confines of a CFO, but I have my own theory about that.
So yeah, I'll look into editing Chapter 4, then, since this seems much more interesting since I was planning on Michael to *not know* until "The Merger" (who'll react accordingly).
Thank you!
A bit of last minute Christmas shopping could go further than finding the perfect gift.
Written for the Secret Santa exchange (so sorry about the delay)
1 Late Christmas presents are always welcomed. I think some parts of the world still celebrate through mid January.
If Jim and Pam can have a good time shopping at the mall close to Christmas, there's hope.
Glad to hear you are on the mend.
Author's Response:
Thanks so much!
We just put the tree away so, until today it was still Christmas-y :)
There is just one chapter to go and it's almost done, so it won't be too far from Christmas (let's say, Valentines? JK!)
1 I utterly loved your attention to detail in describing Jim's formal dress. It reminded me of several hunt balls I attended. Most Regency styled gowns have a loop sewn into the hem so the lady can manage the skirt whilst dancing.
A quick reverse during a Viennese waltz can also leave one breathless.
This was outstanding.
Author's Response: Thanks Once. I like diving into detail so I'm glad the effort worked for you. I did not know that about Regency gowns. As I've told others, the reason I went with Regency is because I figured I could describe the dress easier than the Colonial era (I think) gown TSwift wears in the music video.
A fun waltz dancing with Jim. I'd think that would leave most women breathless regardless of the steps.
Glad you liked it.
Your phrases are wonderful.
"Motorcycle Waiter Dude" and "intertwine like ivy on a trellis" made me laugh.
"Princess Leia, Audrey Hepburn, and both versions of Sandy from Grease" and "little dancey feeling in her stomach" are inventive.
"all the time in every world in every solar system" and others are lyrical.
I'm glad you added in lots of Pam sass, particularly the last line.
Jim has always given me the impression that he is slightly insecure even though he is self aware. Your first few paragraphs bring that out well.
Good onya
A great start to the sequel! Fabulous student names.
Good onya
Wonderful angst though that's too soft a word for it. "I need time." has now equaled "I can't." as the most painful sentence in Office writing.
Good onya
Author's Response: It pained me to write Jim putting himself out there again and Pam rejecting him...again. I was afraid I wasn't gonna finish the chapter with how much hurting was involved.
The dialog in this chapter snapped and flowed. You had Michael, Helene, and drunk Jim's voices spot on.
Excellent choice on drunk Jim having to leave a voice mail.
Author's Response:
Thank you! I really tried to stay as true as possible to their characters, so I've been doing a lot of rewatches as well.
119 
We came back stronger than a 90's trend
1 The cover art is hauntingly beautiful as is the writing.
Author's Response: Thank you! (for both ;) )
1 Toby is, underneath it all, an angsty kinda guy. I could hear Paul Lieberstein reciting it.
Good onya
Author's Response: Thanks so much! That's so great to hear :)
1 All of these were wonderful. The best were Toby, maybe Michael, and Jim. TBH Toby and Jim are the two men who observed her the most often and most closely. Your Jim section was lovely writing.
Pam may have given Stanley inspiration when he was stuck on one of his crossword words. Just something she did at the right time.
I'm excited for the women's take on Jim, particularly Phyllis. I'm sure her email(s) to Jim telling him of Pam's cancelled wedding and any other encouraging emails she sent while he was in Stamford were kind and might have been helpful. Perhaps more telling about her past lovelife and her burgeoning romance with Bob Vance,
Vance Refrigeration.
Author's Response: Thank you so much! That's really kind of you to say :) Thanks so much for taking the time to review too, I really appreciate it! And yes haha, I hadn't actually thought about crosswords. I feel like that *might* be the one thing that gets through to Stanley. I can confirm there will be a Phyllis chapter in the women's take, I have to say that's one of the chapters I'm most looking forward to writing...I do love some Phyllis and Jim.
Beth the waitress returns!
A series of stand alone, slice of life, one-shots in Pam and Jim's life, all tied together with the thread that runs through them; they all end with dinner at Christopher's, where (in my headcanon) they had their first date.
The first and the last chapter NOW COMPLETE work in tandem, but everything in between is its own story if you want to pop in for one whose title strikes your fancy.
OK, so you're the reason I'm now here at 1:30 AM writing a review! /jk (No, I'm not ending John Krasinski, but we STILL don't have an Internet joke or sarcasm font.(Speaking of JK, when are they going to finish Jack Ryan 3? I'm blaming you for that, too!)) I went back and re-read All That Glitters before reading Chapter 2 here.
Pete was a tepid character in ATG, but perhaps he was just overshone by Beth. He's better here, but he'll NEVER come out of Beth's shadow unless a truly creative writer works her magic on him. Lucky he has one in you!
Author's Response:
Your reviews are always so fun-but how did I become responsible for the hold up for Jack Ryan ? (JK)- I'm waiting too you know.
You reread All of ATGIG? Wow - I do have to get back to it - there are still some ideas there. Most of them I'm tackling through these Series stories (Originally New Year's in New Jersey was meant to be a chapter or 2 in that but worked better as it's own story) but I think I left it in a good place right?
Pete's okay - but he's not Beth. They just didn't know better to ask for her section.
Thanks as always for your fun, fantastic review - See you Friday (will you be sharing that Champagne?)
1 I am so very, very glad Christopher's and Beth will have their own lengthy story.
Jim coming into his own as a dad of toddlers, injecting his own brand of fun with his kids while multitasking, is wondrous. Jim and Pam as parents are relationship goals.
Author's Response: Once, I thought you would enjoy seeing Beth again (even though she technically hasn't shown up yet). I do have a few Beth appearances up my sleeve. Hoping to get them fully fleshed soon.As for Jim and his kiddos, I wish we'd have seen more of it because I imagine he was a really fun dad and just super sweet with his babies. All of them. Thanks for the review. Happy Valentines.