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I love the banter here about going steady and Jim’s eagerness about the prospect of her having brought an overnight bag. Too bad the moment is interrupted by cruel, CRUEL reality.

The pro-cons list was very sweet and felt like the sort of thing Jim would do. And it is nice to see them TALKING about these things openly and honestly for a change, especially with the burden of a long distance relationship ahead of them.

One thing I would say – on the ground rules list, it’s a little unclear who is saying what at times? It’s understandable, but it definitely took a little work. This is an area where it might be worth doing a little more formatting to set off different people “speaking.”

Oh, Toby. Could’ve been worse, I guess – a lot of potential for embarrassment with him having that conversation with Pam with Jim not present.

This is an interesting twist on Grief Counseling, because obviously Pam’s in a MUCH different place here and the Pam-Roy storyline is presumably headed in a very different direction – the underlying sense of grief has been shifted from one of them to the other.

Oh, poor Karen. Tough day. Although good news for her: her days isn’t nearly as tough as the day of the person whose dialogue she’s giving, and she’s probably a lot better off with Jim disappointing here in Grief Counseling than in The Job. Kinda catching a break there.

I appreciate how supportive David Wallace is here!

Author's Response:

Yeah, life's a bitch.  But they'll be fine!  I figured if I'm gonna have this whole long-distance thing be the central theme, them keeping anything from each other would mean them falling apart again, and this story ain't about that life. Glad you enjoyed the list, it was a joy to write.

Valid point on the formatting.  It was difficult to find fonts that were distinct enough so you could tell them apart AND are available with this software.  I'll see what I can do.  Maybe add some more dialogue at each bullet point like I did the others.

Yeah, poor guy.  He'll gain some perspective, though.  I have a plan for him (which is basically just his monologue).

Exactly, and that's what came to me as I was writing this.  Roy's inability to let go is intimidating to Pam, and it makes her uncomfortable because *she's* letting go, and is getting closer to completely letting go as well.  He's trying to pull her back in, and considering he doesn't know about Halpert yet, that makes things worse.

I look at it this way: This isn't Jim leaving Karen heartbroken at a fountain.  This is Jim politely telling her the truth.  This, in turn, doesn't make her hate his guts like in canon, because 1) they don't start dating and *remain* dating, and 2) it makes her respect him a lot more as someone that is both honest and faithful.  This story has a lot of that: rippin' those Band-Aids off nice and quick.  Now that she's free to go her own journey, it'll be better for her in the long run, and I have big plans for her.

My boy David out here being a kind-hearted and understanding person.  He's always been a sweetheart, and I'm glad he's at least supporting them, despite his reservations.  (Y'know, because of what happens later this season.)

Thanks for the review, as always! 

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!