Date: March 18, 2022 05:19 pm Title: "You're left thinking about the girl you really like, the one that broke your heart."
What the Dundie give us in JAM tidbits the Dundie taketh away in angst. And yet, here I am reading it anyway because this is so fricking good.
1 [Report This]Date: March 03, 2022 08:08 pm Title: "You're left thinking about the girl you really like, the one that broke your heart."
"She waits for “Beesly” to tumble off his tongue. It doesn’t."
Oooof. My heart.
"He makes it to lunch and congratulates himself on not breaking down at any point throughout the morning, especially after spotting the mug in the kitchen cabinet emblazoned with the quote “Friendship is certainly the finest balm for the pangs of disappointed love.” There was, unfortunately, no mug with helpful advice for the person who had lost both."
Why are you so good at breaking my heart?
But seriously, your writing is fantastic here. You can *feel* the ache from both of them and it's heartbreaking in the best way.
I also love how you mention Pam being single and how she likes it, despite missing Jim because that's 100% my headcanon. I think that summer especially was super important for her.
Author's Response: I'm so glad someone mentioned the mug because it's one of my favorite parts! And yes, Independent Pam is a thing of beauty, I wish we saw more of it.
1 [Report This]Date: March 01, 2022 01:27 pm Title: "You're left thinking about the girl you really like, the one that broke your heart."
This was such an interesting perspective on Jim’s thoughts of why he accepted the CIA gift eventually. I really felt bad for Pam when he did that knowingly, but then I thought of how many Pam made him feel like that unknowingly.
Thank you for sharing your work and I can’t wait for future chapters. d84;a039;
Date: February 28, 2022 09:15 pm Title: "You're left thinking about the girl you really like, the one that broke your heart."
Ok so not quite as painful as last chapter. What I like here is that even though thing are still not great between them, their connection still remains. Jim's prank on Pam sending Andy after her and Pam's Christmas gift were some of the real highlights we got. A much needed break from, well everything. The extra bits you put in in the elevator and parking lot were great too. Pam's trying to reach out to him. He's still hesitant to be sure but even now I think deep down he knows his feelings for her haven't changed.
The flashback scenes seemed fitting too. Pam's finally looking out for what she wants. It may be a bit bleak when one is first starting out, but it just leaves more open canvas on which to paint. Jim though was still reeling in his flashback. That Andy was the one to give him that post-it note to smile was a nice touch. Andy can be a bit much, but he is a decent guy. Nice to see him looking out for someone he would consider a buddy.
Great job as usual.
1 [Report This]Date: February 28, 2022 06:39 pm Title: "You're left thinking about the girl you really like, the one that broke your heart."
You know me and my love for independent Pam in season 3 where she does everything that she couldn’t when she was with Roy…
I love the insight to her new, single life!!
BUT OUCH THE MEETING OF KAREN THOUGH 😭😭😭 Ugh ouches…
Still, TD, keep amazing us with this fic please
1 [Report This]Date: February 27, 2022 11:31 pm Title: "You're left thinking about the girl you really like, the one that broke your heart."
Already my poor heart can’t take this, you’ve written this angst so wonderfully well here.
The sea serpent made me chuckle, nice touch there
Great to see Jim continuing the faxing prank back in Scranton, and I loved how Pam felt connected to him from Stamford when he did that. How she would know, without knowing, that it was Jim.
‘everything is new and slightly terrifying, but she hopes in time she will emerge as something different. Someone different.’ I feel like this is such an important line for Pam. She needed that time to grow as her own person before jumping into another relationship.
I love how you’ve explained Jim having tuna for lunch, it makes so much sense he’d want everything to be different from Scranton, including his wardrobe and lunch.
‘He feels butterflies at her mention of the teapot, and can feel the quicksand creeping up his legs.’ Gahh this line! From already thinking about the teapot being behind her desk to her talking about it as such a great present, poor Jim
Really great chapter, but can we skip to the good part? Just kidding, but kinda. My heart!!! Please don’t kill me with the next chapter
Author's Response: Apologies to your heart, but it's gonna get much worse before it gets any better. Sorry about that. Thanks again for reading!
Date: February 27, 2022 07:48 pm Title: "You're left thinking about the girl you really like, the one that broke your heart."
Right from the chapter title I knew this one was going to tear me up little bits at a time - and whoa did begining with this line:
She waits for “Beesly” to tumble off his tongue. It doesn’t.
That stung. But you brought it around a little with all the stuff with the Andy prank - that was fun.
Now you know how I feel about Independent Pam - just wish she had discovered some of this independence a little sooner so she could be enjoying it with him instead of ruing the fact that 'Sometimes the brain works faster than the heart'. what a great line.
Getting to the Jim POVs - I really enjoyed getting some of the backstories from the early days in Stamford. How and why he came to get Tuna that day and how along with the nickname bestowed on him from Andy was the post-it note that said smile. I like this new head canon for where it came from and why.
It was interesting that Andy was insightful enough to know about his heartbreak.
'today is about survival' was the line here in this memory that tore at my heart a drop more.
Oh and that mention of the second string camera crew.
And then just as there was a little bit of hope:
He can’t keep doing this to himself, he can’t.
Explains a lot.
Even knowing how this story turns out its still tugging at my heart in the best possible way. Great job as usual giving the peek at what going on in their heads and adding some new backstories.
Looking forward to have my heart tugged a little more with the next chapter.
Date: February 27, 2022 04:38 pm Title: "You're left thinking about the girl you really like, the one that broke your heart."
I love how Pam mad the sea serpent look like
Karen. 😂
Jim wanted Pam to make a move to him about her feelings, but ignores the fact that he has given her plenty of reasons to think that he doesn’t care about her anymore. I think that shows how Jim didn’t handle things very well in season 3.
Author's Response:
You're right that Jim's behavior in S3 isn't great, particularly near the end, but I have a great deal of sympathy for him. He was rejected twice (three times if you consider Pam's lack of contact after breaking things off with Roy) so regardless of his persisting feelings for her, I genuinely believe a lot of his behavior was out of self-protection.
Thanks for reading and reviewing!
1 [Report This]Date: February 27, 2022 11:10 am Title: "You're left thinking about the girl you really like, the one that broke your heart."
Okay, the sea serpent bit I feel like is new to me and is a fun detail. Not so fun (but terrific) details abound here, really. Pam noticing his fabric softener has changed, the noticeable lack of Beesly-ing.
Pam's desperation to find their old normal again is tough, and the use of Season 2 moments recast in a whole new awkward way is quite well done.
"Every day for lunch she eats defrosted chicken and fish from the wedding that never happened, and each bite is a grainy, chalky reminder of what she’d given up Jim for: something cold and bland and perfunctory." Oooof. Making this about what she lost with Jim instead of ROy is a whole new level of pain.
"Years of moments now haunt her daily, the knowledge that every time he’d gotten up from his desk to chat with her, he’d been in love with her. When he’d elbowed Roy in the face during that basketball game, he’d been in love with her. When he’d convinced Michael not to embarrass her for the third year running at the Dundies, he’d been in love with her. When he'd stood at the railing of that booze cruise ship gazing into her eyes as she waited for him to change her life, he’d been in love with her." OUCH.
Cheating here, but some really interesting seeds being planted in the Stamford section - justifications for the role of Mama Halpert, and I'm very eager for the XXXXX chapter to see the light now.
"Pam’s laugh is infrequent lately. He never had to try very hard before to hear it, and now it’s like trying to catch lightning in a bottle." OW. And this take on Jim as someone who even at this late moment is desperately waiting for Pam to do something adds a whole new agony to Season 3.