OMG. I just want to cry. That was so emotional to read! Nice work on the writing again.

1

Before I even began reading, the title of this chapter let me know to brace myself.

For Jim, Pam going back to Roy, well I could understand him needing to go numb to it - it was more than just jealousy, it was his pain seeing her with a person like him, who's anger issues put her potentially in harm's way, that she could want a person like him over himself, that he just hated the guy. So I could understand his attitude in the breakroom, it was cruel but maybe the only way he could deal with it - especially after that violence turned towards him and now put even Karen in harm's way (but still it was all about Pam).

***The weekends have become a sort of reprieve for him lately; two precious days where Pam does not have to exist. This weekend, it’s two precious days Pam and Roy don’t have to exist.***

Um Yeah this.

***They say your life flashes before your eyes when you think you’re about to die, but for some reason when Jim sees Roy’s fist headed for his face all he can think about are Dwight’s warnings about bear attacks: how they always come when you least expect them.

At this point, however, he’d prefer the bear.***

This though was a great bit and felt very JIm.

No one of the things you do so well is take a line and give it a whole other dimension - you did it with Don't forget us in your other fic and here the added sting when Jim snaps back with - I’m sure you guys will find your way back to each other someday. -  using her own words this time to hurt her. That's what makes these so good.

Another thing your fics do so well is fill in the blank spaces between the show and the rest of what happened - events and what's in their heads...JIm's coming back after his interview to see what he sees puts his confession in a whole other light. 

THe circularity of his grabbing her hand in the flashback and then in the end scene - caught that. Oh and that she doesn't want him to drive her home - to where the world with ROy - oooh lady.

But getting to the end - Filling in the space with that car scene was - well I'm kind of speechless - all so well written - so in character...
I'm taking it back - (thank you JIm) -  him straight out telling her he doesn't understand what she sees/saw in him and her offering back her plea of insanity - the long coming acknowledgment of their night but the halting stop to the conversation. It all felt so real.

***Tears well in her eyes again, but for the first time in a long time, it’s not because Jim is dating someone else, or because she’s missed her chance with him. It’s because she misses him — this — so much. She can barely remember what it felt like to have someone in her life who cared about her the way he did. The way he always has.***

THIS.

And how this seems to be a small crack in his armor, big enough for her to get in just a bit, a small turning point that aligns with the next episode (where they have fun with the gambling games and join forces to save Michael from almost certain death). But knowing they are not out of the woods yet looking forward to the what you will do to us next.

Magnificent job on this weighty chapter. 

The opening here I think captures quite well how unpleasant and exhausting this moving on process is for Jim, and how frustrating it is for him to have it interrupted, how embarrassing it is. You're in my humble opinion spot on with why Jim reacts the way he does during the Heartbreak in the Breakroom... he just sees this as Pam forcing him right back into the same old role, and he's beyond done with it.

This glimpse into the past is terrific and wildly painful. Pam being mostly sure that Roy would never hurt her but not *quite* being able to resist the thought that he could... ow. And the way it's normalized for her and remains horrifying and infuriating for Jim, the way Pam justifies it to herself and how Jim has to face that... chills, man.

AND YOU WORKED IN THE THING STUCK IN HER SHOE.

100% buy that Jim not knowing about the scene at Poor Richard's makes a huge difference in how he reacts here.

"Tears well in her eyes again, but for the first time in a long time, it’s not because Jim is dating someone else, or because she’s missed her chance with him. It’s because she misses him — this — so much. She can barely remember what it felt like to have someone in her life who cared about her the way he did. The way he always has." DEAD.

1

Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

That's the feeling I got at the end of this chapter. Just a mind blank what the hell just happened moment. Here I am emotionally ready to be destroyed by what I feel IS the lowest point of Jim and Pam's relationship and it hit as hard as I figured it would. Jim's words in the break room are just harsh. He's intentionally being dismissive to her. He knows better than anyone what would drive a knife in even deeper. And he says it. It's already hard enough.

Then that flashback. Oh, holy crap that flashback. When we got to Pam's portion of it and it was her that said that line first? I literally stopped reading for about a minute to try and process it. Jim's line to Pam in canon was bad enough. Now he's throwing one of her own lines, from the freaking parking lot of doom no less, back at her! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow!

Now I get why Jim is pissed and why Pam is so upset. It all fits of course. But then the ending scene. THIS FRICKIN' ENDING SCENE IN PAM'S CAR!!!!

How do you do it? I honestly want to know! How do you go from the worst moment of their relationship, to finally breathing a bit of oxygen back into their lives? I mean good on Jim for coming back to apologize. He needed to of course because he was a complete ass to her in the break room. But that here when it all seems like there's nothing but darkness, there's still one small ember left glowing. It's not a flame, it's not even a spark. It's an ember buried under a deep laying of ash. Ash that's been drowned in a flood of tears, stirred up and left to die, but deep down, there's still one ember of the
Jim and Pam we know that remains. One small area no tear could extinguish. It's barely there, but it's enough. Considering your skill as a wordsmith, I'm really looking forward to seeing how that ember starts to glow brighter from here on out.

Bravo on a chapter that tore me up and still gave me hope in the course of the reading. Just superb.