It was the Monday after their first date and they had been keeping on the down-low, so to speak. Pam helped Jim move all of his things onto his old desk while the office was fairly empty. Karen arrived about 10 minutes after they did, all flustered from her trip back to Scranton. She barely even glanced at Jim on her way in; he didn’t make a point of looking up.
    “Hey, thanks for being cool with Karen, Toby said she’s transferring soon but I don’t want to hurt her feelings.” Jim tapped his fingers on the reception desk.
    “Don’t worry, I know how bad it feels to be on the other end.” Pam smiled at him, happy that he was eating her jellybeans again. He tapped his hand on the desk again before getting back to work. Order forms were killing Jim but before he dies of boredom, he got an IM.

Pbeesly: so Halpert, what are your plans tonight?
Jhalpert: well, I was going to take my new girlfriend out for dinner?
Pbeesly: a NEW girlfriend? What, am I on the outs already?

Jim laughed out loud as Pam flashed him a quick wink. She looked over to see Karen give her a glare before turning back to her computer.

Pbeesly: Karen just gave me a dirty look.
Jhalpert: ignore her. What movie should we watch tonight? I’m thinking Blockbuster.
Pbeesly: How about legally blonde? Or that one scene, in Ghost?

Jim turned slightly to give her a look. She giggled and Karen shot her another death-glare.

Pbeesly: she did it again!
Jhalpert: ignore. How about an old classic?
Pbeesly: what did you have in mind sir?
Jhalpert: maybe some Breakfast at Beesly’s?
Pbeesly: I think you’re thinking of Akeelah and The Beesly?

They both laughed again and Karen cleared her throat loudly. Pam shrugged at Jim and went back to work, faxing orders, filing papers, answering phones. Somewhere in the background she heard a soft clicking noise. She ignored it for a while until Dwight started checking vents for problems. She peered around the office and noticed Karen was clicking her pen madly, fuming. Apparently Stanley, Meredith and Jim had also noticed. Jim rolled his eyes at Pam, pretending not to care.
    “Do you mind?” Stanley hit his crossword’s book on his desk, snapping. Karen took no notice and continued clicking.
    “Love me, love me, say that you love me,” a small voice piped from behind the reception desk. Jim spun. Pam had begun singing. “Fool me, fool me, go on and fool me. Love me, love me…” Pam got louder and louder until Karen, who glared at her and stopped clicking her pen, could hear her.
    Jim smiled, now there was a girl who knew how to retaliate.

Almost a week after he had asked her out, Pam and him were spending every waking minute together. They stayed at each other’s houses, cooked meals for each other, and ate lunch together. Pam had even made him his ham and cheese sandwich today. Karen had gotten her resentment under control at work but still wasn’t talking to either of them.
“So Beesly, can I make you dinner tonight at your place?” Jim popped a greenish jellybean into his mouth, smiling.
“I think that would be amazing.” Pam resisted the strong urge to lean over the reception desk and kiss him then and there.
“What is Michael planning for this meeting?” Jim peered into the jellybean container, hoping to find a pink one that matched Pam’s sweater.
“I think he hopes that we will all get really excited about the surprise and not notice that the meeting is about nothing.” She laughed.
“Um, excuse me, Dunder Mifflin doesn’t pay you to eat Jellybeans Jim!” Dwight approached the reception. He put his hands on his hips.
“Well Dwight, this is not just jellybean eating time. I’m in a meeting.” Jim grabbed a pen and paper from Pam’s desk.
“Well… what is this meeting about? Was Michael informed?”
“No, we’re planning a surprise for him.” Pam stared right at Dwight, not breaking character for a second. God, she drove him crazy. “This is the first biweekly meeting of the Committee to Sporadically Plan Surprises Without Any Notice.” She stuttered over the last bit but Dwight bought it.
“I would like to help, as Assistant Regional Manager.”
“To the…” Jim tried not to laugh.
“Shut up Jim, I will report this to Michael.”
“No, Dwight, you can help. We need someone to assist the Costume Organizer. It’s a pirate themed party, because Michael has…” Jim trailed off. Pam was quick to pick up.
“He has a nice booty.” She swallowed her laugh and continued. You need to inform everyone to wear pirate gear tomorrow and make sure you’re all dressed and ready to go tomorrow morning.” She looked at him intensely. He saluted her and walked off. Jim and Pam collapsed into laughter.

The next day Dwight was late for work.
“Maybe his parrot was acting up?” Jim shrugged.
“Surprise!” At that moment, Dwight burst through the door in full pirate gear. He was wearing knee socks under Capri pants with what seemed to be a lady’s blouse and an eye-patch. Everyone turned to stare at him before turning back to their work.
“Jim, why is everyone in their normal clothes? I’m going to inform Michael that you tricked me,” Dwight stood over him, attempting to be menacing.
“Well, looks like you failed to get everyone in costume, I will have to report you to him, tell him you ruined the party.” Jim shook his head.
“No, Jim… I… please don’t!” Dwight was flustered.
“Fine, but you owe me.” Jim stood, pulled Dwight’s eye-patch off his face and let it snap back. It hit him in the face roughly before Dwight stormed off.
Karen looked up at Dwight before turning back to her work. Jim heard her mutter something about unprofessional pranks and being second in command. He turned away to look at Pam who had disappeared behind her desk in a fit of giggles. When she resurfaced she looked at him and threw him an air high-five.
Jim sighed, nobody else could have pulled that off.

It had been two weeks since Pam and Jim started dating. Karen had transferred two days ago and the tension in the office was significantly less. Tonight was the night when the sales staff had to stay late to complete order forms. Jim had been through this ritual before in Stamford, but he couldn’t remember doing it in Scranton. Pam was asked to stay late as well to help with administrative things but she was happy to stay with Jim.
“Big Haircut, shall we?” Andy had taken the desk across from Dwight for the night and he drew another mysterious bottle from his desk. Jim smiled at him, then at Pam who winked.
“I want in.” Dwight’s eyes widened. Andy nodded and pulled six shot glasses from the drawer.
“I took Karen into account when I brought these, so Pam, you have to take her place and do shots with us.” Andy placed the first shot glass on Pam’s desk and filled it to the top with the brown liquid. He distributed the others and filled them all. He returned to his desk and filled his own glass.
“One, two, three, shot!” Andy held his glass high and the other followed. Pam and Jim stared into each others eyes before downing the burning shot. Pam did not sneak her shot into the trash as Jim suspected Karen had done. She downed it and returned his gaze, her game face on.

Two hours and a bottle of alcohol later, there was little left getting done. Stanley had done one before heading home for the night. Phyllis had stopped at three before calling Bob Vance, Vance Refrigeration. Jim, Andy, Dwight and Pam had all continued until the alcohol was gone. Dwight was now passed out on his desk while Andy fumbled with his “roomy twin” of an air mattress. Jim and Pam decided to try and sober up before calling a cab. They headed towards the kitchen, coffee in mind.
“Halpert, that coffee machine is busted,” Pam giggled.
“That’s the microwave.” Jim shook his head. “I need to sit,” he stumbled over to the chairs and threw himself into one. He landed roughly and bit his lip.
“Jim, you’re bleeding.” Pam came over and tried to wipe the blood from his lip but missed. She laughed and sat in his lap. They’re laughter petered off and they were left staring drunkenly at one another. Before long, Pam had pressed her lips to Jim’s. He could taste the alcohol on her as he kissed her roughly.
Pam grabbed his tie and dragged him to a standing position before leading him into the annex. He pushed her roughly against the wall, his lips leaving a trail of drunk kissed along her jaw line, his hand on her bare stomach. She was fumbling with his shirt when the door from the kitchen opened. They pulled apart quickly as Dwight stumbled by, into the break room. Pam hooked her finger into Jim’s belt loop and dragged him towards the phone so they could call a cab and get home, fast.
Jim followed happily. Pam wasn’t trying to trick him, she knew she could have him.