"Whoa! Roy!"

The brakes squealed as Roy swerved violently to avoid hitting the lump in the middle of the quiet neighborhood road. As the truck came to a halt, Pam looked back to see what it was that they had nearly hit.

Her eyes opened wide in shock as she tried to process what she was seeing. Emerging from a hole in the middle of the street was what appeared to be a slender, red-haired woman, probably about her own age, wearing a gigantic, fluffy wedding dress. Pam turned to look over at Roy, but he was similarly speechless.

They watched in transfixed silence as the woman hauled herself up onto the street, looked around warily for a minute and then, catching sight of her dress immediately attempted to put it to rights, smoothing the wrinkled fabric and brushing angrily at the dirt stains.

Pam couldn't decide whether the woman looked more like an escapee from a beauty pageant or the nearest mental hospital, or possibly both. Just then, Roy seemed to come to his senses, opening his door and quickly rushing over to the woman. Pam hurriedly followed him.

"Are you all right?" they asked the woman in unison.

"Me?" her bright blue eyes lit up and she smiled as she seemed to notice them for the first time.

"Yes," Pam continued, "what in the world were you doing down there? You could've gotten hurt." Pam didn't mean to sound so harsh, but the woman's innocent smile was throwing her off, it was almost as if she hadn't realized she'd been crawling out of a manhole not twenty seconds ago.

"Oh, well... I was just..." the woman smiled again, obviously trying to compose her thoughts. "Well, you see... What I mean is, there was this huge black monster roaring at me all of a sudden and then it was gone and so I crawled out. But everything is fine now. I think. Except... I don't suppose you two could tell me where I am. I'd be so obliged." The woman finished with another smile.

Pam turned to Roy again, now fairly convinced that it was the mental hospital they should be calling.

Roy just spluttered for a minute. "Um, you're uh, you're in Scranton," when the woman just looked at him he tried again. "Pennsylvania? Scranton, Pennsylvania in the United States."

Pam considered tacking on a 'planet earth' to that statement, but thought that might come off a little rude. She didn't know why, but after knowing her for only thirty seconds this woman was already starting bug her. She wouldn't admit it to herself, but deep down she knew that part of her annoyance might have had something to do with the way Roy had obviously noticed that the woman's neckline revealed far more than any of Pam's dresses ever had.

"What's your name?" Pam asked to keep herself from getting more annoyed.

"Princess Kaytinalissian Mirabella Angeline Nicolina Eloise Verabeth of the Realm of Ciridon, but mostly people call me Katy," she replied demurely.

"Okay, wow. That is a um... that's an interesting name. Look, uh, Katy... I'm sorry," Pam pursed her lips, trying for patience, "but we're kind of running late for work. Are you okay? Or can we maybe give you a ride somewhere? I'll bet the police could help you find your way home. Back to Keera-what's-it."

"Ciridon," Katy helpfully supplied. "And that's awfully sweet of you to offer but my father is much too powerful and much too stubborn to be persuaded by the Police, whoever he is. No, I'm afraid there's no going home for me. Not for a long, long time." The woman's eyes started filling with tears and Pam's heart softened a little bit. Obviously the woman was just lost and confused and probably a little mentally challenged. It didn't matter that she looked gorgeous, she still needed someone to take care of her. With a little sigh Pam put her arm around the girl and started to lead her down the street. Roy gave her a questioning glance; he'd been keeping his distance ever since the tears started. Pam kind of shrugged her shoulders back at him and the three of them continued walking back toward the truck.

"Come on, just come with us, we'll take care of you, okay?" Pam tried to reassure Katy.

"Thank you," Katy moaned between sobs. Her hands were covering her face and Pam could feel Katy's body shaking a little as she cried.

When they were about ten feet from the truck Katy looked up and instantly screamed. Pam jumped and then tried to wrestle her arm away from Katy who was clinging to it tightly. Maybe helping her had been the wrong idea after all.

"What is it?" Pam asked.

"There. Right there," Katy whispered, pointing. "That's the monster! Be careful, he's very fast. We'll have to be quiet so he doesn't notice us."

Pam looked in the direction the woman was pointing, but all she could see was the truck.

"What? No. That's not a monster, it's a truck. It's what we drove here in."

Katy gave her another confused look. Roy, who had obviously overheard everything, started laughing and then ran ahead of them to open the passenger door.

"Look," he said, calling back to them. "Just climb in here, okay? I promise it won't eat you."

Pam couldn't help but smile herself.

It took them a few more minutes, but they finally managed to convince Katy to sit between them on the bench seat. She freaked out again when Roy started the engine and then once more when they started moving, but after a minute or two she seemed to settle down. Pam glanced at the clock on the dashboard and cursed quietly.

"What?" Roy asked.

"Nothing," she said. "It's just that Jan told me she'd be coming in early today to check up on the branch and I was supposed to be there fifteen minutes ago."

"Jan from Corporate?"

"Yeah. And I'm sure Michael is just losing it already and..." Pam trailed off, an idea occurring to her. "Hey, do you think you could drop me off on your way to the police station? It's not that far out of the way and you can deal with Katy, right?"

"Uh... I guess so..." Roy said.

"Great," Pam interrupted before Roy had a chance to change his mind.
When they arrived at the office Pam quickly hopped out of the truck. "Good luck, Katy. See you later, Roy." she said, in a rush to get upstairs and make sure Michael wasn't trying another one of his Janet Jackson impressions that he'd been working on so much lately.

"Oh, good bye!" Katy looked up from the radio buttons she'd been playing with for the last few minutes. "And have a lovely day, Pam!" Katy smiled widely, sounding for all the world like a cross between Barbie and a Disneyland tour guide.

Pam nearly rolled her eyes, but managed to smile back instead before closing the truck door and running inside the building.

Two hours later Pam was just beginning to settle into her solitaire game after all the morning excitement both out of the office and in it. As she'd suspected Michael had been acting like, well, like Michael, and it had taken Pam quite awhile to smooth things over between he and Jan and the client they had been talking on the phone with. Then she'd had to discuss her tardiness with Dwight, and finally Angela had come to her with an angry glare and a stack of forms that she said had needed to be organized first thing that morning and that were now going to be late, thanks to Pam's inability to tell time.

Sometimes Pam felt like she was the only sane one in her office. She didn't mind her job really, but was it really asking so much to have someone to talk to once in awhile? Angela was never interested in her problems; Phyllis, Meredith, and Kelly were all far too interested. Toby was nice, but it seemed like whenever they started talking Michael would quickly interrupt them. It wasn't like she was looking for a best friend, she had Roy for that, but it would've been nice to have just one other normal person around. Especially for days like this.

Still a little lost in her thoughts, Pam was about to put the red 7 on the black 8 when she looked up to see Roy opening the main door to the office. Her eyebrows shot up when she realized that he was holding the door open for Katy, who was nonchalantly walking in behind him, still wearing that ridiculous white wedding dress, and still with that innocent smile plastered across her face.

This was so not what she needed today.

"What do you mean she doesn't exist?" Pam hissed.

"That's just what they said, okay?"

"Well, couldn't you have just left her there or something?"

"Come on, Pammy I wasn't gonna do that to her," Pam couldn't help but notice the way Roy's eyes softened as they both looked over at Katy who was sitting on the visitor's couch, seemingly oblivious to their whispered conversation. "We almost ran her over this morning. Don't you think we should try to take care of her?" They turned their backs on Katy again, and Pam realized that the rest of the office was beginning to watch them curiously. Great.

"But..." Pam tried to protest, but that look on Roy's face told her it was no use; Katy was staying. She sighed. "What am I supposed to do with her all day?"

"I don't know, but she'll be safer up here than down in the warehouse. Besides you can, like, show her how to make copies for you or something."

"Make copies?" There were times when Pam was pretty sure that Roy thought her job consisted entirely of making copies and faxing things.

"Whatever. I don't care what you do with her. I just have to go, so I'll see you later, okay, babe?"

"Fine." Pam said curtly, knowing it was pointless to keep arguing.

"Is there a problem?" Katy asked, suddenly appearing next to them.

"No. No way." Roy said, with that rare charming smile of his.. "Pam's gonna let you hang out up here with her all day while I'm at work and then we'll take you home later and you can stay with us, okay? There's no problem." Pam's eyebrows were higher than they had ever been as she watched Roy walk out of the office. For a few seconds she just stood there trying to think of what possible way having a surprise house guest--and a very beautiful and probably insane one, at that--could fall under the 'no problem' category for Roy. Then she noticed Katy giving her a puzzled look.

"Are you sure you're all right?" Katy asked politely.

"Um. Yeah. I'm fine." Pam replied.

"This seems like a very nice office."

"Really? Well, yeah, I guess so." Pam shrugged a bit as she looked around at the flourescently lit desks, the dull carpet, and the random assortment of decorations that had steadily amassed next to each of her co-workers' desks. It wasn't that the office was ugly, necessarily, but she certainly wouldn't call it nice.

With a little coaxing, Pam managed to get Katy to sit at her desk and fold the stack of client letters Jan had left earlier that morning after her meeting with Michael. Pam herself was standing next to the desk, sorting through some forms for Toby. Of course, Pam knew there was no way her little arrangement would go unnoticed for long.

"Pama-rama? Do you have a second to--well, hello there, my fair lass. Wow. You are very... That is quite the... Nice dress..." Michael's voice was rarely welcome and this was no exception, as Pam turned around to face him, her only consolation was that at least in this case Michael's innuendos would probably pass by completely unnoticed. After all, if Katy didn't know what a truck was, it was doubtful she'd pick up on the uh... subtleties of Michael's conversational style.

"Michael, this is my um... this is Katy."

"Katy. What a pleasure it is to meet you. And can I just say that you have a very, uh, a very beautiful tiara there."

"Thank you, Michael. That's so sweet of you."

"Well, yeah, you know, that's just how I am. Too sweet."

As Katy and Michael continued talking, Pam ducked her head for a minute unable to see how this situation could get any worse. And then she knew.

"Michael. Who is this?"

"Oh, hey, Dwight. This is Katy, she's kind of like my new girlfriend." Pam's head snapped up again then, but either Katy hadn't heard that or she didn't have any idea what the word 'girlfriend' meant.

"Oh," Dwight said, sounding a little deflated. Pam glanced around the office, knowing she had to do something before this situation got even worse.

"Okay, you know what, I don't usually do this but I need to make an announcement," said Pam, loudly enough for the entire office to look up. Most of them had been covertly staring ever since Katy came in, but a couple seemed to notice her for the first time. Their looks of disbelief would have been funny if Pam wasn't so concentrated on keeping this day from becoming a total and complete disaster. Pam looked over at Michael and knew she'd have to speak fast if she was going to keep him from interrupting.

"Everyone, this is my friend Katy. She is visiting me for the day. And I know she's dressed a little unusually, but if you could just leave her alone that would be great. I promise she won't bother you. In fact, she's going to be busy helping me with some stuff, so she probably won't have time to talk to you. At all."

Pam knew it was no use. The office so rarely had visitors that trying to tell her co-workers not to bother Katy was like trying to tell them to ignore Pretzel Day. It just wasn't going to happen. Still, she had to do something. Just then Michael intervened.

"Okay, you heard Pam. Let's just all leave Katy alone for awhile. In fact, I think I'm just going to give her a little tour of the office. You know, just show her around a little bit, so you can all just ignore us, okay? I know you have plenty of work to do, slackers." Pam hung her head a little bit, but decided that it would probably be better to let Michael deal with Katy for awhile, so that she could get some actual work done. As they walked around and began meeting everyone, it occurred to Pam that maybe this was exactly the pairing she needed. Katy and Michael both needed looking after, so why couldn't she just let them baby-sit each other all day? It was perfect. Provided of course, that Michael didn't propose by the end of the morning.

Amazingly, Pam's plan seemed to work out well for everyone in the office. The next time she saw Katy it was right before lunch and Kelly had Katy cornered at a table in the break room. Pam slipped past them to grab a soda, trying not to let Kelly notice her. Ryan sat next to Kelly, apparently also trying not to be noticed as he covertly checked Katy out.

"So, Katy, that's a really pretty dress," said Kelly.

"Why thank you. That's very kind of you to say so," Katy said, still with that nauseatingly sweet voice. Pam wondered when she'd give up the act.

"Is it like a wedding dress? Because you could totally wear it as one. I love weddings, they are just, like, so beautiful, you know?"

"I know!" Katy agreed. "I was supposed to be getting married today, actually, but then my father..." she trailed off, looking down at her lap, and leaving Pam to wonder what exactly Katy wasn't telling them about herself. There was no way Katy actually thought she was from some magical kingdom, so Pam knew she'd have to try to pry the real story out of her sooner or later. At the moment, though, Kelly was talking again, too excited to notice that Katy didn't seem to be listening.

"Ohmygod!!! Did you hear that, Ryan? Katy's getting married!! That is soo cute. You guys are going to be so adorable together!"

"But you don't even know Jim." Katy protested.

"Whatever. I can totally tell about these things. You are going to be the cutest bride ever! Can I be a bridesmaid? Ohmygod, do you need help with anything? Because I know like this really cute bakery here and a floral place, and oh, how are you doing your hair? Do you have all your bridesmaids dresses picked? I know exactly what I want my wedding to look like." Kelly slid her fingers through Ryan's, and continued talking animatedly. Ryan on the other hand looked very pale, and seemed to be afraid to make any sudden movements.

As Kelly kept talking Pam stood behind her taking in Katy's disheveled appearance again. The girl really seemed to be in some kind of trouble and it was hard not to feel a little sorry for her. Pam made up her mind right then to do whatever it took to get Katy back where she belonged.

Still, there was something about Katy that just grated on her nerves, and Pam couldn't help but suspect that she was more than a little jealous of the way every male in the office Michael, Dwight, Kevin, Creed, Toby, Ryan, and even Roy, her own fiance, was immediately enamored of Katy just hours after meeting her. So yes, she would do everything she could to get Katy home. And she would do it as soon and as quickly as she possibly could.

"Well this is it." Roy said, holding the door open so Katy could walk inside. He followed her in, leaving Pam to grab the door for herself. Pam just rolled her eyes.

"Oh, it's lovely," Katy was saying as Roy showed her around their small town home.

Pam went straight for the kitchen to dump her purse and jacket on the table. By the time she caught up to them again Roy was showing Katy the guest room.

"And seriously, you can stay here for as long as you need to. We'll help you get back to wherever it is, okay? You don't have to worry."

"Uh, Roy," Pam interrupted. "Can I talk to you for a second?"

"Yeah. What?"

"I mean, in our room," Pam said, her tone clearly implying that this would not be a casual chat.

"Oh."

They both looked over at Katy, who was oblivious. She seemed more interested in the pattern on the curtains than anything Pam was saying.

"We'll be right back. You can just, uh, get settled." Roy said before following Pam down the hall.

Once they were in their bedroom and Roy had shut the door, Pam turned on him.

"What are you doing? You can't just adopt a person, Roy!"

"I'm not adopting her, I'm just letting her stay here for awhile."

"Well, were you even gonna ask me about it?"

"About what?"

"This is my house too!"

"Pam, cut it out. I'm not gonna kick her out on the street."

"Well, I'm not going to either, but you could've asked me first."

"I just figured you'd be okay with it. And you are, so it's fine, right?"

"No!" Pam shouted.

"Pam would you keep it down? She's gonna hear you."

"So what? It's not like she even knows what we're talking about," Pam was feeling unusually angry. It had been a long day and the fact that Roy was trying to pretend like everything was fine only aggravated her more.

"Stop it," Roy said firmly. "She's not stupid, okay? She's just confused. And really sweet, and innocent..."

Pam made a little choking noise of disbelief.

"What?" Roy asked, noticing the look on her face.

"Okay, that's it. If she's staying here, and you're talking about her like that, then I'm leaving." Pam opened her top dresser drawer and began tossing things onto their bed. She'd threatened to leave a few times before over the course of their relationship, but this time she was serious. There was no way she was going to stick around and watch Roy fall in love with another woman.

"What? No. Pammy, you're being ridiculous. Stop. You're totally overreacting here."

"I'm overreacting? You only met her this morning and you're already acting like... like you're in love with her or something."

"I am not. You're just jealous."

Personally Pam felt like she had every reason to be jealous, but she didn't say that, instead she just kept grabbing her clothes from the dresser and throwing them on their bed.

"Pam, stop. You know I love you." Roy came up behind her put his arms around her. For a second she tried to push him away, but he held her arms still until she stopped resisting. Maybe she was overreacting. "Just get a grip, okay?" Roy soothed. "It's only for a couple of days."

"Fine. But as long as she's here, you sleep on the couch."

"Whatever. Just try to be nice to her, will ya? I think all she needs is some good friends to take care of her." Roy gave her a final squeeze and then walked toward the bedroom door.

"What she needs is to get back to the psych ward," Pam muttered, not quite under her breath.

Roy just looked at her.

Finally Pam raised her eyebrows defiantly. "I said she could she stay. I didn't say I'd be nice."

"Whatever. I'm gonna go make dinner."

"You're making her dinner?" Pam asked, incredulously.

"I'm making us dinner. But if you don't want to be around her you can feel free to just stay in here all night."

"Yeah right." Pam replied after he'd left. There was no way she was leaving Roy all alone out there with her. With a glance at the open door she walked into her bathroom and grabbed her lip gloss out of her top drawer. She rarely used it, but somehow having Katy around made her feel... not inferior, but just... she just felt like it might not hurt to make a little bit more of an effort than usual.

***

"So what do you like to do Katy? Like, do you have any hobbies, or... ?" Roy trailed off. They'd finished eating, but they were still sitting around the table, no one really willing to get up and do the dishes quite yet.

"Oh, well... I like to sing." Katy began demurely, "And I often dance at balls, and I enjoy sewing, and baking goodies for all my little friends. They're so kind to me, you know. I do miss them," she finished with a sigh.

Pam thought this might be a good chance to get Katy to tell them the real story of her appearance that morning.

"I'm sure they miss you too. But maybe if you told us a little bit more about where you came from we could help you get back there."

"Oh, I don't know. My father will be very angry with me."

"Well, at least try to remember how you got into that manhole."

"Oh, I know perfectly well how I got there."

"Really?" Roy asked.

"Of course. Everyone in Ciridon knows about the magic portal in the well. That's why it's off-limits. But the soldiers who normally guard it were busy with preparations for my wedding. I only had to distract the others for a minute or two, and my friends were more than willing to help. They knew I couldn't go through with it, no matter what my father said."

"So... you jumped in a well?" Pam asked.

"Yes."

"And ended up in the sewer in Scranton?"

"I suppose so, yes."

"Okay." Pam replied, trying, but not trying very hard to keep the disbelief out of her tone.

"Why would you do that?"

"Perhaps I should go back to the beginning of the story."

"I think that might be best," Roy said with encouraging smile.

"Well, my father is the King of Ciridon and long ago he made a pact with the queen of Malenker, the neighboring kingdom, so that the two kingdoms would one day join together so there could be peace in our lands." Katy kept talking in that sing-song voice of hers that made Pam wonder if she was just reciting something she'd learned by heart. The story made no sense. It was like something straight out of a fairytale, though it wasn't one Pam had ever heard before.

"I'd never even met my betrothed, Prince Jim," Katy was saying.

"Wait, what?"

"Pam, don't interrupt, okay?" Roy chastised. "Just let her finish her story."

Pam's eyes went wide again, but she was done arguing with Roy for the night. If he wanted to pretend like there was anything even remotely normal about Katy that was his problem. In the meantime, her problem was trying to figure out exactly how to extricate Katy from their lives so that everything could just go back to normal.

The first thing that registered in Pam's brain the next morning was the smell of bacon, then the fact that Roy was snoring next to her, and then the sound of quiet singing. She looked over at Roy and was confused for a minute by something. Didn't she ask him to sleep on the couch? But why would she do that?

And also, if Roy was here, with her, then who was singing? And where was that bacon smell coming from?

And then it hit her.

Katy.

She sat up straight, rubbed her eyes, and threw the covers off her body. Tossing on a robe over the t-shirt and boxers she'd worn to bed, she hurried to the kitchen.

"Katy!" she called down the hallway.

"Yes?"

"What are you doing?" Pam said, opening the door to the kitchen.

"Making breakfast. I do hope you like crepes. I wasn't sure what else to make. You have so few things in the cupboard."

"Right, well, I was actually going to go the store tomo... Wait, why am I telling you this? I meant..." suddenly Pam's eyes went very wide as she took in the entire scene. "Katy..." she said slowly, "Why is there a fox in the house? Ugh! And are those bats! Aagh! Mice?" Her breathing sped up and she cautiously motioned for Katy to come toward her. "Just, okay, just come over this way for a minute. Don't move too quickly or they might freak out... So, okay, they probably just came in because they smelled the food... and now we'll just shut this door and then hope they all stay in the kitchen while I call animal control."

"Animal control? What do they do?" Katy asked, as Pam shut the door to the kitchen.

"They are going to make all those animals in the kitchen just go away... I hope." She looked for something to brace the door with. What if that bear cub she'd glimpsed beneath the table tried to ram the door open?

"Oh, but why would they do that? Those are my new friends."

Pam's eyes bugged out again. And then she realized what was going on. This was a dream. Obviously. And now that she knew it was a dream, all that had to happen was for her body to wake up. Yep, any minute now she'd wake up in bed--without Roy this time--and then everything would be back to normal. And maybe if she was lucky Katy wouldn't even exist and this whole thing would turn out to be just some crazy trick of her subconscious. With a little smile she shut her eyes and willed herself to wake up.

"Pam?"

"Don't bother me, I'm waking up."

"Oh. Right... I'm sorry. I think, if you don't mind, I'd better go check on the food, it might start to burn if I leave it too long."

"Yeah, sure, you go do that."

"All right."

For a few minutes Pam just stood there with her eyes shut. This would work. All she had to do was focus hard enough and get her body, her real body, not the dream version, to make some kind of movement. That would do it, right? And then she could wake up for real and all of this ridiculous nonsense about forest animals in the kitchen and Katy singing to herself, and big cut outs missing from the curtains... Wait, what?

Pam opened her eyes again. Sure enough there were huge holes in the living room curtains. And not just normal holes. They were people-shaped holes. Well, dress-shaped, really.

She'd never much liked those curtains, to be honest. They were a little too bright and shiny for such a small room. And the pattern of little flowers embroidered on them, was, well... not exactly her style.

But Roy's mother had picked them out when Roy and Pam had first moved in together and at the time Pam had just been so grateful that they were finally getting their own place that she hadn't wanted to mention the fact that the curtains looked like something from a Disneyland hotel.

And then Pam saw the rest of the room. It was spotless. She wasn't sure it had ever looked this clean, even before they'd moved in. That pile of car magazines Roy had been looking at a few days ago and that she'd been bugging him about getting off the couch was nowhere to be seen and there were fresh flowers in a vase on the coffee table. This was a very strange dream. She shut her eyes again, then opened them, then shut them. But every time she opened them she saw the same thing. A very clean room with sunlight streaking in through the empty spots in the curtains.

Maybe if she went back to bed... That might work. If you fell asleep in a dream you'd wake up in the real world, right? Yes, that made sense.

Twenty minutes later there was a knock on her bedroom door. Pam ignored it, still trying to get herself to fall asleep again.

"Excuse me." It was Katy's voice. There was another timid knock. "Pam? Roy?"

"Mmmungh?" That was Roy next to her. Pam kept her eyes shut. Then she felt the bed move as Roy stood up. "Uzzgoin' on?"

"Roy?" The sound was still muffled by the bedroom door.

"Katy? Are you okay?"

"Oh, yes, I'm fine, thank you, but--" Katy's voice stopped and Pam could hear the sound of their bedroom door opening. "I'm so sorry to disturb you." Katy continued, more quietly now, but clearer without the door in the way. "I just wanted to let you know that I have breakfast all prepared as soon as you're ready to eat."

"You made breakfast?" Roy asked.

"Yes. It was the least I could do after you were so kind to me yesterday. Oh, and would you please tell Pam that my friends have gone. And that they're very sorry that they upset her this morning. I told them--"

"Friends. You had friends here?"

"Well, yes. I mean, the forest really isn't too far from here and I needed a little help getting everything cleaned up."

"You cleaned too?" Their voices got fainter as they walked down the hallway and Pam could hear Katy telling a still-only-half-awake Roy about her dear friends, the rabbits who had worked so hard to dust everything. It was lunacy. This whole thing. Sheer and utter lunacy. And any minute now it would all go away.

That's what she kept telling herself. She told herself that as Roy came to wake her up for breakfast. She told herself that as they ate the crepes, bacon, muffins, eggs, and fresh-squeezed orange juice that Katy had made. She told herself that as she showered and got ready for work. And she told herself that as she and Roy said goodbye to Katy and walked out to the truck.

When she got to work she immediately took off her coat, sat down, and put her head down on her desk. This was getting beyond ridiculous. There was no way she was going to have a nightmare about work and then wake up in the morning and have to go to work again. Nine hours a day at this place was more than enough.

***

By mid-morning Pam had given up. Whether this really was a nightmare or not, she didn't know any more. Michael had tried at least five times to get her to laugh at one of his jokes, even after she told him that she must be sick or something and that she was probably contagious and he should just leave her alone. And then Toby had asked her politely if she was feeling all right as he dropped off a stack of papers he needed alphabetized. Dwight had offered her a surgical mask from the supply he kept... who knew where. And Angela had peeked over the divider between their desks once every half-hour or so, just to make sure Pam was actually doing something productive.

It was hopeless. She figured that if she couldn't wake up from the dream she might as well play along with it.

Wearily, she picked up another piece of paper from the file, checked the client's name, and put it in the correct stack in front of her. Then she took the next paper, checked the name on it, and placed it in the appropriate pile. Then she took the next one, and--

"Excuse me? Hey, my name is Jim, and I'm really sorry to bother you, but I'm looking for a girl named Katy and I've been asking around at..."

Pam looked up as the man in front of her kept talking. He was saying something about a hole in a road, but she was too shocked to pay attention. He was dressed in some kind of Three Musketeers costume. She stood up to get another look, and yes, there it was: he actually had a sword strapped on with a belt. And... were those tights?

"So, you haven't seen her, right?"

"Uh..."

"Yeah, don't worry about it. Sorry, I'll just let myself out." The man sighed and turned around to head for the door.

"Stop right there, sir. My name is Dwight Schrute and I demand to know what you are doing on Dunder Mifflin company property carrying that weapon."

Pam looked over at the rest of the office where every face was turned toward the stranger standing next to the coat rack.

Then Michael stepped out of his office.

"Oh my god! Is this one of those singing telegrams? Is it for me?"

"Michael, this man could be very dangerous. I'd advise you to step back."

"No, Dwight, shut up. He's gonna sing something. Wow. I can't believe someone did this for me. It isn't even my birthday yet."

"Uh, actually, I was just looking for someone, but obviously she's not here, so I've gotta go."

"No!" Pam said. "Wait, I, I know who you're looking for."

"You do?" Michael, Dwight, and the man in the costume all said it at the same time.

"Yeah, but... I just can't believe she was telling the truth."

And that was when the phone rang.

Pam just stood there for a second, still trying to process that there was an actual fairytale prince in her office, that he had come here looking for Katy, and that this meant everything Katy had said was really true. Or, alternatively, there was another delusional psychopath in her life, who had come looking for the other delusional psychopath that had recently come into it, and both of them were equally confused as to their own whereabouts and mental state. Either conclusion was a little hard to take in, but somehow, looking at Jim, Pam couldn't help but think that the former was probably the right conclusion to make. Incredible as it all sounded, there was something about Jim that just seemed so... normal. He might be dressed a little strangely and there was still the matter of that sword he was carrying at his side, but beneath all that he was just a regular guy.

"Uh, Pam? Are you gonna get that?" Michael asked.

"Huh? Oh." She grabbed the phone. "Dunder Mifflin, this is Pam." She sat back down in her chair and tried to pay attention to the voice on the phone, but it was difficult not to be distracted by Jim's conversation with Michael and Dwight. The rest of the office seemed to have gotten over their initial curiosity, but Michael and Dwight were now asking Jim a series of questions and he was answering them politely. Every so often Jim glanced in her direction, and she knew he probably would have left by now had it not been for her comment about knowing who he was looking for.

By the time she got off the phone, Michael had actually taken Jim and Dwight into his office and shut the door. She knocked and Michael told her to come in, but when she asked what was going on he quickly dismissed her with some mundane task that she knew didn't really need to be done until next week anyway.

Half an hour later Jim walked out of Michael's office and over to the desk next to Dwight's that had been vacant for the last several months since Michael had banished Ryan to the annex for refusing to take part in a skit he'd planned for the dundies that year. Michael and Ryan's relationship had been a bit strained ever since.

Michael and Dwight were right behind Jim. "Okay," Michael was saying, "now don't get nervous, you know? Just let the whole thing be natural. Let it come from within. From deep down in your soul."

Pam knew this couldn't be good.

"Forget it, Michael. He doesn't know what he's doing."

"Just, just give him a chance, Dwight. I told you, I have a sense about these things."

"Michael, what's going on?" Pam asked, coming over to join them as Jim sat down at the desk.

"Well, Pam, Jim here has just been hired as our newest temp, and I think he is going to do a fantastic job."

"What? But... Michael, he's not... I mean, you're not staying are you?" she asked, turning to Jim.

"Uh, I actually don't really know."

"Oh," Pam responded, taken aback. "I... sorry, I guess I just thought that once you found Katy you guys would just go back to uh, what's it called."

"Yeah, I mean, we probably will, but... well, it's kind of complicated and I thought that maybe it would be a good idea for me to find some way to, you know, make some money while I'm here at least."

"Oh, right, yeah. Yeah, that makes sense." Well, as much as any of this makes sense, Pam thought to herself.

"Okay, Pam, now that we have your approval." Dwight's sarcasm was almost as annoying as his Nazi-like monitoring of her break time. "The important thing to do at this moment is to determine whether Jim here is really up for the job. And personally, I doubt it."

Pam's eyebrows rose. It was easy to get on Dwight's bad side, but she wasn't sure she'd ever seen anyone do it this quickly before.

"So here's the number," Michael said, handing Jim a post-it with a phone number on it. "You just call and ask them if they'd like to order some paper. Simple as that."

"It is not that simple," Dwight contradicted.

"Wait, what?" Pam was beginning to wonder who of the four of them was most confused right now. "I thought you said he was a temp? He's making sales calls?"

"It's a test," said Dwight.

"An initiation of sorts," Michael added.

"Um, excuse me, guys, but would someone mind telling me what I'm supposed to do with this?" Jim looked up at them holding the post-it in one hand and the phone receiver upside down in the other.

"You just dial, you idiot." Dwight looked at Jim like Jim was deliberately acting clueless as some kind of practical joke on his new coworker.

"I... which dial?" Jim asked. "All I see is numbers."

Of course. Pam almost laughed aloud when it hit her. Jim didn't know what a phone was. He was from fairy-book-landia, after all. Their version of a sales call was probably hollering across the marketplace or traipsing through town with a caravan.

"Okay, um, I'm sorry to have to do this, but I think Jim and I need to go somewhere and talk. In fact, I'm gonna take him to find that girl he was looking for. She's the one who was here the other day. You guys remember Katy, right?"

"You mean my girlfriend Katy?"

"Girlfriend?" Jim's looked at Michael confused.

"Oh, right. Her." Dwight said. "But what about Jim's initiation into sales?"

"It'll have to wait," Pam grabbed Jim's hand and pulled him back up out of his chair. "I'm taking my lunch now," she said, grabbing her keys, purse, and coat.

"Fine. But I want you and Jim back here soon so he can..." Michael's voice got fainter as they walked out the door and down the hallway toward the elevator.

Jim pushed the button and seemed pleased when it lit up.

"How'd you learn how to work the elevator?" Pam asked, smiling at his enthusiasm.

"Your security guard downstairs showed me."

"Oh, yeah?"

"He's the one who told me he'd seen Katy, too."

"Right. Katy."

"So do you really know where she is?" Jim asked eagerly as they stepped inside and the elevator doors shut behind them.

"Yep. Assuming she hasn't run off with any of her woodland friends yet, I know exactly where she is."

"That's great." It was silent for a minute. "I, um, I really appreciate your help, Pam." Jim looked over at her with a shy smile on his face and Pam was reminded again that in spite of his medieval garb he really was a normal guy.

"Yeah. No problem," she said, smiling back at him. "Anytime."

***

Pam parked the truck and looked over at Jim. He had quickly gotten over the initial shock of riding in the truck and had spent the last few minutes examining the vehicle. He seemed fascinated by the power windows in particular. Pam was doing her best to keep from giggling as he kept pointing out things like stop lights, neon signs, and billboards.

They had stopped at a fast food restaurant because for one thing Jim had admitted he was starving and for another Pam wanted to hear Jim's side of the fantastic story Katy had told them before Jim and Katy were reunited. Strangely, Jim didn't seem to be in much of a rush to see Katy even though he'd come all this way to find her, but that was just another in a long list of things Pam intended to ask him about over lunch.

"So, do you want the chicken slenders or the combo meal?"

"Huh?"

"Just pick a picture," Pam said, pointing to the illuminated menu behind the counter.

"Oh, uh, the number 3 one. I think."

"Right. Good choice." Pam turned to the cashier to order and in a few minutes they were seated with their food at a booth in the corner of the nearly deserted restaurant.

Pam glanced around quickly to make sure no one was paying attention to Jim.

"Okay. Tell me everything," she said.

"Like what?"

"Everything! How did you get here? Is Katy really a princess? Why are you both dressed so weird? She's not really from a fairytale, right? And how on earth did you both end up in Scranton of all places?"

"Wow. Uh, that is a lot to tell. And it's kind of a long story."

"I don't mind a good story."

Jim smiled. "Okay. Well, then, I guess I'd better get started."

Jim's narrative matched Katy's perfectly. Their parents had arranged their engagement in order to unite their neighboring kingdoms. Then a few weeks later the two of them had met for the first time and while they weren't entirely opposed to getting married it was still something they weren't comfortable with. Jim had explained to Katy that while she seemed like a very nice girl, he wasn't sure he was ready to marry her, and he'd been relieved when Katy had said that she felt the same way. However, their parents wouldn't hear of their postponing the wedding. Katy's father was particularly angry and had soon dragged Katy back home to force her to make the wedding preparations. On the morning of their wedding, yesterday morning, in fact, Katy went missing and it didn't take long for everyone to figure out that she'd jumped into the well. There had been a long council about what to do and finally Jim had volunteered to go rescue her at his mother's urging. And that was how he had ended up here.

"Wow." Pam said when he finished. "So, what are you supposed to do now?"

"That's the hard part. I mean, technically I think I'm supposed to just grab Katy and drag her back with me to Ciridon, but I don't know..." Pam watched as Jim's gaze wandered around the restaurant and then out the window to the cars passing by.

"What?"

"Well, it's just that, I've never really been away from my kingdom before. I've always wanted to travel, but there were too many things to do. My father died when I was young and I've been so busy with lessons and councils and trying to learn how to be a good king someday that I've just never had a chance to figure out what it is that I really want, you know? And here," Jim said, looking around in awe again.

"Here it seems like everyone gets to do exactly what they want. No matter what it is."

Pam looked down at the table. "Not exactly." She sighed, thinking about her own life.

"But you still have a choice, don't you? If you really wanted to change your life, you could."

"I guess... but it's not that simple. There's a lot of stuff to worry about here, like money. You've probably never had to worry about that. I don't know, you still have to be practical."

"I quess you're right," Jim agreed.

Pam wasn't sure how they'd gotten on such a depressing subject, nor why she felt comfortable talking to Jim like this. She rarely talked so openly to anyone except her mom, and Roy, of course.

"Well, we'd better get going," she said.

As they were climbing back into the truck Pam's cell phone rang in her pocket. She sighed when she recognized the number.

"Hi, Michael."

"Pam, are you and Jim done with lunch yet? It's been over an hour."

"Really?" Pam was surprised that they'd been talking so long.

"Yeah, and I have some very important things I need you to do."

"Right. Uh, well, we just have to make one more stop, okay?"

Michael made a faint noise of protest.

"And Michael, um, I think you should just know that Jim might not be coming back with me."

"What? No. You have to bring him back. He's my new proteej!"

"Your what?"

"My proteej."

"Do you mean protege?"

"Whatever. Just bring him back here, Pam."

"Okay, Michael, I'll bring him back."

"Good. See ya soon."

"See ya."

"Who were you talking to?" Jim asked.

"Michael. You know? My boss, and yours too apparently."

"But... he's not here." Jim said, looking around the inside of the truck.

"Oh, right, the phones. Here just put your seat belt on, I'll explain it on the way."

***

When they reached the townhouse Pam let herself in.

"Katy?" she called.

"Yes?" came a voice from the kitchen.

"You have a visitor."

Jim just stood there silently and Pam watched as his nervousness gave way to a charming smile when Katy walked in the room. Her eyes lit up at the sight of him, and for a moment Pam felt like she was intruding as she watched them embrace. Jim swung Katy once around the room and then set her down.

"I'm so glad you're all right," he said.

"Yes, and it's so good to see you."

They may not have been ready to get married, but it was obvious to Pam that they were more than just friends. Which was good. Great, really. It made everything easier. Now Katy could just go back to her home with Jim, and Roy would stop flirting with her, and everything would be back to normal. They would all live happily ever after just like they were supposed to. Just like a real fairytale.

Wouldn't they?