Breaking his gaze from the carollers assembled in the parking lot of Scranton Business Park, Jim turned to Pam. 

“This… this happens every year?”

“Oh, yeah,” Pam chuckled, hands shoved in her pockets. “Michael pays them to come and sing carols for us. Attendance is mandatory.”

“Don’t they generally perform for free?” Jim raised a brow. 

“Oh, James Halpert, you still have… so much to learn,” Pam grinned. 

“Yeah, clearly.” 

“When it comes to Michael Scott, nothing should surprise you.” 

Michael turned his head suddenly, brows raised eagerly. “My good Lady and Sir, I heard my name and the word surprise.”

“Umm, I was just telling Jim this is one of your great surprises for us,” Pam smiled. 

Jim was learning to tell the difference between a regular Pam smile and a believe-me-I-that’s-so-not-what-I-mean Pam smile. “You bring… so much culture to the workplace, Michael.”

“Well thank you,” Michael grinned. “I wanted to do something for Hanukkah as well but… I wasn’t sure, you know?”

“Oh! Well Marina is dating a Jewish guy, maybe you could ask him for ideas,” Pam grinned, nudging the woman standing on her right. “Right, Marina?”

“God, umm,” Marina shot a glare at Pam, “you know, maybe, though I think we might break up so… we’ll see.” 

“Oh no!” Michael frowned. “At Christmas?”

“Yeah, he just… doesn’t love that I’m ‘just’ a customer service temp,” Marina added air quotes around ‘just’ and rolled her eyes, “and he’s more of a… career guy, so… but maybe a menorah at reception would work?”

“That sucks, sorry to hear that… though a menorah could be a nice touch,” Michael nodded, before turning back to watch the carollers. 

“Thanks for that,” Marina mumbled to Pam.

“You’re welcome,” Pam grinned, “that was an impressive response.”

“Was any of that real?” Jim asked quietly, following the two women as they slipped through a gap between Meredith and Creed behind them to gain some space from Michael. 

“I mean I guess I’m kinda dating the Jewish guy? Like he has his uses but honestly I don’t think he even knows my job nor do I know or care about his career opinions,” Marina shrugged.

“Oh,” Jim blinked. He thought he was doing well at handing Michael, but he clearly had a lot of catching up to do if he was going to reach these levels of storytelling to appease his boss. “Then yeah, that was really impressive.” 

Marina did a mini-curtsey and flung the end of her scarf back dramatically. “Thank you very much. The more details you include the quicker the conversation with Michael ends. You gotta give the dog a bone, James.” 

“Huh,” Jim considered this for a moment. He was good with his pranks, but anything to decrease the length of Random Michael Chats was useful. “I will take that on board.”  

They absently watched the carollers for a moment, Stanley subtly leaning against his car to complete his crossword after a few minutes of hiding between the accountants. The carolling was actually good, so it wasn’t too difficult to engage them for a while, but it was cold and Michael had clearly paid for their entire repertoire. 

“God how many more songs can they have, my hands are freezing,” Pam groaned quietly.

“Didn’t you have gloves this morning?” Jim pointed out.

“I did but they’re covered in tea. I’d put them on my desk and knocked my mug when Dwight handed me a bunch of crap to file,” Pam rolled her eyes.

“You mean… the reports we’re meant to hand in to you to file?” Jim chuckled.

“Yep, those are the very ones.”

“Well, I’ll be careful when I hand mine in,” Jim assured her, then pulled off his gloves. “Here.”

“What – no, it’s fine, I’m not taking your gloves away from you. You’re literally wearing them, Jim.”

“My hands are pretty cosy, I’ll be fine ‘til we go in.”

“No, I-“

“Just take the freaking gloves, Pam,” Marina grabbed the gloves from Jim and put them in Pam’s hands with a bemused mutter. 

Slightly bewildered, Pam stared at the gloves for a second then looked up at Jim and gave him a quick smile. “Thanks.”

As Pam put the gloves on, she tried to ignore their warmth from being on Jim’s hands. She tried not to think about how it was kind of like holding his hand. She held back a smile at how big the gloves were on her hands, the last inch or so of each finger flat and empty, and how his hands would feel linked with hers. That if she held his hand now it would stay warm. That she was totally overthinking borrowing gloves. 

It's just that they were from a friend that she absolutely, definitely, had a secret crush on that she was trying very hard to suppress. 

And the gloves were big enough that she could slide her engagement ring off with nobody seeing. She allowed herself to not feel guilty as she listened to the carollers. It was Christmas, after all, and this could be her secret gift to herself. 

Eventually, the carolling came to an end, and she put the ring back on and gave Jim his gloves back. They made their way back inside, everyone grateful to return to the warmth of the office building. Pam sat herself back at reception, back in her real life, where she had no warm glove to hide the secrets she held. Voicemail off, pick up the messages, write them up for people to collect. She doodled a pair of knitted mittens onto Jim’s message slip and checked on her own gloves, which were still a slightly soggy affair. The now familiar beep of her AIM brought her attention back to her screen. 

Marinara69: I have convinced Angelina to let me join the PPC :D crazy, I know, what on earth could I be up to?? 

Pam sighed despite her amusement. She couldn’t even begin to guess what kind of antics Marina had planned to willingly put herself through the torture of sitting in a Party Planning Committee meeting with Angela. 

With the office party in full swing, Marina sunk down onto the couch next to reception while Pam set out the gift bags from Dunder Mifflin Corporate across the top of the desk. “Man, I am so glad this party is finally happening. Time to have fun, clean up, and de-join the committee.” 

“I hope when we hire an actual customer service rep that Angela likes them more than she likes you,” Pam chuckled. “Maybe even let them onto the committee as a permanent member.”

“Please, Angelica likes everyone more than me. If she yelled ‘you dumb babies!’ in the middle of the meeting I would be like, zero percent surprised,” Marina rolled her eyes, getting a snort from Pam at her impression of the Rugrats character. “I had to compliment all nine cats, by name, to be allowed in on the Christmas party planning.”

“Maybe she’d like you more if you actually just called her Angela,” Pam pointed out, to which Marina simply shrugged indifferently. “Why were you so desperate to get in on the party planning anyway?”

“Aside from it being a good way to fill Michael’s Santa Hat with Brussels Sprouts? I guess because I won’t be here this time next year I wanted to get involved, have some fun, instead of just sit and wait around.” 

“Unless they have to put out an ad for a third and fourth and fifth time,” Pam rolled her eyes, then stepped back to look at the gift bags neatly lined up. “But the hat thing was hilarious. Okay, all done, though this set up is more impressive than the actual gifts.”

“That’s kinda sad,” Marina pointed out. For a moment she scanned the room slowly enough for Pam to notice and copy her, then got up with a satisfied hum. “I am gonna grab some food from the conference room. If I find cat hair in anything I’m suing Angela No-fun Martin’s ass.”

As Pam’s eyes had followed Marina’s sweep of the room, she spotted Jim wandering off through the kitchen. She barely caught the end of Marina’s sentence. “Okay, I’m just gonna grab a soda real quick.” 

“Sure,” Marina smirked. 

Walking quickly through the small groups of colleagues in the early stages of an office party, Pam caught up with Jim in the quiet break room and leaned against the door frame. “You know, that stocking on the front of my desk is supposed to be decorative.”

“I don’t know what you mean,” Jim shrugged innocently, glancing quickly over at Pam with his brows raised before returning his attention to the coins in his hand.

Rolling his eyes, Stanley picked up his crossword puzzle with a loud sigh and left the room. So much for his peaceful respite from the party. Pam stood back to let him out with an apologetic smile, then shook her head and stepped into the room properly. “And so the gloves and HotHands packs were just… a co-incidental gift from someone else in this office?”

Jim feigned surprise as he began feeding coins into the machine. “Maybe it was Santa Claus?” 

“Well, then I guess thank you Santa Claus,” Pam grinned.

“And I guess Santa Claus says no problem,” Jim chuckled. In all honesty, he’d been hoping to get Pam for Secret Santa but had gotten Phyllis instead. He figured he could use the large stocking decoration attached to the front panel of the reception desk to give Pam the little gifts he’d purchased the day after the Christmas Carollers. Pam had stayed almost annoyingly late last night, which meant he had to stay even later and find work to do as an excuse so he could add them before leaving the night before. “Soda? The selection in the conference room is a bit… eh.” 

“Yeah, that was Phyllis’ revenge on Angela saying her ideas were stupid,” Pam rolled her eyes, “so a soda would be great, thanks.” 

“Ah, makes sense,” he nodded and selected the two sodas.

It was only when Pam reached Jim at the machine to collect her soda that she suddenly discovered the reason Marina had been so desperate to be on the Party Planning Committee for Christmas. Glancing up at the mistletoe that was only just about hidden by the snowflake decorations, Pam suddenly wished she could time travel back a few months an un-tell Marina the details of her crush on Jim – but at the same time she was ready to scream ‘thank you!’ at the top of her lungs and tip her for the outstanding service provided. 

“What- oh.” 

Pam suddenly realised she hadn’t simply glanced up at the mistletoe, but was avidly staring at it. As Jim let out an awkward chuckle, she tilted her head to look at him. “That’s, uh, mistletoe.” 

“Yeah.”

As they stared at each other, comfortably close yet uncomfortably far from where they wanted to be, Pam had a sudden realisation that this was distinctly more than the crush she’d decided she had on Jim when he’d saved her from eating expired mixed berry yoghurt. He wasn’t making a single move to kiss her, and yet Pam felt an intense need for him to do exactly that. She knew Jim wouldn’t make that move, and she knew Marina knew this too, so the mistletoe had been placed as more of a joke – Pam had previously admitted that she wouldn’t not kiss Jim if he presented that opportunity.  

Pam had spent more time than she cared to admit arguing both sides of the ‘I like this guy and kind of want him to kiss me but I’m not single’ argument with herself. Everyone always told her that being engaged to her high school sweetheart was an absolute dream, which was usually her go-to ‘good fiancée’ stance, but she was realising that those people were wrong. The absolute dream was how she felt right now with the mistletoe hanging above her and Jim – like she was about to receive a Secret Secret Santa gift from her Secret Secret Wishlist. She knew it wasn't going to happen, but she was willing to suspend her disbelief. 

Their moment was interrupted by a can cluttering down into the dispenser, causing Jim and Pam to stare down at the machine in perfect unison. Not for the first time, Pam wished she had the courage to admit that she had outgrown her relationship with Roy and stop using it as a safety net. Her eyes were glued to Jim’s hands as he picked up the three soda cans, wondering what it would be like if holding Jim’s hand was her safety net instead. A hand-hold of support instead of a relationship of excuses. Pam mentally added 'didn’t make the mistletoe mean something' to her list of regrets.  

“Free soda,” Jim announced, clutching his grape soda in one hand and holding the other two out to Pam. “Merry Christmas.” 

“Uh, thanks,” Pam gave him an awkward smile as she accepted both sodas, realising he had misinterpreted her gaze as eyeing up the extra soda. “I, umm… sorry – blah,” Pam scrunched her face and shook her head. The downside of being engaged to your high school sweetheart was never having had the experience of dealing with crushes and kind-of-not-really-though-maybe-could’ve-been-kisses and heartbreak and awkward moments. One of the downsides, anyway.

“Don’t worry about it. Come on, let's go check out the food situation,” Jim gave her a smile she wasn’t expecting, and Pam was relieved that at least Jim could navigate away from the awkwardness for them. Sometimes she wondered if he did have a crush on her too, but moments like this where he moved past things so quickly made her doubt that suspicion.

“It’s surprisingly good. Angela is actually a good baker – though I’m hoping next year she lets me bake something too.” 

“Ooh, are you secretly Beesly the Baker?”

“I dunno, I like to bake and I think I’m pretty good at the stuff my mom showed me,” Pam grinned. “I’m sure Angela would complain about it somehow though.”