At 10:15 on a beautiful Wednesday afternoon in May, Jim's body goes limp, his head hits his desk and Pam knows: it is up to her to revive him. It is far too nice outside to be stuck in this place, with these people (Dwangela) and she knows it's time. She giggles a bit before picking up the phone and dialing his extension, never removing her eyes from the lifeless body hunched over his desk. It is the first time he's heard that giggle in a while, and his life is suddenly better.
He slowly turns his head toward her, locks his eyes with hers and slowly smiles before picking up the phone and answering, "Jim Halpert."
"I couldn't help but notice your untimely death." Her serious tone is completely overshadowed by the glimmer in her eyes and the smile fighting her pursed lips, her eyes never waver from his.
"Who IS this?"
"Your reviver."
"Oh. It's about time, Beesly."
Pam tells him to wait exactly two minutes before he comes to reception, then after making sure nobody sees her, she hangs up and sneaks off to the bathroom. Roughly a minute later, she appears at her desk, smiling, but looking nervous. Jim looks at his wrist and watches the second hand tick down the seconds to his revival. He slowly removes his head from his desk and nonchalantly walks over to her. He reaches for a jellybean, so she allows him to pick one before she grabs the container, wraps a plastic bag around it, and puts it in her desk drawer. She catches his eye, making sure he notices the umbrella on her desk, then brings her finger to her lips as a sign for him not to talk. He's completely lost, but that's nothing new for him. She looks nervous, and he's suddenly concerned, but she also looks mischievous, so he decides to just go along with it. They're caught in a stare 'till the death, and he's not about to die twice that day. So they stand there and wait, and she's smiling and biting on her thumb, and he's still and calm. Nobody seems to notice.
As the alarm goes off and the overhead sprinklers spring to life, Pam pretends to be surprised and Jim genuinely is surprised and it takes him a minute to connect the dots. Michael runs by them and Pam says sharply, "Michael, Jim and I are leaving to change into dry clothes. So we won't be there for the body count." Jim is impressed by her quick thinking, but it dawns on him - this is not quick thinking, at all. This was planned.
Michael yells a quick, "Fine! Whatever!" and is, of course, the first person out the door. As everyone runs around them, grabbing their things, covering their computers, Pam stands, brings up her umbrella and as Jim is warning her of the bad luck involved in this, she opens the umbrella over them. She raises her eyebrows at him, challenging the whole idea of bad luck with umbrellas indoors. They're standing, huddled toward each other, with that damned reception desk between them. She motions for him to come around the desk, and when she's sure nobody is looking, she pulls him down underneath the desk and they sit there, eyes still locked, until the room is cleared.
They are now watching the downpour from the small area they are in, like kids watching rain through the window.
"Hey, Jim?"
"Yeah?"
"It's raining." And at that, they both burst into laughter. In the midst of it, she slides her hand into his and locks their fingers together, mentally swallowing the key. He looks at their perfectly tangled fingers for a while before turning his head and watching her stare at the "rain". He knows it's only a matter of minutes before the firetruck arrives, and now he's panicked and anxious to know why, exactly, she did this - after all, it's not the smartest, or most legal way to pass the time. He opens his mouth and begins to say her name, but is stopped short by the blur of her turning, wrapping her arms around his neck, and pressing her mouth to his. The sound of the elevator forces them to part, but Jim reaches his arm out and brings in her desk chair to cover them, before pulling her back into him. Smart and legal, be damned.
When Pam is sure that nobody will see them, she forces herself to release his kiss, then she leads Jim down the stairwell, out the back door, and to his car. All along he is silent, not wanting to ask the inevitable questions that he's not sure he wants the answers to. They stand by the car for a minute, Jim is clueless as to what comes next, but Pam is motioning for him to open the door, so he opens the door for her before sliding in on the driver's side. He rests his hands on the steering wheel and stares straight ahead, still not knowing if she's thinking straight. She knows he's feeling unsure, scared even, so she turns to him and strokes the back of her hand down his cheek, brushing his damp hair out of her way.
"Take me home."
He looks at her as if she's speaking a different language. All of this is almost too much and he really, really can't form a rational thought. So he raises his eyebrows a little and cocks his head to the side, as if to say, "What do you want?"
"Jim. Take me home." She says softly, watching his chest as he breathes so slowly it's nearly imperceptible.
His eyes sadden as he puts the car in gear and drives slower than usual. When he gets to the first stop light, he puts his blinker on to go left. She starts to laugh. Today, he is eternally confused, so he looks at her again, finally able to speak, and asks her why she's laughing. She is glowing, and finds her words, "When I said home, I meant your home."
A slow smile creeps into his eyes before pulling at his lips, and he keeps his eyes locked on hers as he moves his hand slowly to the blinker and shifts it up. She holds his hand for the duration of the short drive.
When they arrive, she waits for him to open her door, because that's the kind of guy he is, and when he does, she steps out and kisses him hard enough to make him stumble a bit. She wraps her arms around his waist to steady him. Still entwined, he slowly guides them to the door and somehow manages to get the key into the lock and suddenly, they're inside. They take a few steps and fall onto the couch. She's frantic, and her hands are.. everywhere, and he's hot and confused and kissing the girl he loves.
"Wow. Isn't she engaged, or something?" They are startled apart by Jim's roommate, who is leaning against the kitchen counter, mug in hand, looking as if he's just interrupted something, when, in fact, the opposite is true. He gives Jim an awkward wink before grabbing his keys from the bowl on the counter and walking past them, noticing that they are both soaked. "Is it raining?" he asks before disappearing out the front door.
It hits Jim hard and fast, and he feels sick. He sits up and pulls away, resting his head in his hands, his elbows on his knees. He just needs a minute to breathe, to think. She moves close to him and rests her head on his shoulder while her hand moves in to slowly rub his back. He tries to pull away, but can't. So he whispers to her, asking her why she's here with him now, telling her that he cannot be casual with her. His eyes are stinging, and he can't bear to look up.
She tries to make him look at her by pulling at his arm, but he won't, so she stands up and kneels down in front of him, gently easing his knees apart to make room and replacing the hands on his face with hers. She just looks at him, smiles softly and sighs. The flood gates release and she's telling him this isn't casual, that he is her best friend and that she realizes now that that is what is important to her. She wants him because he is her best friend, because he knows her and because he's.. well.. really, really, really sexy. She tells him that this maybe wouldn't have happened if he had different hands and different eyes, and if she couldn't see his back through his shirt when he's leaning on his desk, and if he weren't so tall, and if he had a cleaner haircut, and if he didn't wear grandpa ties, and if he weren't so good with kids, and if his smile were less.. just less, and if he didn't make her feel like the person she's always wanted to be, and if she didn't know, for a fact, that he loved her, too. She tells him that this is why she hadn't told him that she had left Roy on the morning after the Booze Cruise, when she realized that a drunken date setting really wasn't her idea of perfection. She explained that she needed time to find herself, much less than she thought, it turns out, and that she just couldn't wait any longer.
And at this, he can finally breathe. He slides his hands under her arms and around her back and hugs her, holds her. He breathes her in and kisses her hair and tells her that she had him at the third "really" in her description of just how sexy he is. She giggles, of course, and they fall back into each other.
---------------------------------------------
The sound of her cell phone brings them from their sleep, and she grabs for it, and answers with a groggy grunt. It's Dwight, calling to verify their whereabouts.
"Dwight." She looks at Jim, which releases the butterflies in her stomach, but she ignores them and they roll their eyes in unison. "Dwight! Ok. Ok. Listen to me. Dwight? Ok. Are you listening?" She waits for him to stop talking, and then in a very calm tone, says, "My whereabouts. I am currently in Jim's bed. And Jim? He's in Jim's bed too. We won't be back today. And, Dwight? If you call here again or show up today, I will hurt you. Do you understand?" She waits a beat before hanging up the phone with the second most satisfied look she's had on her face all day.
"Wow, Beesly. So violent. I like it." His smile really does light up the room.
"Yeah, well, get used to it." They laugh and he leans in for a kiss, but stops short, breath on breath.
"Hey." He cannot believe how beautiful she is. Or how soft her skin is.
"Hey." She notices a golden fleck in with the green in his right eye. Wow, she can't believe she didn't know he has golden flecks.
His smile widens as hers widens, and he holds his laughter back.
"Thanks for saving the jelly beans."
Author's Chapter Notes:
Once again, I'm not much of a writer - in that I haven't written much, so if it's erratic, don't be surprised. This takes place after the Booze Cruise, so any actual episodes after that are ignored for the purposes of this story.
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
lano is the author of 5 other stories.
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