Pam rolled over and knocked into something large and heavy.

“Ouch,” the large heavy thing muttered.

Pam shot up into a sitting position so quickly that her vision swam with tiny black spots for a moment. She blinked several times and saw a hazy, polka-dotted vision of Jim come into focus.

“You okay there?” Jim asked.

She blinked a few more times until she could see him fully. He was lying under the covers, in her bed, shirtless and, she could assume, pantless as well. His hair was sticking up in various places and he had an adorable, drowsy look on his face. She had trouble breathing for a moment.

“Yeah,” she said. Then she plopped herself down so that her elbow was planted on her pillow and her face was propped up on her hand, facing him.

“Hi,” she whispered, smiling.

He grinned.

“Hey,” he whispered back.

Just then a wild cougar growled. Well, it sounded like a cougar. It was actually Pam’s stomach.

“Hungry, Beesly?” Jim asked, eyes wide.

“Apparently,” Pam said, trying hard not to blush.

“You sure know how to enhance a romantic moment,” he teased.

“This from the man who brought up Dwight Schrute just before we had sex for the first time,” she retorted.

“Hey, I didn’t make the same mistake the second time,” he said. He reached out and gently trailed his fingers along the arm that wasn’t supporting her head.

“Or the third,” Pam added helpfully.

Jim grinned even wider and sat up a little, resting his back against her headboard.

“So, what am I going to tell Dwight tomorrow when he asks me if I was able to perform a full inspection?” he asked.

Pam joined him in his seated position, pull the sheets up around her like a towel.

“You will tell him nothing,” she said firmly.

“I don’t know, Pam. Dwight can be very persistent.”

“If you tell Dwight that you visually inspected me, I will tell him that you’re going on a camping trip soon and you desperately want to hear everything he knows about bears, but you’re just too proud to ask.”

“Okay, that’s not even funny,” Jim said, and Pam giggled. “I would be stuck listening to him for hours.”

Pam’s stomach interrupted any further banter with another vicious growl.

“Okay, we need to take care of that thing before it attacks us,” Jim joked. He sat up and swung his legs over the side of the bed. As Pam watched him pull on his boxers and trudge toward the doorway, she couldn’t help the ridiculously giddy feeling that rushed through her.

When she entered the kitchen, he was already rummaging through her refrigerator.

“Just make yourself at home, Halpert,” Pam said, mock-offended.

“You will forgive my rudeness when you taste my famous scrambled eggs,” Jim replied, pulling out a carton of eggs and holding them up triumphantly.

“Famous scrambled eggs, huh?” Pam asked. “Are they as famous as your grilled cheese sandwich?”

Jim opened three cupboards before he found the frying pans. He pulled one out and began his search for the cooking spray.

“More famous, in fact. Grilled Cheese is terribly jealous of all the attention Scrambled Eggs gets.”

Pam grabbed the cooking spray for him and handed it over to Jim.

“Well, that’s too bad,” Pam said solemnly. “But I’ll have you know that my scrambled eggs are quite famous too.”

“Really? Is that a challenge Beesly?”

“Maybe,” Pam said, trying and failing to hide her smile.

Jim pulled out a second frying pan.

“Are you prepared to put your money where your mouth is?”

Pam grabbed the pan from him.

“Bring it,’ she said.

They started reaching across each other to get the necessary supplies: eggs, bowls, whisk, etc…

“See, this is where that second kitchen would have come in handy,” Jim commented as they bumped hands for the third time.

“Well, my stove does have four burners,” Pam informed him.

“Four?”

Jim looked surprised. He made a big show of counting the burners slowly and carefully.

“Wow. That is impressive,” he said.

“And your stove has…” Pam prompted.

“Only one. Hence my need for multiple kitchens,” Jim said matter-of-factly.

They each poured their egg mixtures into their pans and set them on the stove.

“That’s funny. I don’t seem to recall a one-burner stove or multiple kitchens from my visit last night,” Pam said innocently.

“Oh, yeah. Well, it was my apartment in Stamford.”

And just like that Pam felt her stomach sink.

“Oh,” she said.

She absorbed herself by attacking her eggs with a spatula. A minute passed and Jim could tell that something as wrong.

“What?” he asked, confused.

“Nothing,” Pam said quickly, still stabbing at her eggs. After a brief pause, she couldn’t help herself. “Did you like it in Stamford?” she asked quietly.

“Pam,” Jim said pleadingly.

“I’m just wondering,” Pam amended.

Jim put down his spatula and looked away, trying to compose his thoughts.

“Stamford was… it was just an escape,” he said.

Pam took a deep breath.

“I missed you so much,” she said. Her voice cracked on the word ‘so.’

Jim looked at her with such intensity that she almost looked away.

“Me too,” he said softly.

To her horror, Pam felt tears forming in her eyes. This time she really did look away.

“Pam?”

Pam shook her head and didn’t turn around.

“Don’t look at me. I’m being that girl,” she said miserably.

“What girl?” Jim asked incredulously.

“That weird creepy girl who cries the morning after you sleep together for the first time,” Pam said.

She felt his hand on her shoulder but concerned herself with stirring her eggs some more instead of looking at him.

“That is not weird or creepy,” he said.

“Oh, yeah. Totally sexy, I’m sure,” she scoffed. Her eggs were done so she removed the pan from the burner.

“Just how I pictured it in my fantasies,” Jim assured her.

“Oh really?” Pam said. She was smiling now, finally able to look at him.

“Yes,” Jim replied emphatically. Then he tilted his head to the side, and Pam felt weak in the knees. “Well, the reason you were crying in my fantasies was that I was such a sex god you just burst into tears from sheer ecstasy, but…”

Pam let out an unexpected laugh. She was still teary, so it sounded ragged and throaty.

”I’m offended by your laughter,” Jim said, feigning insult.

Pam stopped laughing and took a shaky breath. Jim seemed to realize that this was important, and the smile fell from his face as well.

“I’m not trying to be weird. It’s just… this year has been so hard.” Pam paused for a moment, shaking her head. “The worst. And now it’s over. I’m just so glad that we’re finally here. I didn’t think we’d make it.”

A few tears escaped her eyes and trickled down her cheeks. Jim captured her lips suddenly, and Pam let out a little gasp. She found herself pressed up against the counter next to the stove, his hands buried in her hair, and she closed her eyes and pulled him to her tightly.

When they separated, Jim rested his forehead on hers and rested his hands gently on her neck just below her ears, cupping her face.

“We’re here,” he said quietly.

He leaned in for another kiss, but just as his lips met hers Pam blurted out, “Eggs!”

“What?” Jim asked, smiling confusedly but not moving away.

“Your eggs are burning,” Pam tried again.

“Oh shit!” he muttered, whipping around to see his eggs turning brown in the pan. He spun back around and pinned her with an accusatory glare.

“Now I get it!” he said. “You were just trying to distract me so that you would win the great Scramble-Off of 2007! Fake crying? Using your feminine wiles? That is just low Beesly.”

“Oh yeah,” Pam scoffed. “You caught me.”

She was trying desperately not to smile at his pretend outrage.

“Yup. Okay. I didn’t want to have to do this,” Jim said gravely as he tossed the eggs in the garbage and put his pan in the sink.

“Do what?”

“Punish you for your malfeasance,” he said.

Before Pam could respond, his arms were around her and he was picking her up. She squealed and laughed as he carried her back to the bedroom. Her eggs grew cold and lay forgotten on the stove.

***

After making some new eggs, they went to the police station together. Jim didn’t press charges for the assault, just for the car. Pam squeezed his hand tightly the entire time, but didn’t say anything.

On Monday Pam drove him to work because his car was still in the shop. Their driving arrangements didn’t escape anyone’s notice. Apparently the gossip mill was been working overtime.

Upon entering the office, Dwight handed Jim a form for to fill out regarding the results of the physical inspection on Pam. It was five pages long. Jim filled the entire thing out in great detail.

Where it asked, “Were there any strange marks on the body?” he wrote—“Her bellybutton glows in the dark. Is that weird?”

This led Dwight to go on a rampage about “falsifying police documents.”

Which, of course, led Jim to remind him that it wasn’t a real police document, nor was Dwight a real policeman.

Kelly greeted them with what Jim assured Pam is the new longest word in the English dictionary. Something along the lines of, “OhmygodPamIcan’tbelievethatRoyfreakedoutatPoorRichard’slikethatandthenDwight saidthathetotallyruinedJim’scarandOHMYGODJIMyourcheekisallcutupandyourfaceisonebigbruisedid RoydothatwhenyouwereprotectingPamRyanwouldneverdothatformeOHMYGODOHMYGODareyoutwotogethernow becausethatissooooooromantic!!!!!”

Angela just gave them both scathing glares as they took their seats.

Kevin mouthed “Nicccce” to Jim whenever he caught his eye.

But the worst part by far was finding himself alone in the break room with Karen. He was surprised that she had actually shown up to work.

“I like Pam,” she said simply.

“Okay,” Jim replied.

“Much more than I like you at the moment,” she added.

“Right,” Jim said uncomfortably, pretending to examine the candy machine.

“And I’m not going to make this awkward for you.”

Jim looked at her again.

“I’ve already told Toby about us,” she said brusquely. “I haven’t told anyone else. I’m going to talk to Jan tomorrow about promotional opportunities. And transfers.”

“Karen—”

“Jim, don’t. Please?” Karen stopped him. “Because I’m really trying to take the high road here, but if I hear you say anything approaching the phrase ‘I never meant to hurt you’ or ‘You’re a great person’ I might have to throw something.”

Jim nodded.

“Okay,” he said.

The entire day was strange. He and Pam spent their time trying not to look at each other, trying not to let anything slip. He found himself wishing he could fast-forward a few weeks until everything had settled down with Karen and Roy and everyone at work.

At five o’clock he helped Pam slip into her coat. When they walked out of the building he felt her lace her fingers through his.

And they both let themselves exhale.