Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters or The Office. No copyright infringement intended.

♥ 

Jack of spades on queen of hearts. Four of hearts on five of clubs. These were the thoughts of the idle entertainment, the paradoxically boring entertainment, Pam relied on during the work week now that her old partner in crime had resigned himself to a new hobby of keeping up a relationship with his girlfriend. She couldn’t really hold it against him as much as she wanted to, but she also couldn’t restrain her wandering thoughts from that area in her memories of happy times with Jim, those times she looked back on with bittersweet aches of fondness. She wanted him to lean over her desk again and for the two of them to brainstorm about a new scheme to pull on Dwight, a scheme that would become an instant Jim-Pam patented classic. But those days were gone now, and the worst part of it was her inability to forget when they had existed.

Pam sat in her chair behind reception, and played Solitaire absentmindedly with her chin cupped in the hollow of her hand, a loose lock of honey hair fluttering over her right eye. She heard the front door open, and turned away from her card game in order to greet the guest. At least it was something to do. But when she looked up to find Roy, all she wanted to do was crawl under the desk. Why was he so predictable? He did something he regretted, and here he was, on cue to come beg for forgiveness. It might’ve worked for him in the past, but she wasn’t going to be so weak. She had made a resolve. She got her stoic face ready as he got closer to her desk... but no... he kept walking past her desk? Kept walking, walking... straight up to Jim.

Without a thought, Pam stumbled to stand up out of her chair in sudden panic, her heart racing to the beat of a snare. Fear incapacitated her ability to think, and left her only standing at her desk, petrified with terror.

"Halpert!" Roy called. Jim turned towards him, looking more confused than anything else.

"Roy?" he said, befuddled.

"How’s it going?" he asked, punching Jim lightly in the arm.

"Uhh.. okay, I guess," Jim said.

"Yeah? Do you watch basketball? I mean, I know you’re really good at playing. I still can"t live down that game where you kicked my ass. But do you watch the games?"

"Mhm, definitely do."

"Must be getting pretty excited for March Madness then, huh?"

"Yeah, yeah sure. Place a few bets, the usual."

"It used to Pam's least favorite time of year. All I’d do is sit on the couch all day with my buddies and drink beer. Drove her up the wall! So... uhh, Michael asked to know when the new shipment came in, so could you tell him it got in this morning?" Roy asked. This was so strange. He was acting... amiable?

"Alright, man. Will do," Jim said, nodding his head in an attempt to bring an abrupt end to the conversation.

"Okay, thanks," Roy said. He began making his way back to the door, pausing for a moment in front of reception. "You okay, Pammy? You look a little scared," he said. He flashed her a sardonic smile, and left. Pam followed his movement with her eyes until he was gone, the fear in her gaze devolving into distasteful confusion. Once the door shut behind him, her eyes met Jim’s for a moment. She dropped her chin, and sat back down, turning back to her game.

"Well... that was strange," Jim said just loud enough for Pam to hear. She looked back up. Was he talking to her? Yes, he was. Caught off-guard, she laughed nervously.

"Yeah, totally. I uhh... I don’t think I’ve ever seen Roy be so friendly with you."

Jim bit his lip, and quickly looked back at the bathrooms. Karen was still gone. He stood up, and walked over to Pam, folding his elbows over her desk.

"Hey, listen... do you think I could get a chance to talk to you later?" he whispered. Pam tried to hide the smile threatening to reveal itself, the corners of her lips curling slightly.

"Yeah, sure. Do you want to talk at lunch?"

"No, no. Karen can’t be around. Would you mind staying after work, and I’ll pretend to leave until she’s gone? Then I’ll come back, and we can talk." Pam nodded her head, and Jim sat back down at his desk just before Karen reemerged from the ladies’ room.

♥

Roy ate his pizza with the other warehouse guys, throwing a comment into the conversation every once in a while just to give the appearance that he was okay. As much as they were his buddies, he didn’t need them to butt into this business because if he didn’t pull if off right, he could lose his job– although, that was a risk he was easily willing to take for the chance of massacring that little weasel. Darryl heartily slapped him on the back.

"So our man got dumped again, huh?" Darryl said.

"Yeah, yeah. But you know what? I’m actually doing okay," Roy said. He took a sip from his Coke, and nodded his head at his comment to create the illusion of sincerity.

"What happened? Did she give you an actual reason this time?" one of the other guys asked.

"Uhh, well... My brother and I got a little too drunk on Friday, and she didn’t like the way I was behaving. I snapped at her, told her to stop trying to control me. Apparently, she didn’t appreciate my temper."

"Man, that’s a weak ass reason to dump someone you been with for so long," Darryl said. Roy shrugged his shoulders, and the conversation progressed onto another topic. He wanted to tell them how much he hated that deceitful asshole, how much he anticipated the moment when he’d finally be able to knock him to the ground, how much he wanted to but couldn’t avoid the thought of Jim locking lips with his fiancé, and how much he had to refrain himself from just fucking killing him when he had seen him earlier in the day. But he had to wait. He had to be patient. He had to wait for the perfect moment to just fucking kill him. It was a rare day when Roy Anderson was willing to not act on instinct in order to plan things out, but this was one of those days. Because it had to be the perfect moment.

♥

"Alright, I’m going to head out," Jim said to Karen as he stood over her desk, and put his coat on.

"Okay. I’m going to leave in like two minutes," she said with a smile. "I’ll see you... tomorrow?"

"Yeah, tomorrow," Jim said as he left. Walking past Pam’s desk, he threw her the slightest glance, and she knew exactly what question he was asking her. She nodded her head almost unnoticeably. Yes, she would wait for him to come back. She would be here.

Jim got into his car, and drove to Starbucks. He got a coffee, and drove back to Dunder Mifflin. It was almost 5:20, so Karen would’ve surely left already. As he parked again, he sat in his car for just a moment. He rubbed his eyes with the heels of his palms. How could he talk to her without making his feelings totally obvious? And on a more unavoidable matter, how could he talk to her without reliving all of those memories with her that had made him fall in love with her in the first place?

The elevator doors creaked as they slid open, and Jim walked back into the office. There was Pam, as promised. And everyone else had already left. He suddenly got butterflies in his stomach. Oh, God... what am I doing? he thought to himself. Pam looked up at him, and smiled.

"So... what could possibly motivate you to come back to work on a Monday?" she asked. Jim laughed for a moment, and leaned over her desk.

"Kevin told me what happened at Poor Richard’s," he said. Pam’s smile faded, and she brushed a loose strand of her hair behind her ear. "I was just... I mean, I was wondering if you were okay, if you wanted to talk about it at all." Jim swallowed his indecision, his Adam’s apple pointing out sharply for a moment.

"I think I’m okay. Or at least, I’ve been trying to be. Roy’s just... h-he’s always had a temper, but I’ve never seen him act like that, you know?"

"Yeah, I know what you mean..."

"I can’t even explain what happened. It was all so sudden. I was just talking to him, and I told him something I thought he’d be upset about. But I couldn’t believe his reaction. He smashed a mirror, and I just... I was so scared that I told him it was over right then, and went home. And then when he came in today and was acting so nice to you, I wasn’t sure if he was trying to tease me or something? Like he’s trying to imply that it was immature and rash of me to break up with him when he’s capable of being so nice..."

"Have you talked to your mom about it?"

"No, you’re actually the first person I’m talking to about what happened," Pam said, smiling up at him in an embarrassed sort of way. Jim smiled back.

"Well, you know what? It’s all going to be okay," he said as he straightened up. "You’re independent now. This whole thing has made you stronger. You broke up with him, and you haven’t gone back on your decision. You made a choice in front of everyone, and you were firm. It takes a lot of guts to do what you did, and I’m proud of you, Beesly." She laughed as her eyes began to turn red, and her face flushed. Her eyelids flickered shut as she tried so hard to restrain the tears– tears of relief, of fear– that threatened to spill in front of Jim. She couldn’t help it. Two fat drops of water squirted out of her tear ducts, and ran down her cheeks as she began to sniffle.

His smile broke, and sadness overwhelmed him as he watched her begin to cry. Without a thought about Karen, about his wounds from last May, he went around the desk, and pulled Pam out of her chair into an embrace. She clutched his lapels by her fists, and cried into his shoulder, letting every bad moment she had ever had with Roy escape her mind. It wasn’t even a cry of true grief, but rather a cry of the last remnants of an enduring burden finally sifting away.

Pam stopped crying, but kept hold of his lapels, not wanting to let go. And Jim held her back, his grip gentle but secure. It was the perfect moment. She released his coat after a few moments, and rubbed her eyes dry with her fingers. Jim’s hands lingered on her hips for just a moment, but he retracted them to his pockets as he noticed himself.

"I’ve missed talking to you," she said, smiling again at last. Jim loved that smile, and couldn’t help returning it.

"I’ve missed talking to you too. It’s just that Karen is so paranoid..." Pam nodded at the comment. Paranoid. Like... it was inconceivable that he could have feelings for her.

"How is everything going with Karen?" Pam wanted to smack herself for asking that.

"Okay," he said as he nodded and put on a smile.

As they stood in silence, Jim wanted to ask her what they had been talking about that made Roy suddenly explode, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. Was it nervousness? No, it was that he was afraid of the answer. Either way, if Pam had wanted to tell him all the details and what caused Roy to trash a bar, she would’ve told him just now. It was obviously something private, and when it came to a private topic between Roy and Pam, he was sure that he didn’t want to know.

"I’m sorry if I got snot on your coat," she interrupted his thoughts. Jim looked down at his lapels.

"Nah, don’t be sorry. If you did, I shall treasure that snot forever." Pam laughed. "C’mon, I’ll walk you out."

♥

He watched Jim open the car door for her, smile as she got inside, and shut it. Jim stood aside. She started the ignition, waved one last time to him, pulled out of her parking space, and left. He watched as Jim stood there, his hands in his pockets. His head was bowed, he rocked on his heels, and breathed silently. All he did was stand there, not even turning to get into his own car, and there was an unmistakable smile on his face. He watched as Jim absorbed the moment he had just had. With Pam.

Patience, Roy reminded himself, sitting in his truck, as he gripped the steering wheel tighter until the skin on his hands burned. Patience.