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

♥

He pushed back the sleeve of his suit jacket to reveal his watch. Friday, May 18, 2007. 4:42 PM. Michael Gary Scott only had eighteen minutes left at Dunder Mifflin. He smoothed the folds of his jacket, and hung his thumbs on his belt loops, looking out at the parking lot from his window. To the far right was his car, the top down because it was a beautiful day out, in its usual spot. On Monday, someone else would be parked in that spot. In his spot. Well, a parking spot hardly mattered compared to everything else he would be losing by the end of the day.

Michael folded his arms over his chest. He turned around, and looked at his desk. It seemed so bare with all of his little toys and personal items packed away in boxes that sagged sadly by the door. He walked over to the boxes, and pulled out his "World’s Best Boss" mug, running his thumb over the cool, smooth ceramic. He put it down on the empty desk, leaving it for his faceless replacement. After all, the title wouldn’t be appropriate for Michael Scott anymore, would it?

Now was the time to say his final goodbye. Michael walked out into the office, smiling at all of his diligent employees. Phyllis, Stanley, Kelly, Karen, Andy, Pam, Creed, Meredith, Angela, Oscar, Kevin, Jim, Toby (well, maybe not Toby), Ryan, Dwight. This might be his last time seeing them, ever.

"Everyone!" he said, clearing his throat. All of them lifted their heads from their scribbling and their computer screens, turning to face their boss, a man who wouldn’t be their boss anymore in a matter of minutes. "This is my last chance to address all of you as my boss, and I just wanted to say ... I’m... I’m going to miss all of you!" he sputtered as he began to blubber wildly. Dwight had tears of admiration in his eyes.

"Michael, we actually have a surprise for you," Pam interrupted. She smiled over at Angela who was standing next to reception. Michael wiped away his tears in a flash to save his dignity.

"The Party Planning Committee has orchestrated a final celebration in your honor!" Angela announced, throwing her arms out in surprise, actually smiling. The others applauded and cheered at Michael.

"We’ve been working in junction with the warehouse all day to get this surprise party ready for you," Pam said, leading him and everyone else out of the office. "It’s going to go late into the night." As they all made their way down the steps into the warehouse, Michael was overwhelmed with happiness. While once gray and bleak, it was now filled with balloons, tables covered with blue metallic cloths, a mini-stage set up with a microphone.

"We even hired a caterer," Phyllis said to him. "Everyone pitched in for this." Dwight made his way over to the sound system, and immediately began picking out tunes. Darryl gave Michael a hearty slap on the back. It was his final party at Dunder Mifflin.

People took turns at the microphone, each delivering a final farewell toast to Michael. As Oscar retold the story of the time Michael kissed him, a moment that everyone laughed at now with happy nostalgia, Angela stood next to Pam, admiring the speech next to a large set of shelves.

"I have to admit, Pam, this was a pretty good idea," she said.

"Thanks, Angela." Pam smiled, and took a sip of her champagne. "There’s just one thing missing in order for it to be perfect though."

"What’s that?"

"I invited Jan earlier in the day."

♥

"I first met Michael Scott in my job interview," Dwight said into the microphone. "And I knew immediately that this was the man I wanted to work beneath. He told me a joke about a red head, a brunette, and a blonde, and although blondes can be smart and wonderful and intimidating, it was a very funny joke. I’m never going to forget this man: our boss, our friend, our entertainer. That is why I plan on proposing to corporate that from now on, we make March 15, your birthday, a Dunder Mifflin holiday!" Dwight paused for an applause that never came. "We will miss you forever Michael." Michael rose from his seat at a table in the front row, and hugged Dwight.

"Thank you, Dwight," he said. Dwight sat down, and Michael paced around the perimeter of the room slowly, taking it all in. He stopped in the very back of the warehouse, and he beamed as he took another look around at the transformation. This room alone held so many memories: the basketball game, Men in the Workplace Day (although it was really Women in the Workplace), the luau they had when he came back from Jamaica, Casino Night. He was going to miss Dunder Mifflin.

Jim walked up, and stood next to him.

"Hey, Michael," he said.

"Jimbo," Michael acknowledged, nodding his head at him.

"It’s going to be really different without you here. A lot emptier."

"There were so many jokes I had left to tell," Michael said. "When I was promoted to Regional Manager, all I could think about was all the opportunities waiting for me as a boss. I imagined so many scenarios, how much my employees would admire me, and even what my retirement party would be like. But now that I actually have to leave? It’s harder than I thought."

"That’s what she said," Jim quipped. The two of them laughed.

"I have so many memories of this place, and I think that’s what makes being fired so difficult. If I could just forget everything, not remember that I ever had all the great times I had here, leaving would be easier."

"Memories make everything harder, don’t they?" Jim mumbled. He looked down at his feet, and slid his hands into his pockets. "It makes you wish, you didn’t have the memories at all, right? So at least... you’d have the chance to move on."

"Move on?" Michael asked, turning towards him slightly.

"I mean, you know, move on from Dunder Mifflin onto new things," Jim corrected. Michael was silent for a moment.

"No, no matter how hard it is to leave, I’d never wish to not have the memories. I’d never wish I could forget," he answered. "At least I had all the great times that I did, and to forget all those times would leave me with nothing. Without the memories, I couldn’t even be happy knowing what I once had. Kind of like that saying... better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all."

Jim looked up at his boss. For all of his goofiness and eccentricities, in that moment, Michael had more wisdom than Jim did.

"Michael?" a female voice called. Jan was hurrying across the warehouse straight towards them.

"Jan!" Michael uttered in surprise. "What are you doing here?" As soon as she reached him, she jumped into his arm, a giant smile on her face. Michael was taken aback at her publicity, and despite the hard feelings that still lingered from their fight, he hugged her back.

"I did it!" she laughed brightly. Jim watched in shock, never having seen the uptight Manhattan woman so ... happy. "I did it, Michael!"

"What? What’d you do?" he asked. They pulled apart for a moment as she smiled at him.

"I got your job back!" Jim’s jaw nearly hit the floor, and Michael couldn’t believe it. "I’ve been talking to the CFO all week, and he wouldn’t budge on it. But then Pam called me, and said they were throwing a final farewell party for you. That’s when it all became too real. So I called up Wallace, and told him I quit! And it worked! He gave you your job back so that I wouldn’t quit," Jan explained breathlessly. Michael chocked on happiness, and without a word, pulled her to him in an embrace.

"Jan! You... you did it!" he clambered. Jim smiled in relief, and walked away, completely forgotten by the two of them as they made up, apologizing endlessly to each other about how stupid they had been.

Sitting back down at his table, Jim drank his beer in silence. He mused to himself how happy everyone would be once Jan surely announced over the microphone that Michael wasn’t being fired after all. But his heart was elsewhere...

"Kind of like that saying... better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all."

Over the stereo system, Dwight put on a softer song. throughout the warehouse, the sound of a clean piano blanketed the party. The lights were dimmed, and a few couples rushed out onto the small dance floor. If Karen hadn’t left a half-hour earlier, Jim knew that he would be dragged out their too as the sound of Elton John filled the room. It was "Tiny Dancer."

Hold me closer, tiny dancer. Jim remembered a fresh night in September spent at a Chili’s. Michael had been singing his own version of the lyrics, and most of the office wasn’t listening, just enjoying their drinks with friends and loved ones. Pam was drunk. Count the headlights on the highway. She had kissed him in intoxication that night, and he thought about how hard his heart had beat in that moment, her arms tossed around his neck as he held her. Lay me down in sheets of linen. Later on in the night, Pam said she had to ask him something, and they had stared at each other, both in fear of the unspoken words between them. He had felt in those few seconds that she really did love him, but they were both too afraid to face it. After Angela had driven off, Jim watched after the car with a small smile on his face because he was in love with her. And he would never be able to forget that. You had a busy day today.

Jim jumped up, and surveyed the room. Without any sight of her, he rushed up to Angela.

"Hey, do you know where Pam is?" he asked.

"She went home about ten minutes ago," Angela said. Jim cursed under his breath, and didn’t take notice of the dirty look she was giving him. He ran a hand through his unkempt hair, and made his way up the steps of the warehouse, back to the dark and empty office.

♥

Jim sat down at his desk– no, not the desk that made him keep his back to reception. His real desk. His pre-Stamford desk. He leaned back in the all-too-familiar chair, and rested his hands on his thighs. So many memories here. He looked over at reception where Pam would be seated if it wasn’t almost nine PM. How many times had he looked over in that direction from this spot? How many times did the cameras catch him looking? He thought about all those better times when he was free to look at her, and they were free to smile at each other. It brought a smile to his face before his eyes reminded him that the office was dark and empty, and Pam wasn’t sitting there. Pam had already left. Jim realized in that moment that he was sadder Pam had left than he was that Karen had left.

Picking up the phone on the desk, he dialed a number. It was the same number he called a month or two ago after Kevin had told him that Roy and Pam broke up. And again, he got the answering machine.

"Hi, Pam. It’s Jim..." The receiver didn’t pick up a sound other than his heavy breaths as he tried to decide upon the words. "I’m sitting at my old desk, the one from before I transferred. And..." Silence again. "I’m remembering a lot of things from this angle as I look over at reception, a lot of things that I’ve tried to forget more than you could know." Silence. He listened to his own pauses as if he expected to hear Pam on the other end of the line. "About a year ago, I told you something, and I said that I just needed you to know it once. I guess I was wrong because once wasn’t enough. Because I’m still in love with you, Pam. Every time I tried to move on, a memory popped into my head to remind me why I feel like this about you. And why I would always feel this way. I guess that’s the consequence of memories. If I didn’t have the memories, I could’ve moved on, but they’re never going to let me forget how much I love you."

And with that, Jim hung up. He leaned his elbows on his knees, and rubbed his forehead with his hands. Every scar from last May tore open, and the blood was suddenly fresh again. There wasn’t anything to do now. On Monday, he’d have to face a horrified Pam who’d feel too awkward and shocked to even look at him. All he could do was get closer to Karen. Even if he couldn’t forget about Pam, at least he had a chance for some kind of happiness.

Waiting at the open doorway of the office, Roy had listened from the disguise of shadows to Jim’s message for Pam’s answering machine. The fists at his sides were tight, his nails leaving deep scars in his palms. His teeth clenched and the rage boiling again, Roy knew that this was the perfect moment. He felt it just as he knew he would. It was Michael’s last day, so maybe he could even keep his job, assuming the new boss never found out.

Yes, this is the perfect moment, Roy thought to himself as he stepped forward.

♥

It was funny how much she could’ve teasingly fantasized about something like Michael losing his job and how much it could upset her now. But as Pam drove home on the parkway, she tried not to think about it because she felt the sinking sensation of guilt in her stomach when she did.

The ringing of her cellphone from her purse jolted Pam out of her thoughts, and she panicked between the decision of picking it up while driving or letting the answering machine get it. She got off at the next exit, but the phone stopped ringing before she had a chance to pull over. On an empty residential street, she parked her car on the right side of the road, and dug through her purse. Whoever it was, they had left a message. She called her voice mail, and listened to the message.

Pam couldn’t breathe as she listened to Jim pour his feelings out to her. Again. And while a year ago, she might’ve been terrified, the New Pam got back on the parkway, and headed back to Dunder Mifflin.