It's a sunny spring morning, the kind that gives Pam hope and optimism for the coming season. That is, until she pulls into the parking lot of Dunder-Mifflin to find her boss's boss leaning against the front door, struggling with a lighter that is clearly empty from overuse. 

Pam briefly debates just restarting her car and driving around the block a few times until it's safe, but there's something so sad about Jan waiting there on her own with her cold cigarette. With a sigh, she collects her lunch bag and heads towards the entrance.

Jan glances up, as if noticing Pam's arrival for the first time and shoves the defunct lighter into her purse. "Hey, Pam."

"Morning, Jan. Everything okay?"

"Great. Absolutely wonderful. Do you have any matches?"

"No...I..."

"It's fine. I should probably cut back, you know?" Jan looks up at her suddenly, blue eyes piercing and concentrated. "Can I ask you a question?"

Pam glances back at her car and wonders if she can still call in sick. It's really too early in the morning for this sort of thing. She could just grab her stomach and make a run for it. "Uh, sure."

"Do you think..." Jan pauses to stare at her unlit cigarette, then tosses it to the ground. "Have you ever been totally amazed by how your life has turned out?"

With admirable self-restraint, Pam keeps her mouth from falling open. "Actually, yeah."

For once, Jan seems to be listening, genuinely curious.  "Really?"

"Sure, I mean, doesn't everyone turn out differently than they thought they would in high school?"

"Right. That's not exactly what I was getting at."

Pam pulls her coat tighter around her ribs and gazes towards the road. "Do you want to go inside?" Jan squints at her for a moment, then steps aside to give her access to the lock. Pam jiggles the key in that just-so way she's learned from years of experience, proud for a moment of how this is her home, for better or worse. She knows all the office's little tricks and the quirks of everyone who works there. It's a comfort, to be really good at something. "You know..." She turns back to face Jan, her fist closing around the sharp edges of the keys for her own car, her own apartment, the art studio at the community college. "Just because your life isn't what you pictured...you can still be happy. If it's what you want."

Jan freezes halfway through the door, a slow smile creeping across her lips. "A change of expectations." She says it like Pam has just confirmed some great secret that she has always suspected. "Maybe you're right."

*

Pam hangs up her coat on the rack next to her desk and heads into the break room to start the coffee pot, then returns to check her messages. Jan is sitting behind Michael's desk, idly trolling through his Rolodex.

"He won't be in for another twenty minutes." Pam hangs back in the doorway, wanting to help, but not sure how. There's something different about Michael's office when he's not in it, like a body without its soul.

"I know. I just left..." Jan catches herself. "Never mind. Do I smell coffee?"

*

"So, Michael tells me you've gone back to art school." Jan practically inhales the offered cup of steaming liquid.

Pam sits down across from her, pretending to sip her coffee, but she's really just there to keep Jan company. It seems like she needs it. "It's just a few part-time classes."

"He says you're really good." She says it so carelessly, as though Pam's talent is a given, which is thrilling and embarrassing at the same time.

"Yeah, well, Michael doesn't know anything about art. I've been getting better, though." She pauses, toying with the rim of her mug, likes the smoothness of the ceramic under her fingertips more than the taste of the coffee. "I still have a lot to learn."

"Good. That's good." Jan glances up from her baffled examination of the gold Funniest Boss Dundie that greets everyone entering Michael's realm. "You know, we have some programs in New York."

Pam squirms in her chair. "I know. I still have the information you gave me last year."

"You should think about it."

"I will." Uncomfortable talking about the things she hasn't quite worked up the courage for, Pam attempts to redirect the conversation. "So...you and Michael. Is that going...well?" It's guaranteed to take the heat off, although she feels kind of bad when Jan stiffens her spine and hides a grimace in her cup.

"It wasn't supposed to be like this. You know...Michael. He's..." Jan's hand imitates the swirling pattern of a tornado.

Pam nods and presses her lips together (because what do you really say to that?) and stands up. "I have something to show you." She goes to reception and pulls a spiral notebook from the very back of her bottom drawer, where she stores tampons and birth control pills to keep Michael from digging any deeper. Returning to Jan, she's unaccountably nervous, having never shown it to anyone, not even Jim.

Jan raises her eyebrows, waiting for an explanation.

"It's for whoever replaces me. When I discover some helpful hint for managing Michael, I write it down here, so the next girl won't have to learn everything the hard way. Like I did." Pam holds it out, wondering if she's about to get Michael fired for gross incompetence. Although she doubts Jan will be surprised to discover more ridiculous things about Michael.

Jan folds open the first page and reads it out loud, an amused smile cracking the severe line of her mouth. "Michael Scott: A User's Guide." Her head snaps up in surprise.

Pam answers her look with a sly grin. "You've probably already figured some of these out on your own, but..." She tugs at her necklace, warmed by Jan's obvious pleasure.

"Pam, this is amazing. I think you know him better than I do." Jan chuckles as she reads through the entries, quoting a few here and there as she goes. "‘If he's explaining something, do not ask questions. Maybe he will wear himself out.' Brilliant. ‘Do not mention Jeff. Ever. You will be sorry.' Boy, do I wish I had known that one sooner." Jan leafs through all twenty pages, alternately smiling and frowning as she goes. "‘His employees are his family. Treat them as such and he will respect you for it.'"

That one is Pam's favorite, because not everyone gets that about Michael. It's the key to dealing with him, really. The key to loving him. Which she does, in a weird, dysfunctional way.

Jan clears her throat. "Can I..." She clutches the notebook against her chest like it's the Holy Grail.

Pam smiles knowingly. "I'll FedEx you a copy." She clears away the coffee mugs, leaving Jan alone with her thoughts.

Michael arrives a few minutes later, his expression flickering between glee and an attempt at professionalism. "Pam and Eggs! You're looking...glorious. Any messages?"

"Hi, Michael. Did you have a good morning?" She collects a bundle of memo pages from the plastic organizer, even though he's closer. It's the way he likes it.

"I did, thank you for asking." He shuffles through the messages, clearly for show. He never reads them, always waits for her morning report.

"Jan is waiting in your office."

Michael makes that funny little choking sound that she has classified as ‘smug happiness' (there's a chart in the manual). "Great. Thank you. That'll be all." He waves his hand to make it an official decree. Pam flexes her eyebrow and returns to a half-finished Sudoku puzzle.

*

On her way out later that day, Jan produces the notebook from her briefcase, handing it over to be copied. "Thanks, Pam." When she's almost through the door, she pauses and turns back with a wide smile. "Call me about the internship. If it's what you want."

After she's gone, Pam slips the manual back into the drawer, next to the worn brochure, so she'll remember to slip her application in with the copy.