The tall figure in front of Pam tugged at the front of his shirt which was soaked with hot coffee. When he looked at her, Pam didn't recognize him for the briefest of moments; his hair was a little shorter, his face a little thinner. She opened her mouth but nothing would come out.

"Pam," Jim said, a smile passing over his lips before he looked to the crumpled coffee cup on the floor, "that is really hot!"

Pam let out a nervous laugh, but her brain and her mouth still refused to work together to form any words. He looked at her, seemingly having the same problem, then Karen appeared in Pam's peripheral vision.

"Nice work," Karen said, a roll of paper towels in her hand. Pam reluctantly pulled her attention away from Jim and she looked down to the coffee stain forming on her shirt. Karen's eyes darted between Jim and Pam, "You two should probably go run your shirts under some cold water, I'll clean this up."

Pam gave Karen a small smile, silently thanking her, and Karen nodded back knowingly. Pam then motioned down the hall, "Bathroom are this way," she said, walking ahead of Jim. With a couple long strides, Jim was next to her, and Pam occasionally looked up at him, only to look away shyly each time their eyes met.

"Too bad Dwight isn't here with his washboard," Jim joked.

Pam turn her head to him and laughed, the tension finally broken, at least a little bit. "You think he has a travel sized one?" she retorted.

Jim chuckled softly, and when they reached the restrooms, he shot her one of his trademarked goofy looks before disappearing into the men's room.

Tinted water circled the drain as Pam scrunched the fabric of her blouse between her fingers. She heard a knock on what must have been the men's room door. "Hey Scranton, here's a tee-shirt," Pam heard Karen say through the wall. The door squeaked slightly as if being barely opened, then latched again. "How's it going in there?"

"Uh, ask me again in five minutes," Jim replied. Pam smiled to herself, then turned to the opening women's room door.

"So Dwight's kind of a klutz, huh?" Karen said.

Pam cheeks burned, "Actually that's Jim."

"Ah, okay, that's a more fitting name," Karen leaned against the counter and crossed her arms. "And what's the story with you and Jim?"

Pam looked up to Karen, brows knitted, "Why do you think there's a story?"

"Please, both of you had that classic, 'Oh shit, I've just run into my ex' look on your face." Karen grinned, "Literally."

After years of doing her best to make sure her co-workers never caught on to even the smallest hint of her feelings for Jim, Pam was now in unfamiliar territory in that she didn't really have a reason to deny it anymore. "I suppose I had a crush on him back in Scranton." It was an understatement, but it was nice to admit it out loud. "But he was with someone else, so..."

"Ah," Karen shook her head, "there's always 'someone else', isn't there?"

Pam tilted her head and wrung out her shirt, "Well, actually..." she immediately regretted the words, as Karen was now staring at her with an arched eyebrow. "I did hear a rumor they broke up a couple months ago."

"Okay," Karen said skeptically. "So... what, you think it's too soon to ask him out?"

Pam felt herself blush, "Maybe, and I don't even know if he'd want to, and now we live a different cities..."

"You're both here in the same city today, though," Karen said with a shrug.

"We'll see," Pam said with an anxious smile, now desperate to drop the subject. She shook out her blouse and held it up by the shoulder seams. "What do you think?"

Karen studied the plum colored fabric, "I think you're in the clear. We can lay it out to dry on my desk. And I should have a sweater or something you can borrow in the mean time." Pam fortunately wore a dark gray tank under her blouse today, but sleeveless attire was frowned upon here at corporate so Pam was hoping they could get to Karen's office before Jan or someone spotted her.

"We should probably check on..." Pam said, motioning to the wall the men's and women's restroom shared.

Karen nodded, unable to resist smirking, and turned to the door with Pam behind her. Jim walked out of the men's room right then, and Pam stifled a laugh when she caught a glimpse of the tee-shirt Karen found, a bright purple number with Dunder Mifflin printed in turquoise cursive on the front.

"Where did you find that?" Pam said, covered her mouth.

"Supply closet," Karen answered.

"1986," Jim said at the same moment. He held up a small roll of fabric, "I think the tie will survive." After stuffing the tie in his pocket, he started to hold up his dress shirt, "And I don't know, maybe if I keep my jacket buttoned?" Pam's eyes traveled to the white shirt with a faint but large orange-brown stain on the front.

"Pam!" Heels clicked behind Pam, and when she spun around she was face to face with a somewhat frazzled-looking Jan. "What happened?" Jan said, immediately eyeing the blouse on Pam's arm and Jim's purple tee-shirt.

Pam started talking in a rather quiet tone, "Um I spilled your coffee-"

"Totally my fault, Jan, I wasn't looking where I was going and ran square into Pam," Jim interrupted. Pam felt herself blush and turned to look at Jim. His eyes snapped to hers and he smiled ever so slightly.

Jan noticed Jim's stained dress shirt and shook her head, "Okay, well, you can't wear that in front of the CFO. Meeting's in an hour, find a new shirt."

"Where?" Pam and Jim said at the same time, but Jan was already several paces away.

After a moment of Pam and Jim shyly looking at each other, Karen tugged on Pam's arm, "Both of you, follow me." As they walked down the hall, Karen looked to Jim, "I'm Karen Filippelli by the way, divisional sales manager."

"Jim Halpert," he nodded towards Pam, "I worked with Pam in Scranton."

"I heard," Karen said. Pam kept her gaze straight ahead. "Pam says you were nothing but trouble there too."

Pam's jaw fell and she looked to Karen, who was enjoying Pam's reaction far too much.

Jim laughed nervously, "Yeah, well..." He looked to Pam, and she returned her attention to the hallway in front of her.

The three of them entered Karen's office, not quite as spacious as Jan's but still sizable and with a decent view of midtown. "Put your shirts wherever," Karen said, opening a cabinet.

Jim draped his stained shirt over the back of a chair along the wall while Pam laid her blouse out flat on Karen's desk. Pam looked up to see Karen in front of her with a flannel shirt in one hand and a gold-colored card in the other.

"Take a cab to Bloomingdale's and buy the first decent-fitting shirt you find," Karen said, placing her company credit card into Pam's hand after Pam slipped on the flannel shirt. "Keep it under two-hundred if you can." Pam's eyes widened and Karen started herding her and Jim to the door, "You're on a time-table, guys, go!"

Nervous glances and shy smiles were exchanged at the elevator before the doors opened. After getting on, Pam spotted the camera crew, loading up gear and walking towards them, and let out a light gasp when Jim deliberately hit the "close door" button.

"Did I hear Kara say keep it under 200 dollars?" Jim asked after the elevator began to descend.

Pam smiled, "Karen, and I believe you did."

Jim whistled, "I need to get into more coffee accidents at corporate. Maybe next time you can try to aim for my shoes?"

"Don't make me part of your grift, Halpert," Pam said in a play-serious voice.

Jim chuckled, and kept his eyes on Pam, smile on his face. She tried to hold his gaze and return the smile, wondering if her cheeks were as red as they felt. The moment was interrupted by the ding of the elevator, the doors opening to a cameraman that somehow got to the lobby before they did.

After hailing a taxi, and waiting for Danny to bribe the driver with twenty bucks to let him sit in the front and film, Jim and Pam climbed into the back seat. It wasn't suppose to be like this, Jim thought to himself. He had been envisioning seeing Pam again for weeks now, but none of the many scenarios he ran through his head included coffee spills, bright purple company teeshirts or a camera two feet from their faces.

He glanced at Danny, who widened his eyes and looked to Pam then back to Jim, as if silently telling Jim to do or say something interesting for the camera. Jim then looked to Pam, "How's life at corporate?"

Pam nodded, "It's okay, pretty fast paced."

Jim tapped the armrest of the cab door for a moment, thinking of other ways to get a conversation going. "So who do you prefer working for, Jan or Mi-"

"Michael," Pam answered. Jim gave her a surprised look and she laughed, "I know, I never thought I'd say that, and he drives me crazy but he's definitely much easier to please . . . and to distract." Pam started talking about Jan's extremely specific coffee order and how she seems to expect Pam to read her mind and play counselor in matters related to Michael.

"Yeah, Michael's been so weird about Jan, too," Jim said. "He's been freaking out about this meeting all week, I keep trying to tell him it's not big deal." Jim noticed Pam's smile fade. "Or, is it a big deal?"

Pam chewed her lip, looking to Jim then to the camera then down to her hands. She starting tugging at the cuffs of the flannel shirt she was wearing. "Um, maybe." Jim shifted in his seat and turned towards her. "You're probably not suppose to know this, but the word is they're going to close down either Stamford or Scranton by the end of the year. And I guess this meeting is to help Wallace decide."

"Huh," was all Jim could utter. He stared at the empty seat between him and Pam, processing the news. "So, what would happen if-"

Pam gaze out the window, "Oh, he just passed it - excuse me!" She sat forward in her seat behind the driver, "Please drop us off here."

As Jim climbed out of the taxi, he noticed a camera crew getting out of another taxi just down the block, and he sighed. "Hey," Jim turned to find Danny right behind him, camcorder on his shoulder but no red light on. "We'll never get permission to film in there, so..." Danny said with a shrug and a smile on his face. Jim mouthed "thanks" to Danny, and turned to help Pam out of the cab.

The pair entered the swanky department store and make a beeline for the Men's department, and when a woman working near the business-wear section asked if they needed assistance, Pam pulled Jim to her side, "He needs a white or light blue shirt, regular fit, no patterns, less than $200, and he needs to be wearing it to a meeting that starts in 45 minutes."

After the woman introduced herself as Sarah, measured Jim's neck and arms and set off to find some shirts, Jim couldn't help but grin at Pam. "What," she asked shyly.

"I'm just observing Big City Beesly at work," he said, still grinning.

Pam tilted her head and smiled, "Well, it is true that you have to be more assertive here." They smiled at each other for a moment. He studied her hair, Big City Beesly apparently wore her hair down and in loose curls, a tendril came untucked from behind her ear and landed on her cheek. Jim's hand started to raise on it's own accord before he regained control and reached back to scratch his neck. Pam pushed the curl off her cheek and looked towards her shoes, "How are things in Scranton?"

Jim's put on a polite smile, "Um, it's good, quiet." He looked off at nothing in particular. "You make it up there anymore?"

Pam shook head slightly, "It's kind of hard since I'm at the office six days a week. And my parents are going out of town for Labor Day, so I don't know. Hopefully I'll get a chance before Thanksgiving."

"Yeah," Jim said, nodding. He took a breath, he mouth just starting to make the S-sound of a "so..." when Sarah returned with half-a-dozen dress shirts in her arms, asking them to follow her to the fitting rooms.

Sarah arranged the shirts in a fan pattern in the small room and said she'd check on them in few minutes. Once Sarah was out of sight, Pam grabbed a couple shirt, folded up in stiff fabric rectangles. "I'll get these unbuttoned and hand them to you when you're ready." Jim's brows met. "We're on a time table, Halpert!" Pam teased, tapping an invisible watch on her wrist.

"Okay, Okay," Jim closed the door behind him and pulled off the purple tee. "You think corporate will let me keep this tee-shirt?" he called through the door. "You know, for 80's office parties."

"You might need parachute pants and high-tops to go with it," Pam called back. Jim laughed and put on the first dress shirt, taking it off when the collar was too tight. He opened the door slightly and Pam handed him another shirt. "You've never been much for dressing up for parties though," she added.

"For that tee-shirt, I'll make an exception," Jim said, closing the door. The next shirt's sleeves were too long, and Pam handed him another. He buttoned the third shirt up, "Okay, I think we can send the other contenders home."

When he stepped out of the fitting room, Pam looked him up and down and smiled, "Okay, great." As Jim finished buttoning up the sleeves, Pam called Sarah over, handed her Karen's card and said Jim would be wearing the shirt out.

Jim remembered the tie in his left pocket. "May as well put this on now," he said, unfurling the tie and threading it under the collar.

"Here," Pam stepped forward, "I'll tie it like Wallace does, he notices things like that."

"Now you know different tie knots?"

Pam smirked and started adjusting the tie length and making the first loop. Jim took a deep breath as he realized the last time they were this close to each other was that May night in the dimly lit Scranton office, the night everything he thought he knew got turned on its head.

"I'm sorry I didn't call you," Jim said in a low tone.

Pam glanced at his face briefly before returning her focus to the tie. "I can't imagine everything you've had to deal with, I'm sure talking to me was the last thing on your mind," she said as she folded and looped the narrow band of fabric.

"Pam, you know that's..." Jim started, his voice now a whisper.

Pam's eyes snapped to his, her breath growing unsteady. Her hands rested on his chest for a second, and he felt himself leaning forward slightly, his eyes firmly on her. Can't she tell, he wondered, that she has been the only thing on his mind?

"Okay, just need a signature and you can be on your way to that meeting." Jim blinked and Pam was already a step away from him, signing the receipt and thanking Sarah for her help. Jim cinched up the tie knot, grabbed the violet tee-shirt from the fitting room and kept behind Pam as they left the store.