Jim sat in his car, munching on the leftover sandwich from his lunchtime sales call and checking his calendar for the week. He just met with the office manager of the Scranton Orthopedic Center and got a verbal agreement they would come to Dunder Mifflin next quarter. After jotting down a reminder to make a followup call by Friday, his eyes fell on Saturday, where it said "NYC" in big letters. The smile wouldn't leave his face as he polished off his tuna melt.

After throwing the sandwich wrapper away in the dumpster behind the office building, Jim glanced over to the usual smoker's spot and saw Danny, a nylon bag that Jim presumed held his camera at his feet. Jim walked over, keeping some distance as he knew Danny could get in trouble with the documentary producers for chatting with 'subjects' too much. "Hey, haven't kicked it yet?" Jim said, motioning to the cigarette.

Danny scoffed and flicked some ash to the ground, "Nah, it might be worse now."

"The hazards of Dunder Mifflin, I'm shocked I haven't taken up smoking or developed a drinking problem," Jim said.

"Not a serious one at least," Danny retorted. "So, how was your date last Wednesday?" he asked with a smirk.

Jim shook his head, "Not much of a date, we just talked." He rocked on his heels, and looked around to double check they were alone. "But, um, can you maybe not tell the crew this?"

"You're off the record," Danny replied, lightly kicked his bag.

"I'm going back to Manhattan this weekend," Jim said, corners of his lips curling.

Danny nodded and took a long drag, "How do you feel?"

"I'm freaking out, actually," Jim said with a nervous laugh. "Like, it's going to be our first real date, but it feels like a lot more than that."

"Well it kinda is," Danny said. Jim felt his eyebrows raise in worry. "I mean, first dates are two relative strangers deciding if they like each other. You and Pam are a bit past that, don't you think?"

"No pressure there," Jim said, putting on an uneasy smile.

"Nah, it's good. You two are beyond that first date bullshit, you know her, she knows you, you can just be yourselves," Danny flicked away his cigarette butt and reached for the strap of the camera bag.

Jim supposed it was good, skipping the 'first date bullshit' as Danny called it. However, Jim felt like they were also going to be skipping the 'just dating' part. He had always taken it pretty slow with women, tried to keep things casual as long as he could. It was weeks, maybe even months, before he ever called Lisa his 'girlfriend', and was only at her insistence. He knew it was going to be different with Pam; there was not going to be any period of dating casually. After Saturday they were either gonna be together or they weren't. Jim was pretty sure it would be the former option, and he was also sure he wasn't going to be hesitate like he had been in the past. No, everything was going to be different with Pam, in a good way.

"Hey, can I ask one more off-the-record thing?" Jim said. Danny stood up straight, camera still on the ground, and gave him a nod. "You guys have been filming us for a year, could you tell, like, did I act like I liked her? Before Casino Night?"

Danny smirked, "Do you remember, shortly after we started filming, the day you lost that big client to Dwight?"

"Only every time I get my paycheck," Jim said with a strained laugh.

"You walked into the conference room all slouched over and sat in the back like you wanted to just disappear. For some reason I panned to you and was lucky enough to catch the second Pam dozed off on your shoulder. And your reaction?" Danny chuckled and slung the camera bag strap onto his shoulder, starting for the warehouse entrance. "Yeah, we all knew something was up. Why do you think we filmed you two so much?"

Jim remained by the dumpster, pondering Danny's last comment, until his watch beeped at the top of the hour and he headed upstairs, walking in right as Michael was calling everyone to the conference room for an "end of month" meeting.

Unsurprisingly, the meeting consisted of information that could have just as easily been distributed via memo or email, then it dissolved into Michael heckling Toby about who knew what. Jim glanced to the empty chair beside him; he had almost forgotten about that day until Danny mentioned it, when Michael's stupid diversity training prevented him from renewing the Deckerd account. He remembered walking into the conference room, thinking about how many new clients he'd have to wrangle to make up the commission, about the unpleasant conversation he was going to have with Lisa when he told her about it, if he told her about it, when he felt a weight on his shoulder. Every worry faded to the back of his mind and all he could think was how he needed to stay perfectly still so as not to wake Pam. And then he thought that she wouldn't do this with just anyone; she wouldn't doze off on Kevin's shoulder, or Stanley's or Oscar's. Definitely not Michael or Dwight. No, she'd only do this with him, and that made him smile. The room emptied except for the camera crew and Jim glanced at the lens before waking her, unsure why he was so reluctant.

When they took the elevator down together, Jim sensed Pam's embarrassment and tried to lighten the mood with some lame comment about literally sleeping in the job. She laughed and as they walked through the parking lot, they debated who in the office had the best case for a discrimination lawsuit against Michael. After wishing each other a good night and parting ways to their cars, Jim thought about how this should have been his worst day ever at Dunder Mifflin, but somehow it turned out to be not that bad. Not a bad day at all.

Someone brushed by Jim's knee, making him lift his head and realize the meeting was over, or at least everyone other than Michael had decided it was over. Jim found himself looking at reception as he returned to his desk, wishing Pam was here to exchange sarcastic remarks with him about the meeting. He opened up Outlook and just finished typing in her email address when a buzz came from his pocket. He flipped his phone open to find he had two new texts from Pam. He tried not to smile too widely as he hit "Open".

From: Beesly
Wallace might hate the corporate HR guy more than Michael hates Toby
*Next Message*
Also Stamford Andy has a music page on MySpace under 'Nard Dog'

Jim glanced over to Dwight's desk to find it empty, and scanned the room until he spotted Dwight at accounting. Jim hit "reply" and started to type.

- I wanna hear all about it this weekend

Jim pressed 'send' and lifted his head again to see if Dwight was on his way back, but he was still at accounting, watching Angela as she pulled files from the cabinet. She dropped a folder, Jim was almost positive on purpose, and leaned over slowly to pick them up, jutting her rear end out. Jim grimaced at the sight, and pressed "new message"

- BTW something's up with Dwight and Angela, they're acting too weird

A moment later his phone buzzed and he flipped it open.

From: Beesly
Yeah I know all about Dwangela ;-) I'll fill you in on the details on Sat

Jim let out a laugh, and Dwight's head spun around, shooting Jim a glare. Jim tried to pass it off as a cough, slipping his phone back into his pocket and returning his attention to his computer. The front desk phone rang and Jim couldn't help but turn to the reception desk when he heard, "Dunder Mifflin, this is Mary." He closed his eyes briefly, imagining Pam's curly hair and green eyes, hearing that soft giggly laugh that always made him smile. Five days, he told himself, just gotta get through five days.