But Pam, the cameramen, and the rest of the office, had noticed that Jim was touching her again. He would put his hand on her shoulder or lower back when he opened the door for her. He would occasionally tuck a stray lock of Pam's hair behind her ear when they were talking. The receptionist had to admit that since the first time he'd done that she had been a little less careful when putting up her hair each morning. On Thursday, while he was helping Pam schedule a meeting he stood behind her chair and looked at her computer monitor. While she used the mouse with her right hand, Jim softly held her left hand, safe from the prying eyes of his coworkers, but not from one very aware cameraman. When Jim saw that he had been caught, he glared at the man in an uncommon display of irritation.
Karen and Jim were pleasant, but they didn't really speak. Karen had gone out to lunch with Toby a couple of times, and she was still pretty annoyed at Kelly. Strangely, things seemed to have improved between Karen and Pam. At least everything was out in the open at last.
They were just settling in to a Friday morning when Michael Scott literally jumped out of his office. No matter how familiar the staff was to the Office Manager's antics, he was still able to startle them. It was his gift.
"Attention People," he said in his "far too loud for inside" voice. "I have an announcement!"
Many thoughts flittered through the minds of the assembled employees. Angela was worried about more downsizing; Kevin hoped they were having cake this afternoon; Stanley wondered if it would be possible to work from home; Jim and Pam pondered what it would be like to have a mute button that worked in real life situations; and Dwight hoped Michael was giving him a present.
The camera zoomed in to Michael, "We have the final first quarter sales figures! The Scranton Orifice, my little corner of the world, was number one in sales for the quarter!"
The staff gave a collective "Yea!"
Except Kevin, who said "Nice."
Michael, basking in the moment, continued, "And here are the sales figures: Number one in sales for Dunder Mifflin is our own, Jim Halpert!"
Some good natured applause filled the air. Pam was clapping as she looked at her best friend, but she noticed that after the initial smile and "Queen Elizabeth wave," his face had fallen.
The camera shifted to Dwight. His eyes had gone red with the announcement. If Michael hadn't briefly fired him, that applause would have been for him.
The camera returned to Michael, who added, "Number three in sales, Manly Stanley!" More applause. Stanley almost looked embarrassed. "And number five in sales was Dwight!" He stood up and the applause stopped.
"Wow, so Jim must be like five times the salesman you are," Kevin said.
"Shut up Kevin," Angela snapped.
Michael, irritated by the interruptions, continued. "And the person with the greatest increase in sales from the last quarter is our own Karen, who increased her sales by twenty-nine percent!" The applause began again and Toby whistled. Michael said, "Wow, that hot and she can move product, too." The applause stopped and the camera focused on Karen's shocked face.
Michael, knowing he'd gone too far, stepped back and cleared his throat. "Anyway, as some of you may know, Jan Levinson in Corporate has decided to take a brief sabbatical..."
"That's what they call rehab now?" Kevin snickered.
"Shut it, Kevin!" Michael shouted.
Michael interviewed. "Jan didn't take our breakup very well." Camera cuts to an image of Jan being taken by Sheriff's deputies out of the Scranton Chili's, raging drunk. "Now our entire office has been banned from Chili's. Camera cuts to the Chili's manager who had spoken the night of the Dundies taking pictures of each member of the Scranton office. Angela was clearly mortified, Andy turned the situation into a photo shoot.
Back to Michael. "I regret what happened. I should have known that once a woman became involved with me, that it would hurt if I denied myself to her." He looked at once wistful and proud. "As Gandhi said, (Michael assuming a bad Indian accent), ‘with great power comes great responsibility.' Or was that Bob Hope?"
The camera cut back to Friday morning at the office. "With Jan on SABBATICAL," Michael said, cutting a warning glance towards the accountants, "they need an experienced, successful manager to keep an eye on things. Since I am, as today's numbers clearly show, the most successful manager at Dunder Mifflin, I fully expect to be transferred to the corporate office. However, as a formality, there will be an interview in New York on Monday."
The camera cut to Pam, who was shocked. Michael, of all people, was getting credit for being a great manager? Jim's face was blank. Dwight still hadn't recovered from the earlier news.
"Now, once I have the position, Jim will be, temporarily in charge of the Stanford Branch. I will, of course, supervise everything from New York. I'll be like Austin Powers and Jim will be Mini Me."
"Mini Me was a clone of Dr. Evil," Ryan corrected.
"And Jim is much taller than you," Phyllis noted.
"Whatever, Phyllis," Michael hissed. "Jim will be my protégé. As will Ryan. We'll have to see what I can do to get you to New York."
Ryan looked uncomfortable.
"In the meantime," Michael concluded, "Party this afternoon. Party Planning Committee, this is your highest priority for the day. Mint chocolate chip ice cream cake for everyone!"
"Sweet!" Kevin said.
Kevin interviewed. "I knew we would get cake today. I really wish I could have bet on that."
Meredith interviewed. "I really wish just once we could have a regular cake. I'm lactose intolerant."
-----------
Karen dropped by Toby's cubicle after the announcement. "So, are we still on for dinner and kid videos tonight?"
Karen interviewed. "Toby's pretty cool. And Sasha is such a sweetheart. It's been really nice to have something to do over the last week other than staying home and feeling sorry for myself. Although sometimes I think I'm babysitting both of them." She smiles at an unspoken memory.
Toby looked down, blushing. "Sasha's mom called. She got sent home from preschool today with a fever, so she's staying there this weekend. I thought maybe we could grab dinner, maybe do something..."
Karen looked surprised. "Like a date?"
"Well, yeah. I mean, maybe if..."
"Sure," Karen said, nodding. "You know what I'd really like to do?"
Toby shook his head.
"I'd like to see the scary parts of ‘Finding Nemo' that you always fast forward through when Sasha's watching."
Toby's face was a study in bewilderment.
"Kidding," Karen laughed. "Maybe we could do a little dinner and dancing?" She carefully observed his face. Dancing was very important for Karen.
"I'd like that," Toby said with a smile.
"Great," Karen said, spinning around and leaving.
Toby interviewed. "Yeah that was...." He smiles, totally unable to find a proper adjective.
-----------
Dwight met Angela in the break room. "You should be acting manager," Angela sniped.
"If I hadn't been forced to quit," Dwight shot back, "I would have been high salesman. And we both know why that happened."
Angela was shocked. Dwight had never blamed her for the incident before.
Seeing the look on her face, Dwight shook his head and stomped out of the room.
-----------
At 10 o'clock, the Party Planning Committee met. Pam said that she would get the ice cream cake. Karen had a suggestion. "Since we're celebrating our sales, we should make money the theme. You know, we could have green streamers and play money. It'll be fun."
Pam waited for Angela to say, "Green is whorish," like she had several times before.
Instead, the tightly wound blonde only sighed, "Whatever, that's fine. I'll get some chips at lunch."
"Are you feeling okay?" Phyllis asked.
"Not really," Angela admitted.
Angela wasn't the only one. Jim told Michael at noon that he was going home.
"But there's the party," Michael said, stunned that anyone would intentionally miss ice cream cake.
"I have to make sure I'm ready to take over for you on Monday," Jim said patiently, his speech obviously rehearsed. "If I get sick, I'd be letting you down."
"Wow," Michael said, genuinely touched. "Sure. I'll see you Tuesday...Unless they want me to take over at Corporate immediately." Michael's imagination took a huge leap to a place where he had a huge office of gleaming steel and chrome. And a disco ball.
-----------
When Pam returned from getting the ice cream cake, Jim had already left. The staff assembled in the conference room and Michael decided to give a speech. "I'm only sorry that Jim had to go home. I really want you guys to know how proud I am of the work you've done. To have three of the top five salesmen is just incredible. And I know that you'll continue to do well, for me, even when Jim is in charge." His cell phone went off. "This is corporate. I'll be right back." He went to his office.
Kevin raised a cup of punch and said, "Here's to Jim as our new leader." Most of the staff raised their glasses to the absent salesman.
Dwight couldn't take it any longer. "Jim is a slacker and an idiot. He does nothing but joke around, and if I would have been here for the entire quarter I would be the one in charge, not him!"
"Jim is a good salesman," Pam snapped.
"Oh yeah, you would say that," Dwight said, walking up to Pam. "We all know how you feel about him. What you did to get between Jim and Karen. It's pathetic."
"I think you've said enough," Stanley said, cutting in front of Pam. Karen stared at the crowd, unable to say anything. Phyllis gathered Pam into a hug.
Dwight knew he'd gone too far, but he was too upset to stop. "You are all a bunch of clowns. You don't know the first thing about how to be a professional. You're all too busy doing crossword puzzles, playing pranks, or dressing your cats in little costumes."
The camera zoomed to Angela, who was stunned. Oscar put his hand on his fellow accountant's shoulder and Angela buried her head against his shoulder and started crying.
Stanley had listened to this far longer than he thought was necessary. "Let me tell you one thing, you strange little man. I sell more than you, I have a wife who loves me and a daughter who I WILL see get her PhD. There is not one single thing that you can tell me about any aspect of my life, professional or otherwise. As far as I'm concerned, you're the clown."
Dwight stormed out of the office and went home.
A minute later, Michael walked back into the conference room to see a stunned Pam, a very angry Stanley, and a weeping Angela. "What happened?"
