Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

“What…what is it?” 

Jim beamed.  “A slicer.”

“Oh,” Pam said quietly, eyeing the heavy piece of machinery taking up most of her counter space.  “This is…unexpected.”

“I knew you’d be surprised.  This thing is amazing, it has four optional blade settings.  I know how much you like bread, and now you can cut it as thick as you’d like!”

Pam waited for the punch line.  She knew Jim would never actually get her a bread slicer, especially not for an anniversary.  Though they’d been dating over a year now, Jim still insisted on counting months, and they were up to number fifteen.  But by the never-waning smile on his face and the eagerness in his eyes, Pam resigned to the fact that he did in all seriousness buy her this contraption that she never would have bought for herself and would most likely never use.

“Wow, that’s really…generous.  Thank you,” she said, forcing a smile that she hoped so badly looked genuine.

His smile grew bigger as he bent down to kiss her lightly on the cheek.  “You’re welcome.  And thanks again for the watch.  Seriously, it’s great.  I’m going to go get ready for dinner, you should do the same if we want to make our reservation on time.” 

Pam nodded weakly and followed after him, casting a menacing look back at her anniversary gift that looked so out of place next to the teapot beside it.

xxx

“My relationship is dead.”

Miranda Beesly shook her head.  “You’re overreacting.”

“ ‘I know how much you like bread’?  Who says that to their girlfriend of fifteen months?”

“Honey,” Pam’s mother patted her hand patiently, pushing the used sweetener packets on the restaurant table aside.  “This is what happens in relationships.  That initial spontaneous, romantic spark just dims a little bit; it’s normal.  You guys have been together for a while now, and known each other a lot longer.  Frankly, I’m surprised it lasted as long as it did.”

“But it’s Jim, you know?  Whatever happened to teapots and puppies and flowers for no reason?”

“Whatever happened to random yogurt lids?” her mother said knowingly.

“That was different,” Pam defended, though deep down she knew she was just as guilty for losing the unusual sentimentality that had defined them for so long.

“It doesn’t mean you’re in a rut, Pam.  It just means that your relationship with Jim is…evolving.”

Pam shuddered at the word and stirred her iced tea absentmindedly.  Their waitress strode up to the table.

“More bread for you ladies?”

“No,” Pam said a little too forcefully.  She caught her mother’s warning eye and corrected herself.  “No, thank you.”


xxx

Still troubled by the gift and its possible meaning, Pam even confided in Angela in the break room one day at work.

“Anglea.  I have this friend…let’s call him Daniel,” she said, using the mutual code they had developed.  “And he bought his girlfriend…Louise…kind of an unusual gift for their anniversary.”

“What kind of gift?”  Angela asked with curiosity.

“Umm…an appliance.  That slices bread.” 

Angela’s eyes widened a bit at Pam’s reply.  “Well that’s…very nice of your friend.  He appreciates a woman’s need to have handy tools in her sanctuary of domesticity. 

“But they’ve been together for a pretty long time and it just seems unlike him.”

Angela merely shrugged and got up from her seat.  “I wouldn’t think much of it.  It’s much like a Ginsu knife to help more efficiently cut certain types of vegetables.”  She threw one more knowing glance at Pam before briskly walking out the door. 

xxx

She awoke one Saturday morning to find both Jim and the culinary eyesore missing.  She found a note in its place that simply read:

Tried to use it earlier but it was broken.  Can you pick it up Joe’s Repair Shop at 11:00? I’ll be at my parents’ helping them install TiVo all day.  Don’t be jealous.

--Me

Pam laughed in spite of her annoyance of now having to spend a beautiful weekend afternoon retrieving the symbol of her relationship rut.

She made her way to Joe’s and found the owner behind the counter, whistling happily as he fiddled with some unidentifiable piece of machinery.

“Excuse me, my boyfriend brought in a bread slicer earlier for repair,” Pam said, embarrassed by the ridiculousness of her words.  “I’m here to pick it up.”

“Oh, right.  He actually came by earlier to get it.  But he said you’d be stopping by and asked me to give you this.”  He handed her a note with Jim’s familiar scrawl on it.

Was in the area and decided to pick it up.  Got a call from Angela and there was an “incident” with Dwight at dojo.  Went to go help.  Meet me there after you get this.

--Me

“Are you kidding me?”  Pam said out loud in frustration, pinching her fingers to her nose as she felt a headache start to edge its way in.

“Everything alright, ma’am?”  The owner asked in concern.

“Oh yeah, just great.  My boyfriend just has no romantic interest in me anymore and apparently he’s never heard of a cell phone to relay messages,” she grumbled, grabbing the note and marching out of the store.

She arrived at the dojo, only to find Angela waiting outside wearing her usual scowl accompanied with a very visible impatience.

“What happened? Is Dwight okay? Where’s Jim?” Pam asked breathlessly.

“Dwight sustained a minor sprain in a very uncomfortable region, but he should be fine.  He’s at home getting rest and Michael called Jim into work.”

“What?”  Pam nearly shouted, not even trying to contain her frustration.  “It’s Saturday!”

“Don’t take that tone with me, it’s not my fault Michael decided to do inventory early,” Angela said defensively.

“I know, I know, I’m sorry.  But what are you even still doing here?”

“Jim told me to wait around for you and to give you this,” she said, shoving a piece of paper into Pam’s hands.  “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some ice packs to pick up.”
As Angela drove away, Pam read with growing irritation the latest in Jim’s messages to her.

Michael apparently equates male bonding with warehouse inventory.  Come save me.
--Me

Pam was torn between her mounting aggravation and her slight worry over why Jim wouldn’t just contact her directly.  Though she was growing tired of the chase he was sending her on, she made her way to Dunder-Mifflin, noticing only Jim’s car in the parking lot.  It was growing dark now, the street lamps casting large shadows over the pavement as she let herself into the building.  She found the office empty and void of light except for the single lamp shining from Jim’s desk.  She was hardly surprised to find a single piece of paper placed on his keyboard.  It was the shortest one so far, yet it sent a rush of excitement through her body as she read:

The roof.

Her breathing quickened as she climbed the narrow fire escape to the roof, the cold wind whipping her hair back from her face as she peeked her head out.  She saw him sitting in a lawn chair, his back towards her as bright white fireworks shot into the sky just over the building.  Pam moved slowly towards him, all exasperation vanishing and replaced with awe and wonderment bubbling inside her.  He kept his focus forward on the field in front of him, only turning to look at her when she finally sat down next to him.

“Hey,” he said with a smile.

“Hi,” she laughed.  “Interesting day, huh?”

“Not as interesting as yours, I bet.”

“What’s going on?”

Jim shrugged and leaned over to pick up two paper plates, covered with two thin napkins. 

“I thought we’d have dinner.”

“Dinner,” Pam repeated.  “And you couldn’t call to tell me this because…”

“Because this way was more fun,” he said, taking the napkins to reveal two identical sandwiches, both cut into diagonal pieces.

“No, seriously, what’s going on.  You’re acting weird.  Dwight-weird, actually, and it’s kind of freaking me out.  So if you don’t mind, I’d really like to be in the loop on --”

“Funny you should mention a loop,” Jim said, resting the plates on the ground and pulling from his pocket a small velvet box that rested in a noticeably shaky hand. 

“It just so happens that I have one right here.  Not sure you can be in it, per se, it’s kind of too small for that…”

“Oh my God,” Pam murmured, her heart leaping into her throat at the sight of the Jim getting down on one knee.  His eyes glistened as he took a deep breath and carefully opened the box to reveal a brilliant ring, catching the white light bursting from the sky in its smooth edges.

“I’m not going to pretend that we have a perfect relationship,” Jim began.  “I think it’s about as close as it can get, but we still have our moments.  But I know that we can always fix it, no matter what the problem,” he said, taking the ring out of the box and holding it carefully with his fingers.  “And I also know that we can help each other through anything. Work, family, getting Dwight to believe there’s a beating heart underneath the carpet in the conference room…which we are so doing on Monday, by the way,” he added with a wink.

Pam laughed through the tears that were now free-falling from her eyes.

“And I know, more than anything, that from the moment you walked through that front door on your first day, you saved me.  And I want to spend the rest of my life repaying you for that.”  Pam grinned, her entire body trembling with happiness.

“Will you marry me?” he finally asked.

And as if she’d been waiting for those words, she let out a loud “yes!” and pulled him up into a huge embrace.  The minutes passed by as they held onto each other before Jim finally pulled back long enough to slip the ring onto her finger.

“Did you honestly think that my only gift to you would be a bread slicer?”  he asked with a laugh.

“You are such a jerk,” Pam teased, hitting playfully on the arm.  “So this is what you were doing all day.  Planning all of this,” she said, gesturing to the scene around her.

“Well, I really did help my parents install TiVo.  It wasn’t a total lie.”

“And I’m guessing my Mom and Angela were in on this plan of yours.”

“And Joe,” Jim added.  “For a repairman, he really is quite the romantic.”  He smiled and rubbed the ring with his thumb.  “You like it?”

“I think it’s the best thing since sliced bread,” Pam giggled.

“Wow.  That’s the cheesiest thing I’ve ever heard in my life.”

“Be nice.”

“What’s the fun in that?”

“If you’re nice to me, I’ll still marry you.”

“Deal.”