Ryan Howard finally had what he wanted. Business school was over and he finally got that big promotion that he’d always dreamed about. No more creepy stares from Michael. No more fetching Michael’s coffee. No more clingy girlfriend not allowing him to breathe. Sure it had been a little hectic and stressful over the past few weeks, but certainly that would go away once he got settled into the job. The attitude at corporate was refreshingly professional. There weren’t the same kind of immature pranks like Jim used to pull, or the dismissiveness that
Stanley always got away with. People seemed to respect one another, at least enough to let them do their jobs.

Ryan was a little anxious today because tomorrow would be his first visit to the Scranton Branch since his promotion. He wasn’t sure how some people would take it. The conversation on the phone with Michael was bad enough. Now he was worried that he might have to yell at Michael for something, and he really didn’t want to deal with Michael crying. Again. As Ryan packed up for the day, he heard a knock on the door and saw David Wallace walk in.

“You all set for the big visit tomorrow?” Wallace asked.

Ryan had gotten along with his boss very well and was grateful that David had visited his office. “Yeah, it should be interesting.”

“Good. I wanted to let you know we’ve been impressed with the job you’ve done so far.”

“Wow. Thanks!” Praise was so much better when it wasn’t attached to a creepy man-crush.

“Yeah, and good luck on your trip. Let me know if you need any help. You’ve got my cell phone number, right?”

“Uh, yeah, I’m pretty sure I got it.” Ryan was starting to get a little uncomfortable, but then decided that maybe he was overreacting. David was just being friendly and helpful, right?

“Also, make sure you check with Kendall so you can get a quick briefing of approved travel expenses. And don’t worry if he gives you a hard time. Nobody around here really likes him.” That certainly surprised Ryan, who thought Kendall was one of the nicest people he’s ever met. All of this was starting to sound a bit too familiar for Ryan, and he quickly excused himself before he had to think about it anymore.

Ryan had acquired a tiny New York apartment that cost him much more than his much larger Scranton residence. It could’ve been worse, but he didn’t want to bother with anything fancy so soon. With things so busy at work, he hadn’t had much time to furnish it. He wouldn’t admit it, but the emptiness started to get to him. Despite finally achieving almost everything he wanted, something was missing. Against every instinct he had, Ryan picked up the phone. Dialing. Hanging Up. Dialing. Hanging Up. Dialing. Hanging Up. He never made it past the fifth digit. Finally he just unhooked the phone and left for the nearest bar.



The next morning Dunder Mifflin Scranton was preparing for Ryan’s arrival. Kelly had called in sick to work which didn’t surprise anyone. Jim was in Michael’s office once again, but this time it wasn’t for another role play session. They were actually discussing business for a change.

“Are you sure this is going to work?” Michael asked.

“Absolutely,” Jim replied with conviction.

“I don’t understand. He didn’t like my meetings when he was here. Why will this be different?”

“Because it will be professional and we’ll actually get work done.”

“My meetings are professional! They build morale!” Michael protested.

Jim knew he wasn’t going to be able to reason with Michael, so he tried a different approach. “Yeah, but see that’s good for us in here, but in that cold corporate world that Ryan just moved to, they don’t care about morale. It’s all about getting the job done above everything else.” Sometimes Jim was surprised at how much he actually believed the stuff he was making up.

“That’s a good point, Jimbo. Those idiots really don’t care about people. You know what, it’s good that we didn’t get that job.”

“Actually, I…you’re right. We’re better off,” Jim agreed, once again remembering to deal with Michael on his own level.

“Are you sure I can’t just sic Stanley on him?” Michael asked.

“That’s definitely a good backup plan,” Jim replied, causing Michael to laugh. Confident that Michael was now in the right frame of mind for the meeting, Jim managed to escape from the office, convincing Michael there was some urgent business, but not telling him that the urgent business was going to the reception desk just to see Pam’s smile.

“How’s Jan?” Pam asked.

“No, we actually talked business this time.” Pam looked surprised. “Seriously, we did.”

“Wow, good work. I’m impressed.”

“Are you impressed enough to change your mind about tonight?”

“Jim, I told you I made plans with some friends from my art class. Are you telling me you can’t survive one night without me?”

“Well, I’ll survive, but I don’t think our health plan will cover the psychiatrist needed to help me recover from the trauma.”

“Yeah, but at least your spontaneous dental hydroplosion will be covered.”

“And who can complain about that?” he said jokingly, but Pam could tell something was eating at him.

“Are you gonna be okay?” she said, slightly concerned.

He looked disappointed, but regrouped with a joke. “Yeah, I’ve actually been waiting for a chance to go get high with Creed.”

Pam smiled. “Ha ha. Very funny. Just don‘t try the pea soup.”

When Ryan arrived, Michael announced his presence with a flourish and he was greeted with applause from most of the office. Jim got up to shake his hand and others followed suit, congratulating him on the promotion. Ryan really appreciated the kindness everyone displayed, but was a little distracted because he didn’t see Kelly. Michael was trying his best, but all the attention Ryan was getting made him uncomfortable so he abruptly, but not unkindly, halted the festivities to get the meeting started.

Michael and Jim cooked up the idea to have each department do a presentation during the meeting. Everything went fairly well. Toby talked about his plan to make HR more approachable. Creed had a bar graph showing improvement in paper quality and error rates, although Jim had a feeling he completely made up the statistics. Meredith talked about new suppliers and a reduction in total shipping costs. Kevin got up to give the accounting presentation, but was constantly interrupted by Angela so Oscar told them both to shut up and he finished the report. Dwight gave the sales presentation, highlighting an increased sales revenue of 20% over the last month.

The meeting was about to wrap up when Kelly made a surprise appearance. She had tried her best to conceal it, but it was clear she had been crying recently. “Hello Ryan,” she said flatly as she walked up to do her own presentation. Ryan tried to respond, but he didn’t know what to say. Kelly outlined the plan she implemented two weeks ago to improve customer service response with a new backup customer service chart, which more efficiently directed calls to other employees in the case that Kelly was already on a call, out sick, or on lunch. It was a great presentation that reminded Ryan (and everyone else) how good she actually was at her job.

When the meeting was over, Ryan congratulated everyone on a successful meeting, noting that he was very excited about the improvements and would certainly pass that information on to the CFO. Before he left he had to navigate an awkward hug from Michael and then look for Kelly, but she wasn’t to be found. Meredith was handling customer service for the moment. With nothing left to do, Ryan said goodbye to everyone and headed back to New York, a little less excited than when he had made the same trip two weeks ago.



Jim hadn’t told Pam, but he knew exactly what he had planned to do after work. That afternoon, he was at the Everhart Museum, looking at several of the interesting exhibitions they had to offer, being especially impressed by the Abby Warman exhibit. There was really only one exhibit that he was interested in seeing, though. It was a collection in a small corner of the museum that not many people were paying much attention. He finally made his way there and was not disappointed at the beautiful work this artist had done.

“How did you know?” he heard a familiar voice say from behind. Jim turned around and saw Pam standing there with a guilty and sad expression on her face.

“Hey,” he said with a grin. He was a little mad that she lied to him, but he could never stand to see her upset. “I just, well let’s say you sometimes leave stuff lying around. Flyers. Brochures.”

“I’m sorry, Jim. It was just hard,” Pam said as she tried to fight back the tears. “I don’t know if you understand how much it hurt that you weren’t there for my last show.“

“I do understand, Pam. I understand that I was a jackass. I was upset that you were with Roy, but that’s not an excuse. You were my friend and I wasn’t there to support you.” Tears started welling up in Pam’s eyes. He walked closer to her and began wiping them away. “I’m sorry.”

“I’m sorry, too. I should’ve told you. I should’ve trusted you.”

“Believe me I understand Pam,” he said sincerely. “Look, it’s been a great couple weeks, but there are some things that we’ve been ignoring. We‘ve been through so much together.“

“Yeah, we have a lot to talk about.”

“Yeah we do. Not right now, though. This is your art show and I’m here for you. So let’s see what the great Pamcasso has on display.” He wiped the remaining tears out of her eyes and kissed her.

Ryan was halfway through his trip home when something kept gnawing at him. He couldn’t believe it. He really was in love with Kelly. This realization made him so furious he hit the dashboard. Why did he love her? Why did it have to be this way? Everything was going so well. If he could just move on, he wouldn’t have to worry about this anymore. But as much as his head was telling him to move on, his heart told him something else. Ryan slammed his breaks in frustration. He then made a u-turn and headed back to Scranton.

Ryan walked up to Kelly’s apartment door. He almost knocked, but changed his mind. He kept repeating this over and over again, letting his nerves get the best of him. One time he almost made it all the way back to his car. Eventually, he decided to go through with it and knocked on the door. He was certainly shocked to see the man who opened it.

“Who is it?” he heard Kelly call from inside the apartment.

The man narrowed his eyes at Ryan and said, “It’s Big Turkey.”