Andy took one deep breath, and looked over at Jim innocently sitting at his desk.  He was getting stage fright.  This was one of the biggest acting jobs he had ever taken on.  But with Dwight staring at him with those laser beam eyes, Andy decided that now was not the time for nerves.

What he couldn’t wait for was this signal Dwight was supposed to perform that would indicate the beginning of Andy’s performance.  He was sick of waiting, so he took matters into his own hands.   

He stood up from his desk, and made his way towards Jim.

“Hey, Big Haircut,” he began, resting his elbows on an empty spot on Jim’s new desk.  Jim looked up at Andy with widened eyes.  “Whatcha doin’?”

“Work,” Jim admitted, returning to his computer.

“Man, it has been a long day! Wanna get a beer?”  He said, motioning for the door.  Dwight’s ears perked up like a dog.  This was not according to the plan, Dwight couldn’t help but think.  Keep Jim occupied at his desk.

“It’s four o’clock.”  Jim said suspiciously, looking down at his watch.  He knew that Andy was trying to distract him, but couldn’t resist messing around with him a little bit.  “Besides, we can’t leave until after five.”

“I know, it’s gotta be five somewhere though, right?”  Andy laughed heartily as his own attempt at a joke.  “Besides, I meant up on the roof.  I got a cooler with a six pack.”

Jim looked towards Pam, and both of them fought to contain their giggles.  “You keep a cooler of beer on the roof of the office?”  Andy nodded.  “Do you...” Jim almost broke, but enclosed himself just in time.  “...go up there often?”

Andy nodded again.  “Oh yeah.”  He was stammering—time to get in character.  “It’s nice and quiet, plus the acoustics are great.  Gives me a place to work on my... acapella.”

Jim bobbed his head along with every word.  “Well, that sounds great.”

“Amazing.  Awesome.  Wonderful.”  Andy ranted, taking a step back from Jim’s desk.  He was staring at Dwight, looking for approval.  But with Dwight’s straight face, he just went back to Jim.  “So, why don’t we go up to the roof, then?”

Jim looked down at his paperwork, and somehow he knew exactly what Andy had planned for him.  “You know what, I actually have a few things I need to finish up right here.  So why don’t you go on up, and I’ll meet you up there okay?”

 Reluctantly, Andy nodded and made his way up to the roof.  Things were going to plan.  No more “Andy’s a failure” coming from Dwight. 

“Maybe he’ll finally go halfsies with me.”  Andy muttered to himself, as he climbed the ladder.

----

Creed walked vigorously to the door, leading to the roof.  He couldn’t believe how someone could be so forgetful.  Whenever he made a trip on the roof, he always locked the door behind him.

Unless he had been working too hard up there, in which case forgetting to lock a door was the least of his worries.

Just as he got the door, he could’ve sworn that he heard noise on the other side of the door.  Part of him just wanted to make sure there wasn’t anybody on the other side.  But it was four o’clock, and he had a very important meeting at the high school, so he just locked the door and tucked the key in his pocket.

He rushed past a cameraman on his way back to his desk.

----

----

Michael came out of his office and briskly sauntered over to Jim's side. “Jim! Lots to do, lots to do!  What is all this stuff on your desk, is it plans for the blow out bash?” Michael questioned Jim as he rifled through his desk, while knocking over everything else in the process.  “Blah, don’t worry about it!  Its not important today, what’s important is the par-tay!”

 “But what about my work?  Isn’t that kind of important too, Michael?” he asked, bouncing a pencil lightly on his finger. 

“Oh, that has to get done?  Um, oh I got it, we’ll just give it to somebody less important, like Dwight.  Problem solved!" he exclaimed, looking to see Dwight scowl in his direction.  "What I need you to do is to go out and find the best decorations that $10 can get you.”

“Wow, that sounds great, but do you think I could, uh, take someone along to help… carry the decorations?  My wrists have been bothering me lately,” Jim said, rubbing his wrists in mock pain.

“Oh, yesh, absolutely," he agreed, looking around the room until his eyes stopped at Pam."Uh, Pam!  You will be accompanying Mr. Halpert here to help him with the decoration needs.”

Pam feigned interest as Michael’s eyes were on her, but turned away from the cameras and smiled briefly.  As soon as she composed herself, she looked back at Michael.  “But Michael it’s almost 5.  We don’t have time...”

“Well, just leave now and work a little bit later.  It’s not like either of you have families or girlfriends to go home to.”

Jim raised his eyebrows at the comment and let it slide.  “How about if we just go tomorrow morning instead?" 

"Okay, well whatever, just get it done Jimbo. I’m expecting greatness out of you!” he said, waving and hand behind him as he made his way back into his office.

Pam sauntered over to Jim.  “Yeah, Jim, greatness.  Make sure you get a lot of sleep and are fully prepared for a morning full of decoration shopping”

“Oh God, it will last a whole morning?”

“I’m sure it will take at least that long” Pam grinned. 

“Really? Well I guess – oh shoot” Jim remembered that he was supposed to meet Andy up on the roof hours ago.  He looked in the direction of Andy’s desk only to find an empty one. 

“Come with me,” he said as he grabbed her hand and dragged her downstairs.

----

Angela had been waiting for the perfect moment to lure Pam into the kitchen so Dwight could find the list.  She had the whole scenario planned out in her head.  She just couldn’t find the right time to catch her.  She noticed that Jim had distastefully pulled her by the hand out of the office and decided it was now or never for Dwight to carry out the mission. 

----

Finally with Jim and Pam out of the office, Dwight saw his opportunity arise.  Now or never.  Never leave a man behind.  He exhaled very loudly and began his quest. 

Dwight tried to casually walk over to reception and then dropped to his knees to protect his whereabouts.  He crawled along the floor dragging himself by his forearms until he was entirely hidden behind Pam’s desk.  He slowly worked his way around the large space.  He found various post-its, memos, office supplies, yogurt lids, photos, and other items around Pam’s area.  His finally found his Holy Grail. 

Dwight glanced over the list, reading off the items to himself to make sure he was carrying the right list. 7 Hippogriffs, No Muggles Allowed, 7 pounds of Bernie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans, a stripper in the likeness of Hermione. Yep, sounds like Michael alright.  He had completed his mission and only had to proceed back to his desk and he would be victorious.  He stood up slowly, trying not to raise suspicion.

He was almost home free, but then...

“Dwight, what are you doing?”

In a panic, Dwight looked up to see Michael watching his every move.  Oh God!  Breaking and entering is three to five.  He stammered, trying to come up with some excuse. 

“I’m, uh... getting some faxes.”  He stated, trying to hide his guilt.  Both Michael and Dwight stood in silence, staring and waiting for the other to react.

“Okay.”  Michael sighed, putting his hands in his pocket.  “Have a good night.”  He waved, and made his way towards the door.

Dwight wiped a bead of sweat away from his brow.  “Whew.  That was close.”  He shook off the alarm that his near capture brought, and continued his escape.  He waited until Michael was out the door and then he beamed with pride as he slipped the list in his back pocket.  He looked over at the accounting desk, and found his blond accomplice looking occupied.

----

---

Once he returned to his desk, Dwight slid the list in an empty manila folder.  The folder was placed in a locked desk drawer.  He grabbed the bobble-head version of himself and placed the key in the secret compartment on the base of the action figure.  While outward appearances made the bobble-head seem that it was just a collector’s item; it was in fact a gift from Angela that could be home to any secret items Dwight did not want Jim to discover.

Once the list was securely locked away, he walked briskly over to Angela, and ignored Oscar and Kevin’s usual squabbling over fantasy football.  “I’ve completed the... paperwork, for you.”  His glance shifted to Oscar and Kevin, who seemed none the wiser of their interchange.

“Thank you, Dwight.  Your commitment to your work is greatly appreciated.”  She said firmly, a small smile escaping her lips.

---

----

As Dwight stepped away, Kevin and Oscar exchanged looks. Oscar then turned to Angela and inquired about her and Dwight's exchange.

"What paperwork did Dwight have to turn in, Angela?" he asked, seeming a little too curious. Kevin looked through the glass partition to see Angela's reaction.

She shuffled some papers in her hands. "Um, just some expense reports."

Oscar acknowledged Kevin again with a smile. He questioned Angela again. "Dwight had expense reports? We aren't due for expense reports for another month and my books don't show any balances of that kind..." he said, slyly, catching Angela off guard just a little bit.

"Well, he is responsible and just wanted us...." she started, before Kevin's snickering stopped her.

To Kevin, Oscar asked, "Do you smell that?" Kevin, confused, sniffed the air and squinted slightly.

"I don't know. What does it smell like?" he asked, seriously.

Oscar replied with a grin and turned to face Angela again. "Lies..."

Kevin snickered and said, "Nice," apathetically before bumping fists with Oscar.

-----

Jim and Pam stood inches apart in the parking lot, their heads pointed upwards towards the roof.  Andy had been trying to get someone’s attention for an impressive half hour.  “Hello?”  Andy bellowed, waving his arms and jumping around frantically.  “My name is Andy, and I’m trapped up here on the roof.  Can somebody please let me down?”

Pam turned to Jim, trying to figure out what to do next.  “Should we do something?”

Jim smiled wide at her, and motioned for him to follow.  “Come on, I’ve got an idea.”

They practically ran into the building, and halted when they reached the maintenance worker.  “Hi.”  Jim said, waiting for the man’s attention.  “Listen, there’s a guy trapped up on the roof.  But we can’t find the key, but we’re still looking for it.  So if in a half hour he’s still up there, could you help us out and get him down?”

“Sure, man, no problem.” The maintenance worker looked slightly confused but obliged the duo. 

“Thanks, I appreciate it.”

“You’re terrible.”  Pam muttered as they reentered the building and pushed the up button on the elevator.

“What can I say, Pam, they just make it too easy on me, it’s like they’re just handing me opportunities.”

“Really?  Just throwing ‘em out there and you had no hand in this?" she teasingly asked.

“Yes, that’s exactly how it is.  Besides, my hands are clean” Jim said through a smile.  He threw his hands in the air and showed his palms and backsides of his hands to her to help provide proof. 

Pam leaned closer to his shoulder in the elevator and soaked in the few moments of contact they were stealing.  As soon as they exited, things changed back into the way they were.

Phyllis broke Pam away from her thoughts. “Hey, Pam?”

Pam walked over to Phyllis  “While you were...” she glanced over and realized who Pam had been with on her break “…out, Dwight was wrestling around at your desk. I think he stole something but I couldn’t quite see what it was.  I thought I’d let you know in case it was important.”

“Oh, thanks Phyllis, I’ll have to ask Dwight about it,” she said with a knowing smile on her lips.

“No problem, Pam.”  She began to walk back to reception but was stopped again by Phyllis.  Phyllis leaned closer to her and let Pam know she was in on her secret.  “It’s nice to see you having fun again.”

“Uh, yeah, I am.” 

Pam took in the full impact of Phyllis’ statement and returned to her desk.  She had been so caught off guard by Phyllis’ comment that she had forgotten to tell Jim their mission was successful.  She grabbed a piece of paper and scribbled down her message.

Jim felt something smack him in the back so he turned around only to see a smiling Pam talking on the phone.  He looked down and saw the tiny crumple of paper that was on the floor.  He smoothed out the wrinkles and looked at her curly handwriting

“The Bear has taken the Fish and Mother Goose sees all.”

He laughed silently at her attempt at code and slid it in his pants pocket.  This was definitely a day he was going to want to remember.  Jim looked around and saw everyone was packing up for the night and realized that it was time to leave.

---