There were days when Ryan Bailey Howard wished he'd never taken Jan's job. These times were in addition to all the other days when he wished he'd never even heard of Dunder Mifflin. It haunted him sometimes, that one morning nearly three years ago now. If he'd just ignored that ringing telephone that woke him from a pleasant sleep, things could have been so different. But no, a guy in need of an income needed to answer every morning call, in the hopes that a new temporary job would be waiting that could lead to something else. And so that one simple act - getting out of bed and answering the phone - was the proverbial flap of the butterfly's wings that had him on his way to Michael Scott's office that morning, for a meeting he never in a million years imagined he'd be a part of.

Pam knew the day was off to a strange start when she and Jim arrived to find Michael already in his office. Michael was never that early.

“Do you think he and Jan had another fight?” Pam whispered to Jim as they stood together in the kitchen.

“That or she wanted sex before work,” Jim quipped, sipping his coffee.

“Please,” Pam wrinkled her nose. “Don't put that image in my head before I've had some caffeine.”

“Sorry,” he grinned, clearly unapologetic. “Would you feel better if you focused on remembering our morning instead?”

She returned his teasing smile, and nudged against him as they walked back towards their desks. “Who said I'm not already doing that?”

Ryan arrived by nine o'clock, and shortly afterwards was joined by Dan Beals, the executive producer of the documentary they'd been a part of for several years. The number of times Dan had been to the Scranton office since the filming had started could be counted on one hand, so clearly something was up. At nine-thirty an attractive, well-dressed woman in approximately her mid-thirties arrived, and she was quickly escorted into Michael's office.

Jim raised his eyebrows at Pam and nodded his head back towards Michael's closed door. Pam rolled her eyes and shrugged back, revealing nothing. So Jim sent her a message:

jhalpert: who was that?

pbeesly: how should I know?

jhalpert: You're sleuthing skills are falling, Beesly - there was a time I wouldn't even have to prompt you for information. It's your job to know!

pbeesly: Yeah, right. I'm sorry, but you'll have to find a way to ask her out without my help. :-P

jhalpert: Some friend you are.

pbeesly: Thank you. :-)

jhalpert: You didn't even get a name?

pbeesly: I'm pretty sure I heard her say her name was Samantha something.

jhalpert: Samantha Something? I like that.

pbeesly: dork.

While they bantered, Toby joined the meeting that was going on in Michael's office. From that point on, the door remained closed for well over an hour, though occasionally Michael's muffled voice could be heard. He did not sound particularly pleased.

“So, what do you think is going on?” Jim fished around the jelly bean container as he leaned against Pam's desk.

“If Michael is in the same room with Ryan and Toby, it can't be good.”

“I know,” Jim laughed. “But who's that woman?”

“You mean your new girlfriend Samantha Something?”

“Yep,” he grinned.

“My guess,” Pam said conspiratorially, “Given that Dan is here as well, is that she is from the FCC, and Michael's being brought up on obscenity charges.”

“Nice,” Jim nodded. “You might be on to something there.”

Michael's office door swung open just as Jim was returning to his desk. “Can I have your attention please?” Michael announced, with a look on his face that defied description. He looked afraid and excited at the same time, and he kept looking at the yet unidentified woman with something akin to awe. “I need to have all the women in the conference room right now.”

Pam looked over at Jim, who shot her a look that told her he was as puzzled as she was.

“Is this really necessary?” Angela asked. “I have payroll to finish before noon today.”

“Yes, it is absolutely so,” Michael insisted.

“You always say that,” Kevin replied.

“Well, this time I mean it,” he grumbled back. Ryan noticed Karen standing up and whispered something to Michael.

“Um, except you.” Michael pointed at Karen. “You aren't a woman.”

“Excuse me?” Karen looked annoyed.

“We don't need you. You're not a woman for, uh, the purposes of this meeting,” Michael said. “You can stay out here.”

“Fine,” Karen huffed, sitting back down. “Works for me.”

Jim raised his hand. “What exactly is the purpose of this meeting?”

“I can't tell you,” Michael said quickly. “You don't have the right parts.”

Ryan sighed. “Could we just talk to the women for a moment? This really isn't a big deal.”

“Of course you'd say that,” Michael sneered. “These aren't your women anymore.”

“You got that right,” Kelly said flippantly, walking past Ryan and into the conference room.

“Michael, I insist that I be allowed to attend this meeting,” Dwight said.

“No,” Ryan replied.

“Definitely not,” Michael said. “That's - that's just a disgusting idea.”

Phyllis and Meredith got up and joined Kelly in the conference room. Angela finally grudgingly stood up, and Pam shrugged at Jim as she passed. Michael, Ryan, Toby, Dan and the mystery woman followed, and the door closed behind them. Dwight walked over to the window to try and read their lips, only to be rebuffed when Ryan closed the blinds.

“Damn temp,” Dwight muttered as he walked back to his desk.

Jim glanced at the closed door, and for the first time he actually wished he'd been required to attend a meeting. It all seemed so weird. Michael was entirely too subdued for Michael. The appearance of Dan made it clear that it had to have something to do with the documentary, and Jim wondered if perhaps it was finally being canceled. He had to admit he kind of hoped that was the case.

Not that they'd become stars in any sense of the word, but ever since the show debuted on Bravo early last year it had developed a bit of a cult following. And to everyone's surprise that introduced the appearance of interested fans into their lives. Every featured employee ended up changing their phone numbers, dealt with bags of unsolicited fan mail, and on occasion were asked to make personal appearances. It was completely surreal as far as Jim was concerned.

The most annoying aspect of it all was the producer's requirement that they maintain the facade of the show. Because of the time lapse between the time it was filmed and the time it aired, the watching world believed Pam was still engaged to Roy, with Jim still playing the role of the pining best friend. That meant the reality of their lives - their new romantic relationship - had to be hidden away whenever they appeared in public or gave interviews. It irritated Jim because they'd waited so long to get to this point that he had no interest in hiding his feelings to anyone any longer. Jim thought it would be wonderful to fall back into anonymity, and just get back to being themselves. He'd almost forgotten what that was like.

By the time the women's meeting ended, the only people who still seemed curious about what was going on were Dwight and Jim. Jim swiveled around in his chair to see Pam's reaction to the events, but she uncharacteristically avoided meeting his gaze and headed straight back to her desk. Kelly was giggling, as was Phyllis, while Meredith had a smug look on her face. Angela looked more annoyed than usual, if that was even possible.

“So what's going on?” Dwight asked accusingly, standing up. Ryan glanced at Toby, who shrugged.

“Okay, we I guess we might as well explain what's happening here,” Ryan started.

Michael could keep quiet no longer. “They want our girls to get naked.”

“Michael,” Toby warned.

“Everyone, this is Samantha Weber,” Dan Beals said, stepping forward. “She's an associate editor from Playboy. Because the season finale of our little documentary is coming up soon, they would like to do a tie-in feature in their magazine called The Women of Dunder Mifflin.”