Chapter Six
The Final Straw
After escaping Andy, Jim hurried through the rest of the mall. He quickly ran down the list of the other Dunder Mifflin employees in his head, trying to figure out if he should be on the lookout for anyone else. He knew for sure that Dwight wouldn’t be at the mall on Black Friday, or on any other day for that matter. There’s no way Angela would partake in any of this. He doubted that Stanley or Meredith would be awake...he was probably safe now.
When he finally reached FYE, he was relieved to see that it wasn’t quite as crowded as some of the other stores. Apparently they had no big sale going on just for that morning like other stores did. He walked in and went up to a shelf adorned with holiday decorations which had been dedicated to various holiday films.
“Now let’s see...what was I supposed to get...” Jim asked himself as he pulled out his list. He scanned the shelf looking for “Christmas Classics Collection”. His eye was quickly drawn to a red and silver box bearing those words. This had to be it, right? Then, his eye caught another box. This one was blue, and had the words “Christmas Television Classics” on it. He then noticed a third box with the title “Christmas Television Favorites”.
“Of course...” Jim said. “This can’t be easy, can it?” He held the red box in one hand and the blue box in another. Both had pictures of Rudolph on the front, but the blue box also had a picture of the Grinch.
“Why release two DVD sets of the exact same thing?” he wondered aloud as he tried to decide which one Pam really had wanted. The list had said specifically “Christmas classics collection”, but Jim wasn’t sure if Pam had specifically meant the one in the red and silver box with that exact title, or a general collection of Christmas classics, which there seemed to be an unlimited number of.
Jim looked at his watch. It was now 7 in the morning. He had spent half of his alloted time and had only obtained two of the items on the list. In a move that even he would come to regret, he started grabbing every DVD collection off the shelf with any variation on the phrase Christmas Classics in the title. He ended up with six different sets.
As he handed them to the bleary-eyed cashier, she said “Wow, you sure must love Christmas!”
Jim smiled as politely as he could, repressing his desire to explain to this young lady that not only did he not love Christmas right now, he was beginning to hate it. As he walked out of the store, he began to pull his list out of his pocket. Before he could read the next item, however, he heard yet another familiar voice.
“Hey, Jimbo! What’s going on?”
“Oh, for the love of God...” Jim whispered to himself. He took a deep breath and turned around, and sure enough Michael Gary Scott was standing right next to him.
“What are you doing here? Never took you for an early bird.” Michael asked, his hands full of various shopping bags.
“Oh, I’m not. I’m actually here with Pam...”
“No kidding, Pam’s here too? I just bumped into Andy a little while ago...it’s like everyone from the office is here. Too bad we can’t get paid for today, huh?” Michael said.
“Yeah, um, actually, I should be going, I have to go meet Pam at the food court...” Jim knew that saying he had more shopping to do would most likely be taken as an invitation for Michael to come along.
“Oh, good. I’ve got to head that way to meet Jan.”
Of course, Jim thought. Jan was here too. Although he wouldn’t quite put it past his boss to get up at the crack of dawn to come shopping on his own accord. He took a deep breath, realizing there was no way he could talk his way out of this one. At least he would have the time spent walking through the mall to come up with a reason why Pam wouldn’t be at the food court, since he wasn’t actually supposed to meet her for another 45 minutes.
As they were walking towards the escalators, Michael suddenly grabbed Jim’s arm. Jim turned his head to the left, and noticed they were right in front of Victoria’s Secret.
“Hey, you might want to go in there and get something for Pam...”
“Oh, I’m not really doing that today.” Jim said quickly, trying to avoid the conversation that was rapidly coming up.
“All I’m saying is that when I took all the girls there that day Phyllis got flashed, all she got was this robe. I felt kind of bad for her.” Michael didn’t notice Jim’s discomfort with the topic at all, although that was to be expected.
Jim took a moment to absorb the fact that Michael had taken all the women of the office into Victoria’s Secret. He had always meant to ask how that trip to the mall went, but when Michael’s relationship with Jan blew up minutes after the returned the subject had left his mind.
Suddenly, Michael let out a yawn. “Man, it feels like I’ve been up forever. I don’t know how Jan talked me into this.”
Ahh, so Michael was in the same boat as Jim. “Maybe she asked you right after Thanksgiving dinner. That’s what Pam did.”
“No kidding...you two spent Thanksgiving together?” Michael asked.
Uh-oh. That statement was a bit more loaded than Jim had intended it to be. “Um...yeah. We went to her parent’s house.”
“Wow. You guys are like...a real couple.” Michael said.
“Yeah.” Jim replied, pausing for a moment. “Yeah, we are.”
When the two men reached the food court, neither Pam or Jan was anywhere in sight. They waited for about twenty minutes, with Jim constantly hoping Jan would appear around the corner and take Michael away so he could try to get some more items off his list. Although, running into Michael was a pretty good excuse for not completing his mission.
“So, when exactly were you supposed to meet Jan?” Jim asked.
“At 7:15. I have to carry the bags out to the car so she doesn’t have to carry them around all day.” Michael said.
“Well...shouldn’t you be meeting her by the front doors then?”
A look of realization came across Michael’s face. “You’re right. Come on, let’s go.”
Jim didn’t bother to ask why he was being dragged along. At this point, he was too tired to fight anything anymore. He followed Michael down the escalator and to the front entrance where he had left Pam an hour and a half ago and took a seat next to Michael on the nearest bench.
Michael let out a yawn. “It’s been a long day” he said, leaning against the pillar next to the bench.
The act of sitting down had caused Jim to lose whatever motivation he had to keep himself awake. He managed to nod in response to Michael’s statement, before dozing off himself.
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One Hour Later
Pam checked her cell phone as she hurried to the food court. She had gotten held up while waiting in a long line and was now 15 minutes late to meet Jim. As she scoured the food court looking for him, she suddenly heard another voice call out her name.
“Pam!”
She turned around quickly, and was surprised to see Jan sitting at a table behind her. Checking her cell phone again, she made her way through the maze of tables, all the while keeping an eye out for Jim.
“What are you doing here?” Pam asked. She never pictured Jan as being the type to get up before sunrise to go shopping.
“Michael and I are doing some holiday shopping. Have you seen him, by the way? He was supposed to meet me here almost an hour ago.”
Pam had to hold back a shudder at the fact that her boss was in the same mall as her, and had been all morning. “No, I haven’t seen him.” she said, relieved to be able to say so honestly.
Jan let out a heavy sigh. “I told him to meet me here at 7:30. Honestly, sometimes I don’t know what’s wrong with him. So, are you here by yourself?”
“Um...no. Actually I’m here with Jim-I’m supposed to be meeting him here.” Pam said, her eyes darting around the crowded food court.
“Really? Your first Thanksgiving together and you convinced him to do this? Nice work.” Jan said, looking at her cell phone again.
“You haven’t seen Jim anywhere, have you?” Pam asked. She was sure that Jim wouldn’t have let anything prevent him from getting to their meeting place, and thus getting home, as soon as possible.
Jan shook her head. “Nope.” She then turned her attention to Pam’s various shopping bags. “Get anything good?”
“Oh, um...nothing special. Just some gifts for people.” Pam said. “What about you?”
“Same here. Did you guys go anywhere else today?”
Deciding that Jim would still be able to find her if she sat down, Pam took a seat at the table and told Jan about the trip to Target earlier that morning.
“Wow, I’m impressed.” Jan said after hearing that Jim got up at 4:30 to go to Target with her. “I had a hard time getting Michael here at 6 today.”
The two women compared stories of their mornings, and compared what sales at the mall they had taken advantage of. After they had sat there for about 20 minutes, Jan once again glanced at her cell phone.
“God! Where is he?” she exclaimed.
Pam took out her own phone and dialed Jim’s number. After listening to it ring and eventually go to voice mail, she said “I’m getting kind of worried about Jim too. Do you think we should go look for them?”
Jan sighed again. “I guess so. I don’t think sitting here is going to do anything.”
So the two women gathered up their bags and set out on a rescue mission. As they scoured the mall shouting out their boyfriends’ names, a security guard came up to them.
“Can I help you ladies? Did you lose your children?” she asked.
Jan opened her mouth to speak, but paused for a moment. “Well...not exactly.”
“We’re looking for our boyfriends, actually.” Pam said. “They were supposed to meet us at the food court, and we’re not sure where they are.”
The security guard laughed. “Come on, we’ll go to the front desk and page them.”
The guard led them to the front of the mall. As Jan was giving the security guard the information to page Michael and Jim, Pam noticed a house-shaped box sitting by a bench. She moved a bit closer, and had to stop herself from laughing out loud at what she saw.
Next to each other on the bench, Michael and Jim were sound asleep. Jim had discarded his various bags on the ground next to the bench, while Michael was using his as a pillow.
“Jan! I found them!” Pam called out.
Jan hurried to Pam’s side, and put her hand over her mouth to quiet her own laughter. “Oh my God. How funny is that.” she said.
“I guess I’d better wake him up so we can get home.” Pam said, kneeling down by the bench. “Come on, Jim. Time to wake up...”
Jim turned his head and covered his face with his arm. “Five more minutes...” he muttered.
“No, we’ve got to go home.” Pam put her arm around Jim and pulled him to his feet. “Come on, I’ll help you to the car.” As she pulled Jim towards the doors, she turned back and smiled at Jan, who was having considerably less luck waking up Michael. “Good luck!” she half-whispered.
Jan smiled in response, and then went back to trying to wake up her boyfriend.
Twenty minutes later, Pam pushed Jim through their own front door. She let him collapse on the couch, not bothering to get him to the bedroom, and then went back to unloading the shopping bags out of the car.
Two hours after arriving home, Jim woke up to the sound of pans banging in the kitchen. He sat up, saw the pile of shopping bags, and the memories of that morning came rushing back to him. Suddenly, Pam came out of the kitchen holding two plates of what looked like grilled cheese.
“Hey, you’re awake! Here, I made lunch. I know it’s not going to be as good as yours...”
Jim smiled and took one of the plates, and Pam sat next to him on the couch. “So admit it. Didn’t you have fun this morning?” she asked.
“Did I have fun? Well let’s see...I was dragged out of bed before sunrise, was abandoned in a war zone in Target, then was abandoned in the mall where I ran into not one, not two, not three, but four people from work...um, yeah. I’d say I had fun.”
“I’m sorry, I should have stayed with you...” Pam started.
“No...really, it was a good experience. Not one I care to repeat, but a good experience. But you owe me, big time. And I know just how you can pay me back...” Jim said, getting up off the couch and going over to the pile of shopping bags. He pulled out the six DVD sets he had purchased earlier. “We are going to watch every single one of these DVDs in a row.”
Pam covered her mouth as she laughed. “No way. Why did you buy so many?”
“For revenge. Come on, Beesly. Get ready to get in the Christmas spirit...” Jim took out the first disc and put it in the DVD player.
Three hours later, somewhere during the middle of “Nestor, The Long-Eared Christmas Donkey”, Jim noticed Pam slumping against his shoulder. “What, Nestor just isn’t exciting enough for you?” he joked.
“This is so not fair..” Pam muttered.
“You let me run into Michael Scott in the mall. It’s fair.”
They stayed there for most of the night, Pam drifting in and out of consciousness on Jim’s shoulder. When the last special finally ended, Jim carried her into their bedroom, proud of the revenge he had carried out. As he was getting ready for bed, reveling in his assumed victory, he heard her call out to him from across the room.”
“Jim?”
“Yeah?” Jim called back, not sure if she was fully awake. He made his way to the side of the bed.
“Thanks for coming with me today. I love you.” she muttered.
Jim smiled, and kissed her forehead. “I love you too.” And he was pretty sure today had been the ultimate proof of it.
Author's Chapter Notes:
The last chapter! I apologize for the long wait, but college has been kicking my butt lately.
Chapter End Notes:
And that's it! I've actually had most of this chapter done for awhile, but that ending was hard to come up with. I might do another fic soon, maybe one that's not seasonally based. It's hard to get motivated to write a holiday-fic in March and April.
purplestarz2006 is the author of 0 other stories.
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