Jim’s eyes unwillingly cracked open when he felt the sunlight hit his face. His eyes darted over Pam’s sleeping body, and landed on the clock on the wall.

6:13

He let out a puff of air, and groaned quietly as he willed his body to wake up. They’d just gotten a few hours of sleep, but somehow he felt remarkably refreshed. He attributed it all to the person snoring softly next to him. He propped himself up on his elbow and leaned in to kiss her forehead as his other arm trailed from her bare shoulder down to the small of her back, pulling her warm body into his. He kissed his way over to her ear.

“Wake up, sleeping Beesly.” he whispered into it.

Pam let out a mad grunt, and squeezed her eyes shut tighter.

“Wake up, or I’ll call Dwight.”

Grunt.

“Wake up or I‘ll eat all of your mixed berry yogurt.”

She watched as her lips slowly upturned into a smile, her eyes still shut.

“You bought me mixed berry yogurt?” she whispered.

“Yes, but you won’t get any unless you get up now. We have to be at the studio by 7:30.”

Pam moaned loudly, and stretched her arms above her head and finally opened her eyes.

“What are we going to do after?”

“Let see…we have dinner with Keith and his wife tonight, but I was thinking tomorrow we could go to Sedona?”

Pam’s eyes got wide, “Really?! I was looking at pictures of that place last week online, I was going to ask you if we had time to go!”

“Of course! I think you’re really going to like it. I remember driving through it on a family road trip, like 20 years ago. It‘s really beautiful.”

“Yessss! I’m so excited!” Pam jumped out of bed and started walking over to the bathroom.

“Hey!” Jim called from the bed. “Bathroom dibs go to the first person awake!”

Pam peered around the corner, “Jim. I’m pregnant. Your son has turned me into a peeing machine. Dibs go to the pregnant wife.” She ducked just in time, missing the pillow that whizzed past her head.

-----------------------------------

“Nervous?” Pam smirked, watching his leg shake as he peered over his notes.

He just turned his head and looked at her, a frown on his face.

She ran a hand through his hair, trying to smooth down the curls that had grow out of control from his lack of a proper haircut. “Just pretend all the listeners are in their underwear.”

He smiled for the first time since they’d arrived at the KTAR studio. “I don’t think it really works that way on the radio. But thank you…I think.”

The door in the waiting room opened, and a man in his mid-20’s smiled and said, “Jim?”

Jim got up and helped Pam to her feet. They walked over to the man, and Jim stuck out his hand.

“Jim Halpert. This is my wife, Pam.”

“Nice to meet you both. I’m Joe, the producer. If you’ll follow me, I’ll take you to the sound studio.”

They followed Joe down a long hallway, went through another door, and into a sound room. One wall was glass, and looked into the studio where Keith sat, in the middle of a live interview with Doug & Wolf.

“Keith will be on for about 3 more minutes, then we’ll take some calls from listeners, take a news and commercial break, then you’re up.”

Jim looked in on the studio in amazement. Joe caught the look of shock on his face.

“First time?”

Jim looked over at Joe, closed the mouth that had been hanging open, and managed to croak “Yeah.”

They listened in on Keith for a while, and Jim found himself completely mesmerized at the ease of the conversation, and was transfixed by how effortless it seemed. Before he knew it, Keith was taking off his headset, and was walking towards the door leading to the sound room.

“Mornin’ Jim! All set?” He boomed as he entered the room.

“Yeah, we’ll see.” He smiled nervously. “Keith, this is Pam.”

Pam extended her hand, and Keith shook it vigorously. “It’s nice to finally meet you, Mrs. Halpert."

“You too. Thank you for arranging the airport pickup yesterday. We both appreciate it.” Pam smiled, and Keith winked at Jim.

“Jim, we’re ready for you now,” Joe’s voice called from the speaker inside the sound room. He leaned down and gave Pam a quick kiss.

“Knock ‘em dead!” she said sweetly.

---------------------

WOLF: It’s 8:03 on a Thursday morning, and if you’re just tuning in, we’re joined by junior sports writer, Jim Halpert, of The Arizona Republic. You may recognize the name--Jim’s witty, creative, and sharp comments can be viewed daily in the sports section, and also our website www.ktar.net. Welcome to the show, Jim!

JIM: Thank you! That’s quite the introduction, thank you for having me.

DOUG: Jim, lets get right down to the meat of it. D-Backs--they’re number one in the NL West, but Tuesday night’s sweep from the Rockies have some thinking this is the beginning of a long losing streak for Melvin and his team. What’s your take on this?

JIM: It’s definitely not the end, that’s for sure. Just look at the Padres. In ‘09 they went from losing half of their 3-game series, to beating the White Sox in the last game of the World Series. For the Diamondbacks, Melvin takes these losses and turns them around, unlike any other coach I’ve seen. The Jackson, Byrnes, and Haren trio guarantee that this team is nowhere near throwing in the towel.

DOUG: So you think they have a shot at taking it all?

JIM: Oh, without a doubt. This team has what it takes. There was a lot of controversy over trading Tracy last year, but I think in the end it really made this team what it is now. It’s not easy to trade a star player for a rookie, but I think Melvin knew what he was doing, and he’s proving it every day.

DOUG: Now, be honest, Jim. We know you’re a Phillies fan, but have we won you over yet?

Jim laughs and takes a second to respond.

JIM: It’s hard to say. I’ve been a Phillies fan since I was a kid, but there’s just something about the Diamondbacks, and even Phoenix, for that matter. I’m hooked. I’ve been to every D-Backs home game in the last month, and I’ve had the time of my life.

WOLF: Had?

JIM: Yeah, I’m heading back to Philly on Monday.

WOLF: That’s right. I think we might have some listeners who aren’t going to be happy hearing that. In fact, we have one now. Good morning, Craig. Do you have a question for Jim?

CRAIG: Yes, I do. Good morning. Jim, I’ve been reading your column for a few weeks now, and you seem to have a passion for the game that I haven’t seen in a lot of sports writers. You have a very unique style, and I was wondering: what’s your motivation, and what do you attribute to your personal style?

JIM: Well, thank you Craig. I’m glad you enjoy reading my notes. Honestly, sports writing is something I’ve always had the dream of doing, but if you can believe it, this is the first time I’ve done it. I had a few, uh, undesirable jobs in my lifetime, and I’m thrilled to be doing something I’ve always been passionate about. I love everything about baseball, from the smells of the stadium, down to the uniforms of the players. I’ve been lucky to have a wife and family who support my ‘obsession’, and I take all that passion and appreciation and reflect it in my writing.

CRAIG: Thank you, Jim. I’ll be sad to see you go, but have really enjoyed the time you’ve spent here in the valley.

WOLF: We’re going to take a break, but we’ll be back with more from Jim Halpert, sports writer extraordinaire. If you have a question or a comment for Jim, please call our Sports Talk Line at (602) 260-KTAR.

When Jim heard the ads start, he took off his headset and took a deep breath.

“You’re doing great, Jim. Keep it up!” Joe called from the sound room. Jim looked through the window and saw Pam grinning at him, he gave her a thumbs up.

Jim had about a million thoughts going through his head, many of them about how amazing and free he felt being on the radio. It almost felt natural. It wasn’t a feeling he’d experienced before, and he couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like if being on the radio was something he could pull off--in a more permanent way. It wasn’t anything that had ever crossed his mind before. His thoughts were interrupted when they went back on the air, for the second half of his interview. It went even better than the first.

------------

“Broken.”

“Come again?’ Jim turned his head and looked at Pam in the passenger seat, then quickly turned his attention back to the road.

“You broke it.” she said again.

“Broke what?”

“My brain. You broke my brain.”

Jim laughed, “Oh, come on…it wasn’t that great…”

“Yes, it was. Seriously, Jim, you should have seen the look on Keith’s face the whole time. It was like a father watching his kid ride a bike for the first time. It was amazing.”

Jim didn’t respond, just squeezed her hand a little tighter.

It had been amazing. He’d never felt that way before, and by the time it was over, he’d wished he could do it every day.

“I liked it.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. I liked it a lot.” he paused for a moment before continuing. “Call me crazy, but I think it’s what I want to do.”

He panicked when Pam didn’t respond--irrational thoughts going through his head similar to what Pam had thought when she was told by Roy that her own internship was irrational. His thoughts were dissolved as soon as Pam spoke.

“Then I think you should go for it.”

-------------------------------------

Jim and Pam stopped off at The Arizona Republic building to gather up his stuff, since his internship had ended at the conclusion of the radio show. Jim was hesitant to take her in, knowing she’d had her fair share of crazy coworkers, and the A.R. was no exception.

Chris was the first person they saw once they entered the building. He always reminded Jim of Dwight, for some reason he couldn’t exactly pinpoint.

“Hey, Chris. This is my wife, Pam.”

“Oh, nice to meet you, Pam.”

“You too.”

“You know folic acid is very important during pregnancy. Have you been taking care of your fetus buy giving it the proper nutrients needed to help it grow properly?”

“Wow. Uh…Chris.” suddenly he was reminded of why Chris reminded him of Dwight.

“Yeah?” Chris turned to Jim.

“Why would you think she‘s pregnant? She‘s not expecting.” he said, trying to keep a straight face and to control his laughter.

Chris‘ eyes darted from Jim’s face to Pam’s obvious baby bump, his face turning bright red. “Oh. OK, then. I have to go…check on my…yeah…”

Chris rushed down the hall and after he turned the corner, Jim and Pam burst into laughter. Pam was laughing so hard she had to lean against Jim to keep from toppling over.

“Oh my God, I haven’t laughed like that since you’ve been gone.” Pam said, once she could finally speak again.

“I suppose I’ll have to do some damage control…let the office know you really are expecting.”

“Maybe we could convince them I’m having sextuplets.”

Jim contemplated it for a moment, “You are very good at what you do. Let‘s do it.”

It took just a few minutes to pack up Jim’s things, and they were finally headed back to the hotel, leaving the office behind forever.