She was patiently posing for yet another photo with Toby when Pam noticed Jim standing alone next to the parking lot exit gate. His posture was more of a slump than a stand as he leaned against the metal pole, and despite their distance she could easily tell he was not happy.

Jim had gone oddly silent since Andy's surprise proposal to Angela, and despite Pam's best attempts she hadn't been able to conjole him into a better mood like she usually could. This, combined with a brief conversation with Phyllis, convinced Pam that her earlier suspicions had been well founded. And despite having spent so much time waiting for him to act, Pam found she wasn't willing to wait one more  minute. Not when the alternative was seeing Jim like this.  She excused herself in mid-conversation with Toby and Meredith and headed over to Jim.

Pam reached out and brushed her hand against his arm. “Hey.”

Jim looked up and gave her a half-smile. “Hey.” He glanced over her shoulder at the group of people still milling around the parking lot then turned his focus back to her. “You want to get out of here?”

“In a minute,” she said. “Can I talk to you about something first?”

“Okay,” Jim agreed, somewhat confused.

Pam took his hand and started walking slowly backwards. “Let's go someplace quieter.” He nodded and silently followed her around the side of the building, walking far enough back that the overhead security lights only barely reached them, and the shadows gave the impression of being finally alone.

Pam stopped near a door that lead to the warehouse, and leaned back against against it, pulling Jim closer.

“What's up?” Jim asked, both excited and afraid that he suspected what she was going to say.

Pam stared up into his eyes for a moment, then smiled a sort of apologetic sad smile. “I'm sorry things didn't quite go as planned today.”

Jim tilted his head, looking at her quizzically. “What do you mean?”

Again her eyes searched his before she spoke. She hadn't exactly expected him to come right out and admit he had planned on proposing tonight, but his reaction to her comment convinced her even more that her instinct was right. He just looked too anxious, his voice sounded too strained, too agitated for her to be wrong about this. And she wanted to be right about this so much that she just couldn't let it go.

“The fireworks were pretty amazing,” Pam said.

“Yeah,” Jim replied softly, looking everywhere but at her. “Yeah, they were okay.”

“I was surprised we had the money for them,” she added. When Jim didn't say anything she continued. “I asked Phyllis how we managed to afford everything.”

With that, Jim at last met her gaze. He saw that she had figured it out, and he didn't know if that made him feel better or worse. “For all the good it did me,” he mumbled darkly.

Pam let go of his hand and brought it up to his face. “Hey, the night's not over,” she encouraged him.

He shook his head slightly but with conviction. “No, not like this.”

Pam felt the tears she'd bitten back earlier rising again. Why couldn't he see how he didn't need some ideal time to ask her? It was the enormous unasked question floating between them for weeks now, and the ridiculousness of it all was wearing her down. She knew he was going to ask. She knew he had to know what her answer would be.  Why were they still tiptoeing around it?

“Not like what?” She asked, her voice shaking slightly with frustration.

Jim couldn't even begin to put it into words. Asking her to marry him was supposed to be one of the defining moments of his life, and to do it now seemed like a throwaway. Especially considering Andy - of all people! -  had made such a spectacle proposing to Angela less than an hour ago.

He sighed deeply. “Pam...”

She felt a tear slip down her cheek, not for her, but for him. She needed to make him understand that all she wanted was him. “Jim,” she half-laughed, her voice catching in her throat. “Are you really going to make me beg?”

Even in the faint light he saw she was crying, and it was his undoing. “Shh,” he said, pulling her into arms and kissing her. “Please. Please don't cry.”

Pam kissed him back, and they stood together like that, pressed up against the cold door, while in the background the sounds of people leaving for the night filtered past. When Jim finally stepped back, his face was a mask of indecision.

“You --” He stopped, completely at a loss as to what to say.

“You know, I've had a really good day so far,” she said quietly, her arms still tightly linked around his neck. “I'm really hoping it ends that way.”

Jim closed his eyes and kissed her forehead, pulling her against him again. “What am I going to do with you?” He whispered into her hair.

“Please just ask me,” she whispered back.

Jim held her a moment longer, then broke away. He knew what he was going to do. “Give me ten minutes,” he told her, his voice rough with emotion. “Give me ten minutes then come up to the roof.”

Pam couldn't hide her smile if she'd had to. “Ten minutes,” she agreed. She leaned against the metal door as she watched Jim walk back toward the front of the building. She knew it was going to be the ten longest minutes of her life.

Pam lasted about a minute and a half before she knew she couldn't stand there and be patient any longer. She tried to walk slowly toward the front door, but the butterflies in her stomach kept pushing her forward. She watched as Stanley walked across the street and got into his car. She smiled as she remembered watching him dancing with the band earlier in the evening, and how Jim had grinned as well when she pointed the scene out to him.

She loved that could still hear the deep timbre of his voice when he leaned over and said suggestively to her, "Think Stanley will teach me those moves?" But she loved even more how he blushed when she whispered back, "You don't need any help with your moves."

A glance at her watch said she still had seven minutes to wait, so she leaned against the wall next to the front doors and stared up at the ferris wheel, still alight and slowly circling. She could see Andy and Angela in one of the cars, and Bob Vance and Phyllis in another. Dwight sat in the center of a car all alone, and for a moment Pam's heart went out to him. In her disappointment with Andy's interruption she'd forgotten that someone else must have been reeling from that announcement too. She told herself she'd have to ask Jim what they should do for him.

With that she automatically turned her thoughts back to Jim, and wondered why they hadn't ridden the ferris wheel yet. She had half-expected him to ask her, and told herself that if he did, it meant he was going to propose. Part of her was kind of happy he hadn't chosen to do that. She had a brief vision of puking over the side of car due to nerves, and decided that definitely would not have been the way to remember their engagement.

She was still daydreaming about being on the ride with Jim when a hand waved in front of her face. She blinked to see Toby standing next to her.

"You okay, Pam?" He asked.

"Oh, yeah," Pam said quickly. "Yeah, I'm good."

Toby looked over at the ferris wheel then at the ground. "Hey, you want to take a ride on that with me?" He asked, looking up hopefully.

Pam considered the offer. It would eat up the time she still had to wait, but something about it just didn't appeal to her. She didn't want to be distracted from what she knew was coming soon. "Ah, no thanks, Toby," she replied, watching his expression fall. "I have to go meet Jim in a few minutes, actually."

"Surely he can wait, right?" Toby asked. "I mean, when are you going to get another chance?"

Pam knew she should just be polite and agree to a quick ride, but something in his needling bothered her. It was a vague unease like she'd felt that night he'd accidently put his hand on her knee only to leave it there for an uncomfortable period of time. "No, I'm sorry, Toby," she replied, turning to enter the building. "I really should go find him."

Toby took a step toward her, putting his hand on the door. She couldn't see how she could open the door without asking him to move so she looked at him expectantly.

"You know, it's really not that expensive to fly to Costa Rica," Toby said casually. "You should think about coming down to visit me."

Now Pam was starting to feel a real discomfort around him.  "Have you been drinking, Toby?" She joked.

"A little," he shrugged. "But I mean it. I'd love to have you come visit."

"Maybe," Pam said, hoping to end the conversation quickly. "I'll mention it to Jim. Maybe we could both come down to see you sometime."

Before Toby could reply, she pulled hard on the door and stepped into lobby. She didn't look back, feeling like she was practically running for the elevator. She was grateful when the doors opened immediately and she could step inside the car.

"Goodbye, Toby," she sighed to herself as she pressed the button to take her to the top floor.