After the play was over, Jim slipped away to the break room while everyone else returned to their desks.

Abby was in the room, jingling the change in her pocket and staring blankly at the vending machine. The box of mice was sitting on one of the tables.

Jim set the construction paper crown on Abby's head and sat down. "I don't know if I've ever felt so stupid."

"Well, you've been working here a pretty long time," Abby replied, "so I'm sure you have. But if not, Michael is making me take notes on 101 Dalmatians, so you'll have another chance to be completely embarrassed. I think he's going to try to sell tickets and everything. I'm pretty sure I heard him say 'dinner theater.'"

"That is just not funny," Jim said. He thought for a moment then smiled. "You know, I might be okay with it if Dwight was Cruella."

Abby smiled and opened the box with the mice in it.

The door to the break room opened and Pam stepped tentatively into the room. Jim's shoulders tensed and he suddenly became very interested in studying the surface of the table.

"Hey," she said quietly.

Jim didn't reply and a silence fell upon the room.

Finally, Abby cleared her throat. "Wow, you know, I thought that would be awkward. I was totally wrong about that though, huh? And, as much as I would love to stick around, cause this is, wow, so much fun - I really have to get back in there because now there's only one mouse in this box."

Abby picked up the box and walked to the door, but stopped and turned around. She reached out and shook Pam's hand. "I'm Abby, by the way. You're Pam, right? Michael's got a great picture of you in his office."

After Abby left the room, Pam turned to Jim and cocked an eyebrow.

"She's a good kid," Jim explained and shrugged. "A little, uh, free-spirited but a good kid. Plus, she has Dwight convinced that she's a time traveler, so that's -"

"Jim, please," Pam interrupted softly. "You don't have to do that. Can we just talk?"

"You've already heard everything I had to say," Jim said. He rose to his feet. "And you've already said everything I needed to hear. You made the decision for both of us. After all that's happened, I just... can't. Not anymore. After that last night in California, I gave up. Anyway, it's self-preservation, so. Sorry. I, uh, have to get some work done."

She nodded and he left the break room.

Jim sat at his desk, began working on his computer and tried to ignore the fact that everyone was staring at him. Through the corner of his eye he saw Pam walk past him and stop at the reception desk. He ignored her as she waved good-bye to everyone and left the office.

A few minutes later Abby was standing at his desk with her arms crossed.

"No offense, but I just spent the last half hour humiliating myself and I don't have the energy," Jim said.

"I know I don't know everything," Abby said, her voice uncharacteristically serious, "and, hey, it's definitely none of my business, but I mean - I just think... how can I put this gently?" She paused. "Don't be an idiot."

She set a Post-It note down on his keyboard. "You know, she's prettier in person than in those pictures you showed me. Just saying."

After Abby walked back to her desk, Jim looked down at the Post-It note.

I miss you every day.

555-0101.

Love,
Pam

He stared at it for a long while before crumpling it up and throwing it in the trash.

His phone rang and he answered it, his voice emotionless, "Dunder-Mifflin, this is Jim."

Abby sighed heavily on the other end of the line. She said, "Don't be an idiot" and hung up.

Jim turned to look at her. He wasn't sure how someone could be so young, so annoying and so right at the same time. When she got up and went to the copier, he pulled the Post-It from the trash and slipped it in his pocket.