August rolled in lazily, bringing more warm weather and final exams. Pam made a study date with Abby every Wednesday night at the Northern Lights Espresso Bar because she needed someone to commiserate with. Jim was good at listening, but it was nice to have someone to talk to who claimed all her best friends were textbooks.

On a particularly muggy Wednesday evening, Jim strolled into the cafe while they were knee-deep in notes.

"How's it going here?" he asked and dropped into a seat near Pam.

"Our brains are officially some sort of mushy substance resembling Silly Putty," Abby replied.

"Sounds serious," Jim said. He crumpled his face up into what he hoped was a concerned, studious look. "What are we studying tonight?"

"I'm working on Behavioral Sciences and Bees is studying stuff for Typography," Abby answered.

Jim cocked an eyebrow. "Bees?"

Abby shrugged. "Something I'm trying out. Still in the testing stages."

"Personally," Pam said, "I enjoyed Killer Bees. It made me feel like a badass."

Jim smirked. "Okay, so you want that stitched on a leather jacket, or...?"

"The Hell's Angels have been calling pretty regularly," Pam said, "so, it'd probably be a good investment."

"If we're taking a break for jokey jokes," Abby said, "I'm gonna get another coffee. I am not caffeinated enough for witty repartee. Excuse me."

Abby hopped off the sofa and went to go stand in line.

"So," Jim asked, "how's it going? You're gonna ace this test, right?"

"I think so," Pam said. She put her pen behind her ear and sat back. She eyed Jim carefully. "Now, I know you didn't come here to chit-chat about our finals. It's not exactly breaking news or, for that matter, in the least bit interesting."

"You know me too well," he said. He dragged his chair closer to her and put his hand on her knee. He couldn't stop from smiling. "I heard back from that newspaper in Philly."

Pam's face lit up and she leaped into Jim's lap. "You got it? You got the sales job? I knew you would get it! I told you! I told you!"

Jim laughed and wrapped his arms around Pam's waist as she settled into his lap. "Yeah. I haven't accepted it yet, but it's a great offer. I'd be doing sales, yeah, but my friend thinks I might be able to work out some sort of internship with the sports department. I won't get paid for that and it'll be a lot of grunt work, but I'm willing to try. If nothing else, it'd get me out of Dunder-Mufflin."

"That's great," Pam said. She leaned in to kiss him, but paused and pulled pack. "Wait. You haven't accepted the offer yet?"

"No."

"Why not?" Pam said. She put her arms around his neck. "This is what you wanted. You would be doing something you care about - more than selling paper, anyway. Why wouldn't you say yes right away?"

"There's something I care more about," Jim told her. He kissed her forehead.

"Not because of me," she said. "You didn't give this up because of me?"

"I didn't give it up," Jim said. "The offer is still on the table. I just - well, you still have another year of classes up here and I didn't... I didn't want to move down there without you. I mean, I thought we could... Well, this isn't really going how I planned."

"Are you... Are you trying to ask me to move to Philadelphia with you?"

"I think I might be," Jim said. The corner of his mouth quirked up. "It, uh, didn't happen exactly as I planned. I wanted it to be more of a direct question, you know, with a whole set-up, a candlelight dinner and a beautifully worded speech. It was very romantic."

"I'll bet," she said warmly.

"Anyway, I know you said you wouldn't move in with someone unless you were engaged," Jim said. He pulled a small white box from his pocket. "But I was hoping you might make an exception."

He smiled and lifted the cover off the box to reveal a silver ring with a large oval diamond in the center. "Now, hear me out before you totally shoot me down on this, okay? This ring is a promise, one that won't be broken. It would be incredibly lame to propose while you're doing homework - I know that - so what I'm saying is... if you come to Philadelphia with me, you'll get the proposal you deserve. I want everything about it to be perfect. Dwight overheard me talking to Maddie on the phone and suggested I propose in front of the Rocky statue as a metaphor for my dedication to you. I think I'm going to go another route, unless you're really attached to that idea."

"I don't want you to give up your dream," he continued. "You've been working so hard this whole semester, so at any point now you can tell me to shut up and stop embarrassing myself. I'll understand if you want to finish school and then decide if this is what you want."

"Jim... you're what I want," she said and held out her hand. When Jim slipped the ring on her finger, she smiled and stared down at it. "I can transfer to a school in Philadelphia. All the work we've done won't go to waste. There's no reason we can't make this work for the both of us. But, I think you should know that you've really set yourself up here. You better kick my ass with the proposal."

Jim grinned. "Trust me, your ass will be thoroughly kicked."

"Good! I'm gonna start looking up schools tonight," she said excitedly.

"I'll call the paper back tomorrow," he said. He let out a relieved sigh. "So, I guess we figured this out."

"I guess we did," Pam said. "Only, I have one question. When are you gonna kiss me? 'Cause I've been waiting for like five min -"

Jim pressed his forehead to hers and mumbled, "I love you, Killer Bees."

Three weeks later, Jim and Pam had their last day in Scranton, something they'd been talking about for years, but nobody thought would ever come true. They held hands on the drive down to Philadelphia, happy to prove them all wrong.