Jim slept late the next day. He woke up with a massive headache. Yesterday was a drinking nightmare. He rolled over in the bed, realizing he had gone to sleep with his clothes on, and the bedcover barely turned down. He sat up and looked at the clock. 10:30 AM. That would be -- what the fuck, I have no idea. He had no idea what time it was back home. The only thing he knew is that Pam was probably married by now. Married. Damn it all. Stupid fucking Roy. Stupid Jim for falling in love with an unavailable woman.
He got up slowly, licking his dry lips. When he looked out the window, he saw the expanse of Sydney in front of him, framed under an overcast sky. The weather wasn't perfect, but it would still be a great day to get out and actually do something. He'd promised his mom that he would buy her a boomerang -- so, yeah, he had to find one of those -- he should probably get something for his dad and little sister, too. Maybe he should get something for Roy and Pam, too -- a wedding present.
Ugh. The thought of that suddenly made him sick to his stomach. He sat down again until the nausea went away.
No thinking about Pam today, he thought. It was time to move on. She was married. It was over.
Fortunately, he was interrupted from his thoughts with a loud knock at his door. Scratching his head, he opened the door to Mike's camera lens - in his face.
Damn it. "This is not really my best face," Jim said, his voice still heavy from sleep.
"Time to rise and shine, buddy. It's a new day, and you're in Sydney!"
Mike was just a touch too cheerful for him this morning. Jim glared at the camera. "Can you give me a half-hour? I need to take a shower ... why don't you go get some breakfast?"
Mike shrugged and headed out. "I'll be back in a half-hour, on the dot!"
Jim thought: Maybe I could sneak out. He didn't want to get Mike fired, though. For better or for worse, that damn documentary was a part of his life. Sometimes he wished that film crew had never come to their office. ---
Mike stopped in his room to drop off his camera and noticed that the message light on his phone was blinking. He called the voice mail number.
"Mike, it's Jeff. Sorry I didn't call you earlier, but this is big news. Pam Beesly, the girl from the office who was supposed to get married -- called off her wedding, and, she's on her way to Sydney as we speak. This is unbelievable -- I can't say I'm not jealous -- this should be pretty good.
"Anyway, make sure that you don't miss her. She already knows where you guys are staying at. Leave her a message at the front desk, telling her where you'll be tonight. Her flight left at 11:30 PM yesterday from New York. If my math is correct, she should be there this afternoon. Call me tonight after you're back in your room; let me know how everything went."
Mike hung up the phone and sat down on the bed. Holy crap. This was big news.
He dashed out of the door and headed out to the lobby. He wanted to make sure he got the message to her before she checked in.
You just couldn't plan something like this.
---
Jim was toweling off his hair and glancing through the brochures he'd picked up in the lobby when he heard a knock on the door. Sure enough: one half-hour on the dot.
He opened the door to Mike, camera in hand. He was wearing about the biggest shit-eating grin that Jim had ever seen. "What happened to you?" he asked. "Did you go out after we got back and get lucky?"
Mike shook his head. "I'm just looking forward to a day in the city. And look - I was thinking, we should probably go to that bar in the hotel tonight - the Peppermint Lounge - it looked pretty nice."
Jim raised his eyebrows. "I knew you had some kind of secret rendezvous going on. Who's the girl?"
Mike rolled his eyes. "No one, I just thought it might be fun, maybe you'll meet some interesting people."
"I already met someone who was fun..." Jim pulled the napkin out of his pocket. He decided to take it with him in case he wanted to call her. "I might call her again tonight."
"You know," Mike said (trying desperately to sound casual), "maybe it'd be better just to play it by ear. You're on vacation. Have some fun. See who else you meet."
"Yeah, have fun." Jim smiled. "That is what vacation is about. Let's go check out the city, then." Jim looped his camera case into his belt and they headed out for the day.
---
Pam's plane arrived in Sydney at approximately 11:15 AM on Sunday, June 11th. She would have been married for six hours now if she had stayed back home. What a strange feeling that was. She got off the plane, feeling disorientated. It was odd being alone in a strange city.
Her stomach turned in knots as she realized how close she was to being next to Jim again. She still couldn't believe she'd actually traveled halfway around the world to find him. All she wanted to do was go to the hotel and find him. Unfortunately, they had to wait twenty minutes for the baggage check and then another two hours to go through customs. By the time she was out on the curb, it didn't take her long at all to find a city cab. "Crest Hotel, please," she said, barely shutting the door as the cab took her. She looked down at her hands in her lap. They were shaking uncontrollably.
---
The hotel was near a subway, so Mike and Jim took a train to one of the nearby shopping areas so he could walk around and try and find a gift for his mom. He was surprised as they were walking towards the subway how many people handed him cards for escort services and phone sex lines. Was all of Sydney like this? Was someone trying to tell him something?
---
She arrived at the hotel, surveying the front as she pulled up. It didn't look like a bad place -- with the marble columns and brass-plated doors. She surveyed the street, noticing a lot of people handing out flyers and calling cards. It reminded her of the time she and Roy had gone to Las Vegas for a long weekend. She took a long, deep breath and walked into the lobby. What if she ran into Jim in the lobby? What would she say to him? What would he say to her? She wasn't sure if she was ready for that.
She looked around, and decided there was no point in getting worried about seeing him. It was still the middle of the day - he was probably out exploring the city. She stepped up to the front desk to check in.
When she told the check-in agent her name, the girl told her that she had a message for her. She handed over a sealed envelope. Pam looked at it curiously. Who would have left her a message? Maybe her mom - telling her to be careful. Or maybe wishing her good luck. She smiled nervously as the girl checked her in - the only thing she wanted to do was to find out what this message said.
Once the girl had handed over the room key, Pam almost ran to the elevators. While waiting for the elevator to arrive, she ripped open the envelope, full of anticipation.
The message was printed on embossed stationery. It said:
Message for Pam Beesly, Hotel Guest
Received Sunday June 11th, 9:34 AM, in person
Please meet Mr. Halpert at the Peppermint Lounge, inside the Crest Hotel at 9:00 PM today, June 11th.
- No contact name or return number provided
What was this? Her stomach turned wildly as the elevator bell dinged and the door opened. She got into the elevator, suddenly feeling short of breath. Did he know she was here? What was going on?
That didn't sound like something Jim would write. He would never refer to himself as "Mr. Halpert." She had the feeling Jim would have written something funny or witty. But who could have written it? Maybe Jim had called down to the front desk and asked them to leave the message for her. Even if he had, how would he have known she was coming?
Had her mom called him? Or maybe even Michael? (No, Michael didn't know she was going to Australia. Did he?) Maybe it was Jeff... that seemed to make sense. He had been the last person to see her and knew exactly where she was going. It would have been really easy for him to call Jim and let her know she was coming. If he knew, though, why wasn't he waiting for her now?
Maybe he didn't want to see her right away. Maybe he was still angry at her. She hadn't actually talked to him since the fight. What if he was still mad at her? Why would he still be mad at her? Because she hadn't called to tell him the wedding was off right away? She blew out a large breath. The elevator door opened to her floor, and she stepped out. Her knees felt weak as she pulled the suitcase down the hall. Oh, boy. Maybe I should have called him right away. She wanted to tell him what was going on - when she called his hotel from the airport, she wanted to tell him everything - but he wasn't there. And Jeff had been there. Somehow, she felt self-conscious about confessing her grand love for Jim in front of a perfect stranger. Especially over the phone. She felt like she needed to do it in person.
She wished she'd known who had left that message. She wished she knew where Jim was right now.
---
Jim and Mike ended up at a Korean barbeque buffet on Victoria Street, not far from the hotel. They decided to grab something to eat before getting ready to go out that night.
"So, really," Jim said, "who's the lucky lady you're meeting at Peppermint Lounge tonight? How do you think she's going to react to a man carrying around a camera all night long? Or maybe she's the voyeuristic type --?" Jim said.
"I told you, I'm not meeting anyone. I'm doing this for you. You need to expand your boundaries while you're here. Meet some different people. You never go out with the same person you meet the first night of the trip. It's bad karma." It was killing him not to tell Jim what was really going on. He really had to make an effort to keep a straight face. "I asked the hotel staff what was a good place around here for meeting people, and they suggested this place."
"Of course they did - it's in their hotel. They're just self-promoting."
"Well, nonetheless - we at least need to go and check it out. If you're not happy, you can pick the place we go to tomorrow."
"I thought this was my vacation," Jim said. "Sometimes I really feel like everyone else in my life is making my decisions for me. You know - Pam getting married. The offer for the job in Stamford. This trip to Australia --"
"You did decide to come here - you could have just gone to New York City, or Boston, or ..."
"All right, I get the picture," Jim said, scowling. "Man. I just can't believe Pam is married right now." He swallowed hard. "I guess I always hoped - even up to the end, that something would happen; that she would change her mind. I guess I was pretty stupid." He shook his head. Nothing on his plate looked appetizing to him anymore.
"Hey, man -" Mike said, "you never know. I mean... stranger things have happened. Something could have... uh..." Crud. Where was he going with this? He wasn't supposed to know anything. Shut up, Mike. Shut up.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Jim said, looking up angrily.
"I don't know - I'm sorry. Why don't we just -"
"Yeah, let's go," Jim said. They dropped a few dollars on the table for a tip and headed out. As they walked down the street back to the hotel, Jim pulled out Jessica's number from his pocket. He wondered if he should try calling her. He wanted to call her - she was cute and laughed at his lame jokes ... a little vapid, maybe, but it's not like he was looking for a long-term relationship, right? Then again - maybe Mike was right. Maybe he needed to broaden his horizons a little bit. The bar would probably be full of attractive women. There were plenty of fish in the sea.
Why did he feel like the only one he wanted was 10,000 miles away? And married?
---
Pam had probably gone through every single outfit in her suitcase, trying to find something that would be appropriate. She had packed a few skirts and dresses in case they went somewhere nice, but nothing she owned seemed to look right. Everything she had seemed too plain - too dowdy. She'd never really been into fashion. In fact, she only went shopping twice a year when the stores had big sales. Since most of her time during the week was spent at the office, and on the weekend, she usually just wore jeans and t-shirts, she had no idea what to wear out to this lounge-club. She picked through everything again. She finally settled on a black skirt and a pink short-sleeve, scoop-neck top. She also decided on a pair of slip-on sandals with a short heel on them. It wasn't exactly sultry, but that didn't really describe her, anyway. She looked at her bare hands, feeling strange without the ring on her left hand. She hadn't been wearing it for the past three days, but it still felt strange. Especially since she was about to see Jim ...
She adjusted the necklace around her neck and looked at her hair. Right now she had it pulled up. She thought about taking it down. He'd never seen her hair down before. She almost always wore it up. (Mainly because it was easier to style that way.) Pam looked at the clock. It was only 7:00 PM. She wasn't supposed to be down there until 9:00 PM. She had plenty of time to make it work.
Pam decided to take a shower so she could wet her hair down and get it right. Her chest felt tight as she went into the bathroom. She had never been so nervous about anything in her entire life.
---
Jim glanced through the book on the bedside table that explained the "Hotel Services." This was mainly because he had already gone through the TV and hadn't found anything really worth watching. He was surprised how much television from the U.S. they got down here. Most of the "new" shows on TV were the ones he'd already watched months earlier. That was bizarre.
As he was flipping through the book, he came upon the page about the Peppermint Lounge. The blurb said:
One of Sydneys premier lounge bars, hidden away in Victoria Street Potts Point.
Offering an intimate and stylish cocktail lounge, with eclectic surrounds and a smooth mix of deep 'n funky house blended with electro 'n hip hop flavours produced by some of Sydneys premier DJs and live musicians.
He scanned down the page, past a bright picture of a purple cocktail in a martini glass.
Dress code: Smart. No street clothes (jeans, t-shirts, trainers).
Well, that was great. Jim looked down at himself. He was wearing jeans, a pair of running shoes and a "Scranton Basketball League" long-sleeve t-shirt. He knew he was going to have to change, but to what? He wasn't the type of person who went to "clubs." The nicest date he'd been on was bringing Katy to Hemisphere, a "modern" American restaurant near Scranton. The food was actually pretty good, but it was a little out of his typical price range. Afterward, they'd gone out to some martini bar nearby - a place he couldn't even remember the name of. He remembered thinking about how Katy had seemed to fit in too well there. He had been amused, thinking about bringing Pam there -- the artistic plating, the delicate wine glasses -- she probably would have been fascinated. Katy had almost seemed bored. Complacent.
Yet another reason why he and Katy had never really connected. Breaking up with her had been so easy. He realized - he just didn't care. He didn't like her; they weren't at all alike; he felt better being alone than being with her.
His mind drifted back to the present, remembering what he was doing. Trying to find clothes. He rummaged through his suitcase to try and find something semi-acceptable. He found a pair of dark gray dress pants and a lighter gray button-down shirt. He had brought it just in case he ended up going somewhere "nice." He hadn't expected that the second night, but oh well. The shirt needed ironing - he found an iron and an ironing board in the closet.
As he waited for it to warm up, he stepped into the bathroom to check his appearance. He probably should have gotten a haircut before he left town. His hair was looking a bit shaggier than usual. His bangs hung just over the top of his eyebrows -- usually a sign when it was time to get a cut. Not too much he could do about that now. Not like he had been worried about that yesterday, when he met Jessica.
He went back into the other room, pulling her number out of his jeans, which were now lying on the ground. He wondered again if he should call her. It wasn't like he had to listen to Mike. He could just tell her to meet him there ... Jim started to pick up the phone, and then put it back down again. Then again, if he asked her to come meet him, she'd probably want to sit there and talk to him all night again, like she had the night before. He held out his hands, as if holding imaginary weights. Too talkative,, the one hand went down, but cute, the other hand went up. "Hmm," he said aloud to himself.
He could always call her later, too. He had almost two weeks here. Mike's words kept echoing in his head: "You never go out with the same person you meet the first night of the trip. It's bad karma." What the hell was "bad karma," anyway?
Jim had once joked with Dwight that the tone of his voice was giving him bad karma, and he needed to speak in a higher pitch when making sales calls, in order to swing his good karma back into place. For some reason (Jim never understood why this always happened), Dwight believed him, and went on making sales calls in a high-pitched voice for about an hour, until Michael came out and asked him if he was gay.
Jim smiled at that memory.
He was about done ironing his shirt when the room phone rang. It rang twice, but when he picked it up, the person on the other end had hung up. That was strange. Maybe it had been a wrong number. Then, about two minutes later, as he was in the bathroom washing his face, he heard it ring again. This time, it rang three times, but by the time he picked it up, nothing. He checked on the phone to see if there was any way he could do some sort of a *69 prompt to figure out who it was that kept trying to call him, but it didn't say. He was about to call the front desk when he heard a knock at his door.
Jim went over and opened it up. In front of him was Mike, complete in a shiny black button-down shirt, tight black jeans and dress shoes. In his hand, Mike had a much more compact camera. It was about the size of a typical video camcorder. "What ... is up?" Jim asked, looking him over. "I ... don't know what to say."
"Man of the night, my friend," Mike said. He watched the viewing screen of his video camera as he scanned around the room.
"What's with the new equipment?" Jim asked.
"Easier to work with in enclosed environments, like clubs and bars. Records great under low-light conditions. These are the same cameras they use to film those scenes on the 'Real World' when the cast goes out for the night." Mike shrugged. "It's basically just a really, really expensive camcorder. Commercial-quality."
"If they're so much more convenient, while don't you use these all the time?"
"The battery life on these are really short - I brought two extra batteries just for the few hours we'll be out tonight -- and while the quality's pretty good, it's not as good as the regular equipment we usually use. Plus, these break really easily. I prefer the industrial-grade models for my usual work." He grinned at Jim. "You going to wear that out tonight?"
Jim had on a sleeveless undershirt, more commonly known as the "wife-beater" during their high-school days. His dress shirt was still laying across the ironing board. "No, I was ironing my shirt -- well, it's done, now."
"All right then -- put it on, let's roll."
Jim eyed Mike suspiciously. "You are so hot-to-trot right now. It's only 8:15. Where's the fire?"
"Nowhere. But, this place has a 2-for-1 drink special that only goes until 9 PM. So if we hurry, we can get a couple free drinks..."
"I thought you weren't supposed to drink when you work."
"That's a negotiable rule -- obviously. C'mon, Romeo. Get your shirt on, let's go."
---
Pam sat on her bed, staring at the phone. She had called down to the front desk to get Jim's room number, and so far, had tried calling him twice, to no avail. Every time she heard the line pick up, she hung up. Not like meeting him in person was going to be any easier. She fell back onto the bed, rubbing her stomach, which had started to ache again.
Oh my God, she thought, what am I doing?
This wasn't just like a normal meeting or a talk. This was another realm entirely. Within four days, she had called off her wedding, moved out of her apartment, and flown to Australia, all in the hope that Jim would take her. At this point, she wasn't sure what to expect. She hoped to God that he'd take her back. She had been so wrong; so stupid about everything...
She sighed loudly and willed her stomachache to go away.
---
When Jim and Mike arrived at the Peppermint Lounge, it was fairly dead, except for a group of people clustered around the bar. "I see there's a group of bargain-seekers like us," Jim commented to Mike, who had the little camera trained on him. He smiled crookedly, walking up to the bar. "I think ... we should go a little crazy tonight. Let's order martinis."
Mike smiled at Jim. "Have you ever ordered a martini in your life?"
"Have I ever had a martini? Absolutely..." He smiled back at Mike. "Well, you know ... once, with Katy." That made him go quiet. Katy. That seemed like ages ago.
"Who was Katy?" Mike asked.
"Um... some girl I dated for a while." Jim really didn't feel like getting into it, so he walked up to the bar and ordered two top-shelf dirty martinis for them. Jim really wasn't sure what a dirty martini was -- Katy had ordered all the drinks for them at the martini bar they'd gone to last year -- but he heard people order it before and it sounded naughty. Sophisticated. Everything that he wasn't.
He wasn't sure why he felt the need to be something so completely outside of himself that night. Maybe everything was finally coming to a head. Pam leaving him those messages ... knowing she was now married ... meeting Jessica last night (who was so not his type) ... and now here they were, in a fancy cocktail lounge. He started feeling dizzy all of a sudden, and steadied his hand against the bar.
The bartender delivered the slightly cloudy drinks in martini glasses, garnished with cheese-stuffed olives. Wow.
He headed back to the table Mike had positioned himself at. Mike was taking wide shots of the lounge area, and focused on Jim as he was walking back towards the table. Jim had a hard time not making the drinks spill. He couldn't figure out how people did this when they weren't sober.
"So, buddy," Mike asked, grinning like mad, "looking forward to a fun night?"
"Sure," Jim said, looking at Mike strangely. He took a sip of the drink and shuddered. Damn, these are strong. And olive-y.
"Good drink?" Mike asked, grabbing his and taking a sip. "Mmm, yeah."
Jim didn't want to ask because he knew it would be on camera, but he did anyway. "What's in these things, anyway?"
"You ordered it, you don't know?"
Jim shrugged. "I've always heard of a dirty martini, but I never knew what was in it," he said sheepishly.
"Well, they made this with vodka, dry vermouth, and then they put olive juice from the tray into it. That's why like call it dirty. A regular martini just has olives in it, not the juice."
"You are just a wealth of information," Jim said, grinning, forcing himself to take another sip. That would teach him to try and be adventurous. Stick with what you know, Halpert.
"I bartended for extra money when I was in film school. Anyway," Mike said, changing the subject, "what do you think about this place?"
"It's kind of dead now."
"Well, it's still early. Trust me -- things will definitely get more interesting soon."
When Jim looked over at him, he was almost sure Mike had winked. But then again, it was dark and hard to tell with his face blocked by the camera's view-screen. Jim shook his head, taking another sip of the martini.
---
When Pam opened her eyes again, she saw it was 8:55 PM. That wasn't good. She was supposed to be at the bar by 9:00 PM! She jumped up quickly, smoothing out her skirt, and ran to the bathroom to check her appearance one more time. She looked different with her hair down. Her face seemed smaller, and strangely, it made her look younger and more carefree. She smiled tentatively at herself in the mirror, imagining what it was going to be like when they finally met again. She wondered what Jim knew. Did he expect her? Would he be happy to see her?
She cleared her throat, and after smoothing out a few flyaway hairs, headed out of her room.
---
It was just before 9 PM, and since he and Mike had arrived at the bar, they had already consumed two martinis and Jim was now working on a beer. The buzz was just started to set in and he was feeling good. He surveyed the bar, which was starting to become more crowded. A couple groups of girls walked in. They clustered together on different sides of the lounge, in front of the dance floor. Right now, the music was subdued chill music - not really dancing music. He watched as a particularly curvy girl in a tube dress (nice ass, he thought) went up to the DJ and started talking to him.
Jim watched as she stepped up into the booth and started leaning in very closely to the DJ. Jim turned to Mike, who, sure enough, had his camera focused on the pair at the DJ booth.
"Those guys must get so much ass," Mike said. He turned the camera to get a reaction shot from Jim, who just raised his eyebrows and made a face.
"Yeah, I imagine," Jim said. "I certainly wouldn't know."
Just then, he felt a tap on his shoulder. Jim turned around to see an attractive brunette with wavy hair. Looking at her vaguely reminded him of Pam. Everything reminded him of Pam. You have got to stop that.
"Uh, hi?" he said to the girl.
"Hey," she said, smiling slyly. "My friend Nikki over there -- she really thinks you're cute."
Jim raised an eyebrow. "Is that so?" he asked. He smiled widely, causing the brunette to start laughing, and Nikki (in the background) to cover her face.
"Yeah... if you wanted to come over and chat, that'd be cool," the girl said.
Jim looked at Mike with wide eyes. This was like hanging out with Kelly and her friends at a bar. Jim smiled sideways, looking over at Nikki. "Maybe I will," he said to Nikki's friend.
---
Pam entered the lounge, immediately feeling her stomach sink into her feet. Oh, God. What am I doing? The lounge was not that big. She was afraid to look around - she was afraid to see Jim - she wasn't sure - Oh my God there he is and ---
He was talking to some brown-haired girl with beautiful, wavy hair down to her shoulders. She had a great figure and was wearing an outfit to compliment it. Jim was laughing and touching her arm.
She swallowed hard. Maybe this was a huge mistake. Did she make a huge mistake?
That was when she saw the cameraman, sitting next to Jim. He was holding a little hand-held camera, and as soon as he caught her looking at Jim, he immediately turned his camera on her. Just when Pam thought she was getting away from that...
She watched Jim as he continued to talk to the girl, laughing, smiling, leaning into her and looking over at her group of friends in the corner. Had he already met someone while he was here? She felt like she just wanted to run away, but at the same time, she was rooted in the spot she was standing, watching Jim flirt with this beautiful brunette, knowing all the while, every single second of this horrible moment was being recorded on video. Forever. She swallowed hard again, and turned around. What was she doing here, anyway? How was it any of her business to follow Jim all the way down to Australia, anyway?
---
Mike had been filming Jim with the attractive brunette next to them when he suddenly felt like someone was watching him. He looked to his right near the entrance, where he saw a pretty, but plain-looking girl watching them intently. Mike swung the camera around wildly (he probably shouldn't have had those two martinis), and zoomed in on her. Was this Pam?
He immediately began jabbing Jim in the side, trying not to be obvious, but honestly - if this was Pam? - oh, God. This was a pivotal moment here.
Jim sounded irritated. "Cut it out, Mike."
Mike continued to poke him until he finally turned and said, "What?"
Jim looked at Mike and then at the camera, which was looking at the back of a young woman who was headed out of the lounge. Jim could only see the back of her - but what he did see was a mass of brown curly hair, a pink shirt, and a black skirt. Was that --?
Jim swallowed quickly and got up, running across the small room. It didn't take him long to reach the entrance, but she was already out the door by the time he got there. He caught up to her halfway down the hall, grabbing her shoulder, and swinging her around. When he realized that it actually was Pam Beesly he was looking at, his mouth went dry.
He gaped at her for a second, lost for words.
She stared back at him, equally surprised.
Neither of them said anything for several seconds. Jim looked at her -- her hair was down -- she looked unbelievably beautiful. More beautiful than anyone he'd ever seen in his life -- she was radiant. Her hair had a sheen to it and it cascaded over her shoulders and framed her face, making her appear even more delicate than she usually did. Her eyes were moist as she looked at him, her head slightly tilted. He watched as she breathed deeply, and licked her lips twice. Her lips pressed together as she looked at him - into him. His chest ached, and everything suddenly went out of focus.
"Pam..." he started to say.
That was all she needed. She rushed into his embrace, looking up at him with tears streaming down her cheeks. Without saying anything, she stood up on her toes and pressed her lips into his, holding his face in her hands. He quickly responded, wrapping his arms around her, pulling her more tightly to him, leaning down into her as he felt the warmth of her body and the smooth, sweet taste on her lips. His tongue flit into her mouth, quickly, which incited an even greater need inside him to feel her close to him. He never wanted to let her go.
She was the one who pulled back eventually, stepping back down onto flat feet, and looking up at him. Her hands were still on his cheeks. "Jim," she said. "I ... am so sorry... for everything."
He looked back down at her in disbelief, his cheeks moist as well. "Why?"
She shook her head, her chin and lower lip starting to shake. "I was wrong; I was so wrong, and ... I didn't mean to cause you all that grief - I mean, I made you go to Australia, and now you're leaving for Stamford and I was so stupid and I'm so sorry..." She was sobbing now, starting to fall out of his grasp.
He clutched her more tightly and led her over to a bench on the side of the hallway, where they sat down.
"It's not your fault, Pam," he said, gently pushing the hair out of her face, and stroking her cheek.
"I know, but I made you do all those things because I was so stupid... I didn't get married," she said, and started sobbing all over again.
"You didn't ..."
"I called it off two days ago," she said, struggling to speak between breaths.
"Why didn't you... you didn't tell me... I saw your messages..."
"I know," Pam said, starting to cry more. "I know, I know. I couldn't ... I couldn't tell you over the phone, people were watching me, they were always filming me and then I didn't know if you were going to be mad and I just wanted to tell you in person and I hope you're not mad because it was so hard and I was so scared..."
"Of course I'm not mad," Jim said, taking her cheek in his hand and turning her to look at him. "I told you before, Pam, I love you. And..." He swallowed, struggling not to cry again. "I will always be in love with you; I couldn't be mad at you, especially not with you... here..."
She fell against his shoulder, crying some more, but now, more out of relief than anxiety. He held her tightly, resting his head on her shoulder. The camera focused on his face as he rested on her. The smallest, but most meaningful smile emerged on his face.
---
"Well, I never thought I'd say this, but I'm actually looking forward to coming back to Scranton." Jim smiled as Pam and him sat hand-in-hand at the cafe in the Crest Hotel. Behind them, people were lined up for the breakfast buffet. Jim and Pam were happy just to sit there, drink some coffee, and enjoy each other's company.
"Me too," Pam said, smiling at the camera.
Mike smiled back at them, balancing his usual monster-of-a-camera on his shoulder.
Jim continued: "I called Jan and asked if I could call off the transfer, and thankfully, she said okay. They had not hired anyone to cover my position in Scranton, surprise, surprise -"
"Michael interviewed a lot of people from what I hear, too. I wonder why he had so much trouble finding someone," Pam said, smirking.
"I don't know - maybe his stand-up routine act that he does during interviews scared everyone off." When Jim had initially interviewed for the position, Michael had insisting on showing Jim his burgeoning stand-up act.
"I'm a master of comedy," Michael had said, going into a barrage of horrible, offensive jokes. Anyone with half-a-brain would have immediately walked out, but Jim had been hard-up for a job ... and seven years later, here he was, going back to the same 'ol. He looked over at Pam, who looked up at him with bright eyes. She smiled widely at him. He didn't regret his decision for a minute.
---
Dwight sat straight up in his chair after Michael had come out of his office, revealing the 'good news.' He looked around and then directly at Michael. "What do you mean, Jim's coming back?"
---
END
Author's Chapter Notes:
Pam arrives in Australia ...
GreenFish is the author of 15 other stories.
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