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One.
Jared enters the office with the rest of the small crew (Gene, Becky, and Louis The Second Camera Guy), the camera balancing on his shoulder. He watches Becky make small talk with the receptionist for a moment then looks around the office and tries to figure out the best places for shooting, all the right angles, etc. It's second nature to him now and sometimes he does it when he doesn't even have the camera.

He half-listens as Gene and Louis talk to the boss. None of what they're saying is really very interesting, so he stands next to Becky at the reception desk and fishes a jelly bean out of the candy dish. He ignores the daggers Becky stares at him; he's used to Becky hating him by now.

He nods along with a song in his head and half-listens as Becky pulls information out of the receptionist, acting like a human sub-pump for information instead of water.

He figures it's a little early in the project to alienate people with way too many personal questions, so he rolls his eyes and jumps into the conversation.

He taps on the candy dish and interrupts, "So, ball park figure, how often do you refill this thing? 'Cause I don't want to eat month-old jelly beans."

The receptionist looks a little relieved that Becky has stopped talking. She half-smiles at the lame joke and says, "Oh, you know, once or twice a year. I like to keep costs low."

He nods and extends his hand. "I'm Jared."

She shakes his hand and replies, "Pam. Nice to meet you."

He's sure that if Becky was a cobra, she would strike him right in the heart. As it is, she's human so she has to settle for glaring at him.



Two.
He doesn't know what makes him agree to it. He knows he shouldn't be helping her at all. She's supposed to be acting like he doesn't even exist, after all, and he's supposed to treat her like an animal in a zoo. There's a fourth wall and he's aware that he's smashed through it more than once at this point.

Becky is watching him like a hawk these days, eager to catch him doing something wrong so she can report him to Gene and get him fired so they can bring in a camera operator that will follow her orders like a robot.

Still, though, he can't resist running over to her desk like she's the presents under the Christmas tree and he's a five-year-old boy. He happily points out the fact that Dwight is eating a candy bar, smiling while he does so because her giddiness is contagious.

It's in the moments like this that he forgets that, on most days, he's akin to a mosquito buzzing in an ear.



Three.
Louis is filming the office while he follows Pam to wherever she's going. She doesn't go far (thankfully, since lugging the camera around isn't fun). She stops at a small convenient store around the corner and says into the camera before she goes inside, "I'm buying a Coke."

She goes into the store but he doesn't follow because he doesn't think they'll be too happy about him filming inside. He films her through the window and watches as she exits the store. She stuffs her hands into her pockets and stares into the lens. "I forgot my purse at the office, so..."

He presses the button to stop filming then reaches into his pocket with his free hand and pulls out a five dollar bill. He hands it to her and says, "I want one, too."

She smiles and thanks him, then goes back into the store to buy two Cokes.



Four.
It had only been natural to do it at the time. That's what's distressing to him. His heart started breaking when she started saying how they don't make houses like that in Scranton and when she started crying, he wanted to give her a hug. She had almost become like a little sister to him, which was strange because the only reason that he knew anything about her was because he spent his work day intruding on her life. It was why he had 'accidentally' stopped recording when she started crying harder, why they didn't have the "dramatic" and "intense" footage Becky had been salivating at the mouth for. He didn't care much for dramatics - it felt wrong to take advantage of Pam, to manipulate her sadness into ratings any further... so his thumb 'accidentally' hit the button.

Now he stood with Gene in the parking lot, awaiting a smackdown.

He kicks at the ground and wonders when Gene is going to lay into him and give him a speech about carelessness or something like that.

Instead, Gene just squints in the sunlight and puts his hands on his hips, then says, "You really screwed the pooch with this one, Jared."

"I know," he admits quietly. "I'm sorry. My hand, my finger, it just -"

Gene holds up a hand to silence him. "Whatever. It doesn't matter. We can't get that back. We just have to use what we got. Just don't screw up again, okay? It'll be your job next time, I can guarantee that."

He nods to indicate he understands.

Gene moves toward the building, then stops and turns around. "Hey, if Becky asks about this, tell her I really reamed you out, okay? I'm sick of her complaining about me going easy on everybody."

Jared smiles and nods.



Five.
She talks softly about not going to New York, unsure about leaving now because everything has become uncertain. It isn't the first time she's been close to tears in a talking head shot and it's not the first time Jared's wanted to pat her on the shoulder and offer a smile. He holds back because this is his job and his wife and kids like it when they can afford food and things like that.

He bites his lip and tries not to blurt anything out. He's saved when Becky's cell phone vibrates in her pocket and she excuses herself from the room. He shuts off the camera and leans back in his chair. His eyes dart from the door to Pam and back again. He thinks about his wife and knows he has to do it.

He takes a deep breath and says, "If I show you something, will you promise not to tell anybody?"

Pam stares at him for a moment then offers a small nod.

"I mean it," Jared warns. "I could get fired for this. Becky would rat my ass out in a second."

"I know. I promise," Pam says, and he knows she does. She's got honest eyes, he thinks.

He locks the conference room door and closes the blinds, and his heart races. He's going to be fired. He's fairly certain that's the only thing that will come from this, but he pushes the thought away and rigs the TV so it'll play the video straight from the camera. He rewinds through the footage and stops at the part he wants to show her.

He turns around to face her, his body blocking the television screen.

"Do you swear?" he asks. "Do you absolutely promise?"

"Yes," she says. He can hear the tension in her voice and knows that the last thing she wants to be doing right now is playing games.

He lets out a long puff of air before pressing the play button and stepping away from the television. There is no audio, but he's confident that the visual will be enough. He watches her instead of the footage - watches a quizzical expression fall over her features as she watches Jim talking on the screen, watches as her eyes widen when Jim flashes the ring at the camera.

He stops the camera and turns to her. "You can't say anything!"

"I don't know what to -"

"I said don't say anything!" Jared says. He can't help from smiling. He runs a hand through his hair before unhooking the camera from the television as fast as possible.

He sets the camera back up to where it had been to capture her talking head and focuses in on her in the lens. She looks happy.

He looks up at her. "Hey, you're supposed to be upset, remember?"

"Right, sorry," she says. She wipes the smile from her face. "Is this better?"

"Much," he says and re-opens the blinds and unlocks the door.

He goes back to focusing the camera. He looks at her through the lens but not directly and says quietly, "He'll ask."

A megawatt smile breaks through her sad act and she says brightly, "I know. Thank you."

He smiles back, but stops when Becky opens the door. He's thankful that Pam is acting depressed again.

Becky eyes him warily and asks sharply, "What'd you do?"

"Nothing," he lies. "Just needed to refocus."

Becky narrows her eyes at him then turns to Pam. "What did he do?"

"Nothing," Pam says quietly in what she hopes is an upset-sounding tone.

When Becky looks away, Pam throws Jared a small wink and he knows he's done his good deed for the day.



carbondalien is the author of 25 other stories.
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