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Story Notes:
Special thanks to Emily Halpert, who reminded me that it takes sunshine and rain to make a rainbow. I was going to work on this some more, but belsum says, and I quote "Post it! Post it!" So... enjoy!
It had been a hot, clear Friday afternoon, but as evening approached gray clouds were gathering, as though the sky were furrowing its brow in anger. Pam sat on the stoop, watching the sky. She brushed aside a damp strand of hair that had come loose from her ponytail, tucking it behind her ear.


Most of what she owned was now boxed up and stacked neatly in her small living room. It wasn’t a great apartment, but she was very sad to leave it. She’d moved in to this place shattered and was moving out whole. She had reassembled herself with tears and hope and bravery as the adhesive, and then he had come back and filled in the missing pieces. Squinting slightly, Pam wondered if she’d be able to draw something like that. She’d never tried a self-portrait.


Finally, the car she’d been waiting for pulled into the lot. Pam smiled and watched Jim extract himself from the front seat. She loved to watch him in motion, graceful, as though he belonged wherever he happened to be. It occurred to her, though, that she only saw him when he was with her, which was exactly where he belonged.


Jim reached her in time to notice the slight smile that accompanied her convoluted train of thought. “Hey. What’s so funny?” he asked.


“Hmm. Nothing. Just glad you’re you,” she answered.


Jim angled his head and raised his eyebrows just as she expected. “Thanks?”


“You’re welcome.” She smiled and tilted her head back as he sat down, accepting the gentle kiss he placed on her lips.


“Are you done? What can I do to help you?” Jim asked, gesturing back toward the inside of the building.


Pam let her gaze linger for a moment at the drop of sweat running down from Jim’s temple to the loosened neck of his work shirt before answering. “I’m done. Everything’s packed and ready to move tomorrow.” She shook her head slightly. “I can’t believe how much more stuff I have now. It didn’t take me nearly this long to move in.”


Jim’s smile faded just a little. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here to help you with that,” he said quietly.


“Well, that was my own fault, now, wasn’t it?” Despite the heat, Pam rested her head against Jim’s shoulder. Thunder rumbled softly in the distance, and Pam noticed that the wind had picked up slightly, blowing fallen leaves across the sidewalk.


Jim kissed the top of her head lightly. “Still…”


“I know.” She acknowledged it softly; the pain was behind them, but they were both respectful of the scars they’d left on one another. She squeezed his arm gently before continuing in a lighter tone. “So, you can make it up to me by helping me tomorrow. And thank you, again, for letting me leave the stuff I can’t take to New York in your storage space. I promise, it’s only temporary.”


Jim shifted so that Pam had to sit up. He was looking into her eyes with an expression she couldn’t immediately place. “Yeah, about that…” Jim paused, and then started again. “Pam, it doesn’t have to be temporary.”


Another rumble of thunder sounded and Pam noticed vaguely that the sky had darkened. Jim’s eyes, too, were dark and serious and too close for her to keep looking into them directly. She thought she knew what that look meant, what his words were leading to, but she didn’t want to get her hopes up again. She was whole, but she was still fragile, and her love for him made her vulnerable as much as it made her strong.


She looked instead at the hair above his ear, which the humidity was curling slightly, and tried a joke to cover her nerves. “I’ll need my stuff when I get back, Jim. Um, unless you want me to stay in New York forever. Then I guess you’re welcome to my high school yearbooks and my set of good cake pans.”


Under his serious eyes, Jim’s mouth curved into a half smile. “No. No, I’ll definitely need you to come back.” The thunder was louder now, and Pam wasn’t sure if it was the rising wind or the low timbre of Jim’s voice that caused the shiver across her bare arms.


“For the cake pans?” Pam wasn’t even sure what she was saying; her voice was barely a whisper.


“Pam.”


In Jim’s eyes, Pam could see the reflection of the lightning streaking across the sky somewhere behind her. His voice was husky with emotion. “Pam, when you come home from New York, I want you to come home. To me.”


A loud clap of thunder caused him to hesitate a moment before he continued. “This isn’t how I planned this. I wanted to make this really special for you. I tried- things got really screwed up, and then I wanted to wait for the right moment, but…you’re leaving in a few days and I want you to know that I’m waiting for you when you get back.” Jim smiled, and Pam thought she might cry from the beauty of it. “I think I can make it three months without you around, Pam, but that’s as far as I’m willing to go. So…” Jim took a deep breath and reached into his jacket pocket.


At that moment, the clouds broke and the rain began in earnest. Pam gasped from the sudden dousing, and Jim leapt from the stoop, pulling her beside him under the small overhang that sheltered the front door of her building.


They were both silent for a moment, clinging to one another in the doorway, drenched and stunned with the enormity of what had almost, was about to, happen. Pam took a deep breath. The joy of being in that moment with Jim caught up to her, and she started to laugh. Jim looked down at her in surprise, and then he, too, started laughing. “Marry me, Pam,” he said. “Will you? Please?”


She was sweaty and tired and drenched. There were no fireworks, no elaborate schemes, no grand gestures. Just Jim and the heat and a sudden thunderstorm, and it was perfect. “Yes. Yes, of course, yes.”


With a deep sigh, Jim pulled her into his arms. They’d been through rain and sunshine. Pam supposed this was what a rainbow felt like.
Chapter End Notes:

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.



nqllisi is the author of 87 other stories.
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