Promises, promises

Pam was sketching the rapids when Michael paused at the front desk, as he did almost every day on his way in. "Pam! Sweet Home Ala-Pam-a! I need you and Ryan in my office right away."

Pam rolled her eyes slightly and threw a look over at Jim, who was smirking but carefully avoiding her gaze. She turned on the voice-mail system, then rose and walked to follow Michael. On the way by she glared at Jim, who was softly singing to himself something that sounded suspiciously like Lynyrd Skynyrd.

"Pam, Ryan, today I have a very special project for you two. I need you to locate a zebra for me. Preferably one that you can ride." It was not the weirdest thing Michael had ever said, Pam was relatively sure of that. She thought it might make the top five. She noticed that Ryan didn't seem surprised at all.

"Michael, why do you need a zebra?"

"I just...it's a very important work-related issue. That I can't tell you about. Strictly confidential."

"You need to ride a zebra for a confidential paper-sales related issue?" Pam was proud of the way her voice remained perfectly uninflected. She'd been working on that tone for years, using it to hide all her annoyance and her occasional amusement at Michael and his antics.

"Yes. Yesssss, okay? Just...find me a zebra. Today. Go, go, go," Michael replied, shooing them out of his office.

Pam perched herself on the edge of Jim's desk. "Michael wants me to find him a zebra to ride." She was also proud of her ability to keep a straight face, especially in light of the expression on Jim's after this revelation.

"Thank you for that image, Pam. I may never sleep again." He grinned at her as she hopped down and returned to the reception desk. She thought Jim had a wonderful smile, but she would never tell him that. She wouldn't want him to get the wrong idea.

Several minutes later, Ryan approached. "I guess we could do an internet search?" he said hopelessly. Pam nodded and Ryan pulled a chair around. It was a tight squeeze, two people behind her desk, but it was possible. They'd just started googling "zebra scranton" when Kelly came into the office, looking flustered and rushed.

"Oh, my god, I can't believe what a morning I'm having," she said to Ryan, who offered the barest of smiles in return. "I have to get to my desk, but don't forget that we need to make plans for tomorrow, OK?" Pam noticed, not for the first time, that Kelly rarely breathed while she was talking. She looked at Ryan, who shrugged as Kelly smiled and scurried away.

"This site says you can't ride a zebra," Ryan was saying as Roy appeared through the glass doors. Ryan's eyes swept from Pam to Roy, pausing slightly in the direction of the sales department.

Pam pretended she didn't notice; instead, she smiled up at her fiance. "Hey, you," she said. "What brings you up here?"

Roy gave Pam his most ingratiating, please-don't-be-mad smile. "Hey. Um, look, you remember Larry Richards who used to work in the warehouse with us?"

"Sure."

"Well, he's back in town for the weekend and really wants to get a bunch of the old gang together at his brother's house to watch the game and stuff, maybe take me out to get a beer to celebrate the wedding. You know, tomorrow."

Pam felt the familiar flood of disappointment and anger. "Tomorrow? But Roy, you said we'd go-- "

"Yeah, I know, babe. I'm sorry. I'll make it up to you, OK? Don't be mad, I had no idea he was going to be around." Roy gave another apologetic grin and started to walk back out of the office. "Oh, hey- do you think you could make some of your homemade salsa for him? I kinda promised I'd bring some."

"What? Sure, fine, whatever." Pam was beyond annoyed. Not only was she furious at Roy, but she was irritated that Ryan was sitting there trying to look invisible, and that Jim was, again, avoiding her eyes. His expression wasn't a smirk anymore, though- he looked...something she didn't want to analyze but which just pissed her off more. Grabbing her sketch pad roughly, she hissed, "I'm taking my break" and rushed away from the desk. Ryan stared after her, and then looked at Jim.

"What?" Jim asked the temp, who rolled his eyes and went back to googling "zebra rides".

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Pam was alone in the break-room. This was no surprise, since it wasn't quite 9:30. Everyone had their morning coffee; no one else was quite ready for their mid-morning break. She was viciously sketching mist when the door opened. She looked up and stifled a groan. It was Dwight, followed closely by Jim. Having witnessed Pam's mood just moments before, Jim thought it wise to be there with the two of them in case he needed to intervene- not that he'd want to save Dwight's life, but he'd be morally obligated to do so.

"Question: You're a woman, Pam," Dwight said.

"That had better not be your question, Dwight," she intoned coldly, ignoring Jim entirely.

Dwight blinked twice, his expression unchanged. "As a woman, if you made someone swear that he would only buy you a "practical" birthday gift, what exactly would you be expecting from him?"

"Brown leather gloves." Jim's eyebrows shot up with an almost audible snap as Pam instantly rattled off an actual answer.

"Thank you, Pam. That's very helpful." Dwight left the room as abruptly as he'd entered, followed by Pam. Jim looked around for a moment, wondering what the hell had just happened.

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Ryan took his lunch early- he was exasperated at the futile search, and at Michael's half-hourly requests for "status updates." He was joined in the lunchroom almost instantly by Kelly. From her desk, Pam watched them for a moment, deep in conversation. At least, Kelly was. Finally, Ryan got up and left the room, leaving Kelly alone, her shoulders slightly hunched. After a few minutes, Pam saw Jim get up and go after his own lunch. She didn't feel like joining him today, though, particularly when she saw him get waylaid by Kelly. Even from this distance and this angle, she could see from his body language that he was incredibly uncomfortable.

The phone rang, and Pam turned her attention to the incoming caller. Four calls came in back-to-back; when she was done, she looked up to see Jim in his customary position leaning over her desk, an uncharacteristically unhappy expression on his face. "What's wrong with you?" she asked curiously.

"You will not believe what I just walked into," he started. With a sigh, he dropped his head, his eyes now looking down at the sketchbook Pam had been carrying around all day. He cocked his head and raised his eyes. "Hey, did you draw that?"

This was a dumb question, considering that it was her sketch pad on her desk. "Yeah."

"I think I've been there. The Mill Stream waterfall something-or-other. In Hawley."

"Yeah, that's the place. My cousin got married there- right there by the waterfall, and then we had the reception inside the inn. This is incredible, Pam." He was grinning at her with something like wonder in his expression. "I can't believe you know this place well enough to draw it this perfectly from memory."

"We used to go there once every summer when I was a kid. It's one of my favorite places." The look on Jim's face made Pam blush for some reason. Without thinking about it, she blurted out, "Do you want to go there with me tomorrow?"

A spark lit in Jim's eyes, and then almost immediately went out. "I can't, Pam. I'm - I'm going with Kelly to her ten-year reunion."

Pam's voice went completely flat. "You're going out with Kelly?"

"Oh, oh, no. I mean, yeah, kinda, but no. Ryan point-blank refused to go with her and she was crying and..." Jim suddenly looked ill. "And the next thing I know, I'm telling her how much I love high school reunions." He looked deflated, and his bleak tone would have made her laugh, if she hadn't felt so deflated herself.

"Oh. OK." Pam figured that it was because it was her second disappointment in one day that this time it hurt more.

"I'm really sorry, Pam. We'll go some other time, though, OK?"

"Really?"

"Absolutely. You have my word." Jim reached his hand toward her to shake on it. His hand was warm and engulfed hers. Pam smiled. She thought she could believe him. He went back to his desk and she tried googling "petting zebras Scranton."