Ryan

“Alexa, I’m going to need to cancel the reservations at Emilio’s for today.”

“Certianly, Mr. Howard. Should I reschedule?”

“That won’t be necessary.  Pam had her baby today, so I don’t think she’ll be up to coming into the city for a business lunch for a while.”

“I’ll take care of it right away, sir.”

Ryan hung up on his assistant and pushed back from his large wooden desk, mentally going over his schedule for the rest of the week and trying to figure out when he could get out to Scranton to see Pam, Jim and the new baby.

A new baby girl for the Halperts.  Wow. That was amazing news.

Enough time had passed that he didn’t immediately start to wonder what it would be like if he and Pam…if that were their…if things had turned out differently. Okay, maybe he wondered a little bit about all of the “could have beens”, but he didn’t obsess about them. Those thoughts just snuck up on him once in a while.

He thought back to those months when he and Pam had been friends.

And then lovers.

And then even better friends and business partners.

He stood and gazed out the window at the sidewalk fourteen floors below. His office was larger than it had been that day when Pam surprised him several years ago. He was more important now too…practically a vice president…than he was when he had put her in a cab and watched her drive away…back to Jim.

He turned away from the window, his gaze falling on a simple frame…two red candy wrappers mounted simply in the middle of a white background and wondered what it was that was holding him back. He had everything he had always wanted: the career, the power, the challenge, the grudging approval of his father and brother. The only thing he was missing was what he had a taste of when he was with Pam. She had taught him so much about himself. She had shown him how to connect with people…how to take and give in a relationship.  She had shown him how to fit people into a life. She was his best friend, a successful business woman, an amazing graphic artist, a wife and now a mom.

Maybe it was time for him for him to start adding more people to his life. He had mentored her in the business world, she could show him the way down a new path.

He returned to his desk, grabbed his Blackberry and scrolled to a new number he had entered earlier that week after a rare night out at club. He hadn’t been drinking much, but he enjoyed the conversation he had struck up with a young fashion buyer at the bar.

 He dialed and waited for someone to answer.

“Bloomingdales…this is Jennifer Spooner.”

….

After he hung up with a date secured for Friday night, he noticed there was new picture mail waiting. He opened up a slightly fuzzy image of Miss Cecilia Marie Halpert.  Ryan smiled. She looked just like Jim, but he whispered to the image, “I hope you turn out just like your mom.”

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Libby

She washed her hands and tried to brush all of the cat hair off her scrubs. Tabby had been a particularly nasty client, but she had gotten the cut on her leg stitched up and was able to send the temperamental feline home with her owner.

She knew she had time before her next appointment…some anal glands that needed expression, so she went into her small office to check email. She smiled when she noticed an email from her best friend.

From: Patrick.Beesly
To:  DrLibby

Lib…it’s official. I’m an uncle! Cecelia Marie Halpert was born this morning. I’m coming to Scranton so I’m hoping we can hit the town one night. I’ll call you later when I have more details.

Libby winced. She was happy for Patrick. She knew how much he was looking forward to uncle duties, but there was still a spot in her psyche that hurt just a little whenever she thought about Jim and Pam.  She wasn’t exactly bitter (she told herself that a lot) but having been used by Jim when he was still in love with Pam had hurt her more than she let on to anyone…including Patrick. 

Still, though, she couldn’t help but wish the new family well. Despite how he had wounded her, Libby knew Jim was a decent guy. Maybe one day she’d learn to trust someone enough to find another decent guy.

She didn’t have time to think about this now, though. There was a set of anal glands waiting to be expressed.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Brian, Scotty and the Guys

Jim and Pam---

The flowers are for Pam.

The stuffed bunny is for Cecilia.

The cigar and bottle of Jameson is for Jim.

We’ve been rooting for you the whole time. We wish nothing but the best for you.

Love, The Camera Crew

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Abby and Anna

She felt dirty. Seriously dirty.  She was in day 4 of a 7 day cruise  with former Bachelor and Bachelorette contestants and all of the hooking-up and fame-whoring were making her feel worse than the sea-sickness that had plagued her on her first two days on the ship. She sure was getting a lot of material for her new book,  though she’d never be as proud of anything as she was of her first book, Documenting the Documented.  That had been a learning experience both professionally and personally.

At least she could still get email on the ship. Touching base with her friends kept her sane. She logged on and noticed several emails from her sister and one from an address she hadn’t seen in a while.

CONFIDENTIAL AND OFF THE RECORD : )

Cecelia Marie Halpert was born yesterday. Mother, baby and dad are doing fine.

Toby heard today.  Makes me almost wish I could write a press release.  Almost!  Remember, I’m a recovering publicist.

Take care,

Anna

Abby smiled and the researcher in her thought about what a great follow-up book that would make: the effects of reality television on the offspring of reality stars.

She knew, though, that was a book she’d never write.

There was a pounding on her door. “Abby…body shots on the Lido deck in 10 minutes. The one who can do the most gets to make out with Jake from season 4!!!!”

“Coming!” She closed the lid on her laptop and thought about the girls she had met on this cruise and little baby Cecelia.

I hope she grows up anonymously, she thought to herself. That’s what I wish for her.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

FlonkerTed, ICanJim and PamPong

FlonkerTed has entered

PamPong: Ted!!!!

FlonkerTed: Patti!! How are things? Boy, I expected more people to be in here tonight.

PamPong: I’m sure they’ll be around later…after the episode airs.

FlonkerTed: That’s true. Most people aren’t spoiled like we are.

PamPong: Did you get the picture that Pam sent? She’s gorgeous.

FlonkerTed: She really is. I got an email from Jim and while he’s over the moon, I think he’s really freaked out.

PamPong:  They’ll be just fine. Maybe he’ll find an online dad’s chatroom he can get advice on parenthood.

FlonkerTed: Lol. Maybe.

ICanJim has entered

ICanJim: Hey everyone!

PamPong:  Hey.

ICanJim:  Do you guys have any scoop?

FlonkerTed:  Why would we have scoop?

ICanJim: I know you guys know somebody on the show. I was just wondering if you knew if it was a boy or girl.

PamPong: Sorry, can’t help you.  We’re going to have to watch just like you.

ICanJim:  I know you are holding out on me, but it’s okay. Once I get with Jim, I’ll have all of the inside dirt.

FlonkerTed: Still holding out hope? Even though they are having a baby together?

ICanJim: Doesn’t matter. He’s mine.

PamPong:  Oh, ICan.  I wish that one of these days you’d get a clue.

ICanJim: I have a clue, and I hope that that baby of theirs is super-ugly. That way Jim will finally see the light, leave Pam and find me.

FlonkerTed: You just keep on wishing, ICanJim. Keep on wishing.

____________________________________________________________________________________

Patrick

“She’s beautiful, Pam.”

“Did you see, her Paddy?”

“Yeah, I stopped by the nursery on my way in. She’s amazing. Where’s Jim?”

“His brothers took him over to the bar across the street for a celebratory shot. We figured that was the only way we could get them to leave for a while.”

“Gotcha.  I’m so proud of you, Pam. You are going to be an amazing mother.”

“I don’t know, Pat. I have no idea what I’m doing.”

“You’ll figure it out. You’ve always been good at figuring things out.”

“Yeah, I guess. Sometimes it just takes me a while. That reminds me. Remember that advice you gave me…when I was staying with you in Boston? I was having a hard time making a decision and you told me to picture where I wanted to be in 10 years.”

“I remember. I also remember that you laughed at my analogy.”

“Don’t I always? Anyway.  I did what you suggested and I pictured my life in 10 years. And you know what? I never pictured it could be this amazing and wonderful. I’m a mom, Patrick. A mom! And I’ve got this little person that I’m going to help grow into a bigger person. I just hope that if she ever finds herself in a situation where she has to make a tough choice that she’ll have someone to talk to like I had you.”

“She will, Pam. We’ll make sure of it. You know what else I’m going to make sure of?”

“What’s that?”

“That she fulfills her Uncle Patrick’s fondest wish and despite her dad’s obsession with the Phillies…I’m going to make sure she grows up into a Red Sox fan.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Karen

She found out about it the same way she found out about everything in the company…gossip. Even though she  was no longer employed by Dunder-Mifflin (she hadn’t been kept on by Sabre in the buy out), she maintained a network of contacts who passed on business news as well as gossip and rumors about her former colleagues.  She looked forward to communications of her former life because she felt like it was her one tie to who she used to be.

Sure, she loved being a stay-at-home mom. She loved having the time to play with Nicholas and make a nice home for herself and Dan. It was just so…different from where she expected to be when she related her five-year plan to David Wallace the day she interviewed with him in New York.  She was supposed to be corporate management now…part of a big city power-couple who ate Sushi twice a week and had a pass to the front of the line at all of the important clubs. At least that’s what she thought she wanted.

Now she had Dan and Nicholas and another one on the way. She spent her days with toys and Baby Mozart and Mommy-and-Me. She heated up Stouffer’s lasagna on nights when she wasn’t entertaining her husband’s partners or pharmaceutical reps with little appetizers that she got in the freezer section of the grocery store.  She went to the library and came back with stacks of picture books and copies of Chick-Lit that she read during the quiet times in the afternoon. She kept really busy doing a lot of nothing she ever thought was important.

And she loved it.

She loved knowing her husband would be home at 5:30 and that they’d eat and play with the baby. Then he’d rub her feet and pat her stomach and they’d watch something idiotic on television and laugh until it was time for bed. She loved knowing that her husband loved her…that there was nobody else he was carrying a torch for. He was hers. This was her life. It wasn’t what she had bargained for, but it was now what she wanted.

She hoped that Pam was truly happy now that she had what she wanted. She wondered if Pam ever thinks back to that night in the parking lot…after the day at the beach…when Karen had walked away from Scranton and from Jim. She wondered if this was what Pam bargained for when she gave her speech after walking over hot coals. She hopes it is.

She heard that it was a girl. Karen rubbed her stomach and hoped that her next one was a girl as well.

 She was beginning to feel outnumbered.

She bent to pick up a discarded stuffed animal and wished only good things for Jim, Pam and their new little girl. She hoped they’d be as happy as she was.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Roy

It was getting dark. All of the boys had been picked up by their parents and all of the equipment was put away. Roy loved this time of day…especially when he could spend it on the football field, the stadium lights starting to burn their way through the dusk.  He wondered if he could still sprint across the field without getting winded, but decided it was better not to try and be disappointed.

This had been his field in high-school. He had ruled this stadium. He was the king. He remembered nights hanging out here with Pam…bolting up the bleachers to show off…tumbling onto the grass in a groping expression of teenage love.

That was a long time ago, though. It was another lifetime.

In that lifetime, he and Pam had dreamed of a time when they’d be married and have kids. He always pictured a houseful of boys…an entire defensive line with Anderson emblazoned across their backs.

Pam always seemed to want a little girl in those dreams that they wove.

Roy had a little girl now. Abby was the joy of his life. She was…she was everything.

He cherished the moments he got to spend with her. And they were becoming more and more frequent.  He had been working hard to be the man that Marcia thought he could be…the father that he wanted to be. He had taken this coaching gig to bring in some extra money and found that he loved it. He loved working with the kids…loved teaching them life lessons as well as how to catch and throw.

In a way, he felt like he was finally making amends.

…for the way he had treated Pam. Indifferently. Disrespectfully.

…for the way he had taunted Jim, egging him to the point that Jim attacked him on that sports show.

…for not understanding that Pam didn’t want a corporate sponsor for her wedding.

As he locked the gate on the equipment shed, he thought back to something he had said to Jim once…back when they were on constant display.

“I keep messing up and you keep doing everything right and she’s still with me. If she thought you were a better choice, I think she would have made that clear a while ago. She’s willing to forgive me because she loves me.”

Knowing what he knew now about how Jim felt about Pam, he can imagine how much that stung. He shouldn’t have said it. He realized now how misguided and wrong he had been. Love wasn’t a free pass for bad behavior. Love was something you earned and deserved and gave back. Pam had taught him that. Marcia had reminded him why it was important.

He pulled his truck keys out of the car and climbed in. Marcia had invited him to dinner tonight and he was looking forward to playing Candyland with Abby.  After they tucked her in and read her a story, he hoped they could talk some more.

He was ready to come home.

As he drove away from the stadium…away from that lifetime long ago, he chuckled and thought about Pam.

He hoped that she had had a girl.