Jim leaned against the brick exterior of Scranton Import Mechanics, drumming his fingers on his leg. When shuttling everyone back from visiting Meredith at the hospital, his engine started making a grinding noise, and he left work a little early to get his car dropped off before the auto shop closed. The door opened next to him and the gray-haired woman who ran the office poked her head out. "You sure you don't need a ride? I'll be finished here in five minutes if you do."

Jim smiled and shook his head. "No, thank you. My girlfriend should be on her way." He turned his head to see a small blue car pull up to the curb. "There she is, actually."

"Okay, they should run diagnostics first thing in the morning, then call you," the woman said, flipping the sign on the door to 'closed'.

"Thanks," Jim said, slipping his bag strap onto his shoulder and walking to the curb. He jumped in the car quickly, placed his coat and bag in the footwell, and quickly kissed Pam, the tips of his fingers pulsing after he touched her cheek.

After the first stop light, Pam started to tap the steering wheel. "The camera crew is gonna be relentless."

Jim nodded, "Yeah, I expect them to be."

"They pulled me into the conference room to ask again if I was seeing anyone, that's why I was late."

"Did you tell them you're only seeing men you randomly pick up on the street?"

Pam giggled. "Oh, and Kevin's car was still in the parking lot, and he left before my interview."

Jim chuckled, "I do always admire Kevin's attempts at being inconspicuous."

Pam turned left at the next light and tapped the steering wheel again. "Maybe if we just tell people, we can preempt the gossip, you know? Kind of like you and – you and Karen."

Jim ran his finger along the armrest. "Problem with that was no one could tell we were dating even after we told everyone," he said with a nervous chuckle.

"They're just going to be watching us until they see something," Pam said after a moment, pulling up next to Jim's car in the parking lot of his apartment building.

"Yeah, I know," Jim said, chewing his lip.

Pam put the car in park and turned in her seat towards Jim. "So what do you think about, you know, going public," she said with a smirk.

Jim smiled, and locked eyes with Pam. He was still having a hard time even believing this was happening. He was waiting to wake up, go to work, and find Pam still wearing her hair tied back with a pastel cardigan on her slumped shoulders, cheap brassy-gold engagement ring still on her finger. Even the fact that he could lean over the console right now and kiss her as long and deep as he wanted was still too much for his brain to process. He was an expert at secretly being in love with Pam Beesly. Openly being in love with her was proving to be a bit more difficult.

"Look," he said softly, his eyes on her knee, "They're gonna figure it out eventually. For now let's just . . . enjoy this."