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Author's Chapter Notes:
Heading back to Jim's after much drinking and Pam eavesdropping ;-)

"Oh my gosh, Jim, no, you cannot do that," Pam said between laughs after Jim unlocked his front door and stepped aside to let her in. It was past midnight and neither were ever without a beer at Amy's the entire evening.

He stood next to her in the doorway and hung up his coat, "But Dwight would fall for it so hard."

"He would and then you would definitely get arrested. I am not visiting you in jail." She had her head turned while walking into the living room and as a result she ran straight into the arm of the couch and crumpled over in a fit of giggles.

"I cannot believe how drunk you are," Jim said, also stumbling to get to her and help her sit upright on the couch.

Once she was situated, Pam sighed, "Yeah, I'm definitely crashing here tonight, if that's okay?"

Jim nodded slowly while taking a seat, his drunken brain overloading at that thought. "Yes, of course," he answered after a long delay, but Pam was already fussing with the remote.

"These things have too many buttons now," Pam half-shouted, then started laughing when Jim took it from her.

Jim felt like he had to pour all of his concentration into the remote, Pam occasionally appearing in his periphery with an exaggerated scowl on her face. "Stop it," he said, grinning at her laughter. He finally got the television on and flipped the channel to TNT.

"Oh, When Harry Met Sally, I love this movie!" Pam said.

"I do too," Jim replied, turning up the volume.

Pam turned to him and giggled, "Really?

"Well yeah, I mean it's a Rom Com but it's classic, the Pictionary scene, the split-screen convo with their friends, that karaoke scene which actually kind of happen to me once."

Pam raised her hand, "Hold on, what do you mean 'it kind of happened to me once'?"

"I mean in college, I may have once drunkenly sang my heart out at bar karaoke only to realize when the song was over an ex-girlfriend was in the audience the whole time," Jim said, feeling his cheeks redden at the memory.

"What song?" Pam said, an oddly serious look on her face.

Jim crinkled his nose, "Careless Whisper."

"Oh no!" Pam howled, doubling over.

Jim was just drunk enough to start belting out lyrics, "Guilty feet have got no rhythm."

Pam sat back up and starting fanning her face with her hands, she was laughing so hard tears were in her eyes. "Stop, I can't-" she said, trying to catch her breath.

Jim sat back, smiling while Pam exhaled slowly and regained her composure. Their eyes met and soft smiles spread across their faces before Pam looked back to the television.

"Oh man it's the scene!” Pam gasped. Jim chuckled and turned his attention to the screen and the quintessential scene of Meg Ryan writhing and pounding the table as she moaned in the middle of a dinner.

"'I'll have what she's having',” Jim and Pam simultaneously said with the older actress and both erupted into more laughter.

"Oh wow, tonight's been so much fun," Pam mused once they had both stopped laughing. She glanced over to Jim, "I really don't remember the last time I've had this much fun."

Jim smiled in reply, but felt it fade when she looked back to the television. Just stay quiet, his mind screamed, just enjoy watching the movie with her, but his mouth wasn't listening. "Hey," Jim softened his voice and waited for Pam to look at him, "Why ... why did you lie about being broken up with Roy?"

Pam chewed her lip and looked to her hands, "I don’t know, I just - I’ve been with him since I was 16 years old, we’re always together. I figured at a party with a bunch of strangers it was okay to pretend for one night I’m single."

Jim nodded, "Okay." There, brain, elephant in the room addressed, he told himself. A loud commercial came on and Jim turned down the volume.

"It’s not okay though," Pam said quietly after a moment.

Jim waited equally long to reply, "Why not?"

"Because, I liked it. I liked not wearing that ring and I liked complaining about my dumb ex and I -" Pam looked to Jim, "I liked the way you looked at me when I took off my coat."

Jim blinked. "How did I look at you?" he said in a low voice.

"Like ... I'm more that some frumpy girl you work with." Pam said.

His mind flooded immediately with thoughts like "Of course you are, you always have been" and "How can you possibly not see?" but none reached his tongue. Instead he felt himself lean forward until his lips were on hers. It was less a passionate kiss and more two sets of dry lips mashed against each other, and he quickly pulled away. Her eyes were wide and he knew he had completely misinterpreted everything. "I’m sorry," he whispered, shaking his head.

But then her lips met his, her thin fingers weaving into the hair behind his ears. Without breaking the kiss she somehow sat up on her knees and then turned to straddled his lap, letting out a small moan when his tongue touched hers. One of his hands was in her hair gripping her curls while the other roamed down her side to her waist. A little further and he felt the skin exposed above her hips, then the waistband of her jeans. She kept her arms draped around his neck until one hand was stroking his jawline, then moving slowly down his chest. It felt surreal, he had thought about this practically every day for two years and now it was happening and her lips were so supple and willing and her skin was so soft and .... and this wasn't right.

"Pam," he said, letting her lips still touch his, "What are we doing?"

"Kissing," Pam said with a breathy giggle.

"We can’t," he said, his body still not really making much effort to stop her or push her away.

"But we are," she said, "we are currently kissing." The hand that had been moving down over his sweater had reached the button of his jeans, where just a centimeter past that he could feel the denim was already getting tight.

"Pam, please," he sat back and dropped his hands away.

He turned his head slightly but could see her facial expression morph from confusion and surprise to embarrassment and nervousness. "Oh, oh my god," she said to herself as she crawled off his lap.

He looked over to her sitting on the edge of the couch with her face buried in her hands, her breath unsteady. "We’re really drunk," he said, unsure if trying to blame it on alcohol was more for her benefit or his.

She finally lifted her head and nodded, though she didn’t looked at him. "Yeah."

"I, um, I’ll take the couch," Jim said.

"No Jim, I can take --"

"It’s really fine," he insisted. "You know which one is my room, right? And there should be new toothbrushes in the bathroom drawer upstairs."

"Okay, thank you." She stood slowly and had her eyes lowered when she walked past him. He kept her in his periphery while scratching the back of his neck. "Jim," she called to him from the bottom of the stairs.

"Yeah?"

She was far away and a little blurry in his drunk, tired eyes but he could see a small smile on her face. "I really had a lot of fun at Amy's."

He weakly smiled back, "I did too."

"G'night,” she finished, slowly making her way up the stairs.

Once she was out of view, Jim stared ahead at nothing at all and took several deep breaths.

Chapter End Notes:
Well that took a turn, stay tuned for more soon! Thanks for reading and reviews are <3

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