Jim gulped. He’d never actually thought about what it might be to see Pam like this…just, around. Naturally. Normally. Dressed fairly casually, like she had just gotten out of bed (and she had just gotten out of bed, his mind reminded him, followed by flashes of what it might be like to have been just getting out of that same bed). Just, well, being her. Not dressed up for work, or even for a barbecue. Just completely and totally Pam.

He’d thought quite a bit about seeing her as his girlfriend, though that didn’t necessarily mean he was prepared for that, either. But there was something gobsmacking about default Pam; ordinary Pam; the Pam that (God willing) he’d get to see every day if things went on as he hoped they’d go on.

He was vaguely aware she wasn’t as gorgeous as she’d been on Casino Night, when the lilac of her dress had shimmered against her eyes and her hair to make her look like a creature of ethereal light grounded impossibly in the curves that the dress knew just how to accentuate without hugging. He knew in some sense that he probably could have recounted if you’d given him a few minutes alone that he’d seen her look more classically beautiful at the office too: not just at camaraderie events like the Casino Night or the Booze Cruise, but the times she’d been a little more careful with her attire and her makeup, like when Roy’s mother was coming to dinner (he could always tell when Roy’s family was going to be around, because Pam looked a little more nervous and yet a lot more put together). He was cognizant in some part of him that was definitely not in control right now that he would probably see her looking even more beautiful someday, if he played his cards right.

But right now he would have put every dollar he had, Australian and American and whatever other nations used dollars, on the proposition that she was as beautiful as it was possible for anyone to be.

Did he express any of this? Did he, perhaps, break out into a Shakespeare sonnet or at least a Byronic ode? No. Of course not.

He said “guh.”

And then “um.”

And by then she was laughing and somehow that made everything OK in the world.

When he finally picked his jaw up off the floor, he was able to make a little more sense, and he asked her what the plan was for today.

Of course, she immediately put the ball back in his court. “I don’t know; you’re the one with a trip planned. I’ve already achieved everything I was planning to do on this vacation.” Somehow without seeming to move she was standing next to him, in a perfect position for him to hug, and so he did. “And you’re the experienced Sydney traveler, remember? All roads lead to the Anzac Memorial?”

“Uh, right.” He wracked his brains for a ‘plan’ of a ‘visit’ and had nothing besides the two rugby games, both of which he’d invited her to but neither of which was today. “Well, I’d hate to just bring you to the exact same places I’ve already described to you in what I’m sure was mind-numbing detail.”

“It wasn’t, but go on.”

“So, uh, that leaves somewhere new?” He used the hand not holding her to rub the back of his neck. “I hadn’t really planned past the ‘arriving in Sydney’ part of the trip. Or maybe the ‘not being in Scranton’ part.” He blushed. “I mean, I did manage to fill two days, but you know what I mean.”

“I do.” She hugged him. He hugged back. “So if we’re both at sea, what does one do in Australia?”

“Apparently meet up with people from back home.”

**

She stuck her tongue out at him. “Besides that.”

“Uh, get confused about what day it is? Flush toilets to see if they really run the other way? You’ll have to give me a clue here, Beesly.”

“See kangaroos, dummy.” She elbowed him in the ribs. “It’s Australia, Jim. Can we really go back home if we haven’t seen a marsupial at all? I’m not sure they’d let us into the country.”

“You’re right. They wouldn’t believe we’d actually been where we claimed.” When he didn’t spring into action she elbowed him again. It was nice having Jim’s ribs all to herself.

“What?”

“So, where do we go to find kangaroos?” At his blank look she rolled her eyes again and fought the urge to laugh. “Jim, did you do any preparing for this trip at all?”

“That would be a no.” He looked sheepish and she wanted to kiss him, so she did.

“Then let your amazing new girlfriend show you how it’s done.” She took his hand and he let himself be led downstairs towards the front desk of the hostel.

“Wait, wait, I’m with you on the amazing new girlfriend thing—you are amazing, it’s definitely new, and I’m glad beyond measure you’re my girlfriend—but you didn’t plan this either. Did you?”

He looked so confused she took pity on him. Well, she would have done that anyway. She liked him. She definitely loved him. So she would have anyway. But he also looked confused.

“Of course I didn’t. But I did arrange all my travel out of a hotel— ” he looked more confused somehow so she briefly explained “—I was staying there when I moved out of our…Roy’s place—and I know that they have information. A business center or…” she reached out triumphantly with her non-Jim hand and seized a flyer “a stack of brochures for local sights.”

She waved the brochure in his face. “The Australian Botanic Garden. With a kangaroo on the cover.”

“Wait, isn’t that the place I was when we met? The Botanic Garden?”

She flipped open the brochure. “No, apparently that was the Royal Botanic Gardens. This is the Australian Botanic Garden and it’s out west of the city.” She showed him the map. “See?”

“Ah yes, how could I be so silly as to get those two confused.” His eyes twinkled and she laughed.

“Exactly. Well, shall we?” She waggled the brochure. “It’s a ways out, and time’s a wasting.”

“Only because someone took forever to get ready.”

“Shut it, Halpert.”