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Author's Chapter Notes:
Bring your pet to work day/Take a half day on Wednesday-day.

Pam was actually excited on her drive into work today. Probably not for the reasons that Michael would have wanted, but regardless having Nikita to hang out and play with all day was certainly something she could look forward to. Pam had packed Nikita’s favourite blanket, a few toys including a knotted rope, her bowls, and some dog food into her kennel and loaded it into her car earlier this morning. Pam grabbed some poop pouches on her way by the laundry room and called out to Kiida, who came racing down the hallway excitedly to see what all the fuss was about. Pam reached down to scratch behind her ears and then affixed a leash to Nikita’s collar, before grabbing her lunch and leading Nikita out of the house, locking the door behind her.

Pam had been out and about with Nikita enough by this point that she didn’t need to be loaded into her kennel to drive around, and so Pam opened the back passenger side door of her Matrix and motioned for Nikita to hop on in, which she did enthusiastically.

Pam arrived in the parking lot a little later then she usually would, and so most of her coworkers’ cars were already present. Pam decided to bring Nikita’s kennel up first and so she grabbed it out of the trunk, telling her to stay as she tried to climb out the back after the kennel. Pam couldn’t help but grin at this. Pam quickly nipped into the office to put the kennel down, but didn’t really see a good place for it, as there was not a lot of room behind her desk. Pam decided that it could wait and quickly walked up to her desk and deposited the kennel in front of it.

“Good morning, Beesly,” Pam heard Jim call from his desk.

“Morning Jim,” Pam said as she turned to give him a quick wave, “Be right back!”

Pam went back to her car and got Nikita out, locking it after closing the door behind her, and walked back into the building. Deciding to avoid the elevator just in case someone she rode up with had allergies or something, Pam took Nikita up the stairs to their floor and walked her to the office with her leash held loosely, pleased to see she wasn’t straying too far in the new and exciting environment.

Jim waited for Pam to come back into the office with Nikita, he was excited to see Pam with Nikita all day, hoping that the look of joy and contentment he had seen the first time Pam met Nikita would make another appearance.

Jim heard the door to the office open, followed by Kevin’s voice.

“That’s a nice doggy,” Kevin said slowly, and Jim turned to see him rubbing behind Nikita’s ears, both of them looking very pleased.

“Thanks Kev,” Pam said, and Jim’s gaze snapped to see her on the other side of Nikita and Kevin, a beaming smile on her face.

“Kiida,” Jim called out, rolling away from his desk and patting his legs as Kevin walked by to accounting, “Hug!”

Nikita did the cutest thing, looking up to Pam as she stood beside her seeming to ask permission. Pam smiled even wider and let go of Nikita’s leash, and that was all the permission the dog needed to bound up to Jim and practically jump in his lap. Jim gave Kiida a rough rub on her spine that he knew she to liked, before letting her down to the floor again.

“Oh my god, that is soooo cute,” Jim heard Kelly squeal, and he turned to see her standing at the kitchen door with her hands covering her mouth in glee.

Jim noticed Phyllis also looking at him with a matronly smile, while Stanley looked on with indifference, already working on his morning crossword puzzle.

“Aren’t you going to introduce us Pam,” Phyllis said with a smile and a nod to Nikita.

“Of course,” Pam said as she picked up Nikita’s leash and led her to a few feet from Phyllis’ desk, before getting her to sit. By this point Kelly had come up to stand behind Phyllis, bouncing on her feet.

“This is my dog, her name is Nikita,” Pam said, making a Vanna White gesture showing off Nikita, causing Jim to hide a wide smile behind his hand at how proud Pam looked.

“Oh, isn’t she just a dear,” Phyllis gushed, “So well behaved, where did you find her?”

“Can I pet her,” Kelly burst, finally losing her resolve to stand behind Phyllis.

“Go ahead,” Pam said with a smile as Kelly came around and kneeled in front of Nikita, “Nikita was actually Jim’s cousin’s old dog,” Pam addressed Phyllis’ question.

“Oh, that wasn’t the one that,” Phyllis trailed off with a look to Jim, he nodded in reply, “Oh my, that was such a tragedy, I’m so sorry Jim,” Jim simply nodded, accepting Phyllis’ sympathies, not wanting to dwell on the topic of his cousin.

“She is so cute, aren’t you girl,” Kelly said while rubbing Nikita’s cheeks, seemingly oblivious to the conversation going on over her head.

Kelly stopped attacking Nikita’s cheeks after a minute and retreated to the annex, apparently having had her fill of cute, and Phyllis simply reached out a hand and let Nikita lick it before getting back to her work. Pam moved on through the office, stopping at Creed and Meredith’s cluster asking if they’d like to pet her. Meredith declined, and Creed… was Creed.

“That thing isn’t a drug sniffer is it? I wasn’t told we were having a shakedown,” Creed said in a panicky voice before grabbing a bag of something and tearing out of the office.

Jim met Pam’s eyes after that and made his patented ‘What was that’ face to her, earning a stifled giggle from her across the room.

Pam brought Nikita over to the accounting cluster, curious to see how this would go. She had already introduced Kevin in the entryway, and so he just quickly pet Nikita as she went by. Oscar gave Nikita a few head pats and commented on how well trained she was. Angela was the last person in the main office asides from Michael and Dwight to meet Nikita, as Pam had not been particularly looking forward to how any of them would react to her.

Angela glared at Pam, and then at Nikita, as she sat obediently at the edge of Angela’s area.

“Would you like to pet her,” Pam prompted.

“I would like to do no such thing,” Angela replied in a tone that led to Nikita cocking her head at her, “Get that ugly mutt out of my sight, I can’t stand the way it’s beady little eyes are staring at me.”

Pam was kind of disappointed at how uneventful that encounter had been, she had half expected Angela to have her legion of cats under her desk, but then she supposed Angela was never one for taking advantage of company time. Pam could have sworn she heard a muffled meow from the accounting department as she walked away, though she convinced herself that she must have imagined it by the time she sat herself down at her desk, with Nikita taking up residence underneath it.

Pam finally started her computer and started transcribing voicemails, and noticed Dwight finally enter the office for the morning, not a moment too soon as the clock ticked over to nine o’clock, almost tarnishing his perfect record. Pam did a double take as Dwight went back to the door and grabbed someone’s arm and dragged them through, seeing him hauling in a young amish looking man. Pam shot a look at Jim to get his attention and jerked her head towards the door.

“Morning Dwight,” Pam greeted, “Who’s this,” she asked, gesturing at the young man.

“Good morning Pamela, this is Cousin Mose,” Dwight gestured to the man, “Since I have no pets, I brought the next best thing,” he said, looking proud.

“What about one of your animals, Dwight,” Jim asked from his desk, “You know, from your beet farm?”

“I could hardly bring one of them in, idiot,” Dwight admonished, “They are working animals, they have no place in an office; Mose, on the other hand, is great at mundane tasks.”

Pam heard someone clear their throat from the kitchen doors and looked to see Toby standing there with a mug, looking like he was in physical pain at what he had just overheard. Pam shot Jim a wide-eyed look and hid her smile behind her hand.

“Come on Dwight,” Toby started exasperatedly, “You cannot bring another person into work with you, there are liability concerns…”

“Uhg, fine,” Dwight said with disgust, before ushering Mose back to the door, peeling two twenties out of his wallet, and saying that he would pick him up at the arcade at lunch to take him back to the farm.

“Happy now,” he asked upon re-entering the office, shooting Toby a glare.

Toby just shook his head and walked back into the kitchen, mumbling something that Pam couldn’t make out from her desk, but she thought she saw Stanley nodding along.

As Dwight settled in his desk, Pam finished taking messages, putting them up on the ledge in the organiser, and decided she was going to go make herself some tea. As she got up Nikita roused herself at the base of her chair and made to follow her.

“Kiida, place,” Pam commanded, pointing at the area behind her desk.

Pam got to the kitchen door and looked back to see Nikita sitting at the edge of her desk by the copier, her head cocked at her in an adorable way. Satisfied that Nikita would stay, Pam entered the kitchen and started the kettle to boil some water.

Jim watched with amusement as Nikita and Dwight had a stare down while Pam was in the kitchen presumably making her morning tea. Nikita had her head cocked and tongue lolling out, tail wagging slowly behind her, and Dwight had his face scrunched in intense concentration as he glared at the dog, as if daring it to move.

Jim decided he would go get coffee while Pam was in the kitchen, as he hadn’t really talked to her a whole lot yet today. He had kept himself busy so far planning how to do two days of work in one, so that he could slack off tonight and the entire half day on Wednesday. The secret was, Jim wasn’t slow, he was just lazy. He had already compiled the call list and figured he could complete it by lunch, and the paperwork would the be done by mid-afternoon barring any Michael Scott incidents.

As Jim entered the kitchen, he found Pam leaning against the counter waiting for the kettle to boil, and so after pouring himself some coffee he leaned next to her.

“So, big plans for your half-day tomorrow,” Jim asked to kick things off, rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

Jim’s sister Larissa was back in town from University, and he was having her over to his and Mark’s place for a pizza and movie night to hang out. Jim wanted to invite Pam to come over for it, but he was nervous about how she would respond to such an invite. For some reason Jim just really wanted Larissa to meet Pam and reaffirm that he wasn’t crazy, and she was indeed as awesome as he had built her up to be.

“No, not really,” Pam admitted, “Maybe take Kiida for a run in the afternoon, do some weeding in the garden if I’m feeling particularly industrious, how about you?”

“Oh, I was just going to have my sister over to hang out in the evening,” Jim paused, struggling to transition naturally, “Hey! You should come over, we can make a movie night out of it, order pizza. Plus, Larissa wouldn’t be outnumbered in the movie vote if you decided to come,” Jim finally managed to spit out the offer, if a little awkwardly.

“That sounds fun,” Pam said brightly, giving him a wide smile that relieved the ball of tension in the pit of his stomach, “But how can I trust that you won’t hide all of the movies that Larissa and I might want to watch before we get there, thus forcing us to pick something you and Mark want to watch,” she challenged, looking at him with a raised brow.

“Good point,” Jim conceded, pleased that she was considering it, “Why don’t you bring a few favourites, just to be safe,” he suggested.

“I can agree to that,” Pam said, nodding her head with a mock serious expression, “I’m in!” she said with a giggle.

Pam finished making her tea as she chatted with Jim for another minute, trying her best not to let on how nervous she was at his proposal. Pam somehow found herself back at her desk sipping her tea and running her hand through the fur on Nikita’s head.

Oh my gosh, Pam thought to herself in the voice of a teen girl, does Jim like me like me? No, don’t be ridiculous, she scolded herself, he was just being nice and inviting her to meet his sister and roommate… which was just enough people to make it feel like not a date, but maybe that was just so that she’d feel comfortable coming? Even if it wasn’t a date, that was thoughtful of him, Pam admitted to herself. Although, she was probably reading way too into this, Pam tried to reason with herself, Jim was her best friend, who had met her parents, and helped her move, and hugged her, and held her while she cried after breaking up with Roy, had taken a slug from Roy for her, and had literally been her best friend for years now. Pam was admittedly not doing a very good job at downplaying this to herself and was spiralling pretty hard.

Jim was nervous, as he sat and watched Pam’s emotional spiral play out over her face, he couldn’t help voice at the back of his mind that whispered, ‘Maybe there is something there after all.’ She started with frowning in concentration, staring at the space above his head with unfocused eyes, and then she smiled for a little before cringing. Jim wasn’t really sure how to interpret that, but it didn’t stop him from wildly speculating in his head. What did stop Jim’s wild speculation however was Michael finally rolling in through the office doors for the day with a loud question.

“Where is the bitch,” he exclaimed, before doubling over on Pam’s counter with laughter.

“Oh, hi Michael,” Pam said, shocked out of her downward spiral by the last person she really wanted to deal with right now, “What was the question?”

“The dog Pam, where is your dog?”

“Oh, right,” Pam said, embarrassed to be caught out as she pushed back from her desk to usher Nikita out and around it, “This is Nikita, you may pet her if you want,” Pam said stiffly, not really wanting Michael anywhere near her dog.

Unfortunately Nikita seemed to have taken a liking to Michael, and as he crouched in front of her ruffling her fur and scratching behind her ears saying all the nonsensical things people say when they are petting a dog, Nikita was enthusiastically licking Michael’s face and hands.

Pam wandered over to lean on Jim’s desk while this was happening, momentarily forgetting about her earlier turmoil in her eagerness to banter with Jim about this latest development.

“I think I may need to get a doghouse,” Pam said, leaning in close to whisper conspiratorially.

Jim cocked a brow at her, “And why might that be,” he whispered back.

“Nikita likes Michael, she can’t live under the same roof as me anymore,” Pam delivered with a deadpan, before breaking into a grin at Jim’s raised eyebrows.

Pam cleared her throat, “I should probably save Kiida,” before pushing herself off Jim’s desk to prevent Michael from stealing her dog.

“Kiida, c’mere,” Pam said, getting her attention as she craned her neck to look back at Pam standing by the edge of her desk closest to the copier.

“Kiida, place,” Was enough to get Nikita to trot back behind the desk, swishing her tail into Michael’s face as he was still crouched where she had been before.

Pam couldn’t help but smile as Michael let out a, “Blegh,” and seemed to pick hair out of his mouth, retreating to his office.

Pam cleared her throat again, it was starting to feel kind of scratchy, but she thought nothing more of it as she thought of ways to waste time until it was lunch. Playing tug of war with Nikita under her desk and occasionally answering phone calls was how she spent her time waiting for lunch. Occasionally Jim would come up for a jellybean, but he seemed to have sensed her earlier discomfort and backed off a little, at least that’s what Pam hypothesised must be responsible for his more restrained mood.

Lunch came around and Pam put Nikita in her kennel with some food and water and sat down to eat with Jim in the break room. They made small talk and while it was back to normal in some respects, Pam couldn’t help the feeling that it was kind of stilted, and she wasn’t sure what to do to fix that. As they returned to their desks Pam checked in on Nikita in her kennel, which she’d put in the corner of the conference room and saw that the dog was asleep. Pam left her in the kennel for the time being and got back to work.

Pam noticed around mid-afternoon that her throat clearing had been getting progressively worse and now it was sore, but she was confused as to why this would be the case. The throat soreness felt kind of like allergies, but she had never had a reaction to anything in the office before, which confounded her. By the time it was almost their supper break, Pam’s eyes were watery and irritated, and her throat very scratchy, she decided to go nuclear and take a Benadryl that she kept in her purse for such occasions. Jim had come up to her desk an hour ago asking what was wrong, and Pam had brushed off his concern citing allergies.

What Pam had yet to figure out, was what was she allergic to in the office? As far as she knew she was only allergic to mould, cats, and- cats! That had to be it, Pam thought to herself, Angela probably came in with a bunch of cat hair on her clothes or something today. Pam was about to write her reaction off as just that until she heard a faint ‘meow’ and what sounded like… was Angela hissing?

Pam got up from her desk and peeked over the divider, and sure enough, there was Angela hissing at a cat beneath her desk. Pam let out a heavy sigh, that’s why she had been feeling terrible this afternoon. Angela’s head shot up at the noise and she met her gaze.

“I wish you would have let me know you bringing a cat in Angela,” Pam said while wiping at her bleary eyes and sniffling, “You know I’m allergic, I would have taken a Reactine or something this morning.”

Oscar chimed in, “Yeah Angela, that was very inconsiderate of you.”

“Yeah Angela,” Kevin joined in, not really appearing to know what they were admonishing her for.

Angela for her part just held Pam’s gaze defiantly, before finally breaking, “I groomed Mr. Sprinkles before I brought him here so that he would shed less, I didn’t think it would affect you this much,” she said coolly.

“Yeah, well it has, and I just took a Benadryl so I’m going to be useless for the rest of the evening… so in the future, could you please just let me know so I can prepare?”

“I will consider it,” Angela said with a huff before turning back to her desk.

Pam sighed and sat back down at her desk, before rising again to go grab some water to soothe her throat.

Jim had noticed that Pam was getting progressively worse throughout the day, at first he thought it was just residual awkwardness after the kitchen debacle, but soon he noticed that clearing her throat had turned into reddened eyes, and sniffles, and constantly watering eyes. Jim didn’t know if Pam was allergic to anything, but supposedly that’s what she felt these symptoms were, and who was he to argue? It was getting close to their supper break when she got up and it suddenly became a lot clearer. She was allergic to cats and from what he could hear of her conversation, Angela had one.

By the time the pizza had arrived, and people had eaten their fill there was still some time left on their supper break. Jim noticed Pam grabbing Nikita from the conference room and heading to the door with a leash.

“Hey, want some company,” Jim asked, falling into step with her as she reached the door.

“Sure,” she said with a sniffle, “I need to get out of here while I wait for the Benadryl to kick in, and Kiida needs to take care of some business,” she indicated a cleanup bag that she was carrying.

After chatting out back of the office at a picnic table on the grass, and cleaning up after Nikita, Pam reluctantly stated that they should get back to the office, and Jim walked back with her. He noticed that she was looking a little drowsy, and even saw her eyes drift closed and her head dip down a little a few times before she jerked it back up, blinking several times to reassert her awareness. Jim had finished all of his work for the day, and so when Pam plopped down onto the couch by reception and didn’t seem like she was going anywhere fast, Jim flipped the phones to voicemail and sat down beside her, causing the cushion to slant towards him, and Pam’s head followed as it lolled about her neck, coming to rest on his right shoulder. Pam was out like a light, and Jim was too afraid to move from the couch and wake her or lose the warm feeling of her cheek on his shoulder, and her side against his arm. Jim looked around to gauge the interest that this was garnering from the rest of the office, only to be met with a headshake and indifference from Dwight, a bored gaze from Stanley, and a smile and a wink from Phyllis. Michael had the blinds closed to his office, so likely he was sleeping too.

Jim decided he could safely continue to be Pam’s pillow. As he came to that conclusion, Nikita decided that she wanted up on the couch and effectively trapped Jim, resting with her head on Pam’s lap and body across Jim’s. Thankfully, the shift didn’t wake Pam, as she was completely gone.

After twenty or some minutes, Jim decided he should somehow extricate himself, and tried to shift out from under Nikita, but this apparently was enough to wake Pam up, as he looked down at he shoulder to see her eyes fluttering open.

“Hey Beesly,” Jim said softly, trying not to startle her, “We lost you there for a minute.”

“Mmph,” Pam mumbled into his shoulder before flopping the other way to land on the armrest.

“Ok,” Jim said, finally getting out from underneath Nikita, “I’m going to see if I can get us out of here.”

Jim walked into Michael’s office and knelt beside his boss, who was slumped over his desk. If you were careful enough, Jim recalled, one could get Michael to agree to just about anything in his sleep. Jim lightly prodded Michael’s arm as he sat there in the dark office, waiting for his breathing to shift.

“Hey, Michael,” Jim said as he prodded him, and hearing a grumble he pushed on, “This is your conscience speaking,” Jim said in a ghostly voice, “You should let these people go.”

Jim quickly padded to the door, before flipping the lights on and hurrying to close it behind him, slowing down for the last little bit to do it quietly. Jim looked over to see that Pam was asleep again, this time sprawled across the length of the couch with Nikita draped over her like a blanket. Jim couldn’t help the smile that broke out on his face at that picture. Jim sat down at his desk and pretended to look busy, hoping that he had succeeded in compelling Michael into letting them go. Jim was not disappointed when he heard Michael exiting his office and clearing his throat.

“All right everybody, that’s enough, get outta here,” Michael announced to the office, “You’ve all done good, we’re still on for the half day tomorrow, so no worries. Show up for nine and leave after lunch!”

Jim watched as everyone trudged out of the office, Phyllis stopped by his desk to shoot him a knowing look before continuing, and soon it was just Jim, Pam, and Nikita left in the office. Jim got up and gently shook Pam’s shoulder to wake her.

“Pam, Pam, time to go,” Jim tried to no avail, “Beesly, did you just see that,” he said a little louder and watched as she shot up, suddenly looking very alert, and couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Oh crap,” Pam said, looking around to see everyone gone, “How long was I out?”

“Not too long, I convinced Michael to let us go, everyone just left,” he assured her.

“Come on, upsie-get,” Jim said like he was talking to a child, holding out his hands for Pam to grab on to.

Pam sat up and grabbed his hands, shifting Nikita over and allowed him to help her up before she stumbled forward a bit, unsure on her feet, catching herself on his chest as he reached his arms out to steady her.

Pam was overwhelmed by how dizzy she was getting up, obviously the Benadryl had really done a number on her, and so she held on to Jim until she felt it subsiding, blushing a little after realising how close they were standing.

“Thanks, just a little dizzy there,” Pam said, nervously brushing some hair behind her ear and taking a slight step back.

“No problem,” Jim replied as he followed her into the conference room where she was packing all of Nikita’s things into her kennel, causing her some dizziness again when she bent over to retrieve it, “I’ll grab it, don’t worry.”

They made their way down to the parking lot with Nikita in tow, and as they reached their cars parked side by side, Jim looked over at her and paused, causing her to stop walking around the car.

“Are you sure you’re good to be operating heavy equipment,” he asked with his tone light, but laced with concern.

Pam wasn’t that dizzy she thought to herself, but before she could entirely convince herself to turn down his offer he spoke again.

“Because, we live like right next to each other, so really it’s no bother if I give you a ride back tomorrow.”

“Ok,” Pam said as she changed course to put the kennel in the back seat of Jim’s Corolla, “Thanks.”

“Just lookin’ out for you Bees.”

They drove home in silence, Pam thought she may have dozed off again because the next thing she knew they were pulling up outside of her house. Jim grabbed the kennel from the back seat and carried it up for her, and Nikita followed them up the steps. Pam unlocked the house and opened the door, stepping aside to let Nikita and Jim in. Nikita trotted off to the middle of the living room to lay on the area rug, and Pam wished she could just crawl into bed, but she needed to say goodbye to Jim first. He placed the kennel down where it lived in the laundry slash boot room and met her by the front door. Pam had an overwhelming urge to hug Jim, and in her tired state she didn’t try to convince herself not to, she just did it.

Pam felt warm and safe as Jim returned the hug after some initial hesitation, holding on for a while longer than she would probably normally be comfortable with, but she really couldn’t find it in herself to care in that moment.

“You give the best hugs,” she mumbled tiredly into his chest, and she felt him give her a little squeeze before he pulled away slightly.

“What?” He asked, the amusement clear in his tone, although she saw an intensity in his gaze that she’d never seen- or maybe never acknowledged- before.

“Oh man,” she yawned, “I think I’m a little loopy from the Benadryl I took is all.”

“Thanks for the ride Jim,” Pam pressed on, “You’re the best.”

“Ok, Beesly, feel better and sleep well, I’ll see you tomorrow,” Jim said and disengaged from the hug with a final squeeze to her shoulders.

“Thanks, g’night Jim,” Pam managed through another yawn, moving to close the door behind him.

Pam shuffled into her bathroom to wash up before bed, and barely made it into her pajamas before she collapsed onto the bed and fell asleep.

Chapter End Notes:

Writing this one took me way into overtime (Past my self imposed bed time).

 

Hope you all enjoy it, and as always thank you to everyone reading and reviewing. 


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