"Hey Tuna, are you excited to see your old friends?"

Jim looked at Andy as he packed up his things. "I guess."

"Do you think there are any hot girls you can set me up with?"

Jim smiled. "You know, you'll just have to wait and see."

Andy shrugged as he filled his backpack to the brim. He seemed to have everything-sunblock, water bottles, and at least twenty granola bears. 

"We're going to win soccer this year," Josh said, clapping Jim on the back as he walked past his employees. "No going soft on any of your old friends, alright?"

"Got it," Jim said, and they all loaded onto the bus. When he sat next to Karen, he tried not to remember all the stupid field trips Michael had taken him on, and how he'd always traveled with Pam.

"Tuna, give us the scoop. Who do we need to look out for?" Andy asked, looking pointedly at that Scranton crew. Jim had managed to sneak past them coming into the picnic, but soon he would be facing them in a massive soccer game.

"I don't think any of them play soccer," he said.

"How about that big guy?"

"Kevin? Yeah, he's a good basketball player, but I dunno..."

Andy squinted as he tried to detect nonexistent threats. "What about the boss?"

"He'll probably fall on his face before hitting a goal. Same with the guy in the glasses next to him."

Andy frowned. "So you're saying there's no worthy competition? What about the cute girl with the curly hair?"

Jim knew he was talking about before he even looked where Andy was pointing and hesitated for a split second. Then he smiled. "Yes. I forgot. She's a killer soccer player."

"Alright, I got her," Andy said, clapping his fist against his palm. "You take the big guy, and Karen, you have the guy in glasses."

"I think Josh is supposed to come up with a plan," Karen said, pointing to where the rest of their staff is, but Andy just swatted in his direction.

"We have the inside deats." He pushed his shoulder against Jim's, who let out a small smile. "Let's tell the boss-man."

He did run up to Josh, and Karen turned to Jim with an eye roll. "Is that girl actually a threat?"

"Absolutely," Jim said, raising an eyebrow. "She played all throughout high school and got recruited for college, but turned it down to be a receptionist at Dunder Mifflin Scranton."

Karen laughed. "Let's see how this goes."

They got ready in a field and Kevin pointed at Jim with a gasp as Jim went up to guard him. "Jim, you're here!"

"It's me, Kev," he affirmed. "And I'm gonna kick your ass."

Kevin laughed, and Jim's eyes shifted to the side as he watched Pam, but she was talking with Phyllis about something. He quickly turned his attention back to Kevin.

Michael and Josh faced off, and to no one's surprise Josh gained possession of the ball. He kicked it to Karen who passed it to Andy, and Jim was running halfheartedly after them, ignoring Kevin's panting behind him.

"Big Tuna!" Andy called, kicking the ball toward Jim, but it fell a bit short, and Jim had to sprint towards it. He was only a few feet away when a small figure darting in front of him, and suddenly the ball was being kicked away from him.

"Beesly!" The name was out of his mouth before he could stop them, and Pam's pace faltered a bit as she turned back to smile at him, but she pressed forward. Jim realized he couldn't see the familiar gleam of her ring on her finger.

"Pam! Here!" Dwight was calling toward her while waving his arm, and Jim laughed. It was too easy. He sprinted across the field, suddenly much more invested in the game, but when Pam blocked the ball from him, he didn't stop. He could feel her gaze from behind him but ignored it, stopping only when he was a few inches from Dwight.

"What are you doing here?" Dwight asked, glaring.

"Nice to see you too, Dwight," Jim said, grinning at Pam. She was beginning to smile too, but shook her head at him, passing the ball to Toby as he ran past her.

Jim felt the impulse to run draining from his veins as Toby passed the ball to Meredith and slowed to a brisk walk. He started to move toward Karen, but he heard a soft, "hey" from behind him and turned around.

Pam was standing a few feet away from him, wringing her hands together. He noticed he had been right and there was no ring on her finger. She had a small smile on her face, but he could tell she was ready to bolt, and he was too.

What was he supposed to say? What could he possibly say to her?

After a few seconds of silence, she continued to speak. "I bet you didn't know I had that in me, huh?"

"Yeah, you surprised me."

She stood there, just smiling at him, and he didn't know what to do. So he started to walk away. "Um-"

"Dwight's been going crazy from your faxes," she blurted, and Jim perked up.

"How did you know-"

"I've seen them on his computer, and I guess it was kinda obvious it was from you. I mean, who else in the office would go through that much effort to make Dwight go insane, right?"

Jim smiled. "I'm glad it worked."

"It's the only thing that gets me through the day," Pam admitted, and after a beat of silence she said, "Sorry."

"What?"

"Nothing."

Jim continued to back away. "Okay..." He spotted Karen coming towards them from the corner of his eye. Andy had moved onto guarding Stanley, possibly the most useless job he would ever do.

Pam looked toward Karen as well and smiled. "Well, I'd better go help the game. Michael may yell at me for fraternizing with the other team. He had a whole meeting just for you."

"That must have been so much fun," Jim said with a laugh.

"Oh, yeah. We spent the whole time talking about how ugly your face is. I had to take notes, I can fax them to you."

Jim rolled his eyes. "I'm glad everyone's missing me so much in Scranton."

Pam's face fell. "Yeah-I-"

"Jim!" Karen yelled, finally close enough to pull on his arm. "We have a game to play! The crazy guy with the glasses hit Andy in the nose!"

Pam gasped with delight and looked up at Jim. "We have to see that."

Jim looked at Karen. "Right, sorry. Let's go."

Karen dragged him toward the other end of the field, and Jim looked back for a second. Pam was dragging her feet behind them, and when his eyes met hers, she looked away.

Jim sighed. This picnic went just about as well as he had expected.