Maybe it was her new mother’s intuition that told her to go see her husband at the office. Maybe it was that psychic link she and Jim had sometimes. Or maybe, just maybe, it was a coincidence. But that seemed far too unlikely. 

Pam Halpert glanced over to the passenger seat where her husband usually sat and felt her heart twinge again. She missed him on the days that she didn’t get to go in. But staying home with their baby was definitely a necessity, and she was very proud to be married to such a hard-working guy, honestly. 

She looked back to the highway, newly determined to focus on traffic, but the cars seemed to ripple across the road like waves in front of her. 

“I’ve been up too long,” she whispered to herself, thinking of her 3am wake up call from the baby. Jim had been restless all night with a stomach ache anyway so he graciously let her sleep. She knew he could handle this shift, and she was right. Soon the crying baby had settled. 

She leaned her head back against her seat and rubbed her eyes roughly, hoping to jostle herself awake. That’s when several things happened suddenly. 

Her phone rang out shrilly, startling her and causing her to swerve across the line. She swore, thankful that the baby was at home with her mother, but answered the call anyway. 

“Hello,” she said, noting that she probably should’ve checked the caller ID. 

“Hi Pam! It’s Erin from Dunder Mifflin,” said the voice on the other line. 

“Hey Erin...how are you,” asked Pam. 

She never got calls from the office on her off days, unless they were from Michael, and he “really” needed her. 

“Did Michael lose his favorite pen again,” Pam asked jokingly, “Because I keep a stock of-.”

“Actually,” Erin interrupted. “I’m calling because you’re Jim’s emergency contact, obviously, you know...as his wife.”

Pam’s heart jolted in her chest. 

“Emergency contact,” she asked. “Is everything okay?”

“Um, we actually are calling an ambulance for him right now,” she said all too cheerfully. “And Toby told me that I needed to call you and tell you to hurry.”

“Oh my god,” Pam said, still stunned. “Yes, I...I will, um...I’m almost there. I’ll be there soon,” she stuttered, then hung up. 

She took the exit almost too quickly, her car racing along with her thoughts. What had happened? An ambulance? It must be serious for them to call an ambulance before they called her. Was he alright? How serious was it? Why didn’t she ask Erin these questions before she hung up?

Anxiety swelled within her as she pulled  into the parking lot, barely caring to park. She jogged through the doors and into the elevator, a painfully long wait. 

“C’mon, c’mon,” she chanted to herself. She didn’t remember them taking this long before. 

As soon as the elevator doors had cracked open, she slipped through and jogged down the hall, pushing the office door open with some force. She looked around briefly, not really knowing where Jim was. 

“They’re in there,” she vaguely heard Erin say from the front desk as she pointed towards the hall to the bathrooms. 

Pam paid no mind to anyone else around her. She saw with tunnel vision, her one and only thought, “Make sure Jim’s okay.”

Kevin was standing in the doorway to the boys bathroom. She pushed past him, kneeling beside a doubled over Jim, whose entire body was shaking violently. 

“Jim, I’m here,” she said desperately, but heard nothing at all. 

XXX

For a second she thought Jim had heard her. But as soon as she had spoken, he’d collapsed. She watched as Toby tried to keep him from smashing his head into the floor, but he slipped, and crashed all the same. 

Toby cussed under his breath. 

“I was trying to keep that from happening,” he mumbled. 

“What’s wrong with him,” Pam asked without taking her eyes off of her husband. 

Toby shook his head. 

“I’m not really sure I’ve only been in here for a little bit. Oscar was with him the whole time,” he said softly. 

Pam looked inquiringly to Oscar, who was standing in the background, observing as Toby tapped Jim’s face with his hand in an attempt to wake him. 

“I don’t know,” he said softly. “Really, it happened so suddenly. He was fine and then he was just very ill, vomiting uncontrollably. His stomach was in terrible pain. 

“They said to get him to the ground floor if we can,” Kevin said, and Pam could feel her stomach knot with anxiety. 

She looked back to her husband on the gross bathroom floor. 

“Wake up,” she pleaded in a whisper. “Please.”

Jim’s eyes fluttered, barely, and he opened them to meet hers. 

“Hey,” he said, a small smile playing across his lips. 

“Jim,” she breathed. Just “Jim.”

She felt like she could cry, but restrained herself...for now, at least. 

“I don’t feel so hot,” he said wearily. 

He was looking around, dazedly gazing about the bathroom 

“Yeah, you don’t look so good either,” she responded gently. She brushed away the hair that was stuck to his face, lingering on his forehead for a few seconds. 

She could feel the heat radiating from his skin and placed her hand firmly against his face. He leaned into it, and Pam bit her lip. 

“You’re burning up,” she said under her breath. She stood momentarily to grab a wet paper towel, then ran it soothingly over his skin. “An ambulance is coming,” she explained. “We need to get you to the parking lot. Do you think you can walk?”

Jim shut his eyes, and for a moment, Pam was worried that he’d passed out again.

“I don’t know,” he slurred, finally. “M’so dizzy.” 

“I’ll help you, okay? You’re going to be fine,” she assured him, half trying to convince herself as well. She was desperate to get him to the hospital as soon as possible, and silently thanked Tony for making the right decision. 

Pam knew she had an excellent poker face with many people, but Jim could always see through it. She hoped against hope that he couldn’t hear the panic in her voice that she had tried so hard to choke down. 

Oscar and Pam each grabbed an arm and pulled Jim up. It looked painful, like it cost him every bit of strength he had left. He got up slowly, clinging to both of them until he was standing on his feet. But chills wracked his body, and he looked like he might topple over.

Pam placed her other arm on his back to steady him, alarmed at just how much of his shirt was soaked through with sweat. Jim put his hand out to steady himself against the wall, his breathing labored. 

“Take it easy. No rush,” said Oscar from somewhere beside her. 

Jim nodded and put his arm around his Pam’s neck. He looked chalk white, like he still may fall over. Pam urged him tentatively forward, but Jim immediately doubled. For a moment she was sure he was going to pass out again, and had started regretting moving him at all. 

“It’s okay,” she backtracked urgently. “We can stay here. They can come get you.”

She hoped her voice didn’t sound as high pitched and panicky as she thought it did. The last thing she wanted was Jim seeing that she was about to cry. But Jim soon straightened up. 

“I’m okay. I’m okay,” he breathed, standing upright again. He put one arm back around her and pressed the other firmly into his stomach. Maybe the pressure helped. 

“Let’s go,” he grunted, and they started their journey. 

The walk through the office was slow and steady. She could feel the eyes of their coworkers on Jim, and once again felt relief that Michael had forced most of the sales department out for lunch. The longer the two of them walked, the more she could feel Jim leaning more and more heavily on her, the pain and exertion exhausting his already ill body. When they finally reached the door, Pam had never felt so excited to see sidewalk in her life. 

Her excitement was short lived though as Jim suddenly wretched once more, vomiting into the grass. He doubled over again, audibly crying out. 

Pam’s anxiety consumed her. She clung to Jim’s collapsing body, knowing she couldn’t hold him by herself, praying he wouldn’t fall. 

“It’s okay. I’ve got you,” she said softly in his ear, as sirens sounded in the distance. 

Oscar was by her side in an instant to help her ease him to the ground, but Jim was looking dizzy and confused. His shaking knees gave out and he crashed roughly into the grass, moaning and trembling into the dirt. 

The next few minutes were the longest of Pam’s life. Maybe Jim passed out again, maybe he didn’t. She couldn’t really tell. She tried to talk to him, you know, keep him aware, but he never responded. 

Finally the ambulance turned into the parking lot, and Toby directed it to the place where she and Jim were lying on the grass. The paramedics were soon loading him into the back of the ambulance, Pam crawling in after. 

They had just shut the doors when Jim opened his eyes briefly. Pam had one hand on her husband’s chest, and the other laced around his fingers. Finally, as her adrenaline began to die down, she could no longer hold back her tears, but let them fall slowly and silently. 

He stared at her as though she were the only person in the room, although there were two paramedics alone, working on Jim as they rode. He smiled at her adoringly. 

“Hey, Beesly,” he croaked. 

Pam’s throat was aching with the effort of holding back a sob. She smiled back at him through flowing tears. 

“Actually, it’s Halpert now,” she said. 

Jim’s smile faded and the red tinge of exertion that the walk gave him was replaced by the all too familiar chalkiness that she had seen several times in the past few minutes. 

“I love you, very, very much, Beesly,” he whispered again. 

“Jim,” she whimpered. “It’s going to be okay. I’m right here. I’m not leaving,” she promised. 

But that was the last thing she could say before he fell off to sleep again.