After a fifty minute drive, they had finally arrived at the Michael’s house or the “Michael and Holly 24/7 All-Day Love Shack” as he would call it. Despite having the image of his former boss and his wife doing only God knows what in the place that he was about to stay in, he was amazed at how quaint the house was. It was two-storied, painted a light shade of green with a brick roof and had a picket fence. Michael had always talked about dreaming of having a wife and kids, and enjoying life in the suburbs. Jim smiled, happy for Michael for achieving something that he had been longing for.

“So here we are! Make yourself at home! Mi casa es tu… uhh,” Michael went on a long pause. “Hey Jim, what’s house in Spanish?”

“…casa”, Jim replied with an amused look on his face.

“Right. Okay, so everyone’s inside. Holly is preparing the best lunch ever. Fettuccine Alfredo. It’s so good, I got over my fear of throwing it up. You’ll never guess what the secret ingredient is.”

“What?” Jim asked as Michael rang the doorbell.

“You know, I don’t really know. She doesn’t want to tell me. Maybe you could ask her for me.”

Before Jim could react, Holly opened the door and gave him a hug, “James Halpert, it’s so nice to see you. I see you’ve gotten a haircut, you look so handsome.”

“Hey, hey, hey now,” Michael said as he laughed, “He’s married you know, you wouldn’t want people in the neighborhood to get the wrong idea.”

“Now we wouldn’t that would we?” Holly replied as she kissed Michael.

The kiss went on for what felt like a minute and and uncomfortable Jim coughed to catch their attention, “So I’m really sorry to drop by last minute Holly. I know this was really unexpected so just let me know if you need anything.”

“Oh nonsense, Jim,” Holly said as she messes up his hair. “We had to clean the guest bedroom at some point anyway. You would not believe how tired we got in there.”

“That’s what she said,” Michael smirked, as they headed towards the living room.

Realizing her mistake, she then said, “From yoga, Jim. The guest bedroom is clean, I promise,” Holly laughed awkwardly and quickly thought of something else to talk about. “Okay, so lunch won’t be ready for another 15 minutes so just make yourself comfortable. The kids are watching TV so Michael can introduce you to them.”

“So here they are, my little rays of sunshine,” Michael said as they approached the two babies in a crib looking at a TV playing Sesame Street, “Hey pickles! So Jim, this is Helene, and this is Betsy.”

“Wait, what now?” Jim said with a shocked look on his eyes.

“You named your children after my mom and Pam’s mom? Wait, correction. You named your children after my mom and your former l-o-v-e-r?”

“What are you—, oh my God,” Michael stared at him for a very long time with a straight face, then started bursting into laughter. “Oh my God, I totally got you there. I’m just messing with you, so this is Haley and this is Michelle. They’re twins so we have to dress them up in different colors because I honestly can’t tell who is which. Oh, oh! Do a Cookie Monster impression, they love Sesame Street.”

“Oh I don’t think I shou— hi Haley, hi Michelle,” Jim quickly switched to his Cookie Monster, “me like cookies, do you want a cookie?” the twins suddenly burst into laughter at Jim’s antics. His heart melted at seeing their joy and made him think of his own kids back at Scranton.

———————————————————

“You know what, maybe I will have some fun today. I’ve been feeling stressed out lately, especially with everyone getting involved with my marriage. Plus with Jim gone, all that power might go into Dwight’s head, so...” she told the camera crew before heading back to the office.

She tried to keep a disappointed look on her face as she entered Dwight’s room, “Dwight, you were right, I think Jim and Michael are up to something in Colorado.”

Dwight immediately stopped signing papers on his desk and looked at Pam, “What are they doing?”

“I can’t believer I’m telling you this, but Jim is trying to convince Michael to talk to David Wallace and promote him to manager.”

“No way. Jim would never do that, he’s my assistant to the regional manager.”

“I mean yeah, but didn’t you go behind Michael’s back when you were assistant to the regional manager?”

“That is a totally different situation…although it does involve a lot of the same people.”

“You see, and it’s not just Michael, Jim has been trying to get everyone on his side. Factions are starting to form.”

“Isn’t that because people are deciding between you and Jim if you get divorced?”

“No, that’s a ruse Dwight, ‘Divorce’ is code ‘Manager’ and ‘Pam’ is code for ‘Dwight’”

“No… well it does make sense a lot of people said they’d said with you… meaning they’d side with me”

“Yes, you are totally right. But you have to strike while Jim’s in Colorado. You have to convince everyone here that you are the right position for the job.”

“You know what, you’re right. I will call Jim Halpert in front of everyone and fire him. That’ll show everyone.”

“No!” Pam quickly rejected the idea, “Don’t do that. Jim’s still your top salesman. Maybe just have a conference and explain to everyone why you’re better than Jim?”

“Hmm,” Dwight put his arms together and leaned back on his chair, “You’re right. Then I’ll just punish Jim by making him do my laundry for the month, wait no, for the year.”

Dwight smiled sinisterly as Pam stared at him, “… Yeah, okay do that.”

“Okay, I want you to print pictures of me and of Jim and stick them to the conference wall. Make sure you get my good angles. Jim… get pictures of him like when he’s on the toilet or something, I’m sure you have that somewhere in your phone. Tell everyone to go the conference room in fifteen minutes.”

“Alright,” Pam finished their conversation with a salute and Dwight returned it as well. She exited the room and winked at the camera crew.

————————————————————

“Holly, I have to admit, this fettuccine alfredo is really good,” Jim said as the he, Michael and Holly continued eating lunch. “I’m tasting something really unique, what is it?”

“Nice try, Jim,” she said and turned to Michael and gave him a kiss, “Also you, nice try. So, Jim. Not that we’re not excited to see you, but what brings you here in Boulder?”

“Oh,” Jim said as he swallowed his food. “Well, there’s just been a lot of stress from my two jobs. Oh, I forgot to mention, so I started my own company in Philly. We’re actually doing great, we found out there’s an offer for a buyout and they wanted us to go on a three month tour. I just came here to clear my head and get some answers”

“Oh wow, answers eh? I didn't know you were such a trivia geek," Holly replied and Michael laughed at her joke, "But, that’s great! I mean this is great for you and Pam and the kids. You know, Michael told me that you always had so much potential to do something great and you’ve already done so much. Pam must be really proud of you.”

“Well…I guess” Jim smirked and was unconsciously playing with his food.

“Hmmm, speaking of Pam, you haven’t met our dog yet haven’t you?” Holly noticed Jim getting uncomfortable and switched to another topic.

“Oh yeah, Michael told us about her. Pam Beagsley, right?” Jim laughed at the thought of having a dog named after his wife.

“Yes, and she is a boy and before you ask, yes I was aware but Michael wanted to name him after Pam. Sweetie, can you go get him?”

“You want to bring the dog in?” Michael asked. “But you never allow me to that.”

“Yeah, but I bet Jim could use Pam right about now"

"Okay, just give me a few minutes, he likes to run around a lot."

"Alright, see you in half an hour. Kidding."

As Michael left, Holly turned to Jim and said, "She doesn't want you to go, doesn't she?"

Jim looked at her, and looking down at the table again, he nodded his head, "The worst part is I told her I'm not going and she doesn't believe me. She also doesn't believe our love can sustain our marriage."

"Do you believe that? That loving each other isn't enough?"

"I don't, but I feel like she's convinced herself that I'll eventually give up on her. Because she feels like she's holding me back, and I keep reassuring her that it's not the case but it's really wearing me out. I haven't had a good night's sleep in two days. And I've never felt so lost."

"Jim," Holly said as she gives her a reassuring touch on his hand. "I know you're looking for answers so let me tell you this. Michael would probably never admit this to you because well, you know him. But he's always looked up to you. He thinks that without you, he would have probably messed up things with me. I haven't known you for long, but from the stories he told me, you're a great husband and father. I'm sure you'll find your way again. I pray that you do."

"Thank you," Jim said as he smiled at Holly.

"Okay, I couldn't get him," Jim turned around and was shocked to see Michael panting and covered in mud. "I'll just grab a change of clothes and bring you to him, Jim"

————————————————————————————

"No way, he made a presentation of why he is a better manager than me?"

"Yeah, the best part of it was I posted pictures of the two of you in your Halloween costumes. So there's a picture of you in as Chris Bosh beside him as that Jamaican Zombie Woman"

"You mean Kerrigan from Starcraft"
"Yeah, the one with the bra. So everyone just piled on him for wasting everyone's time since he wanted to have no nonsense in the office. You might be getting some traction to become regional manager"

"And my plan has worked. Thank you everyone, you're too kind"

"So how are things there?
"It's good. I met Michael's daughters, Helene and Betsy"

"What??"

"Yeah, I had that same reaction but then he revealed that their real names are Haley and Bridgette. I also finally met Pam Beagsley!"

"No way! You finally met her in the flesh?"
"Yeah, and the funny thing is she's not even a female dog. But Michael insisted on naming him Pam."

"That is so crazy!"

"Jimbo!" "Wait, Michael—" "Pam!! Pamela Halpert not Anderson!"

"Hey Michael, I—"

"Listen, as much as I'd hate to interrupt your love fest, Jim and I have some Entourage to catch up on. So he will talk to you soon. Bye!" "Wait, no Michael I—"

"Hello?"

"Yeah, he probably won't call back for another two hours"

Pam laughed while staring at Jim's desk. She had a lot of fun today goofing around with Dwight and was also glad to learn Jim was enjoying himself in Colorado. She thought that this could possibly be what they needed to fix their relationship.

"Darryl?" She noticed Darryl entering from the kitchen

"Oh, hey Pam! Why are you still here?" He said as he sat on Jim's desk.

"I just needed to get catch up on some work. Why aren't you in Philly?"

"I forgot my iPod in my office, so I figured I'd stay here tomorrow. Hey by the way, have you heard from Jim?"

"Yeah, I just came off the phone with him, he seems to be having fun at Michael's."

"That's cool. Do you think he'll go on the tour?"

"Oh, I don't know yet, he hasn't said anything about it."

"Alright," Darryl paused as if he hesitating on what to say next, "hey I know it's none of my business, but…I really think starting Athlead means a lot to Jim and it's a shame if he doesn't see it through."

Darryl then stands up and heads to his office to look for his iPod. Self doubt began to creep up Pam's face as Dwight watched from his office, having witnessed the exchange between her and Darryl.

He then stood up, walked up to her and said, "Hey, Pam. Just so you know, if you made me choose between 'Dwight' and Jim, the choice is easy. I'd choose neither. Why would I choose sides when I can have 'Dwight' and Jim together? Jim would probably annoy the hell out of 'Dwight' and 'Dwight' probably whines too much, probably from PMS-ing…but they seem great together. Just thought you should know that."

Dwight then patted her on the shoulder and headed back to the office. Pam looked at him and went back to work with a smile on her face.

——————————————————

"So Pam seemed like she had a lot of fun today," Jim told the camera crew, "She spent the whole day pranking Dwight and I heard the whole office was mad at him for wasting their time. Of course, the prank wasn't real. Dwight immediately saw through it and called me, and I had to beg him to go along with it. And since I am officially the one who used up valuable company time for this prank, I now have to do Dwight's laundry for three months. Hmmm, was it worth it? Yeah., I think so"

He smirked at the camera as Michael approached him, "You ready?"

"Yeah, are you?"

"Alright then, get ready to have some fun in Boulder-lantic City! Bye, Holly! Love you!"