Pam felt the edges of sleep starting to fray. Something tugging her out of the already tumultuous couple of hours she'd had. Even though she was only semi-conscious, she knew by the temperature of the sheets that Jim wasn't back yet. It would be his fault if she had under eye circles in the morning.

It would also be his fault if she decided not to give it up tonight...Well who was she kidding? As soon as he got home, she'd probably -

What was that? Pam blinked a few times into the darkness and glanced over her shoulder at the alarm clock that sat on Jim's side of the bed. 2:23 a.m.

Whatever the sound had been, came again. Distinct and clear now that she was no longer asleep. The front door...being jerked back and forth against the frame...

"Oh....Jim come on," Pam mumbled, as she pulled her legs out from under the bedding that had failed to keep her warm. They were met with more cold and she hastily pulled Jim's t-shirt down over her bottom. "I swear if you wake Jill because you're too drunk to remember your key I'll kill you..."

On bare feet she padded towards the living room. When she was three feet away from the front door the jerking started again. This time she saw it. It was violent, angry...

Pam stopped in her tracks. Something prickly crept quickly up her spine.

It was not Jim on the other side of that door.

The jerking came again and Pam watched for a moment. Her eyes fixated on the knob as it jumped and jiggled. Grunts and mumbles coming from the other side...

Her eyes widened and her breath hitched just at the base of her throat. Her pulse kicked immediately into overdrive. Oh God...

Ok...ok...she - she had to get Jill and then...ok then she needed to call the police...ok...ok...maybe they'd just leave...

The jerking came again and Pam spun around. She jogged on tip-toes towards the nursery, trying to keep absolutely quiet and failing miserably. The floor beneath the carpet squeaked and popped.

Pam could hear her own breath heavy in her ears as she made her way into the nursery.  In the dark, she jammed her toe hard on the leg of Jill's crib and bit down on her lip to keep from crying out. She shut her eyes tight to the pain and opened them only a second later..."Ow...ok...

Tears had sprung to her eyes and she blinked them back. Leaning down carefully, she eased both hands beneath Jill and removed her from the crib. "Jill I need you not to wake up ok?...Just sleep...there you go...that's the way."

Typically Jill slept like the dead, but if for any reason she was woken up before it was absolutely time, she screamed bloody murder....please God.

The jerking and mumbling came again from just a few feet away and Pam pulled Jill to her chest, causing her to stir slightly. "Sssh...Mommy's sorry...I know...sssh....yeah....that a girl...just go back to sleep...it's ok...shssh..." she said as Jill's eye lids fluttered once, twice, then shut again.

Pam gave a quick prayer of thanks and rubbed Jill's back in slow circles even as her feet carried them frantically back towards her bedroom.

Shit...she needed her cell phone....where was....

Pam spun around in the hall...she'd been tired when she'd gotten home from the grocery store. She'd thrown her purse on the kitchen counter...ok...yes...

With one hand Pam managed to get into her purse. She yanked her cell phone out and was flipping it open before she got into her bedroom. She locked the door behind her and started to dial. Cursing out loud when the buttons made noise. Wasn't there a setting you could choose where the buttons wouldn't...fuck. Fuck.

Her hands shook as she waited for an answer and pulled the comforter off the bed, draping it over herself and Jill. "This'll keep us warm......Pick up...pick up please..."

Jerking again. What the hell...whoever it was wasn't even sure how to go about breaking and entering properly! Not that she was complaining, but. -

"If this is a life threatening emergency please say ‘yes' now or press any number key."

That's when she heard the glass break.

~~~~~~~

"Thanks for not letting him kill himself," Melissa said, draping a cold wash cloth over Marc's forehead. "I'm sure he probably tried to talk you into letting him drive over to my place to apologize for the lap dance."

Jim chuckled tiredly and shook his head at the drool that slipped out of his ex-roommates open mouth. The guy was completely and totally plastered. His head lulled to one side and Melissa pushed it back on the couch, none too gently.

The guy was gonna be so sorry in the morning.

"Not a problem. I'm just sorry you had to come over, Mel."

"Well I'm not. This is just another thing to add to the list," she said, kneeling next to her fiancé.

"The list?"

"Oh yeah...the list of reasons why Marc should basically allow me to decide on every detail of our first house together and the first car we buy together. And an upgrade in engagement ring. This is exactly the kind of ammo I needed...so thank you."

"Wow," Jim said shoving his hands in his pockets. He tried not to glance at the clock on the wall above Marc's fireplace again. "Glad I could be of service."

"You're more help than you know...all those other schmucks just left him here to like...suffocate in his own vomit or something...so it's nice to know he's still got a friend in you."

"Always."

Melissa stood up on a sigh. "Well for tonight ‘always' is over. You are officially relieved of drunk-sitting. Go home to your wife and baby...Pam's probably wondering where the heck you are."

"She's knocked out by now," Jim said with fained nonchalance. He pretended it was the first time he'd glanced at his watch all night long.  He'd wanted to go home for hours now. But it was probably bad form for the best man to leave early. "Wow...yeah it is really late isn't it?"

Melissa smiled knowingly. "Oh man...somebody really is a family man. I remember when two-thirty in the morning used to be early for you."

Jim rolled his eyes. How many times had he heard this from one source or another lately? It was true he guessed. He hadn't been out this late in over a year. The thing was, he didn't particularly miss it.

"Don't start."

"I'm not starting anything. I think it's very nice," Melissa said genuinely. She moved away from Marc and the couch that appeared to be his final resting place for the night, long enough to kiss Jim on the cheek. "Go, get out of here and tell Pam I said hi. Kiss Jilly for me."

"Will do," Jim said giving her a hug. "Are you sure you don't want me to help you get him up the stairs?"

"No, no...You go on ahead. I'm pretty sure being all stiff from the couch in the morning is going to serve him right....You ok to drive? You don't need a cab do you?"

Jim had stopped drinking about three hours ago but he wasn't about to add more fuel to her ‘family man' fire.  "Nah, I'm good. High tolerance."

She rolled her eyes because she knew better. "See you later...Drive safely."

"Next week," Jim said smiling as he paused in the doorway to pull on his jacket. "Big day."

Melissa smiled softly as she moved back to Marc, lovingly brushing his hair away from his forehead. "I'll be the one with the veil on."

"Hm, interesting...you should probably talk to Marc about that, because I'm pretty sure he wanted to wear it."

Melissa giggled, "See ya," as Jim pulled the door closed behind him.

"See ya Mel...Sober up Marc!"

~~~~~~~

Pam sat on the couch, gently rocking Jill. Only half aware that they were still talking to her as she gazed at the shards of glass on the living room carpet.

After the adrenaline rush, came fatigue...an actual chemical change in your body. What was that phenomenon that they had talked about in her beginning psychology class in junior college? She couldn't remember...

She and Jim were supposed to take Jill for photos today...in nine hours. They had an appointment. She'd probably have to cancel.

"Pam are you certain that the perpetrator never said a word?"

"Dwight, I'll ask the questions ok...just - let me."

"Ok Sheriff Pierce, but I really feel that since I know the victim she might be more comfortable talking to me about what happened."

"Mrs. Halpert? I know you're probably very tired, but I do need to confirm with you that you never heard a voice. Anything that they might've said could be important....even things that seem completely irrelevant."

Jill shifted in her arms, bringing Pam back to the here and now.

"What? I'm sorry..."

"Don't be," Sheriff Pierce said calmly. "Just...did you hear anything when the individual was at the door?"

"I..." Pam shook her head. "There were sounds but I couldn't make it out...um, yeah no. They didn't say anything specific..." She looked down. "I know, honey, you're getting hungry aren't you?" Pam said, looking down at Jill again as she fidgeted, her little brow creasing as she turned towards Pam's breast. "I know...soon, ok?"

She was weaning. They were on a very strict schedule of bottles only at night. Jill had been a very good girl and hadn't fussed much at all about it. Right then, though...something inside of Pam wanted Jill to have what she wanted. She wanted it really badly.

Tears suddenly sprang up in Pam's eyes.

She blinked hard. She hadn't cried all night long and she surely wasn't about to do it now in front of all of these people. Dwight...

God, Dwight was here.

He spoke from his perch on the couch next to the sheriff. He'd arrived at almost the same time as the cops had. "Pam, catching a perp hinges on the witnesses' ability to give an accurate account of what occurred."

"Dwight...please," the sheriff said patiently. "Why don't you see if any of the other officers need any assistance?"

"You want me to dust for prints?"

"No...actually I don't."

"Sweep the perimeter?"

Pam glanced down at those shards of glass again. Jilly was crawling now. They'd have to make sure they got every last little bit of that up. What if she cut her hands or her little feet or her little baby soft knees?

The sheriff nodded at Dwight. "Sure thing. Thank you. That'd be a big help."

"I'm on it!" Dwight said standing up quickly. He was out the door in a flash. Pam watched his eyes sweep quickly over the landing, just before he bounded loudly down the stairs.

Pam gave a quick thought to her neighbors. God, Mr. Jensen was going to be on their case later...Dwight was going to wake them all...

Whatever, they were awake by now anyway with the police trampling in and out.

"As much I hate to admit it, Dwight is right Mrs. Halpert. If there's anything else at all that you can tell us..."

"I don't think that there is."

She wanted Jim. That's what she wanted to tell the sheriff. She wanted him to go out and find Jim and bring him home right this instant. That probably wouldn't be appropriate to say though.

Pam tried to be as inconspicuous as she could, pulling the collar of her robe back just enough to lower her head to the t-shirt that she wore beneath. She inhaled long and deep.

"Listen, most of the time these kinds of attempted break-ins are kids. No professional makes that kind of noise when he's trying to rob a place. They typically don't break a lot of glass either," the sheriff said glancing towards the window. "Another reason I think this guy was an amateur is the fact that he was probably scared away by the sound of our sirens in the area.......Now...other times though, and this is the reason it'd be most important to know detail is when it's possibly someone that the victim is familiar with -

Pam looked away. "Somebody we know..."

"Maybe. Possibly. By like I said this seemed very amateur."

"Well I don't think I know any pros...so...either way."

"Ok," The sheriff said and smiled softly at her a little bit like maybe she was crazy. "So you didn't hear anything...That's fine, Mrs. Halpert. Exactly what time was it when you first heard the door being jerked back and -

"Pam?..."

She looked up instantly at the sound of Jim's voice. She was on her feet and walking to the front door before he crossed the threshold, leaving the sheriff alone on the couch. One arm held Jill, the other snaked quickly around Jim's neck.

He nearly fell forward with the force of her impact. His wrapped his arm around her waist to still them both. "What the....Pam, what's going on?"

She shook her head and he pulled back far enough to look at her, then Jill. His eyes sweeping quickly over them. "There's police all over the -

"Somebody tried to break in."

"What?"

"I don't know...I was just...asleep and then...it was like..." Pam felt his hands on her forearms. She took the deep shuddering breath that she couldn't hold in any longer. The one that had been trying to break free for the last hour...

This was exactly why she hadn't called his cell phone in front of all of these people. She'd known...she'd known as soon as she heard his voice that all the seams that held her together would start to unravel.

"Somebody was jerking on the door...I thought it was you..."

Jim watched over her shoulder as the sheriff started to rise from his seat on the couch and walk towards them. What the fuck...

"Mr. Halpert, I'm -

Jim shook his head, and pulled Pam close. Not wanting to hear it. Just wanting to hold her. Her head fell against his chest and when he felt her sniffle he shook his head again, lifting his eyebrows in warning for the officer to sit back down on the couch. Not now.

"The perimeter is..." Dwight's voice trailed away as he stood on the threshold, noticing that Jim was home. He stepped forward a second later, waiting....waiting some more...it was like the longest hug in the history of all hugs...

When Pam finally pulled away, Dwight started to speak. "I -

But then Jim was kissing his daughter on the forehead and his lips just lingered there for the longest time. Jill glanced around, just as confused as he was Dwight thought to himself.

He saw Jim blink several times and swallow. Oh...Dwight took a deep breath. "Good evening Jim."

Jim turned and blew a long breath out of his mouth, his arm still around Pam's shoulders.

"Hi Dwight....What are you -

"Police scanner."

"Of course."

"Sheriff Pierce, the perimeter is clear. Unfortunately there weren't any visible signs of disturbance....Jim maybe you should look...since you would know more what to look for."

Jim nodded at him. "Yeah...thanks Dwight. I'll do that."

Dwight seemed to wait for him to hop to it.

"Not now though."

Dwight nodded. "Suit yourself...sometimes evidence fades. I'd do it soon if I were you."

Jim nodded absently. "Will do."

Pam swallowed hard. "Thanks for coming over Dwight...It was really, really nice of you."

"Not a problem. I was on my way home from a Battlestar Gallactica theme night with my buddies anyway."

Jim nodded again and Dwight nodded back. "Ok...well I guess I'll be going. Sheriff let me know if there's anything else you need. I'd be happy to come into the station bright and early."

"Sure Dwight...but you should really get home and get some sleep."

"Schrutes can survive on very little sleep. So no need."

"Ok. Well...perfect. I'll call you," she sheriff said tiredly.

"Excellent. Good night."

They all watched Dwight as he closed the door behind him. Pam shut her eyes for a long moment and felt Jim's lips on her temple.

"I'm sorry you two, but Mr. Halpert I was just about to run through the night one last time with your wife....then I promise I'll leave you alone."

Pam took a deep breath as Jim slid a solid, warm hand down to the small of her back.

"Ok."

~~~~~~~

Jim sat the cordless phone back into his cradle on the kitchen counter and moved through the apartment towards the living room. He studied the place where he'd boarded their window and then glanced at the door. He'd have the landlord install another lock first thing tomorrow. Also they'd change the ones they had...Get new keys.

He stared at it for a moment. It looked fine. No worse for the wear.

Whoever it was obviously didn't have a key dumbass...So what, you get new fucking locks anyway.

Pressing his lips together he turned away from the door and went back to the kitchen, grabbing two beers from the refrigerator. They both dangled from one hand as he walked towards their bedroom.

He needed to just...get it together. Take off the edge...But all the quiet now almost made him more edgy. It was weird. They'd gone from too much noise just a few hours ago when all the cops had been here, to too much quiet.

Twilight wrapped a deep blue cloak around his wife and child as they sat on the edge of the bed. Pam was nursing again.

Jim sat a beer down next to her on the nightstand. She looked at it long enough for him to know she wanted it, but then shook her head. "Can't."

"...Right. Sorry..." he said shaking his head as he sat down next to her. He took a long pull from his own bottle. "You could pump and dump. Can't think of a better time to get a little snockered, Beesly..." he added, with a lightness he didn't feel.

"That's ok..."

"K....Um, I ordered a pizza."

"Oh, you did?"

What was that sound in her voice? He was pretty sure the subtext of her question was: ‘Oh...right. I forgot for a moment that you were an idiot - My bad. Thanks for staying out till the fucking break of dawn idiot. Thanks a lot. No need to worry about your wife and daughter - way to go, Halpert...My fucking hero.'

That wasn't what she was thinking. At least not exactly. Not with as many expletives anyway.

Jim cleared his throat, "Yeah...that ok?"

"No...yeah...of course...I just..." Pam shook her head. "She's really hungry today," she said looking down at Jill as she nursed. "Aren't you Jilly?" Pam said, her voice morphed instantly into a my-sweet-little-baby tone.

Wow. He'd guessed right. She HAD been thinking that. That was pretty much the only way you could justify that drastic of a topic switch mid sentence.

Jim brushed his palm along Jill's soft brown hair. So soft..."Did you not want pizza?"

"No it's fine. I just...someone coming over again...it seems like we just got everyone out of here...The cops, your mom, my parents staying forever...Dwight again."

Oh... Jim smiled. "Yeah...I hadn't even thought about. I'm sorry...."

So he hadn't been EXACTLY right about what she'd been thinking. The specifics were wrong, but the gist was the same: idiot.

Jim looked down at his hands. He drummed his fingers against the denim that covered his knees and shook his head after a moment. "I wasn't thinking."

Pam rubbed his thigh. "It's not a big deal. Pizza sounds good."

Jim made a sound that very clearly meant he did not agree. He shook his head once again and leaned forward on a sigh, covering his face with his hands for a long moment.

"You ok?"

It took him a moment to answer. He stared straight ahead, not looking at her when he finally said, "No."

"Me neither......In fact," Pam said quietly. "I'm pretty sure you're gonna have to take her away from me tonight. She's never had so much to eat in her entire life...she's gonna explode."

Jim grinned softly. "She looks happy."

A moment passed as they both gazed down at their baby girl. Alive...healthy...ok.

"I don't think I'll be much help in that area," Jim said, looking up suddenly into Pam's eyes. "I planned on moving her crib right there...into that corner," he added squinting as he pointed towards it.

The corner next to the master bathroom was pretty much not a corner at all. It was too tight for even a small chair to sit, let alone Jill's massive crib.

"Pretty sure it won't fit there," Pam countered gently.

"Pretty sure that doesn't matter...We didn't really like that bathroom anyway did we?"

Pam smiled widely for the first time all day. "No...we didn't."

Silence filled the room for a few moments as Jill finished nursing. Pam passed her to Jim wordlessly knowing that he wanted to hold her. He draped a cloth over his shoulder and patted his daughter softly on the back.

Pam pulled her legs up on the bed and snuggled close to them. "I think the sheriff was right. It was just some kid...don't you think? I mean that makes sense as to why they just ran off when they heard that siren."

Right, the phantom siren, Jim thought. The siren that only the police seemed to know about. None of his neighbors had heard any damned siren. In fact they hadn't heard any disturbances at all. Nobody had head anything at all until the police showed up. Even Mr. Jensen who could apparently hear their five month old snoring all the way down on the first level of the building, had not heard someone trying to break their door down.

Jim scratched the back of his head. "You didn't hear a siren."

"I know, but it's not like the police don't know when they've got patrol calls in the area, Jim...If there was an accident just a couple of blocks away...it would make sense that there was a siren."

Jill burped softly and Jim turned to dab at her mouth with the cloth on his shoulder. He kissed her head for probably the 20th time that day and started to rub her back again. She curled her tiny little fingers inside his t-shirt collar, the way she sometimes did when she was exhausted.

"Or it's somebody we know...somebody who knew I was gone..." Jim said finally.

"That's......Jim, we don't know anybody who'd do that. It's not like we have a lot of fancy stuff."

Jim shook his head. He didn't have anything to say to that. People wanted all kinds of things from people. Maybe it wasn't stuff the guy was after. Who the fuck knew! It didn't matter. He was never leaving the apartment again any way. And he'd finally pick up the baseball bat he'd left at Mark's place. They could keep it in the bedroom closet.

He tried to still the thoughts that ran rampant in his head as Pam started to talk again. He felt like his brain was literally buzzing. And some of what it was buzzing with didn't even make any sense!

What else can you do...what else can you do...do SOMETHING. Don't just fucking sit here.

"I just don't want to make this bigger than it is. I don't want us to be..."

Jim looked up at her words, she was shaking her head.

"I don't know what I'm trying to say..." Pam finished.

What she felt was fear though and she knew unequivocally that she did not want to feel that. She'd never felt anything but safe in this apartment. Not because they lived in the best of areas, but just...because. Because it was hers and Jims and nothing could really touch them as long as they were together. Or so she'd thought.

"I..." Jim chuckled suddenly and she knew it wasn't due to any kind of amusement. "Pam when I came up those stairs...I flipped out. I mean for God's sake...obviously something had happened right? I saw all the police cars in the parking lot...and I don't know what the hell I thought...maybe Mr. Jensen left his toaster on or...I don't know...I just...so stupid."

"I know..." Pam whispered. She reached up to rub his back and felt the knots even before she really applied any pressure. She pressed her fingertips into his shoulders and kneaded.

Jill was fast asleep on his other side, her lips parted slightly. Pam hoped she was dreaming of something really, really good. She wouldn't have any recollection of last night right? Of this day? Of course not...she was too young.

"...Cops standing around and your front door wide open at three a.m...I gotta tell you Pam, that is not something you want to see when you come home at night."

She moved her fingers up towards his neck, continuing to massage. "I'm sorry I didn't call you to warn you or...I just...suddenly they were here - really quickly thank God...and I needed to be coherent...I knew as soon as I heard you or saw you..."

He nodded. He already knew. He also knew that she'd been holding something back when she'd talked to them. It was pretty obvious to him, but it hadn't been to them. Listening to her now though he knew it wasn't some detail she was omitting that could potentially help them catch anyone. It was something else...something she didn't want him to hear for some reason.

"How scared were you?"

"Jim..."

Ah. So here it came. "Seriously. I mean I wasn't here...On a scale of 1-10, 10 being holy shit..."

Pam made a face and shrugged. "Obviously it was scary...someone was trying to break in...But I was ok. We were ok," she said glancing at Jill.

Jim found her eyes and squinted. "You were? Even then?"

She tried to swallow the tears but it was no use as she looked from his eyes and back to her sweet, peaceful baby.

"...I just kept shushing her," Pam said, her voice cracking slightly. "Trying to get her to just stay asleep - not make a sound. Then I heard the glass break...that's when I..."

Pam paused for a long moment, and Jim reached up to brush her bangs away from her eyes. He watched them dart towards their closet.

"I put Jill in there - at the bottom....I shoved your tennis shoes out of the way and just...sh-shut the doors...and then I pushed a chair in front of the closet...I was just praying she wouldn't wake up and be...be more scared of the fact that I put her in the stupid...fucking dark closet."

Pam lost it then. Her face crumpled and her shoulders started to shake. Jim pulled Pam close.

"I'm sorry," he whispered into her ear. She shook her head and made a face, so he said it again. "I'm sorry."

"I almost opened it...I came so close to opening that door, Jim. I thought it was you...I totally thought it was you..."

Jim kissed her softly. He used his thumb to smooth away some of her tears. "But you didn't...and we're good right? I mean...seriously...Everything's good. Jill's good. You're good. I'm good. We're all good."

She nodded in his hands and leaned towards his lips.

So, maybe this was doing something...It wasn't installing new locks, it wasn't a baseball bat, and it sure as hell wasn't catching whoever it was that had succeeded in freaking them both out, but this it was something. It was big.

Making them alright...right? That was something.

Pam smiled at him through her tears. "Yeah...everything's ok."

He smiled back through his own glassy eyes. "Yeah."

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