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Story Notes:
I must apologize to anyone who works in the medical profession about the horrible inaccuracies of my medical dialog. I've never actually been in the situation Pam is in in this story and have thus had to rely on TV medical dramas for reference, so please forgive me. I would like to thank Eyegypt for creating the character of Stephanie and allowing me to reference her in this story.

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

 

***

 

Pam had gone to bed that Tuesday night absolutely certain she had contracted food poisoning. She had never before bought a hotdog from a street vendor because she always feared the cleanliness of such operations (though Roy never seemed to have a problem with them). She had been absolutely famished, though, when she had stopped at the home improvement store to grab some touch-up paint on the way home from work and the smell of the hot meat wafting from the cart in front of the store had been too much to bear. So, against her better judgment, she bought a fully loaded dog and scarfed it down in the parking lot. Now it was eleven o’clock at night and she was heaving into her toilet, a sharp pain in her lower abdomen screaming at her mercilessly for her mistake.

Pam rinsed her mouth out with water and, doubled over in pain, made her way to her bed. She climbed inside, the room spinning, and closed her eyes. She had never had food poisoning before so she figured the sharp stabbing pain was just another symptom. But, as the sleepless night wore on into morning, Pam began to realize that something more sinister then a bad hot dog seemed to be causing her sickness. The pain had become much more severe and seemed to have settled on her right side. Pam recalled her girlfriend, Stephanie, had experienced much the same thing during their senior year of high school. She remembered well Stephanie going to the hospital and the diagnosis the doctors in the ER had given her… appendicitis.

Pam groaned and lay in bed trying to figure out what to do. Her head was spinning with pain and fever, she was so nauseated that she couldn’t move and, worst of all, she had no idea who to call. She knew she had to get to the hospital but her mom and dad were away on their yearly “lover’s getaway” cruise and wouldn’t be back for another week. She didn’t want to call Roy. Pam had felt very uncomfortable around him since Christmas when he had given her a beautiful sketchbook with her name engraved on the cover. She knew that he was still trying to win her back and calling him now, in her moment of weakness, might give him false hope. She thought about calling Phyllis, and Kelly, and even Karen who she had actually become pretty good friends with. While she was certain all of them would come to her aid in a heart beat, she felt weird about imposing on them because she wasn’t close, really close, to any of one of them.

Pam’s eyes filled with tears. A little voice in her head kept whispering one name over and over and she was doing her best to ignore it. But, when she tried to adjust herself to get comfortable, and cried out as an unbearable stabbing shot through her abdomen, she knew she just had to call him.

***

“Jim Halpert.” She heard his voice say.

“Jim,” Pam moaned. There was no sense in trying to hide the fact that she was crying. At that point, she didn’t even care.

“Pam? My God, are you okay?” The concern in his voice was so genuine she immediately felt comforted.

“Jim, I… I need to go the hospital. I think I have appendicitis but my mom… my mom is out of town. Can you help me?” Pam sobbed, her voice catching on the pain in her stomach.

There was no hesitation.

“I will be there in ten minutes! Just hang in there Beesley.” Jim hung up the phone before Pam could tell him her address (he had never been to her new apartment), or the fact that she had a key hidden under one of the potted plants on her porch. Yet somehow, only nine minutes later, she heard her front door unlock and Jim enter her apartment.

“Pam!” He called as he navigated his way through her apartment. When he entered her room and saw her curled up in the fetal position on her bed, his face fell. “Oh God!” He gasped. Pam was paler than he thought anyone could actually get and she had beads of sweat glistening on her brow. Her eyes were sunken in and he could tell by her chapped lips that she was probably very dehydrated.

Jim rushed over to her and placed a hand on her forehead. Pam was sobbing both from the excruciating pain that seemed to be getting worse by the minute, and because she was just so relieved he was there.

“You’re burning up.” Jim said rushing to her bathroom and getting a washcloth off the sink. He placed the cool damp cloth on her head and Pam grabbed his hand before he could move away.

“Jim…” she groaned. She squeezed his hand tight just needing him to be there.

“C’mon. I’m taking you to the hospital right now!” Jim stated.

Pam nodded and reluctantly released Jim’s hand. Without another word, Jim gently gathered Pam up in his arms and easily carried her down to his car. She winced in pain as he helped her inside and buckled her seatbelt. As he climbed into the driver’s seat he looked at her with concern, even fear, in his eyes.

“Pam, why didn’t you call me earlier?” Jim asked as he sped down her street, deliberately slowing to a crawl for each bump and pothole in the road.

“I wasn’t very sick until this morning.” She said weakly. Jim looked at her skeptically.

“You weren’t sick last night?” He asked.

“Well… yeah… but I thought I had just eaten something bad.” Pam gasped when Jim swerved his car to narrowly miss an SUV whose driver was on a cell phone not paying attention.

“Asshole! Get off the fucking phone!” Jim yelled as he flipped the driver off. Pam had never seen him look so urgent about anything.

The hospital wasn’t far and with the many “rolling stops” Jim made at intersections, they were at the entrance in less than ten minutes. Pam unbuckled her seatbelt.

“Don’t move. I’m going to go get a wheelchair.” Jim said opening his door and literally sprinting into the emergency waiting room. About a minute later, he returned with a very small orderly and a very big wheelchair.

Jim and the orderly eased Pam into the seat and they entered the building. Panic immediately seized Pam. She hated hospitals. The only times she had ever been in hospitals had been to visit severely sick friends and when her Grandmother had died. She hated the smell of disinfectant, the sound of heart monitors and patients moaning with sickness and injury. She hated seeing doctors and nurses running around urgently, some of them with blood on their smocks, trying to save lives. Pam gripped Jim’s hand as they wheeled her toward the emergency room entrance. A plump nurse appeared at the doorway.

“Suspected appendicitis?” She smiled politely. Pam nodded. “Let’s get you back right away.” The nurse turned to Jim. “Sir, are you family?”

Jim looked at the sheer terror in Pam’s face at the thought of going into the emergency room alone. They had both seen enough episodes of ER to know that non-family members were never allowed in. Without hesitation, Jim responded, “I’m her fiancé.”

“Okay, come on back.” The nurse replied. Pam felt herself relax a little. Just knowing Jim would be there comforted her and she felt oddly spirited that he had claimed he was her fiancé. The feeling was short lived however when she was wheeled into a small curtained room and the nurse handed Jim some paperwork and a hospital gown as she helped Pam onto the bed.

“Go ahead and help her put on the gown and start filling out the paperwork. I’ll be back in just a minute to take some vitals.” To Pam and Jim’s relief, the nurse hurried out of the room before she noticed the look of alarm that flooded both their faced. Jim looked at Pam, a slight blush on his cheeks.

“Um…” he started awkwardly.

“It’s okay.” Pam groaned pitifully. “If you could just help me get my shirt over my head I can probably do the gown myself.” Pam’s heart was racing at the idea of Jim seeing her naked. She had thought about it, of course, but whenever she had thought of being nude in front of Jim, it had always been in a private sexual fantasy and Jim was always naked right alongside her. She thought about asking Jim to turn around but she was in too much pain to even attempt to change by her self. So, blushing furiously, she allowed Jim to grasp the bottom of her t-shirt and gently lift it.

Jim wasn’t faring much better. He tried his best to be a gentleman, but he couldn’t keep a quiver from passing through his body as his hand just barely grazed the side of her left breast as when he lifted her shirt. His eyes quickly and discreetly passed over Pam’s bare breasts as he pulled the shirt over her head and he quickly turned away as Pam modestly and hurriedly put the gown over her bare skin. Jim smiled a sheepish “I swear I didn’t look” smile and sat down with the paperwork the nurse had given him. He began to effortlessly fill in the questions, grateful for the diversion from the lingering feeling of Pam’s flesh on his hand. Thankfully, he was able to avoid eye contact with her for a few minutes because he knew most of the answers, right down to the fact that Pam was allergic to codeine. He finally looked up only to ask for her mom’s phone number.

Pam was staring at him, her eyes welled with tears.

“Is the pain really bad?” He asked with concern, interpreting the tears as Pam being in agony. “Let me see if I can get the nurse back in here to get you some pain meds.” He got up but Pam shook her head.

“No, no. I mean… yeah, the pain is really bad but… it’s just that I forgot how much you know about me.” Pam stuttered in reply.

They were staring at each other the same way they had many months ago when Jim had pulled Pam into his arms and kissed her, when the nurse came back in carrying some medical equipment.

“All finished?” She asked Jim indicating the paperwork in his hands. Jim still had his eyes locked on Pam’s.

“What… oh, yeah. I just don’t have the insurance information on me.” He said handing the nurse the paperwork.

“Don’t worry about that. This is an emergency and you can always give us the information later.” She replied sticking a thermometer into Pam’s mouth and wrapping her arm in a blood pressure cuff. He looked concerned as the nurse wrote information down on the chart.

“When did you start having symptoms Miss Beesley?” The nurse asked.

“Last night. I thought I had just eaten something bad.” Pam replied. Jim had joined her by the side of the bed and was holding her hand.

“Your temperature and blood pressure are elevated.” The nurse said. “I’m going to see if I can get a doctor in here right away. If it is appendicitis, they are going to want to expedite an appendectomy since you seem to be pretty advanced.”

Pam felt another wave of panic sweep over her. Surgery? Without her mom here with her? She felt dizzy and very nauseated. Jim looked at her with concern.

“Pam, are you okay?” He asked.

“I think I’m going to be sick.” She said feeling bile rise in her throat. Pam leaned over and, despite the nurse’s best attempt to get a bowl to Pam, Jim’s shoes were instantly covered with the few contents of Pam’s stomach. Jim didn’t even flinch. He sat down on the side of her bed and gently pulled Pam’s hair back out of her face as she retched.

When she was finished, the nurse handed her a cup of water and told her to rinse out her mouth. Pam was sobbing again. She was terrified, mortified, and in the worst pain of her life. She looked up and Jim who was soothingly stroking her hair.

“I’m sorry.” She cried.

“Hey, it’s really no big deal. I needed a new pair of shoes anyway.” He smiled at her. Seeing that warm, sincere, one-of-a-kind Jim smile after so many months made Pam forget her pain for a brief moment.

Jim’s hand moved to Pam’s cheek and he brushed away a tear as a man in a white coat came in.

“Hi there, I’m Doctor Wilson. I understand that we have a suspected case of appendicitis here.” He said jovially.

Pam sniffled and nodded.

“Okay, let’s see what we have. Go ahead and lie back.”

Pam lay down and Jim sat down next to her, taking her hand in his once again. The doctor placed his hands on Pam’s abdomen and started to push gently. He was moving his way around her midsection when she suddenly yelped in pain. It felt like a burning hot poker had just been pressed through her stomach. Jim squeezed Pam’s hand as she began crying again.

“Hmm, I think appendicitis is, indeed, what we have here. I’m going to order an abdominal x-ray and some blood work. Is there any chance that you’re pregnant?” He asked looking from her to Jim.

“No.” Jim and Pam both replied in unison. They looked at each other and Pam cracked a weak smile.

“Extra careful are we?” Doctor Wilson joked. “Just checking. Anyway, as soon as the x-rays confirm my diagnosis, we’ll get you prepped for an appendectomy. In the meantime, how about something for the pain?”

“Yes, please!” Pam responded.

The doctor chuckled and gave some orders to the nurse. “I’ll be back as soon as your results are in.”

The nurse smiled warmly at Pam as she inserted a needle into her arm and began drawing blood. Pam, still reeling from the pain of the doctor’s exam and the reassuring feeling of Jim’s warm hand in hers, barely felt it. She did, however, feel it when a wave of relief suddenly swept over her as the nurse injected morphine into an I.V. that she hadn’t noticed had been placed in her arm. She began to feel light as a feather and wondered if she were still lying in bed. She sighed with relief and looked around, her eyes landing on Jim’s.

“Jim, are we floating?” Pam asked. Jim smiled at her, relieved that she was finally out of pain.

“No. But you are really high right now.” He responded.

“Oh.” She said, and closed her eyes. She spent the next forty minutes slipping in and out of consciousness as x-rays were taken of her abdomen and the nurse came in and out performing various tests. Even in her drug induced haze, Pam was remained aware that Jim never left her side.

About an hour after her dose of morphine, Pam started to feel very sick again. Jim was talking to the nurse with concern in his voice though the words he was saying were fuzzy in Pam’s ears. A few minutes later, the doctor came in and said they needed to get her into surgery right away because she was showing signs of a ruptured appendix. She heard Jim’s voice tell her he would be right there when she woke up and she felt it when his lips came down and grazed her forehead. Then, everything went dark as the nurse injected something into her I.V.

***

It was very quiet when Pam opened her eyes. She was in a pale yellow room and couldn’t quite remember where she was or what she was doing there. She felt groggy and sore but relieved at the same time. Then she heard a familiar voice from the side of the bed she was lying in.

“Hi.” Jim said quietly. Pam turned her eyes to him. He looked like he hadn’t slept in days. Dark circles rimmed his eyes and a distinct five o’clock shadow painted his cheeks. But he was smiling that warm smile and Pam smiled back.

“Hey.” She said weakly. Her throat felt dry and raspy. She coughed a little and felt a soreness in her side which reminded her where she was. “Is it over?” She asked Jim.

“Yeah. You were lucky. You’re appendix had just ruptured about ten minutes before they took you in for surgery.” He replied gently moving a wayward piece of hair out of her eyes.

“What time is it?” Pam asked. There was a lot of light coming in the window.

“About 11:30.” Jim replied, stifling an exhausted yawn.

“It’s Wednesday?” Pam asked.

“It’s Friday.” He said gently

Pam was surprised. “Wait, I’ve been here for two days?”

“Yep. And I gotta say, you gave me quite a scare Beesley. I was beginning to think there was something seriously wrong when you slept all day yesterday. But everybody kept telling me that was normal so…” Jim was unable to stifle his yawn this time and Pam realized for the first time the meaning of what he was saying.

“Jim, have you been here the whole time?” Pam asked, tears springing to her eyes.

“Well, the nurses kicked me out for a few hours at night so I cozied up in the waiting room but...” He looked her in the eyes and nodded.

The tears overflowed and spilled down Pam’s cheeks. She reached out her arm and brought her hand to his cheek, running her thumb over the two-day growth. “Oh, Jim” was all she could say. So many thoughts were running through her mind but the one thing she knew clearly and with absolute certainty was that he stilled loved her and that she absolutely and unabashedly loved him back.

“I’ll always be there for you Pam,” Jim said, taking Pam’s hands in his and holding them to his lips, “in sickness or in health.”

***

One year and three days later, Jim was holding Pam’s hands in his again, this time in front of a minister and a large group of their family and friends. Jim winked at Pam as the minister repeated the words that Jim had said to her just before they kissed in that hospital room the year before. She smiled back at him. She knew without a doubt that from this day forward, he would be there for her no matter what, he would be there for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, for as long as they both lived. As the minister pronounced them husband and wife and Jim leaned in to kiss her, Pam was sure that getting appendicitis was, by far, the best thing that had ever happened to her.

The End.




Kittykat47 is the author of 3 other stories.
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