Friday morning was met with silence across the Dunder Mifflin - Scranton office.

And while peace and quiet may not be out of place in a professional work environment, it was in this environment. But this silence was even more atypical considering the flurry of excitement that had captivated the office the day before.

Their documentary had been met with a decent amount of success. They were popular enough to keep the camera crews coming back, but not so popular that they had become household names. In Scranton, however, the staff and their lives had become the talk of the town. So much so, that a local columnist had gotten a sneak peak at this week's season finale.

Or, as those who had lived through it called it, last May.

There was a buzz about the office when Kelly had come in waving a copy of the review.

Pam was apprehensive as Kelly bounded towards her, clutching the paper in her hands. The crews refused to let them in on what had or had not made the cut, but she knew that the "episode" was set to center around their Casino Night fundraiser. The thought of seeing even the most benign parts of that night made her want to curl up in a ball and cry. Jim's recent return to Scranton had been awkward at first, but they'd just begun to return to their normal friendship. Even now, she was conscious of any interactions she had with him when the cameras were near, they were so hyper vigilant of the pair since his return. She thanked God every chance she got that the cameras hadn't caught them later on the evening of Casino Night. But even still, having a visual of how Jim had looked that night? Everything that led up to….

Pam tried not to think about it. She was less than excited for this "episode".

Kelly, on the other hand, was even more excited than her usually exuberant self.

"Did you see this?!?!?" she squealed.

Pam smiled politely and shook her head. As if on cue, Jim walked through the front door, Karen poised and beautiful at his side. That was something Pam didn't want to think about, on top of everything else.

Kelly turned; glad to have an even larger audience. "Have you seen the review yet? For Casino Night?!?!"

Jim froze slightly, looking away and then to the ground. Pam had noticed that he'd seemed more distant lately, especially from her. It also hadn't escaped her that this increased as the airing of said "episode" approached.

Karen didn't seem to notice. Even though she hadn't appeared on the show yet, she'd been getting just as into it as the rest of the branch had. "Ooooh!" she exclaimed, hovering closer to Kelly. "What did he say?"

Kelly smiled. "Nothing we didn't know already. Poker, Michael invites two women, blah, blah…. BUT! He says that that there's this HUGE surprise in the last few minutes, and you should have Kleenex handy!" Kelly was nearly jumping up and down with arms waving by the time she had finished. "What does that MEAN? What could have happened that we don't know about? Do you think it will be Michael? Did something happen with Jan? OH! Or," she nodded her head towards Dwight and Angela, the later of who was sending death glares to the group, "something between those two?"

In all the excitement, neither Karen nor Kelly had noticed that both Jim and Pam had frozen, their eyes locking quickly before both averted their gazes. Both were shaking and pale when Kelly turned for their input. "So! What do you guys think?"

Jim shrugged his shoulders and did his best to casually walk to his desk.

Karen followed him with her eyes for a moment before during back to hear Pam's thoughts. Pam had begun reorganizing her desk and answered looking down, "Um, Michael would be my guess." She removed her hands quickly from the desk when she noticed how noticeably they were shaking and tentatively looked up at Kelly.

Kelly was lost in her own world and decided that yes, a Michael fiasco was most likely. Pam smiled weakly as she walked away. Karen lingered for a moment and Pam could sense the wheels turning in her head. Karen eventually nodded slowly at her, giving her a weak smile before turning to walk to her desk. Pam couldn't help but notice that Jim wouldn't meet Karen's gaze.

Karen wasn't blind. She had a pretty good idea what the HUGE surprise would be. When she'd found out she was transferring to Scranton, she'd gotten a hold of all of the old "episodes" to get an idea of where she'd be working. After an episode or two she'd questioned Jim about the great friendship, the one she'd never heard about but was so plainly important to his TV self. He'd been flustered at first, frozen in place. He'd recovered quickly, going on about being good friends and the two normal people amongst the nuts and good television and great editing.

It was the answer Karen was hoping for, so even though she had a nagging suspicion that he was lying to her, she pushed it away and put on a smile. That suspicion had come back, screaming for attention, once she came to Scranton and was able to see the pair together with her own eyes. 'Good editing, my ass,' she'd thought. But she'd done her best to act as though she didn't know she was getting in the middle of anything.

That act was getting harder and harder to keep up.

The excitement level remained high throughout the day. Michael continually denied that he was the source of the surprise, so much so that the entire office had become even more convinced that he was. By the end of the day as the group left together for Poor Richards, where they could watch as a group, no one was too suspicious when both Pam and Jim had made excuses to miss the viewing.

By the end of the night it had all made sense. The awkwardness and tension that seemed to exist between the two, Jim's hasty transfer to Stamford, Pam's sudden change of heart towards Roy and her wedding. The end of the episode was met with a silent bar. Minutes stretched as the shock began to wear off.

"I can't believe—"

"Poor Jim!"

"I can't believe—"

"That's why he transferred the next week!"

"I can't believe—"

"Wait! But she didn't get married."

They all stopped.

"And he's back now."

"So then why haven't they…"

They all stopped as the realization hit them. They could hear the door swishing closed through the silence as Karen slipped out of the bar.