He was frozen in place, his arms paused mid-air. His body wouldn't let him move for fear that he was in the middle of some dream and if he wrapped his arms around her completely she'd vanish and he would be left holding his pillow.

Pam hadn't moved either, but she was frozen in a mixture of pure shock and embarrassment over what had just slipped out. She closed her eyes in a silent prayer. Maybe he didn't hear it. Dear Lord in heaven, I know I haven't been to church in a decade, but if you could just make it so that Jim went temporarily deaf five seconds ago, I will become a nun. Even worse, I will become Angela.

Jim slowly pulled himself together, his arms bracing the desk for support as he leaned back to look at her. Her face had turned bright red; she looked horrified.

He himself felt light-headed and nauseous, but still, an underlying exhilaration hummed in his veins. He noticed the feeling almost immediately – it was hope, a feeling he hadn't felt in the longest time. In fact, he could remember the exact last moment he had felt it.

That night in May, right after you kissed her and right before she rejected you – again.

They stood there in silence, both of them staring at each other. Neither one could say how much time had passed – one minute? Five? An hour? It didn't matter; time had stopped. They were the only people left on Earth.

Jim was the first one to speak. "Okay…what?"

Pam looked around to see if there was any open hole around for her to crawl into. She couldn't take the look he was giving her, his eyes a mixture of confusion and…something else she couldn't put her finger on, but still familiar to her. Either way, his eyes felt like they were burning into hers, finally exposing every secret and deception she had perfected over the years.

Try passing it off as a joke. Do something. Anything.

Instead, she put her head in her hands and let out a strangled sound, halfway between a laugh and a sob. "Oh my God."

"Pam?"

Her words were muffled behind her hands. “Why do I do this? Why can’t I ever just make things easy for once?”

"Pam." Jim was trying to wrap his mind around what had just happened. He was pretty sure he was standing there slack-jawed in front of her, but he couldn’t care less at the moment. He was experiencing no less than dozens of different emotions all at once – confusion, joy, hope, shock, happiness beyond any expectation. The largest part of him wanted to just pull her into his arms right at that moment, but he needed to make sure it was real first.

She pulled her face from her hands. This was truly one of the most embarrassing moments in her life, but still she felt a secret thrill bubbling underneath the surface when she saw his face and realized she had not, in fact, completely disgusted him.

"I guess there's no way you would buy that I meant I love you as a friend, would you?"

At the thought, Jim felt a sharp pain in his chest. She's not aloud to take it back. Not this. Anything but this. "Well, that depends, is that what you meant?"

She looked him straight in the eye, hers burning with a fierce determination. "No."

"Then, no, I wouldn't buy it." He felt his hand twitch, the urge to touch her, always somewhat simmering beneath the surface, was growing painfully strong by the second.

"I didn't think so."

His eyes never left hers. He felt intoxicated by the look in her eyes. It was real. "Pam, we have to talk about this. When did you –"

Pam shrugged. "I don't know. Pick a moment anytime over the last three years. It could have happened at any point. It would be easier if you asked me when I didn't love you."

Jim was sure he was hearing things. She's always felt it? It wasn’t just me? "But you said –"

"I know what I said." She shook her head. She didn't like thinking about that night, the look on his face. She preferred to selectively fast-forward to their kiss and forget everything else. "But you'll forgive me if you caught me at a bad time. You see, I was planning on getting married in a month, to someone who I know that you aren't exactly a big fan of, but still was a decent man who had loved me for almost a third of my life. I didn't feel I could just throw him away simply because I was in love with someone else." Pam took a deep breath. It was the first time she had the courage to even remotely address these things since they happened.

Jim gulped. When she put it that way, he didn't really come off as sounding too great. "But after?"

She immediately knew what he was asking – she always did. "There were a lot of reasons why I didn't call you, Jim. Maybe they were stupid reasons, I don't know. Mostly, I just didn't feel like I had the right to."

"The right to? Are you kidding? If you only knew …" He couldn't help it anymore – the urge was too strong. His hand came up to rest lightly on her cheek, and he felt his heart rate increase when he saw her briefly close her eyes at his touch.

At that moment, his cell phone rang in a familiar way – he recognized Karen's ring tone instantly.

With that, the spell had been broken. They were no longer the last two people on Earth, and Pam knew she had to bring them both back to reality. "Aren't you going to answer that?"

Jim's hands were still lightly caressing her face. He was too busy marveling at how one person's skin could be so soft to care about anything else. "I don't know."

Pam took a step back away from his touch, the movement physically painful to her. "You have to. She's waiting for you."

Crap. She’s right. Jim balled his fists at his sides – if he didn’t, he was going to do a hell of a lot more than touch her face. "But we have to finish talking about this, Pam. We do. This is too important –"

Pam sighed in frustration. Couldn’t he see that this was killing her? "Is it? I am so sick of talking. That’s all we ever do, we just talk ourselves in circles. So I’m going to cut it short – none of this changes the fact that now you’re the one who’s not free. And I may be stupidly in love with you, but I'm also your friend –"

"My best friend." He interrupted. He felt the tears start to form in his eyes, so he screwed his head away, desperate to remain his composure.

Pam smiled softly. The admission had meant so much to her, but killed her at the same time, knowing what she was about to force herself to say. "Your best friend. And I don't think I could lose that again. I did once before and it nearly destroyed me. I mean, we have no idea what we'd be like as a couple, Jim. We hardly even know each other outside of these walls." She gestured to the quickly-darkening office. "Maybe things worked out this way for a reason. Karen – she, she can make you happy." She faltered then, quickly recovering with a soft smile. Her sense of nobility and her selfish urges were battling each other inside, leaving a knot in the pit of her gut that made her want to scream.

Jim ran his hand through his hair. He couldn't believe what she was saying. This is the only thing that you've ever wanted, and it could finally happen. How could you ever let that go? "Wait, so you tell me that you love me, but that you don't want to be with me? How does that work?"

She stared at him, silently begging him with her eyes. Of course I want to be with you, you moron. I’m giving you an out, so that I can know for certain that you want to be with me. Please, please don’t take it.

Pam dug her fingernails into her hands, willing herself to be strong.

"Karen didn't do anything to deserve this. And she's a really good person. You deserve nothing but the best." She was proud of herself for giving him a smile because the words felt cold, rehearsed to her.

Jim knew what Pam was trying to say. Karen was a good person. She was – she was the kind of woman that most men dreamt of, and he had finally got to the point where he really cared about her. Plus, Pam had broken his heart over and over again – he didn’t know if he could survive it again if she changed her mind.

But still, walking away from her at that moment went against every instinct he had ever had.

"I'm going to be late to pick her up." He said the words slowly, as if it were pure torture to get each one of them out. “I should probably go.”

Pam swore she could feel her insides immediately crumble. “Okay.”

Jim turned back to look at her. “We’re not finished here.” He walked out of the room in a daze, half staggering as if he were drunk – Pam immediately noticed he left his coat behind, but she didn't have the strength to call after him and tell him.

As soon as he walked out of the doors, she whispered "I hope not" to his retreating figure. It was then she realized he had never said the words back.

She let herself cry for exactly ten seconds before willing herself to stop. Right then and there, she made a promise to herself.

Next time you cry, they will be happy tears.