Two days after the Booze Cruise...what might've happened if Jim had confessed sooner.So good and heartbreaking, their time at work! And Roy's part in this at the end - wow.
Author's Response:
Yeah, I figured Pam's MO would be the whole, "That didn't happen thing." And yes, Roy...clueless, clueless Roy. :o)
Thanks for reviewing!
Ooh, angsty! Poor Jim and Pam. And Roy is the most clueless fiance of all the fiances.
You show the progression of this ride and the emotions really well. And I'm not particularly mad at Pam. It would have to be a terribly difficult situation, and you're portraying it very well.
Hah -- your comment about clueless Roy made me snort. :o) Glad you didn't find Pam too alienating here, as that was one of my bigger concerns.
Thanks for reviewing!
There's just so much about this that's great! I admire your ability to tell a story so completely, immersing the reader in what's happening and what the characters are feeling.
It would make me feel inadequate as a writer, except for the fact that a) I never wrote a lick of fiction before about 14 months ago, nor do I recall any actual schooling in it, and b) it's okay for me to be a different kind of writer. (Right? Right?)
But anyway, it's so...great. :)
Wow -- thanks for the comment re: my telling a story completely and immersing the reader in details, because at times I feel like that's a weakness of mine -- my inability to just be succinct. (I am perpetually in awe of writers who offer up brilliant oneshots.)
And please -- there's way more skill (IMHO) in being succinct than there is in telling a long story, trust me. :o)
Thanks for reviewing!
Yay! She left Roy! (Happy dance commences.)
This line: "Yeah, I am listening to you; you're just not making sense!" reminds me of Cocktails "No, I am listening! That's the problem I am listening!" I don't think you're harsh at all to Roy in this chapter. Sadly, this is Roy, and you've done a wonderful job letting Pam see him. :)
Yay -- that's exactly what I was going for with that line (i.e. the callback to Cocktails). Glad you didn't think I was too rough on Roy; I tend to go much easier on him than I did here.
Thanks, as always, for reviewing!
Oh, yay! How nice! I love that she's going through a lot of emotion here; you've made it so clear how difficult things are. I love also that Jim's giving her some space and just being the awesome guy he is.
This bit reminded me of part of the Merger's PLoD discussion:
And then he's shocked to hear her say in a flat voice he almost doesn't recognize as hers, "Do whatever you want."
I assume it was meant to evoke Pam's "That's totally cool. You can do whatever you want." In any case, that's what I thought of, and her voice then was very flat and not Pam-like.
Wonderful chapter. I really should be getting to bed, so maybe one more chapter, and the rest tomorrow. It's such a treat to have the whole thing available to read, though! :)
Glad you found this chapter believable; I was really struggling to convey just how emotionally drained they both would've been at that point -- but I also wanted to clarify that it wouldn't be a Pam-leaves-Roy-and-runs-straight-to-Jim scenario, because I don't think it would've worked that way.
So glad you're enjoying this! :o)
You made me feel sorry for Roy. ;)
Author's Response: Listen, I really do have a big soft spot for Roy (damn you, David Denman!!). :o)
All right! I'm going to go to bed with the promise of some giving in to impulses in the next chapter.
I like how you're getting things in there like Michael's Birthday. I'm sure the timeline took some planning.
I'll finish tomorrow, I think. :)
Yes, there was definitely some giving in to impulses in the chapters ahead.... :o)
Thanks for reviewing!
When I had first started this story (back when you first started it) I had had no idea it was going to light upon the episodes. That's very cool. :)
Author's Response:
You know, I really didn't either, but then I got fascinated by the notion of exploring the longterm ramifications of how the other episodes could've been affected had Jim confessed sooner. It was a lot of fun weaving in canon moments, but in a different form.
Thanks for reviewing!
I think the burning oil was a sign that dinner should happen later and they can fill their time in other ways right now. But your way is fine, too. ;)
Nice chapter. :)
I love this: "sort of amazed that everything he's spent the past three years dreaming about is apparently his life now."
I think they would have gone for it. If I had been Pam, I would have gone for it. ;)
What a great way to describe how Kevin talks -- "enunciating each word as if his life depends on it"!
I enjoyed the double meaning of Jim and Pam's exchange toward the end, Jim's observation about Ryan, and Jim throwing Kelly at Ryan in retaliation. Pretty funny.
As for the last line, yes, I think Pam is coming. The question is if it will be in the next chapter or if you're going to make the readers (and Jim and Pam) wait beyond that. ;)
Yay! How nice, and I love the last line, too.
"She lifts her chin slightly, then gives him a wink that for some inexplicable reason distinctly reminds him of the way she'd gasped his name not two hours ago, her nails scraping his back, breath hot in his ear." Niiiice. ;)
And this is lovely: "This is who we are now...."
I didn't realize this was the end because there's another "next" and then kind of a blank chapter; it's weird. There are two Chapter 21s listed on the chapter pull-down menu...
I love in this chapter how his Casino Night confession becomes a different sort of confession, one that I think he could blurt out in just the same way as the confession of canon. Very cool.
Nice job on this.
I really liked this. My favorite was Meredith noticing the art and then sending her the link. If you have the Season 2 DVDs, you may recall that Pam originally got Meredith in the Christmas Swap, and Pam drew a nice picture of the office for Meredith because Meredith had admired her drawings once. It's sweet. :)
Kevin leering is always funny, of course, and I love that Michael is so sad that Jim left.
Hey, McGigi, this is really nice. :) It's nice to see a happy ending for Roy, and I love how he realizes the connection wasn't the same before.
An AU where Jim never told Pam how he felt. It's four years later, and the Merger just happened.
I loved this. Of course, the end was sad, but it would be. You did a great job showing the situation. Poor Jim. My favorite lines were "I have nieces" and "It gets harder to date as you get older."
Just a lovely story, malcom lake. I'm glad you let it out. :)
When everything reminds you of the past, it is best to embrace it.
Nice theme, lis! What a great idea - "Everything reminded me of you." You can go anywhere with that. :)
Author's Response: Yeah, I wanted something open-ended so that I could be flexible for whatever the new words would be. Sort of a cop-out, but I had fun with it. Thank you so much!
So sweet. (Except for Michael in the bathroom - Ew. Sometimes, having a decent imagination (or an indecent one) isn't really that cool.) ;)
Author's Response: Heh, yeah. Sorry about that.
The 'dark side' made me laugh. :)
(You don't need to respond to all of these individually. I'm just doing my 'train of thought' thing. Choo choo!)
I love this line: "These sorts of games could go on for days between them." It evokes such a feeling of how they act together.
You have a little formatting problem between "sign" and "those expense reports."
Wait, if she won, what about the rest of the chapters? ;)
That's so sweet! Neither one was actually lost? That's kind of adorable. I liked Michael making people go sledding, too. I'd like to see that episode. ;)
Author's Response: I agree, it felt very Michael-y to force them to socialize, and sledding seems like the kind of think (like ice skating) that he'd like to do. Thank you! :)
I think Pam liked Katy until she thought Jim liked Katy, and until Katy liked Jim. After that, it was "get your hands off Jim, bee-yotch!" ;)
Author's Response:
I think that you're 100% correct with that.
And now I've cleared all of the unanswered reviews from my profile. I hope you were surprised, amused, and pleased to get these notifications today. (Assuming you still use this email address). It was my pleasure to revisit this story and our time together. Thank you for being a supporter of MTT and of mine during a fun and creative part of my life.
"he knew that it was often in quiet, reflective moments when he could truly appreciate what he had now in contrast to his misery just a year before." Good words, lis.
Author's Response: Thank you. It seems pretty Jim-like to me to mostly just be caught up in being happy without thinking about it too often- except when it hits him like a ton of bricks.
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