Lifelong Fling (Pam/Karen)
Title: Lifelong Fling
For: femslash100's aroundtheclock
Claim: The Office, Pam Beesly
Prompts: 12:00 / lunchtime, 10:00 / wristwatch, 14:00 / season, 19:00 / outdated, 18:00 / afterlife
Pairing: Pam/Karen
Spoilers: through 'A Benihana Christmas'
Rating: PG
Word Count: 101 + 144 + 125 + 116 + 174 = 660
Summary: It begins over lunch.
Disclaimer: Not mine. Don't sue. Title is also an Over the Rhine song.
*
Lunchtime
*
It begins over lunch, though Pam doesn't recognize it beginning at the time. All of it seems rather harmless, Karen's smiles and her fingers brushing over Pam's arm as she leans closer. Some 'getting to know you' talk sprinkled with flashes of humor. The start of friendship, she assumes, not a dance of flirtation.
Later, she'll wonder how she could've been so oblivious, especially considering what happened with Jim (she had pledged to always pay attention, to not live in denial any longer).
Later, she'll think of the third time Karen laughed as the moment she fell in love with her.
*
Wristwatch
*
After the first night they sleep together, Karen leaves her watch on Pam's nightstand. Pam takes it to the office in her purse, trying to think of a way to return it that won't look suspicious. She eventually does it in the bathroom, away from the cameras. "You left this at my place," she whispers.
"Oh, cool." Karen takes it without quite touching Pam's fingers. "I thought I lost it."
"Well, you didn't." Pam doesn't quite know what to say after that, and she just stares at Karen. "So. That's that."
Karen pulls her in for a kiss nonchalantly and using one fluid movement, like Pam should've been expecting it. Her heart's beating fast in her chest, and she tries to tell Karen to slow down. Instead, she ends up saying yes, saying yes again when Karen invites her out for a drink.
Yes.
*
Season
*
The documentary starts airing in the spring. Michael is oblivious to how he looks, quoting all his best lines the day after each new episode. Pam feels sorry for him, feels even worse when she thinks of how she and Jim used to be; friends. It's late summer when Karen says, "Are you in love with him?"
"No," Pam says. It's a little bit of a lie.
"Were you?" The silence makes Karen tense up. "Why wouldn't you tell me?"
"There's nothing to tell."
"My girlfriend being in love with my ex-boyfriend is a thing to tell."
There are talks, long talks, and Pam says that she wants this, and it's mostly the truth, so, "Don't walk away from me, okay?"
She doesn't. Not then.
*
Outdated
*
They decide to break up after the Scranton branch is shut down. Pam knows that Karen's using it as an excuse, a fact that Karen admits with a this wasn't going to work out anyway said against Pam's cheek. They sleep together one last time the night before she helps Karen pack some of her things. It's not moving day, but it's coming soon. She's going back to Connecticut, she says, and she doesn't know what she's going to do.
"Maybe I won't stay in Connecticut." Karen looks at the spines of the books in her hand before placing them in a box. "Maybe I'll go to New York."
Pam almost says, "Take me with you."
*
Afterlife
*
Jim calls her months after the branch closes but only a couple of days after the final episode of the documentary airs. "I miss you," he says. "I've missed you for a long time."
"Me, too," she says. It's mostly the truth.
They get engaged soon after, get married soon after that. No more time to be wasted, that's the storyline. She assumes she'll stop thinking about Karen after she's married, but that's not true. She lingers, somehow, passing through Pam's mind even during happy moments. She wonders what Karen's doing, who she's with, where she is. She paints imaginary pictures of Karen's new life, and sometimes Pam is with her. The thoughts eventually cease, or at least cease being constant, when she's been a wife for half a year. The thoughts return periodically at the oddest moments, linger after the kids have grown and she and Jim are waiting for grandchildren to come.
Pam thinks of looking Karen up. A simple internet search that she's avoided for years. She never will give in.
END
For: femslash100's aroundtheclock
Claim: The Office, Pam Beesly
Prompts: 12:00 / lunchtime, 10:00 / wristwatch, 14:00 / season, 19:00 / outdated, 18:00 / afterlife
Pairing: Pam/Karen
Spoilers: through 'A Benihana Christmas'
Rating: PG
Word Count: 101 + 144 + 125 + 116 + 174 = 660
Summary: It begins over lunch.
Disclaimer: Not mine. Don't sue. Title is also an Over the Rhine song.
*
Lunchtime
*
It begins over lunch, though Pam doesn't recognize it beginning at the time. All of it seems rather harmless, Karen's smiles and her fingers brushing over Pam's arm as she leans closer. Some 'getting to know you' talk sprinkled with flashes of humor. The start of friendship, she assumes, not a dance of flirtation.
Later, she'll wonder how she could've been so oblivious, especially considering what happened with Jim (she had pledged to always pay attention, to not live in denial any longer).
Later, she'll think of the third time Karen laughed as the moment she fell in love with her.
*
Wristwatch
*
After the first night they sleep together, Karen leaves her watch on Pam's nightstand. Pam takes it to the office in her purse, trying to think of a way to return it that won't look suspicious. She eventually does it in the bathroom, away from the cameras. "You left this at my place," she whispers.
"Oh, cool." Karen takes it without quite touching Pam's fingers. "I thought I lost it."
"Well, you didn't." Pam doesn't quite know what to say after that, and she just stares at Karen. "So. That's that."
Karen pulls her in for a kiss nonchalantly and using one fluid movement, like Pam should've been expecting it. Her heart's beating fast in her chest, and she tries to tell Karen to slow down. Instead, she ends up saying yes, saying yes again when Karen invites her out for a drink.
Yes.
*
Season
*
The documentary starts airing in the spring. Michael is oblivious to how he looks, quoting all his best lines the day after each new episode. Pam feels sorry for him, feels even worse when she thinks of how she and Jim used to be; friends. It's late summer when Karen says, "Are you in love with him?"
"No," Pam says. It's a little bit of a lie.
"Were you?" The silence makes Karen tense up. "Why wouldn't you tell me?"
"There's nothing to tell."
"My girlfriend being in love with my ex-boyfriend is a thing to tell."
There are talks, long talks, and Pam says that she wants this, and it's mostly the truth, so, "Don't walk away from me, okay?"
She doesn't. Not then.
*
Outdated
*
They decide to break up after the Scranton branch is shut down. Pam knows that Karen's using it as an excuse, a fact that Karen admits with a this wasn't going to work out anyway said against Pam's cheek. They sleep together one last time the night before she helps Karen pack some of her things. It's not moving day, but it's coming soon. She's going back to Connecticut, she says, and she doesn't know what she's going to do.
"Maybe I won't stay in Connecticut." Karen looks at the spines of the books in her hand before placing them in a box. "Maybe I'll go to New York."
Pam almost says, "Take me with you."
*
Afterlife
*
Jim calls her months after the branch closes but only a couple of days after the final episode of the documentary airs. "I miss you," he says. "I've missed you for a long time."
"Me, too," she says. It's mostly the truth.
They get engaged soon after, get married soon after that. No more time to be wasted, that's the storyline. She assumes she'll stop thinking about Karen after she's married, but that's not true. She lingers, somehow, passing through Pam's mind even during happy moments. She wonders what Karen's doing, who she's with, where she is. She paints imaginary pictures of Karen's new life, and sometimes Pam is with her. The thoughts eventually cease, or at least cease being constant, when she's been a wife for half a year. The thoughts return periodically at the oddest moments, linger after the kids have grown and she and Jim are waiting for grandchildren to come.
Pam thinks of looking Karen up. A simple internet search that she's avoided for years. She never will give in.
END