Hiatusathon
Well, operation cookie was a complete success (I heard Dwight’s Star Wars re-enactment)
(Jan… what’s cookie?)
“Michael what are you talking about?”
Michael rolls his eyes, “Jan, Jan, Jan, I was just trying to find the email Dwight sent me-”
“Michael, stop this isn’t-”
“Seriously though-what is it?”
“What are you talking about?” She rubs the back of his chair until her hand burns, resisting the urge to rub her forehead (he can sense exasperation)
“Look it’s right there in black and white, ‘east stairwell for cookie’… Are we getting a cookie store because I thought you didn’t like that idea.”
She let her head roll back a bit and restrained a sigh, “I don’t know what you mean- and how are you reading Dwight’s private emails?”
“It’s legal just help me figure this out okay?” He grins a little and she knows she’ll do it no matter what her conscience may have to say on the matter.
“Fine, what exactly does it say?”
“You are an amazing woman, Jan…”
She noticed he was starting to get that smile again but pushed down the excitement rising in her throat.
“Well??”
“What? Oh right… let me see. Dwight Schrute to Angela Kinsey Expense report blah blah blah, quarterly report booooooring-ah ha here we go! East stairwell for cookie, just like I said”
“Why is this bothering you?”
“Jan, this is my family. If there is something wrong it is my job to know everything about it and fix the problem,”
“Not officially,”
“Alright, so are you going to help me?”
“No.”
“Aww Jan, come on! I promise it’ll be fun,”
She pursed her lips and tried to repress the thought of Michael playing spies, especially on Dwight. She shook her head quickly.
“Michael, it’s very important that you get some of this stuff done today,”
“Chillax, Jan! Know what? I’ll go and you can hold down the fort-make sure nobody knows what I’m up to. You’ll be my Bond woman.”
“But Mi-”
“Nope, it’s Bond… James Bond and I’m on a mission.”
“If there’s a problem I’m sure Toby could-”
“Just stay here and I’ll take care of this, no need for HR”
She knew a lost cause when she saw one so she shrugged and gave up (when did she start letting things go? Including his horrendous imitation of movies.) He grins in response and stands up.
“Gotta get to work Jan. See you”
She feels like she’s been tricked but his spy shuffle is worth doing his job for him (for a few minutes).
***
She has no idea what he’s been doing for the last hour but he’s wearing his jacket and has half melted snow across the back of his coat.
“Michael where were you?”
“If I told you that, I’d have to kill you, except I wouldn’t because you’re my girlfriend but…” he tries to raise an eyebrow and she wants to look away.
“Anyways, you have to come with me- this is what we’ve been waiting for,”
He grabs her arm and pulls her to her feet, she lets him drag her though the office and out to the elevator before stopping him.
“What is going on? I need to be back in New York tomorrow and we haven’t even discussed the-”
He interrupts with something about blowing his cover and she lets him lead her down the stairs and leans against the wall silently. She has no idea what is going on until she hears voices approaching and Michael leaps out shouting ‘freeze’ and immediately pulls a face of complete horror. She doesn’t want to know.
***
Angela is the worst of it, between rants about spying and venomous glare, and Michael’s frequent exclamations of disgust (Argh Dwight just… eesh) are making one stupid piece of paper. She decides that there are some things that she’d rather not know.
(Maybe it was a good thing, because at least there are no more secret relationships, (she sincerely hopes)) but she still makes Michael promise not to use his email surveillance anymore
Title: ...
Author:
quietdecember
Fandom: The Office
Character/Pairing(s): Jan/Michael, Dwight/Angela,
Word Count: ~660
Rating: K+
Summary: Well, it all starts with coffee
Thanks to
puffingnoise for betaing
For
ciachick711, hope you like it!
(With your hands on my shoulders)
A Meaningless Movement
A Movie Script Ending
It was still dark when she got there the rays of sunlight barely staining the sky but she was resolved to arrive early. She had intended to splurge a bit on overpriced coffee, maybe sketch the patrons and imagine being somewhere where a pile of signed papers is not a considerable feat. She likes this coffee place because it’s far from work. So she almost sloshes coffee over her shirt when she sees Jan Levinson downing a cappuccino at an alarming pace. She almost sneaks out (she really doesn’t want to know what who she is doing in Scranton so early) when she feels eyes on her neck and hears her name and it’s back to being a receptionist.
She turns smiles mildly.
“Hey Jan”
***
She doesn’t really realize it for a while but half an hour flies by and her cup of coffee is still half full. She watches her fingers wind around the handle absorbing its waning heat. She knows if she looks up she’ll she something familiar in Jan’s face and she can’t quite reconcile the woman in front of her with what she saw every few weeks for the last three years.
Hushed confessions breeze through her head like it isn’t too early and she avoids awkward questions even though she and Michael is no secret and she assumes she and nobody isn’t too covert either.
"Are you alright?" Is a reflected question and Pam doesn't know what she's thinking, nodding and smiling and letting Jan talk about Michael in breathless bursts of optimism. She could leave and go to work and sit in the dark or stay here and face a gaze that seemed to understand her a little better than she'd like.
“Yeah,”
She glances up and can’t look away because she knows Michael told something (good or bad). She waits because her head is empty and if she was alone she might wedge herself into the corner of the bathroom and cry. But instead she takes a sip of coffee because she isn’t going to run anymore, and she knows it wouldn’t change anything.
“I heard you had an art show”
And she’s played this game before and everyone expects something.
***
Jan offers the art program and Pam feels yes in her throat and knows there’s nothing holding her back. She only nods, lips curling and this is where regret ends.
“I’m glad you’re finally doing this,”
Pam’s smile fades, but it’s buried underneath stories of Michael trying to pick out perfume for her. There are grins and more stories and she can pretend that Jan doesn’t glance at Jim and Karen when they take the elevator together or tell her she’s glad to be with Michael with that look that’s really a warning (it could be too late)
She hides the forms underneath faxes and emails and fills them out when nobody is looking. Thick, creamy acceptance letters are easy to hide and secret smiles are covered with folders and excuses. It’s a nice secret and she swirls it in her mouth in the break room, because leaving is final and she can take that chance (once).
***
They get coffee on another morning in another city and Jan shows her a ring and Pam smiles and this is real (without bad dreams or awkward half stares).
hope you enjoyed them!!
:D