Fic: Jim/Pam; The one thing that stays mine; g
title: the one thing that stays mine.*
author: yourmanuscript
fandom: the office.
rating: g.
word count: 563 words.
characters/pairing: jim/pam, dwight, karen.
summary: it is all too familiar.
author's notes: my first time writing for this pairing or for this particular fandom. reviews are wonderful! this takes place during the season 3 finale, focusing on jim and pam's time apart.
prompt: last goodbye.
Jim.
He had intended to leave his old life behind for good this time. He had packed it all up and was ready to move forward and go far. This would be his last goodbye. What he was leaving behind had no significance. His job, his apartment, his friends, his hair, his- her.
When he and Karen check into their hotel room, he catches the receptionist and the supervisor sharing a look and suppresses a smile. It is all too familiar.
When they walk past a man on the street claiming he has x-ray vision glasses, he can’t stop from laughing out loud (or feeling a pang of regret) at the similarity with a certain Scranton employee. He assures himself that it is the pranks he misses and not his partner in crime.
When they pass an art gallery, he has to do a double take because some of the artworks bear striking resemblances to hers. Stupid, really, hers are better anyway.
When Karen takes him shopping, he finds himself in the confectionary aisle by default. He doesn’t know what he is even doing there, so he picks up a bag of jellybeans. He wonders when they had become his comfort food (and why he would need comforting in the first place) before putting them back down and finding Karen.
When he sits in the waiting room, he mistakes “Grace” for her name.
Dunder Mifflin, this is-
Pam.
She really does run to the ringing phone at 9:12, sure that it is news from him. 9:27, 9:28, 9:34. After the first four and a half hours, she stops expecting his call.
When Dwight walks into the office, he has the air of a king (or a Jedi Knight) and immediately takes to ordering everyone around. The absence of Michael and the second in charge means that he is boss and oh, how she wishes she could pull a prank on him. Instead she takes to forming an alliance with him which is almost as fun, but not quite.
When she takes her lunch break, her first instinct is to walk over to his desk. Luckily, she realises his absence just in time and turns into Dwight’s new office for some quality bonding time. She really, really hopes that this will not be an indication of the rest of her working life without him.
When it is 1:15, the phone rings and this time she is certain that it’s him; it just has to be! And it is Michael, just fifteen minutes away from the office. At least that’s some news, right?
When she has finally convinced herself that she is alright with this, without him, she finds herself needing to say it aloud (and alone, or as alone as you can be with cameras watching your every move). It's almost therapeutic to be talking to the camera and so she makes a silent note to herself to add this to her list-of-things-that-are-okay-without-him.
When she is interrupted by none other than himself, she stops breathing, bracing herself for the bad news that will surely greet her. Everyone loves him.
When he closes the door after asking her to dinner tonight, she sits with a goofy grin plastered on her face and is sure she had been hallucinating. Still, she hopes there will be many more of the same hallucination.
I’m sorry, what was the question?