(Untitled)

[jim_halpert]

There was a point in the day that Samantha was too tired to run around much, but not tired enough to take a nap. Over the two years Jim had raised her, he had learned that just putting her to bed didn't work - she wound herself up crying and wouldn't sleep, anyway. He chose instead to use that time to read to her, when she was calm enough not to

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[crazyspacegirl]

River didn't inturrupt the reading when she came for her usual visit. She just sat down on the ground (and wondered grimly how long it would be before she wouldn't be able to get back up on her own) to listen.

Simon Chicago was somewhat less polite. He woofed at Samantha and Jim before giving a more traditional canine greeting to Rembrandt.

[jim_halpert]

Jim just smiled when he noticed River out of the corner of his eye. Sam had been engrossed enough in what he assumed was the pictures, until Simon Chicago's bark alerted her to their presence. By then, Rembrandt had gotten up, sniffing at the other dog, tail wagging.

"Simon!" she exclaimed, since he was the closest to her, reaching out to pet him

[crazyspacegirl]

Simon poked his cold nose at Samantha's face, and licked her while nearly vibrating with excitement at the attention. River rolled her eyes at her fool dog, acting like he was starved of affection or something, and gave Remy a friendly pat.

"That book is about a boy who used to live here, you know," she said. "He told me all about Pooh and Tigger and Rabbit and everyone, a long time ago."

[jim_halpert]

"I remember," Jim nodded. He only saw him around once or twice, but it was hard to miss him. Jim smiled down at Sam as she pet Simon Chicago, laughing at the feel of his nose. "Sam picked this book out today. Seems like she really likes them."

[risesagain]

Winnie the Pooh had been one of Jean's favourite stories when she was child. Back before the sadness, pain and weirdness of her life it had just been her father, Sara and her reading about the One Hundred Acre wood.

It warms her heart to see that it still carries on. Pausing on her walk, she smiles at the father and child. "I always like Rabbit best myself."

[jim_halpert]

Jim was beyond the point of worrying about people seeing him doing potentially dorky things with Samantha. He was pretty sure it was part of the job of being a father, and he never took himself too seriously before anyway. It was why he wasn't too phased when he noticed someone he didn't know stopping to talk to them. Rembrandt lifted his head to look at the woman, but didn't get up from the spot he'd plopped down in a few minutes ago.

"We haven't read a story with Rabbit in it yet," he replied, grinning down at Sam, who admittedly was already acting shy with the person she didn't know. "Seems like Samantha here likes Pooh, though. Isn't that right, Sammy? Do you like the bear?"

"Uh-huh," she replied, rubbing at her eyes. Jim could tell a nap was definitely in her future, soon.

[risesagain]

"Awh, she's adorable." Seeing such a small child reminds Jean of Gailyn and Joey who had both been too sweet to bear.

"The bear is a very wise bear, you should listen to him just like you should listen to your daddy," she says, still smiling to the little girl.

[jim_halpert]

It was a good thing, really, he had heard her before he really looked at her. It took a moment, but who she looked like connected in his head, and it was enough to make him pause. It couldn't be her, though, not with an accent like that, and he could see it was one of those island things again.

He was grateful, if only because he had no interest in being chewed out. With his luck, if Katy ever did show up, it'd be right after he broke it off with her.

"That's right," Jim agreed, shaking himself out of his thoughts as he looked back down at his daughter. "See, even this nice lady thinks so, hear that, Sam? I - didn't catch your name, by the way. I'm Jim. This is my daughter, Samantha."

She was still putting up the shy act. Jim knew that it wouldn't last too long.

[abrams_vanessa]

Vanessa had been heading towards the Compound in search of something to eat when she overheard two voices reading something that was very familiar to her. She paused for a minute, listening to the much deeper voice read about a game of Poohsticks where Eeyore had become one of the sticks.

The voice stopped for a moment and Vanessa looked over to see what the holdup was. She could see a very small girl - did the island seriously yank kids this young here? - pointing to an illustration in the book the man with her was holding. She couldn't help but smile at the scene before her, it was nothing short of adorable.

"I always did feel bad for Piglet. Here he thought he won Poohsticks and turned out he was thwarted."

[jim_halpert]

"I'm sure he's won plenty of games after the story," Jim replied, not quite able to hide his grin. He didn't know the girl in front of them, but he didn't mind much being noticed. After a lot of the ridiculous things he was put through back at work, his tolerance was pretty high for that. "Isn't that right, Sam?"

She just looked up at the girl shyly - she usually was like this with strangers at first - before hiding her face against his shirt.

[abrams_vanessa]

Vanessa smiled at how the girl buried her face into his shirt. She always liked litle kids. "She's adorable," she told the man. "Sorry to crash your Pooh session, I just can't resist me some Tigger and Piglet. And your voices are amazing."

She stepped forward and offered her hand out towards the one arm that wasn't wrapped around a toddler. "I'm Vanessa. I make films, maybe someday I could use your incredible voice acting," she smiled.

[jim_halpert]

"I - oh. Wow," he said, actually looking just a little embarrassed. He had never thought to do anything but mess around with the stuff he could do, especially using it to make Pam laugh. Lifting his hand, he took hers to shake it. "Jim. And this is Samantha. I don't exactly know if I'd be good for your film, though. I've never done anything like that professionally."

[awesome_captain]

Devon considered it excellent timing that he heard Jim and the very last lines of a well-loved Winnie the Pooh story - mostly because he was happy he wasn't going to be interrupting or waiting around while he let Jim finish.

"I love storytime," he said, coming up on the pair and giving them a grin. "Hey, Jim," he greeted, before crouching down in from of Sam and tapping her under her chin with a knuckle. "How's my favorite patient?"

[jim_halpert]

Sam perked up a little upon seeing Devon, though she was tired enough that she didn't get up. Jim didn't doubt she'd finally pass out for a while soon.

"Fighting sleep," he said with a quiet laugh. "She's putting up a good battle right now. She's usually asleep by the end of the things I read."

[awesome_captain]

"So storytime also leads into naptime?" Devon asked, mentally taking notes. He had seven months before he and Ellie would have to figure all this stuff out, and it couldn't hurt to get some tips before they went into it all.

[jim_halpert]

"Sometimes," he said, looking a little amused at the question. "Sometimes we do it just because she wants to read. Or listen to me read, anyway. I figure the last thing I ever want to do is make her think reading is bad."

[this_is_pam]

While Jim was out with Sam, Pam had been in the hut painting, which she'd been planning on doing until he brought Sam back to nap. That changed, though, when she heard him reading outside. She always had loved his impressions, and even more than that, she liked hearing him do voices in stories for Sam. It was simultaneously completely adorable and hilarious.

She'd been standing in the doorway, just out of sight, for probably a few minutes, having abandoned her painting just in time to leave her with a nice streak of green paint by her temple. She hadn't meant to interrupt, but when it got to a point that Jim had to do the voice for Piglet, she couldn't hold back her laughter. It was just too good. "You guys mind some company?" she asked, stepping outside so she could better look at them. "Sorry, I couldn't help overhearing."

[jim_halpert]

Jim hadn't even noticed Pam's presence until she laughed. Tilting his head to the side to look over at her, he couldn't help but smile. He had thought she had gone out earlier.

"Mommy, ti-gur, look!" Sam exclaimed, instantly brightening herself when she saw Pam nearby.

"I'd say neither of us would mind you sticking around," Jim supplied, a grin on his face. "How long have you been listening?"

[this_is_pam]

"Since the last chapter," Pam said with a shrug, as if that wasn't much to have heard at all, taking a seat beside them. "Long enough to have heard Pooh's little song. Daddy did that really well, didn't he, Sammy?" she asked, glancing down at her. Sam nodded enthusiastically, and Pam's smile only widened. "I didn't realize you knew your Disney so well."

[jim_halpert]

"What kid didn't grow up with this cartoon?" he countered, letting out a slightly embarrassed laugh. He really didn't mind looking a little silly, especially in front of Pam. "Christopher Robin used to be on the island, you know. A long time ago."