Disclaimer: I don't own the Office. I am in no way affiliated with NBC/Universal and all characters, properties, and names belong to their respective owners.

Summary: Michael is depressed. He feels his life isn't as it should be and he blames the world around him. In a moment of weakness, Michael tries to attempt the unthinkable. With a little help from his guardian angel, Michael appreciates his life on earth. It's "It's a Wonderful Life" meets "The Office", people.

A/N: Okay, I'm back with another story. Very fast, I know, but this struck me after watching Jimmy Stewart in "It's a Wonderful Life", one of my all-time favorite films. Many people have done this in television shows, so I thought I'd try and do it with this one. Enjoy!

December 19, 2007

4:52 pm

The camera panned the office. Everyone was gathering his or her belongings and leaving for the evening. Dwight had just put his coat on and walked out the door, waving goodbye to Michael. Kevin waved goodbye to Pam as he left with Oscar. Stanley was on the phone walking out with Phyllis, who waved goodbye to Pam and Jim. Meredith and Angela walked out, not speaking, followed by Creed. Kelly and Toby were leaving, Kelly stopping at reception, giving Pam a magazine. Toby waved goodbye as they both left for the evening.

Jim walked up to reception with his coat over his arm, "Ready to go?"

Pam nodded, "Yeah, just have to shut this down." She pushed the off button on her computer and turned of her desk lamp. Jim met her around her desk and helped her with her coat, "Thanks." As she was collecting herself, she noticed Michael's desk light on, "Michael's still here?"

Jim nodded, "Yeah, he's waiting on Andy. Some big sales call." Checking his watch, "He should have been back by now." He shrugged, "Come on, we have reservations at seven. Don't want to be late."

Pam nodded, "Just a sec." She walked over to Michael's office, "Hi Michael, we're about to head out." She noticed Michael's reserved manner, "You okay?"

Michael was staring at his computer in a daze. He wasn't cognizant until he saw Pam's pink coat, "Oh hi, Pam. You're leaving?"

Pam nodded, "Yeah. Just wanted to make sure you're okay. You've been quiet all afternoon. Is everything alright?" She looked up at Jim worriedly.

Jim nodded, "Yeah, you okay, man? I hardly heard from ya much today."

Michael simply shrugged, "Just wondering when Andy's coming back."

Pam nodded, "He'll be back soon. Don't worry." She gave Michael a warm smile and turned to leave when Michael spoke.

"Have you ever felt that you were just on auto pilot?" Michael looked up at them expectantly.

Jim looked taken aback, "What do you mean?"

Michael shook his head, "You know, like you're living but you're not really living?"

Pam looked concerned, "You're sure everything's alright?"

Michael rubbed his eyes nodding, "Yeah, just tired. Kinda want to go home."

Jim nodded, "Well, Andy'll be back, and than you can head home." He nodded with finality. "See ya tomorrow, man."

Pam waved, "G'night, Michael." She and Jim walked out, holding hands.

Michael took a deep breath, rubbing his eyes. He looked at the computer, which was on a website for vacations. He was looking up exotic places that he wanted to go, places that he could be free and be with Jan. Places were he dreamed about in his bedroom as a child. Places that he could afford to go after he landed this big client that Andy was handling.

The sale alone would put the branch over this and last quarter's profits and the commission would give Michael the means to help his financial fix drastically. He was depending on this to get them out of their rot and maybe do some traveling on his time off. He was reluctant to put Andy on the sale, but Dwight and Jim were both swamped with clients, Stanley had conflicting sales meetings and the client had explicitly said no saleswomen, so Phyllis was out. Andy wasn't the most talented salesman, but he was the best they could do. All Michael needed was to get the sale. He would have done it himself, but he too was swamped with the last of the year clients and preparing for next year. He was trying to be confident in Andy, but the waiting was eating him up alive. Why was it taking him so long? It had been three hours. What could be the hold up?

As that thought came to the surface, Andy walked into the dim office and headed straight into Michael's office. Michael straightened up as Andy stood before him, looking downward. Michael's stomach dropped, "What happened? You've been gone for nearly three hours, what took so –

Andy spoke softly, "We didn't get it." He kept his head down, in shame.

Michael didn't react initially, "What?"

Andy repeated louder, "We didn't get the sale, boss." He shrugged, "The guy was an a-hole anyway. We didn't want his business."

Michael nodded slowly, "Yeah we did, actually." He rubbed his eyes, "Why did we not want his business?"

Andy scoffed, "Well… for one, his choice in music sucked. He listened to Eric Clapton for Christ's sake, and not the good years. And two, he wasn't even funny. He told these seriously lame jokes. God, you don't want that kind of presence harshing the office's cool points. I mean, c'mon –

Michael put his hand up, "Stop, okay." He sighed exasperatedly, "I don't even know what to say right now. I give you one client, one, and you screw the pooch, royally screw the pooch for everybody." He stood up and paced in front of his desk, "God! I didn't even want you to do much with him; just have him sign the papers." He breathed loudly, "Dammit, Andy! What the hell did you have to lose this client? Out of all the clients you have, this is the one you had to lose, the biggest one of the final quarter."

Andy was stroke with realization, "I'm… I'm sorry –

Michael shouted, "You're sorry? You're sorry. Thank you, Andy. Thank you so much for being sorry. Now I can explain to Punkass Ryan that I lost our client and the profits this quarter are going to be lower. Oh, but Andy's sorry. He's so sorry."

Andy looked afraid, "Michael, I didn't realize –

Michael nodded, "Yeah, you didn't realize. You didn't think." He breathed deeply, "Just leave, please."

Andy stood in shock, but slowly made his way out the door of the office, without another word. Michael took a seat and stared at his computer again. He was about to shut it off when the phone rang. He answered, "Michael Scott."

Ryan's voice was heard over the speaker, "Michael, has Andy come back from his sales calls, yet?"

Michael sighed, "Yeah, he came back."

Ryan asked annoyingly, "And?"

Michael sighed again, "And we didn't get it."

Ryan signed over the speaker, "And why didn't we get the sale?"

Michael shrugged, "I don't know. Andy did something to rub him the wrong way. You know –

Ryan shouted, "Why did you put Andy on the sale in the first place if you knew how he can be? Why were you so… thick-headed." He sighed loudly, "You know, Michael. This company has had to deal with your crap for far too long. Your branch is number three out of four branches. Your profits are razor thin and it's the largest branch. Honesty, I don't even know what to say right now."

Michael sighed, "Well… Andy's sorry about what happened."

Ryan spat, "Fantastic. Look, I've had it up to here with this branch so… consider this your warning. If you can't pull your branch out of this deficit in the next quarter, look forward to a severance check." With that, Ryan clicked off.

Michael put his head in his hands, breathing in and out loudly. He than got up and walked over to his coat rack and put his coat on. He turned off his computer and desk lamp and headed out the door of the office. As he walked out of his office, he touched Jim and Pam's desk. He turned around and looked at Pam's painting of the office and adjusted it to make it straight. He than turned off the lights and walked out of the door.

His drive home was a blur, not really thinking of anything but how to explain to Jan to not pack her bags to paradise. That they had to wait another several months before their trip to Europe. That they couldn't pay more money on the credit card bills this month. That he lost the sale. That he lost the sale because he was too trusting. That he lost the sale because he was Michael Scott.

As he walked into the door of his condo, he noticed shopping bags. Lots and lots of shopping bags. Big ones, little ones, long ones, short ones, covering all the surfaces of his living room. As he made his way into the kitchen, he saw Jan wrapping up presents for the upcoming holiday, "Hey, honey. You're late." She walked over and kissed his cheek, "I was getting worried." She took his briefcase and sat it down on the counter. She went into the fridge, "You hungry? I was gonna make some stir fry. Maybe chicken. You want that?"

Michael had tuned her out and was looking at all the gift bags and presents already wrapped, and still noticing all the bags in the living room. "You went shopping?"

Jan chuckled, "Yeah. I was going to the mall to pick up some Christmas cards and there were so many sales. You wouldn't believe it. Anyway, I thought that since we had landed the sale's pitch so well last week, I would splurge a little. I got so many nice things and I we didn't spend that much either.

Michael gave a sigh of relief, "Oh thank God. I thought you put us in the poor house."

Jan giggled, "No, silly. Anyway, it doesn't matter. We can afford to overindulge ourselves a bit."

Michael was sneaking a peek into one of the bag, "So, what was the damage?'

Jan shrugged, "A few thousand." Jan gave Michael a smile and started wrapping the present again.

Michael stopped breathing. He began to choke and coughed uncontrollably. Jan ran over and gave him a glass of water. She started patting on his back, trying to calm him down. When Michael collected himself he spoke softly, "A few thousand? You spent on presents thousands of dollars? How… When…"

Jan looked taken aback, "What's the big deal? You're commission is going to be $67,000. I don't see the problem. We have plenty of money left."

Michael shook his head, "No we don't."

Jan grew concerned, "What do mean? I thought –

Michael finally sat down, "Andy lost the sale. He said something to set the guy off and we lost it. Corporate knows already. So…yeah."

Jan covered her mouth, "Oh my –

Michael nodded, "Yep. We are screwed." He put his head in his hands. "We are so f-ing screwed."

Jan knelt down next to Michael and put her arm around him, "We'll figure something out. Maybe we can talk to the man. Maybe he'll find reason. Maybe –

Michael stood up abruptly, "Reason?! It's over, Jan! We are screwed. I'm already on the edge of being fired. We're broke as it is. I'm in debt up to my eyeballs and we have a fucking shopping mall in our living room!" He walked away from Jan and leaned on the wall in the kitchen. Jan walked up behind and him and put a comforting hand on his shoulder, but he shrugged it off, "Don't touch me, Jan."

Jan got offended, "Don't blame this on me! I had no idea –

Michael spat back, "Right, you didn't. You just went out and spent our money, like it meant nothing to you! You could have called or something. You just assumed that everything was alright."

Jan countered, "Well, I wasn't the one talking about how this money was going to change everything. That we would be able to pay off our debt and go traveling and be okay again. I wasn't the one –

Michael yelled, "No, you weren't. You just spent up whatever we had left. Goddammit, Jan. We needed that money!"

Jan became emotional, "I'm sorry, Michael."

Michael shouted, "That's everybody's favorite word, isn't it? I'm sorry. I'm sorry Michael I screwed up the sale. I'm sorry Michael I spent up our last funds. Well… you know what? I'm sorry, too. I'm sorry that I'm here in the stupid little town, with these stupid little people. And I'm sorry I was ever born!" With that, he grabbed his coat and walked out the door, leaving Jan screaming after him.

Michael drove down familiar streets, twisting and turning in circles, not looking for any particular destination. As he was driving, it started snowing. Michael looked around and screamed, "Great, snow. What next? Locus?!" He was driving for nearly an hour when he approached a bridge that crossed Lake Scranton. He turned off the engine and put his head on the steering wheel, breathing softly. He than unbuckled his seat belt and got out the car. He was walking slowly to the railing of the bridge. When he reached it, he leaned over and looked at the water, dark and murky. It was about a twenty foot drop, and was continually getting colder by the minute.

Michael breathed in the watery air, sighed slowly and deeply. He looked up at the sky in complete disbelief, "Why? Why me?" He started to bound his fist on the railing. "I don't deserve this? I'm a good man! But I guess that doesn't matter, does it?" He spat, "I'm just so tired of waking up day after day after day and never getting anywhere." He threw his hands in the air, "I'm just here. I'm always gonna be here." He spoke softer, "Maybe it be better if I wasn't here at all." He began to silently sob.

Without Michael noticing, the snow began to decease.

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More to come. In the next chapter, Michael meets someone new.

Please review so I know if I should continue this, because I really want to continue this. Thanks in advance.