Author's Notes: An attempt at a Michael/Holly first date fic ended up as this.
Disclaimer: If I owned the show, Employee Transfer would've ended differently...sigh.
Kodak Moments
Holly sits at her desk in the annex. Kelly is talking to her about a celebrity - was it Brad Pitt? Or Shia Labeouf? - and Holly feels bad for not listening. Her mind is elsewhere: she really hates Jan Levinston. Even though she's only known the woman for a few hours, Holly can tell that she really isn't a nice person. She's heard bits and pieces of Jan and Michael's story from various people in the office, and she's concluded that Jan treated Michael horribly. Jan knew Michael wanted to have kids, so why did she go to that stupid sperm bank? Holly knows that Michael deserves so much better than Jan - he's funny, generous, and kind. She vowed to be different from Jan if she and Michael ever dated. And she isn't jealous of Jan, except maybe she is, but that's nobody's business but hers.
Michael Scott has a secret: he doesn't really like horror movies. They scare him, and this causes him to feel like a wimp. Michael Scott is not wimpy, because that's Toby's department and not his. That is why he hates horror movies: they make him feel like something he isn't. It's a contradiction or…what was that fancy word that Dwight used? Paradox? Contradictions, paradoxes, whatever they're called - Michael doesn't like them.
But when Michael thinks about this date with Holly, it seems like a bit of a contradiction. Holly is amazing, but she's from HR. If that wasn't a contradiction, what wasn't? Last year, if anyone were to tell Michael that he would find a sweet, funny, and beautiful woman in HR, he would've laughed at them. Nobody who had the same job as Toby Flenderson could have those qualities. That was before he met Holly Flax. Holly Flax is a paradox: a perfect woman who worked in human resources. Holly is sitting next to Michael while they watch Quarantine at the movie theatre that gives free popcorn and Michael can find no fault with her. If Holly is a contradiction, maybe Michael was wrong about disliking them. And, as Mrs. Espinoza attacks the firefighter, and Holly gives a tiny scream and grabs his hand, Michael thinks he horror movies are starting to grow on him.
As Kelly is going on about Ryan and Daryl, is dawns on Holly that her period is late and she's still feeling queasy. She wonders if - no, she couldn't be. Could she? They were careful. Still, when was her last period? Her eyes dart towards her calendar and studies it.
"I mean," Kelly complains, "All I want to do is get married and have babies. Why can't either one of them understand that?"
Oh God. Babies. Michael and I are having a baby.
Michael and I are having a baby.
Holly smiles.
Michael watches as the nurse spreads jell across Holly's stomach. The stuff looks like it's got to be cold, and he wonders if the wand type thing - what had the nurse called it? A transducer? - tickles Holly. He's about to ask her if it does when he sees it. He stares at the screen in fascination: that's their baby on that screen, inside of Holly. Holly takes his hand in hers and laughs happily, and while they're at work the next day, he sticks a picture of the sonogram on the refrigerator in the break room.
Michael would never admit this to Phyllis, but it's his opinion that she's not half bad at this whole party planning thing. Her efforts today had resulted in a pretty cool party. There's streamers and balloons and two cakes (which is actually an accident, because Phyllis and Angela didn't coordinate due to the fact that they weren't speaking, so they each ended up bringing a cake. Michael thinks those two have more drama than Miley Cyrus and that Demi Lidato girl, but he doesn't really mind; he likes cake). Today's party is like Astrid's baby shower 2.0 (though, Michael reminds himself, it would have been like that no matter what happened, because Holly and their baby could kick Jan and Astrid's asses any day). Michael resolves to give Phyllis a bit more credit; she did organize the whole thing, plus, she gave Holly a nice looking knitted thing for the baby. Not bad for an old woman, and Michael thinks that Bob Vance must be proud.
Holly, exhausted, watches with a smile as Michael holds their baby girl. Her name is Haley Michaela and she is an hour old. She knows Michael is going to make a great father - maybe a bit quirky, but love will outweigh those quirks. She watches the two of them, friends already. She decides that it's the most beautiful thing she's ever seen, and definitely a Kodak moment.