Author's Note: This is the first chapter of what I hope would be a long, rich story about Dwight and Angela's office romance and how it might have begun, inspired on a scene from 2x09 - E-mail Surveillance in which Dwight reminds Angela to delete any sensitive e-mails she might have. All comments, ideas, suggestions and constructive criticism are welcome. Please let me know what you think about it.

Thank you for reading.

Dai.


Angela Martin was not having a good day. Her alarm hadn't gone off, so she had been late for work– she was never late for work, she wasn't irresponsible and incompetent like Kevin or Oscar. There was something wrong with the radiator at her place, so the water had gone from hot to cold in a matter of seconds while she was in the middle of taking a shower. She had run out of clean turtlenecks because two of her cats were sick and caring for them during the weekend had caused her to fall behind on her housework; she had worn a scarf the previous day because wintery weather was approaching and she didn't want to catch anything, but that morning she hadn't found it anywhere. The worse of it all was that she'd had to take the bus to get to the office because some moron had flattened her vehicle's tires the day before– she suspected Denver, that good for nothing guy Michael had fired under Jan's indications. Besides, the Halloween party she had put a lot of effort to plan had been a total disaster, with only three people attending.

It was obvious she had started the week with the wrong foot. Everyone at Dunder Mifflin was getting on her nerves that morning for a million different reasons. Michael was being his usual self and doing nothing but procrastinate; he was yet to authorize a ton of checks she really needed authorized and sign a load of paperwork she really needed signed. No matter how many times she had already asked him to please get it done: he wouldn't listen. She was tired and frustrated. She had no patient left to spare on anyone or anything– and it was only Tuesday

Angela was about to tell Oscar for the tenth time to stop humming that stupid tune from some dog biscuits commercial everyone found so cute, when something on her computer screen caught her eye: Inbox (1).


From: Dwight Schrute

To: Angela Martin

Date: November 1st, 2005

Subject: You forgot your scarf in my car last night

Hey, Angela! This morning on my way to work I noticed you forgot your scarf in the passenger seat of my car when I gave you a ride home last night. Said scarf will be returned to you this afternoon before we leave the building.

I hope you're having a good day.

Dwight K. Schrute.

Dunder Mifflin Paper Co.

Assistant Regional Manager / Head of the Sales Department


Dwight, from Sales, was just leaving too when he saw Angela standing next to her useless car, and he had offered to drive her home the night before. In other circumstances she would have politely declined his offer, but it was late and she was so exhausted and fed up with everyone and everything she happily accepted. She would call someone to replace her flat tires the following day, she had figured, because right there and then she was just eager to get to her place, eat something and then fall asleep.

"So that's where I left my scarf!" she whispered to herself. She must have taken it off without realizing it and then forgotten it there.

Kevin's voice interrupted her train of thoughts: "Angela, why are you smiling?"

"I'm not smiling" she said quickly, frowning.

"You were smiling, Angela" the other accountant insisted.

"No, I was not"

But then she realized Kevin might be right.

Had Kevin really caught her smiling? Had he happened to catch her when she was smiling over retrieving a simple wool scarf? Maybe he had. Maybe her face had broken into a tiny smile after reading Dwight's e-mail. It was her favorite scarf, after all– she would have hated to declare it lost or unfortunately misplaced. But, mostly, she was just happy at least something had turned well that morning.

She told Kevin to stop bothering her with his nonsense comments and to get back to work. Then, she clicked on the Reply option and started typing a message for Dwight. It was the polite thing to do, right?


From: Angela Martin

To: Dwight Schrute

Date: November 1st, 2005

Subject: RE: You forgot your scarf in my car last night

Hello, Dwight. Thank you for noticing and letting me know I left my scarf in your car. I thought I had lost it. Also, I would like to thank you once more for giving me a ride home. I hope I didn't cause you an inconvenient of any sort because of the favor you did me.

Have a good day you too.

Angela N. Martin

Dunder Mifflin Paper Co.

Head of the Accounting Department


She hit send and then went back to her set of books.

A couple of minutes later, she noticed she had a new e-mail from Dwight.


From: Dwight Schrute

To: Angela Martin

Date: November 1st, 2005

Subject: RE: RE: You forgot your scarf in my car last night

It was not an inconvenient at all. It's not like I missed a new episode of Battlestar Galactica or something. Besides, you happen to live near a very old, very exclusive German bookstore I'm a costumer of. I got there before they closed and took care of a few purchases I had been meaning to make. I have to go back there because there are a few more classic editions I would like to examine in detail before buying. If you haven't contacted your repairman yet by this afternoon, I can give you a ride home today too. Please let me know.

Dwight K. Schrute.

Dunder Mifflin Paper Co.

Assistant Regional Manager / Head of the Sales Department


Her fingers were flying over the keyboard before she could help herself, and that kind of made her ashamed of herself. It wasn't that she was excited because Dwight Schrute, from Sales, was offering to give her a ride home that day too, right? No, she was not. She was just having a hard time getting a hold of the people at the shop she usually took her car to, and she didn't know how to replace the tires herself. She could use someone to take her to her place in their vehicle after the hell public transportation had been that morning. It wasn't that she was actually looking forward to spending time with him or something, listening to Little Drummer Boy by Die Toten Hosen in his stereo and secretly enjoying it. He was simply a co-worker, nothing more.


From: Angela Martin

To: Dwight Schrute

Date: November 1st, 2005

Subject: RE: RE: RE: You forgot your scarf in my car last night

Thank you for your offer, Dwight. I haven't got a hold of my repairman yet, so I would really appreciate if you could give me a ride home today too.

Angela N. Martin

Dunder Mifflin Paper Co.

Head of the Accounting Department


Kevin's voice distracted from her thoughts once more:

"Angela, you're doing it again" he pointed in an accusatory tone "You're smiling"

She clicked her tongue and continued working on her set of books.

She ignored Kevin because he was right. There was no denying it: she was smiling.

Maybe she was excited because a certain salesman was offering to give her a ride home again.

Maybe she did have a crush on Dwight Schrute.

Maybe she was a lot more like Jim Halpert than she would ever like to admit to another human being– herself included.