Title: This Moment
Rating: G
Disclaimer: I don't own, etc.
Summary: Um…Post-Finale stuff. Sap. Jim/Pam
Notes: Name changed...because when you don't read fic, and write at three in the morning without checking to see if a title is taken...well, you see my point.
They used to be strangers.
It's true. There was a time when Jim didn't know Pam. Didn't know of this…this woman, this incredible, funny, vibrant woman, that has completely turned his life upside down.
That seems hard to believe considering how much time he spends thinking about her, but it's all true.
Before they met, they were just two people going in different directions. And now they're both stagnant.
Just waiting.
For what, he's not really sure. For a wedding that should have happened three years ago? For a trip that he's never going to take? For someone to step up to the plate and admit that, yeah, there is something special between them—something real?
And they've been doing this dance for so long that he can close his eyes and get all the steps right.
Touching is okay, as long as they're pulling a prank.
The truth is okay, as long as it's not the truth.
Kissing is never okay.
He knows the steps, but this time he stumbles.
So, why does he do it?
For the moment.
It's good…for a moment. It's like being at a really great Matt Nathanson concert when the band breaks into "Starfish and Coffee" and there's a nice segue into "Stayin' Alive" and the whole audience is digging it.
She's digging it.
And then reality intrudes and there are no encores left. There's just silence and the taste of strawberries and wine on his tongue.
But he's had his moment and maybe he tricked himself into believing that was all he needed, but now…now all he wants is more. More of her lips and her fingers in his hair and that low sound she made in the back of her throat...those hints of passion he saw in her eyes as he pulled back.
And that's all fine and good, but it's not the reason he told her how he felt…and then showed her.
He did it because he knows her.
He knows that she may love Roy just enough, enough to get by on cold nights and maybe even for the long haul. Roy's the safe choice. The right choice, some may say. And sometimes Pam needs to feel safe. But there are other times… Times when she needs to be free, unencumbered. There are times when she wants more—more than Scranton, Pennsylvania and Dunder-Mifflin.
And that is what gives him hope.
Jim doesn't dare to love her just enough…because there's no way to love Pam enough, he thinks. Every day since the moment they met, when they were still strangers, he's found something that makes him fall deeper.
So, he's prepared for the rejection and the lies...
And the moment when the truth becomes the truth.
End