DISCLAIMER: Still don't own jack.

This was an idea I had and honestly couldn't resist posting it.

Pam had no real idea of how she'd gotten herself into this position. Sitting with Jim in the break room, giving him relationship advice about Karen. She just wanted to be an objective good friend, and she knew that she'd let Jim down more than any real friend would have, and she needed to make up for that. But trying to be objective was what was getting in her way. Because she wasn't objective. No where near it. Pam loved Jim, and she wanted him to be with her, not Karen. And that just made her try to be even more objective, making her ready to respond with things that would keep them together.

It had just been a simple conversation about Karen moving onto the same street as Jim. 'I think that might be a little close, a little bit much.' And Pam had started her own execution with, 'Well, how far away does she live now? Like, ten minutes?' Then she was about to conclude her downfall, when she stopped herself at, 'Honestly…' It hadn't really occurred to Pam that helping Jim with Karen, would hurt her own chances with him, until that moment. She had just been helping Jim. There was nothing more to it than that. But, in reality, there was so much more to it. Pam just wanted to be honest with her best friend. Problem was, he wasn't just her best friend anymore. She was pretty openly pursuing him now, at least, openly to her. And Karen was the competition. And this was Pam's chance to deal a fatal blow to their relationship. But, she had Jim's confidence. He trusted her. And Pam couldn't betray that. She couldn't be selfish, not when it came to Jim, no matter how much she wanted to be. There had to be a way for Pam to help Jim, but not Karen.

"Honestly, what?"

Jim's voice broke Pam out of her daze and she made a decision on what she would do. "Um… honestly, I think that if this really such a problem for you, then maybe her living so close isn't really the issue. Maybe, you just… don't feel it with her, you know?" Pam really believed that. It wasn't something she was saying, so she could be with Jim. She wanted to be honest, and that's what she was being, honest. "I mean, do you? Do you… feel… a connection?" Pam was really hoping he didn't, that he still felt that with her, like she always had with him. "Because if you don't, then it's not really fair… to her, and especially you, to stay in this." Pam had personal experience in that area.

Jim looked down, slightly upset. "I guess you're right."

Pam couldn't stand Jim being upset by something she said, and started to feel guilty, like she was trying to break Jim and Karen up. And that wasn't true at all. She wanted them to. But, she wasn't trying to do it. She was just trying to be honest with Jim on how she felt about the situation. But Pam started to feel like she had taken it a step too far and pulled back. "But… I'm not exactly a relationship expert, okay? So, maybe I'm not the best person to be getting advice from, right? I mean, my experience really sucks in this area." Pam couldn't help herself, and she reached over and placed her hand onto Jim's hand, lightly grazing her knuckle with her thumb, as she practically suffocated herself, holding back everything the dark side of her wanted to say. She wanted to be a good friend to Jim. And good friends don't do that. So, Pam swallowed her words and gritted her teeth as she said, "Maybe… you just need to talk with her. You know, tell her how feel about this, about everything. That might help." Pam was in physical pain. She didn't want to help Karen. But Jim took priority over that, over what she wanted.

Jim looked at Pam's hand on his and almost felt it burn from the sensation of her touch. "Yeah… it might." He looked back up at Pam, and was caught off guard by her glistening beautiful green eyes. Jim hadn't looked into them since he'd gotten back from Stanford and they still took his breath away. Pam was so incredibly gorgeous and beautiful that he had to look back down, away from her, just to resist kissing her in that moment. Jim swallowed hard. "Uh… listen. Thanks, for this, for everything. It really helped."

Helped? Helped with what? What did Pam help Jim with? Was he going to break up with Karen before her advice had she just kept them together? Pam felt like ripping her hair out for her own stupidity. But instead, she forced a smile through her clenched jaw and said, "No problem." Pam felt like she was about to cry. She should've known better. Nice girls finish last.

"Look, I'm just really sorry I dumped all my crap on you like this." Jim almost managed out a chuckle, as he kept his head down, away from Pam.

Pam exhaled a breath, as she quickly wiped the tears away from her eyes, when Jim wasn't looking. "It's okay. Really." Pam suddenly had a desperate need to get off this subject, before she burst into tears in Jim's arms. "I mean, it's better than listening to Michael playing conk shell. Which is… what I was doing."

Jim looked up at Pam and smirked at that.

And Pam smiled a bit back at him. It felt light, and close. Like they were connected. Just like before. So she continued with, "Oh, and also… Michael went to Jamaica with Jan."

"Yeah, how have we not talked about this?" Jim suddenly found himself smiling. Which he didn't do with Karen, at least, not for real. "I mean, what happened there? Kidnapping?"

Pam laughed. She couldn't help it. She missed Jim so much. And she missed the fun and happiness that came with him.

Later on, at Michael's luau, Karen walked up to Pam, looking angry.

Pam would've tried to duck her and hide, but she had been already found, so there was no point.

Karen got up to her, nostrils flaring.

"Did you talk to Halpert earlier?" Karen almost sneered.

Pam screamed in her head. His name is Jim! Not Halpert! Stop calling him that! Karen referring to Jim by his last name had been bugging Pam since she started it. The last name thing belonged to Jim and Pam loved it coming from him, him, and no one else. She'd actually tried it once in response to him calling her 'Beesly' when they first met, to which Jim gave her a look like she'd just committed copyright infringement. And she'd tried for a while after that to come up with a special nick name for Jim, like he'd done for her. But after about a hundred horribly skewed versions of his name, Jim had reassured her that 'Jim' was just fine. He then went on to half-jokingly say, 'But if you call me James, you will face my wrath, Beesly', which, of course started Pam calling him that for about a month just to play around with him. Jim calling her by her last name had made Pam feel like she was special to him, but after hearing him do the same with Karen, she figured she wasn't really that special at all. But that was her fault, not Jim's.

Pam fumbled with her words a bit, trying to answer Karen's fairly simple question. "Oh… uh, yeah, I guess… yeah, yes we did. About nothing really though. Just some… stuff."

"What'd he say to you?" Karen was really mad.

"Ab-about what?" Pam was scared shitless. And she had no idea why. Karen was just scary to her.

"Like you don't know!" Karen took a deep breath and suddenly became upset. "He broke up with me."

Pam was almost slack jawed. But she managed to keep her face stoic. Had she heard her right? Jim had broken up with her. Pam had a chance with him. She was about ready to jump for joy, but the look on Karen's face kept that feeling at bay. She was sad, actually upset about it. There was a vulnerability in her at that moment that made Pam feel horrible about her possible involvement in the whole sitiuation.

After Karen walked away, Pam left the luau and went to the hallway to sit down. She sat down and stared at the floor, feeling guilty. Was it her fault that Jim had broken up with Karen? She hadn't wanted that. She'd just wanted to be honest. Had she really been that pushy? Pam couldn't remember the events clearly.

Pam then heard footsteps and looked up to see Jim.

"Oh. Hey." Jim was a little worn, but he still managed out a smirk to Pam.

"Hey." Pam smirked back.

Jim took a breath, as he gestured to the seat next to Pam. "You mind if I join you?"

"No. It's okay." Pam scooted to the side a bit.

"Thanks." Jim sat down next to Pam. "I had to… get outta there."

"Yeah." Pam felt kinda awkward. "Karen… told me what happened."

Jim looked down, ashamed. "Oh."

Pam swallowed hard. "Was it… was it my fault? I mean… was it because of something I said? Because I swear I didn't mean…"

"No." Jim shook his head, before looking at Pam. "No, not really." He looked back down. "I… haven't felt right with Karen, you know? I mean, she's great and all, just not… for me. I'd been leading her on, and I hadn't let myself see it. And when we talked earlier… you were right. It wasn't fair, to anyone. And I couldn't let it happen anymore."

Pam scooted in close to Jim. "I know it was probably hard."

Jim rubbed his forehead. "It was. I feel horrible. She hates me."

Pam leaned in close. "But at least you did what was right, before it went too far. Most people don't have that kind of strength." Like me. She thought. Pam interlocked her arm with Jim's, gently nudging him. "And hey, you still got me. You'll always have me." Pam smiled at Jim, as he looked at her.

Jim couldn't help but smile back. "Thanks." He nudged Pam back. "That means a lot." Jim exhaled deeply. "So… still better than listening to Michael play a conk shell?" He grinned at Pam.

Pam giggled, as she briefly rested her chin on Jim's shoulder. "Oh, totally. A lot more interesting too."

They both laughed.

There you go! What'd you think? I know I'm kinda stretched as it is, but I had an urge to do this.

Review please!