The Incident

"Oh my god Oh my god, you have to see this!" Kelly bounced into the vending machine filled breakroom, laptop open and in hand, crowding in at the small, round table where Jim, Pam, and Oscar were eating lunch. Jim took advantage of the moment to scoot a little closer than needed to his crush, stealthily snaking his arm across the chair behind her. There was no real harm in it, and he did, after all, need to make room for Kelly and whatever she was so excited to show them. He could feel the distance, no more than a centimeter between his arm and Pam's back. He wished that he could just let go for one and wrap his arm around her. Comfortable, romantic familiarities were too easy to fall into with her and he reminded himself for the umpteenth time today that she was engaged.

Kelly's laptop was open to an hour long youtube EPIC FAIL compilation, paused about half way through. "You are going to laugh so hard," She said as she pulled a chair next to Oscar, blocking him in by the vending machines.

"What...?" Oscar inched away from Kelly skeptically.

"THIS!" she pointed to the screen incessantly and pressed play.

Michael Scott stood at the top of a large hill, recording himself in full snow gear, a confident grin on his face as he explained the basics of snowboarding. He continued holding the camera in front of him as he slowly started to go down the hill, two middleschool girls pointing and laughing at him from atop the hill behind him. As he picked up speed, he attempted to do a trick off a snowbank and wiped out hard. The middle school girls zoomed past him, laughing hard as they went. Everyone at the table cracked up.

"We've got to show Kevin," Oscar snorted as he got up, awkwardly shuffling behind Jim and Pam, on his way to accounting, chuckling all the way.

"Wow." Jim grinned, "How did we not know about this?" His joy at the video only rivaled by Pam having fallen in a fit of giggles against him, laughing so hard her breaths came as gasps.

"I know, right?" Kelly beamed.

"He was so confident then-" Pam squeaked out between laughs, trying to catch her breath.

"Wow. Someone has the giggles today. You drunk, Beasley? Been stealing drinks again?" Jim loved seeing Pam laugh, he hadn't seen her this giggly since the Dundies, when she had drunkenly given him a quick peck. He wasn't surprised. She had been so tired this morning, saying she couldn't sleep at all last night, and had probably just reached the point of being slap-happy.

"It's just - " she starts trying to talk through the laughter she can't seem to get over, before being suddenly interrupted by the break room door swinging open with a bang.

"What the Hell, Pam?" Roy knocked over a chair as her marched across the room towards his fiance. The laughing stopped immediately as Jim scooted back away from the table and from Pam as quickly as possible, letting Pam almost fall from her chair.

Dwight was hanging out behind the building, waiting on Angela to show up. It hadn't been a particular snowy January that year in scranton. Not fantastic for his winter carrots, but not really terrible either. There was probably an inch or two of snow from previous snow falls still accumulated in areas of low traffic or low sunlight, particularly back behind the building. He looked at th beige building and the relatively grimy surroundings, wondering what Angela wasn't here yet. She was never late. Something probably came up that she couldn't avoid without blowing their secret. That could be the only reason for her absence. She was never late. That was a mark of a good partner, Dwight considered, pleased with his personal life for the first time in a long time. Angela was so great. Always courteous not to waste another's time. He checked the time again on his new programmable watch when he heard voices just around the corner.

Doing what any sensible man of the law would do, Dwight hid, hoping to uncover any information that could be useful in his quest to keep this office park a crime free zone. After all, who but criminals would be meeting behind the building like that? Or secret lovers. If it was the former, he would do his duty to protect the name of Dunder Mifflin Scranton from criminals. If it was the later, he would have something interesting to tell Angela at dinner.

Roy pulled Pam just within the edge of Dwight's field of vision, over behind the dumpster. Not secret lovers, just the eternally engaged. Crouching, to guarantee that he was not seen, Dwight decided to spy on their conversation. He was always suspicious of Roy. He seemed the type to get involved with illegal activities. He'd probably pull Pam down with him.

"What the Hell, Pam?" he threw down her arm now they were hidden and began stalking back and forth in front of her

"Roy, plea-" Pam out for Roy's hand, but he snatched it away.

"Why the Hell were you letting Halpert feel you up like that?" Roy continued, not giving her any change to explain.

"We were jus-"

"Just what? Embarrassing me in front of the whole office? Letting everyone
know I'm dating the office slut?" With each of Roy's words Pam seemed to shrink further into herself.

"We…" Pam shrank

"What Pam?" He paused for a moment, staring at her as if daring her to answer. She remained silent. "Dammit! I can't fucking believe you'd do this to me." He slammed his hands against the dumpsterin a thundering thunk.

"No, Roy, it wasn't like that, really," she started to move

"Yeah? What was it like? I can't believe you! Throwing yourself at him like that!" Roy spun at her, fists clenched in anger. "Fucking Hell, Pam."

"Kelly-" Pam started, standing perfectly still and staring at the ground.

"What? Does Kelly force you to throw yourself at other men?"

"We were just watching a video, Roy." Pam sounded so meek, so unlike herself. He could see tears in her eyes, even from this distance.

"Then why were you in his lap? Huh?"

"I just leaned on him a little…" Her voice was small.

"I can't believe you're still trying to explain it away! Jesus! I saw you."

"I'm so sorry, Roy."

"I can't believe you. You owe me. Big time."

"I'm so sorry."

"Alright, Pammy. Fine. Just…" He rubbed his face in frustration, "Just don't let it happen again." He stared at pam for a few moments before speaking again. "Look, I've got to get back to work, but I just wanted to tell you, I'm going out with they guys tonight, so uh, catch a ride with Angela or someone? And don't wait up."

Pam just nodded and watched him leave before leaning against the building and sliding to the ground in tears.

Dwight was torn. He liked Pam. Sure she had grated on him at first and she was always hanging around Jim, but she was nice. Friendly. Pleasant to work with. To approach her now or during their fight would be embarrassing for her, but to leave and say nothing seemed wrong. He decided to give her space. He heard them fight, and Roy was being an ass, but he'd be mad, too if his girlfriend cheated on him. But Angela wasn't that type of person.

Dwight, outside by the dumpsters:"I decided to give her some space. Yes, I saw their fight, I like Pam well enough. Roy was being a Jerk, but I'd be mad too if my girlfriend cheated on me. But she's not that type of person."

Authors Notes:

This is the first fan-fiction I have posted. I would love a beta, so if any of you want to, let me know! I decided to write this after restarting the office after Christmas. I felt such a connection with Pam and the way Roy treated her reminded me of a terrible, abusive relationship I was in a few years back. Roy seemed so much like my ex, alternating cold apathy and controlling jealousy. I had a really hard time recognizing the abuse when I was with him because abusers are often very subtle. I've read a few fan fics about Pam being the victim of abuse, but it's always black eyes and pretty extreme abuse, but that's not the type of guy Roy seems like. He seems like the type to wear away at your self worth and autonomy over time until you feel as though you have little to no control over your life, your self, or your body.

I added a warning for sexual abuse, I'll add additional warnings at the start of those chapters. While some people, including me before therapy, might consider this dubious consent, it is sexual assault. If consent is dubious, it isn't there.