A/N: The final installment of the "Stealing Cinderella" trilogy. I think you all know where this one is going. I was going to make this another one-shot but the ideas just kept flowing so I had to break it down into chapters. I have a couple more chapters already written but I'm holding them for ransom until I get some reviews to let me know what you think about it. Any ideas, feedback or anything is appreciated. Enjoy!


Jim thought he had been nervous before. Scratch that, he had beenterrified before. But never anything like this.

He could remember his first sales call. He had rehearsed the sales speech in his head a million times. Any question that was asked, he could easily field an answer for. Nothing could possibly go wrong. Yet, those butterflies in his stomach would not settle down. It was bad enough that Jim had nearly lost his lunch before riding the elevator up to the future client's office. That had been bad.

Worse still, was that night in the Dunder Mifflin parking lot. That night that had almost ruined everything. The night he had learned what a broken heart felt like. Those darn butterflies had come back with a vengeance. They fluttered viciously in his stomach until those five words spilled out of his mouth before he could even think… "I'm in love with you". And then the two simple words that would send his world crashing down around him…"I can't." In that moment, Jim felt all the butterflies stop dead in their tracks and fall down into the pit of his stomach. That night, as he walked toward his car, he was sure he would never feel those butterflies again. In fact, he was pretty sure he'd never feel anything ever again. The source of every emotion he had ever known had taken his heart and ripped it into hundreds of tiny pieces. That night, he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he had to leave. A new job and a new life awaited him in Stamford. Life has a way of surprising you though. In less than six months, the Stamford branch was being shut down and Jim was sent back to Scranton, still trying to mend the heart that had been broken on that fateful night.

Since then, life had been progressively working in Jim's favor. He had spent the last five years trying desperately to reach the one thing he wanted more than anything. The one thing that always seemed to dance right at the end of his fingertips, just out of his grasp. When he took one step forward, she would fall two steps back and vice versa. Finally, they had gotten it right. They had both taken the pivotal steps at the right time. The memory of that day brought a smile to his face every time he recalled it.

"Are you free for dinner tonight?"

"Yes."

"Ok, then it's a date!"

She had finally said yes! After hearing words like "I can't" and "we're friends" so many times, that one word meant more to him than any other word he had ever heard in his life. Today, he was counting on that one word to pull him through yet again.

Jim checked his watch for about the billionth time that day. He groaned in frustration when he realized he still had three hours before he was scheduled to pick up Pam for their date that evening. Whipping out his cell phone, he scrolled through the names until he found the one he needed. Jim pressed the send button on his phone and waited to hear the voice on the other end.

"Hello?"he heard his friend Dave answer on the fourth ring.

"Hey man! It's Jim!"

"Jim, I swear if you call me one more time today I am dropping out of this agreement!"

"I'm sorry! I just want to make 100 percent sure that everything is perfect for tonight!"

"Everything is fine. Except maybe my sanity considering you've called me five times today! But everything I'm going to need is already in the car. I even threw in some extra stuff in case I needed it. I also put gas in the car last night so I wouldn't have to stop on my way and be late. Does that put your mind at ease?"

"You're a good man! So I'll see you at eight?"

"I thought you said seven?"

"I did! That was a test. And you passed with flying colors. So I'll see you at 7:00."

"Later man!"

Jim smiled as he hung up the phone. There was no way this could go wrong!


A/N: Well, what do you think? Questions, comments, critiques? Leave me some! Love ya!