Jim secured his 18 month old daughter, Cece, in her carseat, and then moved to the drivers seat, smiling at Pam as he secured his seatbelt.
"Cece, can you say Ice cream?" Pam cooed, looking at her daughter.
"Ice cweam." Cece said excitedly. She couldn't exactly pronounce the word, but she knew what it was.
"Yeah, baby girl." Pam praised, smiling at her husband.
"Dada!" She announced out of the blue.
"Ha!" Jim cheered triumphantly. Cece had been repeating words for a little while, but it had become a heated yet unpredictable contest to see which name, mama or dada, Cece would say independently first.
"
Mama." Cece said right after. It made Pam melt every time, even when Cece was just repeating her. After a few minutes of listening to Cece's babbling, they arrived at the small, family owned ice cream parlor, Jim carrying Cece into the restaurant but leaving the car seat in the car.
"Mama," Cece requested as they waited in line, reaching her short arms towards her mother.
"Oh, yes, come here sweetie," Pam cooed, sounding over the top sympathetic as she took her daughter from her husband.
"Remember the first time we came here?" Jim asked his wife after ordering ice cream for his family: coffee for him, black raspberry for his wife, and vanilla with sprinkles for his beautiful baby girl.
"
Yeah, it was our second date, and it was pouring rain and freezing, but I really wanted a vanilla milkshake." Pam smiled at the memory, sitting their daughter in a high chair. Jim brought the ice cream to the table and set the dish of vanilla in front of Cece, who couldn't be bothered to wait for a spoon, and instead went at the dessert with her hands, realizing after a second the importance of the utensil.
"Cold!" She announced to her attentive parents, though it came out as "code."
"Daddy will get you a spoon, sweetheart," Pam said, wiping Cece's hands clean of the sticky dairy product. Jim handed Cece a small plastic spoon made for kids her age, then taking a bite of his own ice cream.
"You know, rain hasn't exactly meant terrible things for us." Jim pointed out.
"What do you mean by that?" Pam asked as she took a spoonful of purple ice cream into her mouth.
"Well, it was raining when I proposed to you."
"True," Pam smiled, remembering the sight of his damp hair under the hazy lights of the gas station overhead.
"Who would've thought that less than five years after we had our second date here in the pouring rain, that we'd be here with the cutest daughter in the whole world?" Jim asked, looking at Cece as she closely examined a blue sprinkle. "I lucked out in the family department, I must say."
"You're not too bad, Halpert. I'll keep you around for a bit."
"Um, you're stuck with me. We have a kid."
"Oh, dang, you're right." She said, snapping her fingers in an obviously fake gesture of disdain.
"Oh, I love you, Beesly."
"Love you, too, Halpert.""