Author's Note: Hey everyone! Thanks for sticking with the story. Thank you especially for the kind reviews, favorite story adds, etc for a person whose never done Fanfiction before it's very encouraging. This takes place directly after The Job and it's from Pam's point of view getting ready for the date. I think she deserves a Cinderella moment, don't you? I can't lie it's much more fun to write Pam's point of view. Next chapter is the date itself. Hopefully it'll be up within the next couple of weeks!

As always, my apologizes if there's any errors. Thank you for reading and leave a review if you feel inclined to do so!

Responses to the Reviewers:

Tlc27: Thank you for pointing out that error! What a fail on my part. I think I wrote that because I was watching Michael's final Dundies when I originally wrote this. It's fixed now!

whoome: Yes I do! I completely understand what you're saying though, Jim and Mr. Darcy especially are hard to live up to. It was only when I had stopped looking for love that I found him. I know the saying is corny, "when you least expect it," but it's very true!

And thank you to everyone who reviewed!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything even remotely related to The Office. It all belongs to NBC and any other respective owners. Besides I have my own Jim :)

Chapter Two: Cinderella

Michael: ...And I'm looking for songs that work on two levels.
Jim: What are the two levels?
Michael: The two levels being, welcome to Scranton and I love you. - Season 4, "Goodbye Toby"

She's nervous as she tears apart her closet. Having not been on a first date in years, she doesn't know the required attire. In high school she'd worn sweatshirts and old shirts covered with paint. Usually she would just run from art class or helping to paint the sets for the latest school play into the waiting car outside in the school parking lot. Roy seemed to have liked that just fine. Well except when she worked with charcoal then Roy would complain she was dirtying his ''baby," or his car. Once the job at Dunder Mifflin started she just wore whatever work clothes she had on to any time spent with Roy. There was never a real need after the first few dates, at least it seemed to Roy, to dress to impress.

Roy. She doesn't want to wear anything she wore for him for Jim. Even the thought of doing that puts a sour taste in her mouth. They'd broken up amicably and honestly she wants the best for him because he isn't a bad guy. They just were two people trying to make a dead end relationship work and that's absolutely a recipe for disastrous things to be said and done. She wants to put him behind her and become a better Pam. It's time to put what she's been thinking for the past year, that she wants to be the full potential Pam, into practice. She feels the blush of a love beginning and wants to dress appropriately. While her wardrobe is limited she figures she must have something that would work.

Out flies the pastel collared shirts and soon the matching sweaters fly out with them. She has to chuckle at the inner Kelly voice in her head saying "You can't wear that on a first date! You want to look hot, right?" She puts aside the slacks in her closet along with the cargoes and then the neutral color skirts and finally finds her only pair of jeans that were bought years ago. Taking a look at the number of the size she knows that those are out too. All of her wardrobe is thrown around her room but to no avail. If she were competing in the best office apparel pageant she knows she would win hands down.

Then it comes to her, the box of clothes she had ordered online! Reaching her arm under her bed she feels the corner of the box. Eureka! Pulling open the flaps there lies the few articles of clothing that Kelly had to spend a good thirty minutes to convince her that it was not useless spending but an investment in yourself! There is the top she had worn in the office when the box arrived and she's still struck by how different it is compared to her regular wardrobe. It is a pretty top, but the uncomfortable feeling she had gotten when she wore it in the office had caused her to not wear it since. The neck line is a little low for a first date but she puts the shirt on a hanger in her closet, making sure she'll wear it again in the near future. She realizes she has never taken a closer look as to what she else she had bought. A floral skirt that had movement and volume was next to be put on a hanger. It came to her then that the skirt matched the shirt, just as Kelly promised it would. Finally the last item is a charm bracelet. It's nothing particularly fancy, but she put together the charms herself on the website. There's an art charm, a papeer charm to symbolize Dunder Mifflin, a phone charm for being a receptionist, a fake aquamarine charm for her birth month, and then a heart for obvious reasons. It's not much but it can always be added to she figures. There's a sense of relief she feels in knowing that at least the jewelry for the date is decided.

Checking the clock she realizes she doesn't have much time until Jim is going to be on her doorstep. There's still her hair to figure out and what to wear, in fact in the past hour she's accomplished nothing but make a mess out of her room. A feeling of horrifying panic overcomes her and she sinks into the carpet. Calling her sister she begins to explain that Jim has asked her out on a date. After a few minutes of Penny screaming "FINALLY!" and "OH MY GOD!" over the line a hundred times she calms down as she hears how upset her sister is. She explains how she has nothing special to wear.

"You have a dress," Penny informs her once she has calmed down. "It's in the back of the closet behind your coats." She does notice she hadn't checked behind the coats but simply assumed that's all there were, coats. She asks her sister how this could be possible and her sister continues, "I helped you move into that apartment." This was true. Penny had helped her unpack her things into the new apartment when she called off the wedding. She figures to give her sister's suggestion a shot. Pushing the coats back she spots the black dress she had worn to Phyllis' wedding. That stupid wedding, she remembers, well technically it was her stupid wedding.

"Not the black dress," she sister points out, "I'm talking about the red dress." Pushing aside the rest of the hangers there is a single black garment bag. She feels surprise at her sister's correct assumption. The dress is there even though she's pretty certain that it shouldn't be. It was suppose to have been worn at the wedding of a high school friend but it was called off at the last minute leaving her out a couple hundred dollars on the dress. She feels sure that she had dropped it off at the local Goodwill along with the blue dress. The day after the casino night she had taken that blue dress and donated it so she would never have a clear reminder as to what she did. As for the other dress, she figured what good would it do for it to be in her closet? A receptionist in Scranton Pennsylvania had no social events to speak of.

"It's a dress for a wedding though," she questions, "it's probably too formal."

"The theme was a day in the garden, remember? It can't be that formal." Her sister points out, "At least look at the dress." She hesitates, but she has no other options so she finds herself dragging down the zipper while holding her breath. Red fabrics peeks out under the space left by the unzipping. Pushing away the garment bag she's stunned by what she sees. It certainly didn't look like that when she bought it. It's gorgeous. She would've remembered something so pretty, or at least someone's reaction to it but there is no such thing in her memory. Her sister asks if she is alright because the silence is starting to make her worry. She comes to her senses and finds the voice to say it's perfect. Some laughter comes over the line from her sister and she tells her to have fun that night and then proceeds to hang up.

Before she knows it she feels tears fill up her eyes because this moment is a real, honest to God, fairy godmother moment. She never felt like she was the kind of person who would experience one. It was like the universe was cheering her on, go on and be the best Pammy you can be.

Slipping on the dress, she's surprised to find it fits. The red isn't a bright one, but a deep red. The dress material makes it seem almost a shiny like color. It reminds her an attractive lipstick color that was too bold for her to try. The two thick straps came together to make a tasteful v-neck. The bodice is a bit more fitted than she's used to and it flares out into a skirt that makes her want to twirl around. It is most certainly perfect.

Pulling out the clip in the back of her hair she draws a brush through her hair several times. Hair styling is something she has no experience with so the only difference she can make for tonight is to not have the front part up like she always does at the office. In the mirror something catches her eye.

In her bathroom there's a bag from the department store she had bought ages ago. She hadn't been kidding about having a whole new Pammy, and like with the art supplies she had bought the make up in an impulse even though it was way out of her budget. Originally she had gone to return a few wedding items mostly wedding presents from out of state relatives. They hadn't wanted them back so she would return them and send the cash back. One purchase though was a set of make up that she had planned to wear for the wedding. She had figured it was worth a shot to see if she could return it as the plastic wrapping wasn't broken. At first the bright lights of the make up counter had pained her since they brought back the memory of her original purchase. The excitement of telling the consultant that she was shopping for wedding make up and carefully going over each and every color seemed like a lifetime ago, as if those memories belonged to a different person. Yet she had a goal to do and hopefully the process would be painless. When she had inquired about the return policy of unopened make up they offered instead of a refund that they could go over what she had originally purchased first. If any of the items weren't up to her satisfaction then she could return whichever ones she wanted for another item of equal or lesser value. At first she declined, where would she wear fancy make up? She then remembered what her sister had said a few days earlier, pleading with her to do something for herself for once in her life. Eventually she caved into the smooth talking of the saleswoman and they went back over the purchases. She had switched out a few things, she even bought some new items, but in the end had never worn them since she had gotten back together with Roy shortly after.

Picking up the paper attached to the bag which carefully explains the order each product is suppose to go in, she begins to apply the various powers, liquids, and creams pretending it's like putting paint on a canvas. Sometime later, when all the bottles and containers are back in the fancy bag, she looks at the finished product. The person in the mirror looks like her, but it's a version of herself she hadn't seen since maybe senior prom. It's an unfamiliar face but a welcome one at the same time.

I'm pretty she thinks.

Hearing the gravel crunching in the parking lot and she peeks out to see Jim's car. Then the sounds of the steps going up one floor, then the second, third, and finally the fourth come to her ears and she knows it's mere seconds until the knock on her door. Peeking through the eye-hole she sees it is in fact really him. The past few hours had actually happened. Jim Halpert had driven away from New York and the biggest opportunity of his career to take her out to dinner. After so many years this was happening.

Unlocking the door she takes a deep breath, and another quick look at herself in the mirror. She thinks she looks nice, but hopes Jim likes how she likes too. Turning the knob she knows there's no turning back now.

One look at him and she knows she chose the right attire. His eyes are a bit wider, almost in shock, and his lips are slightly parted as if they had a planned sentence to say but were interrupted. She feels a bit awkward, never having a man look at her that way. She only knows that look on men looking at her friends, her sister, or maybe a random woman on the street, never her though. Not even Roy had ever had that look in his eyes when he had looked at her.

"You look so beautiful," he says and it's so honest that she imagines her face is probably lit up like a Christmas tree. He regains his senses within a few seconds and a goofy grin replaces the previous surprise. Holding out a bouquet of daisies she accepts them and quickly lets him inside while she grabs a vase of water to put the flowers in. She can't meet his eyes while he's inside her apartment. It feels so intimate since he has never been in a space where's lived before. She feels relief when she finds him not looking at her, but at the painting she had started earlier that morning. Although she had gotten a nice start on it she knows it's no where near finished, thank God. While she knows what she was painting she doesn't want Jim to know. Unfortunately when she looks at his eyes it's clear he knows exactly what she was painting. The dim lighting of a parking lot, the Dunder Mufflin building in the background, and the beginnings of a girl in a blue dress stuck to the spot she stood at with complicated feelings rolling against each other. His eyes are sad but now with more understanding of the situation he had put her in back then. She admits that she started the painting that morning when she felt like she was going to lose him forever. How she wondered if she had listened to her heart that night what would've happened and what would've been different. He turns to face her and just simply hugs her tightly to him in response. It's all she needs to hear. She knows that he isn't leaving for anything now. Wiping away the mist in her eyes when they pull apart, he suggests that they head out. She agrees and he starts to walk out in front of her. When she turns off the light it just leaves him illuminated by the porch light. She wants to remember this moment forever she realizes. They begin to walk down the stairs and he takes hold of her hand.

A smile tugs at her lips, she's glad that it's Jim who sees her in this dress and not Roy.