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To say today and yesterday had been eventful would be a massive understatement.

Erin's head was still spinning from everything that just happened. The panel, Dwight and Angela's wedding, seeing Creed again (and him being arrested, which was a long time coming), and…

Her parents.

She'd thought a lot about how it would be. She wondered a lot about them, how it would be when she found them.

They found her ultimately, and it was… well, it didn't quite go exactly how she'd imagined it, but it was close enough. Thankfully, they were good. No, better than good. Amazing. Fun, kind and loving. Regretful of how they were forced to give her up when they were unable to care for her and wishing things could've been different. Unfortunately, since they both lived out of state, their time here in Scranton was going to be greatly limited. Only a couple days before they would have to return back to their other families and jobs. It made her more than a little sad, but she understood, and the fact that she knew them now and had ways of keeping in touch with them was enough to make up for that.

If she had to name anything else to be thankful for today, the fact that there weren't any cruel hecklers at the panel yesterday would be a close second. She shuddered to remember the first panels that were organized in the early days, where there was more than one person in the audience who would start asking her degrading questions about her sex life, or how she could sleep at night after how she handled the situation between her and Andy and Pete, or just jumping up to yell slurs at her. The very first one went so badly that at the second one, the venue had to beef up security just to escort those people out.

She thought back to Dwight and Angela's wedding, feeling so much joy for the two of them. Even though Angela was never easy to get along with and her own view on Dwight himself flip-flopped between an odd sort of admiration to just plain finding him odd, Erin loved them both nevertheless and knew they were meant for each other. And Michael coming back for the day to be Dwight's true best man!

"Looks like you need a little help," Erin said to Pete with a snicker. He had been roped into doing a little dance with Cece that went on longer than expected.

"Yes, please!" Pete pleaded. "She won't stop!"

Erin laughed and knelt in front of Cece, asking the young girl if she could return to her parents. She skipped on over to Jim and Pam's table, leaving the two former lovers on the dance floor.

"If anything," Erin remarked, "I saved her from your horrible dancing."

Pete's jaw dropped in offense to that. "I'm a horrible dancer?! Erin, that hurts!"

"Well, let me show you," she said, taking his hands. "Like this…"

For a few minutes, he tried to follow her, even though they kept accidentally stepping on the other's feet when one stepped out of sync and Pete was barely able to spin before crashing into Dwight and Angela.

"Watch yourself, Plop!" Angela snapped sharply.

"Sorry, Angela!" the two cried out in unison, really not wanting to incur the tiny blonde's wrath.

"Come on, you two, how about you take a seat?" Erin's mother, Joan, said to the two, beckoning for them to join her and Erin's father, Edward, at their table to share some drinks.

They did and Ed remarked, "You kids sure are a riot together! Any plans to do as Dwight and Angela and tie the knot?"

Erin and Pete immediately shook their heads. "Oh, no, no, Dad, we're broken up, we're just friends!"

Joan's face fell. "Oh, I'm sorry Erin."

"It's no problem, Mom."

Unbeknownst to Erin as she continued catching up on lost time with her parents, Andy caught more than one glimpse of her and Pete. His jaw tightened and he simply turned back to his drink before deciding he needed something stronger than a beer.

And the after-party…

There he was. Walking around, having a drink, a relaxed smile…

Even though her own throat felt tight upon seeing him, Erin had to reach out. She wanted to at least try to get into a conversation with him.

"You sure it's a good idea?" Pete asked her apprehensively.

"I'll have no idea till I try," she replied.

He shrugged. "It's your funeral."

"Hey, Andy! It's been a while!"

He could hear her calling out to him, see her waving at him and motioning for him to meet with her. He supposed it was inevitable that this should happen, but even that didn't prepare him much. He wanted to just ignore her and go off and talk with someone else, but he knew it would be a massive dick move on his part to do that. So, with a deep breath and quick sip of liquid courage, he walked up to her and Pete.

"Yeah," said Andy, with a smile that almost seemed a little wide, a little too toothy to be natural. "It's been… a while, hasn't it?"

"Yeah!" Erin replied. "How have you been? You've been gone for over a year! How's Ithaca treating you?"

"Ithaca has been great!" Andy answered. "Got a new place, a good job, all that good stuff."

"Well, that sounds great," Erin replied. "I'm glad you're doing well."

Even as he seemed happy as he spoke, smiling and laughing, Erin could see how Andy's eyes occasionally darted off to the side, like he was trying to find an escape route...

She wanted to talk, to tell him everything, but she wanted to do it in private, which was impossible with everyone there and the cameras going on. So she waited, hanging out with the rest of the office.

It felt bittersweet. On the one hand, she was counting down the hours, but also didn't want it to end...

And then it did.

But the day was perfect and she wouldn't change a thing.

As they all exited the building, watching as Creed was being taken away by the police, Erin laughed to Pete, "I can't believe this! I always wondered if he was actually making all those crazy stories up!"

Pete shrugged and replied, "Yeah, sometimes I did too, but then he started getting really detailed and specific about everything. I still get weirded out by that story where he was in this hippie cult in Oregon during the 80s. I actually looked that up, too, just to see if he was telling the truth. It's a seriously messed up story."

"Was he the leader of that cult?" she asked, remembering how Creed talked about his involvement in such things in the past, both as a leader and a follower.

"Nah, the leader of that one was this old Indian guy with a big long beard who talked about expanding the consciousness and other stuff they quote in psytrance songs," Pete answered. He then frowned and raised an eyebrow, "Now I wonder if any psy producer has ever sampled an Osho quote…"

Erin rolled her eyes at that. Admittedly, she found Pete's music tastes a little too weird at times; she liked sweet, lighthearted and fun music, while he liked fast, hard and dark sounding stuff that… well, honestly she was certain one would need weird drugs to really get into the sort of stuff Pete liked.

"Well, it's been good. I think I'm probably going to hit the sack when I get home," Pete said as he unlocked the door of his car. "See you Monday, Erin."

"Alright then, Pete, have a good night. Drive safe!" Erin said, giving him a quick hug before he got into his car.

"You too!" he said back to her. With that, Pete started up his car and drove on out.

Before she went over to her own car, Erin couldn't help but look around again. Some things stayed the same, and other things just changed so dramatically. Not just over this one year, but just these past couple of days. She met her parents, Jim and Pam were going to move, Dwight and Angela were married…

And here she still was. Getting better, but still feeling lost. Drifting through the wind aimlessly.

She then shifted her gaze and saw Andy walking towards the gate opening to the street over at the other side of the parking lot from her. He had his phone out, probably to call a cab. They were the last people here, and to be able to talk to him in private instead of being surrounded by everyone and having it all be recorded by the documentary cameras sounded too good to be true.

'Should I though?' she wondered to herself, conflicting thoughts and feelings running through her head. 'What if he was just pretending to be nice because we were surrounded by everyone and he's still bitter? But what if I never get the chance to talk to him again? To at least tell him I'm glad he defended me back then?'

Even though it felt heavy on her mind, she had to seize the chance. So, Erin took a deep breath, sprinted over and called out to him. "Andy!"

When he heard her call his name, Andy tensed up. He just stayed glued to his phone, hoping it could find an Uber close by, and tried to ignore her. He wanted to convince himself he was just imagining it, but…

Seeing all those fans happily greeting him while waiting for the panel to begin was certainly a highlight as was everyone being impressed by his commencement speech, but he had enough of seeing her today, and still close to Plop (he admitted to taking a little amusement out of how that nickname stuck). He did manage to stay civil, kept his head high, and behaved like an adult, but it sure as hell wasn't easy. She wanted to keep the conversations going, but he wouldn't give her much. He just wanted to leave.

"Andy, wait! I just want to talk," Erin said.

He slowly turned around. She was right there, a couple feet from him, wanting to talk to him?

"Please, just hear me out," she pleaded.

Andy wasn't sure if she was even consciously doing it, but she was giving him that look. That "puppy dog eyes" look that came too naturally to her, a look that immediately turned even the biggest and grumpiest sourpusses into total creampuff softies.

Andy put his phone away and inwardly cursed at himself for not being able to resist. But if she really just wanted to talk, he supposed it wouldn't hurt to give her a minute. "Okay. What do you want to talk about then, Erin?"

She took a deep breath and replied, "Well, I… I just… I just want to let you know I really appreciated how you stood up to all those Internet bullies for me after everything that happened and… I thought it was really big of you to do. You didn't have to do any of that."

Andy couldn't help but cringe a bit when being reminded of that, but he also couldn't keep himself from smiling slightly as he replied, "Well… I couldn't just let all those jerks say all that horrible stuff about you. Besides, it was mostly my fault we didn't work out. I was a terrible boyfriend to you back then and you deserved to be happy, plus I was being a big selfish baby through it."

"Still," Erin persisted, "I went behind your back after you had risked a lot to get me back and I never stopped to really think how much it hurt you too, so I owe you an apology. I'm sorry, Andy."

Andy was slightly taken aback by that, but he could tell she really meant it, so he accepted it. "Well, thanks for that, Erin. That means a lot. Really, it does."

For a short moment, an awkward silence took hold. Neither was really sure what else to say. So many turbulent, twisted emotions rolled like a storm in their guts, the atmosphere thick with a sense of dread. So much weighed on them...

"So," Erin suddenly blurted out, breaking the quiet. "Besides the job at Cornell, what else have you been doing since moving back to New York?"

Andy's face brightened up as he replied, "Well, besides Cornell, I also found another musical theatre group that was actually willing to take me in. They said that episode where I sang in Sweeney Todd was all they needed to know I was good for them. I'm going to be playing Sir Lancelot in our production of Spamalot ."

Erin had no idea what he was talking about, but she couldn't help but let out a small laugh when thinking back to that old memory, replying, "I remember that. Those… those were good times."

"Sure were. And how about you?"

"Well, not much has changed for me. I've been getting into some new hobbies. I've taken up kickboxing actually. It's a lot of fun."

"Really?" Andy responded with a laugh. "I never would've guessed that. But I guess that explains why your arms looked all toned."

That actually drew a small chuckle from Erin. Andy noticed the little changes.

Why did she get excited from that?

But Andy then shook his head and added, "Pete must like it, huh?"

Why he would bring Pete up stunned Erin. She could tell that he felt uncomfortable around them, even with the big smile he'd put on for everyone else, including the cameras. But moreover...

"Oh, you don't know? Did no one tell you?"

"Tell me what?"

"Pete and I broke up a while ago."

Andy raised an eyebrow at that. "But you two were hanging out a lot during the parties. I mean, you even danced together at Angela and Dwight's wedding. That doesn't look very broken up to me."

"We're still friends," Erin explained. "Are friends not allowed to hang out and dance together? Just because we're not together in that way anymore doesn't mean we can't be nice or care about each other."

Andy went quiet at that. On the one hand, there was a small part of him (the old him, if anything else) that took a sick little delight out of how Erin's relationship with Pete indeed did not last after all, in getting the last laugh. But on the other, breaking up was never fun no matter what the situation.

'Don't be petty, Andy. Nothing good ever happened when you got petty.'

His inner Jiminy Cricket voice was right. So he followed it.

"Oh, really? I'm… I'm sorry to hear that, Erin. I know it couldn't have been easy. On top of everything else going on back then." He hoped she could tell his sympathy was genuine.

Erin gave a sad smile at that. "Yeah… it wasn't an easy time. I was dealing with a lot, and then we broke up, so it was kind of like the cherry on top of the sundae, if the cherry was rotten and the ice cream was a gross flavor."

Andy nodded, knowing all too well what it was like to be the object of Internet mockery. But even then, he at least didn't get death threats. Making fun of people? Sure, he understood that. But death threats and leaking someone's private information? That was just despicable.

He asked, "If you don't mind me asking… what happened exactly between you two?"

Erin simply shrugged and replied, "It just… didn't work out."

"Huh. I see. Well, I'm sorry it didn't work out for you two."

"It's okay, Andy. Pete and I are better as friends anyway."

"Have you been doing better now at least?" he asked, hoping he wasn't prying too much.

Erin replied, "Yeah, actually, things have been getting better. It's going a bit slow, but it is getting better. And you?"

"Same here. I'm glad to hear that you're doing well in life, Erin."

"Thanks."

Another awkward silence took hold between the two, neither sure where else to take this conversation. There was so much more they wanted to say, with no idea how to put it all into words, and saying it would reopen so many old wounds that were still too painful…

Andy clearly wanted to avoid any more uneasiness as he looked at his phone to check the time. "Well… I guess we should probably get going now."

Erin nodded in agreement, "Right, we probably should. It's been… great catching up and whatnot."

"Yeah, it has been great. Again, I'm really sorry things weren't great for you during all that stuff from last year."

Erin smiled and replied, "It's okay, Andy. I'm doing better now, so you don't have to worry too much about me."

"Right," said Andy. He looked down at the ground for a second. "So, I guess this is goodbye then?"

"For now," Erin answered, the tone of her voice sounding rather optimistic. "If you ever want to call, you can. Have a good night, Andy. Stay safe."

As he watched her walk away from him and toward her car, a thought suddenly hit Andy. It was an irrational thought, a foolish choice to take. But he just couldn't ignore it. It felt… wrong to just let it close out on this note, even when everything sensible and rational in him was telling him not to go through with it.

'Screw it.' He was going for it.

"Hey, Erin!" Andy called out. She stopped in her tracks and turned around to face him, her expression curious.

"Yes?"

"Do you… want to get a drink? Just the two of us? I mean, we've got a couple hours left before last call. That is, if you want to."

Erin was taken aback slightly at this. She never really expected him to ask her to drink with him, alone, so straightforwardly. But then again, anyone could see that he had definitely gained a lot more confidence thanks to all he'd gone through the past year. It was actually a rather welcome development.

And besides, what harm could a couple drinks do?

She smiled at that and replied, "Sure, why not? I'll drive us. Anywhere you have in mind?"

Author's Note: And here is the long-coming reunion! I loved writing the dialogue as they reconnected; it's low-key but I found it very subtly sweet (as did my beta readers). I wanted to make a chapter title that fit the general awkwardness and atmosphere, so I did (and it's title-dropped twice). The next chapter will definitely be heating things up majorly if you get my drift. ;)

Astute readers may be able to pick up on the little shout-outs here and there, particularly the cult Creed was involved in during the 80s. I also named Erin's parents after their actors (Joan Cusack and Ed Begley Jr). And, because it felt oddly right to me, I made Pete a fan of psytrance music (check out Astrix, Infected Mushroom, and Emok to start off).

And finally, I will also take the moment to announce there will be a little thing of side stories/deleted scenes of this that will be published sometime soon, mainly expanding on the backstory a bit, as well as (spoilers!) stuff that happens after this story concludes. Be on the lookout for that, my dear readers!