Jim decided it was time to knock on the window of Pam room. He got the attention of the 40-something year old Indian nurse with long jet black hair who had been tending to Pam. Her name tag read Kathy Morris.

She slinked out the door, put her latex gloves in the bin and walked over to the alcohol gel dispenser to wash her hands. Jim followed her. "How is she?"

"Are you family?" she craned her neck towards Jim who stood at least a foot and a half taller.

"Uh, no, but I need to call her parents with an update, they're in Florida, I'm Pam's friend, Jim. I came with her in the ambulance."

"Ok, we've given her a diuretic to clear her lungs and it's done its job, she's breathing well and she's stable. Her temperature is down but not enough for our liking so we're doing some tests for an underlying infection as well as swine flu. She's not come round after her seizure but the sedatives were quite strong. She'll need to be assessed over the next twenty-four to forty-eight hours before she can be released." Jim nodded, trying to take in everything but his brain was feeling very tired, he'd not slept properly in days. "It's good that you called an ambulance when you did, we could be dealing with a much worse situation, you saved her life." Jim felt his chest fill with pain and nausea. She could have died? I could have lost her.

"Can I stay with her? I promised I wouldn't leave." Jim knew he was using his eyes to win her over, it was a power he tried not to abuse but worked flawlessly. She thought for a moment and conceded.

"You'll have to wear this mask, wash your hands in alcohol on entry and exit and roll up your sleeves."

"No problem." He smiled. "I'm going to call her parents and then I'll be in with her."

"She'll be moved to the isolated swine flu ward in due course but it's overflowing, we're waiting on more beds."

"Thank you so much for helping Pam."

The nurse nodded and went on to other duties. Jim took one more peak at Pam through the window, her head was back on her pillow and she was sound asleep. He took the opportunity while she slept to head outside. The cold air made light work of the sweater he was wearing and chilled him to the bone. Keeping his arms as tight into his body as possible he held down the hot key for Karen. She picked up after only one ring.

"Hey, it's me." He tried to sound repentant; he should have called her at least an hour and a half ago.

"Hey, where are you? How's Pam?" Karen sounded genuinely concerned which only heightened his guilt.

"Mercy. She's ok, she had a seizure and trouble breathing, they are taking her to a special ward, she'll be ok."

"A seizure? That sounds serious."

"It was terrifying; she's not woken up yet."

"Oh." Karen must have known what the answer to the next question was going to be. "Do you need me to pick you up?"

"Uh, no, I'm going to stay here. Pam's parents are in Florida and Roy's got swine flu so there's no one to be here when she wakes up."

"Roy doesn't have swine flu." Karen blurted out, she tried to catch herself but she'd already given herself away.

"What? How do you know that?" he raised his voice accusingly. Jim felt a sudden anger towards Karen.

"I called him." She spat incredulously but her hurt was self evident. "He was her fiancé, he was the one looking after her, he's closest to her. There's history there, he should be the one at her bedside. Not you."

Jim couldn't speak. He let the words sink in realising he'd just gotten angry at his girlfriend for preventing him from being at the bedside of another woman. Someone he loved. The silence dragged on.

"Jim, say something." Her voice was breaking with tears. "Please, I-."

"I'm sorry Karen, I'm really so sorry."

"Me too." She sobbed. Karen hung up before Jim could think of anything else to say. He took a deep breath and for a moment he didn't feel the cold. It wasn't her fault. Being the bad guy wasn't something that sat well with Jim, A strong gust of wind blew and reminded him exactly where he was and snapped him out of the daze he'd sunk into. Karen didn't know what a mess I was, Pam is The One. I've made so many mistakes; I've got to do this right.

Time to call her parents.

Jim dialled information for Pam's parent's hotel. "I need the number for a hotel in Tampa Bay, Paradise Palm Sunset Hotel." As he went through all the measures to get transferred he saw a familiar face striding towards him. Dammit, I wasted too much time.

"Roy. She's-" Roy didn't let him finish. The drive over had given him a chance to redirect his feelings of letting Pam down into anger towards Jim.

"Where is she?" he growled, taking Jim aback.

"I'm just-" The receptionist at the hotel picked up. "Hi, this is Jim Halpert calling for The Beesly's, I need to get in touch with them immediately."

"I should be calling them Jim, not you. Now where is she?" He poked Jim in the chest.

"Pam called me. You left her alone. This is your fault. You're supposed to have the flu." He snapped back, suddenly feeling bold. Roy seemed to enjoy the challenge.

"I'm not sick, it was food poisoning, she was fine when I left, so now I'm going to go see Pam, you better go home to your girlfriend. Remember Karen? Your girlfriend?" Jim didn't want to let on that they'd broken up, the less he knew the better, luckily the hotel receptionist spoke again, taking Jim's attention.

"Their daughter has been taken ill. Yes, thank you." He turned to Roy. "I'm going to update them; if you want to know what you're responsible for you can listen in." Roy cursed at Jim under his breath but listened to the phone call while clenching and unclenching his fists.

Jim filled them in as sensitively as he could, making sure to end on as many positive notes as he could. "I'm going to leave your names at the front desk along with where Pam ends up so you can find her as soon as you get here. You're welcome; it's the least I could do for Pam." He laid on the charm to annoy Roy but found his phone being ripped out of his hand.

"Hey, it's Roy," his eyes were firmly locked on Jims. "I came as soon as I found out. Yeah, let me know when your flight comes in and I'll pick you up. Pam's fine, she's a tough girl, I'll take care of things from here. Ok, yeah, I'll see you soon. Bye." He viciously shaped the phone shut and Jim grabbed it back. "See you Halpert. Don't visit, you'll see her when she's back at work, wouldn't want you to get sick too or hurt in any way." Roy spoke with cold menace in his voice and vanished into the hospital.

I'm not playing best friend anymore Roy. You had your chance. I'm not giving up that easily.