Two years later…

July

Regan sat up in the attic of the townhouse in shorts and a tank top sorting through boxes for the yard sale her dad and Jim were holding this weekend. Her hair drawn back in a ponytail she looked through all the dusty junk and wiped her forehead from the dreadful head that was rising in the musty dust covered room. Light poured through the windows as she walked over to an old rocking chair and opened up an old box which said…

Scranton

Regan knew that this was the town where her father had met her mother. The details of exactly how they got together were still kinda foggy. Her father and Jim had always been very open with her and never tried to lie or hold back with her. She knew that her father, her mother, and Jim had all worked together in the same office building, in fact a man named Michael Scott always send her a card on her birthday ever since she could remember in which he would always refer to himself as 'Uncle Michael'. Her father and Jim explained that Michael Scott had been their boss back in Scranton.

She knew that Jim and her mother had been married, and that at least from what Jim said they seemed to be heading towards divorce even though they loved each other very much. When Regan asked her father if this was true just a few years ago her father simply sighed and said he believed that Jim and her mother loved each other very much but they just seemed to be going their own different ways around the time she was born. Her father explained that he 'dated' her mother very briefly before she got pregnant with her. At age eighteen Regan knew very well that 'dated' meant they were sleeping together or had slept together while she was still married to Jim which ended the marriage. Ryan told her that her mother really wanted to make her marriage work with Jim but she died suddenly and of course the baby came. Her father always reminded her that it was just an accident, that there was nothing that could have been done and that it was honestly unbelievable that Regan herself survived. This had always bothered Regan, never knowing exactly what happened and if she was the real reason Jim and her mother split up and if she was the cause of her own mother's death. Of course she kept these things bottled up inside of her and wouldn't ever dare tell anyone.

Her father told her that the first year was hard after losing her mother, but he had plenty of help with her grandmothers and that if honestly believed if it wasn't for her being born he wouldn't have ever gotten his life straight. Jim and him told her that after a year or so Jim finally came around and decided to lay the past to rest, this was when he began seeing her and her father nearly every day and they fell in love. Jim always told her he never regretted what happened, that he would always love her mother and that for a brief period of time he hated her father for what happened…but the second he saw her with him, something inside him changed.

Regan then had to ask both of them once if they both knew they were gay all along?

Both chuckled and admitted and might have known, but they had both loved the same woman and just saw how right they were for each other. This always made Regan happy, she looked at both of them as their two dads and was happy they had each other and were head over heels in love. She was crazy about them and would pray every night before going to sleep that nothing would ever happen to them.

They were her family.

Still, she was very curious about her mother.

Her grandmother on that side of the family was the only one she was still in contact both. Every Christmas she would get a call from her aunt but they seemed like such strangers she always couldn't wait to end the phone call. Her grandmother instead was loving and kind and always answered any questions she wanted to know about her mother.

That's where she got all the photographs of her and would always be told how much she looked like her. Regan loved hearing this since growing up always in the bottom of her heart she always felt a small pang of jealously for her other friends who still had their mother.

Now here she was, a freshmen in college and visiting for the summer. She was having the time of her life in Boston and still couldn't decide on a major. Her boyfriend Nick told her just a few weeks before hand before classes let out not to sweat the small stuff and to just enjoy herself this summer with her family. Coming back, she was greeted by her father and Jim at the airport who squeezed her so tight she couldn't breathe.

It had been a few days since she came back and really was taking Nick's advice and was enjoying herself. Just yesterday she had played basketball in the driveway with her dad and Jim and couldn't stop laughing after making fun of how slow they moved whenever they dribbled, in which Jim laughed pushing back his hair and elbowed her father.

"Remember the basketball game at Dunder Mifflin?"

Her father rolled his eyes.

"How could I forget."

Both laughed and went on playing leaving Regan puzzled.

Now here she was, sitting in the attic and opening a box with her father's hand writing.

Opening the box, she sorted through old dusty papers before coming to coming. Pausing, she smiled before holding the photograph up to the light.

It was a photo, now color faded and worn.

It was of three people, one an older man in a suit.

The other two were her parents.

She had seen plenty of photos of her mother before, in fact she had one in her bedroom right now stairs.

But somehow this one was different, it was of both her parents.

Her father looked so young and different.

He was blond, bleach blond in fact, wearing an untucked button up shirt and slacks. Standing next to him was her mother.

She was beautiful…

The three of them were standing together and smiling.

Regan touched the photo lightly and wondered how exactly these two really did get together. Smiling, she stood up and decided to go downstairs…

Downstairs…

"Hey dad?"

Regan walked into the much cooler kitchen, the A.C in the living room was on full blast and Jim was outside in the shed trying to round up more boxes for the weekend.

Her father stood in the kitchen pouring himself a glass of iced tea.

"Yeah honey?"

Regan held out the photograph.

"I found this up in the attic, is it of you and mom?"

Her father looked confused for a second raising an eyebrow before taking the photo. Regan leaned against the counter waiting for his reaction and saw him stare at it for a very long time. For a brief second she wondered if she had done the right thing in showing him.

A moment later he looked up and smiled.

"Yeah, wow this was taken before you were born…back in Scranton."

Regan smiled.

"You look really young in it."

Her father smiled, still in awe over the photo.

"Yeah nice hair huh?"

Regan lightly laughed before her father smiled and looked up, almost snapping out of it.

"You want some iced tea?"

Before Regan could answer her cell phone went on. Smiling she answered it.

"Hello? Oh hi Nick…"

She left the room still talking, Ryan watched and smiled. Looking back down at the photograph he lightly touched it, his fingertips going over Pam's face.

Smiling, he tucked the photo in his pocket and turned around finishing his iced tea. Looking through the kitchen window he watched Jim walk across the lawn and smiled.

For a second, he thought he smelled something wonderful, the light scent of roses.

A breeze went through the window and Ryan thought he faintly heard under it say in a breathless voice…

"I love you…"

Ryan smiled watching Jim before softly saying out loud.

"I love you too Pam Beesly…I love you too."