Chapter 25: Party
I am the worst updater in the history of updaters. I promised a chapter forever ago, but life got in the way again. Finals are done though and now that summer has started I hope that I can get the rest of this one done and get some work in on my other stories. Hope this chapter is worth the wait…not too much happens, but we're now one step closer to baby Halpert.
Party
Def'n: a social gathering to which people are invited in order to enjoy themselves and often celebrate something
May 19th arrived in fashion in the Beesly-Halpert home.
"Jim!"
He made his way back into the bedroom to find Pam leaning back on the bed, a sandal in her hand. She wore a knee-length fuchsia sundress, her engagement ring dangling from a chain around her neck. She pouted her lips and held out the sandal to him as he came through the door. He couldn't help but laugh at her childlike appearance.
"I can't reach," she said quietly.
He kneeled down in front of her and took the shoe from her hand. He lifted her foot and placed a kiss to the top of it before sliding the shoe in place. He did the same with the other foot before helping her to her feet and engulfing her in a hug. He kissed her forehead before leaning his against it. "You ready for today?"
"Ha, you're kidding, right? Kelly, Michael, and Roy all in our house at the same time celebrating our child? Oh, I can't wait"
"It's going to be fine. My mom is just finishing up the decorations and your mom is putting together the food. We have nothing to worry about."
"If our moms are finishing things up, does that mean we have a few minutes?"
"Yeah, why?" he asked, pulling away and smirking at her.
Without answering, she pulled him down into a kiss that he happily received. He wrapped his arms around her as far as he could and ran his hands up and down her back. She played with the hair at the back of his neck, causing him to smile into the kiss. They only broke away when they heard a voice at the doorway.
"And that's what lead to a baby shower today."
"Shut up, Jenny," Pam said as she rested her forehead against Jim's again. She shifted slightly to look at her future cousin and gave her a sly smile before recapturing Jim's lips.
"You guys suck. Listen, when you're done making out or having sex or whatever it is you plan on doing, we're basically ready for you out here."
"Thank you Jennifer," Jim said wryly as he pulled away from Pam again.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah." She turned and made her way back towards the living room.
"Hey, Pam?" Jim said as he made his way over to the dresser to grab his watch.
"Yeah?" She folded her hands on top of her belly and turned to him, smiling slightly.
"I love you."
"We love you, too, papa."
"Well, hot mama," he did his best Elvis impression, while wrapping his arm around her back, "let's get this party started." He received a laugh and a smile as Pam wrapped an arm around his back and left the other over the kicking bulge.
Pam sat in the rocking chair that was currently in the corner of their living room watching her family – she liked the sound of that – finish setting up for the shower. Jim had already banished her from helping and she was enjoying watching him interact with his mother, cousin, and her mother. She started to get up when she heard the doorbell ring, but immediately sat back when Jim came into the room and glared at her.
"No way, Beesly, you're sitting right there," he said as he made his way to the front door, opening it to reveal the one person they were both concerned about inviting.
"Halpert."
"Hey, Roy, glad you could make it. And Katy, long time no see."
"Hi, Jim. It's nice to see you." She removed her hand from Roy's and gave Jim a small hug. "Roy can't believe guys are invited and dragged me along, I hope you don't mind."
"Nah, what's one more ex, right?" He said offhandedly, moving out of their way and motioning for them to enter the apartment.
Pam pushed herself out of the rocking chair and walked towards their guests, giving a small nervous smile to her and Jim's exes. "Roy, Katy."
"Hello, Roy, it's good to see you," Pam's mom said, giving the man a hug.
"It's good to see you again Joanna. How are things?"
"Good, good. Just getting ready for the new additions to the family." She smiled over at her daughter and Jim, who had come to wrap an arm around Pam.
"Additions?" Katy asked, turning towards the couple. "Should we have bought two of our gift?"
"No, no, no," Pam said, waving her hand. "Jim and I are getting married."
"Oh," both Katy and Roy looked down. Pam noticed Roy's lips pursed. She knew he was angry about the news they had presented. She wanted to say something, but she knew it would only cause more problems, so she decided to let it go, for now.
The doorbell rang again and Jim opened the door to reveal a very distraught looking Karen. "Oh, God, Jim, I thought I'd never make it."
"What happened?" he asked as he led her into the apartment.
"First there was a traffic jam in the city, then there was a pile up on the highway, and then I almost got hit by a guy running a red a couple blocks from here. I'm so sorry, Pam," Karen said as she hugged her.
"It's okay, Karen. I told you, you didn't have to come early." Pam was surprised by how supportive Karen had been over the last few months. She had called Pam the day they sent out the invitations for the shower to congratulate the couple and ended up talking for hours about anything and everything. Karen had admitted she was sad that things hadn't worked out with Jim, but was glad that he was happy with Pam.
They all stood in an uncomfortable silence before Karen turned to Katy, "Hi, I'm Karen. I used to work with Jim and Pam."
"I'm Katy. I used to date Jim."
"Oh! I guess we have something in common then." She looked at Jim who looked between Katy and Karen.
Silence overtook the group again, but soon the doorbell rang, making all of them jump. "Well, there's the door. We should get that, right Jim?"
"Right." He and Pam went to the door and looked at each other quickly. "It can't get any worse."
She nodded as he opened the door.
"Oh my God, Pam, you look so pretty and huge, but you're pregnant so, I guess you being big is normal, but look at you. Ryan couldn't come, he was sick, but we picked out the present together and he said he was happy for you and oh my God, Pam, look at how cute this paper is. I know you said you don't know if it's a girl or a boy, but this pink paper was just so cute. Isn't it so cute?"
"Sure is, Kelly, why don't you head inside."
"Oh, hi Jim. You know, I can't believe you have guys here. Baby showers are supposed to be all girls so we can talk about girl stuff," Kelly continued as she came in the door.
"Well, Pam and I like to do things differently." He looked down at Pam, raising his eyebrows. "So I was wrong, sue me."
By the time everyone had arrived – Michael and Jan showed up next (not without unnecessary jokes about sex from Michael), then Stanley and Terri (Pam thinks it was the first time he'd hugged her in all the time they worked together), then Angela and Dwight (Angela was actually civil and only mentioned their lack of wedding vows once), then Phyllis and Bob Vance (Phyllis seemed more excited than Pam and Jim combined), then Toby (he made a point of avoiding Michael, but also mentioned he couldn't stay long), and finally Oscar and Gil (they apologized profusely for being late, but no one had really noticed due to the insanity that was their apartment) – Pam was about ready to disappear. Jim had noticed and gently took her hand, leading her towards the bedroom. Only his mother noticed and she nodded to Jim when he glanced back at her with pleading eyes.
"This was a bad idea," Pam said as Jim closed the door and helped her onto the bed.
"Hey," he said as he lay next to her and rubbed the large bump their child caused, "today is going to go fine. Besides, do you really want our first child to not have a baby shower?"
"First child?" She turned her head to look at him, a smile playing on her lips.
"Oh yeah. I see many children in our future." He continued to rub her belly, but turned on his side, propping his head up with his free hand.
"Really, cause I see lots of practice," she responded in a quiet, sultry tone. She placed her hand over his and brought it over her stomach and up her side. She left his hand there, bringing the same hand up to the side of his neck and bringing his lips down to hers.
Jim moved forward to kiss her, leaving his hand on the side of her breast. He moved his other hand to play with the curls she had spent hours on that morning. He wished they could simply send everyone home now so he could spend the day in bed with Pam, but he knew everyone would notice they were missing eventually.
There was a gentle knock on the door, forcing Jim to pull away from Pam. She sighed lightly as they both looked towards the door. Larissa entered the room quietly.
"Jim, sweetie, everyone is getting antsy and I can only listen to one more of your boss' jokes before I go crazy."
"Okay, mom, we're coming."
"Actually, I was hoping I could talk to Pam for a moment." She watched as her son gently helped Pam up to sit on the edge of the bed.
"Okay." He kissed Pam once more before leaving his mom and fiancé alone, shutting the door behind him.
"Hey, Larissa, what's up?" Pam asked as Jim's mom sat next to her on the bed.
"Well, for starters, I'd love it if you'd call me mom. You don't have to, but I would like you to know I think of you as a daughter already."
"Really?" Pam asked, tearing up slightly. Larissa simply nodded and smiled at her soon to be daughter-in-law. "Wow! I mean, I know Roy's mom always told me to call her mom, but it never seemed quite right, not like this." She leaned over and hugged the older woman, laughing when the baby kicked happily.
"Also," Larissa continued as she pulled away from Pam, "I just wanted to thank you."
"For what?"
"Well, this will sound terribly cliché, but I wanted to thank you for making my son so happy. I've never seen him as happy as he is right now. Even when he comes over and is complaining about having to run to the store at two in the morning or how he can't take your mood swings, he has this smile on his face that I don't think anything could wipe away."
Tears ran down Pam's cheeks again, happy tears. "I'm just glad we finally were able to admit our feelings and get together. I've loved your son for years and I was too scared to tell him. It might have taken years, but I'm so happy we're together now. He's made me happier than I could have ever imagined."
"Alright," Larissa said as she hugged Pam once more, "now that this has gone completely Hallmark, what do you say we head back out there and open some presents?"
"Sure." Pam wiped away the remaining tears before Larissa helped her up from the bed.
Pam returned to the living room and took her seat next to Jim on the loveseat. Larissa took a spot near Joanna and Jenny on the other side of the room, where they watched the coworkers interact. Jim and Pam quickly opened their presents, thanking everyone as they went.
By the time the presents had been opened, games had been played, and cake had been served, Pam was falling asleep standing. She was just saying goodbye to Kelly when two strong arms encircled her from behind, hands resting on her stomach. She laid her hands over his, smiling at his embrace.
"We'll see you on Monday, Kelly," Jim said, nodding for her to leave.
"Oh, well, yeah, you guys have a good weekend and, oh my God, Pam, it was so much fun."
"Mmhmm. Thanks for coming, Kelly." She reached out and closed the door before Kelly could say anything else and then turned in Jim's arms to face him. "Hmm, I am so tired."
"Well, we should get you to bed then." He leaned down and kissed her forehead, causing her to smile.
"But there's so much to do."
"Yeah, and that is why we have our mothers, Jenny, and Karen."
"I love the way you think," she mumbled, leaning on him for support. He helped her up the stairs to their bedroom, stopping only to turn off the lights and close the door behind them. He laid her down on the bed and removed her shoes before pulling the covers over her exhausted frame and lying down behind her. He wrapped his arm around her and drew small circles on her belly as he listened to her breathing even out.
Party
Def'n: Beesly-Halpert baby shower.
Okay, I'm hoping for another chapter in a week or so. Let me know how I'm doing still with this one, if I've still got anyone with me here. ;-)