The Nephew
The Office
Chapter twenty-nine
"Families are messy. Immortal families are eternally messy. Sometimes the best we can do is to remind each other that we're related for better or for worse...and try to keep the maiming and killing to a minimum"
—Rick Riordan, The Sea of Monsters
Both Isabella and Pam knew the game they were playing with one another. The game of pretend. Pam tried not to cry, and Isabella tried not to worry.
The two women sat stiffly and silently together on Jim's couch, afraid to leave his humble apartment and chase after the headstrong men. Well, the headstrong Tom and the bumbling Jim. Isabella hoped desperately that Jim did not get hurt due to his reckless, older brother's vow for revenge. And, of course, she worried about Tom.
Pam stared down at her feet. She dared not look at Jim's sister-in-law. The few times she had met Isabella Halpert, who was skinnier than Pam, albeit a tad shorter, she had been amazed at the woman's beauty. Her blonde hair was perfectly taken care of, her makeup was impeccable, and she sat with such posture that made Pam feel helpless. How was she supposed to impress Jim when he was used to the sheer elegance of Isabella? Even her name was elegant.
With a soft, whispering sigh, Isabella slowly stood and headed over to Jim's kitchenette. She grabbed a bottle of water from his refrigerator and then pulled a cup out from a cupboard. She seemed to know where everything was in Jim's small kitchenette. Pam had no idea where anything was.
"Do you want water?" Isabella asked, almost as an afterthought once rejoining Pam on the couch. "I'm…I'm sorry, I didn't think to ask."
"Sure." Pam whispered. Her throat was painfully sore from all of her crying. She wiped her eyes as she looked up at Isabella, who seemed to be debating getting up from the lumpy couch once more. With a wistful shrug, she opened the bottle of water and poured half of the contents into the cup before handing it to Pam. For herself, she took a small sip from the bottle.
"Thank you," Pam mumbled, drinking the water gratefully.
Isabella glanced at her, pushing aside some of her blonde hair. "This isn't the first time, you know."
"What do you mean?" Pam asked.
"Tom. He's…" Isabella looked down, trying to figure out what to say. "He has anger issues. I know that. I knew that when I said yes to his proposal. I knew that when I first started dating him. Did you know that Pete set us up?" she smiled softly at the memory. "Yeah. Anyway, I just want you that I'm not in total shock. He just, he tends to angry really easily. I usually can talk him down, but I guess not tonight."
"How do you do it?" Pam wondered. "How are you so patient with him? I mean, he almost seemed dangerous."
Isabella let her composure fall, and she leaned back against the couch cushions. "I love him. I love him so much, and thank God he knows that. Thank God he loves me, too."
Pam took another sip of water. "My ex-fiancée, uh, he was sort of like Tom. You know, reckless and all." She glanced over at Isabella, who was listening intently. "His name was Roy. He…thought I was having an affair with Jim."
"Were you?" Isabella asked.
"No," Pam quickly assured her. "No. He…he walked in on us kissing. It was just one kiss. He—he gave me this necklace."
"I know." Isabella couldn't help but grin. "I helped pick it out. Julia and I did. She was always so interested in…well, we all love Jim."
"Tom too?"
"Of course." Isabella nodded quickly. "Tom loves his little brother, he would never hurt him. His anger…it's just-"
Two knocks on the door interrupted the two young women. They stared at each other.
"I'll get it." Pam smiled softly at Isabella and rose, setting down her cup of water. The knocking did not continue, Pam noted. Whoever was at the door must not be in a hurry. She reached the door and easily opened it, staring in shock at the last person she wanted to see.
Larissa.
Jim and Tom Halpert stood next to each other on the front step of Pete's house. The dark of night only added to the horrid feeling that Jim had in his stomach.
"Is the door locked?" Tom asked his little brother.
"What?" Jim glanced at him. "Oh, I don't know. I rang the doorbell."
"You rang the doorbell?" Tom repeated angrily. "Dammit, Jim, we're not a couple of girl scouts, here." He began to knock rapidly and loudly. "Open up!" he yelled. Jim closed his eyes and tried not to groan as he heard footsteps coming closer to the door.
"Pete-"
The door flew open. Pete Halpert stared at his younger brothers with raised eyebrows. "What's wrong, guys?"
Tom snapped. He grabbed Pete by the shoulders and pushed him against the wall just inside the house. Admittedly, this was easy to do, as Pete had lost weight. Jim quickly closed the door behind them.
"Cut the crap, Pete! We all know what you've been doing." Tom growled. "If you lay another finger on Elijah I will beat the living hell out of you, do you understand?"
"What the hell are you talking about?" Pete stared at Tom, dumbfounded. He attempted to pry Tom off of him, but the angry man wouldn't budge. "Tom? Jim? What's going on?"
"Stop lying!" It was Jim who was yelling, now. "Stop denying what you've done!"
"What have I done?" Pete roared. "What the hell have I done?"
"Dammit, Pete! Shut up, will ya?" Tom pushed him again. "These lies make me sick! The evidence is all here, man; you're beating the crap out of your kid!"
With a swift swing of his fist, Pete punched Tom.
"You again?" Larissa rolled her eyes and sighed at the sight of Pam. "What are you doing here?"
"What are you doing here?" Isabella stood up stiffly.
"I'm looking for James, obviously." Larissa pushed past Pam and stepped into the apartment. Her stilettos, jeans, and v-neck top made her look like some sort of sultry goddess. As she glanced disapprovingly among the two women, she caught onto their glum nature. "What the hell happened to you two?" she muttered, chewing her gum as a statement of her sheer casualness.
"Oh, like you care." Isabella snapped.
"Did James give her the boot?" Larissa raised her eyebrows at Pam.
"Of course not!" Pam started. "I-"
"Or, did Thomas give his precious Isabella what she was asking for?" Larissa wondered aloud. "Boy, that would be the day."
"Why don't you worry about your own problems for once?" Isabella retorted angrily.
"Oh." Larissa beamed. "Oh, I see I've hit a nerve. What did he do? Kick you to the curb? Get on one of those anger highs and hit you? What did you do? I mean, Thomas doesn't get angry for nothing…well, maybe sometimes, and, of course, I'm sure James said something stup-"
"Can't you just shut up for once?" Pam screamed. "My sister miscarried her baby, okay? Is that what you want to hear? Is that what you wanted?" Collapsing on Jim's couch, Pam once again began to cry.
