I DO NOT OWN ANY OF THE CHARACTERS FROM THIS SERIES. THEY BELONG TO THE WRITERS AND CREATORS OF THE OFFICE.

2:34 PM Thursday

Pam had been fighting tears all day. She stared down at notepad wondering what message to leave Jim. What could she write that communicated her genuine hope that he got the job yet finds success and happiness? But also her absolute despair that he was leaving her again, and the deep feelings for him she'd developed over the past months - and if and if she was being honest with herself- years. She wanted the message to be funny, maybe include an inside joke, and also be endearing and thoughtful. Pam was kicking herself for not thinking of something cute and witty to say earlier. She had several crumpled messages next to her she deemed unworthy.

"I knew you were always too good for us."

"Go get em big guy"

"Knock em' dead"

Her mind drifted through a montage of her favorite moments with Jim - her eyes glazed over staring at the spot he used to sit. Her eyes welled with tears again.

"Pam?" Toby softly asked as he approached her desk "do you have an extra ink pad? I need to stamp these referrals for Jim and Karen"

"Uhh yeah, just a sec"

Pam used the excuse to turn away and rummage through her desk, wiping away her tears. There, leaning up against the side of her desk drawer, her eye caught the gold metallic yogurt lid- folded in around the sides. Her heart jumped as the memories of the Olympics Jim organized flooded back to her. She grabbed the lid and the stamp pad.

"Here Toby, don't forget to bring it back when you're done"

This lid was perfect. An inside joke - from their glory days, no less. Before all this awkwardness, before Karen, before Stanford, before her coal walk confessions. A symbol of them at their best. "Don't forget us when you're famous!" She scribbled. '"Ugh" she sighed audibly "good enough". It would never be perfect, and time was running out. She taped the gold lid to the memo and slid it in with Jim's sales reports and left it on his desk.

Dave, one of the producers, waved to her from the conference room. She had an interview right now- leaning in the doorway, she tested her luck.

"Can I have 15 minutes? I have some work I have to finish up"

"take all the time you need" Dave responded cooly.

Pam dreaded this interview. Dave hadn't grilled her since the beach confession to Jim and she was sure he had 30 minutes worth of loaded questions for her. How would she get through it without bursting into tears, or believably act like this wasn't tearing her apart? Also, she wasn't prepared to give up the opportunity to say goodbye to Jim. If he got the job - based on the other candidates, she figured he would. - This could be the last she saw of him. It would be the end of an era. Their friendship barely weathered his Stanford move - and so much had happened since then. Karen would surely go with him. If she would move to Scranton for him before they were even dating she would move to New York now.

Pam made herself look busy till a commotion gathered in the space in front of her desk. Dwight was taking this moment from them- yelling about something she could barely register. Her ears were ringing and her heart pounding as Jim walked by - he gave her a quick and polite smile and a wave. A co-worker goodbye at best. No room for a private glance or moment. He was there, and then he wasn't