Disclaimer: I do not own The Office or the characters. This is just wishful thinking.
A/N: This is my first attempt so bare with me.
Jim was lying on his bed; he looked at the airplane ticket mocking him from his desk. Who was he kidding? Had he really thought he could have gone and had a good time knowing what was happening today? Maybe he should have gone to the wedding; he was her best friend after all. Of course, after what had happened between them, it probably would have been awkward. All he could do was stare at the ceiling and wait to go back to work in two weeks.
Excessive knocking on the front door interrupted his thoughts. Since his roommate was out, he had to answer it. The last thing he expected to find was the woman in the white dress standing before him. She was crying, but most of her tears were dried onto her face. "What are you doing here?" was about all he could think to say.
"Roy came to me and said he couldn't get married," she stopped to catch her breath, "He said he never intended to; he only gave me a ring because he knew I wanted to and because he knew I'd take it seriously and stay with him. Can you believe it?"
Even though he feared sounding uncompassionate, Jim had to ask, "What did he say about me?"
She didn't even look at him, "He doesn't know. I didn't tell him."
As they both stood there silent, Jim's phone rang. He ignored it and the answering machine soon picked up, "Hey Halpert, when you get back I was wondering if you still had the phone number of that cheerleader you were dating. What's her name? Katy. Well, give me a call, this is Roy."
Pam couldn't help bursting into tears more severe than before. This prompted Jim to lead her inside, and wonder why he hadn't done so already. They sat on the couch with his arm around her as she cried into his shirt. He had definitely wanted this just not this way. He looked down at the ring on her hand, and boldly reached to remove it. She yanked her hand away and closed it, "I'm not ready."
Jim knew how long the ring had sat on her finger and he wanted to get rid of the reminder. "Pam I understand it means something to you but it meant nothing to the person who gave it to you." After a moment, she relaxed her fist and straightened out her hand as a signal to Jim, who slowly pulled it off. "Besides maybe one day, I'll find something to replace it."
Pam understood what he was saying, but she needed more than a few hours to think things through. "It's too soon," she half whispered.
"I know, I'm sorry," he paused, "Pam, I'm not sorry you didn't marry Roy, but I'm not happy you got hurt."
She looked up at him still crying so hard she could barely see. As he stared at the floor, she wondered how she had never seen this wonderful person before, the person who loved her. Maybe she had and maybe she had pushed it down inside of herself not wanting to admit it. She wouldn't have to do that anymore. She laid her head back onto his arm.
Jim was hurting for Pam right now, however he knew with his help she would get over Roy. Now was his chance to make her happy and that's all he had ever wanted.
fin