Disclaimer: I don't own these characters, just borrowing them and their predicament to get a leg up on my own creative efforts.

Note: I've never had much sympathy for Roy, but maybe he's worth a little.

If the door didn't slam shut behind him, Roy wouldn't have known how long he'd been standing there. It felt like forever. But the sound of the door hitting the doorframe broke the silence and broke what felt like a paralysis inside him. Jim and Pam turned toward him with a start, and their faces were so predictably shocked. The feeling returned to his legs, which was good because all he wanted to do was get away from there. Other feelings came on too – anger, hurt, surprise and a dawning realization that what he'd seen wasn't entirely unexpected.

He turned quickly and pulled the door open again so hard it smacked the wall and bounced back into him as he stormed through. It closed again before Pam could even get there, but he could here her call to him in that high-pitched, almost panicky voice she sometimes got. He was halfway down to the parking lot before she got to the top of the stairway. He heard Halpert say something to her, something along the lines of "Pam, wait," or "Pam, don't," but he couldn't be sure. In fact he was pretty sure he didn't want to think too hard about Halpert at all at that moment.

He'd just left the warehouse crew at Poor Richard's down the block when he'd come back to see if Pam wanted to join them. The whole walk back he thought about what a nice surprise it would have been for her, how thoughtful she'd think he was to think of her while he was out drinking. But he'd told her he was going home to bed, and he didn't want her getting home and not find him there. She'd worry, for one thing. And she'd be pissed, for another. Half the reason he came back was so he wouldn't have to hear it from her the next day about not going straight home like he said he was.

What he walked in on was the last thing he expected, though. Her and Halpert. That snake. He should have seen it coming, he thought. He did see it coming, though, didn't he. All that talk about a crush a while back, a crush that was supposedly long over. Dudes don't have crushes. But they will scam on your girl, if they get the chance. That skinny worm was going down for this one. Maybe not tonight, he thought, as he reached his truck and fumbled for his keys. Tonight he'd drown his sorrows. Tomorrow he'd deal with Halpert. And her, he tried not to think. He didn't even hear her come up behind him.

"Roy, please wait," she said. "You have to let me explain, please."

She was crying, he noticed, telling himself he didn't care.

"Explain what, Pammy? That you and your little office friend have a thing going on the side? That we're getting married in three weeks, and you're swapping spit with the guy you told me was just a friend? That you've made me look like a fool?"

"Roy, no! It's not like that, I swear," she pleaded with him. "That was the first time anything ever happened. And nothing even happened. We just kissed. It didn't mean anything."

The words still hung on the air when a car door slammed. She and Roy both looked in the direction it came from. It was Jim, driving off. He'd followed her downstairs and had been standing by his car listening and watching. It didn't surprise her that he'd stayed close to look out for her. But as soon as she said their kiss meant nothing, he'd gotten in his car and taken off.

"There goes your boyfriend, Pammy," Roy said, in as hurt and as hurtful a tone as he could muster. "Why don't you go after him? I'm going down to Poor Richards where Darryl and the guys are going to join me in several rounds of drinks while we talk about reasons why I should never talk to you again."

She just stood there and let the tears roll down her face. She was devastated by his words, he could see, but he wasn't ready to let up. He had one more thing to add.

"You know what?" he said, his voice softer and less angry, which only made it harder for her to have to hear. "I may not be perfect, but I was always there for you. I never cheated on you, never even looked at another girl the way I just saw you look at Halpert. I saw that, you know. You didn't just kiss him. You kissed him and you stared at him. I haven't seen you look at me like that in years. You think about that. I gotta go."

He got in the truck, turned the ignition and watched her in his rearview as he pulled away. She was still standing there as he turned the corner. He waited until she was out of sight before he wiped his eyes. He wasn't going to give her the satisfaction of seeing him cry over her. He pulled into Poor Richard's lot and checked himself in the rearview before getting out. No sense going in there red-eyed, though that was how he planned to leave. He walked inside and looked around for a familiar face. Off in the far corner by the pool table he spotted Lonnie tossing darts. He was about to head that way when Jim cut him off by the bar and put a hand on his shoulder.

"We have to talk, Roy, and we have to talk now," he said.

"You're going to lose that hand if you don't take it off me," he shot back. "I don't need much reason to lay you out right now, Halpert, not much reason at all."

"That's true, and I knew that coming here. Hear me out anyway."

The bartender, an older guy who'd broken up plenty of brawls in his day and had the scars to prove it, signaled to a couple of beefy bouncers to be ready for anything. Darryl spotted the exchange, too, and was slowly making his way over.

"Fine, start talking," Roy said. "You know, maybe I'll enjoy hearing how long you've been scamming after my girlfriend."

"She's your fiancée, remember? Sure you do. And yeah, it's been a while since I fell for her. Seems like forever that I've watched her and wondered what kept you two together. I still wonder about that, because it doesn't make a damn bit of sense."

Darryl was close behind now. He'd back up his friend if he had to but he was really there to keep Roy from doing something stupid.

"You're pushing your luck, Halpert," Roy said. He was so angry he could barely see, but he wasn't ready to lose his cool yet. "Is this really what you came here to say?"

"No, you're right," Jim began, not sure where he'd finish. "I came here to tell you tonight was a one-time thing. I've been in love with her for a long time now, longer than I care to admit to myself. But she never knew until about an hour ago. And when I told her, she shot me down, hard. What you saw upstairs, well that was me pushing my luck again. You see, in a couple of days I'll be gone, out of this town and out of her life. I'm moving on. That's all I wanted to tell her tonight. But when I saw her and how beautiful she looked, and I saw you take off and leave her alone looking like that, well let's just say I think you take her for granted sometimes. It set something off inside me. I couldn't say goodbye, not without getting it all out on the table and seeing where it led. But she shot me down again when she told you that what you saw didn't mean anything. So now I'm leaving knowing where I stand. I thought I could give her more than you could. I guess she wants you anyway."

Roy just stood there and took it all in. He wanted to hate this guy. He wanted to want to punch him. But here he was, stepping aside, doing what he knew he could never do in the same circumstance: being the better man. And it all added up to only one thing.

He could take her back so easily, but suddenly he wasn't so sure he deserved her.