Note: This is the final installment. It feels a little weird since the whole premise was speculation on how Season 3 would pick up, and now Season 3 is three and a half hours under way. But anyway, for an ending, I tried to leave the future pretty open. Hope you enjoy! Again, none of this is mine but the manipulation of someone else's characters and storyline.
He couldn't sleep. He could only lay there and think of her and stare at the ceiling wishing sleep would come and give him a break from the endlessly repeating pattern of what if's that kept swimming through his brain as he played the events of the night before over and over and over. How had it come to this, he wondered, when everything had been perfect for so long.
Roy threw off the blanket and sat up. He rubbed his eyes and stared out at the street light through the living room window of his brother John's apartment. He'd come here because he didn't know where else to go and he couldn't go home. It wasn't anger anymore that kept him from facing her. It was hurt, true, but even more than that it was a lost feeling that things had been wrong before they came crashing down tonight.
She kissed him, and she looked at him like they'd been together forever.
He got up and walked to the bathroom, trying to be as quiet as his 225-pound frame allowed on a creaky wooden floor. Jen, his sister-in-law, was a nurse who started the day early. Roy didn't know what time it was, but he wasn't surprised when he turned the corner and nearly ran into her in the hallway. Even in that pre-dawn sun mixed with fading streetlamp light, she could see that he wasn't right.
"I didn't even hear you come in, but John told me what happened," she said, extending a hand to him. "It's going to be OK. You know that right? Things happen for a reason."
Roy laughed. Darryl of all people said something similar last night, before Roy bailed out on his plans to drown his sorrows in tequila. It was funny, he thought, how that advice sounded so similar coming from two such different people. But both had been looking out for him for longer than he realized and knew him better than most.
"I know that, but it doesn't make it easier," he said. "You working again today?"
"Hospitals don't close on Saturdays," she said. "But I have a little while before I have to go. Have a cup of coffee with me? I want to talk to you about something."
He sat in the small apartment's tiny kitchen. They could afford bigger, but John and Jen were socking every penny away for a down payment on a house and a nest egg that would allow them to live on just John's plumber's salary when they were ready to start having kids. But they somehow made this place cozy and nice, like a home. Roy realized his and Pam's place, which was similar in a lot of ways, never felt like that.
Jen poured them both a cup of coffee, set down the carafe and looked him in the eye and said, "She loves you, Roy, but she's not for you. I don't think she knew it, but you did, didn't you?"
Jen always did cut to the chase. The words hit him like a slap in the face.
"Let's just say that when the shock wore off, I felt something like, well I wasn't totally surprised," he said. "The two of them together, it just seemed like I'd been staring at it all along and not seeing it. And the worst part is that I tried so hard to be angry at her, but I couldn't keep it up. It just wasn't real."
"Drink your coffee," Jen said. "However this works out, and it will work out, you're going to get through this. Better that it happens now than after June 10, right?"
He gulped the coffee and thought about how right that was. They'd been together for 10 years and engaged for three. How much more time does it take to know you belong together, he wondered.
Jim liked watching her sleep, even though he could barely keep his own eyes open. She'd fallen asleep surprisingly quickly, considering how upset she'd been, and she'd slept as soundly as anyone could. He half-expected her to toss and turn or worse, call out Roy's name. He couldn't blame her if she did. But she just lay there looking perfectly peaceful, wrapped in one of his throw blankets, her sweatshirt hood pulled up over hear head, faint streaks of makeup around her eyes the only remnants of the crying she'd done.
She'd fallen asleep in his arms, but he'd gotten up to get her the blanket and a pillow and since then he'd just sat beside her and watched her sleep, wishing morning wouldn't come. Things might be OK, but he still wasn't sure.
He'd lain it all out last night, took the biggest gamble – the only gamble, probably – of his life. If he was going to lose her, he thought at the time, it wouldn't be without a fight. But he couldn't control the way things played out. She went after Roy, which hurt him bad. Then Michael of all people inspired him to stick it out and see what happened. And then he'd gone and said all those things to Roy, and Jim still couldn't believe that didn't end with him getting punched out. And when he showed up at the warehouse again and caught her eye, it was like they'd met for the first time all over again.
That second kiss there, in front of everyone, well that was even better than the first, if possible. It held no doubts, even if it was less intimate. Phyllis had hugged both of them, and Kevin gave him a thumbs-up that on any other day Jim would have taken for a lewd gesture. Even Dwight, in his weird way, surprised him by offering Jim relationship advice, that and the use of the farmhouse for the night. Jim opted to ignore both.
He brought her back to his place, not knowing what to expect. They talked a while, beating around the bush because neither of them was sure what the other was thinking. Could they be together? Should they wait? What about Roy? She hadn't really settled anything, though she was amazed when Jim told her about going down to Poor Richard's and confronting him. They didn't really settle much of anything. Jim told her about the transfer, and Pam said she already knew. The memo had come across her desk for Michael's signature. It said pending employee approval, so she knew it wasn't definite. Either way, she didn't blame him. She was just waiting to see what he decided.
He wanted to be with her so badly, and he could tell she felt the same way. But they'd been through so much that night already, it would only have complicated things. So they just talked and held one another. She cried some, and he consoled her and they began to share some of the millions of feelings they'd been keeping from one another for so long. It would take more than one night to get to know each other in a way that didn't involve always hiding how they truly felt. And it would take some getting used to.
She opened her eyes and looked up at him staring at her. She smiled and yawned and rolled toward him. He stroked her forehead, brushing her hair aside and told her to go back to sleep while he ran down to the corner deli to pick up a few things to fix breakfast.
Outside his apartment, the sun was up and people were walking to work. Jim started toward the corner when he nearly bumped into Ryan. Kelly lived a block away
"Yeah, well, so much for taking things slowly," Ryan said, as Jim smirked. "I heard you made quite a scene last night. Michael left me four voicemails before 7 a.m.
"Yeah I guess we did," Jim said. "You know Kelly's a good girl. She really cares about you. Take my word. Once you find that, you do not want to let it get away. Ever."
They bumped fists, and Jim walked to the deli while Ryan headed to his car.
