Danielle was making copies when she heard Michael holding a memo in his hand.
"Hey, Toby, what's this?"
He read the memo outloud, explaining the issues of public displays of affection in the workplace. Danielle made a face, unaware of Toby informing her of any memo. Toby quietly nodded at Michael.
"Some people have complained about other people engaging in PDA. I just wanted to remind everyone that its not okay to do that."
Slowly, Danielle entered the break room with her copies in hand, wanting to avoid the conflict. The camera crew followed and she knew what was coming. More questions.
"I just don't like watching Michael arguing with my boss. It's kind of painful to watch your boss get yelled at and then take orders from him. It kind of feels like he takes his frustrations on me instead of Michael."
"To be honest, I think my boss could stand up for himself once in a while."
She peeked out the break room door and noticed Toby was coming. Quickly, she hurried to HR and took her seat by his chair. She heard him come in and sit down. He was frowning and his eyes looked sad.
"I...made you the copies you asked for."
Danielle's small hand placed them on his desk, but he said nothing. Trying to ease the silence, she pretended to cough.
"So, what do we have on the agenda for today?"
Toby swallowed before answering. "Nothing. You can go home, if you want."
She blinked. "Huh?"
He ran his hands down his face as he sighed. "I'm sorry. I'm just tired."
Danielle slid her palms on her thighs as she tried to think of what to say next. "I could get you a Redbull."
"It's..not that kind of tired."
"Hey, Toby!"
A chipper voice made them turn and Toby suddenly smiled as he said, "Hey, Pam...you two."
Jim was holding Pam's hand as they wore big smiles on their faces. Jim spoke up and said, "We just wanted to know, now that we're dating, you know, if we needed to sign one of those "we're dating" things for the company."
Stuttering with his words, Toby replied, "Oh, well, you know, those are for...relationships. So if it's a casual thing, there's no need, really."
Danielle grimaced as she and Pam made eye contact for a moment. Pam looked at Jim, excitedly, and said, "Well, I don't wanna speak for Jim, but it's like pretty official. So do we need to sign one or-"
"Let's just wait."
Jim raised his eyebrows. "What?"
"Let's just wait and see what happens," Toby replied, casually.
Pam and Jim glanced at each other with a shrug, and bought into it. "Okay, then."
"Yeah, okay," Pam agreed as they walked off, merrily.
Toby turned to his computer as Danielle finally understood. She found it a bit unsettling to know Pam didn't catch on, but she and Jim seemed happy. They looked as if nothing could intervene with their happiness. That made her smile.
"They look nice, huh?"
Toby quickly stood up and said, "Could you make more copies?"
Danielle stared up at him and asked, "Of what?"
"Something," Toby said as he left the room to use the bathroom.
Kelly Kapoor popped her head out of her small corner and smiled at Danielle. "Oh my God, he's totally into you."
Cheeks burning, Danielle sat, unsure of what to say. "Who?"
"Toby! He always gets so nervous around you, it's super obvious."
Danielle didn't know what she was feeling so timid about. Toby was a bit shy and spoke very quietly to pretty much everybody. He seemed nervous all the time.
"I have to make copies, Kelly," Danielle muttered, grabbing the closest piece of paper on Toby's desk.
The camera crew followed until they spotted Michael in his office. Danielle placed the paper in the copy machine and pressed the green start button. As the machine got into gear, Danielle noticed Angela crying at her desk. She slowly approached the sobbing blonde, and bit her lip.
"Is it Sprinkles again?"
Angela wiped her tears with a tissue.
Danielle gently put a hand on Angela's shoulder. She stood there as the copy machine had stopped making noises. Pam went up to the copy machine and noticed someone hadn't taken their copies. She opened the lid and took out the single copy to read it.
"Danielle?"
Raising her eyebrows, Danielle turned to see Pam at the machine. "Oh! God, I'm sorry. I forgot."
Pam handed Danielle the single copy and the 10 copies that were printed. She froze when she saw what was written on the copies. Two words: 'Dear Danielle'.
They were written on the top left corner of the paper. Danielle felt herself turning red as she hurried across the office. Gasping, she bumped into Toby, as he exited the conference room, and all the copies fell to the floor. Quickly, she knelt down and gathered them all up.
"Are those the copies?" Toby inquired.
Danielle shook her head as she held the messy stack of papers close to her chest. He noticed her gripping the papers so nervously and grew more curious.
"Are those from Michael?"
"No, these are for me," Danielle replied, hastily.
"For you..from Michael? Because I'd have to see them if they're from Mich-"
Danielle rushed past him and into the break room. She entered the ladies room, and into a stall. Locking the stall with one hand, she kept holding the copies with the other. She sat on the toilet and exhaled deeply. Carefully, she took one copy of paper and put the rest in the toilet. Then, flushed. She folded her copy as she thought she heard someone walk into the bathroom. The red head near accounting. Danielle couldn't remember her name, but she exited the bathroom, running into Toby, as he stood in the kitchen.
"Whoa-" he said as she bumped into him.
He noticed the folded paper, but said nothing.
"Were you waiting for me?" Danielle asked, tucking a stray hair behind her ear.
"No, I just..."
"Look, I should get back to work, sir," Danielle insisted.
Toby cleared his throat, as if to muster courage to speak. "You work f-for me. I need you to get back to HR, and just...stay there, please."
Danielle put the paper in her pocket and quietly exited the kitchen to return to their desk. She sat down and stared at his computer. After a few minutes, she removed the paper from her pocket and placed it on the keyboard. Unfolding it, she read the two words over and over again.
Kelly appeared from her desk and Danielle quickly grabbed the paper. "What is that?"
Danielle lowered her eyes. "Nothing. I.."
"Is it from Toby? Is it a love letter? I can read it if you're too scared-"
"Mr. Flenderson isn't in-"
Toby entered from the kitchen and made the two women stop talking. Kelly smiled wide and gave Toby a small "hey" before going back to her corner. Toby glanced at Danielle and the piece of paper in her hand. Gently, he held out his hand to her.
"Let me see."
Slowly, she placed the paper in his hand, and said, "I'm sorry."
He read it and his cheeks turned red. Nervously, he put the paper on his desk. He scratched the back of his neck and pretended to cough.
"Look, uh...are you..free for tonight?"
Danielle tried not to smile. "Tonight..."
"Maybe we could..have dinner..?"
The smile won the battle as she put on a big one. "Okay."