Disclaimer: I do not own the Office. I will never own the Office. Silently sobs

A/N: Hello, all! I know, it's a shock to me too, but here I am... writing this story, a story I might add that is completely out of date and that has no connection to the present series. This story is now an AU, which for me is in the realm of my past stories, "The Parade" and "The Trial". At any rate, I figured the least I could do is finish this thing, and I'm hoping that you all will continue to support it as you have in the past. It's good to be back. Without further adieu, the next installment.

1:03 pm

Pam and Dwight were standing at one end of the parking lot, huddled together as Dwight made a few movements of his hands, seemingly causing Pam to recoil a bit. The camera panned closer, trying to pick up any facial expressions by either party, only receiving a shake of the head by Pam.

Dwight and Pam walked toward the warehouse, Dwight sneakingly trotting against the wall of the building. As Pam walks normally toward the entrance, Dwight pulls her against the wall, "What are you doing?"

"What?"

"Are you insane? You can't walk plain as day. You have to keep out of the camera's view."

"Fine." Pam rolled her eyes and followed suit as she leaned closer to the wall.

As Pam and Dwight walk closer to the wall, footage is shown of them walking against the wall.

Pam walked up to the entrance when Dwight pulled her back, "What?"

Dwight attempted to touch Pam's hair, which was in a ponytail, "You chose today to wear your hair back."

"What are you talking about?"

Dwight rolled his eyes, "Try to look a little more attractive."

"Excuse me?"

"C'mon. Pudge seems to gravitate to the female species more." He shook his head, "Do you own lip gloss?"

Pam crossed her arms, "I am not flirting with Madge."

"Why not?"

"Um... just taking a shot in the dark but she's a woman."

Dwight smacked his lips, "You flirt with Halpert all the time."

"Nice." Pam began to turn around.

"Where are you going?"

"This wasn't part of agreement. I'm not going to objectify myself for -"

"Fine... just talk or whatever. God... what good decoy are you?" Dwight turned back toward the warehouse, Pam following behind.

"Should I ask her any questions?"

Dwight scoffed, "All interrogating duties will reside with me." He rolled her eyes, "Just take to her, distract her so I can do my test." He proceeded to hide behind a pile of boxes as Pam approached Madge.

Madge stood next to a transporter, checking inventory when she noticed Pam standing next to her, "Oh... Hi."

"Hey Madge. How's it going?"

"Going good. You?"

"Oh, I'm fine." She moved to the other side of her, being able to see Dwight roll across the floor toward an aisle. She cleared her throat, "Yeah... so... are you okay?"

"Oh, I'm fine. I fall all the time." She chuckled, "I have to admit I'm kinda a klutz sometimes."

Pam chuckled, "Yeah, me too." They both smiled, "Yeah, I was just checking up on you. I heard you fell from pretty high."

Madge shrugged, "It's not the first time. I once fell off the top shelf."

"Oh my gosh. Did you -"

"I banged up my elbow, but nothing to serious. How's Michael?"

"Oh... you know. He's Michael. You can never tell if he's okay or not."

"Right." They both chuckled some more as Pam heard a bump near where Dwight was. Her eyes went wild for a moment, "What was that? The pipes?"

Madge rolled her eyes, "Yeah... they're pretty old but no one really complains about them. You guys don't really hear upstairs but it's like that all the time down here."

Pam sighed as she heard another bump from he same aisle. "Weird."

As Pam and Madge were chatting, Dwight had obtained the elusive box. He was wearing some latex gloves and a pair of goggles, scrutinizing the evidence that the box possessed. He dropped the box, trying to detect the length of time it took for it to drop to the ground.

--

"When doing these tests, you not only have to reenact the crime, but you have to become one with the incident. You have to be the evidence. Footage of Dwight doing tumbles while the box rolled along side him. You have to eliminate all fear. And in that way, can you be able to find a solution."

--

Pam admired the boxes, "What do you do when you get bored?"

Madge chuckled, "When am I not bored?" They both chuckled. "I don't know. I mean, it doesn't suck too much. Darryl and Lonny are always good for a laugh and when it's slow, I do get some reading done. But there's always something to do."

"Wow. Sounds a lot better than my job." They both chuckled again.

"So... um... you and Jim, right?"

Pam blushed, "Yeah... who saw that coming?" She chuckled at her own joke.

Madge shrugged, "I kinda figured when Roy would always blow you off for the guys that you'd end up with someone else." She smirked, "Besides... all woman deserved to be treated with respect. I may not know you really well, but I know you deserved better. It's Roy's lose."

Pam smiled genuinely for the first time that day, "Thanks, Madge."

--

"Me and Madge used to chat a little bit when Roy had to work late and I had to wait for him to finish up. She'd sometime would give me a ride home." She shrugged, "She's a good person."

--

Dwight took off his goggles, nodding all knowingly, "I knew it." With one final swoop, he grabbed the box and ran from the warehouse. Pam watched on nervously. "Hey, it was good catching up, Madge. I'll see you around." She proceeded to walk swiftly after Dwight leaving a puzzled Madge behind.

Michael sat at his desk, counting a fist full of money. He smiled when he noticed the camera watching him through the window.

--

"Oh... I didn't get this money from my employees. It's mine." He smirked, "But I want them to think that I made money... that way I own them." He straightened his robe, "Not literally, of course."

--

Jim came hobbling to Michael's office, giving the camera a classic smirk, "Hey Michael."

Michael looked over at Jim, seeing his makeshift cast, "Yeesh, what happened to you?"

"I sprained my ankle, remember?"

Michael shook his head, "Nope."

"You kinda predicted that."

"Oh... that."

Jim rolled his eyes, "Yeah. So... yeah, I was just gonna let you know -" He watched on as Michael counted his stack of cash in his hand. "Where did you -"

Michael smirked at the camera, "Oh... this? You know... from around."

Jim looked around at the office at large, "Right. Anyway, I was gonna head out... maybe go the doctor to see if I could get an actual cast."

"It burned down... remember?"

"Yeah... well I can go to the clinic on Church. My family's doctor has his office there."

"That's convenient."

"Uh huh. So... I'm gonna go for the day."

At this revelation, Michael ran toward him, "You can't leave."

Jim looked at him skeptically, "Why not?"

Michael closed his eyes, trying to retrieve something to keep Jim there. "You can't leave..."

Jim folded his arms, "Why not?"

"Because... something bad will happen?"

"Like what?"

"Um... really bad stuff."

Jim limped over to his desk, throwing his messenger bag over his shoulder, "Guess that's a risk I have to take." He walked over to reception, leaving an envelope on the keyboard and walked toward the door, "See you tomorrow, Michael."

Michael watched Jim leave, "Goodbye, Jim."

Phyllis watched Michael, "Is Ryan still here?"

Michael looked over toward the break room, where Ryan came out from the kitchen. Ryan sighed, "Everyone in the conference in ten minutes." He walked past Michael, "And take the BLEEP turban off!"

Pam came up to Dwight, where he was moving objects in his trunk. She cleared his throat, "So... what's the verdict?"

Dwight smirked, "Good work back there, Pam. I thought you were gonna ask her out."

Pam rolled her eyes, "Right. Did you find anything?"

Dwight placed the box in the now empty trunk. "That will revealed in due time. Right now we need to obtain something else."

"Like what?"

Dwight gave her a devious smirk, "More like... 'who'?"

Pam's eyes went wide, "What do you have in mind, Dwight? You're not gonna -"

"You can't question me, Pam. You have to trust me 100."

"Um... I'm not sure..."

"Do you trust me, Pam?"

"Well..."

"There can't be any doubt. Do. You. Trust. Me?"

Pam sighed, "I suppose so."

"Alright, than." He slammed the trunk, "Let's go back upstairs."

"What about -"

"All in due time, Pam. All in due time." He continued to walk toward the entrance to the lobby, being followed by Pam. As they reached the door, the fog that seemed so thick before slowly faded away.

Dwight and Pam rejoined the office, Pam finding the envelope on her desk. Seeing Jim's desk empty, a small lump formed at the base of her throat. She already had to spend most of the day with Dwight, now Jim was gone. She opened the letter, reading:

Pam-

I went to the clinic on Church to get a real checkup on my ankle.

I'll have my cell on. I'll see you tonight.

Love, Jim.

Pam smirked, finding the office quieter than usual. She found Kelly walking toward the conference room reluctantly. Pam grimaced, walking toward. "Hey."

"Hey. Where have you been?"

"Oh...um... just some errands for Michael."

"That's cool." She looked through the conference room window, "I guess we better get in there before Ryan has a fit." She shook her head, heading toward a seat in the back. Pam followed close behind, taking a seat between Kelly and Stanley. She watched on as Ryan and Toby were setting up his presentation.

Ryan cleared his throat, "Okay everyone. Could I have everyone's attention?"

The room settled as Ryan turned off the lights, "Okay, I wanted to discuss the progress of the site, how it's conforming to the ever-changing business and how we can all try to make an effort to conform along with it."

Michael gave an exaggerated sigh, causing the whole room to erupt in comments. Ryan narrowed his eyes, "You have something to add, Michael?"

"Um... I don't know... maybe it's a colossal waste of time."

"Did your predictions tell you that?"

Stanley sighed, "You don't have to tell the future to know that." A few of the employees chuckled at his response.

Ryan folded his arms, "Look, I'm gonna be frank. This branch is the only branch that hasn't embraced the website at all." He closed his laptop, the projection light fading out, "If you want anything to progress here, you have to move with the times... meaning that if you have to adapt to the new system, so be it."

"Adapt. React. Re-adapt. Act. You remember that Ryan?"

Ryan rolled his eyes, "Look, I'm trying to keep this company afloat and I can only do that if we all band together."

Kelly rolled her eyes, muttering next to Pam, "He doesn't know anything about banding together." She folded her arms, feeling Ryan's eyes on her. She looked over at him, finding his intense stare slightly uncomfortable.

Pam watched their brief exchange, finding herself missing Jim. During her reverie, she noticed Dwight looking in Michael's general direction, nodding slowly. She felt her throat constrict, having her worst fears confirmed.

Ryan cleared his throat, passing around some bounded catalogs, "I would like the sales team to look these over and study up on some of the facts and look over some of the guidelines in this overview. This is a revised version from the one before, after analyzing the other branches and seeing their weaknesses and strengths."

As he passed out the booklets, the rest of the staff started to filter out, eventually leaving the room down to Dwight, Pam, Kelly and Ryan. Michael left in a huff, walking into his office with a slam of the door.

Dwight walked out the conference room, signaling Pam to follow. He whispered in a hushed tone, "The next phase will start shortly. Meet me at my car in fifteen minutes."

Pam rubbed her arm, "Dwight... um.. I'm not sure -"

"Fifteen minutes." With that, he left the office again. Pam sighed, taking a seat at her desk. She shook her head, seeing the small red light flash with awaiting voice mails. She sighed, taking out her message pad and listening to the first of many messages.

Ryan watched as Kelly walked to the door. He cleared his throat, "How are you?"

Kelly turned at the sound of his voice, "Oh... I'm fine." She folded her arms, "How are you?"

He shrugged, "I've been better." He let a small smile escape, trying to cover it up, "So..."

"So..." She smiled slightly, "How's New York?"

"It's great." He shrugged, "I got a new car."

"That's nice." Kelly inched toward the door, "Well... it was nice catching up. Take care, Ryan." She turned around, walking out the room.

Ryan watched her walk away, finding it hard not to run after her. He stayed however, feeling it was best to let her go. He collected his belongings, wanting to leave for the day, but knowing he had more work to do before he left.

Dwight paced back and forth beside his car, waiting for Pam to arrive. Seeing her walk through the door toward the parking lot, he motioned for her to move quickly. When Pam stood beside him he reached behind him, handing her his keys. "Take these."

Pam looked down at them, "Your keys?"

"Take them. We don't have much time. In approximately three minutes, I need you to start the car."

"Dwight -"

"In three minutes." He proceeded to walk to the side of the building.

"Dwight!"

Dwight spun around, "Quiet you! You want our cover to be blown?"

Pam rolled her eyes, walking around and seating behind the steering wheel. She smirked, dialing up Jim's number. "Hello?"

"Hey, it's me."

"Hey. What's up?"

Pam smirked, "Well... I'm in Dwight's car."

"No way."

"I know." They both chuckled, "But check this out, I think Dwight night try to kidnap Michael."

Jim chuckled, "And so the worm has turned. The kidnapper becomes the kidnapped."

Pam giggled, "I know. It's actually pretty fun."

"I bet." There was a small pause, "Hey... could you take a few pictures of -"

"Already ahead of you. I took about six already."

"I really like you."

Pam blushed, "I like you too." She turned a deep shade of green however when she saw Dwight carrying a large wiggling burlap sack. "Oh my God."

"What?"

"He really did it. He really kidnapped Michael!" She turned the ignition on, shaking slightly.

"What are you doing?"

"Starting the car."

"Nice work, Beesly. You just made yourself an accomplice."

"Cork it, Halpert." Without another thought, she hung up the phone,scooting over as Dwight burst in, gearing the car in reverse. Pam looked as she saw Michael wiggling in his sack, "You really did it."

"Pam? Is that you?"

Dwight nudged the sack, "Quiet back there."

Pam watched on, "Dwight -"

"That is not Michael Scott back there, Pam. Don't listen to him. Just look ahead until we reach the farm."

"The farm? Dwight..."

Dwight drove down the road with a mischievous smirk, "All in due course, Pam. All in due course."

And that's it for now. I wanted to establish some development... seeing as it's been months since I even looked at this story. I have to ending and I should be finished before the season starts again. Thanks for being so patient and rediscovering this story with me!

PLEASE REVIEW!!