Disclaimer: Don't own the show, characters, lyrics or anything, sadly.

Authors Note: You'll have to excuse me if I get a little to into describing how people look, namely Kelly. I'm a fashionista. It's in my blood.

And if you notice some things in the next two chapters and you're like "Hey, that's sort of ripped off from Jane Eyre, or Pride & Prejudice", then you're probably right and good eye. Can't help it, I love those books. Want to read a romance that'll get you weak in the knees? I beg you, get your hands on Jane Eyre.

Warning It gets melodramatic here folks. But hey, I got it categorized under angst, so you were warned! XD

Chapter 7

A no smoking sign, on your cigarette break.

// Individual shot Jim//

"I'm in knickers. Yeah. The things we men do for cute girls, huh? I feel like Mr. Darcy. No. I've never watched that movie. Okay, maybe once but only because it was all that was on HBO that day, and I used to have a thing for Keira Knightley. Anyway, we rode over here in Phyllis's limo. It was me and Pam, Bob and Phyllis, Meredith and this rough looking guy called Apache, and Creed. I don't know if Creed was invited to ride, or if he even knew we were going to Prom, but he was there. And he smelled like squash."

The warehouse of Dunder-Mifflin Inc. had been transformed. The professional decorators that the committee had opted to get had really did magic. Like every good Prom, this one had a theme. 'Winter Wonderland.' In August.

That was Michael's choice of course. It was the theme of his senior Prom. The one that he was forced to miss because of 'a family crisis'. Which most figured could have been summed up by the fact that his Mom had to work late, and couldn't make it.

As tacky as it sounded, the company had actually done a really good job. Lattices, white lights, snowy columns, and a dance floor that looked like ice. It truly no longer even looked like a warehouse. The warehouse wasn't the only thing that looked beautiful.

The women had all gone all out. The dresses were exquisite, the hair-dos over the top, with radiant smiles to match. Meredith look ritzy in red. Angela looked sophisticated in salmon. Phyllis was a paramour in plum. Pam was beautiful in blue, but to Jim, that was an everyday thing.

Even the males looked twice as dashing as usual. Michael had gone all out with a dapper tuxedo, complete with a classic black bowtie and red rose in his lapel. Dwight had taken the old suit to be dry cleaned, and it only looked a couple decades old now. Jim, as per discussion, was decked out in 18th century, poetic looking garb, puffy collar and all. Creed and Stanley were both wearing their normal office garb, but Stanley had pinned on a small flower to match his wife's dress.

Kevin had wanted his band to play, and even thought he committee had agreed upon letting them play a short set (since no prom was complete without a ridiculous band), a DJ would also be there. Thank goodness, Pam had convinced Michael that he would enjoy the Prom much more as a guest than as the DJ.

Darryl's cousin Desmond was the chosen DJ, and was very good.

H'deourves were being served, pictures being taken, the punch was already spiked (much to Meredith's delight, and Angela's disgust), and some light dancing had already started. Angela looked livid at that fact an already sloshed Meredith insisted that Dwight owed her a dance.

Ryan walked nervously around the room, talking to anyone who would talk to him. The only ones who didn't really care enough about the Kelly situation (or else didn't know about it) to talk to him were Darryl the warehouse foreman, and Madge, another warehouse worker. Stanley probably didn't care either, but after the whole text message situation with his daughter a while back, he had never had any use for Ryan.

"Oh. Looks like the big boss man came stag, huh?" Michael smiled, and made sure to be loud, and pull Jan tighter as he said so. Her fashionable baby-doll style crimson gown was very becoming, though it didn't help retract the crimson blush on her cheek at being face to face with her replacement. She gave a curt nod, and convinced Michael to go get some punch ("Look, Blue Blast, you're favorite.")

Ryan stuck his hands in his pockets, and was just about to go wait in the parking lot like he had planned, but that's when he saw her.

The women all looked beautiful, but in his opinion, every single on of them paled in comparison to how Kelly looked when she walked to the railing at the top of the steps. Her petite frame was hugged by a pure white chiffon style gown, which cascaded outward a bit after it hit the waist. Her smooth dark skin contrasted so well with the strapless dress, and the light sprinkling of rhinestones on the bodice, as well at the teardrop necklace that hang low on her neck, caught the light perfectly.

Kelly's conversation with Angela had caused her to rethink her hair-do. In the end, she had taken two rhinestoned combs and situated her dark hair up just slightly off her shoulders, and left one piece lightly curled near her eyes.

He saw right then and there why she was so anxious to get married. Kelly looked amazing in white. He would have given anything to be waiting at the bottom of those stairs to take her gloved hand in his, and have her smile the way she once had smiled at him. He just had to keep telling himself that by the end of this night, he will tell her the truth, and despite what Michael, or Toby, or anyone else thought, she would be his again. Seeing his opportunity, he ducked out into the parking lot when Toby joins her in walking down the steps. All he has to do now is wait.

The Prom is now in full swing. More and more guests enter by the minute. It's looking really good for the chosen charity.

Toby and Kelly sit with Jim and Pam taking break from dancing. It is time for Kevin's band to have his set, and nobody can find enough rhythm in it to dance. Except for Michael who is doing an awkward Macarena style number with Jan just shaking her head nearby.

"You two look totally adorable" Kelly smiles at Jim and Pam "Just like Pride and Prejudice."

Pam is surprised that Kelly has heard of it. She always considered Kelly to be more one for cheesy romance movies, such as She's All That, and Drive Me Crazy. Not that she knew anything about either of those movies.

"Thank you Kelly. It's one of my favorite books." Pam grins at Jim, "And Jim here was nice enough to sacrifice himself on the alter of dignity to make one of my silly dreams come true." Jim makes a face, but kisses Pam twice on the forehead.

"It's a book to?" Kelly asks puzzled, but doesn't get offended to bad when the remaining three laugh at her light heartedly.

Pam and Jim continued to poke and prod each other playfully, and then more romantically as the time progresses, and finally Jim suggests they dance now that Desmond has taken back over and they are playing a nice slow song. Kelly watches wistfully as the pair can't seem to get close enough. They truly look like the two most in love people Kelly had ever seen. It must be nice, to actually be in a two-sided relationship, where neither one of you could get enough of the other.

The look on Pam's face reminds her of how she used to look at Ryan. So much affection, that only that full eyed adoring, smoldering, can't-take-your-eyes-of-for-even-a-minute-because-you're-going-to-miss-one-blink kind of look can give a clue to how you feel, words are never enough. Jim's look is a foreign one to her though. It is one just as touching, and emotionally awed, and attached as Pam's. One she never got in return. One she would have killed to get, or even to have gotten one tenth of that attention from Ryan.

To Jim Halpert, no other woman in that room existed except for Pam. Kelly felt a single hot tear run down her cheek, but quickly smoothed it away with silky gloved fingers. Toby looked uncomfortable. He knew what she was thinking, and wondered if he should just do the right thing and tell her about Ryan, who was probably waiting for her right at this moment. Before he could say so though, she seemed to be getting over it. She flashed a friendly smile at him.

"The two of them look great, huh?"

"Yeah. They're a perfect fit. It was inevitable." He agrees, missing his own wife a bit. "Hey, you want to get back out there? This is a pretty song."

"Uhm, not just yet. I like watching those two, if you don't mind. They're just so cute" Kelly sighed, and Toby felt a bit awkward again "Do you have your camera? I bet Pam would love it if I snapped a candid shot of the way Jim's holding her right now."

Toby patted his breast pocket for his small digital camera. "I think I left it in the car, I'll go get it."

"No, no. I'm the picture-ho; I'll go get it. You stay here and enjoy the song. After I get this shot real quick, next dance is ours." She grinned well naturedly, and smoothed her dress out before clapping off toward the exit.

It wasn't until she reached the door that Toby remembered what she was going to be walking into. He got to his feet to follow, but felt the truth was going to come out no matter what he did, so it would just be best leave it alone. For now. Kelly was smart; she wouldn't let Ryan work her over again.

He'd paced the pavement at least a hundred times. Pacing was becoming almost like daily exercise for him. If she would just walk out here, just hear him out; he knew he could make her see.

And then, after all that waiting, she was walking toward him. Her head was down of course, and he was pretty sure she hadn't spotted him yet. She was here though, and that meant that she was going to listen.

"You came" Ryan said deeply, as she got close, and saw him for the first time. She looked shocked. She'd seen him upon entering, but just as quick as she had, he'd been gone, and she had been glad. That had made it easier for, a little less painful.

She looked at him strangely, and Ryan couldn't even say what that look contained. It was like she was trying to find what she ever saw in him in the first place, and that killed him.

"You're torturing me. With that look. That look…one I don't recognize. One I think I don't want to know" He said truthfully "But at least you're here." He reached out and stroked her hair and she moved back awkwardly.

"Yeah, I'm here. I'm here with Toby." She said, as if reminding him of something he was completely forgetting.

"I know that. And I know you're probably still mad, but at least you came out here, to me." Ryan said hopefully, rubbing his neck tensely. Jim would be proud. He had taken a leap out of his former comfort zone. A giant leap.

He reached out for her hands, which were limp with confusion in front of her. She pulled them away and continued to step back.

"I came out here to get Toby's camera, out of Toby's car, because I'm here with Toby." Kelly said not sure what to make out of Ryan's actions.

For the first time, all he wanted was to have her close to him, and she was cringing at his touch.

"So you didn't come out here to talk to me? To listen to what I have to say?"

"I didn't even know you were out here, and if I had, I would've never came out here."

"Then you coming out here has nothing to do with my letter" Ryan asked in a disbelieving tone.

"What letter?"

"The one I left on your desk. The one that told you how sorry I was. The one that asked you to meet me here, tonight." He said, moving forward quickly and putting his hand to her face. "The one that told you how much I wanted you."

"Oh Ryan really?" She asked, for a moment feeling like her dreams were coming true. Forgetting all that had transpired. Only hearing what he was saying now, feeling his hand to her cheek.

"Yeah, really." He said, all of sudden feeling this was going to be easier than he thought. With that newly instilled confidence, he kissed her lips hard, and then began trail down her neck.

In her mind, amidst all the dreams being fulfilled, Kelly felt a pang of familiarity. Then it became hauntingly clear how similar this moment was to the moment after they reached Ryan's apartment in New York. Then, she flashed even further back to the moment in the Applebee's parking lot where she had first had a brief reality check, and felt like she didn't mean to Ryan what he meant to her.

"Wait. No." She said, and pried him off with a little struggle. "This isn't happening again, I'm not doing this to myself again." Kelly turned and tried to walk away but Ryan caught her elbow and turned her back to him.

"Kelly, just be still and listen to me, and I know you're going to like what I have to say."

"I always like what you have to say Ryan. I like it enough let you pull my clothes off and get on top of me. I never like myself after the fact though. I feel desperate and used, and that's exactly how I felt walking onto a sidewalk in a city I barely know, penniless, shoeless, and hopeless."

"I said I was sorry" Ryan said

"No you didn't!" Kelly shrieked "You can't just say 'I said I was sorry' all the time. At some point you actually have to say you're sorry."

"I did say I was sorry, I put it in writing, in the letter."

"Here you go with this non-existent letter again. Ryan, please, you don't even care enough about me to tell you're mother you're seeing anyone, after a year. I know your not committing one-ounce of yourself to writing me a letter. That would seem too romantic to even be real to you."

"I did write you a letter. It was on stationary, and everything. It was in a big blue envelope, I left it on your desk Wednesday."

"Gee, I guess I missed this big blue 'letter'" Kelly said, using air quotes to emphasize her disbelief this letter was more than something Ryan was suing to make her think he gave two cares so she would take him back to her place.

"Are you calling me a liar Kelly?" He asked, his eyes narrowing. He was baring his soul, practically (well, for him he was baring it all) and she was basically calling it bull crap. Not the thing a guy who's finally decided to be honest wants to hear.

"I'm calling you more than a liar Ryan Bailey Howard, I'm calling you a user, and a jerk. I'm calling you….a wa-…a big waste of my time" She choked out. "I adored you don't you see that. I gave you everything I had, and you scoffed at it every chance you got, like I was a little kid who had crush on her big brother or something. You looked at me like I was an annoyance that wasn't even worth the time it took to extinguish, so you'd just wait until I got bored enough to go away. I didn't see that then, I didn't want to see it. I was too in love to let it go. My eyes are wide open now though, and I see our relationship for what it was. A one-sided sham." Her voice got more elevated, more passionate, and more forceful with every single word.

Kelly practically collapsed after saying these words, face streaming with hot tears. After struggling to keep her balance in such a state for a moment, she just dropped to the ground, Prom dress and all. Ryan just stood silently. The one thing he'd wanted her to get a clue at and pick up for all those months, she finally got now, at the worst possible moment. The time in which he had finally realized that he needed her.

"Just listen to me long enough for me to say something very important, something that I have to say right now, or I'm gong to lose my nerve." He took a breath "Kelly I-"

"No, stop talking, I don't want to hear anything you have to say" Kelly said clutching her ears and fighting to get up, without his help, as he tried to assist her.

"You are going to hear this!" He said, eyes burning, pulling her up to her feet in front of him. He tried to dry her tears on the cuffs of his dress shirt, but she knocked his hands away, and took care of herself, pulling her gloves off to use as kerchiefs.

She looks a complete mess. Her hair has fallen, and her cheeks are hot with rage and realization. Her mascara is waterproof, but it's obvious that Queen Latifah lied, because she has faint black lines down her face as well. Rubbing them with the gloves jut blots them worse and ruins the gloves. The dress that took her hours to find is covered in dark gravel dust, and ripped and tattered in several places from the rough pavement.

Looking at her, as vulnerable as he's ever seen her, as real as he's ever seen her, he has to say it before he explodes.

"Why…why are you doing this to me Ryan. I'm doing what you wanted for so long, I'm trying to leave you alone." She asks, trying to reduce the volume and shakiness of her voice, but isn't in control of her emotions anymore "Why..?"

He moves toward her, despite the fact she is slowly backing away.

"Because Kelly…" He says, his own voice shaking a little, but he keeps it strong and forceful, so she'll know he's being honest. Completely honest.

"…Because I love you."

She moves toward him, her mouth open trying still to catch her breath, he reaches out for her, feeling as if she is going to fall into him, and before he realizes it's coming, she does it. She slaps him cold, and hard against his jaw. And it hurts. Bad.

Still not even grasping her reaction to the thing he thought she wanted most, Ryan barely realizes she's hoisted her dress up and is jogging back toward the warehouse.

A/N: Phew. Longest one I think. I could have gone a little further, and actually did, but felt it best split chapters here. I edited out a little Dwanglea scene, which will either be refitted in next chapter, or be in the deleted scenes at the very end. Packer will show up next chapter too for some fun, since this one was such a melodramatic one. Hopefully. Tried to give you a little JAM action there naley4eva93, hope it was up to par!