Hello everyone! Thanks for all the reviews on Chapter 5. We really love the fact that you guys are enjoying this story. :) We hope you'll enjoy Chapter 6 just as much! Happy New Year!
Review Time:
MrsBigTuna - The Rib/Ribeye thing just sort of came out of nowhere. The name Rib totally cracks me up, so having Jim make fun of it was totally necessary. And yeah, Roy is an idiot. And Veronica is definitely a B. We're glad you think it was construed correctly. :)
ARSpunky - We're really glad you came out of hiding to review on our story. One Fine Day is one of my favorites too, so it's been a lot of fun writing out own little version of it. We hope you come back and keep reviewing!
DeanParadise - Thanks! We'll definitely keep writing as long as you guys keep telling us how much you love it!
Jamlover - LoL - I'm glad you felt like you should walk away from family time for us. Haha:) Thank you for saying we're amazing, that was really nice.
EmptyHallway - Thank you, here you go!
gilmoregurl55 - I'm glad you liked the last chapter. We didn't want the characters to be too different from their actual characters on the show, but taking them into a different setting we did have to change it up a bit, so we're glad you think we're doing a good job!
Flonkerton Champ - Happy Holidays to you too! We're glad you were able to let us know what you think, but we both know what it's like to be busy!
Nutmeggedya - Happy New Year! I loved the B thing too. Freakin' hilarious.
Elly10 - I'm pretty sure you can't marry this story. LoL. But, I'll look it up - there might not be a law. Hehe. Kidnapping though, very much illegal. Having no Jam Christmas was really upsetting huh? I wasn't too crazy about it myself. It was sad. I'm glad you keep reading the story over and over again. LoL. You let us know if you find something wrong. :)
xliteratiwhorex - Thanks! We love that Roy's kid is stupid too.
ktface3 - Thanks so much! It did seem right that Jim would only marry Veronica because he got her pregnant. They were not a good fit otherwise. And Roy is definitely scummy, so we're glad we portrayed that correctly.
maddikinz940 - We love you too! Thanks!
kerber1920 - Thanks! I know what it's like having a boss in the way of getting some serious writing done. Haha. Good luck and Happy Holidays to you too!
Jim watched Pam covertly as she dabbed at the slice of pizza in front of her again. She'd take a napkin off the center of the table, fold it in quarters, and then press gently on the top of the greasy pizza. Once she'd dabbed a half-inch section, she'd toss the napkin onto a used plate and then do it all over again. Once she had finished…8 napkins later…she used a fork and a knife and cut the entire slice into half-inch squares. When the pizza was cut, and officially as grease-less as possible, he watched her take the fork, stab a small square of pizza and then stare at it. She had stared at it for just long enough that Jim couldn't take it anymore. "You know," he said, breaking her trance. His mouth was full, but since when do I care what other people think? "You're supposed to eat that." He gestured to the piece of pizza on her fork with his own grease-covered piece.
He watched Pam look back down at the pizza and then up at him. "I know," she said indignantly. "I'm just trying to decide if I really should eat it. It's definitely not good for me."
Jim bit into his pizza again and contemplated what she'd just said. Pam had finally put the first bite in her mouth when Jim looked at her and smiled. "Tell me, why exactly is eating pizza bad for you?"
Pam stared at him as she chewed her food. I hope she's not actually chewing each piece 25 times. "It will go straight to my hips," she said. "Grease, cheese, carbs…all of it goes straight to my hips. I can't have that." She looked exasperated and it was starting to stress Jim out. He wasn't a fan of being stressed.
"But why can't you have that?"
"What do you mean?"
"Why can't you have it 'go straight to your hips'?" Jim took another bite of his pizza and swallowed it, almost not even chewing it. He choked a little, but recovered. See, you don't have to chew your food 25 times for it to go down the hatch.
Pam rolled her eyes and carefully picked out another small square of pizza. "Because Jim. I don't want to gain a bunch of weight and be unhealthy."
Jim's mouth was full again, but he asked, "Do you eat pizza a lot?"
Pam made a face of disgust. "No," she said. "I only allow Kade to have pizza on special occasions…and I try not to have it at all at those times."
"What do you eat?"
"Oh, I usually have a salad or something of that nature."
Jim didn't like that answer. "Don't you like pizza?" He asked the question in a way that sounded like every person in the world should like pizza.
"Well, yes," Pam answered. "Of course I like pizza. I just…"
Jim interrupted her. "So then why wouldn't you allow yourself to just eat the pizza when you want it?"
"Well, I…"
I mean, you look like you're a woman that takes care of herself. You probably work out religiously. You look great."
"I…thank…"
"Why not allow yourself the indulgence of a slice of pizza once in a while? It's only natural."
Pam put up her hand to stop him. "Excuse me!" she said a little loudly. Jim finally stopped his rant and Pam smiled before stabbing three squares of pizza and putting them into her mouth all at once. With her mouth full she said, "Happy now?"
Jim grinned, bit off a large bite of his pizza and said with a full mouth, "Yes. We just need to work on you eating it with your hands now."
Pam swallowed her piece and said, "That will most likely never happen. But, thank you for the compliment about how I look." Jim watched her face redden slightly. "It's been a long time since anyone has even noticed that."
Jim smiled. "Nah," he said. "People notice. They just aren't as vocal as I am." Pam laughed and he laughed along with her. Jim swallowed the rest of his piece of pizza, and as he was reaching for another he asked, "So, that ex of yours? He didn't really appreciate you huh?"
Pam looked taken aback at his forwardness, and Jim felt he needed to apologize. As he opened his mouth to, she said gently, a small quiver in her voice, "No." Jim watched the tears well into her eyes and she brushed them away with the back of her hand. My God, you're an idiot, Halpert. You shouldn't have brought it up. "Sometimes I don't think he ever even loved me."
"I hate to ask," he said gently. "But, how'd you meet? What's your story?"
Pam sighed, took another bite of pizza, and after swallowing said, "Roy and I met at a high school graduation party. We were the only two sober people there, and we just hit it off. He seemed to get me, you know? Too bad I didn't realize that was like the only day he'd been sober in the last 5 years…or the next 10." Pam sighed. "Anyway, we were inseparable all the way through college." Pam stopped and tilted her head. "Well, college for me, junior college for Roy." Jim nodded at Pam's clarification and let her go on. "We always spent time together after my classes were done. But, then as time went on he would spend more nights 'out with the guys,' than home with me. I was okay with it though. I had a lot of studying to do and he would just distract me." Jim nodded again. "Once he had finished his two years, instead of getting his bachelor's in anything, he decided to take over his dad's hot dog stand." Jim choked on his pizza and Pam giggled. "Yeah, I know. It's over on 7th."
Jim looked excited. "Yes! I knew he looked familiar!" he exclaimed. "I've been to his cart before." Pam was laughing hard. "Every time I ask him for a dog with mustard and every time he asks, 'Mayo? Mustard? Or Relish?'"
Pam laughed harder and snorted slightly, causing Jim to break into hysterics. Once they finally finished laughing, Pam took a sip of her water and continued her story. "So anyway, we got married just before I graduated. I thought I had finally found my niche in the world, you know? I had a career, a husband, everything a girl could want." Pam bit her lip, and Jim looked down at the table, hoping it would let her feel like she could go on. "Then he started going out more and more. He was spending less time at home and more time with his friends. He'd come home reeking of beer and cigarette smoke, and occasionally some cheap perfume." Jim felt his blood boiling, but he tried to remain calm. "I tried everything. I suggested couples therapy even." Her voice had taken on a feeling of earnest and Jim wanted to reach out and hold her. "He just didn't want anything to do with it. He said we were fine. I knew we weren't though. So, I suggested a baby." Pam's eyes drifted away from the table and over to where Kade was playing in the ball pit with Charlotte. Jim watched her face and saw it soften as Kade screamed out, a smile on his face, and chased after Charlotte. She looked back at Jim. "I thought it would fix everything. But, it didn't. It was just like trying to put a finger bandage on a scraped knee." She stopped for a little while, staring at the straw in her cup and Jim realized she couldn't go on anymore.
He reached out his hand and placed it on top of hers gently. He felt her stiffen, but she didn't pull away. "I'm really sorry, Pam," he said.
Pam looked up at him, her eyes shiny with tears and she smiled. "Yeah, so am I." They looked at each other for a long time, holding the moment in suspended air. Jim felt some connection with her that he had never, in his life, felt with another woman before. Knock it off, Halpert. Women are trouble.
He was staring at her intently, when all of a sudden her eyes went wide with something he couldn't quite place—fear?—and she shook her head, breaking the gaze as she coughed lightly. "So, um, what do you have going on for the rest of the day?" she asked him, and he smiled. "I'm sorry; it was so insensitive of me not to ask earlier."
He waved her off, "Don't worry about it; you were stressed. I understand." She smiled and looked away for a moment, before returning back to meet his gaze. She raised her eyebrows, giving him a quizzical look. He laughed. "Oh right, my day!"
She laughed, "Uh, yeah, your day. Spill it, Halpert."
"Well, I'll have you know that my day is nowhere near as interesting as yours has turned out to be," she laughed, and he continued. "I own a restaurant, I'm not sure if I told you that."
"I overheard it in the car, I think, but you didn't tell me. Which one?"
"It's called Café Cabernet. It's one of those Olive Garden types, where you get 'free breadsticks' but we really add the price of the breadsticks in with the rest of the meal." She laughed; her eyes wide with recognition.
"You own Café Cabernet?" Her face lit up. "Wow." He stared at her for a moment, before she chuckled. "I'm eating dinner there tonight, so I really hope you don't charge me for my free breadsticks."
Jim brought his hands to his face, pretending to be distraught. "Oh no, I let out my secret!" She giggled and he looked up at her, noticing how her nose scrunched when she laughed. He smiled, "What are you doing there tonight?"
"I have a dinner meeting to hopefully close the deal," she said, her eyes lighting up as she made a showcase of her crossed fingers.
"Well, I'll see what I can do to help you out," he said, smiling. She smiled back at him.
"We actually have a really big dinner party tonight," he said, and she looked up at him, interested. Why is she so interested in this stuff? "This guy, uh, Swanson. He owns all of these fancy-schmancy hotels around America." He snapped his fingers and looked at her with a smile. "I bet you might have heard of them; Holiday Inns?"
She nodded, rolling her eyes. "Of course I've heard of the Holiday Inn."
He nodded, "Of course you have. Well, Swanson is apparently fed up with Denny's," she giggled, and he gave her a look, telling her this was serious business. Her eyes went wide, and her face sobered up for a moment before he rolled his eyes and laughed. "Anyway, he wants to drive out Denny's by putting a restaurant chain in each of his hotels. And he's looking around New York for the best ones," he waved his hand, taking a sip of his drink.
"And he's looking at yours?"
"Yeah, tonight they're having dinner there, and I have a meeting with him at 1:15 to go over the finances and things. I haven't looked at any of the information or anything, but I'm pretty confident."
Her face registered shock. "Confident? What if he asks you about quarterly numbers, or opportunity costs, or-or-or relational culture or something?"
"What's that?" Jim asked, taking a bite of the crust on his plate.
She stared at him for a moment before shaking her head lightly, smiling. They sat in silence for a moment, him watching her, she watching the kids playing in the ball pit. "What are you going to do with Charlotte?" She asked.
He shrugged. "I don't know, I'll figure it out."
"Jim, it is noon. You only have an hour."
"An hour is 60 minutes. That's a whole lot of minutes," he said, and she studied him for a minute before rolling her eyes.
He rested his hand back down on the table, touching her fingers just enough to let her know he was there, but not enough for her to cause a scene. She didn't flinch or pull away, she just sat there, looking past him as Charlotte and Kade threw balls at each other in the ball pit.
"They're so cute," she said, smiling. "Charlotte's really gorgeous, Jim."
He smiled, watching them. "She is." Pam wrinkled her forehead for a minute and looked at him, and he looked back, laughing a bit. "I mean, thank you. That's um, yeah. Kade is a handsome chap, I do say," he added in an English voice.
She laughed, opening her mouth to say something, when all of a sudden his phone rang.
He realized he was still holding her hand and he pulled back quickly. Pam stopped staring at him, her face turning slightly red and she rapidly started gathering the trash on the table. "Excuse me," he said and then reached for his phone. "Hello?" he said answering it.
"Jim, we have a problem." Jim recognized the sound of his manager, Ted's, voice. "I know you've got a problem with Charlotte today buddy, but this can't wait. You need to come in."
"What's wrong?" Jim asked, and he saw Pam look over at him. "This should be simple Teddy."
"Well it's not," Ted said. "We're short on staff today because Albert and Fredrick called in; something about a 24-hour bug going around." Jim groaned. "And with all that, plus the lack of delivery of beef, we have our hands full."
"I thought I told you earlier to get to the market and get some beef?" Jim asked, exasperated. He saw Pam look up at him and giggle slightly. He shrugged his shoulders and smiled at her.
"I know that's what you said," Ted answered. "The problem there is that we need a lot of beef. I mean a lot Jim. We have a restaurant that needs beef and not just any market is going to have enough beef to supply us for a day. You understand?"
Jim noticed the hysterical sound of Ted's voice and sighed. "Alright," Jim said, glancing at his watch. It was 12:00 on the dot. "Give me 30 minutes to figure something out and I'll be there." Jim slammed his phone shut before Ted could go on and cursed softly to himself. He was rubbing the back of his neck, trying to think of what he could do with Charlotte when she came bounding over to him.
"Daddy, Daddy! Come play in the ball pit with us!" She grabbed his hand and tried to pull him along.
He didn't budge. "Princess, honey, I'm sorry baby. But we need to find out if Grandma can meet us at the restaurant and take you today. I have to get to work."
He watched her face fall and his heart broke. "But Daddy, I thought we were going to play together today? I don't want to leave Kade either."
"I know you don't sweetie," he said kissing her gently on the forehead. "But Daddy has a really important meeting this afternoon. I really need to work." Her lip stuck out slightly and her head dropped. He stuck a finger under her chin and lifted it. "Hey now, we have all week, you know that."
"I know, but I have school the rest of the week." She was pouting and Jim didn't know what to do. I don't do well with the pouting. I always give in. God give me strength.
God didn't have to give him strength, "You know what, Jim?" He looked up to see Pam holding Kade in her arms, smiling down at him. "Why don't we try something?"
He picked up Charlotte, repositioning her in his lap and kissed the top of her head. "What's that?"
"Well, you know I have a huge meeting at the restaurant tonight anyways," she said, sitting down opposite him at the table. "Until then, though, Kade and I were just going to go to the park or play or you know, do whatever comes to mind. Why don't I take Charlotte off your hands until the meeting?"
"Oh, I couldn't ask you to do that," Jim said, ignoring the protests of Charlotte and Kade as they begged him to do so.
"You're not asking; I'm offering," she said, thoughtfully. "I won't let you say no. Though, if it makes you feel better, you can help me out too."
"How's that?" Jim asked, skeptically.
"Well, you could take Kade during my meeting tonight. I think I heard you say earlier you don't actually have to be at the restaurant for the dinner party. Mine shouldn't last more than an hour or two."
Jim brought his finger to his chin, pretending to think it over. He leaned in, real close and cocked an eyebrow. "And I can trust you with my child?"
She looked insulted for a moment, pulling her head back to stare at him, her mouth opening to defend herself before he smiled, winking at her. She laughed lightly. Of course he was kidding. She rationalized. Any father would trust me with his children.
"Sounds like a plan, Stan," he said, grabbing his jacket and tapping Charlotte's butt as she hopped off his lap.
"The name's Pam," Pam replied, grinning as he kissed Charlotte on the forehead.
He snapped his fingers, walking toward the door. "And all of this time I thought it was Martha." She giggled, both of the kids looking at her funny.
He was halfway out the door when she thought to call out, "Wait, Jim! Is there anything I need to know about Charlotte?"
He turned around, walking backwards, his hands in the air. "Her name's Charlotte! That's all I got!" She rolled her eyes, taking the kids hands, and leading them over to the ball pit.
Okay, so go review now. We really like to know what you guys think of the story, or if you have suggestions, so please remember to review. This is a fan fiction, meaning it's for the FANS! So your voice will be heard:) Plus, we don't want to continue to update a story no one wants to read. LoL. Thanks y'all! And have a Happy New Year!