Pam woke up when the phone rang. The morning light streamed into the bedroom and covered the carpet, the curtains barely filtering it. It was 8:24 AM.

" … Hello?" Pam said into the phone, rubbing her eyes groggily.

"Hey, Pam. It's Phyllis. Oscar called me last night about the locks. Is everything okay?"

Pam wandered into the living room and spotted the note on the table. Switching the cordless phone to her other ear, she picked the small piece of paper up.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Jim just left, and I heard that Oscar …" She trailed off, re-reading the note.

Jim had gone back to Scranton? She didn't remember him leaving the room. Why had he left so early? And he was skipping the business seminar, too …

"Pam? Are you still there?" Phyllis asked.

"Um, yeah." Pam put down the note and shook her head. "Listen, I have to go get ready, can I talk to you in half an hour?"

After Phyllis had hung up the phone, Pam went to the closet to get changed, but not before folding up the paper with Jim's handwriting on it and slipping it into her suitcase.

Just as she was brushing her hair, there was a knock at the door.

By the time Jim had packed up his things, convinced Michael to let him leave and checked out of the hotel, it was 8:00 AM and he was exhausted. He felt like his heart had dropped into his stomach.

His previous moment with Pam kept running through his head, no matter how he tried shut it out. He had held her, soothed her … and she had mistaken him for Roy. He'd thought that it was impossible for his heart to break any more than it already had after the booze cruise. So much for that little notion.

He had also thought that it was impossible for him to love Pam any more than he already did. But after last night the feeling was even more intense. He trapped that feeling away, though. He forcefully pushed it to the back of his mind. If he were to think about it, actually feel it, it would surely consume him and he would do something that was … careless.

Jim walked to the revolving glass doors in the lobby, fully prepared to leave the hotel and the woman he loved behind. He would go back to Scranton, collect his thoughts, maybe heal a little bit, and go back to work on Monday. Maybe he would cry, too. He felt like he needed a good cry.

The only sound was the crashing of the cold water against the ship. Jim stared out over the lake, sighed, and then looked back at Michael. "You know, to tell you the truth, I used to have a big thing for Pam."

Jim stopped walking and looked at the lobby's dark hardwood floor. The doors to the hotel were right in front of him; all he had to do was walk a few more steps and he was out.

Michael's eyes widened. "Really? You're kidding me. You and Pam?" When Jim nodded, Michael broke into a shocked smile. "Wow. I would have never … put you two together. You really hit it well! God. I usually have a radar for stuff like that." There was a pause. "You know, I made out with Jan …"

That was the last thing Jim wanted to talk about. "Yeah, I know." He said quickly.

Jim's heart started to beat faster. He dropped his suitcase and turned around. He was heading towards the elevators.

"Yep, yep." Michael said. "But … Pam is cute."

Jim pressed the button to go up to the seventh floor. The elevator started to rise.

He smiled sadly. "Yeah. And she's really funny. She's warm, and she's just …" Jim trailed off and shook his head.

The elevator doors opened, and Jim walked out to the hallway and took a left. He noticed that he was walking rather fast.

"Well, if you like her so much, don't give up." Michael said, his brow furrowed, and Jim was awed by his boss' optimism.

He was practically running now. Another left down a hallway, a right … and of course he remembered the room number.

Jim listened to the creaking of the boat for a moment before he said, "She's engaged."

"BFD! Engaged ain't married." Michael snorted, and raised his eyebrows.

Jim knocked on the door and glanced at his watch. 8:32 AM. His heart pounded uncontrollably.

He hadn't thought of it that way. "Huh." He said. Engaged isn't married. Did he still have a chance?

Pam answered the door, and Michael's words rang in Jim's ears.

"Never, ever, ever give up."

Jim stepped forward, wrapped his arms around Pam's waist, leaned in and kissed her.