A/N: This story is going to have a lot of flashbacks of Kelly and Ryan's relationship. Just to warn you. Thank you for the reviews. This is my first fanfic so I am excited when people seem to enjoy it.


Chapter Two – Head On Collision

Sitting at her desk at work the next morning, listening to Dwight from the other side of the partition as he complained to Toby about another prank Jim had pulled on him, Kelly stared at the collection of pictures she had gathered around her computer. There was one of her sister, who had died two years ago, and then there was a full family picture with her parents and all of her sisters. There was also one of herself, Jim and Pam from some random night when they had all gone to Poor Richard's after work. The remaining ones were of her and Ryan.

She really needed to get rid of those. It was bad for her karma keeping all of those around her. But she couldn't bring herself to. She just couldn't. Even though Ryan looked less than happy in most of them. He had never wanted his picture taken and now that they were broken up, Kelly was able to look, really look, at each picture. She looked happy and bright in every single shot while Ryan looked as if he wanted to shoot himself.

Seeing him yesterday had been hard for her. She had lied to Pam and Jim, telling him that she was fine and that she was getting over it. Fact of the matter was she was no where near close to getting over it. It had only been two months. How was she expected to just get over it? She was in love with him. She had dreamt about marrying him and having babies with him and being with him forever. She couldn't just get over it. She was still in love with him. Except for that stupid beard he had grown, which if they were still going out, she would demand he shave off, he was still as handsome as ever. They still would make such a cute couple.

She was proud of him. Seeing him up there, wearing his suit with that stupid Blackberry of his and ordering Michael around, she had been proud of him. He had done it. He had wanted to get out of Scranton, to climb that ladder and he had done it. He was successful. That was what he had always wanted. He wanted to make something of himself and then one day, he wanted to own his own business. And she had always supported him. She would always help him study for his tests for business class and she always knew that he was going to be a success.

"Okay," Kelly said, sitting down on the couch next to Ryan in his apartment, holding a stack of index cards with a bright smile. "During my lunch break today, I made these flash cards for your big test tomorrow."

Ryan looked up from the text book he was reading and saw the hot pink index cards she was holding. He didn't remember telling her that he had a test and he didn't know how she knew what was even going to be covered. "Uh…"

"Great!" She exclaimed. "First question. Fill in the blanks with the missing words. Okay?" She asked and Ryan stared at her before down at the card poised in front of her. He found himself nodding before he could stop himself. "Blank offer intangible goods or services…"

He stared at her for a moment before shifting on the couch and facing her more. She leaned forward towards him slightly, waiting for his answer. "Service businesses."

"Yes!" She shrieked then leaned forward and pecked him quickly on the lips. "And typically generate a profit by charging for…"

"Labor," he fired off quickly and Kelly pecked him again.

"Or other services provided to government, other businesses or…"

"Consumers."

Kelly smiled, almost laughing, before throwing her arms around his neck and kissing him enthusiastically. "Brilliant. You are so going to pass this test tomorrow, Ryan."

Ryan stared at her for a moment and found himself almost smiling. He may not have liked her and she may have driven him up the wall ninety-nine percent of the time but it was nice to have someone who believed in him.

"Next card," she said, pulling back and flipping through the stack. "You ready?"

This time, Ryan nodded his head willingly.

"Alright. What is this term? Blank determines the business' needs and plans for acquiring the necessary raw materials and-"

"Strategic sourcing," Ryan interrupted, getting into her excitement building.

"Yea, Ryan!" Kelly clapped her hands and then kissed him fully on the mouth. When she pulled away, Ryan was almost smiling again.

Pam jumped slightly in her seat when Kelly came to the reception desk and slapped her hands down. She clicked out of the game of Solitaire she had been playing and looked at Kelly, giving her undivided attention to the petite Indian girl in front of her.

"Shred these please," Kelly said, extending a stack of photographs out to her.

Pam hesitated for a moment and then took the stack, flipping through them quickly. All of them were of Kelly and Ryan and Pam recognized them as the photos that had decorated her desk. Pam opened her mouth to say something but one photo stuck out to her and she paused, staring at the photo before back up at Kelly.

"No problem," Pam said and Kelly smiled before turning and heading back towards her desk.

Pam went back to looking through the pictures. When he had been a temp, she had never had a problem with Ryan. It was only when he was hired fulltime and he and Kelly had been dating for a while did Pam start to not like him. Pam sat behind her desk all day and she saw a lot of what happened in the office. She had seen the way Ryan would treat Kelly sometimes and then the manner in which he had ended their relationship… Pam did not like Ryan. And looking through the photos, she could see just how much Kelly had invested herself into the relationship while Ryan clearly was just using her to pass the time.

But this photo, Pam looked at it the longest before she tucked the entire stack into her desk drawer and went back to her game of Solitaire.


Pam is sitting in the break room, staring into the camera.

"I didn't shred the pictures. I know Kelly and she'll want them back. Probably within the next half hour. Last month, we were cleaning out her apartment of "Ryan mojo" and she didn't throw anything out. She cried over one of his socks for almost three hours." She pauses. "I know she'll want the pictures back."


Ryan didn't really have plans for the weekend. He always had things he could do – go to a bar or to a club with his friends, drink, meet women – but they were never any definitive plans. It was almost five o'clock and though most people at corporate cut out a little early on Friday afternoons, Ryan was still there, sitting in his office, staring blankly at excel spread sheets. He couldn't seem to concentrate.

Seeing Kelly again had felt almost surreal to him. After two months, it had felt as if he had never left and he had almost been waiting for Kelly to squeal his name and throw herself into his arms, planting kisses everywhere on his face. But that hadn't happened. Instead, she had tried to put as much distance between them as possible.

Funny how that used to be what he was always trying to do but now, all he wanted was for her to be close enough to him as to where he could touch her or just talk to her without her bolting away. He didn't know what he should say to her but he knew he had to say something. He knew he had things to say to her. A lot of things.

Minimizing the excel screen, Ryan clicked on his list of contacts in the company's inner messaging system. Under 'Scranton', he had everyone listed except Creed, who never seemed to have registered for instant messaging. Usually, Michael messaged him at least fifteen times a day and Ryan had started blocking him. But it was quitting time at Scranton too and Ryan saw that everyone had left work except Dwight, Angela and… Kelly.

He glanced at the camera from the corner of his eye before clicking his mouse at her name, opening up a new conversation box. He poised his fingers over the keyboard but, once again, he wasn't sure what to say.

He took a deep sigh.

R. Howard: Hey. What are you still doing there?

She didn't respond right away and Ryan figured that she was probably going to ignore him. He should have expected that. It stung a little though. He now understood how she felt every time she had ever messaged him and he simply ignored it.

K. Kapoor: I was just leaving. I have dinner at my parents' house every Friday.

Oh, right. He knew that. He used to come up with an excuse every Friday to get out of it. He knew Mr. and Mrs. Kapoor hated him and he didn't feel like sitting through that but he also didn't want to give Kelly the wrong idea. Eating a family dinner with her despite her asking him every week would just give her the impression that they were in a serious relationship.

Ryan sighed. He was such an asshole. They had dated for year and they hadn't been with anyone else in that time. Of course it had been a serious relationship.

K. Kapoor: What are you still doing there?

Pleased that she had furthered the conversation along and that she hadn't just ignored him, Ryan sat up in his chair, leaning closer towards the computer screen as he typed, wondering if he was responding too quickly. He didn't really care though if he was, he realized.

R. Howard: I'm just finishing up some last minute things.

His fingers paused over the keyboard, not sure if he should venture into the only topic of conversation his brain seemed capable of thinking about lately.

R. Howard: How are you?

K. Kapoor: I have to go.

R. Howard: Wait.

And she did. She waited. She didn't sign off immediately like she wanted to do and Ryan sighed in relief.

Okay. Now all he had to do was keep up a conversation that would keep her around. It felt odd to be the one who wanted to talk. For a year, he had tried to think of new ways to shut Kelly up when she was babbling, which was always, but now, he was the one who wanted to talk and she was the one trying to get away. Well, he wasn't going to let her get away. From this conversation, he meant. Not in any other way. He just didn't want her to get away from talking with him right now.

R. Howard: I'll be back in Scranton on Monday.

K. Kapoor: I know. Michael sends out office memos. He likes to be prepared for you.

Ryan couldn't help but smirk at that. He tried to steer the conversation away from Michael though. His former boss was never one of his favorite topics of discussion. And besides, Kelly was finally talking to him. This was something he had to take advantage of.

R. Howard: I was wondering if you wanted to go out for lunch that afternoon or

K. Kapoor: I don't think so, Ryan. But thank you.

K. Kapoor has signed off.

And Ryan was left staring at the screen, his fingers still in the middle of typing what he was planning on saying to her. The cursor blinked in the small white messaging box, nearly mocking him, and his fingers refused to leave the keyboard.

He sighed heavily. Maybe he would ask her again Monday. Or maybe he wouldn't. She obviously wanted nothing to do with him and seemed to be moving on just fine. Except for the crying underneath her desk. He kind of wished he hadn't heard Dwight say that. He didn't like the fact that he hurt her. No matter how he had acted in the past, he had always felt a twinge of guilt whenever he hurt her feelings. He knew he had hurt her a lot when they were dating but his general aloofness to their entire relationship had always won out over apologizing or making some grand romantic gesture like Kelly had always wanted him to do.

But now… now, he allowed himself to feel that guilt and didn't tell himself that he wasn't in the wrong because he knew he was.

You and I are done.

Five words that could make him cringe. He had really said that to her. After a year and endless declarations of love from her to him and that was how he ended it. And now he missed her and wanted to talk to her and she wanted nothing to do with him.

He sighed heavily, loosening his black striped tie and leaning back in his seat, linking his fingers behind his head and looking up at the ceiling.

Karma was a bitch.