Take me back to the start.

- "The Scientist" by Coldplay

"Right," Michael thought to himself, "I'm going to call her. I'm totally going to call her."

It was funny. Michael had never imagined that the thought of talking to Holly would make him so nervous. But right now, the thought of it was enough to make half of him want to bite his nails. The other half was filled with hope that she would remember him and they would end up together once more. But part of him worried that she would never remember and would always give him that blank, surprised look whenever he called her Hollygram.

He wasn't so sure that he would be able to deal with it if he always going to get that look whenever he talked to her. It was like a knife to his heart.

But maybe, just maybe, she would remember in time. Maybe things would be ok again. And if there was that chance and he didn't make the most of it, he didn't think he would be able to live with himself. This was Holly, after all. Amazing, beautiful, hilarious, perfect Holly.

He would call her after work. Maybe even during his lunch break.

Michael worked at an ice-skating rink. He loved it. After the Scranton Branch had closed, he didn't think would ever find a job he would like near as much as being regional manager of the now defunct midsized paper company, but this particular ice-rink in the Big Apple had proved that thought wrong. He did sales, mostly, convincing potential customers that the rink would be a great place to hold their child's birthday party. Or anyone's birthday party, for that matter. More often than not, Michael found himself skating during his breaks or advising the janitors and maintenance crew on how to do certain things (after all, he always thought to himself, he had been on the verge of playing for the NHL in his younger days).

It was a good job, a good life. He was happy, but he wanted someone to share it all with.

He couldn't help but hope with all of his heart that that person would be Holly.

"Pamalamadingdong."

"Hi Michael."

Over the years, what Michael had always thought as the United Dunder Mifflin Scranton Front had slowly done in their separate directions. He supposed that it was, to a certain extent, to be expected, what with everyone working in different places for once. He had tried to keep in touch with everyone minus Toby for awhile, but he got busy and involved with his post paper selling life and assumed that everyone else had to. Nowadays, he and Dwight kept in touch, and he talked to Jim and Pam somewhat regularly.

"Guess what?" Michael asked, "Hey, I'm not calling at a bad time, am I? Not busy with painting or the kids or anything?"

"No, I'm not too busy at the moment."

"Oh, well good. You will never in a million years guess who I saw the other day."

"Holly?"

"Dang! How'd you know?"

"Just a lucky guess."

"Well…Pam…I've got a problem. An enormous one. Probably the biggest problem I've ever faced."

"What is it?"

"She doesn't remember me. I saw her. She was with David Wallace. And she didn't know who I was."

"Michael, are you sure it was her?"

"Of course I was sure! I know Holly when I see her, Pam. But I talked to David after…after she had no idea who I was. He said it was some terrible, terrible medical thing."

"Michael…that's….I'm so sorry, Michael."

"Thanks."

They were quiet for a bit.

"Hey Pam?"

"Yeah?"

"David said…he said that I should call her. That she wanted to remember and I was the best person to help her do that…but I'm so nervous, which doesn't make any sense, because it's Holly. But I don't know how to start. How do you tell someone who doesn't remember what the two of you had how much you loved her? That you were soul mates, and you wanted to spend the rest of your life with her but the universe screwed you over? And that if you had another chance, you would marry her in a heartbeat? I don't know how to tell her all of that without sounding like a total creeper. And I'm afraid that if I mess this up, I will lose her forever."

"Oh, Michael."

"I just…in all of my wildest dreams, I never imagined that this was how I'd meet Holly again."

"I know. And I think that you can do this again. She's still the same person who fell in love with you all of those years ago. You just need to take is slowly. No declarations of love right away. Just tell her. And show her. Show her who you are, and what the two of you were together. Take it slowly, but don't give up."

He called Holly from his apartment later that evening.

"Hello?" she answered on the second ring. It had been a week since he had seen her and David Wallace, and it was nice to hear her voice again.

"Holly? This is…um…hi, it's Michael. Michael Scott."

"Oh. Um, hi Michael."

"So, um…gosh, this is weird."

"Just a tad. But we've got to start somewhere, right? I want to remember Scranton, and you're probably the best person to help me do that."

"Yeah, we do. So how's it going?"

"Pretty well, considering. How about you?"

"I'm pretty good."

"So," she said, "I was hoping you could tell me about Scranton. Dunder Mifflin Scranton."

"Scranton!" Michael exclaimed, "Yeesh, sure thing. I'm practically the most knowledgeable person about the place. I was regional manager of the branch, you know, which is sort of like being king…wow, I'm really rambling, aren't I? I do when I get nervous."

"It's alright."

"Anyways…Dunder Mifflin Scranton. We were like a paper selling family. Sometimes we had our disagreements, but for the most part we were pretty much a united paper selling team, " Michael suddenly sighed, "I really miss them."

"How many of you were there?" Holly asked.

"Well, in the end, there was me, Dwight, Jim, Stanley, Phyllis, Pam, Andy, Oscar, Angela, Kevin, Meredith, Creed, Kelly, Gabe, Erin, and I suppose Toby, so about fifteen."

"Wow."

"Yeah, we were really something."

"It sounds like it."

"And it was such a great place to work at mostly because of the people. They were my best friends, and pretty much awesome blossom. First there was Dwight – my right hand man and one of the most loyal people I've ever met. Great friend, Dwight, though he's a bit odd. He had these obsessions with Battlestar Gallactica and beats. He still lives with his Cousin Mose on their family's beat farm. Ever since the branch closed, they've had a pretty successful business going on there."

"He sounds like quite the character," Holly smiled from her end of the line.

"Oh yeah, he totally is," Michael laughed, "Anyway, am I talking your ear off? I could tell you about the rest of 'em another time."

"Nah, keep going."

"Ok. Oooh, I'll tell you the story of Jim and Pam. So, Jimbo worked in sales and Pam was our receptionist – well, our first receptionist. That's actually another story. Anyway, Pam was engaged to this guy from the warehouse, Roy. They'd been dating for a million years, easily. But, I could tell all along that she wasn't really happy. Roy was…not a bad guy, but not who I'd describe as the most romantic person, you know?"

"Yeah."

"So this is where it gets interesting – Jim enters the picture. And he and Pam start talking

and totally hit it off. He would go over to reception and they'd get involved in some sort of conversation, every day without fail. I saw it all from my office."

Michael sounded proud.

"This goes on for awhile, and Pam and Roy's wedding is continually approaching. Like, always on the horizon. It gets closer and closer and Jim eventually transfers to the Stamford branch. Also, Pam calls the wedding off."

"So what happened then?" Holly sounded interested.

"Well, Stamford closes and Jim gets transferred back home to Scranton. Only he's dating another women, Karen."

"Oh my."

"Yeah, it was a rough time. But, later in that year, we were having our beach games day. And towards the end of it, we're all sitting around, and Pam totally tells Jim that she called the wedding off because of him. More or less what I'd known the entire time, but love makes you blind and stupid, right?"

Holly giggled.

"Anyway, Jim was interviewing for a corporate job here in the Big Apple. This is a week or so after the whole beach fiasco. And I'm not quite sure how it happened, but he came to his senses and returned to Scranton. He and Karen broke up, and he and Pam eventually lived happily ever after. They've a little girl, Cece, who isn't so little anymore. And since the company closed they've had another kid, Ben. Cute little guy."

"So they did get their happy ending," Holly sounded happy.

"Yeppers, they did indeed. I get to see them pretty often, too, so that's nice," Michael replied. He then glanced at the clock, "Wow! It's getting late…gosh, time goes by quickly.

"Oh wow, it is late," Holly replied, "I should probably go…and I'll talk to you soon?"

He heard the question in her voice and said reassuringly, "Of course! I'll call you tomorrow."

"Great. Talk to you then."

"Bye Holly."

"Bye Michael."

Michael smiled. It had been nice reliving those earlier days of Dunder Mifflin with Holly – those had been to the prologue to their great romance. And he hoped he wasn't getting too ahead of himself, but he couldn't help feel like that their conversation just then had been the beginning of something.