TITLE: Grief To Grace
CHAPTER 5

Jan, having spent most of the day flipping through witless talk shows and boring infomercials, had finally fallen asleep on the couch sometime after one o'clock, and was roused from sleep just a few hours later by a pair of lips on her cheek.

She stirred and turned on her side, feeling a warm hand on the curve of her hip as she moved. "Wake up," his whisper commanded.

Jan's eyes opened accordingly, to see Michael holding a fistful of daisies out to her. A fistful of daisies with roots and clumps of dirt still attached to them. She slowly sat up. "Michael?"

"It's so amazing to come home to you," he replied sincerely, voice filled with awe as his eyes traced her face.

Though Jan's heart gave a flutter at the words, her eyes were still fixated on the flowers. "Where... did you get those, Michael?"

"Oh." As if just noticing the flowers he was clutching, Michael glanced down at his hand and gave a facial shrug. "They're my neighbor's. I borrowed them."

"You borrowed them." Jan's eyebrows climbed her forehead slowly, still eyeing the daisies.

"Yeah. You know, just... for awhile. And, um, technically he doesn't really know that I borrowed them, and - and really he won't know if I can run back over there later and bury these things again before he has time to notice."

Jan couldn't help but chuckle, shaking her head at him. So unfailingly Michael, he was. She had to lean up and kiss him, a reward for his efforts. "They're lovely, Michael. Thank you. But... maybe you should just put those back where you found them."

Michael sighed heavily. "Great. Now I have to dig another hole."

Jan let that one go for the time-being. "...So how was work?"

"Oh, it was alright," Michael sighed again, this one world-weary. "Except you weren't there. And I kinda... couldn't stop thinking about you, and... have you still not gotten dressed from this morning?"

Jan glanced down at her attire, back in his button-down shirt because she (not that she'd ever admit this to him) liked the way it smelled too much. "I guess not."

His hand found her knee, and his fingers began tickling their way up the inside of her thigh while he crooked an eyebrow devilishly. "Does that mean you're still not wearing any underwear?"

Jan swatted his hand away before it could reach its intended target. "Michael."

"What?" His grin was contagious. "It's not like the cameras are here." His hand tried again...

Jan swatted him away again, but was unable to keep the laugh from escaping. "Michael! Stop it."

"Ooh, that's not what you were saying lastnight."

She rolled her eyes. "You are unbelievable."

His grin nearly split his face. "Now that's more like it."

Jan shoved him off the couch and onto the floor.

"Aw come on, Jan! If I can't talk dirty to you in my own home, then what hope is there for me?"

"None," she chuckled as she rose to her feet and started to head into the kitchen.

Michael, still on the floor, grabbed her ankle to stop her. "You realize I could very easily look up that shirt right now, Jan? But I am a gentleman."

"That's just how I like you, Michael, so stay that way," she teased, and wriggled her foot from his grasp.

Predictably, he got up and trotted into the kitchen after her. "So what are we doing tonight? More of the same?"

"I need to go home eventually, Michael."

"You really don't."

She pulled open the refrigerator with the ease of someone who'd lived there for years, and began to peruse Michael's dinner options. "I do. I just have my clothes from yesterday with me."

He leaned close and planted a kiss in the hollow of her shoulder while he wrapped his arms around her from behind, murmuring, "Who said you needed clothes?" into her ear.

Jan couldn't help but smile. "Michael..."

"No, I'm serious. I think you should just be a nudist while you're here, Jan. All naked, all the time." He nodded resolutely. "Yep. I think I could support that."

Jan spun in his arms and let herself drape her arms around his neck. "Oh really?"

"Really." He kissed her lips briefly. "Whaddya say?"

"I say... I need to go home, Michael."

He let out what sounded strangely like a whimper. "But Jan..."

"Are you whining, Michael?"

"Yes!"

"Why?"

"Because! I..." He followed her as she headed toward the bedroom and watched helplessly as she gathered her clothes. "Jan, I don't want you to go."

Jan set her clothes down slowly and turned to face him, taking in the stricken look on his features. "Michael..."

"I'm sorry. I just..." He stepped up to her and reached for her hand, looking down to watch their fingers entwine. "I just have never had this before." He looked up at her and those green-gold eyes did a number on Jan's heart. "I've never had someone to come home to, and I've never thought about someone as frequently as I think about you."

Jan watched him struggle with his emotions as he admitted, "I've never been this happy before, Jan, and... if you go, then... then so does the happiness."

She closed her eyes against the look on his face, against the sound of his voice, against her own emotions threatening to engulf her. She felt his hands touch her waist and she wrapped her arms around his neck automatically, hugging him tight and wishing for a moment that what was between them -- whatever it was -- could just be simple, could work out.

Jan sighed then, defeatedly. She should have known Michael Scott would wear her down eventually. "One more night," she told herself moreso than him. "And then I have to go."

TBC