Having been up all night and not had the chance to go back home, I was totally unprepared to do any interviews. Usually I scoff at Dwight's meticulousness when concerning his job but today I was grateful for it. And thankful that he didn't ask too many questions as to why I wasn't ready. Of course, he has always thought I was a slacker and didn't hesitate to remind me of how lazy I was. I grinned and bared it with a witty remark much like I always did and the assignment was accomplished with relative ease.

There wasn't much to report. Even though it was an annual tradition in Scranton, the marathon held little weight in the news world. Dwight and I interviewed a few of the coordinators, a few of the runners, and a couple of audience members. Then after an argument over who would be first in the byline we were on our way.

I thought once back at the office I'd have an easy day. There were no games to cover and all my responsibilities for the day were writing up a few stats, making a few phone calls and writing that marathon article with Dwight. I figured I could get everything done that morning and have the entire afternoon to debate on where I could take Pam out for our date. Unfortunately, things didn't work out so easily.

"Alright, Dwight, let's get this over with," I said as I came into our small, shared office.

Dwight, who had gotten back to the office before I did and already sat comfortably in his chair, tore his gaze away from his computer to stare at me blankly. "No," he responded.

"What?" I asked, irritated already. I had hoped that Dwight would want to finish this up as quickly as I did so he could get back to whatever it was he liked to do in his spare time.

"Have you checked your memos?" he asked grinning.

"I haven't been here since yesterday morning," I responded falling into my own chair and proceeding to turn on my computer.

"Well, then," Dwight said, sounding smug. "Check your memos and you will understand what I am talking about."

I usually never understood what he was talking about. "Why can't you just tell me?" The computer was being extra slow and I drummed my fingers on my desk waiting for it.

"Why don't you tell me where you were last night?" Dwight said.

"No."

Dwight continued. "Fact, you are wearing the same clothes as yesterday and you never wear the same clothes because your clothing cycle repeats every four-point-five days." I looked back at him oddly. "Fact, you were at the festival last night and after Karen came back she declined to inform me as to your whereabouts…"

"Wait, you talked with Karen—"

Dwight kept going. "Fact, you have a black eye. So, I conclude that you either fell down, smacked your eye on a blunt object and passed out all night or you were hunting something big down and got caught."

I smiled, amused. "What would I be hunting down, Dwight?"

He eyed me suspiciously. "Some kind of big story, something to do with the art festival." I could see that he had already decided this was the only possible explanation for where I was last night. "What was it, Jim? Was it important? Did it have to do with…art thieves?"

I leaned in close and looked around. "Do you really want to know?" I asked, playing him as I always did. He nodded. "Tell me what the memo was about first."

Dwight hesitated for a moment. "Ok, fine. We are all required to be at a technology meeting that starts in five minutes." He rolled his eyes. "Like I need to know anything about technology. I have all the knowledge I will ever need on the subject."

"Is the meeting in the main conference room?" I asked, ignoring his rambling about how he could outsmart robots.

"Yes."

"Thank you," I said, getting up and heading to the meeting. So much for the free afternoon, I thought.

"Hey, wait," I heard Dwight call as I left. "You promised to tell…"

Luckily Dwight didn't follow me to the conference room. I was, however, met with plenty of stares from my coworkers upon my arrival. I couldn't figure it out at first but then I realized they were staring at my eye. Feeling somewhat self-conscious, I took a seat in the back row away from everyone. Karen came in a moment later and gave me a hard glare. If the meeting hadn't started right then I was sure she would have had something to say to me.

The meeting, in my opinion anyway, was utterly pointless. The newspaper had hired a fresh out of college kid to finally bring us to the twenty-first century by creating a website to post our articles on. He began elaborating on how we were bringing our paper into the modern age and how versatile it would be to our customers. He seemed overly excited about the whole thing and while the room seemed to be split on how great this website would actually be, I didn't really care since it didn't affect my job.

Instead, my mind began to wander. I wondered what Pam was up to, if she was having a good time at the festival, if her coworkers were being as insane as they were yesterday. Except for Dwight, my coworkers were mostly normal. I would have to mention to her the kid who was giving the talk, though. He reminded me of her coworker Ryan; same smarmy and cocky attitude. He looked like Ryan as well, only he had blond hair and a beard. A very bad beard. That made me chuckle and I wished Pam was here so I could joke with her about it. My mind wandered further to Pam and I began to plan our date.

"Jim!" The sound of my boss's voice startled me out of the daydream. "Do you think you can handle that?"

"Uh," I stuttered. "Sure…" I responded having no idea what he was talking about. He eyed me a little but continued talking.

Two and a half hours later, the meeting finally ended. My butt being incredibly numb, I jumped out of my seat before everyone else. I noticed Josh, my boss, looking at me, probably wanting to have a chat but thankfully Karen caught his attention. I didn't know what they were conversing about but I didn't stay to find out.

Dwight wanted to get to work on the article but since it was lunchtime, I was eager to get out of there and since I didn't pack a lunch, I had to find some place to eat. I mentioned to Dwight I was going out and he in turn reminded me that I only had a half hour and if I weren't back by then, he would get all the credit. Not really caring, I took off.

I originally only intended to grab some fast food and eat at the office but my route took me past the park and I found myself pulling in to the parking lot. The festival had plenty of food and I thought that was a good enough excuse to see Pam again.

I found Pam easily enough, inspecting a bowl from a table filled with pottery. Trying to remain quiet, I snuck up behind her and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. She was startled at first but then grinned broadly when she saw me standing there.

"Hey," she said sweetly. "What are you doing here?"

"Do I need a reason?" I asked, stealing another kiss. I grinned when I saw her blush.

"Jim," she said pushing me away a little. She nodded towards Phyllis, who was standing at the next table looking over at us, and then gave me a slightly unsure look. "Um, do you mind if we keep the PDA down a little? My coworkers are just horrible when it comes to gossip and I think I want to keep you a secret a little while longer."

"Oh, right," I said jokingly. "Because once it's public, the magic's gone, right?"

She laughed. "Magic? Come on. Who needs it?"

"Oh, I do," I said grinning at her. "Or else, what's left?"

"Well, at least we had that one night," she said overly acting her part as she played along.

I shrugged my shoulders. "Eh, all we did is talk. Getting to know each other? Overrated."

"I had fun at least," she responded smiling.

I pretended to think about it for a second. "Okay," I said with a half-hearted smile.

She playfully swatted my arm. "So, what are you really doing here? Are you done for the day?"

"No, lunch break," I informed her. "Are you free or…"

"Yeah, definitely," she answered. "I can't leave the park though."

"That's fine," I said turning my attention towards the ceramic pottery on the table. "So, this stuff is cool."

"It really is," Pam said, picking up a brown mug. "And it's all local too. Some of it's just for show but a majority of it is for sale. This morning I bought a really neat lamp for only eight dollars."

"Awesome."

"Yeah, I'll have to show you when…"

"Hey guys." It was Phyllis who interrupted. We both spun around to see her grinning at the both of us. "I couldn't help but see you guys from the distance and I just have to say I'm so glad to see that you're together now."

"Oh, thanks," Pam said sweetly, though I could tell she wasn't all that thrilled to be talking about it with Phyllis.

"Uh, thanks Phyllis," I said though it was an awkward compliment coming from some one I didn't know that well.

She grinned wider, in almost a creepy way. "And Pam, it's great that you're sleeping with a reporter now. That way the museum has easy access to good publicity."

My jaw dropped and I looked at Pam who seemed to be just as flabbergasted. Neither of us responded and Phyllis, who didn't seem to think she said anything inappropriate, nodded at us both before heading to another table.

"Wow," I said when she left.

Pam shook her head. "See, that is why I didn't want any of my coworkers to know."

"Yeah, that was just…wow."

"Yeah, I told you my coworkers are awful," Pam continued crossing her arms over her chest and shaking her head. "Oh, which reminds me, I have to tell you about Michael and Jan…"

"Hey, Pam." This time it was Ryan who did the interrupting. We both looked at him, waiting for him to spit out whatever it was that he wanted, but when he noticed I was standing there he gave me an odd look. "Oh, you're back," he said to me as if it were a big surprise.

"Yup," I said thinking it was not really a big deal.

"What is it, day four now?" Ryan said with a smirk. "The newspaper doing a special edition on the festival?"

"Nope, I'm just looking around today," I ignored his snarky attitude.

"What do you want Ryan?" Pam asked, a little snap in her voice. I pretended to be engrossed in the pottery as they talked.

"Oh, I just wanted to let you know that we had a problem with the guys doing the fireworks," Ryan explained. "Something about a mix up with directions and they wouldn't be here until late."

"Oh my god," Pam said worried. I could see out of the corner of my eye that she was rubbing her forehead. "Great, now what do we do."

"We don't have to do anything," Ryan said with a devilish little grin. It made me suspicious. "I was on the phone with a friend of mine who does fireworks. He said he would bring some out this evening in case the guys we hired aren't able to make it. Just wanted to let you know everything was settled."

"Uh, thanks Ryan," Pam said with a bit of surprise. I doubted Ryan came through for anyone that often. "Thanks a lot. Saves me a whole lot of trouble."

"No problem," he said. Then, unexpectedly, he placed a hand on Pam's arm and began to rub up and down.

My first instinct was to turn around and ask him what the hell he thought he was doing but Pam pulled quickly away. "Uh, Ryan…" she began.

Ryan didn't seem to notice her discomfort. "You know Pam, you and I have been friends for a long time. I think maybe it's time that you and I take our friendship to the next level."

"What?" Pam sounded shocked. With that, I became completely invested in the conversation and it became harder to pretend I was looking at pottery. Part of me was pissed off that he was even attempting to hit on Pam, the other part was amused that she was about to shut him down.

"After the fireworks tonight, maybe you and I should go out. Get a couple of drinks…" Man, he sounded so sure of himself.

"Uh, Ryan, no…"

Now Ryan looked confused. "I just want to take you out on a date."

Pam shook her head. "Um, remember Kelly? You're girlfriend?" she asked.

"Oh, come on, Pam. That's over." Ryan said disgusted. "We both know that relationship was never going anywhere." Yeah, he was a winner. I kind of felt bad for Kelly. "So, what do you say? Is it a date?"

"Uh, Ryan, I'm sorry, I can't…"

"Why not?" he persisted. I couldn't believe he kept trying.

"I, um, I-"

"It's just one evening…"

"I have a boyfriend," she finally said. I smiled at that. Somehow it felt so official now.

"What?" Ryan asked in disbelief.

Pam looked over at me fondly. "Jim and I are together."

"Hey," I took the opportunity to spin around and make myself present again. Ryan looked at me wide-eyed as the realization sunk in. I gave him a smug look and a little hand wave to reiterate the point.

Ryan looked as though he was going to be ill. "Oh, that's great," he forced out. "Really, that's…you know what? I have to be somewhere." He avoided all eye contact with me as he scurried away.

"Well, that was interesting," I commented.

"Yeah, I'm sorry about that," Pam said. "It annoys me that he thinks he can just pick up any girl he wants. Especially because he just wants to rub it in Kelly's face." I detected a little bit of anger in her voice. "I'll have to tell her so she can give up on the little snake."

I let out a laugh. "Well, at least now, if things don't work out on our date tonight, you always have a back up."

She rolled her eyes. "Thank you, that's very reassuring."

* * *

"So, Dwight thinks I got in a fight with art thieves," I said as I took a bite of pepperoni pizza. Pam and I had found a couple of seats in the back of the food tent and were enjoying a few slices and a couple of sodas. We had been chatting easily for the last fifteen minutes or so.

"Really," Pam said raising an eyebrow. "Why would he think that?"

"He thinks it's how I got the black eye," I informed her.

"And you didn't feel the need to correct him?" she asked as she sipped on her soda.

"To be quiet honest, Pam," I admitted. "I think taking on art thieves is much more interesting than being knocked out by your girlfriend's ex-husband."

She gave a sympathetic smile, and then reached over, tenderly brushing a few strands of hair off my forehead before gently running her hand down my cheek. "It's looking better," she offered.

It didn't but I appreciated the sentiment. "Thanks," I replied softly.

"You know, I met a couple of art thieves," Pam informed me, tilting her head back to think about it. "The ones that stole that da Vinci painting from the Louvre a couple years ago. I know because I saw the paining."

"You didn't see it," I said, finding it hard to believe.

"I did see it," she insisted.

"Nope, I don't believe you."

"I did. I really did."

"Not possible."

"It is possible. I saw it. I saw it and it was amazing."

I shook my head and took another bite of pizza. "So, you're telling me you saw the missing da Vinci painting that was stolen from the Louvre right here in Scranton?"

"I really did," she said. She was so worked up about it that it was endearing. "I was helping unload some artwork from these people we were borrowing paintings from and it was in the back of their truck."

"Why didn't you call the police then if you were so sure?"

"I wanted to," she continued, "But Jan wouldn't let me because she said we needed to get art from these people. And the crazy thing is, after we borrowed the art and gave it back, we never heard from them again."

I shook my head again. "I'm sorry, I don't believe that art thieves would let art museums borrow the work they've stolen."

"Come on," she said exasperated, "you were just trying to convince me last night that you saw someone hit a baseball seven-hundred feet or something."

"That is a fact," I replied laughing, "I did a story on it. If you don't believe me, it's documented, I'll give you the issue number and you can look it up."

Pam looked away in disgust. "Fine, don't believe me. I know what I saw."

"Pam," I argued, "you're trying to convince me that French art thieves came to Pennsylvania and lent your museum art work. You don't think that is far fetched?"

"Not when I saw it with my own eyes," she shot back. "Yeah, one of these days they'll be back and I'll show you."

"I'm sure you will," I grinned and took a sip of soda.

"Oh, hey, today's paper," Pam said, stretching beyond me to grab the folded paper that lay abandoned on the edge of the table. She grinned. "Let's see how that article turned out."

"Uh…" I started, slinking a little lower in my chair. Having not read the paper, I was unsure of how it came out. "Do we need to?"

Pam looked at me confused. "Why? Is it bad?" she asked as she pulled out the Arts and Culture section.

"I have no idea," I said honestly as I began to glance over the portion of the paper she had put on the table. I was a little nervous to hear how the article had turned out.

"Here it is," she said. I watched as she scanned the paper, her face falling as she did so. She finished quickly, then folded the paper again and placed it beside her plate. Without another word, she took another bite of pizza.

"Well?" I asked hesitantly.

She tilted her head to think about it. "She didn't gush," Pam replied finally. "But I guess I didn't expect her too. It wasn't bad, there was nothing damaging in it, I just thought--it doesn't matter."

"Pam, I'm so sorry—" I began. "I should have handled Karen better than I did, I- I always meant for the museum to get glowing publicity."

"It was partly my fault too," Pam said, placing her hand in mine and giving it a squeeze. "I think we screwed that one up together. And at least Karen was professional about it. She could have written a lot of things but she didn't. Don't beat yourself up about it. Let's just move on."

I smiled. "Alright, then. Moving on." I glanced at the paper in front of me and noticed an article on the yogurt company that had distributed spoiled batches had changed ownership and their product was once again FDA approved. It reminded me of the day I met Pam, when she pulled out a container of yogurt from that company and how I explained that the breakfast she was about it eat wasn't any good. I didn't hesitate to bring up the memory. "Hey, looks like you're safe to eat your yogurt again," I said pointing to the article.

"What's that?" Pam asked, leaning over to read a little.

"Remember? I bought you breakfast because I made you throw away what you had brought?" I reminded her.

"I remember," she said reflectively. "You know what…"

"What?" I asked.

"It's nothing," she said shaking her head. "You'll just laugh."

"I promise I won't laugh."

She waited a moment, hesitant. "Ok, that morning, when you told me that my breakfast was bad…that was when I knew I liked you."

"Really?" I asked a little surprised.

"Yeah," she said, pushing her hair behind her ear.

"There's nothing funny about that," I assured her. "I mean, personally, I would have picked a less inane moment but, you know, I'm not going to argue with anything that gets you to like me."

She let out a tiny laugh. "Well, Roy never did stuff like that. I mean, food would have gotten moldy and he wouldn't have noticed so I always have had to look out for myself. It was nice to have someone else look out for me for a change."

I smiled, thinking that maybe it wasn't such an inane moment after all. "Well, it's what I do."

She laughed again. "What about you, when did you know?"

"The moment I first saw you," I answered without a beat.

"Yeah, sure," she said doubtfully.

It was mostly true. I hadn't given it that much thought because knowing her and caring for her seemed to have the same timeline. "Do you remember what you told me when I said that I hadn't been to the festival before?"

She thought about it for a second, her eyes becoming wide when she recalled the memory. "Yeah, I told you your life would be different from this point forward."

"And you were right," I said seriously. "From that moment, I knew my life would be different. That's when I knew." Pam had no reply. Instead, she pulled me close to give a gentle kiss.

"PAAAMMM," we split apart quickly when we heard Michael's voice. Sure enough, he was standing only a few feet away. "Pam, I've been—" he stopped short when he saw me sitting there. "Wait, you two are…oh my god." He let out an ecstatic laugh. "You guys are together now?"

Pam and I exchanged glances. So much for her coworkers not finding out. "Yup," I said simply.

"Oh my god," Michael repeated. "This is such a wonderful day. You guys get together. Jan and I are back together. And they're serving free ice cream today…"

"Michael, what's up?" Pam said trying to get him to focus.

Michael looked like he had forgotten why he had even come over; he was too focused on his happiness. "I just think this is so wonderful." He gave Pam and I both a large hug. We both had to pry ourselves away.

"Seriously, Michael," Pam said, her voice firmer. "Did you need to tell me something?"

"Yes, yes, yes," Michael said cheerfully. "Jan wanted me to come over and tell you that she spoke to Christian this morning. You remember Christian, the black art critic guy who…"

"Yes, I remember," Pam said, pushing the conversation along.

"Well, he wants a representative of the museum to come up to an opening he's having at one of his galleries," he explained. "It's tonight in New York City. The City of Love. And Jan wanted me to ask if you wanted to go."

"Really?" Pam said looking over at me extremely excited. "Jim, we can go to New York tonight. I mean, if don't have to work." I grinned at her, thrilled that that was the first thing she thought. I nodded, letting her know it was fine by me. Pam glanced back up at Michael. "Yeah, we'll definitely go."

"Alright, I'll just tell Jan," Michael said.

But Michael didn't need to find her since Jan walked into the tent. Michael may have been thrilled to be back together with Jan, but there was no happiness on the woman's face. "Michael, we need to go," Jan snapped.

"Yeah, yeah," Michael said. "I was just telling Pam about the opening in New York. She and Jim said they would go…"

"What?" Jan's eyes grew wide. "Michael, I just told you we didn't need anyone to go."

"Wait, so I can't go?" Pam asked worried.

Jan began searching her purse for something. "No, I need you to stay here to watch the festival."

I could see disappointment growing on Pam's face. "Where are you guys going?" she asked.

Jan pulled out a cigarette box and frantically searched for a cigarette. When none slipped out, she threw the empty box on the table. "Michael and I have to go settle our legal troubles with Mrs. Allen. Michael needs to be there because the woman is pressing charges against him. We're hoping that the suicide attempt will work in our favor."

"Remember, that be-yotch from last night," Michael said with a nasty sneer. "I can't believe she is offended that I tried to kill myself."

"Michael," Jan said, stopping her search to yell at him. "What did I tell you about using that word be-yotch?"

Michael scrunched his nose. "She's suing the museum. And I hate her."

Jan gave him a glare. "Anyway," she continued. "We are going to be gone and I need someone here I can trust. I sent Ryan out to the opening."

Pam's jaw dropped and I was feeling even more irritated at the guy than I had before. "Ryan?" Pam asked, sounding as if she wished it were all a joke.

"Yeah," Jan said angrily, flipping the cover of her purse over in defeat. "We don't need him here and he seemed to be thrilled about it. Anyway, I need you to make sure everything goes off well tonight."

I watched Pam swallow hard. "Actually, Jan, I was hoping that I could have tonight off." I couldn't help but feel as nervous as Pam was looking. It was incredibly selfish of me but I really wanted Pam to have the night off."

Jan gave her a glare. "No."

"But Jan—" Pam moaned.

"If Michael and I get back in time then I don't have a problem with it," Jan said. "But I don't know-" she rubbed her head. "I just don't know. And I know I can count on you to make sure this festival has some shred of dignity to it." She then eyed me with the same dark look that Karen had earlier. Not sure why she was annoyed with me, I turned away. "Just make sure you keep you personal life personal tonight. Come on, Michael. We have to stop at the gas station on the way out." Jan spun on her heel and left, Michael following close behind.

Once they were gone, Pam immediately gave me an apologetic look. "Jim, I don't know what to say-"

"It's alright," I said calmly. There was nothing she could do about it. "And, you know, if we have to, we can always have the date here."

Pam smiled gratefully though she couldn't contain a small sigh.

* * *

"We still haven't discussed where we should go tonight," Pam mentioned as we made our way out of the tent. We had finished lunch and although I had no desire to go, I was already twenty minutes over my normal lunch break.

"Do you really think you're going to be able to get away tonight?" I asked, slipping my hand in hers as we walked towards the parking lot. "I mean, I'm fine with spending time with you here if we need to."

She gave me a lop-sided smile. "Well, as long as Michael doesn't do anything stupid, I should be fine. I mean can that woman really sue us for an attempted suicide? It's crazy."

"I know. As far as I see it, she has no case," I agreed.

Pam let out a nervous laugh. "I just have a bad feeling about it, you know? The museum can't afford any more financial issues. If we do, we might have to file for bankruptcy." She rubbed her head as she continued. "And Jan might lose her job and I would have start wondering about my job and the museum would never get that new wing…"

I could see how the situation was stressing her out. "Well, maybe bankruptcy wouldn't be such a bad thing," I offered, stopping in my track to pull her close to me, wrapping my arms around her shoulders to comfort her. She easily slipped her arms around my waist and rested her head on my chest. "It would be like a get out of jail free card. A do over."

She let out a small groan. "I wished it were that easy."

"I know," I replied as I began to rub her back. Remembering how she reacted to PDA earlier, I worried that she would pull away, but instead she snuggled closer.

"Let's just go away for a while," she said suddenly.

"What?" I asked, genuinely confused by the abrupt statement.

She lifted her head to face me. "Get out of here, spend some time together, just you and I. We could completely ignore our jobs and responsibilities."

Even though I knew she wasn't serious, I would have taken her up on that offer in a heartbeat. "Well, Dwight has a nice beet farm slash bed and breakfast if you're interested," I offered. "He's been trying to get me to visit for years."

"Aw, that sounds sweet," Pam replied.

"No," I shook my head vehemently. "I really doubt it is. In fact, there is a great possibility that we would be murdered in our sleep." Besides, I promised myself, my first night with Pam would not have anything to do with Dwight.

Pam gave a genuine smile before returning her head back on my chest. "So…" she breathed.

"So…"

"There's a really good Mexican restaurant I like downtown," she started again with dinner plans. "Oh, but we had Mexican last night, didn't we." She scrunched her nose, I assume at the memory of Andy losing his temper. "I'd offer to cook but I'm not that good."

"Me neither," I admitted. "And I'm not picky. Whatever you choose I'll be fine with."

Pam contemplated the notion. "Well, what place haven't I been to a million times…"

As she thought about it I noticed that Ryan and Kelly were having some sort of argument standing a few yards away. Kelly looked to be in tears and hurriedly ran off. Ryan had a dark look on his face and didn't seem to be put out by Kelly's emotions. In fact, I thought I saw him laugh to himself. I couldn't believe how much of a jerk the guy was. Ryan then turned in our direction and noticed I was holding Pam in my arms. He stared intently, as if he didn't really believe what he was looking at.

I suddenly felt very grateful for Pam. That I had found her. We were no Ryan and Kelly, that I was certain. I felt so lucky to have her in my life and I never wanted to take that for granted. I eyed Ryan down, letting him know I was aware that he was watching.

"Oh," Pam said suddenly and my attention was fully on her again. "You know what, there's this new Italian restaurant I wanted to try…"

I didn't let her finish. Partly because I wanted to rub it in Ryan's face, partly because I knew she was in this thing as much as I and mostly because she had never looked more beautiful to me in that moment; I twirled her around and dipped her down for a hard kiss. She was so shocked by my actions that she had to grip my arms for balance but kissed me back as best she could. Then, just as quickly, I twirled her back up.

She smiled widely and took a dazed step backwards. "Jim…" she said, holding a hand up to her lips and blushing deeply. She looked around, aware of the few people who had stopped and stared. I glanced up at Ryan, whose eyes were still fixed in our direction and I couldn't help but give him a smug smile. He shook his head in disgust and walked off. "Wha?…" Pam didn't quite know how to respond to my sudden actions.

"I, uh, just really love Italian food," I offered, reveling in how wonderfully off guard I had caught her. She gave me the broad grin that I was beginning to love so much and I knew right then that this was it. There would never be another woman for me.