Phyllis went home to Bob, where he had prepared a meal for his wife. It was a good meal, an Italian one, and she was overwhelmed by his kindness. Somewhere in the back of her mind she had wondered what he had seen in her. Maybe Kelly, too, could have been her. But would anyone have cared?

"How's Kelly doing," Bob asked as he kissed his wife hello.

"Oh I don't know if I want to talk about that," she sighed as she sat down at the kitchen table.

"Well honey you can't hold everything in. You know I'm here for you if you ever need to talk."

She started to tear up.

"Honey," Bob asked concerned. "What's wrong? Did something happen to your friend?"

"Nothing new. I just …. well, you know how I gave up a child years ago, right?"

"Yes but I don't see how any of that has to do with Kelly. She's clearly not your daughter."

"But you see, she could have been. Maybe not technically, but I could have treated her like she was my daughter. I could have listened to her more, instead of tuning her out. I could have prevented this."

Bob kissed his wife. "Now you listen to me, this wasn't your fault. As far as I see it it was that Howard guy's fault. He's the one who screwed around, who wouldn't commit, who treated her badly. You had no way of knowing what was going through Kelly's mind. You're a good woman, that's why I married you, and I think I get it. You're afraid of me doing to you what Howard did to Kelly.:

"I'd rather not talk about it anymore."

"Honey you don't have anything to worry about. You are the love of my life, even more so than Vance Refrigeration. I would give up everything to make you happy. You don't have to worry. I would never desert you when you needed me the most. I just want to make you as happy as you make me. Remember our wedding day? That was the happiest day of my life, along with getting my permit to open my business. Remember how I had to throw Scott out?" Bob laughed, making his wife laugh along with him. "You'll always be the love of my life. Don't ever forget that."

"Oh Bob, I love you too."

00000

Oscar and Toby stopped by the hospital on their way home from work. Toby had stopped and picked up flowers for her room, so Oscar gave him a few bucks so that he could sign his name as well.

"Can you believe this, Toby? She's really did a number on herself. I can't believe this."

"It's all my fault," Toby sighed.

Oscar stared at him. |"How could this possibly be your fault? We all knew how much Kelly loves Ryan. She didn't deserve to do this. She is a good person. This is solely between her and Ryan."

Toby sighed. "I knew she was depressed," he confessed. "I told her to take some antidepressants."

"What? Toby you're not a doctor. How could you recommend something like that without thinking of the consequences?"

Toby knew he deserved Oscar's wrath. "I just know that they...they help me feel better sometimes."

"You're on them?"

"Prozac, yes. Been on them for five or six years. I knew Kelly was hurting and I...I just wanted her to feel better too."

"You? I never thought about it. But it makes sense, how you can sit there and tolerate Michael's abuse," Oscar conceded. "Why didn't you tell anyone?"

"I don't have any friends there, you know. Kelly was kind of my only friend. And I wanted to help her. I just thought she'd..."

Oscar put his hand on Toby's shoulder. "It's okay, man. You couldn't have known she'd try something like this."

"I should have known," Toby repeated.

Oscar stared at him. "Did you do something like this? Try to kill yourself?"

"No but I thought about it when I was in Costa Rica. I had an accident, and I was all alone. I had nothing but time on my hands. But the nurses counted out my pills and dealt them to me one at at a time. But if they hadn't, who knows..."

"Wow. Wow. Toby does Michael know about your accident? About your prozac?"

"No and I hope he never finds out."

"He won't hear it from me. Before we visit Kelly, would you like to go out and grab a cup of coffee?"

"You don't have to feel sorry for me." Who really wanted to spend time with him anyways?

"It will be fine. We'll meet at Starbucks around the corner. We can just...chill out," Oscar smiled.

Against his will Toby found himself smiling a little bit too. "I'd...I'd like that."

Oscar knew that if Angela found out he was spending time with Toby she'd start awful rumors about them. But at the moment he didn't care. This whole mess with Kelly was turning out to be a lot more complicated than he'd realized that it would be. Oscar prided himself on being a man who did the right thing. And so it was obvious to him that Toby needed a friend, at least for the moment. What would five bucks and an hour cost him, in the long run?

0000

"So..." Oscar began nervously. He hadn't had much interaction with Toby, and while he didn't have a problem with the guy, he knew Toby wasn't liked much around the office. He did know that he and Kelly would engage in some kind of ball-tossing game, dunderball they called it if he was right, so he suspected Toby must have had some feelings of guilt over Kelly's situation.

"Thanks for joining me. I don't really get out that much," Toby started.

No kidding. "How's your daughter?"

"She's fine. She kind of prefers her new stepfather to me but I guess who wouldn't, right?"

"Now I'm sure that's not true. Kids love their parents unconditionally."

"You're just saying that."

There was an uncomfortable silence. "So, are you going to go see Kelly after our coffee?"

"I don't know what good I would do,"

Oscar sighed. It was going to be a long conversation. "I think Kelly would love it if you went to see her. I'm going to go see her. I hate to think of her all alone in that hospital room."

"Do you suppose Ryan is there?"

Oscar thought about it for a minute. "If he isn't, he ought to be. If I were him I'd be there every second. You're from HR, can't you give him some time off?"

"He would have to request it and so far I really haven't heard from him..."

"I'm just going to come out and say it." Oscar looked at the camera. "Ryan is an ass. If that were my partner in there I'd be doing everything in my power to make sure he got better. Yes, I said it, he, I'm gay. No surprise. But still, I think Ryan owes it to her to be with her at this moment."

"I agree."

"Toby, you're one of her friends at the office. Tell me, had you noticed anything different about her? Surely you should have if you recommended that she see a professional."

"Well she was quiet...quiet can be kind of nice sometimes."

"Not if you're Kelly Kapoor. What other signs did you see?"

"Well sometimes I saw her crying after visiting with Ryan. She didn't know I saw her, I didn't want to make her feel uncomfortable. But they both signed off on the office romance policy so I didn't really feel it was my place to judge her or anything."

"Oh, Toby. Maybe a kind word, maybe letting her know she deserved better, anything might have prevented this. Not that I'm blaming you. There's plenty of blame to go around. I know that she didn't have her America's Got Talent party this year. That should have clued me in to the fact that something was wrong. She was rather abrubt with some of our clients, honestly I had no idea anything was bothering her. I just assumed she and Ryan had gotten into another lover's quarrel and let it go. Maybe I should have been the one to say something. Maybe she would have listened to me."

"Do you really...do you really she would have talked to anyone? I have an open door policy and she didn't come to me."

Oscar sighed. Toby could be so clueless sometimes. "I don't think she wanted the guy fired. She just wanted him to love her. And when she finally realized that he didn't, well, we all know how that turned out."

"Have you ever been in love, Oscar?"

He looked startled. "Of course. I loved my last partner, Gill, very much. Unfortunately he did not feel the same way about me, and so we parted ways."

"How did that make you feel?"

"I felt like a total jerk. I felt used, humiliated, angry. Not enough to want to hurt him or anyone, but I guess I can sort of see Kelly's point of view. Her whole identity was wrapped up in being loved, and finally something just snapped. What it was, we may never know. But my point is that we owe it to Kelly to support her. I don't think firing Ryan is the answer. Violence certainly isn't, I just hope Michael can keep his feelings in check when it comes to Ryan."

"What do you mean, his feelings about Ryan?"

"Come on, Toby. We all know that Ryan is his favorite, his golden boy. And for his boy to take such a fall, well, that may not just damage Kelly but Michael as well."

"Do you think Michael's suicidal?"

"He said it in the conference room that he has been in the past. I think we should not only be watching Ryan, but Michael as well. That's just my two cents."

Toby stood up and half smiled. "Thank you, Oscar. This has been very helpful. I'll see you at the hospital?"

Oscar nodded, took a last sip of his flavored coffee, then made his way to the parking lot, where who knew what awaited them.

00000

Everyone had left for the day, except for Angela and Dwight who were both finishing up their work. Angela surprised Dwight by approaching him and giving him a firm kiss on the lips.

"What was that for?" he smiled.

"For being you," she responded before turning around to leave. Dwight knew exactly what she meant. He knew she needed a strong man, a provider, a mature man, and only he could provide her with the stability that she so desired in a man. Theirs was a unique relationship, and she didn't often show affection, but when she did, it meant a lot to him. He realized he wasn't the warm and fuzzy feelings kind of guy. He didn't inspire the laughter and hugs and kisses that say, Jim or Michael might. But he was of a different stock than they were. He supposed that is why his and Angela's relationship worked. He was solid as a rock, and she knew she could depend on him.

And likewise he could depend on her. He knew there was no way he'd ever walk into Angela's house and find her the way Michael, Jim and Ryan had Kelly. Unless of course, the Scranton Strangler turned to cats and did away with all of her feline companions. But even then, Angela was tough, she was a survivor. He knew he would never find another woman like her. And for that, he was eternally grateful.