hey long time

Karen's first moment of cognizance began from under the translucency of heavy lids; a shimmer of light through the leaves of a tree with gently dancing branches. The quiet tenderness of the moment should have only aided the release of sleep as it beckoned her to return, but something about it felt uncanny. She didn't want to open her eyes in fear that the slumber of before would disappear with the sight of reality. But as she grew more conscious and the obliviousness of her dreams ebbed achingly further from reality, she came to remember that there was no tree in her bedroom window, and when she finally relented and opened her eyes she remembered that there was no tv or armchair either, or anyone to cause the smell of coffee from her kitchen.

She rolled over and covered her head with a pillow.

Memories from the night before dripped back very slowly like the last remaining drops of honey from a bottle. Explicitly, there was nothing. But emotionally there was some kind of safety or a comfort, or something. Really, all she truly remembered was laughing. And Jim and Pam. Laughing with Jim and Pam.

Everything ached. She sat up slowly and gingerly dropped her legs to the cold floor. She was still wearing her work clothes minus the blazer and also a pair of pale pink and white striped socks she didn't recognize.

Her head swam but she stood up anyways, letting the sudden seesaw of the earth pass before padding towards the open door of a bathroom, visible (thank god) from where she had woken up.

Pam recognized the shuffle and the click of a door handle that she had been waiting to hear for a very anxious half hour. She retraced everything she remembered from last night

When they had reached near where Jim's house was, Meredith had pushed all three of them out at once, knowing how close they lived and not wanting to take the extra trouble to drive in a three to four block loop two more times. So they had all piled out and there was a bit of an awkward break where no one knew how to say goodbye; Pam still felt the tingle of intimacy from the car ride, Jim was staring at his feet, Karen was noticeably swaying and staring at Jim. Pam had found herself unable to tear her eyes from Karen's face. It was still glowing from the heat of the van and the warmth of a drunken smile, even in the cold and dim leer of the streetlamp. She could tell the smile was for Jim's seemingly shoe-occupied eyes, and Pam sensed something in Karen's demeanor that suggested she was about to say something to him that she may or may not regret, should she remember it. Pam staggered through a (personally, she thought) heroic attempt to mitigate whatever this was.

"Ok, um, I'm going to head home. I'm kind of really drunk, haha...Karen, you're…just up the street a few blocks, right? I'm kind of close in that direction, but I don't really want to walk alone cause...the dark..."

"Okay. Yes, arm please." Karen had agreed with a heavy lidded grin.

Pam gave Jim a hasty kiss on the lips as to not be insensitive, and he waved to Karen as he turned to retire.

It took Pam a block and a half to give up toting Karen home. She was exhausted and Karen could barely walk in a straight line and was leaning heavily on the arm that Pam had lent. Her house came first, and when they began to pass it, Pam simply turned towards the door and lead Karen inside with her with a mumble about not wanting to walk any further in the dark. She'd felt a cool pool of doubt in her gut but the exhaustion of the night was overpowering. She saw the Camera crew behind her that she had forgotten was with them until that moment, and closed to door on them before they could enter. When they had entered, Karen immediately crashed on the couch and went out like a light and Pam had felt a giddy, alcohol-induced mothering instinct in seeing her curled up there. in an attempt to mitigate the discomfort of sleeping in work clothes, had pried off Karen's blazer and given her a pair of her socks.

She had been planning on thinking about how and what to talk about to Karen about the next morning, but sleep had overtaken her the moment her head hit her pillow.

Now this lack of preparation was proving more influential than Pam felt comfortable with.

"Hey." With Pam's back to her, she hadn't noticed Karen emerge from the bathroom and she stiffened at the sound of her voice.

"Hi! How did you sleep? Not too uncomfortable I hope?"

"Oh, no. All good. I kind of blacked out." Karen sighed as she rubbed her eyes and ran her hand through her hair.

"I, um...coffee?" Pam stumbled over her words with what she hoped was a friendly smile.

"Um, no. No, I'll probably just grab something on the way to work, I have a call with Corporate in half an hour so. I should actually probably head out." She was already putting her blazer on and Pam didn't like that for some reason. So she offered her something she didn't really think about before she said it.

"Oh, let me drive you! It'll be much faster." She braced herself for Karen's reaction, unsure of what she expected. Her few friendly advances had gone okay so far, though in special circumstances, and the suggestion was a practical solution, she thought.

"I, um…" Karen's brow furrowed in indecision. Pam could tell she had made her feel awkward but she couldn't detect any animosity.

"Actually, sure. I should really get there soon." This made Pam smile in relief.

"Great! Do you have everything? I'm ready to go when you are, I'll just throw some of this in a thermos for you- you'll thank me later."

Most of the ride was quiet. Pam turned on the radio within the instant she entered the car so there would be no room for silence. A little after the fifteen out of the twenty-five minute mark of their drive, Karen had chuckled softly to herself. When prompted to explain, she described a very vague memory from the night before and they laughed together as Pam realized the scene with a few details Karen had lapsed.

"God, that blueberry drink was truly from hell. I think I still taste it." Karen rubbed her eyes in a motion that was unmistakably hangover ridden.

"I can't believe you actually drink all of it, I took like one sip and immediately gave up. It tasted like dayquil mixed with welch's."

"A drink's a drink...but I'm so disappointed in myself." She shuddered and Pam laughed. A gap in conversation occurred as the song on the radio switched to a cover of Silver Spring. Thankfully Karen breeched the silence that teetered on becoming awkward.

"Why are we coming in late today again?"

"Oh, Micheal has a new pair of fun pants?" Pam's voice rose at the end to withdraw the level of recognition on the subject.

"Umm, sexual?"

"No, no. Nothing like that...Well, actually...they're the equivalent of a Micheal sugar rush- which I believe you've experienced- and a high and maybe , yeah, maybe some sexual drive in there, all rolled up in one. It's horrifying."

"Oh, God."

"Yeah, it's awful. But it also means he plays cool with everyone and pretends he's, like, some sort of lax substitute teacher trying to impress everyone. Hence, the night out. The trick is bearing him until late enough in the day to get them off of him, but not leaving it too long that he makes everyone quit their jobs."

"That is an enormous responsibility."

Oh, yeah it's bad. Jim helps though, he's really the expert on that. It's such a relief to have him there when it happens." This caused another divet in conversation as Karen hummed neutrally and looked out the window. They were almost to the office and Pam dreaded the thought that this might leave a negative energy on the day, so she scrambled to try and salvage the moment.

"This is a horrible cover. This whole station is really bad, I'm sorry to make you listen, I wasn't really paying attention. I should really have more CDs in here, I just always forget." It was beginning to approach a classification of rambling so she cut herself off abruptly.

"Really? I have so many CDs in my car they're all of her the floor. It's attrocious."

"Maybe you'll have to hook me up, Fillipeli. You owe me for this ride."

"You offered to drive me!" Karen guffawed.

"I know, I know. I just really want free CDs." Karen laughed at this and her giggle made Pam smile. The knowledge that she had the capability to say something that Karen deemed funny was euphoric. 'In a older popular- friend way', she later told the camera.

"We'll see. Beesly. We'll see."