The Basement [Monday evening]

[keds-champion.livejournal.com]

Pam had turned off her cell phone to avoid calls from Roy about their sons beating up someone else, or from Angela about how Michael had started another fire out of missing Ryan. She had more important things to do today.

So she waited in the basement near the pool, holding a few tiny bottles in her right hand.

[for Jim omg.]

Comments

[fat-halpert.livejournal.com]

"Did you get them?" Jim asked, coming down the stairs.

[keds-champion.livejournal.com]

Pam held up the wee little vials of blue and green food coloring. "I got them."

[fat-halpert.livejournal.com]

"Excellent," Jim said. "Now we just have to figure out how to get a bunch of people into the pool after we do this."

[keds-champion.livejournal.com]

"We can figure that out once we do it," she decided. "Maybe a spontaneous pool party or something."

[fat-halpert.livejournal.com]

"Sounds good to me," Jim said. "Okay, what color did you get?"

[keds-champion.livejournal.com]

"Green and blue. We can mix if you want?" she offered. "They won't show up in the water."

[fat-halpert.livejournal.com]

"I think that's a great idea," Jim said. "Wait, how do you know that it won't show, anyway? Have you done this before?"

[keds-champion.livejournal.com]

"...no, someone I know did," she said, blushing a little.

Someone being her eldest son, yes.

[fat-halpert.livejournal.com]

"I'm a little disappointed. I figured I just got you hooked on pranking and you couldn't give it up so you went onto bigger and better pranks," Jim said.

[keds-champion.livejournal.com]

"I've always been small scale," she replied, moving over to look at the pool filters. "You know that."

[fat-halpert.livejournal.com]

"So you are still hooked on pranking, just the smaller stuff," Jim said, a smile growing on his face. "I'm really very sorry that I corrupted you like that."

[keds-champion.livejournal.com]

"I can tell," Pam said, grinning as she knelt to get closer. "I haven't put anyone's phone in the ceiling, but I mess with Michael and Dwight all the time."

[fat-halpert.livejournal.com]

"And that's why you're fun," Jim said, moving over by Pam so he could get a look at the filters. "Okay, let's take a look at these things."

He bent over to get a closer look. He didn't mean for that to bring him quite this close to Pam, but he wasn't going to complain about it.

[keds-champion.livejournal.com]

Pam tried to ignore that closeness, and peered at the filter. "I think we should just uncap the bottle and stick it in there somehow," she said, and turned slightly to look at him.

Wow. Kind of hard to ignore the closeness now.

[fat-halpert.livejournal.com]

If Michael were here he would have broken the ice with a well timed 'that's what she said.' But he wasn't. Jim was barely listening, paying more attention to her lips as she spoke. "Yeah, that sounds like a plan."

He gently put a hand on her back. For balance. Really.

[keds-champion.livejournal.com]

Pam appreciated it. Because balance was important. Yup. Her mind went blank as her eyes darted over his face. She didn't even think about the pool filters, really.

"Unless you have a better idea?"

[fat-halpert.livejournal.com]

"I could kiss you," Jim said.

It was actually a terrible idea, but it was the only one in his mind at the moment.

[keds-champion.livejournal.com]

"What?"

Pam didn't hear that right. There was just no way. Not after all this time, or all their history, or...everything.

[fat-halpert.livejournal.com]

"I still love you. I never stopped loving you," Jim confessed. "I want to kiss you so much right now."

[keds-champion.livejournal.com]

Pam stared at him.

There were too many questions she could ask, and it was so complicated in so many ways.

Right now, she didn't care.

"So do it."

[fat-halpert.livejournal.com]

Jim did it.

It was wrong, he knew that even before he did it. He didn't care, though. He wouldn't care until later.

For now, he was just going to enjoy the kiss.

[keds-champion.livejournal.com]

Pam had forgotten this. On purpose. She'd driven thoughts of what this was like, of what he was like.

And with that first millisecond, it all came crashing back.

She didn't think about Roy or Karen. She didn't think about the kids, or the company.

Though she did briefly focus for a moment long enough to think that maybe Toby would make her fill out another HR form.

But then that was gone, and there was only the kiss. Pam Beesly Anderson was thirty-six years old and making out with her high school boyfriend.

[fat-halpert.livejournal.com]

Jim finally pulled away, his eyes closed so that he could linger on the memory of it. "I've missed that so much."

[keds-champion.livejournal.com]

"Me too," Pam whispered, still dizzy.

Her foot slipped, and she grabbed onto his arm out of instinct.

Oops.

[fat-halpert.livejournal.com]

And that's how they both ended up in the pool. "Graceful," Jim joked.

[keds-champion.livejournal.com]

Pam shoved one long, wet curl out of her face as she tread water. "You're the one who unbalanced me," she accused.

[fat-halpert.livejournal.com]

Jim's feet were on the bottom of the pool, so he just walked toward Pam. "The kiss was that good?"

[keds-champion.livejournal.com]

"Something like that," Pam said, reaching out to slide an arm around his neck.

[fat-halpert.livejournal.com]

"Let's try it again and see what happens," Jim said before kissing her again. Meanwhile, he reached down into the water to sweep her up into his arms so he could walk them out of the cold pool.

[keds-champion.livejournal.com]

Pam wrapped her other arm around his shoulders, pressing closer as she kissed him.

It was all different. They felt different. But it was still Jim, and still familiar.

[fat-halpert.livejournal.com]

Jim carried Pam to the edge of the pool and paused, pulling away from the kiss so they could actually get out. He lifted her so that she was sitting on the edge and took a moment to stare at her before trying to get out himsself. "God, you're beautiful. How did I let us break up in the first place?"

[keds-champion.livejournal.com]

Pam's smile faded a little. "It just happened. We were kids," she said softly.

And now they weren't kids anymore.

[fat-halpert.livejournal.com]

"Yeah," Jim said. He laughed a little and looked down at the water. The moment was over. "Really dumb kids."

[keds-champion.livejournal.com]

"We can't," she said quietly.

[fat-halpert.livejournal.com]

"I know," Jim said. "I'm sorry." He wasn't even sure if he was more sorry that they had come this far or that they couldn't go farther.

[keds-champion.livejournal.com]

She offered a little smile. "Me too. I just...." She shook her head, trailing off.

[fat-halpert.livejournal.com]

"I know," Jim said. He climbed out of the pool and sat on the edge, leaving a gap between them. "That was a mistake. A one time, stupid mistake. It'll never happen again." No matter how much he really wanted it to.

[keds-champion.livejournal.com]

"We're married." Saying it aloud made it real, kept her grounded, no matter how unhappy she might have been. "I can't. Not with my kids."

[fat-halpert.livejournal.com]

"No, of course not," Jim said. If it weren't for the kids, it would be different. "Just write this off and move on with our lives. But we can still be friends, right? Just friends who make sure they don't... make mistakes."

[keds-champion.livejournal.com]

She smiled a little. "Of course."

No, they probably wouldn't be.

[fat-halpert.livejournal.com]

"Good. I'm glad," Jim said. There was no way they would be able to. He wouldn't be able to stand it. "We should probably get out of here and change into dry clothes."

[keds-champion.livejournal.com]

"Right." Pam got up, grabbing her cell phone off the edge of the pool. "I'll...see you later, I guess. Look me up if you're ever in Scranton again."

[fat-halpert.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, definitely," Jim lied. "And, you know, if you're ever in New York..."

Jim wanted to at least say goodbye. He couldn't bring himself to do it, though. Instead he just waved as he headed back to the stairs.

[keds-champion.livejournal.com]

Pam took a couple minutes to compose herself, taking a few long, shaky breaths before heading up herself. And if her face seemed a little wetter than it had been, well, chlorine had always made her a little teary-eyed.