"Oh, man," said Ryan. "This is a sweet set-up." He ran a hand lovingly over the shiny surface of the speaker to the right of the large-screen TV that filled most of the living room, then turned his envious gaze to the Xbox 360 and the shelves of games just above it.

"Yeah," said Jim nonchalantly.

"Are you sure she won't mind?" Ryan asked.

Alertness snapped back into Jim's eyes. "What? Oh, no. She said we could make ourselves at home while she and Pam are out. She said not to wait up," he finished slowly, his gaze once again becoming unfocused.

"Oh, man," repeated Ryan, an edge of barely controlled obsession in his voice as he pulled a game off the shelf. "She has Call of Duty. I think I'm in love." He shot a glance at Jim. "Kidding," he said.

But Jim hadn't noticed.

Ryan put the game in the Xbox 360 and went to get a plate of snacks while the game was loading. "Who else is coming?" he asked.

"Mark is on the phone in the other room," said Jim. "And I invited Toby and Kevin, but I'm not sure they'll show."

Ryan froze. "Um…where were you when you invited Toby?"

"The break room," Jim said. "Why?"

Heaving a sigh, Ryan picked up a pop can and headed for the couch. "No reason," he said.

Jim eyed him carefully. "Kelly was in the break room," he said, and Ryan's face went completely blank.

"But she left before Toby came in," said Jim.

Ryan sighed again.

Jim grinned and shook his head. "Why are you still with her?"

Ryan shot him a look of disbelief mixed with a touch of disdain. "Are you kidding? Breaking up with a coworker?"

Jim turned his back to Ryan and busied himself at the counter with his plate of snacks.

"My advice to anyone who is even remotely thinking about an office romance is 'forget about it,'" Ryan pronounced. "You go there, and there go the best years of your life. With no end in sight."

The doorbell rang. "I'll get it," Jim said quickly.

Toby stood at the door, looking a little out of place. "Hey, Jim," he said. "Thanks for the invitation."

"Glad you could make it," said Jim.

"I'm gonna warn you in advance that I'm terrible at video games," Toby said.

"Me, too," said Jim. "The only skill I have is because Karen trained me."

Ryan was picking out a game configuration. "I believe the word she uses is 'schooled,'" he said.

"Where is Karen?" Toby asked, looking around. "This is her house, right?"

"It is," said Jim. "And she's out tonight, but she's letting us use the place in her absence."

"That's nice of her," said Toby. "Too bad she couldn't make it. I've heard she's the master."

"Who told you that?" said Jim, with a glance at Ryan.

"She did," Toby replied. "Oh, by the way, while I'm thinking about it, do you have that paperwork done yet?"

"No..." said Jim.

"Well, I'd like to have that by the end of the week, if you don't mind."

Jim lowered his voice. "You may not need it by the end of the week."

Toby searched Jim's face. Jim nodded.

"Ah," Toby said. It was his turn to look unfocused.

"We're ready," Ryan called, standing up from his place as the sole occupant of the couch. "I'm going to go find Mark."

Jim grinned at Toby. "Brace yourself—we're about to be slaughtered."

Sure enough, after Mark appeared and took his place, the Nazis were rapidly destroying the Allied army—or at least the part of the army represented by Jim and Toby. Jim was maneuvering well, but slowly. Toby was getting stuck in corners a lot.

"Beaten by the Axis powers," muttered Toby.

"For now," said Jim. "But maybe we're the French in the early stages of the war. So, you know, later the rest of the Allies rally and come to our rescue."

"You're Americans," said Ryan. "That's how I set you up."

Jim raised his eyebrow at Toby, who shrugged in response. "It's an alternate universe," said Jim. "There's no other explanation."

"How about 'You suck'?" Ryan offered casually.

Mark laughed. "You sound like Karen," he said. "Maybe she's with the wrong guy, huh, Jim?"

"Yeah, maybe," Jim replied.

Ryan looked up. "You do not want to break up with Karen."

"Because of the office romance thing?"

"Well, yeah, and because she's…" Ryan looked back at the screen and gestured expressively with his controller.

"I'll keep that in mind," said Jim.

Ryan muttered something under his breath and stared at the screen darkly, jabbing at buttons with an unnecessary amount of force.

"Office romances are difficult," said Toby. Jim looked at him curiously. "From an HR standpoint, I mean," Toby continued. "They're…distracting. I'm sure you guys know what I mean."

Ryan's jaw twitched and Jim opened his mouth to respond, but the sound of the doorbell cut him off. With an apologetic shrug at Toby, he got up to answer it.

"Pam," he said in surprise, and three heads turned towards the door.

"Hi," said Pam. She was standing on the doormat, hands twisting around a damp tissue that would have betrayed she had been crying if there hadn't already been red streaks running down her face.

He looked over her shoulder towards the street. "I didn't think you'd be back so soon," he said.

"She's not," said Pam. "Back. Just me. I had to…." She stopped, and he saw she was shivering.

"Want to come in?" he asked.

"No," she said, "but…."

He waited, studying her face intently.

"Could you come out?"

He stared at her, and she took a step back.

"I mean, if you're not in the middle of something. You're probably…oh, yeah, video game night…I completely forgot. Hey, listen, I'm sorry, I'll just…."

Jim held up a hand and she stopped. He leaned back into the house, grabbed a coat, and stepped across the threshold.

He looked at her and shrugged.

"Can we walk?" she asked.

"I'm ready if you are," he said.