Revelations

They've settled into a kind of routine. To Jim's great relief both she and Grace had seemed to recover quickly, though it seemed to take a while for Pam to get off her hormonal roller coaster. There were still times he had to stop and think, afraid that whatever came out of his mouth would send her into a rage, or make her erupt into tears.

They weren't entirely sure they weren't screwing the baby up beyond belief but they were both confident they were doing their best.

At least that's what they told themselves.

He remembers earlier in the evening, how he's stumbled in on them and was awed by the sight.

Forget TV or video games. Watching them has become his favorite pastime.

He stands at the doorway of their bedroom. Pam was holding Grace and singing, her voice so off key it's adorable.

She sensed him there and stopped swaying for a moment. She grinned up at him and wrinkled her nose. "Lullabies are kinda creepy."

Jim nods in agreement. "Yeah you know the whole putting a cradle in a tree and having it fall down thing? Doesn't seem all that comforting."

"I know. And the one my mother used to sing me - about the father going out to kill a rabbit so that the mother can wrap its skin around the baby?" Pam shivers. "That's totally gross."

"So. If we've ruled out falling cradles and rabbit buntings what are you singing to her?" He asks as he moves to sit on the edge of the bed.

"You mean you couldn't tell?" She blushes a bit, suddenly embarrassed. "It's My Girl."

"Nothing wrong with a little Motown." Jim smiles adoringly.

Pam face lights up as she smiles back. "No there isn't."

It's two in the morning and he wakes out of a sound sleep, realizing she's not beside him. A quick glance around the room tells Jim she's fallen asleep in the rocking chair. He tiptoes over, picks Grace up and hushes her when she cries weakly. He lays her gently in her crib and presses a kiss to her forehead.

He moves back to the chair and lifts Pam in his arms, carrying her in much the same way he'd just carried his daughter.

"Tired." She mumbles against his neck.

"I know." He nods as he tucks her in, lightly kissing her temple.

He steps back and looks from his child to his wife and it's then that he knows.

He knows now exactly when he fell in love.

It was on the day she'd first met him...

…And when she smiled as he teased her about her yogurt.

…And when she'd paid attention to the kind of jellybeans he liked

…And when she'd let him take her through the drive-through for dinner

…And when she'd called him from the warehouse as Dwight hid in a cardboard box

…And when she'd told him his future was with Angela in Antarctica

…And when she'd fallen asleep on his shoulder in the conference room

…And when she'd had too many margaritas, kissed him and then slid off a barstool

…And when she'd shared grilled cheese sandwiches with him up on the roof

…And when she'd made fake announcements on the drug store's PA system

…And when she'd taken all his money in poker

…And when she'd told him she'd made a mistake and that she was scared she was too late

…And when she'd kissed him senseless right after she let him slide the ring on her finger

…And when she'd locked him out of the hotel room wearing only a sheet

…And when he'd felt like he'd been torn in two as they wheeled her into surgery

…And when she'd given him the greatest gift he'd ever received in his life.

As he crawls into bed beside her he knows for certain. He knows now that there wasn't one precise moment. It was something that he'd just always intrinsically known.

They are two halves of a whole - two sides of the same coin. Two people who just happened to work grow up in the same town but not meet until they'd both wound up in the same wacky office.

It was fate - destiny.

It sounds corny and clichéd but he doesn't care.

Pam shifts in her sleep, snuggling against him.

Though there were times he thought it would never happen he knows now for sure.

He wouldn't have believed it if you'd told him before but he knows now that there was never a chance that things wouldn't have ended up the way they did.

He pulls her closer and places a kiss on her hair, breathing her in.

He knows now that it had never been a matter of why or how.

It had only been a matter of when.