Author's Note: Hey everyone, welcome to my little story! This will follow Jim and Pam's first few months of dating starting from "The Job", or the season 3 finale to roughly the Season 4 premiere. It'll follow them following in love and all that fluffy goodness. I apologize if there's any errors. This is my first story about The Office so please be gentle in reviewing. Quick note, if her/she is italicized in Pam's point of view she's talking about Karen. If it's in Jim's point of view he's talking about Pam.

Thanks for taking the time to read and leave a review!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to The Office in the slightest. It all belongs to NBC and their respective parties. Besides I already have my own Jim anyway :)

Oh Summer, Love
By: Cardea Ceres

Summary: "It's a date" Set the summer after "The Job." Jim and Pam fall in love during a summer in Scranton, PA. What the cameras didn't capture.

"Never, ever, ever give up." – Michael Scott, "Booze Cruise"

Chapter One: The Job

She lies in her bed that night and wonders what he is up to in the great city. She wonders specifically what he is doing with her. Is he laughing with her? Is he looking into her eyes like he does with hers? Are they together in a bed in some hotel? Tossing and turning she eventually turns on the light, admitting that there's no use staying in the bed. She decides something to drink might help and upon entering the kitchen grabs a bottle of water from the refrigerator. Sighing she sips the water while looking at the clock in the kitchen: 4:35 am. Only another two hours until the drive over to the office, she figures out. Her mind goes a mile a minute going between being jealous of her, wanting to crumble because he was with her, and trying to rationalize it all so that the sting didn't hurt so much. There was no reason to attempt anymore sleep so she walks over to a corner of her kitchen that she hasn't been near in a while. She picks up a white plastic bag from a crafts store, one she had gotten when she moved into her own apartment, and unsurprisingly the arts supplies are still there: some brushes, boxes of colored pencils, and some paint. There's an easel resting against the wall as well. It was an impulsive buy with the thinking that since she was moving into a new place by herself for the first time, and putting Roy behind her, that she should start doing more of what she loved. She meant to paint more but life had gotten in the way. Now at four thirty-five in the morning it seemed as good a time as ever for life to stop getting in the way.

He wakes up at the sound of the alarm clock at six and instantly takes aim at the clock to turn the thing off. Opening his eyes, he yawns and wants to stay asleep knowing how important the day will be. His stomach is tied up in knots with the know that in the next few hours could be a game changer. If he got the job he'd have more money than he'd know what to do with but would have to uproot from all that he knew.

He looks over at her but finds that she isn't awake yet. This doesn't surprise him because it seems she can sleep through almost anything. She is a fun girl he admits to himself. She's not terrible; in fact, he knows that any guy would think he was crazy that he didn't love her. She's attractive, funny, driven, and caring. Still she never makes his heart beat a little faster or makes his stomach explode with butterflies. He always falls asleep with his arm around her because she likes it, but whenever he wakes up he's as far as he can be on the bed away from her. She is enough to make him forget from time to time about a certain receptionist and it kills him to know that she looks at him the exact way he looks at reception.

Setting up the easel, she carefully sets up her painting supplies. It's been a while since she's had to do this, but it's perfect like she has never stopped painting. With one stroke of the brush her troubles become a little smaller. Another stroke and another and her troubles decrease in size a little by little. Soon she is caught up in a world of paint and creation, not in a world wondering what he is doing.

He has breakfast with her at a corner café she points out to him. She knows a lot about the city he notices, but more so than just a casual traveler to the city. There's a love in her eyes for the city that he can't seem to feel. Could he possibly feel affection towards Scranton? The one place he's said over and over to the cameras that he would never spend his life in? Couldn't be.

There is something to look forward to at work, for once, besides Jim she admits. Dwight is now in charge and that alone breeds new possibilities for him to be messed with. After a moment at her desk he calls her into what is now his office. He comes close to complimenting her but instead insults her about the beach. He then goes on to explain his office politics, ending with a request that she be secret assistant regional manager, or well secret assistant to regional manager in Dwight's mind. Her excitement level goes through the roof at his request and doesn't blink an eye before saying absolutely she would. This would make today awesome. It's only when she later reveals to the camera her excitement over the meetings Dwight will now require everyone to attend to that a small wave of pain hits her. She wishes Jim were there to help her scheme.

He sees Jan getting epically fired from the company and he's left speechless. He wishes the dictionary had words for what he has just witnessed. It's then that he wants her there. There's a weird feeling when he turns his head over and it isn't her sitting next to him with a big smile on her face and ready with a comment.

Looking at his watch for what seems like the hundredth time he realizes he's going to be here a while. He tells her that she can go on and do something other than waiting with him if she wants. She, almost excitedly, admits that her friends are meeting downtown for lunch and she can now go with them. It hurts him that she's excited about leaving him there. She wouldn't have left, he knows, she would've stayed with him the whole time and made sure that he wasn't nervous. As if to put salt on the wound he hears the phone at reception go off. Instead of the usual name he expects it is Grace. It makes him feel a little hollow inside.

Michael comes back announcing to the office that he's back for good. She doesn't feel any surprise at this declaration waits until there's a quiet moment to ask if she got the job. Her question doesn't get an answer.

He's in the interview with David Wallace and he knows most likely he'll get the job. He's gone from the ninth best salesman in the company to third since the transfer, an impressive feat, but completely planned out. He has no intention of being number one and definitely not number two. The fact of Dwight being number one was a more entertaining image with his numerous phone numbers for clients to reach him by and power hungry streak. Dwight was much more committed to the company than he would ever be. Being number two would just mean he would be on Dwight's radar of destruction of the competition and being sabotaged by some outlandish method wasn't on his to-do list. Third was the place to be.

He knows his clients rate him highly and David obviously has a soft spot for him. He knows his record is spotless and he's young, a good investment for a company. They would get many years of work out of him and his image would be good for the company when they did a press release. When he had walked into the corporate office he was ready to take the job and start over completely. Scranton would become a distant memory that he would look fondly on years from now as per the plan he set up so many years ago: get a job for the moment and then find a real job that would take him somewhere. She had mentioned she would move up with him if he got the job and he figured it would be perfect. On paper he had everything according to everyone, why give it up? She wasn't her but she was close enough and she was a safe bet. On the other hand she had rejected him and that was the end of it. He would be making more money than he could ever imagine and he'd be in corporate New York City, something most people would kill for. His parents would be proud and he would just have to learn how to create a new life.

She looks into the camera and knows she has to put on a brave face. They ask her what the future holds and she honestly doesn't know. She knows she had fun with Dwight. She tries to convince herself that he is just too similar for them to work out and tries to lighten the question with a joke, which she then proceeds to make incredibly awkward.

Yet when he sees the gold Office Olympics medal Pam had attached to a note, within his file, telling him to remember them at the office, he knows his plan is ruined. Shot to hell. David mentions they want someone in for the long haul and he can only think about how he wants her for the long haul. David asks where he sees himself in ten years and the answer is obvious. He wants her as his wife, the mother of his children, the person he gets to wake up to everyday. That was the plan he had always had since the day he met her after all. Despite everything that has happened he still feels just as strongly about her now as the day they first met. His mind goes to the day at the beach where she had all but outright confessed her love for him. She had told him that Roy was a stupid mistake and that she missed him. It was everything he had wanted to hear since the Casino Night, but instead of running into her arms he had hugged her while she soaked her charred feet in the water and turned her down. What an idiot he was. He needed to go to Scranton and fix everything, now. He was going to make it happen because the girl of his dreams was finally available and ready to take a chance. He tells David that he's sorry but he withdraws himself from consideration. David is taken aback and beings to ask why but then it hits him and he smiles,

"Pam?"

"She's the one." He answers to David. David understands, shakes his hand, and wishes him luck. Smiling like an idiot he realizes he needs to find Karen. He knows he'll look like a jerk breaking up with her, but he knows she'll understand one day. They were just enough for each other, not soul mates. Rushing down the steps outside the corporate office he calls Karen and asks where she is. He practically runs to the fountain she describes a couple streets over. She waves at him and asks him how his interview went. He meets her eyes with a serious look and her smile turns to a frown. He's at a loss to tell Karen that she's an amazing girl but he has to go to Scranton. It has become his home against his will and his deepest wishes. Home had become wherever Pam was. Karen tries to make the situation by jokingly asking if he didn't get the job, but isn't prepared for when he says he withdrew his name from consideration. It's in that moment she realizes why he made that choice. She explodes in anger and asks him if it's about Scranton, unable to say her name. The only thing he can do is nod because he knows he can't verbally explain himself right now. Her eyes instantly fill with tears and the area becomes an echoing ground for her asking why he even bothered with her and led her on all this time. He takes all this like a solider because he knows he deserves it. He did do her wrong.

He drives like a madman to Scranton. He checks the clock every two seconds to make sure he'll get to the office before she leaves work. He's sure he is breaking every traffic law and prays that any cop on the road won't check his speed. After what seemed like forever he pulls into the familiar parking lot and presses the elevator up button.

His heart is pounding as he stands in the elevator which is going at a snail's pace, he swears. Finally it reaches the floor he wants and he can feel the sweat collecting on his brow. He reminds himself that he's asked out plenty of girls before, but he also reminds himself that this was the most important girl he would ever ask out in his life. No one even looks up at him when he enters the office and he doesn't even notice this rare feat because he can only see Pam being interviewed in the conference room. He takes a deep breath and opens the door.

She knows now that Jim most likely got the job. She isn't stupid. She knows he's everything coroporate wants and she doesn't blame them in the slightest. He probably was out celebrating at this moment with her. That was the only plus she could think of in this situation, that she wouldn't have to see her again. At the same time she comes to terms that she might never see him again trying to believe things would be okay and they'd be just friends. Once in a while they would call each other when a random thing popped up that reminded one of the other. Christmas cards would be exchanged but nothing more. Continuing she tries to convince herself they just never got the timing right and that she will be okay. She would not go home today and cry until her eyes could give any more tears.

Popping his head in, he says

"Pam," he says interrupting the interview and then adds to the camera crew, "Sorry, ah, are you free for dinner tonight?" he ends the sentence directing it to Pam.

"Yes." She says immediately. It brings an instant grin to his face.

"Alright then it's a date."

Suddenly it is as if every Christmas morning in her entire life came at her in that moment. The reality of what has just happened hits her and it's impossible to hide the grin from the camera. Before she can stop them there's tears in her eyes, but they're the good kind. The kind people only attain when what they achieve something that seems like a near impossibility.

"I'm sorry what was the question?"