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1. Jim knows the new receptionist has a boyfriend, but he hasn't met anybody he liked as much as her in a really long time. The first time she "accidentally" breaks one of Dwight's bobbleheads, he knows it's true love. He's just waiting for her and Roy to break up so he can ask her out, and one day, when she comes back from lunch with her eyes red, like she's been crying, he's sure this is his chance. "Is everything okay?" he asks, and when she holds up her left hand, there's an engagement ring on it.

2. Phyllis throws Pam a shower when she gets engaged, and invites everyone from the office, but most of the men find excuses not to go, or to leave early. So after a half hour, Jim and Dwight are the only ones left at an event that's getting progressively girlier, and Jim can hardly stand to stay and see them make Pam a wedding dress out of toilet paper, but he can't bring himself to leave, either, so he settles for the compromise of staying, but getting really, really, really drunk. Which is why he ends up telling Dwight how he feels about Pam when they're both out in the yard -- a new low, in a lifetime of lows. He wakes up the next morning thinking, What have I done? and spends the entire rest of the day trying to think up ways to head Dwight off when he inevitably starts to spill the beans. But Dwight just never does. Sometimes Jim lies awake at night and thanks God for small mercies.

3. He decides to be a pussy (Mark's words) and write her a letter, to minimize awkwardness. "Dear Pam," he writes. "I'm in love with you. I know you're engaged, and I know this is really awkward, but here's the thing. If I've got a shot, just tell me. If not, neither of us ever have to mention this letter again." He mails it, and waits the three days he thinks it'll take to get to her house, and she doesn't say anything, and he waits a few more days, and she still doesn't, and after two weeks, he figures that's it, there's no chance. He doesn't realize what happened until the next year, when Pam's talking about missing bill payments and mentions that their old mailman really sucked and used to lose stuff all the time.

4. When Mark meets Pam at Jim's barbecue, he can't think why her name sounds so familiar until he suddenly remembers that she's the one Jim's totally in love with, and he says, "Oh, Pam! Right! Jim's totally in --" and then stops himself just in time, and lamely finishes, "-- the backyard. If, um, you were looking for him." She gives him a weird look, but doesn't press it, and Mark breathes a sigh of relief, because man, would Jim ever kick his ass.

5. The minister says "If any person can show just cause why they may not be joined together," and Jim shifts in his seat, ready to get up. His heart is pounding, and he looks at Pam, holding onto Roy's hands. The thing is, she looks really happy. "Let them speak now or forever hold their peace," the minister says, and he can't do it. The ceremony goes on.

1. At Poor Richard's, after the Christmas party, Pam's feeling pretty giggly, pretty happy. Jim's smiling at her like she's made his year, and he'd saved the hot sauce packet from two years ago, and he's sitting next to her, his leg pressing up against hers under the table, and she thinks this has already been the best Christmas party on record. Two beers later, she really has to pee, so she pushes at Jim's shoulder for him to let her out, and when he does he says, "Bathroom, good idea," and follows her to the back of the bar. She's just pushing open the door to the ladies' room when she feels Jim's hand on her shoulder. "Hey, Pam," he says, and she turns around, and then he's leaning down to kiss her, and their noses bump, and Pam has to realize what's been obvious for a really long time.

**

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