Work Text:
Jan doesn’t visit Stamford as often as she feels the need to check in on Scranton, probably because work actually gets accomplished there. Still, she does show up sometimes and then she stops by Jim’s desk and asks him appropriate questions about how he’s doing and tells him a fragment of the news from Scranton that he won’t let himself ask about.
One day, when Jan leaves, Karen asks isn’t Dwight the guy Jim sent that metal detector to and told it was a gaydar machine?”
Jim gives her a mischievous little smile and proceeds to tell her about the time that Dwight found a joint in the parking lot.
Karen claims she doesn’t believe him. He takes the bait and dares her to take a trip down to Scranton and see for herself. She gives him reasons she can’t that she knows he will shoot down.
Karen drives. Her black jetta has leather interior. She punches Jim hard when she spots out of state license plates before him; she usually does too. He gets her back by discovering the cd binder she had tried to conceal under the seat, putting the Spice Girls album tucked behind two other discs on and singing loudly along. Karen bribes him to shut up with a milkshake.
They walk into the Scranton office, laughing but then suddenly there’s an eerie silence as they are suddenly facing the receptionist’s desk.
“Hey Beasley,” Jim says, the awkward tone of a 14 year old boy at a school dance on him lips.
Michael is just as inappropriate as Karen’s ever been told. She can see him nodding towards her from his office when he’s dragged Jim. Pam sees her notice and tells Karen not to mind Michael, and that it’s easier if you think of him as a child like Jan’s taught her to do.
It isn’t until then that the wheels start turning really in Karen’s head. Kelly and Michael broadcast dirty laundry like it’s the latest fashion and Karen would have to be blind not to see the writing on the wall, but Pam and Jim mock each other and that’s something.
The afternoon they spend in Scranton is awkward at the time, hilarious as it becomes relived on the ride home. By the time they reach Stamford Jim has gotten Karen to sing along to “Just a Girl” and instead of dropping Jim off at his car they go to Chili’s, in honor of Michael, of course.
Somewhere around a dozen margaritas later, they both are glad Jim’s apartment is close to the Chili’s. Stamford doesn’t have much of a cab service to speak of.
Jim offers to sleep on the couch but Karen tells him chivalry is dead. When he’s spooned against her it’s easier not to think about the way he stared out the window the first 13 exits out of Scranton. He tastes like tequila and man when he gives her a single sloppy kiss before falling asleep, nestled against her breast.
On Monday Karen kills Jim 28 times in Call of Duty. On Friday Jim hangs around past 5 and mentions he’s thinking about heading over to the pub around the corner from her apartment. It’s almost 6 because certain other salesmen seemed reluctant to leave as well. She takes the bait.
This time neither of them is drunk enough to really explain why he doesn’t end up going home. Explanations aren’t really in order when there’s nudity though. It’s sort of a universal sign.