I Knew It, I Always Did (Pam/Karen)
Title: I Knew It, I Always Did
For: femslash100's aroundtheclock
Claim: The Office, Pam Beesly
Prompt: 17:00 / finite
Pairing: Pam/Karen
Word Count: 216
Rating: PG
Summary: This was meant to end.

Disclaimer: Not mine. Don't sue.

*

This was meant to end.

Pam knew that from the beginning, and that's why she almost didn't let it start. But her and Karen's friendship slipped into Something Else so effortlessly that it barely felt like a risk, silencing the terrified part of her.

(She loses either way, she always loses.)

This was meant to end.

Pam knows this, so she doesn't miss seeing Karen's clothes in her drawer, doesn't miss waking up to her, doesn't think of the conversations about nothing.

(Or the conversations about everything.)

This was meant to end.

Because Karen's not Jim, and Pam still doesn't know what she wants. It seems like she has a million ways to make herself unhappy, and the key to finally feeling content is a figment of her imagination. This Jim, this perfect love, this thing that he doesn't seem to have for her anymore.

(There's someone out there who can love her when she's ready for it, there has to be.)

This was meant to end.

Karen wasn't supposed to be the one to solve everything; to heal her broken heart; to give her a reason to be okay with what she wants; to stay.

(What she was supposed to be is still a mystery.)

This was meant to end.

(Everything that's like love does.)

END