I'm really not too sure about this one, but I had to pay off the flamingo runner somewhere-- Hallo Jack

FINAL Phase: Forever Breathes the Lonely Word

Jim couldn't lie about it, his time in Stamford had changed him. He'd grown up, had to take his position more seriously. The pranks hadn't stopped, but they were fewer and farther between. He was thinking about his future with Dunder-Mifflin these days, two words that he'd previously thought were mutually exclusive.

He turned another corner onto another street, cursing once again the fact that you can only put so much distance between yourself and your past when your stuck back in the town you were raised. When you knew every street, you couldn't get lost (not really) no matter how hard you tried.

He couldn't even get away from the camera crew.

For hours he wandered, his iPod set to shuffle so he wouldn't have to think about what song he wanted to listen to, as he traced and re-traced the all too familiar paths of faded grays and dying browns that made up the Pennsylvanian landscape that peaked out from underneath the crisp white snow that covered the whole drab watercolor scene.

The old Jim didn't jog, he thought glumly.

As he once again comes within a few minutes walk of his house, his favorite song found its way into his earbuds, which he took as being as good as sign to call it a day as any.

He could feel Scranton all around him. Under his feet, in the chilled air around him. This was his past. This was the place where he had been king for a day.

This was, as much he might try to escape from it, where he belonged.

As he closed the distance he had just spent the better part of his Saturday putting between himself and his house, he noticed something completely unexpected.

Dotting the snow-blanketed field that was his front yard were what seemed to be a least a hundred lawn flamingos, each one painted with the familiar flag Pam had designed for him last year. A banner hung over his door that read "Happy Independence Day, Jim."

His breath stopped. He didn't know when she could have found the time to get this all done, but he knew she must have done it all herself.

He wondered if he should knock before entering his own house and he wondered if he had any tea.