〔𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 ; 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯〕
〔𝘥𝘸𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵'𝘴 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘦𝘤𝘩.〕

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THE SILENCE WILLOW ENJOYED WHILE WORKING was interrupted by Michael coming out of his office, football in hand and pumped with energy.

"Everybody! It's football time!" the regional manager shouted excitedly. Willow silently groaned to herself and put her palm on her face.

"Michael! Throw it to me!" Dwight exclaimed. Michael tossed the ball in Dwight's direction, narrowly missing the back of Willow's head.

"Can you watch out? I'm trying to work here." Willow called out. 

"Sorry!" Dwight said as he tossed the ball back to Michael.

"Listen, listen. Let's think this through. If we ask Corporate for that then..." Michael trailed off as he threw the ball back to Dwight.

"They are either going to say yes or no." Dwight retaliated; tossing the ball back to Michael.

"Could go either way. We don't know what they are going to say."

"Think it through."

"Have to think it through. Because if they say no..." as Michael attempted to toss the ball back to Dwight, it landed on Jim's desk, knocking some of his tchotchkes over.

"Can we not?" Jim asked, annoyed.

"No, yes we have to! You wanna know why? Because I don't like to be cooped up in that office. In that box all day long. Heismann! Because I need to think. Okay, Jim?" Michael rambled. 

"Well could you 'think' somewhere else? Not where you can hit people?" Willow rebutted.

"Oh, Kevin! Ooh!" Michael tossed the ball across the office to Kevin, ignoring Willow. Rolling her eyes, the brunette looked face down at an expense report, trying her best to concentrate. The sound of paper rustling and Michael running in place hindered the concentration, however.

"Oscar! Intercepted!" Michael tried to toss the ball over to Oscar when Jim caught it. 

"Right here, give it to me." Jim faked giving Michael the ball before tossing it lightly to Phyllis. She imitated Jim's action when he asked her for the ball and tossed it over to Creed. 

"Creed give me the ball! Right now give it to me." Michael pleaded as he walked over to him. Creed tossed the ball to Ryan who was walking presumably back to his desk. 

Willow jumped at the sound of Dwight yelling. She looked over and saw that he tackled Ryan in an attempt to grab the ball. Grabbing it, Dwight continued yelling and pushed Creed and Stanley over and ran back to Michael.

"Hut, hut, hut, hike!" Dwight assumed a snap position and tossed the ball back to Michael, narrowly missing Willow for the second time. 

"Dwight, be careful." she scolded. 

"Sorry." Dwight pouted.

"You alright, Ryan?" Michael asked after catching the ball.

"Yeah..." he said from the floor. Sighing, Michael turned and tossed the ball to Pam, energy back as soon as it left.

♡

Willow put her head down and sighed to herself; bored from work. She looked over to Jim and Dwight, as always, engaged in some sort of petty argument.

"Oh. DVD Burner! Maybe I should get one of those. You are so lucky, Jim. You are so lucky you don't have this problem. What was the 9th place prize again? A loaf of bread?" Dwight asked smugly.

"Cugino's Pizza." Jim replied.

"Oh, great. Tasty, terrific pizza. Hmm. Question: Do their pizzas play DVDs?"

"Good for you, Dwight." Willow murmured, telling herself to get up and continue working.

♡

"Apparently Dwight won some award for being the top salesman at the company. He got money and he's being honored at a convention. And he asked me to come with him and Michael since he has a big speech to do. Am I happy he asked me to come? I guess. It'll be good to be there for him." Willow explained, trying to hide a smile of excitement.

♡

"I still can't believe you're gonna be gone for the day!" 

"Sorry Jim, he asked me to go and I'm not really one to say no. I'm not looking forward to being stuck in the car with Michael for like a half hour." 

The Halperts stood near the water cooler engaged in conversation. Willow drank from her water as she set the thermostat to 67 degrees. 

"Please let me know how it goes!" Jim mock-pleaded.

"Of course! Dwight has to make a speech and Michael is going to be Michael. So, pretty eventful." Willow giggled.

After their short water cooler conversation, both siblings returned to their respective desks and tried to get more work done.

♡

"As your leader and your friend, I sort of demand that you can all speak in public as I can, and did, twice." 

Michael gathered everyone into the conference room for a meeting about public speaking. This was in an attempt to help out Dwight with his speech at the convention, after he tried to make a speech but unfortunately failed since he began to say harmful comments in his fabricated little 'speech.' 

"Alright. We're all going to go around the room and we're going to make toasts. And that way, we will overcome our fear of public speaking." Michael continued.

"You mean Toastmasters?" Pam asked.

"Pam! I'm public speaking. Stop public interrupting me. Actually, this would be good practice for your wedding toast."

"Yeah, the bride doesn't really do... Have you ever been to a wedding?"

"I'll go." Willow volunteered. 

"Alright! Willow taking the initiative! You gonna make a speech about... about working in the Devil Wears Prada?" Michael held in a laugh as Willow made her way to the front of the room, facing her coworkers.

"I'd like to make a toast to... to these blinds. They helped me through a lot of tough times, and I just wanna say thank you," Willow began, pretending to hold up a flute of champagne (and locking eyes with Dwight). "So, cheers to the blinds!" 

"Woohoo! Give it up for the blinds and Willow Halpert!" Michael cheered as the conference room erupted into minimal applause. She sat in her seat adjacent to Jim; who silently clapped in her face. Snickering, she smacked his hands away from her. 

"Can I go?" Jim asked.

"Of course! Both Halperts taking the initiative, good for you two!" Michael clapped as Jim walked up to the front of the room.

"So, uh... I am going on a trip. But not really sure where I'm going yet. It's kind of open-ended. So I was hoping maybe you guys would have some suggestions?" Jim asked. 

"You should go to Hedonism." Kevin suggested.

"What is that?"

"It's like Club Med, but everything is naked."

"I was thinking more like Europe. Or something like that. But, good second choice." Jim looked over at Willow and Pam ans shrugged.

"Been to Amsterdam." Toby said.

"Oh ho, okay. You know what? That's not a toast. You're not standing up." Michael complained.

"To Amsterdam." Toby murmured, pretending to lift a flute of champagne.

"Amsterdam sounds cool! When did you go?" Willow asked.

"After my divorce... Yeah."

"For how long?" Jim asked.

"Uh, about a week. Er... um... maybe a month. I uh can't..." 

"Jimmy, listen to me. You do not want to go to Amsterdam. Trust me." Creed declared, cutting Toby off.

"Where do I want to go?"

"I'd send you to Hong Kong."

Eventually, Jim stopped taking suggestions from his coworkers and returned to his seat.

"I didn't know you wanted to take a trip, why didn't you tell me?" Willow whispered.

"I was gonna, I just now decided I wanted to go."

"Okay, Dwight. Show us what you have learned today." Michael said.

"Um, Good Morning Vietnam! Okay. You know what? This isn't working. Because I'm not nervous in front of them. They're my subordinates." Dwight responded.

"No we're not." Jim said.

"Uh, yes you are. I'm Assistant Regional Manager."

"Which means absolutely nothing."

"Michael, can you explain?"

"Well, it's mostly made up, so..."

♡

Everybody eventually left the conference room and went back to their work. Jim began looking online for places to go for his trip.

"Dwight. If you could travel anywhere in the world where would you go?" he asked.

"I can travel anywhere except Cuba. And I will travel to New Zealand. And walk the 'Lord of the Rings' trail to Mordor. And then I will hike Mount Doom. So... no... just leave me alone." Dwight replied.

"Dwight, he was just trying to get suggestions for places to go." Willow scolded.

"Oh please. He's not taking any trip!" Dwight declared. The desk clump fell silent as the three carried on with what they were doing.

"You know I majored in Public Speaking in college." Jim said.

"You did?" 

"He did." Willow said while throwing a small wink to her brother.

"Mhm. And the first thing they teach you is that you've got to be true to yourself. And you are all about authority." 

'Damn right he is...' Willow thought, covering her mouth and softly biting her lip.

"Yes I am." 

"The great speakers throughout history were not joke tellers. They were people of passion. So if you want to do well today, you got to do what they did."

"Which is?"

"You've got to wave your arms and you've got to pound your fists. Many times. It's supposed to emphasize your point."

"Trust me, I was there for Jim's final exam and he got an A-Plus using those techniques." Willow chimed in with a smirk.

♡

"It's time, Dwight. The Grim Reaper is here." Michael called out, ready to go. He stood, grabbed his briefcase and followed Michael out. Motioning to Willow to follow him, she stood and gave a small wave to Jim and Pam.

"The very best of luck to you, Dwight." Angela exclaimed, earning a silent 'ugh' from Willow.

"Thank you, Angela." Dwight replied. Willow walked in front of him and began to take the stairs down to the first floor, rolling her eyes. 

♡

The three arrived at the convention center after a two hour car ride consisting of Michael and Dwight singing every other song on the radio and Willow wanting to jump out of the window onto the highway.

Willow exited the car and walked over to Dwight and Michael. He quickly grabbed her hand and the two silently followed their boss inside the convention center. 

"How are you feeling?" Willow asked softly. 

"I don't know... I'm nervous I guess." Dwight said with a shrug. 

"It'll be okay, I know you can do it."

"Thank you Willow." Dwight squeezed her hand lightly as she gave him a small smile.

♡

"Next, I'd like to introduce the Dunder Mifflin Salesman of the Year, Dwight Schrute!" the host of the convention announced. The hall erupted in applause, awaiting the speech Dwight was going to give. Unfortunately, Dwight froze in his seat, petrified.

"Dwight, they called your name." Michael whispered.

"No, I can't. I..." Dwight stuttered. 

"Alright. You know what? Okay. No. No problem. You are lucky you have me here. I'm going to cover for you." Michael got out of his seat and ran to the stage and up to the microphone. 

"GOOD MORNING VIETNAM!" Michael screamed into the microphone (earning a sigh from Willow). As Michael began ranting to the crowd in order buy Dwight some time, Willow put her hand on Dwight's and turned to face him.

"Hey, listen to me. You're gonna do great, okay?" Willow said. 

"But... but there's so many people. What if I mess up?"

"Dwight, it's a speech for the best paper salesmen. I think you'll do fine. Just remember Jim's tips and you'll be great."

"Okay. I think I can do it. Thank you so much Willow." Dwight gave her a small hug and walked up to the stage.

"Alright, Dwight Schrute everyone!" Michael announced quickly before returning to his seat. He took out a piece of paper and placed it on the podium, breathing heavily. He looked up and locked eyes with Willow, who smiled and gave him a small thumbs up. 

Banging his fists on the podium, Dwight exclaimed: "Blood alone moves the wheels of history!" 

'Oh my God he's so cute.' Willow thought to herself. 

"Have you ever asked yourselves in an hour of meditation, which everyone finds during the day, how long we have been striving for greatness?" Dwight continued, waving an arm in the air. Willow clapped with the rest of the crowd, simultaneously amused and proud of Dwight.

"Not only the years we've been at war, the war of work, but from the moment as a child when we realized that the world could be conquered. It has been a lifetime's struggle. A never-ending fight. I say to you and you'll understand that it is a privilege to fight!" Dwight waved his arms and banged on the podium once more.

"Woo!" Willow shouted as everyone applauded once more. 

"We are warriors!" 

"Yeah!" Cheers and applause grew louder as Dwight continued his speech. 

"No revolution is worth anything unless it can defend itself. Some people will tell you salesman is a bad word. They'll conjure up images of used car dealers and door to door charlatans. This is our duty: to change their perception. I say salesmen... and women of the world unite! We must never acquiesce for it is together, together, that we prevail! We must never cede control of the motherland! For it is..."

"Together we will prevail!" Willow and the crowd repeated. She noticed Michael stand and try to sneak away.

"Michael, what are you doing?" she scolded.

"Bathroom." Michael muttered as he walked away faster.

"Dick." Willow muttered as she joined the crowd in applauding Dwight.

♡

"Thank you! Have a nice night!" Dwight shouted. The speech went on for another twenty minutes until the host told him to stop. He jumped off the stage and ran over to Willow, who gave him a standing ovation.

"I'm so proud of you!" she exclaimed. 

"I did it!" Dwight cheered while picking her up and spinning her around. 

"Oh my god!" Willow squealed, beaming. After putting her down, the two left the hall to go and find Michael.

"I really am proud of you, Dwight. You did great." Willow said. 

"Thank you Willow." 

The two eventually walked to the bar area of the center, where Michael sat with a scotch in front of him. 

"There you are. What happened?" Dwight asked.

"I got thirsty. How'd it go?" Michael lied. Willow looked at the camera and slightly shook her head.

"It was amazing. I wish you would have been there." Dwight said.

"He did great." Willow replied.

"Okay. Well, you would not believe what happened here." Michael bragged. 

"What? Something happened?" Dwight asked.

"Have fun, I have to go to the bathroom." Willow said. As Michael began telling some bizarre story, Willow walked off to find a bathroom. She took out her cellphone and began typing out a text message to Jim to tell him what happened. 

After sending the message, Willow found a line to the bathroom. She went to stand behind a smaller woman wearing a bucket hat. Catching a glimpse of blonde hair and familiar clothing, it dawned on Willow who this person was.

'You've got to be fucking kidding me. Angela's here?' Willow thought to herself, rolling her eyes.