Title: Punished

Rating: T for safety – Dwight abuse and Jim and Dwight friendship.

Pairing: None really… Pam/Jim kind of thing and Jim/Dwight friendship, I think only friendship.

Warnings: Dwight abuse, but that is pretty Cannon. Spoilers for episodes "Broke" and "Casual Friday".

Summary: Takes place after / during "Broke and Casual Friday". Michael is regional manager of Dunder Mifflin Scranton once again and is set on punishing Dwight for his "betrayal". Feeling it is unfair, Dwight asks Jim to teach him how to stand up to Michael.

"Michael, I said I'm sorry-"

"Sorry, sorry isn't enough Dwight. You betrayed me." Michael's voice was petty, angry and Dwight helplessly shook his head.

"You left, you wanted me to do things that I wasn't comfortable with-"

"That's never stopped you before, Dwight."

That was actually true, Dwight had lost count of the things he'd done for Michael that he was uncomfortable with, but this was different. Charles had… had treated him with respect and went out with him and never called him an idiot. Not at first anyways. He looked down at the ground, "Please Michael, I didn't want to lose my job."

"You… you need to be punished."

His shoulders tensed and he fought hard to keep his eyes down. He didn't enjoy submitting and he knew he was in the right here. Michael's ideas of punishment always varied and Dwight wasn't sure he could handle the humiliation right now, not after the one he had so recently suffered at Charles' hands. He gave it another try, "Michael, please, I was only doing what-"

"Shouldn't you be crawling on the floor by now? That's… that's what you should be doing, you should be begging for your job."

He clenched his fist and found it hard to talk for a moment at how unfair it was, he gave everything to this company, to Michael and all he did was get beat down like a dog. "No one else is begging for their job." He glanced out through the blinds and could see more than a few people watching them and was shaking his head without meaning to.

"So you don't care? After everything I've done for you, you just turned on me and you don't think you did anything wrong?"

Anger was forefront but Dwight knew that he was fighting tears and he hated that Michael was able to reduce him to this. He had no idea why he couldn't stand up for himself, what drove him to give in to Michael over and over. He finally glanced up, hoping to catch Michael in a moment of real emotion, of being a decent person. "Charles thought that I was-"

"You know what? Go sit in the corner."

"I… what?"

Michael pointed towards the sales floor in the general area of the far side, "The corner. Go sit in it."

"I'm not going to sit in the corner Michael, I have work to do-"

"Go sit in the corner or leave."

He involuntarily made a helpless sound that he hated, because he wouldn't leave, they both knew that. Michael raised an eyebrow at him, condescending and arrogant and he finally turned in an angry huff. He stalked through the door, resisted the urge to slam it because it would only encourage Michael to think of something more humiliating, and headed towards the corner. He ignored everyone watching him and he sat down, crossing his legs and resting his head on his arm.

They should know by now, they did know by now but still Jim leaned back in his chair, "Dwight?"

"What?"

"What are you doing?"

"Michael told me-"

"No talking! Face the wall."

He hadn't seen Michael come out and he ground down his teeth, fighting back a response, aware that it wouldn't get him anywhere. He did temporarily meet Jim's eyes, frowning at the sympathy on his face, at the way he shook his head. It was still better than the disappointed looks he got when Jim tried to get him to stand up for himself and he didn't. Jim was shaking his head harder, telling him not to do it but he awkwardly shuffled until he was facing the wall, resting his head on his arm again.

He really wished he could be working, he had calls to make, and he felt beyond foolish being punished like a child. In fact, he was going to get up right now and go back to his desk but he didn't move, staring at the wall. Why did Michael treat him like he was an idiot, he was awesome at his job, he was the top salesman, and Michael came to him for advice more times than he could count. Not that Michael would admit it.

After a while he could see shoes in his peripheral but ignored them. He realized it was kind of sad that he recognized Jim just by his shoes. "Go away."

"I thought Michael said no talking." He was right and he frowned into his arm and shrugged his shoulders in response. "Come on Dwight, this is ridiculous." He didn't answer, "Dwight, get off the floor."

He shook his head, tucking himself closer in, and wondered why Jim was even trying. The last few weeks he had done everything he could to make Jim look bad in front of Charles, and at the very least Jim could be mocking him. He knew that Jim didn't have any problem with teasing him, but he seemed to back off every time Michael was punishing him. "Fine." He should have been leaving but he knelt down until he was eye level with him, "But you get up and go back to your desk and I'll back Michael down if he has a problem with it, okay?"

Getting saved by Jim was just as humiliating as being punished so he shook his head. There was a hand on his shoulder, brief enough that he wouldn't have had a chance to protest even if he'd been allowed to talk, and then Jim was gone.

Another twenty minutes later and he risked a glance over his shoulder – Michael wasn't even paying attention. He needed to do his work, make his calls, and unbidden his eyes landed on Jim. His eyes stayed there until he looked up, and when he realized Dwight was watching him he nodded his head towards his chair, raising an eyebrow.

Dwight glanced towards Michael's office again and sighed, and after another quick glance to Jim which he would never admit was for moral support, he did get up and head towards his desk. He had only just reached it, trying to make as little commotion as possible, when Michael noticed.

He was out of his office in seconds, and Dwight grimaced, sure that this time he was going to end up on the ground begging. He hated begging. He never made it to him though. As promised Jim was on his feet, intercepting him before he reached Dwight. "Can I help you Michael?"

"I need to talk to Dwight." His voice was mean and Dwight found himself unhappily looking down at his desk.

"He's got a lot of work to do, maybe you should let him do it."

Michael hated being called out on what he shouldn't be doing, and he snapped out, "He betrayed me and-"

Jim's voice lowered, serious, "You need to be reasonable here. You asked him to hurt Dunder Mifflin by giving you leads, to compromise his integrity. How about instead of being angry that he didn't, you are thankful you have an employee that is that loyal to his company?"

"Well I didn't…"

"He's been working his ass off the last few weeks to keep everything running smooth here while you were attacking us. It is what it is. Let it go."

Michael glanced at Dwight, but finally stepped back. "Yea, of course." Jim didn't relax his scolding look and Michael seemed to be trying to understand what Jim wanted and finally looked to Dwight, "Yea, good job Dwight. You did a good job."

"Really?"

Dwight's face lit up at the praise and he was oblivious to Michael glancing at Jim or Jim's encouraging nod. Michael glanced around the room and it was obvious that people were pleased with him praising Dwight instead of punishing him and it only took a split second for Michael to make it his own, make it seem like it was his idea once he realized it was the popular thing for him to do. "Yes, really." He moved forward and patted him on the back, "Yea, you did a great job Dwight."

He glanced around and nodded before retreating to his office. Dwight couldn't help the grin on his face, pleased despite himself that Michael gave him praise. Jim sat back in his seat without any comment. Around the room several people looked a little relieved and Dwight started to wonder if maybe they didn't take as much pleasure in his humiliation at Michael's hands as he thought they did.

Thanking Jim was out of the question, at this point he was sure he didn't even expect it. There was something he wanted though and he leaned forward, "How do you do that?"

"Do what?"

"Stand up to Michael."

That was enough to make Jim stop what he was doing and look up, "You want to know how to stand up to Michael?"

"Yes." He was uncomfortable, but there was nothing wrong with trying to learn a skill from someone that he didn't have. He could do just about everything but when it came to Michael… "I worked really hard."

"Really hard at getting me fired."

It was dismissive and it caught Dwight off guard, "You told Michael that I-"

Jim sighed and looked up from his computer, "I did. You did. Fine, what do you want Dwight?"

That feeling of helplessness he had felt in Michael's office came back and his voice actually wavered, "To be able to stand up to Michael. It's not fair."
Either what he was saying or the way he said it was enough to get Jim's full attention and he looked surprised, "You think the way Michael treats you isn't fair?"

Dwight had a moment where he wasn't sure then, because he was sure that Michael treated him badly, but Jim seemed unsure. "Well… he blames me for things that I didn't do and-"

Jim put up a hand to stop him, "Oh no, I know the way he treats you isn't fair. That isn't what I'm asking. I'm asking if you think it isn't fair."

He sat back, glancing around uneasily, he felt like he was being set up and when he felt that with Jim he was usually right. "No. I work hard and I don't think I should be punished for working hard."

"Wow." Jim leaned back and crossed his arms over his chest. "All this time I thought that somehow in your little warped view of the world you thought it was fair." He rubbed a hand over his face, "It's the only reason I could think that you would let it keep going."

"What?"

"Why do you let him talk to you that way then?" He motioned at the corner where Dwight came from, "Why would you go do that?"

"He told me to." He didn't understand exactly what Jim was saying and it made him paranoid, "Forget it, I don't need your help anyways." He did though, there had been a glimmer of hope, wondering what it would be like if he could just be friends with Michael and not under his thumb, not his scapegoat.

"No, wait." If Dwight was serious then Jim didn't want to lose the opportunity. For years he had watched Michael push him around and part of him had been dying for Dwight to stand up to him. Even though it was usually pretty funny it also left a bad taste in his mouth and a knot in the pit of his stomach because Dwight just seemed incapable of protecting himself. "I'll help." He tried to look sincere, "Dwight, I'll help."

"How do I know you aren't just going to try to make me look like a fool?"

"Michael does a good enough job of that already, don't you think?"

He hunched his shoulders when Michael's door opened and Jim gave him a knowing look. Dwight looked down to his desk until Michael was out of view, "He's my friend though." When he was gone he rolled his chair closer to Jim's desk, waiting for an answer.

Jim rolled his eyes at that but it was a battle for another day. Instead he tried to be reasonable, "He likes me fine and I don't let him do whatever he wants."

"That's debatable." The words were empty though, Dwight just scrambling to cover his hurt pride. He started to relax but out of the corner of his eye he saw Michael and his shoulders hunched again.

Instantly Jim reached out and pressed against Dwight's shoulder, "First of all, stop doing that."

"It's a natural response-"

"Nope, that's where you are wrong. You're in an office, and he's just your boss. You don't need to cringe every time he comes near you."

"I don't…" Embarrassed he glanced at the camera, "I'm in attack ready position."

"Looks like cringing from here."

"I'm not afraid of Michael."

"I think you are." His phone rang and he glanced at it but then back to Dwight, "That is part of the problem. Meet me for a beer after work."

"What? No. Why?"

"Do you want help or not?"

Helpless… helpless still but for another reason. He didn't like having to depend on his worst enemy for anything. "Do I have to?"

Jim raised an eyebrow in disbelief, and for once it wasn't planned or intentional because he was honestly surprised at how badly Dwight's voice shook. Dwight looked pretty unhappy about it himself, and he quickly looked to his computer, pretending it hadn't happened. His first impulse was to mess with him, but he pushed through the urge. "No, you don't have to."

Dwight glanced sideways at him, but didn't answer and Jim was kind of bummed, he had almost been looking forward to seeing Dwight tell Michael off. He glanced up at across the room where Pam sat, wishing he could talk to her. Michael said that they could add a desk to where he sat, but they hadn't been able to get one yet.

"I will meet you."

His words were brusque, cold and Jim couldn't help himself, "Say please."

Dwight looked startled, but recovered quickly, "Please."

It made Jim smile, it was odd how Dwight picked his battles. "Poor Richards, after work."

"This isn't a prank?"

Jim glanced at the camera to give them a look, this was what he was talking about. Dwight was completely serious in asking him and was sure that if Jim was pranking him he would tell him, it was like he had zero ability to defend himself.

"Not a prank."

"Okay." He went back to work diligently and Jim couldn't wait to talk to Pam on lunch.

"Can you imagine how low his self-esteem must be Jim?"

They both glanced up at Dwight in Michael's office, in his usual spot sitting by the window behind Michael while he talked to the camera. Like a trained guard dog. "I still can't believe he thinks it's unfair. How does he not say anything?" He tilted his head, "He has no problem telling me off."

He barely caught the face she made and turned to her but she was already innocently looking back at him. "I saw that Beesly."

"What are you going to tell him?" He wasn't really sure to be honest and shrugged. She looked a little worried at that, "This isn't a prank, right? You know I'm usually on board but-"

"No gonna… play this one straight."

"You think you can really teach him to stand up to Michael?"

"Uh…" They weren't sure what was going on but Michael was pointing at something on the ground and Dwight was crawling around under the desk, obviously looking for something. It was mesmerizing really, and they watched until Dwight sat up on his knees, hands out helplessly. That only made Michael mad and he looked like he was yelling. "Maybe not."

Except, there it was. Michael turned towards the window and Jim caught Dwight rolling his eyes at the camera, instantly looking contrite for whatever Michael was mad at when he turned back. He found himself nodding, "I think he has it in him."

Pam was watching Dwight and her voice was humorous, "Ah, but will we be able to still control him?"

He chuckled and finally gave in to Angela's glares and headed back towards his desk, but not before he added, "Of course. Don't you know he adores me?"