This New Year Will Be For You And Me
Leslie goes to visit Ben in Washington D.C. by the end of July when things are not crazy as when she first started as the newly elected City Councilwoman since most people are on vacation and do not feel like dealing with legislative issues and people like spending time in parks rather than complaining about them during summer. She brings Andy along because he never visited the second most awesome city on earth (after Pawnee, obviously) and his wife works with her boyfriend. Leslie had supported Ben's decision to take April (and fought Ron who insisted that he would rather shave his moustache than let April go because April was all he could ever ask and offered Andy to take over as his assistant) with him to help as an assistant because she knew what she was capable of and wanted to see her grow and she also needed someone on her side to watch over Ben.
They take the subway from the Reagan National airport to the city because both Ben and April are busy with meetings and are unable to greet them in time. It is a fun ride as they travel along and over the Potomac and she loves the expression on Andy's face as he first sees first the Jefferson Memorial and then the Washington monument from a distance.
They get off at their stop and the humidity greets them. They immediately head to their hotel and decide to freshen up and meet at the lobby in an hour. As it appears (and as she deep down expected), Andy falls asleep and leaves her alone. She is not scheduled to meet Ben for another three hours so she decides to go out and explore the city she hasn't been in since their high school trip. She remembers how the city is set up (the Capitol building where her boyfriend works at is the start point and from there the horizontal streets are letters and the vertical ones are numbers and state names cuts through them) and knows the historical, important sites by heart (because, come on, this is the nation's capital and everyone should memorize them). She heads directly to the that the Mall. There is this one spot in the Mall that she remembers from her trip in high school that when you stand from there, you see can see the Capitol, the monument and the Lincoln Memorial in a straight line and can also see the White House. She momentarily imagines herself with Ben on her arm looking at this line from their balcony at the White House. It is still a long shot but she still imagines herself as the first female President of the United States with Ben as the First Gentleman.
She walks around in the Mall, keeping herself from going into the museums because she is supposed to visit them with Ben and just when she gets tired and decides to go back, her phone rings and it is Ben and 10 minutes later she is right there in his arms right in the Mall with the sun setting over them as they stand at her spot and look at the Lincoln Memorial in the distance between kisses. She has missed everything about him immensely, but as she kisses him, she notes that she probably missed his kisses that melts her heart at every occasion the most.
Ben is still sharing a house with April and a few interns who will leave at the end of summer at the Capitol Hill. It was impossible to find a sublet in two days and Jennifer was of no help so he settled to share a house with a bunch of university students. They are cool kids and are hardly ever at home, dividing their time between interning and partying so they never bother Ben and to be honest, he had gotten to the worst with Andy and April so a few dirty dishes in the sink were fine with him. At least they don't eat chili from frisbees.
So Leslie finds herself tangled in bed with her boyfriend whom she hasn't seen in seven weeks (she counted every minute of it) in her hotel bedroom because they just couldn't be themselves with interns around. She can't help but smiling. This is everything she has ever asked from life, to be in love and happy and in Washington, D.C. in a historical hotel.
"I missed you so much. I love you and I like you." she says to him with the same smile.
"I missed you so much, too. And I love you and I like you." he leans over and plants a kiss on her lips. She could feel him smile while kissing her. "You arrived when the weather is bearable, two weeks ago it was like swimming in hot water while walking."
"As long as I was with you, it'd been fine." she replies. "Pawnee hasn't been any more different."
They drift off to sleep and when they wake up, it is midnight so they get up and go to the window to watch the lights of the city. "I have so many things planned for us for tomorrow. Do you want Andy and April to come along?"
"I'd rather not." Leslie replies.
"Good, because they weren't involved in my plans. We'll go to the Mall and I'll give you a proper tour. Then we'll go to the Lincoln Memorial, then to the Tidal Basin to visit the Jefferson Memorial and walk around there. Then to the zoo if you like. They don't have penguins but if there are any gay animals there, you can marry them since it's legal here."
"Sounds like a great plan."
Over the next few days, they visit all the historical, significant places in D.C. They visit Ben's office when he has to run a short errand and see inside the Capitol, they hang out at Dupont Circle and watch people because that's what the cool kids do and run into Andy and April who are playing in the pool and go to dinner with them in Adams Morgan. They have drinks at a bar over at H Street and go sit by the Potomac River in Georgetown. When Leslie craves waffles, Ben takes him to this place called 'Wicked Waffles', whose name reminds Leslie of the children's book she had written, a few blocks from the White House but the waffles turn out to be tasteless. They search for another option and find a small diner aptly named Lincoln Diner across the street from the theater where President Lincoln was killed but it always closes earlier than they could ever make it. They also spend a lot of time in Leslie's hotel room because as much as Leslie wants to explore D.C., she wants to explore her boyfriend, too.
Before she knows it, it is time to go home and this time April and Ben come along to the airport to send them off. She had never been a fan of teary goodbyes, but as she stands there at the security check, she cannot help but cry as she tears herself from Ben's arms unwillingly and walks to the other side, not knowing when she will see her boyfriend in person again. They talk over the phone, over on Skype but it is never the same. They make plans, Ben will visit her during Labor Day weekend, but then it appears that he has to be there for his boss during his public attendance at the Democratic Party convention and she is too busy with organizing a Labor Day picnic for the Parks department.
November comes and Ben is constantly nervous and they have a big fight on Skype. He has been constantly feeling uneasy about the future of the campaign and things has been too stressful and the interns had left so it was just him and April in the huge house and they do not know many people in D.C. and the subway was under construction and people didn't care about Thanksgiving and Halloween had been a disaster because nobody had understood his costume (he had dressed as President Reagan and Leslie as Margaret Thatcher to the parties they went to, albeit separately) and he hadn't have the chance walk through the streets of Georgetown with Leslie to view the fallen, golden leaves. When she goes to bed, she thinks about their fight and can't seem to remember why it happened. She decides that she should let Ben sleep over it before she calls him because it is rather obvious that Ben lashes out on her. Ben doesn't call her the next day and all day she freaks out, sends numerous text messages to Ann and gets angry at her for not upgrading to unlimited texting. She listens to Sarah McLachlan and cries as 'Do What You Have to Do' plays. It is the same song she used to listen over and over during when they were broken up and now she cannot help but feel that the distance didn't make the heart grow fonder and that Ben is captivated with D.C. and his job and that his future there will be decided the next week, after elections and she fears that he will not choose Pawnee.
What she doesn't expect is to see her boyfriend sitting on the porch of her house, waving at her as she pulls into the driveway. He comes to open her door for her and wraps his arms tightly around her and she gets out of the car.
"What are you doing here?" she asks, still dumbfounded by the fact that her boyfriend with whom she had fought and her boyfriend who hadn't called her and was in DC just yesterday is now standing before her, leaning down to kiss her. She doesn't even get a chance to get an answer before his lips are on hers.
"I quit." he simply replies. His lips are cold from the chilly autumn day. "I couldn't take it anymore and I missed you and April was miserable so we are back. I'm back, for you."
Leslie doesn't want to show it but is ridiculously happy and doesn't want to think about the fact that this is actually the third time Ben Wyatt quit his job for her (he wouldn't admit it freely but he had quit his job in the state government to accept the position as assistant city manager for her) but simply wraps her arms around him and takes him into her house.
She doesn't ask him anything, doesn't dwell on the future, she just takes him out of his clothes and brings him a warm blanket because apparently he waited for her for more than three hours in the chill of autumn and wanted to surprise her so he didn't call. She makes him tea and hot chocolate and scoots next to him on the couch. "Hi." she says with a smile. She is still unable to comprehend that he is there with him, in her living room on her couch.
"I'm so sorry for arguing with you yesterday. I guess with everything I just lashed out on you. And I felt horrible for it and couldn't sleep so I just wrote my resignation letter, woke April up and we packed and after handing in our resignations after breaking into the office at five in the morning, we just drove here."
"I… I… I just don't know what to say, I'm so happy to see you." she says as she hugs him and Ben lifts the blanket to wrap both of them with it. "Let's just get you to bed, you must be really tired. You drove more than 10 hours?"
"Well, I actually let April drive and it only took her 8 hours. It was a bit scary, but I slept through most of it." he replies. "But the idea of being in bed with you, even just to sleep sounds really inviting."
They go to bed and just sleep in each other's arms. In the morning they fool around, explore familiar territory. "Move in with me" Leslie mumbles as she sips her coffee, sitting on the kitchen counter. There is whipped cream on her upper lip, she has bed hair and probably morning breath and definitely coffee breath, but her boyfriend is here, she loves him, she missed him and he no longer needs to share a house with anyone other than her. It is a huge step, she didn't think much over it (it took her two hours to choose a pen to sign her first legislation as a Councilwoman but less than five seconds to ask Ben to move in) and she doesn't know if she can find space in her closet for him because it is still full of campaign posters and banners but when she looks at him and at the smile brightening up his face, she knows it is the right step for them. Now that he is back in Pawnee, they can finally become a normal couple without any scandals bringing them down or any distance pulling them apart.
It takes Ben less than a day to pack his stuff in Andy and April's apartment and three days for Leslie to sort and clean out her house. On a Saturday Ben officially moves in. They decide to christen every room in the house (including the pantry) by having sex as a couple living together. The next morning Ben receives a call from his brother who announces that their mother and father will visit Ben and Leslie for Thanksgiving and he wouldn't be able to join as it was really hard to travel with their baby daughter. His parents had been divorced for years and are still living back in Minnesota and Ben hadn't talked to his father in years ever since he had heard from the grapevine that he had made a move on Cindy Eckhart at a wedding reception. His father's infidelities was the reason his parents had divorced though for the longest time he had thought that his failed career as a teenage mayor was the reason why his father opted to spend more and more time at the Sunglass Hut.
Over the next week things go back to normal. They are finally a normal couple, they go to movies, they hold hands, they steal glances and kisses in the City Hall. They no longer have to hide their relationship. When it rains they stay in their house and watch Game of Thrones, when it is nice, they stroll in parks. Ben accepts a temporary position as a consultant for a law firm in Eagleton that deals with the environment issues and helps with their accounting though he charges less time than he works because he cares about the environment and the firm does good work. Despite the evilness of Eagleton, he is happy to see that there are folks living there caring about the wellness of the people and of the earth. Leslie wants to feel happy for him, but the fact that he is working for a temporary position, to her horror, in Eagleton, makes her not so pleased. She asks about whether he is happy with his job and he without any hesitation replies affirmatively and says that he shouldn't worry about him.
As Thanksgiving draws near however, Leslie'a long-awaited 'meet-the-parents' freak out finally takes place. She first obsesses about her clothes, keeps texting Ann asking whether she should wear a beret or those long gloves that Old Hollywood actresses wear to keep things elegant or if she could borrow her scrubs to gain sympathy. When Ann finally chooses her a pantsuit with a nice blouse and convinces her that any parent would love her outfit, she then starts to freak out about the food. Leslie Knope had never met any parent of any of her past boyfriends. Sure there was that time the mother of her high school boyfriend who had called to break up with her for his son. There was again that other time that a college friend of hers on whom she had a crush had brought her to the hospital where his comatose mother was staying for them to meet and had refused to continue being friends with her because his comatose mother did not like her.
So after going through their shopping list for the fifth time and letting Ben do most of the things related to the turkey because she could never stuff things inside a dead bird, they are ready to greet the parents. Her own mother is invited to the dinner as well and she makes her promise not to mention that one time she had hit on Ben (in retrospect, it is a hilarious story but it is just something she doesn't even want to remember). The three of them drive to the Pawnee airport to greet first Ben's mother Megan. Immediately upon meeting her, Leslie understands where Ben got his kinds eyes and kind heart. Megan is around the same age as her own mother and is the head of a retiree house. Leslie likes her and feels comfortable around her. They drive Megan and her mother to their house and drop them off to greet Ben's father Jack… and his girlfriend Lauren. The arrival of the girlfriend is a surprise for her. Lauren looks half the age of Jack, much younger than even Ben and herself. Ben doesn't say anything as he drives them home but she can understand his discomfort very well.
She finds her mother and his mother sitting in the living room, talking animatedly. This might be the first time she had ever seen her mother being nice to someone she had just met. She doesn't get to enjoy the scene before her eyes as Ben's father enter the room with his girlfriend and the whole mood changes. Leslie doesn't dwell in the room and follows Ben to the kitchen instead.
"I'm sorry for this, I should have known that my dad had something up in his sleeve." Ben explains with his back turned to Leslie.
"Hey, nothing happened. As long as my mother doesn't bring up the time she hit on you, I think we'll be fine." she sees Ben turn around and smile. "This is a family gathering and we haven't had the dinner yet. Let's just go back and eat the turkey you cooked for us. It smells delicious by the way, you are not only a sexy elf but a wonderful chef." This seems to cheer up Ben a little bit and she goes to living room to invite people to the dining table. Ben and she sit down at the heads of the table opposite to each other. Their mothers sit next to one another and his father and his girlfriend Lauren sit next to each other opposite to them. Ben carves the turkey and Leslie serves and things go okay, albeit too silently. Nobody talks and she eyes Ben from the corner of her eye, only to see him be completely uneasy, like the way he becomes just before he unleashes his human disaster mode.
"So Ben, how was Washington?" his father asks.
"It was good, yes." he replies and doesn't go further.
"Thank you all for coming." Leslie starts to break the tension. "This is our first Thanksgiving as an official couple and we are really glad to share it with you. To start what I hope will be a tradition, I would like everyone to share what they are thankful for. I'll go first." she says and stands up and lifts her wine glass. "I'm thankful that Ben is here with me and that we are sharing this wonderful dinner he cooked with you and that our families are with us."
Her mother goes second and basically repeats her message, saying how happy she is to be there and how happy she is for her daughter. Leslie's eyes get teary to hear her mother talk like that. His mother goes next. "I'm so happy to be here and thankful that this occasion took me out of Minnesota and brought me to this lovely town. I'm really happy and thankful to meet Leslie. Dear, you seem amazing and I can see why Ben loves you so much." Her words make Leslie blush and smile hard. "And I am also thankful that little Benji was a good student and took his cooking after me."
It is now Ben's father's turn and Leslie waits in anticipation. "Well, I'm glad to be here. I'm really thankful that Ben can cook a turkey. I'm thankful that we are together here as a family and that our family will grow." His last comment seems innocent enough but Leslie cannot help but feel that something else will come out from that. Her minds races and she finally realizes that his comment is directed at her and Ben, that he somehow expects them to become a family of their own and join the extended family as a married couple. What he says next is something she didn't even think about. "I'm thankful to announce that I will become a father again and that Lauren and I are getting married."
Leslie's eyes grow larger and she looks at Megan to see her reaction, but her calm demeanor indicates that she already knew about the situation. She then looks at Ben, only to see him get up and leave the room. She makes an attempt to follow him, but Jack stops her and goes after him. The women are left in the room and Marlene congratulates Lauren. Leslie is still too shock to say anything and starts laughing at herself, thinking that it was really stupid of her to think that Jack was actually was meaning that she and Ben should get married and start popping kids while he himself was busy doing that himself with a woman half his age.
Ben comes back to the room with his father a few minutes later and the two of them laugh at something together and take back their seats and while she is really curious to know what happened, she is glad that the area is cleared and the unnecessary tension is gone and they can go back to enjoy their dinner and celebrate Thanksgiving.
Since Lauren's arrival is a surprise, Leslie's sleeping arrangements change. She had planned to give the guest room to Megan and let Jack sleep on the couch in the living room, but now it is not possible so Marlene simply suggests that Megan stays with her. Marlene and Megan leave and Leslie helps Jack and Lauren with the guest room and retreat to her room with Ben once they are settled.
She waits for Ben to join her in bed and he finally settles down next to her in his boxers and that Knope 2012 shirt that she loves to see him in. "Are you okay?" she asks. Things were left unsaid about the whole turmoil and though she is happy to see that he is happy about the situation, she still feels like there is something hanging in the air.
"I'm okay in spite of my father is marrying a girl 10 years younger than I am and in spite of having a new sister."
"It's a girl?" she asks impatiently. Though it is strange, the idea of a female Wyatt born into the world makes her happy.
"Yeah, they just learned it the other day. It is weird, but I am happy for him. What is weirder that my mother accepted to be the maid of honor at their wedding because apparently she is really good friends with Lauren and my father actually met Lauren through my mom because she was volunteering at the retiree house."
"I didn't see that coming." Leslie admits as she starts playing Ben's hair. She is tired and wants to sleep desperately to put what have been a stressful day behind but she also doesn't want to stop talking to Ben (and to be honest she never wants to stop talking to him). Now that she has met his family, she strangely feels even closer to him. She knows that he took after his sarcasm and his gorgeous brown hair from his father while his brown eyes and kind persona is inherited from his mother. "As long as they are happy, we should be happy for them." she adds.
"I agree. The only thing that's bothering me is that my father is going to get married before I could marry you." he says, looking into her eyes with his tired eyes. "I had planned everything Leslie, but then this happened." he says.
Leslie questioningly looks at him back. It is midnight, she is tired, he is tired, they had a strange day and his father and his fiancée are sleeping down the corridor (at least she hopes they are only sleeping). And Ben is talking about marriage, which is a subject they never really, really talked about. They had talked about living together forever in her campaign bus, they live together, and are incredibly happy together but marriage was never on the table. Sure there were times she would doodle during boring meetings and write her name as Leslie Knope-Wyatt or program his name in her phone as Ben Wyatt-Knope as a joke, but that was it.
"The thing is that, I had actually invited my parents here for Thanksgiving to get your mother's consent." he runs a hand through his hair. "I'm not doing this properly." he mumbles. "Leslie, I love you so much. You are the best thing that has ever happened to me and I don't want to spend another day without you. I want to wake up next to you every day and make waffles for you and hope you won't make me eat as much as you do and watch as you wash your sunshine hair. I want to be with you for the rest of my life." He reaches for something from the night stand while Leslie looks at him, unable to do or say anything. "Will you marry me Councilwoman and probably future President Ms Leslie Knope?" he asks her with the biggest smile as he opens up a box to reveal a ring.
Leslie looks at the ring and grins and nods and wraps her arms around him and shakes him and continues nodding and finally kisses him. "Yes, yes, yes!" she says between kisses.
Ben unwillingly breaks the kiss to bring out the ring and put it on Leslie's finger. Leslie watches him carefully while trying to wipe away that stubborn drop of tear that finally made it to her cheek after trying to make an appearance several times throughout the day. "This is the Wyatt family heirloom. The initial plan was that my parents would bring the ring over but apparently my dad found out that Lauren was pregnant so he proposed to her. I was angry at him not for bringing Lauren along but for proposing to her before I could to you."
"Ben, this is gorgeous." she says as she finally examines the ring. The setting is probably not what Ben had in mind given his intricate planning. They are in bed, in pajamas, she isn't wearing any make-up, he has his five o'clock shadow. At least their teeth are clean. "You are pretty sneaky, I had no idea what you were doing." she admits and he laughs.
"I tried." he replies. "I'm so happy Leslie, my life is much better than I could ever expect or hope."
"Me too." she says and kisses him again. They still have too many things to talk about, too many issues to discuss, but she remembers what Ron saying about the two of them holding hands and jumping into the unknown. They can overcome anything together. They will have too many stories to tell to the young Wyatt (my future sister-in-law is a baby, she thinks to herself momentarily) and who knows, to maybe their own children. Just the idea of Ben, just the way he looks at him now, just the prospect of waking up next to him for the rest of her life make everything seem easier and wonderful. So she wraps her arms around him, kisses his cheeks and touches the ring with her thumb and despite it is new, it feels perfectly right. She inhales his scent deeply and closes her eyes and whispers to his ear: "Now, how can we make love without disturbing your father and his pregnant fiancée?"
A/N: This is the first fanfiction I wrote in years and first Parks&Recreation fic I ever wrote, but I just adore Ben and Leslie so I just sat down and wrote this. The things described in DC are kinda first-hand as I am still trying to figure out a decent place to eat waffles and deal with the humidity. Comments and reviews are welcome and awesomesauce! The song title is from 'Lacrosse's album and same named song.