Ben doesn't want to stop kissing her ever, but the snow is cold and Ethel needs a ride home. He swipes his thumb over her cheek as they step back from each other. "To be continued," he promises, smiling.

"All right, Ethel," Leslie says, though she keeps her eyes on him.

She turns and heads back to the car, and he follows. It's too cold to keep sitting outside her house – he's been there a long time already, and it's possible that he has frostbitten toes now – and he wants to stay close to her.

I love him with all of my heart, she had said. It was on the official record now, preserved along with his own declaration of love. They were part of Pawnee's history. These records would go to the courthouse and be boxed up in the basement. They would gather dust. No one would ever look at them, at least not until President Knope's biographer would need them. But they were there.

The two of them hold hands in the car. Leslie pulls into Ethel's driveway and thanks her. Then they're headed back to Leslie's house, hands still clasped. They don't speak until they're inside with the door shut behind them, and they've shrugged off their coats and kicked off their shoes. But Leslie has forgotten her hat.

"Here…" he says, and he tugs up the hat and lays it over her coat. Gently, he smoothes his hands down over her messy, static-y hair and draws her face to his.

Their lips are cold, but they won't be for long.

"Ben," she whispers into the kiss.

"Leslie," he answers.

She slides her hands down from his neck to his chest and curls her fingers into his shirt. "Say it," she says, smiling up at him. "So I can hear it from you and not from Ethel. Please?"

"I love you." He kisses her bottom lip. "I'll say it any time you want."

"Really?"

"Yeah," he grins. "Give it a try."

"Say it."

"I love you."

She presses him back against the wall and kisses him with every ounce of her Leslie Knope eagerness. "You say that so much better than Ethel does," she mumbles between kisses.

"Mmm. So do you, I bet," he says.

Their lips part, and he watches her, hopeful. Somehow it still doesn't seem real. But she traces her fingertips down his jaw and says softly, "I love you."

And that makes it official.