Disclaimer: This is a story about characters who don't belong to me. Written after Episode 3x11.
Ann Perkins was sleeping on her couch. She hadn't meant to fall asleep, but when one of her coworker's husbands was literally wheeled into the ER on a gurney, Ann volunteered to take the woman's shift. All told, she'd worked nearly 24 hours in a row. It wasn't the first time she'd been stuck with an epic double shift, but it was the first time it had happened since her friendship with Leslie Knope had made her an honorary, unpaid Parks Department employee. In the past, she'd treated the lack of sleep hangover the same way she did jet lag—she stuck with her regular schedule until her sleep was back on track.
This morning she had discovered that that method didn't work when she'd also had little sleep the night before the epic double shift. She hoped the kids she'd helped corral on the Thursday stargazing trip appreciated her dedication. But probably not, she thought as her eyelids gave up the ghost.
When the persistent pounding awakened her, she'd been asleep on her couch for three hours, had an awful crick in her neck, and could feel what she was very afraid was drool on her face. It took her a minute to figure out that the pounding was coming from the door. She got it open, but the Ann who faced Leslie and the bright, Saturday morning sun was feeling far from her best.
"Ann!" Before Ann could back up to admit her, Leslie had rushed past her into the house. "Oh, Ann I don't know what to do."
Ann got the door closed and shuffled over to sit on the couch. She felt like her head was full of cobwebs. "Okay. Hold on. Just…give me a sec."
Leslie suddenly noticed the state of her friend and was instantly concerned. "What's wrong? Are you okay?"
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. I just had a double shift yesterday and now my body hates me."
"Oh no! I wondered why you didn't call or swing by to have coffee, but I just assumed you were tired from the stargazing."
Ann groaned and stretched her arms out. "I was."
"Oh jeez, I'm sorry."
"It was an emergency thing, so don't worry about it. I think I just need the weekend to relearn how to be a human being."
"What can I do to help? Let me help you, Ann."
"Why don't you tell me about this problem of yours? Since I'm awake." She smiled, taking the sting out of the statement before her friend could try to apologize for that.
"Alright. It's about Ben." Leslie threw her arms in the air. "Ann, I don't know what to do! Is he cheating on me? What if he's cheating on me!"
Ann held up a hand in a mute request for Leslie to stop. "Whoa, whoa. This is Ben Wyatt we're talking about, right? The Ben Wyatt who moved to Pawnee for you?"
"He didn't—" Leslie interjected, but Ann kept going.
"The Ben Wyatt who brings you waffles when you work late? Who pitches in with all of your events even though it's not his job?"
Leslie tried again. "It's not just—"
"The Ben Wyatt who suggested you guys go to that covered bridge festival THE EXACT SAME DAY you sent him an e-mail suggesting the same?"
Leslie sighed. The Covered Bridge Festival had been fantastic.
"Just so we're clear, that's the Ben we're talking about? The one who makes moony eyes at you whenever you enter a room? And who you're not technically dating because it's technically against your workplace rules?"
Leslie cleared her throat delicately. "Yes. That's the one."
Ann sighed and settled back on the couch, determined to hear her friend out. "So why do you think he's cheating on you?"
"Oh, I don't know. It feels like I call him—to discuss work, of course—"
"Of course."
"—more than he calls me. And when we talk, it's like his mind is somewhere else. He's…distracted! That's it, he's acting distracted."
"Distracted from your non-relationship."
"Yes!" Leslie's moment of triumph was quickly crushed by her disappointment. "I just don't know what to say to him. We're not dating; we're not even pretending to date. We're just…"
"Good friends who happen to also be really into each other?"
"Exactly." Leslie gave Ann a relieved smile. "I'm so glad you've got a handle on things."
"Well, I just wish I knew what to tell you. It's kind of a black and white situation."
"I know. I hate those."
"You could always quit your job."
There was a pause, and the immediate reaction that Ann had suspected never came. Instead, Leslie murmured something Ann couldn't hear.
"What was that?"
"I said I've thought about it."
"Whoa. Really? Really? Leslie, the Parks Department is your life. Pawnee is your life. What else would you do?"
Leslie threw her arms up in the air. "I don't know, be happy?"
"Well, I guess there's that," Ann said softly. Leslie had settled back against the couch cushions and was looking as weary as Ann felt. "Hey, do you feel like watching a movie? I rented Philadelphia Story but haven't gotten around to watching it yet."
"Beautiful Ann." Leslie smiled. "That sounds great."
"So, what's the plan?"
"I'm going to wait on things." Leslie wedged her cell phone between her shoulder and her ear and tried to juggle the bags in her hands into better positions. "I mean, that's sensible, right? We're not really a thing and making a thing out of a non-thing, that's just stupid."
"I guess. Are you o—"
"Sorry Ann, door. Gotta go."
Snapping the phone shut and dropping it into her purse gave Leslie a little more room to maneuver, but getting the door open still required some fancy elbow action. She made her way to the Parks Department, where she dropped her bags on the circular table. "Hey everyone, free donuts!"
That got a reaction, and even April wandered over to snap one up. "Where did these come from?"
Leslie beamed at her. "J.J. donated them, since he loves our department so much."
Ron spoke from behind her. "You used up all of his whipped cream and felt so bad about it you bought up all the donuts."
"Shut up, Ron."
After dropping the rest of her things, she headed to the other side of City Hall, alerting Andy to the donuts as she walked. She almost stopped at Chris's, but decided she wasn't in the mood for a lecture on the dangers of carbs. Reaching Ben's office, she rapped a quick tattoo on the door before looking in. Ben was intent on whatever was on his monitor, but he smiled when he saw her. "Hi there."
"Good morning!"
"How was your weekend?"
She inched into the room a little further to lean a shoulder against the doorframe. "It was good! Ann and I watch Philadelphia Story. Have you seen it?"
"I don't know. Does it have robots?"
Leslie thought about that a moment. "Well, I don't know. I don't think so."
Ben laughed. "I have seen it, actually. Back in college, though I don't remember why. I do remember that it's a great movie."
"Yeah. How was your weekend? Busy?"
A quick frozen look that could almost be termed panic crossed his face. "Ah, nope. Not busy at all. Very un-busy."
He was lying. Leslie bit the inside of her cheek and forced a smile. "Sounds lovely! Anyways, there are donuts up for grabs in the Parks Department."
Ben's face relaxed and he smiled. "Did you use up all of J.J.'s whipped cream again?"
Leslie scowled. "How does everyone know about that?" His laughter filled the room and Leslie almost forgot she was angry with him. "Are you coming?"
"Yep, I'm right behind you."
Ben had dark circles under his eyes. Leslie watched him out of the corner of her eye at the conference table. Chris was arguing verbosely for a city half-marathon that the Parks Department was going to be 100% behind because it was a damn good idea, but Leslie always worried about cutting him off when he'd reached this level of excitement. He had momentum that was frankly a little frightening. He hadn't seemed to notice that Ben looked half-dead.
Chris finally rolled to a stop (and was it her imagination or had the whole room just sighed in relief?), jobs were assigned, and the meeting broke up. Ben tiredly gathered his things, and was the last one to leave the room. Leslie took a chance and cornered him.
"Ben, what is going on with you?"
"Nothing," he answered immediately, and then looked up, startled. "What? Nothing."
"Don't lie to me. You look beat. You should be in bed."
At the word "bed," his eyes flew to hers and there was a heat in them that made her heart beat double-time. In a move that was almost a convulsion, he shook his head and the moment broke. "Not yet."
"What?"
"Not—nothing. I've just been putting in some long hours on a project."
To Leslie's knowledge, there was nothing Ben was working on that should merit the kind of time he seemed to be pouring into it. "Ben, you know you can ask for help, right? I mean, you've put your own time into so many things for us," she gestured behind her to include the rest of the Parks Department, "we'd be happy to return the favor. I'd be happy to."
For a second his expression seemed to soften. "Leslie…thanks. But this doesn't concern you. I'll see you later." He backed away, and then turned to head out the door. That he smacked his shoulder hard into the doorjamb on the way out should have made her feel better, but it didn't.
She broke later that day.
In retrospect, she could clearly see the mistakes she made. The first was not realizing the door was mostly closed for a reason and barging right in.
"Alright buddy, you are going to stop being a big jerk and we are going to talk this out right here, right now."
The second was not figuring out that Ben's phone was on speaker.
"Leslie? Leslie Knope, is that you?"
"Who…Kathy?"
"Yes! Oh, it is good to hear your voice again! I told your young man that I didn't take commissions anymore, but when he told me it was for you; I had to do it."
The third was forgetting in her hurt that Ben wasn't a big jerk. At all.
His face was bright red, but he held her gaze with a rueful one of his own.
"Leslie?" Kathy's voice came over the phone's speaker.
"Yes, I'm sorry. That is so nice, thank you."
Her final mistake was not tempering the volume of her voice when she first burst into the room.
Chris appeared at the door. "Just what is going on in here?"
Leslie spun to meet him. "Ah, nothing, just a small misunderstanding. Sorry for the noise! I've got to go, um…" she edged around him in the doorway, "drum up some marathon sponsors. I'll catch up with you later, Kathy!" she called the last to the phone on Ben's desk, and then fled.
He found her in the first place he looked. She was sitting on the bench, running a finger over the nameplate, which read "Katherine Houseman, 2003." He joined her, but made certain to keep lots of distance between them.
"I did mean to keep in touch with her. She's a really nice woman."
"She is," he agreed.
"Ben, I don't—"
"So I'm learning that I shouldn't try to surprise you. You figure out that something's up, I'm terrible at lying to cover my tracks, and instead of making you happy, I end up hurting you."
"Sorry."
"Don't apologize. I should have 'fessed up this morning, but I panicked."
She gestured to the painted wildflowers that covered the wall behind them. "You didn't have to do this."
He gave her a crooked smile. "You don't even know what I've done. It's part of the surprise."
She went back to studying the wildflowers. "I haven't ruined it?"
He shook his head, and then dug into his pocket for a piece of paper. "Here," he held it out to her.
Scribbled in Ben's hand were the name of a restaurant in town (not too fancy, but a few steps up from J.J.'s—one of Leslie's favourites, in fact), a date (next Friday), and a time (8 pm). She studied it for a moment, not sure what to think.
"Do you trust me?" His voice was quiet, and although she knew he hadn't moved the moment suddenly felt intimate.
She looked up at him. "Yes. Of course I do."
"Okay. Good." He stood, and then reached out to touch a single curl of her hair. He pulled his hand back quickly, as if he'd been burned. "I'll see you tomorrow."
A/N: So this was supposed to be really short and ended up at over 6,000 words. Oops? I was written primarily before 3x11 aired, but there are some spoilers for that episode towards the end of the next chapter. There IS actually a Covered Bridge Festival in Indiana, as Parke County, Indiana claims to be the Covered Bridge Capital of the World. For real. Google it.