"How dare you cut the Annual Pawnee Kite Flying Competition?!" Leslie says as she barges into Ben's office.

Ben looks up at her with a hint of annoyance. He's on the phone and looks miserable. "Yes, mom. I will bring her. I gotta go. Okay, see you soon." He hangs up and turns his attention to Leslie Knope.

She's standing in front of his desk, her arms crossed and her face full of fury. Ben sighs and braces himself for another round of heated argument.

"Leslie, I told you, we have to cut some of your annual events to make room for more money." They had been at this for a week now. The government shutdown meant that only essential personnel were allowed in City Hall. Leslie being appointed by Ron as the official budget representative of the Parks Department was making his life a lot more challenging than he's used to.

Ben had never encountered anyone with so much passion at saving their department. He half admired and half feared her immovable resolve.

"Then cut your budget. Why do you need so many pens, huh?" Leslie grabs all the pens from his pen holder and raises it to his face.

"Don't take it out on my pens." Ben retrieves his pens from her fingers and places them back. At this moment, he was having a hard time reacting to one of Leslie's tantrum because he'd just had a stressful call with his mother.

Ben's mom is getting married. And she was hounding him to bring his girlfriend with him. He may have lied to her earlier that he was dating someone to get her off his back. But now it was backfiring, and he needed to find a fake girlfriend, or he'd end up spending one week at home with everyone hovering over him and talking about how sad his life had become.

Leslie snaps her finger at him, "Hey, hey, Wyatt. Are you paying attention to what I've said?"

Ben focuses and looks apologetic. "I'm sorry, Leslie. I've submitted the final list to Chris. No other changes can be made now."

"No! There must be something I can do!" Leslie looks desperate and disappointed.

A half-baked idea pops into Ben's head. He needed a date and Leslie needed something from him. This was probably a really bad idea. He really shouldn't even be considering it. Ben would never in a million years abuse his power as a state auditor, but he was also desperate. His mother was the worst nagger in the world. Which is the reason he was forced to tell her that he had a girlfriend in the first place, to make her stop asking him all the time. But right now, he couldn't think past the consequences that might arise from this crazy thing he was about to do. He just knew he needed a solution to his problem.

"I have a proposition." He says seriously and in such a soft voice that it catches Leslie off-guard.

She stares at him for a few seconds before replying, "I wanna be clear. I will do anything except have sex with you."

Ben looks shocked at her words, "I, uh— I was not going to ask you for sex favors."

Leslie is relieved but also wonders if she should be insulted that he didn't find her attractive enough to warrant a sex favor. "Okay. Good. Glad we are aligned with, with, that."

"I need you to be my date to my mother's wedding."

"Okay, I can live with that. Also, congratulations to your mom."

"But you have to pretend that we've been dating for a few months now."

"Wow, okay, that's a little bit more challenging. But I can make that work."

"And you'd have to stay with me at my hometown for a week."

"Wait, what?" Leslie had been on board with this favor until they got to the part where she'd have to do it for a week.

"My mother wants me to spend the week there with my girlfriend before the wedding." Ben gives her a pleading look.

"Alright, fine. But after all this, we are going to sit down, and you will listen to my budget proposal and you are going to say yes to all of it." Leslie offers her hand to Ben so they can shake on their deal. Ben hesitates, wondering if this plan was going to blow up in his face. But just thinking about a week of his mother hounding him about his non-existent girlfriend was making him anxious, plus Leslie was really good at finding a way to make her budget work and it wasn't really like a bribe or anything, it was more of him being open to considering her ideas on how to save money.

"Do we have a deal?" Leslie asks impatiently, her hand still stretched out in front of her. Ben shakes her hand and seals the deal.

"Perfect. Now, when are we going to your hometown?" Leslie says, feeling triumphant at finding a way to save her department.

"Tomorrow. Pack your bags tonight. And I'll pick you up tomorrow morning."

"Can't wait." Leslie gives him a confident smile.