It took about 15 minutes of yelling from Indianapolis before Chris agreed to give in to the Pawnee protests, before their message got beyond the town. After that, it took 200 push-ups before Chris could figure out how to break the news in a way that he could live with, then 10 more minutes to tell the parks department, and another half hour before everyone else got back to work. Following that, it took several more minutes for Chris to get to Leslie's house and tell her and Ben the good news – then seven minutes for Leslie to calm down and hear him out.
On the next day, it took about an hour for the two to receive all their welcome backs at work – and Ron spent about half that time avoiding Leslie's thank-you hugs. But after all the office and Snakehole parties on that day, Leslie and Ben had to spend much of the next two days working out their compromise with Chris.
Despite how this incident diminished Chris's standing back in Indianapolis, the bosses still agreed that he had to ensure the new couple wouldn't compromise Pawnee's integrity. As such, they worked out how much physical contact was allowed at work, and that not even a trace of favoritism would go into Ben's dealings with the parks department.
He would actually have to turn down some of Leslie's ideas and plans once in a while, in spite of the different levels of Hell that might mean for both of them. But considering the level of Hell they were in for a night and a morning/mid-afternoon days earlier, they knew they couldn't risk that again. Everyone refusing to work, and using Ron as a "reluctant" secret weapon, could only work once.
So when the final rules were settled, the couple was eager to run out of Chris's office as fast as he usually did. But Chris just had to insist on a final review of every point, so that nothing was misunderstood. Since Leslie didn't want to be in there any longer than she had to- and barely even for that long- Ben volunteered to stick around instead.
But Chris already knew that both of them had everything drilled into their brain by now. Although it couldn't technically hurt for Ben to remember one more time, he was just looking for an opening for….another kind of review.
Having been lied to for this long by Ben and Leslie, and then having so many city employees turn against him anyway, truly stung. No one would have expected that anything could sting Chris Traeger, but this compromised an entirely different kind of microchip in him. In fact, he almost felt like taking his first angry night jog once Leslie finally got him out of her house.
Yet after the hubbub finally died down, and he had gotten enough distance from that awful day, that old positive energy started to make a comeback. Now that the crisis was over, and could be put in a proper context, it was just a tiny bit easier to admire what had happened here. The fact that his friend….or whatever he was now…..could have been lifted up like this by love was extraordinary, even if it wasn't with an ethically acceptable person. And that they had friends and supporters that did so much to bring them back- even if they threw him under the bus to do it- showed the kind of initiative, teamwork and camaraderie that should be in every aspect of government. Leaving aside a few ugly details.
Since Leslie was in no mood to hear these kinds of conflicted feelings from Chris, perhaps Ben would owe him just one more professional courtesy to hear him out.
"Well, I think we've reached a suitably professional compromise, under the circumstances. Just goes to show that you can do anything if you try!" Chris tried to ease into things in his more traditional style, although he sensed Ben wasn't in the best state of mind for it. So he tried to move in a different direction.
"And it goes to show that once you're willing to try….even if you go through some rather regrettable periods first….then everything will work out."
That clever part in the middle seemed to soften Ben's scowl for a little while, so Chris figured he should take advantage while he could.
"I took absolutely no joy in my….decisions, even though we both know I was within my rights to do it. But there were more tactful and less rash means for me to handle it, and I didn't think to take them. I know you'll probably hold that against me for a while, but I truly hope that it won't affect our professional relationship….and any others that were impacted….for an extended period of time."
"And I hope you know how truly overjoyed I am for you...when I leave aside some of the means that got you there."
With that, Ben finally stopped calculating when he could finally leave the office, and took in account what his….boss had said. Mainly because it resembled some of the thoughts he had recently, when he wasn't on a Leslie high. Those moments had been few and far between for months, and especially in the last week, but he still had 5-10% of his rational brain left.
There was no way he was going to do anything but work professionally with Chris for a while, especially if Leslie was even 50 feet away from them. He really shouldn't share what he was thinking of, but this was probably the last chance he'd give himself to do this for a long time. One last burst of self-reflection, and a bit of ugly thinking, before the light won out in Ben Wyatt for good.
"You know, I may not have been as vocal about it as Leslie was, but it was hard for me not to hate you. It was hard when I had to hide what I felt, and it was especially hard….after I let those feelings out for anyone to see. But once I finished thinking all those hateful thoughts, I had one more big doozy that topped them all. But it wasn't about hating you, exactly."
Chris was now at the edge of his seat to find out what he meant. So Ben vocalized the one nagging thought about this whole mess that he couldn't share with Leslie – and could only start accepting himself yesterday.
"If I was in your position, and this happened before May of last year…I would have done the exact same thing, in the exact same way, without a second thought. And I don't think even the great Ron Swanson could have made me cave in at the end."
As oblivious as Chris could be, even he seemed to have a look of understanding and recognition about that.
For all the times that Ben cursed out Chris in the last month- before and during his half-day firing- enough time had gone by for him to lay off a little. For all that Chris did to make his and Leslie's lives difficult, Ben could now remember that it wasn't done with a malicious, knowing, or hateful intention in his body. It came from a place of ethics, care for the reputation of Pawnee, and professionalism- not under a cloud of bitterness from his past or present life. It even allowed Chris to put aside how much he was truly humiliated and embarrassed, and try to support his former targets anyway.
Nothing remotely resembling those feelings would have crossed Ben's mind, if he was in Chris's shoes. At least before May of last year.
But now he was no longer one of those….pathetic people, as Ron apparently called them. Chris never was really one of them, which was a bit easier to remember now. But Ben knew that save for the grace of Leslie Knope, he himself could have remained far worse.
Yet although he could start to soften towards Chris now, he still couldn't forget about this quite yet. Although Chris would be back to his sunny, positive, overly friendly self in no time, Ben would always know that he didn't always use it the right way. In fact, there was only one person he knew in the world who could use those qualities in the right way- and he would now be by her side, in public and otherwise, to see her do it every single day. For all of Chris's talents, he would probably never be rewarded for them like that, even if it still seemed unreal to Ben that he could get those rewards himself.
Now that he got to reflect on the dark times beforehand, for the last time, Chris and those other bad memories would have to be a thing of the past for now.
"Look, we both have a lot of things to focus on now. But maybe when enough time goes by, and Leslie is down to insulting you only once or twice a day, we can have the kind of working relationship….and otherwise….we had before May of last year. But I'd like to have time to follow our new rules to the letter first."
Despite not having a talent for always saying the right thing, Ben seemed to be getting better lately, thanks to some obvious inspiration. That was evidenced when Chris gave a slow smile that ultimately resembled his usual goofy grin.
"That is literally the best idea we've agreed to this week. Way to save the best for last, Ben Wyatt!"
There it was. The most obvious sign that things were pretty much back to normal.
But the minute that Ben left the office, the most obvious sign of how things were better than normal ran up into his arms- in between countless questions about what Mean Chris subjected him to.
Yet Ben briefly looked back to see Mean Chris give one of his smaller smiles- but somehow one of his most genuine- before Leslie dragged him far enough away.
That was officially the last bit of closure Ben needed, when it came to the darker parts of his and Leslie's origin story.
At least when Ron wasn't reminding him of all the favors he now owed him.