Since I'm on vacation next week in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, Chapter 7 won't be up until Friday, July 1. So this'll be the last update for two weeks- hopefully enough of you are still reading and still willing to wait that long.
"Seriously? Dexhart?" Ann exclaimed for the third time since Leslie came into her office. But that still didn't come close to the amount of times Leslie asked that question in her head today. "They really can't make you run against that pervert, can they?" Ann went on, with a question that Leslie could answer this time- just barely.
"They say I have a better chance against him than anyone else. And they threw all these poll numbers at me to make me forget my arguments. Where's a numbers robot when you need him?" Leslie was about to segway that into a complaint about "Operation Shutdown" before Ann got inspired to interrupt.
"Wait, this could actually be a good thing! Even if Dexhart found you and Ben out, he couldn't expose you! Otherwise you can bring up his sex scandals, and he'd be toast! Heck, you guys could probably even come out, and you wouldn't look bad at all compared to him!" But just when Ann thought the era of make out schedules was over, Leslie brought her hopes down once again.
"No, we can't, especially not against him! He's survived scandals for years, he knows how to do it better than anyone! He's spent years collecting voters and minions that'll forgive him for anything, just like Lord Voldemort! I don't have that power yet, so I couldn't make it, even if I was Harry Potter!"
"Okay…..well, what if you were Hermione? She had Ron by her side, and that turned out okay for her." Ann asked, trying to speak on Leslie's nerd level.
"Ron couldn't get Hermione enough swing votes, and you know that!" Leslie countered, before remembering that they weren't in Hogwarts- somewhat. "The point is, I can't be the squeaky clean alternative to Dexhart if I have my own, much cooler Ron exposed by Death Eaters!"
"So tell them you want to be the alternative to someone else, then."
"I'll probably lose to someone else, that's the problem," Leslie started. "I'm gonna be a big underdog to start off, no matter who I face. But Dexhart's the guy I have the best chance of coming back against."
"Why would you be the underdog against him in the first place? There's no reason anyone should like him, especially more than you!" Ann pointed out.
"I know that, but 60 percent of Pawnee didn't in the last election! But maybe I could convince about 15 percent of them to finally change their mind," Leslie rationalized. "Plus, I actually like those other guys I could run against…..and I wouldn't have that problem with Dexhart. And I probably wouldn't need to moon TV cameras to beat him in debates this time."
"Even if you did, it's nothing that voters haven't seen before," Ann joked, now that she realized Leslie was going to face Dexhart, and would still keep Ben a secret to do it.
"Exactly! And now that me and Ben are gonna stop kissing soon, that's the only time I'd expose myself on the campaign! Dexhart would never find us out then, and neither would anyone else!" Leslie then jumped up in her newfound confidence to hug Ann. "Oh, you always know just the right thing to say to make me see the light!"
"Even without trying, apparently," was all Ann could muster. "So you are going to face him, then?"
"I guess I have to. I mean, it'd be even sweeter to get into City Council by beating him. And I really couldn't risk getting caught by him, so there's no way I could do any making out. This is actually more perfect than I thought!" Ann knew it wasn't, but she had been getting pretty good at not cluing Leslie in on that lately. So she continued to perfect her art by staying quiet, and letting Leslie use her office phone to call Michael.
After officially telling Michael that she'd face Dexhart, Leslie got around to telling Ben about it that night. But once she refreshed Ben's memory on who Dexhart was, and what he had put her through one Christmas, it took her a while to settle Ben down. Yet she finally assured him that she wouldn't be accused of any more affairs, that she wouldn't pull her pants down in front of Dexhart, and that Ben could contain himself if Dexhart slandered her.
Ben and Leslie were getting much better at containing themselves in other ways, since their make out time had gone down to three minutes. They were confident that they could get it to zero in over a week, when Leslie would officially announce her candidacy in a speech at Ramset Park. Until then, she just had to fine tune the final elements of her campaign, how she would balance it out with her job, and who would be on her staff. Since she hadn't officially declared yet- and since they'd keep it a secret that she was challenging Dexhart until then- it was still safe for her and Ben to have some final non-work dates.
As she enjoyed those last nights, Leslie spent the days putting her campaign in place. Once Michael and Greg figured out that she slept only three hours a night, at the most, they were more at ease letting her keep her job and run a campaign. She would spend an extended lunch on the election every day, from noon to 2 pm, and then her nights would be completely devoted to running for office. She even eventually agreed to lighten her parks work load- although since this would give Ron more work to do, it took longer to make him agree to it.
Once that was all settled, the party rented out a campaign office for Leslie that was within walking distance of City Hall. By the time they reached the day before Leslie's first speech, the office was completely set up, and completely staffed as well.
On that afternoon, Michael and Greg came by for a final run through, with supervision from campaign manager Adam. Barnes had even returned as a consultant, although he was currently questioning Leslie on her idea to have Entertainment 720 run her future events. She wanted a smaller, more intimate show for tomorrow's debut, but she figured Tom and Jean-Ralphio's kind of spectacle would work great on swing voters later.
"I don't know if they'll last for that long," Barnes questioned. "I've heard that even Detlef Schrempf isn't helping them get that many gigs. But I suppose we can bring him by for a celebrity endorsement."
"Not without Tom and Jean-Ralphio," Leslie insisted. "You guys got a great staff for me, but I still want my friends to get out the vote for me too." With that, she figured it was the perfect setup to bring up who she really wanted to help out.
"Speaking of which….I might know someone else who can help us spread the word. A little former election winner by the name of Ben Wyatt. Have you heard of him?" The unease that was spreading through the others wasn't what Leslie wanted to see.
"I figured you'd bring him up at some point," Adam commented. "We know he was a big help to you at the Harvest Fest….but he might be too much of a wild card for this campaign."
"Don't get us wrong, we know his credentials on winning elections," Michael spat out before Leslie could start objecting. "But that stuff he did after winning elections….it isn't the best thing to have associated with you."
Greg was even luckier to speak up then, before Leslie had the chance to. "What he means is, you need a perfect campaign to prove you're a perfect alternative to Dexhart. If it got out that an impeached boy mayor was helping you, it'd give him too much fuel to use against you. Then Mr. Wyatt would have to do interviews, which would be an even greater train wreck for us. Especially if he can't get back on track by bashing Altavista."
Before this meeting, Leslie reminded herself that if she fought too hard for Ben, it would look too suspicious. That reminder was the only thing that helped her speak calmly and reasonably to them, instead of doing and saying more unspeakable things. "I see your point…..but my counter point is that this is my campaign. And I want it to include him, so he will be included, okay?"
"We'd still prefer it didn't," Adam insisted. "Everything has to go perfectly in this thing, and Ben Wyatt…..doesn't inspire expectations for perfection."
This is where Leslie's night time self-control was really paying off. Now that she was weaning herself off of physical contact with Ben, and off of other situations that could get them caught, she had enough self-restraint for other things that concerned him. And every bit of it was being used to keep her from making a loud, angry, all-too-revealing ass out of herself in defending Ben now. But because she could contain herself, she could still find other, less damaging ways to make her point. Still, it took her several seconds to feel ready to talk to them in a calm voice.
"Look….you guys picked me because of the Harvest Fest and the funeral. I couldn't have possibly done those things without Ben's help, advice, and friendship. So if you want me to be as successful with this campaign, then he has to be here. Trust me, we're much more likely to avoid disaster if he is." At least Leslie could be entirely truthful on that last part.
"Look, let him do some regular old volunteer work to start off, like going door to door or something. Once he does great on that, I can gradually give him more responsibility. Then if Dexhart brings him up, you guys will know by then that he's worth the risk to keep around." At that point, new and improved Leslie knew to stop right there, before she went further into that last train of thought.
"Well….I suppose we can meet with him tomorrow after your speech," Barnes conceded. "But he's still the assistant city manager, so the city manager would have to let him volunteer."
"He should have that worked out by then," Leslie assured, as she was right back to telling half-truths. In this case, she was actually hoping and praying that Ben had worked that out with Chris at that moment.
As per their plan, Ben was indeed about to bring up this subject with Chris back at City Hall. He felt a little more confident in himself, since he'd resisted the urge to call Leslie for an update on her meeting. But although he was worried that her new helpers would be….too concerned about his past, he knew Leslie could convince them without giving anything away. At that point, it would be up to him to convince Chris that campaigning for Leslie wouldn't skirt any ethical lines.
If he couldn't directly help get Leslie elected while being assistant city manager, then this whole master plan of theirs would crumble rather quickly. So that was all the incentive he needed to make him convince Chris now.
"So Chris, Leslie's campaign is starting pretty soon," Ben started discretely. "And once it does….I was thinking that I could help her out. Like go door-to-door for her or advise her campaign or something….on my own time, of course."
"You want to be a part of her campaign?" Chris asked obviously. "You, Ben Wyatt….want to make yourself part of an election team again?" At the least, Chris asked this in a more surprised and less mocking tone than others might have.
"I know, I know….but that should tell you how much I want to help Leslie, shouldn't it?" Ben countered.
"I must admit, it does. But you are my assistant city manager….I'm not sure city officials can directly use their position to help another employee get elected. It might be a conflict of interest, and I am very big on preventing that sort of thing." Chris reminded.
"You don't need to remind me, I know that all too well," Ben answered, without managing to dwell on it as much as he could have. "But I can take my own off hours to do it, just like Leslie is. Besides, you told her and everyone else that you'd do everything you could to help her, remember?"
"Of course, but this goes beyond simply endorsing her, or asking people to vote for her during light 10k runs."
"Does it? I know you want Leslie to win, and we know both she's the best choice for Pawnee. She'll have a better chance to convince everyone else if I help her out, and we both know that too," Ben pointed out.
"That much is true….but that kind of favoritism from this office might offend the fine candidate Leslie is up against, whomever it might be."
"He isn't as fine as you might think, believe me," Ben started, before wondering if he could reveal too much more. If Chris squealed early that Leslie was facing Dexhart, it might leak to him, and give him extra time to pry into Leslie and all her little secrets. But then again, even he couldn't start his investigation in time to stop Ben and Leslie's final pre-campaign date- not if they ended it early enough.
"I have it on good authority that Leslie's taking on Bill Dexhart. Just please don't say so until her speech tomorrow. But whatever conflict of interest this might be, it's far less than what he's gotten away with." This put the tiniest inkling of a frown on Chris's face, which made Ben feel home free.
"Duly noted….that man's fantastic and wonderful qualities don't shine as strongly as others in this town. And certainly not as much as Leslie's." That was one of the more negative things Ben had ever heard Chris say, so now he knew he was home free. "Very well, Ben….you may return to the political front lines with my blessing. And your secret will be safe with me until Leslie's amazing speech tomorrow."
At that moment, Ben almost had as wide a smile as Chris for once. "Thank you, Chris. This really means quite a lot to me, and to her too." Once Ben thought that it was about time Chris helped them out for once, he figured he should leave before he got too happy and blurted it out loud.
Leslie was as happy about that as everything else, once Ben filled her in that night. After they bragged about their respective victories, they spent their time going over Leslie's speech, and fine tuning some of the wilder metaphors. They had all the time they needed to do that, since they could finally go through an entire meeting without doing anything scandalous.
Even so, this would be their last date at Leslie's house for some time, and their last meeting that wouldn't be entirely work related. Once the media, Dexhart and all of Pawnee knew for a fact that Leslie was running tomorrow, there'd be no other way to keep their secret.
That didn't mean that they weren't trying to think of any other solutions, or any loopholes they missed, before Ben had to leave. But nothing was coming to mind, at least not while they were thinking to themselves. So Leslie spoke up before Ben made his way to her door.
"Ben? Um…..are you sure you're going to be okay? After tomorrow, I won't be able to ask you personal stuff like that for a while. So…I figured I should ask you now…..and if there's anything you or I could do in case you're not. Okay, I mean," Leslie felt like she was regressing to her old tongue-tied self, but at the least, her old self would have rambled on a lot longer.
"I'll be fine, Leslie. Maybe I won't be as fine as I want, but I've got the best possible way to make up for that in the next few months. So as long as that works out, it'll be fine," Ben assured.
This didn't entirely satisfy Leslie, but it was the best possible way to come close. Although Ann might have thought differently a few times, Leslie wasn't all that happy that her plan to distance herself from Ben was working. She knew what she was asking of Ben, how hard it was for him- although he would never complain about it to her- and how much worse it would probably get in the months ahead. It was taking all she had to put up with it and power through, and she hoped she wasn't giving the impression that it wasn't.
"Okay then. But, um…..if that way makes you feel neglected, or frustrated, or lonely, or some other dirty feeling…..I hope you know that I'll be feeling the exact same way. Even if it doesn't look like it."
And there they were, back to using cryptic metaphors to hint at, and hide, what they really wanted to say or feel. Since they were experts at that before the road trip, it sadly wasn't that hard to get used to it again. Yet they were still so good at it, it served as a promising sign for their future success- at least something had to.
But this cryptic metaphor still conveyed some reassurance to Ben, so that helped a lot. As such, he indulged in one final, non-professional hug with Leslie, followed by a final, small but still lingering non-professional kiss.
Yet before it lingered too strongly, Leslie thought of another, more professional thing they could still do. "I guess we can always go back to this again," she started off before giving him a series of high fives. Once Ben figured out she was doing their special high-five routine from the Harvest Festival, he caught up and joined right in. This at least made them laugh as Ben reached for the doorknob.
"Okay, see you tomorrow at the park, you big dork," Ben quipped, stepping out just as Leslie finished calling him a big nerd in return. That would at least get him through the night and tomorrow morning before Leslie's speech.
As for Leslie, a sense of finality swept through her once Ben was gone. But she was hoping for relief, now that they had made sure they wouldn't screw up during the campaign, and were ready to just work together again. Yet although things were looking up for them, and she would give the first of many speeches that she had waited years to make tomorrow, that nagging sense of regret wasn't going away.
However, the election was supposed to help make that go away, or at least not make it show up so much. So she figured reviewing her speech 10 more times before bed should be a good start.
At least it should be.