Although both Leslie and Ann expected not to sleep much that night, Leslie was out like a light the second her head hit Ann's couch. All the adrenaline, shock, and energy of the night had been pulled off the minute she sat in Ann's car. It took the last remaining amount of motivation she had to get herself out of the car once they reached Ann's house. In fact, for the first time that Leslie was not sick, she slept past six.

It was almost ten thirty when Leslie started to come back to reality and boy did it hurt! She groaned as she slowly awakened, her muscles aching more than they ever had before. It was as though she had taken a literal beating the night before.

"Leslie?" Ann appeared over the back of the couch and looked down at her friend who seemed to be clinging to the last few moments of sleep.

"Ann, I'm dying." Her friend couldn't help but smile. If Leslie was being dramatic, that meant she was getting back to her normal self.

"I'll grab some Advil," she said as she stepped back towards the bathroom. "Also, I made waffles for breakfast!" Leslie's favorite, she knew, with the hope that it would get the woman to pause for a moment to eat before rushing back to the hospital.

"Waffles?" Leslie's head popped up above the back of the couch, though she winced as her body protested the sudden movement. Thankfully, Ann returned with pills and water which Leslie gladly took.

Leslie all but inhaled her waffles and then dragged Ann out of the house to go back to the hospital. She wanted to be there when Ben woke up and, though she was glad she had gotten the sleep she needed, she hated being so far away.

When they got to the hospital room, Ben was still asleep and Leslie parked herself on the chair by the bed. Chris wasn't there, likely having gone home to rest and shower. Ann left after an hour so she would go home and get ready for her shift later that day.

Leslie sat there next to Ben's bed, her hand wrapped up in his as she watched nurses and doctors filter in and out. She was half expecting one of them to ask who she was or tell her she needed to go home. She didn't even know when visiting hours actually were. But, some paid her no mind while others chatted with her as if she was supposed to be there, and she wasn't going to question it.

Towards the late afternoon, Leslie diverted her gaze to the muted television that was on in the corner of the room. Nothing of interest was on, but it was something to watch during a period where the nurses were attending to other patients and Ann was busy with her own work. She had a cup of coffee filled to the brim with mocha, whipped cream, and sugar as well as a half-eaten sandwich from the hospital cafeteria. She was prepared to camp out for as long as it took for Ben to wake.

Pain was the first thing Ben registered. It was of a dull and throbbing nature but it was pain all the same. Then came the memories. The gunshot, the fall, watching the night stars while his friends shouted around him. In those moments he had no idea he had been shot or why Chris and Leslie begged him to stay awake.

Then, he remembered opening his eyes to pure agony while riding in what he assumed was an ambulance. Paramedics shouted back and forth while the vehicle barreled down the streets of Pawnee.

He opened his eyes once again to a brief view of the night sky before his stretcher and a team of medical professionals burst through hospital doors. He couldn't bring himself to look ahead or to the sides, so he just watched the white tiled walls go by until they reached a sterile smelling room. People popped in and out of his blurry vision until someone placed a mask over him and he drifted back into the warm embrace of nothingness.

Now that embrace was rejecting him and pushing him back to the cold world full of that damned pain. He tried to go back, begged to return to the comforting dark, but he found himself floating in limbo. At least, he realized, whatever he was laying on was soft and warm. He gently thumbed at the blanket he felt on top of him.

"Ben?"

Leslie. Wherever he was, Leslie was there too. That was reason enough for him to want to wake again. Even if he was in pain, if he could just lay eyes on her it would all be worth it. He felt her squeeze his other hand and he parted his lips in an attempt to speak to her, but nothing came out. Instead, he just sighed and struggled to make his eyes open.

"Hey, I'm right here. Please wake up." Her voice was tight. He wanted to oblige her more than anything. Slowly, he was able to open his heavy eyelids and, though his vision was blurry, he saw Leslie there next to him. She wore a worried expression that transformed into one of relief and delight when she finally saw his brown eyes once more.

"Les," he breathed, unable to say her full name. He blinked, finding it a little easier to keep his eyes open now. His whole body felt like one giant weight. He worried he would fall right through the bed at any moment. Exhaustion flowed through him, but now that he knew Leslie was there, he refused to allow himself to go back to sleep.

"Hi," was all Leslie could bring herself to say as tears filled her eyes and threatened to spill onto her cheeks. She impatiently wiped them away, though a few lingered despite her best efforts. "You're awake."

"How long?" Ben asked, thankful he was able to string those two words together. Talking took more energy than it ever had before, far more than just keeping his eyes on Leslie.

"A day," she replied. "Almost a full day. It's about six in the evening."

"'m sorry," he mumbled, taking a moment to close his eyes and just breathe before he looked back at Leslie's frustrated face.

"No," she said firmly. "Please don't be. Just… we can talk about all of that later. For right now just focus on getting better." Ben just nodded, not wanting to argue with her. She offered him a tiny smile and leaned down to gently press her lips to his. Ben relaxed into the gentle kiss and felt his whole body relax at the gesture. Leslie stood back up and brushed back some of Ben's hair.

"I should go get a doctor," Leslie said, taking a step back. He just nodded as she paged a nurse and had them send for the doctor who was working with Ben. He came in and did a full checkup, checked all of Ben's vitals, and talked briefly about what recovery would look like, though none of it really registered with him. He was exhausted and figured this was all information that he couldn't really do anything to affect, so he could figure it out later.

"You should get some more rest," Leslie said, sitting down in the chair when the doctor had left. "I'll be right here, I promise. Ann's probably going to make me leave at some point, but I'll be here tomorrow too, and the day after that."

He smiled at the thought of it and his eyes slipped closed. Leslie felt his hand slip from hers and she knew he was back asleep. This time, though, he would be sleeping much more peacefully.

Chris stopped by that night, just a half hour or so after Ben had fallen back asleep. Ann made Leslie leave at eight when her own shift was up and Leslie went home to her own bed. She was up at six, as usual, and made a quick breakfast before driving herself back to the hospital.

Ben slept through the night and into the late morning. He awoke just before noon to find Leslie right where she said she would be. After checkups, tests, and more information he would soon forget from the doctors, he was back and alone with her in the hospital room. He was still exhausted, as evidenced by his half-open eyelids which threatened to slip closed at any time, but Leslie's voice going on about the most mundane things kept him awake. He didn't want to stop hearing her voice any time soon.

He also knew he would have a lot of explaining to do and, though Leslie was conscious of his condition, she made quick time in getting to those questions.

"Ben," she said suddenly after finishing the lunch Ann had brought for her. "What happened that night? Why did those men come to get me?"

Ben sighed and looked up at the ceiling, as though the right answers would be written there for him to rattle off. "It's complicated," he replied. Leslie frowned at his response so he added, "I'll tell you. But it's complicated."

She nodded. "Are you a state auditor?"

Ben shook his head. "No."

"What are you, then?"

He hesitated, then replied, "I'm an FBI field agent from Washington DC."

Another question was already on Leslie's lips ready to go, but his answer shocked her, she lost it immediately. "What?" Ben just nodded. "So… So you're not really here to help our budget crisis?"

"No. Chris and I were sent here on a mission." All these questions exhausted him, but he felt he owed real answers to Leslie, given what they had all been through.

"What kind of mission?" Leslie asked, feeling as though she was floating. This was a surreal conversation and she couldn't believe she was having it.

Ben hesitated. He wasn't sure he could discuss that, not to mention he was far too tired to go into all of that. He still felt like he could instantly fall asleep at any moment. The drugs he was being given did a great job of easing his pain, but a terrible job of making him want to stay awake.

"The campaign," he told her, turning to face her once again. Leslie didn't understand, but she could see that Ben wasn't able to go into the long explanation it would probably take to grasp the issue.

"So, that's why you wanted to be my campaign manager? And why you wanted to be my friend and-" she asked, but Ben immediately shook his head.

"Leslie, I've had to hide a lot of things from you," he told her, "And I still might." He reached out shakily and Leslie met him halfway with her hand. "But my being with you has nothing to do with why I'm in Pawnee. I…" He trailed off, stopping himself from continuing, but he knew he wanted to finish his thought. Swallowing thickly, he continued, "I love you, Leslie Knope. And I also like you very much and I'm honored to be your friend. And that is the truest thing I have ever said."

Leslie listened to every word he said and broke into a bashful smile when he finished. She stood and leaned over the bed, kissing Ben and wrapping her arms around him as much as she could. He returned her half-hug by placing a hand on her back and rubbing circles between her shoulder blades.

"I love you and I like you too," she whispered back to him, planting one more kiss on his cheek. She stood, still caressing the side of his face with her palm and he leaned into the touch gratefully.

"I have so many questions. And so many things I want to say," she told him.

"I know," he replied, looking up at her.

"But you need sleep and you need to get better. And by then I'll have a few lists." She smirked and Ben rolled his eyes, but he was grateful she would let him rest for now. "I can't believe it. You really work for the FBI?"

"Sure do." He looked over at his pants which were neatly folded on the other side of the room. The shirt had been thrown out because of the bullet hole, but the jeans were in perfectly fine shape, minus some grass stains. "Go check my wallet."

Leslie walked over to the jeans and fished out Ben's wallet from the back pocket. Sure enough, a badge was there, gleaming with the golden words "Federal Bureau of Investigation - United States of America."

"Woah," Leslie breathed, weighing it in her palm.

"It's pretty cool," Ben admitted, amused by her amazement.

"And you get to live in DC! Have you ever met Obama?" she asked and Ben just laughed at that notion.

"I'm a field agent, not the guy in charge," he replied. "Once he addressed a huge room full of us, but I was in the back and he left pretty soon after."

"That's still so cool!" Leslie remarked as she stuffed the badge and wallet back into his pant pocket. She turned back to him and walked back next to his bedside. "Ben? Thank you. You saved my life."

Ben just smiled and closed his eyes. "I don't know what I'd do in a world without you anyway," he told her. She wrapped her fingers up with his and his breathing fell into even puffs until he was fast asleep once more.