A/N: Parks finale. There are spoilers for it contained within. Everything hurts and I'm dying, but yet it's all amazing as well.

#100. That's cool and stuff. April and Andy look back at the most important people in their lives, and where those people have taken them. I cried multiple times writing this, just as I did during the finale. Love y'all.

April

There are some things that April will hold constant in her life; some things she won't ever let go of, and a few of them she doesn't have to. The important ones, though, they're going to stick around forever for her. Life would always throw up some strange, new twist but she'll always have them. No matter where she is in her life, she gets to remember these people and these times as the greatest thing to ever happen to her.

She'll always have that Parks Department. She'll always have these people.

1 - Leslie Knope

Leslie was, when April first met her, kind of a ditz. She didn't seem sure of herself in the way that Leslie Knope was meant to be. She didn't seem to be anything other than a willfully, and usually painfully, awkward person that made April regret taking the job in the first place.

After that, though, April felt a distinct change in the atmosphere. Power walked behind Leslie, confidence came wherever she went, and a boundless energy for optimistic politicking coursed through her entire body. It was an amazing thing to see, and even if April pretended like she didn't want to come back to the Parks department after the shutdown, she didn't have to. She could have left and stayed away. She could have forgotten about everyone there to her best abilities, but she didn't.

She didn't want to disappoint Leslie.

When she seemed recalcitrant at the wedding, April's heart burned in confusion. This wasn't supposed to be happening. Leslie was supposed to support her and make things better and easier, and tell her that she's doing a great job. When she doesn't, April needs someone else to be there for her. Thankfully, Andy is there, but his comfort doesn't mean the same as Leslie's approval.

And when she gives it, April tells Leslie she loves her. It's true, and she has an excuse to say it now.

Throughout her campaign, April wondered if what she was doing was at all helpful. Even if she wasn't that effective, seeing Leslie go above and beyond her mostly mediocre campaign staff made her breaths swell with pride. Leslie rose above what little she had to become who she was meant to be. And when she was removed from office, the devastation hurt April too. Seeing her boss, her mentor - her friend - like this was painful.

But she rose again.

And when Leslie tried her best to unite Pawnee and Eagleton there wasn't anything in April's mind other than complete support. She'd go to the ends of the Earth for Leslie. But, why? She asked herself that so many times. Why should she go to bat for anyone?

Leslie made her see that being cool didn't mean eschewing "normal" things. It was okay to like work, because liking work in the way Leslie did meant helping people. Helping people meant being a positive influence, and it meant that there might be another April Ludgate somewhere scared out of her mind that life is going to swallow her whole before it even begins. It meant that maybe April could be better than a snide, ironic caricature of herself. Rising above and beyond your means, and meeting every challenge headlong with a smile and a kind heart, wasn't just cool.

It was Leslie Knope.

2. Ron Swanson

Ron was the type of person she expected to like. He was no-nonsense, he hated people for the most part, and didn't much care for quiet conversation. Or conversation at all, to be honest. That's all April assumed he would be - her cool boss that maybe should have also been her real dad.

Then, something changed between them. A subtle shift, and April felt closer to him somehow. It wasn't even their shared hatred of obnoxious people and their asinine small talk. April found herself retreating from him when he was angry with her, and when April screwed up again he exploded into a ball of fury that was incomparable. He didn't really say much, but he did say one thing that she overheard - she was just a barrier to him. A blockade from taxpayers and small town folk looking for help with their problems.

That's all she was.

When he tacitly blessed them by ignoring Leslie's plan for sabotage, she didn't have much to say about that. When he gladly accepted her dance, and they briefly hugged, she managed to say something. "Thank you," is all she whispered.

It was enough.

3. Andy Dwyer

April doesn't think of him last. She'll never think of him last in anything, especially now, but he's a constant.

When she first met Andy, he wasn't anything to her. He was attractive, sure, but he may as well have been some random stranger walking down the street to her. He was just the crippled boyfriend of Leslie's new best friend, and nothing more.

That first time they spent an afternoon together at the Parks department felt strange. She knew something was tickling at the back of her mind when they played games together, and the way that he made her smile felt natural and real. When they skirted around what they both clearly wanted, April thought it meant he didn't want her. It made her feel like shit, like she was worthless.

Coming back to the Parks department in Pawnee, Indiana was, of course, influenced by him as well. Picking up a random guy at an airport and leading him on just to have Andy be jealous felt like the right thing to do. Then again, just like when she got furious with him before, it was hollow and empty. Nothing felt right about it, but she did it anyways. And when Andy tried his best to make amends with her and prove that he's devoted, she can't deny him any longer. To do so would be denying herself what she wanted. That was getting old.

When they get married, April can't believe it for so many reasons. He's amazing, and she's April, yet they're standing there and kissing while the only people that matter to her stand around and watch them. Back in their bed, later that night, she's breathless when she tells him, "I love you."

It's perfect.

Visiting the Grand Canyon felt like something that she was always meant to do. It was one of those weird lifelong goals sort of things, except Andy actually had a list of those. It only made sense for her to be going to see it with him, and it felt right when it was because of him. So many things were because of him, and so many things would be impossible if she hadn't met Andy Dwyer. If the world conspired against them in an alternate reality, she would have never fallen in love with him either. But she's so lucky to have found him now, and for things to be real, that she just holds onto him while they stare into the ends of the Earth together.

Being there to support him when he thinks he's failed is so different.

"Andy, you'll be fine," she holds his hand and kisses his cheek. "It sucks be we can move on-"

"You should just divorce me," he slumps down in the chair and that makes her heart hurt. To hear him say that, and even if he's just completely out of his mind in disappointment, stings for real. "You'd be better off-"

"What? No, that's stupid," she smacks his hand, grimacing. "Besides, we agreed that we'll divorce and then get married again. No real divorces."

"You should just marry Orin-"

"Why are you being like this?" April asks him quietly. There's no insistence or anger there and she hopes Andy hears it. "Babe, this doesn't mean anything. You're always going to be my Burt Macklin and this doesn't change anything."

"I'm just..." Andy sighs loudly, wiping his face. Oh no, that can't happen. Andy doesn't get to cry. "I'm useless."

And that, Andy thinking he failed her, makes everything feel pointless.

But when Andy gets better and he's doing something he loves, April's chest is lighter and breathing is easier. When he's smiling again she knows everything is right again. Andy is the biggest, brightest ray of sunshine in the known universe, and he's all of that for her all of the time. She can't see him like that anymore. It makes her uneasy and feels like she needs to do something.

And when they go to that stupid Prom and Andy reminds her that they're together, now, she remembers what she told herself. In some other awful place, there's an April without her Andy. There's an April who won't get to know this. An April that doesn't get to know what it feels like when Andy makes her smile like an idiot every waking second, and when he kisses her makes April have to manually remember how to breathe.

And when, at last, April sees that she does want this, Andy's never been happier. When they see him, at least after he's cleaned up and less entirely disgusting, April wants to cry horribly and awfully for the next year. Though Andy will always be her constant and a piece of her life that won't ever be forgotten, Jack makes her realize there's another part of her that wasn't tapped into that needed release. And who else to make her see that than Andy? Who better to make her realize that love wasn't restricted to just them, and that being happy could mean another potentially terrible human being let onto this Earth?

No one, that's who. There's simply no one like Andy Dwyer. Nobody that could make her happy like this and so intensely comfortable in her own life. There was nobody like him ever, and there never would be. Andy's a one-of-a-kind that she's forever grateful for finding in her life. There's just no one like Andy.

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Andy

1. Leslie Knope

Leslie is the coolest person in the world, fact.

When he was in the pit, she gave him a job. It wasn't actually anything, but to him it meant the world. She supported him in small ways like that, and made him feel like less of an idiot when he could help her in any way possible. Without her, Andy isn't sure if he would have ever made it out of the pit. Though he was an asshole to her best friend, and he later admits and knows that, she helped him. It was more than he could have ever asked for. It was more than anyone deserved, really.

Leslie tells him to Go Big... or Go Home. He's not the kind of person that goes home, either. She makes him work harder. Even if it was for April, he wouldn't have felt the urge to do so without Leslie. He doesn't have a hard-working bone in his body, but Leslie's inspirational prowess extends beyond that. Something small like that made him do what he knew was right but was ready to give up on. He loves Leslie with all of his heart for that.

When she runs for council, he gets to do something. It's not much, but he can't screw it up. If he does, then Leslie will be disappointed in him. That, above all else, can't stand. Andy doesn't want to live in a world where Leslie depended on him and he failed her - so, even though he's going to do it Macklin-style, he takes his position very seriously.

And when April confesses that she needs help and she's searching for something makes her happy, Leslie's there. Of course she is. Leslie will always be there for her friends, and though Andy wasn't going to think twice about helping his terrifying wife, Leslie stands atop the rest as the person that Andy looks up to the most. She's the most amazing person he might ever know, and he knows April. It's different though, and that's okay. That he loves her is very different from the way he loves April, and it makes so much sense when he thinks of it like that.

Leslie Knope will always be there for him, even in her darkest hour, and Andy knows he won't find a way to repay that. There are just some things that can't be given back in the same way, and Leslie Knope's friendship is that exactly. When he sees her escort all the time, Andy silently wonders to himself and realizes that he'd take a bullet for Leslie without hesitation.

2. Ben Wyatt

Andy's kind of surprised that Ben is so great. When he first met him, Ben seemed like a massive douche. As he got to know him, though, he was so much cooler than that.

Even though he never expressly said anything to them, Andy knew that Ben thought his and April's marriage was stupid and rushed. He knew that. When he moved in, he half-expected Ben to try and sabotage their marriage or just continuously make fun of it. Instead, he helped.

Sure, it was mostly in his own interests (clean house, actual dishes, y'know) but he did something for them. He helped Andy make April see that being adults wasn't so bad if they got to do it together. In his own way, he made his marriage better. It was small, but that was Ben Wyatt - he did things that looked insensitive or insignificant, but to those around him they mattered. Andy cared about that, and he liked Ben a whole lot more after that.

He gave Andy his support on Johnny Karate, and even was the first person after April to accept a guest-starring role. It was small, but it felt like support for Andy's ventures. It felt like Ben supporting him in a small way that only this shrimpy nerd-boy could.

That's not what really makes Ben great, though. The thing that makes Ben one of those people Andy will never give up on is his life. He didn't ever want to push April into having a child, if that was what she really wanted. He'd always be missing that but he'd rather have her and no kid than no her and a kid.

"I get it, it's a sacrifice you think you have to make," Ben says with a smile, "but that's all that parenthood is, Andy. It's a series of sacrifices that you make because you think that you've got what it takes to bring this new, crazy life into existence. You just have to let April know that, because I can tell she wants it to. She's just conflicted, she's unsure."

"How do you know that?" Andy asks, confused.

"I was there, in her place, when we found out about the triplets. She doesn't know if she has what it takes and that if she does this, if she can make it work," he admits, looking behind Andy's back at something, "and I think someone wants to talk to you."

Andy turns around and April's biting her lip, staring half at Andy and half through him. He remembers that look, it's something he's known - she wants to tell him something. Turning back to Ben, he wants to say something but Ben just shakes his head and walks back into the living room where Leslie is. Again, a little thing. Ben just explaining things for him, and Andy loves that about him.

On top of all of that, he makes Leslie happy. Anyone who can do that is okay in his books. The way that Leslie is around him, though? Andy loves Ben for loving Leslie, and for being there when it counted.

3. April Ludgate

Someone asked Andy, once, why he was with April.

It's because when he first made her smile, talking about a deer eating Mark, even his current infatuation for Ann couldn't hold back the intense desire to do that again. It's because when she was sad he wanted to tell her a joke, because then she'd laugh at him. That was better than seeing her bummed out, because he'd take a thousand nosedives if it meant April's lips moving a little bit. It's because when she left the country he couldn't think straight.

It's because when she kissed him for the first time all Andy could think was... well, he couldn't think. April's lips met his and his brain shattered. It's because she smiles when she does it, and he wants to kiss her again because it makes her smile.

It's because, at four in the morning with a half-eaten ring pop in hand, she says she'll marry him. It's because, even though she wants to hide it, she smiles the whole time afterwards because of that proposal.

It's because, honestly, she makes him better. Everything he has in his life, now, is because of her: helping write the greatest remembrance song ever to grace this fine Earth, pushing him to become an assistant instead of a shoeshinist, giving him every bit of support and help possible when trying out for the police exam, and being the greatest wife in the world when it came to London, Johnny Karate, and moving to Washington. All of that, he wouldn't know without April.

When he does his rounds as a security guard, Andy thinks. It's because she's so smart, and so amazing and perfect, and yet she chose him. It's because, against all odds, their marriage works and is perfect for them.

It's because of this:

April's standing there, holding her Snakehole hat in her hands and looking uncomfortable. Walking over to her, Andy takes the hat and sets it back on her head, which seemingly does something to comfort her. Taking a breath, April starts to say something but Andy ends up talking at the same time.

Somehow, they both end up saying, at the same time, "I want kids."

And she smiles so widely, like it's the greatest thing she's ever heard that Andy can't help himself. Picking her up, he screams out loud - so loud that he's surprised someone doesn't ask if there's a murder going on - and swings her in circles in his arms. They kiss like it's their first time and April keeps smiling. It's because of that; that smile. Her laugh, that little trickle of noise that came out whenever he said something stupid.

It's because, at the end of the day, there's no one like her. April Ludgate has no equal in his mind, there's never been anyone like this in the history of the universe, and he's always going to make her want to smile. There's no smile like hers. There's just no one like April.

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"Hey," Andy whispers into her hair. His head's been smashed up against her on that little hospital bed.

"Hey," she answers back, smiling but never looking away from Jack.

"I love you," he says simply.

"I love you too," and she returns it just as quickly.

To them, this is what matters. Each other, their friends - Jack's godparents - and, now, the little bundle that April can't keep her eyes off of. Even though there will never be anyone like Andy for April, or April for Andy, there will never be another Jack Ludgate-Dwyer (April will always call him Little Satan, but she can't give this kid that legal burden).

Together, they look at their little boy with an immense white heat in their hearts.

"There's no one like you," Andy thinks to himself, smiling still so wide at Jack.

April's doing the same, getting ready for her first feeding that she actually wants to do now because, as she says to herself quietly, "there's nobody like you."