A/N: Oh hey! We're back in the swing of things after an... interesting week. Since the week before that was purely angst, let's not do that for a second, okay?
This was requested anonymously on tumblr from other characters' perspectives.
It all starts half by accident and half by reminiscence. Out in the courtyard, children play and April's busy corralling the triplets and the Perkins-Traegers without anyone running off into the vast unknown of City Hall with Andy sitting by Jack after a tiring game of tag with seven other kids. Leslie notes to herself that April can seemingly handle almost any number of children, and she silently wonders where that breaking point is. Where April's breaking point is, really. There were a lot of mysteries about her not-really-but-basically-daughter, but after barely having to convince her to babysit triplets and the whole fear of motherhood thing this shouldn't be.
Inside, everyone's gathered around telling jokes and stories. Donna and Tom are back by where her old desk used to be, chatting it up and laughing about something, and Ann is laughing with Ben as Chris tells some likely amazing story. Even Garry is around, saying something to Ron who just looks tickled to be wearing that silly uniform. Leslie takes it all in, enjoying this last gathering. Hopefully it won't truthfully be the last, but who knows.
She's peering out the window, looking at April walk over to her husband with Sonia just behind her like always - out of all of her children, Sonia took to April the most and, honestly, Leslie couldn't have hoped for a better role model (though Ruth Bader Ginsberg or even her namesake, Sotomayor, would have been nice.) April leans down and gives Andy a kiss, and all of the children make faces at them. Leslie doesn't realize it until she's back in the central room that she's smiling.
"Hey," Ben walks over to her with a champagne glass in his hand. He's all smiles, face a little red from the laughter before, and his voice is soft. "I'm surprised you could go in your office without breaking down."
"One step at a time," Leslie answers with a chuckle and a large gulp from her own glass. "Y'know, I was looking out there-" she points behind her with her glass at the kids and the Ludgate-Dwyers. "And I just saw the future, y'know? Everything I worked for here, and I wanna work for is out there."
"Even April and Andy?" Ben jokes, knowing that the two of them are practically their surrogate children.
"Oh God, you should've seen the kids out there. April kissed him and they all freaked out," Leslie says with that same smile from before on her face. It's still hilarious to her. "They don't even know the half of it."
"No they don't," Ben states knowingly.
"Oh right, you were-"
"Let me just say they got a lot of free blankets and I don't want to think about it ever again," Ben brushes aside, downing the rest of his champagne before chuckling. "That seems like forever ago."
"Yeah, well not exactly forever ago we had to peel those two apart on our couch," Leslie says with another laugh.
"Leslie, I ate at that dining table at their house," he shudders.
"And I worked at my desk," she points back into her old office.
"You guys think you had it bad?" Ann appears with Chris at her side, apparently overhearing the conversation. "April would text me telling me that she was making out with Andy."
"With photographic evidence," Chris adds. "Thankfully, it was never more than that. Right?"
"Dude, I don't wanna see any of his junk touching any of her junk," Ann mutters sardonically, taking a sip of her glass. Everyone's starting to crowd around the courtyard-facing windows. "Ever. God, I'm afraid she'll send me that stuff now."
"Y'all are lucky," Donna butts in, leaving Tom behind to stare at an insanely shiny, clearly expensive, watch. "The best I got was a little peep show when they were in the conference room."
Everyone looks at Donna, confused. She just looks at them like they're the crazy ones. "What?" she asks.
"The best?" Leslie asks, a smile curling her lips while Ann scrunches her nose in disgust.
"I invited them several times to a swinger's group I was into, but they never showed," Donna shrugs her shoulders. Chris looks positively mortified and Ben shakes his head. "I figured they were into that sorta thing. The hot ones never are." She sets her glass down and sighs. "So, anyone got any juicy stories they wanna share? Or am I stuck with one memory and some creative imagination?"
"No thanks, Donna," Tom appears and Garry's following him now. Apparently Ron wants nothing to do with the conversation, instead looking out at the kids now sitting down and having what could only be inane, pleasant conversation. "My girl April? I don't wanna hear nothing about what she does with that big man."
"Really, you and April never-?"
"Gross, no," Tom scrunches his face up. "She moisturizes her hands once a day. How can I be with someone that has no care for their pores like that?"
"She told me she uses the blood of the innocents," Ann remarks.
"Which is April-speak for Jergens," Leslie adds. When people look at her, unsure who to believe, she has to clarify. "I bought some random lotion for her once and she sent me a text asking for more of it and not to tell anyone that she actually uses it."
"Nobody got skin like hers and use blood," Donna chuckles and Tom joins in. No one else seems to enjoy the joke as much. "Wait, Garry... you have to have seen something. C'mon, let your old friend in on some secrets! I've only got one man now."
"Oh, I just don't feel right saying anything," Garry says with a pleasant smile and a gentle chuckle. He waves them off, but everyone is urging him on. Donna prods again and he laughs, but then Ann shakes her head and walks away to join Ron in his complete absolution of the conversation. "I mean, I have walked in on them doing several things."
"Yes, now the details," Donna crosses her arms and stares at him, expectant.
"Oh, that'd be crass. I never stayed anyways," he says with a sigh. "There was one time... y'know what, nevermind that."
"No, tell us!" Tom taps his arm with the back of his hand playfully, otherwise known as the most physical contact he'd give Garry that whole day.
"It's very private, and I promised Andy-"
"C'mon!" a loud chorus greets him and he sighs, broken by peer pressure.
"Okay, well... one day, I think it was after some big forum while Leslie was gone-" he points at her with his glass and takes a huge gulp of it, not finishing it but barely leaving any in the basin. "I think April was running some of your meetings, right? Well, I found her, um, crying."
Everyone stops their chuckles and chatter and keep their eyes fixated on Garry. For the first time in a while, he doesn't just lose focus and start babbling nonsense.
"Andy was there, too, and she was shaking. It was so strange. I've never seen her like that," Garry shrugs his shoulders and continues. "She yelled at me to go away, and usually she was mean to me but she sounded... I dunno, different."
"I don't think we should be talking about this," Leslie says, looking down into her glass.
"Once while I was staying with them," Ben adds, "she wouldn't get out of the shower for about a half an hour and when she came out her eyes were all red and puffy. She wouldn't even be mean to me and just stole my popcorn."
"She stole your popcorn?" Donna asks, a curious tilt to her brow.
"Yeah, she microwaved it without my permission but I didn't want to say anything."
"D'you know what it was?" Leslie asks him, intrigued now. "Why she was... in the shower?"
"I didn't ask," Ben shrugs.
The room goes silent, solemn. Lost in it for a few moments, after a small conversation about finding them doing it everywhere, the suddenness of remembering that there human emotions behind those people brought them to something else. Leslie never asked April why she wanted hugs when Andy was gone in London, mostly because she was so happy to give them over though also because April just had something in her voice, in her requests. It was the same thing with her phone calls and texts, and emails, and basically every kind of communication they could have.
Suddenly, Ron appears the outside of the ring and gives everyone a once over.
"I'd rather we not speak on this topic, again. I think everyone can agree with me?" Ron adds, his hands at his belt and a strong, stubborn grimace on his face underneath the moustache. Everyone nods and takes the drinks they can.
Some day, Leslie will ask him what he's seen. She'll try, but knowing him Leslie doubts that she'll ever get much out of him. Then again, the relationship April and Ron have is far different from the rest of them. Silent, understanding. It was something Leslie didn't really have with her, but that was okay.
Turning around to look back out at the courtyard, Andy's got little Jack in his arms and is playing a game of airplane with him while Ron's daughters giggle at the tall goof that April's grinning at. With her arms crossed, she watches her husband spin their child around once more before setting him back into his stroller. Andy looks dizzier than the little boy, and April slinks over to put an arm around him and kiss him with a little more passion now that the other kids are paying less attention. Leslie smiles and then turns around, walking over to get Ann and Ron for the group photo.