Disclaimer: This is a story about characters who don't belong to me. Written after Episode 3x09. Gary, Indiana is all Meredith Wilson's.

It had been six months since April and Andy's surprise wedding, and the young, odd, spontaneous couple had astonished everyone by, well, actually making their marriage work. Andy was no better at competently running the shoeshine stall and April was still the worst assistant that Ben had ever seen, but what they really seemed to excel at was being committed to each other.

Which isn't to say that there weren't still open bets in City Hall on how long the marriage would last. However, Ben saw them together and apart nearly everyday and had to admit that for all their quirks, they seemed to be genuinely devoted to one another. In fact, he found it kind of…inspiring.

The couple could often be found sitting together in the shoeshine chairs at random points during the day, and it was after passing them thus one morning, as they laughed together while Andy told some story which apparently required loud, accented voices, that Ben came to a realization that actually made him stop in his tracks.

Andy, usually so oblivious to most social cues, actually noticed Ben standing stock-still in the hall.

"Hey, man!" he called genially to Ben, "You need your shoes shined?"

Ben turned towards them to answer. April was glaring at him in such a way that he thought he might actually risk physical pain were he to answer in the affirmative. "Ah, no. No man, I'm good." He dug out a smile to shoot at Andy. "Thanks, though."

"Anytime! We're saving up for a nicer place, so I gotta ask everyone!"

April's gimlet-eyed glare softened at Andy's words and she nearly smiled. "The place we have is fine."

"No way, babe! We're gonna get that other one you liked better, don't worry." He reached out to sling his arm around her shoulders.

"I'm not."

"Well, good luck with that." Ben turned away from the couple and continued on his way to his office.

Oh, yeah. He was tired of being cautious.

Leslie was researching constellations. She was determined that their observatory was going to be the best in Indiana (and probably in the country), and the more she knew about stars and the night sky, the more she could talk it up. She was so intent on her computer screen that she didn't notice the visitor standing in her doorway until they cleared their throat. She looked up.

"Ann!" A horrible thought occurred to her, and she glanced at the clock on her desktop monitor. "Is it lunchtime? Did I forget lunch? Was it my turn to buy? Oh, shoot!"

Ann laughed. "No, no, I'm on shift through lunch today, remember? I'm on my way to the hospital now, actually. Maybe today's one of your lunches with Ben…?"

Leslie looked at her planner and brightened. "It is! Oh, and it's nice out so we can sit in the courtyard."

Ann shook her hands like pom-poms. "Yaaaaay! So how are things with you guys?"

Leslie could feel herself blushing but she wasn't entirely sure why. "Good! They're good. He's such a great friend. And he's a great cook. Almost as good as you are!"

"And he's easy on the eyes, too, right?"

"What? Oh…yes. I guess he is." She cleared her throat. "So, when does your shift start?"

"In thirty, I've got to get going. You don't have any plans tonight, correct?"

Leslie glanced back at her planner, noting that today's entry had the evening blocked out with the words "Keep clear for Ann." "Oh, tonight's the night you wanted to do something. What is it? Drinks? Dancing? Ladies Night at the Snakehole?"

"No, that's next week." Tom called from across the room without glancing up from his GQ.

"Thank you, Tom!" Leslie called back.

"None of those things, actually. Tonight we're doing my birthday present."

Tom looked up at that. "Ooh, that sounds promising."

Leslie's face fell. "Tonight? Really? Can't we do it next week? Or next month? Actually, I think December is really good for me—"

"You're disgusting, Tom. No, Leslie, it's tonight. You promised."

"Yes. Yes, I did. Okay." She took in a breath, then let it out. "Until tonight."

Ann headed out the door. Leslie went back to her stars.

Tom called to both of them. "Can I watch?"

"No!"

Ann made one last stop before heading to work.

"Hey Ben, are you busy tonight?"

Ben slowly sat back from his computer, where he'd been constructing a spreadsheet, understandably wary. The last time Ann had stuck her head in his office, she'd yelled at him.

"Ann Perkins!" Chris stood, the perpetual look of glee upon his face.

Ann only glanced at him. "Hey, Chris. Sorry, I'm running a little late." She turned her attention back to Ben. "Tonight? Busy?"

Ben was still wary. There was something about this that felt like a trap. "No. Why?"

"Great! Be at Leslie's house at 6." With that, she was out the door.

Ben chased her down in the hall. "Ann! What is this about?"

"I'm sorry, Ben, I really am running late for work. We're moving some stuff out of Leslie's house and could use some help."

Comprehension dawned. "Whoa. What'd you do to get her to agree to that?"

Ann grinned. "Ambushed her on my birthday and made her promise."

"Diabolical. Okay, I'll be there at 6. Oh, do you want me to ask Chris? He could be helpful."

"I thought about that, but Andy will be there, so we've got strong arms. Chris would probably try to feng shui the place, which I think would be a little too much for Leslie to handle."

"Got it."

Ann had been conducting this project in stages. After the initial agreement, she had had Leslie divide the boxed items in her house into categories based on varying degrees of emotional attachment. She had already agreed to donate everything in the bottom three categories, and Ann was hoping that once they got going, they'd be able to talk her into more. When it came down to it, Leslie Knope enjoyed a good project, and momentum could accomplish many things.

When Ben arrived that evening, he discovered Leslie in a plaid work shirt, with a look in her eyes like they were there to kill her dog. Ann was arguing with Leslie's silence in a cheery voice. "Just think how much more room you'll have! I bet a lot of this stuff ends up with collectors who'll value it and put it on display instead of just in a box."

Leslie sent Ben a pleading look. He couldn't help but smile back at her. He wanted her to be happy, but her house really was a mess. "How'd you end up with so much stuff, anyway? I mean, the newspapers I can understand…sort of, but what about the rest?"

"Oh, well, I try to take all of the classes offered by the Parks Department at least once, and I really do like to do some of them, even if I'm not all that great." she gestured to a nearby box full of misshapen clay pots and birdhouses. The birdhouses were actually pretty solidly built, there were just…a lot of them. "Oh, and anytime a new little store opens up in town, I have to buy SOMETHING. You know, to support the local economy."

"Is that why you have three large boxes of scented lotion and bath salts?"

"The town went through a sort of 'Bath and Bodyworks' phase."

"Right. Well, it's good you're donating them."

"Oh no, those are staying."

"Leslie!" Ann approached from the back of the house carrying a bag of wooden spoons. "You would have to spend the next 10 years in the bath tub to use all of those!"

Leslie went into her classic Leslie Knope fighting stance, but Ben's mind had blanked at the image Ann had painted.

"Ben!"

Ann's voice brought him abruptly back. "What?"

She smiled as if she knew exactly where his mind had gone. "Can you take these boxes out to the van, please?"

He glanced around him. Leslie was nowhere to be found. The boxes in question were the ones containing bath salts. Apparently Ann had won that argument while his mind had been…otherwise engaged. Christ, how long had be been out of it? "Yeah, sure."

Despite the rocky start, true to Ann's prediction, Leslie soon got into the spirit of things. She agreed to cull the newspapers back to the last year only (aside from those depicting "important events," which led to an argument about what actually constituted an "important event"), kept only her favourite 5 pieces of pottery (though they all looked about the same to Ben), and two birdhouses ("If more than two birds show up, then they can share, Leslie!"). There were numerous other collections of things that went out the door; afghan blankets, pillows in embroidered cases, lots and lots and lots of books. They filled Andy's buddy's van floor to ceiling. Ann's car had bags and bags of stuffed animals, all of which were going to the hospital's children's wing. After Andy, April, and Ann all drove off, Ben ventured back into the house.

It did feel much larger without all of the boxes, though he found he'd gotten accustomed to the towering pile of newspapers. He found Leslie in what he guessed was the spare room on the second floor, kneeling over a couple of paper-filled boxes.

"It's going to be weird not having so many spoons to choose from the next time I make dinner."

Leslie chuckled and turned to face him. "I think there might be 10 left down there."

"Oh, that's alright, then." He smiled at her. "So…what's all this?"

"Stuff from school. Papers I wrote, mainly, but other things, too."

"Are you sure you want to get rid of all of this?"

"Oh, not ALL of it, no, but…" she shrugged, sheepishly. "Some, maybe. Once I got started, I figured I should look."

"You want some help?"

"Yeah, sure! I'm mainly looking for stuff I've got duplicates of."

"Sounds simple enough." He walked over to kneel next to her. "Oh, I almost forgot. I rescued one." He offered her a small glass container.

"Bath salts?" She laughed. "Thank you, Ben!" She gave him a quick squeeze as she inspected the label. "Oh, and they're Sweet Pea, too, that's my favourite! How did you know?"

He shrugged. "Just a hunch." He certainly wasn't going to tell her that he'd sniffed about twenty of the suckers until he found one that made him think of her.

They got to work, pawing through the boxes. For the most part they were silent, though he would occasionally question her on the topics of various papers. The ones she'd chosen to hold onto were unsurprisingly in the subjects of history and politics, and checking the dates against the topics, he found himself repeatedly impressed by how critical a thinker she was at such a young age. There were also certificates of merit and commendations on her grades, attendance, and frequent community service.

When he came across yet another commendation, he laughed. "You never missed a day of school from Kindergarten to 12th grade? Why is it that doesn't surprise me?"

She grinned at him. "I didn't miss any days in preschool, either, but they didn't count those."

"Well, that doesn't seem fair."

"That's what I said!"

Near the bottom of the box, he stumbled across a bright orange, folded piece of paper, which stood out in the sea of white. "What's this? A playbill?"

She glanced over at him and her eyes lit up. "Oh! That's from The Music Man!"

"You were in a musical?"

She snatched the playbill out of his hands. "Uh-huh. Every year, the senior class put on a play. I convinced them to do The Music Man so that we could change the words in 'Gary, Indiana.'"

"What?"

"It's a song in the show about a town called Gary, Indiana. But there's really nothing in the song specific to Gary, and since the number of syllables are the same, I lobbied to change the words of the song to 'Pawnee, Indiana,' instead."

"Of course." He smiled. "How'd that go?"

"Oh, everyone just loved it! The director had been a little scandalized, but the town got such a kick out of it."

"No, I mean how did the song go?"

"Oh!" Her cheeks colored a little. "You want me to sing it?"

His smile widened at her discomfiture. "I would love for you to sing it."

"Alright." She took a deep breath, and then launched into a rousing (and pretty on-key) rendition of the song.

Pawnee, Indiana, Pawnee Indiana, Pawnee, Indiana,

Let me say it once again.

Pawnee, Indiana, Pawnee, Indiana, Pawnee, Indiana,

That's the town that "knew me when."

If you'd like to have a logical explanation

How I happened on this elegant syncopation,

I will say without a moment of hesitation

There is just one place

That can light my face.

Pawnee, Indiana,

Pawnee, Indiana,

Not Louisiana, Paris, France, New York, or Rome, but-

Pawnee, Indiana,

Pawnee, Indiana,

Pawnee, Indiana,

My home sweet home!

She finished, arms theatrically outstretched, and immediately collapsed in helpless laughter. She looked up at Ben, expecting to find him laughing as well, but he was nearly frozen, a little smile on his lips and an odd light in his eyes. She sat up a little. "Ben?"

"I love you."

Now it was her turn to be frozen. She watched his face, watched the surprise that flitted across it, and then the worry. "What?"

"I didn't mean to say that."

"Oh." She started to get up; still not sure what was happening or how she felt about it.

"No, no, wait. Please. Leslie." He held a hand out to stop her, but kept his distance.

She stilled, but wouldn't meet his eyes.

"I spoke without thinking, but that doesn't mean I didn't mean it. I know this is kind of out of the blue, and I really don't want to do anything to screw up our friendship, but I…just couldn't go on without saying anything."

"April told me that we've been dating for months."

She sounded thoughtful. Ben figured it could be worse. "Ann said the same thing to me."

Leslie smiled at him. "Oh yeah?"

"Yeah. She thought I was doing it on purpose, actually. She accused me of tricking you into dating me."

"Well, you are pretty sneaky."

He laughed. "Only compared to you." She chuckled at that, but was still strangely subdued. It was odd, and so very un-Leslie. "Could you say something, maybe?"

"Were you doing it on purpose?"

"No! I mean, not really. I liked you, and I liked being with you. Leslie, you made me happy in a way that I haven't felt since…well, since Ice Town. I wasn't trying to trick you into anything, I just wanted to spend time with you."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"Oh, good." She flashed him a smile. "I like you, too, Ben. A lot. The dating thing scared me because I didn't want to lose all of the great times, but apparently we're actually pretty good at it."

"We are."

"Yeah."

At this point, they were both sitting cross-legged on the floor, papers and boxes forgotten.

"I'm going to kiss you."

"Yeah?"

He grinned, he couldn't help it. "Oh, yeah."

"Go for it, Ice Town."

Which made his eyes flash in a way which was neither sweet nor gentle, but hell if it wasn't full of promise. And then his hand was in her hair and his lips were on hers and her hand was on his thigh as she leaned into him and it was good, incredibly good. With a groan, he dragged her into his lap and she twined her arms around his neck and it went on. She pulled back to gasp for air, and he immediately buried his face in her neck, nipping and nuzzling.

She let her head fall back to give him better access. "Okay, you're pretty good at this."

He chuckled against her skin, which sent shivers down her spine. "I've been thinking about it long enough."

She stilled and he looked up. "Really?"

He raised a hand to frame her jaw and rubbed the tip of his thumb along the corner of her mouth. "God, yes." The question was still in her eyes, so he elaborated. "Like, within the first week."

Her eyes widened. "Really? But I was so angry with you! I called you Mean Ben and you were, well, really mean."

"I know. I've had to be Mean Ben in a lot of towns in order to do my job, and I never had anyone fight me the way you did. Do you know what you look like when you're determined to right a wrong?" She shook her head. His thumb stayed put, rubbing her lips with the action, which made her shiver again. "You're like a rainbow…on fire."

Those lips curved against his thumb. "I'm like a rainbow on fire?"

He laughed. "Ok, bad analogy. The point is, I couldn't look away. Even when you were driving me mad, even when I wanted to fire you, you were breath taking. That hasn't changed."

She tightened her arms around his neck and pulled herself up to rest her forehead on his. He moved his hands to wrap them around her and keep her there. "No one's ever called me a rainbow on fire before."

"Leslie, I'm crazy about you."

"I do love you."

That slow smile tugged on his lips. "Yeah?"

"Yeah. Sorry I didn't say it earlier. You caught me off-guard."

"I caught me off-guard, too. Your song did strange things to my brain. Sing it again."

"No."

He pressed his lips to hers again and lingered. "Please?"

"Will you stay tonight?"

"Will you sing it again if I do?"

She laughed. "No."

"Oh, well, alright." Moving one arm under her knees, he scooped her up as he stood.

"That, Mr. Wyatt, was one smooth move."

"Why, thank you, Ms. Knope."

He headed out the door and chose a direction at random, hoping they were headed towards her bedroom. She rested her head on his shoulder and gave a little sigh. "Tomorrow's Saturday, right?"

"Right." He stepped over a box that had been abandoned in the hall and nudged the next door open with his foot. She reached out to hit the light switch. Bedroom. Thank God.

"So do you think tomorrow it can be waffle o'clock all day?"

He kicked the door shut behind them. "Hell, yes."

A/N: Confession time. This entire story came about because I was singing "Gary, Indiana" in the car and decided to replace "Gary" with "Pawnee" because I am a giant nerd. This is the closest I will ever come to writing a songfic. "Gary, Indiana" is actually a real song, and it is a good one. There's a link to the youtube video on my profile page. Enjoy!

Oh, also: this is as far as the story got in my head, but damn if I don't want to write about some Leslie/Ben babies. So I'm going to mark it Complete, but don't be shocked if you get an additional chapter or an epilogue! Of course this all might be moot if I can't think of another dumb thing for Ben to say. What else am I going to call the chapter?