Chapter Text
Leslie left the Parks Department in search of Ben. Andy and April had just handed out invitations to their dinner party that night, and Leslie felt that she needed to make sure that Ben was coming.
This was more out of habit than anything. A month or two ago, Leslie might have had to actually force Ben to go socialize with everyone outside of work, but now he had become a fixture of their department, one of the gang, and Leslie knew he would definitely show up. Still, it gave her an excuse to go see him, and that was her real motive. Over the past half a year, spending time with Ben had more and more become one of her favorite parts of the day, and she would have bet anything that Ben felt the same way.
She spotted him walking down one of the main hallways. “Hey!”
“Oh, hey,” Ben replied, his voice sounding slightly off. Leslie ignored it for a second, focusing on the invitation in Ben’s hands.
“You going tonight?” she asked casually, gesturing to the piece of paper.
“Yeah,” Ben replied, looking down at the invitation, “apparently they want me to bring Avatar and 50 pairs of 3D glasses and a 3D capable television.” He offered Leslie one of his small Ben Wyatt smiles.
“Mmmm,” Leslie replied, entertained.
Ben’s smile grew wider, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes.
“Well, I will see you there,” Leslie said, as the pair of them started walking down the hallway side-by-side, “with all of those things.”
“I was actually coming to see you,” Ben said, his voice lacking any of its previous humor, “I have to tell you something.”
“Oh yeah?” Leslie was suddenly nervous.
He took a deep breath. “I should have told you this when I found out a few days ago, but I didn’t know how, but I still want you to know before I tell anyone else.” He paused for a moment. “My boss in Indianapolis wants me back on the road next week. Today’s my last day in Pawnee. I leave tomorrow morning.”
Leslie’s smile immediately slid off her face as she stared at him. She had known that Ben leaving was inevitable - he was technically a state auditor after all - but she had managed to put that idea out of her head for at least a couple months now. Ben had become a trusted ally, an amazing coworker, a friend, and there was definitely a not-so-little part of her that had a not-so-little crush on him. She had never gotten along with someone as well as she had gotten along with Ben, even their early days of fighting had been fun and exciting. He was always willing to listen to her ideas, and she could have never pulled the Harvest Festival off without him. Ben meant so much to her… but he was leaving…
Leslie felt tears begin to well up in her eyes. “Oh,” she said quietly.
She saw concern begin to appear on Ben’s face, but Leslie didn’t want to make this harder on him than it probably already was. Without another word, she raced off. If Ben Wyatt was leaving Pawnee, then darn it if she wasn’t going to give him something to remember the town by.
She started digging through boxes and files in her office, trying her best to avoid being seen by Ben who had come to the department presumably to tell them the news.
Everyone seemed to be very sympathetic about Ben’s departure, and Leslie was pleased. It was nice to know that all her friends had all gotten as attached to the nerdy state auditor as she had. Well maybe not quite as attached as she had, but still: they cared.
Leslie sped home to pick up supplies at lunchtime and then spent the rest of the afternoon in the office working on her Ben in Pawnee scrapbook. For months now she had been saving pictures and mementos of Ben’s time in the town in a box in one of her drawers. She wasn’t totally sure why her collection had started, but from the moment she found out Ben had gone to Eagleton to get Freddy Spaghetti, Leslie had known somehow that this state auditor was special, and she had subconsciously added him to the list of people that she cared about enough to warrant an eventual scrapbook. When pictures had come out from the concert, she had gotten some printed and put them away just in case, and she had done the same thing with screengrabs from Ben on Perd Hapley and Joan Callamezzo once she had gotten her hands on copies of the shows. Since the Harvest Festival, Leslie had kept a secret hope that she’d get to make this scrapbook as a present for Ben for when they started dating, because dating Ben was something she definitely wanted, but now it would just have to suffice as a going away present.
Leslie tried to distract herself from the sadness of Ben leaving by finding the transcript from the Crazy Ira and The Douche show where Ben had had his first meltdown and tracking down her old ID badge from the government shutdown over the summer, but that didn’t work for long.
The last few pages of the scrapbook were going to be dedicated to the Harvest Festival, and Leslie worked on them last in the two hours she had at her house between work and the party. The brochures, site maps, and event schedules were easy, but everything derailed when she started looking through pictures. Group ones of the staff where Leslie and Ben were standing beside each other, grinning at the success of the event, candids of Leslie, Ben and others surveying the grounds, and, last, one of Leslie and Ben standing at the edge of Li’l Sebastain’s pen smiling widely at each other, each wearing “I Met Li’l Sebastian at the Pawnee Harvest Festival” t-shirts. It had taken some time, but Ben finally got it.
Leslie focused on their faces, the smiles they were giving each other. They looked almost like a couple. A tear fell onto the picture, and Leslie quickly wiped it off and rubbed her eyes. There was no point in crying over what could have been. This was Ben’s last night in Pawnee, and she refused to let herself ruin things for him by crying.
So Leslie arrived promptly to the party and set her bag containing the scrapbook in a back room as she wondered how she would be able to get through the evening without getting too broken up over Ben. But Leslie found her solution in April and Andy’s secret wedding as she immediately launched into trying to keep her friends from throwing away their lives, looking to shore up support from anyone, only to find that she had no allies who were willing to help.
So Leslie finally let them go. April and Andy could have just made the biggest mistake of their lives, but, like Ron said, it was up to them to figure this out for themselves.
With the ceremony over, Leslie knew it was time to talk to Ben.
“Hey, come with me for a sec,” Leslie said evenly, trying not hold it together.
Ben followed her into the other room, and Leslie motioned for him to sit down on the sofa.
She pulled out the scrapbook and handed it to him hesitantly. It wasn’t quite up to her usual standards since she had only had that day to work on it, but she hoped he liked it.
Ben was quiet as he flipped through the pages slowly, reaching out to touch a photo or flyer here or there. He finally paused as he got to the picture of he and Leslie at the Harvest Festival.
“I didn’t have time to make it that nice,” she said nervously, “but I had to do something.”
Ben finally looked up, shaking his head, his eyes wide in admiration. “This is the greatest present I’ve ever gotten,” he said in a way that told Leslie that he really meant that. He set down the scrapbook stood up to wrap his arms around Leslie as she did the same to him.
Don’t cry, Leslie, she told herself, don’t you dare cry.
As they broke apart, Ben looked down at her. “I’m really going to miss Pawnee.”
Leslie could tell that there was a little more meaning behind “Pawnee” than just the town. “Pawnee’s really going to miss you,” she replied with a half smile.
Ben said his goodbyes to the rest of their friends, and finally he and Leslie were left alone by the door.
Leslie knew it was only a matter of time before she broke her “no crying” rule. “You better come back and visit,” she said, emotion evident in her voice.
Ben had looked back into her eyes seriously. “I will. I promise.” Again, his words carried a great weight.
They shared one last hug and one final finger pistol handshake. Leslie laughed even as the first tear rolled down her cheek.
Leslie took in a shaky breath as Ben disappeared into the darkness. She had finally found a guy who cared about her, who appreciated her enthusiasm and her determination, who read political biographies and watched the History Channel in his free time, but he was gone. She had only known him for six months, but it felt like longer. He was a really great person and a really great friend.
Leslie wiped the tears from her eyes and hardened her resolve. Ben Wyatt might have been leaving Pawnee, but Leslie couldn’t bear to let him leave her life. She would talk to him in a day or two and find out the details of his next assignment, and then they’d stay in touch and maybe he’d come back to visit… and maybe, eventually, one of those visits would turn into him coming back for good. Leslie tried not to get too ahead of herself, but it was still an encouraging thought.
“Leslie!” she heard Andy’s excited voice behind her. “Get back here! You’ve got to come dance!”
She sighed. Time to head back to the party, not that she really felt like dancing.