Work Text:
Leslie walked into the dining room to find a smiling Ben and Andy at the table.
Ben’s eyes lit up when he saw her, and that alone was enough to increase her heart rate.
“Hey, there you are,” he said, waving her over. “I was just about to come find you.”
“Oh, yeah?” she smiled back. “What was it you needed me for? Is there any development in the investigation?”
“Unfortunately, not,” Andy said as she sat down next to them. “But we do have some good news, and we were hoping you’d help us out with something.”
Her interest was immediately peaked. Honestly, at this point, she’d be willing to do anything to keep herself occupied. Anything at all that could keep her busy.
“Yeah, sure, fire away.”
“Well,” Ben cut in, “next weekend is Agent Rich Chapman’s birthday. His thirtieth, and he’s scheduled to be on shift that day. You know, since it’s a milestone birthday and he’s got the new baby at home and everything, some of the other agents wanted to throw him a little something here on Saturday. We already have some volunteers that are willing to come in so we have extra bodies available for a rotation. That way everyone can have time to come and we still have enough on patrol at any given time.”
Leslie smiled and clapped her hands in excitement. “That’s a wonderful idea! I’m definitely down.”
Andy pumped his fist in the air. “Awesome! So Ben was thinking that you might want to kind of take over and plan everything? The guys were saying something about maybe having a barbecue and everyone would bring sides and stuff and--”
“Yes, that sounds perfect. I’ll coordinate everything. I can make a signup sheet for the food so we know who’s bringing what, I’ll write a list of all of the supplies that we need to set everything up--oh! I wonder if I can anonymously request something from my banner guy--”
“Leslie,” Ben laughed and touch a hand to her wrist. “I know that you’re an excellent planner, but we have to remember that it has to be kept relatively simple. We don’t want to attract attention and we can’t really bring too much out here.”
"Okay, you’re right,” she said with a sigh, trying to ignore the fact that Ben’s fingers were still on her wrist. “Sorry, I just get very easily excited with this kind of stuff. You know that.”
He flashed her that crooked smile and she swore he was trying to kill her. “Yeah, I know.”
Their eyes stayed locked until Andy cleared his throat and stood up. “Well, I have to go back out there. But I’ll let them know that the party is on and you’ll keep them updated.”
Ben blinked and pulled his hand away to stand and follow Andy to the door. Leslie pretended that it didn’t bother her one bit.
“Uhm yeah, that’s good,” she said. “I’ll have the signup list ready for you tomorrow, and then my own list of stuff I’m gonna need. I can handle the birthday cake and the rest of the desserts, but I’ll need some fresher ingredients.”
“Not a problem, boss. Just tell me what you need and we’ll get it out here.”
She was already mentally making her list as Andy left, Ben turning away from the door and smiling again at her.
“What?” she said with her own smile, crossing her arms under his scrutiny.
He shook his head. “Nothing, it’s just, I can already tell you’ve got most of this all thought out in your head. You have that...planning face going on right now.”
This was starting to feel a lot like flirting, and she loved it. “Planning face? I have a planning face? I don’t believe you.”
“It’s true. You get this far off yet simultaneously crazed look in your eye and you bite your lip.”
Leslie scrunched her nose at him but couldn’t even pretend to be angry. She was just too excited. “Yeah, well, it’s been too long since I’ve had to plan something, and even if I can’t go all out like I usually would, it’s better than nothing.” She walked towards him and put a hand on his shoulder. “And thank you for doing this for me.”
“I think we’re the ones that should be thanking you for taking care of this for us.”
“You know what I mean. This was all your idea, wasn’t it? So I’d have something to focus on besides the investigation?”
He shrugged and did his best to look fairly apathetic. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. I might have suggested to a few of the agents that it would be a good idea, and they might have said something to Andy, and when he asked me about it, I might have recommended you for the job. All purely coincidental. Either way, Rich gets a birthday party, we all get to have a chance to relax and have fun, and you get something to keep you occupied and stop driving me crazy. We all win.”
His quick wink at the end was almost her undoing, and it took every ounce of self control to not run up and attack his face with her mouth. Instead she did what all good totally platonic buddies do and gave his good shoulder a quick nudge with her fist. That was totally cool and chill, right?
“Yeah, well, don’t think you’re getting out of this one that easily, buddy. I have a lot of baking to do, and that kitchen is big enough for the two of us.”
He groaned but didn’t honestly look the least bit upset.
So far everything was running smoothly. While it wasn’t her best work, she thought it was pretty damn amazing given what she was able to work with. All of the agents signed up with a side dish, drink, or some other needed supplies, and Leslie handled everything else.
One of the agents was manning Ron’s grill, passing out burgers and hot dogs while everyone else was mingling around getting drinks and snacks and giving Rich congratulatory slaps on the back.
He just looked so grateful and happy, and beyond this giving her something to do, seeing Rich enjoying himself was enough of a reward. For a split second, Leslie almost forgot why they were all out in the middle of no where to begin with.
She couldn’t remember the last time she had enjoyed herself this much. The food was great, as was the company, and she had just downed her fifth cupcake.
Her body was buzzing with energy from the sugar and caffeine from the soda she used to wash down the desserts. She was happy and...giddy was the only word she could think that accurately described herself at the moment.
This was what she lived for, making people happy, making them forget that harsh reality of everything even if it was for a little while. She hadn’t felt this alive in weeks, and it was all because of Ben.
Ben. She needed to find him. She just had this overwhelming urge to be near him. That urge was almost always there recently, but for some reason it was stronger than usual. She blamed the sugar and caffeine for weakening her inhibitions, but at this point, it didn’t matter why. She just needed to be with him.
Whatever was happening between them was shifting, she just knew it. Their friendship was stronger than ever, their movie nights started feeling a lot more cozy, and she found them touching each other just a bit more than was necessary. Especially after everything with Ben and his nightmares, she just felt like they were linked somehow.
Sometimes she’d catch him looking at her when he thought she couldn’t see, and what she saw in his eyes made her feel like the most desired woman on the planet. But it was more than that. He cared about her.
She knew all of this already, he all but admitted the depths of his feelings for her and why he refused to act on them, but when he looked at her like that, she thought maybe, just maybe, he was ready to throw caution to the wind.
And she certainly was doing her part to encourage him along.
Leslie spotted him across the yard, sitting in a chair next to Andy. She didn’t think she’d ever seen him this happy and relaxed, either. She grabbed another can of soda and made her way over to them.
It was a split second decision, one that she hoped wouldn’t backfire on her, but she was willing to take the risk. Before she lost her nerve, she marched up to Ben’s chair and sat herself in his lap.
He froze at first, and for those few moments, Leslie resisted every urge to flee in panic. If he said anything, she could just blame the lack of seats, or that she saw a snake and got scared and jumped in his lap, or that the sugar made her do it.
She was about to jump off and run with her tail between her legs when she felt him relax, and continue his conversation with Andy like nothing changed.
His arm slid around her waist to anchor her to him, and he looked up at her with a small smile. She returned his smile with one of her own as their eyes locked, and she couldn’t look away if her life depended on it.
They didn’t notice Andy take out his phone and take a picture until it was too late. “Oh, my god, you guys look at this. It’s so cute!”
The both jerked in their seats and looked over to Andy, an embarrassed blush on their cheeks.
Andy turned his phone around and Leslie saw that he had taken a picture of that moment between them. It made her heart ache because they looked so right together, so perfect. They looked like they belonged together, and it was killing her that they weren’t.
“Isn’t it cute?” he said. “I think it’s a chipmunk or something.”
“Wait, what? You mean you weren’t taking a picture of us?”
Andy took his phone away and furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. “No, why would I do that? I wanted to take a picture of the--” he looked again at his phone and sighed. “Aw, man, I think it’s a leaf, not a chipmunk. Dang it. Oh, well.”
Leslie stopped him before he could delete the photo. “No, wait. Can you send that to me? I, uh, I want to make a scrapbook for today, and that’d be a nice picture to have.”
She could feel Ben’s eyes burning a hole on the side of her face but she ignored it.
“Oh, yeah, sure thing, boss. I mean, it’s just a leaf, but if you want it...”
“I do. Thanks, Andy.”
At just like that, the subject was dropped, but Ben’s arm stayed secure around her waist. She could hardly remember what they talked about after that. Maybe nothing important at all, but it didn’t matter.
She was happy, and after everything they had been through, she deserved to be happy. They both did. Even if it was only for a few hours today, she was going to forget about all of the terrible things going on just beyond these woods and focus on the warmth of Ben’s hand on her hip and the smile on his lips that never seemed to fade away.