Chapter Text
"Last box," Ben said as he sat the cardboard box next the accumulating pile. "Which brings the final count to 15 boxes for me and 43 for you."
Leslie wrinkled her brow, "Are those counting the binders? I thought we weren't counting the binders."
"The binders bump you up to 52," Ben smiled. "And they are already in the office, and they will stay there."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Leslie waved him off. The binders stay in the office, everything has its place, our home will not become some scary, life-threatening trap that TLC could make a show about, Leslie relived the lecture Ben had given her probably close to ten times now. This will be the home of our future children, and I don't want to run the risk of losing them in a maze of file folders. Leslie smiled, remembering that conversation they had almost three months ago over Skype one evening while Ben was still in Washington D.C. running Congressman Murray's campaign.
Our future children? She had asked him. It wasn't the first time that Ben had mentioned having children with Leslie, but it was the first time he had done so without that look on his face like he had to apologize for telling her that he was thinking about their future. Now, he was talking so confidently it made Leslie wonder if maybe she was pregnant and somehow Ben had found out before she did.
Yeah, Ben said. You want kids, right?
Of course, Leslie agreed. She had always loved kids and wanted a family of her own, a family with Ben. But the way he was talking now, his sureness, it made Leslie's mind trip over itself. Of course, I kid your want – Of course, I want your kids. Our kids. With you and me. Like you're a mom and I'm a dad and we do adult stuff like carpool and buy socks and recycle because we have kids. Miniature people living in our house and eating our food…cause we have kids.
I freaked you out, Ben grimaced, and Leslie could tell he was mentally scolding himself. Sorry.
No, Leslie said stepping out of her panic. It's not that I'm freaking out, it's just…what's another way to say freaking out? This made Ben smile, and Leslie wished she could reach through the computer screen and hold his hands in hers or bury her head in his chest and let him hold her. As much as she loved this nation's capital, she really hated it for taking her boyfriend away. It's just that, the last time a guy talked about having kids with me, I was in Indianapolis and some guy told me that I looked like Reese Witherspoon and then asked if I would father his children. So, to have you, the man of my dreams, tell me that he wants to have kids with me, yeah, I'm freaking out a little.
So wait, Ben said as he furrowed his brow in concentration. This is a good freak out?
Exactly! Leslie exclaimed. I love you, and I like you, and one day, I want to have kids with you.
"Hey," Ben said pulling her out of her daze. "What are you thinking about?"
Leslie smiled and shook her head, bringing herself away from her thoughts and back to their future living room which was full of boxes. "Nothing," she said, still grinning. "Just how glad I am that you're here, and not in Florida being chased by alligators or old people on power scooters."
"I'm glad I'm here too," he smiled, placing a kiss on her cheek as he moved past her to start moving boxes to their intended locations.
Leslie began sorting through the boxes they placed in the living room. Kitchen, office, kitchen, bedroom, until she came to one marked Batman. Honestly, she thought, if he has one box completely dedicated to his Batman toys, then that's just as bad as nine boxes of binders. She opened it up, expecting to find carefully placed figurine boxes that could never be opened because that would depreciate the value or something like that. Ben had tried to explain it once or twice, but Leslie never really got it. Instead of figurines though, she was met with some sort of rubbery fabric folded neatly inside. She lifted the black mask out of the box and studied it.
"Oh, uh, yeah," Ben stuttered nervously when he walked in the room to see Leslie sitting over his box, the Batman mask in her hands.
"Is there something you need to tell me?" Leslie asked, only slightly nervous that this was some big secret of Ben's. Based on her past relationships, it wasn't completely irrational to think that she might be marrying some guy who spent his nights running around in a rubberized suit thinking that he was a fictional character, and okay, she had done that once in her Hermione Granger costume, but in her defense, she had been a little bit drunk and only made it to Ann's house.
"Well…you see…I" Ben laughed nervously and ran his hand through his hair. "I was going to move that up to the attic before you saw it."
"It's a batman costume," Leslie stated plainly. "You own a batman suit."
"Yeah, I know it's stupid," Ben said sheepishly as he walked over and sat down on a crate next to Leslie. "I bought it with Tom and Donna on this thing they do called "Treat Your Self." It was kind of a midlife crisis; we had just broken up, and I wasn't sure I wanted to stay in Pawnee."
"Treat Yo' Self," Leslie corrected him with a smile. "Put it on."
"Leslie, I don't…you don't have to act all excited about it. It's weird, I get that. I'll sell it, and it'll be out of our hair."
"Are you kidding me?" Leslie asked as she took the suit out of the box. "You're not selling this thing. Do you know how many fantasies I've had about that butt in tight rubber pants? Go put it on so that we can figure out how to take it off."
Ben gave her a questioning stare. "Are you sure?" he asked. "Isn't Ann supposed to be here to help unpack in like ten minutes?"
Leslie took out her phone and quickly texted Ann. Ben has a Batman suit-don't come over tonight. "Ann can wait," Leslie smiled. "I have a date with Batman."