February Drabbles
Rating: G-R+
Timeline: All over the place!
Summary: 1. Pillow Talk, 2. You Know it's Okay to Cry (Ben's dad), 3. Raspberry Buffet, 4. Broccoli for dinner, 5. Fall 2017 - Pawnee
Note: A lot of the the February drabbles ended up in Drabbles 5.
1. Pillow Talk
“Oh, here’s one. If you were casting a reboot of Blade Runner, who would-”
“What’s your favorite body part of mine?” Leslie asks, interrupting Ben as they lie tangled up in bed, still talking and snuggling even though it’s well past midnight.
“What?” He turns to look at her, his hair all messy and his face confused. Ben brushes some blonde hair out of her face and kisses her temple.
“If you had to pick one body area on me…boobs or butt? Besides, we did a Tootsie reboot the other night. Answer my question now.”
“Um…your eyes?” He answers hesitantly, still looking confused.
“Ben. Come on. That’s not what I’m asking. Do you like my boobs or do you like my butt best?”
“I like them both,” he insists. “Along with your eyes and your chin and your knees and your-”
“I’m serious.”
“Okay. I’m honestly not all that crazy about your knees,” he tells her, in a tone that makes her ninety-nine percent sure that he’s not being serious. But still.
“Ben!”
“What?”
“Boobs or butt? And you were just joking about my knees, right?”
“Yes. Honey, I love your knees,” he assures her. And then to prove his point, Ben moves down under the covers and kisses each knee in turn. It tickles, making her laugh until his head reappears above the covers, a silly smile on his face.
“Boobs or butt?”
Ben laughs. “Seriously, why are you asking-”
“I’m just curious. Boobs or butt,” she asks again. “Come on. I’m not letting either of us sleep until you tell me. You know this. Boobs or butt?”
“Oh my god, babe. Stop saying boobs or butt. The words are starting to lose all meaning for me and I have no idea what you’re even talking about.”
“Okay, but answer the question. I mean, you know I love your…ass.”
“Yes,” he agrees with a smile.
“So I want to know what part you love best of mine. It’s only fair.”
“I love all of you. Just like I know you love all of me.”
They smile at each other.
“Well. Of course. Yes. I love all of you. I married all of you last year. But I loooove your butt-I have a special fondness for it. Now you go. Boo-um, up top or around back. Just answer the question. I won’t get mad or anything,” she pauses. Then adds, “It’s for science.”
“Science, huh?”
“Yes. Professor Smart Brain. Science,” Leslie grins. She’ll have to remember that one. Maybe get him a white lab coat so he looks like a hot, sexy science teacher. Mmmmmm…
Ben sighs, then tries not to laugh. “Okay. But if I’m going to be all analytic about this, I have some initial clarifications to make then.”
“Oh. Okay?”
“Your breasts count as a pair, right, I mean I can’t just pick the right one or anything?” He asks, trying to look all serious.
“Yes. They are a pair,” she confirms.
“Got it. And we’re just talking up top or around back here? Your pussy is…not on the table, so to speak? Because that would be a game-changer.”
They both start laughing.
“Yes. Just my breasts-as a pair, or my in back area.”
“What about-”
“Also as a pair. You can’t pick just the left cheek.”
“Oh. Huh, but if I could mix it up…I think I would go with left breast and right ass cheek,” Ben says, nodding and giving her a sleepy grin.
“You’re so weird. No. You can’t do that. Pair of boobs or pair of butt…cheeks.”
His eyes are closed but he’s still nodding his head. “That sounds like a strange but enticing poker game. Hey, I think I would like poker more if I could have a hand full of-”
“Ben! Come on!” Leslie prods the covers around him impatiently.
“Alright. Alright. Hmmmm…”
“Well?”
“I think I’m going to have to examine my choices again to make a truly informed decision,” he says, his head disappearing under the covers one more time.
You Know it's Okay to Cry (Ben's dad)
“Daddy. It’s okay to cry,” the little voice to his side tells him and then adds, “Mommy can hug you and make you feel better.”
Ben smiles at his daughter’s words. “I know, honey.”
Its quiet for a few seconds, Sonia snuggled up against him on the bed, BoBo, her stuffed ostrich settled between them. She had originally climbed up and offered the stuffed animal to him to make him feel better.
“Grandpa was your daddy, right?”
“Yeah,” Ben answers quietly.
“I’m sorry your daddy died,” she says.
“Thank you. I’m sorry too.” Ben kisses his five year-old daughter on the top of her head.
“Are you sad? Is that why you’re taking a nap?”
“Yeah. I’m sad and I just got a little sleepy. I-”
The partially-closed bedroom door opens a bit and Leslie pokes her head in.
“Oh! That’s where…Sonia! Sweetie, we were supposed to be quiet and leave daddy alone for a little while, remember? How did…how are they so sneaky and quiet sometimes?”
Ben laughs lightly. “It’s okay. It’s fine.”
Just then two sets of little feet run past Leslie, and Stephen and Wesley climb up on the bed and cuddle up next to their father.
“Okay. Guys, come on. Daddy wants to be alone for-”
“No,” Ben says and his voice is low and gruff, almost breaking. He waits a few seconds and then tells her, “No. This is perfect. Well, almost perfect. Come here.”
Ben holds a hand out and Leslie walks over, gets on the bed with her family. They readjust so that she’s laying to his side, with Wesley snuggled between them and Sonia, Stephen, and BoBo on his other side.
“We can drop them off at my mom’s on the way to the airport tomorrow morning. Are you sure you don’t want me to try and get us an earlier flight? Tonight?”
Ben shakes his head. He’s so glad they were in Pawnee instead of DC when Stephanie had called. “No. Tomorrow’s fine. He’s not…I mean, he’s not going anywhere, right?”
Leslie gives Ben a small smile. Her watery eyes meeting his. “How are you doing?”
“I’m okay,” he says. “I’m not okay. I don’t know. But this is helping.” He gets the words out before the tears start, as the triplets and Leslie hug him tight.
3. Raspberry Buffet
When he kisses further down her stomach, Ben feels Leslie tense just a little, especially as he brushes his lips against her lower abdomen, just to the right of her belly button.
“I’m trying to do sit-ups,” she says quickly. “Well,” Leslie adds, “I’m trying to remember to do sit-ups.”
“Why?” He asks, kissing along the fourteen month-old scar.
“My stomach is…I mean, the babies were in there for a long time and-”
“Babe, I love your tummy.”
“Maybe it’s a little…paunchy?”
Ben laughs at her words. “No it’s not. We live in Pawnee, I’ve seen paunchy-this is not…it’s just,” he tugs her pajama bottoms down her hips a bit more and slides his palm up and rests it right under her belly button. He looks up at her with a smile.
“There’s this sexy little mound here now. Above your other sexy little mound,” Ben says.
“It’s not sexy,” Leslie tells him.
“It is so sexy. The babies were in here.” He peppers her skin with little kisses, uses his fingers to lightly tickle the exposed flesh. “Our babies. You kept them all warm and safe until they were ready to come out and meet us.”
“Mmmm-hmmmm,” she responds, laughing and running her fingers through his hair.
Ben nibbles and licks his way across her belly, placing his lips against her skin and can’t resist blowing a light raspberry, making her squirm and giggle loudly in surprise.
“Ben!”
“Shhhhhh,” he says, his lips still brushing against her. “The kids are sleeping just down the hall. You’ll wake them up and then everyone’s pants will have to stay on.”
She chuckles while Ben moves to the other side and does it again, making Leslie squeal once more, but a little quieter this time, all while she wiggles and bucks beneath him.
Her giggly reaction to his attention turns him on even more and he pulls her pajama bottoms down further, delighted when he discovers that she’s not wearing panties and he can bury his face between her thighs even quicker.
4. Broccoli for dinner
“Well,” Leslie looks around the almost empty table with a frown. “This certainly isn’t going to work.”
Ben nods. “Okay, I agree with you on this. We need something else for dinner besides just broccoli.”
As he speaks, Leslie already has her phone out and is busy scrolling. “Sausage and extra cheese tonight, congressman?” She asks, hitting the contact for the pizza place just a few blocks from their DC house-the pizza place that thankfully does not even make calzones. And so far, Ben has been unable to convince them to add them to the menu.
“The Thomas Jefferson? Sure. But babe, make it a Martha Jefferson and add mushrooms.”
Leslie rolls her eyes but grudgingly agrees, adding the vegetable to their pizza order.
“The kids seem pretty preoccupied with homework, their dinner, and watching the game next door,” Ben says, after she hangs up, walking over to her and wrapping Leslie in his arms from behind. “I say when the pizza gets here we take it up to our bedroom, open up a bottle of wine, and you and I have a date night.”
Leslie laughs. “Oh, I do like our stay-at-home date nights.”
“Me too,” Ben agrees, kissing her neck. “A little Martha Jefferson ‘za while we watch a movie, maybe?”
“And then later, after the kids are in bed, we lock the door for some Ruth Bader Ginsburg? Maybe a little Paul Revere?” She asks, leaning back against him.
“Oh, yeah. Definitely. I’d even be up for some James Madison-”
Leslie interrupts him giggling, “I bet you would. And just to be clear, you mean the sex thing right? And not the breakfast version-you know, the pancakes with the bacon stuffed inside?”
“Yeah,” Ben confirms, trying not to laugh. “The sex thing. But first, we wrap up all this broccoli so we can hide it in some macaroni and cheese for dinner tomorrow night.”
Leslie turns around and smiles at him. “You are so smart. We give the kids that, while we have our leftover pizza for dinner.”
Ben nods with a grin and holds his hand up for a high-five. “That is exactly my plan, Dolly.”
Fall 2017 - Pawnee
“Are you ready, babe?” Leslie asks, as Ben takes one last look at his Gryzzl tablet.
“Yes,” Ben tells her with a nod. “I have a list.”
“Do we need to go over the rules again? Drill it into you?” She tries not to laugh while saying it. This is serious business, after all.
“Really? Drill it into me? I think last time, after you and Stephen came home with a dozen cupcakes and five boxes of brownie mix, if anyone needs to get it drilled-”
She finally can’t help letting her laughter escape. “Okay. Okay. Let’s drill later, focus now.”
Over the past year, they’ve discovered that just one of them taking all three, now almost-three year-old triplets to the grocery store is a complete disaster and it’s not much better if they both go (it’s still three against two). But, one of them taking one child works fairly well.
Aside from giving Ben or Leslie a little one-on-one time with one of their kids on the weekends, there are limited meltdowns, limited instances of a missing triplet ending up crying, trapped behind the dairy case (they still are not sure how Wesley managed that), and limited surprises in the shopping cart when it’s time to leave.
Except for when Leslie takes Stephen, the triplet with the biggest sweet tooth or when Ben and Wes go shopping together-then they end up with a cart full of vegetables that really, no one wants to eat.
The last time, he even came home with a new pet-a cauliflower stalk named Shoe. Which was fine, until Roz accidentally threw it out a couple of days later and they had to make up a story about Shoe going to live on a cauliflower farm.
But today, it’s Ben and Sonia’s turn, which usually works out fairly well. Considering.
“Alright. Yes. List. We will keep both the sweets and the strange snacks to a minimum. I will double-check the shopping cart before I check out and I will not be swayed by adorable eyes, cute little expressions, or even tears. I’m still a little shaky on all-out crying, but we’ll see.”
“And don’t let Margo talk you into anything this time,” she reminds him.
Ben sighs. “You do realize that a stuffed giraffe didn’t actually talk me into buying gluten-free, cranberry chia seed crackers, right? It was Sonia saying that Margo wanted the crackers. I mean, how cute is that? Your little kid telling you that her stuffed animal wants to have fancy crackers at her tea party?”
“They were gross, Ben. And Margo didn’t actually eat any crackers, did she?”
“No,” he confirms.
“No. She didn’t. I had to give them to Andy and he didn’t even like them,” Leslie nods. “And that’s saying something.”
“Right. Well, I got this.”
When she still looks unconvinced, he adds, “Look. I just won a seat in the House of Representatives for Indiana’s 10th district and I’m a best-selling fantasy game architect. I think can handle grocery shopping with my small child.”
“That’s the attitude. Stay strong, babe. They’ve been in their room all morning. I think they’re planning something. Good luck.”
“Wait. What? I-”
Just then Sonia comes barreling into the living room, giggling and then hugging Ben around the legs, both BoBo and Margo (her stuffed ostrich and giraffe) sticking out of her pink backpack, currently worn on top of her sparkly fairy wings.
“Daddy! Let’s go! BoBo has a list!”
Leslie makes a face. “Oh boy.”
Timeline: All over the place!
Summary: 1. Pillow Talk, 2. You Know it's Okay to Cry (Ben's dad), 3. Raspberry Buffet, 4. Broccoli for dinner, 5. Fall 2017 - Pawnee
Note: A lot of the the February drabbles ended up in Drabbles 5.
1. Pillow Talk
“Oh, here’s one. If you were casting a reboot of Blade Runner, who would-”
“What’s your favorite body part of mine?” Leslie asks, interrupting Ben as they lie tangled up in bed, still talking and snuggling even though it’s well past midnight.
“What?” He turns to look at her, his hair all messy and his face confused. Ben brushes some blonde hair out of her face and kisses her temple.
“If you had to pick one body area on me…boobs or butt? Besides, we did a Tootsie reboot the other night. Answer my question now.”
“Um…your eyes?” He answers hesitantly, still looking confused.
“Ben. Come on. That’s not what I’m asking. Do you like my boobs or do you like my butt best?”
“I like them both,” he insists. “Along with your eyes and your chin and your knees and your-”
“I’m serious.”
“Okay. I’m honestly not all that crazy about your knees,” he tells her, in a tone that makes her ninety-nine percent sure that he’s not being serious. But still.
“Ben!”
“What?”
“Boobs or butt? And you were just joking about my knees, right?”
“Yes. Honey, I love your knees,” he assures her. And then to prove his point, Ben moves down under the covers and kisses each knee in turn. It tickles, making her laugh until his head reappears above the covers, a silly smile on his face.
“Boobs or butt?”
Ben laughs. “Seriously, why are you asking-”
“I’m just curious. Boobs or butt,” she asks again. “Come on. I’m not letting either of us sleep until you tell me. You know this. Boobs or butt?”
“Oh my god, babe. Stop saying boobs or butt. The words are starting to lose all meaning for me and I have no idea what you’re even talking about.”
“Okay, but answer the question. I mean, you know I love your…ass.”
“Yes,” he agrees with a smile.
“So I want to know what part you love best of mine. It’s only fair.”
“I love all of you. Just like I know you love all of me.”
They smile at each other.
“Well. Of course. Yes. I love all of you. I married all of you last year. But I loooove your butt-I have a special fondness for it. Now you go. Boo-um, up top or around back. Just answer the question. I won’t get mad or anything,” she pauses. Then adds, “It’s for science.”
“Science, huh?”
“Yes. Professor Smart Brain. Science,” Leslie grins. She’ll have to remember that one. Maybe get him a white lab coat so he looks like a hot, sexy science teacher. Mmmmmm…
Ben sighs, then tries not to laugh. “Okay. But if I’m going to be all analytic about this, I have some initial clarifications to make then.”
“Oh. Okay?”
“Your breasts count as a pair, right, I mean I can’t just pick the right one or anything?” He asks, trying to look all serious.
“Yes. They are a pair,” she confirms.
“Got it. And we’re just talking up top or around back here? Your pussy is…not on the table, so to speak? Because that would be a game-changer.”
They both start laughing.
“Yes. Just my breasts-as a pair, or my in back area.”
“What about-”
“Also as a pair. You can’t pick just the left cheek.”
“Oh. Huh, but if I could mix it up…I think I would go with left breast and right ass cheek,” Ben says, nodding and giving her a sleepy grin.
“You’re so weird. No. You can’t do that. Pair of boobs or pair of butt…cheeks.”
His eyes are closed but he’s still nodding his head. “That sounds like a strange but enticing poker game. Hey, I think I would like poker more if I could have a hand full of-”
“Ben! Come on!” Leslie prods the covers around him impatiently.
“Alright. Alright. Hmmmm…”
“Well?”
“I think I’m going to have to examine my choices again to make a truly informed decision,” he says, his head disappearing under the covers one more time.
You Know it's Okay to Cry (Ben's dad)
“Daddy. It’s okay to cry,” the little voice to his side tells him and then adds, “Mommy can hug you and make you feel better.”
Ben smiles at his daughter’s words. “I know, honey.”
Its quiet for a few seconds, Sonia snuggled up against him on the bed, BoBo, her stuffed ostrich settled between them. She had originally climbed up and offered the stuffed animal to him to make him feel better.
“Grandpa was your daddy, right?”
“Yeah,” Ben answers quietly.
“I’m sorry your daddy died,” she says.
“Thank you. I’m sorry too.” Ben kisses his five year-old daughter on the top of her head.
“Are you sad? Is that why you’re taking a nap?”
“Yeah. I’m sad and I just got a little sleepy. I-”
The partially-closed bedroom door opens a bit and Leslie pokes her head in.
“Oh! That’s where…Sonia! Sweetie, we were supposed to be quiet and leave daddy alone for a little while, remember? How did…how are they so sneaky and quiet sometimes?”
Ben laughs lightly. “It’s okay. It’s fine.”
Just then two sets of little feet run past Leslie, and Stephen and Wesley climb up on the bed and cuddle up next to their father.
“Okay. Guys, come on. Daddy wants to be alone for-”
“No,” Ben says and his voice is low and gruff, almost breaking. He waits a few seconds and then tells her, “No. This is perfect. Well, almost perfect. Come here.”
Ben holds a hand out and Leslie walks over, gets on the bed with her family. They readjust so that she’s laying to his side, with Wesley snuggled between them and Sonia, Stephen, and BoBo on his other side.
“We can drop them off at my mom’s on the way to the airport tomorrow morning. Are you sure you don’t want me to try and get us an earlier flight? Tonight?”
Ben shakes his head. He’s so glad they were in Pawnee instead of DC when Stephanie had called. “No. Tomorrow’s fine. He’s not…I mean, he’s not going anywhere, right?”
Leslie gives Ben a small smile. Her watery eyes meeting his. “How are you doing?”
“I’m okay,” he says. “I’m not okay. I don’t know. But this is helping.” He gets the words out before the tears start, as the triplets and Leslie hug him tight.
3. Raspberry Buffet
When he kisses further down her stomach, Ben feels Leslie tense just a little, especially as he brushes his lips against her lower abdomen, just to the right of her belly button.
“I’m trying to do sit-ups,” she says quickly. “Well,” Leslie adds, “I’m trying to remember to do sit-ups.”
“Why?” He asks, kissing along the fourteen month-old scar.
“My stomach is…I mean, the babies were in there for a long time and-”
“Babe, I love your tummy.”
“Maybe it’s a little…paunchy?”
Ben laughs at her words. “No it’s not. We live in Pawnee, I’ve seen paunchy-this is not…it’s just,” he tugs her pajama bottoms down her hips a bit more and slides his palm up and rests it right under her belly button. He looks up at her with a smile.
“There’s this sexy little mound here now. Above your other sexy little mound,” Ben says.
“It’s not sexy,” Leslie tells him.
“It is so sexy. The babies were in here.” He peppers her skin with little kisses, uses his fingers to lightly tickle the exposed flesh. “Our babies. You kept them all warm and safe until they were ready to come out and meet us.”
“Mmmm-hmmmm,” she responds, laughing and running her fingers through his hair.
Ben nibbles and licks his way across her belly, placing his lips against her skin and can’t resist blowing a light raspberry, making her squirm and giggle loudly in surprise.
“Ben!”
“Shhhhhh,” he says, his lips still brushing against her. “The kids are sleeping just down the hall. You’ll wake them up and then everyone’s pants will have to stay on.”
She chuckles while Ben moves to the other side and does it again, making Leslie squeal once more, but a little quieter this time, all while she wiggles and bucks beneath him.
Her giggly reaction to his attention turns him on even more and he pulls her pajama bottoms down further, delighted when he discovers that she’s not wearing panties and he can bury his face between her thighs even quicker.
4. Broccoli for dinner
“Well,” Leslie looks around the almost empty table with a frown. “This certainly isn’t going to work.”
Ben nods. “Okay, I agree with you on this. We need something else for dinner besides just broccoli.”
As he speaks, Leslie already has her phone out and is busy scrolling. “Sausage and extra cheese tonight, congressman?” She asks, hitting the contact for the pizza place just a few blocks from their DC house-the pizza place that thankfully does not even make calzones. And so far, Ben has been unable to convince them to add them to the menu.
“The Thomas Jefferson? Sure. But babe, make it a Martha Jefferson and add mushrooms.”
Leslie rolls her eyes but grudgingly agrees, adding the vegetable to their pizza order.
“The kids seem pretty preoccupied with homework, their dinner, and watching the game next door,” Ben says, after she hangs up, walking over to her and wrapping Leslie in his arms from behind. “I say when the pizza gets here we take it up to our bedroom, open up a bottle of wine, and you and I have a date night.”
Leslie laughs. “Oh, I do like our stay-at-home date nights.”
“Me too,” Ben agrees, kissing her neck. “A little Martha Jefferson ‘za while we watch a movie, maybe?”
“And then later, after the kids are in bed, we lock the door for some Ruth Bader Ginsburg? Maybe a little Paul Revere?” She asks, leaning back against him.
“Oh, yeah. Definitely. I’d even be up for some James Madison-”
Leslie interrupts him giggling, “I bet you would. And just to be clear, you mean the sex thing right? And not the breakfast version-you know, the pancakes with the bacon stuffed inside?”
“Yeah,” Ben confirms, trying not to laugh. “The sex thing. But first, we wrap up all this broccoli so we can hide it in some macaroni and cheese for dinner tomorrow night.”
Leslie turns around and smiles at him. “You are so smart. We give the kids that, while we have our leftover pizza for dinner.”
Ben nods with a grin and holds his hand up for a high-five. “That is exactly my plan, Dolly.”
Fall 2017 - Pawnee
“Are you ready, babe?” Leslie asks, as Ben takes one last look at his Gryzzl tablet.
“Yes,” Ben tells her with a nod. “I have a list.”
“Do we need to go over the rules again? Drill it into you?” She tries not to laugh while saying it. This is serious business, after all.
“Really? Drill it into me? I think last time, after you and Stephen came home with a dozen cupcakes and five boxes of brownie mix, if anyone needs to get it drilled-”
She finally can’t help letting her laughter escape. “Okay. Okay. Let’s drill later, focus now.”
Over the past year, they’ve discovered that just one of them taking all three, now almost-three year-old triplets to the grocery store is a complete disaster and it’s not much better if they both go (it’s still three against two). But, one of them taking one child works fairly well.
Aside from giving Ben or Leslie a little one-on-one time with one of their kids on the weekends, there are limited meltdowns, limited instances of a missing triplet ending up crying, trapped behind the dairy case (they still are not sure how Wesley managed that), and limited surprises in the shopping cart when it’s time to leave.
Except for when Leslie takes Stephen, the triplet with the biggest sweet tooth or when Ben and Wes go shopping together-then they end up with a cart full of vegetables that really, no one wants to eat.
The last time, he even came home with a new pet-a cauliflower stalk named Shoe. Which was fine, until Roz accidentally threw it out a couple of days later and they had to make up a story about Shoe going to live on a cauliflower farm.
But today, it’s Ben and Sonia’s turn, which usually works out fairly well. Considering.
“Alright. Yes. List. We will keep both the sweets and the strange snacks to a minimum. I will double-check the shopping cart before I check out and I will not be swayed by adorable eyes, cute little expressions, or even tears. I’m still a little shaky on all-out crying, but we’ll see.”
“And don’t let Margo talk you into anything this time,” she reminds him.
Ben sighs. “You do realize that a stuffed giraffe didn’t actually talk me into buying gluten-free, cranberry chia seed crackers, right? It was Sonia saying that Margo wanted the crackers. I mean, how cute is that? Your little kid telling you that her stuffed animal wants to have fancy crackers at her tea party?”
“They were gross, Ben. And Margo didn’t actually eat any crackers, did she?”
“No,” he confirms.
“No. She didn’t. I had to give them to Andy and he didn’t even like them,” Leslie nods. “And that’s saying something.”
“Right. Well, I got this.”
When she still looks unconvinced, he adds, “Look. I just won a seat in the House of Representatives for Indiana’s 10th district and I’m a best-selling fantasy game architect. I think can handle grocery shopping with my small child.”
“That’s the attitude. Stay strong, babe. They’ve been in their room all morning. I think they’re planning something. Good luck.”
“Wait. What? I-”
Just then Sonia comes barreling into the living room, giggling and then hugging Ben around the legs, both BoBo and Margo (her stuffed ostrich and giraffe) sticking out of her pink backpack, currently worn on top of her sparkly fairy wings.
“Daddy! Let’s go! BoBo has a list!”
Leslie makes a face. “Oh boy.”