Loose Lips
Tom was supposed to be the one driving Leslie back to the hospital, but apparently Jean-Ralphio called him and gave him an offer he couldn't refuse, and neither Ben nor Leslie asked any questions.
Fortunately for Leslie, Ben had offered to drive her back to the hospital, and he seemed happy to do it.
They were walking together to his car when suddenly, she started swaying, and Ben caught her, resting his hands on either arm to hold her steady.
Leslie chalks the flutter in her heart up to her having taken excessive amounts of flu medicine.
The drive back starts off silent, Leslie beginning to fall into a deep slumber at the constant buzz of the car as it moves.
Ben coughs and Leslie jolts up.
"Uh... sorry," Ben says awkwardly.
"It's okay."
The world starts to spin around, so Leslie sets her head back down against the car seat. She finds that soothes it.
"Just a few more minutes," Ben says.
"You trying to get rid of me, Wyatt?"
"Not at all." Ben winks at her.
Leslie giggles. It starts off slow, but quickly grows louder and louder. Weirdly enough, Ben doesn't seem to mind. In fact, he looks amused.
Then again, she might not be the best judge of character right now; she can barely see her own hand in front of her face.
Wait, that's not her hand.
"Exactly how much flu medicine did you take?"
"That's personal. Also, I don't know," Leslie says, breaking into another fit of hysterical laughter.
"Good lord."
They're silent for a few beats before Leslie speaks up again.
"You're cute," she admits, a mix of sincerity and humor in her voice, apparently confusing Ben on what the right way to respond is.
"Uhh, thanks?" He chooses, turning right on a green light.
"I thought you were cute when we first met."
She did. Until he opened his mouth and ruined it, that is.
Ben gives her another amused, but this time, also puzzled look. "You thought I was a jerk."
"That came later," Leslie says, and Ben snorts self-deprecatingly as she yawned.
"Anyway," she continues. "Admit it, Ben. You're starting to love Pawnee."
"It has a... certain charm."
"Uh-huh. Sure." She pauses.
She's silent again for a few moments.
"Are you sure you're not Scott Bakula?"
Ben pulls into the parking lot of the hospital. "We're here, Loose Lips." he quips, looking a little bit disappointed.
"Loose Lips? Who's that? Did Tom tell Lady Pennyface about my tiara?" Leslie lifts her head up and immediately regrets it, the world around her spinning faster than it already was.
"Stay there," he says, "I'll come get you."
And he does.
When he checks her back into the hospital and leaves shortly after to do some "last minute grocery shopping," Leslie can't help but note her own disappointment at his departure.
But that might just be her flu talking.