"You need to wake up because I can't do this without you."
Ben sits in the hospital chair, refusing to let go of Leslie's hand even though it's late and he's tired and he wishes they were anywhere but here.
She's in a medically induced coma, has been for a few days, and it still feels like a dream.
If you asked Ben a week ago where he thought he'd be now, he'd never have guessed he'd be sitting in a hospital bed with his wife, praying to gods he's not really sure he believes in that she'll wake up and everything will be okay.
If only he'd convinced her not to go to work that morning, or delayed her for five extra minutes. Maybe then she wouldn't have been hit head-on by a drunk driver and she wouldn't be in critical condition and lying deathly still in the hospital.
It's unhealthy, but he can't help but blame himself, even though he had no way of knowing that this is the way things would turn out.
He hears a noise behind him and he turns around to see Ann standing there, circles under her eyes as if she hadn't slept in a million years. He probably looks the same, he realizes.
Everyone else has been in and out, but he and Ann were here the most. They'd come into her room and sit for hours, just staring and thinking. Sometimes when he's falling asleep in the chair he can hear her voice telling him to quit staring at her because it's creeping her out, and it makes him laugh a little before he realizes where he is, and he falls back into a hole of worry about exhaustion and pain. So much pain.
"Oh, sorry, I can come in later," Ann says, sniffing.
"Don't worry about it, I'm sure she'd appreciate having both of us here with her."
Ann sits in the chair on the other side of Leslie, gripping her free hand tightly. "Do you ever just sit down and talk to her?" She whispers.
"All the time. Do you think she can hear us?"
"I know she can. But sometimes I wonder why if she does actually hear us, why won't she wake up? But I know that's not how it works."
"Knowing her, I'm sure she's trying her very hardest."
Ann makes a sound of agreement and her gaze turns back to Leslie, switching between soft and hard, and Ben knows exactly what she's thinking each time, because he's feeling the exact same feelings. When their facial expressions are soft, they're recalling old memories, ones where she laughs, or she smiles, or she does something truly amazing like usual. The hard ones are when reality comes back and they realize they're staring at a woman lying in a bed that she may not ever get up from, even though they shouldn't be thinking like that because its not good for any of them.
"Hey, Leslie," Ann whispers, stroking a blonde strand of hair. "We miss you. Ben and I miss you. It's really hard living without you being there to text me 20 times a day when I'm not around or give me a million hugs when you are. A part of me sometimes wonders if I'm even living at all, or if this is all a bizarre, cruel nightmare. But then I pinch myself and remember that it's not." Ann clears her throat, her eyes shifting to Ben briefly before she looks back to Leslie.
"You need to wake up because I can't do this without you," she says, her voice cracking. "Please."
Miraculously, Leslie's eyelids begin to flutter, and a moan escapes her lips before her eyes open.
"Ann? Is that you? Where am I, where am I, where am I?" Leslie asks between breaths, as if she had run 5 miles and was catching her breath.
Ben and Ann exchange looks as Leslie's gaze shifts over to him, her expression softening at his presence.
"I'll go alert the doctor," Ben says, exiting the room.
"Ann, where am I?" Leslie practically growls, sending a shooting pang of hurt into Ann's heart even though she knows aggression and disorientation are normal symptoms of waking up from a medically induced coma.
She channels her best nurse voice and whispers, "Leslie, you're in the hospital. You were in an accident, but you're going to be okay."
The words are meant to comfort Leslie, but Ann can't help but feel a little reassurance from them herself, knowing that she's Leslie Knope, and she will be okay.
They'll all be.