The Process of Making Amends [Parks & Rec; Ron/Leslie]
TITLE: The Process of Making Amends
PART 1
FANDOM: Parks & Recreation
PAIRING: Ron/Leslie
SPOILERS: Sweetums (2.15)
RATING: PG
SUMMARY: That apology was only the beginning.
*****
Leslie thinks Ron may still feel bad about the whole "Sweetums-Jerkface" incident, as she calls it. She's never seen him like this before. First off, there had been the apology, which Ron pretty much never does; in fact, Leslie can't remember the last time she's heard him apologize to anybody, if at all. It had been quiet, low... but ultimately sincere. It made her smile.
But that apology was only the beginning. She has no idea what he's up to now. This morning, for instance, she found a bouquet of pink tulips sitting on her desk, and the card had been from Ron: 'Still sorry.' And it had been really sweet, and she does enjoy nice tulips, so she has them sitting at the upper corner of her desk on full display, and the note is tucked safely in her desk. Ron hasn't said anything about them; when they met eyes through the glass separating their offices, he had merely raised his coffee mug in a pseudo-toast, and she nodded back with a smile. No words needed.
When she gets back from lunch, she finds a couple of candy necklaces sitting on her keyboard. She asks Tom where he found them, but he has no clue where they came from; a few minutes later, Ron walks in with another candy necklace in his fist, and he crunches on a couple of the candy beads before he greets her with news of their next meeting.
She calls a sidebar in their meeting that afternoon, even though it's not technically a sidebar if the meeting's over and everyone's left the conference room. "What is up with you today?" she whispers.
"What are you talking about?"
"The tulips? The candy necklaces?" And then something dawns on her, and she eyes him suspiciously. "Are you trying to butter me up for something?"
"Leslie, I'm simply making amends. Don't make a big deal out of it," he sighs gruffly, and gets up from his chair. Leslie watches him go, pondering his motives while discreetly pulling the candy necklace out from under her collar and biting off a couple beads.
When her and Ann get together for a girls' night after work, Leslie decides to ask her about it. "I mean, do you think it's really possible that he feels that bad for acting like a total jerk?"
Ann shrugs and sips at her beer. "Maybe. He was a pretty big ass, Leslie. And he totally had no right to be, so... yeah, I think it could be possible he still feels bad."
She shakes her head. "But Ron doesn't feel bad about anything. Except spoiled breakfast food and the end of 'Walker, Texas Ranger.'" Off Ann's look, she tilts her head. "He kinda hero-worships Chuck Norris."
Ann nods along with this, giving a facial shrug. "That would make sense." After a minute, she shakes her head and gets them back on track. "Leslie, why are you bringing up this Ron stuff anyway? Just enjoy it."
The next day, Ron seems to be back to his old self. He waves a good-morning to her from his office and then pretty much keeps to himself all day, with the help of April, who keeps throwing Tom out of his office. This whole situation is fine with Leslie, because it means things are back to normal and she can focus on her big night tonight -- she's going to break up with Justin.
Yep. He's really cute, and a really nice guy, but it's just not going to work. Which she thinks she'll tell him, nicely; she's come up with this really nice sea horse analogy that she thinks she'll use since they've been to the aquarium together and he might appreciate the symbolism. But the bottom line is, he's way too exciting and she's not, and how can two people who are that different make it work?
Justin's really sweet about the whole thing; he tells her he totally understands, even though he's disappointed, and he hopes they can still be friends. So all-in-all, it was a pretty successful breakup. So successful, that they actually broke up before dinner arrived, and still managed to have a pleasant meal together before saying goodnight. Yeah, this will be fine.
**
It's not fine. For some reason, the next morning, Leslie is really bummed out, and she kinda misses Justin. She doesn't understand. Tom doesn't understand either -- in fact, he seems kinda pissed that she broke up with Justin, like he was in love with him or something. But whatever, she gave him Justin's number, so if Tom wants to go fall in love with Justin, he can. Ron comes in while she's picking at her salad during lunch and just kinda leans against the doorway.
"How are things?" he asks, and he's kinda quiet like she might burst into tears at any second.
"I don't know if you heard, Ron, but I broke up with Justin lastnight."
He nods and takes a couple steps into her office. "I did hear. That was why I asked how things were."
"Oh." Weird. Since when does Ron care about her love-life? Dexhardt-sex-scandal aside, of course. "Um... things are okay, I guess. We weren't really right for each other. I don't feel the greatest about it I suppose, but I made the right decision." She gives him a little smile to prove it.
"That's good." After a second, he backpedals. "Not good that you're not feeling the greatest. I mean good that you know you made the right decision. That's always good. Besides, I'm sure there's another guy out there who's a little bit more tailored to fit with a Leslie-Knope-type."
He looks around the office for a sec like it's the first time he's been in here, and Leslie has to smile. Is he... nervous about something? She can't ever remember seeing Ron look nervous. Except when there's a Tammy nearby. "Thanks, Ron."
"Sure. So, just... keep on, keepin' on," he tells her, and backs toward his office again.
She's not entirely sure what that means, so she just nods. "Okay."
And they leave it at that. Maybe it will be fine after all.
**
Valentine's Day sneaks up on her quicker than she'd expected. One day she's breaking up with Justin and thinking everything's fine, and then bam - this stupid holiday hits and reminds her that she maybe could've stuck things out until March. Everybody in the office seems to be excited about Valentine's Day -- Tom's wearing his pink shirt again ("It's peach, Knope, and this is hella manly, okay? Lay off."), Donna's strung up a whole bunch of decorations, and even April's been smiling.
Yeah. April.
Ann and Mark have plans for the night, so do April and her boyfriend and his gay boyfriend. Donna's going out with someone, and Jerry's probably going to watch TV with his wife or something. So in short, everybody has plans. Everyone except for her.
"Leslie."
She turns and smiles. "Oh hey, Ron. Heading out for the big night?"
He chuckles at this. "Yeah right. Not giving the greeting card companies the satisfaction today. Or the Victoria's Secret corporation, or any company that makes chocolate."
Leslie raises her eyebrows. "Wow. Oookay. Well, um... have a good one then! Whatever you're planning to do."
"Actually, I was going to see if you felt like doing a little protesting with me."
That's enough to get her to stop. "Protesting? Protesting what? Government employees shouldn't really engage in protests, Ron, it's unethical."
"Well, tonight, I am going to be protesting this godforsaken holiday. Would you care to join me?"
For some reason, her stomach flutters a little, and she makes a face. "Ron, are you... asking me out for Valentine's Day?"
He blinks. "No. In fact, I'm doing exactly the opposite of that. I'm asking if you would like to not go out with me on Valentine's Day."
Wow, she's really confused now. "Huh?"
"Let's have dinner."
"I thought you didn't want to go out on Valentine's Day."
"It is not going to be in celebration of Valentine's Day, Knope, keep up," he tells her, and he gets that stern boss-look he gets sometimes that she normally just rolls her eyes at. For some reason, she can't right now. "We are going to have dinner, as two completely separate, single people, who detest this holiday and everything it stands for. Sound good?"
She's still kinda floored by the notion of Ron essentially asking her to dinner, so much so that she can't think of anything else to say other than, "Sounds great."
"Great." He smiles, and she decides that she kinda likes how his left cheek dimples when he does that. "It'll be my way of further apologizing."
"Ron," she can't help but laugh, "It's been a couple weeks. We're good, trust me."
"No. No. For the way I behaved, I need to do a lot to make it up to you. So, allow me to do that by sharing in your distaste for Valentine's Day over a steak dinner."
She tilts her head...
"Or something a little healthier for me, doesn't matter."
She smiles and kinda narrows her eyes at him, like he might still be up to something, but she just can't figure out what it is yet. This really isn't like him. Hopefully he can clue her in tonight.
TBC
Like what you've read? Why don't you watch or join the community?
{x-posted to ronleslie and parksandrec}
PART 1
FANDOM: Parks & Recreation
PAIRING: Ron/Leslie
SPOILERS: Sweetums (2.15)
RATING: PG
SUMMARY: That apology was only the beginning.
*****
Leslie thinks Ron may still feel bad about the whole "Sweetums-Jerkface" incident, as she calls it. She's never seen him like this before. First off, there had been the apology, which Ron pretty much never does; in fact, Leslie can't remember the last time she's heard him apologize to anybody, if at all. It had been quiet, low... but ultimately sincere. It made her smile.
But that apology was only the beginning. She has no idea what he's up to now. This morning, for instance, she found a bouquet of pink tulips sitting on her desk, and the card had been from Ron: 'Still sorry.' And it had been really sweet, and she does enjoy nice tulips, so she has them sitting at the upper corner of her desk on full display, and the note is tucked safely in her desk. Ron hasn't said anything about them; when they met eyes through the glass separating their offices, he had merely raised his coffee mug in a pseudo-toast, and she nodded back with a smile. No words needed.
When she gets back from lunch, she finds a couple of candy necklaces sitting on her keyboard. She asks Tom where he found them, but he has no clue where they came from; a few minutes later, Ron walks in with another candy necklace in his fist, and he crunches on a couple of the candy beads before he greets her with news of their next meeting.
She calls a sidebar in their meeting that afternoon, even though it's not technically a sidebar if the meeting's over and everyone's left the conference room. "What is up with you today?" she whispers.
"What are you talking about?"
"The tulips? The candy necklaces?" And then something dawns on her, and she eyes him suspiciously. "Are you trying to butter me up for something?"
"Leslie, I'm simply making amends. Don't make a big deal out of it," he sighs gruffly, and gets up from his chair. Leslie watches him go, pondering his motives while discreetly pulling the candy necklace out from under her collar and biting off a couple beads.
When her and Ann get together for a girls' night after work, Leslie decides to ask her about it. "I mean, do you think it's really possible that he feels that bad for acting like a total jerk?"
Ann shrugs and sips at her beer. "Maybe. He was a pretty big ass, Leslie. And he totally had no right to be, so... yeah, I think it could be possible he still feels bad."
She shakes her head. "But Ron doesn't feel bad about anything. Except spoiled breakfast food and the end of 'Walker, Texas Ranger.'" Off Ann's look, she tilts her head. "He kinda hero-worships Chuck Norris."
Ann nods along with this, giving a facial shrug. "That would make sense." After a minute, she shakes her head and gets them back on track. "Leslie, why are you bringing up this Ron stuff anyway? Just enjoy it."
The next day, Ron seems to be back to his old self. He waves a good-morning to her from his office and then pretty much keeps to himself all day, with the help of April, who keeps throwing Tom out of his office. This whole situation is fine with Leslie, because it means things are back to normal and she can focus on her big night tonight -- she's going to break up with Justin.
Yep. He's really cute, and a really nice guy, but it's just not going to work. Which she thinks she'll tell him, nicely; she's come up with this really nice sea horse analogy that she thinks she'll use since they've been to the aquarium together and he might appreciate the symbolism. But the bottom line is, he's way too exciting and she's not, and how can two people who are that different make it work?
Justin's really sweet about the whole thing; he tells her he totally understands, even though he's disappointed, and he hopes they can still be friends. So all-in-all, it was a pretty successful breakup. So successful, that they actually broke up before dinner arrived, and still managed to have a pleasant meal together before saying goodnight. Yeah, this will be fine.
**
It's not fine. For some reason, the next morning, Leslie is really bummed out, and she kinda misses Justin. She doesn't understand. Tom doesn't understand either -- in fact, he seems kinda pissed that she broke up with Justin, like he was in love with him or something. But whatever, she gave him Justin's number, so if Tom wants to go fall in love with Justin, he can. Ron comes in while she's picking at her salad during lunch and just kinda leans against the doorway.
"How are things?" he asks, and he's kinda quiet like she might burst into tears at any second.
"I don't know if you heard, Ron, but I broke up with Justin lastnight."
He nods and takes a couple steps into her office. "I did hear. That was why I asked how things were."
"Oh." Weird. Since when does Ron care about her love-life? Dexhardt-sex-scandal aside, of course. "Um... things are okay, I guess. We weren't really right for each other. I don't feel the greatest about it I suppose, but I made the right decision." She gives him a little smile to prove it.
"That's good." After a second, he backpedals. "Not good that you're not feeling the greatest. I mean good that you know you made the right decision. That's always good. Besides, I'm sure there's another guy out there who's a little bit more tailored to fit with a Leslie-Knope-type."
He looks around the office for a sec like it's the first time he's been in here, and Leslie has to smile. Is he... nervous about something? She can't ever remember seeing Ron look nervous. Except when there's a Tammy nearby. "Thanks, Ron."
"Sure. So, just... keep on, keepin' on," he tells her, and backs toward his office again.
She's not entirely sure what that means, so she just nods. "Okay."
And they leave it at that. Maybe it will be fine after all.
**
Valentine's Day sneaks up on her quicker than she'd expected. One day she's breaking up with Justin and thinking everything's fine, and then bam - this stupid holiday hits and reminds her that she maybe could've stuck things out until March. Everybody in the office seems to be excited about Valentine's Day -- Tom's wearing his pink shirt again ("It's peach, Knope, and this is hella manly, okay? Lay off."), Donna's strung up a whole bunch of decorations, and even April's been smiling.
Yeah. April.
Ann and Mark have plans for the night, so do April and her boyfriend and his gay boyfriend. Donna's going out with someone, and Jerry's probably going to watch TV with his wife or something. So in short, everybody has plans. Everyone except for her.
"Leslie."
She turns and smiles. "Oh hey, Ron. Heading out for the big night?"
He chuckles at this. "Yeah right. Not giving the greeting card companies the satisfaction today. Or the Victoria's Secret corporation, or any company that makes chocolate."
Leslie raises her eyebrows. "Wow. Oookay. Well, um... have a good one then! Whatever you're planning to do."
"Actually, I was going to see if you felt like doing a little protesting with me."
That's enough to get her to stop. "Protesting? Protesting what? Government employees shouldn't really engage in protests, Ron, it's unethical."
"Well, tonight, I am going to be protesting this godforsaken holiday. Would you care to join me?"
For some reason, her stomach flutters a little, and she makes a face. "Ron, are you... asking me out for Valentine's Day?"
He blinks. "No. In fact, I'm doing exactly the opposite of that. I'm asking if you would like to not go out with me on Valentine's Day."
Wow, she's really confused now. "Huh?"
"Let's have dinner."
"I thought you didn't want to go out on Valentine's Day."
"It is not going to be in celebration of Valentine's Day, Knope, keep up," he tells her, and he gets that stern boss-look he gets sometimes that she normally just rolls her eyes at. For some reason, she can't right now. "We are going to have dinner, as two completely separate, single people, who detest this holiday and everything it stands for. Sound good?"
She's still kinda floored by the notion of Ron essentially asking her to dinner, so much so that she can't think of anything else to say other than, "Sounds great."
"Great." He smiles, and she decides that she kinda likes how his left cheek dimples when he does that. "It'll be my way of further apologizing."
"Ron," she can't help but laugh, "It's been a couple weeks. We're good, trust me."
"No. No. For the way I behaved, I need to do a lot to make it up to you. So, allow me to do that by sharing in your distaste for Valentine's Day over a steak dinner."
She tilts her head...
"Or something a little healthier for me, doesn't matter."
She smiles and kinda narrows her eyes at him, like he might still be up to something, but she just can't figure out what it is yet. This really isn't like him. Hopefully he can clue her in tonight.
TBC
Like what you've read? Why don't you watch or join the community?
{x-posted to ronleslie and parksandrec}