Work In Progress | Ben Wyatt/OC

Stop Making This Hurt

Stop Making This Hurt - Bleachers
But if we take the sadness out of Saturday night
I wonder what we'll be left with, anything worth the fight?
I wanna run from the darkness, wanna shout at the light
It's coming over me now
Two, three, four, five
Oh God, we barely survived
Stop making this hurt

Chapter Text

Ember sat laying in her bed, heavy, white duvet pulled tight to her chin. Things had not going well for her since the shutdown. There had been a town hall meeting, but she had called in sick for it. She couldn't really make herself get out of bed. Leslie had offered to come over, but she said no. The kids concert she had worked so hard to plan with Freddy Spaghetti had been cancelled, too. She had worked so hard on that, networked with Freddy's team, ensured as many kids as possible would be able to attend...and now it was all worth nothing. She didn't want to see the reaction of the town when they found out. She turned her phone on silent and stayed hidden inside.

Well, she stayed hidden inside until there was a rapid, unending knock at her at door. She knew there was only one person on the planet who would be knocking on her door with that level of passion at 10 in the morning. And that person had to be Leslie Knope.

Wrapping herself in a soft, white robe, she quietly walked down the stairs from her bedroom to her front door, the knocking continuing on this entire time. As she walked, she tried to imagine what it was that Leslie had come to her actual home for. She knew it was a mistake keeping her actual mailing address on record in the office, she should have registered a PO box. She shuffled to the door and cracked it open, looking out at, surprise, Leslie standing there. Ann was also beside her.

"Hey guys...what's up?" She asked, undoing the door a little more so she could stand in the frame of it. The sun was beating down and it forced her to squint to see them both.

"We're putting on the Freddy concert!" Leslie said quickly. "Can we come in? I need two cups of coffee. It's going to be a busy day Ember, but we're doing your damn concert." She had that energy that only Leslie Knope could carry at this time of day, already in a full pant-suit and ready for action. Ember glanced back over her shoulder at the interior of her house. It was clean, as it always was. She didn't have an excuse not to let people in to her sanctuary, to her space. So she stepped back and nodded, letting her two friends inside.

It was at that moment that Leslie and Ann both realized they had never actually been inside Ember's home before. Nearly everything was a shade of white. The floors, the walls, the couches, the tables. There were accents of black and gold made by throw blankets, vases, picture frames, but nothing screamed color. It was all very clean and new looking, very put together. Ann was worried she might smudge dirt on something just by touching it. And the house was big. Bigger than either of them had expected for a woman living alone...and let.

"Come on, this way to the kitchen." Ember ushered them to the left, through an open archway into the kitchen, which had a large white island in the center, Stirling silver appliances, and a white tile backsplash. In the center of the ceiling was a skylight, filling the room with natural sun. A vase filled with eucalyptus leaves sat in the center of the island. "How do you like your coffees?" She asked quietly, moving to grab two white mugs from a cabinet and heading towards the Keurig on the counter.

"Extra big with four sugars please," Leslie said quickly, pulling out one of the white stools and sitting down across from Ember as the woman popped a pod into the coffee maker.

"Black is fine," Ann said with a smile, still taking in the space. Everything was very, very modern, very clean, very put together. She had never known Ember before...the accident and everything that had happened, but the way Leslie had described how their friend used to be, this wasn't the vibe. Modern-day Ember? This seemed to fit perfectly.