Originally posted by Venus:
Granted she was chasing him with a baseball bat, but that’s what happened when you dared cheat on Turanga Leela.

   

I think your Bat people dialouge is your finest Fry writing yet (the spontaneous combustion conversation comes in a close second).  Fry does come off as a little bold in his feelings for Leela, but then it's a natural development in the context of this story.

Also some very nice writing on revealing Leela's deliberate, analytical side when she reviews why she is/isn't responding to Fry.

And I agree with Officer 1BDI that Morris is coming off as a very well-balanced character.  I think it's great you've made him into a craftsman.

Next round soon!

When you least expect it, BAM!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Planet Express Hanger Bay
2:32 pm
Recovery: Day 13


Having freshly eaten the contents of all the office owl traps and feeling quite content about it, Zoidberg ambled across the hanger bay. He’d barely made it halfway before the roof retracted for the incoming P.E. Ship, allowing the downpour that had recently been outside, in. Being cold blooded, the icy water was a shock to his system and he went scuttling for shelter.

Since the ship - as well as the crew on it - was officially eight hours late in its return, Hermes and the Professor stood just at the edge of the safety zone ready to hear the explanation, confirm the package delivery, and offer either condolences to the survivors or reprimands, whichever the situation warranted. Once the ship had safely touched down and the stairs lowered, the pair stepped forward.

The first down the stairs was Amy looking very much like she had been mauled by a small bear or large dog. She wore a large bandage on the side of her neck, a sling on her arm and her hair appeared to have simply exploded. Right behind her was Fry. He appeared slightly less brutalized but sported several bruises of various colors and sizes and walked with a very noticeable limp. Last was Bender. Whistling cheerfully, there wasn’t a dent on him anywhere.

“Where in Babylon have the three of you been?” Hermes demanded as soon as the crew had touched solid ground. “You were scheduled to be back here eight hours sixteen minutes and twelve seconds ago! We have other deliveries on the roster, which makes you officially late on those too!”

“We were making that stupid delivery to Chiropterra. Me and Amy got attacked by the Chirons.”

“This is an outrage!” The Professor shouted. “I specifically told you not to set foot on that planet! They eat anything made of warm flesh; only Bender could have made that delivery!”

“You never told us that!” Amy insisted shakily.

“Of course I did!”

“Did not!” Fry chimed in.

“I didn’t? Oh my. I could’ve sworn I’d warned you about the en mass swarming and their love of fresh blood.”

“We figured that part out ourselves.” Amy added.

“And surely I mentioned that if cornered you can easily escape by exposing them to second hand smoke. They’re incredibly health conscious.”

Amy and Fry stared at the Professor in shock for a moment before both groaning loudly. Bender never went anywhere without a full stash of Zuban cigars.

“Like I would have given you my smokes anyway.” Bender stated mutely.

Hermes began consulting his papers. “Enough chit chat; we have four packages that are already going to be late so-“

“They’re going to be even later cause I’m going on break!” Fry announced.

“I hear that!” Bender agreed before starting to walk off.”

“Absolutely not!” Hermes exclaimed. “You’re lunch break was from eleven till noon!”

“Amy needs a rest and a blood transfusion before she’s gonna be ready to travel again.”

As if to illustrate this, Amy stumbled over nothing. Zoidberg rushed to her side, his face lit up.

“Finally my services are required! Right this way Amy; I’ll have your blood sac inflated in no time!

Amy whimpered as Zoidberg dragged her to his office.

“And I’m not going anywhere until I’ve checked on Leela.” Fry finished.

“If Amy has to sit out a mission I can substitute myself in her place. There’s no reason these deliveries should be any later then they already are.”

“Oh come off it Hermes.” Fry snapped irritably. “Shouldn’t you be off rescuing a calculator from a tree?”

Hermes crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow smugly. “Spell calculator.”

“C-a-l-q-…later!” With that Fry turned and began hobbling defiantly away. Infuriated and grumbling to himself he had forgotten all about the rainstorm until after he had walked out into it.

“Awww crap.”

Figuring it was pointless to go back for an umbrella now that he was thoroughly drenched he made his way to the manhole cover. Opening it he stared down at the hundred forty foot climb and sighed. He climbed down carefully, wincing every time he had to put pressure on his right ankle. Despite his soaked sneakers he was able to make it safely down and to the Turanga’s front door. Leela opened it right after the first knock.

“I was wondering when the hell you were gonna show u- good lord, what happened to you?” She demanded after taking in his drowned rat appearance.

“Remember those bat people you said weren’t plausible?”

“…yeah…”

“Turns out they’re a lot more plausible then you thought they were.”

“You’re kidding.”

“Do I look like I’m kidding?” He snapped.

“Philip?” hearing his voice Munda peeked over her daughter’s shoulder.

“Good lord! You look horrible! Get in here this instant and let me get you dried off!”

She grabbed his arm with her tentacle and pulled him inside, Leela opening the door wider to let him through. They both noticed the limp at the same time.

“And you’re limping! You poor dear!”

“It’s just a sprain Mrs. Munda; I’m okay.”

“Nonsense,” She said as she steered him towards the couch. “You shouldn’t be putting any weight on that. And I want that jacket, those shoes, and your pants.”

“Uh…what?”

“You don’t need to be sitting around in wet clothes. I’m going to put then in the dryer for you.”

“But they’re just going to get wet again when I leave.” Fry said not really wanting to strip to his underpants in the middle of their living room

“I’ll loan you an umbrella. Now come on. Off with them!”

Having someone around who would allow themselves to be mothered had Munda running in top form. Within minutes she had Fry on the couch down to his undies, a blanket draped over his shoulders, his ankle resting on a pillow on the coffee table and a cup of hot cocoa in his hands.

“I have no idea why you complain when she does this kinda stuff for you.” Fry said to Leela as he drank his cocoa. “Cause I can tell you right now that it’s great.”

“In small doses sure,” Leela agreed. “But try living it for two weeks.”

“After the night I’ve had I could live like this forever.”

“Well are you going to fill me in or what? When you didn’t show up I thought you’d forgotten me.”

Though she hadn’t actually meant that seriously, Fry looked shocked.

“Leela! I could never forget you! Not even for an instant! We got sent on this stupid delivery and the Professor forgot to give us some important details. Like the freaking bat people!”

“Did anyone get their life blood feasted on?”

“Well, Amy’s about a pint low. They kept going after her hair. I think they liked the smell of her shampoo. And I got my leg bit.” He indicated his propped up ankle.

“I thought you said that was a sprain.”

“It is. I sprained it when I was trying to pull my leg out of its mouth.”

“If only I had been there, I’m sure I coulda-“

“No!” Fry exclaimed. “I’m glad you weren’t there. I’m super-duper-gigantically-awesomely glad you weren’t there! It was way too much like in my dream, I’da been way too scared for you if you’d been there. Then I would’a screwed up and you’d have gotten your innards eaten for sure!”

Leela pressed her lips together but decided not to comment.

“So while me and Amy were getting chewed on, Bender made it back to the ship and turned on all the headlights, and it scared all the bat people away.”

Leela continued to look at him expectantly.

“What?”

“I’m waiting to hear the rest of it.” She explained.

“The rest of what?”

“The rest of the story.”

“That’s the end. We got in the ship and came home.”

“That can’t be the end.”

“Why not?”

“You snapped at me. When I first opened the door. We’ve come back from missions just as bad if not worse than what you’ve just described and you’ve never been that edgy after we made it all the way home. There’s got to be something you’re not telling me.”

Fry sighed and reached up to brush a stray piece of damp hair out of his eyes.

“After we got away, when we were on our way back I had another nightmare. The worst one yet.”

“More bat people?”

“No, I dreamed this was all a dream.”

Leela looked confused. “Dreamed what was all a dream?”

“This.” Fry said gesturing to the two of them. “These past two weeks. I dreamed I woke up and we were back in the hospital and you were still in your coma and you’d never actually woken up and it was all just something I made up in my head so I wouldn’t have to deal with watching you die. Which you did. At the end of the dream you finally died. That’s the part that made me wake up.”

Seeing his slightly teary expression and feeling a bit teary herself Leela took Fry’s hand just as Morris walked in the front door. He hesitated in the doorway, taking in the scene: Fry clad in underpants making what appeared to be googly eyes at his daughter as they held hands on the couch. His expression was unreadable, but Fry squirmed all the same.

“Mrs. Munda’s drying my clothes. They got wet.”

Morris said nothing as he started to walk towards the laundry room. He kept his stare pinned firmly on Fry the whole way, the same unreadable expression on his face.

“Hey,” Leela said softly bringing Fry’s attention back on her. “If it makes you feel any better, that seizure I had yesterday is the last one I’ve had so far. If I make it through the rest of the day without another one I’m gonna call the doctor tomorrow morning and set up an appointment. If all goes well I might be able to go back to work in a couple of days.”

Fry’s face lit up as completely as if she’d just told him he’d just won the lottery. Which as far as he was concerned she just had.

“That’s so great Leela! I can’t wait to have you back!”

“Where I bet you’ll pick up hovering over me right where my mom leaves off.”

“Damn right!”

“Which I’m sure will be just as fun as when my mom does it.”

“For me it will be.”

Just then Morris walked back into the living room. He tossed something into Fry’s lap. It was his pants.

“When you’re in my house with my daughter, you wear those.”


Residence of Turanga Morris & Munda
1:43 pm
Recovery: Day 15


Feeling lighter then she had in over a week Leela paced excitedly around the living room. The morning before she had called her doctor, just as she had told Fry she would, and set up an appointment. Being seizure-free for over two days, she was optimistic that she was in for some good news. Fry wasn’t actually due to pick her up for another fifteen minutes, but the prospect of having her life back was making the wait almost excruciating. Not to mention she was definitely feeling the effects of all the pent up energy that being couch-bound for so long had built up.

Munda watched her daughter’s aimless trek from her seat in the armchair. Leela might have been operating under the assumption that she was now completely healthy, but Munda refused to let down her guard until she had a doctor’s confirmation. She still carried around the alarm receiver and still kept in close proximity. She knew she was harshing Leela’s new mellow and the two were still trading occasional barbs, but there was no point in jinxing anything. If Leela hadn’t dropped dead from motherly suffocation yet, she could surely make it a few more days.

“How exactly are you getting to the surface, Leela? Do you still have those directions that paramedic gave you?”

Leela stopped mid-pace. “We’re taking the ladder.”

Munda looked extremely uncomfortable. “Now honey-”

“Mom, I haven’t seized in two days, the odds of me having one while I’m on that ladder are so small it’s not even worth worrying about.”

“Says you.” Munda mumbled.

When a knock finally sounded Leela practically flung herself across the room to wrench the door open.

“You’re late!”

Fry frowned at her.

“What are you talking about? I’m five minutes early.”

“Don’t mind her.” Munda said. “She’s just desperate to get away from here.”

“And with good reason.” Leela muttered, only partially noticing that Munda had heard her and looked a little hurt.

“Let’s go.” Leela ordered grabbing Fry’s hand and yanking him out of the doorway. Luckily for him she had remembered his sprain and didn’t drag him along as quickly as she would have otherwise. Also, luckily for him, they would be using the ladder which would cut down their travel time significantly. He was no more comfortable than Munda about having Leela on the ladder but considering the past few seizure-free days coupled with Leela’s current mood he kept his mouth shut and obediently followed her up. Besides, being behind her, were she to fall, she’d take him down with her; in which case living with guilt wasn’t really something he’d have to worry about.

They made it safely all the way to the hospital, checked in with the receptionist and took their spot in the empty waiting room. There was no bonding this time around. For one, Fry didn’t have any pocket change with him, for two Leela’s expression clearly said ‘talk and die’. Not being able to talk to her made the wait excruciating. It especially didn’t help knowing that it was highly unlikely they would allow him to accompany her which meant he had more waiting to look forward to. The magazines on the table were the same ones from last time, all dating back to 2994. With what they were charging for medical fees it was amazing they’d never taken the time to renew a subscription. Glancing sideways at her Fry considered his odds. She was clearly unhappy and when unhappy she was sometimes prone to lashing out verbally towards the undeserving. But not always. It was pretty much a toss up. She might allow him to engage her in conversation or she might snap at him. But when she started playing with the end of her ponytail his decision was made for him. When she messed with her hair it was a sure sign that she was feeling particularly vulnerable and therefore less likely to respond to him with anger.

“Leels?”

She sent him a scathing glare. “What did I tell you I’d cut off if you ever called me ‘Leels’ again?”

“Right!” Fry exclaimed, mentally reminding himself that ‘less likely’ was not the same as a guarantee.

She returned her focus straight ahead and went back to messing with her hair.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” She snapped.

“Leela…”

“I just want this checkup to go right.”

“Of course it will Leela, you haven’t had a seizure for over forty-eight hours. And if something else was gonna happen it would have happened by now. As long as you don’t feel anything in you squishing or oozing you should be okay. I mean, what else could possibly go wrong?”

Leela stared at him, eye wide. “Great. Thanks Fry. Now that you’ve gone and said that something is guaranteed to go wrong… They’re going to find a brain tumor. I just know it. Something horrible and inoperable that causes me to become a babbling idiot before I drop dead and I have you to thank for it. I hope you trip and fall into an open grave at my funeral.”

Fry pouted. “That’s kinda harsh.”

“Yeah well, so’s cancer, which you probably just gave me.”

“That’s’ not how you catch cancer! You catch it by eating packets of Sweet-n-low, like my aunt!”

Before Leela could come up with some kind of snappy retort, she was rescued by Dr. Marsters who entered the room clipboard in hand ready to begin her check.

“Hello again Ms. Leela, I take it you’re feeling much better than you were last time you were here?”

“I haven’t seized in over forty-eight hours and I haven’t developed any new symptoms.” She told him sounding warily optimistic.

“That’s very good news.” He agreed encouragingly, “But I’m going to go ahead and run a full chemical makeup on you just to be sure.”

“Is that going to be painful?” Fry asked with concern.

“Not really.” The Doctor replied. He turned to Leela. “Do you remember everything we did to you last time?”

“Yeah…”

“It’s going to be the exact same thing only the samples we take will be larger.”

Though she wasn’t exactly thrilled by that prospect her anxiety lessened.

Fry grumbled and complained about being left behind but it was more out of habit than outrage. He’d already known he’d be left waiting. Dr. Marsters led Leela into a small private room with small lockers where he gave her a flimsy pink hospital gown to change into. That done she was led into the exam room where she had to wait by herself for a few moments while the Doctor collected his supplies and staff. Sitting on the metal exam table Leela shivered. She wondered why hospitals insisted on setting their thermostats to ‘Antarctica’ when they knew full well they were going to have patients sitting practically naked in the room. She decided they must find a sadistic joy in it. It was the only answer that made sense. Soon after Dr. Marsters returned with a trio of nurses ready to begin. Vaguely remembering what she’d been through before she silently offered up the appropriate body parts without being asked and put on her best game face for the fairly painful spinal tap. Then came the EKG and the MRI (which showed no cancer). Last, but not least came the blood pressure cuff.

“Hmm.” The Doctor said as he consulted his charts. “Your pressure is higher than it was the last time you were here.”

“Stress.” Leela answered quickly. “Believe me, it’s stress.”

“Things not going well at home?”

“Let’s just say I’m about an inch shy of homicidal at this point.”

“You’re seriously going to need to find a way to relax or you’re going to stress yourself right into a major heart attack.”

“Don’t tell me that, tell my friends and family that. They’re the ones who are doing it.”

“Then you’ll need to find a way to cope wi-“

“I had a way to cope; Coffee. Strong, black, double shot of caffeine-”

“Which is a stimulant and not exactly an appropriate treatment for Hypertension.”

“It is if you’re me. Or more specifically, it is if you have to deal with the people I have to deal with on a daily basis.”

“Then I’m sure you’ll be pleased to know that your scans came back good enough for me to remove your coffee ban.”

“Oh thank God! Does that mean I’m completely healthy then?”

“Your prelim results are normal, the toxicology department will have your full chemical makeup results ready for you in the morning. If I’m satisfied with the results I’ll be able to clear you for work.”

Leela’s face lit up. “Oh I can’t wait to finally have my life back!”

“After which I never want to see you in here again, you hear me?”

“Loud and clear!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Guess what! One more update and this beast is done! Yay!

'The Doctor'? I don't get it.

Day 15! Noooooo it's almost over.

   

Originally posted by gwynhwyfar:
 youre kidding about that part right? the nutritionist hopeful in me knows that sweet n low does not cause cancer

Actually, I've been told the exact opposite in organic chemistry, but the professor also told us to take the research with a grain of salt.

Hahaha, bat people do exist. Poor Fry, with his sadistic dreams.

(ETA: If memory serves, the potentially carcinogenic attributes of artificial sweeteners has something to do with the molecular structure of one of the ingredients, but for the life of me I cannot remember anything beyond that.)

As pleased as I am that the story is almost done, I'm still a bit sad that it's ending. 

"Concerns over saccharin's safety were first raised twenty years ago after a flawed study that administered huge quantities of the sweetener to laboratory rats produced bladder tumors in rats. New and better scientific research has decisively shown that the earlier rat studies are not at all applicable to humans."

Huge quantities, poor mice.

only one update left?  Aww man... 

“When you’re in my house with my daughter, you wear those.”
I laughed my own pair of trousers off when I read that. Ok, not really, but it's quite funny.

“Oh come off it Hermes.” Fry snapped irritably. “Shouldn’t you be off rescuing a calculator from a tree?”
Hermes crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow smugly. “Spell calculator.”
“C-a-l-q-…later!”

I see that Fairly Odd Parents ref. 

 “What did I tell you I’d cut off if you ever called me ‘Leels’ again?”
This. Is. Hilarious. 

I cannot believe that one more addition will be in place and it will be all over. You must write more Futurama. You just must. It's certainly been a great journey though, I'm sure for you and for us all (Hey, you even sparked some creativity in my mind for your efforts, no matter how less experienced than you I am so far). I...just don't know what to say. It's sad, but it's a good thing at the same time.

Look what i found from the old Fanfics Release Date thread.

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posted 06-26-2003 19:50
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im actually working on mine now too. Tests and class schedules made it hard to really sit down and work but i'm about 6 pages into it. Who knows how long it will take to finish, i'm kinda lazy when it comes to writing.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My how naive I was! I had no idea what i was getting myself into! And here's this little gem:

posted 07-20-2003 16:23
 
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i added 2 more pages to my fic! 2 pages in like a month! At this rate you can expect a release in 6 years! yay!

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I wasn't that far off the mark. You're probably wondering why i'm posting those. Well look at the date of the first one. June of 03 which is when i started writing this. It is now June of 07. That means i've been working on this beast for exactly 4 years.

And now here it is. The final update:

*drumroll*

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Public Road in front of Planet Express
3:33 pm
Recovery: Day 15


Absolutely beaming, Leela dragged Fry down the road and right past the manhole that led to her parents.

“Uh, Leela, we missed our exit; you’re parents’ place is that way.”

“We’re not going to my parents’ place.”

“We’re not? Where are we going than?”

“Right here.” She said stopping abruptly in front of the little coffee house diagonally across from Planet Express.

The hostess led them to a table, where Leela ordered the strongest coffee on the menu. Fry settled on something a little less likely to cause heart palpitations. Leela smirked at him and called him a wimp. When the drinks arrived Leela took a long deep sip and sighed happily.

“Oh yeah, that really calms the shakes.”

Fry groaned. “Awwww, bad seizure pun.”

“What? No. I was referencing my caffeine addiction.”

“Still sounded like a bad seizure pun.”

“Pfft. Everyone knows puns are the lowest form of wit. I can do better than that.”

Fry gave her a skeptical look, which she ignored.

“It’s so nice just being outside again. It’s amazing how much I’ve missed it.”

“We could go walk around the park if you’d like.”

“That sounds wonderful, but if we don’t head back soon my mom’s going to panic.”

“When you come back to work, maybe? During our lunch break?”

Leela scoffed. “What lunch break? I owe the hospital so much money I’ll probably end up working through all my lunch breaks. How much do you think a human kidney is worth on the black market?”

“Leela!”

“You only need one to live, you know.” Leela said looking thoughtful. She’d meant it initially as a joke, but now that she was thinking about it…

“You are not selling your organs.”

“I wonder if eBay would even allow it.”

Fry looked pained, hoping she was kidding but being unable to tell. Leela could be a decent enough actress when she wanted to be.

“Leela please, think about what you’re saying.”

Leela was silent for a moment. “You’re right.” She said at last. “Any money I made off it would probably end up paying for the surgery itself and my recovery time. And then I’d have to stay with my parents again and listen to my mom nag. There’s got to be easier and more effective ways of making money. Like selling my body on Canal Street.”

Fry made a horrified noise that sounded like a cross between a moan and a squeak, and went several shades paler. The expression on his face was priceless and Leela, who had actually been joking that time, was quite pleased with herself for causing it.

“That was a joke.”

“Wasn’t funny.”

“Yeah it was.”

“Nuh-uh.”

“From over here it was pretty good.”

“Well from over here, it’s just something else to have nightmares over.”

“Me prancing around dressed like a harlot? Somehow I doubt you’d consider that to be a nightmare.”

“It is if the prancing isn’t intended for me!”

She smiled at him as she finished her coffee before reaching into her pocket for a few singles to cover her half of the bill.

“No, I got it.” Fry offered as he pulled out his wallet.

“No, I’ll cover my own.”

“It’s just a few bucks.”

“Which is a few too many considering you’ve been making payments on my hospital bill.”

“Still a more worthwhile thing to be spending it on compared to where it would have normally gone.”

“Not the point.”

“Just humor me will ya? Please? It makes me feel useful.”

“You’ve done plenty for me.” Leela said firmly.

“Yeah? Like what? And don’t say taking the stinger for you cause I didn’t do it right anyway.”

“You were there when I needed you.” Leela said seriously. “In every way that I needed you. I can’t say that about any one else in my whole life. You stayed by my side while I was unconscious, you’ve willingly listened to me gripe, you’ve dropped everything and come running every time my mom has called you, you’ve run errands for me and made sure Nibbler was taken care of. You don’t owe me a thing. If anything, I should be paying for your coffee. And you know what? That’s exactly what I’m going to do.”

She pulled another few bills out of her wallet and placed them firmly on the table.

Fry was silent for a moment.

“Can I at least cover the tip?”

“No.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Munda watched, completely bewildered as Nibbler and Muffin stared each other down. Even Fluffy seemed perplexed as she slithered helplessly about. The two pets were positioned exactly one foot from each other, where they were staring unblinkingly into each other’s eyes. Their faces were expressionless. No hissing, growling, purring, nothing. No discernable emotion, just blank staring. This had been going on for several minutes and Munda, for the life of her, could not figure out what was going on. When the door opened and Leela walked in Nibbler ran happily to greet her, abandoning the staring contest like it had never happened at all. Muffin sat down and began grooming herself, also like nothing had happened at all. Munda decided to shrug it off. Leela was back, and whatever news her daughter had to give her was more important than odd animal behavior.

“Well?” She asked, “How’d it go?”

“I won’t know for sure until tomorrow, but the preliminary was really good. If all goes well I’ll be back at my apartment by tomorrow night.” Leela said cheerfully.

“That’s… wonderful Leela.” Munda said looking strained. Though it was a major relief knowing her daughter was most likely out of harm’s way she hadn’t expected such a sudden announcement of departure. She and Leela were still on rocky ground with each other, and Munda really didn’t want Leela to leave while there were still any hard feelings between them. She didn’t know how to even go about starting the conversation. She certainly wasn’t going to apologize. She had no regrets about being vigilant about her only child’s health. But there had to be a way to make some kind of peace offering.

“Is dad home yet? I can’t wait to tell him!” Leela asked as she cuddled a purring Nibbler to her chest. Dignity be damned, the little Nibblonian ambassador didn’t bother hiding his relief. Relief that had absolutely nothing to do with his continued mission on Earth. His affection for her was genuine, and he couldn’t be happier to hear of her health.

“Not for another half hour or so.” Munda replied.

With a quick nod of acknowledgement Leela turned her attention to Fry. “You should probably let the others know I intend to be back at work in a couple of days. I hope Amy isn’t too disappointed about handing back the captaincy.”

“Are you kidding? She’ll be thrilled. She’s been asking about when you’d be coming back pretty much everyday since she was made Captain.”

“Oh, really? That’s too bad. Sorry to hear she’s been having a rough time with it.” Leela said in a tone that indicated that she wasn’t actually as sorry as she said she was.

“Yeah. Bender’s still bitter and Zoidberg’s been brownnosing more than usual. Plus, all the ways our missions find to go wrong on us. Not to mention she still has classes, and homework, and stuff. She just doesn’t have that kind of stamina.”

“Well hopefully she’ll never need to, because I have no intention of ever being out of work long enough to need a replacement captain again.”

“So no more dangerous pets?” Fry asked hopefully.

“…Well, no more poisonous pets for sure.”

“Leela…”

“Everybody thought Nibbler was dangerous at first, and look how that turned out.” Leela said as she indicated the purring love marshmallow in her arms.

“That was sheer luck. The chances were equally good of him being a super smart secret operative from an alien government looking to interfere with the fate of the universe…”

Nibbler stopped purring.

“Or an evil android.”

Nibbler relaxed and resumed purring.

“We had no way of knowing he was gonna turn out to be such a pansy.”

Nibbler stopped purring again and looked annoyed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“He said my prelim looked fine. He even lifted my coffee ban.” Leela told her father that night at dinner. She’d been filling him in as they ate. Morris had been a lot more enthusiastic than Munda had been. He’d looked a little startled when Leela had announced her intentions to leave the following night, but had understood her excitement of getting her autonomy back.

Munda pushed the food around on her plate, subdued. She had roughly a day to set her relationship with her daughter back to right but still wasn’t sure how to approach it. She’d been so focused on keeping Leela healthy she had ignored Morris’ advisement on damage control. And now here she was with a healthy Leela, and a weakened mother/daughter bond. Was their relationship too new to handle that kind of tension? She really hoped not.

When dinner was done, both she and Leela jumped up to gather the dishes. After a moment of hesitation, Munda sat back down with a nod at Leela to continue. Leela had looked surprised at the show of faith, but then her face lit up and she smiled at her mother for the first time in days.

Maybe things were more salvageable than Munda had thought.


Planet Express Employee Lounge
11:52 am
Recovery: Day 16


“A little higher… No, now a little lower. Higher… Higher. Lower!”

“Ai Ya, Fry make up your mind!” Amy snapped as she adjusted her side of the large ‘Welcome Back Leela’ banner she and Bender were hanging in the TV room. Bender had extended his legs to make himself tall enough to reach the ceiling, but Amy was wearing her rocket pack and experience had taught her that the longer she wore her pack the more likely she was to crash into something.

“I don’t see why we’re even doing this.” Bender complained. “She’s not going to be all that impressed with it and I’m gonna be the one stuck tearing all this crap down.”

“It’s regulation.” Hermes explained. “According to page eight, section two, paragraph four-A, revised, of the Employer/Employee relations handbook a ‘welcome back’ banner is required for any medical leave exceeding two weeks. Everyday missed thereafter requires the hanging of four-point-seven feet of party streamers with a helium balloon for every third day.”

“Really?” Fry asked, surprised. “And what are the cupcakes for?”

“They’re tasty.”

“Can’t argue with that!”

“Do we even know for sure if she’s coming back tomorrow?” Amy demanded, still hovering.

“Well, she’s still got to get her test results back…”

The rest of the crew groaned in unison.

“So we don’t know for sure if she’s coming tomorrow!”

“Well her doctor seemed pretty optimistic…”

Amy and Bender glanced at each other mutinously. They’d been fighting with that banner for the past hour and a half. They both lowered themselves to the ground and began to advance towards the helpless delivery boy in a decidedly threatening manner when the phone suddenly rang.

“I’ll get it!” Fry called, his voice cracking as he nervously launched himself out of the path of his would-be assailants.

Please be Leela, please be Leela, please be-

“Leela!” Fry exclaimed in relief when her face filled the video screen. “Please tell me you have good news.” He begged with a nervous glance at Bender and Amy.

Leela grinned. “I do. Dr. Marsters just called. He said I’m completely fine. He cleared me for work and I’ll be in first thing tomorrow morning.”

“That’s so great Leela!” Amy said as she jogged over. “I don’t know how you put up with them.” She whispered loudly.

“Hey, standing right here.” Fry complained.

Leela took a quick glance around the room behind them. “Nice banner.”

Fry, Bender, and Amy groaned.

“You weren’t supposed to see it till tomorrow!”

“Would it make you feel better if I pretended to be surprised?”

“Yeah, a little.” Amy confessed. “We spent forever hanging that thing up.”

“Well it was very sweet of all of you. I know I didn’t exactly make things easy leaving you all in the lurch like that.”

“It wasn’t your fault Leela.” Fry insisted.

Leela disagreed, but decided it was pointless to argue with him.

“Regardless. I know I haven’t made the past month easy on anyone. Except for maybe Hermes, who’s probably still romping gleefully through a sea of insurance paperwork.”

“Hey Leela, do you need any help getting your stuff home? Cause I could help. It wouldn’t be any trouble.”

“Yeah, that’d be great. If you could be here at around seven thirty, I’m sure I’ll have everything ready.”

“Okay! I’ll see you then. Tell your mom I said ‘hi’.”

“She heard you. She’s eavesdropping from the kitchen,”

“No I’m not!” Came a faint voice off screen. Leela raised her eyebrow at Fry and he grinned.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Is that everything? I think that’s everything.”

Leela folded the last shirt and tucked it into her suitcase while Munda watched leaning against the doorframe.

“Leela, sweetie, I think we need to talk.”

“Oh lord, what now?”

Munda winced. “We haven’t been getting along very well.”

“Gee, I wonder why.” Leela muttered to herself.

“I know you think I was being a little overbearing…”

Leela whirled around. “A little?!?!”

“Leela please, I was looking out for your best interest.”

“And treating me like an invalid was in my best interest, huh?”

“I never meant to make you feel like an invalid, I was just so worried about your seizures. Leela, you don’t remember them but I do.  They could have killed you and I would have had to just stand there and watch. You don’t understand how horrible that felt.”

“And you have no idea what it feels like to have your own mom believe she has to protect you from yourself because you’re so incapable you can’t even walk from one room to another without risking sudden death.”

“Leela…”

“I’ve taken care of myself my whole life and up until the bee sting I was doing a pretty damn fine job.”

“You have Leela, I’ve never thought otherwise.”

“Then why couldn’t you trust me to do household chores, or walk up a freaking staircase without help, huh?”

“It was never an issue of trust Leela. Or of me doubting your capabilities as a functioning adult. I was only ever worried about the seizures. You couldn’t feel them coming on, you had no control over the timing or the severity-”

“I had Nibbler.”

“Yes, and he did a very good job of keeping you forewarned, but he’s not a trained service animal. He’s just a house pet.”

“Yeah but-”

“Leela. I know that I’ve been upsetting you. And maybe I did overstep my boundaries sometimes. I just didn’t want to lose you again. I’ve already been there. Twice. I don’t have it in me to go through it again.”

Leela’s expression softened.

Munda continued: “I would much rather over-react and overprotect and be wrong, than under-react and leave you alone and be right.”

Biting her lip, Leela looked unsure for a moment. “Do you think I’m weak?”

“What?”

“Do you see me differently now then you did before?”

Munda shook her head. “No. You’re the same to me as you always were. How much I love you and how proud I am of you is not dependent on how many chores you do, or whether or not you’re well enough to be one hundred percent self sufficient for a month. I honestly have no idea why you place so much importance on things like that.”

“Because I want you to be proud of me.” Leela said softly.

“Sweetheart, I’ve never been anything other than proud of you. Remember the wall timeline you insisted was creepy and made me take down? Would I have put that thing up to begin with if I wasn’t proud of all you’ve accomplished? Being sick for a month does not take away any of the things you’ve done or will do. You’re my daughter. I’m biologically programmed to find everything you do amazing. It’s a mom thing. You’ll understand some day.”

Leela smiled.

“I just hope I won’t be seeing less of you from now on. I don’t want to lose you over this either.”

“Oh mom. You’re never going to lose me.” She enveloped her mother in a tight hug which was gratefully returned. “Let’s just consider this to be all the fights we would have had when I was a teenager all rolled into one. We’re just making up for lost time is all.”

Munda laughed. “That’s an interesting way of thinking of it. Though to be honest, I’d much rather argue about your curfew than whether or not the activity you want to do could kill you during a badly timed seizure.”

Leela shrugged. “Tomato, tomahto.”

You girls ready?” Morris asked as he peeked his head into the room. “Fry’s here.”

“Yeah, tell him I’ll be down in just a moment.”

Morris nodded and left as Leela turned back to her mother.

“I know I didn’t make things easy. I kind of have a habit of that I guess, but thanks for putting up with me.”

“Hey, I like putting up with you. I hope putting up with you is something I have the pleasure of doing for a very very long time.”

Leela grinned and the two hugged each other again, both glad to finally be back on good terms with each other.

“I need to go, Fry’s waiting.”

“I know honey.”

“I’ll call you tomorrow.” She promised.

“You’d better. I also want you to tell Philip he’s welcome here anytime he wants. If we’re making up for lost time and just crossed teenage fights from the list, that means it’s officially time for me to start meddling in your love life.”

Leela blinked in surprise. “At least you’re honest about it.”

“I like seeing the two of you together. You fit.”

“Is this the advice of a happily married woman or the desperate measures of a grandmother wannabe?”

Munda shrugged. “Tomato, tomahto.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Thanks for helping me carry my stuff, Fry.” Leela said as they ascended the final steps onto her floor.

Fry carefully set the bag down next to her front door. “Don’t mention it Leela. It’s what I’m here for.”

“To be my bag boy?” Leela asked with a small smile and raised eyebrow as Nibbler smirked in her arms.

“To be your anything.” He replied suavely.

Leela couldn’t suppress a snort as she stepped past him to unlock her apartment. She lightly tossed her bag across the threshold and set Nibbler down allowing him to scamper towards her bedroom, where unknown to her he would be making a long overdue transmission to Eternian Command, who were no doubt awaiting his equally overdue status report.

Leela stood in the front doorway looking over her sparse living room. “It feels so weird being back here after being gone for so long. It’s actually been over a full month. I bet everything in my fridge has gone bad.”

“I could go grocery shopping with you.” Fry said hopefully. “And be your bag boy some more.”

Leela’s smile was genuine. “I’ll worry about it tomorrow.” She said. “For tonight I think I’m just going to bask in the glow of normalcy. Start enjoying the whole ‘self sufficiency’ thing again.”

Fry nodded in understanding. “I won’t keep you then.” He jammed his hands in his jacket pockets and began to turn away. “Goodnight, Leela.”

“Friday.” She responded suddenly.

“Huh?”

“Our next movie night.” She clarified. “Friday.”

Fry’s face lit up like an Xmas tree.

“Our platonic movie night.” She amended warily upon seeing his expression.

It didn’t dampen his spirits one iota.

“Time spent is time spent. Still special to me. See you tomorrow.”

He started for the stairs again as Leela stepped into her apartment. Before she even realized what she was doing she whirled back around.

“Fry, wait!”

He stopped and turned to face her. “Yeah?”

Ignoring the rational part of her brain that was hastily sending up alarm bells, she stepped forward, grabbed him by the jacket and kissed him long and hard.

As her lips met his, Fry’s brain completely shut down for a moment and his body froze. He barely had the wherewithal to kiss her back. Suddenly his brain came back online, every neuron doing the Happy Dance, and he wrapped his arms around her. For once there were no distractions. No interruptions. Nothing to cut the moment short. But it seemed to end too soon just the same.

Leela gently pulled back and looked straight into Fry’s dazed eyes.

“Thank you.” She said. “For everything.”

That said, she turned and fled into the safety of her apartment, this time letting the door close behind her.

For a few minutes, Fry was helpless to do anything but stand there and grin goofily. His brain was still celebrating, but his body was still trying to figure out what the hell had just happened and what it was supposed to do now. On numb legs he eventually stumbled down the steps.

In her apartment, Leela stood leaning heavily against the door. She really hadn’t meant to jump him like that and was really startled at herself for doing so. She brought her fingers gently to her lips, which were still warm.

She was helpless to stop the smile that spread across her face.


                     The End


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Well, there you have it. 4 years, 115 pages, and 79,500 words later. Hopefully I was able to maintain quality throughout. I want to thank everyone who stuck with me and read the whole thing. Having people lighting a fire under my ass is what made sure this thing got finished. I also really want to thank my betas, Spacecase and THM. You guys helped more than you know.


[YakkoWarner]Goodnight everybody!!!![/YakkoWarner]

omg so wonderful. the ending was perfect! my heart skipped a few beats of happiness!!

please continue writing other things (if you have time), you truely are wonderful!

Outstanding!  Definitely my all-time favorite Futurama fanfic.  Don't really know what to do now that it's over.  Maybe we should all sing Auld Lang Syne.

Yeah, you're young.  What's another 4 years?  Encore!  Encore!   

It was great, and I don't regret wasting three hours reading it all.  It all comes to an end, everything.  Someday Futurama will end, and no fan revival will take place.  Oh, well, we've all got many years ahead of us for Planet Express!

For your work?
A minus minus! nay, A plus plus
int a++
int a+=1?

[Zapp]Bravo bravo[/Zapp]
That was lovely, and I loved the ending. The Leela jumping Fry was one part funny five parts romantic joy for all shippers, and the reaction she had, the smile, it was beautiful. Fry was cute in it too, 'to be you anything' is my fav line in that chapter...in the last chapter.
...
...
Its really ended hasn't it? Excuse me while I go and cry.

WailSobCry! Runs around in hystrics then throws a tantrum

 

Originally posted by Venus:
In order to keep all my italics in place i would have to go through all 115 pages and change it all to html format and i don't think i'm up for it.

Yea TLZ needs reviews and comments.  As for converting, throw it into Dreamweaver and take the converted HTML out.  Dreamweaver 8 or CS3 should work fine.

Venus has set the standard so high that it would very difficult for her to top this story.

Therefore I must agree - stop now while people are wanting more and you are satisfied with your project of love.

Anything else would not come from your soul, which is why this story rocked.

Thanks for sharing your story with us lesser mortals.

 

Originally posted by JBERGES:
In the meantime, you can now join me in sitting on the front porch and yelling at all the other fanfictionists to get off the damn lawn!

But.. but.. but.. I don't wanna get off the lawn!

Thought I'd give this a try...piggybacking on Xanfor and Corvus...tried to add some labels to key points in the fic, while not making them too spoilerly.  Congratulations, Venus, this is quite an accomplishment.  I'd love to see someone illustrate it.

 

Originally posted by Venus:
Special Thanks to my betas THM and Spacecase who helped a lot. And Layla and JBERGES just for being them.

Word of Warning High Drama Content. Think Lifetime movie-of-the-week. I tried to include humor wherever i could but i'm no JBERGES. So if you aren't big on drama run now. Run hard run fast.

Brief Summary so you know what you're getting into. This story takes place during and immediately after The Sting. It's what was going on in the real word while Leela was in her coma.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Part 8
Part 9
Part 10
Part 11-U leave me breathless
Part 12
Part 13
Part 14-Recovery begins
Part 15
Part 16
Part 17
Part 18
Part 19
Part 20-Grand mal
Part 21
Part 22
Part 23-Crunching lemmings
Part 24
Part 25
Part 26-Nighttime thoughts
Part 27
Part 28-Bag boy gets a tip

 

Originally posted by Venus:
Well, there you have it. 4 years, 115 pages, and 79,500 words later. Hopefully I was able to maintain quality throughout. I want to thank everyone who stuck with me and read the whole thing. Having people lighting a fire under my ass is what made sure this thing got finished. I also really want to thank my betas, Spacecase and THM. You guys helped more than you know.