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Disclaimers : Futurama and its characters are a creation
of Matt Groening and David X. Cohen. This text is purely fan material
and has no commercial purposes.
Before we start : A very short fanfic this time, as I only
want to write a particular scene that, I think, cannot be integrated
in a big story without causing difficulties. It had to be written so
that I would be freed of it, however. Believe me, it would have
haunted me until I had written it…
Fry was particularly bored this day… He was alone in the
Planet Express headquarters, as everybody else had something to do
outside. Bender was at his monthly ARUKAH (Anonymous Robots with an
Urge to Kill All Humans) reunion, Leela was in the sewers in order to
pay a visit to her parents, the Professor and Amy were at the Martian
University for a few days, and Hermes was at the hospital with his
son Dwight, as the latest was having his wisdom teeth removed. Even
Zoidberg was busy outside, looking for some ‘fresh’ food.
There was still Scruffy, in the basement, but as usual Fry didn’t
even remember the janitor’s existence. And as there must have
been someone if a customer would try to contact the company, Fry had
to stay in the building. But that was one of those days when nobody
seemed to need their services.
Fry spent a few hours watching TV, but there were nothing really good
on it. Even the ‘all my circuits’ episodes were just
repeats. He tried to build a card pyramid, but he nearly cut his
wrist with a cutting edge, so he decided to give up. Playing with the
ship ? That was fun when he was with Bender, but alone, he just had
no ideas of what he could do with it.
His boredom finally led him to the professor’s lab. There was a
bunch of funny thingies there, but he hadn’t a clue about their
function. He thought of activating some of them just to see what
would happen, but he quickly abandon this idea as he remembered that
some of those things may have destroyed the entire universe if
someone would push the wrong button. Curiosity was one of his faults,
but after the 436th time he nearly get killed he finally
understood the lesson : NEVER touch to an unknown invention. EVER.
The young man was about to leave, when he saw something on a desk
that he recognized : it was the What-If machine. Now that was
interesting. He perfectly knew how it worked, there were no risks of
being accidentally disintegrated, and the simulations made by the
machine were usually pretty funny to watch. He activated the machine
; immediately, its screen was filled with bright and shiny colours,
as it was waiting for a question.
Now, that was the trickiest part. There were so many possibilities
that it was difficult to make a choice… Fry searched a few
minutes about what he could ask, and finally took a decision. He
grabbed the microphone on top of the machine and spoke in it.
- What if we were in fact characters of a cartoon ?
Fry waited a bit that the simulation would start… But got
disappointed as all he saw was a message saying ‘INVALID INPUT,
PLEASE FORMULATE ANOTHER REQUEST’.
- Oh, crud ! Stupid machine ! It’s not as if it was true !
Fry turned his back and was about to leave… When suddenly
another idea struck him. There was something he wanted to know…
Something that was haunting him since several months. He was afraid
of what the machine could show him… But that was his chance to
finally have the answer. Fry went near the machine and once again
spoke in the microphone.
- What if Leela had seen my message in the stars ?
This time the machine seemed to react normally. The psychedelic
colours on its screen began to vanish in order to show a clear
picture. Fry took a look at it : he could see himself in a small room
that he however couldn’t recognize. It was particularly bright,
in light blue pastel, and there were some small furniture in it. One
of them was a baby bed, and his double was placing soft toys in it,
while humming something he couldn’t recognize either. Well,
maybe he was just improvising something.
Another Leela entered in the same room than his double. At first, Fry
was a bit surprised. He would have expected everything, except this.
Leela really seemed to let her go in that alternate reality. He
couldn’t believe she would develop such a beer belly !
But a few seconds later, when they started to talk and when he
finally understood what he was seeing, Fry thought he was about to
faint.
She wasn’t fat.
She was pregnant.
LEela went near FRy, placing her hands on her kidneys. FRy finally
noticed her presence, and he smiled as he turned to face her.
- I see that you’re putting the final touch (said LEela,
smiling back at him. She looked in the baby bed and grabbed one of
the toys, a small smiling mouse, made of green plush). I’m
pretty sure he’ll like his room.
- I hope so. (FRy arranged the toys in the bed, letting enough place
for the future resident.) Do you think I put a bit too much of those
things ? I’m almost sure I did…
- As long as we will still be able to see him in it without having to
search among an army of teddy bears, that’ll be fine, FRy.
(LEela put the mouse back in the small bed.) I wish I had such toys
when I was a baby… Even only one…
- He won’t be alone, LEela. We will always be by his side.
LEela looked at FRy with a very distinct spark of pride in her eye.
He so wished to be the perfect father for their child, maybe because
his own parents didn’t really pay attention to him when they
were alive, and because hers had to abandon her to be sure she would
have a good life… That was this kind of attitude from his part
that was making her a bit less worried about their future. She
grabbed him by his shoulder, and gave him a soft kiss. He answered by
putting his arms around her waist, just under her round belly.
- Are you still sure you don’t want to know if it’s gonna
be a boy or a girl ? Asked LEela.
- I am. And before you ask, I don’t want to know if he will
have an eye or two either. I don’t care how he will look like,
I will love him as he is.
- Just as you never cared about me being a Cyclops, right ?
She put her head on his shoulder, her eye half closed. FRy simply
nodded.
- Well, to be frank, said FRy after a few seconds, I hope he’ll
look more like you than me… I mean, if he has the same
character than you, that would be for the better.
- Really ? (LEela rose her head to look him in the eyes, with a
teasing smile on her face.) You want him to be stubborn and picky ?
- I was rather thinking of the thoughtful and wilful part, said FRy,
repressing a giggle, but that could be good too !
- Well, mister FRy, if he also is as considerate and reliable than
you, he will be the dream of every parents !
FRy didn’t say anything else. He just continued to look at
LEela ; which caused the woman to wonder why he was so silent.
- What ?
- Nothing. I just can’t believe that I could be so happy.
- What should I say ? For years, I was completely alone, abandoned to
myself… And now, not only have I found my parents and
discovered my origins, but I’ve also found the sweetest man in
the world, and I’m going to have a baby from him. You’re
not the only one here that have… Ow !
LEela suddenly grabbed her belly with her free hand… That
immediately caused FRy to panic.
Oh no… I should have known that you mustn’t say
you’re happy if you don’t want something bad to happen !
- What’s going on, LEela ? Everything’s alright ?!?
- Of course, FRy. He just has kicked.
- Really ?!
FRy’s concerns immediately vanished. He kneeled himself in
front of LEela and placed his right ear on the woman’s belly.
- Hello there… So, you’re hurting mommy, my angel ?
We’ll have to talk about your manners…
FRy suddenly felt something hurt LEela’s belly from the inside,
and even felt a small hit on his ear. It happened so abruptly that he
backed off a little. Looking up, he saw LEela, watching him.
- At least, we know he has your kick…
LEela smiled at him, before he posed his ear on her belly again. She
began to caress the young man’s hair, as he was speaking to
their future infant.
- It’s daddy, my angel. Two months. You just have to wait for
two months, and then you’ll see how beautiful is this world.
But first, you’ll meet the greatest woman I’ve ever met.
And you know the best part ? She’s your mommy, my angel. And I
want to show to the both of you how much you are important for me,
for the rest of my life…
The image on the screen began to fade away, as the simulation was
coming to its end. Fry couldn’t look away from the screen. He
was completely spaced out.
He had a glimpse of heaven. An inaccessible heaven. That could have
been his life, what he ever dreamt about for years now. The only
thing that changed was that in that alternate reality, he had been
able to stop Leela and Bender from activating the doomsday device,
maybe only until she saw that message he made by moving the stars
themselves. It may certainly have been a matter of seconds, a very
short period of time, but that would have been enough for him to tell
them to report the detonation.
A few seconds.
And that impeached him to fulfil his dreams.
Fry heard the front door opening. He quickly switched the What-If
machine off and went to the entrance. With a bit of resignation, he
thought that irony was in command, as he saw Leela coming in. The
young woman smiled at him as soon as she saw him.
- Hi Fry. Nothing new during my absence ?
Fry tried to smile back at her and to look perfectly normal, but
after what he saw, that would take a few hours for him to calm down.
- Nope, it’s as dead as Pluto during summer vacations. How are
your parents ?
- They’re fine, thanks. Today, daddy took me to visit an
exposition on the life of our ancestors from the 26th
century, and mommy taught me a new traditional mutant recipe. You’d
be surprised of how much techniques she has found to make rat tastier
!
- Sounds like you really enjoyed yourself…
Leela looked again at him, but this time, she was looking more
worried. Fry’s attempt to hide his distress was coming to its
limits.
- Are you fine, Fry ? You look dejected…
For a moment, Fry considered telling her everything. What he saw
today, but also and most important what he saw just before they
destroy the chronotons. He couldn’t keep that for himself
forever. He had to tell her how he felt when he saw his hopes being
destroyed that day, and how painful it was to see what he had missed
because of this…
But he abandoned that idea. What proof did he have ? How could she
believe him ? And most of all, wouldn’t she feel he was
harassing her ?
- Yeah, no problem. It’s just… I’ve seen a very
emotional program, and that made me think of some things that I lost…
But nothing too important.
- Mmmh… Only a brief moment of spleen, so?
- Exactly. Nothing to worry about.
- Okay. But if you feel it’s more serious than that, don’t
hesitate to talk to me. You have friends you can count on, you know.
It was just a few words, but they were enough for making him realize
something. What he had seen didn’t happen, but that didn’t
mean it would never happen. There was still a hope that the two of
them would be together one day or the other. After all, the strong
friendship that was binding them seemed to change slightly in the
past months. There were some events that made Fry think that
everything was still possible.
At least, he was hoping so.
- I know. I’d never forget that.
Leela smiled as she saw Fry relax a bit. She gently posed her hand on
his shoulder and kissed him on the cheek, which seemed to make him
feel even better. Finally, she went out of the room, heading to the
hangar. Fry watch her go away, and finally decided to follow her.
Life was still going on, after all. He should forget everything as
quick as possible and continue to move forward, without torturing
himself about what could have happened but hadn’t.
Yet, that night, just before falling asleep, he couldn’t help
but ask himself what could have been the name of their child.
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