Futurama

Leela's Bracelet
By Nasteve

On a humid summer day in New New York the Planet Express ship returned from a delivery to the swamp world of Junglar 4. The heat was sweltering and Leela had gotten more than a little dirty from the delivery so instead of waiting to the end of the day and showering when she got home, she decided to shower on board the ship.

"Ugh, what an exhausting trip."

Leela sighed to herself as she stepped under the cool water. Leela relaxed by putting on some music, one of her favourite tunes, and sung along pleasantly to it. She felt the tension and heat swollen up inside her release as her voice rose into chorus. This song always made her smile, and she needed to, an awful lot had happened on the delivery. Aside from it being unbearably hot, Bender got swallowed by a mud monster and Fry kept asking, "Are we there yet?" every two minutes. Once they managed to save Bender from the jaws of death and Fry's nagging stopped with the end of the delivery Leela was relieved, but she still couldn't wait to get home and put her feet up after this tiring day.

Once the last dregs of dirt were chased down the drain, Leela got out of the shower and towel dried herself from the head down. It wasn't until she started drying her arms that she felt something was different. "Where's my bracelet?" Leela asked herself as she gripped her wrist suddenly. With the same shock she would have if she had lost her hand entirely. "OH NO!" Leela cried, diving back into the shower, clawing at the drain desperately. "It couldn't have gone down the drain, it couldn't!" After a short while spent on her hands and knees, Leela stood up and tried to find her composure. Taking a deep breath, "Now relax, Leela, think." Leela always took her bracelet off before she went in the water, it was just habit. Unless she'd been distracted this time…

"Okay, okay," Leela said to herself, "just look around again, you probably put it down somewhere in here anyway." She assured herself, but she didn't sound terribly convinced. Another frantic search later Leela found herself still standing, still undressed, and still missing the only possession from her orphaned childhood.

Now she was really starting to get worried…

"Where did I leave it?" Leela quizzed herself. "I'm sure I had it when I came in here, which means it must have fallen down the drain." Leela finally finished drying up and hurriedly put her clothes back on. Not worrying about her hair she darted out onto the bridge of the ship and sat at the console. The ship's computer was able to run various tests and sweeps on the ship's waste tank and although Leela was never responsible for that area of the ship, she had to have her bracelet back. ASAP.

Tapping furiously at the keyboard she managed to have the computer sweep the tank for any unusual objects. i.e. metallic objects. After that all she'd have to do is have the ship isolate the object and filter it out for her right away.

Sadly the computer's summary of the sweep read:

"No metallic object(s) found.

"No unusual materials found.

"Tank last emptied 1 day(s) ago.

"Would you like to empty the tank now?"

"Ugh!" Leela groaned. She swept her hands through her hair. "Where is it?" she cried anxiously.

Fry and Bender were on the couch drinking beer when Leela came storming in.

"Alright Bender, where is it?!" Leela roared as she pinned Bender to the couch by his shoulders.

"Whoa, I can explain everything! I only borrowed your purse so I could, um… prove that your money wasn't counterfeited! Yeh, the store accepted it, no problems. I was doing you a favour if you think about it…"

"I'm talking about my bracelet, you rotten crook!"

"Your bracelet? What would I want with that lousy scrap of metal?" Bender argued.

"I don't know," Leela said sarcastically. She released Bender and stood tall, folding her arms, "Maybe you wanted to pawn it, or bribe me with it, or who knows what! Well it's not going to work. Now, you've got 3 seconds to hand it over before I pound you into scrap metal!" Leela very coolly tapped the toe of her heavy right boot on the floor twice, conveying a similar message as though she were to have cracked her knuckles or maybe even cocked a pistol.

"Look, Leela, I didn't swipe your god-damn bracelet. Here," Bender offered, "I'll even activate my truth circuit to prove to you!" A small click was heard and Bender's head started twitching involuntarily, "I , I," Bender paused for breath. "Phew. I, I didn't steal your bracelet." Click. "Agh, man, that was weird."

"Ugh!" Leela groaned, "I can't believe I've lost it!"

Fry, who had remained silent until now, spoke, "Where did you lose it?"

"Ugh," Leela sighed. "Fry, you do know that that is officially the stupidest question in the universe?"

"Well, gee Leela, I'm only trying to help," huffed Fry.

Leela sighed again, she might have apologised but was so frustrated she was about to boil over. So she left the room and continued searching around.

Leela searched for hours, all over the ship, retracing her steps dozens of times from the moment she set foot on the ship after making the delivery. She searched the entire building to make doubly certain. She felt her lungs and heart inside her chest burning up with desperation and a painful lump in her throat proved her mental attachment to her bracelet was having painful repercussions.

When the end of the working day came, Fry found Leela onboard the ship rechecking the shower for the umpteenth time. "Um, Leela?" Fry spoke cautiously.

"Yes?" Leela replied without turning around.

"Still looking huh?"

Leela tried to whisper, under her breath, "obviously", but the strain in her throat prevented her from doing anything other than mouth the words. "Yes I'm still looking." Leela seethed.

"Maybe you should rest for a while, Leela? You've been searching for hours. I'll ask Scruffy to keep an eye out for it. I'm sure he'll find it when he's cleaning round tonight."

"I don't want to go home without it," Leela said. She still hadn't turned to face Fry, she was looking for her bracelet still, but she knew it wasn't here. The main reason she didn't turn around was, she didn't want Fry to see her red face.

"Okay. But maybe you should just try to. You're not gonna find it by getting worked up. I'll bet it turns up first thing tomorrow," Fry tried coaxing.

Leela really didn't want to stop looking, but she felt so exhausted, and the prospect of simply going home, then waking up to find her lost treasured possession waiting for her on the conference table seemed very appealing, if a little overly optimistic. Leela put both hands to her face and exhaled deeply. She turned around and said, "You're right. It's just, I've never been this long without my bracelet. It's a part of me. It's been the only consistency in my life. My dad made it for me…"

"I know, we'll find it," Fry said.

He walked Leela home to keep her company as she was clearly visibly upset. Leela insisted she'd be fine at her door, despite Fry's insistency that he should probably spend the night to make sure she was OK. After Leela eventually slammed the door in Fry's eager face, she collapsed onto her couch and let out a deep sigh. Fry was right however, dwelling on her bracelet wouldn't retrieve it and she did her best to take her mind off the issue entirely. She watched some TV, ate dinner, did a little Kung-Fu training before chilling out to some relaxing music and going to bed early.

Very early.

Like a child on Xmas eve, going to sleep early so as to wake up sooner.

Unlike an excited child on Xmas, however, Leela had no difficulty falling asleep. Thanks in no small part to her exertions in the jungle and her exhausting search earlier on. The next morning Leela woke up and immediately leapt out of bed. She got washed and dressed very quickly and was at work by 6am.

After Hermes let her in she immediately asked if Scruffy had found anything last night.

"Sorry," Hermes shook his head.

Leela took a deep breath. She really had managed to convince herself that her bracelet would be waiting for her first thing in the morning but it was still gone, and she had no idea where. "What on Earth am I going to do?" she thought, as the terrible pain in her throat which had vanished during the night started to return.

By 9am , when the rest of the Planet Express crew were sat at the conference table, Leela had finished another thorough search of the building. She slumped forward on the table as if she were trying to sleep but she was wide awake.

Fry, who was sat next to her, looked at her and said, "Are you okay, Leela?"

"No," she sniffed. "I can't find my bracelet. I don't know where it is."

"Good news, Leela!" the professor exclaimed as soon as he arrived.

"What?" Leela perked up hopefully.

"I found the watch you lost, remember? You were all upset about it the other day."

"I didn't lose a watch, I lost my bracelet!"

"Huh? What's the difference?" the Professor asked.

"Well," Hermes cut in, "both are worn around the wrist, however, one tells the time and the other doesn't."

"So, surely you'd rather have a watch than the bracelet? After all, it does tell the time," Bender suggested.

"Exactly! It's clearly an infinitely superior device."

"I don't want the damn watch," Leela replied through clenched teeth, "I want my bracelet!"

"Oh very well, you ridiculous sentimental. I'll just keep the watch and use it to create a new invention! The Death-watch!"

"Do you really have no idea where you had it last?" Amy asked.

Just then, something in Leela clicked. "That's it!" she exclaimed. "Our last mission! Junglar 4! I must have lost it when we pulled Bender out of the mud pit!" Leela visibly brightened at this revelation.

"What was he doing in a mud pit?" asked Amy reluctantly.

"Well, I was trying to have a drink. There I was just minding my own business when all of a sudden this giant mud monster lunges out of nowhere and goes for my beer. But it missed and got the rest of my body instead."

"It was big and snake like! Just like a worm," Fry commented.

"Oh my god! How did you get him out?" said Amy.

"It spat him out, then we just pulled him out and ran," Leela answered.

"Yes, mud monster's don't find steel very nourishing," the Professor stated, "and you're 40% steel, Bender, if I'm not mistaken."

"That's right," Bender confirmed with a touch of his typical Robo-pride.

"That must be where I lost my bracelet!" Leela insisted.

"Well, good luck getting it back!" Hermes chortled from across the desk.

"Thanks," Leela said, as she got up and began heading for the ship.

"He was being humorous, you lunatic!" The Professor yelled dramatically. "You can't just waltz up to a giant serpent and ask to go foraging around in its lair!"

"Not on Junglar 4, at least," Zoidberg added.

"It will eat you alive!" The Professor continued.

"But," Leela tried interrupting.

"But nothing! You wouldn't stand a chance! Besides, if your bracelet fell into the mud, there's virtually no chance of you seeing it again. Mud-pits can be ludicrously deep."

"I'm sorry, Leela," Amy said.

"I can't believe I've lost it, for good."

Leela put her hand on the back of her head and tried to come to terms with what she'd just said.

"Oh well, never mind!" jollied the professor. "Ooh, I have more good news! Today you'll be making a delivery of Glass Onions to Memoria 12! Off you go!"

Leela was completely torn up about her bracelet, and had been very quiet the whole way to Memoria 12. She mostly just sat in her pilot's chair and focused on flying. As the Planet Express ship shot back through the cosmos towards Earth, Fry tried cheering Leela up.

"Hey, Leela. Maybe you didn't lose it in that mud pit. Maybe it'll turn up somewhere else entirely. You never know," Fry said.

"Maybe."

Fry was sitting at his usual seat on the bridge. He looked at Leela's face as she stared through the front window and felt really sorry for her. He hadn't seen her look this miserable since she lost Nibbler.

"I hate myself for losing it," Leela said suddenly. "My Dad made that bracelet for me just after I was born. When I was a kid, growing up in the Orphanarium, I used to play with it-" Leela looked at her bare wrist and stroked it once as she said that, "-and feel a connection with my real parents. It gave me so much hope back then. It was like a link to the world outside."

Leela sighed. She remembered feeling a huge affinity with her bracelet. It had always given her hope of a real mom and dad. They left her that gift because they still cared for her. It gave her strength when she saw all the other children leave with foster parents while she stayed.

"It kept me going because, I knew I wasn't completely alone when I had it. My parents are gonna be so disappointed in me, I lost the one gift they were able to give me as a child. How will I be able to look at them and say that I lost it? It meant so much… For a long time, it was the only thing I had."

"I'm sure they won't care. I mean, it's you that they care about. Not some bracelet," Fry said.

"Yeah… but still," Leela looked at her wrist again, there was a small tear in her eye.

At this moment, Bender joined the conversation. "Oh come on, Leela! Get over it!" he demanded energetically. "Your bracelet's gone and that's that. There's nothing you can do about it so why worry yourself? Now how about we please lift the atmosphere in here before the auto-pilot completely sobers up?" Bender offered.

"Yeh," Leela agreed. "There's no point being down, I guess. I'm sorry."

"There you go!" Bender congratulated, "Cheer up!"

"You're right," Leela turned her attention back to flying for a moment.

Leela drummed her fingers on the wheel a couple of times then tried. "Hey, you guys wanna here something funny?" She asked, forcing up a sweet little smile.

"Sure!"

"Did you here the one about the Human, the Robot and the Neptunian?"

"No."

"Well," Leela smiled, "there was a Human, a Robot and a Neptunian. One day, they're walking down the street and the Robot says, 'Hey! You guys wanna get drunk?'" Leela started to giggle a little, and Fry smiled in anticipation. "'Sure' the other two say. So they walk down the street and the human and the Neptunian walk into this Bar and the Robot says 'Are you guys okay?' Hahaha!" Leela started laughing hard at her own joke. Bender and Fry drew blank looks at each other, however Leela is laughing so hard that she buckles forward and has to hold her sides. Bender looks angry and Fry forces a weak "heh".

Leela looks up and smilesl "Do you not get it?"

After a terrible day, Leela entered her apartment and sleepily made her way over to her bed. She closed the door, kicked off her boots and then crashed backwards onto the sheets.

She closed her eye and took a cleansing breath.

"I should just try and forget about it," she said. "Just forget about it."

"Hey, that was close! We almost got caught that time!"

It was a bright summer day. There was a blue sky, green tree tops and a golden sun. In the corner of a noisy New New York playground, a small one-eyed girl was kneeling on the warm concrete having a conversation with an imaginary friend. Actually, to be more accurate, an imaginary big brother.

"Yeh, but that ugly space Rhino didn't scare me!"

Brad had one eye too, and purple hair, and was very strong. The two each had a magic bracelet which their parents gave to them and which made them very special. They would often run away together and have adventures trying to rescue their parents from an ancient castle on a far away world. They had been turned to stone by an evil sorceress you see, and only their children could save them.

"Gee, hee, hee! I love you." The girl giggled.

"Come on, let's run!" he said.

Brad was a great big brother, he'd make her feel loved. And even though he couldn't stick around when it really mattered, the girl loved him all the same.

Brad got hit by a car one day, when the girl had grown up a bit.

When she was a little older, she lay on her back, on her bed, in her room, late one night, and looked at the black sky through her barred window.

"Hello Leela," her blonde room-mate said as she entered the room. "You missed some fun tonight."

Leela didn't say anything, she just kept looking at the stars.

"Oh that's right, you have trouble with the monkey-bars, don't you?" she laughed.

She stopped looking out the window and turned away. "Shut up."

"I'm turning off the light, good night, one-eye."

As the ribbed moonlight filtered through the window, Leela looked at her shiny bracelet in the inadequate light and thought of a better place. A beautiful alien world where she belonged. That she'd find one day, when she got out of here. She drew her fingers down the grooves of the symbols and smiled.

When she woke up she knew she HAD to get it back.

Deep inside NNY's sewers, Fry had sneaked down and knocked on the door of Leela's parents. He had an idea that he was sure would make Leela happy again.

"Hello, Fry," Munda greeted as she opened the door. "What brings you here?"

"Actually, I came to talk to you and your husband about Leela."

Munda invited Fry inside and he explained the situation to them. They weren't upset as Leela had feared, but they were a bit disappointed that she tried to hide it from them.

"Maybe we shouldn't be surprised," Munda said to Morris. "After all, she's been used to not sharing things with us her whole life."

"No," Fry interrupted, "I'm sure she wanted to tell you, she just didn't because she thought you'd be upset that she'd lost something so important."

"We love her," Morris insisted. "She should know that we don't care about the bracelet. We're just happy to have our daughter back in our lives."

Fry knew that. But he also knew it wasn't quite that simple. Fry felt that he finally understood how important Leela's bracelet really was to her.

"I know, but I don't think you realise just how special this bracelet is to her. Although Leela and you were apart, you always knew where she was and that she was okay. But she didn't even know who you were or where she came from. All she ever had to convince her she was loved and that she wasn't alone was her bracelet. It means a more to her than you realise and she's not been the same since she lost it." Fry pleaded, "It was the only thing she ever really had and I know she'd be really happy if she got it back."

"But we have no idea where it is," Morris said.

"I know, but I was thinking you could maybe just, make her a new one?"

"What?"

"It would be identical! And she'd never have to know. I'd just tell her I found it behind the couch or something."

"I'm not sure."

"Please. She'd hate herself if she thought she'd lost it forever," Fry tried to reason.

Morris thought about it for a moment and looked in his wife's eyes for her answer.

"Okay, but, Fry. When you see her tell her to come visit us. She needs to know we love her no matter what."

The next morning at Planet Express, Leela was up and working busily. But not at her job, she was searching for equipment to take on a private journey. She already had an advanced metal detector propped against the conference table where the Professor, Hermes, Zoidberg and Amy were watching with concern at her unusual behaviour.

"Leela, you can't seriously be considering going up against a mud monster just to get your bracelet back?" Amy objected, "It's too dangerous!"

"She's right!" Hermes added. "You'll be finished faster than a common cold patient visiting doctor Zoidberg!"

"It's an illness with a low survival rate," Zoidberg agreed sadly.

"I don't care!" Leela replied. "I need to get my bracelet back. Besides, I should be safe with this projectile gun I borrowed from the Professor." Leela stated confidently as she showed the group a high tech looking rifle which looked very experimental. "I chose it because it looked the scariest."

"Are you insane!?" The Professor piped in. "You must have some sort of death wish if you intend on firing that thing in combat!"

Leela looked at the weapon she held in her arms nervously as though she feared it was going to explode in a nuclear blast any second before carefully asking, "Why?"

"Well for a start, it's not even loaded! You'll find ammunition slugs in my middle drawer."

Leela ran off immediately as Amy scolded the Professor, "We're trying to discourage her, Professor!"

"We are?"

"What's going on, chumps?" Bender asked as he strode into work.

"Leela's lost it and is stealing the ship with an experimental high energy weapon," Amy replied.

"This should be interesting!" Bender chuckled.

Leela dashed back into the room, re-armed and announced, "Okay I'm going, wish me luck!"

"Don't go!" Amy, Hermes and Zoidberg. "Good luck/have fun!" The Professor and Bender.

Leela prepared the ship for launch and set course for Junglar 4 with determination in her eye. Fry arrived in the conference room just in time to see the ship jet off from the hanger. "What's going on?"

"Leela's gone back to Junglar 4 to get her bracelet from the jaws of death," informed the gang.

"I see….TAXI!!!"

The alien jungle was dark and sticky like before but Leela managed to track her way back to the pit where they had rescued Bender from the ship which she had to land 20 minutes away. When she reached the muddy pool she put down her detector and readied her rifle. The swamp was quite large and surrounded on all sides by dense jungle making a landing nearby impossible. The water was brown and although not viscous it was impossible to see anything below the surface through all the dirt.

Leela waited for a few minutes but the water remained completely still and there was no sign of the water dwelling monster that stood in the way of her and her bracelet.

"Maybe it's asleep," Leela thought to herself. She eventually put down her gun and picked up the metal detector. She carefully crept to the waters edge and put the end of the device in the water. Her plan was to locate the bracelet with the detector and then pull it in with the built in electro-magnet. But without any warning, almost as soon as she put the device in the water she felt an enormous tug from below the surface that surprised her and pulled her into the water.

Leela was dragged into the mud very quickly and was in quite deep before she let go of the detector and swam for the surface. Covered in dirt she broke the surface and gulped in some air. It hit her that the monster was definitely not asleep and that it probably wasn't going to be satisfied with another metallic meal! With sharp panic squeezing at her insides she started swimming for edge of the water but she had found herself almost 20ft from the nearest edge!

As hard as she could she swam for the edge and felt the monster's large head brush just past her as she swam.

"Oh god, it's gonna eat me!" she thought. Becoming a giant slimy monster's meal 40ft under muddy water was an end that she really, really didn't want to meet. But she was beginning to fear that she would have no choice if she couldn't get to the edge soon.

In an effort to suppress her fears and take her mind off her imminent death, Leela refused to even think until she reached her goal at the edge of the water. "I can make it!" she assured herself as she punched through the mud.

Just then, Leela heard a loud noise from above that almost made her jump out of her skin in fright. Looking up, she saw Fry leaning out of an open door in a yellow space taxi!

"Quick! Go down!" Fry yelled to the driver to lower enough so they could rescue Leela from the water.

"No way!" The driver refused shaking his head. "That thing could pull this whole cab down if it wanted, we're not going any lower than this!"

"Please! You have to, she'll die!" Fry begged.

"FRY!" Leela yelled, new hope coming to her. "GET THE GUN, YOU CAN SHOO...." Leela was suddenly pulled under the water before she could finish her sentence.

"Quick! Hover over there, I'll jump down!" Fry frantically told the taxi driver.

The yellow cab went straight ahead and turned to allow Fry to jump the 10ft down to the ground. He landed heavily but he was okay and the rifle was only inches away. The driver closed the door behind him and took off back home in a hurry.

Leela was helpless to stop her plunge underwater. Her right foot was caught firmly in the jaws of the monster. She was pulled all the way down despite her resistance until her predator stopped and held her tightly. Leela continued to struggle as her lungs ached for air but the monster did not proceed to eat her. She imagined it would hold her here until she drowned and then eat her like a crocodile. For a moment Leela believed this would really be the end and she felt more scared than she ever had in her life. But, not giving up she managed to reach down blindly and started unfastening her boot. To her relief she was able to break free when it was undone and made her way upwards as fast as she could.

Fry feared she was dead when she hadn't resurfaced for what seemed like an eternity but then she surged up and took in an enormous recovery breath before bobbing back under water. As she surfaced again she spluttered, "FRY, HELP!"

Fry instinctively fired to protect her, assuming the creature would be chasing directly below her he fired underneath Leela. The rifle took a second to awake with electrical charge and fired a high speed bullet which fearsomely tore through the water with a heavy jolt. The following shots fired instantly and Fry succeeded in distracting the attention of Leela's attacker. The worm broke the surface and started powering through the water towards Fry. It was enormous with a circular mouth as large as a car and large blunt bone crushing teeth. Without hesitation Fry fired another few high speed rounds towards its open jaw and the snake crashed lifelessly back underneath the mud.

Fry had been waiting on the bridge for a while. The ship's auto-pilot was taking them back home, and Leela had gone to wash off in the shower. Fry noticed that she'd been in for an especially long time. Probably lost in thought. After all she'd not only still lost her bracelet but nearly her life. Well, when she got out he'd show her the bracelet he had had re-made for her. It was a perfect copy and he couldn't wait to see her face light up.

As he was playing with the copy, Fry heard the shower stop and he quickly put the bracelet back in his pocket. A few minutes later Leela appeared on the bridge clean clothed and with damp hair that hadn't been thoroughly towel dried.

"Hey," Leela greeted softly.

"Hey. Good shower?" Fry asked.

Leela smiled and nodded. There was definitely a slightly awkward feeling in the room.

"Listen Fry/Leela," the pair spoke simultaneously. "Sorry."

"Can I go first?" Leela asked.

"Sure."

Leela took a deep breath to summon up the composure she needed to say what had been on her mind for the past hour. "Um, first of all, thanks saving my life, Fry. I'll pay you back for the cab fair it must have cost a bundle."

"Don't worry 'bout it," Fry shrugged dismissively.

"No, I'm really sorry. I nearly got killed today. I thought it was for something important but I was wrong. You on the other hand, you risked your life for me and it made me realise something that I maybe should have realised sooner."

"What?" Fry asked.

Leela looked at her feet and took a moment to say what was really hard for her to say. "That I actually mean a lot to other people," she replied. "I could have lost everyone I cared about for a stupid bracelet. And you risked your neck to save me. I had no idea I meant so much to you. I guess I took it for granted. My parents too, I'll always mean a lot to them and I don't want to ever lose them. People are a lot more important than possessions. Anyway, what I'm sorta trying to say is: You're really important to me. And I'm sorry for not saying it sooner." Leela sighed and grinned in relief at what she'd finally gotten off her chest.

Fry smiled too, he didn't know what to say! Leela had finally admitted feelings for him!

"So what were you gonna say?" Leela asked.

Fry released the bracelet he'd been playing with inside his pocket and gave Leela a hug instead.

"Nothing."

Leela succeeded in getting over her loss. She was never certain exactly where her bracelet wound up. The copy that Fry had made quietly wound up in New New York's garbage recycling system along with assorted other discarded metals and forged into some unknown object. Whatever became of it, it probably made it back into some person's life in one way or another. Leela, however, managed to gain something else she could value from her experience.

I may have lost something special forever, but it's something I could easily afford to lose. It wasn't my parents or my life or Fry. It was something I loved, yes, but all the love I had for it was attached to memories. Memories I still have and will always have. No one, not even my parents, can ever have any idea what exactly I drew from my bracelet. What the tiny piece of strange jewellery on my arm caused me to speculate about myself and who I am. But every little idea that came into my head, they were all formed by me! I love my parents and I love the gift they gave me. But the bracelet didn't give me a past, I created one with my imagination. I always had my own perception of who I was until the day I found out for sure. I shaped myself! And any inspiration I took from it that shaped me will always be a part of me, even if I wanted to get rid of it I couldn't! But I'm happy with who I am and I'm not gonna have anymore regrets. From now on I have to remember to shape my own memories and make sure to never lose the things that really mean a lot to me.

"Hey, how come we stopped?" Fry asked as he noticed the ship had come to rest in Earth's orbit rather than descended to land.

"'Surprise." Leela stated simply.

"Huh?"

"Just something else I've wanted to do for a while but didn't let myself." Leela answered with a smile. She had got out of her chair and pulled Fry out of his controllingly.

"Lights." Leela commanded. The ship responded and all the lights on the bridge went off, dropping Fry and Leela into darkness save for the soft blue glow coming from Earth. Without regret, Leela kissed Fry. She held the kiss for a long time, and felt a tension in her chest that made her feel like she was kissing for the very first time. She forgot to breathe, and when she finally broke the kiss her smile was accompanied by an involuntary gasp.

The End