Futurama

More Than Us, Part 2
By Nasteve

In the last part, when I promised that it was gonna get better from here on, you knew I was kidding, right?

Leela stretched as she got out of bed from an uncomfortable night's sleep. She still felt pretty bad about turning Fry down, yet again. He was a nice guy after all, she started thinking, but she couldn’t just start dating him because he’d saved her life last Valentine's. She was grateful of course, but it wasn’t going to make her attracted towards him all of a sudden; the two of them were just totally different people. Besides, it would interfere with work and all, and it might not even work out right, and she would lose not only another chance with love but one of her only real friends. Maybe he’d learn this time and just forget about being anything more than friends, Leela mused as she got ready for the day. Maybe.

As everyone was arriving at Planet Express for work that morning, and getting ready to sit down to hear where the professor was sending them, Leela took Fry’s arm to grab his attention.

“Fry, about yesterday, I’m sorry I left you in the park like that, but I’m just tired of you always trying to ruin things between us, I just want us to be friends. I hope you can accept that,” Leela stated, as she made sure her feelings were clear.

“No problem, Leela,” Fry answered.

“I know it’s hard, but you’ll just have to try and...what?”

“It’s fine, I said; I’m completely okay with that,” Fry smiled.

“Oh, well, good.”

“Yes, good news everyone!” cried the professor from his chair. “You’ll all be going to a planet inhabited by peaceful little creatures who work all day to manufacture cigarettes and alcohol and other similar luxuries for absolutely no charge!”

“Hey, that actually is good news,” Bender commented.

“Once there, you’ll receive a package which must be delivered immediately to the Vampire Capitol on the Planet of Doom, in the heart of the Demon system,” continued the senile old scientist.

“Great,” Bender cried, “another trip into the jaws of death to deliver crap for jerks for practically no pay.”

“Oh, fuff! You’ll be fine. Off you go!”

The ship took off on its delivery and arrived shortly at their first destination, Troasis 3. On the surface were warehouses stuffed with booze and cigars that were unlocked and unguarded. Bender could barely contain himself and insisted that they forgot about the delivery and just spent the week here. The strange thing was, Fry didn’t run off with him and drink himself stupid like you’d have expected. Leela thought that this was strange, but was pleased with Fry’s attitude. Normally, Fry and Bender would have run off together and it would have taken her ages to get them to get back to work, but this time she had Fry on her side, which saved her the trouble because Bender didn’t want to get drunk all by himself on a planet populated by disturbingly cute little creatures with no hookers AND no drinking partner.

“Here’s your box of stakes,” one of the little creatures said. They look like little like miniature polar bears, but they have three eyes and a black stripe down their back.

“Why would vampires want stakes?” Fry asked.

“They’re for you, that is what you're delivering…” the creature said, as it pointed to a crate to its left. The crate was big and wooden and had ‘stake-proof armour’ written on the side. “You also have to deliver a case of ‘Red’ wine, if you know what I mean,” he continued, with a wink.

Amy and Kif where having a picnic in a great park in the centre of the capitol city on planet Henrik 7. It was a manufactured park they called Parkhead, ideal for picnics or just strolling through. The grass was beautifully cared for, lush green. And in the distance, tall buildings that were flawlessly white stood tall. A huge fountain in the centre of the huge park sprayed out water into the air, and from its base, two streams leaked out that waved naturally through the turf adding to the beautiful scenery. There were trees and other things there too, but the only thing that really mattered to Kif was his girlfriend, Amy. She was the only thing there worth noticing.

“This is a beautiful place,” Amy said, taking in the view as the two of them sat down on the ground.

“I thought you’d like it.”

“I’ve had a great time so far, Kiffy,” Amy smiled softly at him, locking her eyes with his.

“Me too.”

“It’s such a shame we only have a weekend to spend together,” Amy complained.

“Yeh,” Kif agreed. He was rubbing the back of his neck a little and looked as though he was fighting to say something.

“What’s wrong?”

“N-nothing, I just…” Kif looked Amy in the eyes. “Amy, I was thinking, about how maybe we could spend some more time together,” Kif said, he was nervous, he thought she might say no. “We could use another engineer on board the Nimbus, I might be able to get you assigned. Then we could be together all the time.”

“Oh, Kif! That would be so great!” Amy beamed.

“Really, you’d like that?”

“Of course!” Amy dived on Kif and embraced him in a loving hug. Sometimes Kif was so amazed at how much this great girl actually enjoyed his company.

On the bridge of the ship, Fry and Leela were alone, as Bender was down on the planet carrying out the actual delivery. The two of them had managed to convince him to go, while they remained safe from vampire attack in orbit around the planet. Leela sighed. The two of them were alone again. Fry would probably do something stupid or try and prove he loved her, and she would get fed up and yell at him. It was always the same old routine, Leela thought to herself.

“What’s up?” Fry asked.

“Nothing.” Leela just sat there in the captain’s chair looking out the front window. There was a lovely collection of stars in the corner of the window that had caught her attention.

“Oh,” Fry looked over at Leela and then down at his feet. “Y’know, Leela,” he began. Leela looked over to him. “I’m sorry I’ve been a kid sometimes, and an idiot. You probably have to put up a lot being with me and Bender all the time.”

“You could say that,” Leela smiled, “But, you can be fun sometimes, when you’re not acting like an idiot…”

The two of them looked at each other for a moment. Leela started feeling that feeling she sometimes gets for Fry. The look between them was one of happiness and understanding. Leela knew that feeling, and started to feel awkward. She shook it off and looked back out the window again. “Nice stars..” Leela commented.

“Yeh,” Fry agreed, looking at the stars, smiling, with just a breath of hope.

And so, the trip to the Vampire capitol hadn’t been quite as dramatic as Fry and Leela had feared. Bender wasn’t hurt when he got back from the planet. He just wiped his mouth and mumbled something about vampires having a funny taste in wine. And surprisingly the mission came off without a hitch.

As weeks went by, Fry started acting pretty responsibly, at least as much as you could have hoped from him. He didn’t bitch about making deliveries, he stopped asking dumb questions and tried using his initiative and sense once in a while. It didn’t exactly work smoothly on its first run, but like a muscle became better with use, and over the course of time, Fry grew up a little and started acting more maturely. Leela noticed these changes and was pretty impressed. She even started to chill out a little around Fry and trust him a bit more with stuff like flying the ship. Their friendship together even strengthened a little as they shared more ‘moments’ together. He had definitely made a distinct improvement in his habits. He had become a better man because of Leela.

One day, after a successful delivery, once the ship entered the hanger, Fry left while Leela finished up on the bridge. She took the keys out of the ignition and stood over the controls for a moment, thinking to herself.

“Fry’s really cleaned himself up. I can’t believe how much he’s changed. He’s showing up on time for work, he’s not lazing around all day, he’s like a totally new person, but still the cute little guy I always loved. Maybe he really has grown up. Maybe I could…”

“Hey!”

Leela’s thoughts were interrupted, and she jumped slightly in surprise when Bender strolled onto the bridge.

“Bender, what are you doing here?” Leela asked.

“I think I left my hat up here. Ah, there it is!” Bender spied a brown, trilby-type hat, like Frank Sinatra wore, lying on the floor under one of the consoles and picked it up, putting it on. “Cool, huh?” Bender lit a cigar.

“Yeah, great, Bender,” Leela replied. She sounded distracted.

“Well, see ya, skintube,” Bender started off the bridge.

“Wait, Bender. Have you, noticed…Fry acting differently lately?” Leela asked cautiously.

“Are you kidding? He’s gone crazy the last couple of weeks. He’s not drinking on the job, he’s showing up for work on time, he’s started clearing out the trash in our apartment!”

“Any idea why?”

“Of course I know why,” Bender said. “It’s ‘cause he’s trying to get you in the sack.”

“Beautifully put, Bender. But I think he has definitely been trying to impress me lately. He just won’t give up.”

“So what are you gonna do?”

“I don’t know, I’ve already turned him down so many times, it would feel weird asking him out,” Leela answered. She seemed pretty excited. “Then again, maybe he won’t aks me again after all that I…”

“Whoa, whoa! You’ve actually fallen for him? You do know he’s just trying to get you in bed, don’t you?” Bender stated.

“That’s not true.”

“Oh, I suppose he really love’s you? Like Zapp Brannigan and Alkazar? Hah! You women are such suckers for romance!” Bender laughed.

“Shut up, Bender! Besides, I didn’t sleep with Zapp because he loved me,” Leela retorted.

“Oh no? So why did you? Did he do something for you, you don’t like to admit?” Bender teased.

Leela cursed herself for letting herself open to that.

“Just get the hell out of here, Bender!” Leela barked, vowing never again to discuss romantic matters with an alcoholic, pimping robot, no matter how desperate she was.

“Ha ha ha ha!” Bender laughed as he walked away.

“Jerk,” Leela muttered to herself. However, Bender had planted some doubt into her head. What if Fry really was only interested in one thing? What if he didn’t really care about her at all. He had been unusually nice lately, it wasn’t like him. “No. Fry wouldn’t do that to me, would he? We’ve known each other too long.”

Leela ran over all of this in her head. But eventually she shook it off with determination. She knew Fry. She wasn’t going to let that dumb robot ruin anything. She’d finally found someone who really cared about her. He’d changed himself for her. He’d even have given up his life for her. He really loved her.

Fry was kicking about the front door of Planet Express waiting for Bender. He was thinking about himself and Leela too. Only, he was wondering if it was ever going to work out right? “I’ve been working so hard to impress her,” Fry thought to himself. “I don’t even think she hardly noticed. She probably doesn’t even care. I know she likes me, at least I think she does. But maybe…she’ll never love me. This whole thing is hopeless.” Fry had done his best, he’d worked so hard, but he was worn out. He thought about just taking a few days off work to chill out and relax, maybe get back to his old habits. But, to be honest, some of his new habits had actually grown on him, and he felt better because of them. At least something good had come from his efforts, Fry figured as he stood by the doors.

BING BONG!

The doorbell rang, stealing Fry from his thoughts. “Hmm,” Fry wondered. It was after 5 and they were technically closed. But Fry wasn’t bothered, so he answered it.

At the door stood a young woman, about 24, smiling sweetly. She wasn’t too tall, a fraction shorter than Amy, maybe. Her blonde hair was short and straight, but sort of curled forward slightly at her chin.

“Hi there,” the woman said. “My name’s Sian, I’m here to pick up a package.”

End of Part 2