Author's Note: I don't own Futurama or anything to do with it, and this is strictly a non-profit only thing.
Another post Time Keeps on Skipping story from me, but not like my others. Though I am a supporter of Fry and Leela, be warned that you will not see very much of it here. If you've read any of my other stories, you'd know that I like to write unexpected and different situations that would probably never happen on the show.
This is a Fry / Morgan Proctor story. If you don't like to read different twists on canon, please leave now.
This chapter has been edited a little bit, with some more added to the beginning that wasn't there before. I wanted to add it, because I think it's better than trying to explain some things in an author's note.. enjoy!
Late-April, 3001..
The direction of an entire universe can depend on several, complex outcomes.. or in this case, hiding after being discovered as a cheater in a poker game. For one Bender Bending RodrĂguez, though he did not know of it and never will.. was a critical pawn placed strategically in a game of chess that could change an entire outcome.
After shoving Zoidberg out of the way and racing down the halls as fast as his metal legs could carry him, Bender was ready to enter the office of the bureaucrat named Hermes Conrad.. since he would not be there at that time of night. The robot neared the door, and..
.. suddenly found himself outside of Planet Express, with the three men from Applied Cryogenics flanking him.
"Get him!"
"What the.. ow, my poor eyes!" Bender cried, as he was beat up and literally tore limb from limb.. and robbed of his ill-gotten gain and left in a nearby dumpster. The next morning, his best one and two-eyed fleshwad friends found and reassembled him.. and Bender didn't have much time to think of the strange occurrence from the previous night, as a female newcomer was now entering Planet Express.
Nice watch.. and I think her hair clip might be worth a few bucks too, hehehe..
"Who the hell are you?" Hermes asked to the woman.
"Morgan Proctor, bureaucrat grade 19." Morgan said.
"Hermes Conrad, bureaucrat grade 36."
After some quick stamping and formalities, the inspection began.. and went smoothly, except for Zoidberg being annoying in general at times. Hermes passed and was promoted to the coveted grade 35, and Bender didn't remember or care that almost a minute of his life was unaccounted for.. he would sometimes lose a few minutes every now and then due to lack of alcohol. Life went on, and soon the Planet Express crew would discover the lost city of Atlanta and have many other life or death (mostly death) adventures.. all seemed to be right with the world.
It was, for the most part.. until the Harlem Globetrotters showed up.
Mid-July, 3002..
Philip J. Fry was having one of the worst nights of his life.
About two days previous, the time skip phenomenon was finally ended with the help of one of the Professor's doomsday devices. Sadly for the young man brooding on a chilly park bench, it also ended the only chance he had to win the heart of the woman of his dreams.
I'm so stupid.. Leela will never love me now.
After the explosion had shattered his love message in the stars, Fry refused to talk to anyone for any amount of time. He showed up early for work (which for Fry, was not normal and an indicator of something wrong) and would often lock himself away and cry, all alone.
I finally did something right for a change, and now it's all gone and there's no proof it ever existed!
Fry was thinking of doing something really stupid, and just didn't care much for anything anymore. He just couldn't take the pain.. the pain of having his heart ripped to bloody shreds with little chance of being made whole again. In another universe, maybe he would have gone through with his plan and leave the others to face the consequences. However, this universe took pity on him at a crucial moment.. in the form of a woman who unknown to Fry would eventually make him whole again.
"Philip J. Fry? Is that you?"
Oh great, one of them found me and.. wait! Nobody calls me Philip here.. Fry thought, raising his lowered head in the direction of the unknown voice. A slender, brunette woman dressed in business attire stood with perfect posture.. a bureaucrat of some kind. She looked familiar to him, but Fry couldn't quite place where he had met her before.
"Yeah, what's it to you?" Fry said.
"Morgan Proctor.. I was involved in an inspection at the Planet Express offices over a year ago. We met briefly and you gave me your number.. but sorry to say I must have misplaced it among my stacks of forms and.."
"Nice try, but I've heard worse turn-downs before.. yeah, I remember you!" Fry said, laughing bitterly. "Just go away.."
Moving his head lower, Fry chose to ignore Morgan and sink back into his own world. She noticed that he had been crying, and his disheartened appearance suggested that something traumatic had happened to him recently. Morgan had been in such a state once before in her life, and it nearly destroyed her.
I don't know, should I leave him alone? Morgan thought. Poor boy.. no, whatever it is I have to help him. Nobody was ever there for me, and I'm not going to let him go through what I did! I can tell just by the look in his eyes.. he must have lost a loved one.
Not heeding Fry's advice, Morgan walked over and sat down close to Fry on the bench. He looked even worse up close, and immediately he noticed that Morgan was now sitting beside him.
"I thought I told you to go away.."
"No, Philip.. not until you tell me what is wrong." Morgan said. "I may not look like it, but I have always been a good listener. Come on, Philip.. tell me."
"First, I don't need your sympathy.. but I'll take it, I guess.." Fry said, a faint smile appearing on his face. "And don't call me Philip.. just Fry. Women don't usually talk to me first, so this is something new!"
Morgan smiled back. "You were on the news recently. The media blames you for Earth's loss to the Harlem Globetrotters."
"Well, yeah.. but it's not really my fault! The time skips started and.." Fry said, before the tears began to flow. "The time skips.. both the best and worst thing of my life! Why couldn't anyone else have just seen it for a second? Why?"
"The time skipping phenomenon affected everyone, Fry. I woke up in a strange room with a coiled snake tattoo near my right shoulder, see?" Morgan said, moving the collar of her shirt to reveal it. A small black viper could be seen on her skin just above her breast. "Who knows what else I have done.. is that what you are distressed about, Fry?
Fry didn't know why or how, but he knew that he could be open to this woman that he barely knew. An inner voice told him that she could help him, but most of himself was still fighting with the will to live after all he had experienced a few days ago.
"I don't know why I'm saying this to a complete stranger, but I've done weirder things before.. anyway, do you remember Leela? She's this cyclops I work with, and I really love her. We got married and divorced in the time skips and nobody knew what was going on.. but then I found out I made a message in the stars but it was blown up and now she'll never know and.."
Fry stopped his story to wipe his sore, tired red eyes with his right hand. "Sorry.. it's just, I really love her but she doesn't love me!"
I was right. Morgan thought. It's always about love. "I understand completely. I was in love, once.. but that's another story for another time. You have to move on and make the best of it or you will die, Fry."
"How did you know I was gonna.."
"I know the look in your eyes.. I've seen it in others, and had it myself. The feeling that your world is shattered, your life hopeless.. I know that we don't really know each other, but I want you to know that you can speak to me. Be a man, Fry.. don't give up so easily. Here is my number, don't forget to call me if you want to talk."
Morgan wrote something down on a small piece of paper and handed it to him. "We can take a taxi together.. less fare to pay that way."
"Okay.." Fry replied, still in a bit of a daze over the events of the last few minutes. The ride was a short one, as Robot Arms was only a few blocks away. Fry disembarked from the car but turned around to say goodbye to Morgan.
"Morgan.. I don't know if it was God or what, but thanks. If you weren't there then I'd probably have went off into some alley or a suicide booth, or worse. Tomorrow, I'm gonna go back to work like nothing's ever happened.. Leela or no Leela. Bye!"
As the taxicab pulled away, Morgan glanced at Fry through the window.. deep in thought. He seems nice.. I don't know how anyone could reject him so coldly, as that Leela woman must have. Well, back to three hours of rubber stamping and black coffee when I get home..
Late-September, 3002..
After a hard day at Planet Express and while digging through half-crushed Slurm cans and week old pizza.. Fry discovered something that he had completely forgotten about in an unwashed pair of his pants.
Morgan's number! Oh no, I forgot all about it!
With guilt eating away at him, he dialed the woman's number and shifted nervously through the dial tone until a feminine voice answered. "Hello?"
"Morgan? It's Fry.. listen, I'm so sorry I didn't call you. A lot of stuff happened in the last few months, so much that the new stuff must have pushed some of the old stuff out of my brain, or something."
"Fry? Hello.. well, at least you remembered. That's more than I can say for most other men I have met. Listen.. I would like to see you again, you are very intriguing." Morgan said.
"In tree.. what?" Fry said. "I don't live in a tree!"
Morgan sighed over the phone line. "Another word for interesting. Anyway, I was wondering if I should go to your apartment or if you should come to mine."
Fry considered her offer. Normally, he would accept any offer from any woman that he could.. but this wasn't the same. In the short time that he had met her on that dark and cool night on a bench, he realized that something about her was different from any other women he had ever met. Plus, she had called him interesting.. something that he wasn't used to being named. Fry was more familiar with the words freak, jerk, weirdo, and idiot than interesting. He had to get to know this woman, especially after the recent disaster with his grandmother Mildred. "Well, I'd ask you to come over here but it's really dirty and messy.. it hasn't been cleaned since I moved in."
"Dirty and messy, you say?" Morgan asked. "That also sounds very interesting.."
"What?"
"Oh, nothing.." Morgan said, with a hint of a playful pout in her voice.
"Bender's holding some robot strip poker party here in an hour or so, so you can't come here. I guess I'll meet you at your place.. but I gotta know where it is first or it'll take me a long time to find."
"Okay, I'll give you my address." Morgan said, chuckling in the background. "That's West 14th Street, not 14th West Street.. everyone makes the same mistake. See you soon, I'm sure you have much to tell."
Feeling brighter, Fry changed to a fresh pair of clothes and was ready to leave before Bender stopped him.
"Hey, meatbag.. I thought you were gonna stay here tonight! Lots of booze, cards and cheap Elzarian cuisine! By cheap I mean free, and by free I mean I scraped it out of the dumpster behind Elzar's!" Bender said.
"It's really tempting, but.. something better's come along. I'm gonna see Morgan."
"Morgan.. that name doesn't compute! I don't know any Morgan! Who is he?"
"It's a she. I actually met her last year but only really talked to her a few months ago.. I found her number and I'm going over to her place to talk with her for a while." Fry said.
"Oh, oh oh OH OH OH! A woman willingly letting Fry into her apartment? The world is ending as we know it! Though, you are your own grandfather.. sicko!" Bender replied. "HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!"
"Don't remind me.. anyway, that was a mistake! And I could have just as easily left your head in the desert for another thousand years!"
"I was lonely.." Bender cried. "Only the worms were my friends!"
"Anyway, later!"
"Yeah, yeah.. whatever!" Bender yelled, already clear into the next room out of Fry's sight.
Fry did make the mistake and knocked on a door on 14th West Street. An old woman answered and promptly began to beat him with her cane before he ran away.. not without suffering a bruised shin first. Eventually, he was in front of Morgan's door in a large apartment suite.. and rang the doorbell. Within a few seconds, the door opened and Morgan could be seen dressed in full business wear. She appeared to be working on something, as she held a clipboard in her right hand.
"Hello, Fry. Please come in and have a seat."
Walking inside, Fry could see that her apartment was very large and well organized. It was easily three times the size of his and Bender's own at Robot Arms, if not more. A desk lined with papers, forms and other things sat a few feet to his right.. Fry figured that Morgan must have been working there before he arrived.
"Sorry I'm a bit late. Anyway, thanks again.. I think you did save my life that night!" Fry said, slouching down on the nearby sofa. "Everything's fine now, except a stupid thing I did last week."
Morgan didn't answer, but instead carried a tray with two mugs of coffee and offered him one. She took the other, and even though the sofa was quite large.. she sat as close as she could to Fry. For some reason, this both pleased Fry and made him nervous at the same time.
"What was it?" she asked, taking a sip of coffee. "Was it anything else to do with that woman Leela?"
"No, it wasn't.. we went back in time to Roswell in 1947. I accidentally killed who I thought I was my grandfather, and brought my grandmother to her house. I was stupid.. I figured she wasn't my grandmother since I was still alive, and I slept with her. But, it turns out that she really was my grandmother, which makes me my own grandfather! Ugh, why am I such a screw up? First Leela and now this!"
Morgan choked briefly on her coffee but then replied to him. "That was a big mistake, but do you know that I almost did the same thing?"
"What?" Fry said, interested in what she had to say.
"Three years ago, I flirted with a certain man in a nightclub. He seemed awkward about the whole situation, and I was ready to lead him back here until he revealed to me that he was a time traveller and my great-great-great-great grandson!"
"And you believed him?" Fry asked.
"Well, when I think about it now.. he did have my eyes. The same chocolate color and slant, so I suppose he was telling the truth." Morgan said. "I have such bad luck with the opposite sex."
"Tell me about it!" Fry said, and Morgan gave him a mean look which made him realize what he had just said. "Oh, no.. not you! I mean me! I have really bad luck with girls.."
"I don't see why, you are a handsome man." Morgan said. "That red hair really makes you stand out!"
"Really?" Fry said, more because she had called him handsome rather than the color of his hair. "Well, the hair comes from my mother's side of the family.. I think. The good looks must be part of my DNA.. but the Professor is also part of my family and he's like all wrinkled and stuff, so I might be wrong."
After saying nothing and drinking coffee for the next few minutes, Fry was the first to break the silence. He stared directly into Morgan's eyes beyond her glasses and asked her the question that had been on the top of his mind. "Morgan.. why did you talk to me in the first place? You could have just left me there.. you were and still are almost a complete stranger! How did you know I wasn't just faking and going to pull a knife and rob you, or something like that?"
Morgan set down her coffee cup and took one of Fry's hands into her own. "Because I could see that your heart was breaking. I couldn't let anyone else go through that.. I know what it was like. Remember how I said I was in love once?"
Fry nodded, while still feeling the effects of Morgan's touch. Really warm, and soft..
"It was many years ago now.. I think ten. I was young and naive, and engaged.. I don't want to bring it all up so I will just tell you the short version. I caught my fiancé in bed with another woman..my own bed! And this was only a few days before we were going to be married! I really loved him too and thought he was going to be the one, but he was not."
"That's really sad!" Fry said.
"I packed up and ran away. Like yourself, I was contemplating suicide.. but something told me not to give up, that there was something that I had to do. I suffered for over a year until I came to my senses and joined the bureaucracy.. rising in the ranks and burying myself in my work. I just stopped caring about everything, until that night I met you. I remembered that I had to do something, and I realize now that it was to save you, Fry."
"Morgan.." Fry said, gripping her hand tighter. "If it wasn't for you, I'd probably be dead or dying in my own filth or something really bad. I mean, I'll never forget what I did for Leela but I did move on even if it was at first with a Lucy Liu-bot. Everyone noticed that I was still a bit down and took me to do most of the things I've always wanted.. I still get along with Leela too. Though, at the end of it an army of Lucy Liu-bots invaded the city.."
"It was the least I could do.. thank you, Fry." Morgan said, with tears streaming down her cheeks. "Fry.. do you believe in fate?"
"Like, destiny?"
"Yes. This may sound ridiculous, but I think we were meant to meet and save each other, Fry. And do you notice how well we seem to get along, and listen and understand each other?"
"Yeah.." Fry said. "But what do you mean about me saving you?"
"Fry.. I am thirty-two years old. For the past ten years I have been dead inside.. until I noticed you that night, and especially now. You make me feel great, Fry.. even though there is a lot that I do not yet know about you, but I would like to know." Morgan said, moving her fingers within Fry's gripped hand and smiling.
"Well.. I'm twenty-seven now and was frozen in 1999 for a thousand years. I had a brother named Yancy who I found out really cared for me and named his son after me, and I had a dog named Seymour. I wonder what happened to him. Anyway, I guess that's a start."
"Would you like another coffee?" Morgan asked, standing up and taking the tray with the empty mugs in her hands.
"Sure." Fry said, and watched her leave the room into what was presumably her kitchen. Wow.. I don't know what it is, but I've never met anyone like her. Not even Leela, and I thought I loved her! Wait.. do I love Morgan? I barely know her!
Returning with more coffee, Morgan resumed her position on the sofa and both drank and exchanged small talk for a while, before Morgan decided to come right out with what she had been thinking.
"Fry, do you believe.."
"..in love at first sight?" Fry said, finishing her sentence.
"How did you know I was going to say that?"
"I don't know, Morgan.. I just knew. But I don't know if I believe in love at first sight, but I knew I saw something different in you that night in the park. If a beautiful woman willingly comes to me for any reason besides hitting me in some way, she has to be special." Fry said, taking her hands within his again.
"But do we really love each other?" Morgan said. "This does seem to be progressing very quickly.."
"I don't know, Morgan.. but right now I wouldn't trade this away for anything."
A light blush covered Morgan's face, as Fry drew nearer for a kiss. She was about to receive him when he suddenly pulled away.
"Is there anything wrong?" Morgan asked, with a tone of worry in her voice.
"Morgan.. why do you wear those glasses and your hair up like that? I think you'd look a lot better without them, and your hair down." Fry said, gently taking her glasses off and setting them down on the coffee table. He then undid the clip holding her hair together, letting it fall freely down to her shoulders. A grin appeared on his face as soon as he saw the beautiful sight in front of him.
"To make myself look more business-like.. I can see fine without the glasses." Morgan said, maneuvering herself onto Fry's lap. For him, the room temperature seemed to suddenly skyrocket as she moved in even closer to whisper in his ear. "Now, you fool.. kiss me."
Philip J. Fry experienced true love for the first time that night.
Early-March, 3004..
Morgan Proctor was having one of the worst days of her life.
It had seemed to be only hours ago that she was given the news that her boyfriend had been stung by a space-bee, but in reality it had been two weeks. Two weeks of sitting by his bedside almost nonstop, talking and pleading that Fry would wake up.
It's all that cyclops's fault.. if she hadn't decided to take that bee along, my Fry would still be here..
The doctors didn't give the young man very much hope. He had taken the full dose of venom, which amounted to almost certain death.. but Morgan couldn't give up. The only man that she had truly loved was dying in front of her, and there was nothing that she could do about it.
Someone else had entered the room while Morgan was reflecting, her hard boots giving away her identity. She sat down in a chair on the opposite side of the bed, her single eye moving between both Fry and Morgan respectively.
"Hey, Morgan. You should probably go and get something to eat, you don't look very well." Leela said.
"With no thanks to you!" Morgan snapped. "The robot said that it was all your idea.. but what is more is that you did not even try to stop the bee from stinging him!"
"It happened so fast, Morgan! There wasn't any time to react! Bender shoved the bee out of an airlock before it could attack anyone else!" Leela said. "And yes, it was my fault! One of my best friends might die because of me!"
"If you were being attacked instead, Fry would have thrown himself in front of you to try and save you. I know him.. he cares about his friends and though he doesn't love you like he did anymore, Fry still cares for you. Unlike you, however.. I tend to listen to and not scorn him every chance I get." Morgan said.
"Why, you.. I don't know what you did to him, but you really changed Fry. He loves you, no doubt.. but in some ways I liked the old Fry better."
"Are you jealous, Leela?" Morgan asked. "Really, are you?"
"What?" Leela said, a bit of shock on her face. "No.. no, of course not."
"You are. I know you, Leela.. not by experience but by what Fry has told me. You want him now since he's not available, but if I didn't exist then you would look the other way and flaunt other men in his face like you've always done."
"That's not true!" Leela said.
"Yes, it is." Morgan replied. "I have something to tell you, Leela.. I met him a few nights after the end of the time skips, and he was the sorriest sight that I have ever seen in my entire life. I talked to him, and.. did you know that he was ready to kill himself over you, Leela?"
Leela didn't reply straightaway, but a look of worry and denial crossed her facial features. "No.. I mean, he wasn't well for a few days after the end of it but he went back to normal.. well, normal for him anyway. Fry would never consider something like that, you're a liar!"
"No, it's the truth. He loved you, and the strain of the wedding and divorce combined with rejection nearly pushed him over the edge. Fry probably did not tell you this, but he made a message in the stars which he thinks made you love him.. which you yourself later destroyed. Can you imagine what that must have done to him? No, you must not have cared. But I did, and I do. I love this man, Leela.. and I'm not letting you or anything else take him away from me. He will wake up."
Leela began to weep slightly and wanted to be mad at Morgan, but she knew that the woman had told her the truth. How could I have thought for a second that Fry tricked me into marrying him? Who is the bigger idiot now, Leela? You are.. if Morgan hadn't come along when she did, Fry could very well be dead. Yes, I am jealous.. Fry found someone who really loves him and he loves her, and somehow they just seem to magically fit together.. and now he could die because of me.
She did not speak another word, but silently left the room.. leaving Morgan alone with Fry. Hours passed, before she decided that she needed some sleep and leaned forward to kiss Fry's forehead.
"Be a man, Fry.. don't give up so easily." she whispered before her lips met his forehead. So cold..
Returning to her position, Morgan was ready to doze off when she heard a faint voice very close to her. "Morgan.."
Opening her eyes and pinching herself to make sure it was not a dream, Morgan noticed that Fry's eyes were opened and that he was looking right at her. "I.. I didn't give up, Morgan."
Immediately, she ran to alert a doctor and after some tests.. the room was crowded with most of the people from Planet Express, and Morgan. All were surprised at Fry's recovery which bordered on the miraculous. For Morgan, it was not a miracle.. but something she knew would happen.
"I didn't give up on you either, Fry.." Morgan said.
"Hey, meatbag.. great to see you back! I even returned half of the money I stole from you last month!" Bender said, handing Fry a small wad of cash.
"Thanks." Fry said.
"Don't thank me yet, I might need it later!"
The rest of the Planet Express crew took turns to congratulate Fry on his recovery and to inform him of what he had missed while he was in his coma. Leela was last, and surprised everyone by kissing Fry on the cheek and giving him a hug which nearly choked him.
"Leela.. I can't breathe!" Fry gasped. "And I'm still really sore!"
"Oh, sorry." Leela said. "Fry.. I'm glad you made it. It was my fault that you ended up in this bed to begin with.. can you forgive me?"
"It's nothing, Leela. It was an accident.. and we're always going to be friends." Fry said. Somehow, that reply had bothered Leela in a way that she wouldn't have felt before. "Don't blame yourself. Now, can everyone in here get out except Morgan because I want to talk to her alone."
They left, with one of Bender's arms extending back into the room unnoticed to steal back Fry's money. When he was sure that everyone was gone, Fry grabbed Morgan's right hand with his own and held it tightly.
"Morgan.. I had a dream the whole time I was out. It felt so real.. but you were dead in it and I couldn't take it. You know Leela's pet, Nibbler? Well, he was in it too for one part and he could talk.. and he asked me something like if there was anything in the future worth saving. I said your name without even thinking about it, Morgan. And I heard you telling me to be a man and not give up."
"Fry.."
"I can't put this off any longer. I could have died, Morgan.. but the dream made me realize that I have to live life now and not waste it. Now, I don't have a ring and I'm too sore to get out of bed and on my knees.. but Morgan, will you marry me?" Fry said, with hope in his eyes.
Almost as if on cue, Morgan began to cry.
"Oh no, don't tell me that.." Fry groaned.
"Yes, of course I will!"
Without thinking, Morgan nearly leaped onto the bed and hugged Fry tightly.. forgetting that he was still very sore and tired.
"Ow!"
"Oh, sorry." Morgan said. "Well, I was ready to go to sleep for a while before you woke up. That chair hurts my back.."
"Go home, Morgan.. I'll be okay. They'll probably keep me here for a couple of days at least, but I'll be out. Wait until we tell the rest that we're getting married!"
Not known to them, one already knew.. her eye wet with tears and glaring through the small window opening in the door.
December 28th, 3005..
"What will we name him?"
"Yancy.. I want to name him Yancy after my brother. I don't know if he ever had any more kids, but he named his first son after me and I'm kind of repaying the favor.. I guess."
Taking him from his mother, Fry held his newborn son in his arms. He was the splitting image of himself except for his dark hair.. Fry smiled at him and even though he would not understand for a while, he began to tell him of his namesake and how much he loved and missed his older brother.
The birth had been tough on Morgan and she was still very weak, but she propped herself up in her bed after a doctor had taken young Yancy away for the night. "Your brother.. he must have been a very special man, like you."
"Special? Yeah, right!" Fry said. "He used to copy me, steal my stuff and torment me.. but I loved him anyway. That's one bad thing about being frozen.. I never got to say goodbye to him or meet his son, but I'll always remember them."
Fry stopped talking and stared out a nearby window for nearly a minute before Morgan snapped him back into reality. "Fry.. is there something wrong?"
"Some nights, I have weird dreams.. like everything here is just wrong. In one of them you're really mean and took Hermes's job, and put Bender's brain on a floppy disk or something like that. In another one I'm playing the Holophonor.. something I gave up years ago. But that's not what's weird, I'm playing some opera but it's about Leela and not you! And in another one I'm shoving space-bee honey into my mouth to kill myself but it's like I'm watching it on some big screen and then I freak out and start crying!"
"They're just dreams, Fry. They can't hurt you."
"Yeah, but this sounds crazy.. but what if the stuff I dreamed actually did happen in other universes and it's somehow leaking through in my dreams?" Fry said. "Sounds like something from a bad Sci-Fi.."
"I do not know about dreams or other universes, Fry.. but all that matters is here, and us. Our family." Morgan said. "I don't care if we were manipulated in some way or not, because I like what I have now."
"We're both a lot better off than we started." Fry said.
"Much."
"Leela's alright now, too. I mean.. she did try to crash our wedding and was hauled off by the police, but I forgive her. What you told her right before I woke up must have really got to her."
"I only told her the truth, which was something she needed to hear." Morgan said.
"Anyway, I never met him but according to her she met a really nice guy a few months ago and now they're engaged. I hope it works out. Leela's always been a great friend from the day I met her."
Morgan didn't answer Fry, as she had fallen asleep from exhaustion only moments before. He lightly kissed her forehead before exiting the room.
After leaving his wife alone to rest, Fry thought back to that night.. the lowest point in his life. If the woman now lying asleep in the adjacent room had not come to him on that night, he didn't know where he would be today. He now had everything.. a wife and a son. Even Bender joked that he wanted the kid to call him "Uncle Bender" when he or she would be old enough to talk. Fry now understood that even cold park benches could be bearers of good fortune if the right person came along.. which she did.
Wow, much longer than I expected!
Anyway, this is a very different story.. and I can never write romance to save my life. Writing the anti-Leela parts was almost painful to do, but it had to be done for this story. Fry's dreams near the end reference How Hermes Requisitioned His Groove Back, The Devil's Hands are Idol Playthings, and my own fan fiction A Second Chance (shameless plug).
The story title itself (Something Completely Different), was taken from Monty Python's Flying Circus.. which is a great show. The next chapter is short, but explains some things..