"Hmmm, let me see now. Ah yes, a little of this and maybe a little that. I'll just add some more of this and it's almost done."
Fry had been watching the professor mix potions for over an hour and was becoming restless. None of his usual time wasting activities seemed to appeal to him anymore, not even his favourite game of dodge brick. Fortunately Leela and Nibbler had stayed with him long after everyone else had lost interest and found something else to do.
"How's that potion going to tell us what's wrong with me professor?" he asked hopping the wait was over.
The professor turned and picked a big fly that was heading for him clean out of the air with a pair of tweezers, and dropped it into the potion. Fry was in awe at how fast the old man could move when it suited him.
"It's not. It's to get rid of this coffee stain on my lab coat," he said indicating the brown patch and pouring the potion over it.
Fry restrained Leela's arm as she pulled a fist and stepped toward the professor.
"Professor," he paused for a moment to select the right words.
"Can you test what's wrong with me?"
"I'm a professor, I can test anything with anything," he said taking a device out of a draw and waving it in Fry's face.
"Sweet zombie Jesus!"
Fry braced himself for the worst.
"The gizmometer shows you as being almost completely normal, remarkable."
"Normal for Fry, or normal for everyone else in the universe?" asked Leela.
"Both, it would appear that there's a party in Fry's brain and every brainwave is invited."
"Yes, but do you know what the cause is?" asked Nibbler hoping that somehow this mad scientist would be able to tell him something that no one on Eturnium could.
The professor scratched his head and pulled another device out of a draw.
"I suppose we could see how dangerous Fry's new brain power is with the Doomometer."
He turned the device on only for it to explode a second later making everyone duck for cover.
"What happened?" asked Leela after the smoke cleared.
The professor stood up and inspected what was left of the device.
"The Doomometer overloaded. It would seem that we are all well and truly doomed."
"Is there anything else we could try?" asked Nibbler, now desperate for any extra information.
"There is one thing," said the professor, raising their hopes. "But I sent the guillotine away for sterilization. Those damn monkeys make an awful mess."
Leela rolled her eye.
"So what do we do now?" she asked no one in particular.
"Wait," replied Nibbler.
"Get ready for our date tonight," replied Fry.
Fry noticed the look Leela was now giving him.
"Oh yeah, I suppose you want to spend time with your parents or something?" he said trying to hide his disappointment.
"Actually, I think I'll just talk to them on the phone for a while. I don't want to worry them. Besides, if the universe is doomed I want to spend as much time as I can with you."
Fry's smile spread so far across his face that it would have met on the other side of his head if it could have.
"Why don't you phone your parents now and meet me at my apartment? The door number is 0100100, I have a few things I have to deal with myself before then."
Fry turned to leave the room wondering if Leela had read too much into what he had just said. Inviting her to his place when the universe is doomed was kind of suggestive. He turned to clarify what he meant, but when he looked at Leela's expression it knocked the wind out of him. It was clear that she had misunderstood him, but the look he got from her was not one of disgust but one of desire.
Fry quickly left the lab before all his blood could rush to his head. He turned hot, then numb, then he started to tingle, and then finally was sick outside Dr. Zoidberg's office. He took a moment to steady himself and then cursed himself. He could handle becoming normal and he could handle the unknown danger they all faced, but he couldn't handle his feelings for Leela. It seemed to him that the more his mind cleared the stronger his feelings became. He longed for her.
He pulled himself together and grabbed a mop and bucket from Scruffy's store room. When he returned to clean up his mess he found that someone had already done it. Fry considered the possibility that Dr. Zoidberg had dealt with it, but how he had cleaned it was a thought that he very much didn't want in his mind.
Before Fry left work he stopped off at Hermes' office to ask permission to borrow a hazard suite. Hermes was unsure at first but, once Fry told him that he would let the universe end before he let any harm come to company property he seemed more at ease and agreed.
On the way home he couldn't get the look Leela had given him out of his mind. He had dreamed of the day Leela would look at him like that and now that day had come, and it didn't feel right. He didn't want their first and possibly last night 'together' to be because the universe was doomed.
When he got home he put on the hazard suit and cleaned his apartment from top to bottom ensuring everything was sprayed with super disinfectant, even the stuff being thrown away. Throughout the task he racked his brain trying to think of a way to make his night with Leela special, but could come up with nothing new.
It turned out that in all the years he had been trying to woo Leela he had made just about every romantic gesture humanly imaginable, and even some not humanly imaginable with some help from Bender.
Fry heard the front door open.
"Talk of the devil," he said under his breath and prepared himself for whatever revenge Bender had planned.
"Bender, is that you?" he said knowing full well it was unlikely to be anyone else.
"Listen, about that card I gave you, I realised after you left that I gave you the wrong on," he lied.
Bender walked in dragging an entire bookcase full of books.
"That's ok" he said leaning on Fry and lighting a cigar.
"By the way, you withdrew a few books on roboerotic art," he added indicating the bookcase.
Fry looked at the mass of books in disbelief.
"How on earth did you manage to get out of a high security public library with that?"
Bender gave him a shrug.
"Through the window."
Fry shook his head and then grabbed Bender by his arms.
"Window!" he said ignoring the funny look he was mow getting from his best friend.
"Bender, how would you like to help me break into Leela's apartment?"
"No thanks. I've broken in before, she has nothing worth stealing."
"How about if I buy you a keg afterwards?"
Bender crossed his arms, obviously waiting for Fry to sweeten the deal a little more.
"And I'll give you some money to take to a strip club? I hear Hookerbot 5.0 just got an upgrade."
Benders eyes lit up blinding Fry in the process.
"Sorry about that," he said turning them off.
"You've got yourself a deal."
"Great! Get your tools and we'll get going."
"No need meatbag. Leela's security computer owes me a favour," he said winking at Fry.
Fry nodded and decided not to ask for details. As he followed Bender out the door it occurred to him that this was something he would have come up with before getting a normal brain. He smiled at the thought.