Chapter Five – A Not-so-well-kept Secret
Walking away, Fry had a heavy feeling in his chest. He knew that turning away from her now meant that he would be turning away from all the efforts that he had made to win Leela over. But things were different now. She wasn't just dating Rodney anymore, she was going to marry him. This was it, Leela had found "the one" and it wasn't him. It was all over now.
Leela watched him walk away, the heaviness in her chest growing more and more burdensome by the moment. She knew that she had to do something. She couldn't just let him walk away like that and she knew it. Maybe not talking to him about it had been a mistake after all. And yet, she still couldn't bring herself to do anything about it. Sighing, she got off her crate and walked back into the Planet Express conference room.
Fry turned and watched Leela leave. He had no intention of working and walked onto the ship. Sitting down in the captain's chair, he propped his feet up on the control panel. He closed his eyes and leaned his back against the chair. A single hot tear ran down his cheek.
"Where did I go wrong?" he asked himself aloud. There was no answer in the silent delivery ship, only the slight echo of his own voice.
For some reason that he couldn't fully explain, he felt empty now, like a part of himself had been lost with Leela. His mind sorted through the memories of the past three years. Everything he had ever done since he stepped out of that cryogenics lab had been focused around her presence. All attempts at relationships had failed because every girl he saw he compared to the perfection that was Toranga Leela. At one time he had thought that he and Leela were soul mates and had spent many nights between dreams and consciousness thinking about the possibility. Now, sitting in this lonely delivery ship, he began to wonder if the soul mate phenomenon could be one-sided.
Fry had known very early on that there would come a time in the relationship when it would be sink or swim. Only, he thought that he would be the one swimming, not Rodney. The only thing left now was to make the best out of what he saw as a bad situation. Getting up from the captain's chair, he started to make the long walk back to the Planet Express conference room where he knew Leela would be surrounded by smiles and congratulations. As much as it killed him to do it, he was determined to be the one right by her side through the entire thing. Even if he couldn't be the man in her life, he could still be a part of it and that was something. Leela entered the conference room and a sea of questions and congratulations. Apparently, Amy had done her self-appointed job of company gossip girl. Ushered to the table by Bender and Zoidberg, Leela couldn't help but get caught up in all the excitement and a smile spread across her face. Finally, she sat down at the conference table with the rest to answer the slue of questions that was coming her way.
"I recommend putting dat ring on de company's insurance policy, Leela," Hermes offered straight off.
"Uh...sure, Hermes, I'll be sure and consider that..."
Questions started flying at her from all directions again until Zoidberg finally slammed his claws down on the table, silencing the room.
"Zoidberg wants to know everything. So start already."
Everyone watched Leela in curiosity and anticipation. It reminded her of the looks on the girls faces at the slumber parties when one teen informed the others on the "quality" of a guy, the kind of slumber party that she was never invited to. Still, she smiled. She enjoyed being the center of attention like this and soaked it all up.
"Well," she began, "Rodney was signed to leave this morning, so he took me to Elzar's last night. There was music and the food was wonderful and oh, it was just so romantic..."
"The ring, girl, tell us about the ring!" Hermes interjected.
"Huh? Oh, right," Leela continued as she looked at the rock on her hand, turning it on her finger, "he gave me this ring last night. It was a strange proposal, if it was even that." The strange look on her co-worker's faces told her that she had just blurted out what she had meant to keep secret.
Amy looked at her quizzically, angered already that her own engagement had been overshadowed by the heavenly diamond sitting on Leela's finger.
"What do you mean, 'if it was even that'?" Amy asked.
Leela became noticeably nervous before she decided to blurt the entire story out.
"Well, he said that he gave me this ring as a promise that he would never love anyone but me and that I was to wear it as a promise to him that if I should find happiness in another man before he returned that I would take that chance. He said that if I was still wearing the ring when he got back in two years, he would know that I was sure and that he would marry me." She looked around the room expectantly, hoping for a positive outcome from her outburst, but she was only met with confused looks. That is, until Zoidberg broke the silence.
"That is so romantic!" he said excitedly as he got out his chair and walked to Leela, throwing his arms around her, "Just like the love out of a fairy tale!"
Leela laughed as Zoidberg embraced her. Normally, she would have pushed the detestable lobster away, but at the moment he seemed to be the only one who was genuinely happy for her.
"Pssh, fairy tales, sounds like a cop out to me," Bender said, taking a long drag on his cigar.
"No! It's romantic!" Zoidberg replied, walking back to his seat.
"It is not romantic, you fool! This nice girl is going to marry my blundering idiot of an uncle! Even you can do better, Leela! This wedding will not take place!" the professor exclaimed, standing up beside the table.
"Calm down, mon," Hermes said, pulling the old man back into his seat, "she's not marrying that idiot Fry, she's marrying Rodney."
"Ro – wha?" The professor looked confused and Hermes made the mistake of trying to explain the situation to him.
"Rodney Jones, the officer in Zapp Brannigan's army."
A look of mixed surprise, shock and horror came over the professor's face, "Leela, you're marrying Zapp Brannigan? How could you stoop so low? Really, Leela, why don't you marry that nice boy Rodney? He seems to have taken a real liking to you. Sometimes I think you youngsters wouldn't know love even if it hit you in the face."
Hermes started to correct him, but Leela interrupted the bureaucrat. It was much easier to snip the situation in the butt at that point.
"I'll do that Professor," she said, smiling.
"Ok then, now that that's settled, where is Fry? We need to get started on our deliveries," the professor said.
"He's out loading the ship right..." Leela stopped herself in mid-sentence, realizing how stupid she sounded. Fry...working. It just didn't happen. She started again, "He's in the ship, Professor, probably sleeping."
The meeting continued and the Professor briefed them on the day's deliveries. No one had seen Fry enter the room and no one saw him standing in the shadows by the door. But he had heard all he needed to hear and a smile started across his face.
Walking away, Fry had a heavy feeling in his chest. He knew that turning away from her now meant that he would be turning away from all the efforts that he had made to win Leela over. But things were different now. She wasn't just dating Rodney anymore, she was going to marry him. This was it, Leela had found "the one" and it wasn't him. It was all over now.
Leela watched him walk away, the heaviness in her chest growing more and more burdensome by the moment. She knew that she had to do something. She couldn't just let him walk away like that and she knew it. Maybe not talking to him about it had been a mistake after all. And yet, she still couldn't bring herself to do anything about it. Sighing, she got off her crate and walked back into the Planet Express conference room.
Fry turned and watched Leela leave. He had no intention of working and walked onto the ship. Sitting down in the captain's chair, he propped his feet up on the control panel. He closed his eyes and leaned his back against the chair. A single hot tear ran down his cheek.
"Where did I go wrong?" he asked himself aloud. There was no answer in the silent delivery ship, only the slight echo of his own voice.
For some reason that he couldn't fully explain, he felt empty now, like a part of himself had been lost with Leela. His mind sorted through the memories of the past three years. Everything he had ever done since he stepped out of that cryogenics lab had been focused around her presence. All attempts at relationships had failed because every girl he saw he compared to the perfection that was Toranga Leela. At one time he had thought that he and Leela were soul mates and had spent many nights between dreams and consciousness thinking about the possibility. Now, sitting in this lonely delivery ship, he began to wonder if the soul mate phenomenon could be one-sided.
Fry had known very early on that there would come a time in the relationship when it would be sink or swim. Only, he thought that he would be the one swimming, not Rodney. The only thing left now was to make the best out of what he saw as a bad situation. Getting up from the captain's chair, he started to make the long walk back to the Planet Express conference room where he knew Leela would be surrounded by smiles and congratulations. As much as it killed him to do it, he was determined to be the one right by her side through the entire thing. Even if he couldn't be the man in her life, he could still be a part of it and that was something. Leela entered the conference room and a sea of questions and congratulations. Apparently, Amy had done her self-appointed job of company gossip girl. Ushered to the table by Bender and Zoidberg, Leela couldn't help but get caught up in all the excitement and a smile spread across her face. Finally, she sat down at the conference table with the rest to answer the slue of questions that was coming her way.
"I recommend putting dat ring on de company's insurance policy, Leela," Hermes offered straight off.
"Uh...sure, Hermes, I'll be sure and consider that..."
Questions started flying at her from all directions again until Zoidberg finally slammed his claws down on the table, silencing the room.
"Zoidberg wants to know everything. So start already."
Everyone watched Leela in curiosity and anticipation. It reminded her of the looks on the girls faces at the slumber parties when one teen informed the others on the "quality" of a guy, the kind of slumber party that she was never invited to. Still, she smiled. She enjoyed being the center of attention like this and soaked it all up.
"Well," she began, "Rodney was signed to leave this morning, so he took me to Elzar's last night. There was music and the food was wonderful and oh, it was just so romantic..."
"The ring, girl, tell us about the ring!" Hermes interjected.
"Huh? Oh, right," Leela continued as she looked at the rock on her hand, turning it on her finger, "he gave me this ring last night. It was a strange proposal, if it was even that." The strange look on her co-worker's faces told her that she had just blurted out what she had meant to keep secret.
Amy looked at her quizzically, angered already that her own engagement had been overshadowed by the heavenly diamond sitting on Leela's finger.
"What do you mean, 'if it was even that'?" Amy asked.
Leela became noticeably nervous before she decided to blurt the entire story out.
"Well, he said that he gave me this ring as a promise that he would never love anyone but me and that I was to wear it as a promise to him that if I should find happiness in another man before he returned that I would take that chance. He said that if I was still wearing the ring when he got back in two years, he would know that I was sure and that he would marry me." She looked around the room expectantly, hoping for a positive outcome from her outburst, but she was only met with confused looks. That is, until Zoidberg broke the silence.
"That is so romantic!" he said excitedly as he got out his chair and walked to Leela, throwing his arms around her, "Just like the love out of a fairy tale!"
Leela laughed as Zoidberg embraced her. Normally, she would have pushed the detestable lobster away, but at the moment he seemed to be the only one who was genuinely happy for her.
"Pssh, fairy tales, sounds like a cop out to me," Bender said, taking a long drag on his cigar.
"No! It's romantic!" Zoidberg replied, walking back to his seat.
"It is not romantic, you fool! This nice girl is going to marry my blundering idiot of an uncle! Even you can do better, Leela! This wedding will not take place!" the professor exclaimed, standing up beside the table.
"Calm down, mon," Hermes said, pulling the old man back into his seat, "she's not marrying that idiot Fry, she's marrying Rodney."
"Ro – wha?" The professor looked confused and Hermes made the mistake of trying to explain the situation to him.
"Rodney Jones, the officer in Zapp Brannigan's army."
A look of mixed surprise, shock and horror came over the professor's face, "Leela, you're marrying Zapp Brannigan? How could you stoop so low? Really, Leela, why don't you marry that nice boy Rodney? He seems to have taken a real liking to you. Sometimes I think you youngsters wouldn't know love even if it hit you in the face."
Hermes started to correct him, but Leela interrupted the bureaucrat. It was much easier to snip the situation in the butt at that point.
"I'll do that Professor," she said, smiling.
"Ok then, now that that's settled, where is Fry? We need to get started on our deliveries," the professor said.
"He's out loading the ship right..." Leela stopped herself in mid-sentence, realizing how stupid she sounded. Fry...working. It just didn't happen. She started again, "He's in the ship, Professor, probably sleeping."
The meeting continued and the Professor briefed them on the day's deliveries. No one had seen Fry enter the room and no one saw him standing in the shadows by the door. But he had heard all he needed to hear and a smile started across his face.