Chapter 2

"Fry! Could you check the dark matter fuel tank? I think we might be running low." Leela shouted from the captain's chair, hoping he would answer, but getting no response, "Bender! Did you fix the ship's artificial gravity generator? Your martini's starting to float." She paused, but this time knew better than to expect an answer. Instead, she put the ship on autopilot, which gave her a cheery "Hello" and downloaded the coordinates to their destination, before she set out to look for them.

I'll just probably end up doing their jobs anyway. Leela thought as she walked down the long green-hued corridor. Sometimes I wonder why they're even 'working' here, I'm the only one who actually gets anything done. In fact, they're both probably doing some stupid contest to prove some idiotic point.

Leela's thoughts were once again broken by the sound of Bender's voice floating up from behind a closed door. Upon opening, she was met with the sight of Fry chugging down two slurm bottles at a time and Bender to the side, egging him on.

"Go man go!" Bender cheered, "Come on buddy, only four more cans until you beat the record."

"Fry! Bender!" Leela put her hands on her hips trying to look authoritative, "You two are supposed to be working, not drinking. Now come on!"

Bender protested, "Pipe down Leela, Fry's got two left until he beats 98 cans in an hour."

"No 'ifs', 'ands', 'buts' or 'ors'. You're coming with me." She grabbed them both and dragged them out of the room, into the hallway.

Fry spat out his slurm and dropped to his knees, "Noooooo! I was so close, so close."

"Yeah, well you can't beat the best. Which would be me, Bender." He noted, picking up his friend.

"We're almost there, so I'm going back to driving the ship. Bender, I better see that gravity generator fixed by the time we land. And Fry, finish checking the dark matter fuel tank and then start loading up the cargo."

Lighting up a cigarette, Bender waited until Leela turned the corner, then pulled out a magazine from his chest compartment. After several long moments he looked at Fry, "Well, you're not really going to listen to her, are you?"

"I don't know." Fry said thoughtfully, "I don't want to disappoint Leela. I'd rather…"

"Impress her?" Bender finished, " Look, I know a lot about ladies, and they aren't going to get impressed if you're on a leash listening to every single thing they say. You've got to put your moves on them, be Mr. Smooth…here." He pulled out black shades from his chest and gave them to Fry, stepping back to see his creation.

Fry pulled up the collar of his jacket, adjusted his shades, and slicked back his flaming orange hair. "Ooh yeah, baby." He winked to the imaginary Leela across the room, then looked back to Bender for approval.

"Boy, do we have a lot to work on." Bender flicked his cigarette and walked over to a dismayed Fry, "Don't worry buddy, I've got you covered. Just listen to good 'ol Bender, and you'll have Leela swooning at your feet in no time."

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Leela gently landed the planet express ship in a clearing not too far away from a huge manor that was dripping with gothic attire and leering gargoyles. She stared at if for a few moments, wondering who could live in such a place and what they could possibly be delivering to such a person before she turned around and yelled to her crewmates, "Alright, we landed. Fry, dispense the crate onto the transporter so we can get the hell out of here." Leela yelled over her shoulder, noting the frigid weather and sleet pounding on the ship's hull.

Fry walked in with a smooth, even gait, jacket collars upturned, eyes just above black shades, and bright purple hat with a wavy pink feather to round it all out. He was thumbing a wad of money bursting from his pocket.

"Fry you look ridiculous, now take those clothes off." Leela dismissed his new look.

"I can do that, and so much more for you, baby." Fry growled suggestively and gave her a 'sexy' look.

"You're worse than Zap! Or… you've been talking to Bender too much," she shook her head, "doesn't matter. Now, look, stop acting like a complete idiot and do your job."

Fry hung his head, taking the hat off to reveal matted and ruffled hair, "Sure…whatever you say, captain." He mumbled and shuffled out of the room.

Leela felt a twinge of guilt as she saw him leave, "It's not my fault he's like that." She reassured herself out loud, "I mean, that was totally out of line and he should know better than that." It eased the guilt somewhat, but she found it more helpful to put the whole ordeal out of her mind.

"So…how'd it go?" Bender asked Fry out in the hall.

"Great, just great." Fry didn't want to hurt his best friend's feelings. Bender had actually tried to help him the best way he could have. Although, his tactics probably worked better at the robot strip club than with Leela. "I'll just finish loading up the cargo."

"Uh huh" Bender thumbed through his magazine, "Woah, moma" His eyes magnified as he stopped at one page.

Fry walked to the ship's hangar slightly slumped over, head looking down at his feet. God I was such an idiot back there. He thought. She probably hates me now. No, he corrected himself, just more. He mulled over that some more before pressing a large, green button, lowering the crate into the transport. I'll just busy myself, try not to think about it anymore. There are men out there for her, and I'm not one of them.

The metal floor opened up and descended, lowering the goods steadily downward with it. This done, Fry walked mechanically to his quarters to get dressed for the delivery. There were specially lined insulin jackets specially made for these trips so as to survive the unearthly cold.

There was a knocking on the door, "Come on, let's go." Bender urged, "You don't want that thing hounding us all day do you?"

"Yeah… I guess you're right. I'm coming." He walked past Bender and began to go down the stairs.

"Woah, what's with the get-up?" Bender pointed at the neon-blue jacket.

"Oh, this? It's a suit so I don't freeze to death out here." Fry said thoughtlessly as he walked under the humming ship and headed towards where he left the crate.

"You humans and your survival. With your food, and clothes, and breathing. And you never let me borrow any of it. It's not like you need all your blood." Bender huffed.

Fry found this amusing, breaking out of his bad mood, "Hahaha…yeah" he sighed contently, "The professor said you could borrow some after him."

"Aww, screw the whole thing." Bender dismissed it with a wave of his hand before walking over to the crate. The hail pelting his metal body, creating a faint hollow noise. His footprints looked odd next to Fry's, a periodic trail of circles next to the imprints of Nike sneakers. But the tracks didn't last long; the snow was coming down so hard now and whipping about, that it quickly covered them, leaving no trace.

"What do you think is in here?" Fry looked to Bender, remembering the faint ticking sound he had heard earlier.

"I dunno, lets check." Bender reached for the large box and with no effort at all began to shake it around, "Sounds empty." He noted.

"What are you two doing?" Leela appeared from the foggy haze, " We've get to get this delivered soon. I don't know how much longer we can stay here before the ship's engines freeze." Bender stood behind her as she continued, suppressing a laugh and imitating her boring speech with his hand.

"Nngh." Fry tried to hold back laughing, "Sure Leela," he smiled both at her and at Bender's charade, "we'll get there and back in no time."

"Well, alright." She started slowly, but noticing what Fry was laughing at she reconsidered, "on second thought. I better go with you." And with that last note they took the crate and disappeared into the smoky haze.


A/N: Wow, chapter 2 took turned out much longer than I expected I thought I'd get bored of this story by now, but it seems my plotbunny just won't go away. But of course it is quality over quantity, and I hope that's what I'm giving you guys. So, if you've read all the way through you probably have enjoyed it so far. I would like for any concerns on this story to be e-mailed to me at I have weeded out any flaws I've seen within this story and I would much appreciate it if you were to (at least) make me aware of what stands out wrong in this story. Reviuews are appreciated for this story, but not needed. I am not going to blackmail you for more chapters like OMG I WILL TOTLLY N0T RITE NYMORE CHAPPIES IF U DON"T R & R!1!11!. (I make a pretty bad noob don't you think?) But anyway, this story is for myself, and your views on my story is just icing on the cake. And…now I'm just rambling, aren't I?