As usual I'd like to thank everyone who reviewed the previous chapter and the additional follower it seems to have garnered. Hopefully this one won't change any minds. Had some trouble with it. I keep wanting to jump ahead of myself.

In any event, thanks for reading and I welcome any and all feedback you might have.

Leela had never seen Fry upset quite like this before. She'd seen him cry on several occasions and in a way she'd almost prefer that he was crying now. Fry crying was something she'd experienced, something she had an idea of how to react to. She didn't have a clue how to react to... this.

Fry wasn't crying, he wasn't yelling, he wasn't complaining or mumbling or saying anything at all. He was completely silent, staring at the sidewalk just ahead of his feet and letting her steer him along the path to her apartment. If she'd been reluctant to send him home before there was no way in hell, robot or otherwise, that she was going to leave him there now. He was staying right where she could keep her eye on him and as far away from those jerks as possible.

If she hadn't been so unwilling to let Fry leave the restaurant alone she'd have been more than happy to beat the crap out of them all, especially Bender. He could see how much he loved his shiny metal ass after she'd lodged it in his head. None of them had even tried to apologize.

And they wouldn't, either. They wouldn't because they'd know they were right, at least about some of it. Fry was an idiot. There was no denying the simple truth of that statement no matter how cruel it seemed. That fact had in no small part fueled her years of spurning his advances despite how persistent or heartfelt he could be. Even after admitting her own feelings for him it had been easier to backtrack than to face coping with his shortcomings once the specter of doom was lifted. Plus the whole robot duplicates thing had been confusing. It had only been comparatively recently that she'd started to think that maybe, just maybe, heartfelt was more important than thought out.

She wished he'd say something stupid. Or anything at all for that matter. Instead of his usual aimless small talk he stayed silent all the way there, right up the stairs and to the door to apartment 1-I. He'd been abnormally smart the first time she had brought him here too. At the time she'd been swooning hard for what the parasites had made him, ready to drag him straight to her bedroom at the slightest provocation. It was embarrassing in hindsight, even if he had been amazing and she had been desperately lonely. How did Fry feel about that whole mess? Was he thinking about it right now? Remembering how she'd rejected him the moment he'd reverted to normal?

What was she supposed to do?

Leela guided the still quiescent Fry over to the couch she'd brought in when it became clear that she was going to need more than a single chair in her living room if Fry was going to keep visiting her. They sat there for several minutes before Fry spoke at last.

"Sorry about our date."

"It's not your fault they're a bunch of jerks," Leela said gently.

"They were right though," Fry said. "I'm a moron."

Leela opened her mouth to protest but he words died on her tongue. How could she deny it without a lie? Alright, that angle was out. But they were still jerks. You could be right and still be a jackass about it.

"That's no excuse."

"For what, being honest?"

"It wasn't honest! It was insulting!"

"Like there's a nice way to say 'you're the dumbest person who ever lived'? I doubt it."

"I used to think there was no nice way to say that I have one eye," Leela countered. "But you found a way."

Fry snorted dismissively. "Nice try, Leela, but there was never anything wrong with your eye. There is something wrong with my brain. And don't try the depth perception thing. That's something you've obviously learned to manage. I wreck things by being stupid all the time."

Leela refused to let herself get sidetracked by the warm feelings Fry's stubborn refusal to admit that her eye was weird evoked. "Don't be so hard on yourself. Alright, so you're not as smart as everyone else. It's not like it's your fault," she said. Nibbler made a funny little sound from the other room but Leela ignored him. "I mean, come on, it's not like you're Zapp Brannigan."

"That's true," Fry conceded, albeit somewhat grudgingly. Still, it was progress. Leela doubted he'd really get all the way back to cheerful tonight no matter what she said.

"Why don't we order some takeout or something?" she said. "I've also got some ice cream in the freezer."

"Sure. I'll pay," Fry added with a wan smile. Leela bit back her objections to that plan and started dialing in the local Chinese takeout number. If spending his tip money on her made him feel better then she'd let him. All she wanted was for things to go back to normal as quickly as possible. Tomorrow she'd ask the Professor how much longer until that accursed hat could be taken off. Once it was everything would be alright again.

–

After an hour or so of careful study Fry had determined that Leela had the most featureless ceiling in the universe. He hadn't had time to examine it so closely in the past but sleep wasn't coming to him as readily as it usually did. It wasn't even for the fun reasons he often had when spending the night with Leela. She'd insisted again that he needed rest as though she was still carrying some notion that his brain was ready to break at the slightest provocation. He couldn't shake the feeling that something else was going on there but he hadn't been in the mood anyway so he'd let it go.

He shifted his head around on his pillow to get a better look at his bunkmate. She had long since fallen asleep next to him, pinning his arm to the mattress and reaching one of her own across his chest. Given his habit of falling asleep first he'd rarely had the opportunity to see her like this. It was different than when she'd been in that two week coma. Then she'd looked wrong somehow. Unhealthy. Now she was relaxed and calm. It was nice to see. Sometimes it felt like he was always making her mad.

That was the real problem wasn't it? He was a constant screw up. They'd spent month after month in a on/off relationship that switched positions so fast he never knew where they stood. Every time they'd started to get close he'd be sent right back to arms length. The only explanation was that he'd done something wrong, even when he couldn't figure out what it was. Leela had always just been waiting for the next moronic thing to happen and she'd never been disappointed. How long until he finally did something so horrendously stupid that it ended things forever? Or until he got her killed in some way that the Professor couldn't fix?

But he hadn't made her mad these last couple of days. He hadn't almost gotten them killed on a delivery. He hadn't even said anything so incredibly stupid that everyone had to stop and stare at him with that expression they got when that happened. Alright, so they'd stopped and stared in shock and confusion when he said smart things instead but hey, it was a change of pace.

Fry hated the hat for complicating his relationship with Leela.

He hated the hat for letting him understand at last just how pointless and stupid his life was.

Most of all, he hated the hat for making him start to believe that maybe taking it off wasn't such a good idea after all.

–

Leela was trying to wake Fry and he really didn't appreciate it. Sleep was comfortable. Sleep was safe. Sleep was not having to go to work and deal with everyone again.

"Come on, Fry. We can't do this all morning." That was the best news Fry had heard in days. Maybe it meant she'd give up and let him postpone the inevitable. He heard a heavy sigh and the sound of booted feet walking and relaxed in triumph. Then the bed tilted sharply to one side, dumping him unceremoniously to the floor.

"Guah! Leela! What gives!?" he demanded once he disentangled his head from the sheets enough to speak without gagging himself with them.

"I know you're still upset about last night, Fry, but you can't just hide from it in bed."

"Not anymore," Fry grumbled.

"Not ever," Leela corrected him. "Now, do you want to stay here and sulk or go to work and beat up Bender?"

"I want to forget it ever happened."

"What?"

"I said I want to forget about it," Fry repeated. "Beating up Bender won't make me any less of a moron."

"It's not like he doesn't have it coming," Leela retorted. "I don't get why you hang out with him anyway. I mean, you only knew him for at most a couple of hours before I tracked you down."

"I met him in a Suicide Booth."

"A Suicide Booth? I know you were miserable when I finally caught up to you in Old New York but I didn't know you actually tried to kill yourself. Hard to believe Bender talked you out of it."

"What? I wasn't trying to kill myself. We didn't have Suicide Booths back in the 20th century so I thought it was a telephone. I was trying to call the Professor. Bender was the one trying to kill himself. He said something about a twofer and I panicked when it tried to kill us and sorta saved our lives. We went out for a drink afterward and I asked him not to kill himself so we could be friends."

"Oh." Leela stopped to consider this. "I'd still like to kick him a few times."

Fry shrugged. "Eh, that's nothing new. Go for it."

–

"Hiii-YAH!"

"Comin' through!" Benders head shouted as it sailed past the conference table towards the far end of the hanger. Fry continued chewing his breakfast cereal unfazed. Moments later Leela settled into the chair next to him and poured out her own bowl of breakfast.

"Feel better?" he asked.

"Slightly," Leela answered. "But what about you, Fry?"

"I dunno." Fry avoided meeting the sympathetic look she was giving him. An outside observer could be forgiven for thinking that his breakfast was the most fascinating thing in the universe to him. The pair of them continued eating in silence as the rest of the team filtered in. Amy, Hermes and Zoidberg all gave good mornings that were met by total indifference from Fry and caustic glares from Leela. At long last the Professor shuffled his way into the room and took his seat at the table.

"Good news, everyone! Today you'll be making a delivery to the planet Fluorgus 10, home of the gigantic, fang-filled worm people."

"Uh, Professor," Hermes interrupted. "That was yesta'days delivery."

"...Ewha...? Oh, well, then good news, everyone! The money from that delivery has put me in such a good mood that I won't be sending any of you to your deaths today."

"Woohoo!" Amy cheered. One of Benders arms paused in inch-worming its way by the table to liberate the rejoicing interns wallet then resumed its journey towards Benders head while she was still distracted.

"Oh well," Hermes sighed. "I suppose I shouldn't expect to fill out death certificates every day."

"Now that doesn't mean any of you get to slack off," the Professor resumed. "I'm much, much too old to put up with anyone having fun. Now get off my lawn and back to work!"

As their coworkers dispersed Leela grabbed Fry by the wrist and pulled him out of his chair to follow the Professor.

"Professor," she called after him. "I need to ask you about Fry."

"Fry...? Oh, yes, the brain thing," the mad scientist drew his gizmometer from a surprisingly deep pocket and waved it carelessly around Fry's head. "My God!"

"What's wrong?" Leela demanded.

"Nothing at all! Fry's brain is almost completely healed."

"Wait, you said that was the whole point," Fry said. "Why are you surprised?"

"Surprised by what?"

"Oh forget it," Leela cut in. "When can he take it off?"

The Professor gave the device a few further waves and scrutinized the display. "Tomorrow."

Fry's spirits took another downward plunge. "Are you sure? I mean, you made it sound like my brain was really screwed up before. Maybe a few extra days would be a good idea?"

The Professor rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Hmm... I suppose you may have a point but a gun would be faster."

"Okay then, just to be safe I'll keep it on for- wait, what?"

"What do you mean?" Leela asked.

"Weren't you listening you mouth breathing simpletons?" the Professor snapped. "That hat was designed for a perfectly healthy monkey brain, not a diseased lump of defective neurons like yours. If you wear it too long your brain will start to become dependent on it. If you delay taking it off you'll never be able to function without it again. Eventually your brain will require more and more stimulation to remain active until it exceeds the hats maximum output. Your synapses will collapse, leaving you a brainless sack of highly marketable organs."

"You mean this thing will kill him? Why didn't you tell us this before!?" Leela demanded.

"What did you think was going to happen!?" the Professor shot back. "You young upstarts always think you can just play around with my inventions then you blame ME when they kill some or all of you? I've had it! If anyone intelligent needs me I'll be in the Angry Dome!"

With that the Professor shuffled off, leaving Fry and Leela standing outside his laboratory alone.

"That senile old lunatic," Leela hissed through clenched teeth. "How could he just leave something like that out?"

Fry stared at the Professors retreating back in silence. He was experiencing a rather odd feeling at the moment. In hindsight he wasn't truthfully shocked that the hat was bad for his brain considering the fact that it'd already put him into a coma. He also wasn't surprised that the nascent plan he'd been building up around keeping the hat on permanently was getting a wrench thrown in it. What was surprising him right now was that he expected being smart would make him less prone to ignoring the prospect of death.

So why was he still thinking about keeping the hat?