The journey back from O'Zorgnax's tested Leela's patience severely. Amy kept up a steady stream of tears, pausing only to blow her nose occasionally on Fry's jacket, and Fry leaned on her like a dead weight – a dead weight prone to throwing up without warning. By the time they dropped Amy off Leela was sweating and scowling.

She pushed Fry through the door of his apartment and then hesitated, her gaze flickering briefly towards his bedroom. After a moment she pushed him down onto the couch instead. Fry didn't seem to want to go. He nuzzled blearily into her neck, and her stomach flipped.

Leela's response was immediate and unthinking. She pushed him away so hard his head bounced off the armrest.

"Ow . . ." he mumbled.

"Sorry."

"'S okay." Fry blinked, coming back to a muzzy sort of awareness. "Leela? Am I dreaming?"

"No."

"Oh."

"Sleep it off. We'll talk about this in the morning."

Fry yawned, and groped about lazily on the couch. "My ice-cream melted," he said fuzzily.

"Yes, it did," Leela said wearily. "Now go to sleep, before I send you to sleep."

She flexed her wrist threateningly, and Fry grinned.

"Leela?"

"Uh-huh?"

"I miss you . . ."

Leela swallowed.

"I miss you too," she whispered.

Fry smiled sleepily. After a moment he started to snore.

I miss you too.

Leela watched him sleep, suddenly sick with the force of it.

TWO YEARS AGO ;;;

It turned out Elzar's appetizers weren't so fresh after all, and half the reception party had been unable to keep them down. This was especially nasty in the case of Hermes, who had started projectile-vomiting in the middle of the Limbo contest, and effectively put paid to the party. Although apparently Taco Bellvue Hospital planned to put his head back on the right way round when they'd finished pumping his stomach, so it seemed there was a silver lining to every cloud.

Fry was white-faced and heaving when Leela found him. He slumped against a crate of gummy antidepressants, shivering as he swilled his mouth out with water.

"This is the worst day of my life," he mumbled. "How come you're not sick?" he added accusingly.

Leela glared at him. "I was too excited to eat. But Lars is in pretty bad shape."

"Hooray."

"Oh, that's very mature."

Fry scowled. "I don't care."

Leela folded her arms. "You know," she said peevishly, "Lars never has anything but nice things to say about you."

Fry waved his arms in mock celebration. "Whoohoo, Mr Big Man Lars!"

"For god's sake, Fry, just give it up! What the hell is wrong with you?"

"What the – what's wrong with – what's wrong with me?" Fry spluttered. "What's wrong with you? How can you marry that guy? You know he'll just turn out to be another phoney like Adlai, or, ooh, Alcazar! And I'm right here, I love you, and you won't even give me a chance! And you know there's something there! How is that fair?"

Leela chewed the inside of her cheek, furious. "Well, maybe it's not fair."

"No kidding."

"But you know what? Lars is a good guy. He's not like every other jerk I've dated, you just want him to be. You actually want him to break my heart!" Leela glared. "If you really loved me so much, you'd want me to be happy."

"I do! I just want you to be happy with me! You and me, we're meant to, to . . ."

"To what, Fry?"

"Well . . . I dunno. But it doesn't involve Lars! He's not right! I know you think I'm stupid, but he's not right for you, I know it!"

Leela stood up sharply. "That shows how much you know, because you're wrong. Lars is right for me. I love him, and it doesn't get any more right than that."

Bender didn't return to the Robot Arms until the next morning, and he didn't look too pleased to see Leela when he did.

"Aw, crud. What do you want?"

Leela narrowed her eye. "To get to the bottom of this," she snapped, jabbing her thumb at the sleeping figure of Fry, still sprawled on the couch.

Bender pulled a can of Lo-Brau from the fridge, avoiding her eye.

"So he got a little drunk, big whoop. Fry's a big boy, he can take of himself."

"Hiii-yah!" Leela knocked the can out of his hand with a sudden spinning kick and fell back on her feet, panting. "Don't give me that bull," she said furiously. "Fry's an idiot. You know it, I know it. And you're letting him do this to himself? Shame on you, Bender!"

"Hey, watch who you're talking to, princess. Fry's my buddy. I got him that new liver, didn't I? Helped myself to some other stuff too, but hey, that's perks for you . . ."

"Bender!"

"Aw, relax. He had spares."

Leela shook her head. "I don't even want to know. My point is, you've been letting him do this? You didn't even try to stop him?"

"What do I look like, Mother Theresa?"

"You're supposed to be his friend!"

Bender put down his drink. "Yeah?" he said abruptly. "Well, so were you, eyeball."

At Leela's gray expression, he laughed.

"Yeah, yeah, I figured we'd get to that. Not so self-righteous now, are you?"

Leela swallowed. "It's complicated."

"I'll bet."

Bender watched her in silence for a long time, and then picked up his beer again.

"All this feelings garbage is human stuff," he continued. "Not my perogative. Don't expect Bender to clean up after you, because I ain't no shrink, baby."

He turned to Fry and upped the volume.

"HEY, BUDDY! GEDDUP! C'MONNNNNNN!"

Fry started awake and slipped off the couch immediately, hitting his head on the coffee table. He came up groaning and clutching his head.

"Oww . . ."

"Hey, buddy."

"Hey, Bender," Fry said groggily. "Hey . . . oh. Leela?"

"Hi, Fry."

"Uh-oh. Am I fired?"

"No."

"Is someone sick?"

Leela sighed. "You should be, if there's any justice in the world."

Fry shrugged. "Oh, that. Nah, I'll be fine."

He reached past her and helped himself to a bowl of Bachelor Chow.

"Just gotta line my stomach," he said casually, "and I can barf my way through the rest of the hangover just fine. Smart, huh?"

He winked at her. Leela rolled her eye.

"No," she said sharply. "It's moronic."

"Oh." Fry deflated a little. He chewed thoughtfully. "Uhh . . . I don't mean to be rude or anything, but what gives? I'm kinda getting the impression I'm in trouble here."

Leela sighed. "Bender, could you give us a minute?"

"Take ten, dollface."

"I meant alone."

"Oh, right. Sure thing."

Bender backed away and Fry and Leela were left standing awkwardly in the kitchen.

"Sooooo." Leela stretched the word as far as it could go in an effort to fill the awkward silence.

Fry simply blinked at her. "You're gonna have to give me a hint here."

Leela groaned. "Fry, you really are an idiot sometimes."

She crossed to the couch and sank into the warm furrow Fry had left behind. She opened her mouth, fully intending to tear him a new one for being so unthinkingly, aberrently stupid.

Unfortunately, her traitorous mouth had other ideas.

"I miss you," it said instead.

Fry froze, almost comically, with a spoonful of Bachelor Chow midway to his mouth.

"I didn't go anywhere," he said uncertainly.

"That's not what I mean."

Fry put down his spoon. "Yeah, I know . . ." He rubbed his neck awkwardly. "I miss you too, Leela. I nearly tell you that all the time."

"You told me last night."

"Oh. Hey . . . are you crying?"

Leela sniffed quickly. "No! I . . I inherited a whole pile of allergies from my dad. And Lord knows this place is probably less hygenic than the s-sewer . . ."

"Don't cry, Leela . . . oof!"

Fry joined her on the couch and put an unsteady arm around her shoulder. Leela threw herself into his embrace so suddenly she almost knocked him over.

"Can we . . . could we . . . start over?" she mumbled.

"As friends?"

"Yeah."

"Just start over?"

"Yeah."

"I dunno." Fry swallowed. "It might be kind of weird. I mean, I'm . . . you know. I love you. And you're with Lars." He looked down at her, tortured. "I want you to be happy, Leela. I want that more than anything. It's just that it's kinda hard to see every day." He paused.

"But you're not happy now," he said slowly.

There was another long silence.

"It'd make you happy?" he asked nervously.

Leela sniffed. "I just want things to go back to the way they were. I don't want it to be weird anymore. I don't know how to deal with weird."

Fry shifted uncomfortably.

"I guess I didn't think it mattered so much," he said at last. "I mean, I guess I thought that if you were happy with Lars, it'd be enough."

Leela blew her nose noisily. "I guess I thought so too."

"But you need me to be happy?" Fry struggled to keep the incredulity out of his voice, and for once Leela didn't blame him.

"I guess so," she said ruefully.

There was a long, long pause. It looked like Fry was thinking, and for once Leela couldn't read him at all. At last he nodded.

"I'll do it."

"You will?" Leela wiped her eye and attempted to pull herself together. "Well . . . thank you," she said uneasily. "I mean, I know I don't really have the right to ask . . . but this isn't right, Fry, and I want to fix it. There has to be a way for you to be happy too. There must be."

Fry shrugged. "Maybe. But if being your friend makes you happy, I'll do it."

He smiled.

"I'd do anything for you."