By Monday morning, she was still feeling like crap.

Leela rolled out of bed and stuck her head out the window, sucking down lungfuls of air in attempt to settle her stomach. Unfortunately this was New New York, and the air reeked of robot exhaust fumes and garbage. It didn't help.

She could call in sick, Leela thought. They probably didn't even have a delivery today. Who'd miss her?

The cyclops mulled it over as she poured herself a glass of water and hunted for the anti-flu. Eventually she gave in and hit the speed-dial on the kitchen phone. The call motif flashed a few times and then the screen lit up, showing her the conference room at Planet Express.

"Good morning, this is Dr Zoidberg, very important person in the running of this business-"

Leela groaned. "Zoidberg, put on someone who actually matters."

It should have been impossible for someone with that many face tendrils to pout, but Zoidberg came remarkably close. He scuttled off-camera when he caught Leela's glare however, and a few seconds later Amy skipped in.

"Hi, Leela!" she said brightly. "Yowzers! You look awful."

"Thanks, Amy."

"No problem!" the Martian girl chirped. "So what's up?"

Leela shrugged. "I'm calling in sick," she said. "Because I look awful, obviously. I think it's the flu."

"I'm a doctor, you know!" Zoidberg warbled off-screen. They both ignored him.

"Did we have a delivery?" Leela asked. "Am I missing anything?"

"Nope. Oh, hey snookums!" Amy waved vigorously at someone Leela couldn't see. A second later she heard Bender's voice.

"D'aww, don't call me that! Not in public! What did I say?"

Amy giggled. "Shut up baby, you love it."

"That's my line!"

Her friends began kissing enthusiastically. Leela sighed, slouching in her seat as she waited for the PDA to end, and then Fry entered her field of vision, and her stomach flipped. He was making gagging noises at Amy and Bender. Leela told herself it was that which was responsible for the sudden surge of nausea she felt at the sight of him. It wasn't Fry who was making her insides writhe like snakes, it was just that throwing-up jokes were too close to the mark when she felt so lousy. Yeah. That was it. It must be.

Fry knocked his head against the table a few times as Amy and Bender started getting handsy, then turned his attention to the screen.

"Who are you talking t - oh. Hey, Leela."

Leela nodded awkwardly. "Hi, Fry."

They stared at each other. Everything was supposed to be normal between them, Leela knew, but she couldn't seem to fake it, not even to throw the others off the scent. They'd been doing a pretty good job avoiding each other. How long had it been since she'd had to interact with Fry one-on-one? A week? Two weeks?

Leela was suddenly acutely aware of how bad she must look. Her hair was sweaty after a sleepless night, she wasn't wearing any lipstick, and she had the mother of all eye-bags underneath one bloodshot eye. Great.

"I'm calling in sick," she explained.

Fry nodded vaguely. His eyes were roaming over her in an unfocused way, lingering on her lips and boobs, and Leela realized with a jolt that he was thinking about her naked. She didn't really know how he was managing it when she looked like crap and was wearing an outsize old t-shirt instead of a nightgown, but it didn't seem to matter all that much to him. Leela tried to decide if this was flattering or incredibly annoying.

It came out about even, with a side helping of 'a really bad idea'.

"Fry."

"Uh-huh . . ."

"Fry."

"Huh?"

Leela sighed. If he kept this up the rest of the crew were bound to figure it out.

"Aren't you supposed to be mad at me?" she reminded him.

Fry blinked. "Huh . . . oh, yeah. Mad."

There was a long silence while Fry tried to summon up the appropriate feeling and Leela tried to figure out what to feel. It lasted quite a while, until someone else dropped a word into it.

"Spleesh," Amy said, frowning. "What did you two do to each other?"

"Nothing," they said together, too quickly.

Amy loosened her grip on Bender's torso and narrowed her eyes.

"Okay. What's going on? You're acting like you slept together or something, it's weird."

Bender laughed. "Yeah, right," he said, clapping Fry on the back. "He wishes."

Amy's gaze hovered on Leela's stricken expression, and then on Fry, who was opening and closing his mouth like a goldfish, panicking. Her eyes widened.

"No . . . no way! But what about Lars?"

"We're . . . having some problems," Leela admitted weakly.

The refrigerator door slammed and a second later Hermes appeared, a manwich in one hand.

"Leela slept with Fry!" Amy squeaked.

Fry made a kind of gurgling sound, his cheeks burning as bright as his hair.

Hermes merely shrugged.

"You all act like I'm de only one who watches de security footage in dis place," he said, offhand. "Actually, I've been meaning to talk to you two about dat. Sex at work is a big no-no, people! I'm finin' you bot' fifty dollars. Let's say no more about it."

Leela felt herself unfreeze.

"Security footage," she said numbly. "Security footage from the . . . ship . . . oh god. Oh, god."

Fry was slowly sinking under the rim of the table. Leela didn't blame him.

"We have security cameras," she mumbled. "How could I forget that?"

Amy sniggered. "You forgot you were married," she pointed out.

"You forgot you were boning Fry, the world's lousiest lover."

Underneath the table, Fry moaned.

"Shut up, Bender. All of you, shut up."

Hermes took another bite of his sandwich. "You forgot lots of stuff."

Leela shut her eye, fighting a queasiness she was sure had nothing to do with the flu.

"I'm trying to forget we ever had this conversation," she said, with as much dignity as she could muster when Bender was sniggering over her every word. "And now I'm calling in sick, and I'm putting down the phone. Fry, don't tell them anything. Got it?"

Fry nodded. The tip of one orange spike of hair bobbed up and down anyway, which Leela took for a nod.

Bender grinned. "So-ooo . . . security tapes, huh? Hey Hermes, where'd you keep those?"

"Same place dey always are. In de filin' cabinet marked 'Security Tapes', where anyone can get at dem."

Fry shot up and lunged at Bender. Amy shrieked as they crashed to the floor and rolled away, wrestling furiously. Bender had one exomatic arm wrapped around Fry's torso, pinning his arms to his sides, but just as he started to laugh, the delivery boy delivered a roundhouse kick Leela would have been proud of herself, and Bender's head flew off and rolled under the ship. His headless body released Fry and began staggering around blind as the rest of him hollered for help. Fry lurched toward the filing cabinet and triumphantly tugged out a tape.

Hermes coughed.

"It's dat one," he suggested helpfully, pointing at another halfway down the pile. "You're looking at 'Leela and Fry Steal Office Supplies'."

Leela watched Fry snatch up the right one and felt herself relax. While Hermes munched calmly on his sandwich and Amy rushed off to help Bender, she watched Fry shove the tape in his pocket.

"Thanks," she mouthed.

Fry smiled stiffly.

"Anytime," he said. He was still clutching at his side, trying to get his breath back, and he sounded a little hoarse. Leela had a sudden, ridiculous urge to smooth the creases out of his shirt, which made absolutely zero sense. She nodded quickly to cover it, and hung up the phone.