She found Fry standing in front of the shower, staring blankly at the fall of water.

Leela approached him carefully.

The steam was turning the air swampy, but he didn't seem to care.

He didn't seem to care that he was buck naked either.

Leela inched closer.

"Fry?"

No response.

She was close enough to touch him now, but she hesitated.

The tiles were slippery underfoot. If she startled him, they could both go down.

This close - bared to her with nothing to hide behind - Fry looked like something had chewed him up and spat him out. That he was thin was no surprise - he'd always been skinny, and he clearly hadn't been eating. Some of the marks on him Leela could have guessed at. The ragged cartilage of his ear, where the bullet had clipped it, she had been able to see all along, and the burn marks along the back of his neck, where his collar had failed to shield him from an explosion. But she hadn't been prepared for the mess of yellow-purple bruising on his back and torso, or the livid ring on his neck where someone had tried to garrote him and sliced into the skin.

She pulled her hand away, an inch from his back. Reaching out had been sheer instinct, but it wasn't what Fry needed right now. If he didn't know it was her he would jump out of his skin.

She moved instead, into his line of vision.

She'd guessed right. He couldn't even see her.

Fry had never looked through her like that. Never.

It was disturbing.

"Fry," she said softly. Trying to coax him back.

His expression flickered at the sound of her voice. He was still in there, then.

What had set him off? The shower? The heat? The water?

Leela took a deep breath, choosing her tone with care. She needed something gentle enough not to spook him, but firm enough that he would follow her direction.

"Fry," she said. "It's me. Leela. I'm going to turn this off now."

Steeling herself in case her next action made everything worse, she reached through the spray and shut off the water.

For a minute, nothing happened. Fry continued to stare straight ahead, locked inside some horror in his own head, and then . . .

He juddered violently, and gasped for air.

"Leela?"

"I'm here. I'm here. It's fine, Fry. Look. See?"

She smiled at him, as his wild eyes found her. Smiling was the last thing she felt like doing, but she felt suspended, in a moment she didn't dare break.

So she smiled at him, and tried to seem normal and unfazed, as if Fry went AWOL from reality on a regular basis, and it was nothing to get upset about.

"Leela?"

"Hey there. Where'd you go?"

Fry blinked.

"I . . . I was taking a shower."

"I'm not sure you made it that far."

"No. I guess not. I . . ."

Fry stared at her, as if beseeching her to make sense of his own actions.

"It was raining," he said disjointedly.

Leela hesitated.

"When?"

"In the alley. He hit me. Captain Glottus." Fry shook his head, so hard and fast Leela was surprised it didn't knock him off balance. "He tricked me," he said. "He hit me. But he was trying to save me. If they thought I was dead they'd leave me alone."

Well, that explained the head injury. Leela frowned. She was starting to put the pieces together. Glottus had hit Fry hard enough to knock him out, and then left him for dead in an alley somewhere. That explained why Fry was so disoriented.

"I see," she said, but Fry was still talking.

"I was still awake," he mumbled. "I couldn't move but I was still awake. They shot him. I heard it. I heard everything. They killed him and I just let it happen. I couldn't help him. I didn't do anything. He was my friend and I was right there and he died anyway."

"It doesn't sound like there was anything you could have done, Fry." Leela touched his shoulder, feeling the gooseflesh prickle under her fingertips. "It's not your fault."

Fry shuddered.

"It feels like my fault," he gasped. "It feels like it's all my fault, like I'm always too slow or too dumb or too late, and people die and it's all my fault."

"Well, it's not," Leela said firmly. "And thinking like that will drive you crazy. Take it from me. You're not responsible for all the evil in the world, Fry."

To her surprise, Fry didn't argue. Maybe part of him was so used to her having all the answers, he listened to her on instinct.

He didn't argue. He just looked at her, as if searching for the answers in her face.

"If it's not my fault, then why do I feel so bad?"

Leela sighed.

"Because you care. And so do I. But you have to keep a lid on that feeling, or it'll drive you out of your mind."

She wrapped a towel around him, to keep him warm.

"Listen." She cleared her throat. "Everyone feels the way you feel, sometimes. I do. I started a war for my people's freedom, and I never thought about where it might lead. I had to watch my people starve, because of something I started. Lars almost died. Bender almost died. Other people . . . a child I cared about . . . they died too. And I felt terrible. I blamed myself. In my lowest moments, I still do. But that's letting them win, Fry. The people who did those things, they're not lying awake at night haunted by them. The men who sent kill bots into the sewer, the men who shot Eric Glottus, these Brains that wipe out planets for no reason . . . they're responsible for what they do. Not you. Not me. It doesn't work like that."

"It doesn't?"

"No. Not being able to foresee how evil someone else can be isn't a failure, Fry. It just means you don't think like a monster."

Slowly - at last - Fry nodded.

Leela rubbed his shoulder.

"Good. Now. If a shower is out, why don't we try this whole thing again with a bath?"

"Are you sure you don't want some privacy?"

Fry laughed. The hot water seemed to be reviving him, or maybe it was just the sensation of being clean again.

"Leela, I was butt naked in front of you a half hour ago."

"All the same. If you want me to leave you alone . . ."

"I don't want to be alone," Fry said quickly.

He exhaled, sinking deeper into the suds.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I'm sorry I'm like this. Crazy, or whatever. You shouldn't have to deal with it."

Leela pushed his hair out of his eyes.

"Fry, you're not crazy. You have post-traumatic stress."

"I don't think we had that in my time."

"You did, but I don't think you talked about it."

Fry frowned, scooping a handful of suds into his palm.

"Are you sure I'm not crazy? It feels like I'm crazy." He swallowed. "I turned on the shower and I saw the water and I . . . I guess I thought it was rain. It was like . . . a memory. But stronger. It was like I was pulled back in time and I was living it all over again. But I was frozen. I couldn't do anything. I just had to watch it happen, again. And feel it. I could feel everything, Leela. The cold, and the rain, and . . ." He made a gesture, indicating the pain in his head. "Everything."

"You're not crazy."

Fry nodded.

"Okay."

Just that. Trusting.

He raised his hand and blew the suds off it, towards Leela, perched on the edge of the tub. She laughed and he smiled.

"You could get in here with me," Fry joked.

Leela raised her eyebrow.

"Tempting as that is, this water is filthy."

"We could refill it."

"You're shrivelling up like a prune as it is," Leela pointed out.

"A sexy, sexy prune."

"No, a regular unsexy prune. Anyway, I'm huge. If I got in with you, we'd probably capsize."

Fry snorted.

"You're not that big."

"Fry. I look like I swallowed a pumpkin."

"A sexy, sexy pumpkin." Fry grinned languidly. "I could take you."

Leela splashed him in reply.

Fry plunged into the water to hide from her.

"Alright, alright," he said, resurfacing. "I give up. But only because I'm puckering up like a wrinkled old turtle and the water is going cold. Otherwise, we would be making sweet sweet love in this tub, baby."

Leela flicked a handful of suds at him.

"You're lucky I don't take half of what you say seriously," she said mildly.

Fry waggled his eyebrows.

"When it comes to seduction, I'm always serious."

"No, you're not," Leela corrected. "You're just corny. Lucky for you, that's not the turn-off it should be."

She tossed him a fresh towel.

"Time to get out, Romeo."

Leela led him into her old cabin on the ship. It was the closest place to home she had left, and it was exactly as she'd left it, which was comforting in its own way.

"Here," she said, sitting Fry down on the bed. "I put your clothes in the wash, so you'll have to make do with what I could find here." She held up his options. "You can wear your Romanticorp jumpsuit, or the uniform with the short pants."

"Jumpsuit," Fry said immediately.

"Good choice."

Leela tossed it to him and politely averted her eye as he struggled into it.

"What happened to the rest of my clothes?" Fry asked.

Leela passed him a pair of her socks.

"You were kicked out of the Robot Arms and there was no-one around to collect your stuff," she explained. "Bender stopped paying rent as soon as you left, and it turns out you're listed on the lease as a pet. If you want to claim any of your possessions, you'll have to wait for him to come back and do it for you."

"Oh, yeah." Fry smiled wryly. "That was the only way they would let me live there. Me not being a robot and all. Also, Bender never paid rent."

"Why does that not surprise me?"

"Because it's Bender?" Fry suggested. "Hey, are you living here now? What happened to your house?"

Leela sighed.

"It was raided by law enforcement. I haven't been back since, but Kif tells me they trashed the place. I don't feel like living in a house with broken windows and no power. And it doesn't feel right to go back to the house I lived in with Lars." Leela shrugged. "Maybe I can get my old apartment back. I haven't really thought about it."

She should have thought about it, Leela realized. She needed to start thinking about making a home for the baby - a real home.

But that led to the thought of moving in with Fry, which suddenly felt like moving at a million miles an hour.

If Fry was thinking something similar, he didn't show it.

"That makes sense," was all he said.

He was busy examining the sweaters her mother had knitted.

"The orange one is yours," Leela said. "They were Mom's idea. She's been trying to teach me how to knit. I'm not very good at it. That misshapen section by the neck, that was my contribution."

Fry wriggled into it, flapping the loose wool around the neck. He closed one eye and leered hideously at her.

"I am - the hunchback - of - Notre Dame!"

Leela rolled her eye.

"Very funny."

Fry twirled his arms and dipped her a mock bow.

"Hey, I'm here all night. The comedy stylings of Philip J Fry, at your service! Uh. Seriously though." He gestured at his hair. "Your mom didn't think orange on orange was kind of . . . a lot? I feel like a carrot." He winked at her. "A giant, sexy carrot. But still."

"Well, she hadn't seen you in a long time," Leela said diplomatically. "It's easy to forget how vivid your hair is in the flesh. But mostly I think she was just distracted with other things. My parents have been arguing."

"What about?"

Leela sighed.

"The future. Mom wants to move to the surface. Dad doesn't. And since he's been elected mayor of the mutants -"

"Your dad's mayor now?"

"It's a long story."

"Oh. Well, good for him, I guess. But that must be hard. Dealing with all that responsibility, and stuff."

"He's adjusting."

"Yeah, I bet. Your parents are tough though. They could come through anything. I bet they'll be okay. And your mom's a classy lady. Even Bender thinks so. Only an idiot would let her go."

"That's what I keep telling myself," Leela admitted. "It's childish, I know, but I . . . I need them to make it. They may not have raised me but they're the only parents I have and I . . . I need someone to look to, to get this right."

Fry cocked his head to the side, staring at her with sudden intensity.

"You're worried about that?"

"Fry, I was raised in an orphanarium. I don't even know what it looks like, to grow up in a family."

"So?"

"So . . . maybe I'm not cut out for motherhood."

"You really think that?"

Leela fidgeted with the edge of the comforter.

"Sometimes," she admitted.

"Then . . . I love you, but you're even crazier than me. Leela." Fry took her hands. "If you don't have what it takes to be a mom, no-one does."

"That's very sweet of you, but -"

"But baloney! Leels, you kept me and Bender alive all these years. And out of trouble. I mean, pretty much out of trouble." He shrugged, as if conceding that against the combined recklessness of Bender and Fry, there was only so much even Leela could do. "Without you, we would've been so boned. So many times. I can't even count how many times we would've been juiced to death, or bounced to death by balls, or crushed to death by penguins, if you hadn't saved us."

"That would be one time. For each of those," Leela supplied. "Also, that last one was you saving me and Bender."

"It was? Huh. Go figure." Fry pondered this, then shrugged it off. "Eh. It was probably our fault somehow. It doesn't matter. Horny penguins aren't the point! The point is, I'm terrified of having a baby, but I never for one second thought you couldn't handle it. Because if you can handle me and Bender, a baby is a jet-pack ride in the park. And you didn't just look out for us, Leela. You made us better people. Even Bender. And I bet Amy too. Definitely me. Maybe even the Professor."

He shook his head, disrupting what Leela suspected had been about to become a longer and more disjointed train of thought. Possibly involving Zoidberg. Or penguins.

But Fry rallied.

"You don't need a good example," he said forcefully. "You are a good example. Hell, you're the best example I know. For all of us."

To her horror, Leela realized there were tears welling up in her eye.

Fry panicked.

"Oh, no. Did I say something wrong? Or are those happy tears?" He blinked nervously, one hand hovering out over her shoulder. "Please say those are happy tears."

Leela caught his hand and squeezed it, because his hand on her shoulder wasn't going to cut it. She shook her head.

There was a lump rising in her throat.

"No," she managed. "You didn't say something wrong. The opposite, actually. I've just been keeping that fear pent up inside me for so long. I . . ."

Fry jumped off the bed the moment her voice started to crack, and enfolded her in a hug.

"Leela," he breathed in her ear. "You're the best person I know. If this baby is even a little bit like me, she's gonna love you."