From the Other Side of the Bed: The Sting
               
"We made it! We're alive!"

"Burn on that old crew! The only thing they did better than us were suck and  die!"

"Leela, we got lucky this time, but you should be more careful! I don't want anything to happen to you."

"Thanks, but I can look out for myself."

The bee uncurled.

"Frankly,"

The stinger extended.

"I can smell danger a mile away!"

Flight.

"Look out!" Fry lept in front of Leela. "You want her, you'll have to go through me!"

The bee lunged forward.

Then everything went black.

"Who will make Bender waffles just the way he likes them now?!"
               
"B...bender...Quick...hospital..." Fry was teetering on the edge of consciousness. Bender gasped, shocked that his friend had survived.

"Oh, right, that place humans go when they're injured. Got it!"

The Planet Express ship shot off into the galaxy, back to home, back to help, while the lives of Leela and Fry hung in the balance.

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"Leela?" Fry walked into the hospital room and sat in a chair next to the bed. Bender and the others looked on sympathetically as Fry began to realize the reality of what was happening. But he didn't cry. He didn't fold.

He sat right down and started talking.

"Hey, Leela," he began. Amy supressed a sigh and the others left the room. It was just Fry and Leela. "I know you might think I got really hurt, but I'm actually better than ever!" He did his best to sound cheery through the emotions welling up inside him. "I know you can't see me...and you're probably dreaming...Well...If you can hear me..." Fry thought for a moment. "Here, I'll prove I'm really here by telling you something only I know! There's a present for you in my locker. I bought it at a Swedish novelty shop before we left." He smiled a little. "I-I even wrapped it and everything! And you can have it. There's just one thing I want you do to..."

Leela stirred slightly. This gave Fry some hope.

"You have to wake up."
               
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A loud noise jarred Fry back into the waking world. He was a little irritated to find out the sound had just been himself snoring, but he shook it off. He looked over at Leela. Still no movement. Still fast asleep. Any time now she could wake up. Fry coughed to clear his throat and did his best to renew his resolve.

And then the monologue began again.

"Hi, Leela!" Sounding energetic was getting to be very difficult with his current moods. He hadn't left that room for days, and still Leela was giving him very little to work with. How COULD he stay optimistic? But he trudged on: "I'm just gonna keep talking, even if you can't hear me." Fry was beginning to run out of original things to talk about. "Blah blah blah blah, blah blah blah..."

No response. Fry sighed.

"I bet whatever you're dreaming about is great..." Fry began thinking about the possibilities and soon found himself jealous that Leela would choose to spend time dreaming rather than with him. "...Oh yeah? Could a dream take you dancing in an illusion garden? ...Well, I guess it could...I know! If you wake up, we can share a sleigh ride across the ice fields of Hiperia! You'd like that, wouldn't you?" Fry seemed pleased with himself as Leela's hand twitched. Whatever he was saying must have out-romanced the dream. 'That'll show dreamworld to mess with Phillip J. Fry...'

Fry touched Leela's hand and smiled, but drew it back in shock. She was very cold. Not as cold as death, but cold. "Here, take my jacket. You must be cold...Later I should send one of the nurses for more blankets..." He sighed and muttered something not so kind about the hospital staff.

"Come on, Leela...All you have to do is wake up..."

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Days passed by. No signs of life from Leela. Fry was running out of things to say. He couldn't really tell her about his day, because every day was spent at her bedside. And he'd exhausted everything else he could talk about. He sat by her bedside, head down, defeated. He barely heard the Professor and Amy come in. He didn't look up until his shoulder was touched.

"Everything's going to be alright." Fry nearly jumped out of his skin.

"What?"
               
"He said, 'everything's going to be alright'." Amy gave a sympathetic look as Fry looked over at Leela.

"Not everything..." Fry took Leela's hand. "You have to wake up..."

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In every life we have some trouble...

But when you worry, you make it double, don't worry...

Be happy...

Fry looked up at the speakers in the room and glared at them for a moment. How could they be playing a song like that in a place like this?

"Stop mocking me."

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Leela's pulse dropped on the monitor. Her hand grew colder in Fry's hand. He flew into a panic, jamming in the nurse call button.

"Leela! No!" He pleaded. "Listen to me! You don't want to lie in bed like a vegetable and do nothing for the rest of your life! I've tried it... Bedsores hurt!" His voice cracked with emotion. Her hand seemed to grip his for a moment, but then slackened. "Fight it! You can! The Leela I know doesn't give up this easily!"

In his panic he didn't notice the warmth returning or the monitor returning to normal.

"I don't know if you can hear me, Leela..." Fry was now on the verge of tears. "But...there's something I wanna tell you." He sat back down and looked straight at her face, willing that eye to open with all his heart. "I love you."

Fry closed his eyes and turned his head towards the floor, letting tears spill for the first time in a long time. "Just wake up, Leela...Please...Just wake up..." He didn't notice when her eye fluttered open.

"Just wake up...Please...Just wake up, Leela."

Leela's eye opened. She looked around slowly, disoriented. "Fry...? You're alive!"

"Leela! You're awake!" Relief washed over Fry. He made sure to quickly dry his eyes so Leela wouldn't know he'd been crying.

"Of course I'm awake. You wouldn't stop waking me." She paused for a moment. "...Where am I?"