Part 12, the Second Chance

 

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Days passed. Chandler saw Monica each day, but it was as if the barrier

 

between them had grown. He couldn't reach her, they didn't even speak. And

 

Phoebe's clear siding with Monica hurt him more than he wanted to admit to

 

himself.

 

That weekend they all decided to go to a beach party. It would do them

 

Good to socialise a bit, and to have some fun.

 

"I sure hope this will be fun!" Chandler remarked to Joey as they arrived

 

at the party. The sun hadn't begun to set yet, people were swimming, laughing

 

and playing. Some were tossing Frisbees, some were playing volleyball or

 

beach tennis and some were dancing to music being played from a large

 

stereo. Close to the stereo a group of people were serving barbecued food

 

and salad.

 

"This looks like your typical high school party" Joey replied.

 

"All of my typical high school parties meant 300 guys sitting in a ring

 

reading sucky poetry, wondering how the 100 guys that were missing had

 

gotten out of it all" Chandler informed Joey.

 

"Oh man, we should have brought swim clothes!" Monica said, walking past

 

them on her way down to the beach. "I don't wanna bathe in the ones I'm

 

wearing, I HATE wearing wet bathing suits when I sunbathe."

 

Phoebe followed in her trails. They were carrying a basket, a blanket and

 

A cool bag filled with beverages.

 

"Guys, don't go to close to the shoreline!" Ross called after them. "I

 

want to sit away from the surf!"

 

Chandler made up his mind to have a good time that night. He sure needed

 

it, he hadn't enjoyed himself for months. The only exception had been the

 

night when Monica had pretended to want him again. He shut the memory out and

 

followed after Monica and Phoebe.

 

The two women sat down about ten meters from the shoreline and lay down on

 

the blanket, passing a coke between them. Chandler smiled when he saw

 

them, he could almost trick himself into believing this was just a normal day in

 

his life like it had been before.

 

Rachel sat down next to Phoebe, not taking her sunglasses off.

 

"I HATE sand" she remarked, and kicked her shoes off. "I hate walking in

 

it, I hate how it burns my feet, I hate laying on it, I hate getting it in my

 

shoes, I hate how it sticks to my feet when my feet are wet!"

 

"And _I_ hade when Rachel starts to whine" Monica said, putting sunglasses

 

on.

 

"So, who wants to go swim?" Joey said with a smile. No one was interested,

 

so Joey headed off on his own.

 

"I wonder how warm it is" Monica said and pulled her t-shirt off. Chandler

 

looked away, not wanting to see her in just shorts and a bikini, not

 

trusting his reactions if he would.

 

Monica noted his reaction and haphazardly tossed her t-shirt his way. She

 

watched him blush as it landed in his lap. He quickly folded it but didn't

 

look at her when he handed it back.

 

"You might want to try not throwing your clothes" Rachel said. "Just think

 

of all the sand you could get in them."

 

Monica ignored her and started putting on sun block, a task she found was

 

not quite as simple as it seemed. She couldn't reach to put some on her

 

back. She looked up. Ross and Phoebe had gone to get some ice cream and

 

Rachel wouldn't want to get her hands full of sun lotion. She didn't even

 

consider asking Chandler for help. She didn't want him to touch her, she

 

had grown to dislike him more and more.

 

Chandler watched her acrobatic exercises as she tried to reach her back to

 

get the block on, but tried to do it discreetly. He didn't want her to

 

know how much he actually spied on her, he watched her as soon as he got the

 

chance. He was used to seeing her allot, and now that she pushed his

 

company away he used the spying method to get to see her enough.

 

"Damn it." he heard her mutter. She was having some great trouble. Then

 

Chandler sighed and rolled his eyes, when a tanned, muscular guy came up

 

And offered to put the sun block on for her.

 

Ross and Phoebe came back and sat down with their ice cream. They watched

 

Monica and the unknown man, but they didn't say a thing. And they watched

 

with amazement how Monica simply thanked the man once he was finished,

 

then ignored him completely and took her shorts of. She then laid down on her

 

stomach and looked as if she was planning on going to sleep. That was yet

 

another thing that the old Monica wouldn't have done. She'd felt forced to

 

talk with the guy for a while, but the new Monica now acted as if he

 

didn't exist.

 

Chandler had looked away as soon as she'd started to take her shorts off.

 

Seeing her in shorts and a bikini top was one thing, seeing her in just

 

The bikini was another.

 

"Hey guys!" Joey said, coming up from his bath, dripping with water.

 

"Watch out!" Rachel whined. "You're getting water all over me."

 

Joey ignored her and looked from one of his friends to the other.

 

"Are you sure none of you want to come with me? The water is great!" he

 

said.

 

"No thanks" Phoebe said with a yawn. "I prefer to stay here with my ice

 

cream."

 

Joey sighed and gave Chandler a questioning look.

 

"No thanks Joe" Chandler said. "Swimming is not my type of sport. And

 

there are no hot lifeguards here."

 

Monica sat up and took her sunglasses off.

 

"I could use a swim" she said.

 

"Whatever happened to not wanting to wet your bikini?" Rachel asked.

 

"What are you, my mother?" Monica asked, annoyed. Then she followed Joey

 

back into the water.

 

"Twenty dollars to whomever gets into her head enough to understand her"

 

Chandler said and laid down on the blanket, watching Joey and Monica

 

Through his sunglasses. "Last time I heard, Joey was a backstabbing jerk."

 

Phoebe sighed.

 

"Give it a rest, Chandler" she said. "There's something called forgive and

 

forget."

 

"Let's just hope that includes ex-boyfriends" Chandler said, having

 

trouble saying 'ex-boyfriend' without sounding too pained.

 

Ten minutes later he was nearly asleep when he felt cold water drip all

 

Over him. He sat up in a hurry and took his sunglasses off, seeing Monica stand

 

over him. Water dripped from her long, wet hair and she looked content

 

after

 

the swim. And that was pretty much the most positive reaction you could

 

get

 

out of her these days. Contentment.

 

Chandler felt a sharp pain in his stomach as he looked up on her. She

 

Looked like she had done when they were going out, most visible traces from the

 

accident were gone now. Her hair was much longer than it had been before

 

and she was tanned, looking healthy. And Chandler knew she wasn't his. He

 

couldn't say exactly when he had lost her, but he knew that he had.

 

"If you're gonna squeeze the water out of your hair I suggest you do it

 

elsewhere" he said once he got the strength to speak. "I don't feel like

 

getting anymore cold water on me."

 

Monica said nothing, sitting down next to him and putting her sunglasses

 

back on. Joey sat down on his other side and grabbed a beer from the cool

 

bag.

 

"Seriously guys, you should go in" he said. "The water is perfect, right

 

Mon?"

 

Monica didn't answer.

 

"No thank you" Ross said. "I prefer to lay here and get tanned. I've got

 

my sights set on getting healthy sun-burned!"

 

"I would more call it fried crunchy" Joey remarked, and tossed him a

 

bottle of sun lotion.

 

Once again Chandler eyed Monica through his sunglasses. She had laid back

 

down on her stomach, she looked asleep. He had to force down a will to

 

reach out and touch her hair. But she was no longer his and she had made it

 

quite clear to him that she wished to keep it that way.

 

By the time the sun had started to set, more people had started to dance.

 

Monica had only waited for a few minutes before she'd joined the commotion

 

on the 'dance floor'.

 

"How long are you gonna keep staring at her?" Phoebe asked Chandler. "You

 

can't hide it when you're not wearing any sunglasses."

 

Chandler didn't reply, he simply lifted up his sunglasses and put them on,

 

never taking his eyes of the group's whirlwind out on the dance floor.

 

"I think I'll join her" Rachel said and rose to her feet. Ross and Joey

 

followed her, leaving Chandler and Phoebe alone.

 

"Don't you think I know what you're doing, Chandler?" Phoebe said.

 

"What am I doing?" Chandler asked back.

 

"You're monitoring her every move, it's scary, you're, you're like a cross

 

between Jondalar from Zelandonii and Matthew Broderick's character from

 

'Addicted to Love'."

 

"Sam" Chandler said.

 

"What?"

 

"Sam. His character in that film is named Sam. Monica rented that film

 

once and I watched it with her."

 

Phoebe sat quiet for a bit. Chandler's newfound obsession with watching

 

Over Monica scared her. She was afraid of what step Chandler would take next,

 

And she knew it wasn't good for him to refuse to let her go like that.

 

"Chandler won't you just accept that Monica's gone now, and, and get on

 

with your life?" she finally said. "I mean, what are you waiting for, yet

 

another argument with her where she tells you she doesn't love you?"

 

"Phoebe don't meddle in others' business" Chandler replied, still eying

 

Monica.

 

"That's not what I am doing" Phoebe said. "I am trying to protect a friend

 

here."

 

Chandler finally took his eyes off Monica and turned to look at Phoebe. He

 

raised his glasses to look at her.

 

"Which brings me to a subject" he said. "I've gotta tell you, I think

 

you're a huge traitor for just dismissing me all of a sudden. How come you all of

 

a sudden have joined Monica's weird 'let's hate Chandler' thing?"

 

"What?" Phoebe said. "I don't hate you!"

 

"You don't?" Chandler asked.

 

"No."

 

"Then how come you always side with her, you argue with me about

 

everything that I do!"

 

"Chandler." Phoebe said, and sighed. "You know, I'm the only person Monica

 

has now. I'm the only one that's on her side. She fights with the rest of

 

you, and you all fight with her."

 

"Oh, and you don't?" Chandler hissed.

 

"No, I don't. Not anymore." She watched him for a second. "Monica is my

 

friend now. She and I are back being best friends. She's remembered that I

 

was her close friend, and I don't want to backstab her now."

 

"Oh, buy ME you can backstab?" Chandler said, visibly upset.

 

"That's not what I am trying to do!" Phoebe said, trying to make him

 

understand. "I am trying to be there for her. With six of us and three

 

clearly on your side, I think she could use at least ONE on hers."

 

"So what you're trying to say is that since Ross, Joey, myself and Rach

 

are mad at her, you are not?"

 

"Not like that" Phoebe said. "That's not exactly what I mean. What I meant

 

was that someone has to stand on HER side, no matter what. I know you want

 

that someone to be you, but it CAN'T be and no matter how much you want it

 

that's not gonna change. I still love you as a friend, you're one of the

 

best ones I've got. But someone HAS to take Monica's side in everything,

 

and I'm the only confidante she's got. So please, please, if you love her like

 

I know you do. let me stick up for her. Don't deny her what you take for

 

granted."

 

Out on the dance floor Monica all of a sudden danced into the arms of

 

someone familiar. She looked up and saw a face she didn't recognize, but

 

that recognized her.

 

"Monica!" Pete Becker exclaimed, and quickly recoiled his hand from her

 

shoulder. "Monica, you're, you're okay!"

 

Monica had no idea whom he was. But apparently he was someone from her

 

past.

 

"Come" she said, grabbing his hand.

 

"Monica, I'm so glad you're okay, you don't know what hell this past year

 

has been for me!" Pete said, nervously trying to get out what he'd been

 

wanting to say to her for a year. "I really hope you can forgive me for

 

what I did, I never meant to--"

 

"Sch! Just come!" Monica interrupted him, and led him away from the crowd,

 

out of vision for Chandler's watchful eyes.

 

When over an hour had passed Chandler was ready to go insane with worry.

 

He searched for his friends on the dance floor, trying to get any information

 

out of them. He hoped one of them had seen Monica disappear.

 

"Joey!" he said, finding his old roommate. "Joey where's Monica, have you

 

seen her?"

 

"Yes, actually" Joey said, turning his attention away from the girl he was

 

dancing with.

 

"Well where is she, I haven't seen her in over an hour!" Chandler said,

 

not able to hide his concern.

 

"She took off with some guy" Joey told him.

 

"WHAT? But why didn't you try to stop her?"

 

"Chandler like it or not, but Monica is 30 years old" Joey said. "Do you

 

know that you're free to take care of yourself when you turn 18?"

 

"Most people her age don't have amnesia and a new, unpredictable

 

character"

 

Chandler pointed out. "Look, no time to argue, where did she go?"

 

Joey pointed and Chandler ran off into the night.

 

Monica and Pete were sitting on a small bank, sharing a bottle of wine

 

between them. Pete had no idea why Monica was acting the way she was at

 

first, but he'd soon come to realize what the problem was.

 

Once he understood that she didn't remember him he gave up all attempts to

 

try and talk about the accident. She seemed interested and he didn't want

 

her to hate him for knowing what he'd unintentionally done to her. And for

 

years he'd been hoping to get her back. Now he saw his chance.

 

Chandler found them after fifteen minutes of searching. He felt sick to

 

His stomach when he not only saw Monica kissing another man, but saw that the

 

other man was none other than the one who had caused all of this. Chandler

 

had secretly blamed Pete for the entire situation ever since day one. He

 

knew it wasn't reasonable, but he needed someone to blame it on and Pete

 

had been the one to hit her.

 

He saw Pete motion to lift up her shirt, and so he marched right up to

 

Them and grabbed Pete by the shirt, yanking him away.

 

"Hey, what's going on?" Monica asked. Chandler could hear that she'd

 

broken her usual rule of not getting drunk. She was out of it.

 

"That's it Pete, take a hike!" Chandler commanded, let Pete go and pulled

 

Monica to her feet.

 

"Who is this?" she said, sluddering on the words.

 

"Someone who cares about you, even though you don't care about him"

 

Chandler said.

 

He could hear Pete protesting but he ignored it, angrily walking back to

 

The party with the woman he loved being led by him, having trouble walking

 

thanks to the alcohol.

 

"Where's Monica?" Chandler asked the next weekend, coming down the stairs.

 

The question was aimed at Phoebe, even though all of his other friends

 

Were there.

 

"Out." Phoebe answered, clearly hiding something.

 

"With?" Chandler asked, sitting down in an armchair.

 

"Pete Becker" Phoebe said, after much hesitation.

 

"With WHOM?" Chandler asked, his jaw dropping.

 

He couldn't for his life understand why Monica would want to go with him

 

somewhere. On their way home the week before she had barely been able to

 

walk, and when they got into the house she kept hitting her head in the

 

wall accidentally, having so much trouble walking straight. And the next day

 

she had been very hung over and had vowed never to touch that much alcohol

 

again. She'd confided in Phoebe that she'd shared three bottles with Pete

 

that night, and that they were working on the fourth when Chandler had

 

found them.

 

"Why is she out with Pete Becker?" Chandler now asked, eying Phoebe

 

closely.

 

"I don't know Chandler" Phoebe truthfully said. "I'm not even sure where

 

he took her."

 

"Where do you think?"

 

"Probably to his beach house" Phoebe said, then looked away. Chandler's

 

facial reaction was probably not one she would want to see.

 

"This is the pool!" Pete told Monica, leading her out to the pool that

 

belonged to his large, luxurious beach house.

 

"Great" Monica said.

 

"Do you want to go for a swim?"

 

"I don't have a suit with me" Monica said. "But who says I'll need it?"

 

She smiled mischievously at him and went over to a sun chair and sat down.

 

"You know, this place isn't that bad" she said. Pete laughed.

 

"Most women tell me it's the most wonderful house they've ever seen" he

 

said.

 

"I'm not like most women" Monica simply said. Pete sat down close to her,

 

but she immediately rose and walked back inside. Pete followed her.

 

"Anything else in this casa that I should see?" she asked.

 

"Oh yes" Pete hurriedly said. "Upstairs is where the bedrooms are."

 

"Oh great" Monica said.

 

She started walking up the stairs and Pete followed her, feeling nervous

 

And excited all at once. He had started to hope that she would spend the night

 

with him. And maybe she'd even come back to him. She was the only woman he

 

had ever loved, and he was not willing to let a chance to get her back

 

slip through his fingers.

 

Monica went in to the first bedroom she saw, and Pete followed closely

 

behind her. He put his arms around her from behind and kissed her neck.

 

Monica said or did nothing. He moved down to her shoulder.

 

"Do all the bedrooms look the same?" she asked all of a sudden.

 

"Huh?" Pete asked, confused. "No, each one is individually decorated."

 

Monica broke from his embrace and moved for the door. He grabbed her hand.

 

"You know, I was thinking. Why don't we take a. closer. look on this one

 

first and then you can see the rest?"

 

Monica could see his real suggestion in his eyes. She shrugged her

 

shoulders. 'Why not?' she thought.

 

"Hold on, I'm gonna go get some wine!" Pete said, and hurried out.

 

Monica sat down on the bed. She wasn't going to drink any of the wine he

 

Was getting. The memory of the day after the party was fresh, she had no

 

intention of getting that drunk again. Pete had already given her two

 

glasses and she was determined to let it end at that.

 

She lay down on the bed and looked around her, liking what she saw. Pete

 

Becker was a man with class, and he was also a man who could afford it.

 

Cost was no problem to him. After all, he was a millionaire, and Monica knew it

 

just from seeing his large house and expensive decorations.

 

She felt like kicking of the high heels she was wearing. They were a

 

Little too high and she had problems walking in them.

 

She rose to walk over to the door and turn on the lights. Pete had turned

 

them off when he left, and the room was quite dark. It was a little after

 

nine o'clock in the evening. Taking a few steps, she felt a little dizzy

 

from the two glasses of wine and took a wrong step in her high heels,

 

feeling a sharp pain in her ankle.

 

Chandler watched the dark ocean. Phoebe and Joey were upstairs, Ross was

 

away with Maxine, they'd gotten together again at the party. And he had no

 

idea where Rachel was. But he didn't care either. The only person he cared

 

about where she was, had taken off with an ex-boyfriend that had caused

 

them both so much misery.

 

Chandler sighed, turned the tape recorder on and wondered what Pete

 

Becker's re-entering in their lives would lead to.