For Better, For Worse (2)

Second part of four, and I wouldn't suggest anyone to start reading it unless they have time on their hands… It's long, but on the other hand this part was supposed to cover a couple of more years, but I thought it got a little too long. And make sure you've read part 1 first, otherwise some things may not make sense at all. As for disclaimer stuff, I don't own the characters and events from "Friends" that might be mentioned.

Monica looked around in the room, surprised to see how many people had come to the wake. She wasn't even aware that they knew so many people that were still alive and well enough to come. Most of their old friends were either dead or too sick to be there. Ross was dead. He'd died ten years ago in a car accident. Phoebe was dead. She'd gotten a new disease that had been discovered in 2035, and she had died the year before Ross. Rachel was alive, but she had Alzheimer's and now lived at a home for elderly sick people. Joey was the only one who was alive and well enough to be there. He'd stayed surprisingly healthy over the years.
She saw her children, the ones who had survived to adulthood. She saw Emma who hadn't spoken to her since her Father's death, Monica didn't know exactly why. She saw Calista with he daughter Tess. She saw Ben and his wife. And a whole bunch of people who she had forgotten.
She was seated by the casket where Chandler lay. It was closed now, it would be open for the funeral. She knew it was his body in there, but she still didn't feel as if it was him. He had only been dead for three days, funerals went quick to plan these days, and her grief was still so fresh that it hadn't really been registered in her mind.
She looked over at Emma again. She looked almost angry. She had never coped with loss very well, and Monica knew how close she had been to her Father. Next to Emma sat her oldest child, Josephine, with her own daughter in her arms. Monica's and Chandler's only great grandchild, this far anyway. Chandler would never get to meet any of the other ones that might come along, and Monica wasn't so sure she would either. Josephine's daughter was named Zoë and she had just had her first birthday. Monica looked at the yellow dress with small blue flowers on it that the baby was wearing. It had once been Emma's. Monica remembered the year when she had given that dress to her daughter.

Chandler woke up early and realized he needed to go to the bathroom. He sighed heavily and got out of bed. He hated getting out of bed, even to go to the bathroom, at these hours.
Once he got back to the bedroom he took a glance at the time. It was 5.30. He sighed again and then took a look at Monica. She was fast asleep and her long hair was on top of the covers. She hadn't cut more than the ends since their wedding. It had been more than three years and her hair reached below her waist by now. Chandler loved to linger it around him when he went to bed, it was soft and nice and it smelled like her. Monica had once sighed and said that she ought to cut it short and make him a scarf out of the hair she'd cut off.
He glanced at the alarm clock again and figured she'd set it to ring at about 6.15. That gave him 45 minutes. He snuck down under the covers again and realized he wasn't tired at all anymore. He'd gotten too awake while being up to pee. The apartment was cold compared to what it was like under their covers, he always froze when he got out of bed. He watched Monica again. She was lying on her stomach with her head turned away from him. Her hands were up on each side of her head and her hair seemed to be everywhere. He decided to wake her up.
"Wakie, wakie…" he mumbled and snuggled closer to her.
Monica showed no signs of having woken up. He smiled slightly and decided to give her a few more minutes. He carefully put an arm around her waist and scooted even closer. He loved watching her sleep, but it didn't take long for him to decide that watching the back of her head wasn't the most fun thing in the world.
"Honey" he gently said and shook her. "Babe, wake up."
Monica moaned slightly and seemed to have woken up. She rolled over to her back and squinted at him, then she turned so that she was lying on her side with her arms around him too. Then she went back to sleep. Chandler smiled widely.
"You are so cute" he mumbled in her hair.
After a few minutes he had gotten her awake enough to be able to communicate.
"Sweetie what do you want?" she mumbled, slightly whiny.
"What time did you set the alarm at?"
"I don't know, I can't remember" Monica moaned.
"See, I was thinking…" he began, and gently caressed her side. "If you set it at a decent enough time there might be some time for you and I to be a little intimate."
Monica giggled slightly and seemed to be a bit more awake.
"Maybe we should sneak over to their room and lock the door and keep them in there until 8.13" she joked. "And 'wake Emma up' exactly a year after her birth."
Chandler smiled.
"Or actually, we could just wait until then to go in there" he said. "And if Bridget comes in here we'll just tell her to go back to bed."
"Honey they get up at like 6.30, we can't just make them wait for 103 minutes" Monica commented.
"Well we could at least hold off the present giving until that time" Chandler suggested. "It would make a cute tradition."
"Oh you and your cute traditions" Monica said. "Screw traditions, you woke me up to have sex so let's have sex."
"You're such a morning person" Chandler said with a grin.


Chandler's even thrusts were interrupted by the alarm clock that started to ring. Monica moaned in annoyment and quickly reached over to turn it off.
"Sorry madam, duty calls, we can finish this later" Chandler said with feigned seriousness and got off her.
"Oh no you don't" Monica said and pulled him back down. "Five more minutes."
"But not a second more" Chandler joked.
"Don't talk" Monica whispered and kissed him passionately.
A few minutes later they were done, and Chandler glanced over at the time once he felt able to do anything else than pant.
"We should get up" he said. "It's 6.25."
"Shit!" Monica exclaimed and hurried out of bed.
Chandler followed her a bit more slowly and went into the living room right behind her where she hurriedly began fixing the tray.
"Honey…" he said. "Why don't we just get her ready and then hold off with the presents until the time she was born? You'll never be able to fix everything in time to wake her up anyway…"
"Yeah, okay…" Monica agreed, sounding slightly disappointed.
"Mommy?" they heard Bridget's voice say.
"See?" Chandler said with a gesture at the almost three-year-old girl. "I told you we should have gotten up with the alarm clock."
Monica gave him a dirty look and he grinned.
"Come here, come to daddy" Chandler said and lifted Bridget up. "You know what day it is today?" he asked her.
"Valentine's day!" Bridget declared.
"No sweetie, that was four days ago."
"Oh" Bridget said.
Four days earlier Monica and Chandler had waited for the kids to go to sleep and then lit up the living room with candles to have a romantic dinner. After dinner they had danced together and Bridget had walked in during their dance. She had learned how to climb out of her crib, which Monica hated since she couldn't help thinking that she would fall and hurt herself, and she had woken up because she was thirsty. She had just been about to cry out for her parents when she'd heard the music and gotten curious over what was going on. She had seen her parents dancing in the almost dark room and loudly asked what was going on. After first getting told off for being out of bed, she had gotten the concept of Valentine's day explained to her, and now she seemed to assume that every day that there was something special about was Valentine's day.
"Do you want to take another guess?" Chandler asked her, carrying her to the bathroom. "What day is it today?"
"Christmas?"
"Nope. It's Emma's birthday."
"Emba's birthday?"
"Exactly."
Bridget seemed slightly confused that it could be her sister's birthday today, and was unusually quiet while her father got her dressed. In the meantime Monica went in to the nursery to see if Emma was awake. She found the birthday girl awake, and Monica couldn't help smiling big when Emma's face burst out in a wide smile when she saw her mother.
"Hi there little angel" Monica said lovingly. "Do you know what day it is today, huh? I think your Father has a sixth sense, he knew you were going to be awake already." She lifted Emma from her crib. "Come here you… To think that one year ago exactly, I hadn't yet held you in my arms. You hadn't even been born. I was at the hospital, dilated seven centimetres if I'm not mistaking…" She kissed the girl on the top of her head. "Yeah, you sure took your time being born. Almost as much time as your sister."
"Ma-ma" Emma said.
Monica smiled wider and kissed her on the top of the head again. Emma had said her first word on Valentine's day and it warmed Monica's heart as much every time to hear her daughter call her Mamma. She called Chandler Dada, and Chandler's reaction was always the same as Monica's.
"Mamma's gonna help you get dressed now sweetie" Monica said. "Or actually, I think I'll wait. You know, it's your birthday today honey. Yes it is. And I have a feeling you'll get something pretty to wear today when everyone is coming over."
She carried the child out to the living room and held her with one arm while beginning to cook breakfast with the other. Chandler came out after a few minutes together with Bridget who was now dressed.
"Hey, let me hold the birthday girl while you fix breakfast" Chandler said and lifted Emma to his own arms.
"How many years is Emba?" Bridget asked.
"A whole year" Chandler said and sat down by the kitchen table.
"How many years am I?"
"You're two years. It's your birthday in a month, you know how old you'll be then?" Chandler asked.
"Nine!" Bridget said with a grin.
"No, that's how old cousin Ben is" Chandler said with a chuckle.
Monica put the breakfast on the table and sat down to eat with them. After an hour and a half they sat down with the children on the couch and Chandler went and got the presents from the bedroom.
"Why does Emba get presents?" Bridget said, obviously jealous.
"It's her birthday. Remember how we give people presents on their birthday?" Chandler said.
"Don't worry sweetie, your birthday is in just a month, you will get presents then."
"Okay" Bridget said reluctantly.
Monica and Chandler took turns in opening the gifts for Emma, since she couldn't do it herself. Monica gave one gift to Bridget and told her to open it for her sister. The present was a dress, yellow with blue flowers. Chandler chuckled at the jealous look on Bridget's face and reminded her that she wouldn't be able to wear it anyway since it was too small for her. Monica laid Emma down on the couch and got her out of her pyjamas and into her dress. She then lifted her up.
"Isn't she cute?" Monica said.
"Da-da" Emma said.
"Em-ma" Chandler fondly imitated her. "Happy birthday" he added. "Let's just hope you'll have at least sixty more." He smiled at Bridget. "And that, young lady, goes for you too…" He looked up at Monica. "AAND for you."


Monica was in Chandler's lap, straddling him, and Chandler was sitting in the armchair. They were locked in a deep, passionate kiss, oblivious to the fact that it was the middle of the day and someone might walk in on them. They knew Bridget wouldn't since Ross and Rachel were baby-sitting the girls, but Joey and Phoebe might.
"Maybe…" Monica said between kisses, "we… should… get… started… with the… presents…"
"If you… insist" Chandler said and gave her one last long kiss on the lips. "I've been a bit mean to you this year" he continued. "You're gonna have to search for the charm."
Monica smiled and got off his lap. She walked over to the kitchen and reached down into the mug that had her name on it and fished out a small parcel.
"Et voila!" she said.
"How the…" Chandler said, surprised at how quickly she'd found it.
"'Mommy, why was Daddy putting a present in your mug?'" Monica said, imitating Bridget with a huge smile on her face.
"Oh that little traitor" Chandler said. "I didn't even know she saw me!"
"Well I figured, since then she probably would have asked you" Monica said.
She went back over to him and sat down in his lap. He put his hands around her waist and she leaned back in his arms, beginning to open the present. She found a charm in the shape of an apple.
"Our apple anniversary?" she asked with a giggle.
"No, it's fruit anniversary actually" Chandler said. "And actually, the charms that belong to the bracelet were either a pear or a pineapple, they have two for each thing so you can choose a little. But I got this one instead that's actually a charm for a necklace."
"Why?" Monica asked.
"When we left our hotel in London to go back to New York you said you were hungry, remember? So I had us stop by a small market and I bought you a fruit, remember?"
"Yeah, a red apple…" Monica said.
"Exactly. So I figured that the apple had sort of a relationship symbol touch to it, so I got that instead of the pear. Or pineapple."
"You're so cute" Monica said with a smile and turned her head to kiss him.
Chandler then attached the apple to her bracelet, right opposite the charm he'd gotten her the year before. Monica smiled widely and didn't want to wait any longer before she gave him his present. She got up and grabbed a small thin parcel from a shelf in the kitchen and handed it to him.
"Oh look! A present!" Chandler joked.
"Open it sweets" Monica said.
Chandler opened it and found an envelope. He opened the envelope as well and pulled out what looked like some form of contract. He frowned.
"What on earth is this?"
"Read it."
Chandler read a few lines, then looked up.
"You could tell me first and I'll read later."
"You do know how to read don't you? Just read it!"
Chandler nodded and began reading again. By the time he was finished his chin had fallen and he was staring at the piece of paper in his hands.
"Okay, so wait a minute, let me see if I got this straight…" he said. "You, you got me the apartment?"
"Well yeah. We've been living here illegally, and I thought we ought to stop that by now. And since everyone's always thought of this as my place I figured that now it would get to be your place."
"OUR place" Chandler said with a loving smile. "What's his is hers."


Monica came home feeling numb. She had a feeling like she was still asleep, she was just dreaming, she would wake up any minute and tell Chandler about the bad dream she had had. But she knew that it was just her imagination, she was wide awake and unfortunately she wasn't dreaming.
Chandler looked up and smiled when she entered. He was busy playing Monopoly with Ross and Phoebe, and from the look on his face she assumed he was winning. She hated the fact that he was in a good mood, because she knew she had to take him out of it.
"Hey guys…" she said. "Uhm, listen, Phoebs, Ross, I kinda' need to talk to Chandler."
"Why what's wrong?" Phoebe asked.
"No it's nothing between us, it's…" She sighed. "It's just that I haven't told you the back story, only Chandler and Joey were here when I told that part, so it would take a while to explain it to you two and I just want to cut right to the chase, so it would be better if I got to talk to Chandler alone."
"What's happened?" Chandler asked with a frown.
"We'll be back later" Ross said. "But not to continue this game."
"Oh you're just annoyed you were losing" Phoebe said as she followed him out.
"So what's wrong?" Chandler asked Monica.
She walked over and began sitting down, but then decided to stand. She felt almost scared to tell him, even though she knew it was ridiculous.
The back story was that one of the chefs at the restaurant had gotten pregnant and Monica had found out that Allessandro was going to fire her. Monica hadn't had that problem herself when she got pregnant, the first time around she and Chandler had taken turns, a week each, being at home with the baby and she had only worked halftime, so her maternity leave hadn't affected her work much. And the second time around she had gotten pregnant around eight months before Allessandro's had closed for renovation and she would have had the time off anyway. But with the woman who was now pregnant Allessandro thought it would be way too complicated to have her replaced while she was gone and then fire the replacer once the woman returned from her maternity leave. So he had decided to fire her. And today Monica had gotten mad about it, since she knew she herself could get pregnant again and she didn't want to have to worry about losing her job just because she had a baby. She had gotten into a debate with her boss about how it made no sense to fire the other girl, although Allessandro claimed it wasn't because she was pregnant. The whole thing had turned complicated and before Monica knew it the conversation had led to herself being fired instead of the pregnant woman. She didn't know what to do.
"Monica?" Chandler asked, looking at her with questioned eyes. "Are you okay?"
"You remember the pregnant woman at my job?"
"Yeah what about her?"
"Allessandro and I got into sort of a… an argument about it today."
"An argument with your boss?" Chandler asked. "Well what happened?"
"Well… I don't know, it's complicated! I mean, I… He said that it wasn't her pregnancy, although everyone knows it, I've even overheard the man say it! But the whole thing turned quite messy and…"
"And what? Did she get to keep her job?"
"Well, yeah."
"Well then that's great!" Chandler said. "Way to go Monica."
"You don't understand."
"Of course I do. And I have to say I'm proud, that's quite nicely done!"
"No, see--"
"And I assume your colleagues don't dislike you as much now, huh?"
"Honey I was FIRED!" Monica exclaimed.
"You what?"
"I was fired."
"But how on earth did THAT happen?"
"I'm not sure really, you know how discussions can sometimes turn into really complicated things where you don't really know what you've said yourself or what the other person has said, and… And I was just fired, that's all there is too it."
Chandler didn't say anything for a few minutes. He didn't know what to say. He didn't know weather to be angry at her boss or sad for her sake or what to feel and think.
"Chandler?" she said, her voice sounded very small. "Are you mad?"
"At who, you? Why would I be mad at you?" He sighed. "Damn… How are we supposed to…" He quieted.
"What are you thinking about?"
"About weather or not just my salary will be enough for the four of us."
Monica sighed and bit her lower lip. She hoped his salary would be enough until she could get another job.


A couple of days later Monica was moping on the couch. Chandler was in the armchair, reading 'Little Red Ridinghood' to Emma. The mood was pretty low. Monica hadn't been very cheerful since she'd gotten fired, she had gotten a two weeks notice from Allessandro, 'for old time's sake' as he'd put it. But she didn't have to be at work for another couple of hours yet.
Joey entered, seeming quite up beat.
"Hey Mon! Do you have a job yet?"
"Joey it takes you like three years to get a job, why would you think I'd gotten one in three days?" Monica asked.
"The production company of 'Days of our Lives' are working on this new TV show thing" Joey said and walked over to her.
"Joey honey try to stick to one topic for at least five minutes" Monica sighed.
"No, no, see some executive dude for that show was on the set today and I overheard him say something about a chef, right? So I went over to him to try and socialize, you know, since you can never have enough buddies that are executives."
"Do you have a point to your story?" Chandler asked with a sigh. "I just read the part where the wolf eats Little Red Ridinghood and I don't want to leave Emma hanging with all this suspense!"
"Well maybe if you let me finish--"
"Guys" Monica interrupted. "Joey just ignore Chandler, and Chandler just ignore Joey."
"Okay" Joey said, getting back to his story. "So, to try and make friends with this executive I started talking about our common subject. Chefs. You know, since he spoke of one and I know you. And I told him how you had gotten fired and why, and he got interested."
"What is he, some sort of ambulance chasing vulture?" Chandler asked.
"Chandler…" Monica whined. "I thought I asked you to stay out of this…"
"Well Monica check this out!" Joey said. "He said that if you're interested they'd love to have you come audition for them!"
"To play a chef on 'Days of Our Lives'?"
"No, didn't I mention? That new show is some cooking show."
"A cooking show?" Monica asked, getting intrigued.
"Exactly! The executive person said they were looking for a fresh face and a talented chef all in one. And since you've never been on TV and you're a 4-star chef they're interested! Plus, it won't matter if you get pregnant again, since they can film an entire season in just a couple of weeks."
Monica high-fived with Joey and smiled for the first time since she'd gotten fired. Maybe losing her other job was the best thing that could have happened. Chandler noticed her excitement.
"Maybe Phoebe has a point with her karma crap, huh?" he said with a grin.


Monica was on her knees on the bed, whimpering with pleasure. It had been weeks since the last time she and Chandler had slept together. But earlier during the day Monica had gotten the chef's job at the cooking show. It had taken nearly a month with the audition and the network trying to make up their minds and working out all the details. But today she had officially gotten the job, and Chandler had told her that they should celebrate.
"Mommy what are you doing?" they heard Bridget's voice say.
Chandler immediately froze and Monica turned her head towards the door.
"Bridget go back to bed" she said firmly.
"But mommy--"
"Go back to bed. I'll be with you in a minute."
Bridget turned and went back to her room. Monica sighed deeply and Chandler pulled away from her and slumped down next to her on the bed.
"Oh this is just terrific" he complained. "Great, now we have to explain the birds and the bees to her too!"
"No" Monica said. "Why bother? I don't think she's old enough to understand."
"Aren't you gonna go see what she wants?"
"In a minute…"
"You do know she's going to ask you what on earth we were doing" Chandler said, and gently stroke her arm.
"Yeah I know…" Monica said and sat down.
"You know what, just… just tell her that we were making love and then leave it at that" Chandler said. "And hurry back."
"Chandler you know Bridget. She's gonna get all upset and wonder why we have to MAKE the love, why it's not there to begin with."
Chandler chuckled.
"We really managed to have a strange daughter" he said. "Look, go over and see what she wants."
"Yeah, I'm on my way" Monica said.
She got out of bed and into her robe while Chandler got under the covers. She walked over to the nursery trying to hide her annoyment. She was in no mood to explain to her daughter what she had seen, but she knew that Bridget would ask her. She walked up to Bridget's bed and sat down on a stool next to it.
"What did you want Bridget?" she asked.
"What were you and daddy doing?"
"It doesn't concern you honey, now what did you want?"
"But--"
"Bridget" Monica said more firmly.
"I'm thirsty" Bridget said.
Monica nodded and got up from her seat. She went into the kitchen and filled Bridget's old feeding bottle with water. She went back into Bridget's room with it and handed it to the girl, sitting back down on the stool. She gently stroke Bridget's head while she drank.
"Is that better?" she asked.
Bridget nodded.
"Want me to stay until you've fallen back asleep?"
Bridget nodded again. Monica grabbed the bottle from her once it was empty and then sat quietly next to Bridget, stroking her head, while she fell asleep again. After fifteen minutes she knew for sure that she was sleeping, so she got up and walked back into the kitchen with the bottle. She then returned to the bedroom where Chandler was waiting.
"What did she want?" he asked.
"Water. She was thirsty."
"Okay" Chandler said with a nod.
Monica took off her robe and got back into bed. Chandler moved over to her and put his arm around her, lovingly placing kisses all over her face and chest.
"Chandler I'm not in the mood anymore" Monica said.
"Please babe?"
"I just sat by our daughter's bedside while she fell asleep, that's not exactly a turn on" Monica said. "And who knows, she might wake up again."
Chandler couldn't hold back a sigh. He stopped kissing her and laid back down, staring at the ceiling. He felt it was a waste of time. They hadn't gotten many good nights together lately, and from the looks of it they wouldn't be having one this night either.


"I can't believe you!" Monica said angrily, in the middle of a fight with Chandler.
"Oh yes, because I'm always the bad guy" Chandler angrily replied.
The fight was just as so many of their other ones based on how tired and exhausted they both were. They had both been very testy recently, and they'd had lots of small fights which had put strains on their relationship. They had had a small disagreement that morning which had led to a quarrel, and Chandler had after work gone over to Joey and Rachel's to talk to Joey and get to vent some of his anger and frustration. He had complained about how hard it was sometimes to live with Monica, which he hadn't really meant, he had just been fed-up. But unfortunately Monica had walked in and heard him, which had set off the fight they were now in the middle of. She had angrily stormed back to their own apartment and he had followed.
"Oh so you're trying to deny that this time it's YOU?" Monica angrily asked.
"Have you ever heard of the concept that it's never just one person's fault?" Chandler angrily asked her back.
"Oh, so I guess I should take blame, huh?" Monica said. "After all, since I'm such a pain to live with you should get a MEDAL for not going crazy!"
"Oh you know damn well that you are no picnic, but then again who said *I* am?" Chandler angrily replied.
"Don't try and weasel yourself out of this THAT way" Monica said.
"Weasel myself out?" Chandler echoed.
"Uh-hu! You know what, you poor little thing, having to live with Monster-roommate Monica! What was it you said exactly, I'm obsessed, neurotic and what was it more?"
"Why do you have to overreact at every single thing?"
"Overreact?" Monica exclaimed. "Overreact? I overheard you saying that stuff about me and now you're not even trying to deny it or tell me that it doesn't matter!"
"Because it's no damn use!" Chandler told her. "I know you, I know you well, and when you're like this it doesn't matter what I say or do. It wouldn't matter if I told you how much I love you, it wouldn't matter if I got down on my knees and hugged your legs and begged you to hear me out! It wouldn't even matter if I went on national television and screamed out how much I love my wife! Because you'd only think I was lying to you, that it was some kind of trick! I know you well enough to be sure of that, all I can do in this situation is calm down and wait until you're ready to be an adult about things and actually hear me out."
"Get out!" Monica yelled, pointing at the door.
"Oh great, so you're ready to act like an adult already?" Chandler sarcastically said.
"Oh screw you, screw that, just GET OUT!"
In the nursery Bridget tried to cover her ears with her hands. She hated when her parents fought. It scared her and it made her sad to hear them say mean things to each other. Emma was sitting next to her with her pacifier in her mouth, not understanding exactly what was going on but knowing that it wasn't pleasant. Hearing her parents' voices yelling at each other made her feel unsafe.
Bridget gave her sister a hug when she heard the front door slam hard. Chandler had left, Bridget knew it was him since Monica had told him to leave. She shuddered and wished her Mother would come in to them and comfort them. But she didn't come.
Monica had felt the tears burning and had known she wouldn't be able to hold them back for long. So she had yelled to Chandler to get out. She hated when she cried when they fought, she knew how he reacted to her tears and she refused to use that to win the fight. She didn't want that kind of victory. She realized when Chandler slammed the door that the children were home and must have heard everything, but she didn't want to go and talk to them. She was on the verge of crying and she would only scare the children even more if she broke out in tears in front of them.
She went into the bathroom and put her long hair up in a knot, and then covered her hair with a plastic hat to keep it dry. She stepped into the shower and leaned her forehead against the wall, crying bitterly. She didn't know what had hurt her the most, what she had heard Chandler say, his refusing to deny it, his explanation of why he didn't deny it or just the fact that they had argued again.
She felt her warm tears mix with the water from the shower and wash away from her face. The reason she had gotten into the shower was to cover her tears. She wished with all her heart that she would hear the bathroom door open and after a short while Chandler stepping into the shower with her. She wished he would come and put his arms around her from behind and rest his face against the back of her head and cry with her or comfort her, just making it all better. But Chandler didn't come.
She stepped out of the shower as soon as she was ready to dry her tears and then got dressed and went to see if the girls were okay.


Chandler came home late that night and found Monica waiting for him on the couch. He was slightly surprised, and couldn't help wondering if they were going to continue the fight from earlier. She was in her nightie and a robe, he realized how long he'd been out and that she must have been on her way to go to bed before deciding to talk to him.
"You're late" she said.
"Did I miss dinner?" he coldly quipped, walking into the living room and stopping in front of her.
"Look, about earlier tonight…" Monica said. "You're not one bit afraid of speaking your mind to me, are you?"
"Please tell me that was a joke" Chandler coldly said. "I learned quickly that speaking my mind with you only leads to trouble."
"That is unfair!" Monica said, upset with the accusation. "I was going to tell you that you were right!"
"Right about what?"
"About how I would have acted if you would have tried and told me how much you love me and how that makes the thing I overheard you say insignificant" Monica said. "I've never even realized that that's how I act, but when I heard you say it and I thought about it I realized that it's true. And that your fearlessness of telling me what you really think and feel makes me realize my faults."
"Oh…" was all Chandler could think of to say. He suddenly wasn't mad anymore.
"I'm going to bed now" Monica said and rose from the couch. "And you're going to sleep out here tonight. Right or not, what you said hurt like hell and I can't stand to be around you right now."
Chandler watched her go into the bedroom and close the door. He sighed. Wrong again, she hadn't been in a forgiving mood. But at least it was better than nothing that she had admitted that he had been right too.
He took his tie off and his jacket. He realized he was still in his work clothes and that a shower wouldn't be too bad right now. But he knew Monica would get angry if he took a shower at eleven PM when the children were asleep and she had gone to bed as well. And besides, if he was going to sleep on the couch he would be in the need of a shower tomorrow morning anyway.
He casually threw the tie and the jacket over the couch and opened up the top button on his shirt. He walked into the nursery to take a look at the children before he went to bed. Emma was asleep, but he found Bridget awake, with her cheeks wet.
"Sweetie…" he said, and lifted her up in his arms. He sat down in the rocking chair. "What's the matter? Did you have a bad dream?"
"Why were you gone so long?" Bridget asked.
"Oh, is that it? You thought I wasn't coming home tonight?"
Bridget nodded.
"Bridget, sweetie, even if I hadn't come home I would still be here tomorrow. Mommy and I need a break from each other every once in a while."
"Why are you fighting all the time?"
"We're just… unfazed…"
"I don't like it when you fight."
"Well neither do I sweetheart."
"Does mommy?"
"Of course not."
"Well then why do you fight?"
"Because that's what adults do sometimes" Chandler said, trying to explain. "We get mad at each other and we need to vent our anger. And sometimes mommy and me build up lots of anger over other things and then we end up venting it by fighting with each other."
"But why?"
"Because… Because we need to get all the anger out of our system. And when we fight we know it's not threatening our relationship. We know that we can fight and yell and say things to each other and still have each other at the end of the day. We love each other, and we know that even though we may be very angry while we fight it's not something that lasts. And I know that mommy doesn't mean everything she says to me and she knows I don't mean everything I say to her. It's just easier to fight with someone you love since you know that person won't leave."
"But how can you say things like that to someone you love?" Bridget asked, not understanding. "When you love somebody, how can you be mean to that person?"
"That's just the way it is. Look honey, don't worry about your Mother and me. We'll be just fine. It's better to be mad at each other every once in a while than to just keep it all inside and let it build a distance between you."
"Is Mommy still mad?"
"Yes" Chandler said. "But don't worry… It won't last. That's the thing about being mad with someone you're in love with, it doesn't last. Just like we can get mad at you if you do something you're not allowed to, but we still love you. Do you understand?"
"No" Bridget said.
"You will" Chandler said. "And right now I think you should stop worrying so much. I'm sorry if we scared you, but trust me sweetie, you have nothing to worry about."
He put her back down in her bed and sat with her for a few minutes until she fell asleep. She had been awake for hours more than she usually was, she was completely exhausted. Chandler felt quite exhausted himself and went out to the living room as soon as Bridget had fallen asleep. He grabbed a pillow and a blanket from the linen closet in the bathroom and lay down on the couch to go to sleep.


"Mommy! Mommy!"
Monica grunted and reluctantly admitted to herself that she was awake. Bridget was standing by the bedside tugging her arm.
"Mommy! Wake up! Santa's been here Mommy!"
Monica opened her eyes and glanced at her daughter who was in her pajamas and with her hair in a mess after the night. Behind her stood Emma in a romper suit pajamas and with her pacifier in her mouth and a stuffed turtle that Chandler had given her for her first birthday in her hand. Monica couldn't help smiling at how adorable they looked.
"Hurry mommy!" Bridget said. "You have to come see!"
"Sweetie hold your horses" Monica said. "First we have to eat breakfast. And then wait for Grandma and Grandpa."
"Well call Uncle Ross and get them over here! Hurry, make breakfast!" Bridget urged.
"Bridge…" Monica moaned. "Patience is a virtue."
"What's a worthtue?" Bridget asked, confused.
"Never mind" Monica said and yawned. "Is Daddy up?"
She glanced to her left and saw that Chandler was somehow still asleep. She felt the same sting of love as always when she saw him asleep. There was something special about seeing him then.
"Mom!" Bridget whined.
Monica turned her attention back to the children.
"Mommy!" Bridget continued. "Santa's already been here, hurry! Santa's been here, come see for yourself!"
"Santa's been in here too" Chandler mumbled and rolled over.
"Wow, you were awake after all" Monica said.
Chandler didn't answer. He had his arm on her belly, she was pregnant again. The baby was expected in April, and Phoebe had commented that the two of them seemed to only be fertile during summer, since Bridget and Emma had been conceived around that time of year as well. This pregnancy was a bit easier on Monica than when she'd expected Emma, but the past five months had still been difficult for her. Especially since she'd found out she was pregnant again right in the middle of a period of fighting between her and Chandler. They had spent almost all summer arguing with each other, and finding out she was pregnant had made Monica scared, since she didn't want to bring another baby into the marriage when it was fragile already and the strain of a third child would make it worse. But once Chandler had found out about her new pregnancy he had made her look at it differently. He'd made her see that the fights between them weren't really important, they were soon forgotten and just a natural part of a relationship.
"Moooooooooooom" Bridget whined and tugged Monica's arm again.
"Merry Christmas Bridget" Chandler mumbled with his head by Monica's bum, stroking it lovingly.
"Dad, come look at the presents!" Bridget urged.
"Young lady, I think you're out of bed just a little too early today" Monica said with a smile and lifted her up on the bed. "You know, your grandparents won't be up for another hour, and then they're going to eat breakfast with Uncle Ross before they come over here. You'll just have to wait with the presents."
"Just one? Please!" Bridget begged. She was now sitting next to her mother, who was still lying down, and above her father who was curled up by Monica's stomach.
"Sorry hon."
"Daddy please?" Bridget said, turning to her other parent.
"If mom says you can't then you can't" Chandler mumbled, still practically sleeping.
"Thank you dear" Monica said with a smile. "And Emma, what are you doing way over there? Come here!"
Emma toddled over and got lifted up on the bed as well. Monica gave Chandler's shoulder a light push, urging him to be a bit more social. He turned around under the covers and then grabbed one of his pillows. He placed it on Monica's legs, close enough to her bum to be able to rest his cheek against it. His face was facing the head of the bed. Monica decided that it would have to do for now, he was still a bit too tired to be social while sitting up. She wished she could sit up, but since he was lying on her it would be impossible. Chandler felt a familiar feeling against his cheek and smiled.
"The baby's kicking" he announced.
"I happened to notice" Monica said with a giggle.
"What's the baby?" Bridget asked.
Monica and Chandler shared a look. She didn't seem to comprehend what was going on, even though she was three years by now and they had figured she would understand the basics of it. But it seemed impossible for her to grasp that her parents were having a third child, and that the child was growing inside her Mother. Whenever they talked about the baby they were expecting she got confused. Emma was still too little to understand what they expected Bridget to, but she seemed awfully confused over her mother's stomach being bigger.
"So Bridget, what do you think Santa's brought you?" Chandler asked.
"A hobby-horse!" Bridget said.
"Just a hobby-horse, huh?" Chandler said. "You know, *I* think he's brought you lots of socks and shirts and dresses and shoes…"
"Nu-uh!" Bridget said, upset.
Chandler grinned. He knew how much she hated getting soft presents, and it was fun to tease her. Monica had commented the night before that it wouldn't be more than ten years before she got happier over the soft presents than the hard ones.
"And what about you, sweetie?" Monica asked, stroking Emma's head. "What do you think Santa's gotten you?"
Emma took the pacifier out of her mouth.
"A cat" she said.
"A cat?"
"Why do you think Santa brought you that?" Chandler asked.
"I like cats" Emma said, putting her pacifier back in her mouth.
"Why don't we have a pet?" Bridget asked. "Everyone else has a pet!"
"Everyone else does not have a pet" Monica said.
"Everyone else does" Bridget insisted. "Even Joey and Rachel. And Boris."
"Boris has a pet?" Chandler asked. "I didn't know that."
"He's got fishes in an aquarium" Monica said. "Very exclusive. Rachel told me all about it, very exciting news."
Boris was Rachel's boyfriend since six months. Chandler had at first loved to make fun with his name, but once Rachel had gotten mad enough at him he'd decided not to risk awakening her anger again.
"Rachel and Joey have a rooster" Bridget pointed out.
"Did you know they once had a duck as well?" Chandler asked. "Or that both the duck and the rooster actually belong to me?"
"BELONGED" Monica corrected.
"I want a duck!" Bridget said.
"Sorry honey, you're gonna have to get a sibling instead" Monica said. "No animals in this small apartment. It's crowded enough as it is."
"Typical grownup excuse" Chandler said with rolling eyes.


A couple of hours later they were up, dressed and finished with breakfast. Jack and Judy Geller had come by together with Ross. They had spent the night at his place. It would be Chandler and Monica's first Christmas with more of a family gathering instead of just them and the gang. Joey had been invited to a big family dinner, Rachel had been invited to spend Christmas with Boris and Phoebe was with Frank Jr and Alice over the holidays.
"Yikes, we're such grownups" Monica had moaned to Chandler. "No more spending your special occasions with friends, now you spend it with family."
Opening the presents took more than two hours and once they were done Monica quickly began cleaning up all the wrapping paper together with her mother, who couldn't avoid commenting on how much of the paper she threw away that she could have saved and used again. Chandler just chuckled at Monica's frustrated facial expression and followed Bridget to the nursery with her presents, bringing Emma's along with.
"So…" Jack said once everything was cleaned up. "Yet another Christmas."
Monica nodded, her mind elsewhere. She had sat down on the floor with her legs crossed and Emma sitting in front of her. Emma was hugging a pink teddy bear that Chandler had given her. Chandler sat down behind them and gently started massaging Monica's shoulders.
"How do you feel?" he asked her, kissing her on her shoulder.
"I'm okay."
"Not queasy?"
"Nope."
"You know Monica, you really should eat less dairy products while you're pregnant" Judy said.
"What does dairy products have to do with pregnancy?"
"Well it's bad for your joints sweetheart."
"Mom," Monica said, "I've done this as many times as you have. Actually one more time than you, if you count this pregnancy. I know what I'm doing."
"I want a grandson" Judy told her, as if it was something Monica could control.
"Aww, too bad Judy, you should have told me five months ago" Chandler grinned. "Not much we can do about it now."
"It's fifty, fifty you know…" Monica muttered to her Mother.
"Actually, only in theory. See, more boys are born, but then boy babies have a higher death rate during their first year than girls, so…" Ross began, but drifter off when he noticed the glares from the rest.
"What next, you're gonna tell us that it's 12,5% chance to have two girls and then a boy?" Chandler asked, slightly annoyed.
"Actually I think it's more like 37% to have two girls and a boy" Ross said.
"Shut up" Chandler and Monica said.
"It's 12,5% chance to have three gir--"
"Ross!"
"Sorry…"
Chandler and Monica shared a look and rolled their eyes.
"Monica, Chandler, you really ought to start thinking about moving" Judy said.
"Moving?" Monica echoed, not understanding where that topic came from.
"Well yeah, you can't live in this small apartment with three children."
"Yeah, there'll be no room for ducks" Chandler joked.
"Oh my god you're right!" Monica said, starting to panic. "Chandler we have to move! We can't live here when the baby is born! Oh, but we only have four more months and our notice is three months, we only have a month to find a place since we can't cancel our lease until we've found somewhere to live! Oh god, what are we going to do?"
"Honey…" Chandler sighed. "We'll just start looking for a place to live. Don't worry. Nobody says we have to move out before the baby is born. Just as long as we don't continue living here until the baby's big enough to have it's own room."
"Yeah, but still! What if we can't find a place?"
Chandler sighed heavily and knew that he wouldn't get a moments rest until they'd found a place to move to.


A week before Emma's second birthday Monica and Chandler sat down with a stack of ads for houses for sale and all the things they needed to figure out how much they would have to borrow. Chandler had put his foot down and told Monica that they should try and buy the cheapest house they could find that they liked, to avoid having to borrow too much money. Having two children was expensive enough, with a third their budget would get even tighter. Monica had agreed, she knew what kind of house she wanted to move to but she realized that just because they bought a house now it didn't have to mean they would live there forever. They had thought about an apartment or a condo, but decided that it would be cheaper in the long run to get a house instead of an apartment that would be large enough and therefore expensive.
"Honey hand me the calculator…" Chandler mumbled.
He was busy sorting through their finances, while Monica looked through the sheets about the houses that were available and in the area they wanted to move to. They didn't want to have to move too far, they were afraid they would lose contact with their friends if they did.
"Here you go" Monica mumbled back and handed him the calculator.
He muttered a thanks and started calculating. She came across a house that interested her and looked up to tell him but ended up just smiling at him. He didn't notice she had looked up, he was busy with his task and looked very concentrated. He had his glasses on and for some reason one of the shirts he usually wore for work. Monica thought it was cute, it was as if he was more efficient with that type of clothes on, and he seemed to know so himself.
"You know Mon, maybe we might be able to convince your parents to help us out with the cash…" he said without looking up. "After all, who paid for their daughter's wedding? Technically they owe us."
"Are we really that short on cash?"
"No… But just so you know, I think you ought to sort out all the places with more than one floor, I don't think we can afford that yet."
"I hate finances" Monica muttered.
She angrily sorted out the houses with more than one floor, which included the one she had been about to suggest to Chandler. The one-floor houses looked so boring. She had always wanted a house with both downstairs and upstairs. She looked up at him again and suddenly giggled.
"Oh God…" she said. "I feel like such a wife."
"Pardon?" Chandler said, looking up with a confused expression on his face.
"I said I feel like such a wife. Sitting together with a guy sorting out economics and looking for a house where we can move with our children."
"I've been married to you for almost five years and NOW you feel like a wife?" Chandler asked, looking really confused. "Over THIS?"
"Of course I've felt like a wife all along" Monica said. "It's just that this seems so very… married couple-y."
Chandler shrugged his shoulders and went back to calculating. After about a minute he heard her groan and looked up at her.
"Baby kicking?"
"Yeah…"
"What does it feel like?" he asked, curious.
"What? When a baby kicks?"
"Yeah. You know it's just all so odd to me. I just… drop of my swim squad and then my part is done. You on the other hand have the kid inside of you for nine months, while it grows and gets all it's body parts and things."
"And while it kicks" Monica said with a smile.
"And then you give birth. I'll never experience anything like that at all, I mean how odd isn't it to have a person inside of you?"
Monica chuckled slightly.
"Honey it's not exactly like I can virtually feel it growing, like 'cool there it got an arm' and so on. And I don't think I can describe it to you. Labour would be easier."
Chandler shrugged.
"No thanks, spare me the things about pushing an orange through your nostril. Similes like that really make me wonder how women say it's worth it."
"What, you wouldn't push an orange through your nostril for Emma?" Monica teased. "Or Bridget?"
"No, not if it can be avoided."
Monica laughed.
"Good thing for you then that I'm the birth-giver of the family" she said. "Oh, and by the way… Check this house out, what do you think?"
She handed him one of the sheets. He took a quick look at it.
"Sweetie?"
"Yeah?"
"This house is in Chicago."
"What?" Monica said in surprise, grabbing the sheet and checking. "No it's not."
"It's not, but how carefully did you read through the info if you actually thought I was serious?" Chandler asked.
Monica rolled her eyes.
"Watch it buddy, or I will throw an orange on you."


Monica was very pregnant by the time they found a house. They had decided to move in in May even though they would still have to pay rent for their apartment until July. Phoebe had decided to get their apartment so that she could live closer to the others, and they had made a deal with her that she paid two thirds of the rent until July and they paid the rest.
In early May both Emma and Bridget came down with chicken pox. Monica nearly started crying when they got it confirmed, she was very pregnant and had enough on her mind as it was, with the moving and the upcoming birth. And to top it all of she had false labour every once in a while which didn't brighten her spirits much. Chandler tried to comfort her by telling her that he'd had chicken pox so this time only the children would be sick. He volunteered to take on the job of taking care of the children so that she could get the rest she needed. Every time she moved too much she seemed to get false labour and he figured she'd have enough with the real labour once that began, he didn't want her to have to go through anything more than that.
Monica sat down on the couch two days after the children had gotten sick and sighed deeply. She had made plans with Rachel and Phoebe to meet up at the coffee house at four, and she wondered how she would manage to stay awake until then. It was seven in the morning and she had already been up for an hour. Chandler was in the nursery trying to get Emma to stop crying. The pain from another false alarm reminded her that in a week she'd have another crying child in her care. She wondered how she and Chandler would manage, since it had been difficult enough for them with just two. But they had both agreed that they would never get rid of a baby Monica was expecting, unless going through with the pregnancy would in some way be dangerous for Monica. And either way, it was way too late for an abortion now. Either she would have another child in her life or she would have to give it up for adoption and she knew that neither herself nor Chandler would ever be able to give up a child that she had given birth to.
Emma finally stopped crying and after five minutes Chandler came out to the living room, slumping down next to her on the couch.
"Oh God…" he said. "And imagine what on earth would happen if you went into labour now instead of next week? How nice would it be being at the hospital with you in labour, knowing that the girls are home sick?"
"Not nice at all" Monica agreed. She leaned her head against him and he put an arm around her.
"So how do you feel?"
"I'm okay. Quite tired. Had another case of false labour ten minutes ago."
"You poor thing… Are you really sure it's smart going to Central Perk?"
"Chandler me going to the coffee house won't make me go into actual labour" Monica said. "And besides, with Emma I went two weeks past my due date, almost. What if that happens this time too? I can't just stay in here without going anywhere for three weeks."
"Yeah I know. I'm just looking after you."
"I know."
She closed her eyes and felt how tired she was. Before she knew it she had fallen asleep again and Chandler wasn't late to do the same. They slept for a couple of hours and then Monica woke up. She couldn't figure out why since she was still tired and not thirsty or in the need to go to the bathroom or anything else. She sighed and tried to get off the couch carefully, so that Chandler could continue to sleep, but she was too pregnant to pull that off. Chandler woke up when she rose.
"Whaaaaaaaaat?" he mumbled, as if she'd asked something.
"Nothing, go back to sleep… It's just me getting something to drink" she said.
He nodded and lay down on the couch. Monica went into the kitchen and got herself a glass of water, feeling yet another false alarm from the movement. It was getting ridiculous, some days she didn't have any false alarms, some days she had them five or six times. She downed the glass and dished it. Chandler mumbled something and got off the couch.
"Couldn't go back to sleep?" she asked.
"Nope…" he said. "How about you?"
"I don't even know how come I woke up" Monica said.
"Maybe one of the girls is having a nightmare, she might have cried out" Chandler suggested.
"Wouldn't she have woken her sister, and made HER cry?" Monica asked.
"I'm gonna go check though."
Monica watched him go and went back to the couch and sat down. She stayed on the couch, mostly in his arms, until she realized she had to meet Phoebe and Rachel in an hour. She rose and moaned in annoyment when the small of her back hurt again, followed by the familiar feeling of another false alarm.
"You know something?" Chandler said, watching her. "This is getting ridiculous. I'm gonna call Ross and ask him to baby-sit for an hour while I take you to the hospital to get you something for this false labour deal."
"Chandler I don't have time, Phoebe and Rachel--"
"Better you're a little late than that you get another false alarm at the coffee place" Chandler said and reached for the phone.
Monica nodded. She wouldn't mind getting something for the false labour. She'd had almost the same problem during her first pregnancy and they had gotten her some kind of pill that had worked quite well. It would be a nice relief to get the same kind of thing this time too.


"Mother?" Bridget said, sitting down next to Monica at the wake.
"What is it sweetie?" Monica asked.
"I… was just wondering… What are you going to do now?"
"What do you mean?"
"Now that Dad is… now that he's gone."
"What makes you think I would do something?"
"No, I didn't mean it like that…" Bridget said. "What I mean is… Well, it's just way too odd for me. I've never seen you two apart, it's always been like a rule that you're together. If you look for one you find the other one too. I mean, I know you've both been away over weekends and things like that, but it still seems as if you've never ever been without him."
"I have" Monica said. "But that was more than half a century ago. But now that he is dead, I guess I'll just have to… live life in whatever way I can. I don't want to be some frisky widow who moves on with her life and finds some other man. But I know your Father would hate it if I were just sad and depressed all the time."
"I don't think I'll ever have what you two…" Bridget began, and then started crying.
"There, there sweetie" Monica said, and put her arm around her. "You know, he would hate it if you were all sad too. He wants us to miss him, but not to the extent that…" Monica trailed off too, and started crying as well. "Oh God, I miss him so much!"
Bridget had always felt protective of her mother, just like Chandler she couldn't stand seeing her cry, and she had noticed when she was very little that she had an ability to cheer her Mother up when she was sad. She had unconsciously made it to her own little assignment to keep her Mother happy and make sure no one hurt her. This time thought she didn't know what to say or do. She was 51 years old but had never before felt more powerless to help her Mother out than right now. She couldn't even picture her Mother without her Father and she could only imagine what it must feel like for Monica to lose her husband after all those years. Bridget had always had a very rational look on marriage and had for a couple of years even been completely convinced that she never wanted to have a relationship, let alone a marriage. But she had always thought of her parents' marriage as something that had to be. They were like two pair-horses that shouldn't be separated, they both worked a lot better when they did something together than apart. And over the years they had become so well-synced that it was nearly scary. Being the oldest child, Bridget was well aware that they'd had their fair share of problems and even more sometimes, but they had always come through and stayed together.


"Let's just hope this is quick" Monica muttered and got up on the hospital bed.
An obstetrician was coming by in a couple of minutes to give her a quick exam and get her the pills, and she hoped it wouldn't be long. She didn't want to be late and she didn't want to leave the children at home without her or Chandler when they were sick.
"Oh it will probably be…" Chandler said, sitting down next to her on a chair.
A female obstetrician came in and asked a few questions about how often she experienced false labour and if it was linked to a certain activity, like moving around much, eating or things like that. And then she began examining Monica.
"Will this take long doctor?" Monica asked after a minute. "I have to be somewhere."
"Mrs. Bing, I'm afraid you're not going anywhere" the doctor said and looked up at her.
"Why, what's wrong?" Chandler asked worriedly.
"She's dilated eight centimeters" the doctor told him.
"WHAT?" Monica and Chandler said in one voice.
"Excuse me, I can NOT be in the middle of giving birth here!" Monica said.
"Well you are" the doctor said.
"We want a second opinion" Chandler blurted out.
"Mr. Bing, it is quite obvious that she's dilated, if you don't believe me you can come look for yourself" the obstetrician said quippy.
"Uh, no thanks."
"Listen," Monica said, "I have two children at home, I've done this before, I know that it hurts a hell of a lot more than this!"
"Well maybe that's the thing then" the obstetrician said. "You've got yourself all worked up and expecting it to hurt really much, and when it didn't hurt as much this time you simply didn't think it was possible that it was the real thing."
"Well okay then, how about the fact that she's only had like four of these false alarm things?" Chandler said.
"Actually…" Monica said, getting Chandler's attention. "I've had more. But they haven't felt like actual contractions! I mean…"
"I'll be back in five minutes to check on you" the doctor said and left.
"What a bitch!" Monica angrily said.
"How can this be?" Chandler asked no one. "How can you be having contractions? Be almost ready to push? Shit, I mean ten minutes ago I thought I was having a baby in a week or so, now I'm all of a sudden going to hold a newborn in my arms in a matter of minutes! Well, okay, an hour or so perhaps…"
Monica sighed deeply.
"You'd better call the coffee house and ask Gunther to tell Rachel where we are."
Chandler nodded.
"And Ross!" Monica added.
Chandler nodded again and rose from his chair. He walked to the door and then decided to wait until she'd had another contraction. He walked back and sat down on her bedside, glancing at her. She gave him a confused look and then her eyes teared up and she got a look of deep concentration and pain on her face. He could see her tensing up completely and he heard her cry out.
"Wow, yikes, good thing I waited!" he exclaimed and not knowing what else to do he pulled her close to a hug.
She clutched him and closed her eyes hard. This contraction hurt ten times more than her previous ones, and she couldn't understand why. Chandler understood why though, he knew it was psychedelic. Now that she knew it was the real thing she subconsciously expected it to hurt very much, and therefore it did.
"Relax babe…" he whispered in her hair. "Just remember how proud I am of you…"
"For what?" Monica asked as her contraction faded out, trying to dry her tears. "For crying? For not being able to handle without freaking what some women who are younger than me handle without as much as crying out?"
"Oh believe me, you are not a wuss" Chandler said. "*I* almost start crying when you do, and I'm not even in any pain! Feel free to yell 'you did this to me!' the next time you have a contraction."
Monica chuckled and dried her tears.
"You know, I'll just call from my cellular" Chandler said. "Given how far along you are the contractions won't be far apart."
"Thank you, you're my rock, I don't know how I would survive without you're encouraging words" Monica said sarcastically.
Chandler smiled good-naturedly and made the phone calls. Explaining to the others what was going on was a bit tough since he didn't even grasp it himself. Half an hour ago he had just been by with his wife to get her something for her false labour, now he was in the middle of a far gone delivery.
"You know this hurts as much every time!" Monica said through gritted teeth fifteen minutes later when she had another big contraction.
"Yeah I know…" Chandler said and massaged the small of her back.
"If I ever do this again I will DEMAND painkillers!"
"Let's just focus on this birth, and whatever happens later we can deal with then" Chandler said.
"Chandler help me stand up, I want to push!"
"The doctor will be here any se--"
"Help me!" Monica cried and Chandler quieted.
He began helping her to stand up, but it was hard when he was all by himself. She couldn't help out much, she had enough with her pain. The obstetrician came in together with two midwifes and they helped him help her stand on her knees. The whole process went a lot faster than at Emma's birth, it only took two minutes for Monica to push the baby out. Monica and Chandler both tried to catch a glimpse of the baby but two of the midwives got in-between and made Monica lie on the bed again, with some help from the midwives and Chandler. Chandler got to cut the umbilical chord and with a great smile went back to Monica, placing the baby on her stomach.
"A boy" he said with a wide grin.
"A boy?"
"Yes, a boy."
Monica started to cry, from the emotional and physical effort of giving birth and from seeing the baby on her stomach, her only son.
"Wow he's amazing" he said between her sobs.
"And probably amazingly hungry" Chandler said with a grin. "He needs to eat, I don't want my son to go hungry."
Monica laughed through her tears and lifted the baby to her breast. The smile on her face told Chandler the baby was feeding. He kissed Monica lovingly and then kissed the baby's bald head.
"We don't even have any ideas for names…" he realized. "We've never even given a thought to it this time. We had a boy's name decided when Emma was born, but… I don't know, this little guy just doesn't look like a Thomas to me."
"I agree" Monica said. "You know what honey? I decided the name Emma, why don't you name this little guy?"
"You picked out Emma because you knew I would like it" Chandler pointed out. "I think we should figure a name out together."
"How about Antonio?"
"Antonio?" Chandler said in disbelief.
"Why, what's wrong with Antonio?"
"Well for one thing he's not Hispanic!"
"Oh please, it's not like I suggested Julio."
"Well still, I want a more American name."
"Emma's not American."
"Well how about instead of Antonio we call him Anthony?" Chandler suggested. "I mean, it's the same name, only different forms."
"Anthony…" Monica said, looking down on the newborn. "Okay" she then said with a slight giggle. "I told you you would get to name him, after all."
Chandler chuckled and kissed the top of her head.


Two days later Monica was holding Anthony, waiting for Chandler to come over. She would get to go home the next day, and she couldn't wait. Although, the hospital visit had been unexpected but it had given her a great opportunity to rest. She only had one crying child to take care of, and a whole staff of hospital personal to help her out. But she missed Bridget and Emma.
"Why hello there!" Chandler said cheerfully and entered her room, carrying a newspaper. "Missed you" he said and kissed her on the forehead. "Hi" he said lovingly to the baby and gave him a kiss on the forehead too. Then he sat down and opened the newspaper. "Guess what? Good news travels fast."
He showed her a small article that said that TV chef Monica Bing had given birth to a son. Monica raised her eyebrows, not expecting anyone to think it was news enough to make it to the papers other than in the ad her parents had put out.
"And guess what else?" Chandler said. "They didn't fail to mention that your mother-in-law is none else than romance novelist Nora Tyler Bing."
"Aww, only adult member of the family who isn't famous" Monica said with fake pity and kissed him on the cheek. "How are Bridge and Emma?"
"Emma's doing better. She's almost healthy now. Bridget's the same as before, though. Your parents are baby-sitting right now."
"Mom must be thrilled. She got her grandson."
"You know what didn't thrill her?"
"What?"
"Naming him Anthony. She told me to try and convince you to name him Jack Jr instead."
"I'd prefer not to" Monica said with a smile. "Mom can talk to Ross about that, if he has another son."
Chandler grinned and gave her a kiss.


"Okay, no peeking" Chandler said, leading Monica into the kitchen of their new house.
They had moved in a week earlier and the whole house was still a mess of furniture, boxes and other things like that. The house had one tiny bathroom and one larger, a kitchen, a small laundry room, a living room and three bedrooms, plus a basement. Monica and Chandler had taken one of the bedrooms and decided to let Emma and Bridget share one of the other two rooms. The third bedroom would be used as nursery in a couple of months, and then later it would be Anthony's room. Emma and Bridget had shared a room ever since Emma had been moved from her parents' bedroom, they figured they would be comfortable continuing to share a room.
Tonight was their fifth wedding anniversary and Monica had had to go to a meeting with the network and she had been away the entire day. Chandler had dropped Emma and Bridget off with their grandparents, he and Monica had decided to only have the infant at home over the night. When Monica had gotten home Chandler had covered her eyes and ushered her into their bedroom so she could change clothes and put the baby down. She'd had Anthony with her at her meeting, since she thought he was too small for her to leave over the day. And when she was dressed up and the child was sleeping in his crib, Chandler had covered her eyes again and led her through the hall into the kitchen.
"How can I peek when you're covering my eyes with your hands?" Monica asked.
"Okay, you can open them now" Chandler said, taking his hands away from her eyes.
Monica opened her eyes and couldn't hold back a gasp. During the day he had cleaned up in the kitchen and taken everything in the boxes labeled 'kitchen' out and placed it around the room. He knew how much she disliked that their home was messy, now she at least had her kitchen ready. And he had cooked her dinner, for once, using a recipe from the cookbook he had gotten her for Christmas. He had set the table fancily and lit candles. Everything was set for a romantic dinner. He smiled at her reaction and told her to wait. He left her standing there and went into the bedroom. He carefully moved Anthony over to the baby-lift and carried it with him to the kitchen, placing it on the kitchen sofa that was the type that was hollow. It now served as a linen closet.
"Why the child?" Monica asked.
"In case he wakes up" Chandler explained.
"Oh…"
"Now have a seat, cherie."
"Okay, mon chou."
They had a nice dinner together with just some small talk, and some questions from Chandler about how Monica's meeting had gone. Once they were done with the meal Chandler brought her dessert.
"Chocolate mousse? Wow, someone's awfully fancy this year" Monica said with a grin.
"I figured I'd try it out" Chandler replied, also grinning.
He sat down as well and they began eating dessert. Suddenly Monica frowned and spit something out in her hand.
"What on earth… ?" she said and held up another charm for her bracelet.
"It's just such a typical cliché to propose by hiding a ring in chocolate mousse" Chandler explained. "And since it's a bit too late for me to propose that way I figured I'd use the cliché for something else instead."
"So what anniversary is this?" Monica asked, looking carefully at the charm before stretching her arm out for him to attach it.
"It's the wooden anniversary. Maybe we should have been more romantic and named the baby Woody."
"I seriously hope that was a joke."
The charm, shaped like a log, was soon attached to the bracelet on the same side as the cotton plant and the leather anniversary charm, and with the same distance to that charm as between that one and the cotton one.
"So what jewelry do I get?" Chandler jokingly asked.
"A bracelet like the one Joey gave you once, only this one says 'to my best hub'" Monica said, feigned seriousness.
"Perfect, how did you know that's exactly what I wanted?" Chandler said, playing along.
Monica laughed and leaned in to kiss him lovingly.


Their next anniversary was under much less merry forms. The show Monica was on got cancelled and she lost her job. This time she couldn't find another job, despite of how well known she was in the restaurant business by now. It didn't take long before she and Chandler realized that their budget was way too tight for a family of five, Chandler's salary wasn't enough. It wasn't their only income, since they got child benefits for each of their children and an unemployment subsidy for Monica, but with all of their bills and everything else they didn't have much money to spare. They decided not to give each other any anniversary presents, since Monica was the only one in the family who wasn't born between February and June, and they had already spent most of the money they had loose on birthday presents. They ended up spending the night talking about how to solve their financial problems.
"Don't we have tons of saving accounts?" Monica asked.
"We used them all to buy the house" Chandler told her.
"Well…" Monica sighed. "Okay, I don't like this but we may have to… Can't we take money from the children's saving's accounts? I mean, Bridget's only five years old and she already has like $2500… If we borrow $500 from each of their accounts it will help us out at least for a couple of months and it won't really hurt their savings."
"But what do we do when we've used that money?" Chandler said. "And anyway, we can't take the money from their accounts. I had them set up so that the money can't be moved until they turn 21. Except for 50% of it, which will be transferred to college savings accounts for them when they turn 18."
"Well then… What about our parents?"
"That's 100% a last resort" Chandler said. "I am not going to go ask my parents or my parents-in-law for money. I just won't, not when it's not for buying a house or something like that."
"Well okay, I'll sell the car! We ought to be able to get a large enough sum, after all it is a Porsche."
"No, don't do that, we need a car" Chandler pointed out.
"So we'll sell the Porsche and buy a cheaper car, like a 96 Saab or something."
"No, it's better to keep the car we have, an old car will probably end up costing us a fortune with repairing and stuff."
"What about Ross? Joey? Rachel? Or Phoebs? They could lend us money."
"Come on Monica, they don't make enough money for that…"
"Yeah, you're right…" Monica said with a sigh. "So what are we going to do?"
"Well I've done a little thinking about that…" Chandler said and got off the bed. "And I think I might have a solution. It's far from the best, but I think it might work."
"Fill me in."
Before Chandler could tell her they heard Anthony crying from the nursery. Monica got off the bed and told Chandler she'd handle whatever it was. Anthony needed a new diaper and Chandler waited for her to change the diaper and then put the child down in his crib again.
"Follow me Mon" Chandler said, and went down in the basement.
"Chandler?" Monica said warily. "Why are we going down to the basement?"
Their basement was very tidy and had a small food cellar, a room with three small beds that they used as a guest room whenever someone came over and a bathroom. Monica didn't really like being down there, she had always disliked basements.
"Well I was just thinking," Chandler said, "ever since NYU burned down two years ago and they had to move, they've been having the media part of the campus not too far away from here."
"Yeah?" Monica said. "Media and the teaching department. So what?"
"Well wouldn't it be possible for us to be able to rent a room to a student?"
"Rent a what to a what?" Monica said, shocked by the suggestion.
"You heard me."
"But Chandler… There's no way!"
"Well sure there is! I mean the basement is like it's own little apartment, we could rent it to a student."
"Okay, first of all I will NOT let a stranger stay here with my babies!" Monica said.
"And second of all?"
"Try and talk down my first of all, then we'll see if I need to use the second of all."
"Monica do you honestly believe that some student would try and harm our children? What would be the point, the person wouldn't exactly be able to get away with it. And come on, it's not like we would leave the kids alone with this person! And besides, it would be a college student, how much would we see of him? Or her?"
"I'm still far from convinced" Monica said skeptically, crossing her arms.
"Well give me your second of all."
"Second of all, the basement might be cozy for a night or two, or maybe even a week, but for a whole YEAR? Chandler there's no way anyone would want to stay here! Especially not since campus is close and cheaper!"
"Well then…" Chandler said and thought for a second. "Why don't just you and I stay down here?"
"Say what?"
"I don't mind sleeping here. It's only nights after all, days are spent upstairs. We could rent out our bedroom and free access to the kitchen and the bathroom."
"Honey you're talking about a whole school year down here" Monica pointed out. "Think about that! And some stranger, some crazy teenager in our bedroom! The children alone all night long with that crazy teenager!"
"If you're not safe about it then we can have baby monitors, we'll be able to hear if anything happens" Chandler said with a shrug to the shoulders.
"Okay Alfred Nobel, then what about the fact that down here we have two beds. Two SMALL beds. You and me in a bed each. Do you want to sleep like that for a whole year?"
"Sweetie this isn't something I'm suggesting just to spike up our everyday" Chandler pointed out. "We need the cash!"
"How much could we possibly earn?"
"I don't know! With the inflation these days, up to $100-$200 extra a month!"
"It's not that much money and it's a whole lot of trouble" Monica gently pointed out. "I'm sorry Chandler, but no. I am not going to spend an entire year with a stranger in our home, sleeping upstairs with the children while we're down here, forced to sleep apart."
She walked out of the small room in the basement and back upstairs. Chandler didn't follow until a couple of minutes later. Monica had gotten ready for bed before he was back upstairs. She crawled into bed right when he came into the bedroom to get a new shirt to sleep in from the closet. She lay down with her cheek against the pillow and closed her eyes. She opened them again and sat up partly, having felt something cold on her cheek. She looked down on her pillow.
"Oh honey you shouldn't have…" she said.
"Fine, can we just drop this already?" Chandler said, closing the door to the closet.
"What? No, not the basement thing, I'm talking about this!"
She lifted a charm from her pillow.
"We said no gifts!" she added.
"It's your freebee gift" Chandler said. "You know that. And besides Monica, this is the only time I can give you that charm."
"Honey our budget--"
"I had already bought you that when we did the budget" Chandler said, and sat down on the bed next to her. "And remember my promise, each anniversary that has a certain symbol, you're going to get a charm. I meant it."
"What's it supposed to be?" she asked.
"A sugar plant" Chandler said and attached it opposite the log charm. "Happy sugar anniversary."
"Happy sixth anniversary" Monica replied and kissed him.
"You know…" Chandler said, kissing her back. "In some languages, the word for six and sex is the same…"
"Happy sex anniversary then" Monica said with a giggle and forgot about their financial problems as Chandler began feeling her up.


They managed to avoid having to rent a room to a student, since Monica managed to get a waitress job at a nearby restaurant which provided some money, and Chandler went through their bank accounts again and found a small account which had some money on it. But they both knew they would need another source of income soon, Monica's waitress job was only going to last for eight months since she was covering for a pregnant woman.
Joey got engaged on Anthony's second birthday, April fifth, and in the beginning of May Ross got engaged too. The gang decided to combine celebrating the two engagements with Chandler and Monica's seventh wedding anniversary, which was on a Saturday. Monica and Chandler, were going to be 'hosts'. They also decided to celebrate Chandler's 40th birthday, which was in early June, at the same occasion.
"Okay, so, I want to make a toast!" Phoebe said once they had all sat down around the table to have dinner. She clinked her glass with her spoon and then lifted it. "Okay, first, to Ross. May you be very happy with Erica, may you never call her Rachel, may she never become a lesbian and may she never ditch you at the altar."
"Ditch me at the altar?"
"Well I couldn't think of anything Rachel did, except for that!"
"Okay, to--" Monica began, chuckling, but Phoebe cut her off.
"I'm not finished! Okay, and to Joey! May Clara keep you from messing around with other women, and may you have a lifetime of happiness with her! And of course to Monica and Chandler, who have been Mr. and Mrs. for seven years today. One more year and you have Ross's record with Carol beaten!"
"TANGED!" Ross objected.
"Here, here!" Chandler cut in and clinked his glass.
"So Rach, how long before you and Boris announce your engagement?" Monica asked once they were done toasting.
"Oh he says he'll never marry me before I start acting like the Jewish girl I was born as" Rachel said.
"Meaning what, that if you walk barefoot you can't be buried in a Jewish cemetery and then you can't marry him?" Chandler asked.
"Meaning he's quite religious and he thinks I'm way too influenced by Christianity. You should have heard the angry speech he gave me when we got home from his nephew's Bar Mitzvah."
"Come on Rach, you've been seeing this guy for what, three years now? And still no proposal?"
"Well we're living together, is that not enough for you?" Rachel asked, pretending to be annoyed.
"Hell no" Monica replied and then grinned.
"By the time Monica had been with Chandler for three years they were already married…" Ross pointed out, taking a sip from his glass.
"Yeah, get off my case Ross."
"Let's not talk about Rachel's future or no future as Mrs. Boris White, and instead focus on Joey and Ross's upcoming weddings" Chandler suggested. "With women, not with each other."
"Oh, you know what would be so romantic?" Rachel asked.
"No, what?" Joey asked.
"Double wedding!"
"Yeah, aw, that would be so cute!" Monica agreed. "Especially since the women you're marrying are best friends."
"Which makes me feel so out of the loop" Chandler said. "Monica befriend these women."
"I am friends with them."
"Well befriend them better!"
"Guys, do NOT have a double wedding!" Phoebe said. "Don't you know that one of the couples always turn out miserable?"
"Well of course one of the marriages will turn out miserable, we're talking about Ross getting married here" Joey pointed out.
"Good point" Phoebe nodded.
They all looked up when they heard a girl cry out 'mommy'. Monica rose.
"It's Emma. I'll be right back."
She left to see what the child wanted and the others went back to discussing marriages.
"You know, I kinda' have to ask, as the only one who's not been married" Joey said. "Is marriage really as great as they say?"
"That depends, are you asking me or are you asking Rachel?" Chandler joked.
"You, I guess."
"Okay, then let me be influenced by the small but still existing level of alcohol I have consumed, and use a rather tacky metaphor to describe it" Chandler said. "Marriage is like a roller coaster. Ups and downs all the way. And just like with roller coasters, the ups seem to last ten times longer than the downs. And it's one hell of a thrilling ride."
"In English" Joey said.
"It's not always roses and champagne, but it's so worth it. The good times make it all worth it."
Monica came back and sat down.
"Bridget stole her teddy bear" Monica explained.
"Oh, which parent does she get THAT from?" Phoebe asked.
Monica and Chandler both pointed at the other one with innocent looks on their own faces. The others laughed.
"We sure don't have many times like this anymore" Rachel said, a bit sad. "I mean, you two have your family life with children and everything," she said to Monica and Chandler, "and you guys have your fiancées…" she said to Ross and Joey. "And with everything else that's going on it seems like we hardly ever meet the whole gang anymore."
"Ah, those days are just the ashes of our youth" Chandler joked.
"Well we'll all have some get-togethers around my wedding" Joey said. "Rehearsals and rehearsal dinners… And of course the wedding."
Everyone spontaneously lifted their glasses and clinked them together. Rachel grinned when she noticed that the bracelet on Monica's right arm had another charm on it, a little sheep. She put her glass down and asked what it symbolized.
"Wool anniversary" Monica proudly said.
"Aww, your marriage has lasted as long as wool!" Phoebe said, emotional.
Monica gave her a strange look, and Chandler chuckled.
"Yeah, and the sheep is a bit special to us too. See I had sheep at a restaurant on our honeymoon. It kinda' made me feel ba-a-a-a-ad though" Chandler said, bleating like a sheep at the word 'bad'.
"Well it should" Phoebe said, and then realized he was only making it up to crack a lame joke.


By the end of July Monica caved and agreed to let a student rent their bedroom. She felt very uncomfortable with it, but they needed the money quite badly. They had a third single bed down in the basement and they moved it up to the bedroom. Their own double bed was put away in the garage. They wouldn't be able to get it down to the basement.
Chandler let Monica handle the interviewing of the appliers, since he knew she wouldn't be able to relax for a minute if she didn't feel like she was sure about the person they would let move in. In the first week of August she finally decided on a person, an eighteen year-old girl named Sarah Burrows, from Illinois. Chandler hadn't met the girl yet on the day she moved in, and he was in Boston for business when she did, which made Monica nervous. She really wanted him there for her to lean on, and to seek comfort and trust in. Joey came over instead, just for the day, and mostly to get Monica's help with some of the details for his wedding that would be in November.
"So…" Monica said, fixing tea for her and Joey while waiting for the student to arrive. "How is Clara doing? Any wedding nerves starting to show with her yet?"
"Oh are you kidding me?" Joey said. "The other day she called me Esteban!"
"So Esteban Trueba," Monica said with a smile, sitting down opposite him at the kitchen table and handing him a cup, "how are YOUR nerves?"
"Actually a lot less active than one might think" Joey said. "I mean, I love Clara. And it's time for me to settle down. I'm only a year younger than Chandler, I turn 40 next year. I want a wife and kids. I've been jealous of Chandler ever since he married you, I mean he's so happy and he has the greatest kids."
"I know, he does, doesn't he?" Monica said with a huge proud smile on her face.
"And his wife isn't too bad either" Joey said. "No one could tell you're 38, you look more like 35."
"Well I guess three years younger is always something" Monica said with a nod. Then she smiled again.
"Speaking of your beautiful kids…" Joey said.
Bridget and Emma came running into the room, followed by a still slightly toddling Anthony. They had been playing in the girls' room but obviously decided that the grownups were doing something much more interesting. Bridget was six by now and would start kindergarten in a month. Emma was four and Anthony was two.
"Hey uncle Joey!" Emma said and reached out her hands to be lift up.
Joey lifted her up in his arms and Monica did the same with Anthony. Bridget sat down on a chair. She preferred to sit by herself, sitting in someone's lap was for babies.
"So, where did you leave your Daddy?" Joey asked them, knowing very well where Chandler was.
"He's in Russia!" Emma said.
"In Russia?" Monica said.
"Chicago" Bridget said.
"Oh, right, that's where he is!" Joey said, pretending to have forgotten.
There was a ring on the doorbell and Monica rose, still with Anthony in her arms.
"Oh that must be Sarah… The girl who's gonna rent our room…"
Joey noticed that she wasn't exactly thrilled about it. He got up as well and carried Emma out in the hall, following Monica. Bridget stayed by the kitchen table with a piece of paper and some crayons. Monica opened the door and let in an 18-year-old girl with three suitcases and a backpack. The girl had shoulder length black hair and brown eyes. She was a bit shorter than Monica, and dressed in jeans and a sweater.
"Hey Sarah, welcome" Monica said, trying not to sound too awkward.
"Hi Mrs. Bing" Sarah said nervously, starting to take her shoes off.
Monica had already showed her around and told her what she could use and not use, and what shelf in the refrigerator and in the freezer she could have her own food in.
"This is Anthony" Monica said, introducing her to the boy.
"Oh. Hi Anthony."
"And that's Emmie" Monica continued, nodding at Emma.
"And you must be Mr. Bing" Sarah said to Joey. "Hi, nice to meet you, I'm Sarah Burrows."
She extended her hand to him. Joey shook it.
"Actually I'm not her husband. My name is Joey. Tribbiani."
"Oh…" Sarah said, and blushed at her mistake and then at the situation she thought she had walked into. "Well how… strange…"
"Oh, no he's just a friend of the family" Monica said.
"Yeah, I'm Esteban" Joey said, confused at everything that was going on.
"Didn't you just say your name was Joey?" Sarah said, confused.
"Not a very close friend…" Monica said with an apologetic smile. "My husband is out of town in business, he'll be home sometime on Sunday."
"That's tomorrow" Emma announced, proud to know the days of the week.
"Very true indeed" Joey said.
Monica walked back into the kitchen, with Joey and Sarah following in her tracks.
"And you've met Bridget…" Monica said.
Bridget looked up and acknowledged Sarah's presence, then returned to her crayons. Sarah then took her things into the bedroom and Monica couldn't keep in a sigh. She and Chandler had slept in that room until two days ago. They had fixed it up for Sarah the day before, right before Chandler had left. Monica had slept on a mattress in Anthony's room that night, and she was going to this night as well. She didn't feel comfortable in the basement, it scared her to be alone there and she definitely didn't want to sleep there without Chandler.
Joey left after dinner, and Monica wished he had stayed. She decided to stay out of Sarah's way and spend all of her time with her children, to avoid any awkward situations. She did the same the next day, until about an hour before Chandler would be home. She walked out into the kitchen and sat down by the kitchen table with Bridget and Emma, and their coloring books. She colored with Emma in hers, and Sarah sat down next to Bridget to write her parents and friends in Illinois some letters to tell them she'd gotten a place to stay and had moved in, and to leave the address.
She looked up when she heard the front door open and close, and a male voice calling out 'hey'. She assumed it was Mr. Bing who had come home, and that assumption was confirmed by Mrs. Bing jumping up from her chair and hurrying out in the hall. She decided to go over there too, to say hello.
Monica threw her arms around Chandler and kissed him long and lovingly. She hated being away from him, especially when she felt unsafe and uncomfortable. Chandler hungrily kissed her back and couldn't wait until they got to be alone together.
Sarah stopped when she saw them and felt a bit awkward. She liked Mrs. Bing even if she hadn't really gotten any chance to start to get to know her, but she had never even seen her husband before. He didn't look like she had thought he would, she had pictured him being tall and muscular, with a beard. But this man was pretty medium height for a man and there was no beard in sight. He wasn't very muscular either, but he had a sweet look about him. She instantly liked him. He seemed like a very nice man. The two oldest children ran past her and tugged his legs. Chandler and Monica were now hugging each other tight, and they broke the hug and looked down at the girls. Chandler lifted Bridget up and gave her a hug, and then did the same with Emma.
"Where's the little one?" he asked.
"Playing with cars in his room" Monica said with a smile.
Chandler took three steps towards Anthony's room, carrying Emma with him, and then noticed Sarah. He smiled and reached out his hand.
"Sarah Burrows, I take it? Hi, I'm Chandler Bing."
"Hi" Sarah said and shook his hand.
Chandler nodded with a smile and continued to Anthony's room to say hello to him while Monica went back into the kitchen and began making dinner. After dinner she did everything she could think of to postpone having to go downstairs to sleep. She challenged Chandler to a game of Trivial Pursuit when the children had been put to sleep and then tried to get him interested in having a long good talk about everything and nothing. Chandler just yawned and told her he was tired from traveling and wanted to go to bed. Monica swallowed hard but decided to just follow him downstairs and hope she would feel okay when he was with her. They checked on the kids and then went down to the basement and changed out of their clothes.
"So…" Monica said once they were ready to go to bed.
She was standing next to him in the doorway of what would be their room for at least a year, and she was glancing at the two beds. Those two beds were very hard to move, so they had decided to let them stay apart instead of pushing them together. It wouldn't be very comfortable to sleep with the beds pushed up next to each other anyway.
"I guess it's time to go to bed" Monica continued. "In separate beds, for the first time since we got married."
"Untrue" Chandler pointed out. "We slept in separate beds tonight too."
"You know how I mean."
Chandler kissed her on the cheek.
"Take it easy babe, it will be all right. And besides, I'm really looking forward to visiting you in your bed for some sexual moments" he added with a grin.
"Sure" Monica said with a nod, trying to hide how uneasy she was feeling.
Chandler closed the door behind them and closed the lights. They both had a night light on, and Monica went over to her bed and quickly got under the covers. She'd taken the bed to the left, just like she slept on the left side of their bed. It felt better to have him on her left side, even if there was space between them. Chandler got into his bed as well and read a chapter of a novel he'd begun reading on his trip. He glanced over at Monica, who had her lights out and her eyes closed. She was hoping to fall asleep as soon as possible. He put his book down and turned his light off too, and the room got pitch black. There was a tiny window on level with the ground, right below the ceiling, but that didn't provide much light even during the hours of the day. It took Chandler fifteen minutes to adjust enough to the darkness to be able to spot Monica again. It seemed as if she were tensed up and she had an unhappy look on her face. Her eyes were still closed. Chandler got out of his bed and carefully walked over to hers, sitting down on her bedside. She opened her eyes and stroke his back.
"You know those sexual moments I mentioned?" he asked.
Monica moved closer to the wall and then lifted the covers for him to get under them. They started kissing which soon led to sleeping with each other. The first time was a bit awkward, since Monica was uncomfortable being in the basement and Chandler was worn out from his traveling during the weekend. But the second time it was just like it normally was between them, and they were happy to be together, even during these circumstances. Monica didn't invite to any small talk afterwards, she closed her eyes and fell asleep as fast as she could. She wanted him to be there with her when she went to sleep. Chandler stayed in her bed for a while after he'd noticed her drifting off, and then went back to his own bed.


In October, a week before Monica's 38th birthday, Chandler and Monica were in the middle of yet another discussion. They didn't really fight a lot, but they discussed things all the time. And it was often as close to an argument as they could get without actually calling it that. Their romantic life had been put on hold it seemed, they didn't have romantic dinners together anymore, they didn't rent romantic movies and they still slept in separate beds. Their sexlife had become mostly just a habit, they slept together every Saturday night and on no other days of the week. They both knew that the Saturday nights were just to keep their sexlife going at all, but even though neither of them admitted it even to themselves, they both looked forward to it and made the most out of it. During the days they mostly either bickered or barely even spoke, not out of anger or hurt but because they didn't feel like talking. The silences were never uncomfortable, but they were both very thankful that they had their children who kept the place from being awfully quiet. They didn't notice their tenant Sarah much, she kept to herself a lot. Monica appreciated that, since she didn't feel really comfortable around her.
"Look Chandler, really, I don't want anything!" Monica said, in the middle of their daily discussion. This time it was about her birthday.
"Honey how long have you been with me?"
"Closing in on ten and a half years."
"And have I ever forgotten your birthday during these ten years?" Chandler asked.
"Honey this is not about forgetting birthdays" Monica said. "It's about the fact that we're on a very tight budget and buying me presents is unnecessary."
"I don't care weather I HAVE to buy you something or not, I WANT to" Chandler said. "You know, you gave me a gift for my birthday."
"You turned forty honey. Look, please don't buy me anything for my birthday. I don't care about getting gifts anymore, you know that."
Chandler was just about to reply when Sarah stormed out of her room and into the bathroom. They heard her be sick and they looked at each other with a frown.
"Is there stomach flu going around?" Monica asked.
"I'll call your Mom and Dad, if they can come pick up the kids then maybe we can avoid them getting it" Chandler said and lifted the phone.
"Or we pass it on to my parents" Monica commented. "Go ahead and call them, I'll go see if Sarah's okay."
Chandler got Judy Geller on the phone, and explained what was going on. After listening to a monologue on how irresponsible it was to let strangers into their home and how it led to things like this, Judy told him she and Jack would come by and pick their grandchildren up. Chandler hung up with a sigh and saw Monica enter the kitchen.
"Yeah, she's sick all right" she said.
"I just spoke to your Mom, they're on their way."
"Good… Good, could you pack the kids' things, I don't think I should be around them too much since I'm more likely to have caught it than you."
Chandler nodded and helped the children get their things and explained to them that they were going to their grandparents' for a couple of days. Meanwhile Monica helped Sarah get into bed and put out a bucket for her. She barely noticed her parents coming to pick the children up. Chandler walked into the kitchen to talk to her once the kids had left. She was busy pouring Coca Cola into a big glass.
"Thirsty?" he asked.
"It's for Sarah" Monica explained. "I'm gonna wait until it's barely carbonated anymore and then give it to her, it helps."
"Home medicine a la the 21st century" Chandler commented and got out a glass for himself, and began filling it with Coca Cola.
"Actually the 20th, my Mother always gave Ross and me Coke when we had the stomach flu."
"I've never heard of that cure before" Chandler said and downed his glass.


Monica woke up that night at around 2 AM, feeling nauseous. She sighed heavily and realized she would probably get sick as well. She got out of bed and went to the bathroom down in the basement and stayed there for close to an hour, waiting to throw up. But when she never did she realized how tired she was and she walked back to the room where she and Chandler slept. She fell asleep again but woke up again after thirty minutes and felt even more sick. She went back to the bathroom and filled a mug with water. She knew that drinking water directly from the tap would either make her throw up or make her feel better. It turned out to be the first option.
Chandler woke up from hearing her being sick. He had slept very lightly, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to hear her and wake up. He got out of his bed and walked to the bathroom. He found her on her knees by the toilet, holding her hair back from her face and taking a couple of deep breaths. One look in the toilet told him he had been right, she had vomited.
He sank down next to her and wordlessly grabbed her hair, holding it back for her. He had done that many times when she had been pregnant, he was used to sitting next to her while she was sick. But he hated it almost as much as she did. He knew he couldn't do anything to help her, and that he would most likely be vomiting himself by the end of the day, but he knew his presence comforted her so he didn't leave. She threw up a couple of more times and then closed her eyes. She was shivering.
"Are you done?" he asked. She nodded for an answer. "It's like 4 in the morning" he said.
"Sorry" she said. "Didn't mean to wake you."
"Not much we can do about it now" he said. "Come, let me help you get up, you can go back to bed and I'll get you a bucket or something. And some towels for the bedside. And some Coca Cola for you."
"Thank you sweetie, but…" Monica said, while getting on her feet. "I don't want to lie down here. I want to be upstairs, it's just so depressing down here."
"Will the living room couch do?" he asked.
Monica nodded and rinsed her mouth with water to get rid of the taste in her mouth.


Chandler thanked his lucky star that he so far hadn't gotten sick himself, and that the children weren't in the house. Monica was quite sick, she was lying on one of the two couches in the living room and she threw up around every twenty minutes. By now she didn't have anything left in her stomach, when she vomited it was mostly just bile. He wished he could do more for her than keep her company and give her anything she asked for. Sarah was on the other couch, recovering from her illness the day before. She looked quite exhausted too.
"Here you go sweetie" Chandler said, putting a glass of water he had boiled and then quickly cooled off for her on the coffee table.
"Thanks" she mumbled and took a few sips.
Chandler gently stroke her hair while she drank. He could see how thirsty she was. He heard her stomach growl and he realized how hungry she must be too. He decided to get her something to eat so that she'd at least not be as hungry for a few minutes, and she wouldn't just get up bile when she got sick. He rose and went into the kitchen where he grabbed an apple from a bowl and got out a grater. He peeled the apple and then used the grater to mash it for her. He grabbed a teaspoon and walked out in the living room to her.
"Here honey, eat this" he said, sitting down next to her on the couch.
"I don't want anything to eat" Monica moaned.
"Come on, eat it. You'll feel better."
She sighed heavily and sat up somewhat. She slowly ate the mashed apple, having to force herself to swallow sometimes. But she ate it all. Chandler took the small plate from her and dished it in the kitchen. He came back out to the living room and sat down next to her and stroke her hair again.
"Feel any better?" he asked.
"A little" Monica said, mostly to make him happy. Then she started to cry. "Oh Chandler I hate feeling this way!" she said.
"I know" he said, pulling her into a hug.
"Why do I have to feel this way?" she asked, crying in his arms. "I had enough of nausea when I was pregnant, I've had more than my share of this, I nearly choke when I vomit and I'm both so hungry and so nauseous…" she sobbed. "It's not fair!"
"I know" Chandler said again.
He held her silently while she cried for a few more minutes and complained through her sobs. He hated seeing her like this, she had never had the stomach flu for as long as he had known her, he'd never seen her sick in this way. When she had been pregnant it had been whenever her stomach was empty, but now she had been throwing up for hours. And to top it all off she was crying, and he could barely handle that. He knew it took a lot to make her cry, which made it even worse. He wished for the umpteenth time that there was something he could do for her. After a short while she calmed down a bit and took a deep breath. Chandler broke the hug and she leaned over the bucket and vomited again. He held her hair back for her until she was done, and she sat back up.
"It tasted like apple" she said, almost chuckling.
Chandler nodded, not knowing what to say. He sat next to her for a while and she ended up falling asleep. When she had slept for forty-five minutes he rose and went into the kitchen to get something to eat. Then he went into the girls' room and fell asleep in Bridget's bed. He was still asleep when Monica woke up two hours later, feeling better than before she'd gone to sleep. She felt hungry and thirsty but didn't want to bother Chandler anymore and got up herself to go get something to drink at least.
"Mrs. Bing?" she heard Sarah's voice.
"What is it Sarah?"
"Are you going into the kitchen? Can I have an apple?"
Monica nodded and got herself a glass of Coke. Then she grabbed an apple and went back to the living room and handed the fruit to Sarah.
"I'm really sorry I brought the stomach flu here" she mumbled.
"Is it going around on campus?" Monica asked.
"My boyfriend's sister had it… I caught it from her…"
Monica nodded and went back to the other couch, sitting down on it. She hoped she was done vomiting, and that the children or Chandler wouldn't get the flu too.
"Is it really true that you get sick a lot when you're pregnant?" Sarah asked, remembering what Monica had said earlier on when she had been crying in Chandler's arms.
"All pregnancies are different…" Monica said. "When I was expecting Bridget I got sick maybe once or twice. With Emma I threw up every day for… six months, I think. And with Anthony I was sick almost every day for around four months."
"Gosh, I don't think I ever want to have children…" Sarah moaned. "I hate having the stomach flu."
"It's not really the same kind of nausea" Monica said.
"Yeah but still."
"I guess that means you're on the pill, huh?" Monica said.
"Excuse me?" Sarah said, blushing.
"Don't think I'm oblivious, you don't think I know that you sleep with your boyfriend every time he comes over?" Monica said. She saw how embarrassed Sarah looked. "You know, I don't care if you sleep with him or not for my own sake, I remember what it's like to be your age. And Chandler and I were quite active our first years together, and we got together when I was ten years older than you are now… But I do mind for the children's sake. I don't want my children overhearing you, and I don't want them to find out about reproduction by walking in on you two."
"Mrs. Bing, honest, we're never outside my room."
"Well the room you're sleeping in is mine and Chandler's old bedroom, the kids are used to finding us there, they might walk in there expecting to find us" Monica told her.
She rose and went into the kitchen to get another glass of water. She stopped in the doorway between the kitchen and the living room and slowly drank the water.
"Well like I said…" Sarah said. "I'm not really big on the whole reproducing thing myself. I don't want to get pregnant. I think marriage is useless. No offence, Mrs. Bing."
"You know Chandler used to say that…" Monica said. "He even said it when he and I were dating, right before he proposed. To throw me off track."
"I'm not going to propose to my boyfriend."
"No I know…"
"I just think the whole concept of marriage is a trap" Sarah said. "I might spend the rest of my life with my boyfriend and have children with him, I don't need a wedding ring to do that. Marriage doesn't make the relationship better, or more real. And besides, fifty years from now our feelings might have changed. Love burns out sooner or later, and if you're not married you can walk away from each other in an easy fashion and just be glad for the years you had, instead of being bitter because you're divorced."
"I don't think love has to burn out" Monica said. "Passion does, sooner or later… But then again it comes back every now and then. Never as strong as in the beginning, but still. Being married has been much better than anything I've experienced before. And you know, I've looked at him differently since he married me. He's not just a boyfriend, he's my husband. There's a huge difference…"
"Yes, but the difference is in your head, not in reality."
"I just love him more with every year that goes by. I don't think our love will burn out. I may not be a world-famous star or a Nobel Prize winner, I know lots of young people want a career before a family, but it doesn't matter to me. I have it all."
Sarah gave her a skeptic look. The Bings were nice people, but she didn't exactly think they were among the luckiest people in the world. They had little money and exactly the kind of life Sarah had always feared of getting herself. Monica saw her skeptic look and smiled slightly.
"You don't understand what I mean, do you?" she asked. "I have a husband, who is my soulmate, my best friend, my confidante… Life is good with him, even though we fight and we argue and we bicker I still really love him and I wouldn't trade him in for anything. And I have three great children that are his and mine. Once you get a little older you'll come to realize that the only thing you really need to have is the person you love more than your own life. It's cliché, I know, but there's a difference between being in love and being in love… Compared to what I have with Chandler, what I thought was true love in the past were merely crushes. And as far as marriage or not goes… I think if your relationship is strong enough to begin with, strong enough to last longer, then marriage will make it stronger. If you're in a marriage you have no choice but to try your very best to work things out, if you're just cohabs it's probably easier to walk away."
She felt another wave of nausea come over her and realized she shouldn't have had so much water to drink. She put the glass down and walked into the bathroom, knowing she would be sick again soon.


"As much fun as the rehearsal dinner was," Ross said, raising his glass, "I can assure you my friend, this bachelor party will be better."
"I'll drink to that" Joey said and clinked his glass with Ross's and then with the other men gathered around the table.
It was November, the night before Joey's wedding. Joey, Chandler, Ross and four other men had just left the rehearsal dinner to have a bachelor party combined with poker night in Joey's apartment, the one he and Clara would live in together from the next day on.
"It's been way too long since we had a night like this" Chandler said.
"Yeah, since your bachelor party" Ross said with a laugh.
"Well I am gonna party my ass off tonight" Chandler said and started dealing the cards. "I'm going to drink, gamble and cut it loose."
"Well that surprises me" Rick, one of the other men at the party, said. "I thought men who were married with children had left the party days behind them."
"Oh are you kidding me?" Chandler said. "I am going to make the most out of this night, it's so relaxing to for just one night not have to be a husband and Father."
"Maybe you shouldn't say that stuff in front of Joey" Nick, one of the other men, laughingly suggested.
"Yeah he comes with a lot of big talk now, but when the party is over he'll be happy to come home and snuggle with the Mrs." Joey said, laughing as well.
"How did the conversation end up on MY marriage, I figured Joey's upcoming would be tonight's topic" Chandler said. "Who wants cards?"
"Not me, I'm out, stupid worthless hand" Ross whined and threw his cards on the table.
"No more beer for Ross" Joey decided.
"Come on now guys, we have to play quickly, we have to get Joey drunk and passed out by eleven thirty or we won't be able to put him on that train to Milwaukee to make him miss the ceremony tomorrow" Chandler said with an eye on his watch, pretending to be serious.
"Nice try, I think Clara's put up guards on all the railway stations" Joey said with a laugh.
Chandler shook his head with a smile.
"Let's hope for her sake she's put up guards at La Guardia as well…" he said with a grin. "And as the best man, allow me to play a little song especially for the groom to be."
He got up from his seat and walked over to the stereo. He put a record in and hit play, then he raised the volume. Europe's 'The Final Countdown' started to play. Chandler grinned and walked back to his seat, while the other guys went 'ba ba ba ba' in rhythm with the sync melody.
"Am I the only one who thinks this party seems a bit too decent?" Rick asked, looking around. "I see no strippers."
"I will kill you" Joey said with a sharp glare at Chandler.
"Don't look at me, you know Ross planned this party" Chandler reminded him. "I've been to busy with fatherhood."
Joey gave Ross an angry glare and was about to say something evil when Ross cut him off by warning him that if he complained he might end up waking up in Mexico City the next morning. Joey decided to let it go for now and concentrated on the game again. After a while there was a knock on the door and Joey grinned.
"Aha! I knew you guys could be counted upon!" he said.
He got out of his chair and hurried over to the door. The other guys followed him. Joey opened the door and saw a female police officer standing there. Joey grinned even wider and nodded in approval.
"Who-ho, hello miss policeman!" he said.
The woman didn't look impressed, and told him that she was from the police. The guys laughed, thinking she was just playing a game with them.
"What's so funny?" the woman asked, looking annoyed.
"Hey, come on in, feel free to go ahead and do your thing" Joey said, waving the woman in. She entered, looking even more annoyed. "Are you gonna tell us what bad boys we've been?" Joey asked.
"Go Joe" Chandler said with a laugh. "39 years old and still likes that kind of stuff."
"I don't know what you think is going on here, but we have gotten complains about your loud music and I'm going to have to ask you to turn it down" the woman said.
The guys looked at each other and laughed again.


"Hope the rest of the evening is as funny as the first half" the policewoman said and closed the cell door.
"Oh come on now!" Joey whined.
They had realized a little too late that she really wasn't a stripper, and they had ended up getting arrested for 'working against the police' as she had put it. She was probably pretty offended by being taken for a stripper, and they couldn't deny that they hadn't done what she had asked them to. But they all thought arresting them was quite a bit too extreme.
"Look, listen lady!" Joey said. "I'm getting married in like twelve hours, I can't be stuck in here!"
"Actually this is more effective and much more original than the train idea" Chandler said, trying to make a joke.
"You've gotta let me go" Joey said to the policewoman, ignoring Chandler.
"Phone call!" Ross said. "We have phone calls, don't we?"
"I haven't exactly booked you for murder, no charges have been pressed, you don't need to be so dramatic" the policewoman said. "But yes, you can make a phone call."
"Okay, I'm gonna see if I can get a hold of Erica, she could come down here and help bail us out" Ross said.
He left with the policewoman and got back ten minutes later, looking very annoyed.
"She's not at home!" he angrily said. "And officer Hardball here wouldn't let me try and see if I could get a hold of anyone else."
"Ross how stupid are you, she's Clara's maid of honor, she's out on the bachelorette" Nick angrily said.
"Why didn't you call Rach? Or Phoebs?" Joey asked.
"Okay, I'll go and call Monica, I know she's at home" Chandler said. He sighed. "But oh man is she going to be mad…"
"Well she's bound to get mad once she finds out anyway, since her husband got himself arrested" Nick said.
"I know, but calling home at this hour will wake up the kids…" Chandler said with a sigh.
He left to call her and she seemed awfully calm on the phone. Although he knew it was getting late and she had probably gone to bed, and was probably both tired and shocked. She promised to come down to the station ASAP, and Chandler was taken back to the cell. He told the others that she was on her way, and then sat down and waited with the rest. Ross was humming 'The Final Countdown' and two of the others quietly sang the lyrics. When it had been nearly two hours they were starting to wonder if Monica was going to show up at all, but then they heard a door open and saw Monica enter with the policewoman. Chandler got up from the bunk bed he'd been sitting on and walked over to the cell door.
"Monica!" he said, with a relieved smile. "Boy am I glad to see you."
"All of a sudden it's not such a relief to get a night off from being a husband and a father, huh?" Joey said.
Chandler gave him an angry glare. He knew Monica was probably angry with him even if she looked calm, and he didn't need Joey to say things that might upset her.
"Oh chill out," Joey said, "I can't wait to have my own wife who can bail me out of jail… and other tricky situations…"
"Not the best aspects of marriage" Monica said through gritted teeth.
"Sweetie--" Chandler began, but Ross cut him off.
"What the hell took you so long?" he asked. "Chandler called you like two hours ago!"
"Well if you think you could just walk out of here for free you were mistaking" Monica said. "I had to find money to bail you out. And then officer Whitaker here and me had a very long and interesting talk about the maturity level of full-grown men."
"Sorry about the stripper thing" Joey said to the policewoman.
"Okay, fine, but could you let us out now?" Ross asked.
"Feel free to go" officer Whitaker said.
"Great, thanks a million for bailing us out Mon!" Joey said.
"Thank you, I love you!" Chandler said to her, but Monica didn't look too impressed.
Officer Whitaker opened the cell door and the guys hurriedly got out. Monica held out a hand and stopped Chandler.
"Not you" she said.
"What?"
"Not you" she repeated. "You're staying put."
Officer Whitaker closed the cell door again and grinned at him, then left the two alone.
"Monica what the hell is going on here?" Chandler asked.
"I didn't have enough money" Monica told him. "I could barely get enough to bail six men out, I was nowhere near getting all seven of you out. So one of you has to stay."
"And you're letting your husband stay?" Chandler asked, not thinking she was serious.
"Well it seemed more right than to just pick someone out in random" she said and then got angry. "Chandler what the hell have you done? How on earth did you end up getting ARRESTED? How incredibly stupid can a person get? First of all, it was NOT fun having to tell the children that you woke up when you called that I was going to have to go bail daddy out of jail, and it wasn't very fun waking Sarah up and ask her to watch the kids, because of the same reason. And Chandler you KNOW what a tight budget we're on! You know it just as well as I do! Maybe even better!"
"Whoa, hold on a second here, it's not like this was all done on purpose!" Chandler protested.
"You refused to turn the volume down and you called a policewoman a stripper!" Monica said. "What did you expect? I had to take our food money, the money we were saving for Christmas gifts for the children and all the loose money I could find to get you idiots out of here tonight!"
"They're going to repay you Monica, they can't expect us to just give that money too them" Chandler said. "Just get Joey or Ross back in here and make them cough up the money to get me out of here."
"I can't do that, neither of them have any loose money at the moment and there's no ATM in the area."
"Well call your parents, I'm sure they can lend us!"
"I can't believe you" Monica said, more upset. "How can you expect me to call my parents up at this hour and wake them up, asking them to give me money so I can get my husband out of jail? I won't do it Chandler! I won't! You can stay here tonight. I don't like it, don't think I'm leaving you just to be a bitch, but maybe you need to realize just how tight our budget is! Even with just your bail money we'll be short! I hate seeing you in there, I wish I could do more for you, but at the moment I can't! And don't be mad at ME, I didn't get you in this situation. You did that."
"I'm Joey's best man, I have to be at the ceremony tomorrow!"
"Yes I know that. But come on, you KNOW I would get you out of here if I could. But I just can't. And as much as I hate seeing you in there that does not mean I feel sorry for you, you are on VERY thin ice mister! For starters, do you wish to explain the stripper?"
"It's a BACHELOR party" Chandler said. "JOEY'S bachelor party. You must have known there would be strippers there."
"Well it's good to know in what way you spend your nights free from the duty of being a husband and a father."
"Oh please, don't start" Chandler whined. "Don't give me that crap. I've seen strippers a billion times, since when is that considered infidelity? Besides, I have to look at other women, how would I otherwise know how beautiful you are?"
"That was probably the lamest excuse of all time" Monica said, not at all impressed by his cheesy line. "And the stripper is a small deal compared to getting a phone call at midnight where you tell me you're in jail and need me to come bail you and the others out."
"I'm sorry, okay?"
Neither of them said anything else for a couple of minutes. Monica turned and walked towards the door.
"No! Monica wait!" Chandler said.
"What is it?" she asked, turning.
"Please don't go! Don't leave me here alone!"
"Chandler what do you want me to do, just stand here all night long?"
"Please babe, I don't want to be alone in here!"
"I have to go" Monica said. "I'll see you later."
Chandler stared after her when she left and felt how angry he was with her for leaving him like that.


He was still mad the next morning when Monica came back. He'd spent the night on the bunk bed, only getting a couple of hours of sleep. He didn't bother to hide his anger with her when he saw her, but she didn't seem like she cared. She looked haggard, her long hair looked like she hadn't brushed it in a long while and she had dark shadows under her eyes. She came in with officer Whitaker who unlocked the cell door and let him out. Chandler noticed how simple it was to let him out this time around, and he started to believe that he could have gotten out along with the others but Monica had let him stay because she was mad at him. He walked right past her without saying a word, not even responding to her 'good morning honey', and kept silent while officer Whitaker gave him back his wallet, and while he followed Monica out to the car.
"You might be interested in knowing that I talked her out of pressing charges at you" Monica said as she started driving home.
"What would she have pressed charges for?" Chandler asked, talking for the first time. "For mistaking her with someone?"
"Don't give me an attitude" Monica said.
"Yeah, why should I?" Chandler asked with a quippy tone. "I mean, after all, you only left me alone in a jail cell all damn night long."
"Well what else was I to do?" Monica asked, trying her best not to get worked up. "It's not like I went home and had a good night's sleep, for crying out loud! I spent the entire time between I left you there and now trying to find money to bail you out."
"How long can it take?" he angrily asked.
"You if anyone should know how hard it is" Monica said.
"So how did you end up finding the money, did you win the lottery?" Chandler asked, still with his quippy tone.
"No, I called your mother."
"You WHAT?" Chandler asked, turning to look at her for the first time.
"I called your mother" Monica calmly repeated.
"How could you?"
"Because we needed the money" Monica told him, stating the obvious.
"Yes but why the hell did you call my MOTHER? How could you call her up and tell her I was in jail and needed bail money?"
"Hey!" Monica said, snapping. "Weren't you the one who wanted me to call MY parents to tell them the exact same thing? Don't you DARE give me a hard time about calling your mother, it would have been a lot worse for me to call my own folks than for you if I called yours. You got yourself into jail, and I'd rather tell your mother than mine! And if you have nothing nice to say to me than shut up! I don't want to hear one unkind word from you, do you understand that? Do you know what you have accomplished? I have no money to pay the baby-sitter with! I talked to Sarah, she can watch the kids for a short while, when you and I go to Joey's wedding ceremony! But then I'm going to have to go back home and stay with the children. I'm going to miss out on one of my closest friends' wedding reception, and it's all thanks to YOU! I would force you to stay at home yourself, but since you're the best man you have to be there! I'm done talking to you now, you've completely ruined today for me, I was looking forward to this so much but now I'm going to miss out on everything! And you have the nerve to be ANGRY instead of grateful! Don't bother coming down to the basement to sleep tonight, I won't let you in to the room, you can sleep on the damn living room couch!"
Chandler was about to give her a poisonous reply, but then decided not to. She was playing the martyr role, she would be able to find someone who could baby-sit for free if she only made the effort. But he knew her well enough to know that she was close to crossing the line of how much she could take from him and he didn't want to push her over it.


It was the middle of the night when Chandler got home. Without thinking about it he began taking his clothes off to slip into a t-shirt he slept in, while walking down to the room where he and Monica slept. Just as he put his hand on the knob he remembered what she had said earlier. She had told him to stay away from there, to leave her alone. She didn't want him to be there with her. He suddenly felt very ashamed of himself, and very guilty. He remembered seeing her for a few minutes during the reception before she had had to leave, and she had been hugging Joey with tears in her eyes. He had overheard her tell him how sorry she was that she had to leave and how upset she was that she was unable to stay.
He decided to do as she had told him, to go and sleep upstairs. He opened the door anyway, to get his t-shirt which he kept under one of his pillows. He snuck quietly into the dark room and tried to be as quiet as he could. He didn't want to wake her. He looked over at her and felt even worse. She had had her hair up in a gorgeous way earlier, now it was just let loose. It was practically screaming to him that she had no use of wearing it up when she was home with the children instead of at the reception. He could see how puffy she was around her eyes and her cheeks looked damp. He knew she had been crying. He knew it wasn't because of how he had acted earlier, he knew it was because she had missed out on the reception. He knew she had probably been walking around in the house, bored out of her mind and changing Anthony's diapers and cooking the children dinner. And that she had all that time been thinking about the reception and about how fun the others were having. He felt like a bastard, like he had cheated her of the night. He almost wished he had been at home instead of her. He hadn't been able to have much fun anyway, he had missed their silent communication and just knowing she was there and was having a good time.
He grabbed his t-shirt and placed a careful kiss on her forehead. He whispered quietly that he loved her and then quietly left the room.


The communication between them almost stopped after that incident. Their Saturday night encounters stopped as well, and Monica stopped mentioning their financial problems. Whenever he sighed over their lack of money she just looked the other way, as if telling him that it was his own fault and that he had placed them all in that situation. It wasn't really fair, they hadn't lost anything with the whole bail problem, since the others had paid them back and his mother had paid his bail. But he got the feeling that she was sending the silent message that the money was his responsibility now and that if he screwed up again they would be out of it. The tension between them lifted somewhat though when Sarah went back home to Illinois a week before Christmas. Monica couldn't feel completely relaxed when she had someone she still considered an outsider in their home.
On Christmas Eve they went over to Rachel and Boris to have dinner. Boris had rich parents and a well-paying job, so when the two of them had decided to live together they had gone out and bought a house. The house was smaller than Chandler and Monica's, but it was quite big for only two people. On Christmas Eve though it was a good thing they had a house and not an apartment, since it turned out to be a large crowd gathered. Chandler and Monica brought their children, Ross brought both his fiancée and Carol, Susan and Ben, Joey of course brought Clara and Phoebe brought her new flame Niles. They had a nice time at dinner and the subject was mainly the newlyweds and Ross and Erica's wedding plans. They had set a date in April, around Easter, even though Phoebe had warned them that getting married at that time was bad luck.
Christmas Day was spent without any visitors. Bridget, with Emma in tow, woke Chandler and Monica up early and they got up and made breakfast before they let the children open their presents. They had decided not to buy each other anything, but as it usually went with that type of things Chandler had gotten her a sweater and she had gotten him a CD. The children didn't seem to mind that they didn't get too many presents, they hadn't gotten too many the year before either and Chandler had told them about how they shouldn't get hung up on material things and quantities. Monica made dinner, and felt quite low that they didn't even have a turkey. But when they sat down to eat, in the living room to make it a bit fancier, Chandler gave her a smile, jokingly raised his glass and held a short speech about how the Christmas had been quite all right anyway.
"And besides," he finished, "I agree with the movie slogan. Better porridge together than filet mignon alone."
Monica couldn't help giving him a loving smile. His comment sounded a bit silly, but it was sweet. She realized that this was their tenth Christmas together as an official couple. Their eleventh all together, but she didn't really count the first one since they weren't officially together then. She suddenly felt tired of bickering with him, she couldn't even remember what the reason for it all was, but she assumed it was linked to money and that several conflicts had turned into a big issue with his arrest. She just wanted to forget about everything like that just for one day, and judging by the look on his face he felt the same way. She smiled wider and her smile kept a secret promise to him. Once the children had gone to sleep that night she kissed him and enjoyed being kissed back. She led him to the room that had been their bedroom and fell down with him on the bed there. They hardly stopped kissing while they made love, and when he later on initiated sex a second time she sought out his mouth and kept it locked with hers. She felt more in need of his kisses than of anything else.
When he fell asleep with his head on her shoulder later on she felt queasy. She somehow knew that this had only been a one-night thing. That the next morning the distance between them would be right there again. She closed her eyes and felt miserable.


Things seemed to be even worse after that than Monica had predicted. Partly it was because they both had Christmas in fresh memory and how wonderful it had been. They both longed to get through to the other, but it seemed as if it was impossible. They started bickering again, they had their first real fight in almost a year, not counting the incident around Joey's wedding. They never chatted with each other at night and they barely even spoke during the day. And when they did it was as if they were strangers to each other. Finally one day, the day before Emma's fifth birthday, Monica reached her limit and broke down. Luckily enough it was only the two of them at home, the children were off with Phoebe and Niles during the day and Sarah was at a lecture. Chandler and Monica had started fighting again, this time over something as small as who would do the dishes. Their fights always started over small issues these days and led to bigger fights, and this time it led into a huge argument where they both vented a lot of their anger, hurt and frustration. And after over an hour of yelling at each other Monica couldn't take anything more and she sank down on a chair by the kitchen table and started crying.
"Oh God…" she sobbed. "Chandler I can't handle this, I just can't take this no more, I just can't, I cannot live like this… I can't live like a stranger to you, only communicating with you when we fight. I can't walk around being mad at you, disliking you or even being hurt by you, because god I love you… But it's like our marriage has ceased to work, it's like we can't function together anymore…"
"What does this mean?" Chandler asked, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning back against the kitchen counter. He felt almost as sad as she looked. "Do you want to throw in the towel?"
"We can't, we have too much invested in this marriage" Monica said through her sobs. "And we have the kids to think about. And I couldn't forgive myself if I let it all be over without the both of us fighting to save it."
"You can't fight only when it suits you!" Chandler angrily said. "You have to give and take, but you haven't bothered to try and read any of my signals or silent messages to you! And when I try to respond to yours you just push me away! Don't toy with me like that! If you want something to play with then go and find yourself a toy."
"See? This is what I mean!" Monica said, even more upset and not bothering to try and dry her tears. "It's only anger and fighting all the time. No attempts to try and solve anything without getting angry. The children must be feeling so terrible about the way their parents are acting towards each other, especially Bridget, you know how she gets! And we don't have any money, we don't have anything! And I'm fucking pregnant again!"
"Excuse me?"
"I'm pregnant, I'm pregnant, I got pregnant when we had sex on Christmas Day… And I just can't handle that, I can't bring another baby into this marriage the way things are right now…"
"Whoa, hold your horses, what the fuck are you trying to tell me?" Chandler asked, getting frustrated. "First you tell me you're expecting again, and now you tell me you don't want the baby?"
"The three children we have are suffering enough, I cannot believe I have to bring a fourth one into this whole mess. But if you're asking me if I want to give the baby up, then the answer is no. I could never do that." She started crying harder. "But it's just so unfair!"
Chandler walked over and sat down next to her. He reached out his hand and silently caressed the back of her head for a few seconds, and then played a little with her hair. He put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her closer to him. She didn't object, she let him pull her close and she rested her head against his chest. It wasn't so much that he pulled her close that comforted her, it was the knowledge that he wanted to comfort her and make her feel better.
"Monica honey…" he gently said. "You know, maybe this is a strictly GGOOD thing."
"Chandler you know that's not true. We are very unstable together right now, how can we bring another life into this? An innocent little baby?"
"That's an insult" he said. "It's an insult that you'd think I would just let things go on like this between us, especially knowing that we're going to become parents again. Don't you think I will do whatever it takes to work on this and make us find out way back to where we used to be?"
"That doesn't help" Monica said. "If our only reason for being able to make it work is that I'm pregnant again, it will just put off the inevitable. Once the baby gets older, or even as soon as it's born, we'll fall back in our old patterns and things will just be bad between us again. And what do we do then? Get me pregnant again?"
"I am trying very hard not to lose my temper with you again here" Chandler warned her. "If that's the way you feel then I won't even bother trying to save anything. I want to save this because I love you and because I don't believe that there's anything that we can't work past, except for one of us not wanting to work things out. If you don't want to honestly try then it will never work. I want to work things out because I love you and because when the children are grown and are living their own lives, I still want to be with you. If you can't see that then why are you still here?"
"I'm afraid that YOU only want to work things out for the baby's sake, okay?" Monica said, trying to dry her tears. "There's just this huge distance between us now, we can't communicate in the same way we used to, it's like we've grown apart. I used to always know what you wanted, but now I feel unsure. But I can tell you what I want, what I want is for us to be like we used to be. I want to have a good marriage again, one with hardly any fights and where you and I are best friends. You've been more like a stranger than a best friend recently, and I know I haven't exactly been a best friend to you either. But I want to get back to what we used to be. And not for the children's sake, but for my own. I don't want to lose you."
"And I don't want to lose you" Chandler said and kissed the top of her head. "Listen babe, everything is going to work out…"
"I'm not sure" Monica told him. "With a forth baby we're going to have even less money. I don't understand how we are going to have any time for anything else than working to earn more money."
"I'll talk to my parents" Chandler said. "Mom should have enough money to go around, and my Dad… I haven't asked anything of him since I turned eighteen, I don't think he'd be able to deny me money if I really needed it… Listen, whichever way it goes we CCAN work things out. I think we just need to remember that we can't set us aside like we have done pretty much ever since we moved, we can't forget that if we don't have us then there's no use having the other stuff."
Monica nodded. He put his other arm around her too, squeezing her lightly. She felt so relieved, she had really needed him to set aside his anger and comfort her, show her his support. And that was what he had done. When she had needed him he had set his anger aside and come over to her and hugged her. It felt like a sign that she hadn't lost him yet, she hadn't even been close, he had still been there for her even though she hadn't noticed it. And she had still been there for him.
"I love you" she said with her voice full of emotion. It had been a while since she had felt flooded with love for him, but now the feeling was back and as strong as it ever had been.


When Sarah came home a couple of hours later she was surprised to hear music playing and no voices talking to each other with annoyed tones. She felt creeped out each time she overheard the couple she rented a room from discussing things and sounding mad at each other. She knew that the music came from the living room and she recognized it as Peter Cetera's 'Glory of Love'. She quietly walked towards her room and stopped when she passed by the living room. Chandler and Monica were dancing closely together, seeming oblivious to everything around them. When she had left that morning they had barely spoken, now they seemed like everything was just fine. For the first time she actually saw them as a couple in love, he seemed to be worshipping her and meaning every word Cetera sang. And she seemed to be clinging to him like he was the only thing that kept her up in life. Sarah noticed the song fade out and another song start to play. The dancing couple didn't really seem to notice that there was no music for a couple of seconds, they didn't miss a single beat. The song that started playing, 'No Explanation', was about breakup and Sarah went into her room instead of continuing to look at them. It didn't really seem to suit them to dance to songs about heartaches and lost loves.
Chandler smiled when Monica tilted her head back and looked at him.
"The children will be back soon" she whispered.
"Yeah I know" he replied.
She smiled and kissed him. It was amazing what a few hours of working on their relationship could do, once they had made up their minds and come to a decision together. They had much more issues left to deal with, a couple of hours was in no way time enough for them to work everything through, but somehow it seemed as if just getting started with the process was enough to make them find their way back to the loving and romantic side of their marriage. They could set aside their anger and their hurt over different things, they knew it would be dealt with soon enough anyway, they just enjoyed being in each other's arms again. Monica reached for another kiss when they heard the doorbell ring and then the door open.
"Hello?" Phoebe's voice said.
"Hi" Monica said back.
She walked out to the hall and greeted Phoebe, Niles and the children. Chandler came behind her and lifted Anthony up to go get him ready for bed while Monica talked to Phoebe for a while. Chandler had gotten Bridget ready for bed too by the time Phoebe and Niles left, and he was sitting in the living room with Emma, reading a book to her. They let her stay up later than her siblings since it was her birthday the next day. Monica decided to get her ready for bed though, and then let Chandler continue reading to her. Emma ended up falling asleep in his lap and Monica lifted her up and took her to bed. She then went back to the living room where Chandler started the stereo, with a low enough volume to keep the children from waking up.
"One more dance before we hit the sack?" he asked.
"Sure" she grinned. "What song did you have in mind?"
"Actually not a song" he said.
She looked a bit confused but walked closer to him and leaned against him as they started to dance. After a few seconds he explained what he meant.
"It's purely instrumental. It's actually the theme from 'Jurassic Park'."
"And that is romantic to you?" Monica asked.
"Actually it is."
She decided to focus on listening to the music. She thought she recognized it as what played in the background when the main characters first saw the dinosaurs but she wasn't sure. She realized what he meant though, it was a beautiful piece. And she had never danced to classical music before, especially not cheek to cheek, and it was a new experience for her. But she found it romantic and soothing. She closed her eyes and just listened to the music, feeling Chandler's lips against the top of her head.
"Thank you" she whispered when the music had ended. "I've never done anything like that before."
Chandler just nodded and led her with him down to the basement. From some silent agreement they both lay down on her bed, Chandler on top of Monica, kissing with a few seconds between each kiss. The kisses didn't lead to sex this time, but before Chandler left her bed to go to his own, they shared a look which made them both wonder why they let it end at a couple of kisses.


A couple of nights later Monica was in bed a while before Chandler, and when he entered the room he looked around with slight confusion.
"Mon?" he said.
"Yeah?" she said, knowing what he was wondering.
"Why… Aren't there any sheets or pillow cases on my bed?"
"If you want to you can go and get some" Monica said. "But actually I was kind of hoping you would stop sleeping in that bed and come sleep here with me. I keep feeling like we're somehow not a real married couple when we sleep in separate beds. I know it's insane, but…"
"Well sure, I'll come sleep next to you" Chandler said. "But Monica I have to admit, I'm not so sure there's enough room for the both of us."
"You've slept here with me before."
"Yeah…"
He came over and she lifted the covers, inviting him in. He got under the covers and turned the light above their heads off. The room got dark, he couldn't really see her at first even though they were so close they were touching. He felt a bit uncomfortable, like he could fall off the bed at any time if he didn't lay on his side, but decided to at least give it a try for a couple of weeks, for Monica's sake. He put an arm around her waist and as if she somehow sensed that he was bothered by the lack of space she moved as close to the wall as she could get and laid on her side. There was room enough for one of them to lie on the side and one of them to lie on the back or the stomach. He moved further in on the bed and decided to lie on his back. He sighed and looked up at the ceiling. He was so used to how it looked from the other bed, but it seemed like a different ceiling from this one. Monica put an arm across his chest and leaned her head against him. She pulled up her right leg and ended up draping it across his hips and legs. The touch of her leg against his crotch turned him on and he lifted her head up to kiss her.
"Chandler" she said before he had the chance to kiss her a second time. "Listen… I know you really want sleeping space… and you don't have to stay here every night, I can make your bed for you tomorrow… But I would really like it if you slept here with me at least a few nights a week."
Chandler kissed her again and showed her in every way he could think of that this was where he wanted to be. Monica felt happier than she had in a long time and for the first time since she'd discovered she was having another baby she thought about it with a smile on her lips.


Chandler ended up staying in her bed every night. He felt like she needed him to, and he appreciated the physical closeness with her after the months they'd spent being like strangers to each other. And it was a lot easier to have friendly chats about everything and nothing when they were in the same bed, and having her so close sparked his sex lust again and they slept together almost every night.
"You know something?" Monica said late one night, when Chandler was really close to falling asleep.
"What?" he mumbled, barely opening his mouth to form the word.
"I should be so miserable right now… We have almost no money, we have to rent a room to a stranger and sleep in the basement, I'm in the middle of another pregnancy with morning sickness and everything else that comes with it and I have three children to look after, the one I'm carrying excluded. But the thing is, I have to tell myself to feel miserable and depressed, because the truth is I don't. I don't feel miserable. Or depressed. I'm happy. Sure, this is not the way I thought our life would be, but as long as it's OUR life I'll be happy. Waking up every morning with you this close to me makes me happy. Having you here, greeting you every day when you come home from work, eating my dinners with you, watching you with the children… And then going to bed with you right there next to me, so close that I'm always touching you. All of that makes it impossible for me to be miserable. As long as I have you I'll be happy. As long as we're fine I will be too."
Chandler didn't say anything to that, but he turned around in bed and put his arm around her waist.
"You said when you proposed that I make you happier than you ever thought you could be…" Monica continued. "I never thought I could be this happy in this type of situation. It's all thanks to you."
"Thank you" Chandler said.
"For what?"
"For saying that. I've been feeling so lousy about myself, it feels like I've let you down. I promised in my proposal that I would do anything to make you happy. And I've watched you being unhappy now and… and it just means so much to me to hear you say that I'm what's keeping you from being miserable."
"What makes me miserable and unhappy is when things aren't right between us… when I feel I can't reach you. That makes me unhappy."
Chandler nodded and kissed her neck. As a response she sat up and pulled the covers off them, and then pulled his underwear down. He grinned as she bent down over him, and he realized for the hundredth time how lucky he was for finding someone like her, who would give him so much joy and pleasure and receive the same from him.


"Are you going to talk to me at all?" Monica asked Emma, who had come and sat down where Bridget had been sitting earlier.
"I… don't know" Emma said.
"I don't understand" Monica said. "Did I do something wrong?"
"Yes" Emma said, fighting to keep her tears back.
"Well what did I do?" Monica asked. "Don't be anything else but honest with me Emma, this is my husband's wake and I'm facing as much sorrow as I can take, knowing that my daughter is keeping things from me would only make things worse."
"You promised!" Emma said.
"Promised what, dear?"
"To call us if Dad got any worse!"
Monica nodded slowly, realizing.
"You're mad at me for not calling you."
"I never got to say goodbye!" Emma said, starting to cry. "I never got to tell the man I've loved since my birth how much I love him, I never got to say to my Father how much I have to thank him for."
"Oh come on now honey…" Monica said softly, trying to put her arm around Emma, but got shrugged away. "Do you think I kept you from being there? That I didn't call you because I didn't want you to get to say goodbye?"
"You can't blame age and memory" Emma sobbed.
"Well what do you think then? That I wanted him all to myself in the end? That I wouldn't want him to get to see the faces of his children before he died? Emma it wasn't like he got slowly worse. He kept saying he wouldn't live much longer, but he had no idea himself when exactly he would die. If I had gotten the chance I would have called you, but when I understood what was happening I couldn't leave him. And it wouldn't have mattered either way, he would have been dead even before I got back from calling you all. And I thought it was best to sit next to him, that that was better than to leave him alone and call you up, letting him die alone."
"I don't believe you" Emma sobbed. "You must have seen it coming much sooner than just a matter of minutes before!"
"I've known he was dying sweetheart, but not when" Monica said. "You know, if you put a frog down in boiling water it jumps up, but if you put it in a pot and start heating the water it will stay in the pot and be boiled alive."
"Gross, Mother" Emma said.
"You don't see what my point was?"
"How to kill a frog?" Emma quipped.
"I've been by his side every day for the past twenty years, and I mean every single day. I've watched him get older, watched the man I love grow weaker and sicker, and closer to dying. But I have also gotten used to it all, that's why I at first didn't realize that he was really going to die."
"Fine…" Emma said, still crying.
"He asked me to tell you children something before he died" Monica said.
"What was it?"
"That he loves you. Very much. Even though you weren't there he knew he was on your minds. And you were on his. And trust me on this Emma, he needs no thanks for what he has given to you, because you have given him so much in return."
"Have we?" Emma asked in a whisper.
"Of course you have. And he has always been proud of you. Don't go around being mad at me darling, who knows for how long I will be around? I know that you don't mean anything deep down, I know that you love me. But if I were to die and you were mad at me, it would scar you. Trust me."
Emma nodded and dried her tears.
"I love you mom" she said.
"I love you too honey…" Monica said and hugged her. "You look so much like your father that it's almost scary. And your children all have his eyes. That's the beauty of reproduction, it keeps you from completely losing someone."
Emma nodded and broke the hug.
"What are you going to do now Mother?"
"Your sister asked me that earlier…" Monica said. "I haven't even fully understood that I'll never get to see my Chandler again, I haven't gotten as far as thinking out what to do from here on."
"It really hasn't sunken in with you yet, has it?" Emma asked.
"His death?"
"Yeah."
"Is it that obvious?" Monica asked.
"To those who know you…" Emma said. "You're… too happy, sort of. Not that you're happy, but it's just that I would have thought you'd be much more of a mess."
"Chandler told me not to cry" Monica said. "Right before he died. He can't stop me from crying no more than he can stop me from missing him for the rest of my life, but I understand what he meant. He's never handled my tears very well."
"Is that why you're not crying?"
"I will cry… I will cry a lot… But not crying is not the same as not grieving… But this far it has only struck me a few times. That I'm a widow. That I'll never get to see him again. And whenever it has I just want to drop dead on the spot. I don't wish to be one of those women who become widows at an old age and still live on for years, moving on with their lives. I built my life around him, around us. It's too empty without him. But at least I have one last thing left from him, sort of a last gift from him to me…"
"What is that?" Emma asked.
"It's between your father and myself" Monica said.
"Okay…"
Monica glanced over at the coffin next to her. She felt a strike of panic as the realization was coming back to her. She would never get to be with him again, he was gone for good. She closed her eyes and started crying. Emma put her arms around her and after a few seconds she felt one of her other children's arms around her from behind.



Part 3 coming along shortly, I hope. Hopefully it won't be this long. Please review, if there's something you dislike then let me know what it is and how I could have done it better. And if there's something you liked you could always feel free to tell me that too :). E-mail me at [email protected], and note that it's 2 underlines in the address…