Monica woke up to feel Matt's small body pressed up against hers and a small
smile lit up her face. She was used to Matt coming into her bedroom when he
had a nightmare, the reason for her smile was the night before.

The only thing Monica was worried about was how Chandler would react. She
knew him well six years ago, but had he changed? From what she'd seen of him
last night she didn't think so, but she could never be sure.

Monica got out of bed slowly, careful not to wake up her sleeping child, and
went into the kitchen to begin making breakfast, as she did every morning.

It was in the middle of this that Chandler knocked on her door.

Monica felt regret as she opened it slowly. "You didn't used to knock," she
told him. "You used to just come right in."

"Well we haven't talked for six years so I didn't know whether to just come
in like old times and I decided to go with the safe choice," Chandler told
her as she let him in the apartment. "You're alone?"

"Matt," Monica said, gesturing to her bedroom. "But he usually sleeps till
late. Why?"

"I was hoping to get you alone," Chandler said. "I wanted to talk."

"About what?"

"About you avoiding my phone calls and ignoring my letters until it got to
point where I didn't even bother," Chandler said bluntly. "I planned on
coming to see you as soon as I got a chance, but by the time the chance
arose I was so pissed at you I didn't take it."

Monica felt herself moving slowly as she put together ingredients and it was
a long moment of silence before she finally replied. "All I can do is say
that I'm sorry and hope that you except it. I had a reason, but I'm not
ready to tell you yet."

"Monica, since when have we not told each other everything?" Chandler asked,
his voice filled with emotion.

"Since you left me to go be famous," Monica replied coldly. "Before we even
got a chance to talk about--" she stopped in the middle of her sentence and
continued with breakfast.

"That night," Chandler finished for her. "If you read my letter than you
would know how I felt."

"I was in too much pain to read them," Monica said. "You were one of my best
friends, Chandler! We've known each other so long I can't even remember not
having you living across the hall, making corny jokes that still manage to
make me laugh. When you left, you hurt me. Wasn't I reason enough for you to
stay?"

Chandler sighed and got up to put his arms around her waist. "You were. I
was too stupid to realize. Mon, you have to understand, I thought of the
movie as a vacation. I had no idea that I'd be where I am today. That it
would be the number one movie in America for weeks on end. I planned on
making the movie, having a little fun, and then coming back to my dead end
job here."

"I planned on telling you when you got back," Monica whispered. "But you
never came back."

"What did you plan on telling me?" Chandler pressed.

"I-I can't . . ."

"When you're ready," Chandler said. He brought a hand up to move her hair to
one shoulder and tenderly kissed her neck.

Monica let herself sink into him and closed her eyes. "I missed you," she
finally said. "I missed you more than I realized."

"Ditto."

"Look, about that night . . . I know it's been six years . . . but I--"

"I smell food!" Joey said, coming into the apartment. Chandler and Monica
jumped apart from each other and Joey gave them a smile. "Whatcha been
doin'?"

"Talking," Chandler said calmly.

"Oh." Joey frowned, disappointed. "So, Mon, when do we get to see your little
boy."

Monica got a look on her face. She had forgotten about Matt as soon as she
laid eyes on Chandler. "Soon."

"Good," Joey said. "Now, Mon, I know I'm not supposed to pressure you, but
can you just tell me who the father is? I want to kick his ass for ditching
you--"

"He didn't ditch me," Monica interrupted. "Besides, once you find out who
the father is it's my ass you're gonna want to kick."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Joey asked, confused.

"You'll find out soon enough," Monica sighed. "Breakfast is ready, by the
way. I thought the rest of the guys would be over by now."

"Oh, they said something about giving you and Chandler some privacy, so they
won't be over."

"Okay, I'm confused," Chandler said, looking at Joey. "For one thing, why are
they giving us privacy. And for another don't you think they meant for you to
give us privacy as well?"

"I gave you twenty minutes." Joey shrugged.

"Joey, take some food and go back to your apartment. I need to discuss
something with Chandler," Monica said after a pause. She had finally decided
to do it.

Joey, sensing the seriousness of the situation, left the apartment at once
with his plate piled high with food.

"What's wrong?" Chandler asked instinctively.

"Nothing. Yet," Monica said. She turned to Chandler. "What you're about to
see is going to give you the biggest freak out of your life, okay? Just know
that I warned you."

Chandler nodded at her retreating form.

Monica went into her bedroom and gently nudged Matt awake. "Breakfast's
ready, sweetie. And I have a surprise for you."

Matt's eyes lit up and he smiled at her. "A new toy?"

"No, something better," Monica said in a sugary voice. "That is, depending on
your surprise's reaction to you."

Monica picked Matt up and slung him around her waist, then took a deep breath
and went out of the bedroom. Chandler looked confused as he saw her with
a child hiding against her breast, but he didn't say anything.

Monica set Matt down on the floor so that Chandler could see all of the
little boy. "Chandler, this is Matt. Matt, this is Chandler."

Chandler's eyes widened at Matt's features -- so similar to his own it was
like looking through a time machine. His eyes shot to Monica's sharply and
she nodded with tears in her eyes.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Chandler asked, wonder and amazement in his voice
as he inspected his son.

"I've already told you. I was going to when you came back after your first
movie, but then you kept getting more and more movies and I decided it would
be best to keep it silent."

"Monica . . ." Chandler trailed off, then tried again. "We only had that one
night."

"Apparently it was enough," Monica said. Matt began to tug at her pant leg
and she picked him up again.

"But, I mean . . . we used protection." His face clouded. "Didn't we?"

"Yes," Monica answered. "But it wasn't enough."

"It should be!" Chandler said, jumping up. "I mean, that's it's job! It's
supposed to work! There-there isn't any 'enough' or-or 'too little'. It's
just supposed to *work*."

"Chandler," Monica said cooly, "I love Matt and I don't think that that night
was a mistake. I just hoped that you'd feel the same way."

Chandler got up and went to the little boy in Monica's arms. "Hey, Matt."

"Hi," Matt said, his voice very shy.

"How old are you?"

"Five," Matt said. He brought his head up from being buried in Monica's
shoulder to look at the curious stranger. "Who're you?"

"Your daddy," Monica said gently.

"My . . . daddy?" Matt asked. His brain caught up quickly. "Like Uncle Ross
is Ben's daddy?"

"Like Ross is Ben's daddy," Monica assured her son.

"How come I've never seen him before?" Matt asked curiously. "Ben always
sees his daddy."

"Well, Matt," Chandler said. "I was actually off in a faraway land, fighting
bad guys to save my kingdom."

"Really?" Matt asked in awe.

"Uh-huh," Chandler said solomnly.

Matt climbed down from Monica's arms. "Can you tell me more about it, Daddy?"

Chandler's face lit up at that simple word and he gave Monica a look of
wonder. He turned back to the child and began to make up a story about kings
and queens; making Monica the herione princess in the story.

Monica looked on at the two on the couch and felt her heart lurch. Chandler
had taken it okay. He wasn't freaking out . . . he was happy. He was amazed.

He had taken to it as if it was an everyday occurance and if anybody looked
and listened at the two you would never guess that they had just met.

Monica smiled and tears came to her eyes. She should have told him sooner.
Matt had deserved to have this wonderful man in his life.

* * * * *

Chandler spent the whole day with Matt. He still couldn't get over the
unbelievability that this was, in fact, his child.

He felt angry at Monica, but more than that he felt . . . different, changed.
No matter what he wanted to do, he could never be mad at Monica, even though
she'd kept Matt from him for so long.

The others came by once, but when they realized that Monica, Matt, and
Chandler needed some time alone they left and didn't come back.

It was around eight p.m. when Monica, Chandler, and Matt were all watching a
movie together. Some Disney movie that Matt picked out.

Soon Chandler found that he was the only one awake. Matt was curled up on
one side and Monica on the other.

He looked between the two and he was so happy it was almost painful. He
gently disentangled himself from Monica and picked Matt up, careful not to
wake either of them. He put Matt into his own bed, pulling the covers up and
kissing him on the forehead.

It seemed so natural to him, and this made the smile on his face grow wider
than humanly possible.

Chandler shut the door quietly and turned around to see Monica looked up at
him, eyes unfocused from sleep.

"Hey," she whispered.

"Hey," Chandler said back, going to the couch to sit beside her. "Matt . . .
he's wonderful."

Monica smiled. "He is," she agreed. "I love him so much."

"I never thought I could say this about someone after knowing them only for
one day, but I do too," Chandler said resolutely.

Monica sat up and gave Chandler a guilty look. "I should have told you. I
realized this today -- when you first saw him. Oh, Chandler, when I saw that
look in your eyes I realized that I deprived both of you from knowing each
other. And now you're going to be here for only a few months and then you'll
be gone and--"

Chandler put a finger to her lips to shush her. "I have a contract for a
movie after this one that I've already signed. After that I'm free."

"But you can't give up your whole career just for us."

"I want to," Chandler said. "And I would have done that six years ago, after
my first movie was a hit. You knew that."

"I pretended it wasn't true," Monica said. She sighed. "Every single day I
got criticism from Ross. When we first found out you were coming he said
something that I'd been denying. I was trying to make you into some jerk; I
was convinced that when you found out about Matt you would be horrified and
not treat him right, not be the father he deserved. Each day you were gone
my ideas seemed more and more real. I was only thinking that way because I
wanted to feel right about not telling you. But now I feel so guilty . . ."

"You should," Chandler said. "But what happened is gone, we can never have
those years back. All I know is that I want to know Matt for the rest of my
life. Or his. Depending on which of us goes crazy first."

"Where is your next movie going to be filmed?" she asked.

"London," Chandler answered. He suddenly got a look on his face. "Come with
me. You and Matt both. Maybe even the rest of the gang. I know Joey doesn't
have a movie until a month after mine will begin so we can all stay there
together. Kind of a 'get-to-know-each-other-again' trip. I'm sure it would
be great for Matt. I mean, how many five-year-olds can say they've been to
another country?"

"What about the press?" Monica asked, sighing. "I can't expose Matt to that."

"We don't have to tell the press who Matt is."

"Chandler," Monica said in a tone that implied he was stupid, "you know as
well as I do that Matt looks nearly exactly like you. There's no way they
wouldn't figure it out. There are going to be vicious news articles and I
just can't do that to him."

"Neither can I," Chandler said. "But I can't be apart from you two. Now that
I have you, I never want to let you go again. We both made mistakes, Mon. You
should have told me and I should have come back. If not for you, for Ross,
Rachel, and Phoebe. Joey was the actor, not me."

"I missed you," Monica said, hugging him fiercely.

"I missed you too," Chandler said into her hair as their arms held each other
close.

Monica pulled away and looked up at Chandler. "How long will the movie in
London be?"

"Three, four months?" Chandler suggested. He ran a hand through his hair.
"I don't want to be gone from you for so long."

"I would come with you, just me alone, but I can't leave Matt," Monica said.

"I wouldn't want you to."

Monica snuggled against Chandler's chest and let out a content sigh. "I don't
want you to go away again, though. I don't care for how long."

Chandler held onto her waist as he moved on the couch so that he was laying
down with her on top of him, resting her tired head on his chest.

"We'll work it out," Chandler said confidently. "But we have a couple of
months before the time comes."

"We'll work out," Monica repeated sleepily with a yawn.

* * * * *