A month later things had calmed down a little bit. Chandler wasn't as
overprotective of Monica and the gang quit asking them if they were going to
get together. (To Monica and Chandler's relief)

Monica and Chandler had decided that moving in together was the only option
if they were going to raise the baby with a mother and a father. So Chandler
was beginning to pack his things to move across the hall in Rachel's old
bedroom while Rachel packed her things to go live with Phoebe.

Ross was just walking into Monica and Rachel's apartment when the phone
began to ring. He searched desperately. "Pen and pad . . . pen and pad . . .
found it! Okay . . ." he raced for the phone and picked it up. "Hello? This
is Monica and Rachel's. Soon to be Monica and Chandler's."

"Ross?"

"Mom?!"

"What did you mean 'soon to be Monica and Chandler's'. Isn't Chandler that
boy you met in college that hates Thanksgiving?" Judy Gellar asked.

"Um . . . yeah. He was at my wedding, remember? In fact, he's been at every
important even with me for the past eleven years," Ross said, sounding a
little bit annoyed.

"Oh, yes," Judy said absently. "Why is Rachel moving out and Chandler moving
in?"

"Um . . ." Ross jumped as the door opened and Monica came inside. "*That* is
a question you should ask Monica. Hold on." He tossed the phone to Monica.
"Good luck, Mon."

Monica looked at him quizzically, then answered the phone, "Hello?"

"Monica, darling," Judy greeted, sounding irritated. "Why is Rachel moving
out and the boy who hates Thanksgiving moving in with you?"

Monica froze.

"Monica?"

"Um, Mom, maybe we should discuss this over dinner . . . with Chandler,"
Monica said nervously.

* * * * *

"Ross! Ross! Where the hell is he?!" Monica demanded, running into Centrel
Perk, looking and sounding very angry.

The four on the couch pointed to the bathroom.

"Chandler!" Monica said, grabbing his arm and hauling him onto his feet.
"You go get him for me."

"What did he do?" Chandler wondered, reluctant to get in between what looked
like a sibling fight. Sometimes Monica and Ross were so childish.

Monica looked at Chandler, eyes blazing. "He told my mother that we were
moving in together!"

"What? No . . ." Chandler turned to go to the bathrooms, looking quite
shaken. "No, no, no, no, no . . ."

"Ross!" Chandler said angrily as he came into the bathroom.

"Um, Ross isn't here."

"God do you sound a lot like him."

"Um . . . this is *Russ* not Ross."

"I can't believe you told your mom about me and Monica. She is going to kill
Monica for this and I don't want Mon getting upset with the baby."

Ross came out of the stall. "I didn't know. And I didn't tell her that Monica
was pregnant; just that you two were living together. It was an accident."

"How?" Chandler folding his arms.

"Well, I answered the phone: Monica and Rachel's. Although soon to be Monica
and Chandler's and she started asking questions and Monica came in so I
threw the phone at her and bolted."

"Your maturity--"

"Chandler, you are good for *nothing*!" Monica yelled, coming into the men's
bathroom and looking extremely pissed.

Chandler wrapped his arms around her waist to keep her from going at Ross.
"Mon, don't get upset. We've already learned that that baby is fragile."

Monica relaxed and leaned against him, breathing slowly. "You're right.
Sorry." She glared at Ross. "As soon as this baby is born I am going to kick
your ass, Gellar!"

"You're getting worked up," Chandler pointed out. He looked around suddenly.
"Listen, it might make me feel better if we could get out of the men's
bathroom."

Monica nodded and walked out to where the couch was, Chandler's arms moved
from around her waist to one around her shoulders and they sat side by
side on the couch.

"What happened?" Rachel asked eagerly, being the gossip that she is.

"Ross kind of told Monica's mother that we're going to be moving in
together," Chandler said, putting his arm back around her to keep Monica
calmed down.

"Oh, my God," Phoebe said. "What are you going to do, Monica?"

"I didn't want to tell her over the phone so we're going out to dinner
tomorrow night." Monica shifted to look up at Chandler sheepishly. "When I
say 'we' you're kinda included."

Chandler instantly took his arm back from around her and scooted a little bit
aways. "What? Your mother is like-like this . . . demon or something. What
do you think she's going to do to me when she founds out I knocked you up?"

"Please don't say 'knocked up' again. I find it disrespectful," Monica said
sternly.

"Sorry," Chandler said quickly.

"She's just going to have to accept this." Monica glared at Rachel as she
burst out laughing.

Rachel calmed down to say, "Sorry. It's just, you know . . . it's *Judy
Gellar*, Monica. Your mother. Remember?"

Monica sighed and leaned back on the couch. "I hate my life. I was worried
about this after I took the home test, but I tried to push it out of my
mind."

"I guess I can come," Chandler said reluctantly. "As moral support."

"Oh, you are a life saver," Monica breathed, sitting up straighter. "You
know what could make me feel even better?"

"Mon, I don't think sex is the answer," Phoebe said gently. "Remember what
happened the last time you had it?"

Monica gave Phoebe a look, then continued, "Is if you could . . . pretend
that we're in a serious relationship. Please, please, please, Chandler. They
won't be as hard on us that way!"

Chandler stared at Monica's pleading eyes and felt himself melting. He could
never say no to her . . . what kind of father was he going to be if his child
inherited it's mother's eyes?

"You owe me," he finally said reluctantly.

Monica hugged him in happiness and kissed him softly on the cheek. "Thank
you so much. I'll do anything for you. The next time you need a favor, I'm
there."

"I doubt that but okay."

* * * * *

"Monica, darling," Judy Gellar greeted her daughter with a kiss on the cheek.
"Oh, you really shouldn't wear black. It makes you look boney."

Monica rolled her eyes at Chandler who gave her a look of sympathy.

After all four had sat down, Jack Gellar finally broke the silence. "So are
you going to tell us what's going on or what?"

Monica patted Chandler on the knee for encouragement, then smiled nervously
at her parents. "Well, Chandler and I have some good news."

"That depends on how you look at it," Chandler muttered so only she could
hear.

Monica elbowed him unnoticably and continued: "Chandler and I have been
dating for quite some time now and we've decided to move in together."

Judy and Jack stared between the two in shock.

"Isn't he gay?" Jack asked finally.

"Dad!" Monica hissed and tried not to laugh at the expression on Chandler's
face.

"I think you two are moving too fast," Judy stated.

"Think whatever you want," Monica told her cheerfully. "And that's not all
of our good news."

"You're going to give me a heart attack at this rate," Jack said, clutching
a hand to his chest.

"I'm also pregnant," Monica blurted out.

"Oh, dear God," Jack mumbled, looking up at the ceiling.

"Mom?" Monica prodded her mother, wanting to get the worst part done and
over with.

"Does Ross know about this?" Judy asked.

Monica clucked her tongue in annoyance. "In fact, yes he does."

"What does he think?"

"Um, well . . ." Monica paused and cocked her head, thinking about it. "He's
happy but he's a little mad since, you know, Chandler's his best friend and
I'm his little sister."

"I really think you should have stayed with Richard," Judy commented. "Tell
me, why did you two break up again?"

Monica stared at her mother in shock. She knew that Judy was hurtfull and
rude, but Judy Gellar was taking this too far.

"I don't know. I guess it's because I'm a failure and everything I do is
wrong," Monica burst out before standing up and stomping out of the
restaurant.

Chandler glared at the Gellars and stood to follow Monica as well.

Monica was waiting for Chandler, looking a mix of angry and on the verge of
tears.

Chandler put his arm carefully around Monica's waist and they began to walk
together.

"You okay?" Chandler whispered after a while.

Monica nodded. "Yeah. She just gets me so pissed sometimes, you know? I mean,
it doesn't bother me anymore, but she still had no right to mention my
break up with Richard."

"It doesn't bother you?"

"No. It's been a couple of years and now that I think about it we really
weren't together all that long. I didn't get that feeling with him, you know?
I mean, don't get me wrong, I loved him . . . but I didn't have that feeling
where you want to spend every waking moment with a person. Whether you're
sitting watching a movie or, well, doing it. Sometimes he could get
annoying. And all of his friends were always so much older than me. And you
guys all thought of him as a dad or something."

"I see," Chandler said slowly, starting to rub the small of her back without
realizing it. "When are you going to patch things up with your mother?"

"The next time she calls. So, probably tomorrow or the next day," Monica
said.

"She really shouldn't treat you that way."

"I know. She knows. Dad knows. Everybody knows but no one can change her
attitude," Monica said resentfully. "I've put up with it this long though,
it's gotten to the point where I just ignore her."

"I guess having a mom that criticizes you is much worse than having a mom
that writes erotic novels and actually makes money off of them," Chandler
said, hoping to make Monica smile.

Monica did smile a little bit. "I don't know . . . at least Nora is nice
to you."

"Yeah, she is," Chandler admitted.

"Although in the dad department I think I'll keep mine."

"Good decision."

"Thanks . . . for making me feel better," Monica said as they arrived at
their building. "And thank you for being so acceptant about all of this."

"It's nothing," Chandler said truthfully. "As long as it's for you."

Monica smiled at him and they continued up the stairs to the hallway where
their apartments were.

* * * * *

"Hey, you guys!" Monica greeted with a grin on her face a couple of days
later as she walked into the coffee house.

"Why's she so perky? She hasn't had coffee in a couple of months, it's just
not possible," Ross groaned.

"She's having her first sonogram today," Rachel explained.

"Oh, yeah, I forgot," Ross said sarcastically. "Oh, wait. I think I might
have remembered you telling me . . . every five minutes for the past week
that is."

"Tell me you weren't this excited when Carol had her first sonogram," Monica
said.

Ross shut his mouth.

"When are you leaving?" Phoebe asked.

"As soon as Chandler comes in to tell me that he's gotten a cab. I just
wanted to say bye before I go."

"Mon, come on," Chandler said, stepping into the coffee shop for a second.

Monica waved good bye to all of her friends, a giddy look on her face, and
practically pranced out the door after Chandler.

"She's not fat yet," Phoebe said. "That's not fair. She's, like, three and
a half months along and she's still not fat!"

"She's been doing exercises out of Baby Monthly," Rachel explained to Phoebe
who nodded in understanding and went back to her coffee.

* * * * *

"Okay, Monica, are you ready?" Dr. Vale asked with a smile on her face.

Monica nodded and squeezed Chandler's hand. Dr. Vale smirked and squirted
some gel onto Monica's exposed stomach. Young couples were always so cute
to watch when they first saw their babies.

Dr. Vale began to roll the machine on Monica's stomach and a thumping sound
filled the room. She smiled at the look of wonder on Chandler's face and
left the room quietly.

Chandler picked the machine up and continued to roll it across Monica's
stomache. Both of them had their eyes glued to the screen with the black
and white picture of their baby.

"Oh, my God," Chandler whispered.

"I know."

Chandler put his hand on one side of Monica's face and leaned down to kiss
her softly without thinking about it.

Monica looked up in shock at Chandler when he pulled away.

"What was that?"

"I don't know." Chandler paused. "Sorry."

"Don't be. It was nice."

Chandler's smile grew in an instant and he was looking giddily at Monica.
"Really?"

"Really," Monica said, laughing at his face.

"Can I do it again?"

"Maybe."

Chandler leaned down and kissed Monica again, the same soft and caring touch
on his lips.

He had no idea why he was doing it because he knew that it was too
complicated to get into . . . but hearing and seeing his baby was making him
crazy. He just wanted Monica so much right then. And Joey's speach from
about a month ago was echoing in his ears as he'd stared down at her. It
wasn't his fault; how was he supposed to resist her?