"Monica," Chandler turned to look at her. They were sitting in the family room. Rob was out with
friends and the three kids were in bed.
"What?" Monica looked up from an essay she was correcting for Alex.
"I was wondering," he paused, nervous. "Do them think we'll ever be able to date again? Will them
ever be able to forgive I?"
"I, I don't know Chandler," Monica sighed. "I know that it's going to take a awhile to forgive them
completely, but I've already started. And I realize that it's not all your falut. I'm willing to take
part of the blame, but dating? I'm not sure. Maybe someday, but I can't say for sure."
"If it's possible, could we," Chandler stopped nervous, but continued after Monica smiled at him
encouragingly.
"Could we date again, please mon?" Chandler gave her a puppy dog look. Monica just stared at him in
shock, cos it wasn't what she expected. Chandler, took this the wrong way. "Okay, just forget I
asked." Chandler stood up and hurried out of the room, face red in embarrassment.
Monica just stared after him, still shocked. She knew she WANTED to get together, but...

Chandler led Monica, Alex and Dereck up the stairs to their old apartment. They all paused in front before chandler opened the door and waved the three in ahead of him.
"Surprise!" People jumped out from everywhere and Monica and Alex jumped back in shock. Dereck
just smiled at everyone. "Welcome home!" Everyone shouted, moving forward.
Monica could see, Ross, Rachel, Phoebe, Phillip, Joey, Joey, Joelana, Ben, Brook, Darren, Sam, Katie,
Freddy, Cory, Alicia, Andrew and many many more. She turned to look at Chandler, and he just
smiled.
"Darren, Sam, guys!" Alex shouted as she ran towards her friends. "I missed you guys!"
"We missed you too," Sam hugged her friend. Alex pulled the others into the hug, until they were
all laughing.
"Hey squirt," Alex felt a tap on her shoulder.
"Ben!" Alex shouted. She turned around and dove at her cousin. "I've missed you," Alex told Ben as
he gave her a gigantic hug.
"Same here," Ben smiled at his cousin.
"Hi Alex," Brook said shly, a couple stps away from Alex and ben.
"Hey Brook," Alex gave her a hug as well. "I've missed you too!"

"Mon," Ross grabbed his sister in a hug. "Why didn't you tell us where you went. I've your brother!"
"And best friend," rachel added as she gave her sister-in-law a hug. "We were worried sick. And,"
She whispered. "Chandler was so upset. He was depressed the whole time!"
"Yeah, well..." Monica trailed of as Chandler joined the three carrying Dereck.
"Dereck was fast asleep in his dad's arms.
"I think he's tired out," Chandler nodded towards Dereck. I'm going to go put him in his old room."
"Okay," Monica smiled at him. "Thanks."
"No problem," Chandler replied as he headed upstairs with Dereck.

Alex and her friends had gathered some food and drinks together, and headed upstairs to Alex's
old bedroom.
"I can't believe you told Darren and not me," Sam said for what seemed like the hundredth time.
"Well, I just saw him first," Alex defended herself.
"But you emailed him, that was OUR thing!" Sam replied.
“Oh, give it up," Katie snapped and everyone stared at her in surprise.
"I'm sorry Sam," Alex ignored Katie. "Darren emailed me first. Besides, he already knew where I
was, I started to write you Sam, but then I'd think of my mom and wouldn't be able to go through
with it." Alex paused as she glanced around her room. "I really need my DVD player and DVD's back
in here, it's too empty!"

Alex gazed out her bedroom window into a sea of fluffy snow and decided that while California was a great place to meet people, and an excellent vacation spot, New York was the place to be.
She stood and pressed her face against the window, letting the cool glass soothe her red cheeks. "I love winter," she breathed.
"Me too."
Alex turned to see her beloved Daddy enter the room, Dereck on his shoulder.
"Hey, Dad!'
Chandler joined Alex at her place at the window. "So you're glad to be back, then, I assume."
"More than just glad," Alex confirmed, sinking into a loving embrace. "I'm double extra a billion times happier than glad!"
"But . . ." Chandler could read further into her thoughts. "I hear a big 'but' coming."
Alex giggled. "I didn't know that buts made a lot of warning noise when they come."
"Well some do," Chandler replied solemnly. "But the noise is rather unpleasant, and the smell is even worse."
"Dad!!" Alex shrieked. "Gross!!!"
Dereck tittered and pointed at Alex. She and Chandler grinned at him.
"Okay," Chandler continued with a straight face, "we've established the arrival of a 'but,' but what comes after this one?"
Alex sighed. "You were right to sense the 'but,' Dad. See, the thing is, I kind of miss my friends. Now don't get me wrong! I'm not exactly hard-done-by here on the matter of friends! I've got Sam, and Jane, Freddy and Corey, Darren and . . . even Katie." Her voice trailed off uncertainly at the mention of Katie. "But my three best friends there: Nick, Jamie and Laura, they were just so wonderful. They knew me as Robyn Bellar, ordinary kid, not as Alexis Bing, movie star!"
"I think I'm getting you drift," Chandler assured her. "You want to see your California friends, is that it?"
"Oh, Daddy, if you could . . ."
"Summer Break," Chandler interrupted. "Don't you worry about a thing. I'll arrange it all."
Chandler and Dereck left a speechless Alex alone with her excitement.
"I can't believe I get to see my new friends again!" Alex exclaimed in a phone call to Sam immediately following Chandler's departure. "But we have to wait for summer! Oh, man! That's ages away! If only stupid witner would go away!"

"And that's the story." Chandler ended on a breathless note after speaking into the telephone receiver for what seemed to be a long stretch of time. "I know I may seem like an irresponsible parent after everything I'm sure you've read about me, but honestly, this is what Alex wants, and -"
"Calm down!" Nancy exclaimed in a bout of laughter. "Jamie would absolutely love that! Although I will have to discuss it with her . . . I don't know if Robyn - I mean Alex, or, um, Monica told you, but I'm divorced from Jamie's father, and she lives with him. I'll be her 'guardian' over summer holidays, and well . . . I don't want my baby to go to New York!" She burst into tears - at least it sounded that way to Chandler.
"Well, uh, you're invited too," Chandler said hastily.
"Really? Oh, you're so wonderful! Thank you!"

"So?" Alex looked at her Dad expectantly.
"Everyone's coming - including Jamie's mom, Nancy. She was, er, a bit wary, one might say, of allowing Jamie travel here alone."
"Oh, thank you, Dad!" Alex threw her arms around chandler in a great big bear hug.
"They'll be staying with me. They offered to pay the hotel tab, but I refused. There's only one adequate hotel, and that one-" Chandler trailed off.
Alex nodded, just holding back a laugh. The only hotel in New York that Chandler liked was the one in which Alex had fixed he and her mother up in. "Too many memories . . ."

"Al, sweetie, I want to talk to you."
Alex looked up to see her mom at the door of her bedroom. She nodded, and Monica sat down beside her on the bed. Alex put down her Nancy Drew file, the on where Ned breaks up with her, and looked at her mother expectantly.
"Well, I've talked to your teachers and they all agree, that because of your low grades and the fact that your friends are there, we're going to put you back in -"
"- grade six!" Alex shouted gleefully. She threw her arms around Monica. "You can't imagine how worried I've been about that!"
Monica smiled and pulled Alex into her lap, returning the hug. "I'm glad you're so eager, sweetie, because Chandler I decided that you'll be starting up again tomorrow."
Alex groaned softly. "But Mom, I don't wanna go to school."
Monica laughed. "You sure are a changeable kid."
As Alex picked up her book again, Monica left the room.
Changeable - ha, Alex thought. Mom's the changeable one around here. Does she love Dad or does she not?
Then she grinned happily to herself because she could assume two things from Monica saying 'Chandler and I decided . . .' One, it meant that it Chandler was in the role of father agin, and two, it meant that her parents had agreed on something for once!

"Bye mom," Alex waved good-bye as Monica drove away. It was her first day back in school in New
York. Turning towards her school, Alex walked nervously up the front steps. She hadn't been here in
a year, and everything felt different. All the kids streamed past her, some stopping to stare or
whisper. She was starting to wonder if she'd made the right choice.
"Alex!"
Alex spotted Sam almost instantly. She quickly hurried over to her friends side.
"I didn’t think you'd be back yet," Sam commented.
"Yeah well they didn't want me to miss more school."
"Oh... so who's class are you in?"
Alex looked down at the piece of paper her mom had given her. "Um... Mr. Hold. I don't remember
his name, is he new?"
"Yeah, he came this year. He's my teacher too, and he's awesome! You'll like him. Corey and Freddie
are in our class as well as," Sam lowered her voice. "Katie!"
"What’s wrong with Katie," Alex asked, confused.
"Well, remember how different she use to be?" Alex nodded. "She's 100 times worse. It's
disgusting. I think she likes Darren."
"Oh," Alex paused. "What about everyone else. Are they still normal?"
"Fairly," Sam laughed. "Corey and Freddie are kinda weird sometimes, I think they're feeling
pressured by all the other guys about being friends with girls.”
“Well, that’s stupid!” Alex replied. “I don’t see why they shouldn’t be friends with girls!”
“Neither do I,” Sam agreed. “But it’s bugging them just the same.” She paused then pointed. “There they are.”
“Freddy, Corey!” Alex shouted above the noise. They heard her and veered off in their direction.
“Hey Alex, Sam,” Freddy greeted them with a smile.
“I’m surprised you’re back already,” Corey said to Alex. “I wouldn’t stayed away as long as possible!”
“I tried,” Alex grinned. “But they wouldn’t go for it. They did decide to put me back with you guys, instead of grade 7. Probably a good idea cos I almost failed grade six in California!”
“But you’re SO smart!” Freddy replied in shock.
“Yeah, well obviously not smart enough for grade 7, or MATURE enough!” They all turned to see Katie standing behind them.
“Oh, and you are?” Alex replied back, her anger showing through clearly.
“Of course!” Katie replied with a look of could-you-be-stupider and a toss of her hair.
Sam saw Corey clench his fists and she immediately grabbed his arm to keep him from jumping at Katie. Freddy did the same thing when he realized what was going on. He was just as ticked as the other’s at Katie’s attitude towards Alex.
Just then the bell rang and Sam sighed with relief.
“Come on Alex, we better go to the office to tell them you’re here today, we’ll see you guys in class later.”
Freddy nodded and dragged Corey off, who was still shooting daggers with his eyes at Katie. Katie followed behind the others.
As Sam led her to the office, Alex sighed. She almost wished she was still in California. At least Katie wasn’t there. This was going to prove to be an interesting year.

Dear Diary,
Guess who I saw today? Bruce. I know! I was so shocked. But them I remembered how he had said he comes to New York on business often.
I saw him when I took Dereck to visit Chandler on the set. I still can’t believe how good Chandler is with Dereck. He’s changed so much, and I think I love him more than ever now.
Derck has grown so much. He’s running around and has decided his favorite word is “yes”. If we tell him no, he replies yes. It’s so cute. And Alex, she’s so good with him.
I worry about her sometimes. She seems happy now, and is doing well in school, but she hasn’t acted in a long time. She hasn’t seemed to want to and it’s always been her favorite thing to do.
I think it’s because of Katie. I’ve noticed how she’s never as happy when Katie’s around that that Katie’s all over Darren. I’m starting to think Alex had developed a crush on him. I think Chandler’s noticed too, I”ll have to talk to him about it.
Well, that’s all for today.

“Chandler?” Monica questioned as she joined him on the front porch. A few meters in front of them Dereck and Joelana played together in a sand box.
“Yeah?” Chandler turned to look at her.
“Have you noticed… anything different about Alex?”
“Like the fact she hasn’t acted in a while, or the fact she seems to be deveoloping a small crush on a certain movie star friend?” Chandler replied with a small smile.
“Both, I guess,” Monica replied. “What’s your thought on the acting?”
“I’m not quite sure what to think, actually,” Chandler replied after a moment. “I must admit I’m surprised, I thought she would have started up again, but then again, it could just be because she hasn’t had an audition yet. I’ve had a few requests for her to audition for movies, but they said that they weren’t needed asap so I thought I’d wait awhile then ask her.”
“Well, I was surprised when she didn’t want to join the drama class at school. I thought she’d be eager to do that!”
“Maybe she just doesn’t want to join because she wants to give everyone else a chance,” Chandler suggested.
“I suppose so,” Monica sighed. “I just hope she hasn’t given up on acting. She’s very good.”
“I don’t think you need to worry about that,” Chandler replied. “But I’ll tell her about the auditions tonight, and see what she says. I’m sure she’ll jump at the chance. One of the movies is a cartoon and they just want her to supply the voice.”
“Great,” Monica paused. “What about Darren? What’s your thought’s on her little crush?”
“Honestly, I think it’s okay. I like Darren a lot and I don’t think either of them are thinking about getting into a relationship with anyone yet. He’d probably be good for her, eventually, and same goes her for him. I think we’ll be seeing them together in a few years, but not any time soon.”
“But you’re okay with that?” Monica replied shocked.
“Of course. I’m not going to do the whole I’ll kill any guy who wants to go out with my daughter thing. I trust Alex and I trust Darren. Now if it was some other guy I didn’t know… well let’s just say that would be a whole different story.”

“Alex?” Alex looked up as her dad walked into her bedroom. She was sitting at her computer writing an email to Laura, just talking about school and stuff.
“Yeah dad?” Alex turned her seat around so she was facing him. He sat down on her bed.
“Do you still like acting?”
“Of course!” Alex replied surprised. “I love acting, why?”
“Well, you’re mom and I were getting worried cos you hadn’t acted in a long time and you didn’t join the drama class…”
“I didn’t join drama, cos, no offens or anything, but everyone in it kind of sucks and it’s not that fun,” Alex replied sheepishly.
“I thought it was something like that,” Chandler nodded. “I have gotten some more movie offers for you, but I didn’t tell you right away cos I wanted you to relax for a bit first. One’s for a cartoon movie. They want you to play the voice of the main character.”
“Cool! I love cartoons,” Alex shouted. “And I’ve never been in one. I’d LOVE to!”
“Okay, I’ll phone up the producer and tell him you’re interested,” Chandler replied with a laugh at Alex’s eagerness. “I can tell you about the other movies some other time.”

“Happy birthday Al,” Chandler gave his daughter a hug as she joined him in the kitchen for breakfast. “Almost a teen!”
“Another year, dad,” Alex smiled as she got a box of cereal out of the cupboard.
“Well, you sould like one,” Monica laughed as she joined the two in the kitchen. “It seems like yesterday you were born.” Mon paused. “Found any cute guys yet!”
“MOM!!!” Alex replied!
“Speaking of babies, where’s Dereck?” Chandler asked.
“In his room,” Monica replied. “He was really tired last night. Would you go get him?”
“Sure,” Chandler headed out of the room. He returned a few minutes later holding a wrapped present and Dereck beside him.
“I made this for you last year,” Chandler handed the present to Alex.
She ripped off the wrapping paper to find a phot album. On the front, written in caligraphy, just like the album Alex had found that Chandler had given her mom was, To Alex, Happy Birthday, Love Chandler.
Alex opened the album slowly, and started looking through it. Chandler had gone through all the pictures and articles he had, and had put together a scrapbook of memories since they had met. At the end were blank pages. Alex looked at her dad with a questioning look.
“It’s so you can add to it over the years,” Chandler replied.
“Thanks so much dad,” Alex gave her dad a gigantic hug. “I love it!”
“Can I see it?” Mon asked. Alex nodded and handed it to her mom.
Mon flipped through the book slowly. Chandler had captured all of their moments so well. They all seemed frozen in time when the pictures had been taken. Smiles covering everyone’s face’s, representing only good times, not bad. She laughed quietly, reading the comments Chandler had written . They were all in his scarcastic sense of humour.
The book reminded her so much of the one Chandler had made for her years ago. She had always been surprised at how good Chandler was at making the books. Most people don’t have the patience to do that.

"Alex!" Chandler shouted up the stairs. "Are you read yet?"
"Almost," Alex replied. "J.A.S!"
"I"ll be in the car," Chandler shouted as he grabbed his coat and key's.
Chandler went outsite and turned on his car waiting for Alex. She joined him almost immediately
and he backed out of the driveway.
As he started down the hi-way, he glanced over at Alex. She was looking out of her window, playing
with a string.
"What's up?" Chandler asked.
"It's," Alex paused. "I know this is stupid, but I can't help but worry, what if all my friends don't
get along?"
"I'm sure it will be fine. Your friends out here are very nice. I don't know your other friends very
well, but the one's I do know seemed very nice." Chandler looked back at his daughter and patter
her knee reasuringly.
Alex smiled at her dad, but she was still nervous.

When they arrived at the airport, they hurried to the arivals lever. Chandler and Alex both had on
sunglasses and hat's. They kept their heads down and managed to get to the right gate unnoticed.
They stood with everyone else who was waiting, trying to be inconspicious.
Alex could see a couple of people looking at them, with the "I know I should recongnize you, but
who are you?" look. She sighed and tried to ignore them, instead, focusing on watching the gate.
She could see the plane being hooked up to the terminal. A couple mintues later, people started to
exit the plane. Her friends were some of the first. They all looked about as nervous as she felt.
Forgetting wher eshe was, Alex called out there name's. "Jamie, Laura, Nick, Nancy!"
"Alex"! Laura shouted. Everyone who had been looking at her and Chandler with the look, now looked
in surprise. There is only one famous kid named Alex who lived in New York.
Alex watched as her friends hurried over. They greeted each other wiht a hug.
"Hi, you must be Mr. Bing," Jamie's mom shook Chandler's hand.
"Call me Chandler,' Chandler replied. "Okay guy's," he turned towards Alex and her friends. "Et's get
their lugage and le'ts get out of here!"
"Okay," the four friends choursed. They then quickly moved away as the prying eyes followed.

After all the luggage had been collected the six piled int the car and drove over to Chandler's
house.
Monica met them at the door. She had been sitting on the porch, watching Dereck and Joelana. She
helped everyone get their luggage to their room before she and Nancy went off to talk.

After their bags had been dropped the groupof kids gathered in the basememnt. The basememnt
had almost become Alex's ‘room'. Not bedroom but room. Chandler kept his movies here, but Alex
had her nintendo and she and her friends would always hang out in there.
"Oh my god!" Nick exclaimed. "You musht have every movie ever made!"
"My dad's been collecting for years," Alex replied. "I've never heard of most of them."
"You're so lucky!"
"What are we going to do today?" Laura asked.
"Well, my dad's got to be on set to direct, but we can do whatever. My two best friends, here, are
coming over soon." Alex paused. "Wanna play nintendo?"
"Sure" Jamie replied a bit more relaxed. This was the Robyn, Alex she knew.
Laughing, the four friends quickly picked out a game and stuck it on. They were still playing when
Darren and Sam arrived.
The two newcomers came bounding down the stairs, causing the other four to break their
concentration.
"Sam, Darren," Alex greeted them excitedly.
"Hey Alex," Darren greeted her and Sam nodded.
"Guys, meet Laura, Jamie and Nick," Alex told Sam and Darren, then turning to the others she
introduced them to Darren and Sam.
"Hi," Sam said shyly breaking the silence that had fallen ov er the group.
"Hi," Nick replied he turned to Darren. "You're awesome in Queen of Hearts!"
"Thanks," Darren replied and silence fell over the group again.
"How's it going down here?" a voice asked as it came down the stairs.
"Hey Joey!" Alex gave her uncle a hug. Darren and Sam did the same. "You haven't met Nick, Jamie
and Laura." Alex pointed to her friends.
"Hi," Joey smiled at her friends. He turned back to Alex. "Where's your dad, I though he was over
here."
"Nope, he went to the studio," Alex shook her head. "What did you want?"
"I just wanted to talk to him.” Doesn’t matter. I’ll catch him later,” Joey replied. “What’s up with you guys?”
“Not much,” Alex admitted. “We were playing Nintendo until Sam and Darren arrived. I don’t know what we’ll do now.”
“Why don’t you guys go outside? It’s very nice out,” Joey suggested as he headed for the stairs.
“Okay,” Alex nodded when everyone shrugged that they didn’t care. She flipped off the tv and nintendo and the group of them went up the stairs after Joey.

"So." Chandler put his arm around Monica's shoulders to strike up a conversation. He had had something weighing on his mind for weeks now, and he itched to get it off his chest. He figured the best time to talk to Monica was when she was in high spirits. Lately he caught her in such a mood often, but only had the courage to bring it up now.
"So what?" Monica snuggled down in her place on the couch and willed Chandler not to bother her. She wa revelling in pure contentedness for the first time in months, completely relaxed, and she did not want Chandler to bring her down from that cloud.
"Wel . . ." Chandler continued reluctantly. "Right, um . . . I dunno."
Monica's eyebrows raised. "Cat got your tongue?"
"No," Chandler mumbled, realizing it wouldn't be a cat that got his tongue but something else. "Will you just let me talk, please?" he said under his breath with a slight angst. "It's really important."
Monica sat up on the couch to face him. He sat down on the table beside the couch, disturbing some decorative ornaments and upsetting a vase. "Oh, dear," Chandler stumbled, glancing at the broken vase lying piteously on the hardwood floor. "That was a priceless ming vase."
"I know," Monica replied with a calm smile, that at any moment, she knew, could break out in giggles. "So what is this thing you need to talk to me about that is so important to make you this nervous around me? It's unlike you."
"Yeah," he agreed submissively. "It's really not so important - at least not to you."
"But it's important to you," she interjected. "If something is bothering you, you need to get it off your chest. We need to clear things up between us now that Alex and I have moved back to New York."
Chandler perked at Monica's encouragement. "That's exactly what I thought!"
"See? We're on the same wavelength, Chandler." She placed a warm hand on his shoulder. "Talk to me."
Relaxing immensely, Chandler allowed his mouth to open the gateway to what he was feeling in his heart. "I-I'm not realyl sure where to begin but - oh, what the heck. Mon, I know we're next exactly on the best terms right now, because of how I hurt you and Alex."
Putting on an encouraging smile, Monica nodded. Intervention was possible the, as Monica didn't want him to take all the blame for what had happened, but she bit her tongue and allowed him to continue.
"- And I know that you may not love me in the exact same way as you used to. But I must ask you just one thing."
Monica nodded again.
"Do you love anyone else?"
Monica was so taken aback by the question that she dropped her arm from Chandler's shoulder and stood abruptly. She could not reply, or even think of a single reason why he would put such a query on the table.
"Sit," Chandler requested.
She sat calmly, but Chandler noticed her chin quiver in that way it does before one cries.
"I-I'm sorry," Chandler stammered.
"Why? Why would you think that?" Now Monica as wary of the situation and was able to stare Chandler down.
He turned away quickly. "I've just had something on my mind."
"Mm-hm . . ?" Monica prodded, swallowing back the tears stinging in the corner of her eyes.
"It's something Alex mentioned to me once when I went to California . . ." He trailed off, unsure of himself.
"Go on," Monica chided gazing steadily into Chandler's eyes. "It was so important, so tell me! But before you continue, I deny any charge or offense you may lay upon me."
"What am I going to 'lay upon you?' Philandering?" He paused, and thought for a moment. "Did you just say that I may lay upon you? Cos you know, that can be taken in more than one way."
"Oh, for heaven's sake, would you please just get on with it!?"
"Yes, sir! Right away, sir! Well, it was one night, the first night I believe; and Alex and I stayed up really ,really late talking -"
Monica cut him off. "Wait a minute! The first night! That was a school night!"
"Just listen."
"Sorry."
"Okay, um, well she mentioned something about ICQ and all at once I realized that we had been chatting together online for several weeks."
"What?!" Monica shreiked.
"Now calm down. I'm sorry if you think Alex ruined all your little running away plans, but that was then and this is now and you still must be curious as to this 'love' thing I mentioned!"
Chandler's monologue was short and sharp and made Monica's ears perk up.
"I am rather wondering," Monica said dryly, and promptly shut her mouth.
Chandler took a deep breath to let it all out. "She mentioned somethig about you having n affair with some guy. She said she heard you tell him you loved him." Once it was out of his system, he breathed a genuine sigh of relief.
Monica yelped with an "Oh no!" and she buried her face in her hands. "No . . . no! I told her - and him - that it was all a mistake! And it was! It was a big, big, gigantic, enormous, huge mistake!"
"King-Kong sized," Chandler agreed.
Monica's voice took on a stern note. "But you listen to me, Chandler. It's like you said before. You can't lay th- you can't 'apprehend' me for anything! We weren't married! We weren't in any sort of relationship -"
"Long-distance," he suggested.
"Chandler! If weren't even friends at the time! If we had been, that would be totally different. You could be mad at me, you could yell at me, you could strangle me!"
"Don't give me any ideas."
Monica rolled her eyes. "I'm sorry about Bruce, Chandler."
"Who's bruce Chandler?"
"Don't be stupid. His name is Bruce. Your name is Chandler. I'm sorry about Bruce comma Chandler."
"You remember his name?!" Chandler shreiked with, slightly feigning, half shocked.
"Yes, I remember his name, dummy!" Monica cried. "I remember lots of people's names from the past."
"Wanna put your money where your mouth is? I'll ask you to name someone in our past and if you get it wrong, I get twenty bucks. Otherwise I hand the cash over to you."
"Deal!"
"Okay . . . um, let's see . . . okay! I got it! Okay. What's the name of the guy that Emily married"
"Emily . . ." Monica racked her brain. "Ross's girlfriend? You mean Ross?"
"The guy she stayed married to," Chandler explained.
"Oh dammit! I never met that guy, Chandler!"
"But do you know his name . . ."
"No!!! How would I know?"
"You're going to have to know if you want twenty dollars!"
"Oh dammit!"
"Just give me a wild guess," he suggested. "Take a wild guess."
"I have no clue! This is so not fair!"
"You're trapped now."
"Was it . . . Gary?"
"No!" Chandler jumped up excitedly. "Where's my twenty bucks?"
"Do I look like I have money on me? I don't have it here," Monica grumbled. "What is his name?"
"Colin!" Chandler barked joyously.
"Oh yeah!! How could I have forgotten?!" Monica smacked her forehead.
"Yeah, especially when you can remember this Bruce guy's name?"
"Chandler!!!" Monica cried. "Just because I still remember Richard doesn't mean I'm still in love with him!! Same goes for Bobby, or, or Allen!"
"Ah, Allen." Chandler's mind slipped into a reverie of contented memories. "I - I remember one time . . . when we went to an art museum. i thought it would be boring, but Allen made it interesting!" Chandler's eyes narrowed when he noticed Monica's face in front of his. "And you broke us up with him!"
A gasp of exasperation escaped Monica's lips. "He was my boyfriend!"
"Yeah, well he said he would miss us. Not you. So ha!"
"Oh, for God's sake, chandler, get over yourself! I can't believe you of all people fell for that! I just said that so i wouldn't hurt your feelings. To quote Allen, 'I had a fun time with you, Monica, but I can't stand your friends.' "
"What!" Chandler yelped, leaping away from Monica. "I'm eternally wounded. You lied to us and you lied about Allen!"
Monica sighed and turned to roll her eyes at chandler, but he had already left the room.

"Mom, why will no one talk to you lately?"
Alex joined her mom, Dereck and Nancy in the courtyard, followed by all of Sam, Nick, Jane, Darren, Freddie, Corey, Laura and Jamie.
Monica looked up and smiled at the kids. "Joey is talking to me . . ." she answered weakly.
"No he isn't."
"Aunt Joey," Monica corrected her. "Frankly, Alex, I must admit that they're acting like a bunch of babies ignoring their babysitter. You see, I lied the them once, what, thirteen or fourteen years ago to spare their feelings. My boyfriend didn't like the, you see, so I said he did. Yesterday I told Chandler the truth and now everyone's mad at me."
Alex yawned and glanced at her friends, who looked equally bored.
"I sense boredom in the air," Monica guessed.
"A bit," Sam, who knew Monica well, confessed.
"I thought Chandler was supposed to take you guys to Water World today."
"Yeah," Darren confirmed, thoughts of the water park running through his head. "My dad and Ben and Brook are going too. Right now we're waiting for Katie to get here."
"Holding you up, is she," Monica mused noticing a note of annoyance in the eyes of Alex, and even of Sam and Jane.
"It's more like she's more like bringing us down," Jane sighed. "Again."
A sense of quiet anger passed over the group, but was interrupted when Lionel called in the yard, announcing Katie's arrival.
There was a thunderous wave of pounding feet throughout the house as the kids' excitement reached a peak. It was time to go to Water World!

Alex threw on her bathing suit and encouraged her friends to move quickly. "C'mon, Sam, you can go a little faster that that! I want to get out there! Jamie, get a move on!"
Jane was equally excited, as she had never been on a water slide, and as a consequence of her anticipation of Water World, she had become an expert on each and every waterslide. "It's a dream come true - I will finally be able to ride The Loch Ness!"
Alex smiled. The Loch Ness was a slide shaped and painted like the infamous water monster. Rising straight up out of the water, this certain slide did not begin to twist or turn until at least twenty feet in the air. It was the tallest slide in the park, rising right to the roof, which was at least six stories high! (On the way to the water park, Jane had chattered on about her favorite slides, including every detail about them!)
"I doubt you'll be tall enough for The Loch Ness," Katie called from her place in a changing stall.
She was playing on Jane's weakness - her size. As if Jane wasn't already shy or insecure enough already - all through school she had been teased and pestered about being short. The spotlight left her only when "Andy the Alien," the boy who spoke to extraterrestrials, was placed in their school.
Jane's chin quivered, and Sam and alex gave her encouraging smiles. Jane bit her lip, then shouted back,, "Actually Katie, the heigh minimum for The Loch Ness is four-foot-three. Sorry, but I'm four-foot-four."
Alex sighed, and Laura and jamie exchanged looks. Alex's New York friends obviously had problems with this Katie person. And so far what they had seen of her wasn't a very good impression.
Brook came out of her stall and Alex half expected her to say something. She didn't. In fact, she looked kind of spaced out. She passed the girls without a word or as much as a glance, and wandered out of the changeroom.
Shrugging, Alex concentrated on her annoyance at Katie.
Her thoughts ended abruptly as katie emerged from her changing stall. Katie stared superiorly down at the group of them, as if she had suddenly spurted to ten feet tall. But what got Alex the most was Katie's bathing suit. "Teeny-tiny, eensy-weensy, yellow polka-dot bikini" were the only words that Alex could grasp to describe the suit, only disputing the fact that the suit was plain red. And perhaps an extra "itty-bitty" could be thrown into the description as well.
Alex cleared her thrroat nervously, very ware and embarassed by ktie's indecent choice of clothing. "Well I guess we're all ready then. Let's get out there and have some fun!" Alex's external excitement sitll showed, but inside she was very nervous . . .

Out in the main water park, the clan gathered near the First-Aid station, drawing attention from others with the three famous members of the group. However, passersby merely stared a bit, rather than pester.
Alex was further displeased when her father split the kids into three groups, Darren and katie being paired together along with Corey, and Ben and Brook to watch them. She felt a strange pang of utter jealousy as Katie's made-up face lit up in a superficial smile and Darren moved to Katie's side. Alex flinched in surprise when she found herself thinking, Thank goodness Corey, Brook and Ben are there to watch over them.
Alex herself was grouped with Nick, Jane, and Freddie, with Chandler as their "guardian." Lastly, Sam, Jamie and laura formed a group to be watched over by Andrew.
Sam looked at Alex.
Alex said: "If you're uncomfortable with Jamie and Laura, then I'll get my dad to switch it around . . ."
"I'm okay," Sam assured her. "We've gotten to be good friends in the past few days."
Chandler promised they could switch groups after lunch. "It's just safer if we stick together in rather large groups," he explained. "We'll all meet back here at one o'clock for lunch. I've cleverly divided the groups so each one contains someone with a waterproof watch. So keep an eye on the time."
Alex grinned and glanced at her own watch, which Chandler had given her as a Christmas present. Brook had one also, she knew, and so did Sam, Laura and Freddie.
She glanced at katie, who was blabbing to her group about how her skin had a special condition that made her break out if she wore a watch. Surprisingly, Darren seemed interested.
Alex felt that pang again. She thought, Seems like her skin isn't the only thing with a "special condition."
For the rest of the morning, alex had a blast. Sam, Jamie and laura ended up hanging out with alex's group for most of the time, only splitting hwen Laura cut herself and they had to go to the First-Aid station early.
Jane dragged the other three to The Loch Ness slide. When they had reached the top, the careless laughing ceased, and Alex had butterflies in her stomach. Even jane admitted to a bout of queasiness in her stomach.
"Hey, you kids," The Loch Ness lifeguard called. "You're next in line - do you want to go?"
"Er . . ." Nick squeaked.
"Alex?" The lifeguard had a look of recognition in his eye, and he grinned at her.
"Um, no thanks. Jane? You're the on that wanted to come up here." She gave her friend an encouraging push. "You go first."
"I'll go."
The kids turned simultaneously to see that Chandler, panting, had reached the top of the stairs. They had surpassed him at the second story, their anticipation giving each of them a surge of temporary energy.
"Dad? I didn't even think you would make it up here if you want my honest opinion . . ."
"Yeah, well neither did I." Chandler glanced at the lifeguard, whose eyes were widened to twice their normal size. The spaced expression snapped, and the lifeguard shrugged.
"Go ahead," he said. "I just don't want you to get hurt, Mr. Bing . . ."
"I won't," Chandler continued determinedly, stepping forward.
alex held her breath as Chandler placed himself on the top of the slide. She didn't let it out until the lifeguard gave the signal and she wasn't able to hold it anymore.

Corey wasn't sure what had happened - at one minute, he had been standing in line for Road Rage, his favorite water slide that branched from one large tube into three different tunnels complete with traffic signs and lights. It was a very popular slide because people wanted to ride it once for each tunnel branch.
Anyhow, Corey had been standing in line, with Ben and Brook a ways in front of him, and Katie and Darren directly behind him.
And the next minute he was alone. Ben and Brook, who had been further in line, had already gone down the waterslide. Katie and Darren's disappearance, however, was unaccounted for.
He stood nervously, hovering nervously near the front of the lien. Thinking of the disappearance of his two friends, Corey contemplated Katie's behaviour recently. Today, particularly, she had been clutching Darren's arm, taking his hand in hers, speaking in a low voice to him only. Frankly, it was disgusting.
When Corey's turn on the slide came, he slid down quickly. This being his seventh ride down, Corey skipped savouring the fun as hsi agitation enveloped him. Ben and Brook were not waiting at the bottom of the slide. What could he do now? With no idea as to his groups' whereabouts, there was no one to direct him to the First Aid station.
He recalled Jane mentioning her favorite water slide, The Loch Ness, and guessed her group was probably waiting in line for it. There was no missing the great billowy image protruding from the pool and stretching to the ceiling. Corey hurried toward it, anxious to reach his friends.

"What is it, Brook?" Ben asked. "It has to be quick - we don't want the kids to get worried."
"You're right." Brook looked very flustered.
"So what's up?"
"Ben . . . I know we're still friends, and that's great. It's just that - I liked it the way it was before, too. And now that Alex is back and you're not so worried . . ."
"I know what you're saying," Ben assured her, smiling gently. "And to be completely honest, I'm very sorry that I caused all this trouble in the first place, breaking us up like I did. It was a stupid stupid stupid thing to do."
"So . . ." Brook looked at him hopefully.
"Wanna get back together?" Ben asked.
Brook smiled. "Of course."

Alex's fun came to an abrupt end at 12:30, at which time Corey arrived at the top of The Loch Ness, puffing and panting.
"Corey!" Freddie cried. "What's up, man?"
"Where's your group?" Alex asked with concern, forgetting her unnerved farther at the sudden arrival of her pal.
Corey shrugged, unable to speak through his short gasps.
"Are you okay, Corey?" Jane looked at him, well aware of his slight asthmatic condition.
"I'm fin." His attack ended as he took a deep breath and clutched his chest. "My group is gone."
"What do you mean 'gone'?" Alex asked worriedly.
"Just that. See, we were in line for Road Rage. Ben and Brook went down the slide. And then when I turned around Katie and Darren were gone. I went down the slide and couldn't find anyone - I panicked."
"No wonder!" Nick sympathized.
"Well what are they doing?" Jane's growing impatience with Katie was evident in her voice.
"I don't know," Corey replied, shooting a worried glance at Alex. "But they've been acting strange all morning. I - I think Katie is trying to get Darren to - go out with her."
"What?" Alex yelped, the pain of jealousy leaping from her. "I mean - Darren's not like that."
"Maybe not, but . . ."
Alex mumbled something about going down before Chandler got worried - it was almost one o'clock anyway. The others agreed - but not just on that. A sombre, unmentioned agreement bound the group - that the day was invariably ruined.

At one, everyone showed up at the First Aid Station but Darren and Katie. Ben and Brook apologized to Corey for running off and inquired as to Darren and Katie's whereabouts.
"I have no clue," Corey said solemnly. "But don't worry, it's ot your fault. They were behind me in line, and then suddenly they weren't. Katie's been acting really weird, and this is the kind of thing I wouldn't put past her."
Ben and Brook exchanged a look. They, too, had noticed Katie's actions toward Darren, and both felt bad for Alex. Darren was her best friend. Ben wondered if maybe it were more than that, but decided to keep it at Darren was her best friend. After all, she was only sixth grade. She knew nothing about real love.  Ben smiled at Brook, that thought running through his mind.
Andrew was very worried, but he, too, did not blame Ben and Brook. "Darren's a big oy," he stammered. "He can take care of himself."
They made their way to the food court where they proceded to order their lunches and settle at four tables, which they fully took up with the population of the group.
Alex didn't feel like eating. she was woried about Darren. And katie, because she knew that katie was the problem. But what exactly was the problem? That was the real problem: What was the problem? Darren was her best friend. But that didn't seem adequate enough, simply because Katie was of the opposite sex as Darren.  It seemed like she was stealing him from her. Of course, Alex felt in no way as she had that time when Darren started spending more time with Corey and Freddie than with her. This was completely different . . .
"Aren't you hungry?" Laura asked.
Alex shook her head.
"Listen," Laura continued, "I can tell that your friend is a total witch, and that's the nice word for it. Don't deprive yourself of glorious food just because she's off gallivanting."
Smiling weakly, Alex tried taking a bit of her pizza sub, but her stomach just couldn't take it. She pushed away her plate and stood up.
"You know, princess, you shouldn't go swimming after eating," Chandler warned.
"I didn't eat," Alex replied softly, wandering away.

“Come on, hurry up,” Alex called to Jamie, Laura and Nick. She could see her mom, Dereck and Nancy farther back, but she was eager to get to the set.
Chandler had said they could come down to the set that morning and all her friends had jumped at the chance. Nick was practically leaping for joy all morning and was even more hyper than Alex. Laura and Jamie seemed to have their emotions under control, that was, they did until Jordon Scott, a sixteen year old actor, one of the ‘hottest’ teen actors walked by the four. Laura and Jamie’s mouths fell open and they stopped and watched him until he was out of site.
“Oh come on guys!” Alex nudged them until they started to walk again. She and Nick pulled them along until they started to walk more willingly.
Monica and Nancy watched from behind with laughter.

“Dad!” Alex shouted as the finally reached the set. Chandler lifted his hand and waved to them, but didn’t turn around from where he was looking.
“He’s watching a scene they just tapped,” Alex explained to her friends. “He does this after every scene to see if they need to redo it. It’s been his goal since like forever to get a scene in one take and it hasn’t happened yet. The one scene in Queen of Hearts where he had to,” Alex wrinkled her nose. “Make out with my mom took about ten takes. Although,” Alex laughed. “I don’t think he minded then. Come on, let’s go look.”
Alex led her friends over to where her dad and a few others were watching the scene. Near by there was a sign that said act 3 scene 3 take 18. Alex giggled and pointed at it. Her friends all laughed with her before looking at the small screen.
On the screen the two actors were in the middle of a game of hacky-sack and the four watched with interest. None of them had ever heard of or played hacky-sack before. One of the actor’s in the scene, saw their interest and brought the hacky-sack over to them.
“Hey Alex,” the actor greeted her. “Who are your friends?”
“Hey Dale,” Alex replied. “These are my friends from California, Laura, Jamie and Nick.”
Dale was about nineteen, but Alex knew that in the movie he played a sixteen year old. He shook her friend’s hands.
“What are you guys playing there?” Nick pointed at the screen.
“It’s a game called hacky-sack,” Dale replied. “The movie takes place in the year 2000, and it was very popular then. You have to keep the sack in the air, but you can’t use your hands. Here, watch,” Dale threw the hacky-sack into the air and hit it up again with his foot. He did this a couple of times then stopped. “Here, you try.”
Nick took it, a little weary, and threw it into the air, though not very high, just like Dale had done. He watched it carefully and managed to hit it up three more times before it fell out of his reach.
Dale clapped enthusiastically, as did Jamie, Laura and Alex.
“Alex, why don’t you try?” Dale suggested, picking up the hacky-sack.
“I don’t know…” Alex protested.
“Oh, come on, it’s not that hard!” Nick replied.
“Fine!” Alex took the hacky-sack and tried to imitate Nick and Dale. She managed to hit it twice before it flew out of her reach. She laughed with her friends and Jamie and Laura tried it, with about as much success as Alex. By the time they had all had a good laugh over it, Chandler joined them.
“Hey, having fun?” Chandler asked.
“Oh yeah!” Nick replied enthusiastically.
“We saw Jordon on our way in and these two,” Alex pointed at Laura and Jamie. “Wouldn’t stop drooling!”
“You’ll be like that one day too,” Chandler predicted, sharing a smile with Monica as they both thought about Darren.
“Yeah,” Laura nodded. “It already looks like you’re in love with a movie star!”
“Come on, I’ll give you the ground tour.” Chandler said quickly before Alex could reply. He exchanged another look with Monica. So they weren’t the only one’s who’d noticed.

" 'Morning, Nick. You're a late sleeper today." Alex smiled at her friend as he took his place at the diningroom table for breakfast.
"Hey! So what's the topic of conversation for this morning?" Nick began to serve himself.
"Actually, we were just talking about you!" Alex replied cryptically, letting her voice trail a bit at the end of the sentence.
"Why?" Nick asked curiously.
Chandler passed Nick the platter of fruit and grinned. "I was telling them about your role for the movie. We're not starting to film until August, but we're casting now. I want to cast you in a role."
"Whoa - but how do you know I'll be good enough?" Nick was a bit overwhelmed. "From a middle school drama production to the big screen . . . you know, I'm not so sure about doing this . . ."
"C'mon!" Chandler said encouragingly. "It's not a large part. That's why I know you're perfect - it will combine experience with interest. And you're a great actor." He handed Nick a script. "Page 2."
Nick cleared his throat as he flipped to the correct page. "Al, can you help me out here? There are two characters in this scene. It looks like it's a principal talking to a student . . . and the student is in trouble!"
"Sure." Giggling, Alex scooched her chair closer to Nick and prepared herself to take on a whole new personality. " 'So, young man, just what do you have to say for yourself?' "
" 'N-nothing, sir, I swear I didn't do it!' "
" 'You swear you didn't do it, eh? Well for some reason I don't think that is good enough! And that reason is that if you're prepared to swear now, I'm sure you were prepared to and did swear in the classroom!' "
" 'But I don't even know any swears! My parents have raised me in a virgin world!' That's it?" Nick was not in the least disappointed, although it may have sounded so, but was in one word, relieved.
Chandler nodded. "That's it, all right."
"But how does it tie into the plot?"
"It doesn't really," Chandler replied. "I thought you would be wondering that. Its only part in the rest of the movie is just to show that the principal is really mean. That's shown in the beginning, during the credits."
"You did a great job!" Laura congratulated him. "I think you'll be awesome in the part. No questions asked."
"Yeah," Chandler agreed. "And, wow, Alex, I should almost cast you in the role of the principal!"

Joey strummed her fingers nervously on the arm of the couch as she sub-consciously counted each ring of the telephone. Star that she was, Joey was actually very self-conscious and shy around people she was not intimate with.
"Hello?" The voice on the receiving end was throaty and seemed to be quite tired. Joey's pulse quickened.
"Er, is this Mr. Allen Marchmont?"
"Yes."
"Oh, I am so sorry to bother you, Mr. Marchmont. Um . . . perhaps this is a bad time . . ?"
"Are you calling to sell me something?" He sounded quite annoyed. "If so, it is a bad time."
"N-no," Joey stammered, feeling even more uncomfortable. "This is Joey Tribbiani. I'm sorry if I woke you."
Joey winced as a loud thump reverberated through the phone line. After a moment, Allen's voice returned. The throatiness had been replaced by wonder. "I'm sorry, Miss. Did you sayd Joey Tribbiani? Of the Joey Tribbianis?"
Joey smiled. "That's me, Sir."
"Oh . . . my . . . God. You're not serious."
"This guy obviously had it bad for Joey. His disposition had changed from annoyance to kindliness in a matter of minutes. "Yes, Sir, quite serious."
"P-please call me Allen, Mrs. Tribbiani. And pinch me; if this isn't a dream, it must be Heaven."
Joey laughed. "Listen, Mr. March - I'm sorry - Allen. I have a favor to ask of you. It seems that you once dated a close friend of mine, Monica Geller."
"I remember her," Allen declared. "Who could forget, especially when she's the talk of the media. Yes, I do remember her."
"Good!" Joey was very pleased with the way things were going. "When you were going out with her, it seems you met her friends, including my step-brother, Chandler Bing, and my husband, Joey tribbiani. You, Chandler, my husband, and a few others played a softball game once, as Monica has informed me."
"Dammit!" Allen cursed. "You mean I was playing with Chandler Bing and Joey Tribbiani that day? And I didn't like them? Oh, God, what the heck is wrong with me?"
"Don't worry, Allen," Joey laughed. "They were both nothings at the time. How was anyone to know how they would turn out? Now, the problem is, it seems, that Monica lied to her friends after she broke up with you, that you said you were going to miss them. Then, just a few days ago, Monica let the truth slip to Chandler. And now everyone is ticked at her, if you get my drift. You were their role model, Allen."
"I - I was their role model?"
"Yes, so it seems! And I was wondering if you would be up to a softball game with them to heal everyone's feelings about Monica right now."
"You - you - you mean meet Joey Tribbiani and Chandler Bing? And - and - and you?"
"You got it," Joey confirmed.
"Why - why I don't see why not when there's so much in it for me!"
Joey hung up the phone happily. Everyone would be so pleased.

"Guess what guys," Gjoey bounded happily into the room.
"What?" Joey, Chandler, Ross, Rachel and the rest said glumly. Everyone from the old gang. Plus the
new people that had joined through marriages, minus Monica, plus Andrew and Alicia. The original
gang were all upset, still disappointed over what Monica had told Chandler about Allen.
"We're going to have a softball game next Saturday at the park!" Gjoey shouted happily.
"NO!" Joey shouted. "I don't want to play softball, not after what Chandler said. We only won that
one game because of Allen.
"I haven't told you guys the best part yet," Gjoey replied with a smile. "I was talking to some people
I knew, who happened to know Allen, who's a very big fan of mine... and your's and he's agreed to
play softball with us this Saturday. We just have to get all the equipment and players."
"You're kidding," Ross said sadly, "aren't you."
"I'm not, honest." Gjoey replied. "So, who wants to play?"
"I will," Chandler nodded. "It will take my mind off everything that's going on."
Everyone smiled sympathetically at Chandler before turning back to Gjoey.
"Me too." Ross, Rachel, Joey, Phoebe, Phillip  and Andrew nodded and said in agreement.
"Great, that's nine," Gjoey said," we still need another nine."
"Well, how about we ask the kids. I'm sure they'll want to play as well," Alicia suggested.
"How many do we have? Alex, Darren, Sam, Jamie, Laura, Nick, Jane, Corey, Freddy, Ben and Brook.
That's eleven."
"That's okay, it'll make the teams more fair," Joey shrugged. "We'll play eleven kids on nine adults,
unless you, Alicia and Monica want to play?"
"No, I'll be fine on the sidelines," Alicia said quickly.
"I talked to Mon," Gjoey replied, and Chandler quickly turned and looked at her, with a hopeful look
in his eyes. "She said she'd come watch, but she didn't want to play, cos someone would have to look
after Dereck, and she doesn't want to leave him with a babysitter. She said she'd take care of
Joelana as well. I've got to go though, but everyone, meet at the park, Saturday at 1!"

When Saturday arrived, everyone gathered there early, bringing all the equipment they could find
and borrow. All the kids were excited about the game, and had told the adults many times, that
they could easily beat them with only nine players. Alex, Jamie, Laura and Nick spent a lot of time
on the few days of notice they had to practice throwing, catching and batting.
"What's going on?" Laura asked confused, when they arrived at the park, and found that there were
quite a few people milling about around the baseball diamond.
"I've know idea," Alex replied, just as confused. "Come on, let's go see."
The four friends ran over to the diamond and met up with the rest of their team. Ben had taken
over the role as captain and was busy talking to Sam and Freddy.
"Ben!" Alex shouted.
"Great, you're here!" Ben sighed with relief. When he had seen the crowd, he had gotten kinda
worried.
"What's going on?" Nick asked.
"I think someone blabbed about our game today," Ben replied. "I heard about it on the radio on the
way over here. It looks like we'll have a large audience today!"
"Awesome!" Corey replied. "I love audiences!"
"I don't," Jane said quietly as she arrived.
"Then pretend they aren't there."
"Who are they cheering for? Us or the adults?" Darren asked.
"I don't know," Ben admitted. "Probably some our for us, and some for the adults."
"How's everything over here?" Chandler asked, walking over to the group of kids. "Everything okay?"
"Yeah, we're fine," Ben nodded. "It's going to be a fun game with a large audience!"
"Yeah, I was surprised to see everyone here today. I wonder who blabbed?"
"Doesn't matter now." Brook laughed. "They're all here and aren't planning on leaving anytime soon."
"You should be warming up with you team, dad," Alex told her dad. "You guys are going to need all
the help you can get, if you want to win!"
Alex's team laughed with her and Chandler just smiled.
"Well princess, we don't need to worry, we've," Chandler paused, and got dramatic. "Got Allen!" With
that, Chandler left the group of kids and teens looking after him strangely.
"Okay..." Brook said slowly as Chandler left. She turned to Ben, who shrugged. "Well, anyway. We
need to decide on positions."
"I'll be in out field," Jane volunteered. She always choose out field, but it wasn't cos she didn't want
to play. She was good out there. She could catch quite well and also throw quite far.
"Okay," Ben nodded. "I'll be pitcher. Who wants a base?"
"I do!" Alex shouted.
"Me too!" Darren nodded eagerly.
"I'll take shortstop," Nick volunteered.
"Who else want's a base?" Ben questioned.
"I will," Sam nodded. "I want third!"
"First!" Alex yelled.
"I guess I'll take second," Darren replied.
"Okay, who wants back catcher?" Brook asked. "I'll take outfield as well."
"I'll be the back catcher," Corey agreed.
"Okay," Ben quickly counted in his head. "We'll have another shortstop and rest can be outfielders."
"I'll be shortstop," Freddy said quickly.
"I guess that makes me and Laura outfielders," Jamie replied.
"Don't forget about me!" They all turned when they heard another voice.
"Katie?" Alex said in surprised.
"Yeah, I'm here!" Katie said with a bright smile. "Don't tell me you didn't think I was coming!"
"Um..." Brook turned to Ben. They had noticed how Alex and her friends didn't seem to like Katie
and had discussed it before. Why was she here? She hated sports.
"I guess we'll have to switch people on and off then," Ben finally said. "We've now got twelve."
"Aren't you only suppose to have nine?" Katie questioned.
"Yeah, but so we could all play, the adults decided that we could play eleven on nine."
"Well, I'm sure that Darren won't mind sitting off with me," Katie volunteered for him.
"Actually," Darren took a deep breath. "I want to play."
"Oh," Katie looked shocked, but quickly recovered.
"You know what?" Ben decided. "I'll ask Uncle Chandler if we can have twelve." Ben quickly hurried
off, he didn't like watching Katie make his cousin so uncomfortable. Neither did he like seeing
Darren being put in a situation like that. He had become good friends with Darren over the years
and considered him a like a ‘little brother', just as Alex was his ‘little sister'.
"Chandler?" Ben questioned when he finally found his Uncle surrounded by news reporters and fans.
"Yeah Ben?" Chandler gratefully turned away from the questions. "What's up?"
"Well... Katie showed up," Ben blurted out after a moment. "I don't know what to do. We can't not
let her play, so I was wondering if we can have twelve instead of eleven players."
"Sure," Chandler replied easily. He turned back to the reporters. "Excuse me, I need to talk to
Ben." Chandler quickly hurried away with Ben to a place that seemed to be fairly deserted. "How's
Alex holding up to Katie's arrival?" Chandler asked anxiously.
"I don't know, she looked quite mad when she showed up, but she's an actor, good at hiding her real
feelings."
"I suppose so." Chandler still looked worried.
"Don't worry though," Ben tried to reasure his uncle. "Katie voluntereed Darren to sit with her on
the side lines, but Darren said no, that he wanted to play. I think that helped."
"I hope so," Chandler sighed. "I hope this doesn't ruin Alex's day.  She was so excited about this
game."
"I know," Ben smiled at his uncle. "We better get back before everyone wonders where we've gone."

A few minutes later it was time for the games to begin, and someone who'd found a microphone
stood on the pitchers mound, ready to introduce the two teams.
"First, on the team that calls themselves the Celebrities we've got: Chandler Bing!" There was loud
applause as Chandler jogged onto the field. "Joey Tribianni." Once again the applause was ear
shattering as Joey jogged out. "Joey Tribianni." Gjoey jogged out, also with cheers. "Andrew
Schiller, Darren Schiller's dad." The crowd applauded and Andrew jogged out to join his team
mates. " The rest of the team was called out, and greeted with applause, though not as much as the
famous members of their team.
"Now, on the other team, the ones that call themselves the Sliders we've got: Alex Bing!" Alex
jogged onto the field admist the applause. "Darren Schiller. Wow, it looks like we're going to have
some compitition between dad's and their daughters/sons!" Darren jogged out and over to Alex, the
crowd cheering him on. "Ben Geller. Alex's cousin." The crowd continued to cheer as the rest of the
team was called out and jogged onto the field.
"As you can see," the announcer shouted. "We've got a team of twelve against a team of nine. The
Celebs are so sure they can win, they told the kids they were allowed to have twelve team members!
What do the Sliders think about that?" He turned his microphone in the direction of the kids.
"We're Going To Win!" The kids and teens screamed, cheering loudly.
"Okay," the announcer took over. "Well, the game will begin in five minutes everybody! And if you'll
look over at the Sliders's box, you'll see Monica Geller and Alicia Schiller with Dereck Geller and
Joelana Tribianni!"
The announcer then quickly hurried off the field and to the side where he would be the
commentator for the game. The Celebs hurried off the field, as they were batting first as the
Sliders got into position on the field.
Chandler tossed Ben a ball and he practiced pitching to Corey as Andrew, the first batter practiced
his swings.

"Great game, sweetie!" Monica congratulated Alex as she walked off the diamond, head hung in disappointment.
"I don't see what's so great about it," Alex mumbled in return. Her moods were already low due to the appearance of Katie, and her spirit dissipated when they had lost the game.
"You were right, though," Alex said to Chandler a bit later, feeling better about her frame of mind. "The Celebrities only won because of Allen."
"So now do you forgive me for lying to you about Allen?" Monica asked Chandler, handing him Dereck.
Chandler kissed Dereck's head and smiled. "Yes. But we still haven't resolved the issue about Bruce! You've made mistakes; you know what it's like."
They fell into step beside each other, strolling along the street beside the baseball diamond.
"To be completely honest with you, Chandler, I ended up not too fond of the guy. I heard some pretty nasty stuff about him from my friends in California, particularly Nancy, Jamie's mom. She used to date him, and if my memory serves me well, she told me that he began stalking Jamie after Nancy broke up with him."
Chandler shivered. "I hope you didn't know this before you got hung up on him, knowing that Alex could be . . ."
Monica shook her head vigorously. "No, of course not. I would never endanger Alex purposely. Although I must tell you that Nancy can exaggerate a bit at times - I am not positive that she was telling the whole truth. Bruce may have been a little upset that she rejected him, and tried to make her change her mind, even tried to get Jamie to change Nancy's mind. But I seriously doubt the chances of Jamie being stalked, especially in that small of a town where everyone is watching and gossip reigns in all homes."
Nodding, Chandler held Dereck tighter. The mere thought of losing either of his children - again - made him very uneasy and over-protective.
"So are you okay with it now, Chandler? I really didn't mean to hurt you in any way -" Monica ceased both her walking and talking and appeared to be deep in thought. "On second thought, maybe I did mean to hurt you! If I indeed did, every puzzle-piece falls into place, Chandler! I 'fell' for Bruce soon after I saw you on television and you sang that song for me . . . perhaps seeing and feeling that you were so full of love encouraged me to think that I had not hurt you enough by running. I wanted to make you hate me like I hated you. What my mind felt would really resolve everything was to get you back for the whole Kirsten situation by giving you a taste of your own medicine. So when this really cute -" she glanced at Chandler "- I mean really ugly, horrid, deformed guy dropped himself right into my lap, I saw it as an opportunity to get you back! That's so it, Chandler, that is so it. It is all explained now." Triumphantly, Monica flashed a smile to Chandler. "Any questions?"
"Yeah . . . sure that makes sense and all" - he put on a puppy face - "although I don't understand why anyone would want to hurt me. But the thing is, you could have just as easily used - what's his name? - Rob to get back at me. I mean, you were living with him, pretending to be his wife." A ting of pain thickened Chandler's voice. "Wouldn't that have been easier?"
"No, sweetie. It may make zero sense to you, but to me it fits perfectly. Rob is my friend, and regardless of who we were pretending to be, he is only my friend. In fact, I have to tell you something really funny that Rob told me just before Alex and I moved back. It turns out I wasn't the only Bellar in the midst of an 'affair' - he fell for a girl there, and hard. Her name is  Renee. Things are going fast with them, and they are already living together. They both decided it was best for lawrence, Rob's son, if he had a mother figure in the house, particularly after he had had me for several months as his 'mother.' We really grew fond of each other, actually, and I'm sorry he and Rob decided to stay in California. But that is Rob's home now. He's doing what he always wanted to do, he lives in a great neighbourhood with a wonderful son and girlfriend." Monica sighed heavily. "I still wonder at how I sacrificed Alex's happiness and both Alex and Dereck's life with a father for what I thought would be revenge. It was a horrible thing for me to do and you've no idea how i regret it every day." Her eyes brimmed with tears. "My poor children. My poor, poor children."
Monica took Dereck from Chandler and rocked him in her arms.
Chandler put his arm around Monica. "Neither of us are exactly ideal parents, you must admit. We both have made mistakes - life-altering mistakes, mind you  - but simple mistakes all the same. We are just lucky that our children still love us."
Monica bit her lip and Chandler pulled her into a hug, Dereck between them.

Laura, Jamie, Nancy, and Nick left the day after Nick's filming ended. It was sad for Alex to say goodbye, but she looked forward to seeing them again soon, perhaps next summer.
"Log on to ICQ as soon as you get home!" Alex shouted to Laura as she stepped on to the plane.

“Another happy ending,” Monica commented as the movie she and Chandler were watching drew to the conclusion. Her thoughts were, however, on her current situation and Monica couldn’t help but wonder-when would her “happy ending” begin?
Not that she was unhappy. She had what she had wanted for years - children. It was just that she had always pictured a man by her side. Living with Chandler as her family had been this summer-
“Movies can be like that. Not at all like real life.”
Ah ha! Monica thought. So Chandler shared her strange feeling of need.
“Maybe that’s why I went into the movie business,” Chandler pondered, removing the DVD from the player. He flicked off the television. Then he continued to speak, wondering slowly, as if no one else was in the room with hin. “The presence of a conflict entwined with a love story, maybe a love triangle. The build-up of action to one glorious, enticing point where the conflict is greatest. The heat, the excitement, you become part of the characters. You are there, with them, and just when you know -or you think you know- they are working towards a lost cause, the problem is resolved! Resolution . . . it is only to be expected. In life when it does not come as expected . . . and then there is the ‘happily ever after.’ You feel so settled, so satisfied. ‘Life is happy again; all is healed,’ you think. But once you leave the director’s chair, you remember what’s really the ultimatum - world hunger, murders, war, and trouble in love. It’s all there. And in your denouement, ‘happily ever after; does not exist. Only pain and sorrow.” A long stretch of silence followed, Chandler lost, Monica bewildered. After a short while, Monica placed her hand gently on his shoulder.
“Chandler.”
He looked toward her, staring silently at her out-stretched hands.
“I was wondering . . . maybe we will both feel better if Alex, Dereck and I stay here . . . after summer is over.”
Chandler fell into open arms and they enveloped each other in a deep embrace. She took it as a “yes.”

“Guess what guess what guess what guess what guess what guess what!!!”
“Whoa, boy!” Alex laughed as Darren cried out repetitively.
“My parents have agreed to put me in public school. At least for this year to see if I like it!”
Alex shrieked and threw her arms around her friend. “I can’t believe it! And you’re coming to Bogart Junior, right??”
“Of course, Al! I wouldn’t be able to get through without you!”
“After a few more minutes of chatternig excitedly about how great it would be, a thought struck Alex. “But what about your career, Daren? Is this the end of it?”
“I don’t know,” Darren admitted. “I love the entertainment field when I’m older . . . but when you’re my age and you’ve been in the acting business as long as I have, you realize what you’re missing. I want to be a regular kid! Alex, last year while I was on the set of my film with Liam Neeson, I was thinking about it the whole time. Instead of pretending to be someone I’m not, I wanted to be swimming, playing, biking with my friends. Like my dad says, ‘You’re only young once,’ and I think that’s what got him to break down and see my side of things.”
“Oh.” Alex sat still for a moment. “But I always saw us going on together. It was so great to work on Queen of Hearts together.”
“I know,” Darren agreed, “and like I said, I plan to go on. Alex, even you aren’t involved in anything right now. The next time we feel like a challenge, we can do it together. Besides, don’t you ever find yourself interested in any other field?”
“I do enjoy science,” she confessed. “My favorite subject.”
“See, we can make decisions like that when we’re older. You obviously have other options and interests. We’re just kids, Al. Let’s enjoy life while we can.”
“Okay!” Alex declared.

Soon after came the first day of school. It was exciting for Alex and her friends. After a busy summer with Alex's California friends, all of them were ready for a bit of a change. There were five seventh grade classes in their school - a junior high. It was a big step for Freddie, Cory, Sam, Jane and Alex. But most of all, it was a big step for Darren. His parents had discussed it, and after many conversations and plenty of disagreements, they finally agreed on public school. It was the best thing for Darren, they decided. Now that he was friends with Alex and all her pals, it only made sense to put him into school, especially since he was not in the middle of a film at the moment.
"To tell the truth," Darren admitted to Alex as the summer neared autumn, "I'm kind of bored with doing movies . . . I think I prefer a normal life to that sort of living."
Fortunately, Alex had ended up in a class with Jane, Sam and Darren. Darren immediately befriended several of the guys in the class, and was not pestered by any of them as to what his career had been like.
Another big change was for Alex . . . she and Monica and Dereck were still living at Chandler's. It was a good change, of course, but certainly very surprising. Chandler and Monica had decided it was best if Dereck and Alex could live in an environment with both parents together. Alex felt as if she had complete control over her parents - they felt so guilty!
"Where's Katie?"
"I don't know," Jane said in response to Alex's question about Katie.
"Probably late, as usual," Sam chimed in, recalling with a curled lip how Katie had kept them waiting on the day they had gone to Water World.
"And I bet she'll be just as posessive and as bossy as last year," Jane input, thinking of the softball game and how upset it had made Alex that Katie had shown up.
"Posessive is right," Alex agreed, glancing at Darren, who was chattering away with a guy named Scott.
As the bell rang, the kids took their seats after a bit of prodding from Mrs. Radowsky, their new teacher. She took roll- call, passing right by the "B"s of Bandit, Katie without a word. Sam, Jane and Alex all exchanged relieved glances. Maybe this year wouldn't be as terrible as they had dreaded.

"Hey Sam,' Chandler greeted Sam. "Alex is upstairs in her room."
"Thanks!" Sam smiled at Chandler and hurried up the stairs. She found Alex lying on her bed
watching a movie.
"What movie are you watching?" Sam questioned Alex, sitting on the bean bag chari.
"The Whole Nine Yards, I've never seen it before and it's actually quite good."
"Oh," Sam paused. "Alex, when you invited me over you made it sound like there was something
important we need to talk about."
"There is!" Alex got up and stopped the movie. "Katie!"
"What about Katie?" Sam questioned. "I mean, I know she's changed, but..."
"Changed?" Alex laughed. "It's not so much changed as shown us what she really is. A slut! I mean,
did you see her bathingsuit? It was practically non-existent."
"Yeah, so? That's just who she is. It bugs me too, but what can we do?"
"I don't know, but we have to do something. Did you see how she was all over Darren? It made me
sick!"
“It made me sick too, but I don’t know what to do Al. That’s just the way she is. She’s always been kinda like that.”
“But we’ve got to do something Sam. It’s driving me CRAZY!!!” Alex sighed and  lay down on her bed.
“I don’t know what to suggest,” Sam said slowly. “Just take it one day at a time and we’ll see if anything changes. If it doesn’t, well, we’ll talk to her about it then!”
“I suppose so,” Alex wasn’t too happy about the suggestion, but didn’t know what else they could do. “Here, I’ll restart the movie. It’s SOO good and funny. The main guy looks sort of like my dad!”
“Cool.”

"Sam, Josie!" Monica said surprised when she opened the front door of Chandler's house. It was
Tuesday, Lionel's day off.
"Monica!" Josie gave her friend a hug. "We went to your place first, butyou weren't there. We
though we'd see if you were here."
"Who is it?" Chandler shouted form the kitchen.
"Sam and Josie Coulson,' Monica shouted back. She turned back to Sam and Josie. "Come in."
Monica led her two friends to the kitchen, were she introduced them to Chandler.
Chandler and Sam hit it off, so Josie and Moncia left the two gusy alone, and went to talk.

"What's so funny?" Chandler asked Sam when Sam started to laugh for no apparent reason.
I'ts just that" Sam paused. "I don't know how to say this... you remember Kirsten?"
"Of course," Chandler replied automatically. "How could I forget?"
"Well... you know how I"m a teacher?" Sam asked and Chandler nodded. "I, well, I taught Kirsten."

"Chandler?" Moncia asked for her position on his lap.
"Yes?" Chandler replied. "Is something wrong?"
"No, not wrong," Monica replied instantly. "I was just wondering... where's this relationship headed?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well are we friends, or are we dating now? And if we're dating, where do you tihnk we'll end up?"
"I though we were dating, but if you think we're only friends..." Chandler trailed off.
"No!" Monica reasurred him quickly. "I just wanted to make sure we were on the same page." Monica
sighed. It's just so hard Chandler. I mean we haven't been on one date or anything. It's worse then
when we were in secret the first time."
"Yeah, well, the first tiem i wasn't famous," Chandler defended himself. It wasn't like he hadn't
wanted to go out, he had. "If we don't want anyone to know Mon, then we can't go out!"
"Well, then amyabe it's time we stop hiding," Monica suggested.
"But waht about Alex?" Chander asked. "I thought we didn't want her to know unless we were sure
the relationship was headed in some direction."
"Why, are you not sure?" Monica questioned, standing up, upset.
"I though you had just said that we were dating, that we had some direction."
"Monica, I didn't mean it like that, it's just that...." Chandler trailed off.
"It's just that what?" Monica questioned. "You're not sure you love me? Cos I'm positive I love you
Chandler. But if you're not sure..." Monica paused as the tears started down her face. "I've got
better things to do then stay here and wast my time if you're not sure."
With that Monica headed to the door and left, just a Gjoey was about to walk in. Monica puased and
looked at GJOey before leaving.
Gjoey watched Monica leave in tears, surprised. She turned back to look into the room after Monica
had disappeared from view. Chandler was sitting with his head in his hands. She hurried inot the
room and over to her brother.
"What was that?" Gjoey pointed at the door. "What happened?"
"How much did you hear?" Chandler moaned.
"Most of it" Gjoey admitted. "From what I DID hear, you two are dating."
"Were."
"You broke up?" Gjoey sounded shocked.
"I think so, she's so mad at me," Chandler closed his eyes, thining back to what had just happened.
"Well you should be going after her, not sitting here unless... unless you don't want to be with here!"
"I do! I really do Joey," Chandler said softly. "I love her!"
"Well, then I've got an idea."

The first semester passed quickly, and amidst the politics of Social Studies, the formulas of Math, the trials of Phys Ed, and the labs of Science, Alex kept her mind on New Year's Eve, which was quickly approaching, and she helped her father in planning for the annual party, which had (obviously) not taken place the previous year. But Chandler and Aunt Joey had another job for her.
"Your mom will be retiring early on New Year's Eve - I'll see to that," Joey began.
Chandler snorted.
"When she starts to head up to her room, you assist her to the door, then stay outside the door and make sure she doesn't come out. If she does, tell her she's drunk and she needs to lie down."
"Sounds simple enough," Alex said, "but what's this all about?"
"Oh, nothing," Joey said vaguely.
"Can Darren join me? He'll be over too, cos his parents are coming to the party."
"Of course! But just make sure Monica gets to her room safely and does not emerge. Understand?"
Alex nodded. Strange! But she accepted the duties, and saw to them when New Year's Eve arrived.

The evening was not quiet, which was to be expected on the night of New Year's Eve. All up and down Chandler's street, horns honked and people shouted salutations to their friends and acquaintances. Silently, Ross and rachel ambled down the sidewalk, half content with each other's company, half worried about Ben. Ben and Brook were attending a friend's party - someone named Sara - and that had gotten both of his parents a little up in arms.
"There will be drinking drugs, girls -" Rachel babbled.
"Ben has his head screwed on tight," Ross consoled her. "Both he and Brook are extremely responsible and competent."
"Mm. . . ." Rachel was still unsure, and she knew that his words had not even comforted he himself. Soon, however, Rachel forgot about her son as the couple passed a group of guys including Tom Cruise, Richard Gere, and Freddy Prinze Jr. It took Ross some time to pull the drooling Rachel away.
"Sorry, Ross," she said sheepishly.
They walked along, quiet again. Upon reaching the path to the mansion, Ross stopped.
"How com epeople aren't going inside?"
"You mean like Tom Cruise? Ross, I said I was sorry . . . why are you being so jealous tonight?"
"It's not that, Rach. I was just wondering why people are still sitting in their cars. I saw a few people across the street, but oh well. It was just a general wondering."
"Hey, remember that time you were going to ask me out, and you said it wasn't a question, but more like a general wondering?" That thought made Rachel happy just to think of her love with Ross. "Now let's go have a wonderful evening together."

Brook grabbed Ben’s hand as they stood nervously in front of Sara’s house. They had been shocked when Sara had invited them, but decided to go as there was nothing else to do, and it was their last new year’s of high schol. Ben knocked on the door, and it immediately swung open.
The music was blaring full blast and they could see people everywhere. And most were holding bottles and cans of beer. While Ben and Brook were 18 now, neither of them had drinking high on their to do list.
Sara pulled them into the house where they were soon assulted with the smell of drugs. All around them people were high, drunk or both.
Only seconds after they had stepped into the house, bottles of beer were pushed into their hands. Ben and Brook shared a look of disgust, but held onto them, bearing if they let go they would find drungs in their hands instead.
As they walked further into the house, they found people dancing to the music, and couples making out on the sidelines. There seemed to be no part of the house that people weren’t in. Brook held ont Ben’s hand tightly, so they wouldn’t be seperated.
They could hear a cry fro help, coming from upstairs, so they hurried up and found a guy they knew as Chris locked in a closet. They let him out, and remembered seeing his girlfriend downstairs making out with somebody else. They turned to head back downstairs when they saw something they didn’t want to see.
The door ro one of the bedrooms was open. They could see movement in the bed and then Lance and Lisa’s heads popped into view. Brook and Ben covered their eyes and hurried away and down the stairs then out of the house.

"Are you sure this is going to work?" Chandler whipsered to Gjoey.
"Posisitve. She's not going to be able to resist this!" Gjoey smiled at Chandler through the darkness.
"Now come on." As she pushed her way around a tree she paused and turned to Chandler. "Thank
GOD Monica's living at your house. This never would've worked otherwise!"
"At the moment," Chandler replied. "It's not going to work here either, unless we get a move on!"
"Are you sure about this?"
Once Chandler had actually reached the spot near the oak tree under the balcony of Monica's bedroom, her became very nervous. Even before they had "broken up," she had been fairly upset with him after his childish behaviour over Bruce and Allen.
"Sure, what's to be unsure about?" Joey laughed, rolling her eyes. "All you have to do it repeat what I say. Now let's go."
Taking a deep beath, Chandler mentally noted all that Joey said. Then he began:
"But soft, what light through yonder window breaks?"
Joey intervened. "Louder!" she whispered impatiently.
"But soft, what light through yonder window breaks?" Chandler repated loudly. AIt is the East and Monica is the sun. Arise fair Sun and kill the jealous moon, who is already sick and pale with grief that you, her maid, is far more fair than she. Be not her maid, since she is jealous - her chaste dress is sick and green, and only fools are clothed in such a way - rise, fair Sun!"
Monica did not appear. Chandler and Joey looked at each other.
"Alex told me she sent her up there," Joey said, puzzled.
Shrugging, Chandler replied, "She's probably still ticked at me for some various reason."
"Don't give up!" Joey continued. "I'm positive this will work. I played Roxane in a production of Cyrano de Bergerac once, and it worked like a charm on her! Only the man that really loved her was writing for the other man to recite."
Chandler gave her a look. "You love her?"
It was rhetorical, and Joey laughed. "I'm not making this up - it's what I remember from when I was in Romeo and Juliet once. Now let's get on with it. Here's what you say next: 'Where is my lady? Where is my love? Oh if you know you were! She speaks yet she says nothing - what of that? Her eye discourses, I will answer it. I am too bold, >tis not to me she speaks. Two of the fairest stars in all of heaven are her eyes! She thinks me bold. And in truth, fair Monica, I am too fond, and therefore you may think me false. Oh, but I am true, as true as you and the fair blue sea. Trust me, and I"ll prove more true than those that have more cunning to be strange. I should have been more strange, but I became aware of my true-love passion.' "
Chandler repeated about half of what Joey had lay before him, but at once words failed him. Here he was, speaking of his chaste and innocence, when on the inside, this was all a hoax. Shakespeare was his outlet - and that was about as false as false could be.
"Why are you stoppin?" Joey hissed, motioning for him to continue.
Without warning, Chandler's silent eyes lit up, and he began again. Only this time he used his own words.
"No. In truth, fair Sun, I am false. I would swear to my love for you, swear to the ends of the earth, but what I have brought to you tonight is not mine. Only the love is mine. Words always seem to fail me - I felt I needed aid to bring us together. But now the aid is here, in my heart. When I was led to be so profane, I collapsed. Love accumulated and, unable to stand beneath it=s pressure - I gave in. I am now your debtor; can you forgive me this debt? Listen to me, my love, for now when I speak I feel you by my side:

    The sky will only tell when the sun will shine
    The clouds will only tell when the rain will fall
    The trees will only tell when the autumn wind blows
    You, love, will only tell when my heart will squall.

    Life will only tell when life shall begin
    Death will only tell when life shall end
    Books will only tell of a lost fantasy
    You, love, will tell when my heart shall mend."

Chandler dropped to the ground, clawing at its surface. His voice grew into a passionate frenzy at the thought that his lady-light was sitting somewhere above, listening with gentle ears turned toward him. She was up there, eating the words, perhaps as burning as he, perhaps not. But somewhere inside, she was falling in love all over again.

    "The gods will only tell when the sun may rise
    The people will only tell when they're tired of life
    The cats will only tell when the mouse comes out
    You, love, will only tell of the end of my strife."
 
He lay there quietly, his body only moving with every breath he took.
"Chandler." Joey lay a gentle hand on his tense shoulder. "I've never heard anything more beautiful - not from any poem, play, or any other mouth. Monica must be so flustered right now. You've got to be brave - you're no Romeo, you're no Cyrano, but you're Chandler. And it shows just how special your love is - you don't need me or Shakespeare!"
Chandler nodded and stood. He scaled the oak tree quickly, and hoisted himself over the balcony's edge. The thought of Monica awaiting him gave him a surge of energy.
He slid through the partly open door and entered her bedroom. The room was dark and quiet. There was no sign of Chandler's lover. He called for her softly. "Monica. Monica."
Nothing. No reply, no sigh, no breath.
In the dark, Chandler groped for the light switch.
A pale glow enveloped the room.

"Oh, man, this is boring." Darren yawned widely and crossed his legs beneath him. They were very cramped from sitting for a prolonged period of time.
"I know," Alex replied. "But Joey said we have to make sure Mom doesn't come out." After checking her watch, she continued. "Listen, go get us a couple of snacks. It's eleven fifty-five. Everyone will have abandoned the buffet and started dancing. The ball drops in only five minutes!"
Darren agreed readily and dashed off.
Once he was out of sight, Alex stood up inconspicuously. She tiptoed to the doorway and listened for any sign of something interesting going on. She heard nothing but a soft murmur. It sounded kind of like her dad, but she couldn't be sure. After a few minutes of undecided arguing between her moral side and her curious side, her love of snooping took over. She cracked open the door.
"Dad?"
"Alex."
Chandler and Alex looked at each other.
Monica was not there.