Regaining Hope
Chapter One: "It's his."

Monica walked into the emergency doors of the hospital and froze. She hadn't even walked past this hospital or its doors in two years. She tightened the grip on her purse as she walked down the corridor. Three people were sitting in chairs holding each other. She looked at them and smiled. They showed no sign of happiness. Monica's face whitened as memories flooded back to her. She turned around and saw a washroom and quickly stepped into it.

Standing at the sink, she lowered her head and put her face in her hands. She was beyond that place in her life. Monica brought her face back up to the mirror and examined her pale face. She pulled gloss out of her purse and dabbed some on her lips. It was a sad attempt to make her self look better. She faintly smiled at herself and stepped back out of the bathroom. As she did she saw the three strangers still seated where they had been before. The elder woman was sobbing into the shoulder of the elder man who had his face buried in a ripped tissue. The younger lady looked puzzled, as if she was going to be sick, she held her hands together and was weeping silently. Obviously, they had been given bad news. Monica looked at the young woman, her shirt said "NYU" and her arm had a long scar on it. Monica sat down, away from them and, remembered when she had once been running down that exact hall.

Two years earlier.
Monica was running in heels and a skirt, she was having trouble. In between frantic tears, she turned and looked at Chandler. He was rushing slightly behind her, in a suit, holding her hand.
"Chandler, I don't know what to do," she gasped as she kept running.
He tightened his clasp on her hand as they ran up to the area where they spotted Joey seated in a bed, with his face bruised. The two stood motionless in the area, surrounded by a curtain.
Joey looked up at them, with tired eyes, "I am so sorry, I never meant for anything to happen. All we did was go to the park."
Chandler let go of Monica's hand, he spoke sternly and slowly, "Where's Jaron?"
Joey held his hands tightly together, "We were walking, and this guy grabbed me, hit me, I fell to the ground, he grabbed my wallet, and Jaron. I jumped up as fast as I could and ran after him, but he jumped in this car with Jaron and drove away."
Monica collapsed.

And now, as Monica sat in the hallway, she remembered the last time she'd been in this hospital. They had never blamed Joey, it wasn't him who had kidnapped Monica and Chandler's two year old son. Monica didn't know why she had come here. She stepped outside, and pulled her phone out of her purse and dialled.
"Chandler, it's me." She said when the familiar voice answered.
"Where are you? Did you get some food?" He asked, from the hotel.
"I'm at the hospital."
"Mon, why are you there?"
"Chandler, I haven't been back to New York for so long, it was the first place I wanted to go. We've lived in Boston for what, a year?"
"What made you want to?"

"I really, really don't know."
"Come back to the hotel, we've got to go visit our friends."
"Our old friends." Monica corrected.
After they hung up Chandler lay down on the bed and turned on the TV. He reviewed the past few years. Four years ago, Monica and Chandler had been married and had a baby boy. Two years ago, their son had been kidnapped when Monica and Chandler had been out for their anniversary. For two years, the police had tried every lead, every clue, every possibility. Their son was still missing. No trace. Chandler and Monica had lost hope after a year, and decided to move to Boston. In Boston, they tried to forget. They had both always felt guilty for losing hope. And three days ago, Monica had gotten a call from the New York Police Department. The red jacket Jaron had been wearing the night he had been taken was found at a washroom in the airport. Monica and Chandler immediately booked flights back to New York, regaining hope. And now, Monica would return and the two would go back to Apartment 19 and 20.

Chandler and Monica walked up to the door of Joey and Rachel's apartment. They had moved and left Phoebe to live at their apartment, in case they moved back. Chandler held out his hand and knocked on the door twice. No one answered. Dejected, they both stood motionless. Chandler glanced to Monica, her short brown hair pinned out of her face, his own hair lighter from a recent vacation. He was taken back by how much he loved her. He wrapped his arms protectively around her. The door behind them, of their former apartment opened.
Joey stepped out, "Excuse me, can I help you?"
The two separated and looked at Joey. His face lighted up, and so did theirs. He hugged them. Phoebe, Rachel and Ross exited and exchanged various hugs with them.
"Why are you guys here?" Ross said, beaming.
"Uh- the police found Jaron's jacket and think they might have a lead." Monica said, clasping her hands together.
The other four, silently remembered. Life wasn't the same as before.
"Is there anything we can do?" Rachel asked.
Chandler spoke, "If you guys wouldn't mind, we just stopped by to say hello, before we visit the police station."
"We understand, come back afterwards, okay?" Phoebe said. Monica and Chandler quickly left.

"Hello, my name is Chandler Bing, my son Jaron Bing was kidnapped two years ago, and someone called from here yesterday." Chandler told the first officer he saw.
The woman, annoyingly chewing gum, pointed to a back office, "You want to see Sergeant Akin." She walked away.
The two, hand in hand entered the Sergeant's open office.
"Hi, I'm Monica Bing," Monica said. "This is my husband Chandler."
Sergeant Akin leaned in and extended a hand and shook their hands. "Nice to see you, I remember you folks, from what was it two years ago?"
"Yes," Monica said quietly.
"Well, this is what I have to tell you. But don't get to excited, because I don't want to set you up for disappointment if we don't find your son. Or if he's deceased." Sergeant Akin stopped. Monica caught a lump in her throat, as she dreaded the thought of her son dead.
"Thank you," Chandler said.
"We found the jacket in a woman's washroom in the airport. We know that the man who allegedly took your son was driving a green Toyota. It was a rental, but we never found much from the rental place. He had used a fake name and a stolen credit card. The winsheild was broken, a large chunk of it missing. That's all we know from that, the leads, well, they leand nowehere. But, the jacket was left on the floor, recently. It was worn slightly. We checked out all women with children between the ages of 3 and 5, and none of them lead to anything. But we just want to make sure the jacket belonged to your son." He pulled out the red jacket from a box next to his desk, it was in a large clear bag.
Monica looked, with tears, to Chandler, "Is it?" She asked.
Chandler turned over the bag, and he spotted the ripped cuff. "He ripped the cuff once when we were playing with Ross."
Monica gasped, "I remember."
Chandler handed the jacket to Sergeant Akin, "It's his."

TO BE CONTINUED

I don't own these characters. Too bad, eh? Sorry if I stole anyone's idea, I haven't read one like this before. Well, except in one of mine Rachel's kid went missing for like three hours. But, yeah, whatever.