Mostly light Matteney fluff, nothing too big. Courteney and Matthew are driving home for break after finishing season 4 of friends. Not my characters, just my words. please read, review and enjoy!

Chapter 1

"Matthew Langford Perry," I told you to pee before we hit the road again. There isn't a rest stop for another hundred miles, you'll just have to suck it up."

Scolding her friend like she was his mother, Courteney internally giggled as the look of panic spread onto his face at her news of no rest stops for about another two hours. She and Matthew were traveling back to LA together after spending sometime in Vegas, for a few episodes. The pair couldn't wait to get back.

"We can't stop at like a McDonald's or something? I'm serious Court, I'm gonna die if we don't stop soon. How would you live with yourself knowing you killed the one and only Matthew Perry?"

He had been at the wheel for their last shift, and being determined to reach the half way point by nightfall, he had consumed a good amount of Red Bull to keep himself awake. He loved having Courteney there to talk to, but at one point or another, she had taken his jacket as a blanket slash cuddling mechanism, curled herself into a ball, and crashed in the passenger seat. If he hadn't been driving, he'd have been watching her sleep—not in a weird, Twilight fashion—but in an innocent way of sneaking a peek every so often to watch as her nose would occasionally scrunch up or to see the occasional sleepy smile curl up at the corners of her lips. She was so innocent and downright adorable when she slept that he couldn't dare wake her, hence their late departure that morning; he had awoken before her in the hotel but couldn't bring himself to wake her from her innocent slumber, and settled for laying on the edge of his own bed in their hotel to watch her dream in her own.

However, the consequence to that was consuming a four pack of Red Bull all on his own. After they had stopped for dinner and she had wisely advised him to take a restroom break before they hit the road again, he had declined, saying he would be fine, that his hyped up energy rush from the Red Bull would give him enough entertainment to focus his mind on something else if he indeed found himself having to pee after they left the restaurant.

Which was five minutes after they hit the highway.

The energy rush on top of his now full bladder created for a full puppy-dog effect; he was essentially sitting in the passenger seat of the car wagging his tail, pawing at the window to be let out as Courteney sat behind the wheel and giggled. Of course, she could always pull over and let him relieve himself on the side of the road, but they both knew he wouldn't ever bring himself to do that. He always waited until they were done filming and then galloped to the nearest bathroom, which was always a sight to see. She always poked fun. He always let her. He enjoyed making her laugh.

Except in this situation. He was genuinely in pain and they still had an hour and a half to go.

Sitting in the passenger seat of her car, legs crossed, face beginning to turn red, she tried to find something to take his mind off the pain.

"Why don't we play the license plate game?" she suggested, then realizing that it was 8 PM on a Tuesday and no one was really on the I-5 at that point.

"You could flash me… That would sure keep my mind of my little…situation" Matthew suggested half joking.

"Ah, what a romantic you are Matty." Courteney replied.

"What about 20 questions?" he replied, his suggestion being more conversational and containing less silences for him to dwell on his predicament.

At this, she giggled. "I mean I'm not opposed to the idea, but what exactly is there about me that you don't know yet? I'm pretty sure by this point, you may know me better than I know myself. Which does In fact inflict some terror."

He smiled almost as genuinely as she did at this phrase. He was glad that they had gotten closer; close enough, in fact, that she was eager and willing to take the road trip home with him alone. (Not including the fact Jen has to stay an extra day to film)

"Well, let's see if we can uncover some things I don't know then, shall we?"

It was more of a prompt to get their little "game" going than a suggestion that she could turn down—which she wouldn't have if given the chance anyway.

"Alright, you're up first then," she said with a coy smile. "Take it away Perry, Ask me anything."

"Hmmm," he began, pondering for a moment. "In the next ten years, where do you see yourself?"

She immediately knew the answer to this question, and he did as well. But he loved hearing the enthusiasm in her story almost as much as she loved telling it, so he sat back to enjoy the show, almost regretting not bringing a bucket of popcorn along.

"In the next ten years, I want to have a family," she began, a wave of joy rushing over her face. "I want to be married to the guy of my dreams: someone who can be down to earth but still keep me on my toes, a family man, someone right for me as well as for our children. I want to be in the kind of love that's still new no matter how many times we wake up next to each other, always learning about each other."

As she rattled off these qualities of her "dream man", the only vision that popped into her head was one of herself and Matthew. He understood her better in the first two months of knowing each other on set than her on-off lover David had in their (so far) two year relationship. He was able to break through her barriers when she had come to the set in tears, needing someone to just hug her while she reminisced on the breaking relationship thinking her love life was over. He wasn't just a supportive friend who sat with her while she cried, but offered advice, distractions, and helped cheer her up. He was the only one who could get her to smile.

The smile spreading across her cheeks in that moment was all thanks to him. "I want a big family," she continued, trying to push the thought from her mind. "I've always wanted kids, and I want them to have the relationship that I had with my sisters, but for their entire childhood. I want them to know what love is. I want them to be able to look back and remember that their parents loved them wholeheartedly, and loved each other until God took them home; that through everything, they had a constant in each other."

Suddenly, she felt his thumb softly on her cheek. He was wiping a tear away; she hadn't even realized that she had started crying.

"Oh, God," she responded, chuckling as she wiped the other cheek, stealing a glance over to see his reaction. His smile was genuine, making the urge to stop crying even harder.

"Sorry to get all sappy on you. It's just something I really want for myself, you know?"

"No, no, I completely understand," he responded sincerely. "It's nice for someone in this world to still want that for their future. You don't see many dreams like that these days."

She gave him an inquisitive, "Hmm?" urging him to explain further, which he did.

"People are so caught up in the work world and getting ahead financially that they toss love aside like it can be picked up as easily as the morning paper, when in actuality, divorce is too common and homes are broken and it's just… well it's sad. I mean I want what you want: I want my kids to know love too. When you really think about it, that should be something commonplace, but when it's not, it's harder to find someone who can actually agree with you to make that dream a reality."

Hesitantly, he glanced up at her, his own expression filled with apprehension for what her reaction might be.

He wanted to be with her, but at the same time he was so afraid that he wouldn't be enough for her. They were amazing friends and worked so well together in any situation; they were closer than he had been with anyone else in his life. He just couldn't fathom being a disappointment.

Her reaction assured him that he was nowhere close—in fact, quite the opposite—to that fear.

She suppressed another urge to start crying, deciding instead to actually take her eyes off the road for a second and smile at him with so much emotion that all he could do in response was to smile back and reach over, covering one of her hands with his own, squeezing it lightly in reassurance.

"OH MY GOD, DOES THAT SAY FOOD EXIT IN 5 MILES?!" Their tender moment was interrupted by Matty's bathroom-dar; if he hadn't have nearly bolted to the window to read the sign, she surely would have missed it.

She made a mental note of the exit number and took the ramp, pulling into a parking spot at the Wendy's as he essentially flew out of the car and hurled himself through the door. She laughed to herself, choosing to stay in the car as he used the indoor facilities, trying to imagine what her perfect life would be like if she inserted him into the picture.

They would go to work together, stopping at Starbucks on early mornings. He would order for her, knowing her order better than the baristas: China Green Tips Soy Tea Misto, no sweetener. He'd get a plain black coffee for himself. After work, they would return to their condo in LA, relieving the nanny and enthusiastically scooping their children up into their arms, being presented with arts and crafts and coloring book pages galore. She would cook dinner while he wrestled with the kids or put on a movie, and they would eat dinner as a family, something the two highly valued and promised that they would do every night. After they did the dishes together, their attention would be turned solely towards their children, playing with them, helping them with homework, and just being a family. Bath time would often involve bubble fights, and bedtime would often be elongated with, "One more story, please daddy?" Their children would inherit her signature puppy-dog pout that she often used on him to get her way, and he wouldn't be able to refuse. She would comply, oftentimes so she could stay in the moment of complete and utter perfection that they would be in: perched on a tiny, children's bed, all the children huddled on his lap, fighting to see the colorful pictures in the book, while she sat next to him, running her fingers through his hair, watching as he enthusiastically acted out each and every character in each and every book, each and every night.

After many goodnight hugs and kisses, they would plop into the couch and enjoy the time they had to themselves, falling asleep and waking up in each other's arms.

It was perfect.

So perfect, in fact, that his face appearing at the window seemed to melt from her memories right into reality, as if the vision weren't ending, but simply taking on a different chapter for the time being.

"Are we all better now?" she joked as he buckled himself back into his seat.

He sighed, over exaggeratedly; letting his head tilt back and his eyes close in conjunction with his relief.

"Much better," he replied with a sigh.

"We'd better get going then, if we want to make it to the hotel at a decent hour."

The last 45 minutes of the ride to the hotel were filled with many giggles as she chose to poke fun at his weak bladder and he continued to attempt to divert the story to some other embarrassing entity that she had in her past.

It was nearing 11 PM when they pulled up at a small hotel, and through a fit of overtired giggles, the pair was exhausted and running on fumes.

He hoisted both overnight bags over his shoulder and held the door open for her as she walked to the front desk to check in, the elevator ride to the third floor silent as they let exhaustion take over.

"I'm just going to walk into the room and face plant onto the bed; don't wake me up before noon," she joked as they walked down the hall.

"Wouldn't dare wake sleeping beauty, "he replied, shoving the key in the door.

However, her plans to stretch out and take up the nice comfy hotel bed were cut short as the shabby door opened.

There was only one bed.