A/N – In case anyone was wondering, I do not own Friends, just wondered what it would be like if there were kids involved!
Monica fell pregnant her first year of college, when she found out she was expecting twins her Grandmother invited her to move into her NY apartment as she was moving to Florida. She has since lived here, raising her twins, Jack and Erica, as a single parent, along with her friends Phoebe and Joey, and brother Ross. The twins see their father occasionally; he lives in New Jersey and works as an electrician though he dreams of his band making a hit album and going on a world tour.
Also, in my story, Monica's apartment has 3 bedrooms, not 2, so the twins have somewhere to sleep!
Also, I have never written a story before, so reviews would be helpful! Sorry if I have made grammatical errors or something!
xxx
The four friends are sat around the large coffee table in Central Perk, their favourite place to hang out and drink coffee. Chandler is explaining the dream he had last night to Joey, Monica and Phoebe.
"Okay, so I'm standing in the cafeteria, totally … naked. Oh, and there's a phone, there" Chandler gestures to, well, there. "And then, it starts ringing, so I figure I better answer it, turns out, it's my mother."
The guys look at Chandler mildly confused; they are used to his strange stories, but this is a weird dream.
"And, that's just weird, because, well, she never calls me".
Monica starts laughing, only for her face to fall as she glances towards the door. Through the glass she sees her brother approaching. He does not look happy. The others turn to follow Monica's gaze, to be met with the same sad sight; Ross is soaking wet and looking thoroughly miserable.
"This guy says hello, I want to kill myself", Joey jokes as Ross walks to meet the friends, attempting to lighten the rapidly declining mood.
"I feel like somebody reached down my throat, grabbed my small intestine, pulled it out and tied it around my neck" Ross says in way of a reply.
"Cookie?" this time Chandler tries to bring back a smile to the group, but the girls still just look worriedly at Ross.
"Carol moved her stuff out today" Monica tells the others, in explanation of Ross' mood.
"Ohhh" the group nod understandingly at Ross as he sits down next to Phoebe, who immediately starts waving her hands over his head.
Ross leans away, "no, please, no, don't cleanse my aura again Pheebs".
Monica pats her brother sympathetically, "I'll get you a coffee…..oh shoot no I can't" glancing at her watch Monica starts gathering up her coat and bag, "I've got to go pick up the twins from school, I'll be back later guys" she says rushing out the door.
xxx
Outside the school, Monica glances nervously towards the door. Deep down she knew the twins would be fine, after all they had been getting on fine at preschool, and they had rushed off without a backward glance at her when she had dropped them off for their first day at big school this morning. But been through a fair amount of unsettlement for 5 year olds, and what if they hated it, what if someone bullied them, what if they got in trouble, what if they didn't like the lunches she had packed them, what if…her worries came to an abrupt end as the doors opened and a stream of children hurried out. Among them she spotted Jack, carrying his Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles backpack he had begged Monica for the week before.
"Hey kid, how was your day?" Monica excitedly asked Jack as he ran up to greet her.
"Oh Mom it was so cool, we're doing this Science project all about space, it's going to be amazing". Jack's eyes lit up as he told her all about his first day.
They were interrupted by Erica racing up to them screeching "Mom!" at the top of her lungs. Monica noticed the pigtails she had insisted braiding her daughter's hair that morning had been pulled out, replaced by a dishevelled mop of brown curly hair that hung down past her shoulders.
"There's my favourite girl, how did you find your first day at big school?" Monica asked her daughter.
"It was awesome, they let us climb the monkey bars at recess, I nearly made it all the way across!" Erica told her Mom, grinning.
The three headed back to the coffee house, where Monica had promised them both a muffin in celebration of their first day of school.
xxx
The twins settle down on the sofa to eat their snacks, while the gang try to cheer up Ross.
"I've got the perfect answer for you" Joey looks at Ross. "Strip joint" Joey suggests excitedly.
Ross shakes his head in answer "I don't want to be single; I just want to be married again".
At that moment a bedraggled bride walks through the door, complete in wedding dress and veil. Everyone looks around, shocked at the coincidence.
Monica gets up and walks towards the bride as she heads to the counter. "Rachel?"
"Oh my god, Monica, thank god, hi" she turns round and hugs Monica, looking relieved, "I was looking for you, and you weren't in your building, and then the guy with the hammer said you might be here, I'm so glad I found you".
She guides Rachel towards the group and introduces her, as another Lincoln High survivor.
Rachel sits on the sofa next to Jack, who looks confused still, and shuffles to move away from this strange woman wearing a really big dress.
The group are still looking confused, as Rachel tries to explain why she is there, "well I was sat in the room with the presents, so many presents, and this gravy boat, it was so nice, and I realised it was nicer than Barry, then I was just thinking how Barry looks like Mr Potato Head, and I had to get away, and Monica, well, you were the only person I could think of who lives here in the city".
"Mr Potato Head is way cooler than some dumb gravy boat, I mean you can change his nose and everything" Erica mutters to Joey, who nodded in agreement.
The rest of the group gathered around trying to comfort Rachel, before taking her back to Monica's apartment to dry off.
xxx
Rachel is on the phone, pacing up and down in the kitchen area, while everyone else gathers around in the living room to watch a Spanish soap opera.
"Oh boy, she looks real mad" remarked Erica.
"Push her down the stairs!" Jack starts getting excited, and everyone joins in the chant.
They are interrupted by Rachel shouting down the phone, "All my life, everyone has told me, you're a shoe, but now, I don't want to be a shoe, but now, I don't want to be a shoe, maybe I want to be a purse, or a hat, or…no, I don't want you to buy me a hat, I am a hat, it's a metaphor Daddy. Yeah, well, maybe I'll just stay here with Monica".
The group in the living room turn to look questioningly at Monica. She answers them by saying "I guess we have established she's staying here with Monica".
"Well she's not sleeping in our room" Jack states.
"And she's not sharing my play-dough" Erica adds defiantly.
"I think you'll be safe kids" Phoebe reassures the twins, "she doesn't look like the play-dough type".
xxx
Later that evening the girls are trying to calm Rachel down by getting her to breathe into a paper bag.
"Look, it's for the best, independence, taking control of your life, the hat thing" Monica says comfortingly.
Joey comes over and to give extra support until Monica explains he probably shouldn't hit on Rachel on her wedding day.
Suddenly the door buzzer goes, and when Chandler answers it, Paul announces himself to the room.
Monica jumps up, "Oh my god, 6.30 already, let him in".
It slowly dawns on the group that her date for the night is Paul the wine guy, and everyone starts getting excited and turning it into a big deal, which is precisely what Monica didn't want, especially in front of the twins, who are sat by the window playing with the Lego.
"Oh Rachel, I can cancel, stay here with you if you need" Monica offers, realising she still has a pretty big crisis to deal with, which is currently sat on her couch.
"No, no, no, go, I'll be fine!" Rachel assures.
"Ok, well, if you're sure, you guys be good, listen to what Aunt Phoebe says, and don't forget to brush your teeth, and I'll be here, when you wake up in the morning" Monica fusses over the twins, she always feels kind of weird leaving them to go on a date, not that it happens all that often.
"Yuhuh, sure Mom, have fun" the kids nod, not looking up from their Lego.
Monica lets Paul into the apartment as she rushes to get ready, trying to be as quick as possible so as not to subject the poor guy to too much of a grilling from her friends.
They leave for their date and everyone talks about their plans for the night. Joey and Chandler are helping Ross set up the furniture in his new apartment, and Phoebe agrees to let the twins watch their 'Scooby-Doo' VHS yet again, leaving Rachel to have a relaxing bath and try to get some much needed sleep.
xxx
The next morning Monica opened her apartment door quietly, praying the twins were still asleep. Walking in, she noticed at least that wish had come true. The twins didn't seem to be awake yet. Rachel, Joey and Chandler however, were all sat around the table, and grinned as Monica came in.
"Oh hi there" Rachel smiled knowingly.
"Ok, yeah, yeah, I know, now shh, I don't want the twins to realise I'm back so late." She hurried into her room to change, and then went to wake up her kids. "Morning guys, come on, rise and shine, you don't want to be late for your second ever day of school! Oww, oh, Jack how many times have I told you not to leave your power rangers all over the floor?"
In the kitchen Joey and Chandler were sampling the product of Rachel's newly discovered domestic skills, or lack of, the coffee she made them was really bad. In fact, Joey hadn't realised coffee could taste so bad.
Monica set out two bowls of cereal for the twins to eat, while she scrambled to get their lunches and backpacks ready for the day. After lots of yells to brush teeth and remember sweaters, Monica managed to get them out the door and to school just on time.
She headed back to the apartment to grab another coffee before work, where she needed to be in less than an hour. In the kitchen, she sat down at the table with Rachel.
"So, good night, I'm guessing?" Rachel asked.
"Oh, yeah, you remember you and Tony De Marco? Well, it's like that, only with feelings," Monica replied.
"Oh, boy, are you in trouble!"
"Yeah, I know, I mean, I haven't really been on many dates since Erica and Jack's Dad, so it's kind of weird, but it was amazing. I don't want to rush into anything though, you know? I don't want them to get hurt or anything."
Rachel smiled slowly, as Monica stood up and grabbed her coat and bag, "Well, I'll see you later, can't be late for work".
"Ok, sure, oh, wish me luck, I'm going to try and get one of those job things!" Rachel replied.
xxx
That evening to group gathered once again in Monica's kitchen, supporting Rachel as she cut up all her credit cards. They had finally managed to convince her that if she wanted to be a hat, she needed to learn to be independent.
Her mom's friends sure were weird, Erica thought as she sat round the table joining in the chant "cut, cut, cut, cut." But watching this new girl cut up some plastic sure beat going to bed, which was what she was supposed to be doing right about now. These cards must be a really big deal, her Mom never forgot what time the twins were supposed to brush their teeth and get ready to go to sleep. She looked over to Jack to see he was also enjoying their unexpected delay in bedtime.
"Oh kids, come on, its way past your bedtime, go brush your teeth and hop into bed and I'll read you a quick story." Jack and Erica's fun was brought to an abrupt end as Monica realised the time and chivvied the two into bed, where she read a part of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to them, as she did every night. It was a rare peaceful moment for them, just their little family of three, and Monica loved how she got the twin's undivided attention, if only for a short time.
xxx
Monica had gone to bed a short while ago, but as she lay there thinking, she decided to go a check on Rachel and Ross, whom she had left alone in the living room. Though she was fairly sure her older brother couldn't still have the same feeling for her friend as he had done all those years ago in high school, he had been through a pretty rough time with Carol, which Rachel probably didn't need to hear about just then. But as she walked in she saw her brother alone, just about to leave the apartment.
"Hey, what's with you?" Monica asked as she noticed the grin on her brother's face.
"I just grabbed a spoon," he replied, not making the reason for his sudden happiness any clearer.
As he left, she shook her in head, she didn't have a clue what he was on about, but if it meant he wasn't in such a bad mood, she was happy. Monica smiled to herself as she washed the glasses that her friends had once again just left on the side. Maybe Rachel coming back into her life would bring some luck around here, she thought.