Mason Park - Chapter One
The deep buzzing of the alarm clock roused Monica from her peaceful sleep. She blindly reached her hand out to turn it off before rolling over and facing her husband of three years.
A smile spread across her face as she watched him sleep. She slowly leaned forward and brushed his lips with her own.
He stirred slightly and rolled onto his back.
"Chandler." Monica whispered in his ear. "Time to get up."
Chandler rolled onto his stomach, stuffing his head between two pillows. "No, I don't want to go to work. Just ten more minutes, or maybe an hour."
Monica laughed lightly and pulled the pillow off of his head. "Come on, sweety. You don't have to go to work, you have the day off."
"Then why are you waking me up at such an ungodly hour?" He rolled back onto his back and squinted at her through the early morning light.
"Because we have an appointment to go to. Now come on, I don't want to be late." She threw the pillow at him and attempted to sit up.
Chandler moved the sheets off of him and got out of bed, heading toward the bedroom door.
"Chandler! Where are you going? Help me!" Monica cried as she continued her attempts at getting out of the bed on her own.
He laughed and walked around to the other side of the bed, grabbing both of her hands and pulling her up. He leaned down to kiss her but she pushed him away and turned to put her robe on. "You're just lucky we don't have a giant beach ball that I could tape to your stomach."
"Yea, but I wouldn't make as much of a beautiful pregnant woman as you do." He smiled and followed her out to the kitchen.
Monica smiled at his comment while she poured a cup of coffee. "I'm still not going to kiss you."
Chandler wrapped his arms around her from behind. "Then I'll kiss you." He kissed the top of her head and rubbed her swollen belly.
"OK, you're cute, I get it. But go get in the shower, your little not funny joke set us back two minutes, we cannot be late for this appointment. Go!" Monica laughed as he hurriedly stumbled into the bathroom.
"So what is the point of this appointment?" Chandler asked, briefly taking his eyes off the road to look at Monica.
"It's just a check-up. To make sure the baby is healthy and everything." Monica smiled down at her stomach as she rubbed small circles around it.
They had refused to believe that what the doctor said about them never being able to have child was true, and now here they were, just one month from having a little baby boy.
"When we get home you have to get right to work on painting the nursery. I already asked Joey and Ross and they said that they would come over and help you today."
"You know, I thought I was supposed to relax on my day off, not work harder than I do at my actual job."
"I want this done, Chandler. There is still a bunch of stuff that we have to get done. We still don't even have a crib! Or a name!" Monica panicked.
"Monica, it's fine. Don't worry, we'll get it all done in time." Chandler laughed, glancing over at his wife.
"Speaking of names, what do you think we should name him?"
"I don't know, I haven't really thought about it. I know you've been thinking about this since you were a little girl, what did you have in mind?"
"Well, I was thinking...."
The words coming from Monica's mouth faded out, along with all of the other sounds of the city.
The image of a taxi driving across the Washington Bridge flashed before him, seconds later it was replaced by reality.
He shook his head and focused on the road in front of him, trying to pay attention what Monica was saying.
"I like the name Scott but...."
Again, everything faded out and the same image appeared, but this time, the taxi swerved to the right, narrowly missing something in the road.
Reality replaced it once again and Monica continued to ramble on, engrossed in her one sided discussion, completely unaware of what was happening.
He took his left hand off the steering wheel and rubbed his eyes. What the hell is going on? He thought to himself.
For the third time, the image reappeared. This time it continued it's swerving path into an area where they were doing some sort of construction on the bride. Part of the railing was missing and the taxi soared off the bridge and to the water below.
Just before the car hit the water, Monica's voice snapped him back to reality. "Chandler, watch out!" She screamed.
But it was too late.
The darkness was lonely, but strangely comforting. It was like a warm blanket on a cold winter day.
A sharp, rhythmic beeping was the only thing that could be heard through the deafening silence.
His eyes franticly searched in front of him, but nothing was there.
A small click added to the beeping and a strange yellow-orange light appeared.
He fought to open his eyes and finally succeeded, but all that could be seen was a light.
Is this that light at the end of the tunnel all these dying people keep talking about? He thought.
Another click and the light suddenly disappeared, a doctor and a nurse standing above him took it's place.
The doctor looked down at him and wrinkled his forehead. "Mr. Bing? Can you hear me?"
Chandler tried to speak but he could only let out a low groan that the pain of moving caused him.
"Mr. Bing, can you tell me what the last thing you remember is?" The doctor asked, writing something down on his clipboard.
He tried to think back, but found the he couldn't recall his last conscious moments.
"No." He rasped, his throat dry and sore.
The doctor continued to write, not once looking up as the nurse buzzed around him, fiddling with the machines and checking him over.
The nurse finished what she was doing and looked up at the doctor. "Should I tell his friends that he's awake?" She asked.
"Yes, tell them they can come in, but just for a little while, Mr. Bing needs his rest."
The nurse left and the doctor finished writing, sticking his clipboard under his arm and putting the cap back on his pen.
"Mr. Bing, I've got to go run a few tests and check on some other patients, but I'll be back here to explain everything later this evening." With that, he left the room, not waiting for Chandler to respond.
A few minutes after he left, Ross, Phoebe, Rachel, and Monica filed into the room. A smile spreading across each of their faces upon seeing him. Where's Joey?
Monica was different though, very different.
Her stomach was no longer round, but now was flat. Her hair was slightly shorter and she wasn't wearing her wedding ring. She never used to take it off.
Panicked coursed through him, had she lost the baby? But she wouldn't be up and in his room if she had lost the baby.
"Hey Chandler." Rachel smiled and sat down on his left, taking his hand and rubbing it.
"It's so good to see you." Phoebe smiled, tears in her eyes as she sat down on his right side.
Ross and Monica both sat on the end of his bed, careful not to sit on his feet.
"What's going on?" He asked, looking between Rachel and Phoebe.
"Chandler, do you remember what happened?" Ross asked.
"No, I don't think so. The doctor already asked me that." He replied, franticly glancing at all of them.
"Where's Joey, why isn't he here?"
"Wow, he doesn't remember anything." Monica whispered to Ross, but not quiet enough to escape Chandler's ears.
"What? What happened to Joey?" He attempted to sit up but Rachel and Phoebe gently pushed him back down.
"No, Chandler, don't get up. Joey's fine, he's alright." Rachel reassured him and sat back in her chair.
"Well then where is he?" Chandler's eyes darted from one person to the next, they all knew something that he didn't.
Everybody looked to Monica. "So I guess I'll explain this one then?"
"Monica, the doctor said we should stick to more neutral--" Ross warned in a low, quiet voice but was cut off by Phoebe.
"Shut up, Ross. Doctor's don't know anything, he can't remember and he has a right to know what's going on."
An awkward silence filled the room before Monica spoke again. "Anyway..."
Chandler kept his focus on her as she spoke.
"Do you remember a girl named Janine?" She asked.
Janine. Janine. Janine. Yes! The dancer!
"Yea, I do." He replied, sitting forward like a child listening to his grandmother tell a story.
"Well, you were living with Joey when he was dating her. He was off on an audition when Janine came over. It had been raining for the past few days and when she showed up, she was soaked to the bone. When Joey came home, he found you guys on the couch, she was wrapped in a blanket, wearing only panties and a bra. He immediately suspected the worst and packed his bags. You spent days calling him but he wouldn't come back." Monica paused and looked back up to Chandler.
"He moved to Los Angeles five years ago. He came back for Thanksgiving the first year, but there was too much tension between all of us and he hasn't been back to see us since. He's called a few times, but we haven't heard from him in a few months. He said he's doing pretty well. He's starred in a few movies and he's been guest starring on a lot of shows. You haven't spoken to him since that Thanksgiving." Monica stopped and looked at Chandler again, trying to gage the expression on his face. "That's pretty much just the nutshell of it."
"I'm sorry, honey." Rachel said, patting his arm.
"He doesn't know about this yet. We haven't called him." Ross said quietly, still not looking at Chandler.
"How--how long have I been here?" Chandler asked, his eyes transfixed on the blanket in front of him.
"Just a few days. We wanted to wait and talk to you before calling him." Phoebe said.
A nurse poked her head in the room and looked at the friends sympathetically. "I'm sorry, but visiting hours are over."
"Can you just give us a minute?" Monica asked.
The nurse nodded her head. "Make it a quick one."
"Well, I guess we have to go. We'll be back first thing in the morning though." Phoebe stood up but leaned back down to give him a hug. Everybody else followed suit before heading to the door.
"Do you want us to call Joey?" Rachel asked.
Chandler honestly didn't know, would he really care after what he did to him? "Sure, I don't care." He shrugged.
"OK, goodnight Chandler." Monica smiled, everybody said their good-nights and left, leaving him alone in his stark white hospital room.
to be continued.....
I know that I said that I'd finish my other fics before starting another one, but I'm absolutely confident that I can actually finish this one. I've already written about eight chapters, maybe. So, all you have to do is review this one and I'll put up the next chapter. But I'm begging all of you, please please please review! I don't get many reviews for my stories and I just can't stand it, because it doesn't seem worth it to go through writing another chapter if that's not gonna get any reviews either. So please review!