"How on Earth did you end up on a plane to Yemen, Chandler?!" Rachel was dumbfounded.
"She wouldn't leave the gate!" he said, arms flailing about. "She wouldn't leave until she saw me 'take off.'"
"Oh my God!" Ross said, shaking his head and chuckling.
"That was it? That was your 'pre-emptive strike?'" Rachel asked, incredulous.
Joey couldn't stop laughing.
"Dude, you are such a pansy," he said between fits of laughter.
"He's right," Phoebe said, giggling and pointing to Joey. "You really never will break up with her…"
Chandler sighed heavily and plopped down on he and Joey's couch in Apartment 20.
It had been an absolutely hellish 36 hours - making the flight to Yemen and back, spending the night at the airport in a foreign country he could barely find on a map.
It was just this side of a miracle that he made it back to New York in one piece. Whether or not every last one of his earthly possessions would was another matter entirely.
And at the end of it all, he still hadn't technically broken up with Janice.
Oh dear God.
"You're back!" Monica proclaimed spotting Chandler as she came through the apartment door. "Sample any fine Yemen cuisine?"
"Go ahead, joke away," he said, with a grimace. "Splash around in the pool of my misery."
"No time for that!" Monica said excitedly with a wave of her hand. "You guys will never guess what happened at work today."
"Alfredo this time?" Ross guessed.
"Tarter sauce on the toilet seat?" Chandler offered.
"Ohh, ohh," Rachel raised her hand enthusiastically. "They changed the locks to the walk-in freezer again?"
Monica sighed. It was no secret that her staff at Alessandro's hated her, that's for sure.
"No, they were actually cheering today," she said.
"Did you quit?" Phoebe asked.
Monica rolled her eyes.
"Not exactly, but I won't be there for a while," she said, with a smile.
"What's going on?" Ross asked.
"It's unbelievable…so a couple weeks ago my boss had these visitors come in and I made some of my original recipes," she said excitedly and very quickly. "I thought they were restaurant reviewers or something but, no…"
She stopped and gasped.
"Breathe, Mon," Chandler said, smirking.
She waved her hand at him and took a deep breath.
"Anyway, my boss announced to the whole staff that he'd submitted some of my recipes to this culinary academy for up and coming chefs and those guys were from the academy, and…" she started bouncing up and down, "…they picked me!"
There was a chorus of "yays" and "good jobs" all around.
"So that's why they were cheering?" Phoebe nodded, as though trying to convince everyone else.
"Of course it was," Ross said, defending his sister.
"That's amazing!" Rachel said, "So what does that mean? Where's the cooking school?"
"Culinary academy," she corrected, then paused for dramatic effect. "It means I am one of 30 chefs selected to attend the prestigious Tuscan Culinary Academy's top flight chef program in Tuscany, Italy!"
"Oh my God," Ross said, standing up from a barca lounger to hug his little sister. "That's amazing, Mon."
"Italy?" Rachel said. "You're…you're going to Italy?"
"That's great - home of my people," Joey said nodding and pounding his chest.
"How long is the program?" Phoebe said, giving Monica a hug.
And here was the hard part.
Monica twisted a ring around her finger.
"Um…a year," she grimaced.
"A year?!" Chandler said as the rest of the gang let out a collective "oh", then he added with a grin. "You ought to be able to run your own conglomerate of Olive Garden franchises when you're done."
"Yeah," she said, starting to feel a little nervous. She was excited, honored, but also overwhelmed. "Actually…um…after I complete this program there's a chance I…um…may not come back to New York."
"What?!" "Whoa…?" "Monica?!" they all said at the same time.
"I know," she sighed, dropping her hands to her sides. "I know but…but this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and…and chefs from this academy are offered jobs all over the world…"
"You won't be here when the babies are born," Phoebe said, placing a hand on her stomach.
"Yeah and how…how am I gonna get our apartment back from these guys all by myself," Rachel said, a sudden look of horror coming over her face. "I have to live in that place all by myself!"
"You don't have to, baby," Joey said in his best "how you doin'" voice, earning a punch in the arm from Rachel. "Oww!"
"Wow, Mon," Ross said. "Have you told Mom and Dad? They are gonna be…be…hummm…that's a long time to be gone..."
Monica shook her head and looked at her friends - voicing the same insecurities she'd had running around in her own mind since she'd heard the news.
It was such a huge, surprising shock, she'd barely had time to digest any of it. Maybe, she thought, maybe it was just too big…
Chandler watched as Monica's face started to fall.
"I think it's great," he blurted out, earning death stares from everyone who turned to him, except Monica - whose face broke into a big smile.
"It is," he said, walking over to put a hand over her shoulder, smiling at her. "It's a great thing and you should be proud of yourself. You've worked really hard for something like this."
She could have kissed him.
Instead she wrapped her arms around his waist and laid her head on his chest, nearly in tears as the rest of their friends looked around feeling guilty.
"Thank you, Chandler," she whispered, looking up at him. He winked at her and stepped back.
"We should celebrate," he said with a clap. "Italian anyone?"
"Oh, I can't," Ross said, looking at his watch. "Emily and I have plans."
"Really, Ross, it's for your sister!" Rachel said, crossing her arms, annoyed at Ross and…Emily.
"Yeah, yeah, you're right…" Ross said.
"Bring her along," Chandler said, shrugging. "It would give us a chance to get to know her better. I mean we're gonna need a replacement part soon…"
"Chandler!" Rachel said, punching him.
"Stop hitting…us," Chandler whined to Rachel, glancing at Joey.
"Do you mind?" Ross said to Monica.
"Of course not," she said. "I'd love it if you did."
"I'll go call her," Ross said as he picked up the phone and walked into Chandler's bedroom, closing the door.
Rachel shot Monica a look, but quickly recovered.
"I'm gonna go change," she said, taking off for Apartment 19 as Joey went into his room to change, too.
"I'll come, too," said Phoebe, following Rachel to the door. "Mon?"
"Be there in a minute."
The women left and Monica turned to Chandler.
"Thank you," she said, "thank you for being so supportive. You're such a good friend."
"Ah," he said, his cheeks turning a little pink, shrugging slightly. "You haven't poisoned me yet so I guess you deserve it."
"Omph," she said playfully punching him in the chest. She grinned at him.
"See you in a few," she said giving him a smile as they walked toward the door.
He grinned back and then closed the door behind her.
Chandler turned around and stared at the empty living room, laying his head back against the magna-doodle.
He frowned to himself, pushed off the door and went into the bathroom to shower for the first time since he'd left for Yemen.
###
"Oh, you'll adore Tuscany," Emily effused at Monica's celebratory dinner. "It is certainly one of the most amazing places in all of Europe - food, wine, and the men…"
"Really?" Monica said, her eyes lighting up.
"Well, she hasn't had a lot of luck in New York, maybe another continent would help," Chandler deadpanned.
Monica shot him a look while everyone laughed.
"Do…do many people speak English?" she asked. She just had so many questions, many of which would be answered in the days to come, but she wanted to learn all she could right away. "I mean, I really don't know any Italian…"
"Of course," Emily said, with a wave of her hand. "Many Europeans speak English fluently."
Monica took a deep breath. She was getting more and more excited about this adventure as she kept talking to Emily. Everyone joined in the conversation about Italy. Joey was demonstrating his vast knowledge of all things pizza, Rachel was talking about the fashions in Milan, Ross expounded on the ruins of the Roman coliseum and Phoebe spoke in awe of the catacombs in Rome.
And Chandler…Chandler was taking it all in, and trying not to fall asleep.
It had been a LONG trip to Yemen.
After the third bottle of wine was consumed by the table, Chandler stifled a yawn.
"Man," he said, shaking his head and opening his eyes wide for a moment. "I'm really sorry but I gotta go. Mon, I'm really happy for you."
She smiled at him, feeling a little guilty about how tired he looked.
"Oh, we can all go…" she started.
"No, no stay and enjoy," he said. "I'll catch you tomorrow."
After everyone said goodbye Chandler went to pay his part of the bill, and Monica's, and walked out the door. It was a long-ish walk back to the apartment so he decided to wait a couple minutes for a cab to come by.
Yawning again he glanced in the window of the restaurant and saw the gang still deep in conversation about the exciting news.
He watched Monica - her eyes wide open, her smile warm when she wasn't talking a mile a minute - looking every bit like an excited school girl taking her first field trip.
She caught his eye through the glass and smiled at him.
Their eyes locked for a couple moments.
Finally he waved to her as he saw a cab pull up in the reflection of the window out of the corner of his eye.
He turned around and flagged it down, then headed for home.
NOTE: Okay…so now I must concede that the best way to get my creative juices flowing again is to say I'm going on to be "on a break!" Geez! This story would Not. Leave. Me. Alone. until I got it out…another Season 4/5 AU (I'm in love with those seasons, sorry). I'm not gonna say there will be no angst, but it won't be as heartbreaking as my first AU - I promise. For this story I'm gonna say Chandler went to Yemen sometime in late August, just cause I can, and the rest goes from there. Storylines for the gang basically follow those seasons, except when they don't. I really hope you enjoy this little journey to Mondler-Land. :) And, yes, we writers love reviews, even if it's just a simple word or two. What I can't promise is how fast I'll update, but I will never leave a story unfinished. Hope you stick with it. Thank you!