"What If"
Show: Friends
Genre: Drama, Romance
Rated: T (possible language, possible minor sex scenes, possible sex and drug references, death, and Richard, who scares the little children…stupid tree!)
Pairing(s): Joey/Rachel, Ross/Rachel, Richard/Monica, Chandler/Monica
Summary: After London and the death of Phoebe Buffay, the remaining five drift apart. Their lives are connected again some ten years later. Some CM, RR, and JR.
Note: All events leading up to London have happened. That's where the story starts. Un-beated.
Disclaimer: I don't own Friends or anything associated with it. I love you, Chandler!
To Gunther- you rock my world! (and creep me out a bit)
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"Ross, I'm glad that you decided to take the honeymoon trip even if Emily isn't coming," Rachel said sincerely to her friend.
Ross turned to her and smiled, "Me too…And this is going to be fun! I'm going to try and call her when we get to Greece, though…give her some time and space…we can get through this, right?"
Rachel nodded distractedly, "Sure, sure…or you could worry about that after Greece."
"I don't know, Rach…"
"Well, let's not worry about it right now, OK?" she said, and picked up her glass, "To hoping that everything will work out eventually!"
Ross raised his and it chinked against hers. They drank, and placed the glasses down.
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Chandler glanced at Monica every once and a while as the plane took off. She was apparently reading a book- but her eyes weren't moving and she hadn't flipped the page in several minutes.
I could be a world-class thumb-twiddler, he thought as he literally twiddled his thumbs, People would come and say "Hey! There's the Twiddler!" and I would be famous for twiddling my thumbs…make more money than I do now…be on talk shows…
"Alright, alright!" muttered Chandler, and ceased his twiddling.
"Thank God," Monica said, finally flipping the page.
He turned to her, "What, my twiddling annoying you?"
"Yep."
"Well…that's too bad, because…because…"
She looked up at him with a small smile, "Because…?"
"Alright, fine, you win!" he snapped, crossing his arms. A few moments later, he continued, "Mon?"
"Yeah?"
"We…we kind of need to talk."
Monica closed the book as though she'd been waiting for him to say this, "Shoot."
"Okay… well, you know how we kind of…sort of…in London…"
"Seven times?"
"OK, officially not helping," after a pause, he continued, "Do you want to…when get back to New York…continue seeing…seeing each other…?"
Monica bit down on her lip and glanced around, then turned back to Chandler, "Chandler, I actually have to tell you something…This morning, I got a call from Richard…he said that he was ready to have kids, and that…that he wanted to marry me."
Chandler's mouth dropped open in shock; there was no way this was happening… Richard, that stupid tree, always being better than him, taking the woman he was falling in love with before he could swoop in and prove to her that her wanted them to be much more than friends…
"Well, uh, well, uh…well, what did you say?"
"I…I said 'yes'."
"I see."
"Look, Chandler, what we did…that was just a mistake, right? I mean, you and me, together? Can you imagine that?"
Chandler stood, "Actually, I really gotta go to the bathroom."
"Aren't you happy for me?"
"Sure, why the hell not?" he snapped, and strode towards the bathroom, puke building up in his mouth.
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"It's not your faaauulllt," Phoebe Buffay sang under her breath as she drove in the borrowed taxi.
Suddenly, another car came around the road- no, not a car, a truck. The driver was bopping to some loud rap- Phoebe's nose wrinkled as the truck drove closer.
The driver swerved and in a split second, he'd hit the taxi and Phoebe's shouted out something. The glass shattered into millions of pieces and flew throughout the air as she jolted forward and crashed into the headboard-
And then all went black.
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Monica stood up and left for the bathroom as Chandler continued to mutter under his breath. Joey moved into Monica's seat so that he could talk to Chandler. "Hey, what's up with you and Monica?"
"It's nothing."
"C'mon, you can tell me."
Chandler sighed, "She's marrying Richard."
Joey's eyes widened, "But…since when! Didn't he not want to have kids?"
"Yeah! He called her this morning and asked her! I mean, who does that, anyway?"
Joey frowned and glanced around to make sure Monica wasn't coming back, "But why aren't you happy for her?"
Chandler sighed and closed his eyes. After a moment he reopened them and looked at Joey, "OK, I'll tell you, but you've got to swear not to tell anyone else."
"Okay, what is it?"
"Monica and I…kind of…had sex…last night."
Joey's face dropped in pure shock. His mouth popped open and his eyes widened, "No way!"
"Yes way, and now…I feel like…like she should be with me, not him," Chandler said quietly.
"Sounds like you're in love."
"I am not in love with Monica Geller!"
"Yeah, just trick yourself into believing that."
"Look, Joey, I'm not in love with her!"
"Then how come you can't be happy for her?"
Chandler was left with this question hanging over his head as Monica returned from the bathroom and Joey went back to his own seat. Why couldn't he be happy for her?
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"Wow, it's so beautiful," Rachel murmured as she looked out the hotel window. A gorgeous beach stretched for miles, and she was mesmerized.
"I know," Ross agreed as he walked across the room to her, handing her a glass of wine.
After several moments, she finally spoke, "I'm sorry, Ross."
"For what?"
"I shouldn't have come to the wedding; I ruined it for you and Emily."
Ross gave her a smile, "It's OK."
She smiled back, and he wrapped his arm around her.
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Monica and Chandler stomped up in stairs in silence, Joey between them. When they reached the apartment, she unlocked the door and all three went inside.
After a few moments in which Chandler considered, yet again, being a world-class thumb-twiddler, Joey finally said something, "Well, I guess we should-"
But he was interrupted by Chandler, "I can't believe you're going to marry this guy!"
Monica turned swiftly to Chandler, red, as though they'd already been fighting for a while, "What I do is my business, not yours! I think I'm going to be happy with him! Do you see anyone else who would make me just as happy as Richard?"
Chandler moved his mouth like a fish for several seconds, but no sound came out. Finally, he turned on his heel and left, slamming the door behind himself.
Monica looked as though she were going to go after him to yell some more, but the phone rang just as she'd taken a step towards the door. She picked up the receiver, "Hello?"
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Ross stared up at the ceiling, cursing himself. What the hell had he just done? Sleeping with RACHEL? Not only was it Rachel Green, but he was married…Married, to Emily…yes, it was all coming back as he dove into the bathroom again, projectile vomit gushing out of his mouth…too much alcohol…too many problems to deal with…he didn't want another divorce…but now, was he sure he wanted Emily?
Rachel was no better. She was rocking back and forth on her knees on the other side of the hotel room, trash can in front of her. No, no, no, this is all wrong… she thought miserably. The room was spinning, and there were two of the trash cans…Probably more the better, she reminded herself. Doesn't look like it's ending anytime soon…
She couldn't quite explain how she felt. On the physical angle, she was throwing up the liters of alcohol. On emotional…through her slurred feelings, one important thought came through: had she really just made her friend commit adultery? What if…
Then she froze as a second thought passed through her brain.
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Monica quietly placed down the receiver. Joey watched her as she began to cry softly.
"Hey, what's wrong?" he asked concernedly, walking over to comfort her.
"There- there was…there was an a-a-accident," she murmured, hugging Joey tightly as though trying to direct some of her sorrow to Joey, "Phoebe…in…car…crash."
Joey was shocked, "Is she okay?"
Monica shook her head into his shoulder, "She's…she's…"
And though she didn't finish the sentence, Joey knew what she was trying to say.
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There's Chapter 1 for you all. I hope you all like this story, it should be interesting to see where it goes (I really don't plan my stories out at all). Anyway, as always, reviews loved. I am so sorry I had to do that to Phoebe…believe me, I just saw The One at the Beach again, and it hurt so bad that I was writing this, because she rocks in that one, as always. I have like 5 billion plot lines I need to put in here, so it'll probably be long. Will get Chapter 2 up ASAP.