Fragile Part 1

Hi! This is the first part of my new Chandler and Monica series. Its not related to my TOW The Worst Fears. This is very heavy material and intended for a mature reading audience. If you're looking for a happy fic, this isn't the place to be! Thanks for reading!

Chandler opened his eyes slightly and could see that the sun would be rising at any moment. He glanced over at the alarm clock that sat on the nightstand and silently groaned to himself. He dreaded having to get up in a half hour for yet another boring day at work. He also knew that he wouldn't be able to fall back asleep now that he was awake - at least sleep that would amount to anything. He looked over at Monica and smiled. She was the only thing that he actually enjoyed in life at this point. She was the best thing that had ever happened to him, and he still hadn't figured out how he had gotten quite so lucky. He was tempted to lean in and kiss her cheek gently, but didn't want to risk waking her. She looked so peaceful and he liked watching her sleep. It wasn't often that he got to do that because she was usually the first one up in the morning and the last one to fall asleep at night. He continued to watch her and began to think about what their future would be like. It was only one month before their wedding; an event that Monica and her two best friends, Rachel and Phoebe, had been planning for most of the year. Chandler couldn't wait until it was official and they were finally husband and wife. He didn't really care one way or the other if they had a big wedding, and even though Monica originally had her heart set on a lavish ceremony, due to their financial situation they had decided it would be better just to have something small and intimate.

After a few moments, Monica turned on her side toward Chandler and moved in closer to him. It was the middle of December and quite cold out, so Chandler assumed she was just trying to get warmer. He moved a little more closely toward her and wrapped his arm around her waist. Then he tenderly kissed her forehead and closed his eyes just enjoying the moment with his beautiful fiancée.

"I'm sorry, sweetie. Did I wake you?" he heard Monica whisper a short time later.

"No, hon, I was already awake. I probably woke you." Chandler chuckled a little.

Monica snuggled a little closer to Chandler and moved up so she could rest her head on his chest. He stroke her hair softly before kissing the top of her head. She looked up at him and smiled with her bright blue eyes.

"You okay? How come you're awake before the alarm this morning? Got something on your mind?" She asked him.

"No, I'm fine. Maybe its just because this apartment is so damn cold." He replied, as he pulled the quilt up over Monica's shoulders to give them some more cover.

"I know. But I can think of a way to warm you up." She said as she ran her fingers up and down his chest.

He couldn't help but laugh out loud. "I would be so tempted to accept that offer if I didn't have to be in the shower in fifteen minutes." He smiled.

"Fifteen minutes is fifteen minutes." She told him, and she slowly began to caress his thigh under the sheet. She leaned in and kissed him softly right beside of his mouth, almost touching his lips. She always knew exactly what to do to get her way with him and that was one of the things he loved most about her.

A short time later, Chandler was getting ready to leave for work. Monica had just finished clearing the breakfast dishes from the table and was about to start getting ready for work as well. Chandler came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her cheek.

"I'm going to miss you." He told her as he rested his chin on her shoulder.

"Honey, I'll see you in a few hours." She smiled as she rubbed his arms and hands that were still wrapped around her. She placed her hand on Chandler's cheek and then turned to face him. She gave him a quick peck on the lips. "Now you better get moving so you won't be late."

"Yes, mam!" He replied, as he walked over to the door, grinning. "And thank you for this morning. I don't think I'll be able to concentrate today at all now." He told her just as he was about to open the door.

"Well, if you're good, you might just get a sequel tonight." She told him.

Chandler just smiled and blew her a kiss, and then he was gone. She smiled as well, then looked at the clock and realized that if she didn't get a move on, she was going to be late for work herself.

"Hello, this is Monica." She said into the phone from her kitchen at work.

"Hi, sweetie." Chandler said from the other end.

"Oh hey, honey. How's your day going?"

"Well let me put it this way. This morning with you was the most exciting part thus far. And I really don't see anything holding a candle to that anytime soon. How about you?"

Monica was still laughing at his last comment. "Everything is going good. I think I might get out early tonight though. You want to catch a movie or something?"

"I wish I could, but that was actually why I was calling. Doug has left me in charge of taking one of our clients out for a business dinner tonight. I tried to get out of it…but, I'm sorry."

"No, that's okay. So you'll be out late then?"

"Yeah, I don't know how late I'll be though. You know how these annoying business dinners are. You want me to call you when I'm on my way home?"

"No, actually you know what, it's been so hectic here today. I'm just going to take a hot bath and crawl into bed with a book when I get home. I'll probably call it a night early since you won't be home for me to entertain."

Chandler laughed a bit, and then replied. "Okay, I'll make sure I'm quiet when I get in."

"Thanks, honey. I'll see you in the morning then."

"Ok, I love you."

"Love you too. Bye."

"Bye, babe."

It was a little after 10:00 that night by the time Chandler had finished his business dinner with the client. It hadn't been quite as boring as he had anticipated, but he still would have preferred to have just been home with Monica. The fact that it was beginning to snow and he couldn't get a cab also made Chandler wish he could have stayed home. He was only a few blocks from his apartment, but it was so cold and windy out that it was going to be an extra long walk. He placed his chapped hands in his coat pockets and began walking. As he approached his building, he looked up at his apartment and saw that the lights were turned off, so Monica was definitely asleep already. He remembered the promise he had made to her earlier about being quiet when he got home. He made his way up the stairs and wiped his feet off on the mat outside of his front door. He dug in his pockets, feeling around for his keys, then placed the key in the lock. He turned the knob and found the door to be already unlocked. That was sort of odd, because even though they sometimes left their door unlocked during the day, so their neighbor and Chandler's best friend Joey, could come and go as he pleased, Monica was a stickler for the door being locked at night. Especially around the holiday season when there was a higher number of break-ins in the city. Chandler thought to himself for a moment, but then concluded Monica might have just left it open for him. Or maybe she had just been careless this once? He didn't know, but decided he'd ask her about it in the morning. He walked in quietly and closed the door gently behind him. There was a dim light coming from the bathroom. Chandler figured Monica must have left it on for when he got home and he smiled to himself thinking about how sweet and considerate his wife-to-be was.

It was in that same moment, that Chandler heard a strange noise. He couldn't distinguish what exactly the noise was, but it was coming from the area by the couch. He walked slowly over toward the source of the sound and could not believe the sight that was before him. There. Right there on the floor, right before his very eyes, in the small space between the couch and the coffee table was Monica. And she was not alone. Chandler felt like screaming at what he was witnessing. There, on top of Monica, was a man, a man Chandler did not know, a man who was having sex with his fiancée. A million thoughts ran through his mind in that moment. His first thought was that Monica was cheating on him with some guy in their own home, but just as fast as the thought entered his mind, it disappeared when his eyes caught sight of the knife in the man's left hand. His right hand was covering Monica's mouth, obviously to keep her quiet. She wasn't cheating at all, how could he have been so stupid to even think such a thing. She was being attacked. She was being raped right before his eyes and he was just standing there letting it continue. Chandler felt like he was going to be sick. How could he be standing there just watching this? It was happening at this very moment, he needed to stop it before it continued for another second. Chandler could see that Monica's eyes were closed, but a second later they flashed open and as soon as she saw Chandler standing there she began to squirm to try and break free from her assailant. Chandler, seeing the fear in her eyes that were begging and pleading for his help, did the only thing that his brain told him and that was to get this monster off of Monica.

He instantly grabbed him by the shoulders, almost effortlessly pulling him off of Monica and pushing him onto the hard wood floor. Chandler had no idea where all of this energy came from, but he couldn't control himself and he began to kick the man and scream obscenities at him. In the process of the scuffle, the attacker had dropped the knife. Monica sat up on the floor for a few seconds and tried to regain her composure before she grabbed the knife. She was shaking and crying and very scared that Chandler was going to get hurt. She managed to pull on her bathrobe that she had been wearing before the attack and wrapped it around her, then re-tied the belt. She instinctively ran out of the apartment and across the hall to Joey and Rachel's. She frantically beat on the door, still crying hysterically from what she had just endured until Joey opened it.

"Joey!" Monica cried.

"What's going on?" He asked her, concerned.

He heard Chandler screaming across the hall and ran over to see what was going on. He pulled Chandler off of the guy and tried to calm him down. The man had lost consciousness, and Chandler was screaming that he hoped he was dead. Joey grabbed the phone and dialed 911. Chandler looked around the apartment nervously for Monica, forgetting momentarily that she had gone across the hall. He ran over to Joey's apartment to Monica's side, where Rachel had been trying to comfort her, but to no avail. Monica was sitting on the couch sobbing continuously. Chandler silently thanked Rachel as he sat down next to Monica, which she took as a sign that he wanted to be alone with her.

"Monica, oh my God." Chandler cried as he held her close to him.

Rachel went across the hall to Chandler and Monica's apartment and saw the attacker lying on the floor, still unconscious.

"Joey, what the hell happened?" She asked, her voice a little wary.

"Judging by Chandler's reaction, I think we already know the answer to that." He replied.

"How could this happen?" Rachel said to him, tears forming in her eyes.

Back at Joey and Rachel's, Chandler was still holding a crying Monica. He was trying to get her to calm down, and he was still trying to calm down himself. He had never felt so many emotions at one time and this reality he was living in at the moment seemed unreal and almost dreamlike. He could have sworn he was hallucinating, but then Monica began holding onto him very tightly, and he tried to grasp hold of the concept that this was actually happening. Monica continued to cry, not wanting to believe what had just happened to her. She too felt like it wasn't even really happening, but she knew that it was. This was all too real to only be a nightmare. Chandler wiped the tears from her cheeks with his thumbs and looked into her scared eyes.

"Sweetie, Joey called the police. They'll be here any minute." He managed to say as pulled her close to him again and kissed her head. She wrapped her arms tightly around him. She had never felt so scared in her entire life.

"Chandler, I'm so sorry." Monica finally said to him through her tears. "I'm sorry."

"Baby, you didn't do anything wrong. I'm here now and I'm never letting you go."



To be continued....