Some hearts…
She looked at her reflection in the mirror and a small smile played at her lips. She had spent most of the day shopping with Rachel in an attempt to find a great gift for Chandler and she had actually succeeded. Mostly because her best friend had been flirting with a salesman at one of the shops when she had suddenly seen it. It was something that he wanted and even then…she had another surprise at hand.
When she got home, she double-checked to be sure she'd found the perfect gift. This night would be unforgettable. Exactly one year ago they had vowed to be together for the rest of their lives and Chandler suggested that a big celebration was in order. Seeing as though previous anniversaries had always gone wrong, Monica had wholeheartedly agreed and they'd been anticipating it for weeks.
Chandler was being very secretive about the plans he'd made, not wanting Monica to find out what he was up to. It turned out that he hadn't even mentioned anything to the other 4, because she'd asked both Rachel and Joey who knew just as much as she did. She was just too curious for her own good, she didn't like the waiting around part. When she was still a kid, she'd always sneak down on Christmas and slightly open her present before anyone woke up. When she'd peeked inside and knew whether she was happy with the present or not, she neatly wrapped it again and placed it back under the tree. But she couldn't really do that now.
She adjusted her long red dress before adding just a touch of perfume and stepping out of the bathroom. The clock on the VCR told her that it was just over 6 and that Chandler was obviously running late. Originally, he had wanted them to spend the entire day together, but ended up working last minute anyway.
Just at that moment the door opened and she heard a sigh of relief behind her. She turned around, a smile already creeping onto her face. He was grinning back at her, looking appreciatively at her choice of clothing for the evening.
"Well speak of the devil…" she said playfully, stepping a bit closer.
"Hello to you too," he kissed her on the tip of her nose, "you look simply stunning."
"Hmm that was the idea." She stepped little closer until she noticed he was holding his hands behind his back. She looked at him expectantly and asked: "I thought we were going to wait with giving each other the presents?"
"We are, we are. But this is just something to start our evening." He pulled out his hands and revealed two beautiful roses. "This white one," he started explaining while handing her the white rose, "is a symbol of the friendship we've shared over the years and the fact that you'll always remain my best friend." He gave her the other one while continuing, "and this red one…should really be quite obvious. This one is for the love I feel for you, every day."
"Awww this is so sweet, I love them. Thank you." She kissed him slowly on the lips while he dropped his briefcase and rested his arms on her hips.
"Here's an idea," he said in between kissing her neck, "why don't we just stay here the rest of the night? We'll make it a night to remember…" He was trying out his seducing voice and Monica couldn't refrain herself from laughing at the mischievous look on his face.
"Why Mr Bing…I do believe we have reservations and you have to go get ready."
She moved back while giving a nod towards the bathroom. The only thing she knew about tonight was that he had made reservations for around 7.30pm at 'Bistro Bello', one of her favourite Italian restaurants. He had insisted that they would wait with the presents until they got back and were by themselves. She had been wondering all day what he could've gotten her. She hadn't even given him any clues these past few weeks as to what she wanted or needed.
When he exited the bathroom just over a half hour later, they were ready to go. He extended his hand and she rose from her comfortable spot on the couch.
Dinner went by as could be expected. The food was delicious to say the least and Monica was thoroughly enjoying herself. Normally, there wouldn't be another place on the world where she would rather be at that time than opposite Chandler. But now, she was actually a bit anxious to get home and let the rest of their evening together begin. She didn't know whether her husband actually noticed or not, but if he had, then he certainly didn't show it. He would probably think that she was anxious because she wanted to find out about her present, but that wasn't quite the exact truth.
After dinner, they decided to walk back to the apartment as it wasn't that far and it was a gentle night. They strolled hand in hand and neither of them seemed to feel the need to speak. Monica was enjoying the sight of late night New York as if she hadn't been living there for the past 10 years. And Chandler…well Chandler was enjoying the sight of Monica. She could feel his eyes on her and turned to look at him.
"You would think after seeing me every day for nearly 12 years you'd get bored of me." She laughed and gently squeezed his hand.
"I could never get bored of you," he told her sincerely, "especially because there are so many sides to you, I'm always entertained." He thought for a moment before adding: "And I mean that in a strictly non-schizophrenic way."
She laughed and tucked a strand of hair that had fallen out of her clip behind her ear. They arrived at their apartment building and entered the warmth of their home minutes later. She put her keys and purse on the table before taking of her coat. She sighed and smiled when she saw Chandler across the room, lighting some candles before looking at her with a big grin.
"Want to move on to the next part now? I know you want to find out what your present is…"
"Hmmm I think we should. Because you know…nothing has gone wrong up to now so if we don't exchange gifts now, we might jinx it."
"I know," Chandler added, "I'm half expecting Joey to stumble through the door completely weakened from not having seen any food all day. Since neither of us were home and all." He reached into the drawer and pulled out a neatly wrapped box.
"Well that's because I had everything covered. I made sure his fridge was full so there would be no one to disturb us this time."
She moved past him to the bedroom and came back out carrying a large box in her hands. She laughed when she saw Chandler's eyes growing wider as he saw the size of what she brought with her. She plopped down on the couch while placing the box in between them.
"Ok, do you want to go first and open yours?"
"Hell yes! Look at the size of this thing!" he bounced up and down excitedly while tugging at the ribbon. He decided it would be faster to just rip everything apart as to see immediately what was inside. When he threw the paper to the side, it revealed a picture of a laptop on the side. He looked up at her incredulously.
"You bought me a new Dell Inspiron 700?!" He exclaimed.
"Umm yea. Whatever the technical details are," she laughed, "I remembered us walking past this store once and you mentioned that you still needed a new one. I mean, ever since Joey actually broke your old one, you've been using Ross' but I know that you need one for your work. So…" she smiled, happy that he seemed to be so pleased with it. Everyone knew how hard it was to shop for men sometimes.
He put the whole thing down on the floor again and hugged her tightly. "Thank you," he said, "it's really a great gift." He reached over to the coffee table and picked up her little one and waved it in front of her eyes.
"My turn!" she cried out as she shook the present gently before opening it. She noticed that Chandler was watching her intently, probably waiting to see her reaction. She pulled open the lid, revealing a miniature Eiffel tower with a little light on top. She looked a bit puzzled and gazed up at Chandler who had the biggest smile on his face.
"Look into the box, there's still something there" It was only then the two tickets at the bottom caught her eye and she let out a little squeal in delight.
"We're going to Paris?" she hesitantly asked, as if still unsure if it was true.
"We sure are." He kept on grinning as he took the tickets from her hand. "Two weeks from now, we're leaving for Paris for 7 days…no work…no worries…just you, me and the City of Light."
"Oh my God – Chandler, this is – this is amazing. Do you know how long I've been wanting to go to Paris?"
"Yea, probably since you were old enough to realise what it was. Which is why I thought it was finally time for us to go there, you know? It's the perfect occasion."
She swallowed back the tears in her eyes and threw her arms around him. In all the excitement, she had almost forgotten about the second present she had for him. Now would be a good time to tell him though, so she pulled back and kissed him on the cheek before taking his hands in hers.
"It really is the best present ever Chandler, thank you so much." She skipped a beat before continuing, trying to sound casual. "And it's just at the right time too, because soon I won't be allowed to fly anymore. For a little while anyway."
He shot her a confused look as he took in what she was saying. "What do you mean, why not?"
"Well…", she purposely let her voice trail a bit before putting both of their hands on her stomach. She simply smiled, stars nearly visible in her eyes, because she knew that no words needed to accompany this moment. And she instantly knew she'd been right when she saw Chandler's eyes widen in surprise.
"You mean that – I mean, is it? – You know…are you? Are we?"
She laughed and nodded her head. "I was starting to get suspicious two days ago and then when I checked again this morning…it was positive. You have no idea how hard it was not to blurt it out as soon as you stepped through the door!", she sighed in relief.
"Oh my God, this is incredible, you're pregnant!" He stood up and pulled her up with him so that he could gather her into his arms. He swirled her around a bit before giving her a kiss.
"Wow, I knew you'd be happy, but I didn't think you'd be this excited." she laughed.
"Monica, this is just…this is perfect. You are perfect, this whole night was perfect. And I love you so much…"
"I know, I love you too." she gave him a sweet smile and he hugged her again. She felt no urge to move from her spot in his arms, being completely at ease. She knew that they were both ready for this and had been waiting for the moment to come. And now that it was here, she was truly happy and wished this could last a lifetime.
Can't recall when I've last felt that wayGuess it must be all this love you're giving
Some hearts they just get all the right breaks
some hearts have the stars on their side
some hearts they just tell it so easy
some hearts just get lucky sometimes
Some hearts just get lucky, lucky sometimes…
A/N: This was written for a contest at Friends-Boards and because I felt the need to write pointless sap, heh. Let's just assume that Chandler and Monica had started trying for a baby right after they got married, and not when Rachel had her baby. Leave me a review if you'd like, thanks!
