~* Okay, I got to thinking (terrifying, isn't it?) and I was thinking, what happened if Monica and Chandler weren't friends and met in London? So I decided to write a story like that. I hope that you enjoy. Please leave a review! Thanks~*

Disclaimer: Oh, you thought I was serious when I said that they were mine?

Monica laid her head back against the seat and closed her eyes. It would be a long flight to London with her friend Joey next to her. He was so excited and kept repeating the phrase "London baby!" over and over again until she had flagged the flight attendant down for the pair of headphones she had originally refused. She had slipped them over her ears grateful for the silence that they allowed and submerged her in. Joey had eventually started to read, or at least skim the pictures, of his magazine leaving her in peace. Their other friends Rachel and Phoebe couldn't, or in Rachel's case, wouldn't go to the wedding, and her brother had flown out before to finalize plans for his nuptials with his fiance Emily. So it was just her and Joey. She felt a tap on her shoulder and thought it was Joey again with some inane question, when she saw that Joey had moved to another seat to flirt with some girl and a man, vaguely familiar, was standing there smiling at her. She slipped the headphones off her head and looked up at him.

"Can I sit here?" He asked looking at Joey's empty seat. "He wanted to switch, so I just..."
"Oh, no go ahead," she told him smiling. "At least he's occupied." She glanced over at Joey and breathed a sigh of relief. The guy was cute. Maybe the flight to London wouldn't be that bad after all. He gave her a small. No, Monica decided to herself, not too bad at all.

Chandler found his seat next to some bubbly blonde. She glanced up at him and grinned.

"Are you my seatmate? Oh, good," she said and he inwardly cringed. Blonde and bubbly wasn't his type. Wait, what was he talking about? He had no type. He would take any girl at this point. But this girl, she was a lot to take.

"Oh good," he finally repeated.

"Why are you going to London?" She asked. "I'm going for an interview."

"Oh, uh, my friend from college is getting married," he said.

"In London? How romantic," she sighed.

"Yeah, romantic," he repeated again. He glanced around the plane. He noticed a beautiful dark haired woman seated across from them. She looked a little like someone he remembered, but couldn't place where. It didn't matter, she was with someone. He looked back over and saw her laughing at something the man in the seat had said. He figured himself in for a boring flight. A little while later the man sitting across with the pretty girlfriend tapped him on his shoulder.

"Hey buddy," he said. "Do you mind switching for awhile?" Chandler looked at his seatmate, Candi (AN: No offense to any Candi's out there). Who named their daughters that anyway?

"Candi, with an i," she had told him.

"Oh no, I don't mind," Chandler said. No, he didn't mind at all. He got up and tapped the woman on the shoulder. He felt bad because her eyes were closed and she had headphones on. She looked up at him.

"Can I sit here?" He asked. She blinked at him. "He wanted to switch, so I just..." Chandler trailed off feeling incredibly stupid at that point.

"Oh, no go ahead," she told him smiling. What a great smile, Chandler thought to himself. "At least he's occupied." Chandler took his seat.

"Is he your boyfriend?" Chandler asked. Be a brother, be a friend, Chandler begged silently.

"Joey?" She asked surprised. "No, he's just a friend." Chandler wanted to do a dance right there in the seat.

"What brings you to merry ol' London?" Chandler asked her.

"My brother's getting married," she told him.

"Really? My friend from college is getting married, that's why I'm going."

"Wow, what a small world." She stretched out her legs. Great legs, Chandler thought. Stop that, he admonished himself.

"I should let you get back to the movie," Chandler said pointing to the screen.

"I just put the headphones on to escape Joey," she explained which caused him to laugh and she to join in. They began to talk. It turned out that he only lived a few blocks away from her and had been to her restaurant to eat many times.

"Good food," he complemented.

"Thanks," she said smiling. "What do you do?"

"Data processor," he said. "Yeah, really is that boring."

"I have no idea what that is," she admitted.

"Join the club," he told her and she laughed. He loved her laugh. The way that she threw back her head when she really thought something was funny. Chandler looked up and saw to his dismay the Joey she came with coming back over.

"Listen," he said. "Where are you staying?" She hurried and wrote the hotel and room number down and handed him the slip of paper.

"Call me," she said. He nodded and held the paper firm in his hand. He got up and reluctantly went back to Candi with the i.

Joey plopped down next to her.

"I got a number," he told her victoriously waving a paper in front of her.

"That's great Joey," she said.

"Yeah," he agreed. "I love London."

"So do I," she decided. She looked over at Chandler who gave her a small smile. "I think I might really come to love it."

When they got to the hotel Monica and Joey checked in and got their room keys and headed to their rooms. They were connected in the middle by a door that Monica was sure that she would most likely keep open unless Chandler happened to.... No, she shook her head. She did not come to London to find herself in another relationship that ultimately wouldn't work. She came to see her brother get married. That was all. She repeated it to herself again before the phone rang and she reached to get it thinking it was either Phoebe or Rachel, or maybe Ross.

"Hello?"

"Hi, is this Monica?" Chandler asked into the phone. She closed her eyes and grinned.

"Yes it is," she responded. Keep it cool, she reminded herself. Keep it cool.

"Oh good," he said. "It's Chandler. From the plane?"

"Oh, hi," She paused waiting for him to make the next move.

"So l was thinking that we could get together tonight for a drink? Say about eight?" She glanced at the clock. It was five-thirty. Plenty of time to meet up with Ross and Emily and her parents, say hello and dash out to meet him.

"That sounds great," she told him. "Eight it is."

"I'll meet you in the lobby?"

"Great."

"Great," he repeated. "I'll see you then." They hung up their individual phones and this time Chandler allowed himself the dance. Monica squealed as she fell back onto the bed. Joey poked his head through the door.

"You ready? We have to go meet Ross and Emily," he reminded her. She jumped up from the bed.

"Yeah, hold on a minute," she said and glanced back at the door between rooms. Maybe it would stay closed.

Monica glanced nervously at the watch. It was seven-thirty. She was going to make her break soon and hurry up to the hotel room to change and meet him.

"Listen," she said to her brother. "I'm kind of jet-lagged. I'm going to head up to the room." He nodded.

"Okay," he said and gave Monica a hug and then Emily gave her a hug and she waved to her parents and Joey as she practically skipped away and ran to the elevator. She punched the button and leaned her head back against the elevator wall and sighed. He was perfect. He was cute and funny and....perfect. She let the doors open and got to her room and opened the door and then rushed around like a madman trying to get ready. She threw on her clothes and then redid her makeup and at the last minute threw up her short hair into a twist and sprayed it and then shrieked when she saw that she had two minutes and grabbed her purse and hurried out of her room.

Chandler had been ten minutes early. He was waiting impatiently for her to arrive. He must have glanced at his watch a thousand times since arriving. At exactly eight, the elevator doors slid open and she was standing there. Looking beautiful. She had her hair pulled up now, and an elegant strand of pearls adorned her neck.

"Hi," she said. "I was afraid I was going to be late. I had to have dinner with my brother and my parents and they talked and I...anyway, hi." He grinned at her.

"Hi," he said back. He handed her a rose. "This is for you." Her heart skipped a beat.

"Thanks," she said and he held out his arm for her and she slipped her hand in the crook of his arm and then left the hotel together.

A few hours, and many, many drinks later Chandler walked her up to her hotel room. They were giggling about something and when they got closer to her door, she shushed him.

"Joey will hear," she said and then she leaned her head against the door. "Would you like to come in?"

"I would love to," he said and she smiled and got out her key and opened the hotel room door. They fell inside kissing and she made sure that they door between the rooms was closed before allowing him to pull her onto the bed.

The next morning, Monica woke up with an extreme headache and Chandler's arms around her. She looked over at him and tried to smile, but the hangover only allowed her to hurry to the bathroom to throw up the remains of the alcohol. The sound of her in the bathroom and the absence of her in the bed woke up Chandler. He sat up and groaned and rubbed his temples. She stumbled out of the bathroom and fell into bed with a thump.

"I feel like I've been run over by a bus and then it stopped and backed up and hit me again," she moaned as she turned to him for sympathy. He kissed her temples.

"I should go and try to make myself feel better before my friend's rehearsal dinner." He rolled out of the bed and grabbed his coat and gave her a kiss and disappeared out of the door.

"Sure, you just didn't want to hear me puke again," Monica said to the closed door and then got up to make herself some coffee.

After a few hours, coffee, a shower, and a nap, Chandler was as good as new. Well, almost as good as new. He fixed the tie on his suit and allowed his mind to wander to Monica. She was great. She was everything that he had dreamt about. She was so familiar, like he had met her before. He grabbed his jacket and locked the door behind him and pressed the button for the elevator. Inside was Monica's friend.

"Hey," Joey said. "Remember me? We switched seats on the plane?"

"Ah, yes," Chandler said nodding and smiling. He should thank this man for switching seats with him. If not he might not have met Monica. "How are you?"

"I'm good," he said nodding. He glanced at his watch. "Girls, they're so much trouble. Like my friend Monica? We were supposed to leave ten minutes ago and she still wasn't ready. I told her finally that I'd meet her down in the lobby." Chandler shared a smile with the man.

"I hear you," he said and heard the elevator ding and the doors slide open.

"I guess I have to stay here and wait for her," Joey said and he held out his hand to Chandler. "Nice to meet you."

"You too," Chandler said. But not as much as I enjoyed meeting your friend, he said silently in his head and he walked away towards the door. Joey waited by the elevator for a few more minutes before Monica finally showed up and was ready to go.

"Sorry it took so long," she told him giving him a kiss on the cheek. "Ready to go?" Joey nodded. And he held out his arm to her and they left for the restaurant where the dinner was. Monica sighed and closed her eyes before entering. She really had no urge to deal with her mother at that very moment. She didn't want to hear the, "When are you going to get married?" or the "Why don't you have a boyfriend?" or "You know, I do want grandchildren from you too." She was still glowing from the incredible night she had spent with Chandler. She was worried where it was going though. What if they got back to New York and he never called? What if it was just the romantic foreign city that had peaked his interests and not her? This was why she wasn't going to let herself do this. Why hadn't she stuck to her guns? Why had she had she agreed to their date last night? Because it had been amazing, that's why, she reminded herself. He was amazing. Joey looked at her.

"Are you ready?" He asked with genuine concern. He knew how her mother could be. She shrugged.

"As ready as I'll ever be," she told him forcing a smile on her face. Joey opened the door for her and the two of them walked in arm and arm. When she saw her brother, her smile became real as she hugged him.

"Oh Monica," Ross said pulling on her arm. "There's someone I want you to meet. My old college roommate? The one that came to stay with us that one Thanksgiving?" (AN: I'm only making it one that he stayed with the Gellers)

"Yes, um..." Monica searched her memory for his name. Ross tapped a man on the shoulder.

"Chandler," Ross said. Chandler? The panic alarms began to go off in Monica's head. No, there could two Chandlers. Both in for their friend from college's wedding. Oh, who was she kidding? Chandler turned around. "My sister's here. Chandler, this is Monica, my baby sister. Mon, this is Chandler, my old roommate." Chandler's mouth dropped open in shock. That's why it had seemed like he had met her before. He had met her before. He recovered quickly and took Monica's hand in his.

"Hi Monica," he said.

"Hi Chandler," she replied.

"So you two remember each other?" Ross asked happily. Monica squeezed her eyes shut. This wasn't happening.

"Not exactly," Chandler answered. "It's coming back to me now." Someone called Ross's name and he left the two alone as he hurried off.

"Your friend's wedding," Monica said. "I should have pieced it together."

"Well, neither did I...although, you did change." He finally smiled. "What a small world." She nodded speechless. She didn't know what to do know. She thought that she had found the perfect guy finally only to realize that he was someone that she had already known and disliked intensely. The Thanksgiving that he had come with Ross had not been a good one to say the least and she had not forgotten. She had tried to forget, but it hadn't worked. But this Chandler, the one on the plane, the one that...oh God, she had spent the night with last night, he was wonderful and witty and as far removed from the college kid that Ross had brought into her life. Maybe that's why she hadn't put it together. They couldn't possibly be the same person, the same Chandler. And yet, here they were, and here he was. The one who had called her fat. The one who had told her in no uncertain terms that he was disgusted by the look of her and that he would never in his lifetime think that she was beautiful. Hadn't he called her beautiful last night? Hadn't he told her that she was the most gorgeous person he had ever met?

"I should go find my parents," she muttered looking for an excuse to leave. Chandler grabbed her am and pulled her back into the shadows.

"We need to talk," he told her fiercely. Before she could respond, he kissed her hard on the lips.

"What? Did you....are you?" She sputtered out pieces of questions that were running through her brain that that very second.

"The person I was eight years ago is not the person that I am now," he said, his eyes begging hers for forgiveness. "I was rude and rotten and you didn't deserve it and I'm sorry. Monica, I'm sorry. Can you forgive me? Can I be the person you met on the plane and not the person that you met eight years ago?" She was quiet and didn't say anything. Then she looked him in the eyes. They were filled with tears, tears he knew were a result of a flood of memories. How horrible he had been to her. The horrible things he had done and said.

"I don't know," she said quietly and Joey came in and found her.

"Ross is looking for you," he told her. She gave a slight nod.

"Tell him I'll be right there," she said and Joey looked from her to Chandler and then nodded and left. She finally looked again at Chandler and closed her eyes. "My parents hate you."

"For that?"

"And other reasons," she said and he could tell that she wasn't going to elaborate on the details. "So I mean how could I....even if I could....they would...my brother would....."

"You think too much," Chandler admonished and kissed her again. "What do you think?"

"I think London is getting to me," she said as she threw her arms around him. The door opened and they heard a gasp and Monica jumped back from Chandler. There were still many things he needed to know. Monica turned to the person in the doorframe ready for damage control.

~*Whose at the door? Hmm? Review and I'll tell you. At least...7 reviews before I post the next part. I mean it people. Pretty pretty please? *~