Hi! Thanks for the reviews on my first fic. I appreciated it! Anyway, here's my second one. Someone commented that the first one was sappy and to warn you, I'm not good at comedy so you might expect that mine will be sappy at some point in the story. Also I'm not very creative, so if I take an idea that's been used, I apologize in advance. But they say that imitation is the highest form of flattery.
I don't own them, although I would like to own Matthew Perry. Not the point, they belong to their creators. Read on:
Chandler set his keys down in his apartment and looked around. It was so lonely now that his wife was dead. He shook his head to stop the tears that threatened to fall. A year. She had been gone a year. He tried to think back to what it had been like before, and he had to stop thinking like that. It just made it more painful when he thought about how happy they had been. He made himself a microwave dinner and sat down on the couch and ate it alone. His friends tried to call and get him to go out, but he'd always turn them down. He had been on one date, and it had been horrible. He didn't even know what he was doing there in the first place. The woman was bored out of her mind. He kept talking about his wife.
"I give up," she had said halfway through.
"What?" He asked.
"I can't compete with a dead woman," she said. "I don't want to even try. Nice meeting you." She had left the restaurant leaving him alone staring at his finger where his wedding band was.
"Oh, Mon," he whispered. "I miss you."
San Francisco:
Hannah Rollands was a nurse at the city hospital. She came in for her shift and found her friends sitting at the nurse's station.
"How's our favorite mystery woman?" She asked.
"Still sleeping and still a mystery," her friend Joan answered. "Its time to go check on her."
"I'll do it," Hannah offered. She walked down the hall to where a beautiful woman lay in a coma. They had no idea who she was or where she had come from. A fisherman had found her clinging to a rock on the coast of Hawaii. According to him she screamed out for him and when he came near, a wave hit her and she hit her head on the rock knocking her unconscious. They had only one clue to her identity. A name that she had said before drifting off. The nurse repeated it in her head. What did it mean? Chandler. She shook her head and checked on the woman.
"Looking better," she said to her. The woman had color in her cheeks. Hannah was fascinated with this woman. Did she have any family? Were they looking for her? Did they assume that she was dead? Hannah shook her head and continued onto the next patient.
New York:
Why did they have to choose Hawaii for their first anniversary? They were sailing one day when a storm hit. He was trying to make it to shore when a wave knocked the boat sideways and she tumbled into the water. He dove in after her, but she began to drift away. She wasn't a strong swimmer to begin with and the waves and current were too strong for her. When he closed his eyes he could see her floating away screaming his name. They had searched for days, and they had never found her body, but she was pronounced dead. He closed his eyes tightly and opened them again trying to focus on the story that his friend Ross was telling. Chandler laughed along with the rest of them. They knew that he had been devastated by the loss of Monica and it would take him a long time to get over her. They were furious at Joey for setting him up on a date.
"I have to go," Chandler said getting up.
"Are you sure?" They all voiced their concerns for their friend. They knew that he lived in a dream world where he thought Monica would come back. It was finally beginning to sink in for him that she was gone for good. He nodded silently and headed back up to his apartment. He could still smell her there and he hadn't touched her side of the bed or the closet. Everything was still in the exact place that it was before they left for Hawaii. He sighed and laid down on his bed and fell asleep.
His friends looked at each other after he had left.
"What should we do about him?" Rachel asked. They all looked at each other in quiet contemplation.
"You know what," Phoebe said finally. "Maybe we should just let him be for now. He loved her, and that's not something he's going to get over any time soon. We should just be supportive of him and show him that we're still here."
"Why did this have to happen?" Ross asked more to himself then anyone else. It was a question that remained unanswered.
San Francisco:
"Hannah!" She had answered the phone in the middle of the night. It was her friend Joan from the hospital.
"What?" She asked.
"You'll never believe it," Joan said. "You have to get down here. The mystery woman is waking up." Hannah was now fully awake and she quickly got dressed and hurried out of the apartment. She ran in when she got there and found the room. The nurse's station was the center of action.
"Did she wake up?" Hannah asked. Joan came out of the room. She repeated the question.
"Why don't you go in?" Joan asked. Hannah nodded and changed into scrubs and walked in. The woman stirred and opened her eyes. The doctor was hovering over her.
"Can you tell me what your name is?" The doctor asked.
"Chandler?" The woman said.
"Your name is Chandler?" The woman shook her head. Her long, dark hair was framed around her face as she looked at the people in confusion.
"My husband..."she said. "Chandler is my husband..." The woman had a husband. Poor guy, he's probably had no idea where she was the past year. Or probably thought that she was dead.
"What's your name?" The doctor asked again.
"Monica..."she said slowly. "Monica Bing. I live in New York City with my husband Chandler." She closed her eyes and drifted back into the coma. The doctor looked at Hannah.
"We need to find this woman's husband," he said.
"Is she okay?" Hannah asked.
"She slipped back into the coma. She had a brief awakening. Maybe if we get him out here he'll get her to wake up fully." The doctor left the room and Hannah had the task of locating this Chandler Bing of New York. At least now she had a name. Monica. Monica Bing. She looked him up and dialed the number. Hannah got an answering machine. She knew that she had gotten the right house though. A voice, the same voice that she had heard just a few hours before for a few minutes, came on.
"Hi, you've reached Chandler and Monica. We either, A) screening your call, B) not home, C) in the shower, preferably together, or D) involved in other endeavors , (giggles) anyway, leave a message at the beep..." A man came on.
"We're not promising anything," he said. Hannah smiled and left the message. She sat back down and wondered what kind of a woman she was. She was amazed that she didn't know anything about her. Yet she had been seeing her everyday for a year. Did she have any kids? That made her sad, kids that thought that their mother was never coming home again. How would she adjust to being awake again? Hannah sat by the phone and thought about this and the questions that she had been asking herself for a year.
New York:
Chandler was exhausted. He collapsed onto the couch and reached over for the answering machine.
"You have three new messages," it said. He listened to them.
"Hi Chandler, it's Ross. Just wanted to know if you wanted to go to the Knicks game with me and Joey on Saturday. Call me back."
"Hi honey, its Mom. Just wondering how you were holding up. Call me." He groaned and got up and walked into the bathroom. He could still hear the machine.
"Hello? Is this Chandler Bing? Husband of Monica Bing? Um, my name is Hannah Rollands. I work at a hospital in San Francisco. A year ago a woman was brought to us. She had been in the water and was knocked unconscious by a wave. A fisherman found her and took her to a hospital in Hawaii, and she was brought here. Anyway, she's been in a coma for the year and we've had no idea who she was. She woke up briefly last night. Long enough to tell us that she was Monica Bing and she was married to a Chandler Bing. If your him please call me. 123-555-4643. Thank you." Chandler came out of the bathroom in complete shock. He had been trying to tell himself that she was gone, but now there was proof that she wasn't. He picked up the phone and quickly dialed the numbers.
San Francisco:
The phone interrupted her thoughts. She picked it up.
"Hello?" She asked.
"Is this Hannah Rollands?" A man asked.
"Yes? Who is this?"
"My name is Chandler Bing. You called me. Is my wife really alive?" She could hear a hope edging into his voice.
"Yes, could you come out to San Francisco to identify her?"
"I'd go to the edge of the earth to see her again," the man said. Hannah was touched. "I'll be there as soon as possible. Thank you." She heard him hang up and she looked at the phone. He was coming.
New York:
"They found Monica," Chandler said. He had called the gang over with the news that he had just gotten.
"What?" They all said. They could see a grin on his face, so apparently she was still alive. He nodded and played Hannah's message for them.
"I'm on the next plane out," he said.
"We're coming," Rachel said.
"So she's in a coma?" Ross asked.
"They said that she should be waking out of it," Chandler said. "She woke up briefly. I have to pack." They all looked at each other. This was huge. They ran out to their own apartments and packed bags. They had to go see her. Ross called his parents who were ecstatic. He smiled as he passed the picture of Monica.
San Francisco:
Hannah told Joan that the husband was supposed to be on the next flight out. It was a day later. They heard the elevator doors open and a handsome man stepped out. He was followed by two other handsome men and two beautiful women. The first man hurried up to the reception desk.
"Monica Bing?" He asked. They looked at each other. This was him. Hannah stepped out.
'I'm Hannah," she said. "I called you. This way." She led him down the hall the others smiled at him and told him that they would be right there. He broke down crying when he saw her in the bed. She was just as beautiful as ever. He took her hand and kissed her head.
"I thought I'd never see her again," he said tearfully. "Mon? Baby? Its Chandler. Oh God, Monica. I thought that you were dead. They told me that there was no way that you could have survived that. They didn't know how strong you are." He kissed her again on the mouth and stroked her hair. "Please wake up so I can see those bright blue eyes and that gorgeous smile and your dimples, that you hate and I love."
"Excuse me?" Hannah asked. They had been sitting in silence as he held her hand for a while and she was dying to know more about this woman. He looked up at her. "I was just...I'm actually...I'm dying to know more about her. I've been here since she was brought in."
"Oh," he said. "Well, her name is Monica Geller Bing. I guess you knew that. Those four people out there. The one man is her brother, the woman in the blue is her old roommate and best friend. She was her maid of honor. And the other two are our other best friends. Joey actually married us. We had been married a year when the accident happened. We were on our first anniversary. She wanted to try sailing. I knew that I should have taken someone with more experience out with us. She said it was more romantic this way, and she was so stubborn there was no talking sense into the girl." He smiled and looked down at her. Then he began to tell her how they were best friends and got together. He told her how he proposed three times and how she said yes. He explained their wedding, and how in love with her he was. She smiled. He was so in love with her. She hurried off to tell the others the story. It was so romantic. She sighed.
The rest of the gang came in to see her. It was so weird since they had been told that she was dead. She wasn't dead. Chandler had spent every waking moment with her that he could. He barely left her side. It had been a few days. Then one day she stirred and Chandler looked at her.
"Monica? Wake up? Monica?" She opened her eyes.
"Chandler?" She asked.
"I'm here, right here," he said. She smiled at him.
"I thought that I'd never see you again," she said.
"Oh Monica. I realized that life without you is nothing. You're everything. I can't breathe without you, I can't function normally without you. I've been a shell of a man this year."
"I've been here a year?" She asked. He nodded slowly. Tears streamed down his face. He did something that he had wanted to do for a year. He leaned in and kissed her passionately.
"I love you," he said.
"I love you," she said. He had waited a year to hear those words. He had never thought in his dreams that he would hear them again. He hugged her and cried into her hair.
"I missed you so much," he said.
"I know," she whispered. "Its going to be okay. I'm so sorry."
"Sorry?" he asked looking up at her. "Oh sweetheart you have nothing to be sorry about."
"But I should have let you hire the guy," she said.
"Do you know that I blamed myself for the entire first half of this year. If I would have forced you to hire a professional to take us out, if I would have picked somewhere other then Hawaii. Anything to have you back in my arms. But maybe in a way this was a good thing. It showed me and the gang, who by the way are waiting very patiently to see you, that we tend to take you for granted."
"Was there a funeral?" She asked after a few minutes.
"A memorial service," he said. "And you have a grave."
"Well," she said. "Its not everyday that you get to see what your grave looks like. What does it say?"
"It says Monica Bing, 1971- 2002, beloved wife, daughter and friend."
"Beloved?" She asked. He nodded and kissed her tenderly on the cheek. "Bring the gang in." He nodded and went outside.
"Guys?" They stood up. "She's awake and she wants to see you." The four ran in there to see her. She was bombarded with questions and everyone telling her how much they missed her. She smiled and hugged each of them and was happy to be awake. They were thankful that she was okay. Hannah watched. This was the ending that she had hoped for. Not that she was some loner who no one cared about, but that she had people that loved and cared for her. She saw that when she looked in on the six friends in the room. Monica was laughing at a joke. Her husband was on the bed beside her and had his arms wrapped tightly around her afraid to let her go. She smiled at him and he knew that he loved her more then anything in the world, and she wasn't going to get away from him again.