I do not Own Friends or the concept.
Background…Monica , Ross and Rachel know each other. Ross and Monica's family are not that well off, you will see why. Ross did not go to college and is a car salesman. Rachel ended up marrying Barry Farber, but since she is not happy spends all of her time with Monica. Monica has no job at the moment.
Chandler went to school with Joey and Phoebe. Phoebe was a foster child to the Tribbianni family. And Chandler and Phoebe became high school sweethearts and eventually married. Chandler is a movie critic for the New York Times. Phoebe is a cook at a vegetarian restaurant that she co-owns. And Joey is a police officer.
Confused, you won't be. All I can say is, if you did not like the movie, Return to me, you will not like this fic… I borrowed the idea from the movie.
Return To Me
Monica lay in her bedroom of her parents house. Ever since she was a baby, she had been diagnosed with congestive heart failure. The only cure for it. A heart transplant. Of course that meant someone had to die so that she could live.
Because of that, the only places that she went to besides home were the synagogue, hospital and doctor's office. So she rarely knew of the outside. Except what was in her backyard.
Since she was sick all of the time, she could not hold down a job. She was now weak and it looked as though she was going to have to move to the hospital before the week was up. Monica knew if that happened, she was never going to make it out alive, unless by some miracle she would get a heart transplant.
In a way it was a miracle. It would save her life. But someone had to die, so that she could live. She hated it. But as her therapist at the hospital reminded her, that it was a gift from the family or the person themselves to her. It had to happen voluntarily. She still hated it none the less.
Of course it did not come cheaply. Ever since the insurance companies found out about her condition, it was almost impossible to find a company that would accept her. And the one they did find, was not cheap. So they had plenty of doctors' and hospitals bills. Seeing that she was in and out most of the time. Not to mention the medicine.
Even though they got help from different sources, times were still tough for the family. For one they had to spend all available money on her bills and so forth. And sadly enough, they had only enough money put back for burial expenses. Her burial expenses. A month ago she even insisted on making out a will. She knew that it wasn't going to be much longer.
In a way she wished for a fast death and not a lingering one. For she knew that her family would be doing better financially if it had not been for her.
If she had not been sick…they would have had plenty of money…Ross could have gone to school, and even have been something important, instead of a car salesman…her parents would have money to live out their retirement on with no worries and could even buy a beach house and go on trips. Or that is what her mother kept hinting around her with. She did it subtly and made it sound like a dream. But Monica had the distinct feeling that her mother was indifferent towards her.
Ross loved her as his sister. And he used to go and spend time with her to keep her from getting lonely. But as time wore on and she got sicker and sicker, he began to distance himself from her. Monica knew he was doing that afraid that he would get hurt way too much if and when she died. And he was scared of her dying and then he was ashamed for separating himself from his little sister.
Her best friend Rachel would come by from time to time to check up on her and to talk. Rachel would try and get her to talk about anything from fashions, music, movies, gossip. Anything but the illness. She treated Monica as she wanted to be treated. As normal. But, Rachel would never face the fact that Monica was essentially living on borrowed time.
More than anyone else it was her father that spent all his spare time with her and told her stories and tried to help in every way that he could to help ease her pain. To him she would always be his little 'Harmonica'. And to Monica, her father would always be the best man on the face of the earth.
But Monica knew that her time was limited, unless she got a transplant…..
Three weeks later….
Monica laid in a hospital bed with her father and Rachel with her. Her lips had a blue tint to them. Her eyes sunken and her skin was a shade of an unnatural pale color. She was hooked up to two different machines. One made it easier to breath and the other was a heart machine. Not to mention the IV drip.
Jack Geller had been with her for the past three hours. Rachel had come in thirty minutes ago.
Finally Jack got up from his chair stretched and yawned. "I am going to go and get something to eat and then for a stroll. Can I bring you anything, Rachel?"
"No thanks, Mr. Geller." Jack then left.
"Rachel., could you do me a favor?" Monica whispered.
"Sure hon. What is it?"
"When I am gone, please keep an eye on dad for me."
"Monica, please don't talk that way. I mean you could get a new heart any day now."
"Rachel I will not be alive this time next week. Everybody knows that. The doctor told just as much."
"But…."
"Only if I get a transplant. But as time passes, it looks as though it is going to be impossible."
"Monica honey, please have faith."
"I can't. Not any more. I have to be realistic."
"Fine I will have faith and hope for you."
"Rachel…promise me…"
"I promise you. But I have a feeling you will." Rachel's faith paid off……
An hour later, Monica was told by her doctor that a heart was on it's way for her. Rachel and Jack were both beside themselves with happiness. Each one hugging Monica and telling her that she was going to be fine. Monica was crying both tears of joy for herself and tears of pain for the donor and their friends and family that lost one of their own.
"You see, Monica. I told you that it would all work out." Rachel smiled through tears of her own while hugging her friend. Jack was on the phone with family and friends telling them that Monica was getting a new heart.
Ten minutes later, Monica was wheeled into the operating room.
All that he remembered was her voice, screaming at him to watch out. The crunch of metal and then darkness. He was out just for enough time to have the firefighters cut him out of the car. As soon as he saw Phoebe's body, he shakily got up and dashed towards it. Only to be held back a police officer.
"Sir, you will have to stand back so that they can help her." For ten minutes the EMT's applied their trade and finally they were satisfied.
"Alright, she is stable enough to be taken to the hospital. Would you like to ride with us?" The first paramedic asked.
"Of course I am coming. There is no force on earth that will prevent me from coming."
On the way there Phoebe had awakened. "Chandler, promise me that you will move on."
"Phoebe, stop talking like that! We are going to be together for a long while."
Phoebe smiled weakly at her husband. "Of course we will. Physically we won't. But our hearts will." Soon after she closed her eyes, never to open them again.
Twenty minutes after arriving at the hospital, she was gone.
Joey who was still wearing his on duty clothes of a cop came running toward him. "Chandler…. I just heard from the dispatcher."
"She's gone, Joe." Chandler had a bandage on his head and tears in his eyes.
"Dude…." Joey was broken up. Phoebe was his sister as far as he was concerned. He also started to let a few tears fall.
"No more than five minutes ago." Chandler leaned back against the wall and closed his eyes. "The doctor just came out and asked permission to harvest her organs."
"That is what Phoebe would have wanted." Joey replied.
Chandler then got angry. "Harvest her organs! That sounds like gathering corn or wheat when it is ripened to go to the highest bidder!" Chandler said bitterly. Chandler then fell against the wall and slid down to the floor and pulled up his knees to his chest, Joey soon joined him.
"I don't think that is how it works."
"Try telling that to people who are on the waiting list only to be passed up in favor of celebrities or others like them."
"Maybe not, Chandler. Times have changed. I don't think they do that anymore. They are really starting to pay attention to who is on top of the list first now."
"Maybe or maybe not. I don't know. All I know is that a wonderful woman had to die just so some person that needs a kidney transplant because of too much drink can live."
"Chandler…."
"I know, buddy. Phoebe would have wanted it this way. But still, she had so much to look forward to in her life. Children, grandchildren and the list goes on."
"Awe…Chandler." Joey then hugged Chandler. "Hey, let's get you home."
As they were standing. "Joe, I know this sounds kind of weird, but, can I stay with you tonight? I mean it is for two reasons. One, I hit my head and the doctors want me to be watched over tonight."
"And two…"
"I can't go back to that apartment right now. Please, Joe."
"Sure bud." Joey then led Chandler out the door. "And we can talk about anything and everything, no matter what and I will be there for you tonight."
To Chandler his life was over. His high school sweetheart that he married was dead. And it was all his fault. He should have been watching the road instead of watching her facial expressions after he had finished with a joke. Then he would have seen the drunk driver and would have been able to get out of his way and nothing would have happened.
What does everyone think? Please review. Tell you guys what. If I actually get overviews, I would be persuaded to write more. OK? BTW: I know I copied it a bit from Return To Me. Please don't inform of that in a review.