May 5, 2004

10:37 P.M.

"Erica, are you okay?" Monica asked when she noticed the pregnant blonde looking to be in pain with her hand on her stomach. Monica had to be sure everything was alright with her baby. And Erica, too, of course.

Joey, Phoebe, and Chandler were also in the room, gathered around the kitchen table with traces of concern in all six eyes.

"Yeah. You know, maybe I ate too much," she replied. "I keep getting these stomachaches. They come and go like every few minutes."

Monica's eyes widened. "Oh my God!"

Chandler seemed, too, to be oblivious to the situation at hand. "Relax. We'll just get her some antacids."

"She doesn't have a stomachache. She's in labor!" Monica exclaimed.

"Oh my God!" Chandler echoed, sounding very like Monica in his shocked state.

"You've got to get to the hospital," Phoebe said.

"All right. Chandler, get the coats. Erica let's go. Phoebe and Joey, keep packing!" Monica instructed. And then it hit her, the sudden realization that they would finally—after all this time, after all this waiting—have a baby. "Oh my God, we're gonna have a baby. All right. We're gonna have a baby! Oh my God, we're gonna have a baby!" she shouted. Suddenly feeling lightheaded, she pulled up a chair. "Oh God, oh God. I got to sit down, I got to sit down." She began hyperventilating.

"Honey, it's gonna be okay," Chandler said, rubbing her back soothingly.

"You can do this," Erica comforted, sounding oddly like Monica was the one in labor. "Just breathe."

"Okay, okay," Monica said, taking several deep breaths. "Okay, I feel a little better."

Erica let out a sudden cry of pain. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure," Monica said, standing up. "Oh, honey, let's go. Okay, bye everyone!" She waved goodbye to Joey and Phoebe who threw the three of them supportive messages and cheers in return.

Monica called for a cab, and soon they were on their way to the hospital. On their way to parenthood.


May 6, 2004

4:58 A.M.

"Breathe," Monica instructed as Erica panted out heavy breaths. "Breathe, breathe, breathe." Seeing Erica relax, Monica relaxed. "Good." It was like she could feel the pregnant woman's pain, the way she acted.

Feeling left out from all the painful fun, Chandler asked, "Next time, can I say 'breathe'?"

"No. Last time, you said it like Dracula, and it scared her!" Then, turning her attention back to Erica, "Can I get you anything? You want some more ice chips?"

"No, I'm okay," Erica replied.

"Alright," Monica said. "I'll be right back."

Chandler panicked a little. "Where are you going?"

"To use the bathroom." She turned to leave, but Chandler stopped her.

He lowered his voice so Erica wouldn't overhear. "You can't leave me alone with her."

"What?" Monica asked, clearly confused. Did Chandler not like Erica or something?

"This is exactly the kind of social situation that I am not comfortable with!" His eyes were ablaze with worry and even slight anger.

"What kind of social situation are you comfortable with?" Monica questioned.

"It's just that we've never spent any time, you know, alone together."

"You'll be fine," Monica said, patting his arm. He gave her a disbelieving look. "Nah, you won't," she admitted, "but I'll be back in two minutes."

"Okay," Chandler said, looking defeated.

Monica chuckled slightly at her husband's awkwardness and left the room. Chandler closed the door behind her and turned to face Erica. Attempting conversation, he tried, "Any plans for the summer?"

She thought for a second, looking a bit confused by the question. "I don't know. Maybe church-camp?"

"May not wanna mention this," Chandler mused, receiving an offended look from Erica. "So, you ever wonder which is worse: going through labor or getting kicked in the nuts?" Now Erica was glaring at him with a look of pure disgust and hatred. Chandler could perfectly understand why.

"What?" she practically spat.

"Well, it's just interesting. You know, because no one will ever know, because no one can experience both." Erica rolled her eyes and looked at him like he was crazy. "One of life's great unanswerable questions. I mean, who knows? Maybe there's something even more painful than those things." He paused and felt the tension in the room thickening. He knew Monica shouldn't have left him here. "Like this," he added.


May 6, 2004

11:44 A.M.

"It's just a little bit more, honey," Monica said to a screaming Erica as a grimace formed across the pregnant woman's face. Any minute now, she would be giving birth, and Monica and Chandler would finally have their baby. The anticipation was killing Monica at the moment. She couldn't wait to be a mother.

"Help me! This hurts!" Erica screamed.

"Is it really that bad?" Chandler asked. Monica gave him a slight glare. Did he really just ask such a moronic question?

"Uh-huh!" Erica said angrily. "I think it's time to kick you in the nuts and see which is worse!" Monica glanced at Chandler, then back at Erica. It soon became clear that Chandler had said something stupid while she had left the room earlier. She had been gone for two minutes—just two minutes—and Chandler had still managed to do something idiotic.

The doctor at Erica's feet announced, "The baby's head is crowning."

Monica walked over to the doctor's side to watch the birth. "Oh! Oh my God!" she exclaimed. "That is the most beautiful top of a head I have ever seen. Chandler, you have to see this!"

"I'm okay," Chandler said from the other side of the room, by Erica's head.

"Chandler, you don't wanna miss this," Monica begged. "This is the birth of your child. It's the miracle of life!"

"Alright," Chandler gave in, taking a quick glance and immediately drawing back. "Wow. That is one disgusting miracle."

"Start pushing," the doctor instructed. Erica let out a wail of pain. "Here we go. Here come the shoulders."

The cry of a baby sounded throughout the room, tugging at Monica's heartstrings. The doctor held up the baby, and Monica got the first peek at the gender. "It's a— It's a boy!"

"Wow!" Chandler exclaimed, eyes wide as he looked at his son.

"Is he okay?" Erica asked.

"He's just fine," the doctor reassured.

"Oh, you did it!" Monica shouted happily to Erica. She was a mom. She was finally a mom. She couldn't believe this. This was a happiness beyond anything she had ever experienced before in her life.

Chandler seemed to be overcome with emotion, a side of Chandler which Monica almost never had the opportunity to see. "It's a baby! A beautiful little baby! And some other stuff I'm gonna pretend I don't see." Monica chuckled.

"Would you like to cut the umbilical cord?" the doctor asked as a nurse handed Monica a pair of scissors. She passed them over to Chandler, and they cut together.

"Well, that's spongy," Chandler commented.

Monica held the newborn baby boy in her arms and stared down at him. "Oh, hey handsome. I'm gonna love you so much that no woman is ever gonna be good enough for you." Chandler laughed and wrapped his arm around her. She looked up at him, on the verge of tears. "Oh, we are so lucky!"

"I know," Chandler said softly. He looked down at his son and seemed to notice something. "He has your eyes. I mean, I know that's not possible, but he does."

"We'll just get him cleaned up a bit," the nurse said. Monica handed her the baby, and she walked to another part of the room with him.

Monica turned to speak to Erica. "Oh my God, he's beautiful. Thank you so much."

"I'm really happy for you guys," she replied with a smile.

"How do you feel?" Chandler asked.

"I'm tired!" Erica replied, sounding very much like she meant it.

"Well, you don't have that much time to relax," the doctor said. "The other one will be along in a minute."

Chandler locked wide eyes with the doctor, completely shocked. Monica froze in place and turned around slowly to face them. In a croak, she said, "I . . . I'm sorry: who should be along in a what now?

"The next baby should be along in a minute," the doctor repeated calmly.

"We only ordered one," Monica stated in surprise and confusion.

"You know it's twins, right?" the doctor questioned.

"Oh, yeah," Chandler said, his tone dripping a mix of strong sarcasm and fear. "These are the faces of two people in the know!"

"I can't believe you didn't know it's twins," the doctor replied, shock in his voice as well now. "This has never happened before."

"Well, gosh," Chandler remarked. "That makes me feel so special and good."

Monica turned away from Chandler to speak to the doctor again. "Wait, did you know it was twins?"

"Yeah. It's here in the paperwork we got from the clinic in Ohio."

To Erica, Monica asked, "Anybody tell you?"

"I don't think so," she replied, but then added, "Although, they did mention something about two heartbeats. But I thought that was just mine and the baby's. They kept saying 'both heartbeats are really strong', and I thought 'well, that's good 'cause I'm having a baby'."

"This is unbelievable," Monica said at a near loss for words.

"Twins actually run in my family," Erica realized.

"Interesting," Chandler said, not looking too happy. He turned to Monica. "Can I see you for a second?" They walked over to the door where nobody else would hear their conversation, and Monica feared what Chandler was about to say. In a voice just above a whisper, he asked in a panic, "What do we do?"

"What do you mean 'what do we do'?" Monica questioned, anger creeping into her tone.

"Twins!" Chandler exclaimed. "Twins!"

"Chandler, you're panicking," Monica warned.

"Uh-huh! Join me, won't you?" He paused when he saw Monica's insulted-looking expression, but soon continued. "Okay, what do you say we keep one, and then just have an option on the other one?"

"We can't split them up!" How could Chandler even suggest such a horrible thing?

"Why not? We could give each of them half a medallion, and then years later, they'll find each other and be reunited," Chandler offered. "I mean, that's a great day for everybody."

"What if the person who adopts the other one is horrible?" Monica asked, fearing Chandler still wouldn't give in.

"What if they're not? What if it's adopted by a king?"

"Yeah, because I hear the king is looking to adopt," Monica replied sarcastically.

"Monica, we are not ready to have two babies," Chandler said slowly.

"That doesn't matter!" Monica shouted in desperation and anger. "We have waited so long for this, I don't care if it's two babies. I don't care if it's three babies! I don't care if the entire cast of Eight is Enough comes out of there! We are taking them home, because they are our children."

Chandler smiled. "Okay." He pulled Monica into a hug, silencing her. "Okay."

"Okay!" Monica shouted.

Chandler drew back a bit in shock. "Okay!"

"It looks like we're about ready over here," the doctor called to them. Chandler and Monica ran back over to Erica's bed. "Come on, Erica, start pushing again now." After another scream from Erica, the doctor said something that made Chandler's eyebrows shoot up in a slightly amusing way. "Here she comes!"

Shocked, Chandler asked, "She? It's a girl?"

"Yeah," the doctor said, smiling.

"Well, now we have one of each!" Chandler smiled, looking at Monica. "And that's enough."


May 6, 2004

12:13 P.M.

Monica stared down at her son in her arms, then looked over at her daughter being held by Chandler. She smiled because there was no better way to show just how unbelievably happy she was at the moment. "Do you think they recognize each other from in there?" she asked in a soft voice, referring to when their children were inside Erica.

"Maybe," Chandler said. "Unless they're like two people who have lived in apartments next to each other for years, and then one day they're pushed through a vagina and they meet." Monica laughed.

"We're going to take Erica to recovery now," the nurse said.

Before Erica left, Monica ran over to her, Chandler close behind. "There's something that we wanna tell you. We decided to name the girl-baby Erica."

"Oh my God. That's just like my name!" Erica said happily.

"Son of a gun, it is!" Monica chuckled.

"Anyway, I'm gonna go and get some rest. I'm really glad I picked you guys. You're gonna make great parents," Erica said. She then added, "Even Chandler."

They said their goodbyes as the nurses took Erica to the recovery room. Staring back down at their new children, Monica could not believe how adorable they were. "Oh, look at these little bunnies!"

"I know," Chandler agreed. "You ready to trade?"

"Okay." She tried to pass their son to Chandler while carefully getting their daughter from him, but neither one of them had any idea how to do it, so they both gave up fairly quickly.

"We could trade later," Chandler offered.

"Yeah, I'm good," Monica agreed. Once again staring down at their newborn baby son, she wondered what they should name him. "What do you think this little guy should be called?"

"Well, we named this one after her birth mother," Chandler said, gesturing with his head toward the baby in his arms. "Maybe we should name him after someone, too."

Monica thought for a minute at that suggestion. She liked the idea. Thinking through all the men he could be named after, she was easily eliminating several names from the list. She knew Joey would want one of his friend's babies named after him, but the baby in her arms didn't look like a Joey. He didn't seem to be a Ross either—or a Chandler, not that she was really considering naming her son after his father. She didn't want to be forced to refer to her child as "Junior" whenever his dad was around.

"How about Jack?" Chandler offered.

Monica's eyes widened. How had she not thought of it already? Looking at her son, she could tell that he was clearly a Jack. "It's perfect," she replied, her eyes welling up with tears. "Happy birthday, Jack," she whispered. Her dad would be so happy.

Jack. It was a nice name. It had a nice ring to it. Jack Bing.

Jack and Erica Bing.