Wow, I haven't posted anything on here for a while, sorry about that! If anyone actuallycares, lol. This is the first of several fics I'm working on at the moment, and this is shaping up to be a longish one. It's named after the recent ITV drama of the same name, and takes the basic idea from there, but I didn't watch the show so the rest is all mine. For those of you in other countries without ITV then you don't really need to know anything about the show to follow this. But, a few things I have to tell you all, Chandler and Ross were friends in college, all that happened, but Monica and Rachel moved to Boston, not NYC, and have lived there ever since, thus the four of them were never really friends. Apart from that, sit back, enjoy and review. Good or room for improvement I want to know!

Nina xxx

Walk Away And I Stumble

Part 1

"No!"

Chandler couldn't help but smile, even though it broke his feeble attempt at authority. His daughter was currently bouncing up and down on her parent's bed, her blonde curls dancing with the motion, and her clothes still in her father's hand. She looked so beautiful right then, just like her mother. As her watched her, just watched her bounce as her smile grew wider, he realised exactly why he was so happy, why he loved Molly so much. Never, in all his years had he felt such love for other people. He was tempted to just forget about lunch and spend the day with his kids, just playing in the yard. He could teach Charlie how to play baseball, and Lauren could cheer for them, before they had a nice tea party, just father, daughter and several hundred stuffed toys.

"Chandler?"

He turned quickly, not even aware that someone else had been in the room. His smile grew wider when he saw Molly leaning against the door frame, her hazel eyes shining with love and her heart shaped mouth curved into a smile. "Hey …" he replied, not sure how to convey the love her felt surging through his body at that moment. Molly simply smiled back at him, the same feelings reflected in her eyes. It was only then that Lauren began to scream louder, fully aware that her parents attention was no longer focussed on her. Chandler grinned as he turned to face her before scooping her up in his arms and tickling her mercilessly, all the while feeling like the luckiest man in the world.

XXX

Ross sighed as he put the phone down, once again wondering why he was always seen as the dependable and reliable one. He hated it sometimes, he really did. Why did he always have to be the one people called when their own lives got so screwed up for them to handle it? If they didn't want to be in that situation then they shouldn't get into it. His sister had just called him, the first phone call he'd had from her in over three months, telling him that she needed a place to stay for a few days. And he was the lucky winner. He slowly rubbed his forehead, already feeling the inevitable headache coming on. Monica had moved to Boston over seven years ago when she was offered a job in an upmarket restaurant. Rachel had followed her a few months later and since then they'd been having the time of their lives. But apparently, from what Ross had gathered over the frantic phone call, the guy Monica had been seeing (living with, apparently) had been cheating on her with half of Boston and Monica needed to move out. With a stop over at Hotel Ross. But she'd said it would only be for a few days, maybe that would be OK. She would be gone before he'd even realised she'd arrived. And she was a big girl; it wasn't like he'd have to baby-sit her. Sure, she'd have to tag along to a few things, but that was … shit. He was having dinner with Chandler and Molly tomorrow. He'd definitely have to take Monica to that. Sighing deeply he picked up the phone again and dialled his best friends number. Molly picked up on the first ring,

"Hello?" she answered, her carefree tone a welcome relief.

"Hey Molly it's me. Is Chandler about?"

He could almost hear the smile in her voice, "Yeah, he's just trying to get Lauren dressed, but I guess he could do with rescuing. Gimme a sec". Ross waited, enjoying the bustle of family life, even if it wasn't his own. He could hear Lauren's giggling echoing down the phone, and Charlie's chanting at his father to tickle her 'harder'. He'd always liked going over to Chandler and Molly's. Their life always seemed so much more lifelike than his own. And he enjoyed that more than he liked to admit.

"Hey man what's up?" Chandler called out, breaking Ross' daydream.

"Hey, it's about tomorrow night. Is it OK if my sister tags along? She's coming into town.. Boyfriend trouble."

Chandler laughed, "Sure, no problem. I'll call the restaurant now. She OK?"

Ross sometimes wondered, "Yeah, she'll bounce back. I'll see you tomorrow then"

"See you tomorrow"

And with that Ross was catapulted back to his humdrum existence, where he saw his son twice a month and the only woman who had called him in the past month was his little sister.

XXX

"Monica you can't just leave!" Rachel called out, hoping against hope that her best friend would see sense this time, "You're whole life's here!"

"No it's not Rach, not any more. And I can leave. I can't stay in this apartment, I've got a week off from work. I need some time out. You can understand that can't you?"

"But Mon, you're not thinking straight …"

Monica laughed, not really at her friend, more with the knowledge that she still could, "I am. For the first time in months I'm thinking straight. Jack was an idiot. I know that. And he can keep his stupid apartment. I need some time."

Rachel shook her head in desperation, "But where will you go? Not to your parents?"

Monica turned to face her, her face contorted in disgust, "God no. Can you imagine? They'd love to tell me how I've ruined another perfectly good relationship. No, I'm going to my brother's. In New York"

Rachel sat down, still shaken by the events of the past 24 hours. It had all started the day before, when Monica had called to cancel their cinema plans. Jack had decided to take her out to dinner. Treat her like a lady. Rachel had agreed, the two had been having a rough time lately and she wanted them to work it out. She'd gone to the movies by herself, not even caring how sad she might look, before calling and getting some Chinese food to eat in bed. By the time she'd got in there were six messages on her phone, all from Monica, telling her to call. She did immediately, terrified from the voice on her machine that something had happened. That at that moment Jack was lying dead in a gutter somewhere. Instead Monica told her how at dinner Jack had sat her down and told her she needed to know something. She'd assumed he was about to propose. Instead he'd told her she wasn't his only girlfriend, there were three others. He hadn't wanted to tell her, she was the one he really loved, but one woman was pregnant and he couldn't ignore that. How Monica hadn't stayed long enough to hear any more, she'd hailed a cab home and locked him out before calling Rachel. She'd slept on Rachel's couch that night. And now here they were, somehow, frantically trying to pack up Monica's life before she caught her plane, and despite her friends strong appearance, Rachel knew this had hit her hard. And she couldn't go through it alone.

"Mon?" she asked quietly, receiving only a faint murmur from her friend, "I'll come with you"

Monica turned quickly, facing her friend while still clutching her half folded denim skirt, "What? Rach you can't, what about work … ?"

"Screw work Mon. You need your friends right now, and I'd be a really lousy one if I didn't offer to go with you. Besides it'll be fun, we can see the sights. Be proper tourists"

Slowly Monica nodded and cried her first real tears since she'd run away from the restaurant, holding onto her friend for dear life.