N/A: Please comment, I have new ideas for future fics yet.
Chapter one: The Sypthomas
He was agonized with the unbearable pain in his chest. He couldn't take it any longer. Of course this wouldn't be happening if he'd listened to his friends, a few weeks ago. But now it was just too late to remember that…
A few weeks ago…
Chandler and Monica had been living in Westchester for 6 years until that day.
"Chandler!" Monica shouted, getting out of the bathroom.
Chandler got up from the sofa, and turned around to face an angry and concerned Monica, who was coming to Chandler's direction. She was wearing a robe, her hair almost done and she was holding a package.
"What?" Chandler asked.
"What's that?" Monica said, holding a package of cigarettes.
"Well… A package of cigarettes?" Chandler asked, a little embarrassed.
"Chandler, how long have you been smoking?"Monica said in a concerned tone.
"Just a while… But why do you care so much? You didn't use to be so concern about it a few years ago!" Chandler said in a defensive tone.
"Chandler, you're 43 years old, and you know you could be in big danger due to these cigarettes… And I don't want you to continue…" She was cut off by a really strong cough, coming from Chandler. Monica paused before saying anything and they looked into each others' eyes.
"Chandler! Are you ok?"Monica put her hand on his shoulder.
"I guess so. Why would you think I'm not…?" Chandler said, before letting out an even stronger cough.
"I'll get you a glass of water" Monica went into the kitchen.
Chandler was about to cough really hard again, but Monica brought him the glass of water in about a minute. He had trouble drinking the water, and when he finished, he was relieved to be breathing again.
"Chandler… I think we better go see a doctor." Monica said directly, and really worried.
Deep inside, they both knew what was that all about, and what the cause of it was.
Erika entered the room, sleepy.
"Mom? Daddy? What you guys doing?" She asked.
"It's nothing sweetie… Everything is fine… Just go to your room, Daddy and I are trying to sort something out… No biggie…"
"Okay" Erika said, going back to her room.
Monica felt slightly bad for not telling her daughter was going on, but Erika just couldn't handle knowing what might be happening to Chandler, and how bad was it.
"Tomorrow… We'll go to the doctor" Monica said, firmly.
"Okay" Chandler said.
"We should go early, at 10" Monica said.
"10 o'clock?" Chandler thought it was too early.
"No… 10 Fahrenheit!" Monica said, trying to loosen up a little and take away from her head the idea of what she feared.
They almost laughed at the joke, but their smiles soon faded as Monica was worried about Chandler. She thought it could be because he felt guilty about smoking behind her back. But it could be something worse!
Soon, they went to bed, but Monica couldn't sleep. Not only because of Chandler coughing, but because of Chandler himself. She was really worried about his health.
Next day,Chandler woke up tired, since he couldn't sleep because of his damn coughs. Monica had scheduled an appointment with the doctor last night, and she also called a nanny to take care of Erica and Jack. They had breakfast, greeted the nanny and headed quickly to the hospital.
"I'm Monica Geller Bing and this is my husband Chandler Bing. I think he's sick" Monica said.
"My name is James. What seems to be the problem?"The doctor asked.
"He's coughing hard and having trouble swallowing!"Monica said.
Chandler was a little uncomfortable for not saying a word.
"But I don't think it is a big deal!" Chandler said.
"Mr. Bing, what do you usually do? Smoking? Drinking?" The doctor said, as if trying to guess.
"I've been smoking a lot lately" Chandler said.
"Well, maybe his lungs are just 'polluted' … but we better do an X- Ray." The doctor said.
"What else can it be, doctor?"Monica said.
"It could be a lot of things… Even some serious diseases"
Chandler was stunned by the possibilities of what could be happening to him, and coughed a little more.
"What should we do?" Monica asked the doctor, getting even more worried.
"Well, we could start with that X-Ray" The doctor said with a serious tone.
"Okay" Chandler said, followed by another cough.
"Alright" Monica said, almost in unison.
"Ms. Geller…Bing… You can wait here." The doctor said.
Chandler noticed the doctor had hesitated in saying her last names… But what could he do if he was a Bing and Monica hadn't changed her name to just Bing? Deep inside, Chandler liked her last name more than his… Monica would just say his last name after hers when she introduced herself in respect of being his wife.
"Okay" Monica answered.
And the doctor took Chandler to do the X-Ray.
Monica stayed in the doctor's room, thinking about the variety of results. She didn't want him to die so soon! They were together for 12 years, married for 10… They weren't that old and could be broken up forever! She thought about how their friends would react... Sure they'd be really worried… And it would be a bigger trauma for their children. She didn't want to be alone, and had to enjoy the time she had left with Chandler. The others needed to know what was going on before the worst happened…
Monica waited in concern for about ten minutes, before Chandler and the doctor came back.
"How was it?"Monica said.
"I took the X-Ray, but it'll take a while to get the results, when we get it, we'll be sure to let you know" the doctor said, referring to himself and the hospital.
"Alright" Monica said.
Chandler and Monica went back home.
"Chandler, I've been thinking… Would you like to invite our friends to dinner?"
"Which friends?" Chandler asked.
"The unforgettable ones" Monica said, a little excited.
"Okay… But why so suddenly? We invited Ross and Rachel to our house last week" Chandler said.
"Well, Ross is my brother and Rachel is my sister-in-law… It seemed more like a family dinner… I wanted to invited Phoebe and Joey too"
"Alright… Why not?" Chandler said.
There was a minute of silence, before Chandler broke it.
"Monica, do you think I have something fatal and I must enjoy things while I'm still able to do them?" He said.
"Well, Chandler…" Monica said, a little sad.
"Don't worry, honey… I'm just fine… For now, we don't even know if I have something" Chandler kissed her cheek.
"Thanks for comforting me, Chandler" Monica said, happy.
"But we still can invite them over, right?" Chandler said.
"Yes, of course." Monica said.
The day had passed quickly, and since Monica and Chandler had gone to the doctor the day before, it still would take a while to get the results.
Chandler had came back from work, and was about to enter the kitchen, when Monica stopped him.
"Erika and Jack are eating in the kitchen. I thought we should talk about that thing in private."She said.
"Okay" Chandler said.
"How were you today?" Monica asked.
"A little disturbed… I was coughing a lot at work, and people there kinda figured there was something wrong, y'know?" Chandler said.
"Well… Are you feeling better now?" Monica said.
"I guess it's the air is rough at my job, but our house is away from the city…" He said.
"Well, I've invited our friends over. Will we tell them that there's a problem?"Monica said.
"With all that coughs… It'd be impossible to pretend there's not a problem..." Chandler said, with sarcasm.
"Then let's tell them" Monica said with a serious tone.
"Well, can we go to the kitchen now?"Chandler asked.
"Yep" Monica said.
A couple hours later, their four friends arrived and headed to the living room.
"Long time no see, Dude!" Joey said to Chandler.
"Thanks for inviting us again Monica" Rachel said, excited.
"You're welcome! I love being a host!" Monica exclaimed.
"Thanks for bringing me this time, mom" Emma told her mother.
"It's been a while since I've seen you guys!"Phoebe said to all of her friends.
"We've been really busy with Emma" Ross said.
"Yeah, now that she's eight, shouldn't live her with nannies anymore" Rachel said.
"Yeah, I'm not so little anymore. Right daddy?"Emma asked Ross.
"Actually, she meant you deserve more attention" Ross answered.
"Same thing with me and Chandler" Monica said to Phoebe.
"It's nice to have you guys here" Chandler said.
He let out a strong cough.
"Chandler… Are you okay?"Monica asked, while the others were technically making the same question.
"It's alright guys! I'm fine!" Chandler said.
Soon, Erika and Jack entered the room.
"We have visit kids!"Chandler said
"Hi Uncle Ross! Hi Aunty Rachel! Hi Emma" Erika said.
"Hi Erika!"Emma said.
"Hi guys! Hi Uncle Joey!"Jack said.
"Hey kid! How you doing?" Joey said, trying to get attention from the boy.
"Good… Just getting difficult homework!" Jack said.
"I could help you with that, right?"Joey asked Chandler.
"That's my biggest concern!"Chandler said with humor.
Everyone laughed and Joey tried to pretend he thought it was funny.
"Well… Should we go have dinner now?"Monica said.
A little while after, they finished dinner, and continued talking.
"Jack and Erika… How about you go play with Emma in the living room?" Monica asked.
They went running.
"Don't mess up the living room!" Monica shouted from the kitchen.
"Well guys, we have something serious to tell you" Monica said.
"What?"They all asked.
"I've been feeling a little bad lately…"Chandler said
"Oh, is that why you were having difficulty swallowing? I thought it was a competition and almost choked!" Phoebe said.
"Phoebe!"Rachel said.
"Walk us through it Chandler…" Ross said.
"Well… I caught him smoking again!"Monica said.
"What? Again?" They all said.
"And I've been having trouble to swallow, so we went to the doctor" Chandler said.
"And?"Rachel asked.
"Yeah… The doctor said I probably have a lung issue, because of the cigarettes. I took some tests and the diagnosis will be out in a few days"
There was silence for a minute, but it soon was broken.
"Chandler… You should have stopped it a while ago" Rachel said.
"Why did you keep doing this?"Ross said.
"I don't know, you guys…" Chandler said.
He was getting even more nervous as he tried to forget the awful possibilities of what could be happening to him. It was easier to comfort just one person than four at the same time. And he didn't know if Monica was still disturbed by that.
"I don't know why this is happening guys… I mean, all of you smoke… even pot, right? And it never happened anything to you! How could I expect that something would happen with me?"Chandler said.
"I never smoke pot… Just cigarettes and it was only to get closer to my acquaintances at work." Rachel said.
"And it was different with me and Monica… We stopped right after college, remember?" Ross said.
"Since when I smoke pot?" Monica asked a little shocked.
"On your thirtieth birthday you said you did."Ross said.
"I said I did smoking, not pot!" Monica said.
"Wait, Chandler. Since when do you know I smoke?"Phoebe asked.
"Since your weird past I can't understand!" Chandler said.
"And just because I had sex in high school you think I've smoked?" Joey asked. "Well, maybe it was the case but…"
"Guys!" Chandler said, and everyone turned to look at him.
"I don't know why I asked you this… But I do know that I only had problems because I kept on smoking! You are the least percentage that could get rid of smoking" He said.
"We hope everything turns out okay" Monica said holding Chandler's hand.
"Yeah… We do too" The others said.
The 'good byes' from his friends were nice and calm. And he was glad his friends wished him good luck, but did their best not to mention that the disease was not curable and it was going to kill him. Monica had done that 'meeting' not only because they missed their friends, but mainly because she was afraid Chandler died without a chance to say goodbye first.
They said goodbye to the others themselves, and set the twins to bed. They also went to their room.
"Did you enjoy dinner, honey?" Monica asked while she got dressed into her pajamas.
"Yeah… I liked seeing them again" Chandler said.
"That's good Chandler" Monica said.
"Good night honey" Chandler said, giving Monica a kiss.
Monica turned the lights off, and, but Chandler couldn't sleep because of the pain in his chest seemed to be getting worse, and his thought didn't help that much. He called out for Monica.
"Monica, are you awake?" He asked.
"Hum… yeah. What is it Chandler?" Monica said.
"I've been thinking… I'm worried this thing is gonna kill me…" He said, with concern.
"What? You were the most doubtless so far" Monica said, surprised.
"I know… But it's not what I meant" Chandler said.
"Then what is it, Chandler?" Monica asked.
There was a long pause before he answered her.
"Monica, if I die… you'd be alone" He said.
Monica was silent. She was aware of that possibility, but hoped they wouldn't talk about it. But this would only happen if Chandler had a killing disease, which they still didn't know.
"But Chandler… This will only happen if you have a very serious disease, and we don't know that yet!" Monica said.
"But my point is… If I'm gonna leave you… Should we really be together?" Chandler said.
"What do you mean?" Monica asked.
"I've always had problems with relationships, and we can't conceive… I'm afraid I might have ruined your life and your dream to have a family!" He said, too tired to finish the sentence, because of the pain.
"Chandler… Only because you may die… Does that mean you'd ruin my life and my family?" She said.
"I think I made you waste time with me y trying to be a good wife and a good mom… you should have married Don or Richard!" Chandler said.
"Chandler… You asked me to marry you, and I said yes… I almost did the proposal myself! I wanted to marry you!" Monica said.
"Yeah… But Richard let me marry you, and Joey helped me when he told you my surprise plan… Everybody helped me!" Chandler said.
"That's because they all wanted to… And they all supported us as an item!" Monica said.
"Yes… But you wouldn't be bothered by my health if you were with Richard… You'd be just fine with him!" Chandler said.
"No! I'd still be worried about you, and so would Richard! Didn't you see how Ross and Rachel left today?" Monica said.
"What?" Chandler asked.
"Chandler… I wouldn't blame you for dying! And please don't think that if I was married to someone else I wouldn't be worried about you… Rachel is married to Ross and she got the hell worried about you… If I was married to Ross I would be worried too!"
Chandler widened his eyes at what she'd said in the end of her sentence, but Monica went on talking.
"Chandler… I'd be worried about you because I'd love you as a friend!" Monica said.
He understood what Monica said by 'love as a friend'. He remembered how he and Rachel were when she was leaving for Paris. He was glad that Monica wouldn't blame him if their relationship was ruined by a killing disease, and she would still love him unconditionally.
"Thanks a lot Monica I'm happy you'd still like me if we weren't together… Even if you left me for my best friend" He said, referring to what she'd said earlier about being married to Ross.
Monica just laughed.
"Well… It's good I made you feel better" Monica said happily, giving him a kiss.
And then they went into deep sleep.
To be continued…
N/A: Nice?