Author's note: Hey there again!

Once again, I'm here thanking you all for the sweet reviews. They always make me really happy, and make me want to write more haha

So, about this one... Well, it's pretty much TOW The Proposal but with a different spin, in which I toy around with the idea of a jealous Monica. It's my first time trying out AU, so I hope it's still believable as something that is faithful to the characters' personalities haha This is probably a two-chapter thing, so there's this first chapter and one more. I hope you enjoy it :D

A lot had happened for a day. First, he'd freaked out about hearing the message from the museum on the answering machine. Then, he'd confronted Monica cryptically about it and had just left. Apparently, he'd been gone all day overthinking the prospect of having his girlfriend pressure him into marriage, and, when she'd finally understood everything, Monica had freaked out too. More than anything, she wanted Chandler to be the one to take the big steps, and only if he were absolutely ready to it.

He'd been nowhere to be seen – she had already looked for him everywhere. When he'd finally come back, they'd hugged after she'd explained the museum incident, and she'd been happy with everything being back in its right place.

Once she'd left her apartment to let Joey know that Chandler had returned safely – and that the mysterious disappearance of the burrito guy had had nothing to do with it –, Chandler had engaged in a weird conversation with Phoebe. Monica had unintentionally overheard parts of it for getting back much too soon after finding an empty living room in apartment 19. What she had been able to grasp out of the muffled sounds had been Phoebe's voice saying something like "I can't believe you're going to ask Monica to marry you", to which a heavily emotional Chandler's voice had replied with "I know". Monica had covered her mouth in shock. Everything that'd happened earlier had been a scene? She could have been mad at him for having worried her to death like that, but all the pretense just meant he wanted to surprise her, right?

When she'd entered her apartment again, she'd done her best to look unfazed by the way her boyfriend and friend jumped from each other, making up ridiculous excuses for their clearly moved expressions.

As she didn't want to spoil Chandler's efforts into keeping that secret, Monica had been hiding the fact that she'd known about it for the past week. She was giddy for knowing that Chandler was going to propose soon, but she couldn't let anyone notice that – especially not him.

Days had passed since then and Monica started wondering if what she'd heard behind that closed door had been wishful thinking. Nothing seemed to be different – either Chandler was trying really hard to surprise her, thus preparing everything under her nose with utmost dedication, or she'd been dreaming way too much about marriage to the point where she had imagined things. Her self-doubt didn't last long – out of the blue, her friends started to blankly stare at the couple with watery eyes, sometimes creating an orchestra of happy sighs too. Monica had concluded Chandler had finally shared his plan with the rest of the gang, and had asked them to keep quiet – they were doing a lousy job, but she could ignore that too.

To grant him the pleasure of having his plan work out well, Monica had her own plan of playing along until the very end. She totally acted surprised the moment Chandler suggested a romantic dinner in her favorite restaurant – "it's been a while since we've done that", he claimed. Monica just agreed and told him that that was sweet. She also expressed confusion at Chandler's annoyance when Rachel invited them to some charity party that would happen the same night of their romantic dinner – "I just get mad when Rachel doesn't remember where we're going", he announced, a little too emphatically. The hardest part was when she was about to leave for said dinner. She'd chosen to wear a tight red dress, and had almost cried by herself while putting her makeup on. She eyed the reflection in the mirror, evaluating her look – she thought that worked well as a my-boyfriend-is-gonna-propose-tonight look. She headed towards her living room to meet her man and leave for the night but, instead, she found all her friends there too; four pairs of eyes that looked like little pools. "We're just really… very excited about this charity event that we have to go to", Rachel stated on the verge of tears. It took every ounce of strength in Monica's body to act nonchalant.

As hard as that was, she did it.

And they were now at the restaurant. Her heart was hammering inside her chest – it was beating so fast she was a little scared of Chandler hearing it. They had picked a small table, sitting on the chairs and scooting over to get as close as possible to each other. His seat pointed at the entrance of the restaurant; she assumed he'd chosen this spot so that he could register his surroundings and maybe use them to distract himself from the huge step he was about to take. The way he'd been acting weird all night was proof enough that he was antsy, probably exploding with anxiety. Monica did her best to give him space so that he could act according to his own time.

Then Chandler ordered her favorite champagne; at that, if possible, her heart started beating even faster. The waiter poured the liquid in their glasses and, as he left, Monica was startled by Chandler's left hand reaching for hers while the fingers on his right hand fiddled with the edges of his glass. Is it happening?, Monica wondered, the ability to breathe gone by now.

"Before I met you, I had very… little… life." He said with a very shaky, low voice. Monica appreciated how he seemed to be very nervous yet seemed to be gathering all his strength to do it.

Okay, I guess that's it. It is happening. Monica fought back all the tears that threatened to fall already. If she thought that feigning ignorance in front of her friends just hours ago had been hard, she was sure the challenge she was facing now was a much tougher one. She wanted to yell "yes" before he even asked anything. She'd been waiting to get engaged her whole life, but not once had she expected for it to be like this: her lovely best friend, whom she'd known for so long and had always been there for her, preparing the perfect scenario to propose. She'd been unbelievably happy for the previous two amazing years they had shared as a couple, and it was incredible how things just kept getting better and better. She felt loved and protected, safe and taken care of, truly acknowledged and appreciated. She had great sex, steady companionship, insightful conversations, and never ending comfort. She counted herself as lucky when she thought that he was ready to ask her to keep this routine going for the rest of their lives – she knew she'd been ready for that for a while now.

"And, even when we were just friends, I always thought I was lucky for having met…" There was a short interruption. "Kathy?"

Wait, what?

"You were lucky for meeting Kathy? Kathy, as in your ex-girlfriend?" She couldn't believe her ears. At her annoyed inquiry, Chandler sighed, moving his head to what had previously caught his attention.

Turns out Monica had been too engrossed in her own thoughts to notice her boyfriend looking straight ahead at the entrance of the restaurant. There stood a couple; a man, probably confirming reservations, and a woman, who looked awfully familiar. Monica squinted to clear her vision and only then realized that the woman standing there was… Kathy. The ex-girlfriend Kathy. That one woman Chandler had been so crazy about he'd been willing to jeopardize his relationship with Joey. The one woman who had been the first one to enjoy his much improved sexual skills. The one woman who had broken his heart more than any other.

Monica didn't like to remember Kathy even existed. Most of the times, she didn't remember her existence at all. Now that she was forced to acknowledge that this woman not only existed but had also chosen to show up on her special night, of all times, was definitely irritating.

Well, maybe she won't see us, Monica thought, not expecting her boyfriend to call out the woman's name.

"Kathy!", he cried out loud. Monica's head snapped at him, and he stared at her sheepishly. He looked like he felt awkward already, and her boyfriend did have that tendency of acting stupid whenever he felt awkward.

A memory popped out in Monica's mind: having lunch with Richard a year earlier and Chandler being upset about it. As far as Monica remembered, he hadn't bumped into any ex-girlfriend since they'd gotten together, and only now she could appreciate how lucky she had been for it. The fact that she was about to witness her boyfriend interact with his most memorable ex unnerved her way too much and, knowing Chandler, he'd probably been a hundred times more upset when it had been the other way around – she suddenly felt really guilty for agreeing to have lunch with Richard before.

Kathy's eyes landed on them, a shocked expression dominating her features. Monica looked at Chandler, who appeared to be a little shocked too. She guessed this reunion would feel somewhat intense, even though he had long moved on – she couldn't know how Kathy felt about her ex though, but Monica chose to ignore the longing in that woman's glance, something that could be clearly seen even as she stood from afar.

The couple who were sitting got up as the other couple neared them. Monica eyed the pair – the man was average looking, a little too tall, not very hunky; she assumed he wasn't the Nick guy who had filled Chandler's mind with nightmares about giant nipples almost three years ago. Kathy didn't look much different. She must really love short hair, Monica thought, since her hair was even shorter than she remembered. The actress sported a pixie cut in a very dark shade of red. Her eye makeup was a little smoky with soft edges and her lips were bright red. She looked like a sexy vampire or something, Monica had to admit, and that realization made her a little uncomfortable. If she was able to appreciate that woman's look, Chandler definitely could be drooling all over her for all she knew.

"Chandler." Her eyes were sparkling as she stared at her ex. "How have you been?"

Kathy's expression looked somewhat regretful, but filled with undying fondness for the man standing before her.

"I've been pretty good, thanks", he answered with a soft smile.

Monica watched the interaction anxiously, praying that it would meet its end soon. Kathy suddenly moved her head, as if she had just now noticed the raven haired woman there. "Monica!" Kathy looked a little confused by seeing the couple together. "A night out between friends, I assume?"

"Actually, we're in a relationship." Monica protectively gripped at his left arm, giving out a wide smile – so wide it looked a little crazed and sinister. Kathy gave the impression of being absolutely shocked, and that peeved Monica even more. Sure, most people were surprised when finding out about their relationship, but it wasn't that surreal, was it? Before she could control herself, Monica kept talking. "That's right, he's my boyfriend. I'm his girlfriend. And!" She raised her index finger manically "We live together. And! We have sex a lot–"

"Okay, honey." Chandler interrupted her, putting his hand onto hers and giving it a little squeeze. Monica could tell he had already noticed she was upset with that random meeting. He kept talking though, and Monica hoped it would be as a way to finish that awful conversation already. "So, enjoying a nice dinner yourself?"

"Oh, yeah. I'm sorry, I'm so rude. This is Harry." The man, who had been silently watching everything unfold, stretched his hand out to shake Chandler's and Monica's. "Harry, this is Monica and this is Chandler. We used to date." Her glances seemed to carry too many feelings every time she looked at Chandler, and Monica was doing her best not to scratch her eyes out, right there in the middle of the fancy restaurant.

They exchanged nice-to-meet-you's and the interaction felt close to its final moment. "Well, we're on a date tonight so, see you around."

"See you." Chandler smiled as he said that, sitting back on his chair and pulling Monica down too.

Then a waiter came over and motioned to the empty table next to theirs. "Sir, if you prefer, this table is available too."

Kathy's eyes shone brightly, and she even hopped a little, looking at Harry in begging mode. He just shrugged and said "alright, this could be fun".

Monica knew it would be anything but fun.

The conversation had gone on and on, and Monica hadn't said much. It seemed like everybody at the table was having fun but her. Chandler and Kathy actually shared with Harry a lot of anecdotes from the short period of time they'd dated – Monica secretly felt a pang in her chest every time she heard something from their mouths that she hadn't heard before.

At the moment, Chandler was telling a story from when their relationship hadn't even started, something that had to do with Kathy jogging on the crowded streets of New York and a sudden impulse to follow her. Apparently, he'd almost gotten hit by cars just to reach her and say hi. They had all laughed out loud at that, but Monica wasn't much thrilled – she was getting a lot of use of that fake work laugh she had created a year ago.

She knew her special night had been ruined by now – there was no way he would propose later, not when the dinner was over, much less back home. She was angry at the situation – that's only because she couldn't really be angry at him. She knew that Chandler was too socially awkward; he would never, not in a billion years, be able to directly reject Kathy's offer of sharing a dinner table (she was a little mad at how engaging he'd been with the conversation that had followed though, but she would eventually get over that).

Not paying much attention to the talking anymore, drinking her liquor and just waiting for the night to be over, she got pulled back to reality at the mention of her name.

"Monica must be feeding you well. I see you've put on a little weight." The way Kathy so unabashedly made remarks about Chandler's body irked Monica. She felt like she was dealing with some test of endurance that assessed how long it would take until she threw being polite out the window and just kicked Kathy's ass in public.

"Oh, yeah. My girlfriend's a chef, can't complain about that." Chandler looked at his girl lovingly, and Monica's instinctive response was to smile back, despite her bottled annoyance towards the dialogue. "Y'know, I've been postponing going to the gym forever but since now I have women saying that I look bigger, maybe I should get that going, shouldn't I?"

He joked lightly, but Kathy looked alarmed.

"Oh, no! No, Chandler. I didn't mean it like that. It's not a bad thing at all! In fact, you look…" She faltered a little, getting an eyeful of the man across from her. Monica could feel smoke coming out of her ears. "You look soft. You look... Fluffy. It must feel really good hugging you." She ended the sentence with a weird intonation, sounding as if she wanted to say more. Her eyes were glued to Chandler's – and Chandler looked a little… embarrassed? Was he blushing?

Monica made a show of clearing her throat. She took advantage of the fact that Harry looked quite uncomfortable too, and used that as her cue.

"Well, this has been lovely, but it's late. Isn't it, sweetie?" She turned to Chandler, and this time she was the one with begging eyes.

"Yes. Yes, it's late. I guess we better be going."

"I understand." Kathy answered, visibly dejected.

Monica had been dealing with her silent frustration all the way back home, but it had been extra difficult when her friends had asked to see her hands as soon as they'd bumped into her. She knew exactly why they'd done that; it had been sweet, how excited they'd been about it, but it had only reminded her of the fact that she wasn't engaged yet.

Right before sleeping, she enjoyed Chandler's chest on her back and his arms around her body. She thought it would be best to shut up and let everything go, but she had to ask.

"Kathy's very pretty, isn't she?"

She could feel Chandler sighing.

"I guess so. I don't know," he answered, a bit apprehensively.

"Did you feel anything when you saw her before?"

And his arms left her body to forcefully turn her around, so that they could see each other.

"For me, it was an unfortunate coincidence. I just wanted to have a romantic dinner with my girlfriend and my ex decides to show up. That's how lucky I am." He joked, and Monica chuckled weakly. "You have nothing to worry about, okay? I love you, and whatever I felt for her is one hundred percent gone."

She nodded softly, burying her head against his chest. They would be engaged; that would eventually happen, and pretty soon too. She just needed to be patient.

Chandler had arrived at work on time, and he'd finished everything he had to do way too soon. It was now almost noon, and he'd been doing nothing for the past few hours. Surfing through the internet, thinking about jokes, or just lying around – he'd done them all. He'd also thought a lot about his plan to throw Monica off course. After the ruined romantic dinner he'd had meticulously prepared, his friends had screwed everything up even more by asking his girlfriend to see her hand. Chandler had almost fell off a chair when it'd first happened and it'd just kept getting worse. Phoebe and Joey had suggested he act as if he hated the idea of getting married, so that Monica could be very surprised when he finally proposed. It sounded a little mean, but he didn't know what else to do. He wanted the proposal to be perfect, and he wanted to sweep Monica off her feet, to do something so incredible and unexpected that she would never forget. If being a little hurtful for a few hours would do it, he'd go for it.

As he got up to leave for lunch – he promised to eat some pizza with Monica – he got buzzed in by his secretary. It seemed there was a visitor for him. Who could possibly want to see him when it was almost lunch time? He was ready to gently ask his secretary to send whoever that person was to hell when she'd announced the visitor answered to the name of Kathy.

He had no idea why Kathy was there. He debated himself over what to do, but decided that curiosity would be the death of him; "send her in," he commanded.

"Hey, Chandler," she entered his office looking insecure.

"Hey, Kathy."

He was definitely uncomfortable. Chandler never knew what he would feel if he ever got to meet one of his exes. After he started dating Monica, every woman that had been in his life seemed like a faded memory. When he'd seen Kathy the night before, for the first few seconds, he'd remembered how intensely he had fallen in love with her, and even had gotten a little nervous about it. However, he'd soon noticed that he didn't feel anything for that woman anymore. That had actually been what shocked him the most – not Kathy's looks, not seeing her there on that night (of all nights), not the fact that she was with another guy (whatever happened to Nick, Chandler was even a little curious). What had shocked him the most was noticing that not even that one girl that had had an enormous effect on him held a candle next to what he'd built with Monica.

If anything, meeting Kathy had only consolidated the fact that he was indeed ready to marry Monica.

Why was his ex there in his office though? He was sure that Monica wouldn't be very happy about that.

"So?", he asked, feeling a little impatient.

She looked at him intently, so much intensity coming out of her eyes that he intuitively moved backwards to the point where he was nearly sitting on his desk.

"I still love you, Chandler."

What?

He probably just stared at her blankly for a minute or two, not really knowing what to do. He sure was feeling fire creeping up his spine as anger consumed him whole.

"Please, say something."

"What?", he didn't even know what to say.

"What do you mean what?"

"What do you mean I still love you?"

"I know!" the way she walked around in circles faintly reminded him of that day they had first kissed – she had been Joey's girlfriend back then, and they'd known that what they had just done had been wrong, yet they hadn't know how to react. His anger diminished a little – she seemed to be as lost as ever. "I know, this is wrong. You have a girlfriend."

"And you have a boyfriend too!", he added to emphasize the wrongness of the situation.

"No, I don't. Harry and I were on our first date yerteday. And I dismissed him already because…" She looked at him intently again, and he couldn't help shivering. "Because I just couldn't stop thinking about you."

"You cheated on me!"

To be honest, he hadn't meant to blurt that out like that – it sounded way too harsh, even though it was true.

"I know that too! And I'm sorry. I never really wanted to cheat on you, I just did that because I was mad at you for assuming I was sleeping with Nick."

"Well, you proved me wrong", he sounded too bitter. He definitely wasn't crazy about her anymore, but that whole situation had hurt him pretty bad. He was also a little angry again. He couldn't believe she had the nerve to come back like that.

"Chandler. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I never got over you." She was teary eyed, and Chandler never knew how to deal with crying girls. The anger vanished completely, replaced by fear; that conversation needed to end immediately. "I could never forget you, and spending a few hours with you last night made me realize that I never will."

He really, really didn't know what to say. Her first tear rolled down her pretty face, and he sighed, at a loss what to do.

"I still love you." Her fingers touched his face, and she chose to ignore the way he flinched at the contact. "Do you think there's still a chance for us?"

As she leaned in with a seemingly very clear objective in mind, Chandler was in fight-or-flight mode. When he realized that something very dangerous would happen if he didn't do anything at all, he was ready to push the woman away.

That's when he heard a strong bang against his office door. The noise startled the two of them, and a pair of heads snapped to the entrance; what they saw was a shocked Monica, standing there in tears.

"Oh, my God." Chandler muttered. Monica turned around to run away, and Chandler followed suit, leaving a devastated Kathy behind, ready to chase his girlfriend down the street and hopefully do some damage control.

I'm so sorry, but I had to stop it here haha anyway, as I said, it's probably going to end with the next chapter. I hope you guys will be interested in reading that. :)