Right after The one with the fertility test (9x21)

I binge-watched Friends for the first time last week and I totally fell in love with Chandler and Monica's relationship so I had to write something at some point, and as I had thought it was a shame that we directly went from them learning they couldn't have kids to already looking for solutions, I wrote this one evening (although I totally understand why the writers didn't write more about that! I just wanted to write something myself)


Chandler was trying to guess the pattern of the ceiling, as he usually did when he couldn't sleep, but even that didn't help. His mind was drifting away too often to keep track of the pattern. Maybe because it didn't have a pattern, it was spotless, as everything in this flat.

He kept his groan of frustration for himself and silently got out the bed, reaching blindly to walk to the door.

"F-" he started when he bumped his foot into something, but swallowed the word, lumping into the living-room.

There, he turned on a light and walked to the fridge, but closed it after a while, not wanting anything. He groaned as he realized what he needed and tried not to run to the bathroom, finding one pack of cigarettes quickly. He knew he shouldn't, but he was allowed one, right? After all, he couldn't have kids.

He went out on the balcony and lit one cigarette, rubbing his forehead after having inhaled. No kids. He had wrapped his mind around the idea of having children with Monica quicker than he would have thought, and now he couldn't. They couldn't. Not the way he knew Monica wanted it, anyway.

He looked at the window he knew was Ross' apartment, wondering why the man had two kids without even being married while he himself was happily married but couldn't even conceive one child.

When he heard a noise from his own flat he threw the cigarette in front of him and turned his back from the window to blow the smoke away.

"I saw you from the window," Monica's sleeping voice said from behind.

"Oh, hey Mon'! It was the cat... smoking," he exclaimed, wondering how he came up with such lame excuses sometimes.

"It's okay. This one time," she warned him.

He opened his arms when she walked to him despite the smell, clearly tired and cold.

"Can't sleep either, huh?" he sighed, unable to come up with some joke about not being able to sleep.

Monica shook her head and they stayed silent for a while, just hugging in what started to feel like a really cold night.

"I guess that if my balls freeze to death it doesn't matter that much anymore?" Chandler broke the silence after a while and Monica snorted.

"They might still come handy."

"Wow, so many choices I don't know which one to pick," he smiled, more than one puns coming to his mind.

They moved closer to the edge, looking down at the street and trying to warm each other up. They both frowned when they spotted a woman carrying a crying baby in her arms and walking fast, wearing a dress way too short.

"Why is that slut allowed to be a mother? It's 4 am!" Monica suddenly burst out loud and Chandler smiled.

"Well..."

"What?"

"We could still take the child of a 'slut' mother in the middle of the night and run away," he shrugged.

"Really?"

"No," Chandler grinned, then frowned when he realized that Monica had sounded almost happy at the thought. He shook his head and rubbed her arm to warm her up, and maybe to be able to hold her back in case she suddenly decided to run downstairs. "We're going to find a solution," he whispered in her hair after another moment of silence.

"I know," she nodded and turned away from the street, smiling weakly at Chandler.

He pulled her in a stronger hug, smelling her hair while she simply returned the hug, probably because he still stunk cigarette.

They both knew they were going to find a solution, one way or the other, but it still kept them up at night, it still upset them and it still hurt, to know that they couldn't have one only by themselves.

"Okay," Chandler eventually said. "I really can't feel my feet anymore, I'm pretty sure we can still hug under warm blankets, in a warm bedroom."

Monica chuckled and nodded, quickly pulling away to drag him inside. They stopped in the living-room and kissed for a long time, then turned off the light to go back to their warm bed.

It was going to be okay. They were going to be okay.