Reality Sets In.
Post-finale, Mondler, Chandler and Monica start to struggle financially with the unexpected twins.
Set 6 months after the finale.
Chandler sat behind his desk at work; it was Monday afternoon, he was eating lunch and doing his finances at the same time. He picked up his sandwich from the lunch box that his loving wife had put together for him, two rounds of chicken and salad stuffed between thick crusty bread, an apple and a slice of chocolate cake. He was so happy, he had the perfect life, he looked at the silver photo frame on his desk, enclosed was a photo of his wife, Monica, and their twin babies, Jack and Erica. He was no longer scared or unable to commit, he was now responsible for a family, his perfect family and he wanted to provide for them and give them and himself a comfortable, happy life.
It wasn't as easy as he thought.
He turned his attention from the photo back to his computer screen. He was looking at their savings, or lack thereof, the total was dropping, fast. One thing that Chandler had learnt a long time ago was how to look after himself, his mother had set him up with a trust fund he couldn't touch it until he was 25 but he didn't want to rely on his mother's money. So since college he had stood on his own two feet, it wasn't like he had to struggle or had difficultly finding ends meet, he was just clever with his money. After he had paid his bills he gave himself an allowance and then put whatever he had left over he put in a high interest savings account.
The method worked very well.
That is until Joey moved in, Chandler and Joey had bonded very quickly and to Chandler he was the brother he never had, so when Joey had awkwardly tried to break it to Chandler had he didn't have enough money for rent one month Chandler had no problem paying his share. To Chandler Joey was family, a family he never really had, why wouldn't Chandler help Joey out? But then it happened again, and again, Chandler didn't want Joey's inability to hold down a job interfere with his future nest-egg, but as time went on and Joey's occasional employment dry spells continued they grew closer as friends, and Joey had helped out Chandler in his own way.
Before Joey had moved in Chandler had a bitter side, he hated his job but he couldn't find anything he wanted to do and was too scared to quit, Kip had moved out and that had reduced his small amount of friends by 1, he was constantly lonely and was terrible with women. To top matters off his only guy friend was married so he spent all his time hanging around with his only other friends in the city – who were girls who had made it clear they think he's gay! Actually he thought he deserved to be bitter, he was stuck in an unbreakable routine which was boring him senseless.
Then Joey arrived.
He had provided the fun and light heartedness that Chandler needed in his life and in that way Joey had saved him. So paying the rent every now and then was actually not a big deal in the greater scheme of things. Things got better when he turned 25 and had access to his trust fund. However as the years went on he guessed that he only put away 50 of the money he had estimated possible to save. Joey was an expensive friend but still Chandler never complained. He was happy, he still was no good with women and although he had convinced his friends he wasn't gay, everyone at his job thought he was but ultimately he had wonderful friends and a fun life, and although he never told anyone, he believed Joey was the reason – and so he continued to unconditionally love and support him.
When he moved in with Monica he managed to save a lot more since Monica was earning good money as a head chef. Then about a year after moving in with Monica he made the first in many large withdrawals, $7000 on an engagement ring for Monica. However in the scale of things that was actually minor, he promised to make Monica happy and having the perfect wedding made Monica happy so again he didn't begrudge any of the financial costs. But when Chandler's very well paying but incredibly boring job kept him from his wife he did something so drastic he surprised himself.
He quit.
He was stuck in a catch-22 situation, he and Monica were trying for a baby, babies cost money and his job pays well. However his job kept him in Tulsa, away from Monica which not only made him unhappy, it's difficult to conceive a baby when you're in different states half the time and even if they did get pregnant what type of father would he be if he wasn't there 4 out of 7 days of the week! So love won over money and Chandler quit. Things really got tight when Chandler had to start as an unpaid intern in his new career of advertising. They had to eventually turn to Joey, who was doing very well in his current acting job, to lend them some money. It hit his pride tremendously, he hadn't borrowed a cent from anyone since college, so he worked extra hard and got rewarded with a permanent paying job.
During this time they were still trying for a baby. At first he was glad it was taking him and Monica a while to conceive but then the doctors confirmed the worse; there was only a slim chance of them ever having a baby.
The news shattered them.
Deep down it wasn't until Erica gave birth to Jack did they truly believe that adoption was the right decision, they finally had a family. However then the doctor dropped the 'twins' bombshell, which concerned Chandler, he was thrilled that he had both a son and daughter but he had only planned for one baby, financially. They had a house and two children to support on two average salaries. It wasn't enough, not by Chandler's standards, Chandler wanted to earn enough so Monica could go part-time, and she could be with the twins more rather than sending them to day care. Both Chandler and Monica had above average childhoods when it came to money, in fact Chandler's parents were very well off and so they wanted to give their children the same privileged upbringing, however it didn't come cheap.
The nest-egg decreased even more.
Chandler sat contemplating what to do, suddenly the phone ringed.
"Hello, Chandler Bing."
"Hi Honey!"
"Hey Mon, what's up?"
"I need you to get some things on your way home."
Oh God, Chandler thought, more money.
"Yeah sure, what do we need?"
As Monica started to list all the things they needed Steve, Chandler's boss, walked into his office.
"Mon, sorry I gotta call you back." Chandler interrupted and then hung up the phone.
"Hey Steve, what can I do for you?"
"I wondered if you'd be interested in heading the Jameson project?"
"What? Are you serious, I thought you were heading that one?"
"I was going to but we have now signed a long term contract with the company so I want to assign them a dedicated project manager to oversee the account and to keep them happy. Their business will bring in millions."
"And you're offering it to me?"
"Not exactly, I'm offering you the chance to put in a proposal. I'm asking you, Chris Penny and Katie McKnight to all put in a project proposal and I will decide who gets the position."
Steve stepped forward and put a thick folder on Chandler's desk.
"Everything you need to know is in there, you have 2 weeks before I need the proposal, and then I will make a decision in the following week. The project start date is another week after that, so a whole month from today. Of course you will be promoted and receive a pay rise, which I suspect would come in handy with newborn twins. You interested?"
"Definitely! Thanks so much Steve."
Chandler stood up and they shook hands.
"No problem Chandler, you've progressed a lot since an intern and I'm happy to give you this opportunity."
Steve then left, Chandler sat down, he was shocked, here he was one moment panicking about money and the next moment Steve is giving him the chance of a promotion. This could well be the answer to all their problems.
Before Chandler called Monica back he couldn't resist from taking a peek at the Jameson project file which was inches away from him. He opened it a scanned through it, after a couple of minutes he realised this wasn't going to be as easy as he thought. This project was huge; it is going to require a lot of research, analysis and planning and he only had two weeks. Chandler paused and leant back in his chair – this was going to be a long and hard couple of weeks.
Chandler walked through the door just after 6.30pm, arms full of shopping that Monica had asked him to get.
"Mon?" He called out; he walked into the kitchen and found her sitting at the kitchen table, head resting on the table, asleep. He gently put the shopping down on the table, walked around and shook her gently.
"Mon, wake up."
She slowly opened her eyes and lifted her head up. She looked tired, and that made him feel bad, she had an early shift at the restaurant so she could leave early to pick up the twins from day care at 4pm. Which meant Chandler was on the morning run. After spending 8 hours on your feet, 2 hours taking care of twin babies single-handed was exhausting, now Chandler had a solution.
"Chandler, hi, what time is it?"
"6.40. I got some news come in the lounge." He said taking her hand and leading her to their sofa in the next room.
"Is everything ok?" Monica asked.
Chandler smiled. "Everything is fine, better than fine. Steve asked me to do a proposal for one of a new accounts, it's such a big account that he wanted to dedicate one person to look after it."
"And he asked you? Is that a promotion?" Monica asked excitedly.
"Close, he asked me and two other people to put in a proposal and he will choose the best, which then leads to the promotion."
"Well that's good; you just better do a good job." Monica teased.
"That's the only slight catch, and it's not a big one." Chandler said quickly.
"Okay then." Monica asked.
"I have two weeks to do this and in any other situation something this big would have 3 people working on it for about a month. So I'm going to have to work pretty much solid for the next two weeks." When Chandler saw Monica's face drop he hurried on with the advantages of the promotion. "It won't be a regular thing one, just these next two weeks and then if I get the job we'll be so much more comfortable. You could cut down to part-time, be with the twins rather than leaving them in day care." Chandler took her hand in his. "I was going to wait until the twin's first birthday but if I get this I'll do it straight away." Monica looked confused. "I'm going to set up a trust fund for each of them, that they won't be able to touch until they are 25." Monica got tears in her eyes; Chandler paused and looked at her worried. "Honey what's wrong?"
"Oh, no, no, happy tears, these are happy tears. I just can't believe much we have grown and now we are parents and setting up trust funds for our children." Chandler smiled and pulled her into a hug.
"I promised to make you happy." He said into her hair. Monica pulled out of his embrace.
"You did and I am." Monica said, staring him straight in his eyes. They leant forward to meet each other's lips but just as they were millimetres apart they heard one of the twins cry on the baby monitor. Monica went to stand up but Chandler stopped her.
"You stay here honey, you're exhausted, put your feet up and I'll go and check on them." They quickly pecked each other on the lips then Chandler stood up. Monica turned and laid down on the couch while Chandler walked up the stairs.
Chandler walked down the short corridor and into the twins' bedroom. Erica was crying, he walked over and picked her up gently.
"Hey Baby Girl, why so sad? Come on you can tell Daddy." He said gently and lovingly while he cradled her in his arms.
He rocked her back and forth. "You need changing Baby Girl?" He checked, "no, ok are you hungry?"
"No," a voice said. Chandler turned around surprised.
"Mon you scared me. So if she isn't wet or hungry maybe she just needs a Daddy-hug." He held her closed and kissed her gently on the forehead; Monica watched them, overwhelmed with love. Chandler pulled away and his face looked concerned. "She feels a little hot Mon," she stepped closer and touched her forehead.
"Hummm, the workers at the day care said that a couple of the children have just come down with the flu and we should keep an eye out."
Chandler looked panicked. "But they'll be ok right, I mean it's not going to kill them or our Erica is it Monica, 'cos I know the flu isn't serious for us but they are tiny babies."
"Chandler calm down – she'll be fine, to be sure we'll bring both cribs into our bedroom tonight. Then tomorrow I'll take her and Jack to the doctor to be sure." Monica said trying to calm him.
The next evening (Tuesday) both Jack and Erica had the flu, Monica had taken them to the doctor who prescribed some medicine but said that it will take a few days to work and if they showed now signs of improvement by the Friday morning to bring them back to see him.
Monica had left them to sleep in their bedroom and they kept checking them every half an hour. They had invited the gang, except Joey who was in LA, over to tell them Chandler's news. It was 7pm when they all started turning up, Ross and Rachel with Emma, and a pregnant Phoebe with Mike. They sat around the same table but in a different kitchen and talked about old times, after Monica's perfect, as usual, meal they all sat around same coffee table and white couch and Chandler announced his news.
"…So basically I gotta work my ass off the next 2 weeks and hopefully I will beat my other 2 colleagues and get a nice promotion. Unfortunately I got to put in some very long hours over the next couple of weeks so I was wondering if you could help us out with the twins, just until I finish this proposal."
"Oh yeah totally, congratulations Chandler." Rachel said, standing up and giving him a big hug. That was the cue, the rest of the gang all joined in one big group hug.
By the time Thursday night came around Chandler was working until 10pm, the twins were getting better but Monica had caught the flu from the twins and didn't fell great. She was curled on the couch wrapped in a blanket when Chandler came home. Monica heard him come in and she sat up, "hey honey, how's your day go?"
"Not so great." Chandler rubbed his neck and closed his soar eyes. He looked exhausted, Monica noted. He'd been getting into work early as well, working on the big proposal.
"Come here," Monica said.
Chandler walked over and sat on the floor in front of the couch. Monica scooted over so she had one leg on either side of him. She gently rubbed his tight muscles, trying to ease his pain. Monica took massage lessons from Phoebe years ago, Chandler often got tension in his shoulders from working at a computer and she didn't like the idea of another woman touching her then boyfriend, so she got Phoebe to teach her.
Monica felt terrible, the flu was hitting her weakened immune system, and recently she has been working 8 hour shifts on her feet and being a mother to two sick children.
"Chandler. I've caught the flu from the twins; I don't feel too great so I'm going to bed. Oh and I'll sleep in the twins' room tonight, I don't want you to catch this flu." She kissed the top of his head, stood up and walked upstairs.
Chandler was too tired to argue, and he knew that she knew best, even though every tiny part of his body ached for her touch. He sighed and walked into the kitchen, he hadn't eaten since lunch. He looked at the clock on the wall, 10.25pm, it was late. Chandler walked over to the fridge and found a plate of lasagne waiting there for him. He smiled, silently thanking Monica, and took and plate out the fridge and popped it in the microwave. Chandler then walked over to this briefcase and took out his laptop and the Jameson file, then placed them on the table. He needed to have at least Saturday or Sunday off to relax so he needed to get as much done as possible, tomorrow was Friday.
Time was ticking.
It was 3am when Chandler finally found himself falling asleep, he jerked awake and turned his laptop off. He cleared up and finally pulled himself up the stairs to bed. Before going into his room he popped into the twins' room. He walked over to the twins' cribs and checked on them, and then he turned to Monica who was sleeping on the single bed in the corner of the room. He watched her sleep for a few moments then knelt down in front of her. He studied her face, it was flushed, he frowned and placed his hand on his forehead, it felt warm. He stood up and walked out of the room and into the bathroom to get the thermometer. When he returned he gently put the thermometer in her mouth, after a few minutes he took it out and checked it – 99.5. It wasn't that high, yet, Monica had told him that the twins' temperature got up to 102 before it broke and came back down. He hated that she had to tell him rather than being there to help her, but he needed to nail this promotion, it was for them.
Chandler looked at his watch, 3.45am, he was tired, he decided to get some shut eye, so he got undressed and crawled into bed. He leant over and set the alarm clock for 6am and then tried to sleep, it was hard sleeping without her next to him. However exhaustion got the better of him so he fell asleep in a deep restless sleep.
At 5.15 Jack woke up and started to cry, not wanting to wake Monica Chandler flew out of bed and into the twins' bedroom, he picked up Jack and realised he needed changing. Chandler carried him over to the changing table and changed him. Chandler felt just as exhausted as he did before he went to bed, he picked up Jack and put him back down, he quickly checked on Erica and then turned to Monica. Her face was still flushed and her forehead felt a bit hotter than earlier. He put the thermometer back in her mouth and checks her temperature again. It had gone up to 100.1, not good, it was rising. He sighed and decided since it was less than an hour before he had to get up; he wasn't going to bother going back to bed.
Chandler had a shower and got dressed; he then went downstairs to make some strong coffee. He got a glass of water and the medicine the doctor had prescribed and went back upstairs, he gently roused Monica.
"Mon, sweetie, sorry to wake you but here, take this."
Monica opened her eyes and before she could say anything she started to cough violently. Chandler helped her move into a sitting position and sat next to her. "I feel hot," Monica said.
"I know sweetie, take some of this," he handed her the medicine and the glass of water, "and I'll get a cold cloth for your head, don't worry about the twins. Hopefully they won't wake up for about ½ hour then I'll get them breakfast and look after them okay, you just rest."
"What about your work Chandler?"
"I'll call Steve, explain the situation and I'll work from home today. I can't leave you alone sick honey."
Before Monica could protest Chandler walked out of the room. He came back with a cold cloth.
"Mon you'll be more comfortable in our bed," Monica held onto the medicine, water and cold cloth while Chandler picked her up and took her into their bedroom, he put her gently on the bed and pulled the covers over her. He put everything she needed on the side table and then went downstairs to his awaiting mug of coffee.
By 10am he had fed, washed and dressed the twins and comforted and supported Monica while she was being sick. Now he was typing furiously on his laptop in the kitchen, he was surrounded by papers. He was still tired, he only had an hour and half's worth of sleep, he decided to take a break and go for a drive.
After wandering for about 15 minutes Chandler ended up at a pharmacy, he wandered around until he found what he was looking for, caffeine pills. He needed to stay awake; Monica's fever was getting higher so he had to take care of the twins by himself. Plus every other second would have to be dedicated to the Jameson proposal. He paid for the pills and left, he had been out for 25 minutes now and he didn't want to leave them any longer than half an hour. He returned and after checking on everyone he took a couple of caffeine pills and returned to his work.
At 7pm that evening Ross and Rachel stood outside the Bing house; Ross knocked then opened the unlocked front door. They walked through the house and into the kitchen. They discovered Chandler at the kitchen table, pretty much the same as earlier that day, however now he his face was in a permanent frown and eyes staring at the computer screen in complete concentration, there were dark shadows under his eyes.
"Chandler are you okay?" Ross asked.
Chandler looked up, "Hi you guys, I didn't hear you come in."
Chandler looked drowsy, Ross noted to himself, "How's it going, you don't look hot man."
Chandler stood up and ran his hand through his hair, "Well the twins are getting better, they haven't been too bad today, however Mon is now sick," he sighed, "she caught it off the twins and since she was run down before that it's hit her hard. She's been sick on and off all day, only managed to keep down water and a little soup. She has a fever; it's gone from 99.5 last night to 102, so I'm checking on her every half hour."
"What about you Chandler?" Rachel asked.
"Well I don't think I have caught it off Mon, I'm taking the medicine that the doctor prescribed as well as Monica. However I've been working 7am to 10pm the last couple of days so I haven't had much sleep, and last night I only got an hour and a half so I'm struggling to stay awake now."
"Ok let us help Chandler," Rachel said, "I'll go and check on Mon and the twins and you go and lie down for a while."
"Have you eaten Chandler?" Ross asked.
Chandler thought, "Err actually I don't think so, I had some lasagne late last night but nothing since then.
"Ok while you take a nap, Rach is gonna take care of Mon and the kids and I'll put together some dinner for us."
"Ok," Chandler agreed, "but please wake me up in an hour. I need to keep working."
Ross nodded in agreement and Chandler walked into the lounge and collapsed on the couch, within moments he was asleep.
Ross was making spaghetti when Rachel came downstairs. "How are they?" Ross asked.
Rachel sat down at the table and sighed. "Well the twins are ok but Mon's fever is high and she looks a little distressed, I think we should take it in turns in watching her."
"What's her temperature?" Ross asked.
"103."
"Well if it hits 104 we call an ambulance, I'll go and watch her for a while. The spaghetti is done you just need to dish it up."
Rachel nodded and Ross went upstairs. Rachel dished up 3 plates of spaghetti and then went into the lounge to rouse Chandler. "Chandler." Rachel said while gently rubbing his arm. "Dinner is ready."
Chandler opened his eyes and groggily sat up. "What time is it?" Chandler asked.
"Just gone 8pm sweetie."
Chandler stood up and walked into the kitchen, Rachel followed him. Chandler cleared up his papers on the kitchen table and neatly piled them up so there was room to eat dinner.
"How's Monica and twins doing?" Chandler asked.
Rachel set a plate of spaghetti in front of both of them. "Well her fever is still high, 103 at the moment, if it hits 104 we are gonna call 911." After hearing this Chandler dropped his fork and started to stand up.
"I gotta go and watch her with a fever that high."
"Chandler don't worry, Ross is watching her. Now sit down and eat mister, or you'll get sick too."
Chandler gave in and sat back down, still worried about Monica though.
"Twins ok?" He added.
"Little angels as usual." Chandler smiled.
"So where's Emma tonight?" Chandler asked.
"Judy has her, thought we could give you guys a hand." Rachel replied.
Chandler smiled, "Thanks, I appreciate it."
Ross and Rachel helped out until late Friday night and then came back Saturday. On Sunday Chandler got a big shock with Joey turned up, Rachel had spoken to him and Joey had decided to take a short holiday and stay with Chandler and Monica for a week to help them out.
"Wow Joey! What are you doing here?"
"I've come to stay for a while, I miss you guys." Joey had a big grin on his face but inside he was frowning. Chandler looked exhausted; he had dark shadows under his eyes.
Chandler let Joey in and they sat down both with a beer to play catch up. Joey told Chandler about LA and how his acting is going and Chandler told Joey about his possible promotion and the twins and Monica's sickness.
Over the next few days Chandler continued to work on his proposal while Joey helped out with Monica and the children. During the day Chandler worked and throughout the night he was forever checking on Monica because of her high fever. By Tuesday Monica was well enough for Chandler to return back to work.
The last week had taken its toll on Chandler, the extra work, stress of the deadline, worry over Monica and the twins plus lack of sleep. Joey and now Monica were worried about him; he was pale, didn't eat much and barely slept. Chandler kept insisting that he was ok, that he hadn't picked up the flu from Monica however by Wednesday lunchtime Chandler's throat was on fire.
Friday was the deadline.
Chandler couldn't be sick now so he kept taking medicine and caffeine pills to help him stay awake. By the time Wednesday night came around Chandler could barely speak, he had a growing fever and he felt sick. But he didn't have the luxury of stopping and lying in bed recovering, he had until Friday to finish this proposal.
That night he ignored Monica's protests of getting an early night and stayed up working on his laptop until 12.30am. He managed to get about 3 hours sleep when his stomach woke him up. It was nearly 4am, he rushed to the bathroom and got there just in time, he leant over the toilet throwing up. He hadn't eaten much recently so he didn't throw up much however he kept heaving after his body had given up as much as it could. His heaving eventually turned to dry harsh coughing; he sat on the floor leaning against the bath trying to catch his breath. He felt so weak and so tired; he found it difficult to drag himself to his feet. He returned to bed determined that after a few hours sleep he'll feel better.
He didn't.
Chandler dragged himself into work on Thursday, he felt 10 times worse, he was coughing and spluttering all day, he was sick a couple of times and he was burning up. He was so close; he actually thought that he may get this done before the deadline. Obviously his extra work had paid off!
By 5pm Chandler was putting together the last touches to his Jameson project proposal. He was so proud, he had put 110 effort into this, and he honestly didn't think he had ever worked so hard in his life! He clicked on save and print, as the pages came off the printer Chandler smiled in spite of how ill he felt.
He stood up and leant over to the printer when he suddenly became dizzy. He held onto the edge of the desk while he tried to steady himself, it felt like his skin was on fire, he started to shake and spots danced in front of his eyes. He stumbled around his desk and leant on the wall for support. He started to cough which made him feel even more dizzy and sick. Finally his body won the battle and he coughed one last time, this time it ended in him being sick over his floor, the dots eventually blacked out his eyesight and the last thing he remembered was falling into oblivion.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
AN: Ok I noticed a few spelling mistakes so I'm re-submitting this chapter.
Reviews Please!