A/N: As promised, this is definitely happier than the first part was. This bit (which is the reason I decided to do this fic in the first place) was an idea from hugefriendsfan00, so seriously thank you so much for the suggestion and for all your wonderful reviews on the stuff I've written.

As always, any reviews or suggestions from any of you guys are amazing, and I really really appreciate them.

Disclaimer: I don't own Friends, but some dialogue is taken from "TOW the Donor."


The next couple days were rough for Monica and Chandler.

After watching a movie that first night, they had gone to bed, lying awake for hours, talking and crying again, until finally falling asleep, very fitfully on both of their parts. Chandler had called Doctor Connelly the next morning and had set up a meeting with him early the following week. Monica and Chandler had both stayed home from work that day, wearing sweats and watching movies on the sofa, not wanting to be around anyone else but each other. They had been able to hide from their friends for most of the day, but, by the evening, the rest of the gang had come looking for them. Chandler and Monica had had to break the news to them that there was a good chance they wouldn't be able to naturally have a baby together. Monica had asked Chandler to be the one to say it, because she knew that she wouldn't be able to get through that couple sentences without breaking down. Chandler had explained everything to their friends as he kept his arm protectively around her the entire time. The rest of the group had been incredibly sympathetic and had hugged both of them, assuring them that things were going to work out and that they would get their baby. At that point, Monica had been close to tears, so she had looked over to Chandler pleadingly, and he had told their friends that he and Monica really just wanted to be alone and that they would see everyone tomorrow.

That had been another rough night, but, by the next day, things were okay for the most part. Monica still felt like there was some sort of hole inside her, as though she had lost something vitally important to her that she could never get back. But Chandler had been amazing, reassuring her that everything was going to be okay, trying to keep her mind off how sad she felt, wiping away the tears when they came to her eyes. She knew that he was just as hurt as she was by this, but he was holding it together so much better than she was, and she was so incredibly grateful for that.

Finally the morning of their meeting with Doctor Connelly came, both of them waking up before their alarm and leaving the house at least fifteen minutes earlier than necessary. Monica needed to know exactly what they could do next so that she and Chandler could still get their little baby.

After they spent some time in a waiting room, a receptionist led Monica and Chandler back to Doctor Connelly's office and asked them to wait there for a few minutes while the doctor finished some business elsewhere in the clinic. Monica immediately sat down in one of the chairs, pushing her hair back nervously, unsure about what the doctor was going to tell them. Chandler characteristically handled his evident nervousness at the situation by standing up to examine the illustrations of the female reproductive system of Doctor Connelly's wall.

"Wow," he said, staring at the pictures, "fortunately, she has a very pretty face." When Monica was silent in response, he moved away from the wall and sat down in the chair next to hers.

"Ugh, I still can't believe this!" Monica said, at this point more sad and upset than completely heartbroken as she had been immediately after hearing the news. "My uterus is an inhospitable environment? I've always tried so hard to be a good hostess!"

"Well I can't believe my sperm have low motility because, let me tell you, when I was growing up, they sure seemed to be in a hurry to get places!" Chandler replied, half-joking.

Doctor Connelly entered the office. "Hi there." He closed the door as Monica and Chandler greeted him in return.

"Well, I'm sorry there wasn't better news from your test last week, but I wanted to talk to you about your options," Doctor Connelly began immediately.

"Okay," Monica replied.

Doctor Connelly continued. "Well, first of all, even though your chances of conceiving through natural means aren't great, you never know, so keep having sex on a regular basis."

"Ah, dammit!" Chandler interjected, eliciting an odd look from Doctor Connelly.

"Don't worry!" Monica tried to reassure the doctor. "After a while, you'll, you'll tune it out." She rested her hand on Chandler's arm lightly for a moment. She had given up trying to get Chandler to stop making jokes in situations like this long ago.

Doctor Connelly started again. "Well, given your situation, the options with the greatest chances for success would be surrogacy or insemination using a sperm donor."

Monica glanced at Chandler, who had turned to meet her eyes. They had figured these options would be on the table, but they hadn't discussed them too much, wanting to wait to hear what the doctor said.

"Okay," Monica affirmed that she and Chandler understood. She turned back to Chandler again, knowing that they would have a lot to discuss.

"And if you feel that neither of those is right for you," the doctor went on, "you could always adopt."

"Is that a hint?" Chandler asked, Monica groaning internally as she knew Chandler's comment was definitely not going to be a helpful one. "Because we love you, Doctor Connelly, but we don't think we want you to be our child." Chandler offered a typical Chandler I-just-told-a-funny-joke smile.

Doctor Connelly stared blankly back at him.

"Wow," Chandler kept going, "talk about an inhospitable environment!"

Monica didn't look at her husband, letting him tough it out alone under the doctor's stare.

"Do you have any questions?" Doctor Connelly asked, completely ignoring Chandler's comments.

Chandler shook his head, serious for the moment.

"Not right now," Monica said for her part.

"Okay, then," the doctor said, standing up. "Take all the time you need to discuss it, and call if you have any questions or you make any decisions."

Monica and Chandler stood too.

"Thanks, Doctor Connelly," Monica said, shaking his hand.

"Thanks," Chandler said, too, also shaking the doctor's hand, though not adding anything else. Apparently he had decided that Doctor Connelly didn't need to hear any more of his jokes.

Monica was extremely glad to see that.

She and Chandler left the clinic and made their way back onto the street.

As they set foot on the sidewalk, Chandler turned to Monica, taking her hand. "So what are you thinking?"

Monica fell in step beside him as they began to make their way down the street. "I'm not sure. Surrogacy seems… I don't know." She sighed, upset. "I mean I've wanted to be able to have a baby myself forever. I just don't know if I would be able to watch someone else carry our child for us instead of me. Does that make sense?"

Chandler nodded back at her. "Of course it does, Mon. I can totally understand how painful that would be for you. To have someone else be the one who gets to be with our little baby for nine months and get to feel it kick for the first time and all that stuff - I don't know if I could do that either. We can take that completely off the table."

Monica smiled at her husband gratefully. "Thanks." She sighed again. "I don't know about sperm donors either, but I think I'm open to that."

"Okay then," Chandler replied, very matter-of-factly. "We'll look into sperm donors."

"I'm sure Joey would offer," Monica said, laughing.

Chandler shuddered slightly. "Not what we're looking for."

Monica smiled at her husband and leaned her head on his shoulder for a brief moment. "Well, why don't we start thinking about anyone we know that actually would be good for this, and we could always go the sperm bank route too."

Chandler nodded at her. "Okay."

They stopped walking as they reached a subway station. Monica had to head to work, while Chandler didn't have to be in until the afternoon.

"I'm gonna go stop by the coffee house and get some stuff done back home," Chandler said. "I'll see you when I get home from work later."

Monica nodded at him and gave him a quick peck on the lips before turning one way to get a train to the restaurant, while Chandler turned another way to catch one back home.


Hours later, back at the apartment, Chandler's friend Zack from work was getting ready to leave.

Monica could tell that their guest had been freaked out by her and Chandler's very personal questions, but, for most of the meal, she hadn't worried about it. Zack was handsome, healthy, and seemed like a great choice to be the father of their baby. But as Monica thought about it, she realized that she wasn't actually as okay with using a sperm donor as she had thought she was.

Compared with surrogacy, where she would have to watch someone else carry their baby for nine months, a sperm donor had seemed like a good option. She would be able to carry the baby herself, just like she had always imagined, but now she realized there was a definite cost to that. She would be having a baby whose natural mother was her, but whose natural father was someone who wasn't Chandler. As Monica fully made this connection, she knew that it felt wrong. If she couldn't carry a baby whose father was Chandler, then she wasn't sure that she wanted to carry one at all. It wouldn't feel right.

Monica cleaned up the table as Chandler, by the door, urged Zack to stay longer.

"No, no, I should get home," Zack said, clearly uncomfortable. "I'm kinda tired."

"Are you just tired now, or are you always tired?" Chandler asked a question like the others that he and Monica had posed to Zack over dinner. "Because that could be a sign of clinical depression." Chandler turned around to look at Monica for a moment, as though to seek her support for his statement.

"No, it's just tiring having to figure out the age at which all my grandparents died," Zack replied in explanation, edging away from Chandler.

At this point Monica wasn't sure that Zack actually would agree to be their sperm donor, even if they both wanted to ask him.

"I'll see you tomorrow," their guest said finally, opening the apartment door and heading out before Chandler or Monica could say anything else.

As the door closed, Chandler turned back to Monica, smiling. "I think we've found our sperm!"

"He does seem pretty perfect," Monica said, setting some flowers down on the coffee table, trying to sound as positive as Chandler,.

"Yeah? You think so?" Chandler asked excitedly, moving to behind the sofa so he could face her. "Well, should I ask him?"

Monica looked at her husband, the only man she wanted to have a baby with, and knew what she had to say. "No." She shook her head.

"Why not?" Chandler said, evidently confused as to why she would turn down such a perfect candidate. "Just because his great-grandmother was obese? Our kid's gonna get that from you anyway!"

Monica had to laugh at her husband. "No, that's not it." She folded her arms, her smile fading. "It's just that when we were asking him all those questions before, I just, I just realized, I don't care if he's the most perfect guy in the world; he's not you."

"Yeah! He's better!" Chandler replied, his voice high pitched.

Monica laughed again. "No, he's not!" She dropped her arms. "If I can't get pregnant with you, then I don't want to get pregnant by him or anyone else."

"Really?" Chandler asked, finally moving away from the "I Love Zack" camp. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure," Monica answered.

Chandler sighed, evidently relieved, coming around the sofa to stand in front of her. "Ah, thank God, because I don't want to do this either. You know, I was just doing it because I thought that was what you wanted to do. You know, I'm the husband. I'm supposed to bring the sperm!" He sat down on the sofa.

Monica sat on the coffee table facing him. She had the greatest husband in the world. "That is so sweet. I love you." She moved in and kissed him.

As she leaned back, kneeling on the floor in front of him, Chandler spoke. "So you know this leaves us with…"

"Adoption," Monica finished the sentence.

Chandler nodded to her. "How do you feel about that?"

"I think I feel okay about it," she said, letting out a breath. She paused for a moment, considering the choice they were making. "Actually, I think I feel really good about it."

"Me too," Chandler replied, nodding again. "I want to find a baby that needs a home, and I want to raise it with you, and I want to mess it up in our specific way." He grinned at her.

"So, this is it?" Monica asked her wonderful husband. "We're really going to adopt?"

"Yeah," Chandler said, still smiling.

For the first time since they had gotten their terrible news the week before, Monica got excited about being a mom. "Oh my God, we're gonna be parents!" she said excitedly, standing up.

"We are gonna be great parents!" Chandler emphasized, standing up too.

"And it could be soon!" Monica said, knowing that adoption could be a relatively lengthy process, but still one that could let them have a baby in the not too terribly distant future. "I mean, think about it." She moved over to the window looking out onto the balcony and the city streets, Chandler following beside her. "Right now, somewhere out there, our baby could be being conceived!"

"Wait," Chandler said in a hushed whisper, "if we're lucky, and we're really really really quiet, we may be able to hear the sound of a condom breaking."

Monica wrapped her arms around her husband, as his arms wrapped around her. They both stayed still for a few moments, staring out into the night.

Then Monica tilted her head up to look at Chandler. "Thank you," she said simply.

Chandler furrowed his brow, clearly confused. "For what?"

Monica smiled slightly. "For being so great these past few days. You kept reassuring me that everything would be okay and that we'd figure things out, and, you know, you were right. We're gonna get to have our baby. And that little kid's going to have the greatest father in the entire world, and all the other little kids are just gonna be jealous that they don't have as great a father as ours does." Monica looked down for a moment, before returning her gaze to the eyes of her amazing husband. "I'm just so lucky to have you, Chandler."

Chandler shook his head at her, his smile growing bigger. "Not as lucky as I am to have you. I'm not sure about me being the greatest dad, but you'll be the world's greatest mom. There's no way you're losing that contest, or any contest for that matter." Chandler laughed slightly, but then adopted a more serious expression. "This probably won't be the easiest thing in the world, but we can figure this out too, right?"

Monica grinned at him. "Of course we can. I love you."

Chandler grinned back. "I love you too."


A/N: Thank you guys so much for reading! Please take a minute to review; it would meant the world to me.