A.N.: Thank you all so much for the reviews! To be honest, I wasn't expecting people reading and liking my story. I hope you like this chapter, too! I really enjoyed writing it!

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters.

Day 5

Monica and Chandler were asleep in each other's arms. The sound of the alarm woke them up. That was the day they had to go back to work.

They were eating breakfast when Joey burst in happily and started recounting the events of the previous days. Ten minutes later Phoebe came in announcing that her brother's house looked funny and she didn't intent on spending more time there. She was excited to let them know she would try to spend every minute of her day with the rest of them again. Ten minutes later Rachel called to say she finally managed to book a flight for the following week. She sounded cheerful. Suddenly Ross appeared at the door asking if they thought it was okay that he planned to keep calling Emily for as long as he needed, until she talked to him. Rachel heard him through the phone. She sounded disappointed for the rest of the call.

Until Chandler left for work and Monica started cleaning the kitchen, they knew their everyday lives were back and they included all of their friends. So, if they wanted to make this thing between them work and also keep it a secret, they had to be very careful.

Monica had a normal day at work. This meant it was bad. As she was walking home she asked herself once again why she kept working there. And once again she remembered that she loved her job in spite of all the people who tried to make her life miserable at the restaurant. At least she would see Chandler and that thought gave her butterflies in her stomach and made her walk towards her apartment a little faster. Monica had a lunch shift, which meant that she would be home by eight, and Chandler had called and said the bored employees left a lot of work for him, so he would be home about the same time as her.

Monica entered apartment 20 feeling tired and impatient.

"Hi Mon!" Phoebe and Ross said together from their seats at the living room..

"Hi. I see you've both made yourselves at home." Monica said sarcastically when she saw them; Phoebe was sitting comfortably on the couch eating what looked like two slices of two different pizzas like a sandwich and Ross was sitting on the arm of the armchair looking down on a big bowl that contained the leftover mac and cheese Monica had made for her and Chandler the previous evening.

"Yeah, your mac and cheese is great!" Ross kept looking at the bowl, not noticing Monica's sarcastic tone. "We also ordered pizzas; a regular one and a weird one for Phoebe."

"It's not weird, when did bananas become weird?" Phoebe looked insulted.

"A banana on a pizza IS pretty weird, especially when you mix it with the cheese of the other one. And I guess it tastes weird, too." Ross made a face at that thought and closed his eyes to stop seeing Phoebe eat her disgusting double-pizza.

"Yummmm!" Phoebe tried to emphasize how good it tasted.

Neither of them noticed that Monica had started gathering the things they had left on the floor.

"What happened to the phone?" She asked kneeling and looking under the couch.

"Oh, it's still here, in my pocket!" Ross took the phone of his pocket and threw it to her.

"What's my phone doing in your pocket?" She caught it clumsily giving him an annoyed look.

"I was trying to reach Emily, but she's still not picking up." He said in a sorrowful voice.

"Oh, OH! You should keep trying!" Phoebe exclaimed excitedly.

"Have you been drinking?" Monica asked Ross when she saw an empty bottle of wine on the floor next to the armchair.

"He has! And I think he has transferred drunk vides to me; I've only drunk some orange juice and I feel so hyper!" Phoebe couldn't contain her excitement. She realized that she had really missed her friends and the comfortable environment they provided for her, even if she had been away for only a couple of days.

Suddenly, Joey entered. "Hey! What's for dinner? Banana pizza mixed with cheese pizza, great!" Grabbing two double pieces, he sat on the couch.

"Joey, plate! And please be careful where you're sitting on." Monica said from the kitchen. She was trying hard not to shout at any of them. This was getting out of hand. Joey had just sat on a paper cup.

"Good evening little ones!" Chandler greeted everyone and scanned the room for Monica's eyes. He smiled at her and mouthed a silent "hey". Despite the fatigue and anger she was feeling, she couldn't help but smile back.

Chandler saw behind her tiny smile and noticed her weary eyes. "What's wrong?" He directed the question to her, ignoring everyone else.

"Why do you think something's wrong?" She looked down immediately.

"Because I can see you?" Chandler was next to her in a second.

"Nothing's wrong." She said, obviously not persuading him, and continued washing the dishes.

"Do you need any help?" A few tears started falling from her eyes. He placed his hand on her shoulder. "Hey hey hey it's okay Mon, has something happened at work?" She nodded. "Is that it?" She nodded again.

"Mon I'm so sorry… I can… Can you… Oh my god I'm so drunk!" Ross tried to go to her to apologize and explain himself, but he realized he couldn't walk straight.

"Sorry Mon…" Joey said between bites.

"Monica if you want you can have the half-done baby shoe I've knitted! Of course it would easily remind you that you want a baby when you don't even have a boyfriend…" The words came out of Phoebe's mouth before she figured out they would hurt Monica. Monica run to the bathroom crying.

"I think that's enough Phoebs!" Chandler said trying to keep himself calm.

"I was just trying to help!" She really didn't intent to be mean.

"Joey, can you please take Ross home? I can stay with Mon to see if she feels better." Chandler tried to sound less concerned than he actually was.

"Sure, it's on my way anyway! Beef tacos and a hot date ten minutes from his place!" Joey and Ross left; Ross leaning on Joey for support as they walked to the door.

"I should probably go to, the babies need sleep. And more food…" Phoebe left them alone.

Chandler went to the bathroom door and knocked softly. "Mon… Are you okay?" He sounded worried.

"Have they all left?" He was sure Monica had been crying the whole time she was in there.

"Yes, it's only us." Chandler heard Monica wash her face and then she came out of the door.

"It's not only work stuff, is it?" Chandler guessed she had a rough time at work that day, but he sensed that something had gone wrong before he arrived at apartment 20.

"No." She lied and began walking towards the sink.

"Do you want to tell me?" Chandler was sure she wanted to get it all off her chest and she was just stubborn and tired.

Monica realized he was going to be there for her, even if her reasons for being sad weren't too important. She fell into his arms and buried her face in his neck. He started rubbing soothing circles on her back while she talked to him. "My shift was a nightmare! The last few days were so… we had so much fun and I hadn't brought myself to think about returning to work, so I was suddenly around people who pretty much hate me and they didn't do anything really mean to me today, but it was such an unexpected change. I mean, being surrounded by people who don't like you at all after being with someone who… after being with you… And then I come home and everyone has their own problems and everyone is doing their own things at MY apartment and they don't even look at me to see if I'm okay. And then you come in and… Do you know you were the only one to notice that something was wrong with me?" She was sobbing again when she pulled away a little to look at him.

Chandler kept holding her securely in his arms. "Mon, you know how our friends can be sometimes. And I'm not trying to make excuses or something, but think about this: we spent the last two days having sex and we didn't thought of anyone else, not once! Did we not care if they were alright? Of course we did! We were just too absorbed in OUR activities. That happens to everyone sometimes…"

"But…" The tears had already stopped falling. She had a pensive look on her face. She was ready to argue, but he put a finger on her lips.

"Okay, before you have a chance to start defending your opinion, I want to suggest something." She didn't say anything, but waited for him to continue. "How about you take a relaxing bath and I finish the dishes and gather all the stuff lying around?"

"What will we do next?" A tiny smile made its appearance and a ray of hope and excitement floored her heart.

"Whatever you want." He smiled, too, and placed a kiss on her forehead.

"Okay." She actually cringed at the idea of silently giving him the permission to tidy her living room and wash her dishes; that wasn't something Monica Geller was used to doing. But, inexplicably, she was ready to do that with Chandler.

"Feeling better?" Chandler asked Monica when he saw her walk out of the bathroom. She was only wearing a robe and seemed to be completely relaxed.

"Mhmm…" She smiled seeing him sitting on the couch also in a robe. "Thanks." She was standing there, lost in her thoughts. He looked so adorable! She loved just hanging out with him before and sometimes cuddling, but now she wanted so much more. Fortunately, his voice interrupted the scary thoughts that filled her mind, telling her it was too soon.

"I'm watching a movie, do you want to join me?" He placed his arm at the back of the couch suggestively and she lost no time in sitting against his side and placing her head on his shoulder.

The movie was about to end and Monica had fallen asleep half on Chandler, half on the couch.

"Mon. Mon. Mon come on, go to bed." Chandler nudged her gently.

"Noooo…" She tightened the arm she had around his torso and took a deep breath inhaling his scent.

"Mon you're practically sleeping on me." Chandler kissed her head and caressed her back.

"Sorry…" Monica looked at him with sleepy eyes.

"No need to apologize, I just think you'd be more comfortable in bed." He loved seeing this vulnerable side of her. They had spent numerous nights watching TV in each other's arms before, but now it was different.

"I'm quite comfortable here." She raised her eyebrows and smiled timidly at him.

"Oh come on, just go, I'll be there once this thing is over, in like ten minutes. I really want to see what happens to this weird guy." Chandler was looking at the screen again while stroking her back at the same time.

"What?" Monica was surprised.

"What?" Chandler asked, not understanding what she was wondering.

"You'll be there?" She longed for his presence in her bed again, but she was under the impression that if she went to bed alone their night together would be over.

Chandler realized what he had said. "Yeah! Unless you don't want me to… I mean- " He felt so insecure. He knew what he wanted, but he still wasn't sure about what she wanted. He wanted to spend the night with her even if they just literally slept together.

Now it was Chandler's turn to be surprised. She jumped up and kissed him hard. "I'll be waiting for you!" Then she disappeared into her bedroom.

" 'K!" Chandler was still in shock. He sensed that she liked being with him, too, but he didn't expect her to be so enthusiastic about it.

A few minutes later the movie was over and Chandler went to Monica's bedroom. He got under the covers and snuggled close to her.

"Chandler" Monica whispered.

"Hey, I thought you were asleep." He was glad she was awake. He had missed her. He thought it was stupid, since he was with her less than ten minutes ago. But he missed HER, he missed making love to her for hours and having all those newfound feelings that made him all giddy inside.

"Did the weird guy live happily ever after?" She adjusted her body, so that their eyes were on the same level.

"If you count catching the bad guys and marrying the woman he was in love with as happy." He joked.

"I'm not sleepy anymore!" She announced cheerfully and started kissing his jawline.

"That's-" He gasped when she put her hand in his boxers. "-good!"

They both knew they had a long passionate night ahead of them.

A.N.: I hope you don't judge me for the way I've treated the other characters; I just think stuff like that happen all the time between friends (that doesn't mean they don't care about each other, sometimes they just stop paying attention to every detail in each other's lives). And the reason I made Monica a bit angry with them was because she was already tired from work and she just wanted some attention from people who loved her. Also, Monica was controlling about her cleaning and the stuff in her apartment, but do you remember the times she let Chandler clean or change something in the apartment? The changes weren't that many, but it was a huge step for Monica. I think day 5 isn't too soon for a step like that, since she had already known Chandler for a decade and was comfortable with him. Enough with the author's note, I'm afraid it's going to look longer than the chapter itself!