A/N: I am very excited to bring you guys the second chapter of Monica and Chandler's story! All the support that I am receiving for all three stories within this series is absolutely surreal, and I honestly don't know how to thank you. I am alternating whose perspective I am writing from, which I know will please the reviewer that wanted to hear from Chandler's POV. This will also apply to the other two books. Please also keep a look out for a book that I am writing that is a crossover between Cougar Town and Friends. Anyways, let's continue on with the next chapter.

Chapter 2 – Chandler

I sit in the car waiting to pick up the twins, because Monica asked me to as apparently they wanted a lift instead of catching the bus. I found it incredibly hard to believe that it was entirely their choice because I know Mon far too well, but the reality is that they are very unlikely to mind that much especially if I bring any kind of food into the picture.

My phone, which is in the phone stand on the dashboard, vibrates and the screen lights up. I have a new message from Jack. He says that he wants to stay behind at school try out for the freshman soccer team, but that Erica was on her way to meet me. I was just typing out a reply, when I saw Erica crossing the road, and then walking towards the car.

"Hey Dad," she said, as she threw down her bags on the seat beside hers.

"Good day?" I replied, as I started to back the car off of the side of the road.

"Yeah, actually," Erica said. "I had only some of my classes today because they do this weird thing where you only have some of your classes one day, and then the rest the next day. The classes I did end up having were Photography, Pre-AP English, American History and Biology."

"Do you have a favourite yet?" I asked.

"I think it will be either Photography or American History," Erica replied.

"That's so different to how I felt when I went to High School," I say. "I used to hate school because all the teachers couldn't appreciate my sense of humour, but I had a talent in Maths and Economics."

"I definitely haven't inherited your talent, then," Erica said, laughing at little.

I chuckle. "If you want, I was thinking that we could go get ice cream from McDonald's on the way home," I say, looking at Erica for her reaction.

"Ooh," she said, happily. "Yes!" She stops to think for a minute. "But if Mom finds out, she'll kill you," she adds.

"She doesn't have to know," I shrug. I continue to drive down the road, and stop at the roundabout. I have to drive out of the main city to get to work as the advertising company has its headquarters in the suburbs of Manhattan for some stupid reason. Luckily, there is a McDonalds on the way back into the main city that I can stop at for food but that barely compensates for how much hassle the whole journey creates.

I'm hoping that I can hide the trash from McDonalds in the bin before Monica checks the car. I also remember that I have my wallet in my coat pocket, and that it has loose cash in it as well as my credit card as the credit card is linked to the shared bank account that Monica and I share, so she also has access to the bank statement of it and I would have nowhere to hide.

After about fifteen minutes of driving through the shitty traffic, Erica and I reach the entrance to McDonalds. I decide that we should go through the drive thru, as my phone clock tells me that Monica will be expecting us back in just over half an hour and I would rather keep the list of crimes to a minimum.

"What do you want?" I ask Erica.

"Oreo McFlurry," Erica replies.

"Could I get an Oreo McFlurry and a large latte," I say to the voice on the other side of the speaker.

After confirming our order and paying for it, I start the journey home. The traffic is as bad as usual, and I take to opening up the Google maps app on my phone and using the GPS feature to scout the quickest route home.

"Erica," I ask, looking in the rear view mirror at Erica, who has her headphones on. I call her name slightly louder, and she takes out one earphone.

"Yes?" she says.

"Can you text Mom and tell her that we will be home later than I expected because of the traffic?" I asked her.

"Sure, Dad," she said.

"Thank you so much," I say, sounding relieved. I know Monica well enough to know that my reaction was not over the top, because Mon can be brutal. It's what makes her such a good boss, but it also makes her so goddamn scary sometimes.

After about 35 minutes of waiting, and me contemplating forking my eyes out whilst listening to some crappy talk show on the radio, we get into our neighbourhood. I can't say that I have felt this grateful whilst backing the car up into the garage before. Erica gets out before me, and disappears through the door.

I take the cardboard cup holder to the trash, and then lock the door on the car. I grab my briefcase, and walk through the front door of the house. I kick my shoes off, and then put them neatly in pair beside the other shoes under the coat hanging up.

I can smell Mon's cooking from down the hallway so I walk straight into the kitchen. As I expected her to be, Monica is standing at the stove. "Hey, babe," I say, walking up behind her.

She turns round, and I see her face light up. "You're home!"

"Have you missed me?" I ask, laughing.

"Of course," Monica said. "Jack got back half an hour ago, by the way. I've been cooking lasangna for dinner because I know that it's a family favourite. I hope that's okay!"

I look at Mon. "Monica Geller-Bing," I say, "Everything that you do, especially when it comes to your amazing food, is okay and enough."

"I am so glad I married you," Monica says, as she grabs oven mitts and takes the lasagna out of the oven. "Can you tell Erica that dinner is almost ready?"

"Sure," I say. I walk out of the kitchen towards the stairs, and then up the stairs. I see that Erica's bedroom door is ajar, and so I take this as an invitation to walk straight up to the door and push the door further open.

"Oh," Erica says, turning on her bed to face me. "Sorry Dad, I didn't see you there."

"It's fine," I said. "Mom wanted me to tell you that dinner is ready, and she wants you downstairs soon."

"Thanks," Erica said. "Tell her that I will be down there soon."

I leave the room, shutting the door behind me, and start to walk back down the stairs into the kitchen. I stand at the sink to wash my hands, and then look around at the plates of food as well as the lasagna. "Do you want me to take any plates?" I ask Monica, who is already reaching to take the lasagna to the table.

She nods, and I take the dishes of green beans and broccoli to the table. I sit down in my seat as Mon has motioned to me that she doesn't need any more help. Erica has come in and sat down, and Jack walks in as Monica is setting down the last plate.

"Take as much as you want," Monica says to all of us, and then sits back and starts serving herself the vegetables. "Jack, Erica," she says, looking around to make sure that they are listening. "How did your first day of high school go?"

Jack started talking first. "It wasn't too bad. I didn't really talk to many people, until the soccer try-outs, but everyone seems to be decent people."

Mon nodded, looking happy for him. "That's really good to hear, and I'm sure that more people will want to get to know you as the term goes on," she says. "What about the lessons?"

"They were fine," Jack said, shrugging.

"Do you have a favourite?" Mon continues to ask questions.

"I guess Pre-AP Maths is pretty good," Jack said. "Apart from that, they were honestly just really boring."

"What other subjects did you have today?" she asked.

I could tell that Jack was a little worn out by all the questions, but the expression on his face read that he hadn't expected any less from Mon and had mentally prepared for the onslaught of questions.

"I had American History, Pre-AP Physics and Pre-AP Chemistry," he said.

"They sound like the kind of subjects that you would like," Monica says, happily. "So, what about you Erica?"

Erica swallowed the forkful of lasagna that she had in her hand first, and then started talking. "It was surprisingly good."

"That's good," Mon said. "Did you make any friends?"

"I guess so," Erica shrugged. "I mean, I spoke to people and worked with people when we had to partner up with someone." She stopped and thought for a moment, before her eyes lit up as if she had just remembered something really important. "Oh yeah. This girl in Photography came up to me, and at first I didn't recognise her, but it was Lara. As in our cousin."

Monica looked a little confused for a minute. "Oh, shit. Did I forget to tell you that Aunt Rachel was thinking of sending her to Lincoln High as well?"

"No," Erica said. "You guys went there, didn't you?"

"Oh, yeah," Monica shrugs.

"That explained why the teachers seemed to recognise the name Geller," Erica said. "I've been really confused about it until you just reminded me."

Jack cut in. "It was the same situation for me. It also explains why the soccer coach was surprised to see me trying out for soccer. He seemed to give off the impression that he thought I would be better suited to the Science clubs or anything but sports."

I supress the urge to laugh, and Monica gives me the classic Geller death stare.

"He probably thought that you would be like Ross," Monica says, sheepishly.

"Probably," Jack said. "I'm pretty sure my actual performance during the try-outs has been enough to prove to him that I am not much like Ross at all."

"You're definitely as smart as he is," Monica says, "but that isn't the point you were trying to make, I know."

I decide that it's my turn to comment. "I'm glad you are getting a chance to show off your skills and I think that the coach will definitely appreciate your own ability the more that you take the chance to show it," smiling at Jack in a way that I hope is encouraging,

Jack meets my gaze, and I see in his eyes that he is grateful.

"Who's up for dessert?" Monica asks, getting up from her seat to move over to the fridge.

The twins agree in unison, and I join in. I get up to help Monica move the used plates off of the table, and switch them for bowls and cutlery for dessert.

"I made millionaire's chocolate cake," Monica says, bringing the dish over to the table from the fridge. She walks back only to select a tub of vanilla ice cream, and bring it over to start thawing.

I bring over an ice cream scoop, and the rest of the cutlery that we need, and take my seat again. I pass the cutlery around so that they are equally spread out among the people that need them. I sit back and wait for Monica to start serving, or tell me to help her.

"Chandler," she says, and I looked up from where I had zoned out. "Can you serve out the ice cream whilst I equally cut the cake?"

On command, I grabbed the ice cream scoop and started using my nails to try and grip the lid on the tub of ice cream and get it off. The ice cream is still a little too frozen for me to be able to cut through it with the scoop, but I decide that I didn't want to risk snapping the scoop through trying to use it on ice cream that was too solid.

Monica realised, and seemed to be contemplating what to do.

"Do you want me to microwave it?" I asked, trying to look and sound as helpful as I felt.

Monica looked at me. "No, I do not want to melt the entire thing and have to refreeze runny ice cream," she said. "Instead, we are going to wait for it to naturally heat up."

I felt a little hurt, but it didn't last for long as I knew that, at the end of the day, it was an area out of my expertise, and so I shouldn't really be surprised that Monica knew more about what to do than I did. I just sat back, and took my plate of cake as it was passed to me.

"This is so good, Mon!" I said.

"Thank you so much," she said. "I was a little worried that it was going to be a bit rushed, hence why I bought ice cream from the store. I was originally planning to take the ice cream maker out of the cupboards and use that."

"Mon," I say, locking eyes with her. "It's all fine. The fact that you made the lasagna and the cake all from scratch is more than enough."

"It's nice that you're saying that," Mon says, and I start contemplating when a good place to cut her off is.

I decide to jump straight in. "And we're leaving that there!" I say, looking pointedly at Mon, who is looking at me like she would very much like to start talking. "It is nice that I am saying that, wouldn't you agree, kids?" I look at Jack and Erica.

They agree with me, and Mon starts to look defeated. The smell of success, I think, smugly. I'm certain that Monica was probably think of a way to get me back after this. I was just focused on soaking up the moment in which I had finally managed to shut up Monica for the first time in a while. Especially when she was talking crap about how the fact that two of the three parts to dinner were homemade was not good enough.

A/N: That's a wrap on this chapter, finally. I think it would be important to note that, at this moment in time, I am not sure how often the updates are going to be as I am working on many projects right now. I hope, however, that you will stick with this story, and the other two in the series, and my new books which are a Cougar Town/Friends crossover and a book that is only based on Cougar Town. As always, I really appreciate reviews for this story, and suggestions for ways to improve it. Thank you endlessly for the support with all that I have written so far. I absolutely makes my day that people actually care to read my work.