"What did you just say?" she asked slowly, dumbstruck look on her face. There was no way in the world he'd just said what she thought he did.

"You heard me," he said with what he hoped passed for a confident nod.

"A baby?" she asked, incredulous, putting her hands on her hips and glaring at him.

"Yeah," he said, crossing his arms in front of him. "A baby."

Monica crossed her own arms and shook her head, disbelief written all over her face. Chandler held his breath. When she finally looked at him again he could see she was angry.

"You know you shouldn't joke about it," her voice betraying her hurt under the anger. "You…you're the only one I've…I've told how I feel about this. It just…it isn't nice for you to…"

"Who says I'm joking?" he said, hopping off the gurney.

"What?!" she asked, her voice squeaking, her bright eyes wide as he held her gaze steady with his. "You…Chandler! You're joking."

"I'm not joking," he said.

"You're serious?"

"Serious as a heart attack," he said, glancing around and grinning at her, "and I guess if that were to happen here…"

"See, I knew you were joking," she said, somewhat relieved. The grin quickly fell from his face. He looked down, skimming the sole of his shoe lightly over the floor as his one foot crossed in front of the other.

"No, look, I'm not joking, OK?" he said, finally looking her directly in the eye. "I'm not."

"Wha…what?" she started in a whisper, her heart starting to pound in her ears. He really didn't appear to be joking. There was no teasing look on his face.

Chandler swallowed hard and shrugged as he buried his hands in his pockets, looking at her expectantly.

"Then you have lost your mind," Monica finally said once she'd finally found her voice again. He gave her an exasperated look.

"Chandler, that's crazy, OK? It's crazy," she said, putting her hand on his arm.

He shrugged and looked away, twisting his body away from her as her hand fell off his arm.

"Yeah, sure, having my baby would be crazy," he said in that self-deprecating way he did when he was trying not to sound hurt.

"No, no! Chandler, that's not what I meant," she said quickly, grabbing hold of his arm again. "It is crazy and…sweet. very, very sweet. OK? I mean, come on, you offered to be my boyfriend when I didn't have one and…and now you're offering to be my, ah, baby daddy…"

"Baby daddy," he said looking at her again with a little grin, which made her visibly relax. She grinned back.

"Look, I know I've cried on your shoulder a lot lately…"

"You have," he nodded as he started rambling, gesturing with his hands to try to make his point, "and that's why…ya know…if I can make it better…"

"You are the sweetest friend in the world," she said, smiling at him now and grabbing his hands in hers to still his movements. Then she raised one hand to cup his cheek, "but you can't make this better, Chandler, you just can't. I have to…I'm just going to have to…be patient."

"That's your strong suit," he said with a smirk. "Patience."

She smirked back at him then rolled her eyes. "Besides, Chandler, you don't want a baby."

"No, you do," he said, then sighed. "Listen, Mon, when I was at the apartment earlier, I…ahh…"

"What?" she said, stepping back from him and furrowing her brow. He looked a little sheepishly at her.

"I was looking for a…a pen and I, um, I saw those forms," he said quietly as a blush rose in her cheeks, "from the sperm bank."

"Oh," she said, her face burning now. She crossed her arms tightly over her chest, her eyes blazing at him.

"Look, I didn't mean to find anything other than a pen, but I saw them and I…" he started, trying to stem the rising fury in eyes. "I'm not judging you here, OK? I'm not. I'm just…you deserve better. You…you don't even know who these guys are really and, Mon, I know you wanna have a kid, but you deserve better than a…a guy that just looks good on paper. I mean, maybe I don't look so great on paper, but I've got sperm…"

"Chandler, stop. Just stop," she said, putting her palm up and letting out a deep sigh as her face cringed in confusion. "This is…it's not happening. I mean, are you…are you trying to sleep with me or something?"

"No!" he said quickly, seeing both the confusion and hurt flash across her face. "No! I'm…I could…I mean I could just, ya know, donate some of my best swimmers so you can, ya know, at least know the guy who…who…"

Monica searched his eyes as his shoulders cinched up and he sucked his lips into a thin line across his face. The sincerity she found in his baby blues made her heart skip and a fuzzy warmth spread throughout her body.

Her eyes widened in shock as he held his breath. Then she squeezed her eyes closed and shook her head in disbelief.

"I…I don't know what to say," she said in a whisper, her eyes filling with tears. "That is the single most incredible thing anyone has ever offered me."

"Yeah?" he said, a small smile breaking across his face. "So, then, whatta ya say?" he asked, arms extended and palms flipped toward the ceiling. She place her hands in his and stood on her tip toes, gently brushing her lips across his cheek.

"No, Chandler," she said, blinking back tears. She blinked back more as his face fell just a touch and she backed away.

"Why not?" he said, feeling a tinge of relief as much as a surprising tinge of disappointment. "I can doctor up my resume a bit…"

He made her smile at that and she shook her head again.

"It's not that," she said with a sigh, grinning at him. "You'd be impressive on paper…"

"Well, sure, who wouldn't want sperm from a guy whose father is the star of his own burlesque drag show and a mother who is an erotic novelist?" he said, relaxing as she giggled. "That right there is a pedigree that sells itself."

"Oh, stop it," she said, smiling despite herself. "You're smart, funny, employed…tall, handsome…"

"Handsome?" Chandler said, blinking back in surprise.

"Yes, handsome!" she said, lightly punching his arm. "It's not you or your sperm. It's…it's us."

He looked at her in confusion.

"Us?"

"Yes us," she said, gesturing with her hands for emphasis. "You're Ross's best friend. You're my best friend. You live across the hall from me, and this…this is just a little more significant than borrowing a cup of milk from you! It's a lot more complicated than that."

"When do I ever have milk?" he deadpanned.

"Chandler," she sighed. "Focus."

Chandler put his hands on his hips, cocking his head to the side as he pursed his lips.

"Look," she said, trying to get him to understand what she already knew. This was a huge, life-changing commitment she was thinking about and, whether he knew it or not, that would be the case for him as well. "We have this great relationship, OK? But we aren't dating. We aren't in love. It's just one big, amazing favor you'd be doing for me, but a baby, a child is more than that. It will have a much greater impact than that - on both of us."

Chandler looked away a moment then closed his eyes. Monica gently put her hands on his shoulders and continued.

"What if someday the baby wants to know who his father is. I mean, how would we explain that? How would we explain this to our friends?" she asked.

"I really don't care what they think," he said, looking down into her eyes. Then he shrugged. "Well, maybe Ross…"

She grinned a sad grin at him.

"Chandler?" she said softly, hoping she'd gotten through to him. Chandler sighed and, somewhat reluctantly, nodded in agreement.

She was right. He knew she was right. He wasn't thinking that far ahead. He was thinking of solving the immediate problem of making her happy, of doing something seemingly small to help her if he could. He wasn't really thinking beyond that, and as usual, Monica was.

"OK," he said, finally looking at her again. "I get it. I do."

"OK," she said, relieved he'd listened to her. She put a hand to his cheek once again and grinned at him. He grinned back then pulled her against him for a hug. She wrapped her arms around him and sighed into his shirt. He kissed her hair and cleared his throat as she tightened her arms around him and breathed in deeply.

"But, if you change your mind," he said softly. "The offer still stands. Now or 10 years from now."

"Chandler…" she sighed, ready to pull away and reiterate what she'd already said to him, but suddenly his arms were stronger than she'd given him credit for and he held her in place. She melted back into his chest, but her eyes were wide open and pinched together in confusion as she bit her bottom lip between her teeth.

"There you are," Ross said from down the hall, quickly making his way toward them. Monica took a quick step back, clearing her throat as Chandler released her and swiftly shoved his hands deep into his pockets, turning towards Ross.

"Yep, found us," he said, stealing a side-glance at a teary Monica.

"Joey's looking for you," he said looking from Chandler to Monica. "Everything OK?"

"Yeah. Yes," Monica said thickly, nodding her head and wiping her eyes with her fingertips. "Big day. Very emotional. Babies being born and all."

She waved her hand at Ross and smiled.

"Yeah, it really was," he said with a grin, stepping over to hug his sister. A sympathetic smile passed between him and Chandler.

"What does Joey need?" Chandler asked.

"Oh, yeah!" he said. "He's gonna be here overnight and he wanted to know if you could get together a few things from home…"

"Oh, yeah, sure, yeah," Chandler said, nodding his head. "Yeah, I can do that."

"Rachel's headed back to the apartment, Mon," Ross said with a nod. "She's saying goodbye to Phoebe now."

"Oh, OK, yeah, we should say 'goodbye' too," she said, looking to Chandler, who nodded.

Ross turned toward the elevator, Chandler and Monica close behind. He glanced over at her as they walked, finding her looking back at him. He grinned and she grinned too while she wrapped an arm around his waist. She squeezed him and he smiled, throwing his arm over her shoulder as they made their way down the hall.

###

Monica jerked awake as the glass of Merlot she'd been holding slipped out of her hands, the last few remaining drops of wine landing on the papers in her lap.

"Damn!" she said softly as she quickly grabbed a napkin from the coffee table and dabbed at the sperm bank form now streaked with maroon spots.

She placed the wine glass and the used napkin on the coffee table and sighed, shuffling the papers into a pile once again. When they'd come back to the apartment Rachel went directly to bed giving Monica plenty of time to pour over her apparently not-so-secret stash of sperm donors - all of whom seemed to suddenly pale in comparison to the one across the hall.

Monica laid the papers on the coffee table and leaned back against the back of the couch, pinching the top of her nose with her finger and thumb. She still couldn't believe it. Was he serious? Would Chandler really be her sperm donor?

She knew everything she'd told him at the hospital was true. It was complicated. It was life-changing. It would alter their relationship forever. It was flat-out crazy. Logically, she knew that.

Then there was that small, nagging part of her that thought it just might work. They had a strong friendship. He'd never broken an important promise he'd ever made to her. He was smart and, yes, handsome. And even if he was never involved in more than the sperm donation itself, Monica knew her child would grow up having his or her father in their life. She knew in her heart that when the time came, Chandler would have a relationship with his child. His heart was too big not to. Hadn't she seen plenty of evidence of that alone in his offer?

Monica opened her eyes and glanced at the stack of candidates on the table. Chandler was right. She didn't really know any of them. But if she was going to go through with it, and she still wasn't at all sure that she was, would it be better to know or not to know? Of that she wasn't sure, but the more she'd thought about it, the more she was leaning toward the knowing.

Monica jerked her head around as she heard the apartment door shut across the hall. Then she looked straight ahead, took a deep breath and stood up.

Across the hall Chandler flipped on his living room light, grabbed a beer out of the fridge and plopped down in his chair, his head swimming.

He'd gone over to drop off the items Joey needed for the night. His roommate was obviously feeling much better and having Baywatch on certainly helped. Chandler had settled in to watch the episode with him, but he really hadn't been able to focus much on the scantily-clad actresses on the beach.

He sighed as he turned on the TV, smiling a little as he found Die Hard playing on a cable station. As he stared at Jon McClain shooting up Russian bad guys his mind returned to Monica. He ran his palm over his chin and took a sip of his beer.

All night he'd been trying to talk himself out of the disappointment he felt at her rejection. It wasn't that he didn't understand her reasoning. He did. It wasn't that she was wrong about his interest in fatherhood. She wasn't. Up until that night at the hospital he'd really had no interest in it whatsoever.

But there was something nagging at him anyway and he couldn't quite put his finger on it. He knew he should really be relieved. He'd offered like the good friend he was, she'd politely said "no" and that should be that, they'd go on with their lives. But for some reason that is not how he felt. At least it wasn't how he was feeling at the moment…

"Chandler?"

He spun around in his barcalounger, having been so lost in thought that he hadn't heard his door open.

"Mon?" he said, swallowing hard. "Hey, what's up?"

Monica nodded toward the TV. "Die Hard?"

"You know it," he said, nodding toward the other barcalounger. "Have a seat. Wanna beer?"

She nodded and sat down while he went to retrieve her beverage.

"Thanks," she said as he sank back into his chair. "How's Joey?"

"Oh, he's fine," Chandler said with a wave of his hand. "A Baywatch marathon was on, so…"

"Ah," Monica said with a grin. Then she sipped her beer as Chandler looked sideways at her while she stared at the TV screen. After a couple moments she cleared her throat.

"I've been thinking…" she started quietly, still looking at the TV screen. He cocked his eyebrow curiously at her.

"If we did this, and I'm not saying I'm sure I want to," she stressed quickly, her voice shaking just a touch. "I'm just saying if we did this how…how would it work, exactly?"

He wanted to pretend he didn't know what she was talking about, but decided against joking. Instead he took a long swig of his beer.

Monica waited, somewhat impatiently, for him to respond. Her heart was pounding and she still couldn't look at him. She closed her eyes as he sighed, suddenly feeling herself bracing for disappointment.

"I guess I don't know exactly how it would work," he said honestly. "We could…I guess, we'd have to start at the sperm clinic and see if it's even possible, then, I dunno, maybe a lawyer?"

He shrugged as Monica glanced over at him. Chandler took another sip, the tension in the room seeming to rise with each passing second.

"So, you…" she started, beads of sweat beginning to form on her forehead, "you would really do this for me, Chandler? Really?"

She sucked in her breath as their eyes met. She looked so earnest, so vulnerable he wasn't sure he could tell her "no" even if he wanted to.

And he didn't want to.

"Yeah," he said with a little smile, "but only if you really…if this is what you really, really want, Monica."

She held his gaze a moment then nodded.

"Yes, OK," she said as she let out the breath she was holding. "Why don't we, ah, both sleep on it and…and we can go from there?"

Chandler nodded, too. "That sounds like a good idea."

"OK," she said again, her nervousness very apparent now. She took a deep breath once more and gave him a little smile. He smiled back, his heart thundering in his ears.

"Well," she said standing, and clearing her throat. "I'll leave you and Bruce Willis alone, then."

"'K," he said as he stood, too, and held her gaze with his, a steadiness passing between them despite the doubts that clouded each of their minds. Finally he grinned and pulled her to him. She fell against him and clung to his back.

"Good night, Chandler," she said after a moment, then added in a whisper, "thank you for even…"

"It's OK, Mon," he said, suddenly feeling like everything was a little too intimate, despite the topic of conversation that had just taken place. He stepped back.

"Go get some sleep," he nodded toward the door. "The movie is getting to the good part."

She grinned and shook her head, but then moved toward the door.

"Night, Mon," he said as he sat back in his chair.

"Night," she said with a wave as she walked out the door.

Chandler stared at the screen for another minute and tried to concentrate on the movie, but it was a lost cause.

He picked up the remote and turned down the sound, then stood and walked over to where his laptop was sitting on the kitchen counter. He opened it, the screen lighting up his face as he settled in on a stool and typed in his password.

He furrowed his brow in concentration as he searched "private sperm donation," running his hand through his hair then over his chin as he sighed heavily and waited for the results he wasn't completely sure he was ready to find.

NOTE: Thank you so very much for your reviews. I warned you updates would be slow in coming, but thanks for loving them whenever they do. :)