Chapter 4

Over the next few days, Monica had to stay at the hospital for observation. She was healing fast, but they were still mildly concerned about her head injury. Her memories had not yet returned, but every once in a while she would get a quick flash of something. She had had a flash of hers and Chandler's wedding, as well as of the twins birth, but that was the end of it.

Chandler had been staying at the hospital pretty much the entire time and there wasn't a time in the last year, he could remember being happier, as odd as that was. He was still upset though, that she couldn't remember their kids or much of their life together; but being able to sit and talk to her about old times, was something he thoroughly enjoyed doing. He found he was torn between his feelings and the more time he spent with her, the harder it was to remember why they had ever gotten divorced in the first place. He knew he was still in love with her, he had never stopped and never would be able to. He shook his head as memories of their last night as an official couple crept into his mind.

"Hey honey, I'm home." Chandler said as he entered the house and greeted her with the familiar phrase.

He looked towards the staircase and noticed his bags were leaning up against it. Concerned, he decided to see if Monica was upstairs.

"Mon, Babe are you up here?" He called for her, receiving no greeting in return. "Are we going on a vacation or something? He joked. He entered their room to see her with her back turned to him and her head buried in her hands. "Honey?"

"Get out." Monica mumbled, so quietly that Chandler barely heard her.

"What?" He asked confused.

"Get out of this house." Monica said raising her voice slightly. "I don't want to fight in front of the kids, but you need to leave."

"What are you talking about Monica?" Chandler asked. "What happened?"

"You know exactly what happened, Chandler." She said crossly.

"No I really don't. Care to enlighten me?" He asked trying to lighten the mood a little.

Monica scoffed. "You really have no idea?" She raised her hands in frustration. "Gah you are such a guy."

"Well I should certainly hope so." He retorted to her implication.

She turned towards him and he could see that she had most definitely been crying.

His face turned downcast once again as he got worried. "Ok sweetie, your really going to have to tell me what happened."

"You, your what happened." She said angrily. "I saw you today...with her."

Now Chandler was really confused. "Who?"

"Kelly." Monica said. "I went to your office to see if you wanted to have lunch with me and I saw you with her, in there...kissing her."

"Kelly? My assistant Kelly?" He asked. "Honey what you saw...that was nothing. She kissed me on the cheek because today was her last day as my assistant, she got a better job at another company, she was saying goodbye."

Monica rolled her eyes. "That is such a pathetic excuse, Chandler."

Chandler could see she wasn't budging. "It meant absolutely nothing Mon. I only love you, you know that."

"No I don't know that." Monica said, her tone suddenly changing almost to one of defeat. "Not anymore."

"What are you talking about?" Chandler asked.

"Your never home anymore and when you are, you never want to do anything except watch tv and go to bed. You don't have dinner with us anymore because your working so long, and now it all makes sense; you were with her." Monica said as tears once again pooled in her eyes.

"That's not true. I spend plenty of time with you." Chandler said defensively.

"Oh yeah? When?" Monica asked.

Chandler thought about it and realized she was right. He had been working a lot of hours lately and he couldn't remember spending all that much time at home. Mainly because when he was at home, all they did was fight. "Oh god...Monica I'm so sorry, I know your right, but not about me being unfaithful to you, I could never do that. I do realize I've been working longer hours."

"Yeah, but if your not spending time with her, why aren't you here?" She asked confused. "You never used to spend this much time at work.

"Mon, it has nothing to do with Kelly, trust me." He sighed, running a hand through his hair as he started pacing. "Do you realize that anytime I do spend at home, we do nothing but fight?"

Monica started to say something but then stopped and slowly nodded, knowing he was right.

"Well that is why I am never here. I don't want to fight with you and I know that so long as I am at work, I can avoid doing that." He explained.

"Oh." Was her only response for a minute. "You know what's odd, I don't even know what we fight about anymore. It's just a bunch of minor things really, but we do it all the time."

Chandler nodded in agreement. "I know, and we rarely used to fight, but lately...I don't know what's happening to us. I know I still love you."

Monica smiled for the first time that night. "I still love you to, which is why this is so hard."

"What?" Chandler asked and then it dawned on him. "I saw all my bags downstairs, your not suggesting what I think you are, are you?"

Monica slowly nodded. "I'm sorry, I just need some time to think...apart from you."

"Monica please, we can work whatever it is out." Chandler pleaded.

Monica shook her head. "I can't do it anymore, I can't fight you anymore. We need to figure out what our problems are, before we can continue to live together, otherwise our problems will get bigger and bigger and that is something I want to avoid."

"So you just want me to leave?" He asked.

"I'm sorry." She replied.

He nodded regretfully. "Me too. I never thought you would be the one to give up on us." He said as he turned and hurriedly walked out the door.

Monica followed him downstairs.. "I'm not giving up on us Chandler, if anything I'm fighting for us."

"Doesn't seem like it. It seems like you are trying to runaway, avoid the real issues." Chandler yelled.

"I'm not, I just...we just need some time apart." She insisted stubbornly. "Look, we will work out a schedule with the kids, take some time for ourselves, and then we'll see."

"Fine." He muttered angrily under his breath. "Call me when you figure out that schedule." He said and with that, he picked up his bags and was out the door.

"Hey you, you ok?" Monica's voice broke through his thoughts. He turned to look at her.

"Hey your awake." He said with a smile. "Welcome back to consciousness, sleeping beauty."

Monica laughed. "Good to see that even under these circumstances, your sense of humor is still in tact."

"Well you know, it's all I'm good for." He joked.

Monica laughed and shook her head at him. "Your good for a lot more than that...sex for one thing."

Chandler's face fell at those words. He wasn't sure how to respond so he decided to laugh it off before she noticed anything. "Ha, yeah I guess."

"So the doctors seem to think they've done about as much as they can for me here, they want to discharge me tonight." Monica said.

"Well that's great." Chandler assured her, but then remembered something. "But before they do that, I've gotta talk to the kids, they still don't know what's going on."

Monica nodded. "What are you going to say to them?"

Chandler shrugged. "I honestly have no idea. Kayla will understand...I think, but Lea and Tyler are so young and Lea is really close to you."

"Really?" Monica asked surprised. "She's not a daddy's girl?"

"She can be when she wants something." Chandler said with a laugh. "But normally no, at least not as much as Kayla."

"I can't wait to meet them, or see them I should say." Monica said.

"They can't wait to see you either, they've missed you." Chandler got up, deciding he should go back to the house and explain to the kids what was going on. "I should get going." He said and kissed her on the forehead. "I'll be back tonight to pick you up."

"I'll be waiting." Monica said with a smile, which Chandler returned.

Chandler arrived at his former home a little while later to find it in complete chaos. He could hear the noise before he even entered the house. Ross and Rachel had been staying with the kids for the last couple days, giving the kids at least a little sense of normality. Emma had, of course, had to stay at the house as well. Kayla had been ecstatic at the prospect of her best friend and cousin living with her for a couple days. She and Emma were basically the same age.

"Guys, I'm here." Chandler shouted upon entering the house, relieved to see that despite the noise, the house was still in relatively good shape, not Monica clean, but good enough.

"Daddy!" Kayla exclaimed as soon as she heard her father. She ran to him and jumped into his arms just as Lea and Tyler came running as well.

"Hi guys." He greeted the three.

"Daddy is Mommy with you?" Lea asked hopefully.

"Sorry sweetie, not just yet." He said as he patted her head.

"When is she coming home? We miss her." Tyler exclaimed.

"That's actually what I have to talk to you guys about." Chandler said. "Lets go sit down." He lead them into the living room and sat down on the couch, pulling Lea and Tyler onto his lap as Kayla sat next to him.

"Is Mommy ok?" Kayla asked. "We haven't seen her in a long time."

"Yeah it's been frever." Leah said dramatically.

"Frever." Tyler repeated.

Chandler smiled and nodded. "Yeah I know and were sorry about that, but remember how I told you guys Mommy had an accident so she had to stay at the hospital?"

They all nodded.

"Well her doctors decided today that she was ok to come home."

"Really?" Kayla asked lighting up. "She's coming home today?"

"Yep tonight." He said.

"YAY!" The three kids shouted.

"But there's something you guys need to know about Mommy first." Chandler said. "Do you guys know what amnesia is?"

Lea and Tyler shook their heads but Kayla looked at him thoughtfully. "Is that what happened to Olivia on Uncle Joey's old show? She forgot things. I think they called it amesia."

"Amnesia." Chandler corrected her. "But yeah your right."

"Mommy forgot everything?" Kayla asked worriedly.

"Not everything." Chandler said in an attempt to reassure her, but he knew it would be futile when she found out the truth. "Just the past 11 years."

"But that's our whole lives." Kayla said. "She forgot us?"

Chandler nodded slowly. "I'm so sorry sweetie, I know it's hard for you. It's hard for me to, but these things happen. The good thing is it's more than likely temporary."

"Mommy doesn't know us?" Tyler asked catching on.

"She does, she just doesn't know she does." Chandler explained.

"Huh?" All three kids said in unison.

"Mommy knows in her heart who you all are, but her head can't seem to remember, which is why we have to help her."

"How?" Lea asked.

"Well for starters, we need to help around the house, clean up after yourselves, try not to fight with eachother. Do you think you guys can handle that?" Chandler asked.

The three nodded.

"Ok." Chandler said with a smile. "In the mean time, there are going to be some changes around here for a little while."

"Like what?" Kayla asked.

"Well for one, since Mommy can't remember us getting divorced, I'm going to have to pretend were still married so I will have to move back in here."

"Yay!" Kayla said happily. "That means no Gavin."

Lea and Tyler both frowned at this. "But we like Gavin."

"More than Daddy?" Kayla asked her younger sibling. They shook their heads. "Then it's a good thing."

Chandler laughed at his daughter's outspokenness. "So I take it your ok with this?" They nodded in response. "So where exactly is your Aunt Rachel?"

"In the kitchen trying to make us dinner." Kayla rolled her eyes. "I think it would be better if we ate out. Emma's at her friend's house, so she doesn't have to eat Aunt Rachel's food."

Chandler made a face. "That means the kitchens going to be a mess. I'll tell you what, if you guys can convince Aunt Rachel to stop making dinner, clean up the kitchen, I will bring you something home for supper."

"McDonalds?" Tyler asked hopefully.

"We'll see." Chandler said with a laugh. "Now I want you guys to get started. I have to go back to the hospital to get Mommy."