This update took a little longer to write, but it's also a little longer than the last chapter so it evens out! It's completely unedited and a lot of it was written after midnight so if there are any mistakes it's because I'm tired...let me know if there's anything glaring and I may go back and fix it later, I just wanted to get something out there! Thank you to everyone who reviewed so far, and please keep them coming...reviews make me write faster!
Chandler sat back on the couch as Monica paced back and forth in front of him. Rachel and Phoebe should be back from lunch any minute, and they were going to begin the process of telling the others. He still felt completely relaxed about the whole thing, more anxious to get it over with than anything. Monica, on the other hand, couldn't keep still. She had cleaned the kitchen and living room—twice each—before Chandler had finally wrangled her down next to him on the couch. That hadn't lasted long, but at least she wasn't rewashing the same plate over and over anymore.
"Babe, relax, come sit by me," he encouraged, grabbing one of her hands as she walked by. "Hey, c'mere." He pulled her into his lap and she buried her head in his neck.
"I don't know why I'm so nervous," she mumbled. "Like, what's the worst that can happen?"
"Shhh, it's okay," Chandler ran his hand soothingly through the back of her hair. She pulled back to meet his gaze. "They're going to be happy for us, right? It's only Phoebe and Rachel, this is the easy part."
"I know," she shook her head with a sigh. "God, I'm gonna be a mess when we tell Ross."
"You're a mess right now," Chandler teased, poking fondly at her cheek.
"Shut up," she huffed, but she was smiling, so Chandler counted it as a win. "I'd better move off of you or else we won't even get the chance to explain ourselves."
"Mmmmm…I don't care," Chandler murmured, leaning in to kiss her lips once, twice, then doing the same to her forehead.
"Chandler!" she giggled, pushing him backwards and rolling onto the cushion beside him.
"Fine, fine," he relented, settling back on the couch again and lightly resting his hand over hers, not quite holding it, just enough so that she'd know he was there.
"I hate that you can be so calm about this," Monica huffed suddenly, after a few moments of silence.
Chandler rolled his head to the side to look at her. "Why's that?"
"Because!" she exclaimed. "I'm supposed to be the one in control! I'm supposed to be the one who keeps a level head and fixes my own problems and doesn't start crying at the thought of my friends being upset with me! These stupid pregnancy hormones are messing everything up and I hate it! I hate it, I hate it, I hate it!"
"Oh, Mon," Chandler shifted closer so that their sides were pressed together and pulled her hand—the one he had been caressing—against his chest. "It's okay, you don't have to take care of everything right now. Your only job is to keep yourself healthy so our baby has a nice place to live and grow, okay? Let me take care of the rest."
"I hate it," she mumbled again, but with less energy this time and Chandler had to laugh a little bit at how much she reminded him of a petulant child who didn't want to go to bed.
"I know you do, sweetheart," he soothed, kissing the top of her head in a way that had become almost as natural as breathing over the past few weeks. If he was going to freak out about anything, it was just how deeply in love with her he'd fallen in the relatively short time they'd been together. He had never been in a real long-term relationship before (the closest he's come was, well, Janice, and he usually tried to pretend that never happened anyways), and sometimes he wondered if it was normal to be ready to commit to someone for life after going out only five months.
But this wasn't just some girlfriend, this was Monica, his best friend, his confidant, and now his lover, and he couldn't imagine wanting to be with anyone else ever again. They had agreed to take it slow, he knew, and that was the right decision. There was no need to rush anything. But he also couldn't stop picturing what it would be like to propose, to marry her, to have more kids with here. Hell, they hadn't even had the first one yet! But whenever he thought of the future, of being with her forever, it just felt so right.
They heard voices coming up the stairs, towards the apartment, and gave each other one last look. Monica slid to the other side of the couch so that no part of them was touching. He understood what she was doing—easing them into it—but he missed the physical contact anyways.
"Here goes," she said, taking a deep breath and folding her arms across her body. She was still so nervous, and it made Chandler's heart twinge with longing to comfort her.
"It'll be okay," he repeated, before standing up and moving towards the kitchen. He knew she needed him there as support, but this was something she wanted to be the one to do.
The voices came closer and the door swung open, the girls chattering all the way.
"Hey Mon! Hey Chandler," Rachel greeted, hanging up her purse by the door.
Hey, um…" Monica started, standing up from her place on the couch. "guys? Can I…can I talk to you?"
"Sure Monica, what's wrong?" Phoebe asked. Rachel turned around and both girls eyed Monica with concern, while Chandler tried his best to fade into the background.
"I'm um…oh god," she exhaled shakily and slowly sat down on the coffee table. Phoebe and Rachel rushed to her side.
"What? Honey, talk to us," Rachel said, worry evident in her voice as she grabbed one of Monica's hands and Phoebe grabbed the other. Monica looked to be on the verge of tears and Chandler wanted desperately to go to her.
"I'm…I'm pregnant."
Silence filled the room, as Rachel and Phoebe looked at each other, back at Monica, then at each other again. In the kitchen, Chandler held his breath, willing one of them to say something, anything, to comfort her, to tell her that they're there for her.
"What?" Rachel finally broke the silence.
"I'm pregnant," Monica repeated. "I…I don't know how. I mean, I know how, but…I am. And I'm going to keep it. And…I really hope you guys will support me, because I'm scared, but I'm sure about this." She looked up at Chandler as she finished and caught his eye, and he couldn't help but smile because wow, she really was incredible.
"Oh honey, of course we're here for you!" Rachel exclaimed, throwing her arms around her friend.
"Whatever you need," Phoebe added, joining their group hug.
"Really?"
"Really," Rachel confirmed. "Oh my god, Mon, a baby! You're having a baby!"
"I know!" Monica exclaimed, smile now on her face.
"Wait!" Phoebe stopped suddenly, and Chandler knew what was coming. "Who's the father?"
Monica pulled back from the hug and ran her hand through her hair, but the small smile never left her face. "Well, that's…that's the other thing." She looked up at Chandler again but held his gaze this time, and he knew he was grinning like an idiot but he didn't care.
It took a moment, but the other two caught on and turned around slowly, as if just remembering that someone else was in the room.
"Noooo!" Rachel gasped, hands covering her mouth. Chandler took it as his cue to actually join the conversation and moved to sit next to Monica on the coffee table. Clearly more confident now that she had the support of her best friends, she took his arm and wrapped it around her own shoulder so that she was cuddled against his side. Exactly where he wanted her to be, always, if he was honest.
"You? Really?" Phoebe exclaimed and Chandler should probably be hurt by the skepticism in her tone but she had a fair point.
"Yeah," he responded dreamily, eyes still glued to Monica. Should he be focusing more on the other two, on answering their questions and making sure they don't freak out? Probably. But he didn't care. For the first time he was holding his girlfriend around their friends, and he was floating on cloud nine. Fortunately, Monica had the presence of mind to continue the conversation.
"Chandler and I…we're kind of…together."
"You're what?!" Phoebe demanded, not unkindly, but certainly not in the most positive tone.
"We just…we didn't want to make it a big deal while we were figuring everything out, is all," Chandler explained, finally drawing his attention back to the other two.
"We were going to tell you all soon," Monica added.
"How long has this been going on?" Rachel asked.
"Since we were in London," Chandler cringed, prepared for the backlash at having kept it a secret for so long. What he was not prepared for was the apartment door opening to reveal Joey, no doubt in search of food.
"Hey everyone!" he greeted casually, making his way to the fridge. No one said anything and after a moment he caught on. "What's going on?" he asked.
"Chandler and Monica are having a baby!" Rachel blurted out and Chandler felt Monica tense next to him.
"What?!" Joey shrieked, head frantically darting back and forth between the two of them. "You're…and you're…what?!"
"It's true," Chandler stopped him. "We've been kind of dating for the past few months, and Monica's pregnant."
"You're…what…how?" Joey's eyes were still moving all over the place, and if it was anyone else Chandler would be a little freaked out, but he knew well enough that this was—somehow—Joey's way of processing it.
"It wasn't planned, obviously," Monica explained. "But…we're really excited. We're serious about this."
"We are," Chandler confirmed, taking her hand closest to him and kissing it.
"Ohhhh, I'm so happy for you guys!" Rachel squealed, legs bouncing.
"Me too," Phoebe added. "So, are you getting married, or?"
"Oh no, no," they both answered hurriedly.
"We're going to keep things the way they are, you know," Monica explained. "Take it slow, let our relationship develop like it would have if this didn't happen."
"Oh yeah, because when you're having a baby is the perfect time to slow things down," Phoebe remarked with a roll of her eyes.
"We don't need to get married," Chandler defended. "We're both committed to the baby, and we're committed to each other, that's enough."
"Well, I think it's great," Rachel assured them. "I mean…wow I never saw this coming but you two! And you look so happy!"
"We are," Monica agreed.
"Joe? You okay? You haven't said anything for a while," Chandler directed attention back at the other man, who was still jerking his head back and forth between the two of them, eyes wide with shock. At the mention of his name, he gave a jolt before blinking rapidly.
"Me? I'm great! I just can't believe this, I mean, you two? And you're having a baby? This is…this is just so unbelievable!" he stuttered.
"I know this must be a lot for you guys to take in," Chandler responded. "Hell, I know it's a lot for us to take in and we've been here the entire time. It just means a lot that we have your support."
Monica pulled his face down to meet hers and kissed him for the first time in front of their friends, to awwws from both girls and dude! from Joey.
"Also, please no one tell Ross yet," Monica inserted. "We're going to tell him really soon, we just want him to hear it from us."
"Yes, and preferably somewhere with an easy escape route for when he tries to kill me," Chandler added.
"He won't kill you," Monica argued.
"Dude he's totally going to kill you," Joey confirmed. The other four launched into a debate about just how angry Ross would be (at least no one was delusional enough to think he'd take the news as well as Phoebe, Rachel, and Joey had), while Chandler just sat back and watched. He watched the woman he loved joke around with their friends, the tension from earlier in the day gone completely and happier and lighter than he'd seen her in almost a month. It had been a relief to him that the other three had been so accepting; he couldn't even begin to imagine what she was feeling.
He felt a hand on the side of his face and turned to see Monica gazing back at him.
"You're quiet," she commented.
"I guess so," he responded simply.
"Any reason why?"
"I'm just happy," he grinned, leaning down slightly to kiss her. "You okay? Want to take a nap before dinner?"
"Nah, I'm all good," she yawned, then giggled as Chandler poked her side.
"We'll just leave you two alone for a bit," Joey smirked, standing up and ushering the girls across the hall while sending knowing glances back at them. Chandler just rolled his eyes and pressed a kiss to the top of Monica's head before standing up and pulling her with him.
"Chandler, I said I'm fine!" she protested, pulling her arm away. He just huffed out a laugh and wrapped an arm around her shoulder to steer her towards her bedroom. "Chandler!"
"Don't sleep then," Chandler shrugged, sitting down on the bed and kicking his shoes off. "Just come lie down with me and close your eyes for a bit."
She narrowed her eyes, but removed her shoes all the same and sat down next to him. He pulled her to his chest and lay backwards, arms around her. She sunk into him, inhaling and exhaling deeply.
"Well played," she mumbled sleepily, and Chandler chuckled fondly.
"So I win?"
Shut up," she grumbled, words becoming slurred as she fell asleep. Chandler tightened his hold on her and waited until he felt her breathing even out before he closed his own eyes and drifted off to sleep himself. He vaguely registered that they hadn't set an alarm, but quickly dismissed the thought. They didn't need to hide anymore. Rachel or Phoebe or Joey could walk in and they would already know. They could fall asleep together without the risk of being discovered. Tomorrow they planned to talk to Ross, then that was it.
Chandler fell asleep with a smile on his face.
"Are you sure you don't want me to say?" Chandler asked again, as Monica herded him towards the door. They had ended up sleeping for over three hours before Joey, Rachel, and Phoebe must've gotten bored and came back over in search of food, and Ross had arrived shortly after. Dinner was uneventful, though the others kept sending them looks and Chandler was a bit worried that Ross would notice. He never did, though, and ended up being the first one to leave, stating that he had a lot more unpacking to do.
Joey had left a few minutes ago, and Monica had suggested that Chandler join him. "We just spent the whole day together," she had said. "It'll be good for us to not be together every second." Chandler still didn't want to leave her alone, especially now that he didn't have to be over there in secret, but she just argued.
"Chandler, I'll be fine," she said with a roll of her eyes. "Phoebe and Rachel are here, you're literally right across the hall, nothing is going to happen. Go spend some time with Joey."
"But you'll call me if you need something?" he pushed.
"You'll be the first to know," she assured him, nudging him into the hall. She pulled him down for a kiss goodbye and smiled. "Come over first thing tomorrow?"
"I love you," Chandler said with a smile.
"I love you too," she replied. He leaned in to kiss her once more before she turned around to head back into her apartment and closed the door behind her. He knew she wanted to talk to the girls alone, and he should probably talk to Joey, but he couldn't help it. He missed her already. He had spent literally every minute with her today, and now after ten seconds apart he missed her. She was right, they did need to practice being apart.
He sighed, and turned around to follow his roommate into their apartment. Joey was sitting in his Barcalounger facing the door, arms crossed over his chest, waiting. Chandler stopped in the kitchen, leaned forward against the counter, and looked down at where his hands gripped the edge of the white surface.
"Lay it on me," he said, not looking up.
"Dude!" Joey exclaimed.
"I know," Chandler huffed, shaking his head. He glanced up briefly, then moved to sit in his own chair. He ran his hands over his face and back through his hair before settling his elbows on his knees and facing Joey straight on. "It's all…it's a lot," he admitted. "I don't even know where to start."
"How did this even happen?! I mean, how did none of us know?"
"I know," Chandler repeated. "It started in London, when you were off with that bridesmaid. Neither of us were having the best night, and it just kind of happened. Then it never…stopped happening," he finished with a shrug. "We didn't want to make it a big deal in case something didn't work out. We couldn't let ourselves become another Ross and Rachel thing. And now…"
"So are you guys, like, serious then?" Joey asked.
Chandler just smiled. There really weren't words for how serious about her he was, and definitely not words he was prepared to share with anyone in their group, even Joey. So he just answered simply, "I love her."
"Are you gonna get married then?"
"Nope."
"Why not?"
That was the more difficult question. A few weeks ago, when this had been so new, it had made perfect sense to go slowly; they didn't need to get married just because they were having a kid. They were young, it was too soon, they weren't ready yet, or any other excuse they had come up with at the time. Now, though, Chandler couldn't remember a single reason. Truthfully they had bonded over this pregnancy, become closer in the past two or so weeks than he could have ever imagined, and suddenly the idea of marriage didn't seem so ridiculous to him. Hell, if she wanted, he would marry her tomorrow.
She didn't want that though, or so she had said, and Chandler wasn't going to bring it up again when she had so much else to worry about. They didn't need to be married, after all.
"Because," he answered. "There's no reason to."
"I think getting a girl pregnant is a pretty good reason," Joey accused, beginning to raise his voice, and Chandler couldn't exactly blame him.
"I know, I know, and we did talk about it, we did," he explained. "But it just doesn't make sense for us right now. Things are going so well, and we're both really excited about having a baby, we don't want to rush anything. We're just gonna, you know, keep going the way we are."
Joey narrowed his eyes. "You're lying. I'm an actor, I can tell when someone's memorizing lines, and that was memorized!" he accused. Chandler was stuck. Joey was right, of course, that was what he and Monica had agreed, but not what he wanted. It had even sounded fake to him as he said it. But he couldn't admit what he was actually thinking, not to Joey, not to anyone. Not before he had talked to Monica. That was their key, wasn't it? Communication? That they came to each other first, talked about their feelings, all those things Chandler usually avoided in a relationship. So if he wasn't going to tell her—and he wasn't, not for a long time at least—he definitely wasn't going to tell Joey.
"It's fine, Joe," he said instead. "It works for us, and we're happy. Isn't that enough?"
"Yeah, I guess," Joey allowed. "I'm happy for you, man, I really am. You seem really excited about this."
"I am excited," Chandler grinned, something he knew he had been doing a lot lately; he was just that happy.
"I mean, if a girl I was seeing told me she was pregnant, I'd be seriously flipping out right now."
"I did at first," Chandler admitted. "I just kinda hid for a few days before I realized how stupid I was being. I mean, it's Monica. I couldn't lose her, no matter how scared I was. And the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I want this. I didn't know I could want this, but I do. After that it didn't seem so scary."
"Wow," Joey shook his head. "Good on you man, all grown up and everything."
Chandler smiled and reached for the TV remote; nothing else needed to be said. Chandler wasn't ready to divulge every feeling he had for Monica, and Joey knew him well enough not to ask. They weren't like the girls in that they didn't need to have long heart-to-hearts to feel connected, just sitting in front of the TV for a while was good enough for them.
It had been too long since they'd done this, Chandler realized. Ever since London, any free moment he had he tried to spend with Monica, leaving him a lot less time to have "guy time" with his best friend. It was nice, and now that they didn't have to worry about sneaking around he'd have more time to spend here.
It was already late when they got back from dinner, so they didn't watch for too long before Chandler decided to call it a night. He wanted to be up early so he could go and see Monica before the rest of the gang congregated there for breakfast. He got up and headed in the direction of his room with a quick "night" thrown over his shoulder to Joey.
"Wait," Joey stopped him, and he turned around in his doorway. "I know you're gonna get the big brother talk from Ross at some point, so I just wanna say…be careful. Like, don't hurt her obviously, but don't let her hurt you either. Take care of yourself, okay man?"
Chandler smiled at his roommate's concern. "Yeah, thanks Joe," he nodded before closing the door behind him.
It was early when Chandler crossed the hall the next morning; Monica's bedroom door was still closed, so the girls must have stayed up pretty late talking last night. He could only imagine the details they had wanted, and honestly he'd just rather not know what they talked about when he wasn't around (a total lie, he knew he'd ask Monica as soon as he saw her).
He crept into her room and slid his shoes off before lying down next to her, over the covers. He wasn't tired anymore, so he just lay there and watched her sleep. She was stunningly beautiful, something he never failed to notice, even before they got together, and he couldn't help run a hand softly down her cheek. She began to stir as he did so, and she rolled closer to him as if on instinct.
"Mmmm…Chandler?" she mumbled without opening her eyes.
"Shhh you can go back to sleep babe," he whispered.
"No, no, I'm up," she groaned, slowly blinking her eyes and reaching her arms out to him. He pulled her closer and kissed the top of her head. "Seriously, I need to get up," she repeated, pushing him away and rolling onto her back so she could sit up.
"Mon, it's Sunday, you can sleep as long as you want," he reasoned.
"No, if I don't get up soon, I never will," she argued. "This stupid pregnancy thing is making me so tired all the time, I'm gonna want to take a nap later today anyways. And I need to at least be awake enough to tell Ross today."
Shit. Ross. They had agreed to talk to him today, hadn't they? He hadn't been nervous before, but telling the others had been so easy that he was waiting for the other shoe to drop. Before he could say anything, Monica had shot out of bed and Chandler knew exactly what was going on. He followed close behind her to the bathroom, where he saw her hunched over the toilet. He kept his distance for a moment, unsure of how much space she wanted, and instead went to get a glass of water from the kitchen for when she was done.
He set it on the bathroom counter as she stood up on shaky legs, and immediately his arm was round her waist.
"You okay?" he asked.
"That was nothing," she rolled her eyes, and he smiled down at her.
"You're amazing," he said fondly, leaning down to kiss her forehead.
"Oh shut up," she moaned. "I'm all sweaty and gross and I just woke up. You're not winning any points here."
"Who said anything about points?" Chandler asked in fake surprise. "I'm not allowed to compliment my girlfriend for no reason?"
"Not before I've showered, you're not," Monica lightly slapped him on the hip and shoved him out of the bathroom. "I'll be out in a bit." She closed the door behind herself and Chandler went to get the coffee started. Rachel emerged from her room a few minutes later, shooting him a glare that clearly said don't talk to me before coffee as he pushed a mug towards her.
They sat in silence until she woke up fully, the shower still running. Chandler would be worried that she was taking so long, but he knew she was starting to get tired and sore and the hot water was providing a temporary relief.
"So," Rachel began finally. "Monica filled us in last night."
"I figured she would," Chandler responded slowly, unsure where this was going.
"Are you really up for this?" she asked. "Because no offence but this whole 'super boyfriend, super dad' thing is really unlike you."
Chandler laughed. "It is, isn't it?" She wasn't amused (whether it was the early hour or the topic, he wasn't sure, but either way Chandler sobered up) and he continued. "I don't know what to tell you, Rach. I want to be around, I want to be here for her, and for the baby. It feels right, like this is what was supposed to happen the whole time. I could never give this up for the world."
Rachel was speechless and the water shut off in the bathroom. Monica emerged moments later with a towel wrapped under her arms and another around her hair. She sent Chandler a smile—clearly in a much better mood than when she got in—which he returned shyly, as she made her way across the floor to her room to change.
When the door closed behind her again, Chandler turned back to Rachel, who was staring at him with a mixture of shock and awe.
"You're really serious aren't you?" she asked, eyes wide.
"Umm…yeah, pretty much," he shrugged, suddenly uncomfortable with her attention on him. Just then, the front door opened to reveal Phoebe, and now Chandler really wanted Monica to hurry up because he was starting to feel cornered by the two girls and Phoebe hadn't even said anything yet.
"Hey you guys," she greeted, hanging her purse and coat by the door. "What's up?"
"He's actually in love with her," Rachel answered out of the blue, and Chandler felt his cheeks heat up because duh but that didn't mean they all needed to talk about it.
"Ooh he totally is!" Phoebe agreed. "Look at him, he's so embarrassed!"
"I don't like where this is going…" Chandler started, but the two girls just continued to talk over him.
"…just waiting for something to freak you out…"
"…but what if you two get married…"
"…honestly have never seen two people so cute…"
Just then he felt arms wrap around him from behind.
"My savior," he exhaled, tilting his head to the side so that it made contact with Monica's.
"Everything okay?" she asked.
"They're torturing me," he informed her. "Tell them to stop."
"Guys, stop torturing Chandler," she repeated, but Phoebe and Rachel just shot them knowing glances and Chandler was no less wary of the knowing looks on their faces. So what if he was in love? They had been going out for almost six months, he was allowed to be in love.
"When are you guys telling Ross?" Rachel asked, and Chandler froze a little bit at the mention of the dreaded event. Dread may be a bit strong, but he certainly wasn't looking forward to telling his best friend that he had knocked up his little sister.
"Whenever he gets here," Monica answered. "So when he does if you guys could be…somewhere else, we would really appreciate that."
"Oh yeah of course honey, whatever you need!" Rachel exclaimed. "We can leave now if you two need to talk before he gets here."
"I think we're okay," she looked to him for confirmation, and he gave it with a kiss on her cheek. "We've talked about how we want this to go, and I think if we talk about it any more we'll just freak ourselves out."
"More than we already have," Chandler added.
"Exactly," Monica nodded.
"If you say so," Phoebe shrugged. Just then, the door opened again, and Ross shuffled in. The girls looked at them, before mumbling excuses and heading across the hall, most likely to wake Joey up.
Chandler was shaking. It was time. Monica was still standing pressed to his side, but no closer than they had stood in the past and Ross didn't seem to notice anything out of the ordinary. Oh, if he only knew, thought Chandler. He put his half-empty coffee mug on the counter behind him and wordlessly moved to the couch. Monica had wanted to take the lead on this one, too, but he was to be right there the whole time.
"What's up guys?" Ross asked, after no one had said anything since the girls left almost a full minute ago.
"Ross…there's something I need to tell you."
Her voice was steadier than it had been the day before when she had had this same conversation with the girls, and Chandler wondered if she was actually calmer about this than she had led him to believe, or if she had just gotten better at hiding it.
"Mon, what's wrong?" Ross asked, looking between his sister and Chandler, whose eyes hadn't left Monica the entire time.
She took a deep breath and moved to lean against the back of the couch near where Chandler was sitting, probably so Ross could see them both at once (and to create a buffer for when Ross ultimately went to attack him, Chandler's brain added helpfully).
"When we were in London, some stuff happened, and well, Chandler and I have been sort of…dating for the past few months."
Ross blinked slowly and Chandler squeezed his eyes shut, unable to watch.
"Wow, well, I can't say I'm not surprised…" Ross began, but Monica cut him off.
"That's not all," she reached down to squeeze Chandler's hand, and Chandler had to take a deep breath to keep himself from passing out from nerves.
"I'm pregnant."
*gasp* how will Ross react? stay tuned folks! if you wanna find out quicker, drop me a review...they make me more motivated to write!