Then

Chapter 4: Laughed Until We Cried

Ok, seriously, this is the last part I have written so far, that I wrote the other night when I was on a roll writing… so…it actually WILL be a while before I update this again. I know I've been updating fast…who knew that if you don't write for like, 5 years, you have 5 years' worth of writing in your head that wants to come out?

_._._

"Go long!" Ben yelled to his little cousin. In return, Phoebe opened her arms as wide as possible, not sure what he wanted her to do. Ben laughed. "No, run further," he motioned, so she did so, taking a few giant leaps forward. He and Chandler were playing football with all of the little kids in Chandler and Monica's backyard while Monica, Ross, and Rachel sat on the deck talking after having dinner. "This isn't tackle football, Em," he looked down at his sister, who was grabbing onto his leg so he couldn't walk.

"I can tackle you if I want to," Emma grinned at him.

"Phoebe, ready?" he looked at the little girl, who nodded, so he tossed her the ball.

"Yay! We win!" Erica shouted, jumping up and down as Phoebe caught the ball.

"We're not done yet, so you guys can't win yet," Jack crossed his arms. "And you're cheating! Emma is holding onto Ben!"

"Well, then we'll just have to cheat, too!" Chandler grabbed Phoebe, throwing her over his shoulder. She shrieked with laughter, her dark brown hair falling in her face. "Now, we have the ball!"

_._._

"Mon?" Chandler walked through the door, surprised when he didn't find Monica in the kitchen, where she usually was when he got home. "Mon?" he set the mail on the counter before walking upstairs.

"Hey!" she quickly popped out of the twins' room, causing Chandler to jump. "Shh, they're still napping," she grinned. "And I don't care how late they are up tonight, because they are napping right now! Which is good, because I have a surprise for you!" she grabbed him by the hand, practically giddy, leading him into their room.

"Ooh, afternoon sex?" Chandler asked, getting what he referred to as a 'Monica look' in return.

"Wait here," she stopped him, continuing into their bathroom.

"Oh, great, 'cause all of my favorite surprises come from the bathroom!" he yelled after her, but she reappeared a second later, hands behind her back, unable to contain her grin. "What's going on, Mon?" her only answer was removing the small plastic stick from behind her back, and his mouth fell open. "What? No," he stepped forward in disbelief. "No way," he shook his head, and she motioned for him to follow her into the bathroom. "It's not possible…"

"It's not probable," she corrected. "Possible, not probable," she grinned, moving from her spot in front of the bathtub so that he could see behind her. There were at least 20 more pregnancy tests lining the bathtub. All positive.

"Oh my god!" he pulled her in kissing her passionately before hugging her tightly, spinning her in circles. "Oh my god," he repeated, still holding her in his arms, not bothering to try to hide the tears in his eyes. "So," he pulled back, "how hard did the person checking you out laugh at you for buying a coupe hundred dollar's worth of pregnancy tests?"

"Way to ruin the moment, by the way," Monica hit him, teasingly. "But, oh, she was smirking, especially since I already had two babies with me," Monica laughed, and Chandler's eyes widened, but she continued. "But I wanted to be 200 percent sure that it wasn't just a false positive. Or two or three or…ten…false positives."

"Holy shit, we're gonna have three babies," Chandler said, referring to the four-month-old twins in the next room. "Three!"

"And a year ago we were struggling for one!" she grinned, which he couldn't help but return. "I'm going to have a baby."

"Oh my god, Mon," he squeezed her tight, kissing the top of her head.

"This is good right now, right?"

"This is good anytime," he pulled back, wanting to look her in the eye. "Really, really, really good."

"Good," she smiled, hugging him again.

"So," Chandler pulled back. "How did you pee enough for all of those?"

"And the winner for the most jokes at the most inappropriate time is…"

"You're not used to me yet?"

Monica laughed, wiping the tears from her eyes. "No, I am. And I had two big gulps of tea," she motioned to the two over-sized gas station cups on the counter. "I love you so, so, so, so much," she smiled up at him, tears still in her eyes. "I just can't believe it, ya know?"

"Me, neither," Chandler agreed, wiping a few tears from her cheeks. Those were the good kind of tears. Happy tears. Leaning down to place a small kiss on her temple, he sighed with content. "I love you so, so, so, so much, too…" he trailed off, resting his forehead against her. "And a couple million more so's…"

_._._

"No fair, no fair!" Phoebe continued to laugh, wiggling in her father's arms. Erica ran over in her defense, grabbing his legs to try to stop him from moving.

"Here, Jack," Chandler tossed him the ball, and Jack took it, running up to the deck with it.

"Now we win, 'cause you can't get the ball back!" he yelled as he ran up the stairs, and into his mother's arms.

"Not fair, not fair!!" the girls all yelled from down below, Chandler and Ben practically doubled over in laughter.

"They can't get the ball back, so I win!" Jack held up the football in victory, causing the three adults not involved in the game to laugh as well.

"Your kids," Rachel motioned to Ross, "and your kids," she motioned to Monica. "Why on Earth would this game get competitive?"

_._._

And my mind went back to a few years ago

When we tried so long

We almost gave up hope

And I remember you

Comin' in and tellin' me the news

Oh man we were livin'

Goin' crazy in the kitchen

We danced and screamed and held each other tight

We laughed until we cried

(Laughed Until We Cried, Jason Aldean)

_._._

to be continued

_._._

I feel the need to say that…anything you're probably wondering, is something that will be answered in an upcoming chapter. And, I SWEAR to god, I am working on Whatever It Is. It's just that this super mushy, overly sweet, kinda makes you wanna puke a little bit stuff comes to me so much easier than the more comedy-esque stuff. Unless you want me to change it from being funny, and, like, kill Chandler. Huh. I could kill Chandler. Hm. I'll go ponder that one while I read some stuff for world civ *grumbles* stupid freshman level class I have to take 'cause I changed my major….

Now, go review, please :)