Chapter 4

Monica's jaw dropped even further as she read through the article containing the details of her supposed accident. "Not possible." She kept mouthing to herself, though Chandler could here her.

"If your here, then who's in that hospital bed?" Chandler asked looking at her for some sort of answer.

Monica shrugged. "How should I know."

"Come on, we need to go somewhere to talk, somewhere quiet." Chandler insisted, going to reach for her hand. His hand went straight through like it had the day before. "Ok this is getting to be to weird."

Monica nodded in agreement as they started walking towards Central Park. "I feel like i'm trapped in the Twilight Zone or something. Weird things have been happening to me since yesterday."

"What do you mean weird things?" Chandler asked.

"You know, stuff like what happened here just now with our hands. I feel like I've been losing track of time and people have been ignoring me. Some guy almost trampled right over me yesterday and didn't even give it another thought, he just kept walking." She replayed the events of the past 24 hours to him and he kept nodding for her to go on. "The weirdest thing is that I keep having flashbacks."

"What kinds of flashbacks?" Chandler asked as they found a bench to sit on in a less crowded area of the park.

"I don't know, it's like i'm driving and all of a sudden headlights are coming straight for me and then nothing." Monica said and trembled as she had another flash.

"Monica are you ok?" Chandler asked worriedly. Her face had went even paler than it had been before if that was possible.

"Yeah." She mumbled, breathing deeply to calm her nerves.

"Alright, I'm no doctor or anything even remotely close to it, but I can tell there is something seriously wrong here." Chandler said.

Monica gave him a look as if to say 'duh'.

Chandler smiled slightly at her look. "It's just, you having this flashbacks, the article in the paper with your picture, the fact that your hand slips through mine...it's like your a ghost."

"What are you talking about? There's no such thing." Monica said with a burst of laughter.

"Just think about it." Chandler urged.

The more Monica thought about it, the more his theory made sense. "Wait..wait a minute. Say you are right and I am some sort of ghost...are you telling me that doesn't freak you out? Most people would be running away screaming."

Chandler nodded. "Don't think I didn't think about it." He said only half-joking. He then looked at her seriously. "There's just something about you." He said and wished he could stroke a piece of her fair, a wayward hair that had fallen over her face. "It's like fate brought us together."

"Fate huh." Monica smiled.

Chandler ignored the comment and continued. "Why is it that is seems like i'm the only one who can see you?" He questioned and noticed Monica nodding along. "Yesterday after I first asked you out and you disappeared, my friend Phoebe showed up not 2 seconds later. She said she had been watching me for the past few minutes and that it looked like I had been talking to myself, she had never seen you. Then she comes in when I'm talking to my friend Joey, going on about some accident that had happened that morning, the same accident which the paper claims you were in. Tell me that fate didn't have a part in that."

"I guess." Monica reluctantly agreed. "That makes sense. It would certainly explain why people have been ignoring me, including my own brother." She said and rolled her eyes. Her eyes widened as something dawned on her. "Wait, if I'm a 'ghost' as you say, that means I'm dead." She stood up and started pacing nervously. "I can't be dead, Chandler, I have a little girl, she's only 3 and I'm the only parent she's got."

Chandler nodded understandingly. If there had been any doubt in his mind that she wasn't the same woman as was in the accident, her admission to having a daughter just threw any doubts away.

He stood up to look her directly in the eyes. "Monica calm down."

She looked at him like he had 2 heads. "I can't calm down, don't you understand? I have a daughter, I have a life."

"I know that but remember, the article says you are in a coma, meaning you are still to some extent alive." He reminded her.

That brought a little smile to Monica's face, but it quickly disappeared. "So what am I some figment of your imagination?"

"I don't know what you are exactly, but I do know that we were supposed to meet. I am supposed to help you. With what exactly, I don't know." He said. "But I intend to find out if it kills me. We will get you back to your little girl if it's the last thing I do." He insisted. "Can you trust me?"

Monica looked down at her feet before looking back up into his eyes. "Yes, I trust you." She said confidently.

"Good." He smiled at her. "Now come on." He motioned for her to follow him.

"Where are we going?" She asked.

"To find your body." He said and laughed slightly when he realized how strange that must have sounded. He smiled when he realized that she was laughing to.

As they walked to the hospital, Chandler wanted to hear more about Monica. He was feeling himself more and more drawn to her by the minute. Could it be possible to love someone who wasn't really real?

"So your a chef?" He asked her.

She nodded. "I am the head chef at Allesandros."

Chandler grinned. "Really? I eat there a lot, mostly for lunch. I work in the office tower across the street."

"Small world." Monica laughed.

"Your not kidding." Chandler exclaimed. "So tell me about your daughter." He was taking all the back ways he knew the get to the hospital to avoid people giving him strange looks.

Monica smiled at the mention of her daughter. "Well her name's Hannah. She's 3 years old and the light of my life."

"I figured." Chandler smiled.

"She goes to preschool. She loves to shop, which is my friend Rachel's fault." Monica said shaking her head with a smile. "She's perfect."

"Sounds like." Chandler said with a laugh. "Of course she would have to be with you for a mother." He quipped.

"Well aren't you just the charmer." Monica smiled. "But thank you and I don't just mean for the compliment. Thank you for your help, as odd as this situation may be."

Chandler smiled appreciatively. "Well it's not everyday I get to spend time with a beautiful woman, believe me."

"No girlfriend?" Monica questioned.

He shook his head. "Not right now. I've had a couple but never anything really serious. My two last girlfriends ended up cheating on me. One went back to her ex-husband, the other was sleeping with her co-star."

"I'm sorry." Monica said sincerely. How could those women do something like that? She could tell even just from knowing him for a day that he was a great guy.

Chandler shrugged as if it was no big deal. "It's ok. So what about you? Any guys in your life?"

Monica shook her head.

"None?" Chandler asked surprised. Surely a woman like her would have guys lined up for miles.

"Nope." Monica sighed. "Most guys find out I have a daughter and they take off, so I just don't really date period."

"You agreed to go out on a date with me." Chandler reminded her.

Monica smiled. "Well maybe I could tell you were just different."

Chandler's face broke into a mile wide grin, but he wiped the look off his face before she noticed. "What about Hannah's father?"

It was now Monica's turn to shrug. "He was an ex-boyfriend of mine. His name was Fun-Bobby. We dated for a couple months, slept together once. We broke up, I found out I was pregnant and told him. I gave him the option to be involved, but he didn't want to be."

Chandler's heart broke for the pain in her voice. "I'm sorry to hear that. He's an idiot then."

Monica laughed. "Well his nickname definitely suited him. Fun was all he was in for."

Chandler laughed along with her as they finally reached the back entrance to the hospital. "Well this is it. You ready?"

She nodded but he noticed she was tense. He offered her a reassuring smile. "It'll be ok." He whispered.

"Ok, let's do this." Monica said and without thinking, grabbed for his hand. For the first time since she had met him, she could feel his touch and he hers. It was like electricity shot through them both. They both pulled away and laughed.

"My lady." Chandler said and held the door open for her.