XXX
It has been three months sense Monica and Chandler got together. Today is their anniversary, and Chandler has something special planned for them tonight. He put candles all over the house, and cooked a nice steak dinner (with Rachel's assistance) Ross and Rachel are keeping Kaylee and Ethan over night tonight so they don't have to worry about them and can have the whole night to themselves.
Chandler took the day off work so he had time to set up. He bought her a dozen red roses and another dozen to spread all over the bed. Today Monica had to work and won't get off until five.
XXX
Five' o'clock came around fast. But Chandler got everything done in time. He filled two glasses of wine, and put the CD into the radio ready for him to turn on when the time was right. He set it to her favorite song 'The Way You Look Tonight'.
Once he was all set, he sat at the kitchen table quietly so he can hear her car pull into the driveway.
Chandler checked the clock on the stove that read 5:52. Chandler glanced at the door waiting for her to appear….She didn't. Then he picked up the phone to call her work and see if she left yet.
He got no answer
So he decided to call Rachel and ask if Monica was over there, or if she knew where she might be.
"No, sorry Chandler, she's not here." Rachel said on the other end of the phone. "Did you try calling her?" She asked after it was silent for awhile.
"Yeah, I tried to call her at the restaurant but no one answered. Can you call me if you hear from her?" Chandler said getting a little panicked fearing the worst.
"Yeah of course I'll let you know as soon as I hear from her." Rachel said hearing the panic and concern in Chandler's voice. "Chandler relax I'm sure she is fine, maybe she got stopped by a train on her way home or something." Rachel said trying to calm him down.
"Yeah…your right. Thanks Rach." He said then hung up.
He went over to the window to look and see if she pulled up yet.
She didn't
XXX
Chandler checked his watch for the eleventh time that night
"7:28…must have been a long train." Chandler said to himself. He pulled out his cell phone to try to call Monica again.
By the fifth ring someone finally picked up. "Hello…?" It was Monica
"Mon, where the hell have you been? I've been trying to reach you! I called Rachel and she hasn't heard from you either! God Monica what happened why haven't you picked up your phone, I've been worried sick?!" Chandler yelled into the phone
He could hear her sniffing on the other end like she had been crying. He felt bad for snapping at her like that, he thought he should apologize. But before he could she started to speak "Chandler…I-I don't think we should see each other anymore. I don't like how you hug me or kiss me…I never did, I just did it so I will have a father for Kaylee…her father is back and I-I don't need you anymore." Then the line went dead. Chandler looked at the phone shock as to what he just heard.
XXX
He finally let go of her throat. Monica started balling after she hung up the phone; she dropped to her knees.
"Get up!" He yelled at her
"WHY!? What do you want from me? Do you want money, do you want the house?" Monica asked the person standing in front of her.
"I already told you what I want. I want you and Kaylee back into my life. Forget them you can come back with me we can travel, be a real family again." Richard said smiling
"You think smiling is going to change everything! You think you can just come back and everything will be the same! Kaylee doesn't even remember you; she will never call you dad. Chandler is the closest thing to a dad she has." Monica said getting up to leave.
Richard grabbed her by the arm roughly "You walk out that door and YOU will be sorry!" He said between grunted teeth
Monica pulled her arm away "You touch one of your filthy fingers on my little girl's head, and YOU are the one that will be sorry!" And with that she left.
"We will see about that." Richard said
XXX
Chandler blew out all the candles and put the food in the trash along with the red roses. He then made his way up to the bedroom and looked around. He decided not to clean up the rest of the roses, he just wanted to go home and go to bed. He grabbed a piece of paper off her nightstand and wrote a quick letter to Monica before he left.
XXX
Monica ran out of Richard's apartment as fast as she could. She just let the tears fall, fall fast. She didn't care if people starred. She didn't dare look back. She just kept running as fast as she could until she reached her car. She got in and drove home dodging in and out of traffic as fast as she could with out risking getting a ticket. She grabbed her phone out of her purse and dialed Chandler's number.
No answer
"Damn it." She said over the people honking at her driving by.
When she arrived back at her house she quickly ran in "Chandler?..." She yelled in every room that she ran into "Chandler?" She ran up the stairs to see if he may be in the bedroom.
When she opened the door she found roses scattered around the bed. She walked over to the bed where she found a letter.
Monica,
I'm sorry I wasted your time, I will leave now and you don't have to worry about seeing me or Ethan again. Richard hurt you once, it could happen again. I would have NEVER hurt you. Even though our relationship may have been fake to you. I enjoyed every minute of it, I meant every word. Hope you and Richard have a nice life together.
Love,
Billy
"Oh now wasn't that nice."
Monica jumped and turned around to find Richard. She gasped. Richard covered her mouth with his hand to keep her from screaming and put his other hand around her neck. He pushed her back against the wall. Monica started crying again.
"Now, what did I tell you about leaving?" He pushed his hand harder against her mouth.
XXX
Chandler was driving back home. He was replaying Monica's last words in his head over and over again. 'Why did Monica do it?...I thought we actually had something there….Why tonight?...Why was she crying, if she didn't actually love me?...I mean, her husband is back.' Chandler asked himself.
XXX
Monica did the only thing that can to mind. She bit him.
"OWW! You bitch!" Richard slapped her hard on the face. Hard enough to knock Monica on the floor.
Richard kicked her in the stomach over and over again, he was about to kick her one last time when he heard the door open behind him.
"I'm sorry I forgot to leave this. I don't need it anymore." Chandler said with his head low. Holding up a red velvet box in his hand. When he finally looked up. To meet Richards blood shot eyes and grunted teeth. He looked down beside Richard to find Monica lying there on the floor pasted out cold.
"Oh my God Monica." Chandler said in a whisper. He started to walk towards her when Richard spoke up.
"You take one more step and I kill her." Richard said pulling a gun out of his coat.
Chandler cleared his throat. It sounded a lot louder than intended. It was really quiet, all you could hear was Monica's heavy breathing.
Chandler didn't know what to say or do. But just standing there waiting for the grass to grow wasn't helping matters. "What do you want from her? Why do you have to do this? Why don't you put the gun down, leave, and we won't call the cops…" Chandler said gently moving a little closer
"SHUT THE HELL UP!" Richard yelled "If you take one more step, I swear to God I will shoot her." Richard warned
Chandler looked at the gun. He knew that gun. And he knew it wasn't real. They both knew that. It was one of Ethan's fake guns that he left here for when they came over. He got it for him for his birthday.
"What if she is pregnant, do you want to kill the baby and risk having to go through living knowing…that you killed a mother and a baby in the womb?"
"SHUT UP!" Richard yelled once more
Chandler took a deep breath and then took one more step towards Monica. The only thing in the way of Monica and himself, the only thing stopping him from getting to her. Was Richard.
"Look at Monica. If you hurt her now, how is she supposed to come back to you if you beat her up? Are you willing to kill Kaylee's mother?" Chandler said sadly looking down at Monica.
Once Richard looked down at Monica on the floor. With her face scratched up holding her stomach where he kicked her. Chandler immediately without hesitation jumped at Richard causing him to fall to the ground. He quickly knocked the gun out of his hand. Then punched Richard so hard in the face it knocked him out cold.
He got up and rushed over to Monica's side. He brushed the back of his hand over her face, it made her stir and wince in pain "Sorry. Monica I am going to get you help. Don't worry." He said and picked her up gently. He grabbed the phone from her night stand and ran out the door.
He hurried out the door and gently laid Monica in the back seat of his car. He got in, turned the car on and rushed to the hospital. He picked up the phone that he grabbed on his way out and dialed 911.
When a police officer answered; Chandler explained what happened and gave them Monica's address to where it all happened. At first they were mad and worried that he just left and didn't stay to make sure Richard didn't get away. But Chandler told them Monica's condition and had to get her to the hospital right away. Once Chandler hung up he then called the hospital.
"Hello! I have a severely injured woman here who needs assistance right away!" Chandler said into the phone while driving in and out of traffic.
Once he gave them all the information needed he hung up and turned his attention back to Monica "Monica, it's going to be okay." Her eyes started to close slowly "Monica! You have to keep your eyes open. Okay, stay with me Monica!" He said glancing back at her every once in awhile.
Monica could hardly hear what Chandler was saying clearly. He looked like a big blur to her. But she new that she had to stay awake. For Kaylee…for him.
XXX
Once Chandler arrived at the hospital he pulled right up to the doors and stopped. Paramedics came rushing out. They opened up the back door of the car and carefully got Monica out.
Monica opened her eyes, looked at Chandler and gave him a small smile.
Chandler who was still sitting in the front seat of the car gladly returned the smile. He then hurried to park his car. Once it was in a parking spot he ran in to go and be with Monica.
XXX
When he got through the sliding glass doors; he saw Monica being lifted on to a gurney. He ran over to her side. Monica looked up at Chandler and gently touched his cheek "I love you." See said. Then the paramedics rushed her to ER. Chandler's face was tingling by her gently touch. She felt so weak….She look so weak.
Chandler paced the waiting room. He didn't want to call anyone until he had news on Monica's condition. No use having them worry and waiting in the waiting room with him. He expectualy didn't want Ethan or Kaylee to be there.
A couple hours went by and he finally decided to sit down. He started to get into what was being played on the T.V. in the waiting room when a doctor came over to him.
"Chandler Bing?" He asked
Chandler stood up quickly "Y-Yes."
"Hello, I'm Doctor Connolly, Monica Geller's doctor." He said extending his hand for Chandler to shake.
Chandler shook his hand and he continued "We did a CT Scan. We found that Ms. Geller has three broken bones and a fractured cheek bone." He said looking at his chart "She is sleeping now but if you would like to see her you may."
"Yes please." Chandler said quietly
"Alright, follow me and I will show you to her room." Dr. Connolly said and started to walk towards Monica's room
Chandler just nodded and followed him to Monica's room.
When he got there he could tell she was tired and in pain. She had a pretty bad black eye, and her chest was wrapped up in gauze.
He went over to her bed side and sat in the chair next to her. He grabbed her hand gently and rubbed his thumb over the back on her hand, careful not to touch where her IV was.
Monica opened her eyes slowly at the soft and gently touch. "Chandler?"
"Yeah. It's me." He said with a small smile "Go back to sleep, you look tried." He said and without arguing she did as she was told and closed her eyes.