AN - I'm just gonna leave this right here...
"Wait, what did you just say?" He asked quickly, looking at Monica who seemed slightly confused.
"Which part?" Monica asked, not sure which part Chandler had missed. She honestly hadn't thought he was even listening, which was fine since she had mostly been talking to Ross anyway.
"Whose house did your mom get you a catering job at?" Chandler asked again, leaning forward slightly, his eyes beginning to narrow.
"Richard Burke," Monica said, still confused as to why Chandler seemed so alarmed, "why, you don't know him, do you?"
Chandler realized now that all of his friends were staring at him curiously, his reaction to a name he shouldn't know was strange and he had no reason for it, but he didn't care. His heart was pacing as he stood up, panic setting in. "Monica, can I talk to you alone for a second?" Chandler asked pointedly.
"What's going on?" Rachel asked, not wanting to miss the explanation for Chandler's sudden outburst.
Chandler didn't wait for a response from Monica, but instead walked across the short space to her seat and grabbed her by the hand to haul her away from their friends, who stared on with wide eyes.
"Chandler!" Monica exclaimed, down right dumbfounded by Chandler's behavior, "that wasn't exactly subtle! They're all going to be asking questions now, on top of the ones I have for you," she said pointing her index finger into his chest as they stood by the phone and the bathrooms, out of ear shot from their friends.
"Mon, I'm sorry, but you can't take that catering job," Chandler said, hurriedly.
"What?!" Monica asked, confusion clouding her features.
"You can not take that catering job." Chandler said it again, emphasizing as much as he could to show how important it was to him.
"Why not?" Monica asked.
Why not? It was a fair question, Chandler reasoned, but he knew there was no way he could tell her the truth. Would she even believe him if he did, he wondered.
Monica didn't wait for Chandler to finish, "Chandler, does this have something to do with Dr. Burke? You don't know him, do you?" She asked. She crossed her arms over her chest, bitterly confused.
Chandler considered his options. "Do you trust me?" He asked, pulling her arms apart and taking her hands in his, finding her eyes in the process.
"What?" Monica asked, staring back into his eyes, searching for some sort of answer.
"Do you trust me?" He asked again, slower, more pointedly.
"I...yes...of course, but Chandler-"
"Then please, don't take that catering job. Can you just trust me when I tell you that nothing good will come from it?" Chandler pleaded, his eyes begging.
"Chandler..." Monica whispered, "I really need the money." And it was true, she had barely worked recently and she definitely needed this job, but more importantly she needed an actual explanation from Chandler as to what was going on.
"I'll give you the money," Chandler offered without blinking. "I'll double it, whatever he was going to pay you, I'll double it."
Monica was taken aback, her eyes widening. "Chandler, I don't want your money. Don't you get it, I want to work."
Chandler dropped her hands getting frustrated, her stubbornness making him impatient. He turned suddenly from her and slammed his fist on the wall behind him, "Dammit, Monica! Then I'll throw a God damn dinner party and you can cater it, just don't take this job!"
His sudden anger caught her off guard, but she quickly recovered, immediate indignation at being spoken to that way rising in her chest. The group, who had heard Chandler yell, showed up just in time to see Chandler turn back to face Monica after pulling his fist back from the wall. As he turned back to look at her, his face met her hand in a slap that should have stung had he not been so blindly panicked. Her eyes bore into him, full of fire.
"Don't you ever talk to me like that again, Chandler!" She scolded him. "I don't know who you think you are, but I'll do whatever I damn well please."
Chandler's frustration hadn't subsided with her slap, in fact the opposite had occurred. He was in a full state of panic now, her rage at him only spurring him on further. His desperation to keep her from working at Richard Burke's house was pushing him to a state of alarm he had only experienced a couple of times in his life. Both of those times also involved Richard, and an overwhelming fear that Chandler was going to lose Monica to him. He knew the threat Richard posed, and he wasn't going to stand idly by just to wait and see what happened. He took a step towards her as soon as her hand lowered, grabbing her wrists to keep her from trying to hit him again. He did the only thing he could think of, and leaned in to kiss her. The kiss was passionate, as heated as they both felt in that moment, but short lived as he felt several pairs of hands pull him away from Monica.
Monica stared at Chandler in shock. What had he just done? Ross had hauled Chandler away from her and now had Chandler pinned up against the wall, Joey trying desperately to pull Ross back, but struggling in the tight space. Chandler wasn't fighting back though, his hands were thrown in the air to show that he was relenting. Monica knew he was angry enough to fight back, but his anger was not with Ross, and as she looked in his eyes she saw that it wasn't even really with her.
"I'm the guy that is crazy in love with you," Chandler said, answering her earlier question. Ross' arm was still pinned up against his chest, but it slowly lowered as he stared at Chandler, confused and shocked by his words.
Chandler didn't care, didn't care that all of his friends were staring at him like he was crazy. Maybe he was crazy, he didn't know, he focused on Monica's eyes and told her the truth, for the first time since he had opened his eyes in the hospital bed months before. "I'm the guy that somehow gets you to fall for me too. I'm the guy that you end up marrying, finally, after I propose three times." His friends continued to stare, Joey's hand covered his face, trying to avoid watching the train wreck in front of him, Chandler didn't care. He took a step closer to her as he continued, lowering is voice now. "I'm the guy that realizes that I would do anything to make you happy when we find out we can't conceive. I'm the guy that begs a teenage girl to give us her child, and I'm the guy that holds your hand when she gives birth to our beautiful twins." He grabs Monica's hand now, this time none of his friends reach to stop him. He pulls her hand up to his chest, as he continues to speak. "I'm sorry Monica, I'm sorry if all of this is crazy and confusing. I feel crazy and confused every time I'm around you. But the truth is, ever since I woke up from that accident, I've had a dream stuck in my head, and I just can't shake it loose, and I don't want to." He stared into her eyes, searching for something, any kind of response.
Finally, Monica found her breath. She inhaled deeply, trying to clear her head so she could let his confused and muddled words try to make some sort of sense. She looked at her friends, her brother, half the coffee house, that stood on looking at them now. She couldn't, she just couldn't make sense of it. "I-I'm sorry-I have to go," and with that she pulled away from him and ran to escape his gaze.
For a moment, Chandler just stood there, watching her run. He felt dumbfounded, he just put it all out there, and she ran from him. It was too much, too soon. He knew he would have to tell her eventually, but in a moment of desperation he jumped the gun and scared the crap out of her. Rachel was the first to respond, as she threw her apron at Gunther, asking him hastily to cover for her she ran swiftly after Monica, Phoebe was not far behind. Chandler decided he didn't care if they beat him to her. He'd explain, better than he just had done. She would understand, he knew she would. He began to make his way after them, but was stopped again. He looked back at the hand hanging onto his shoulder, prepared to tell Ross to shove it, but was surprised to see Joey instead.
"Let her go, man," he said simply.
"But Joe, I-" Chandler began, desperate to explain to the only person who had any clue what he was saying why he couldn't let her just walk out of his life.
"I know," Joey says reassuringly, but his hand still holding his friend firmly in place. "I know, man. But that was...a lot. Give her a minute." And with that he guided Chandler back over to the couch. Chandler sank into the large, overstuffed piece of furniture, suddenly exhausted, and rested his head in his hands, trying to to stop the replay of what just happened. Fortunately it was not long before he was distracted, unfortunately the distraction was a very confused and somewhat angry Ross.
"Ummm, what the hell was all that?" Ross asked, finally making his way back over to the couch from where he was left standing, still flabbergasted at what had just occurred.
Chandler lifted his head from his hands, looking at his friend. "Where do you want me to start?" Chandler questioned, feeling defeated.
It had been five days since his full blown display of hysterics in the coffee house. After Monica and the girls had ran out, Chandler had hopelessly explained everything to Ross. His reaction had been exactly what Chandler had expected. Gunther had to ask the men to leave as their voices raised and their tempers flared, creating a spectacle that undoubtedly resembled a bad scene from a play.
Chandler had escaped to a hotel, fearing Ross would force him to be admitted to the psychiatric ward. He had called his new employer, claiming that there had been a family emergency and that he'd have to go out of town unexpectedly. Only Joey knew where he was, and was quietly sneaking him clean clothes.
A quiet knock on the door shook Chandler from his thoughts. He had been expecting Joey for a few hours, and was relieved and grateful for the distraction. "Hey Joe," Chandler greeted, answering the door for the only friend he had left. He was surprised to see that Joey wasn't alone. "H-hey Pheebs," he greeted cautiously, shooting Joey a look that clearly said 'what the hell?'
"Don't worry, I'm not here to yell at you or force you to get shrinked." Pheobe said pushing her way in to the dark room.
Joey followed meekly behind her, "Sorry dude, she knew I was lying when I said I didn't know where you were, she insisted."
"Really, Joe?" Chandler asked incredulously. Joey knew that Chandler was terrified that as soon as the rest of their friends knew where he was, he would be forced back to the hospital. Chandler didn't have a plan, didn't know what to do next, but he did know that he couldn't be locked away as some crazy person while Monica was free to begin a relationship with Richard. During their row, Ross had all but insisted that Chandler's version of the future was an elaborate hallucination, that there was no other reasonable explanation. The two men argued over logic and science in the coffee house before being thrown out, and once outside Ross begin to insist that they go back to the hospital then and there. That was when Chandler hastily jumped in a cab, instructing the driver to take him to any Manhattan hotel. He had gotten ahold of Joey through his agent, Estelle, and had been quietly hiding in a small but nice hotel just north of the park ever since.
"Dude, you know how scary she is when she wants to be, she threatened to shred Huggsy!" Joey explained as they settled in Chandler's room. The truth was that it had been easier than expected to convince their friends that he had no idea where Chandler had gone. No one had seen hide or hair of him in their normal haunts or near their apartments since the fight at the coffee house. Ross had tried to track him down at his new job, but was told Chandler had gone out of town to tend to a family emergency, and didn't know when he'd be back. Monica had even called his parents, but neither had heard from Chandler. Pheobe alone had been able to tell that there was something Joey was hiding, and cornered him in his apartment that evening to get the truth out of him.
"I want to hear the whole story, straight from the source," Pheobe explained, sitting down in a chair near Chandler's bed. After a few moments of silence, Pheobe could tell that Chandler was hesitant to reveal anything. "You know out of everyone, I'm probably the most likely to believe you anyway," she said, trying to probe him further. "I'm not really sure why you wouldn't have come to me to begin with," she added.
Chandler considered Pheobe's reasoning. She wasn't wrong, out of all of his friends, she was by far the most open, and certainly would have been the most likely to believe him. Chandler sighed as he sat down on the bed facing the chair Pheobe now sat in. Joey grabbed the chair next to the desk and carried it over to their small congregation, readying himself to hear for the third time, Chandler's dilemma since waking up in the hospital.
When Chandler had finished, he stood hastily and began to pace, not daring to look at Pheobe's face for fear he would see the look that Ross had given him earlier the week before. A look that was slight pity with a touch of fear, a look that plainly said 'you need help'.
"Chandler," Pheobe called to him as he paced in front of her. He finally raised his head to meet her eyes, "I believe you," she said, making sure that her eyes said it too.
"You do?" Chandler asked hesitantly, afraid that somehow this may all be a trick to get him leave the safety of his hotel room.
"Listen Chandler, I worked with Monica last night at Richard Burke's house." Pheobe began to explain.
Chandler could feel his eyes widen, "You did? What happened? Did he ask her out? Did she say yes?" He rambled off his questions, one after the other, allowing no time for Pheobe to actually answer. "Oh God, this is it, I knew this would happen," Chandler exclaimed, grabbing his head and collapsing on the bed behind him.
"Chandler, calm down," Pheobe said as though she was talking a child out of fit. "I asked Joey to take me here, because after watching what happened during that dinner party, I knew you had to be telling the truth."
"So they're together now?" Chandler asked somewhat muffled as his hands were covering his face.
"No, I didn't say that." Phoebe said sitting down in the bed next to him to pull his hands away so he would look at her. "To be honest, I'm surprised she didn't cancel, she's been a wreck since last week."
"I told ya," Joey chimed in. And he had told Chandler. He had been trying to convince his friend out of hiding since the night in the coffee house, but to no avail. He had told Chandler that Monica was more worried than upset, but without being able to guarantee that no one would force him back to the hospital, Chandler refused to budge.
"Yeah, I'm sure she's been a wreck since she realized that the guy she was dating is a nut job." Chandler tried to cover his face again but Pheobe grabbed his hand to hold it away.
"That's not why, she's worried about you," Pheobe began. "You have to be fair here Chandler, you threw a lot of stuff at us that night, and then you just ran."
"I had to Phoebe!" Chandler exclaimed sitting up. "You should have heard Ross, going on about the legal requirements for involuntary psych holds. What was I supposed to do?"
"You should have told him he's an ass and then went to talk to Monica." Pheobe explained as though it was obvious. "Do you really think that the rest of us would have let Ross lock you up? Do you think Monica would have let him?"
"I don't know," Chandler said looking down at his hands.
"Well I do," Pheobe replied confidently. "And the answer is of course not. Chandler, I watched Richard flirt with Monica at that dinner party, I watched him try to set her up for an eye appointment, and I watched as Monica realized that there was a good chance you knew it was all going to happen."
Chandler's head snapped back up as Pheobe described what had transpired the night before. "What did she say?" he asked hurriedly, "did she say she believes me?"
"She's not sure what to think Chandler," Pheobe began cautiously. "She's confused. She told me that you've been different, that a part of her believes that you know more than you should. She asked me about a cake that she had found when we were out together once, something that only I was supposed to know, but you somehow knew about it. She said that when she's with you, she feels like you know more about her than she even does. But all of this is a lot to swallow, Chandler, and you've left her hanging to try to make sense of it all by herself. You have to talk to her."
"I know, you're right" Chandler agreed resting his face in his hands again, resigned to do what he knew he had to despite its potential to ruin everything he had been trying to rebuild.
"Of course I am," Pheobe agreed, "you may have dreamt the future, but I am psychic you know, I have a pretty good sense of things," she said playfully nudging him.
"So can you tell me what's gonna happen here?" Chandler asked, looking up at his friend smiling.
"Funny, I was ask you the same thing," Pheobe said with a light smile. "Seriously, enough about you, tell me more about me. What's my future husband like?" She asked, eyes playfully alight.
Chandler chuckled softly, "He's a great guy, i think when you meet him you'll be happily surprised at how great he is," Chandler offered reassuringly.
"Aah, so I haven't met him yet," Pheobe concluded from Chandler's vague description. "Sorry Joey, guess that rules you out," she said looking at her other friend sympathetically.
"Hey," Joey said with a hurt tone, not sure if he should be offended or not.
Chandler laughed, relieved that his friends had somehow managed to revive his spirits that he had thought were dead and buried. Things suddenly didn't seem as bleak as they had just over an hour ago. "Thank you Pheebs," he offered sincerely, hoping she would know how much he meant it.
"Of course, Chandler," Pheobe responded, leaning in to hug her friend. "Now how are we gonna get you and Monica alone without Ross finding out?" she asked pulling away, ready to conspire a plan that would allow Monica and Chandler some privacy.
