A/N Dear Katelyn, thank you again for your nice reviews. I really appreciate it! And all you other guys out there reading and - hopefully - enjoying it, the traffic stats tell me you're there, so thanks for reading. That's all I ask.
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What else would have to happen before they learned to be more careful?! Within two days they had been almost caught by Phoebe and Ross and now Joey, whom she could now hear phoning his order to the Chicken Take-Away place. She had thought he would get it himself, not have it delivered, and thus the next problem arose: how in the world could she get out of the bathroom and the apartment with Joey there? It nearly killed her appetite again.
Chandler got out of the tub and silently held out a big towel to her, and she took it and, climbing out of the tub, wrapped it around her. He took one for himself and, putting a finger on his lips, went to the door, listening and toweling himself dry. When she joined him at the door, he put his mouth to her ear.
"Don't worry, he always goes to his room after he ordered food. He won't be out until after it's delivered. Just wait."
Sure enough, right after finishing the phone call, Joey started to whistle and they heard the door to his room open. Then the duck started squawking and fluttering, as he escaped into the living room and the door shut again. Chandler grinned at her and went to the tub to pull the plug. She considered blow-drying her hair and decided against it, just put a smaller towel around her head and snatched up a comb. Chandler hastily put on his t-shirt, boxers and bathrobe, and then opened the door, checked and gave her a thumbs-up sign. As silently as she could she darted into Chandler's room, where the door mercifully stood open, and sat down on the bed. Chandler closed the bathroom door audibly and followed her more slowly, whistling while he went. He shut both halves of the door carefully and joined her on the bed, grinning complacently. She immediately felt exasperated again. There weren't out of the woods yet, why was he so smug? When she glared at him his smile died away again.
'What now?' she mouthed at him, pointing to the door. He just nodded, serious now and put his mouth to her ear again.
"We wait …" he whispered. "When the food's delivered, you leave when I open the door. Then you can come back, or I'll bring it to you."
"And Joey?" she whispered back.
"He'll stay in his room. He doesn't want to pay for the food, see. But you have to be really quick."
"Oh really!" that came out almost too loud and she bit her lip. Then she sighed and started toweling her hair dry. It felt as if there was still soap in it, but she could rinse it again later. She took up her bra and glared at Chandler who was staring at her intensely, and he actually blushed and cut an apologetic smile. He didn't avert his eyes though. She sighed again and loosened the towel, took up her bra and put it on while he watched her silently. Next came her t-shirt, and then she got into her panties still sitting on the bed, and with Chandler still watching her. When she took up her skirt and scooched into it, he put a hand on her back and leaned in for a kiss. She held still, but was too wound up to respond and just leaned silently against him.
When the doorbuzzer went, they both jumped. Chandler signaled her to stay put and opened the door.
"I'll get it!" he called out and went into the kitchen to answer the buzzer. There was a muffled reply and nothing else from Joey's room. Monica waited a few seconds just to make sure and then darted to the kitchen, sandals in her hand, and ducked behind the counter. They waited breathlessly for the delivery guy to trudge up the stairs, Monica wishing fervently that their apartments weren't so high up. Finally they heard the footsteps approach and then came a heavy knock on the door. Chandler opened it so quickly that the guy jumped back with surprise, and he almost dropped the chicken bucket when Monica shot through the door. Thankfully it wasn't someone she had seen before. Monica hastily put on her sandals and entered her apartment, trying furiously to think of an explanation of her wet hair for Ross. But there was no need. Her brother was sitting slumped back on her couch, the phone still in his hand, fast asleep. She went into the bathroom to quickly brush her still wet hair and tie it into a ponytail, then opened the door again. Chandler was just handing the money to the delivery guy who pocketed it, shot her a puzzled glance and left.
"Hi Chandler" she said loudly for Joey's benefit. "Oh, what's this, chicken?"
"Yup. Want some? There's lots."
"Yeah, I could eat some chicken, thanks!" It sounded a little phony to her, but she didn't care anymore. Chandler held the door open for her and followed her to the living room where Joey was already in his chair watching TV and happily eating his portion directly out of the bag. He waved and grinned at her still munching. Someone had opened the door to the bathroom again and there was still some steam billowing out the window. Some of the candles were still burning and she thought it more prudent to comment on them.
"Ooohh, candlelight bath! Nice!"
Behind her Joey snorted. "Yeah, you should have seen it. Chandler in the bubble bath with candles. And wine! Soooo romantic!"
"And? Did it help?" she asked innocently, hoping that Chandler would understand her drift.
"Hel – oh, yes, I feel so relaxed now. Thanks for lending me the candles."
"You need to rinse the tub though or the soap will dry" she said sternly and exhaled exasperatedly when Chandler just rolled his eyes.
"The candles are from you?" Joey asked and she turned around to face him.
"Yes, I always light candles when I take a bath. It's so nice. You should try it too."
Joey grimaced. "No. I'd feel weird taking a bath all alone. That's not romantic."
"But more relaxing" said Monica and smiled at Chandler who offered her the chicken pieces on a plate. For a short hot moment their eyes met.
"Yeah, well, if I had a girl with me in the bath, I wouldn't be able to relax. You'd never know what would happen next."
Joey just snorted and shook his head.
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A short time later Ross joined them, still sleepy and with disheveled hair, and slumped on the couch dejectedly. Joey and Chandler between them managed to cheer him up a little and when Monica rose to leave, he had recovered enough to watch TV with Joey and finish a bag of chips with him.
"I'll give you a hand with the candles" Chandler offered and they collected the candles and the bubble bath bottle from the bathroom, where she made him rinse the tub before they went to her apartment. There they put the candles on the kitchen table and then grabbed at each other and hugged and kissed passionately. She had meant to send him back right away, but somehow couldn't let him go and instead found herself clinging to him and fumbling at his robe, wrapping her arms around his waist and sliding her hands under his t-shirt. He pushed her towards the table and got her to sit on it, then held her against him while she wrapped her legs around his hips and slid her hands down his back under his boxers to stroke and squeeze his buttocks. He started a little at that and grinned into their kiss, then teased at her lips and teeth with his tongue, and they both moaned when their tongues met. In no time at all she felt herself getting soft and wet and aching with desire for him, and judging by the way his body responded he felt the same. She knew they had no time for this and couldn't afford to get Ross and Joey suspicious, but simply couldn't care. Neither could he apparently, when she leaned back pulling him down with her, he pushed up her skirt and tugged her panties down her legs. She kicked them off and frantically pushed down his boxers at the same time. When he entered her she pressed her face against his shoulder to stifle her scream and then just clung to him, shaking and moaning, while he thrust into her urgently. Her breath hitched and caught and she couldn't stop shuddering. Chandler kept kissing her on her neck and face, and only when he paused suddenly to look at her she realized that tears were running down her cheeks.
"Mon … you're crying! Is something wrong?"
"No … no … It's nothing. Nothing's wrong." She pressed her face against his t-shirt again, drying her tears on it. "Don't stop ... please … oh god …"
He wrapped his arms around her again and they rocked a little too and fro while she snuffled and hitched and finally drew up her nose. Her desire had diminished as fast as it had come and the aching need receded, but she still enjoyed the feel of him inside her, his body pressed so close against hers, and his breath and his lips on her face and mouth. After a while she felt him tense a little as he climaxed – very gently this time, almost restrained – and then relax again. She took a deep breath and released her hold on him as he slid out of her and stepped back a little, still looking at her worriedly while he pulled up his boxers.
"Are you really okay, Mon?"
She rubbed her arm across her eyes. "Yeah, I'm okay. Don't worry about it. I always get a little funny before –" She stopped and bit her lip. Chandler suddenly looked relieved.
"Oh. Is it – bad for you? Does it hurt?"
"What? No." She got off the table and hunted for a tissue to blow her nose. "I'm just – I don't know, nervous. Strained. It's not my period, that's not due for days yet."
"PMS then?" he asked gently and she stared at him. "What?"
"Well, you know, premenstrual syn-"
"I know what PMS is!" She snapped and regretted it at once when he looked hurt. "Yeah, I guess. Listen, I really don't want to talk about it …"
"That's okay." He took hold of her again and kissed her softly. "Listen, I need to get back to the guys."
"I know."
"Do you still want me to come by – later?"
She smiled. "Of course I do. It's our last night without Rachel, remember?"
"Oh god, you're right. I'll come over as soon as I can."
"Okay. I might be in bed already, but just come in." She went with him to the door and they kissed again before he left. She shut the door behind him and just leaned against it with her eyes closed. And remained like that trying to sort out her emotions that seemed to hurl at her from all directions at once. And to calm down, still her wildly beating heart.
So what had that been all about? Was it really just PMS? Usually the symptoms were more of a physical nature, like backpains and cramps, but never really bad. She could not remember ever experiencing mood swings like that, getting this emotionally upset. But then she never had had so much sex in such a short time either. It must have set a whole bunch of hormones loose that wreaked havoc in her body. And after that long dry spell too. No wonder really. And no reason to worry about it.
Except she was still worried. What if it got worse before it got better? Would Chandler still be able to accept it? What if he actually lost interest? She knew, rationally knew in her mind that that wouldn't happen, but couldn't quite get her anxiety under control.
At last she drew a deep breath and forced herself to consider the worst case scenario. Alright. Fine. If that was so, if it actually turned out to be true that he would lose interest eventually, then she would just have to cut her losses. Nothing gained, but nothing really lost. They would stop and that would be all that there was to it. A week of passion, some nice memories, some new experiences. It would be over and they would move on. Maybe remain friends, maybe not. But no big deal anyway. And no reason to get upset really. It wasn't like she was in love with him.
Yet. She was almost sure of that. Of course she cared about him, but she had cared about him before. He was her friend after all.
She sensed that her thoughts were turning full circle again and told herself to snap out of it. So what now? Take a shower? A part of her protested, wanted to keep the smell, the feel of him on her skin, inside her, still a little longer, while another part was almost disgusted at the very idea. She decided on a compromise: finish making up Rachel's bed, maybe put in some ironing too, and then take a shower. And then go to bed. And wait for him, maybe put on that sexy nightie, or even better … nothing at all.
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When Chandler finally came, she was in bed and had already fallen asleep, lying on her side with her back to the nightlamp she had left on. She was dreaming some confused and intricate dream where she had to prepare for some test and try to find a place to hide from some guards that wouldn't let her enter the school where the test was to be held, and woke with a start when he slid under the covers behind her. Then they both gasped with surprise at the same time, because he felt so cool against her hot skin, and he when he put his arms around her and discovered that she was naked. She turned around and reached out blindly for him, and they kissed deeply. He had put out the light and the room was very dark.
"Mmmh … what time is it?"
"Dunno. After midnight. I'm sorry it got so late – your brother just wouldn't leave. He actually wanted to spend the night on the couch."
She laughed. "Oh god. How did you get rid of him?"
"I just told him the duck had vomited on it this morning."
"Ugh. Yeah, that would do it."
They kissed some more and he pulled her closer and slowly trailed his hand down her side over her hip and then her upper thigh. She held on to him and just let him caress her without responding to it, enjoying the sensation of his hand on her skin as it went up again over her back to her shoulders and upper arms and down again over her ribs. When he reached the sideswell of her breast she shivered.
"Hmmm?"
"No … just sensitive … it's okay."
He shifted a little at that. "Really? Because … well, Mon, we don't have to … you know, if you don't want to."
"Um. Do you want to?"
He brushed his lips against her mouth and she felt him smile. "I always do, you know that. But it's okay. We had so much sex today … Actually, I hate to admit it, but I do feel a little sore."
She laughed breathlessly. "Really? Guys can get sore?"
"Well, not usually, but the way we've been going at it …"
"Wow. But yeah, me too. A lot actually."
He let his lips wander down her chin and to her neck. "No problem. Cuddle and spoon?"
"What?"
"As opposed to hug-and-roll?"
"Oh god, not that please. But cuddle and spoon … that sounds nice."
"Yeah. Has a nice ring to it actually."
"Hmmm. Should I put something on for it?"
"Oh no. Actually, you're fine. It's me who needs to get naked."
"Oh? Do you?"
"Yes, I'm afraid I do."
"Need some help?"
"Nope …" and he had indeed wriggled out of his boxers and t-shirt in no time. She turned on her other side and sighed with pleasure when he settled against her and her head came to rest on his arm. She felt his breath on her hair and his chest hair tickling her back slightly. His erection nudged against her buttocks but without any urgency. They entwined their legs so their feet rubbed against each other and he put his other arm around her and gently cupped her breast, hardly touching it. He sighed and kissed her shoulder lightly, and she closed her eyes and almost immediately fell asleep.