A/N: Hi guys! It's been awhile since I first posted this story, almost four years to be exact! While I wish I could've been more active in posting stories on here, I hope that I can start doing so once I finish high school and have a little bit more time in college, although I doubt that'll be any different. For a while I thought I wasn't going to be adding any more to this story but I have been thinking about it in the last couple of days and decided that I would. Please let me know if you have any feedback or suggestions for me, as that would really help me continue this story. Enough rambling though, here is the second chapter of TOW No Baby.
Chapter 2: What Do We Do Next?
After staying up late talking the night before, Monica and Chandler came to the decision that they would try going to another adoption agency, this one being located just outside of the city.
They were sitting at Central Perk, the rest of their friends deep in their own conversation.
"...no Joey, you can't watch Baywatch with Emma." Rachel was berating Joey for wanting to watch his favorite show with Emma, since he would be babysitting her(only for a few hours) while Rachel went shopping.
"But it's educational!" Joey whined, his eyes wide.
"Oh, so a bunch of nearly naked women running around on a beach is educational for my infant daughter?". Rachel glared at Joey as he began to shrink into his chair.
"Y-yeah it is! It'll teach her how to attract men when she's older!" The second part came out more like a question as Rachel continued to glare. She responded by grabbing a magazine off of the coffee table and whacking Joey in the arm with it.
"Ow!" Joey exclaimed, rubbing his arm as the group chuckled at his antics.
Chandler rolled his eyes as he glanced down at the watch on his arm. He then stared at Monica, who was tucked underneath his arm sipping on her cup of coffee.
"Mon, it's almost 10:30, we'd better get going." He whispered this into her ear as the rest of the gang continued talking.
Monica nodded slightly as she leaned forward to set her coffee cup on its coaster, grabbing her purse off of the floor as she leaned back into him.
"Sorry guys, Mon and I gotta head out, our appointment at the agency is at 11:15 so…" He trailed off as he stood up, Monica's hand grasped tightly in his own as their friends shared a sympathetic glance that wasn't missed by the couple.
"Okay, good luck guys….Mon?" Ross had noticed the change in his sisters mood after their rejection and hoped that this new opportunity would bring back the old Monica.
"I'm fine Ross…. Besides, this could be it, you know, I mean maybe we'll actually get a baby this time." A single small tear escaped her eye as she spoke.
"It's gonna work out Monica, we're here for you if you need us." Phoebe stood up to give her a short hug, rubbing her back as she did so."
Rachel and Joey both did the same, each whispering their own comforts into her ears as she smiled softly.
"Thanks guys, we'll call as soon as we get home.". Chandler's hand came to rest on Monica's back as the couple said their final goodbyes to their friends before walking out of the coffee shop and down the street to where the Porsche was parked in a parking garage.
As Chandler steered the car out of the garage and began weaving through the morning traffic, he glanced over at his wife who had stayed mostly silent since they had left the coffee shop.
"It'll be okay Mon, I know that the last few days have been hard but this will be good for us, another opportunity for us to have our own little Hemingway Bing." Chandler's mention of the name at Thanksgiving had the same effect on her now as it had back then.
"I hope so… but there is still no way I am letting you name our child that." They both laughed as they came to a stop at a traffic light, one of Chandler's hands coming off of the steering wheel to hold Monica's.
After getting on the highway and heading towards the suburbs for about 20 minutes, Chandler finally pulled off of the exit and pulled into the parking lot of the agency. It was a smaller, locally run agency that they had found through some research and it only adopted out children from around the state.
They got out of the car and walked into the waiting room, pleased to find that there were not many people waiting for appointments.
Chandler approached the front desk, with Monica not far behind as he smiled at the receptionist.
"Hi, I'm Chandler Bing, my wife Monica and I have an appointment?" The woman at the desk nodded, smiling at them both before typing away at her keyboard for a few minutes.
"Yes, we've got you right here, Mrs. Rebecca Howard is the one you will be seeing today. She's not in an appointment or any meetings right now so you can go ahead and see her. Her office is the third one down the hallway on the right, Room 219."
"Thank you." Monica said, returning the woman's smile before they walked side by side down the hallway, stopping once they reached room 219.
"You ready?" Chandler murmured as he raised his hand to knock on the door.
"As I'll ever be." She quickly pecked him on the cheek before they heard the sound of footsteps approaching from the other side of the door.
"Mr. and Mrs. Bing?" the woman standing in the doorway was a dark brown woman with green eyes, who smiled as Chandler nodded in confirmation.
"Come in, take a seat." She gestured to the two chairs directly across from her desk.
"Before we get started with the official business I just would like to go over a few things about you, your lives, etc, just so I can understand what kind of life you'd be bringing any potential child into." Monica and Chandler shared a glance, Chandler silently prompting Monica to be the one to explain.
"We live in the city, but we have talked it over and have decided that we will be moving out to the suburbs so that our child can run around and have a backyard to play in, plus we know that the school systems would be more ideal for us. I work as a chef in a restaurant and Chandler works in advertising…" Monica trailed off as she struggled to think of anything else that they would need to know.
Rebecca nodded as she scribbled a few things down on some paper.
"Well, I think I've heard all that I need to, of course other questions may arise later but we will address those when we get to that. Now I understand that this next part may seem sudden but we try to have any of our potential adopters meet with our adoptees to get a feel for what they are looking for. From what I understand in your file, it says that you would prefer an infant?"
"Thats right." They said at the same time, smiling as they did so.
"One thing that we specialize in doing here is taking in infants who have either been abandoned or surrendered by their parents, instead of having them sent to an orphanage where they won't necessarily get the care they require. We have a team of nurses and doctors on hand to care for them until they can be adopted. Now come with me and I'll introduce you to our head doctor, he will be able to explain more and help us in the process of adoption."
Monica and Chandler nodded anxiously as they stood up, following Rebecca out the door and further down the hallway.
A/N: Aha! I'm sorry, but you'll have to wait just a little longer to see what happens next. Don't worry though, I will try my best to not leave this story unfinished for too long. I have a vague idea of where I want this story to go on from here, but I would love your input on what you would like to see happen. I'll promise I will try my best to incorporate your ideas. I probably won't be updating this story for a little while as I am also still working on The Strength of Love(if you haven't read that yet please do, and let me know what you think!) and I don't think that I will be able to split my attention and put my best effort into both stories at the same time. Thank you for reading and I hope that you have an amazing day!