Chapter 3: Perfection
A/N: Hey guys! Remember me? Ok, so I know it hasn't exactly been that long since I've posted on here, but I wanted to apologize for being absent so frequently. I'm in the middle of my senior year of high school right now, so I've been pretty busy with keeping up with schoolwork and applying to college. Now that I'm nearing the end of the school year, I hope I can have more time to be more active on here. But enough about me, here's the next chapter of the Strength of Love! This chapter takes place during TOW With Phoebe's Cookies in which both Monica and Chandler begin to think about their flaws. I know that's a pretty vague description but I don't want to give too much away. I hope you enjoy it!
Disclaimer: I own nothing related to Friends or any other business related topics that may be mentioned in this fic.
Chandler had just gotten home from his latest meeting with Ross and Monica's dad. He wanted to make sure that Jack wouldn't be going around embarrassing him or Monica for years to come. Walking up the stairs of their building, he marvelled at the lengths he would go for her. He approached the door of Apartment 20, seeking the comfort that he knew he would find. What he didn't expect was to find his soon-to-be wife in not much of a better state than he was.
He opened the door, immediately noticing the state of their kitchen. Bowls left over from Monica's cookie experiments littered the sink and counter. His eyes continued scanning the room until they found what he had been looking for. Peeking over the couch, his heart sunk as he took in the state of her.
"Monica? You okay? What's wrong honey?" A slew of word vomit exited his mouth as he rounded the couch to look her in the face.
"What's wrong with me?" She asked, her voice cracking as her walls crumbled down. Before Chandler could come up with a response, she continued to talk.
"It's not enough that I'm engaged to the man that I love, my mother still thinks that I'm not representing her 'perfect family' well enough." Chandler blinked, trying to make sense of what she was saying before it finally hit him.
It was no surprise to him that Judy was still planting seeds of doubt in Monica's head, as she had been doing seemingly for Monica's entire life. But it was even more surprising to him that Judy would think that after everything Monica had accomplished, she still wasn't good enough.
When Chandler's mouth continued to stay closed, Monica took it upon herself to continue rambling.
"Apparently my dad told my mother about what happened in the steam room and she decided to take it upon herself to call me up and tell me that it was all my fault! She told me that maybe we should push the wedding back in case I have any 'second thoughts' about us.." Before she could keep on rambling, Chandler sat down next to her, clasping her hands within his own.
"You're not though, are you?" He asked nervously as he felt the tell-tale signs that had appeared just before he asked her to marry him resurfacing.
"Chandler! Of course not!" She exclaimed, tears threatening to spill out of her eyes.
A moment of silence passed between the pair as they both struggled with what to say next.
"I'm sorry." Monica blinked once as she struggled to understand. What in the world could he be sorry about?
"You didn't do anything wrong babe, my mother's just being her usual condescending self as alwa.."
"No Mon, I did do something wrong, okay? I should do a better job of taking care of you. I should be standing up against your mom and letting her know just how amazing her daughter is." At his words, Monica's eyes filled once again with tears- happy ones this time.
"Chandler, you are the best thing that's ever happened to me. Without you I don't know how I would be able to go on in life. I love you so much, and it just hurts me every time that someone doubts you. You are the sweetest, most caring man I've ever been with, you know that?" She smiled softly as a few stray tears made their way down her face. Chandler stared straight into her eyes as his hands came up to caress her cheeks, finding himself falling in love with her all over again.
He brought his hands down to encircle her waist, gently pulling her into his embrace as he shifted them on the couch so that they were laying horizontally with Monica on top of him.
"You make me the best Monica. You've always been there, from helping me get over multiple breakups to even just making me feel better about my job. You've helped me become the man I am today, so don't ever let anyone make you doubt our love for each other, because I will always love you, even when we're old and gray." Monica stared lovingly into his eyes as he spoke, leaning up to kiss his lips as he finished speaking.
Monica snuggled into Chandler's chest as he reached for the remote, turning the TV on to some random talk show. She felt herself begin drifting off, smiling as she knew that nothing could ever come between them. That no matter what her mother or anyone else said, she loved him and vise versa, nothing would ever change that.
A/N: And there you go! I know that this one was a bit on the shorter side but I decided that I will try to come up with at least a little something for each episode, so some chapters may be shorter than others. Forgive me if this isn't my best but I am at least happy with getting this done. As always, don't forget to let me know what you thought and please give me any suggestions for future chapters, it would really help me out a lot! Have a great day!