AN: Hello. Here's another update for all of you. I took a break from school so I was able to work on it a bit more. I hope you like this. You'll get a little insight into what Chandler's early childhood was like. Please review!

Disclaimer: See first chapter.

Chapter 32

Thoughts From An Expectant Teenage Father

Personal Blog of Chandler Bing

Post #1: MY LIFE

Many of you may know me, or you think that you know me. I am sure that most of you see me walking down the halls of my high school holding hands with my pregnant teenage wife and think you know everything about is easy for others to judge you when you have preconceived notions about them without getting to know the truth.

The truth is that not a lot of you know the real me. Everyone in this town has been judging me since I showed up in this town at ten years old being raised by my two dads. There have been a lot of cruel jokes and discrimination against us, and most of it came from teachers. The truth is, is that the environment that I had come from almost got me killed.

So a little about me…

I was just barely five years old when my mom and dad split up. I don't have any happy memories of us living together. They were always fighting and I seemed to be ignored when I tried to speak up or get them to stop. Then one night, I was awoken by their fighting once again, but this time it ended with me watching from my darkened bedroom window as my dad placed his suitcases in the back of his car and pulled away.

After that, I was lucky if I got to see my dad every six months. My mom did everything she could to keep me from seeing him. Meanwhile, she made a name for herself when she became a well-known novelist. With this newfound popularity came a barrage of a revolving door of 'gentleman callers', as she called it. I never took the time to get to know the many 'uncles' that she would bring around because they were usually gone within a few weeks.

Then there was Steve. The 'uncle' who would eventually become my stepdad. I was introduced to him when I was eight, he moved in when I was nine, and they were married a few months later. From then on, I kept to myself in that house. I learned rather quickly how to cook my own meals, and made grownup decisions that would hopefully keep myself generally safe.

And then came Thanksgiving Day when I was ten years old.

My mom had been on a book tour for the last six weeks, but was scheduled to return that day. She had ordered a huge meal to be catered that should have been ready and on the table by the time she arrived home. Only the caterer's van broke down and they weren't able to get there to prepare the meal. Steve was not happy about that. I tried to stay in my room that day, but Steve had other plans.

From this point on, I have no recollection of the events that led to me ending up in the hospital. I have relied on others to fill in the blanks for me.

According to the police report on file, a concerned neighbor came to check on me, and it's a very good thing that she did. According to the report, I was near-death and had the neighbor waited any longer, I would not be writing this.

I was taken to the local hospital where the doctors worked frantically to save my life. The authorities were called and my mom, who had arrived home as the ambulance was pulling away, was taken into custody along with my stepdad. Child services was able to locate my dad and he rushed into town with his partner. I was stable by the time that they arrived at the hospital, but I was still considered critical. I had many bruises, cuts, scrapes, and scratches all over, there was a breathing tube down my throat, and they weren't even sure if I would survive the night.

I was in a coma for nearly a month, but by some miracle, I survived. I woke up and was found to have healed a lot better than they thought I would. I was told that I would have to go through rehabilitation to be able to heal completely, but I was able to go on with my life. Then came other issues when I got out of the hospital. My dad and his partner Terry filed for emergency custody of me which they received while I was still in the coma. My mom and stepdad were charged with a whole list of charges and were ordered to stay away from me and my dads. So my dads decided to move me to a new town. Which presented a whole new list of problems.

As soon as we got to town, everyone started judging us. Namely because of the lifestyle that my dad was living with his partner. When I entered my new school, I knew that it would be total misery. The teachers treated me differently than the other kids not only because of my homelife, but also because I wasn't talking and I kept falling asleep in class.

From the moment I woke up from the coma, I hadn't spoken a word. The doctors theorized that I was too traumatized by what had happened on Thanksgiving Day to be able to express myself. I can't really remember my way of thinking back then, but I'm sure that was part of it. The other part of it was that my dad was pretty much a stranger to me at that time because I hadn't seen him for several years at this point.

I was put into counseling because I refused to talk and the therapist put me on antidepressants. That didn't last long because one of my friends told me that I seemed like a walking zombie when I was on them and as a result, I was constantly falling asleep no matter where I was. So my dads took me off them and tried to help me in other ways.

Throughout all of this, I was reintroduced to all the family members that I was never allowed to see when I was living with my mom. I smiled and spoke for the first time when my twin cousins were born. Again, I am getting all this information from others because I have no recollection of any of this. According to my uncle, that was when I started to finally open up to everyone, little by little.

This is where my story ends. I have worked really hard to put the whole ordeal behind me and I hope that I never have to see my mom ever again. I have a great family who, though they may not think so, have helped me to get past these events. I have some great friends who are there for me, and I have an amazing girl who I call my wife and a baby on the way. More on that in the next post.

Until next time.

Everyone was gathered at a table in the cafeteria as Monica had her phone open and was softly reading Chandler's blog post out loud to them all. They all were silent as they listened to the private details that surrounded Chandler's early childhood.

Chandler had submitted his first post that morning as advised by the teacher of his computer essentials class. It had spread like wildfire throughout the entire school within minutes. The principal had gone to the teacher and demanded that it be removed, but the teacher told him that it was out of his hands since Chandler had posted it through a website that was not connected to the school or its website.

Chandler, for the most part, had kept to himself that day. He was silent for the most part and wouldn't respond to their classmates when they tried to talk to him about it. He was only responding to Monica, and she was deflecting the other students when they approached them.

"That is intense," Ross said softly. "Is all that true?"

"I don't think he would have posted it if it wasn't." Monica told her brother.

"It's true," Carol informed them. "I was one of the ones to help him fill in the blanks, as were my parents."

"I think everyone is reading it right now too," Phoebe looked around the cafeteria and saw the majority of everyone with their phones out.

"Where is Chandler?" Ross asked.

"I don't know," Monica sighed. "I keep texting him."

"He's probably hiding out," Joey told them. "Do his dads know that he posted this?"

"They knew that he was posting his first post today. They don't know what it was going to be about though." Monica told them. "I may have texted them this morning after it went live. Max too."

"His Uncle Max is also one who helped him fill in the blanks." Carol told them.

Monica sighed as she heard a buzz and saw her phone vibrating across the table. She picked it up and saw a text from Chandler.

"It's him," she opened up the text.

"So where did he disappear to?" Ross asked.

"Guidance counselor's office. He wants me to meet him there." she gathered her things. "I'll see you guys later."

"How bad will this be?" Ross asked. "I mean, this one was about his childhood. The rest will be about them being parents in a few months."

"It's hard to say," Carol told him. "I guess it all depends."

"On?"

"On how open and accepting everyone will be about everything,"

Monica walked into the main office and the secretary directed her to the guidance counselor's office. She walked in and saw Chandler sitting before the desk as the counselor, Mr. Smith, shuffled some papers.

"What's going on?" Monica asked.

"I was telling him about the scholarship offers so he could update my file, and he just decided that we would have our meeting now. I told him that I couldn't have it without you since we're married, so…."

"Oh," she sighed. "I thought maybe this was about your post."

"Yes, I heard about that," Mr. Smith smiled. "The principal has been in a frenzy since he was informed about it. I think it's rather funny."

"You do?" Monica looked at him.

"He's on our side," Chandler told her.

"Really?"

"Absolutely," Mr. Smith smiled at them. "It's always a good thing if we can get all of the students to graduation. And it looks as if you both are on the right track. Your grades are excellent and you both will be finished early."

"So nothing academically should stop us?" Monica asked.

"I am going to assume that there have been comments against you both from teachers, along with your classmates."

"A few,"

"What about the scholarships from the scouts?" Chandler asked.

"They are all offering you a full ride," Mr. Smith told him. "So no matter which college you choose, you'll be set. Do you have a preference?"

"We haven't really talked too much in depth about it, but I think we're both leaning towards NYU." Chandler looked at Monica. "Or am I wrong?"

"I was leaning towards that school," she agreed. "The main one being that it's closer to home. The daycare center has great reviews too."

"And there's a culinary program for you," Chandler told her.

"And you both qualify for full academic scholarships," Mr. Smith looked at Chandler. "It's always good to have a backup in case something were to happen with soccer."

"It's not like I plan on playing professionally," Chandler told him. "It's just a way to get into college, which my dads say that I will be going no matter what."

"I don't see any reason why you both shouldn't expect early acceptance to any of your choice schools."

"Sweet,"

"Now," Mr. Smith looked through their files. "I know that Monica wants to do something in culinary. What about you, Chandler?"

"Oh. I-"

"Obviously you don't need to decide right this minute. I am just curious about what you are interested in."

"I was going to take business classes." Chandler told him. "I hear that it's a good field."

"It is," Mr. Smith agreed. "And you can excel in that field if your current grades are any indication."

"Tell him about what we talked about," Monica looked at him. "Have you thought about it at all?"

"Kind of," he mumbled. "Not really."

"What are we talking about?" Mr. Smith looked between them.

"Chandler doesn't want to admit that he is good at something because it's connected to his mom," Monica said. "But I think he is amazing at it."

"And what are we talking about?"

"Writing,"

"Is this true, Mr. Bing?" Mr. Smith noticed that he looked uncomfortable all of a sudden. "Do you enjoy writing?"

"When it's for fun and I am not doing it for an assignment." Chandler admitted.

"He is really good," Monica said. "As you can tell by the blog he posted. That is just the tip of the iceberg though."

"I don't want to have a connection to my mom,"

"Let's talk about this," Mr. Smith told them. "I will excuse you from whatever classes you have."

Terry and Charles were sitting at the counter with Terry's laptop open before them as they read through Chandler's post. After Chandler had posted it that morning, Monica had sent them both a text letting them know with the link to the website. Charles had come home for lunch and they both sat down to read it together.

"This is intense," Terry looked over at him. "Are you ok?"

"I had no idea,"

"About which part?"

"That he heard all our fighting when he was younger," Charles sighed. "And the fact that he still remembers it."

Suddenly the screen switched to black and they saw that Max was trying to video chat. Terry answered and they saw Max sitting in his living room with Sherrie sitting next to him on the couch.

"Well by your looks I am going to assume that you just read your son's blog," Max said.

"How did you know about it?" Charles asked him.

"Who do you think helped fill in the blanks for him?"

"Monica texted us to let us know that it was posted," Sherrie added. "So what's your take on it?"

"It's intense," Charles said. "And the fact that he remembers watching me drive away from the house."

"You left because you were trying to protect him," Max reminded him. "It's not your fault that you weren't able to see him for so long. Chandler even says in the post that he knew his mom was keeping you from him."

"I know,"

"I didn't realize how much he's still going through," Terry sighed.

"Yes, that's why I wanted to call you." Max said. "I know that you both are going to want to talk to him about this. Just wait a couple of days before you do that because this post is not what you think."

"What do you mean?"

"I think this is kind of like therapy to him,"

"What do you mean?" Charles asked.

"Think about it. That kid has never been comfortable expressing his feelings out loud. You'd have to be a mind reader to know any of his emotions."

"Unless you're Monica," Sherrie cut in.

"Correct. That girl has been able to get him to open up more and more since they started dating." Max smiled. "He is not comfortable expressing himself out loud, but maybe it's better for him to express himself in writing. That way you know what he's feeling, but there's no chance of him making a joke when he's uncomfortable. Which he always does."

"I think he's right," Terry looked at Charles.

"I know," Charles sighed as his phone started ringing. "It's the school. This can't be good."

"It's a school assignment," Sherrie stated as Terry watched Charles walk away to answer his phone. "Can they make him take the blog down?"

"Who knows?"

"Don't worry, it wasn't the principal." Charles came back to them. "It was the guidance counselor."

"What did he want?"

"Chandler went to tell him about his scholarship offers and the counselor just decided to have their meeting then. Monica was called down so they could all discuss their future."

"Ok, so then why did he call us?" Terry asked.

"He wants us to come in for a meeting around four today," Charles sat back down beside him. "Apparently, Monica revealed something to the counselor that Chandler wasn't happy about. Something that we probably don't know about either."

"Well that's ominous," Max stated. "You mind clueing us in when you find out?"

"It depends what it is," Charles told him. "The counselor gave me no indication of what it could be."

"So how long until they get home?" Max asked. "How awkward will it be tonight?"

"Both Monica and Chandler are working right after school," Charles told him.

"Which means that Chandler will volunteer to stay late and sneak in after everyone is already in bed." Max said.

"You nailed it right on the head," Terry told him.

AN: So what'd you all think? I don't want to focus too much on when Chandler lived with his mom. There may be the occasional mention of it, but it won't be the main focus. Anyway, I hope you liked it. Please review!