Chapter Nine

9.1

Monica stared at her ex-boyfriend. She had loved him at one time and she had been heartbroken when that situation had ended but she didn't feel that same way about him any longer and was feeling angry that he was even here, standing in Chandler's hospital room doorway. She had actually believed that following their last conversation, he wouldn't be foolish enough to try to contact her again or that he would have at least given her some space but here he was, waiting to hurt them again.

"What are you doing?" Monica asked as she kissed Chandler's forehead and walked over to the door. She gestured for them to step out of the room and closed the door most of the way before wrapping her arms around herself. She didn't want to show him how much she was falling apart.

"I needed to make sure that you were okay. I heard that he had woken up and was still in the hospital so I thought that chances are you'd come and visit him," Richard said with genuine concern for the woman in front of him, a wife to someone else, a mother to children that weren't his.

"You need to leave," Monica stated as she attempted to keep herself from crying. She put her hand on the door to the room. "In case you don't realize it yet, Chandler has always been intimidated by you even at the best of times but when he's struggling, you are one of the last people he should see."

"So he is struggling?" Richard asked with a curiosity-driven raise of his eyebrow.

Monica stared at him. She sniffed before looking away. "He was shot by a gun and the doctors didn't think he'd pull through. I am proud of how hard he's fought and what should I care about problems I knew we were going to face together."

"But you need to take care of yourself as well," Richard attempted to remind her and Monica frowned again before taking some slow breaths.

"You need to leave," she stated again.

"And you need someone to take care of you," Richard argued and Monica laughed. She looked to the door again and then shook her head.

"How so?" she challenged him but before he could form a reply she had continued to speak. "If you mean do I need someone to talk to then I have Rachel, I have Ross, I can talk to Joey and Phoebe as well but I have people who me and Chandler are a lot closer to. So, yes, maybe I shouldn't be depending on Rachel so much but she has offered to be there for me whatever I might need. If you mean I need someone to support me then, despite the way they've handled some situations in my life, my parents are close by and at least my mother doesn't criticize Jack and Erica. And if you mean that I need someone to love me and someone to help me emotionally then I have my husband who happens to be the love of my life. So you can see, you're not needed."

"You need someone strong. You're a strong and independent woman and you need someone who can take care of you," Richard argued with her and Monica glared. She raised a hand to slap him but then shook her head. It wasn't worth it. She brought her hand down to her side.

"I don't want to see you again," she said as that small part inside of her that would always love him shrank even smaller. "I thought that I wanted your friendship but what is most important to me right now is Chandler's recovery. Maybe he's not the most confident person but I know he'll continue fighting for me and the kids and that is all I can ask for."

Richard stared at her before looking away. "I'm going to be waiting for you tomorrow night in Central Perk, I know how much you like that place," he said. "Five o'clock." Monica stared at him as if he were crazy but at least it was getting rid of him. "You can show or not show," he said and Monica watched him.

There was no way that she was going to be showing up at the café but she knew someone she could ask to handle this for her.

9.2

As Monica returned home, she felt her body almost give out on her but as she heard cartoons in the living room she felt a little bit relieved especially when she heard Jack and Erica laughing. Laughs had been missing from their home since the Disney trip, now that they were planning on Chandler finally coming home, the laughter could once more return.

"What are you guys watching?" she yawned and then saw Joey sitting there with Chandler's mother sitting on the phone. She hadn't been expecting to see him but it was as if the fates were lining up.

"Bugs Bunny," Jack told her and Monica came and kissed each of her children on the top of their heads. She smiled as she hugged each of them and then placed a hand on Joey's shoulder.

"Can I ask for your help on something?" she asked and Joey nodded. He lifted Jack off of his lap and placed him down before standing and following the shorter woman. "I'm sorry if this is an inconvenience to you but…what time are you working until tomorrow? I don't want to ask if you're busy or it makes you uncomfortable."

"Two but then I have to go back at nine and do some external shoots," Joey replied before shaking his head. "What is it?" he asked before leaning forwards. "Mon, listen, whatever you need. I know that if I was in trouble then Chandler would do it for me and you'd do it for me. What do you need? What can I help you with?"

"It's…" Monica exhaled deeply and felt the tears in her eyes. "Richard showed up at the hospital and he wants to meet me at Central Perk tomorrow but I'm done explaining how I'm going to stay with Chandler and how much my family means to me. He just keeps continuing on as if there's even a chance that I'm going to leave him. To have anyone especially someone who knew me so intimately think that I could leave him because of how his injury affects him." Monica turned and covered her eyes so that Joey wouldn't see her crying but he just pulled her into his chest and rubbed her back like a loving brother.

"Mon, don't go," he told her. "I have a feeling what you want to ask me so yes, I'll go but I'm not going with you, I'm going to go alone and I'll make sure that he leaves the two of you alone. With Chan already not feeling well, Richard is going to make him feel a whole lot worse."

"You know it's not true, right?" Monica asked him and Joey looked at her perplexed.

"The umm…the Richard stuff isn't true or what he said…or…which part of this am I meant to be reacting to?" he asked her and Monica sighed.

"The part where he says I'm going to leave Chandler when he needs to have accommodations made for him. I'm not going to leave him. I hope that I don't seem like the type of person who -"

"No," Joey said again as he leaned down a little to look at her. "No, nobody thinks that and you know what, Chandler especially doesn't think that. He doesn't think ill of you because you two, you were friends before you started dating and you lived together before you got engaged, you went steady and stable with your relationship and I can't imagine anyone convincing Chandler that you're not worth it if your situation was flipped."

"Even Janice?" Monica joked and saw the fear in Joey's eyes at the name of that woman coming up. He knew that Chandler had loved her at least in some weird way that was foreign to him but the further he knew that woman was from him, the better.

"Yeah, yeah if she told him to leave you…I don't even want to imagine what kind of conversation that might turn into."

Monica smiled before hugging Joey again and he wrapped his arms around her in hopes of comforting her. "We all love you, Mon."

9.3

Joey arrived at Central Perk about four forty and looked around the place to see someone at one of the tables but not the person he was looking for. He sighed. Monica hadn't told him not to share the information about Richard but he hadn't been expecting to take on the man with anyone at his side especially a man whose biggest athletic claim was having unagi.

He walked over to the table and looked at Ross. "I thought you understood that I could take him on my own," Joey told him before staring down. "I'm not sure that I should have told you what was happening so can you not tell Monica about you being here or my telling you and stuff."

"I won't tell but I'm not sure that Rachel will be able to keep it a secret," Ross said and Joey stared at him in astonishment.

"Wow, Ross, I tell you something that needs to be kept private and what do you do but tell someone who finds it impossible to keep a secret, sometimes you really need to think about your actions," Joey told him and Ross looked to the door. They both remembered spending hours a week in this coffee shop and how it had become another home for the group but Richard had picked this place because he expected Monica to show up not realizing she still had two men who wanted to protect her very much.

"You didn't tell Mike did you?" Joey asked, "I mean, we could kind of use him but I don't think that it would feel right with him. Did you call him?"

"No, I didn't call him, I've never successfully had a conversation with him over the phone or otherwise," Ross replied, "it's not as if we suddenly start having gab sessions about what a beer is what an ale is or what a lager is."

Joey nodded as he took a seat. "Are you going to visit him before he is released from the hospital?"

"I hope so but I don't want to stress him out, with the amount of medication he's on, the move back home is going to be hard enough but no matter how much help they need, I hope we share the sentiment that we need to support them. I mean -" Ross started but Joey interrupted him.

"They're family," he said and then pointed out the window where Richard was approaching. "You want to lead since you got here first?" he asked and Ross smiled to him and nodded.

"I think there are two leading men in this particular production, Joe," he said before standing up and walking out of the café with Joey beside him. They were going to show how much Richard was not needed by anyone in their friend group.

End of Chapter Nine

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