A/N - Thanks again for your reviews. And now, on with chapter five...
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The Gift
Chapter Five - The Beginning and the End
Chandler walked across the hall to Monica's apartment a couple of hours later, just as he had promised. When he saw that she wasn't in the living room, he headed over to her slightly ajar bedroom door, knocked lightly, and walked in.
She was still sleeping, clutching a pillow to her chest. He smiled at how peaceful she looked and walked a little closer to the bed. "Mon?" he said quietly.
She stirred a little and opened her eyes. "Hey," she replied in a whisper.
"Have a nice nap?"
"Yeah." She sat up on the edge of the bed. "I feel much better now," she smiled slightly.
"I'm glad... Listen, I thought maybe we could order a pizza or something. I didn't think you'd feel like doing much of anything else tonight, but the guys are over at Ross and Rachel's, if you'd rather go over there."
"No. Pizza sounds good to me," she smiled. "It'll give us a chance to talk about some things."
He looked a little confused, but nodded anyway. "I'll go call the pizza place," Chandler said before turning to exit the bedroom.
"I'll be out in a minute," she called after him. She returned her head to her pillow and sighed. She'd only managed to sleep for the last half hour. The rest of the time she'd thought about what she and Chandler were going to do. They were having a baby together, and she couldn't be happier about it, but she felt like something was missing. She and Chandler were very close; they were best friends. But they weren't a couple. Monica had always thought that when she had a child, it would be with the man she loved - her other half. And since Chandler had told her about his feelings, she was starting to wonder if he might be the missing piece of the puzzle.
She entered the living room just as Chandler was hanging up the telephone.
"Pepperoni and extra cheese. Is that okay?" he asked as he watched her sit down in the armchair.
"That's great," she replied. Chandler sat down on the couch and simply smiled at her. She returned his smile with one of her own, and they were both silent for a moment. Monica finally broke the silence. "We have to talk about this, Chandler. I can't stop thinking about it."
"I'm sorry. I wish I hadn't told you," he said quietly. "This is gonna make things awkward between us, isn't it?"
"No, Chandler. It doesn't have to," she assured him. "I was just thinking about it... About me and you... Maybe we could give it a shot."
He looked at her, completely shocked. "What? Me and you? Monica, you've got to be kidding me."
"No, I'm absolutely serious," she said. "Besides, I thought you'd like the idea."
"I do, Mon, but you deserve so much better. You shouldn't settle for me. There's someone out there for you, and I know that you're going to find him someday."
"But what if I already have? What if the man I've been looking for has been right in front of my face the whole time? We're having a baby together. That alone is enough of a reason for us to be together."
"No, it's not... I don't want you to get hurt, and if we started dating, I'm so afraid that I would hurt you, and I would never want to do that to you. And think about the baby. If we tried this and it didn't work out, what would we do about the baby?"
"But what if we tried this and it did work out? Then we'd be a family. You, me, and our baby. It's perfect, Chandler."
He put his head in his hands, then looked back up at her. "That's it," he sighed. "You just want a perfect family... Monica, we don't have to be together for this to be the perfect family. I know that you're going to be a perfect mother, and I'm going to do my best to be a perfect father. That's all this kid needs... And I thought we'd already been through this once."
Monica didn't answer for a minute, trying to think of what to say to him to make him understand. "I know that we agreed that our baby would have a wonderful life, even without his or her parents being together. I'm sure that he or she will. But what about me, Chandler? Have you ever thought about what I might want?"
"What do you want, Monica?" he asked quietly.
"I want to try this," she answered, gesturing to the two of them. "I want to see if there's something here."
He was quiet for a few minutes, obviously weighing the pros and cons in his head. She waited patiently for his answer.
"Okay," he finally agreed. "Let's try this. But I don't want us to force ourselves to be together just for the sake of the baby. And I don't want us to drift apart if it doesn't work out. I can't lose you, Monica. Promise me that I won't lose you, no matter what happens... Just promise me that."
"You'll never lose me," she promised him and leaned over to hug him.
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A week later, Monica was waiting impatiently in her apartment for Chandler to arrive. They were finally going on their first official date, and she didn't want him to be late. He had exactly two minutes before she was going across the hall to drag him over.
With thirty seconds to spare, Chandler arrived at her apartment with a bouquet of colorful flowers. "You look...incredible," he said when he saw her. She was wearing a knee length red dress, and her hair was down, framing her face.
She smiled at him and took the flowers. "Thank you," she said and turned to put them in a vase on the kitchen table. "You didn't have to buy me flowers, Chandler."
"No, but I wanted to," he replied. "I want tonight to be special."
"It will be," she said and grabbed her wrap from the hook on the wall. "Are you ready?"
"Yeah. I'm ready," he said and held out his arm for her. "Let's go."
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"Are you sure you feel up to this?" Chandler asked that evening after dinner. They were taking a leisurely walk through Central Park. It was getting late, and he couldn't help worrying about Monica.
"I'm fine, Chandler," she answered. He took her hand as they walked through the park. "You don't have to worry so much. I'm pregnant. I'm not deathly ill."
He chuckled and squeezed her hand gently. "I'm sorry. I can't help it. You mean the world to me, and I just want to be sure that you're okay."
"That's very sweet," she smiled over at him. "You know something? This isn't strange at all. I thought it might be, but it's not."
"I know what you mean," he replied. "We haven't really done anything out of the ordinary. We do stuff like this all the time."
"Yeah... Maybe Phoebe was right. We do act like a couple a lot."
"When has Phoebe ever been wrong?" he teased. "You know, I've really had fun tonight," he said sincerely. "You're a great date."
"I know," she teased. "Honestly, Chandler, I've had a wonderful time. You're a pretty good date, too."
"Just pretty good?"
"Okay. You're better than 'pretty good.' You're the best date I've had in a long time. I actually like being with you," she laughed.
"I'll take that as a compliment," he smiled and continued to walk with her through the park. "You know, I think this could be the beginning of something special," he added and smiled over at her. She returned his smile and squeezed his hand gently. They continued to walk in silence for a few minutes before Monica stopped suddenly.
"Chandler," she said quietly.
"What? What is it?" he asked worriedly. "Are you okay? Is it the baby?" He'd never seen that look on her face, and he wished that he wasn't seeing it at that moment. It scared him.
She clutched her stomach and leaned into his arms. "I can't lose this baby," she cried quietly. "Get me to a hospital."
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Almost two hours later, Chandler was still sitting in the waiting room of the hospital. The doctors hadn't told him anything about Monica or the baby. He was more scared than he had ever been in his life. Once he had gotten Monica to the emergency room, he had called Ross to tell him what was going on. Ross had arrived not long after the phone call, with Rachel in tow. They had left the baby with a baby-sitter. Joey and Phoebe arrived a little later, and they were all sitting with him, trying to comfort him... But Chandler had never felt more alone.
"Chandler Bing?"
Chandler jumped up when he heard the doctor say his name. "That's me. How is she?" he asked anxiously.
"Ms. Geller is going to be fine," the doctor replied simply.
The entire gang breathed a collective sigh of relief. "Thank God," Chandler whispered. "And the baby?"
The doctor hesitated before he answered quietly. "I'm sorry."
"No," Chandler said as he allowed himself to sink into a nearby chair. He buried his face in his hands. "This can't be happening," he said quietly. "It can't be."
"I'm so sorry, Mr. Bing," the doctor said again. "Ms. Geller is sleeping, but you can go back to see her if you'd like."
Chandler looked up at him. "Does she know?"
The older gentleman shook his head. "No. She doesn't know yet."
Chandler nodded and stood. "I need to see her."
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A/N - Definitely not the happiest ending to a chapter, but there's more to come. Please let me know what you thought, good or bad.