The One With The Worst Fears
Part 7
Monica slowly opened her eyes and smiled when she realized the night before had not been only a dream. She was still lying in a sleeping Chandler's arms and they were definitely back together again. She looked up at him and remembered what an amazing night they'd had. She hadn't wanted it to end, but as far as she was concerned this was only the beginning for them - a second chance for them. She continued to smile and think about how happy she was that she had decided to go out to Los Angeles for Joey's wedding. Memories of their life together from before the accident started to seep into her current thoughts. While she never wanted to forget the wonderful times, she just wanted to focus on the present and more importantly, their future. She was starting to doze off again when she felt Chandler's lips on her forehead. She opened her eyes, smiled at him and leaned in and kissed him softly on his lips.
"I was wondering when you were going to wake up." She told him, sitting up a little.
"Me? Look whose talking sleepy head." He smiled.
"I will have you know that I have been awake for the last fifteen minutes." She leaned in and kissed him on the cheek.
Chandler put his arm around her and pulled her close to him. "What can I say, last night took a lot out of me." Monica smiled to herself. Chandler softly pushed some of her hair out of her face. "You were incredible. I don't know how I got so lucky."
Monica caressed his cheek with the palm of her hand. "I love you so much. Have I mentioned that lately?"
Chandler looked deep into her blue eyes. They were filled with so much love and hope, he felt like he could burst into tears. "I love you too. Forever and ever." He kissed her sweetly on the lips and then took her into his arms for a long hug. She rested her head on his shoulder. Everything was finally right with the world, she thought to herself.
"I really hate for this to end," Chandler laughed a little, "but we have got to get ready for our flight."
"Ugh, as much as I want to get back to New York, its just so much better here." Monica sighed as she fell back onto the bed.
"I know nothing can beat this place, but how about a shower for two?" Chandler smiled, taking both of her hands in his.
"Now that is an offer I can't refuse, Bing." Monica said as she let Chandler pull her up off of the bed.
A couple of hours later they were on their flight back to New York. Monica was kind of nervous about going back, even though she knew everything was going to be fine. Chandler noticed Monica looking out of the window and wondered what she was thinking about. His left hand took hold of her right hand and gave it a tight squeeze. She looked over at him and smiled.
"Penny for your thoughts." Chandler said after a few moments.
"Oh you know, just thinking about going back." Monica replied.
"You are okay with this, right?"
Monica smiled. "Honey, I love you. And I want to be with you. And I am totally fine about going back."
"Good, that's what I wanted to hear. And I have a surprise for you when we do get back."
Monica raised her eyebrow, intrigued. "A surprise, huh? And what might that be?"
Chandler smiled at her. "Ahh, wouldn't you like to know, Mrs. Bing."
"Yes, I would."
"Well you're just going to have to wait. But I can tell you one thing, you are going to love it."
"That doesn't help. Come on, give me a little hint. Just a little one."
"Nope. Nothing you can do will change my mind either." He smiled, very happy with himself.
"Nothing?" Monica asked, willing to take on the challenge.
"Nothing." He replied. "And don't get any ideas." He continued.
Monica leaned over to whisper in his ear. "You know, I was thinking, on our flight home from London, we never did get to meet up in the bathroom." She smiled, satisfied this would help her win. "I'd be happy to meet you in there, for a price."
Chandler couldn't help but laugh out loud. "Oh and what might that be?"
Monica kissed Chandler's neck and nibbled on his ear a little before whispering, "Tell me what the surprise is. I'll make you a very happy man."
Chandler was getting very tempted, especially with Monica blowing in his ear now. He took a deep breath and looked at her. "Nope, you're going to have to wait."
Monica couldn't believe she was defeated! She knew it must be something really special for Chandler to deny her this way. She smiled sweetly at him, kissed his cheek and rested her head on his shoulder.
Only a few hours later they arrived in the Big Apple. They had been flying practically all day, and it was already 6pm by the time they got to New York. Monica was exhausted, as was Chandler. She couldn't wait to get home. Home. It was an odd situation since she hadn't been calling New York home for quite some time. She and Chandler grabbed their bags and headed outside to hail a cab. Yep, she was definitely back in New York all right. The street was filled was tons of those yellow cabs, and she could smell that typical New York sewer smell - and she smiled when she realized that she had actually missed this city. Chandler could see she was reminiscing and hated to ruin the moment, but he had to get her attention to tell her the cab was waiting. She jumped in and they were on their way.
Monica figured the cab driver must have thought she and Chandler were tourists because he was taking the "long way" to their apartment. That really made her mad that this guy was trying to get a few extra bucks from them. She sighed rather loudly and looked over at Chandler.
"I can't believe this guy is taking this route to apartment. Why didn't he just take 57th? Why are we all the way on 14th?"
Chandler smiled and put his arm around her. "It will be okay, honey."
It made no sense to Monica for them to be driving around Greenwich Village when they lived all the way uptown on the east side of Manhattan. She was getting rather annoyed with this cab driver, but then suddenly he pulled over and stopped in what was a very familiar area.
Chandler looked at her as she turned to him, somewhat shocked. "Surprise." He smiled.
"What, I don't believe it." She replied, speechless. Chandler paid the cab driver and they got out. They were standing in front of their old apartment building. The building they lived when they were just friends, where they fell in love with each other. They were back at Apartment 20. They were home.
They walked up the stairs, Monica still pretty shocked. She couldn't believe Chandler had gotten their apartment again. How had he managed this - they had moved out so long ago. Before they reached the apartment, Monica reached out and grabbed his hand.
"I don't know how you did this, but thank you."
Chandler pulled her close to him and wrapped his arms around her waist. He smiled and kissed the tip of her nose. "I would do anything to make you happy. And I know we needed a fresh start, so I thought maybe it would do us some good to go back to where it all started."
Monica smiled up at him. She knew he was so sweet, but maybe she had just taken it for granted. And she would never let that happen again. She put both of her hands on his cheeks. "You thought right. I can't remember a time when I was this happy. And its because of you. You are the best thing that ever happened to me, you know."
"And you're the best thing that's ever happened to me." They hugged each other tightly. "Ready to head in?"
"Definitely."
Chandler knocked on the door. Monica looked at him questionably. "I don't have a key yet." Chandler shrugged.
The door opened and on the other side was Rachel, Ross, and Phoebe. The apartment was decorated with balloons and streamers and a big sign that read, "Welcome home".
Monica's eyes filled with tears as she went to embrace the three of them. "Oh you guys, I can't believe this." She looked around the apartment and it looked almost exactly as it had when she and Chandler had lived there. "This place looks great." Looking over to Chandler, she added, "How did you do this?"
"Well, I had a lot of help." He told her, as he put his hands in his pockets. Monica walked over and wrapped her arms around him.
Rachel smiled, and was elated to see that Monica was so happy again. "Chandler called and told us that you guys were coming back so we had 24 hours to get this place in tip-top shape."
"Thank you guys so much." Monica told them. "I just can't believe it. This is the best surprise ever."
"So how about some dinner? You guys must be hungry." Ross asked.
"Did you cook, Ross?" Monica asked, surprised.
"Sure did. And they helped." He smiled as he pointed to Phoebe and Rachel.
"Guilty as charged." Phoebe replied, as she grabbed some plates.
"Well I am willing to try anything once." Monica laughed. "But let me get these suitcases into the bedroom first."
"I'll help you honey." Chandler told her, as he grabbed the bags.
They headed for their bedroom, and Monica flipped on the light switch. She smiled. It looked exactly like it did back then. The walls had been painted a pale yellow, but other than that everything looked the same. She leaned up against the frame of the door still a little overwhelmed by Chandler's surprise. He walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her, kissing her cheek. "I'm glad you like your surprise."
"I more than like it. We're going to be so happy here. Just like before."
Monica and Chandler walked back into the kitchen to join the others for dinner.
"Chandler and I have some more news for you guys."
"What is it?" Phoebe asked.
"Well, we've decided to renew our wedding vows." Monica stated, as she held up her left hand.
"Ohh, that is so sweet." Rachel replied as she put her hand to her heart. She took Monica's left hand and examined the ring. "It's beautiful. I am so happy for you guys." She pulled Monica into a tight hug.
"Yeah, this is great news!" Phoebe agreed.
"Do you know when you're going to do it?" Ross asked.
"As soon as we can." Monica replied.
"Yeah, its going to be very small. Just for family and close friends." Chandler said.
"We just want a brand new date, you know, to celebrate our love for each other. It would be too hard to celebrate on the other one. And it'll be a year since…" Monica cut her sentence short. There was an awkward silence, no one really knew what to say. Chandler took Monica's hand and kissed it gently.
"It's okay, sweetie. We're not trying to erase anything. Everyone understands we just need a new start."
"Of course, honey." Rachel agreed.
"Thank you for being so supportive." Monica told her friends.
"We're always going to be here for you, Mon." Phoebe told her, smiling.
"So listen, we have a lot of planning to do for this. Even if it is going to be small. Pheebs and I can start helping tomorrow if you want." Rachel finally said, trying to break the ice a little.
"That would be great." Monica agreed.
Over the next few weeks, the three girls worked non-stop on the mini-wedding. Monica didn't want anything fancy, but the perfectionist in her did want everything to be impeccable. This was a ceremony strictly to reaffirm her and Chandler's love. They were going to have it a small church on Long Island near where Monica grew up. They were able to book it for the fifth of February, which was about two months prior to their old anniversary date. The only people that were invited were Monica's parents, Ross, Carol, Susan, Ben, Phoebe, Rachel, Joey, his new wife, and Chandler's mother. Monica and Chandler decided they wanted only the most special people in their lives to be included in this. After everything they had been through in the past year, they knew just how important the special people were to them.
Rachel had done a wonderful job decorating the church. Rose petals were sprinkled all down the aisle. And Phoebe had gotten a ton of lilies and arranged them all around the church. And with Chandler and Monica's permission, Rachel had placed two candles by the altar in memory of Ryan and Jake.
Monica looked absolutely gorgeous. Her dress was simple, but Chandler couldn't remember a time when he had ever seen her look more beautiful. Ross smiled when he saw Chandler's reaction to Monica. He still somehow couldn't believe that his best friend and little sister had fallen in love, but now he was happy that they had. He knew just by the look on Chandler's face that he loved Monica more than anything in the world.
Monica's father led her down the aisle to the love of her life, who had been waiting patiently to take her hands in his. Jack gave Chandler a hug after "giving away" his daughter for the second time. Monica and Chandler were now standing facing each other, and Monica's eyes were already filling with tears. Chandler took his thumb and gently wiped away one of her tears. He smiled at her, hoping she would be able to get through the ceremony without breaking down. But when he smiled, she returned a smile of her own.
The minister stepped down and looked at the happy couple. "On behalf of Chandler and Monica, I would like to thank you all for coming. They have each written their own vows. And Chandler would like to start."
Chandler took a deep breath. He hadn't planned on being nervous doing this, but he was. He took Monica's hands and looked deep into her eyes. "I love you. I love you more than anything, you know that right. Mon, when you married me, you made my biggest dream come true. And you have made happier than I have ever been. We are going to have a wonderful life together. And we both know that you can't predict the future, but I want you to know that I can't imagine mine without you in it. And I promise you that I am going to take care of you through good times and bad. And I am going to do my best to make you laugh at least once a day. We are going to grow old together. I give you all I have, all I am, and all I ever will be. Because without you I'm not anyone. When we are together my life is complete. So, wherever we are, as long as we are together--that's home."
Monica held onto to Chandler's hands and smiled through her tears. "I love you Chandler. And thanks to you I know what love is. Its been standing right by me practically my whole life. Sometimes standing so close, I couldn't see you. But I see you now. My eyes are wide open. I see the man I have been looking for. A man that accepts me the way that I am. Doesn't try to change me. Just to help me be myself in so many better ways. I promise you that this is only the beginning of all the happiness we are going to share. So, I cannot promise to laugh at all your jokes, but I promise to listen to them all. And I share everything that I am with you--today, tomorrow, forever."
Chandler listened to Monica's words and felt so touched by them. She had never told him any of those things before and they meant more to him than she knew. They kissed passionately, as everyone clapped for them. Monica could not remember a time when she had loved Chandler more. She never wanted to let him go.
They had decided not to have a reception. Monica was really tired, and Chandler knew she just wanted to get home. Working on the ceremony the last few weeks had really exhausted her. And now that is was over, they were both eager to get home and just take it easy.
Monica was quiet the whole way home. Chandler was worried something was bothering her, but he didn't want to push her. He knew if there was something wrong, she would tell him when she was ready. But he didn't like seeing her upset. He couldn't help but wonder if she was having second thoughts about them. He hated doubting her more than anything, but this was one insecurity he couldn't get over now matter how hard he tried. Maybe she was just tired. It could be as simple as that.
When they got to the apartment, Monica headed into the bathroom to brush her teeth, wash her face and get ready for bed. Chandler was starting to get really nervous. Monica was acting so weird. What was wrong? Had he done or said something to upset her? Everything had been perfect at the ceremony, then suddenly it was as if something happened. He went into the bedroom and sat down on the edge of the bed. He was debating about what to do. Suddenly Monica appeared in the doorway. She could tell he was deep in thought. She knew he was worrying and she hated doing that to him. She went over to the bed and sat down beside him.
He turned to look at her. "Mon…"
"Shhh." She told him, as she put her index finger up to his lips.
"Mon, I'm worried about you. Are you okay?"
"That depends."
"On what?" He asked, still concerned.
"That depends on what you think of something I have to tell you."
"What is it?"
Monica closed her eyes. She grabbed hold of Chandler's hand. "Chandler, I'm pregnant."