It only took the police ten minutes to get to their apartment building. Monica and Chandler were still in Joey and Rachel's apartment sitting together on the couch. Chandler had finally managed to get Monica to calm down a bit and when he saw a police officer come into the apartment with Rachel, she reluctantly let him leave her side to walk to over to them.
"I'm Officer Rosen. Ms. Green here has informed me of what happened. Where is the victim?" He nonchalantly asked, as if he didn't even care a woman had just been raped.
"The victim has a name. It's Monica Geller and she is right there." Chandler replied, somewhat annoyed, pointing in the direction of the couch.
The officer picked up on Chandler's tone and continued in a more apologetic manner. "I'm sorry, Mister…"
"Bing. Chandler Bing." Chandler told him. "So have you gotten that monster out of our apartment yet?"
"We are just waiting for the ambulance to get here."
"The only thing that guy deserves to leave here in is a bodybag after what he did to Monica."
"I know, I'm sorry. Its just standard procedure. My partner should be here any minute. She'll want to talk to Ms. Geller. I would do it myself, but sometimes after a trauma like this, its easier to talk to another woman."
"Chandler.." Monica called out to him from the couch. He left the officer and went over to her. "What's happening?" She asked, as she slowly rocked herself back and forth. Rachel was sitting next to her, but Chandler could tell she had no clue what to do to console her friend. He knelt down next to Monica and gently took her hand in his.
"Well I think they're going to want a statement, honey. And then we'll go to the hospital and make sure you're okay." "I'm okay." She said as she looked up at him. "Thanks to you." She was on the verge of tears again, but held them back as best she could.
****
A few hours later, Chandler and Monica arrived back at their apartment. It was no longer considered a crime scene because the attacker had been arrested and Monica had identified him one final time before he had been taken to the hospital. It had been a very long night at the hospital with the examinations and questions from the police. Chandler had sat with Monica as she told a policewoman what happened to her.
She had gotten home from work about 9:00 and decided to take a hot bath. By 9:30, she had finished her bath, dried off, and then slipped on her bathrobe. She realized she had forgotten to lock the front door when she'd first gotten home, so she was about to do that when suddenly she was grabbed from behind. The man, who was quite a bit larger than her, had put the smooth part of the knife against her cheek and whispered, "Scream and I'll kill you." Monica could tell by his voice that he wasn't lying, so she knew she'd have to do whatever it took to try and stay alive.
As Monica had told the story to the policewoman, she began to cry. Chandler just sat there listening to Monica tell the story and wanted to kick himself for going out to that stupid business dinner. He didn't know if he would be able to handle hearing the rest of what happened to her before he had gotten to the apartment. Monica said the attacker told her if she did what she was told, he wouldn't kill her. He covered her mouth with his left hand and held the knife in his right and then began to lead her into her and Chandler's bedroom. She started to get very nauseated thinking about what this man was going to do to her in the bed she shared with the man she loved more than anything. Monica said that she had suddenly felt that she could fight this guy and decided that in no way was she going to let him attack her on her own bed. She kicked him and then made a run for it. But she obviously wasn't quick enough because when she reached the living room he had already caught her and threw her to the ground. She began to cry and he once again covered her mouth and told her she had been "very very bad" and would have to pay for that. She continued crying as he pushed her into the area between the couch and the coffee table with her head near the barca lounger. When she saw the chair she immediately thought of Chandler and prayed to any higher power that she could stall the guy long enough for Chandler to get home. When the man took his hand off of her mouth again, she lied and told him she had STDs, to which he said he didn't care, and that reply scared her even more. He climbed on top of her after untying the belt of her robe and opening both sides to reveal she had no clothing on underneath. She closed her eyes, for she did not want to see this sick man gawk at her naked body which he was, at any moment, about to violate in the worst way. She began to pray for Chandler to walk in at that moment, but instead she could feel her legs being forcefully opened against her will and then with her wrists held about her head, he started to rape her.
Chandler cried as Monica had told her story. He was starting to feel more and more guilty for not being home to protect her from this maniac. Ten minutes after the rape started, Chandler had walked into the apartment. Chandler had listened very closely to this part of Monica's account. When he had been standing there witnessing the rape, he didn't know how long he had actually stood there and done nothing, but from what Monica told the police it had only been about five seconds. Monica said that she had heard the front door open and within seconds Chandler had pulled the man off of her. She said it with so much relief in her voice, that Chandler felt a little better.
Now they were just glad to be home again, as ironic as it might have been. They were both very tired and still in shock over what had happened. Chandler closed the front door behind him and locked every bolt on the door. Monica had taken a change of clothes with her to the hospital, which she was now wearing. They had kept her bathrobe - which she didn't really care about. She didn't want it anymore. She slipped off her coat and Chandler watched her carefully. He was so worried about her. "Chandler, I really need to take a shower. They said I can now." She told him, as she carefully avoided the area in the room where her attack had taken place. She headed toward the bathroom and flipped on the light switch.
Chandler waited until he could hear the water running before he sat down at the kitchen table and burst into tears. He didn't want Monica to hear or see him crying, but he was absolutely devastated. Everything that happened to her would have been avoided if he had just been home. In no way was he implying she was a weak female, in fact she was the strongest woman he had ever met, but he just knew if he had been home maybe the animal who did this to her wouldn't have even come into the apartment at all. Chandler decided he couldn't talk to Monica about this just yet because he wanted her to deal with what had happened to her and not worry about him. His problem was nothing compared to what she had just been through. And helping her was more important to him anyway.
After twenty minutes, Chandler began to get a little worried about Monica. The shower was still going and he had a feeling she was scrubbing herself raw in there. He walked over to the bathroom, where the door was slightly cracked open.
"Mon? You okay in there?" He asked in a low voice. He didn't want to startle her. When she didn't answer right away and he knew she was crying. He felt bad for interrupting her, she probably needed this time alone without him bombarding her. "I'll just be in the kitchen." He told her a few seconds later after getting no response.
From the shower, Monica could tell by his voice that he was just as shaken up as she was. She felt so bad for ignoring him, she knew he was just trying to help. "Chandler? You still there?" She asked.
"I'm right here, honey." Chandler said from outside of the door. "If you need anything, just let me know, okay?"
"Chandler, I want you to help me get clean." He heard her say from the shower. He slowly opened the door to the bathroom and stepped in, not sure he had heard her clearly.
"What'd you say?" He asked her.
She poked her head out from around the shower curtain, looking at him with her beautiful blue eyes that were now red and puffy. "Will you help me?" She asked him again.
He took another step toward her, and she opened the curtain a little more. She really wanted his help, he thought to himself. He suddenly remembered reading a pamphlet in the hospital while he had been waiting for her. It said you should always ask a rape victim if you can touch them. While he was in deep thought, Monica handed him a sponge and some soap. "Mon, is it okay with you? You know…for me to..touch you?"
Monica looked at him with sad eyes. The realization that her fiancé was afraid to touch her made her want to cry. She nodded and pulled him into a tight hug, neither one caring that he was fully dressed and the water from the shower was splashing all over the bathroom. As he held her tightly to him, he made a silent promise to himself that she would never be hurt again.
After helping her dry off and get into her pjs, they walked into their bedroom. Chandler pulled the covers back and helped Monica to get comfortable. Neither one had much to say. They were so tired, however both knew that getting some sleep would be a challenge. Monica was so scared that she would have a nightmare or some sort of flashback. And Chandler couldn't get the image of what happened to Monica out of his head. It just kept replaying over and over again and he wanted it to stop. He started to wonder if it would ever stop. He glanced over at Monica and she moved over to lie very close to him. He was kind of surprised, he didn't think she would want to be touched at all for quite some time. But Monica seemed as though she wanted to be as close to Chandler as she could. And he didn't mind in the least, he wanted to do everything he could to make her feel safe again.
The counselor at the hospital had told Monica she may not want to be near anyone of the opposite sex anytime soon and that it was perfectly normal. But Monica didn't feel that way at all towards Chandler. She knew he had nothing to do with her attack; he certainly wasn't to blame and neither was she. Monica was educated enough to know that the rape wasn't even about sex, it was just about power. And she had decided at the hospital that this wasn't going to take over her life. She had a future with Chandler and she couldn't let this ruin it.
She snuggled closely to him, resting her head on his chest. She could feel him tense up at first, and he hesitated a bit before putting his arm around her. But when she placed her arm across his waist, it seemed to be all the reassurance he needed as he wrapped his arms around her more securely.
"I love you so much, Mon." he finally said, breaking the silence.
"I love you too." She said as she closed her eyes, trying her best not to think about the events of the night.
"Just try and get some sleep, sweetie. I'm going to be right here and if you need anything you just let me know."
Monica smiled slightly, she knew he meant every word, and she was so thankful he was in her life. She tried to relax, thinking she would never be able to fall asleep, but their exhaustion finally caught up with them and by 6am they had fallen asleep, still tightly embraced in each other's arms.
To be continued....