Chandler stared hard at the brown envelope propped up on the kitchen table, with hatred. He knew that one glance at that letter and it could either tear everything apart or make everything OK again. He put his left hand on his face sighed and then let it fall to his side again.
Monica stood looking scared at the letter. What if it said Chandler was the dad? Ross would never speak to them again and the others would side with Ross. Her mum and dad would hate her even more for siding with Chandler. Monica silently prayed that the letter was good news. Not just for Ross' sake but for her own too.
Ross pulled the kitchen chair out and sat down on it looking everywhere but where the letter was. He maintained an angry bitter look on the exterior but inside he was afraid. Afraid of Ben not being his, afraid that it would ruin his friendship with Chandler and his bond with his sister.
Chandler and Monica had called up Ross thinking it was not right to open it without him present. So he had arrived not long after and what had seemed like hours of silence was in fact seconds. The knocking on the door broke the safety of the silence. Monica broke her stare of the letter and turned to open it in automatic pilot.
"Hi, can I come in?" Carol said quietly.
Monica didn't speak but instead ushered her in.
"Daddy!" Ben said rushing toward Ross.
"Hi Ben!" Ross said with faked enthusiasm getting up and picking his son up.
"Hi Monica," Ben said next rushing to his aunt receiving a hug from her too. Monica tried hard to smile at her nephew.
"Go watch some TV Ben please." Carol said to him, "Is that OK?" She asked Monica.
"Sure." Monica said bluntly.
The three stared at Carol with hate. She had the cheek to turn up here, Ross thought angrily glaring at her.
"Good timing." Chandler hadn't meant to share it with the others but they had heard his angry hushed tone.
Carol saw the prominent letter on the table and saw the hospital marking on it knowing exactly what it was. She had realised she may have come at the right time because the letter was unopened.
"I, er come round because I don't think you're doing the right thing," Carol looked intimidated by the three angry people in front of her. She knew it was her fault but she was scared of what would happen if she told them, and she was right to be scared looking at the pain she was causing.
"What the HELL has it got to do with you?" Ross sneered knowing she was referring to the letter.
"I just think its better that we leave it. Ross, if it says Chandlers' the dad think about how much pain it'll cause. Not just to yourself but to Ben. Why do you feel the need to know?"
"What about Chandler? Doesn't he have the right to know if he's Ben's dad? This is all your fault Carol. We are having to do this now because you never told us six years ago. So any pain that this letter may cause is all caused by you fully. I hope you feel good about yourself." Ross whispered angrily knowing Ben was not far away, "GO Carol get out. This has NOTHING to do with you. Not any more."
Chandler couldn't believe Ross had stuck up for him. Ross didn't blame him? Chandler felt great relief from his words not knowing if they were truthful. He knew it was far from over but the fact Ross had believed that Chandler had no idea about this before helped a great deal.
"Ben, come on." Carol shouted to her son who was watching the TV ion the living room.
"Oh mum I want to stay with dad."
"Daddy's busy come on." Carol hurried out.
The two left Ross watched as Ben waved at him feeling choked up. Seeing Ben had made everything a million times worse now. Ross realised he wouldn't be able to stand it if Ben really wasn't his. Sure he IS Ben's dad but what if biologically he was Chandlers?
"Maybe Carol's right Ross. No matter what that letter says I will NEVER be Ben's dad." Chandler said.
"So are you saying we don't open the letter?" Monica asked him.
Chandler didn't answer at first scared of another outburst from Ross but she was right. He didn't want to open the letter anymore. It didn't seem right.
"Well yeah I guess that is what I'm saying. But I can't just make this decision. Its not just up to me. Ross it's your call. What ever you decide we'll do."
Ross didn't need to think because seeing Ben had answered that question already, "You're right."
Monica hugged her brother, "This is behind us now yeah?"
Ross didn't answer instead he picked the letter up and scrunched it into a tight ball and threw it in the trash.
"Are you sure about this?" Chandler asked.
"Yes, and Chandler although this is gonna take time for me to get over this, it means a lot to me that you told me the truth. I'm gonna go home I gotta be alone for a while. Monica I'll call you soon OK? Please don't worry."
"Sure, OK Ross if you need to talk you know I am always here." Monica said as Ross left the building.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chandler thought about what would have happened if Ross hadn't been involved. He knew he'd of DEFINITELY would have wanted to know the results. If he was a dad he had the right to know. But this was different. Ross was one of his closest and oldest friends and this meant far much more to Chandler. He had to get on with his life. He had to pretend Ben was Ross' no matter how hard it was and how much it hurt knowing he might have a son. It was 6 am and Chandler hadn't decided that going to work would help to keep his mind off of this and he knew in time it would all be OK.
Chandler splashed the water on his face. It was cold and took effect immediately waking him from his sleepy daze. He stared at his face in the bathroom mirror and smiled. Behind him was Monica. She wrapped her arms around him.
"Hi sweetie." She said.
He swerved round to face her and replied, "Hi!" He kissed her but she withdrew.
"You're all wet!" She laughed grabbing a towel and mopping his face with it.
"Yeah so are you," He said cupping a handful of water from the sink and splashing it towards her.
"Don't its going everywhere!" She giggled and began mopping her face and then the floor. She folded the towel and replaced it back on the towel rack. Chandler watched her obsessive need for cleanliness and laughed to himself. He went over and threw the towel on the floor.
"Chandler!" Monica yelled jokingly and she scooped down and picked it up, "Stop mucking about!"
"Monica," his voice changed to seriousness, "Can we really just forget about this?"
"We have to for Ross' sake. But Chand if you want to know you have every right."
"No, that letter is in the bin where it belongs."
Monica smiled warmly at him. He threw the towel on the floor again but she left it there this time kissing him.
"Whoa you must love me if you are willing to leave a towel on the floor!" Chandler joked.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ross took another swig of the whiskey and forced himself to swallow it. By now he was very drunk but still the alcohol served as no comfort to him. What had he done? Why did he feel the need to know? Why didn't he just leave it there? He's life would never be the same again.
Why had he snuck back over to Monica and Chandlers? Why had he retrieved the letter from the trash? Why had he opened it? Was it curiosity? Was it his obsessive need to know everything? He knew he regret it now though.
He saw a lighter under his coffee table and wondered who's it was. He had seen Chandler smoking a week ago through his apartment window, trying hard to conceal it from everyone else especially Monica who definitely wouldn't have approved and so assumed he had dropped it. He looked toward a picture of his sister and knew that it would be better for no one else to know. Monica and him were so close and he didn't want to cause her or Chandler any pain. What he had done was stupid but he had to hold the burden alone and pretend everything was fine.
He picked the lighter up. Ross watched as the letter turned into small grey flakes. He was the only one who knew the truth the only one who knew that Chandler was Ben's dad and it was going to stay that way. A pain of jealousy entered Ross as he watched the letter be destroyed. How could he carry on now, knowing that Ben wasn't biological his? He wasn't sure about the answer.
The End!
That's it the final part. Hope you enjoyed reading it :) Please review I'd really appreciate it :) Bad comments welcome (I can handle them *sniff* hehe:))