HELLO, HELLO, HELLO... PART TWO. AS MENTIONED IN PART ONE, THIS FIC IS A JOINED EFFORT WITH NATCHOU PLAYING THE PART OF EDITOR AND PLOT CONSULTANT! ::AHEM... SEND THE FLAMES TO HER:: LOL... JUST KIDDING! BUT SERIOUSLY, WE WANT FEEDBACK, SO PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW! SORRY THAT IT'S TAKEN AWHILE... IF YOU READ THE LATEST CHAPTER OF "FEAR," YOU KNOW THAT I WAS BEEN DEALING WITH THE STRESS OF FINALS; HENCE, FICS HAVE (SADLY) HAD TO TAKE A BACKSEAT IN LIFE. BUT THAT'S ALL CHANGED... SUMMER BABY! WOOHOO! HEHE... OKAY, YEAH, I'M DONE. ENJOY THE FIC. :)

"Mon? Mon, honey, open your eyes. Monica?" Monica felt the haze slowly evaporating as the voices above her grew clearer and more insistent. She opened her eyes slowly and stared upward, feeling as though she was suffering from amnesia, so deep was her confusion. Chandler and Rachel were looking down at her, the concern written plainly across their faces. She struggled to sit up and both Chandler and Rachel immediately leapt to help her do so. She stared at them both apprehensively and then noticed that Kathy was standing near the door, watching with a confused and uncomfortable expression on her face. Her presence brought the previous conversation back with a rush, and Monica's gaze returned immediately to Chandler's anxious face.
"What's going on?" she asked quietly, feeling like a scared child.
"You fainted," Rachel said gently. Monica shook her head slowly.
"I mean, what's going on here? With us? I don't understand. Why are you," she said to Chandler, "back together with her?" Chandler glanced at Kathy uneasily.
"Mon, Kathy and I never broke up. We've been together for over a year now."
"But what about us?" she asked in a quiet voice. Chandler stared at her.
"Us?"
"You and me," Monica explicated. "Us."
"You're with Pete," Rachel interrupted. "You're engaged to Pete. Monica, what's going on, are you okay? Did you hit your head or something?" Suddenly feeling like a trapped animal, Monica looked from one to the other and dashed out of Chandler's room, across the hall, and into her own apartment where she closed herself in her room and fell onto the bed, sobbing and feeling like a lost child.

"It must have been a dream," Chandler said quietly as he sat in Central Perk with Ross and Rachel that afternoon. "She must have just had some vivid dream that she thought was real." Ross and Rachel nodded in agreement, wanting to believe it more than they actually did.
"Yeah, you're probably right," Ross agreed compliantly. "She must have dreamt something and not been totally awake when she got up." Rachel nodded as well, lost in thought. Never before had she seen Monica in such a state, and she had been extremely concerned about her friend's well-being.
"Yeah, a dream," she managed finally, hoping that the problem was really that simple. Chandler sat silently as he thought back to that morning, wondering what was going on with one of his best friends. He'd never seen Monica in such a state, and he felt guilty because it seemed like her bewilderment was due, at least in part, to him. He wished he understood what was going on and that he could fix it. Her suggestions that they had been together at some point in time had really confused him, and he couldn't for the life of him figure out where they'd come from.

"Bah!" As he entered his apartment that night, Chandler was startled to see Monica sitting in his barcalounger, apparently awaiting his return. "Oh, Mon... you scared me. You okay?" It wasn't until a moment after his entrance that he noted how disheveled she looked. She was wearing a pair of sweatpants and one of the old t-shirts that he'd given her when he was cleaning out his closet a few years back. Her hair was messier than she usually allowed it to get, and her eyes were red and puffy. She simply stared at him sadly, and he began to feel more and more concerned for her. "Mon, please tell me what's going on," he pleaded. He felt guilty when a tear slid down her cheek, and he approached the chair and squatted down in front of her. "Mon?"
"Please," he heard her whisper in an almost inaudible voice. "Please, tell me that I'm not crazy... tell me you remember me. That you remember us." He looked at her uneasily, and she eventually moved her gaze from the floor and looked into his eyes.
"Hon, I'll do anything... I just don't understand what you mean," he replied apologetically.
"Don't you remember London?"
"Ross's almost-wedding?" Chandler asked nonchalantly. "Of course I remember it. Why, what about it?"
"You don't remember what happened between us in London? In your hotel room?"
"Monica," he began in a gentle voice. "You were never in my hotel room in London."
"Chandler, listen to me, and please don't think I'm nuts, because I'm not. I swear, this is all true, and you have to listen to me and believe me, regardless of how absurd this might sound."
"Mon, of course I'll believe you," he said. "I know you're not crazy." Monica took a shaky breath and looked into his eyes, willing herself not to cry.
"London," she repeated. "Ross's would-be wedding. The night of the rehearsal dinner. I was upset about some guy thinking I was Ross's mother and I went to your room later that evening. You and I ended up sleeping together, and it was the most amazing night of my life." She ignored Chandler's genuinely baffled expression and continued. "We kept sleeping together when we got back to New York, although we didn't tell the others for a few months. Then, on our one-year anniversary, we went to Las Vegas because Joey was supposed to be shooting a movie out there. We almost got married in a casino, but Ross and Rachel ended up getting married instead because they were so hammered. We came back here and decided to live together. After we'd been living together for almost a year, you proposed and I said yes." She paused and looked at Chandler hopefully, praying that at least something she'd said had sparked a memory within. He looked at her blankly, the concerned look still present. It was a look, she decided, that was beginning to get on her nerves.
"Monica," he said after a moment. "I don't know what kind of dream you had last night, but it's not real. You, you're with Pete now, and I'm with Kathy."
"But it IS real!" Monica cried, feeling the tears building up in her eyes. "Or, it was," she added. "Please, Chandler," she pleaded. "Try to remember! I love you... you love me! We're supposed to be getting married. You... last night, after we made love, you gave me a necklace that used to belong to your grandmother! You said that I could wear it to the wedding... please..." she trailed off as the tears took over. She could feel the desperation rising within her, begging for Chandler to remember. The thought of him not even remembering their love was far too daunting a notion to accept. He looked at her sympathetically.
"Monica, I want to help you," he said softly. "I just... I don't know what to do here." Before he could register what was happening, he felt Monica's lips on his in an urgent kiss. For a bewildered moment he allowed her to kiss him until he regained his senses and gently pushed her away. "Mon, sweetie... I don't know what all this is about, but it was just a dream or something. You need to calm down. Why don't you call Pete? Maybe it was just with him being away on that trip for the weekend or something... I'm sure you'd feel better if you saw him." At the realization that the kiss had prompted no recollection on his behalf, Monica felt the tears become stronger, and she knew that momentarily the sobs would take over. She quickly stood and left the apartment, leaving Chandler dazed and worried.

"Monica?" Mon opened her eyes groggily, wondering if the voice was inside her head or inside her apartment. "Mon?" She stood up slowly and wrapped her robe around her, emerging slowly from her bedroom. "Hey, sweetie," Pete greeted her, extending a bouquet of flowers toward her with a smile on his face. The smile faded when Monica made no move to walk toward him or to accept the flowers. "Hon, you okay?" She stared at him silently. As the time passed, she was coming to realize that this horrible warp zone she was in wasn't a dream like she had hoped and prayed. It was real, or at least, as real as it could be, given how surreal it truly was. "Sweetie?" Pete's concerned voice interrupted her thoughts, and she forced a smile.
"Hi," she said carefully. She wondered how on earth she was going to act normal around someone she hadn't seen in three years, and yet somehow was engaged to.
"Hi," he repeated. "Is everything okay?"
"Yeah," she lied. "I was just asleep."
"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you. I just got in from the airport, and I wanted to see my beautiful fiancee." Monica forced a smile and took the flowers that he was still offering. She headed into the kitchen to put them in some water, freezing when she felt Pete's arms wrap around her waist. "Don't I get a 'welcome home' kiss?" he asked jokingly. She felt her heart start to pound as she tried to think of a reason not to kiss him.
"Uh, let me get showered and dressed," she said quickly. "I look like a wreck." Without giving him a chance to respond, she darted into the bathroom and shut the door. Once it was locked, she turned on the shower and quickly entered the warm spray, feeling the tears stinging in her eyes. She leaned against the shower wall and tried in vain to come up with some idea of what was happening as the tears slid down her cheeks. Surely this was all just some crazy misunderstanding that would get sorted out soon? Monica placed her face under the shower spray as she let her mind race, and suddenly pulled away as a daunting thought struck her. "What if it never gets sorted out? What if Chandler marries Kathy and I never get him back?" She suddenly felt as though she were going to explode if she didn't get out of the shower and out of the apartment. She shut off the water and hastily toweled off and dressed herself. After brushing her teeth, she opened the bathroom door warily and glanced around the apartment, finally spotting Pete sitting on the couch. When he heard the bathroom door open, he turned to face her.
"Hey, beautiful," he welcomed her, holding out his hand. She stared at him, remembering a time when those very same words had come from Chandler's mouth and, feeling as though she were going to break down, she bolted from the apartment and didn't stop running until she got to Central Park. As she stopped and stared around her, she allowed the tears to dampen her face as the emotions she had tried to repress were finally freed. She felt the senses of desperation and loneliness mounting, and she sank tiredly onto one of the park benches. She pulled her knees up toward her and wrapped her arms around her legs, placing her forehead on her knees, the sobs shaking her body. In that moment, as she felt the despair and the misery take over her, she realized that there was just one thing that she wanted: Chandler's arms wrapped around her. She thought back to the times when she had felt sad about something and she had gone to Chandler for comfort. He had been her rock of support and was the only one who could really calm her down and make her feel safe. Her sobs intensified as she realized that she might never get to feel that safe again. She hugged her knees tighter as she rocked back and forth, crying and wishing that there was some way she could get her happiness back.

As she walked slowly through the park, wallowing in her misery, she tried to come up with options and plans of action, but to no avail. Being that she had no idea what on earth was happening, she had no clue as to how to resolve the situation. As she glanced up ahead of her, she froze at the sight that met her eyes. There, not thirty feet ahead of her, sitting on a park bench, were Chandler and Kathy. She quickly darted behind a tree as she watched them, feeling guilt, jealousy, heartache, and desolation wash through her. Although she couldn't her their conversation, she could see them clearly, and as she watched with envy, Chandler fed Kathy a mouthful of ice cream, laughing when some of it was still on her lip. Monica cringed when she saw him lean in and kiss her in an attempt to get rid of the remaining ice cream. As they pulled away, Monica recognized on his face an all-too familiar expression. It was a look that had once made her heart flutter, but now made it break. It was the look that he always had when he used to look at Mon and tell her how much he loved her, and now Kathy was the one who was on the receiving end of it. Monica turned away quickly and leaned against the tree, trying to maintain her composure. It wasn't until that moment that she realized that Chandler really did love Kathy, and that this wasn't just some minor misunderstanding. She realized, in that moment, that Chandler had found in Kathy the happiness he had once found in Monica. As she felt her heart break, she reached the first conclusion that she had managed to produce all day: regardless of what happened to her, she wanted Chandler to be happy. She loved him too much to let him be miserable. And, as much as it pained her, it was agonizingly clear that he was happy with Kathy. She stole one more quick glance at Chandler, who was still oblivious to her presence and was laughing with his fiancee and then turned and ran out of the park, unaware of the tears that streamed down her face.

"Monica, where have you been?" Pete asked as she entered the apartment. "I've been calling all over looking for you. I tried Phoebe's, I tried Ross's, I tried Joey's... I even tried the restaurant. What's the matter, why are you crying?" He made a move to walk toward her but stopped when he noticed the way she shrank away from him. "Monica," he said, his voice a little more stern. "What's going on?" She looked at him, almost feeling guilty for putting him through whatever he was feeling, but at the same time almost feeling angry with him for a reason she couldn't figure out. "Mon?" His voice was gentler, but his eyes were demanding an explanation that she knew she owed him.
"I just need the night to myself," she said eventually. She was painfully aware of the fact that she owed him more than that, but at the same time she knew that there was no more that she could offer him in that moment. "I've had a rough day," she said simply, hoping that he would buy it. Pete stared at her for a moment, knowing that there was something deeper going on, but also recognizing that she obviously didn't want to talk about it.
"Okay," he said dully as he bent down and picked up his bag. "I'll call you tomorrow," he said, leaving the apartment. Monica sighed. It wasn't Pete's fault that her world had been turned upside down, but it was almost as if he were the only one she could be mad at. She couldn't be mad at Chandler when basically all she wanted was to be back in his arms, and there was no reason to be angry with the rest of the group. That left only Kathy and Pete, and she knew that her irritation would be taken out on them, whether she intended it or not. As she went into her room and sat on the bed, she felt the emotions wash over her, but instead of breaking down again, she simply felt numb. It all seemed so surreal, and while she still half-expected to wake up and find that it was all a dream, as time passed the likelihood of that was rapidly diminishing. She rose from the bed slowly and looked into the mirror atop her dresser. Her eyes were red and puffy and from her face it was obvious that she had been crying. She swept her hair back and tightened the elastic that held her ponytail as she wiped her eyes fiercely. She wandered out into the living area once again and headed toward the kitchen. She knew that although it was getting somewhat late and she should be starting dinner, she was in no mood to eat. She gazed absently out of the window for a moment and up at the stars. "Plenty of time," she said to herself eventually. "This will all get sorted out. Chandler and I belong together, and no one, especially not Kathy, is going to prevent us from being together." She wiped her face again and took a deep breath, feeling slightly better at that. Realizing the power of optimistic thinking, she smiled slightly. "I'll just take a couple of days and try to get things seeming normal, and then I'll figure out how to make him remember." She nodded decidedly to herself and turned to go into the kitchen. Noticing the mail on the counter, she flipped through it, half of her mind still on Chandler. She noticed a beige envelope addressed to her, and she stared at it for a moment wondering who it was from. Before she realized what she was thinking, she had thought for a split second that it would be an RSVP to her and Chandler's wedding. She sadly erased the thought from her mind and began to carefully tear open the envelope. Her birthday was a month away... perhaps it was an early card. As she read the card, her breath caught in her throat and her heartbeat quickened. It was from Kathy's mother thanking her for catering the wedding this weekend. This weekend. She suddenly felt dizzy as she realized what this meant. In five short days her soul mate and the love of her life would be married to someone else. She threw the card on the table and ran into the bathroom as she felt the nausea take over.

OKAY... PART TWO DONE! PLEASE SEND FEEDBACK!! THANK YOU!! MORE FICS ON THE WAY! (THE JOYS OF NO CLASSES, LOL). :-)