Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"Oh, you know what we should do?" squealed Phoebe as everyone sat in the living room again, slices of chocolate cream pie quickly disappearing. Chandler had opted out of the pie, too, and was studying his new pink toenails while everyone else ate. He kind of liked them.

"We should exchange our presents!" Phoebe continued. "I mean, we were going to do that tomorrow anyway, right? And it's almost Christmas."

"I agree with Phoebe," Joey announced. "I want to open some presents."

There was eager nodding all around, and after a few more bites of pie, everyone disappeared to collect the gifts they'd bought. Joey and Ross took a flashlight to their apartment and gathered their gifts and Chandler's, and Phoebe grabbed the sack she'd filled with presents and tucked under Monica and Rachel's Christmas tree a few days ago. Monica made everyone close their eyes while she drew her gifts from their hiding place.

The gifts were, as usual, lousy. Monica found herself with an odd assortment of cooking utensils, things like egg cookers and new-fangled cheese graters. Joey got clothes he would never wear. Ross got almost all books; he suspected Chandler had, for fun, told everyone to buy him romance novels. Phoebe unwrapped one tacky knickknack after another.

The only people who seemed to enjoy their gifts were Chandler, who was transfixed by the Christmas patterns on the wrapping paper, and Rachel, whom everyone but Ross had given up on by now and so received mostly gift certificates. Ross had bought her a bracelet that she would exchange next week, but for the time being, she slipped it on her wrist and smiled brightly at him.

They were all sitting around the table, passing around Ross's romance novels, when Phoebe suddenly jumped up from the floor.

"Hey, it's Christmas!" she yelled, having glanced at Ross's watch while she was reading a particularly bawdy section of a book over his shoulder. "It's midnight! It's Christmas!"

At this, everyone stood up in surprise, then reached around the table to exchange hugs and kisses and pleasant "Merry Christmases." Monica crouched next to Chandler, who was sitting up on the couch now, and pulled him into a hug that was probably a little longer and a little tighter than they should have risked in front of anyone. She kissed his ear and his cheek before whispering a "Merry Christmas" to him. He turned his head so he was facing her, then kissed her on the mouth before whispering it back to her.

"Hey, it stopped snowing, and you can actually see the stars," Rachel said, pulling away from a hug with Joey and stepping toward the window. Monica helped Chandler up from the couch, and they joined their friends at the window, everyone bunched up close next to the Christmas tree. Chandler discreetly pulled Monica in front of him, wrapping his arms around her waist and resting his chin on her hair. He felt dizzy from standing up so suddenly, and tightened his grip around Monica, closing his eyes instead of looking outside.

"Isn't it supposed to start snowing on Christmas? I mean, that's how it goes in all the movies, they all look outside and say, 'Hey, look, it's snowing,'" Joey said, a small frown on his face. "It's not supposed to stop snowing."

"You have to be kidding," Rachel moaned. "I have never seen the stars look so good."

"In fact, come to think of it, I don't think I've ever seen stars from here," Ross said thoughtfully. "Think about it _ there are always all these lights from the city, and you can't see a thing. This is kind of cool."

"Yeah, it is kind of cool," Chandler said, his eyes still shut as he pulled Monica closer still.

They all just nodded silently.

About an hour later everyone was ready to head to bed. Monica had already tucked Chandler into her bed again, telling everyone that she still wanted to keep an eye on him, and she had every intention of taking him to the hospital tomorrow if the weather stayed clear.

Joey and Phoebe had dumped their gifts into two paper bags and were hauling them back to his apartment, where Phoebe was sleeping in Chandler's room again. While Monica was in the bathroom getting ready for bed, Rachel grabbed Ross before he could head out.

"So," she started, feeling suddenly shy.

"Yeah, you know-"

"That probably wasn't the best idea in the world, what we did in the hallway," Rachel said.

Ross looked mildly hurt and disappointed, but nodded his agreement.

"It's just too soon. I mean, you with Emily, and me with, well, with all my stuff," she continued.

"I know," Ross said, then repeated in a whisper, "I know." He grabbed hold of her hands, rubbing her fingers with his thumbs, and looked like he was about to lean in and kiss her anyway, then touched his lips to her forehead and walked out. Rachel stood with her back to the door for a moment longer before walking to her room.

Monica awoke the next morning to the television blaring in the living room.

"Joey," she muttered angrily, assuming he had been playing with the remote after the power went off. She kissed Chandler quickly on the cheek, grinning as he stirred and smiled in response, then shuffled out of bed and into the living room to turn off the TV.

It hit her immediately that the power must be back on, and she glanced outside to see that the sun was so bright that she actually had to squint at the glare from the snow outside. Then she picked up the phone to check for a dial tone, and almost yelled in triumph when she heard the familiar tone.

Monica decided that she could wait at least another hour before waking Chandler and getting him to the hospital. So she took a quick shower, and then took on the ambitious task of making omelets for everyone. She had no idea what time it was _ all of the clocks were blinking 12:00 AM _ but figured that everyone would be awake and hungry before long. And within half an hour, the kitchen was once again bustling with loud chattering and laughter as everyone dug into breakfast.

Monica called for a cab at 10, arranging for it to pick her and Chandler up in an hour. It took a few tries to find a taxi company that would take them, as the streets were still mostly unplowed. Rachel then called the same company to arrange for a ride to the train station so she could still spend Christmas with her family, and Ross decided to join her, calling Carol and telling her he'd pick up Ben.

Joey and Phoebe offered to help Monica take Chandler to the hospital, but she told them she could handle it alone. So the two of them decided to walk to the subway and make their way to Joey's house for Christmas dinner.

Thirty minutes later, Monica walked out of her room with a groggy Chandler, dressed in jeans now instead of the sweatpants and a clean sweater. He wasn't nauseous today, and his headache was at least bearable now, but he still couldn't see clearly and he was having trouble following the conversations around him. Monica sat him at the kitchen table, and he managed to eat two slices of toast and drink half a glass of juice before their cab arrived.

They stood and exchanged hugs with everyone, and Joey helped them get down the stairs, keeping an arm around Chandler's waist as he concentrated on every careful step.

After helping Monica settle Chandler in the cab, he gave her another hug and a quick kiss on the cheek.

"You sure you're OK?" he asked her, poking his head in the door after she had sat next to Chandler.

"I'll be fine once I know he's OK," she said, rubbing Chandler's knee. "You have a merry Christmas, OK, Joey? Don't worry about us."

"Here's my mom's phone number. Call me when you know what's going on," Joey said, smiling as he handed her a slip of paper, which she tucked into her purse.

"I will." He slammed the door and waved after them before turning back to the building.

"How you feeling?" Monica asked Chandler softly, as she tucked her arm behind his back so he could rest his head against her shoulder.

"Actually," he said, "pretty awful."

"I know, sweetie," Monica said. "We'll get you to a doctor soon."

Chandler didn't say anything. The soft vibrations of the car and the warm smell coming from Monica were lulling him to sleep. He was starting to actually enjoy the heavy, empty feeling in his head.

"Sorry I ruined Christmas," he said softly. Monica looked down at him in surprise, having assumed he was asleep.

"Honey, you didn't ruin anything," she said, stroking his hair and pulling him into her chest. "It wasn't your fault. And besides, even if you hadn't hurt yourself we wouldn't have been alone."

"I was thinking about that," Chandler said, his words slurring slightly, and sounding as though he were talking in his sleep. "I was just sitting there on that couch the whole time, watching and listening to everyone, didn't feel like talking. And I realized, even while everyone was yelling and being so mean, I know some pretty great people."

Monica smiled. "Yes, you do."

"I just, I guess I take that for granted," he said. "We're all just so busy with our lives and all this crazy stuff we have going on. I guess we forget how great we have it."

"Not me," Monica said, kissing the top of his head.

"Really? Never?"

"Nope," she said. "Now go to sleep."

"Come on, you never take us for granted?" Chandler asked, trying to raise his head to look at Monica, even as she pressed her palm to his cheek and gently pushed his head back down. "You never get so angry or frustrated with me, Ross, Rachel, any of us that you forget how lucky you are to have such great friends?"

"Really, I don't," she said. "Why do you think I like taking care of everyone? Why do you think I'm always cooking and inviting everyone over and mothering them?"

"Because you're obsessed with becoming a mother?" he asked, and she slapped his leg playfully before kissing his forehead.

"No, it's because I love all of you. All the time." Chandler grunted in disbelief.

"Now really, go to sleep, or else I'll tell everyone what you just said about them."

Chandler opened one eye and snuck a look at her.

"You wouldn't."

"I would."