I'll Be There For You

Disclaimer: I don't own them.

Thanks for the reviews. I'm glad the 'dead ass' made someone laugh! Anyway, on with the story.

Two weeks after the funeral, Monica had her first sonogram. She took Chandler along with her. They were both excited and nervous, worried about the health of the baby, excited to finally see the new life inside Monica, and above all, thrilled that this was the first step into a new life. It wasn't Chandler's baby, but it would be his new life. Monica had made it certain that she wanted him to help her at every step of the way. She didn't want Ross, nor Joey, but Chandler. And that made Chandler feel so wanted and loved. The Chandler from a few months back would have been scared of that, but this new Chandler (the one whose best friend was having a baby) was happy about it. He wasn't sure how or why he had changed, he just knew that he had. And Monica noticed it too. She was happy about it; she didn't want her child to grow up knowing the commitment-phobic, using women, chain-smoking Chandler. She wanted her child to grow up knowing the loving, caring, funny Chandler.

"So, Mon, where do we go?" asked Chandler as they entered the hospital.

"I'd guess that way," Monica pointed.

"Why?"

"Because of that sign," she replied, pointing to a sign saying 'Maternity'. Chandler nodded, and they soon arrived in the maternity section. A nurse directed them into a small room, and the doctor arrived a few minutes later.

"Hi, my name is Dr Allen, and I'll be your doctor for the next few months, Mrs. Gellar," the woman told her, with a pleasant voice. She was quite tall, with a nice face and long ginger hair. "So, is this Mr. Gellar?"

There was an awkward pause. Monica finally broke it. "No, see, I'm Ms Gellar – but call me Monica, please – and this is Chandler Bing."

"Oh, and is Mr. Bing the father?"

"Yes," Monica lied. Maybe not biologically, but the baby would grow up being closest to Uncle Chandler. She ignored Chandler's look.

"Well, there's your baby, Monica," Dr Allen told Monica after a few minutes of messing around with machines.

"Wow," Monica breathed, feeling as if she might cry. Chandler squeezed her shoulder and kissed her forehead.

"Do you want to know the sex?" asked the doctor.

"Do we?" repeated Chandler. Monica looked dubious. "Can we talk about that for a second?" he asked the doctor. She nodded.

"Well?" Monica asked. "I mean, it's sort of your baby as well. I want you to have a say in this."

"I think we should wait," Chandler told her. "It's more traditional, isn't it?"

"Yeah, I think that as well. And we can always choose names for boys and girls, and we can decorate the nursery in neutral colours," Monica said. "Dr Allen? We'd like to not know yet." The doctor assented, and they left.

* * *

Back at Monica's, Rachel, Chandler and Monica discussed several things.

"Where will the baby sleep?" asked Rachel. "Y'know, I don't mind moving out. I could live with Ross or Phoebe."

"That might be best," Monica said, slowly. "Maybe I better call them and ask them to come over. I have some things to say." She picked up the phone and dialled Ross. "Ross? Yeah, it's Monica. Could you come over for a while? Yeah, now. Ok, see ya." She hung up. "Ross is coming. Chandler, could you go fetch Joey?" He smiled, nodded and left. Monica dialled again. "Hi, Phoebe? Yeah, Monica. D'ya wanna come over to my place for a while? Yeah, I need to talk to you. Ok, see you in a few minutes."

Ten minutes later, everyone was assembled in Monica's kitchen. "So, what is it?" Phoebe asked.

"Yeah, I was just about to call this really hot girl," Joey whined. "Man, but this sandwich more than makes up for it! What's in here?"

"Mustard, lettuce, bacon, ham, pork, beef, cheese and cucumber," Monica the chef told him. "I can't imagine eating anything as awful as that." She paused. "Right, on with the story. Okay, so Rachel, uh, has to move because of the baby needing somewhere to sleep."

"You can live with me," Phoebe jumped in. "I get lonely." Rachel smiled gratefully at her.

"And then I need a name for the baby, but that can wait—" The gang took no notice of the last bit. Names were fired around the room.

"Joseph or Josephine! Oh, no The Hulk!" were Joey's contributions.

"Exxon!" Phoebe announced. "Works for a boy or a girl."

"Rebecka," Ross said. "Or Thomas."

Rachel's ideas were "Lauren, Leanne or Lukas."

"How about Helena?" Chandler suggested. "Or Matthew."

"Be quiet," Monica ordered. "We can think of names later. I needed to say that I – well, thanks for being so kind about this baby thing. And, I am going to need a lot of help with the baby. Chandler said he'll help, but Pheebs, Rach, will you help as well? Cos Chandler's, well, he's Chandler."

Phoebe and Rachel nodded in agreement. "We'll help."

"We all will, Mon," Ross told his little sister. "Just you wait and see."

* * *

A week later, Chandler was helping Monica pick out a colour scheme for the baby's room – Rachel's room. Rachel was moving the next day, but Monica wanted to get ahead with things.

"I like the blue," Chandler said. "It's perfect."

"No, I think the yellow's more, more, I don't know, neutral, I guess." Monica sighed, and flipped a page in the magazine. She flopped back onto her bed, and Chandler flopped right next to her.

"Ugh, this is hard," he said. "I mean, a boy shouldn't have pink, but a girl shouldn't have blue. And the yellow just looks – bleurgh!"

"How about this?" Monica asked, rolling over so that they were nose to nose. "White with just little bits of colour. We can change it when the baby's born."

Chandler smiled, and moved closer. The next thing they knew, their lips met. They were holding each other, kissing as if there was no tomorrow.

So, what do you think? I hope you like it, please review.