*~ Thanks for reviewing the last chapter, and yes my day got better. The song in this chapter is by The Clarks. They're a Pittsburgh band, my cousin lives there and loves them. She sent me the CD and they're really, really good! Anyway, here's the next chapter. It's from Chandler's point of view.~*
Disclaimer: The characters belong not to me.
Chandler came home from work and dropped his keys on the counter skimming the note from his roommate Joey.
"Chandler, had a date. Won't be home. Joey."
Short and sweet as per usual. Chandler was looking forward to another lonely evening thinking back on his bad luck. He had loved a woman. He had loved her with all of his heart. Looked what happened. She left him for someone else. Maybe she was never his in the first place. No, that wasn't true. For a perfect moment she had been his. He hadn't had many dates since Monica. Joey tried to get him out.
"It's been five years man," he said to Chandler. But Chandler preferred to dive into his work and forget about the pain. Not like that was easy. He thought about her all the time. He convinced himself that she had hurt him and that he didn't want anything to do with her. But he did. He wanted to see her again. He wanted to forgive her and hug her and tell her that they both had been stupid. But somehow when he picked up the phone he just remembered how angry at her he still was. He would just place the phone back into the receiver and put on a movie to make him forget. He had always had somewhat of a school boy crush on Monica. She was so beautiful and funny and he couldn't see why no man had snatched her up yet. Then she met Anthony. He had liked Anthony, he thought that he would maybe be good for Monica. He was so wrong.
Five years before:
"Come on Monica," Chandler joined in with his friends. "Let us meet him!"
"No," she responded.
"Why not?" He asked.
"Because you are mean to men I date," she said.
"That is absolutely not true," he defended himself.
"Oh really?"
"Really."
"The answer is still no."
"Come on Monica!" It was no use arguing. Once she had made up her mind that was it. There was no changing it. She was so stubborn. So she went out on the date with him and then finally agreed to letting her friends meet him. They had of course, had a talk before he came where Monica reminded them of the bodily harm she could and would inflict on them if they were mean. Anthony, however, had been charming and so sweet to Monica. If Chandler had to accept defeat, he could to Anthony. He was perfect for her. Then one day Chandler came home to find her curled in a ball on the couch.
"Monica?" She glanced up, her face stained with tears. "Are you okay?"
"Anthony broke up with me," she cried. Chandler hurried over and took her in his arms.
"It's going to be okay," he whispered in his most soothing voice. He knew that she must be devastated. But he didn't know what else to do but hold her and hope things got better.
"He was with a girl," she wailed. "I saw him with a girl."
"Oh sweetie," Chandler whispered pushing the dark hair out of her face.
"Chandler, I loved him."
"I know you did." Chandler wanted to kill Anthony for hurting her like this.
"He said it was just a break." They both gave a chuckle. They knew what that meant.
"He doesn't deserve you." He always told her that. Somehow it seemed she believed him when he said it. He would repeat it until his voice was raw for her to get the message. She was perfect and they didn't deserve her if they didn't see it.
"What happens now?" She wailed. "I can't get over him."
"Sure you can."
"I don't think I can."
"It'll be okay."
"You keep saying that."
"Because it will be."
"It doesn't seem like it right now."
"But it will." He left her and knew that she would not get over this for a while. This would be worse than Richard's breakup. He hated Anthony for doing this. He felt so bad for Monica. And there was nothing he could do.
You are sultry, dirty, soft and hard
you are close to me and you're so far
and I'm thinking of the time we spent together
Now I'll bury this in my backyard
Sometimes I sit and wonder
But I'll never dial your number 'cause
I'm having fun looking out for number one
And I'm doing all the things I like to do
I'm having fun 'cause I knew it all along
I'd be better off without you
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that," Monica said. It was a week later. She was still crying herself to sleep and the gang was worried about her.
"Don't be," Chandler assured her. He kissed her. It was perfect, it was wonderful. He felt as if fireworks were exploding behind them and the stars were aligning as they kissed. They made it to the bedroom where they made love. Something that Chandler had dreamt about for years. It was just as perfect as he thought it would be. She was just as perfect as he thought she would be.
"Maybe we shouldn't tell Ross, not yet," Monica told him one night while they were lying in bed.
"He'll get mad if everyone else knows and not him," Chandler pointed out.
"So maybe no one has to know," Monica suggested.
"That's not a bad idea," Chandler said. His days were filled with thoughts of her and his nights were filled with her. For a month. For a perfect month she was his. Then he came home to find her pacing back and forth, her eyes were red and she had been crying.
"Are you okay?" He asked. She shook her head.
"I need to talk to you," she told him. He sat down on the chair that she pointed to and listened to her. She spilled her heart out. She told him that she had met up with Anthony and they were getting back together. He half heard her tell him that she never meant to hurt him and that she was sorry. He couldn't really care. All he heard was that he had lost her. Just that repeating through his head. You lost her. You lost her. You lost her.
"I guess I should go," she whispered after he was not responding. He vaguely remembered nodding and her slipping out of the apartment. Joey had come home to find him still in the chair.
"What's the matter?" Joey asked. And out came the story. The whole story came pouring out.
"Are you going to be okay?" Joey asked with concern.
"I don't know."
"Do you want to be alone right now?"
"No."
"Then I'll stay."
Monica broke up with Anthony two weeks later. It was bound to happen. He cheated on her. Chandler could have told her that that was going to happen. He was too hurt to notice that she was crying herself. That she was hurting just as much as him. He was too wrapped up in his own anger and pain. She left a few weeks later. Left him a letter that he never read, but didn't have the heart to throw away. A few months later, Rachel announced that she was leaving too. She was moving out to Seattle with Monica. Their group had come apart. Chandler got a letter in the mail from Monica, but just like her first letter, he didn't read it, but couldn't throw it away. It sat with the first one under his bed in a box. Her lovely handwriting scribbled his name across the front.
"Are you okay?" His friends would ask. Chandler would come up with some excuse why he was fine but didn't want to go out. He kept doing this until they stopped asking him to go out. He never admitted that he missed her. She had broken his heart too badly to admit that he wanted her back. She had hurt him too deeply to call her and tell her that he missed her. So the years passed and he thought about her, but convinced himself that he was better off without her.
You are guilty, pretty, high and low
You're a place to stay and a time to go
And I'm searching through the things you left behind here
Now it's time for me to let it go
Sometimes I sit and wonder
But I'll never dial that number 'cause
I'm having fun looking out for number one
And I'm doing all the things I like to do
I'm having fun 'cause I knew it all along
I'd be better off without you
Present:
They asked him to take a business trip to Seattle. He didn't know what to tell them. He really didn't want to. But instead he agreed and found himself on a plane to where she was. He had made up his mind to try to find her. He figured it was a big city and the chances of finding her were slim to none. But he could give it a try so that he could at least say that he tried to find her. He was shocked when he got an address and telephone number. He went to her apartment and the neighbor told him that she was at work and gave him the name of the restaurant. He took a deep breath and pushed open the doors.
"Is Monica Geller here?" He asked. The girl nodded.
"Let me go get her."
"Okay." She had come back out a few minutes later.
"She says to go back," she told him. He nodded and walked back. He was about to come face to face with her.
"Hello Monica." She turned around and the look on her face was one that paralleled someone seeing a ghost.
"Hi Chandler." She said setting her hand down and putting it on the stove. She cried out in pain and ran to the sink where she rinsed her hand off.
"You okay?" He asked her. She nodded biting her lip.
"Want to go grab a coffee?" She asked.
"Sure, know somewhere good?" He asked.
"I know just the place," she said smiling grabbing her coat. She told the girl that she would be back and left with Chandler in tow. They got to the cafe and sat down and ordered their drinks making small talk. It was forced conversation, but it was the first conversation that they had had in five years. That was something at least.
Better off without you
Late at night you pick up the telephone
Call me up and cry 'cause you're all alone I don't care
Apologize for taking my cigarettes
Now it's time to feel all the side effects
Missing the life you had
Her phone rang and she answered and her face dropped.
"I have to go," she told him.
"What's the matter?" He tried again.
"My daughter was on a field trip and got hurt," she said. "I have to go." She ran out of the cafe leaving Chandler's head reeling. She had a daughter. It took him a second before he hopped up out of his seat and ran after her. She was flagging a cab. He got in with her. She looked a mess.
"You have a daughter?" He asked.
"Yes."
"How old is she?"
"Four."
"What's her name?"
"Annie." Monica was biting her lip. A sign that she was nervous. Or worried, but in this case Chandler figured scared.
"What happened?"
"She was at the zoo and tripped and fell," Monica said. "She hit her head off the metal bars and they think her arm is broken. She probably has a concussion too."
"So she's going to be okay?"
"I hope so," Monica said and he could see her struggling to hold back tears that were threatening to fall. "Oh God Chandler. If something happens to her...." She began to cry. He did the first thing that came to his mind. He held her in his arms.
"She's going to be fine," Chandler said. "I promise." They pulled up to the hospital and Monica rushed out. Chandler followed close behind.
"Annie Geller? She's my daughter."
"Wait right here ma'am," the receptionist told her. Monica nodded and tapped her foot impatiently. "You can go back and see her." Monica waited just long enough for her to tell her where Annie was before she took off back there.
"You can go see your daughter too sir," the receptionist told Chandler. Chandler didn't have the strength to correct her so just went where Monica had run off to. He found Monica sitting next to a bed with a little girl in it. The little girl looked so much like her it was amazing. She had a little cast on it.
"Can I get it signed Mommy?" She asked Monica.
"Sure sweetheart," Monica answered leaning over and giving her a kiss on the top of the head. "Are you sure that you're okay?"
"I'm fine," she answered.
"You gave Mommy a heart attack," Monica told Annie.
"Sorry Mommy," Annie replied. Chandler noticed something about Annie. Her ears. They looked like....He ran to the pay phone and called Joey.
"Joey?"
"Hey man, how's Seattle?"
"Fine, I need you to do me a favor," Chandler said.
"What?"
"I need you to find a box under my bed and in it is a letter," Chandler instructed. There was some shuffling before Joey told him that he found it.
"I need you to send it to me," Chandler said. "As fast as you can."
Now I'm having fun
looking out for number one
and I'm doing all the things I like to do
and I'm having fun
because I knew it all along
I'd be better off without you
better off without you
better off without you
*~ Please review and I'll try to get the next part up as soon as I can! Please, please review!*~