The One Where Chandler Makes Amends

Chapter Fourteen

Continued from: 'TOW The Test'

By: Jana~

*****~*****

--Tears splashed down her face as she stared at the door, the image becoming blurred as the drops formed and fell. She didn't know what to be right then. Angry? Sad? Bewildered? She felt all of those, and more.

She wasn't expecting his reaction. She expected him to be shocked… hell, she had been at least that when the DR gave her the news, but she didn't think Chandler would yell at her and storm out.

Then, suddenly, like a light bulb going off in her head, she understood. Just that quickly, and it all clicked. It all made perfect sense. And she scowled as she wiped at her tears, heading for his apartment with purpose.

--She walked in, looking like a woman on a mission, and she pointed at Joey who was eating what looked like a meatball sub sandwich, then pointed at the door. He took the hint and quickly left, sandwich in hand, a 'Later, dude' muffled by his mouth full of food.

"I have nothing to say to you right now!" Chandler barked, turning his back to her.

"You know, I have you figured out!" she snapped.

He spun to face her, "What is that supposed to mean?!"

"You know how I told you in the beginning of all this that I wasn't going to take your crap?" She jabbed her finger at the counter, "This is the crap I was referring to!"

He scoffed, arms folded across his chest, once again turning away.

"You can make those stupid little noises all you want, Chandler, but I'm not gonna let you do this!" She slammed her hand down on the counter, in part for emphasis, in part to get his attention, "You're not gonna use this to run away from us!" She backed up the three steps necessary to reach the door, then opened it, "When you're ready to calmly discuss this, I'll be here."

--She shut the door quietly but soundly after walking out, then leaned against the jamb, shaking from the confrontation. She was proud of herself for seeing Chandler's fit for what it was… and for stopping the cycle before it could continue. The only thing left to do was wait till he came around.

--Chandler stared at the door once she left, his angry expression fading. She was right. He knew she was right. This was what he did. Things would get intense and he wouldn't know how to cope, so, he'd do something stupid.

*You outdid yourself this time, though.* he told himself, *You're gonna need a really big shovel to dig your way out of this one.*

*****

--"Chandler thought you were lying about being pregnant in order to test him?!" Rachel asked Monica as they sat drinking coffee in Central Perk.

"Yep," Monica nodded. "Can you believe that?!"

"Believe what?" Ross asked as he entered the coffeehouse, only having heard part of the conversation.

"Nothing," Monica replied, not wanting her brother involved in the situation.

"Chandler thinks Monica faked the pregnancy to test him," Rachel answered her husband's question.

"Rachel!" Monica scolded, "I said 'nothing' for a reason!"

"I knew dating him was a bad idea," Ross informed, "Chandler's great and all, but he has never been able to make a relationship last longer than a common cold."

Monica looked at Rachel, gesturing towards Ross, "And there's the reason."

"Sorry," Rachel apologized, "He's my husband. I tell him everything."

"That's fine," Monica replied, "But tell him 'everything' that pertains to you, not me!"

Rachel smiled sheepishly, "Sorry."

"So, what did Chandler do?" Ross asked after kissing his wife 'hello' and taking a seat next to her, practically in her hip pocket,

"Well, in a nut shell," Monica muttered, "he freaked out."

"You'd think he woulda been relieved," Rachel offered.

"Well, he probably would be," Monica replied, "if he'd stop being an idiot for, like, five minutes."

Rachel nodded in agreement, "What're you gonna do now?"

"I'm gonna wait for him to come to his senses…"

"Yeah, well, you might be waiting for a long time on that," Ross quipped, receiving a playful jab in the side by Rachel's elbow.

*****

--Chandler peeked in cautiously, checking to see if Monica was around. "Monica here?" he asked Phoebe quietly; she shook her head 'no'. "Pheebs," he sighed as he entered, "I really screwed up this time."

"Uh-oh, what did you do?" she asked, giving him her undivided attention.

He sighed as he joined her on the couch, "I pulled a 'Chandler'--"

She held her hands up to stop him, "Enough said. Did you apologize?"

"I want to, but I want do something special, to show her how sorry I really am."

"Candy? Flowers? A card?" Phoebe suggested.

"To cliché."

"You could write her a song!"

He scowled at her suggestion, "I don't know how to write songs."

"Oh, it's easy! I do it all the time!" She grabbed a pad of paper and a pen, "I'll do it for you!"

"Thanks, Pheebs," he declined, "But I'd rather just apologize in my own way."

She shrugged, tossing the paper and pen back on the coffee table, "Suit yourself."

*****

--Monica was deep in thought as she left Central Perk, entering her apartment building moments later. Chandler had hurt her with his accusations, and even though she knew where the tantrum had come from, his words still stung. She wondered if he would ever understand that. She wondered if she was in over her head, trying to 'domesticate' someone as 'undomesticated' as Chandler. Her concerns were about to be put to rest…

--She entered her apartment to find it aglow with dozens of candles, the multitudes causing a romantic scene like one would expect to see in the movies. Chandler stepped out of the shadows, an apologetic smile on his face as he approached…

"Hey," he stated softly, "Phoebe just left."

Monica squinted as she looked around, hanging her purse on the hook near the front door, "To go where?"

"Back home," he replied. "She says she feels better." He sighed heavily, "I'm sorry, Monica. I really am. I just-- I know I didn't handle any of this very well…"

"You handled the news that I was pregnant well," Monica softly reminded.

He shook his head, "You have no idea how scared I was when I figured out what was in that bag, but I was just so worried about you that I pushed it from my mind. If you hadn't been crying, God knows what stupid thing I would've said or done."

She nodded weakly, "I needed you-- When the DR told me about the false positive-- I needed you to hold me, and instead you yelled at me and ran away!"

"I know. I'm sorry. I'm a prick. It's 'relationship Chandler'!" he exclaimed, "He's a jerk! I told you he was!"

"Stop referring to yourself in the third person, Chandler. You two are one and the same." She exhaled sharply out of frustration as she looked into his blank expression, "You're so busy separating the two 'Chandlers' that you don't stop and think. You think you can just accuse your alter ego so you don't have to take responsibility for saying or doing something stupid."

He dropped his gaze to the floor and kicked at the ground, defeated.

"When I said I would help you with your issues, I didn't mean that I was willing to take your abuse."

"I'm not trying to be abusive," he muttered sadly.

"I know that, but, when you make wild accusations and yell, it's not exactly the healthiest way to deal with stuff, is it?"

"No." He shrugged, "But it's not like I sit at home and think up ways of being the biggest asshole known to mankind."

She sighed, "I know that too. But, it doesn't excuse the behavior. When you're feeling especially stressed about something, then you need to talk to me about it. Not yell, talk."

He nodded his understanding, "Right."

"I know you're gonna wig over some pretty lame things. I'm prepared for that. But I'm not gonna let you just push me away every time you get weird, just to come back days or weeks or hours later, wanting everything to be as if nothing's wrong. I think I deserve better than that."

"You do! You do deserve better than that," he assured her, "You deserve better than me."

"Ok, just stop with the pity party, alright?" she scolded him, "I want to be with you Chandler, but gone are the days where I'll take you any way I can get you. I want more now."

"I do too. I just-- I'm not prepared to have a baby right now."

"I know. And I wasn't trying to get pregnant. But even so, when I found out that I wasn't after thinking I was-- I was sad. And I really needed you right then, Chandler."

He saw her unshed tears shimmer in the candlelight, and he stepped forward to gather her in his arms, "I'm so sorry, Monica. I was so freaked out over you being pregnant, then when you said you weren't, I just-- I don't know what happened. I just lost it."

She nodded, "If you were so upset about the pregnancy, you should've said something."

"I kinda did," he reminded her, "I told you I wasn't ready to be a dad."

"You did, but then you finished up with 'but I guess it's time to grow up and be one anyway'. I figured you were just handling it really well!"

He chuckled, "Are you new? Since when do I handle anything of that magnitude 'really well'?"

"Right, and I figured we were in for a bumpy eight-whatever months. But, I was not expecting nuclear meltdown over my 'false positive' news."

He pulled away from their embrace, "Hey, ya'know, I'm not the only one having nuclear meltdown here. You freaked over the home test! I had to break the door down just to get to you!"

She scoffed, "You didn't 'break the door down', you had Joey pick the lock."

"If Joey hadn't been here, I would've busted the door down," he informed her. "You had me worried sick!"

"I know. I'm sorry."

"And you were pretty much freaking out about the DR's test results when I came in."

"I wasn't freaking out," She defended herself.

"Oh, please, Monica, you looked like you were ready to crawl out of your own skin!"

"I was nervous over what your reaction would be, is all."

He nodded, "Right, but I'm just saying, you've had a few extreme reactions to stuff too. It hasn't all been me." He went on to give further examples, "You got all weird at the beach when I told you we couldn't do 'the deed' anymore. You got all drunk and weird in London. You were jealous when you saw Phoebe just smile at me!"

"I wasn't jealous!"

"Oh, you were so jealous! And then with the whole locking yourself in your room incident."

She half-heartedly glared, "This isn't a contest, Chandler."

"I know." He knew by her look that it was time to back off, "I'm just saying, I'm not alone over here in the irrational reaction zone."

"I know," she conceded, "I guess we both have issues."

"Some of us more than others," he quipped as he gestured to himself. "So, are we gonna be ok?"

She smiled, "Yeah. We're gonna be ok."

"Ya'know, I was thinking, why don't we go away for the weekend?"

"Really?" She smiled at the suggestion, "To where?"

He shrugged, "I don't know… someplace fun. Somewhere where we can just focus on being a couple."

"I like that idea."

"Yeah?" he smirked proudly, "I actually had a good idea?"

"Yeah, well, you were due," she teased. "So, where should we go?"

*****

--"No way!" Joey exclaimed, "Vegas?! You're going to Vegas?! I wanna come!"

"No," Chandler shook his head, "Just Monica and I are going."

"That's not fair!" Joey pouted, "I wanna go! And I bet everyone else would want to too! And we told Phoebe we would take her someplace fun cause she missed going to London and all!" He gestured at nothing, "Vegas is fun!"

"Joey, no." Chandler stated firmly, "This trip is just for me and Monica."

"And you said you weren't ready to be a dad," Monica quipped, gesturing towards Joey.

"Well, ya'know," Joey challenged, "it's not like you can stop us! If we wanted to go, we could go! You can't tell us what to do!" He stormed out melodramatically, slamming the door behind him.

"Why do I suddenly have the feelings that this is about to become a trip for six?" Chandler asked rhetorically, embracing Monica. "Sorry about this."

She shrugged, "Eh. It's ok. We'll hang out with everyone for a bit, then we'll go back our room for 'naked alone time'."

"I like the sound of that!" he grinned.

"Yeah, I thought you might." She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him in for a kiss. "I could give you a little preview of how that goes," she teased, "if you want."

"Do you even have to ask?" He grabbed her by the hand and practically ran to the bedroom.

*****

--"Ok, guys, so far," Phoebe asked, "is this trip better than your trip to London? Or worse?"

"We're not even on the plane yet, Pheebs," Chandler pointed out.

"I know that. What, you didn't wait in line to board the plane when you went to London?"

"No, we did," Chandler relented, "It's pretty much about the same."

"Ok, but, now, what if I give you these candies?" Phoebe reached into her bag and pulled out little hard candies for everyone.

"Alright!" Joey exclaimed, taking the candy eagerly. "Better! Definitely better!"

"If you had a sandwich in there," Chandler pointed to Phoebe's bag, "his head would probably explode."

*****

--They sat awaiting takeoff, Ross and Rachel kissing like newlyweds, Joey and Phoebe comparing the wait to the 'London wait', and Chandler and Monica gently holding hands, occasionally smiling at one another as the flight attendants unenthusiastically passed out little bags of peanuts.

"You know what I was thinking we should do?" Monica asked, "We should track down your dad's Vegas show."

"Why?" he asked, his tone incredulous.

"Because! I'd like to meet him!"

"No, you don't want to meet him, trust me."

"Why not? Cause he's gay?"

"No, cause he's not in my life anymore," he replied distantly, "So there's no reason to see him."

"You sound so bitter when it comes to him. Maybe it's time to make amends?" she suggested. "How long has it been since you've talked to him?"

"Years. We have nothing in common, Monica. I don't want to see him."

"Maybe I do."

"Monica, no. I'm putting my foot down here. I do not want him in my life, alright?" She didn't reply. "Mon?"

She sighed, "Fine."

She agreed, but that was far from the end of the issue in her mind. She wanted to meet the man that could possibly be her future father-in-law, and she knew Chandler was just being stubborn. She could convince him in time, and with a lot of pleading. She was sure of it…

TO BE CONTINUED…