The One With All The Worry

Chapter Seventeen

Continued from: 'TOW The Fear'

By: Jana~

*****~*****

--Monica paced nervously as she listened to Joey's side of the phone conversation.

"Yeah, brownish hair, kinda blue, I guess, eyes. Probably wearing some dorky sweater vest," he said into the phone, "Answers to the name 'Chandler'." He nodded to Monica as he listened. "Ok, do you know where they went?" He shook his head when Monica looked at him expectantly. "Ok, thanks."

He hung up the phone, then turned to his anxious friend, "He was there, but he left. He's with Phoebe," he added, "But the guy doesn't know where they were headed."

"I'm starting to get really worried here, Joey," she moaned, starting to pace again.

"He's fine," Joey soothed. "He's drunk off his ass," he added, "but he's fine."

She stopped turning circles and looked to him abruptly. "He got drunk?"

Joey shrugged, "That's what the bartender said."

Monica sighed, "He got drunk because of me." She grabbed for a container of macadamia nuts, but Joey snatched them from her hands.

*****

--Phoebe and Chandler staggered out of the wedding chapel arm in arm, holding on to each other to keep from falling to the ground.

"Congratulations!" she squealed, backing away from her husband just slightly and throwing a handful of rice at him. "You did it! How do you feel?"

"Pretty good!" he replied as he swatted the rice off himself. "And a little like I need to hurl," he added, his smile dropping as his stomach lurched.

"Ewww. Oh!" she moved away from him just in case he puked right then. "We should take you back to the hotel so you can puke in your own toilet."

"I can't go back to the room like this!" he gestured to his drunken state. "Monica will kill me!"

"Ok. I can fix you!"

"Fix me?" he repeated incredulously. "You're not taking me to the vet, right?"

"And have Monica kill me?! She wants kids eventually ya'know!" She grabbed his arm, "C'mon!"

He followed clumsily, trying to keep up and balance, "Notice how all night has been spent with you dragging me from one place to another?"

*****

--"Maybe we should go try and find them," Monica suggested, antsy and concerned.

"They'll show up," Joey reassured her as he flipped channels on the TV, belly down on her bed.

"I'm worried, Joey. What if they're passed out somewhere? What if they were staggering across the street and got hit by a car?"

He moved into a sitting position, "Well, not so sure about Chandler, but I know Phoebe can hold her liquor."

Monica fidgeted, hugging herself and rubbing her arms anxiously. "I can't take the waiting anymore. Joey, please, can you go see if you can find them?"

"Where would I even look?" he asked as he clicked off the TV.

"I don't know," she admitted. "Please?"

Seeing her distress, he nodded, then headed for the door. "I'll call you as soon as I know anything."

"Thanks Joey."

He was halfway out the door when he walked back in and grabbed the can of macadamia nuts off the dresser, threw her a scolding look, then left.

*****

--Monica jumped at the sound of the phone ringing, lunging for it to answer it. "Chandler?!"

"No," came the familiar voice, "it's Joey, but I found them."

"What? Already? You've only been gone, like, fifteen minutes!"

"Yeah, well, I went back to my hotel room to grab some condoms and--"

"Condoms?!" she interrupted, "Why on earth did you need condoms?!"

"Hey," he defended himself, "This is Vegas! There's no telling who I might've run in to!" He heard her sigh in irritation, but continued anyway, "Well, so, anyway, they're here. Both of them."

"In your room? Are they ok? Let me talk to Chandler!"

"They're both pretty much gone. I shook him a bit to try and wake him, but he just mumbled and turned away. I think he just needs to sleep it off."

"Ok, well, I'm coming over then."

Joey looked over at the very unconscious Chandler and shrugged, "Well, you can if you want to, but he's pretty much out cold."

She rubbed at her eyes, tired and frustrated. "Ok, ok. Just-- send him to me in the morning, ok?"

"Sure thing," he agreed. "You ok?"

"Yeah," she replied, "I'm just-- I'm glad he's ok and all, but now I have to wait to talk to him. And I kinda just wanted to get it over with."

"Don't worry about that now," he instructed. "Just try and get some sleep, ok? Tomorrow, you'll talk to him, and everything will be fine. You'll see."

"Yeah. Ok," Monica reluctantly agreed, "Night Joey."

"Night." Joey hung up the phone, then turned to face his newest dilemma-- where was he going to sleep?

He looked back and forth between Phoebe and Chandler, the both of them sprawled out on separate beds like the week's wash. He had to make a decision. After the day he'd had at the gay burlesque show, he didn't fancy the idea of sleeping with Chandler.

Then he looked to Phoebe. She had been drinking, he knew that for a fact. If he climbed into bed with her, and she were to wake up in the night, she might get the wrong idea. Plus, with Ross and Rachel married, and Monica and Chandler together, he wasn't so sure that treading so close to 'the line' was in his or her best interest.

He looked back at Chandler and sighed, patting his back firmly. "Dude! You're in my bed! Move over!"

Chandler grumbled something incoherent, then rolled over to the other side of the bed and onto his back.

Joey scowled, then groaned. "Hating this!" He shook Chandler again, "Dude! If you hurl, you could choke! Roll over, man!"

When Chandler didn't make any attempt to move, Joey started to physically roll him.

"Not tonight, babe," Chandler muttered, "I'm so wasted."

Joey grimaced and backed away abruptly. "Aaahhh! I don't think so!" He turned to Phoebe's bed and touched her shoulder gently, "Pheebs? Can I sleep with you in your bed? I promise to be a perfect gentleman, it's just, Chandler's sleeping in my bed."

Phoebe moaned, "And this bed is just right." She rolled over and patted the bed beside her, "Stay-- your-- side--" she mumbled.

He carefully climbed into bed, "No problem. Thanks Pheebs."

"Mmmm…" she hummed, "Sleep."

*****~*****

--Something tore Chandler from his sleep, sitting up abruptly causing his head to spin and throb, his stomach to roll with nausea. He groaned as he held his head, then looked around him at the room. It wasn't his room. He noticed the sleeping forms on the bed across from him… Joey and Phoebe. Joey and Phoebe? Together in the same bed?

*What the hell happened last night?* his subconscious asked his brain, to which his brain had no response.

Noticing they were both fully dressed, he figured the situation that led to them sleeping in the same bed must've been harmless. He carefully moved to sit at the edge of the bed, struggling to remember the events of the night before.

Alcohol. He remembered that much. Everything else was a blur. He remembered meeting up with Phoebe, and she joined him in his attempt to pickle his liver, but much beyond that he couldn't recall.

Had they met up with Joey at some point? He didn't remember Joey being with them.

Chandler held his head and moaned, his hangover severe beyond any he'd ever remembered having… even from his college days.

The sound of Chandler's pain woke Joey, who gently moved off the bed so as not to disturb Phoebe. He stood above Chandler, arms crossed like a father who had just caught his kid smoking behind the shed. "Mornin!"

His voice sounded unreasonably loud to Chandler, who winced and put his hand over his ears. "Sssshhhh…" he hissed, "Hangover."

"Good!" Joey exclaimed. "You have any idea what you put Monica through last night?!"

Chandler hung his head in shame.

"You need to go talk to her!"

Chandler nodded, "I know. I can't like this though. I need pills. I need a shower."

"You can use my shower. I'll call downstairs and get you some Tylenol or something." Joey snipped angrily, "But then you need to go and talk to her."

He nodded slowly, "I will."

Joey shook his head in disgust, "What the hell did you two do last night?"

Chandler shrugged, "I don't remember. I was too wasted."

"Well, it was a good thing you were with Phoebe then! So that you weren't out doing something horribly stupid!"

He nodded, squinting as if in thought.

"What?" Joey asked, noting the expression.

"I don't know. I thought I was remembering something, but--" he scowled, "It's gone now."

Joey rolled his eyes, "Fine. Whatever. I'm gonna go get you a change of clothes from Monica and I'll go get you some pain pills and you go take a shower."

Chandler accepted his friend's admonishment, feeling worthy of that and more. "Thanks Joey."

Joey nodded, a slight smile following. He couldn't stay mad at his best friend for long. "No problem."

*****

--Monica paced the room, her night's sleep anything but restful. She tried to call Joey's room, but the operator said that the room had requested all calls be blocked for the night. She was two steps from going over there when there was a knock at her door.

She flew to the door and opened it, half expecting to see Chandler, but Joey was on the other side instead.

"Joey? What's wrong?"

He shook his head, a smile to reassure her, "Nothing. Chandler just needs a change of clothes cause he's taking a shower."

Monica sighed, relieved, then headed for the dresser drawers, grabbing him a change of clothes. Everything down to socks and underwear. "How is he?" she asked as she handed Joey the pile of clean clothes.

"Fine. Hung over, but fine."

"Do you have headache pills?"

"I was gonna go downstairs and get him some."

"I have some," she informed, grabbing her purse and rummaging. "Did he say what he was out doing all night?"

"He says he can't he remember. He musta had an insane amount of alcohol."

She nodded as she handed Joey the bottle of pain reliever. "Phoebe ok?"

He nodded, "Still asleep when I left."

"Good. Ok." She hugged herself anxiously. "Send him over when he's done showering."

Joey nodded. "Look, ya'know, maybe it's none of my business here, but, I know how worried you are about talking to him about his dad and all. And, well, just so you know, he's feeling really guilty about being out all night and getting hammered." He smiled a bit impishly, "If he gets too worked up, you may be able to use that to your advantage."

She smirked slightly at Joey's attempt to help, "Thanks. I'll keep it in mind."

*****

--"Dude," Joey called out as he entered the steamy bathroom, "Your clothes are here on the counter." He shook the bottle of pills, "And Monica had--" he squinted as he read the label on the bottle. "Ace-tam--" he tried to sound it out phonetically--

"Acetaminophen?" Chandler asked with a smirk.

"Yeah," Joey shrugged. "Ok. Anyway, it's here on the counter too. And I ordered strong coffee from room service. Your treat."

Chandler nodded, "Billfold's in my pant's back pocket."

"K." Joey found the wallet and the money quickly, and held several $20's in his hand, the thought of taking a few tempting. He shook his head as he reprimanded himself, then took just a single $20 from Chandler's possession. "I took a $20. I'm sure there'll be change."

"Fine."

--Joey left the bathroom, a cool breeze wafting through before the heat of the shower squelched it. Chandler felt like a heel. He left Monica alone to worry, all because of a silly fight. Then got plastered. Worse still was the fact that he couldn't even remember where'd he'd been, or what he'd been out doing all night.

She would ask, he knew she would, and the only answer he had for her was 'I don't remember'. He scowled as he imagined how that conversation would go, then rinsed the soap from his hair.

He turned off the water and stepped out into the cloud of steam, his reflection in the mirror barely visible due to the fog that hung on it. He swiped at it with a towel, but it did little good. Once his towel was securely wrapped around his waist, he reached for the bottle of pain reliever, reading the instructions silently, for the most part, to himself.

"Two pills every six hours," he muttered, then opened the bottle and dropped three pills into his hand. "This is much worse than a two-pill hangover." He popped the pills into his mouth, then turned the water faucet on and collected water into his hand, slurping it quickly before it dribbled out and into the sink.

He grabbed his pile of clothes and exited the warm bathroom, shivering at the cold of the main room.

"Coffee's here," Joey informed, pouring Chandler some.

"Uuuuggghhh…" Chandler groaned as he plopped down on the bed.

"Still no memory of last night?" Joey asked as he handed him his mug.

Chandler shook his head, "None." He carefully sipped the hot liquid, not wanting to burn his tongue. "Maybe Phoebe will remember."

"Maybe." Joey glanced her way as he agreed. "You got that shit-faced over a fight?"

"Monica told you we fought?"

Joey nodded, "Over seeing your dad."

Chandler hung his head. "It's not just that we fought," he explained. "She doesn't understand how much not seeing him means to me. Either that or she does understand but just doesn't care."

"She cares. She cares a lot. Maybe you're the one who doesn't understand, huh? So, seeing your dad would be uncomfortable! Believe me, I know how that feels!" He scoffed at the irony.

"How? How do you know?"

Joey's eyes grew wide, then he covered as he shook his head. "Ok, so, maybe I don't know. But, all Monica wants is to meet the man. She's not asking for you to invite him over on holidays or what-have-you. And so you're uncomfortable for a bit as you all three sit in the same room together for an hour or whatever. Big deal! If she wants it, you should be willing to be flexible! Don'tcha think?"

Chandler shrugged, "I guess. But it's not just about me being uncomfortable."

"Ok, so, what's it about?"

"Monica seeing what a loser family I come from and breaking it off with me."

Joey smiled, "Dude. That's not gonna happen."

"How do you know that?"

Joey knew if he continued the conversation, he was going to slip up and say too much. He decided his best option was to leave before that happened. "Cause she loves you," he answered simply, then stood to leave. "I gotta go. And so do you," he added. "Go talk to her."

Chandler watched him leave, then glanced over at Phoebe when he heard her stir.

"Mornin Pheebs."

She groaned, "Mornin hubby."

He stared at her in bewilderment for several moments before his eyes grew wide and he leapt off the bed, the night before coming back in a rush.

TO BE CONTINUED…