*Whoa, so I had an extremely stressful weekend. I had the SATS, and then I had to present my graduation project, which had to be at least twenty minutes long, and do you know how hard it is to fill up twenty minutes? It was horrific, but it's all done now and so to release some pent up stress, I wrote a nice little fluffy epilogue, but you have been forewarned, it's really sappy. Deal with it. Oh, and review! *
Disclaimer: I own none of the original characters from the television show, I do own however all other characters.
"Mommy!" Monica heard the voice from down the hall and she groaned and rolled over to look at Chandler.
"Maybe you should go this time," she said sleepily.
"She specifically asked for you," Chandler pointed out and Monica groaned.
"Fine," she huffed getting up out of bed and wincing when her feet hit the cold hardwood floor. She threw a pillow at him and pulled on her robe and went down the hall to her younger daughter's room.
"Mommy?"
"What's the matter sweetheart?" Monica asked sitting on the edge of the bed.
"There's a person under my bed."
"No, Lia, there really isn't," Monica said moving closer and taking the four-year-old into her arms.
"But Abby said that there were. She told me that a bad man was hiding under the bed and would come out late at night and steal me away," Lia's small head bobbed as she quickly confessed why she was waking her mother up at two in the morning.
"Abigail," Monica said under her breath. Her older daughter was definitely like her father, and loved to tease her younger sister. "Honey, Abby was just trying to scare you."
"Yeah, it worked," Lia said. "Can't I stay with you and Daddy? Just tonight?" Monica brushed the soft, dark curls from Lia's cheek.
"Just tonight baby, and tomorrow I will show you that no one is hiding under the bed," Monica picked her up and easily carried her down the hallway to her and Chandler's room. Chandler sat up when his wife came in holding their daughter.
"Lia is going to stay here with us tonight. Abby told her a story to scare her."
"Okay, come here honey," Chandler reached out his arms and shared the look that his wife gave him about Abby. Lia scrambled across the bed and slid under the covers, and safe in her father's arms, she drifted off to sleep.
"We have to talk to her," Monica said sleepily crawling closer to Chandler and Lia and stroking her hair.
"Tomorrow," Chandler said yawning and flipping off the light. "We'll definitely talk to her tomorrow."
Her first born was definitely proving to be more difficult than her sister. Abby sat coloring when Monica went into the playroom to talk to her. She was newly-turned seven, and had dark hair and bright blue eyes like her sister. She smiled at her mother when Monica came in.
"Hi Mommy, look at my picture," Abby held up a picture of a rainbow for Monica's approval.
"It's beautiful honey, can we talk?"
"About?"
"About telling your sister lies that you know will scare her."
"Squealer," Abby curse under her breath.
"Abigail, we've talked about this before, haven't we?" Abby nodded, but Monica saw the face that she made when she turned away.
"Are we done?" Abby asked sighing.
"Yes, we're done." Monica stood up and walked to the door and then looked back at her daughter. How could it have been so long since she was a baby? Wasn't if just yesterday that Monica told Chandler that she was pregnant? Hadn't it been the day before that Chandler picked her up and spun her around announcing that he loved her and couldn't live without her? And that it better be a girl who looked just like her mother, and would break hearts. Abby looked back up at her mother, sensing that she hadn't left yet.
"I'm really sorry, Mommy," she said. "I swear that I won't do it again."
"Thanks baby," Monica managed to get out and then left to seek Chandler.
"What's the matter?" He asked.
"She's so grown up," Monica sobbed. Chandler couldn't help but let out a little laugh and pulled her into his arms.
"Oh, sweetheart. What are you going to do when they go away to college?"
"I don't know!" She cried as she buried her head in his shoulder.
"Honey, she's only seven, we have ten more years."
"Only ten!" Then she looked up at Chandler and began giggling. "I'm overreacting right?"
"Just a bit," he told her and she nodded and she wiped the tears from her eyes.
"All right then," she said. Before she could move away, he grabbed her and pulled her near him.
"All right then," he whispered back kissing her mouth. He let his mind drift back to when Abby had been born.
I can hear her heartbeat from a thousand miles
and the heavens open up
every time she smiles
and when I come to her
that's where I belong
and I'm running through her
like a river's song
Seven years before:
"Push Monica! Come on sweetie, you can do it!" Chandler held her hand. "Okay, could you do it and loosen your grip on my hand? Cause Mon...Mon? It's hurts.....Monica? Mon, sweetie? MONICA!" Monica gave him a death stare and he shut up and bit his lip from the pain. She was always freakishly strong. Now at a time when most women were freakishly strong, she was showing incredible strength. Unfortunately, his hand was getting most of it.
"Chandler," she was sobbing. "It hurts. Oh, God, it hurts."
"I know baby. You're doing amazing. Just a few more pushes and then we'll have a little baby." He gave her a kiss on the forehead and forgave the hand. Then there it was. The sound of a baby crying. It felt like he had waited forever to hear that. He hadn't even known that he was missing it.
"Congratulations. It's a girl." Chandler kissed Monica's forehead.
"Did you hear that honey? It's a girl," he whispered into her ear. They handed her to Monica.
"Oh she's so beautiful," Monica breathed. "Have you ever seen something so beautiful?"
"Maybe only her mother," he told her and she looked up at him and smiled.
"Thank you Chandler." He didn't answer, he was memorized by his daughter. His daughter. That sounded great. His and Monica's baby. That sounded better.
""She needs a name," the nurse said. "What are you going to name her?"
"I've always loved the name Abigail," Monica said softly. "Do you like it?"
"Abigail? Abby? I love it," he reassured her. "Middle name?"
"Catherine?"
"Abigail Catherine Bing. Gorgeous."
"Gorgeous," Monica repeated.
She gives me love, love, love, love, crazy love
she gives me love, love, love, love, crazy love
"Monica?" It was Rachel on the phone.
"Hi Rach," Monica smiled into the phone at the sound of her friend across the country. "How's everyone over in New York?"
"Great, how are you and Chandler and the girls?"
"We're fine. What's going on?"
"Can't I call my best friend to just chat?"
"Rachel? You always make me call you. Why are you calling?"
"Okay, fine, but I only make you call me because you make like, way more money than I do. Listen, we're all coming out there to see you guys!"
"When?" Monica was listening now. She missed her friends, and her brother. It was the only thing that she really had left behind. Chandler had come to her, and so now it was just the rest of her friends and family that she was a country away from.
"Two weeks. So it's okay then? Can we stay with you?"
"Sure! I'll put Lia in with Abby, we have plenty of room," Monica saw Chandler come into the kitchen. She mouthed to him that she was talking to Rachel. "That sounds great Rachel."
"What?" He mouthed to her.
"They're all coming out here," Monica said covering the bottom of the phone with her hand as she grinned at her husband.
"That's fantastic!" Chandler said and gave his wife a small kiss on the cheek as he grabbed a cookie, what he had come in for, before she could scold him. She had made the cookies for Abby's school. This he knew, but he still couldn't help himself when he smelled it baking in the kitchen. He slipped out into the backyard where he was trying to teach his girls how to play football. Trying was the key word there. Abby was catching on, but at four, Lia could care less. All she knew was that her mother was baking cookies and she wasn't allowed to have any.
"Okay, honey, I'm going to throw you the ball, and you're going to catch it and then run down there between the trees and that's called a touchdown. You get six points for that."
"But I only did one thing. So I should only get one point," Abby argued.
"Well, honey, in football, you get six points," Chandler explained.
"But why? And why is it football? You don't get to use your feet very much," Abby pointed out.
"She has a point," Monica's voice was heard as she stepped out into the crisp fall evening.
"Oh, just gang up on me," Chandler said teasingly.
"Mommy!" Lia threw herself on Monica who laughed and picked her up.
"Are you having fun playing with Daddy and Abby?"
"I'd have more fun if you let me have a cookie," Lia said batting her eyelashes at her mother. This was a proven way to get her mother to do what she wanted.
"You sound like your father. Well, at least we know that she's yours Chandler," Monica said laughing. "Well, since Daddy snuck one, I guess it'd be okay."
"How did you....never mind. Girls, Mommy knows everything. Just be careful of that," he said and Monica grinned. She still couldn't believe that she was married to him. After all that they had been through, after their huge argument, she had thought that they would never speak again, let alone be married with two kids. It had all happened so fast after his visit. He spoke to his boss, transferred to Seattle, proposed to Monica, and then they got married. Abby was born a year later, and then Lia. Monica wouldn't change anything about her life, though. She adored her family, she adored her television show, she adored her life. Chandler tossed her the ball which she caught.
"Come on Mon, come play," he egged her.
"I'll kick your butt in front of your daughters, you know that right?" He grinned.
"You're on."
she's got a fine sense of humor
when I'm feeling low down
and I'm coming to her
when the sun goes down
Take away my troubles, take away my grief
take away my heartaches in the night like a thief
"They're here! Mommy they're here!" Abby ran from window to window in the front room shouting. She grabbed the door and pulled in open.
"Abigail!" Joey came running in and picked up the little girl and spun her around.
"Uncle Joey!" She gave him a kiss on the cheek.
"God, Monica! This house is gorgeous," Rachel said stepping inside and wiping her feet.
"Thanks," Monica appeared in the hallway and leaned forward and gave Rachel a kiss on the cheek. The entire gang had never been out to Seattle, Monica and Chandler and the girls had always gone there. Joey and Phoebe were the only ones that had ever been out there, and that was because Joey was now an actor making good money, and often had to go to Los Angeles.
"Hi Aunt Monica!" Emma gave her aunt a quiet hug. Whereas when Joey hugged Monica's girls, it was collision. They would throw themselves on top of each other. Chandler came in and hugs were exchanged and he led Ross and Joey with the bags to the rooms where they would be staying, and Monica led Rachel and Phoebe and the kids into the kitchen. Emma was Ross and Rachel's daughter, and she was followed by two boys: Ethan and Geoffrey. Geoff was the youngest at only two, and Ethan was four, exactly Lia's age. They were only a few months apart. Emma was a little older than Abby. Joey and Phoebe were married, but they had yet to have any kids. It was crazy, Monica mused. We all grew up. What happened to the six selfish individuals who spent all their time drinking coffee? That's right, we had kids, and got married, got new jobs and promotions. Chandler came into the kitchen and kissed Monica's cheek.
"Penny for your thoughts?"
"Oh nothing, just how much we've all grown up."
"Oh. We have, haven't we?" She barely nodded. "You okay?"
"I'm fine," she smiled up at him. "I like where we've all ended up. Especially me. I especially like where I ended up."
"Good," he gave her a quick kiss on the temple. "I'm very glad."
She gives me love, love, love, love, crazy love
she gives me love, love, love, love, crazy love
"So Monica, if you could change something with your life, what would you change?" Rachel asked. The adults sat in the living room with wine and a fire going. Monica shrugged. She had no idea how to answer that question. She wouldn't. That was the answer. She wouldn't do anything differently with her life. Chandler studied his wife. She had no idea how to answer that, he knew, and he also knew that he couldn't blame her. Not to say that they never fought, or never had any problems, they certainly did, but on the whole, neither could complain too much about their lives. Sure, Chandler left the seat up in the bathroom, Monica was still obsessive about cleaning, but they were happy.
"I don't think I would," she answered honestly.
"Come on, you wouldn't change anything if you were allowed to," Phoebe asked. "I find that hard to believe."
"No. Maybe have you guys closer," she shrugged. "That's about all I can think of to change." Phoebe studied her. She was being serious, Phoebe thought. She really wouldn't change her life. Not that Phoebe's was bad, but there were certainly things that she would change.
"Okay," Phoebe said. Rachel nodded. The room fell silent.
"So are you shooting a new movie soon Joe?" Ross asked and then the conversation picked up again. Chandler's hand traveled the short distance and found Monica's. He casually picked her hand up and held it in his. His eyes never wandered from Joey who was talking, until Monica turned her head and then he gave her a small smile. She gave a small smile back. No, he thought, I wouldn't change anything either. And I wouldn't want anything in my past to change. This is how it's supposed to be. We were supposed to go through that year separated for a reason. It just made me see that I couldn't possibly live without her in my life. Suddenly, Chandler Bing believed in fate.
And I need her in the daytime
and I need her in the night
and I want to throw my arms around her
kiss and hug her, kiss and hug her tight
Chandler was on a plane home from a business trip a few weeks later. He had talked to Monica and his girls before he took off, and now he couldn't wait to be home with them. And Monica said that there was something that they needed to talk about. He had an idea of what it could be, but he couldn't wait to get home to find out for sure. He glanced at his watch for what had to be the hundredth time.
"Going home?" The man in the seat next to him asked. Chandler looked at him again. The man looked vaguely familiar, as he if couldn't quite place where he knew him, but he knew that he knew him.
"Yep, you?"
"No, I live in St. Louis. I have some business to take care of. I used to live there. I see that your married." Chandler glanced down at his wedding ring.
"Yes I am. Have you ever seen Monica's Kitchen?"
"Sure," the man nodded. "Wife watches it all the time."
"Well, Monica is my wife."
"The Monica? The one on the show?"
"Yep," Chandler nodded proud. He was waiting for the usual comment on how pretty she was, or how lucky he was. Things he already knew, but loved when people would tell him anyway.
"I know where I know you from," the man suddenly said. "I used to date Monica." Chandler's head pieced it all together. He knew where he knew him from, this was the jerk that she was dating when he first came back. What was his name? Something with a C, right? Oh what was it.
"Really?"
"Yeah, Christopher." Christopher ! That was it. "How is she?"
"She's good."
"Any kids?"
"Two girls. Abby and Lia I think she's pregnant again."
"Oh. Well, I guess say hi for me," Christopher was clearly finished with the conversation, as he turned his attention away from Chandler to look out the window. Chandler was hit with the impact of the knowledge that he had won the girl. He didn't think he'd ever own the girl , but he had in this case. And, oh, what a girl to win! He nodded to himself. Now he really couldn't wait to get home to her.
The plane landed and standing amidst the crowd was his beaming wife.
`"Hey you," Chandler dropped the bag to gather her in his arms.
"Hey yourself," she gave him a kiss.
"Where are the girls?"
"At the neighbor's, I wanted to properly greet you myself," Monica told him giving him another kiss. "And tell you something."
"Does it have something to do with the reason that you were puking the entire week before I left?"
"How'd you know?"
"I'm amazing," he gave her another kiss. "I love you."
"I love you too," she said smiling at him. "Ready to go?"
"Absolutely, oh and Mon? You'll never believe who I sat next to on the plane."
when I'm returning from so far away
gives me some sweet loving, brightens up my day
and it makes me righteous, and it makes me whole
and it makes me mellow right down to my soul
she gives me love, love, love, love, crazy love
she gives me love, love, love, love, crazy love
~*That's it! Please review. I hope you liked the ending and didn't think it was too stupid. But review and tell me!~*