Simply Complicated~part4

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose

Hey people! So I had this really weird dream last night about Serving Sara…and I consider it really weird cuz I haven't even seen the movie…but all my dreams are always really screwed up, so…whatever. And they're even weirder when I'm really tired…weird. But oy with the poodles already (lol…um, that's from Gilmore Girls…) and anywayz, here's the next part, sorry it took so long. The chapter title means the more that changes, the more it's the same, just in case you were wondering. So here we go, please read and review. Thanks : ) Oh-and yes, cereal has 'bowels' lol (not my funniest typo that I didn't catch, there's some fic that I said 'he's gonna kiss you' instead of' he's gonna kill you,' lol). Okay, I'm seriously shutting up this time…

Chandler sat in the coffeehouse, pretending to be reading a magazine and completely ignoring all conversation going on around him. Instead, he was concentrating on Monica. She was sitting in the chair reading a book, and was, as far as he knew, completely oblivious to the fact that he'd been staring at her for the past 15 minutes.

He studied her face. No one else knew. And how would they? No one else knew that everything had changed…No one knew that something in Monica had changed. No one knew that Chandler was responsible for it. And no one would have ever guessed that part in a million years.

He was going to be a father. At that thought, Chandler still had to remind himself to breathe. He was no where near ready to be a father. To have a kid. To be responsible for another human being. He could hardly be responsible for himself, how was he supposed to take care of someone else?

Monica.

That had been what had made him stop freaking out. And he hadn't really meant to avoid Monica for as long as he did, he'd just freaked out and gone all…well, gone all Chandler. But then he thought about everything, really thought about everything, and he'd come to one conclusion.

Monica.

That's when he realized that he couldn't ever leave her if he tried. He couldn't cut her out of his life, and he knew there was no way in hell he could abandon her when she was pregnant with his baby. He might've freaked out and been scared to death, but he still had a conscience.

And plus, it was Monica.

Monica finally looked up. She'd felt his eyes on her for awhile, but had been trying to ignore it. But she finally gave in, meeting his gaze with her own, smiling slightly as their eyes met.

And Chandler smiled back.

~*~

"Wow, I've never actually seen you get so nervous that you're standing still being quiet," Monica said, and Chandler just looked up at her. They were waiting for the doctor to come in, and Chandler had gone past his rambling pacing stage, and was now leaning against the bed Monica was on, not saying anything.

"I was just thinking…" he started, but trailed off.

"Wow, that's a change of pace," Monica grinned at him.

"And I was trying to be serious," he returned her grin. "But seriously, I was just thinking…How's this gonna work? I mean, you and me…how's this gonna work? Are we gonna get back together, or are we just gonna be friends, or…"

"I-"

"Hello, I'm Dr. Cooper," the doctor walked into the room, cutting Monica off.

"Monica Gellar," Monica shook her hand.

"Chandler Bing," he shook her hand next.

(okay, so you now must realize that I, having had no kids myself, have no idea what's really supposed to be happening…so if you happen to know, picture that happening, If you don't know, then sing along with me to "Let Her Cry" by Hooty and the Blowfish cuz I've had that song stuck in my head all day…let her cry, if the tears fall down like rain, let her sing, if it eases all her pain, let her go, let her walk right out on me, and if the sun comes out tomorrow, let her be…oh, let her be…and now a period of time has elapsed, so we'll continue…)

Chandler didn't really pay attention to what the doctor was saying. He was too nervous to actually concentrate on her words and hear what she was saying. But as they started doing a sonogram, it all started to sink in.

"What's that?" he asked as the sound of the baby's heartbeat filled the room.

"That is you baby's heartbeat, and that," she pointed to the screen, "is your baby."

Chandler stared in awe, automatically reaching out for Monica's hand. When Ross had shown them the first sonogram from when Carol was pregnant with Ben, he hadn't got it. But now he understood. This was what it felt like.

"And it looks like you're about seven to eight weeks along," she added, before looking down at her pager as it went off. "If you'll excuse me, I need to check this," she added before walking out the door, "I'll be right back."

"Seven weeks ago makes it London," Chandler said after thinking for a minute. "Eight makes it before," he looked at her.

"Then it's not eight," she looked back at him, smiling slightly.

"So that would mean it probably happened in London," he smiled at her, "that's kinda romantic."

"Wow, Chandler Bing a romantic. Who knew?" Monica teased.

"You," he answered quietly, and Monica just looked at him, an awkward silence following. They'd been avoiding the subject of having actually been together because it was too awkward when they brought it up. "Ross is gonna kill me," Chandler broke the silence.

"What?"

"I got you pregnant. You're his little sister."

"So?

"So, there's just some lines that you don't cross with your friend's sister. And I probably crossed every single one with you."

"Well, I won't let him kill you," Monica smiled at him. "And, um, didn't he kiss your mom a few years ago? Aren't there rules against that?"

Chandler just laughed, "Yeah."

"Then there you go, you have something on him," she added. "But when are we gonna tell everyone?"

"I have no idea."

"I was kind of thinking sooner rather than later because I hate having to hide this from everyone."

"Yeah, we probably should just get it over with."

"But what are we going to tell them? I mean, about us…if there is an us…"

"We should probably figure that out for ourselves first," Chandler said, but the doctor walking into the room once again cut them off. He leaned in closer to Monica, whispering, "But us or no us, I'll still be there."

~*~

"No, you have to add the words 'in bed' to the end of your fortune," Rachel explained, taking one of the fortune cookies after they'd all finished eating their Chinese take-out.

"Your success in life must be earned with earnest efforts in bed," Joey grinned, reading his fortune out loud, "Yeah, baby."

"But why do you add 'in bed?'" Ross looked at Rachel.

"For fun," Rachel stated the obvious.

"A good deed will lead to a fortunate happening in bed," Phoebe giggled.

"What?"

"I did a really good deed for Frank with the triplets, I must be about to have a really fortunate happening in bed," she grinned.

"Phoebs, fortunes are crap. And even if they weren't, you added the words 'in bed.' That's not even an actual part of the fortune," Ross said.

"Yuh-huh," Phoebe argued back.

Monica looked at Chandler, knowing that it was probably her chance to tell them since everyone was there. Chandler just nodded, so Monica stood up. "Um, I kinda have something to tell everyone," she said, unsuccessfully trying to hide the fact that she was nervous.

"Are you okay?" Ross asked with concern.

"Yeah, um, fine, I just," she paused. She'd rehearsed this in her head a million times. Of course, in her head, her only audience was herself. Now she had to tell actual people. "I-I'm pregnant."

"You're what?"

"What?"

"How?" Everyone spoke at the same time.

"Um, could you guys wait, cause I know you're going to have more to say after I'm done…" she trailed off.

"Who's the father?" Rachel asked impatiently after Monica hadn't said anything for a couple of minutes.

"Um, see, that's what you're probably going to have something to say about," Monica said, and then looked over to Chandler, everyone else's vision following hers. Chandler just half-smiled at them as Rachel and Phoebe gasped, and Joey's jaw dropped a few seconds later when he finally got it. Ross just looked back and forth from Chandler to Monica.

"You're not implying that…"

Chandler stood up, walking over to where Monica was standing. "Look, we know what you're all going to say…"

"Your kid's gonna be gorgeous," Phoebe stated, causing everyone to look at her in confusion.

"What?"

"I mean, the two of you?" she motioned to Chandler and Monica, "How could your kid not be gorgeous?"

Chandler looked down at Monica for a second and smiled. "Okay, so maybe we didn't know what all of you were going to say," he corrected himself.

"You knocked up my sister?" Ross stood up, moving toward Chandler, who moved closer to Monica.

"Look, Ross-"

"And when did this happen?" Ross continued to move toward Chandler, who continued to move closer to Monica.

"Um, it kind of happened in London," Monica said.

"In London?!" Ross yelled. "So you slept with my sister at my wedding?" he looked at Chandler, "Is there anything else I should know?"

"Maybe we should have told everyone else and then told Ross separately," Chandler whispered to Monica.

"Sorry, I didn't catch that last part," Ross took another step toward them. "So are you two together now?"

"See, that's the other thing," Monica started, "Not really. I mean, we're going to raise the baby together, but we're not together-together."

"So you knocked up my sister and you're not even going to be together?" Ross looked at Chandler, taking one last step toward him.

"Ross, it's not like that," Chandler moved so that he was directly behind Monica.

"And could you stop saying knocked up? It makes me feel so…dirty," Monica added.

"Well maybe you should've thought of that before you had a one-night stand," Ross snapped back.

"Y'know, everyone says I'm the one that gets more like Mom everyday, but you're acting a hell of a lot more like her right now than I ever do," Monica looked at him, hurt. "And maybe it wasn't just a one-night stand, ever think of that?" she added before storming off to her room.

Everyone turned and looked up at Ross, not believing that he was acting like that. After a couple of seconds, Chandler sighed, going over to Monica's room and walking in.

"Mon," he said quietly as he opened the door. "Oh, Mon, don't cry," he walked over to her bed and sat down next to where she was laying down, face buried in her pillow. "Look, you can't listen to Ross right now; he's just really stressed out. He just got divorced, he lost his apartment, he lost his job…he's kind of bitter at the moment," he said quietly, gently rubbing her back until she rolled over to face him.

"Well he doesn't have to be like that about this," she wiped her eyes.

"He's just jealous of you."

"And what do I have that he could be jealous of?"

Chandler looked into her eyes, "Everything."

Monica couldn't help but smile. "You know, every once in a while, you know how to say all the right things."

"Well don't get too used to it, it probably won't last long," he returned her smile before leaning in to kiss her forehead and then her stomach. "C'mon," he stood up, holding his hand out to her. Monica just looked at him for a minute before taking his hand. That wasn't exactly the Chandler she was used to.

"Thanks," Monica smiled at him as he opened her door.

"That's what I'm here for."

Ross stood up from the couch as they walked into the room. "I am so sorry, Mon. I didn't mean that…I just…my life's kind of screwed up at the moment and I took it out on you."

"It's okay," Monica said quietly, walking over and sitting down in the chair, waiting for him to apologize to Chandler, too.

"So, um, how far along are you?" Phoebe asked, trying to break the tension in the room.

"Eight weeks," Monica answered, but then the room went back to silence.

Ross looked up at Monica who was sitting in the armchair, leaning back with her arms crossed across her chest, to Chandler, who was leaning against the arm of the chair. And all he could think of was how many times he's seen the two of them sitting there together. So Chandler slept with his sister and they were having a baby…there were so many guys worse than Chandler she could be having a kid with. And so they weren't actually going to be together…not every guy would have stayed. But Chandler was still there.

"Congratulations," Ross finally said, and both Monica and Chandler turned to him.

"What?"

"Congratulations," he smiled at them.

"Thank you," Monica smiled back.

"Thanks, man."

"No problem," Ross stood up. "Well, I'm gonna get going."

"See-ya."

"Bye."

"Bye."

"Later," everyone said their good-byes, and Chandler just nodded to him with a smile, silently thanking him for his approval. He'd been worried about Ross's reaction to everything, more worried than about anyone else's.

Ross returned his nod, mouthing, 'Good luck,' before walking out the door.

Chandler sighed as soon as Ross walked out the door, moving off the arm of the chair and down next to Monica. "Wow, I'm so glad the hardest part of all of this is over," he sighed, causing him to get a look from the three girls. "What?"

Monica just shook her head, standing up and going over to the kitchen, Rachel and Phoebe following to try to get details about everything from her.

Chandler watched as Monica got up, following her with his eyes.

"So you slept with Monica," Joey grinned at Chandler, moving closer to him.

"Joe."

"Hey, it's not like I'm asking for details," he defended himself. "Well, actually I am," he paused, waiting for Chandler to respond. "So?"

Chandler just laughed, shaking his head.

Maybe everything had changed, but things were still the same.

To

Be

Continued…

I was gonna post this as two separate parts cuz it got pretty long …but I decided what the hell, I'll be nice and post it all at once cuz I've had a really good day…well, ignoring the precalc test I almost failed…but I can ignore that cuz I've had a really really really good day. And we play our rivals in football tonight and we're so gonna stomp them. And I'm gonna stop rambling…Please review, thanks so much : )