~*For those of you who said that you wanted to kick Pete's ass, you'll really want to do it after this part. That's all I'm going to say, read and review and oh, yeah, enjoy too! Whoa, that rhymed. I amaze myself at times : ) ~*

Disclaimer: Oh, right, not mine.

Chandler rushed in to find all his friends and, to his disgust, Pete standing in the waiting room.

"What happened?" He asked running in. Rachel shrugged

"They haven't told us anything yet," she told him. Pete was standing on the other side of the room talking into his cell phone. Chandler felt anger rise up in him and he clenched his fists.

"Did he do this?" He asked Ross in a hushed voice.

"I don't know. Probably," Ross replied. "It's taking all the self-control I have not to go and punch him." Pete looked over their way and then turned his attention back to his phone call. The doctor came out and they all jumped to their feet.

"I'm going to have to call you back," they heard Pete say. Chandler took deep breaths to calm himself.

"Mr. Becker?"

"That's me," Pete said coming over and extending his hand. "How's Monica?"

"Your wife suffered a concussion," he told him. "But we managed to save the baby." (AN: You people are so smart. How did you know that she was pregnant?)

"She's pregnant?" Pete asked looking confused. The rest of the friends looked at each other as well. She was pregnant? Did she know? And there was that lingering thought in the back of all their minds, what horrible timing.

"Yes, early stages of pregnancy. How exactly did this happen?"

"She um, she was in minor car accident," Pete lied. "Nothing major, but she hit her head off the dashboard." He ran his hands through his hair. Chandler clenched his fists once more. Liar, Chandler thought to himself. The doctor bought the story and nodded.

"Can we see her?" Rachel piped up.

"In a little while," the doctor assured her. "She needs to rest first. She's going to have to stay the night."

"I would like her moved to a private room," Pete told him. Buying his way out of trouble, Chandler thought. Of course. The doctor left the room and left the six of them by themselves once more. They all turned on Pete.

"What really happened to her Pete?" Phoebe asked. She was the only one brave enough to ask the question that they were all dying to ask.

"I told you she was in minor car accident." He shrugged. He clearly wasn't interested in being grilled by her friends.

"Liar. Then where's the car? Why wasn't it reported? Why aren't the police here asking questions?" Joey chimed in. Pete shrugged again.

"So what if I'm not telling the truth. Whose going to know?" He smirked at them. "And who'd believe you? Do you think that Monica will admit that her husband is abusive?"

"Don't underestimate her," Ross told him.

"Don't overestimate her," Pete retorted back.

"You hurt her again, you son of a bitch, and I'll kill you," Chandler said starting towards Pete. Ross grabbed his arm and pulled him back.

"Not now Chandler." Chandler pulled angrily away from Ross.

"News flash," Pete said in a low voice. "She's my wife. Mine. So you can take your pathetic unrequited love and shove it. She doesn't need you to come rescue her. She has me." Rachel gave a distrustful chuckle.

"What happens when she needs rescued from you?" Rachel asked, her irritation increasing.

"I never said that it was me who did this to her." He backed away from the five and the smirk never left his face.

"What did you do Pete?" Joey asked ready to back up Chandler. Ready to teach him a lesson. "Did you kick her in the stomach? Throw her against the wall? What did you do to your wife to give her a concussion and almost induce a miscarriage?"

"I said already, I didn't do anything to her. If you'll excuse me, I need to go and check on my wife and then my daughter," Pete pushed through the other five and went down the hall to Monica's room.

"He's a pompous prick," Phoebe said as soon as he had left.

"She's pregnant again," Rachel said quietly sitting down.

"I know." Chandler ran his hand through his hair and sat next to her. "It's going to be even harder getting her to leave now." He sighed and leaned against the hard, cold, plastic chair and stared at the door that Pete had gone into. That was the understatement of the decade. It wouldn't just be hard to get her to leave Pete, it would be nearly impossible.

Monica moaned softly and stirred. Chandler was sitting next to her bed. Pete, to everyone's delight, had gone home to check on Heidi.

"Chandler?" She opened her eyes fully and smiled at him. "What are you doing here?"

"Monica, what happened?"

"Oh my God, the baby, is the baby okay?" Her voice sounded panicky and he squeezed her hand to calm her down.

"You know about the baby?" She nodded and her eyes began to fill with tears. "The baby is fine." She let out a shudder of relief and let the tears fall down her face as she buried her head into his shoulders.

"Chandler. Oh, Chandler. Everything is so screwed up," she sobbed.

"Monica, this isn't good for you," he tried to talk some sense into her. "He put you in the hospital. It went too far. You need to get out of there. What if he hurts Heidi? Or you lose the new baby? He almost made you miscarry." This just made her cry harder as he stroked her hair and attempted vainly to calm her down.

"I know, I know I have to leave, but it's just not as easy as you make it."

"I know, Monica, but he shouldn't be hitting you."

"He just gets angry sometimes, Chandler."

"How often Monica? Everyday?" She didn't answer. "I'll kill him. I'll kill him."

"Chandler, it's my fault, I don't listen."

"Don't say that! It's not your fault. He's an asshole," he held her closer as he rocked back and forth and tried desperately to calm her down.

"Heidi? Is Heidi okay? I want to see her." Chandler stood up and told her that he would go call and have Mary bring Heidi to see her mother. He stood in the doorway and sighed as he watched Monica's hunched form tremble from the amount of tears she was shedding. He couldn't believe that she would put up with this. She was so strong, and so full of will. What happened? What happened to his best friend? If someone would have told him that Monica would be in an abusive relationship that she refused to leave, he would have laughed. No way. Not his Monica. But then it hit him, she wasn't his Monica. She was Pete's, and that's where this whole problem started. He walked back into the waiting room.

"She wants to see Heidi. Ross, why don't you call?" Chandler suggested knowing if he had to talk to Pete, he might say things he would regret.

"Okay," Ross nodded and Rachel disappeared down the hall to see Monica. Chandler slumped into the chair next to Phoebe.

"I don't know what to do to help her," Phoebe admitted, her eyes filling with tears. "I want to do something, but only she can leave, no one can make her."

"I know." He reached and took Phoebe's hand. "She's strong, she can make it through this."
"What if she's not as strong as we think she is?" Chandler glanced in surprise at Phoebe.

"She is." He nodded to emphasize that. "She has to be."

"Momma?" The three-year-old scrambled over the bed and into her mother's arms.

"Hi baby," Monica gave Heidi a kiss on the top of her head. "Did Mary bring you down?"

"Yep. Daddy's not home." Monica wondered briefly where he was.

"Really?"

"Hmm-hmm." Heidi began to fiddle with the button that moved the bed up and down.

"Hey Heidi, don't do that, okay?" Rachel scolded. Heidi stopped and studied her mother.

"Are you going to be okay?"

"Sure, honey, I'm going to be fine."

"Promise?"

"Pinky-swear," Monica hugged her daughter and began to cry.

"You okay?" Rachel mouthed. Monica nodded and hugged Heidi closer.

"Guess what?" Heidi was bouncy again. Three-year-olds, Monica thought, are surprisingly resilient. She wished she was like that. She wished she could bounce back like that. It was going to take a lot longer for her to bounce back. That's if she ever did.

"What?"

"Daddy is going to buy me a new toy," Heidi told her grinning.

"That's great honey," Monica told her. That's what Pete did best. He bought his affection and his apologies. She would get a really nice dinner and a necklace to make up for it and then he would go back to beating her. He would be careful of her stomach now that he knew that she was pregnant, but it wouldn't stop him from putting a well-placed bruise on her leg.

"Heidi? Why don't we find Mary and let Mommy rest?"

"Can we get ice cream?"

"We'll see," Rachel told her and offered Monica a small smile.

"Okay," Heidi chirped and gave Monica a kiss and bounced off the bed and out of the room with Rachel. Chandler appeared in the doorway and found Monica sitting in quiet meditation.

"What's the matter Mon?" He asked coming over and placing a hand on top of hers.

"I think I know what to do," she told him staring straight ahead. "For me, for Heidi, for the new baby." She finally turned her head to him. Her bright blue eyes blazed and he knew that whatever it was, she had made up her mind. There was no talking her out of it.

"What honey?"

"I need to leave him."

~*Okay, this chapter was a little shorter, but I wanted to get it done quickly and of course I wanted to leave it there. It's not over yet, not by a long shot, so review and I will start on the next chapter. Right, so review. Thanks!~*