"Hey sweetie," Monica greeted Chandler as he arrived after putting Shawn to bed.

"Hey," he replied.

There was an awkward silence. Neither of them knew where to begin talking about their new relationship.

"We've got to talk about this," Chandler said, eventually.

"Yeah," Monica agreed.

"I'll go first," offered Chandler. He paused, taking a deep breath. "Right. Monica, I – I like you, right? And I think that we could be good together, but…"

"There's always a 'but'," Monica noted.

"Please, hear me out," Chandler begged. "Look, Mon, I lost the love of my life not quite a year ago. I have two children who are still grieving for their mother and who will hate me for even attempting to fall in love with another woman. I have a brother who has faithfully promised to stand by me, but who will be hurt if I cheat on his beloved sister. And I have friends and family who will hate me forever when they find out that I fathered another child on the day that I fathered Alice. I have lived a lie for fourteen years, but more especially, these past few months, Monica, and now, now, when I have the chance to tell everyone everything, I'm scared. What if they disown me? If they hate me forever, Monica, I wouldn't be able to cope."

Monica smiled, and took Chandler's hand. "Chandler, listen. Sweetie. I – I'm not going to tell anyone about what we did all those years ago. And I'm not going to force you into anything. I'm not going to tell anyone anything until you are ready. We don't have to do anything or say anything or even think anything until you want to." She leaned forward and kissed him gently.

Chandler pulled away. "I – I feel like I'm cheating on Mary."

"Chandler!" Monica said, softly. "That – that's not true. Mary is – Mary isn't here. Mary would have wanted you to move on, wouldn't she?"

Chandler sighed. "I don't know. She could get very jealous."

Monica looked closely at him for a few moments. Then she spoke. "You wanna know something?" He nodded. "Okay. When I went on my first date after – after we were together, before I knew I was pregnant, I felt like I was cheating… on you."

"That's ridiculous!" Chandler burst out, almost laughing.

"I know. But that's how I felt. And then, as Kendra grew up, I was worried about how she'd react to all of my boyfriends, but… not that there were many of them, you understand," she added. "But Kendra… she took it in her stride. So will your kids, Chandler. Ally will come around, and Shawn is too young to really understand."

"He's older than you think."

"Chandler, he's a baby," Monica replied. "And… I know he's grown up quickly, but he's mature, and he'll cope. And Ally… hang it all, Chandler, the girl's nearly fourteen, she acts as though she's sixteen, you're afraid she'll… what? Be traumatised? Hate you forever? It won't be long before she'll be getting boyfriends, and she'll know how you feel."

"Mon…" Chandler began.

"Let me speak… just for a moment," Monica told him. "Chandler. Nearly fifteen years ago, we spent the night together."

"Wow," Chandler interrupted, sarcastically. "Never would've known."

"Chandler!" she complained. "That night… it wasn't my first time or anything, but it was the first time I had ever done anything unpredictable… different… something other than what people used to expect of me. And that night was special to me. Chandler, I fell in love with you that night, and I have loved you ever since."

"Oh… Mon… I – I –" Chandler stuttered. "I don't know what to say."

"Something along the lines of 'Yeah, I feel the same way, I love you too, I want to be—'" Monica was forced to stop when the door was thrown open and Phoebe burst in.

"I need help!" she announced, dramatically.

"Wow, you finally realised," quipped Chandler.

"Chandler, this is not the time," Phoebe scolded him. "I need help. Seriously. Please – and I think you might be the best bet. You know Joey well, don't you?"

"I'm his brother," Chandler replied. "I know him pretty well."

"Brother-in-law," Monica corrected.

"Don't nitpick," Chandler told her.

"I need to know how Joey will react when… when I tell him my news," Phoebe said, softly.

"Well, we might be able to help better if we knew your news," Monica suggested, sharing a smile with Chandler.

"No, yeah, I forgot that, didn't I?" Phoebe realised. "Ah… my news is… well, there is only one way to say this, I guess. It's complicated. It's Joey's, of course, I mean, there's no question about that, but I don't know how I'll cope if he doesn't handle it well…"

"Pheebs?" Monica prompted.

"Oh."

"Phoebe, please, c'mon, tell us," Chandler urged.

"I will. It's hard."

"I can guess," Monica said, softly. "Pheebs? Are you pregnant?"

Phoebe sat down. "Yuh-huh."

"Oh…" Chandler whispered.

Phoebe turned to him. "So, how do you think Joey'll take it?"

The look in Chandler's eyes did not bode well for Phoebe or the baby. "I… I don't know, Pheebs," was all he said.

"You must," Phoebe insisted. "Please! Chandler, I need to know something, some way I can tell him about the baby, please."

"Pheebs," Monica began, thinking hard all the time, "Phoebe, you and Joey are in love, aren't you?"

"Of course," replied Phoebe.

"So… Pheebs, whatever happens, you'll have each other. That's more than I had."

Monica's quiet words were a reassurance to Phoebe. Chandler took over. "Phoebe, do you want this baby?"

"Yes, of course. I love this baby," Phoebe answered, an absent smile playing over her lips.

"Then… you have something more powerful than anything Joey could ever do to you," Chandler whispered, his mind going back to Mary, to Alice and Shawn as babies, to his unborn daughter who had died, to Monica and Kendra, the family he had not known…

"I… yeah, no, I know," Phoebe said, confusedly. "I – when's Joey getting back from his play?"

"It finished at eight," Monica replied. "So he should be back now."

"I – I'm going to see him," Phoebe announced. She stood up, and swept out of the room. Chandler and Monica were left alone.

"Oh my…" Monica said, softly. "Phoebe's pregnant!"

"I can't believe Joey's gonna be a dad," Chandler said, dazed.

After a few silent minutes, Chandler spoke again of their previous conversation. "Monica…"

"Yeah?"

"I… could feel the same way about you," he said, slowly. "But I… don't want to tell people yet. I want to – I want you, Monica."

Monica leaned forward and kissed him. Then, slowly, she stood up, and, taking his hand, led him to her bedroom.