A.N.  Thank you SO much to all of those who read, followed and reviewed this story from the beginning.  I had such a good experience writing it and am so glad that it was well-received J Here is the epilogue that several of you requested.  I hope that it lives up to your expectations.  I have a few more ideas for stories floating around up there in that crazy head of mine, and hopefully I will have the time to write and post them here, because you guys are all the best!!  Thanks one more time!  Read and review and ENJOY.

Disclaimer:  For the LAST time.  I don't own Friends.

            "Daddy, watch.  Daddy!  Watch!" cried an impatiant six year old to her father, who was temporarily distracted by checking his cell phone messages.

            "Sorry, honey, what?" Chandler asked.  Faith grinned once she had his full attention and began bounding towards the basketball hoop that they were practicing at that crisp fall afternoon.  After her failed, but inspired, lay-up attempt, his daughter looked back at him with a smile as if she had made it.  "Wasn't that better?" she asked.

            "Much better," he agreed, touseling her wavy honey brown hair that had flown loose from her ponytail.  Faith was small for her age, with big blue eyes that still looked exactly like her dad's.  That Saturday afternoon, the two of them had taken a walk down to the basketball courts on 60th and 4th, so that Faith could practice for her upcoming recreation basketball league. 

            "Did Mon leave you a message?" Faith asked, indicating his phone.

            "Nope, just your crazy grandma," Chandler told her.  "Hey, how about some ice cream?"

            "Yeah!"

            "Ice cream?  That doesn't sound like the training of a future WNBA star to me," a teasing voice rang out from behind them.  They turned to find Monica standing behind the chain link fence. 

            "Monica!" Faith squealed, running towards her and wriggling through the gate.

            "Hey baby," Monica greeted her, giving her a quick hug and kissing her husband of nearly three years over the gate.

            "You got my note?" he asked, brushing a strand of dark hair from her face.

            "Yup.  Hey, Faithy, how bout a couple more minutes of practice before ice cream so I can see that famous three pointer I keep hearing about?"

            "Sure!" Faith exclaimed, taking the ball from her father and dribbling carefully towards the hoop.  Monica came through the gate to stand next to Chandler, who put his arm around her casually.

            "How was work?" he asked.

            "Fine," she answered.  "Look at her go," she said smiling, indicating Faith chasing the runaway basketball.

            "Yeah she's really into it.  Hey, when are you gonna stop working, anyway?  People are going to be able to tell pretty soon," he asked her, touching her just barely showing belly.

            "I know.  It took me like twenty minutes to button my jeans today," she said proudly.  He laughed and kissed her.  "I was thinking by my sixth month I'll be ready to stop working, concentrate on Faith and the baby for a while.  Sound okay?"

            "Sounds perfect," he agreed.

            "Guys!  Watch me!  Watch this one!" Faith squealed.  The pair turned their eyes to their little basketball star, who took a shot and made it that time. 

            "That was perfect, sweetie!" Monica yelled, clapping.  "She may have your eyes, but she has my jump shot," she teased. 

            "Shut up," Chandler laughed.

            "Mon, tell me this one.  It looks like a good one.  Tell me it," Faith implored later that evening.  Chandler had gone to pick up dinner and Monica and Faith were looking through a photo album, playing Faith's favorite "tell me this one" game.

            Monica smiled at the photo Faith was pointing at.  "That was at the wedding, silly, you were there for that."

            "Yeah, but I was soooo little! So so small.  Tell it."

            "Well, that's your daddy, in the tux.  Doesn't he look handsome?"

            "He looks scared," Faith said.  Monica laughed.

            "Yeah, he does.  And that guy in the corner is Uncle Joey."

            "I know that.  Where are you?"

            "I'm in the other room getting dressed with Aunt Rach an Aunt Phoebe."

            "In a beautiful beautiful dress?" Faith asked, pushing the album aside so that she could climb on to Monica's lap.

            "Yup," Monica answered, stroking the little girl's hair as she rested her head on Monica's shoulder.

            "Let me see."

            Monica turned the page and landed on a picture of her, Rachel and Phoebe in the dressing room.  She looked extremely tense but was grinning widely.  Phoebe was holding Faith, who was at the time not quite three, in her flower girl dress, and Rachel was trying to put the finishing touches on Monica's makeup. 

            "That's me!" Faith said happily.  "My dress is pretty, too."

            "Yes, you looked beautiful that day.  Everyone was so proud of you because you knew just what to do and were so well-behaved during the whole ceremony."

            "I remember my shoes were too tight." 

            Monica laughed.  "So were mine, honey."  Faith giggled and jumped down from her lap, putting the album away and taking out a new one.

            "Let's look at this one," Faith said, opening it to the first page.  Monica put her arm around the small girl and sighed when she saw the first picture.

            "That's my mommy." Faith observed.  It was one of two photographs Chandler had of Jaime.  She was in the hospital, just having had Faith, and she was smiling tiredly.  The smile was forced.  And she wasn't holding the baby.  Monica shook her head.  It should have been so obvious that she was going to leave, but no one wanted to see it.

            "Yes, that's your mommy."

            "She's pretty," Faith said solemnly, tracing her outline with her pinky finger.

            "She's very pretty," Monica agreed.  Faith paused and looked up at her. 

            "But you're prettier," she said finally, resting her head back on Monica's shoulder.  Monica smiled at her sweetness and kissed her on the head.

            "Did you know her?" Faith asked.

            "Not well, but a little."

            "Oh.  Was she nice?"

            "Yes, in a lot of ways, I think she was," Monica said carefully, rubbing Faith's back.

            "Mon?"

            "What, sweetie?"

            "Why didn't she want to stay with me?"  Monica sighed heavily.

            "I don't know honey.  Because she was crazy."

            "Did I cry too much?" Faith said knowingly.  Monica pulled away and looked her in her eyes.

            "Faith, no.  You were perfect.  It was nothing that you did.  You were and are beautiful and sweet and good and smart and amazing."

            "How come she didn't know any of that?" Faith said, honestly wondering.

            "Faith… your mom had things that she had to do, and nobody can understand her reasons except for her."  Faith considered this.

            "When the new baby comes, you're not going to go away, are you?" she finally asked, her blue eyes brimming with tears.  Monica laughed and gathered her back into her arms, hugging her tightly.

            "No!  Of course not, sweetie.  I'm not going anywhere.  I promise, okay?"

            "Okay.  Monica, you know what?  It's kind of good that my mommy had other things to do.  Because if she had stayed then you and my daddy wouldn't have gotten married and you wouldn't be with me everyday and we couldn't go to the park or play beauty parlor and you wouldn't sing the sweet child song when I can't sleep, right?" 

            Monica's eyes teared at her sincerity and sweetness.  "Right.  I love you, Faith, you know that right?"

            "Right."

            "And when the baby comes-"

            "You and daddy will love me the same and still play with me all the time and the baby can't take my place because I'm special," Faith recited the lecture Chandler and Monica had been giving her for months.  Monica laughed. 

            "Right."

            "Hey beautiful ladies!" Chandler cheerfully announced as he entered the apartment with his arms full of Chinese take-out.

            "Food!" Faith exclaimed. 

            "Did we forget to feed it again?" Chandler asked Monica in mock exasperation.  "I knew I had too much free time today."

            "Haha.  Did you forget how I'm cranky when I'm hungry and I'm hungry for two right now?" she asked him, coming up to him and poking his ribs teasingly.

            "Ahh, I hate it when you do that!" he said, locking her hands behind her back.  Faith giggled at the scene and raced over to come to Monica's rescue, poking Chandler in the ribs repeatedly.

            "Oh I see how it is, I see how the tables have turned on me," he exclaimed.  "You're a little traitor!" He released Monica's arms and chased his daughter in circles around the living room, Faith squealing in delight.

            "And soon there will be three of you," Monica said, rolling her eyes and patting her stomach before sitting down to attack dinner, even if it meant eating alone.

            "Faith and I were looking at photo albums this afternoon," Monica said into Chandler's chest later that night, after they were in bed.

            "That's nice," he murmered, stroking her hair.

            "She was asking some questions about Jaime."  She felt his shoulder under her head tense.  Even after all this time, it was still a sore subject for him.

            "Like what kind of things?" he asked, trying to keep the bitterness out of his voice that crept into it every time her name came up.

            "Why she left."

            "What did you say?"

            "I just told her what we agreed to tell her when she asked.  She seemed to understand."

            "Good," Chandler said, kissing her hair absently, but she felt something was amiss.

            "What's the matter?"

            "Nothing… just… I wish she didn't have to know that her mother left her.  I wish that she was your daugher."

            "She is my daughter," Monica said quietly, turning to look at him before kissing his lips.  He wasn't sure if she was referring to the fact that she was the one who had been there for Faith since diapers or the adoption papers that she signed last fall.  Either way, he knew she was right.

            "I know she is, I just would hate for her to feel at all unwanted, by anyone."

            "She doesn't.  But… she asked me if I was going to leave when the baby came.  That's really the only time during the conversation that she got visibly upset.  But we talked about it and she's fine now," she assured him.  He shook his head.

            "I can't believe that she thought that," he mused.  "It's weird the things you don't know they worry about."

            "Yeah," she agreed.  "Did she say anything to you at bedtime?"

            "Nope.  We just ran through her lines one time and she was out like a light."

            Monica laughed.  "She's gonna be the most adorable talking sheepdog ever."

            "Seriously… I know it's called Peter Pan, but I have a feeling that dog is gonna steal the show," Chandler said chuckling.

            "I'd expect nothing less.  She's clearly gifted," Monica said yawning.

            "Go to sleep sweetie.  You're keeping the baby up."

            "The baby wants to be up.  He kinda likes you," she said, smiling against his neck and planting three soft kisses.

            "He?"

            "Yeah.  I think it's a boy."

            "Last week you were certain it was a girl because you didn't get morning sickness the day you were in Bloomingdale's with Rachel."

            "Shut up," she said laughing.  "It's definitely a boy."

            "I was making a name list the other day," he said sheepishly.  "At work."

            "They work you like a dog over there.  Honestly.  So unfair."

            "Do you want to hear my ideas or not, smart ass?"

            "I want to hear them."

            "Okay.  Here's my girls."

            "It's a boy."

            "Okay fine we'll start with boys then.  Finn."

            "Isn't that a lost boy from Faith's play?" she asked, wrinkling her nose.

            "Okay, I'm getting the vibe you don't like that one.  Not a fan of Finn.  Not so much a Finn fan."

            "Here's some of mine.  Avery, Oliver, or Elliot."

            "Those are girly names," Chandler said, unimpressed.

            "You're right, they aren't masculine enough.  Chandler Muriel," she finished pointedly.

            "Oh you're going down," he told her, tickling her until she started squealing, and then, afraid that they'd wake Faith, they calmed down and fell asleep in eachother's arms.

            "While Mother and Father are out, I'm in charge of you children, and I say it's time for bed!" Faith executed her third and last line with perfect diction from the confines of her grey yarn sheepdog costume at her place onstage.  The Huntley Day School's first grade class was making their theater debut, and Faith was already the only six year old up there who hadn't flubbed a line.  Chandler took Monica's hand in the audience and grinned.

            Faith Bing had needed the most amount of tickets in her entire class.  They took up a whole row as they sat, enraptured by the charming performance of a particularly prococious six year old child.  Ross, recently divorced from Carol (he citing irreconcilable differences; she citing lesbianism) held down the aisle seat; next to him was Phoebe, still as flighty as ever; next to her, Joey, whose womanizing hadn't slowed- he was mouthing the words to the play that he had coached to Faith, convinced that she was following in her Uncle's acting footsteps; Chandler after that, beaming with pride; Monica, her fingers laced through her husbands, smiling in amusement; and lastly Rachel, Faith's "cool aunt" and most common babysitter, who to this day considered herself the "matchmaker" and driving force between the close-knit and happy Bing family.

            After the play was over, Chandler and Monica went to the classroom where the were to pick up Faith as the other four left to hold the reservation at a nearby restaurant for a celebratory dinner. 

            "Hi!" Faith exclaimed upon seeing them, running towards the couple and flinging herself, sheepdog makeup smudged on her flushed cheeks.

            "Baby girl, you were amazing," Chandler declared, picking her up and swinging her around.

            "Did you see me do everything perfect?  I didn't mess up one time!  And my costume didn't fall down either!"

            "It was truly fantastic," Monica agreed, bending down to give her a kiss after Chandler released her.

            "Where's everyone?"

            "Waiting for us at the restaurant.  How bout we go to the bathroom and wash some of that make-up off while Daddy gets the car?"

            "Okay."  Chandler kissed them both and left as they made their way to the girls room down the hall.  Another mother stopped them halfway to congratulate Faith.

            "You were wonderful, sweetheart!"

            "Thank you!" Faith said, still glowing from her rave reviews.

            "You must be so pround," the woman continued, gearing her comments toward Monica.

            "I am," Monica agreed, touseling Faith's blonde curls.

            "So pretty, too… I can see where she gets her good looks from, she has your exact eyes!"

            Monica laughed.  "Well actually-" she began, as Faith interrupted.

            "Thank you," Faith said simply, reaching up for Monica's hand.  It was all she had in her not to start crying right in front of this strange woman, but she managed, and the two of them walked to the bathroom hand in hand.

Chandler and Monica had a boy, as she suspected, roughly five months later.  They named him Aidan James Bing, and Faith was an enthusiastic big sister.  They bought the apartment next door and broke through the wall to accommodate their growing family.  Two years later, they had another daughter, Ruby Alyse.  And they all lived happily ever after. 

THE END.

That's it, guys!  Hope that you liked how I envisioned the future!  I know it was a little long but I wanted to give you a thorough conclusion.  Please review!  Thank you again for reading!