A.N.  Thank you so much for everyone who reviewed and said that you liked this idea.  I know it's kinda different and out there, but I really hope you continue to enjoy it.  Review and let me know!!!  Without further ado… chapter 2 (I swear I didn't just try to rhyme that!)

Disclaimer:  See chapter 1.  I decided I'm not doing a disclaimer for every chapter.  Go ahead.  Sue me.  J

            "What's the capital of Sweden?" Alyse asked in frustration, to know one in particular.  Chandler might know, but she didn't expect an answer from Joey.  It was more a rhetorical question, one she regretted asking immediately as she saw Joey scratch his head and squint his eyes:  his "thinking" face.

            "Norway." He pronounced proudly.  She looked at him incredulously for a few seconds, then nodded and smiled widely. 

            "Thanks, Joe," she said, pretending to write it in.  God, sometimes he could just break your heart, she thought.

            "Hey, I got some new water balloons yesterday!" Joey told her excitedly.  "Wanna go try them out?"  She laughed.  Chandler seemed to think that sometimes it was an imposition on Joey for Alyse to be there, but the truth was, it was more like giving him a playmate.

            "In a couple minutes.  I want to finish this geography before my brother gets here," she said.  He groaned. 

            "Uh-Leeeeeece…" he whined.  She shook her head firmly, and turned back to her book.  Before he could protest further, there was a knock at the door.

            "Is it five already?" Alyse asked curiously, closing her book.  Joey answered the door to reveal a strikingly beautiful young woman waiting on the other side.

            "Hi Joey," the woman said smiling.

            "Hey!  How's it goin?" he asked her, giving her a kiss on the cheek and leading her into the apartment.  "I didn't know you were stopping over."

            "I wasn't, but I was on my way to work and realized I left my jacket here last night," she explained, pointing when she located it on the chair next to Alyse. 

            "Alyse, this is the girl I'm dating," Joey began.  Alyse gave him a sarcastic look as if to say "Oh really, which one," but he shot one right back that said "Shut up or I'll kill you,"

            "Otherwise known as Monica," the woman added laughingly.

            "I'm Alyse," Alyse said, standing and shaking her hand.

            "Alyse is my best friend's little sister.  She hangs out here sometimes during the week."

            "Well, it's very nice to meet you, Alyse," Monica said warmly.

            "You too," Alyse said with a smile, handing her her jacket.  Monica took it from her and glanced at the book on her lap.

            "Geography, huh?" she asked with a sympathetic smile.

            Alyse scrunched up her nose and groaned.  "Yeah.  I hate learning things I'll never need to know."

            "Hey, ya never know, right?" Monica said with a smile. 

            "What do you do?" Alyse asked.

            "I'm a chef."

            "And do you ever, while you're cooking, find yourself needing to know the capital of Sweden?"

            Monica laughed.  "You're funny.  I like that.  Touché," she admitted.

            "Tell me about it.  Like I, as an actor, will ever need to know that the capital of Sweden is Norway," Joey scoffed.  Alyse suppressed a laugh and Monica looked at him quizzically. 

            "Right… well I better get going.  It was really nice to meet you, I hope I'll see you again soon," Monica said.

            "Nice meeting you," Alyse replied.  Joey showed his guest to the door.

            "I'll see you tomorrow night?" he asked, kissing her quickly.

            "Yeah, seven thirty.  See ya," she said, turning to leave.  "Oh, and its Stockholm, by the way," she called back over her shoulder to Alyse.

            "Stockholm!" Alyse exclaimed, her pencil already moving.

            Alyse snuck a glance at her brother while they were washing the dishes later that night.  He was so funny, he was the smartest guy she knew, and, so her friends told her, not bad to look at, either.  He should have a girlfriend; he should have a life outside of taking care of her.

            "Hey," she said, nudging his arm.  He looked at her.

            "Hey, yourself," he replied.  "What's on your mind, worry-wart?" 

            Chandler liked to say that Alyse had been a worrier from the day she left the womb.  She was too smart for her own good, he had long ago concluded, and she had it in her head since kindergarten that she was there to take care of him as much as he was there to take care of her.  When she had an idea or a thought in her head, she was like a dog with a bone, wrestling with it and refusing to quit until she was satisfied.  She got her stubbornness from him.  And there was that face, the one that gave her away when she was in one of those moods, the one where her eyes were slightly squinted and her bottom lip was curled in under her front teeth.  The one she had now.

            "I'm not a worry-wart, I'm a problem-solver.  There's a difference," she said defensively.  He laughed and swatted her gently with the dishtowel.

            "So what problem are we solving this evening?" he asked, opening the cabinet and putting the last plate away.

            "Nothing, there is no problem.  I was just… I was just going to tell you about my day," she said innocently.  He looked at her with an eyebrow raised.

            "I thought that's what we did at dinner."

            "Well, there's more," she said.

            "By all means, please continue."

            "Okay, well, at lunch, Spencer Rueben started a food fight and is on three days suspension."

            "That's too bad.  Did you throw anything?" he asked with a twinkle in his eye.

            "No.  I was too hungry to be throwing food away like an idiot.  Anyway… then after school Christina Loomis called Heather Stuart a slut and they got in a fist fight."

            "I thought Heather Stuart was a slut," he pointed out.

            "She is.  But if you were a slut, would you want to hear about it?  Anyway, then, I went to Joey's and he got new water balloons."

            "Oh, no, Alyse, I thought you guys were done with that, especially after the Mrs. Siderakis incident.  No more throwing things at the elderly, we talked about it," he implored.

            "Hey, we didn't throw it at her, she got in the way, and anyway we didn't today.  I had homework.  But I met the girl he's dating."

            Chandler snorted.  "Oh really, which one?"  Alyse looked at him in surprise and punched his shoulder.

            "Shut up, those are the exact words that I thought!"

            "Apple doesn't fall far," he teased.  "So is she nice?"

            "Yes, she's very nice… it's just, she doesn't seem like someone Joey would be dating."

            "Why do you say that?" Chandler asked, wiping down the counter.

            "I don't know, she's really smart," she began.

            "Enough said," Chandler laughed.

            "And nice, and beautiful, and has a real job… I guess she just seems more like, oh I don't know, more like someone you'd be dating."  Chandler looked at her suspiciously.

            "Oh right, I forgot.  Someone you'd be dating if you ever dated anyone."

            "Hey, right back at you."

            "I'm thirteen!" she exclaimed. 

            "Damn right you're thirteen and if you even think about having a boyfriend I swear I'll"

            "Shut up Chandler.  I'm not thinking about it.  However, you are 32, so if you were thinking about it I think it would be okay."

            "Well, I'm not.  This isn't the right time in my life for that," he said, heading for his room.

            "Why not?  I'm not a baby anymore, I don't need you 24 hours a day!" she called after him.  "It's time you had a life of your own!"

            "Alyse, enough," he told her firmly.  "I'm taking a shower, you finish your homework, then we'll have ice cream, okay?"

            "Fine," she sighed.  He could be so stubborn.  "When are you gonna realize that I know what's best for you?" she asked smiling.

            "When you get to be at least five feet tall, I'll consider it."

Okay, there's chapter 2!  See, they're getting longer.  Thanks again for the reviews!  Please keep them coming and let me know if you want more of this, because I have other ideas I could use instead if this sucks.  Again, I'm just setting things up now, so Monica will be in more of the next few chapters.  THANKS FOR READING!!!