Come crying to me
Chapter 2: Back home
A/N: Hi all I reread the first chapter and noticed I gave you the idea that this was just gonna be a one chapter fic, when it's not lol! So anyway here's a late "To be continued…." Hehehe! Thanks so much for the reviews, do it again ;). Back were we left of…
Disclaimer: I don't own them…
I got home from work at two, earlier then I expected, but she never called. Round six I got worried and called her brother Ross, maybe he had heard something. Nothing, but when I got off the phone with Ross the phone started ringing again. There had been an accident…
I rushed to Beth Israel after calling Rachel, who would contact the others. It was snowing harder now and the roads were becoming slippery. I hurried over to the reception and asked for the Gellers. I was told to wait in the next room when a minute later a doctor came in holding a clipboard.
"Chandler Bing?"
"Yes that's me hi, how are they?"
I noticed he looked down at the floor for a moment, before looking up again. "Mr. Bing I'm sorry, but Judy and Jack didn't make it".
"No that's not possible, what about Monica", I whispered afraid to hear what the doctor had to say about her".
The doctor looked at his clipboard again before continuing, "Monica was in the backseat, she has some severe cuts and bruises on her face and arms, due to the shattering glass. She broke her leg in the process, but has no other injuries. She's a very lucky woman Mr. Bing".
I had mixed feelings but nonetheless blew out a sigh of relieve, Monica was still alive. "Thank you, can I see her?"
"Of course, follow me. I'll show you to her room".
I sat next to Monica's hospital bed. With two fingertips I delicately brushed a strand of hair out of her eyes and sighed. Monica had been asleep for a few hours now, the doctor had told me so. Shattered glass had been removed from her leg with no further complications. Mon would be fine eventually.
I brushed the forming tears from my eyes. I had the urge to sing to her, like a mother would soothe a child. I softly murmured a song she knew all to well.
-- It's late in the evening, she's wondering what clothes to wear
She puts on het make-up and brushes her long blond hair
And then she askes me, do I look all right
And I say yes, you look wonderful tonight...
Despite some cuts and bruises, she still looked wonderful on a Sunday night.
When the others arrived an hour later, she still hadn't woken up. I met the others in the waitingroom where the doctor had just told them the Gellers died in a carcrash. I could hear them crying and comforting Ross. Rachel hugged him, while his head was on her shoulder. Joey and Phoebe each comforted Ross in their own way, rubbing his back occasionally. When I made my presence known, Ross came over and hugged me deeply and I cried with him.
"I'm so sorry man".
He looked at me and nodded, "how is my sister doing Chandler?"
"She doing great, just minor cuts and bruises on her body and a broken leg," I said followed by a small smile.
"Oh Chandler you have no idea how glad I am to hear that", he sunk into a chair trying to grasp what had happened and changed his life forever in mere minutes.
The five of us stayed at the hospital overnight, each taking turns to watch over Monica. It wasn't till later the next day that she finally woke up. Her brother was holding her hand, when she adjusted her eyes to the sudden brightness.
I was watching through a glass side door, the doctor had been beeped and was checking her vital signs. The look in Ross' eyes was a look of love and reassurance towards his little sister. The hardest part wasn't over yet though and we all knew the question was inevitable. Before the doctor left he spoke a few words to Monica and shook her hand, he laid reassuring hand on Ross' shoulder before walking out. Even though I couldn't hear a thing I knew Monica had asked the question. Ross looked down, carefully choosing his words. Monica broke down a few seconds later, clinging to her brother for emotional support. He looked down at the floor, unable to see her in so much pain. I rose from my chair feeling hot tears streaming down my cheeks, suddenly I felt a hand on my back and turned around to see it belonged to Rachel.
"Come on Chandler, let's give them a few moments together."
I nodded and brushed the tears from my eyes with my right sleeve. Monica was released two days later on crutches with a good prognosis for recovery.
Monica's behavior changed over de following days. She did not want any physical closeness and would push us away when we tried to hold or comfort her. Even her brother could do no good. Eventually Ross came over less and less frequently, he had sat aside his own grieve since Mon came out of the hospital and it caught up with him. Rachel could do no good either and had a hard time, because Ross would come over less frequently and therefore she would spend most of her time at Ross' apartment. It was a tense situation and Monica could not comprehend why she acted the way she did. I guess she was in denial, but hurt the people in the process while she cared about them the most. I could understand where her reaction was coming from, I showed the same behavior when my parents divorced. That way people, who cared about me, could not hurt me again. I hurt them instead…
Her broken leg was a bother though and I knew she had to let someone help her with certain things. I knew that was my change to break into her "little" world. Over the next few weeks I got closer to her and she even let me comfort her from time to time.
"Chandler can you come in here for a second and help me put on my shoe please", I heard her yell from her bedroom.
"Yeah hold on one second", I shouted back when I placed the dishes in the sink. We just had dinner together and decided to go out and see a movie. Ross and Rachel had their own plans, Joey was at a late audition and Phoebe was cleansing someone's aura, at least that's what she told us. I knew it was something else, because she confided in me that she could not understand Monica's reaction at times, she too had lost a mother.
"Are you decent Mon"?
"YES Chandler I only need help putting on my shoe."
I entered grinning, "well okay then." I crouched down in front of her, put her shoe on and tied her shoelace. "There you go, anything else?"
"My crutches… oh I left them in the livingroom", she said remembering.
"Okay let me get them." I walked out and back in with one pair of crutches. "Here, be careful now."
She took them gratefully from my hands and stood up. I lead her out of the room towards the door. "What movie are we going to see anyway?"
"I don't really care Chandler as long as I'm out of the apartment."
"Feeling claustrophobic Mon?" I joked.
She wobbled over to the coat rack and picked up her jacket. "You can say that yeah, I mean with this leg it's hard to go out."
"Oh so I'm just your little helper then?" I teased again.
She turned around and looked at me intensely, "Chandler you know you're more then that."
I blushed a bit and she noticed my reddened cheeks, "oh is Mr. Joker blushing now", she laughed out loud for the first time. Embarrassed and unable to speak I looked down at floor thinking of a comeback. But before words could escape, she approached me, unexpectedly placing chilled hands on my reddened cheeks. With a smile on her face, she leaned in and placed a kiss on my left cheek, whispering into my ear, "I think it's cute".
She pulled back and stole a quick glance at my face, I had my eyes still closed. When I opened my eyes, a small smile parted her lips and she tugged at my jacket to follow her out the door. I felt embarrassed this was Monica.
She didn't mention anything later on, while I was struggling with the thought if I was the one who should bring it up. The movie was great and we both had a good time. On the way home I stayed silent thinking about what happened earlier.
"What?" she suddenly said.
"I uh I… we were flirting Mon", it was the best thing I could come up with.
"Yeah I was there Chandler, what's wrong with a little flirting."
I thought she would be embarrassed too, but she wasn't, "Mon we're friends, friends don't flirt", I stressed the word "don't", a little angrier then I wanted.
"Okay, sorry."
"No, no look Mon you don't have to apologize, I mean I liked it, I mean I don't, urgh I do… gawd I'm digging a deep whole here for myself. It's just that I didn't expect…."
She looked at me and sat down on a nearby bench, "I feel so much better when you're around. I can be myself again and cry whenever I want to, because I know you will understand. The joking, the teasing I can do all that when you're around. I know you won't judge me, because you've been there", a tear slowly trickled down her face.
"Hey it's okay Mon, I will always be there for you. You caught me off guard when I couldn't make a joke. Because you know my every thought and my words before I even speak them, my every action, and what it all means. You can read my mind so well and you know so much about me. And if that's that a good thing I don't know? Only you can answer that."
I brushed the tears from her eyes and kissed her cheek, "without each other we would both be lost right" I smiled at her and winked, then offered her my hand. "Let's go home."
She quickly hugged me around my neck, "thanks", was all she said. We continued walking home together. That was the night we talked till early in the morning and fell asleep in each others arms. It was good to have the old Monica back, I only hoped our friends could see and feel the same thing I felt that night in the next few weeks.
----
A/N: and that's the second chapter. Thanks for all the reviews, it's great to know you all enjoy this story. Now hit that magical button ;)
