Sorry about the wait, it's been a crazy week. I almost died. No seriously, we were coming down the highway when the latch to hold the hood down on my friend Adam's car broke and it came flying up into the windshield. It was crazy. Luckily we got over to the side of the road without running into anything or anyone, but it was terrifying. But then of course, once we all calmed down we saw that it would make an awesome story. And I've told it to everyone that I've seen since. If you almost die, you should let people know so that they no longer take you for granted right? But anyway, that's my story for the week. That I almost died. So see, you should be glad that you're getting a new chapter at all! Please review! Thanks!

Disclaimer: I tried to own the characters, but alas they were not for sale, and are not mine.

"Should we..." Monica breathlessly asked between kisses. "Should we go upstairs?"

"Do you want to?" Chandler asked. "I mean...it's up to you."

"I think I want to," Monica said biting her lip. A nervous habit that Chandler was quick to note that Grace had picked up on and also did. Chandler kissed her once more and stood up and offered her his hand. Hand in hand, they made their way up the stairs to their old bedroom. Monica avoided looking over at the door to the nursery. Chandler shut the door quietly behind them and smiled at Monica.

"Shall we?" And when she nodded and smiled slightly at him, he closed the gap between the two of them and began kissing her once more.

"Monica?"

"Yes?" She looked up at him.

"I just wanted to say....that I never stopped loving you." That made her stop and she met his eyes and for a moment he was afraid that he had said the wrong thing. He was surprised by her reply. It was so soft that he almost thought that he had made it up.

"Me neither."

Monica rolled over and smiled when she felt Chandler subconsciously pull her close to him. Then her grin faded. She would have to break up with James. Even if nothing more happened between her and Chandler, she would still have to break up with James. She didn't love him. It was that simple. She sighed and threw her arm over her head. The gesture was enough to wake Chandler up, who was sleeping lightly, like always. She should have remembered that. He was a light sleeper. It took very little to wake him up.

"Mon?" Chandler's eyes fluttered open and met hers. "What are you doing up?"

"I can't sleep," she admitted. "I was just thinking. I can't seem to turn my brain off." Propping himself up on one elbow, he studied her face.

"What are you thinking about?"

"How I have to break up with James," she told him truthfully. He wanted to dance right there, but figured that she wouldn't appreciate it. She was going to break up with James. She would be single. Single and possibly in New York. If she wasn't with James, what was going to hold her in London? She was opening a restaurant in New York. Shouldn't she be there for the new restaurant? Her London one was doing fine. It would continue to do fine without her there. She needed to be here. He needed for her to be here. Not to mention Grace.

He was getting ahead of himself. All she had said was that she was going to break up with James. It might have nothing to do with him. After all, she had just cheated on James. Maybe that was the only thing that was going through her mind.

Somehow though, he doubted it.

"Oh?" He had been trying to find the perfect response to that, and all he had come up with was oh. It wasn't a very good answer of course. In fact, it sucked.

"Well, I don't love him." Now that was a good answer, Chandler decided. He tried not to look too happy about the fact that someone's heart was going to be broken. But he was happy. Because for once, it wasn't his heart.

Poor bastard. Chandler felt for him, he knew where he was coming from. "Well....I do...love him." His smile faltered, and she noticed and quickly corrected her statement. "Just not like I should. Not like he loves me, and not like he deserves. He shouldn't have to settle to be second best. No one should." She closed her eyes, and Chandler saw a tear slip down her face and he pulled her close to him.

"Shush, honey, it's okay."

"I don't want to hurt him Chandler, I don't want to hurt anyone." He just ran a hand over her hair and tried to calm her down.

"Maybe we can talk about this tomorrow morning. We should get some sleep. We have a long day tomorrow." She nodded and bit her lip.

"Chandler...."

"Yeah?"

"We have a lot to talk about. We have a lot to work out. Work through. We have a lot to figure out." He nodded. They did. He knew that this didn't automatically mean that they were back together and life was good again. She was right. They had to work a lot out before they could go back to the way that they once were. And it was very possible that they would never return to where they had once been. Too much had happened. Too much had changed. They had changed. They weren't the same people they had once been. And maybe it wasn't a completely terrible thing. They had grown up. Monica had learned the hard way that life wasn't perfect, and it wasn't fair, and it wasn't going to be special to the two of them simply because they thought that they deserved a break.

"I know. We'll talk. But we'll talk tomorrow. Try to go to sleep okay?"

"I don't know if I can," she said softly.

"Want some warm milk?" He offered.

"Do you remember the time that you went to make warm milk?" She reminded him laughing. "You ended up pulling out a wok."

"Okay, so maybe warm milk isn't my speciality," he admitted grinning. "But I could try."

"No," she replied smiling. "It's okay. I'll just count sheep or something." He gave her a kiss on the forehead and they both closed their eyes, clung to each other, and tried to fall asleep.

Monica woke up to an empty bed the next morning. She opened her eyes and looked around the room in confusion trying to remember where she was. She was in her old bedroom. In New York. In the house that she had shared with Chandler. It all came back to her in that moment, and she yawned and sat up and listened.

"Daddy! You're going to burn the pancakes!" Gracie yelled. Monica smiled to herself. They were making breakfast.

"Is that so Miss Grace?"

"Yes! And no one will eat them if they are burnt. Not even Mommy."

"Not even Mommy?" Chandler's laughter floated up the stairs. It took her a second to realize that she was content. She had a feeling of complete contentedness. It was something that she hadn't felt in a very long time.

Since the divorce.

She climbed out of bed and tied a robe around her body. There was still James. He was still at the back of her mind. He was in London thinking that they were perfectly okay, with no idea that she had slept with Chandler the night before, or that she had woken up in his bed that morning. No idea that she was going to break up with him once she got back.

It was the only thing that was wrong with the morning.

"Good morning," she said stepping into the kitchen.

"Oh! Mommy! You were supposed to stay in bed!" Gracie cried stomping her foot. "We were going to bring you breakfast in bed."

"Is that so?" Monica couldn't contain the wide grin that was now covering her face.

"That's so," Gracie pouted.

"Sorry honey, but we can all eat at the kitchen table together," Monica said coming up behind her daughter and placing a kiss on the top of her head. "And it will be cleaner that way!" Chandler let out a laugh and turned to face Monica.

"Good morning," he said leaning forward and placing a kiss on her lips. She smiled at him.

"Good morning to you too," she said.

"Mommy, when do we have to go?" Gracie asked. Suddenly both were reminded that Monica still had to go. And they still had to sit down and talk.

"Tomorrow honey."

"Awww." Gracie whined and stamped her foot.

"I don't want to!" Monica sighed. She had a feeling that they would be back before long, but she didn't want to tell Grace that and have her get her hopes up when it was still possible that nothing more would happen between her parents.

"Grace, please," Monica said.

"Let's just eat breakfast," Chandler suggested trying to diffuse the situation. Grace helped carry over the dishes and soon they were all sitting around the table. Like a family. Monica felt her head spinning.

Gracie chattered away through all of breakfast. Monica was so thankful for her daughter's big mouth at that point. It meant that she didn't have to make small talk.

"Honey, why don't you go play in your room?" Chandler suggested. "While Mommy and I clean up?"

"Okay," Gracie agreed easily and they heard her running up the stairs.

"We need to talk," Monica said.

"Yeah, we do," Chandler nodded. "So...."

"Oh? I'm supposed to start?" She asked wide-eyed.

"Well, I could I guess."

"Good, you start then," Monica delegated. Chandler took a deep breath.

"I love you. I want you to move here again. I want to make this work again. We can get a new house, we don't have to live here if it causes too many bad memories, we can do whatever you want. I mean, I'd even be willing to move to London...." He realized that he was babbling. "The point is that I don't want to lose you again. Either of you. I want to wake up every morning with you next to me, and go to sleep every night with you by my side." He looked at her hopefully.

"It won't be easy," she said.

"I know."

"I mean, I have to break up with James, and we'd have to move, and that won't be easy."

"I know."

"And there are still so many things that we need to work out. Work through. We'd need to communicate better."

"I know."

"And the house....I don't think I could live here again Chandler. It holds good memories, but somehow the bad ones outweigh those."

"I know."

"I want to make us work too. I'm just scared," she admitted. "I couldn't stand losing you again." He moved to her and wrapped his arms around her.

"So what does that mean?"

"It means that I want what you said. I want us to be together again. I want us to try to work things out. For Gracie, and for us. Because I love you. I've never stopped loving you."

And with that, he placed one more kiss on her lips.

They would be okay.

They would make it work this time.

He would do anything to make sure that he didn't lose her again.

I think that there will be at least another chapter, but only if you review! So hop to it!