A/N:
Yo yo! =) What's up? Thank you all so much for the great reviews! I really appreciate them. They keep me going through these freshmen days! Lol, 10th grade next . . . it'll only get worse. =D
Let's see . . . something you've all been curious about, I'm sure, and something I need to clear up: My oath as a fanfiction.net writer is that I will never kill off any of the Friends characters, esp. Chandler. Okay? I promise!!! Lol, so whether that inspires you to read more, or inspires you to stop reading (for some weird reason), I hope that's clear. Lol
Hope you like the 10th chapter. I worked hard on it! =D
Mncali – are you 14 or 15? I've been feeling out of place this year cause everyone around me in 9th grade is a year younger than me. Thanks for reviewing!
Someone to Lean On
Chapter 10: Familiar Faces
"You're gonna WHAT?!?" Joey yelled after Chandler told him what he was thinking.
"Shh!" Chandler motioned for Joey to shut up.
They had retreated into Rachel's bedroom as the girls chatted away. Chandler needed to tell someone his ideas, and Joey had ended up being more taken aback than what Chandler had predicted.
"What's the matter with you, man? You've been doing things lately that are so unlike you." Joey finally lowered his voice on his last sentence.
"Joey, I—"
"Wait a minute . . . I know what's going on here! I just saw this show on TLC last night about voodoo dolls and how people can have power over what another person does and says. Who's controlling you?" he said, only somewhat joking.
"Joey!"
"Voodoo!" Joey exclaimed, clasping his hands over his own ears.
"Joey," Chandler pulled his friend's hands away from his ears. "This has nothing to do with voodoo, alright? It has to do with my immense love for an amazing woman who I'm pretty sure loves me just as much. It has to do with the fact that I don't want to lose her. I want to be with her as long as she wants to be with me."
Joey finally calmed down and nodded. "But there's something else, isn't there?"
"Yeah," Chandler admitted. He looked away, feeling vaguely guilty for having these doubts. "Actually two things. First of all . . . for some reason I feel compelled to be this baby's father. I don't want Monica to have to raise it by herself . . . I was kind of the cause for it not having a dad in the first place."
"What are you talking about? That guy wouldn't have been there for it anyway . . . he was a bad person, Chandler. You know that."
"You're right, I know. I just don't want Monica to think that's the only reason for marrying her." He paused, realizing how bizarre that sounded coming from his mouth. He, Chandler Bing, wanted to marry a woman.
"What is the other thing?" Joey questioned.
"Well . . . what if this if this is too good to be true, you know? Monica is . . . great."
"Dude, you've got to get some confidence."
"We all know I don't specialize in confidence." Chandler smiled slightly.
"Okay, can I offer my insight now?"
"Sure, Joe."
"You guys trust each other, don't you?"
"Well, yeah. I mean, I think so." Chandler hoped she trusted him. And he hoped he could trust her not to run out again. He was fairly sure he could . . .
"Then do just that!"
"What?" Chandler asked, confused. At times, Joey could give pretty good advice; it was only his struggle to get his point through that blocked his knowledge from showing.
"Trust each other!"
"Oddly, in some very faint, hard-to-see way, that makes sense," Chandler replied with unnoticeable sarcasm.
"Yeah! I mean, if Monica says she loves you, trust her. If she accepts your offer, trust that she really does want to marry you. Don't doubt! Doubting will break you guys apart faster than the whole trust issue."
Chandler nodded. "You're right, thanks man." He patted him on the shoulder.
"What are you, kidding?" Joey asked, and then hugged him.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Monica, Phoebe, and Rachel were discussing the pros of being pregnant where Chandler and Joey came back in from the other room. Joey sat down on the couch to carry on watching "Die Hard" on HBO, and Chandler came up and leaned up against the counter behind Monica. She smiled at him when he approached, and then continued talking with the girls.
Chandler waited for a break in the conversation, and spoke up to Phoebe. "Hey, sorry to disrupt girls' time, but can I talk to you for a second?"
Phoebe got the point that he meant he wanted to talk privately, and nodded. "Oh, sure."
Chandler smiled and kissed Monica on the cheek reassuringly before following Phoebe out into the living room. Monica watched the two curiously, but said nothing.
When they were sure they were out of Monica and Rachel's range of hearing, Phoebe turned to face Chandler. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing. I, um . . . I was just wondering if you could help me with something."
"Yeah, anything."
"Um . . . okay. I'm thinking about proposing to Monica. He still kept his voice very low, feeling strange talking about this in the same room that she was in.
Phoebe was obviously surprised, but also kept her voice down. Glancing toward Monica, she said, "What? So soon?"
Chandler sighed. "Why does everybody keep saying that? At least it's been more than a month!"
"Oh, yeah. Sorry. I know it could be worse. But still, I mean, what a shock!"
"Yeah, I know. I shocked myself by even thinking about it. But listen, it just feels . . . right, you know?"
Phoebe nodded and put a hand over her mouth, looking close to tears. "How sweet!"
Chandler smiled and hesitated before saying, "I kind of need your help finding a ring. That is, if you don't mind? I was going to ask Joey, but it's not like he's even done anything like this before . . . and god knows that Ross has done it too many times. You're the one I feel most comfortable asking."
"Oh, I totally understand. I'd be delighted to help you! I'm so happy for you."
"Thank you Phoebe, you're the best."
"I know. The only thing is that I'm not sure if I have much time until next week to go shopping—"
"Trust me, that's fine. I need some time to get my thoughts organized anyway. I don't even know how I'm going to go about it yet." Chandler looked over at Monica, who he'd noticed nervously glancing in their direction, and smiled. She smiled back, seeming to relax a little.
"Just look at her," he said softly to Phoebe.
She turned toward Monica, trying to see her through Chandler's eyes. "Yeah, she's great. You guys make a great couple." Phoebe finally said, not wanting to get into too much detail. She started to walk back over, and said to Chandler, "So call me, okay?"
"Wait, you can't say a word to her, okay?"
"Right, I won't." Phoebe made a gesture like she was zipping her lips together, then headed back to Monica and Rachel.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Later that day, Joey had a date, so Monica and Chandler had the residence to themselves.
The two were silently doing the dishes; Chandler washing and Monica drying. She looked over at him and noticed he was looking off into space.
She kissed his cheek when she had finished to cup she was drying. "Hey, you okay? You seem kind of distant."
"Yeah," he replied honestly. "I'm fine."
Monica smiled. "I'm glad."
"You know what though?"
"What's that?"
"I think we should go out, grab something to eat. Go to that restaurant down the street that you like so much."
"That sounds like fun." Then Monica glanced at the still-full sink.
Chandler read her mind. "Aw, heck. We always do the dishes. We can let Joey do them tonight – it wouldn't hurt him."
Monica smiled. "Are you sure? He seemed pretty wounded when we had him sweep last week." Chandler laughed, and Monica continued. "You're right. I say we go ahead and go."
"Sounds great. Let me get changed real quickly, and then we'll go."
Monica nodded, and watched as he headed into their bedroom. The truth was that she could use this time out of the house. It wasn't that she was sick of being here – she was just looking forward to being with Chandler and being able to have some privacy with him to talk.
Suddenly she looked down at herself and realized that she had only jeans and an old gray T-shirt on, while the place they were headed to was fairly formal. She laughed at herself for not noticing sooner, then rushed into the bedroom after knocking, grabbed her clothes, and brought them into the bathroom to get ready. She put on a simple black skirt with a silky red blouse. The top was one of her favorites – it showed some cleavage but not too much. Just enough to catch Chandler's eyes for a few seconds. She then dressed up the suit with her favorite necklace and earrings, which Chandler had gotten for her a couple weeks after they first had started going out.
Monica took the pony tail out of her hair and brushed it out, deciding to leave it down tonight. When she exited the bathroom, Chandler was sitting at the table waiting for her. He was wearing a black suit that Monica had said before looked great on him. He stood to greet her and walked over to her, taking her hands in his.
"Wow, you look—"
"I know!" Monica grinned. "So do you."
Chandler smiled. "I look, huh?" He kissed her softly on the lips. "Thanks. You ready to get out of her?"
"I sure am."
The two took a taxi to the restaurant and arrived there a little after seven in the evening. The fact that it was October was causing it to get dark a lot earlier, but the bright city lights lit everything thing up like a second sun, taking the other's place.
Surprisingly, there was no wait for a table, as they had expected. The managers of the place much preferred that people make reservations first, but tonight it wasn't excessively busy.
Monica and Chandler got escorted to a two-chair table and took a seat across from each other as they started looking through the menus.
She was just deciding between two plates when a movement from the other side of the restaurant caught her eye. She glanced up and was shocked be what she saw.
"Chandler," she said quietly, touching his arm.
He noticed the edge to her voice and looked at her over his menu. "What's up?"
"I think we should go." She gestured with her head in another direction, and Chandler followed it with his eyes, getting the hint.
George had just entered the restaurant.
A/N:
Hey! I know the first part of that was probably boring, but I tried to improve on it in the last part. Also, I'm using Phoebe again for the whole proposal thing because I liked the way she acted on Friends when Chandler asked her. Though it turned out disastrous on the show, it was funny. =)
So anyway, please leave a review – tell me what you thought. I'll update again soon – the next chapter is mostly written out on paper, I just need to type it up. Be patient! =D Seeya!