Thanks for all the reviews… here's the next part, it'll probably be a bit confusing how the two storylines fit together but you'll see later :D
Okay, please review and let me know what you think! Thanks!
Overshadowed - 2
"Hey, man…you done that science homework?" Matt asked, sitting down next to Ben during their lunch break.
"Yeah, just about…" Ben sighed, pulling it out for him to see.
"I know it was so hard!" Matt exclaimed, comparing their answers. "Yeah, they look about the same." They sat eating silently. Matt glanced over at his friend, he had been acting worried lately.
"You okay?" He asked, after a few minutes.
"Oh just great!" Ben replied sarcastically.
"What's up?"
"Oh the normal…" Ben sighed, "I'm just so sick of having to be perfect at everything."
"So, don't…" Matt suggested, "or tell your parents how you feel."
"Oh yeah, like that would work!" Ben rolled his eyes.
"Hey, just trying to be help…" Matt held his hands up in defence.
"I know, I'm sorry…"
"No problem…" Matt replied, picking up his apple, "So I hear Joey Tribbiani is coming to see you tomorrow!"
"Yeah, he wants to catch up with my parents and their friends and stuff…" Ben shrugged, "Oh and he's coming to watch the play!"
"Great!!" Matt grinned, "That'll show everyone who thought you were lying…"
Ben never replied, he just simply smiled and started eating again.
XxXxX
Ben sighed as he walked towards his house, with the school's play script in his hand, trying to memorise his lines. The play was in 3 weeks and his whole family was excited
"Hey Ben…" Chandler greeted him, as he sat watching TV. "How was school?"
"Same as normal…" Ben shrugged.
"Boring then?" Chandler grinned knowingly.
"My son isn't like you…he actually enjoys school!" Ross interrupted before Ben had chance as he walked out the kitchen and handed Chandler a soda.
"What kid likes school?" Chandler asked.
"I did!"
"I said kid not geek.." Chandler smirked."Oh shut up!" Ross glared at him. "At least there were girls at my school!"
"Pity you couldn't get a date, though.." Chandler teased.
Ben coughed, trying to cover up his laugh, "Right, I'd better get on with this work…"
"Wow, hold on.." Chandler stopped him. "You've been home no more then 5 minutes and you're already going to do your homework?"
"Yeah…" Ben nodded.
Chandler shook his head and turned back to the TV, sipping his drink. "He's differently your son, man…"
"Thanks for that…" Ross rolled his eyes.
Ben stood where he was for a minute, just thinking before snapping out of his trance and heading to his bedroom.
XxXxX
"DUDE!!!!" Joey screeched as he pulled Chandler into a bear hug, "Your gonna be a Daddy again!!!"
"Okay, easy, Joe…" Chandler laughed as he tried to move away out of Joey's grip. Joey had arrived earlier that day and they waited for everyone to come around before telling him the news, even they all already knew.
"This is great!!" He jumped up and down, he was so excited about seeing everyone, the news made him even more me hyper.
"So, you're not mad that we didn't tell you until now?" Monica asked, worried he would be upset about being the last to know.
"What? Course not!!" He told them, looking around. "Now where's the food?"
"Huh, some things ever change!" Chandler commented, put his arm around Monica.
"Oh, you don't know the best thing!" Joey grinned, "I'm staying for at least 8 months!!"
"What? That's excellent!" Chandler stated. "How come?"
"Oh, I've been offered this movie deal here and I start shooting in two weeks!"
"That's great, Joe…" Rachel told him, as the other said their various comments.
"I know!" His grin widened. "Now, seriously…where's the food."
"Dinner will be done soon…" She told him, smiling as she leant back against Chandler.
"Aww, you guys are so cute…" Joey smiled at them.
"Hey, so are we!!" Rachel insisted.
"What about us!?" Phoebe cut in.
"Erm…" Joey looked at Chandler. "Bert..Bert!"
"Who the hell is Bert!?" Rachel asked.
"Bert is our code word for danger…" Joey explained.
"We don't have a code word!" Chandler told him before shaking his head slightly, "wow, deja-vu…"
"You get that too?" Phoebe asked, excited, "Isn't it cool?!"
Joey grinned and sat back, watching as Phoebe chatted eagerly about déjà vu, while Ross explained why it was impossible for it to happen and Chandler came back with come smart comments. It's good to be back.
XxXxX
Chandler sat, typing at his desk the next day. He didn't normally work Saturdays but he wanted Monday off so he could go to the doctors with Monica for a scan and decided to finish his work over the weekend.
"Mr Bing…there's someone here to see you…" His secretary buzzed in and told him.
"Okay, send them in…" He replied, any excuse to have a break..
"Hey…" Ben smiled as he walked in.
"Hi, what's up?" Chandler asked leaning back in his chair. "What you doing here?"
"Oh I was just on my way to meet some friends…thought I'd dropped by and say hi.." He smiled, although Chandler could tell it was forced but before Chandler could reply there was a knock at the door and his assistant, Josh walked in.
"Hey, Mr Bing…here's that report you wanted…." Josh handed him a file.
"Okay, thanks…" Chandler put it down on his desk without looking at it.
"Anything else you need?" Josh asked.
"Oh yeah, can you get us a couple can of soda?" He asked, Josh nodded and walked towards the door. "Oh and make sure I don't get interrupted."
"Yeah, sure…no problem…" Josh replied and gave Ben a small smile before walking out.
"Look, if you're busy…I can just go…" Ben said, standing up.
"No, it's okay…" Chandler told him, "I'm due a lunch break anyway."
"You sure?"
"Yeah, now you going to tell me whats going on?" Chandler asked.
Ben looked down, playing with the strings on his jacket.
"Has something happened at school?" Chandler moved around to sit on the other side of his desk, in front of Ben. "What's going on, Ben?"
"Its stupid really…" Ben sighed, looking up at his Uncle. "Its just to much work…"
"You're having trouble keeping up?" Chandler questioned, Ben nodded looking back down. "Why haven't you told anyone?"
"Oh who am I meant to tell?" He asked sarcastically, "I mean even before I got a place their Dad, Rachel and Mom had told all the teachers how wonderful I am!"
"Okay… but why haven't the teachers noticed that you've been struggling?" Chandler asked. "Isn't that their job to?!"
"Well, they're not very good at it…" Ben replied.
"Look, Ben… I'd doing anything to help you…."
"But…" Ben predicted.
"but…there's not a lot I can do…" He sighed, "you'll have to talk to your Dad…"
"Yeah, I guess…"
"Don't worry!" Chandler smiled and patted him on the shoulder, "He'll be great about it!"
"Yeah, I know!" Ben forced a smile.
"Okay, then…" Chandler nodded, "Now tell me what else is happening at school…any juicy gossip?"
Ben laughed. "You sound like Rachel…"
"Hey!""Sorry…" Ben grinned, before either of them could say anymore the phone rang.
"Hello, Chandler Bing…."
"Hi…we have a problem…" Monica said.
"What? Is everything okay?" Chandler panicked, "Is the baby okay? Are you okay? The twins?"
"Chandler, calm down!" Monica told him, trying not to laugh, "We're fine!"
"Then what's going on?"
"I'm at Ross and Rachel's…" She explained, "We don't know where Ben is…wondering if you did.."
"He's here with me…" Chandler told her, glancing at Ben.
"With you?" Monica questioned before the phone was snatched out her hand.
"Chandler?!" Ross asked, "Why's he there?"
"We're just talking…" Chandler shrugged.
"Well, we've been worried sick!" Ross stated. "You could have told us!"
"Hey, I didn't know!" Chandler said defensively.
"I left a note…" Ben told Chandler, guessing his Dad was going mad.
"He said he left a note…" Chandler told Ross.
"Well, he never…" Ross snapped but then spotted to white paper.
'Dad, gone to meet some friends…might see uncle Chandler too…Ben'
"Okay, he did leave a note…" Ross said slowly, "Why is there with you anyway?"
"I dunno, we're just talking and stuff."
"About what?!"
"Stuff! Y'know life, school…" Chandler said sarcastically."Why doesn't he talk about stuff, with me?" Ross asked.
"He will…"
"What did he say?"
"Ross, I'm not going to spy on your son for you!"
Ben glanced up when he said that and rolled his eyes. Just then there was a knock on the door and Josh entered carrying a couple soda cans.
"Hey, Ross, I've gotta go, my boss his here…" Chandler said, quickly, interrupting him… "Yeah, I'll tell him, I know…yes…Yeah okay…"
Chandler sighed as he put the phone. "Your Dad is one of my best friends, but he does go on a bit!"
"Oh, I've noticed!" Ben grinned.
"So…." Chandler started, putting his feet up on his desk and opening his soda, "What you and your friends got planned for today?"
XxXxX
A month had passed and Ben still hadn't talk to anyone about the problems he was having at school apart from Chandler, who kept on insisting he talk to his parents. Although Chandler keep his word and didn't mention anything they discussed with no one else, which hated because he meant lying to the people he cared about most.
Ben told him he would he would talk to Ross about it after everything had calmed down. Everyone was glad about Joey being back home and even happier that he was a star in a movie. Of course everyone was excited about Monica being pregnant and was about 7 months gone. He thought it would be better to wait a while.
However, he didn't know that thinks were just about to get even worse…
XxXxX
"What's going on?!" Chandler asked as he raced down the hospital corridor towards, Rachel, Ross, Joey and Phoebe. "Where's Mon? Is she okay?"
"We don't know much…" Joey said, realising the others wasn't going to say anything. "We don't know whats happening…"
"But she's going to be okay, right?" He asked, his eyes pleading with his best friend to reassure him.
Joey opened his mouth to reply but found he couldn't get the words out. Tears pricked in the corner of his eyes and he turned away. He couldn't do it.
"Please, someone just tell me what happened…" He begged, eyes filling with tears.
"I'm so sorry…." Rachel moved to hug him. "She was having pains… we brought her straight…but we haven't been told nothing…"
"Pains?" He questioned moving away from her, "The baby…our baby?"
No one replied, Rachel reached out for his hand while the other looked away unable to look at him.
"My baby….please, my baby is okay, right?"
"We don't know…" Rachel whispered, tears flowing freely down her face, "but there was a lot of blood an..and she was in pain…"
Chandler stood shocked as Rachel hugged him again but he didn't respond, he just stood there his arms by his side, staring straight ahead.
"Mr Bing?" A doctor walked towards them.
"Yeah, that's me…" Chandler gentle pushed Rachel away.
"I'm Dr Gorman, I'm treating your wife…" He introduced himself, "Would you like to come with me and I'll explain what's going on…"
Chandler didn't glance once at his friends as he followed the doctored down the corridor.
It was 15 minutes until they saw Chandler again; he walked slowly down towards them. His head hanging, as he tried hard to keep hold of his emotions.
"Chandler? What's going on?" Ross asked, noticing him first.
"Where are the kids?" He asked quietly, when he noticed Jack and Judy there to.
"My Mom's got them…" Rachel explained quickly. "What's going on? How's Mon?"
"They made me sign a form…" He whispered, his eyes glued to the floor.
"What kind of form?"
"Giving permission to do a C-section…"
"A C-section?" Ross repeated.
"They said if they didn't do it then Mon would die…and so would the baby…" He told them, looking up for the first time.
"So, it's better for them to do the operation?" Phoebe question.
"No! Because Monica can still die!" He snapped, tears blurring his vision, "an-and its to early…the baby's 3 months early….its to early… she'll die too, I can't do this…"
"Chandler…" Joey cut in, "everything's going to be okay…"
"How do you know that!?" He asked, running his hand through his hair, "It's not fair! It's her dream to have her own baby….why us? Why now?!"
No one said anything; they all just let him ramble as he walked up and down the corridor. None of them have ever seen him like this before and it scared them.
"I can't live without her! I can't do this on my own!!" He insisted, lean back against the wall when he his legs buckled from underneath him, making him slide down to the floor, sobbing.
The others looked around at each other, wondering what they could do or say to help him. No one had an answer; they just looked back him helplessly.
TBC
The more reviews i get, the faster i update :D So review :D