A/N: This is just another fic that I wrote to enter a fanfiction contest at Friends Boards. I know that it seems rather rushed, and I would've made it into a multi-chaptered story if I hadn't been on a deadline, which I was, heh. Anyway, this was just for my own little pleasure.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything or anyone related to Friends or the actors.
All Hallow's Eve
Monica awoke to the sound of a baby's cry. It was long, whiny and it was getting louder by the minute. She sighed to herself before rolling over and finding that her husband wasn't lying beside her in bed. She fluttered her eyes and scanned the room but there wasn't any sight of him. Lifting herself of the bed, she noticed that the crying had quieted down. The trudged over to the twins' room and smiled at the sight before her.
Chandler was singing softly to Erica, in a vain attempt to get her back to sleep so that all of them could sleep a little longer. He grinned at Monica and whispered:
"Gotcha covered".
She closed the distance between them and wrapped her arms around his waist from behind. She hugged him close while listening to the song he so beautifully sang to their daughter. Though she had gone quiet, she was nowhere near falling back to sleep. Chandler stopped mid-verse and turned around.
"I don't think it's going to work." He gave her to Monica before they both walked back to their own bedroom and laid her down between the two of them. "At least Jack is getting the hang of letting his parents sleep in on a Sunday." He snuggled into his pillow before looking into his daughters' sparkling blue eyes.
"I wonder how the rest of the day will unfold." Monica said, a hint of excitement evident in her voice. Chandler knew that she had been looking forward to Halloween, not only because it's a fun holiday, but because they would all be reunited as well. It was no secret that Monica enjoyed hosting things and she had made it her job to organise a small Halloween get-together. They hadn't seen Joey since he had moved to L.A. They couldn't fly yet with the twins, and Joey was very busy at the moment, he hadn't had a chance to visit them in New York either. But the frequent letters went back and forth between the two cities and various phone calls kept them all in touch.
Joey loved Halloween and after Monica made many promises that there would be a ton of food, he'd booked a flight for the 31st of October and he'd be staying for the week.
"Well...everyone will be here, at our humble abode, and they'll all rave about how much they love the food. It'll be like old times." Chandler gave Erica his thumb so she could play with it and Monica gave her a little kiss.
"I'm so glad Joey is coming over too. I mean, we still see the others at least every other day so that hasn't changed much. But I really miss having Joey around all the time, stealing our food and...other things."
"I know, it's great that he's finally making his dreams come true though. Even if it is like 3000 miles away."
Monica closed her eyes for a brief second, savouring the moment they were having. She could easily lie here forever without getting bored. But her gaze fell on the alarm clock on their nightstand and she shot into action mode.
"It's 9am!!" She jumped out of bed which startled Erica a bit as she tried to comprehend what was happening. "There's so much to do, Chandler you should've told me it was this late!" She continued her way down the hall to the bathroom and Chandler grinned at Erica.
"Your mommy is cute when she gets like that isn't she? So cute...We love her don't we? Yes we do, yeeees we do." He cooed to her one last time before picking her up and walking over to where he could hear Monica getting dressed in record time. He gasped when he opened the bathroom door.
"Are you making a mess?" he pretended to be shocked only to find that she was immediately fooled. She looked around a bit helplessly.
"Oh God...I know. But I'm allowed to make a mess right now honey. I'm on a deadline. And the rules clearly state that I can do whatever I want in order to make that deadline." She had that determined look on her face again and Chandler chuckled.
"Sweetie, I was kidding. Now...do I actually have to do anything today or..."
"I'll get started on the food around noon. Rachel and Ross are coming over in two hours – you know, given that they're on time – and Phoebe and Mike are picking Joey up at the airport. His flight arrives at 2pm, which means they'll all be here about an hour later. Oh God...I only have exactly 5 hours and 53 minutes to get everything ready."
"Ok...how about I just get Erica and Jack ready then and I'll stay out of your way for the rest of the day?"
She smiled and lifted her daughter out of his arms before swirling her around. "I can't wait to dress you up for your first Halloween." She turned her attention to Chandler again. "I'll feed them in a moment so you can get dressed," she gave him a kiss, "and I'll go wake up Jack now."
On the other side of the city, in The Village, Rachel had just started on breakfast for he and Ross, while Emma sat in her kiddie chair splashing a spoon into her milk. She didn't seem at all interested in what her mommy had placed before her to eat. Ross came into the kitchen moments later and planted a kiss on the top of her head, before moving right along to Rachel.
"Why didn't you wake me up?" he mumbled before planting a kiss on her lips. "If I hadn't heard Emma's excited babbling before, I would still be asleep."
She sighed contentedly against his chest and looked up at him. "You looked too peaceful...and besides, we're not running late or anything. I told Monica we'd be there by 11."
She sat down at the table and started eating her toast while smiling at her cute daughter. "Emma, what holiday is today? Huh sweetie? Can you say Halloween?"
Rachel's motherly talking prompted Emma to utter some sounds, some of which sounded like Halloween which caused Rachel to beam with pride. "That's right! And we're going to aunt Monica and uncle Chandler's today. Jack and Erica will be happy to see you, you can all play together."
Ross joined them at the table, while absently turning the pages of his Sunday paper. He stayed seated that way until Rachel had finished breakfast and took Emma out of her chair to get her ready. "Ross, you'd better start getting ready too, we'll have to leave soon. I can't wait to see Joey again."
This last remark caused Ross to shoot his head up, visibly feeling slightly jealous. She couldn't help but laugh and ruffled through his hair. "Because I miss him sweetie, please don't tell me you feel insecure about Joey."
"I don't...I was just curious, that's all." He turned his attention back to his paper, but there was a blush visible on his cheeks. "And I'll get ready in a minute" he added.
Little over an hour later, they all exited the apartment. Rachel carrying Emma, Ross holding a small black suitcase in his right hand. It was filled with things for Emma, including a costume since Monica had insisted she bring one because it would be fun to dress up the children. As they made their way downstairs, they saw a black cat obturating the way out. Ross nearly tripped over the poor animal and Emma cried out in pleasure at the sight of it all.
The cat hurried away and Rachel seated herself in the cab. They only drove for a short while before arriving at the Bings' house in Westchester. It was truly making out to be a beautiful day, the sun out and when they walked to the front door Rachel smiled at some kids down the street who were playing with their dolls on the lawn. She saw that the front door was slightly ajar and pushed it open further while speaking up to tell them they were here.
Upon entering the living room, she saw Chandler sitting on the floor Indian style and the twins around him. He was carving a pumpkin and looked outright adorable with pieces of orange all around him. He looked up and smiled when he saw Ross and Rachel enter. He stood up to give them a hug and gave Emma a kiss before taking her from Rachel and letting her say hi to Jack and Erica.
"Mon, Ross and Rachel are here!" He popped his head into the kitchen where his wife was busying herself with all sorts of cooking tasks.
"I'll be right there you guys, just have to lay the finishing touch on these appetisers." She dried her hands on a dish towel and joined the rest of them in the living room. It would be pretty packed once they would all be there, their circle was expanding. She smiled at the pumpkin which was lying on the floor. Chandler had made an effort to carve silly faces in them, but with little success.
"Sweetie, remember...We want to let kids now that they're welcome here, not actually scare them away."
"Well it's Halloween, I say we only give candy to the brave kids who venture out despite the scary pumpkin."
Monica rolled her eyes and gave him a fresh one. "We need two anyway. Make sure this one turns out a little better." She gave him a kiss as to not sound too bossy. Truth was Chandler knew she loved all of this. The planning, the bossing around because she knew she was the best in the kitchen, the hosting the dinner party...He smiled and took his seat on the floor again.
Ross laughed, "Dude, she's really got you on a tight schedule huh?"
"Well I like to see it as an important job. She trusts me with this and meanwhile, I can spend time with the twins. Plus...it's fun." He excitedly began carving again and Rachel laughed at all the silliness. She couldn't wait till Phoebe and Mike would arrive with Joey and they would all be reunited.
Surely enough, about 4 hours and a lot of delicious scents coming out of the kitchen later, the doorbell rang and the three of them fled to the front door.
"Hey, it's our house! All people that do not live here, don't get to open the door." Chandler said while slightly pushing Ross away.
"Why not? I'm closest to the door right now, wouldn't it make sense if I just opened it?" Rachel quipped, already with one hand on the door knob.
"No, I want to open it and see Joey first." Chandler stuck out his tongue and passed her.
"You know," a voice came through the door, "I can hear everything you guys are saying and I appreciate that you're arguing over who gets to hug me first...but could one of you just open the door already? I really have to pee..."
The others started laughing and Chandler swung open the door and immediately enveloped his best friend in a hug. The others came up behind him and they all wrapped their arms around Joey as best as they could.
"Uuuhhh not to be a pain, but you guys all hugging me isn't really helping my bladder issue!" They backed away and Joey darted inside before looking around, a little unsure.
"Down the hall to the right" Chandler yelled. Joey took off and Phoebe and Mike closed the door behind all of them. She took one last look outside and frowned when she saw a black cat sitting on the curb across the street. It seemed as if it was staring at her, but she discarded that thought.
"He's been whining for about 15 minutes about how he would burst if we didn't get here soon." Mike said. He had a gift in his hands and he seemed a little unsure of what to do with it. Phoebe took it from him and quickly marched into the kitchen. She handed it over to Monica who was smiling when she saw her walk in.
"What's this for?" she inquired while turning it around and around.
"This is from all of us because you're once again opening your house and fridge to us," she said. "And not to forget that it's Halloween and we really just wanted to give you something."
Monica smiled and started tugging on the large blue ribbon. When she was done tearing the paper away, it revealed a navy blue stand-up clock with two little sailor men standing on the side. The ensemble looked like a boat and it was ideal to put on a cupboard in her living room. She recognised the clock from about 3 months before when she had gone shopping with Phoebe and Rachel. She'd loved it straight away but she hadn't bought it yet because, at the time, their living room was still in the process of being furnished and painted. She loved the fact that her friends had remembered and she gave Phoebe a hug. They walked into the living room where she saw Joey entering. She flew to him and gave him a hug.
"Joey, we all missed you so much. You look great too! Is LA treating you right? Did you have a good flight? Are you hungry?"
Joey started laughing at all of her questions and reminded Monica that he'd be there for an entire week, so there was enough time to catch up on things.
"Well I wanted to say to all of you, thanks for this." Monica held up the clock in the air and then placed it on her dresser. "It's really beautiful and it fits perfectly with our interior, thanks."
Phoebe looked outside into the backyard and stepped a little closer to the window. Monica was on her way back to the kitchen but stopped when she saw Phoebe staring. "What are you looking at?" was her inevitable question.
Phoebe never took her eyes off of what she was gazing at when she responded: "You see that black cat over there?"
Monica squinted her eyes and could make out a small black form sitting under a tree at the back of her backyard. "Yea...what about it?"
"There's one sitting out front too. I saw one this morning when Mike and me left for the airport to pick up Joey...it's Halloween..." Phoebe let her voice trail and Monica started laughing.
"Pheebs please, that's probably just the neighbour's cat who's taking a stroll. Don't think that every black cat you see on Halloween means anything. There are thousands of black cats you know."
"Yes I know Monica," she mimicked her friend's behaviour, "but don't you think it's a little bit too coincidental? Me and Mike saw one, there's one here...what if Ross and Rachel or Joey saw one too? Don't you think it's possible that there's magic in the world and the cats have something to with it?"
"No, I don't." And with that she retreated back to her little spot of heaven to finish dinner and feed the hungry wolves. It didn't take her very long to finish it all, and by 5pm, everyone was seated around the dinner table except for the twins and Emma. Rachel and Phoebe had dressed them up and they were playing together around the coffee table. Emma looked absolutely adorable in her cowgirl outfit and Erica was dressed up as catwoman. Monica claimed that her old costume had shrunk in the dryer and it was now perfect for her daughter. And Jack...he was dressed in a Batman costume. There's no doubt that he would look unbelievably dangerous if it wasn't for his diaper slightly sticking out at the side. He was playing with a little mask and seemed to enjoy himself.
After dinner, they all moved to the salon to keep on talking about everything that had happened in the past 6 months. Joey told them of his adventures in LA, Ross and Rachel admitted that they did have marriage plans, though they didn't exactly know a date a yet. Everyone looked at Phoebe and Mike next, but she shook her head and smiled. "I know what you're all thinking. But...not yet."
They all knew that they were trying for a baby. And Monica hoped that her friend didn't have to go through the same process that she went through, though she didn't think it would be a problem for the two of them. Chandler sat looking at the group and smiled, he loved the holidays they all spent together. And even now, when all their ways had parted – even to different sides of the country – it was nice to see that deep down, nothing had changed.
Monica noticed the dreamy and happy expression on her husband's face and smiled too. "What's with you?" she inquired.
"Nothing" he simply said, with just a bit of mystery in his voice. Monica of course pried even more now that her curiosity was sparked. The other stopped their conversations as they heard the two teasing each other back and forth, Monica determined to get Chandler to say what it was. Finally, after she'd started to tickle him, he relented.
"Ok ok, fine! I was just thinking how I love that we're all here. You guys are my family and... well it's no secret that I didn't like – hated in fact – holidays before I got to spend them with you guys. So I was just taking a walk down memory lane." he explained. The other smiled and nodded their heads in approval, since they felt the exact same way.
"Ha!" Rachel exclaimed. "And I bet it all started for you Chandler, with that sucky Thanksgiving we all had 10 years ago."
"Actually...yea it did." Monica immediately noticed that Chandler started blushing when he said that last part. She folded her arms in front of her chest.
"Spill it Bing. Something's on your mind and you have to tell us!"
Chandler chuckled slightly and smiled before continuing. "Ok," he said, "I kind of have a confession to make." All eyes were on him and he quickly added: "It's not a bad confession, well considering anyway. Stop looking at me like I'm a villain."
He took a breath and seated himself a bit more comfortably. "Alright. Remember how each one of you had plans for that Thanksgiving, 10 years ago? Ross and Monica and Joey were going to their parent's house, Phoebe with her grandmother and Rachel was going skiing in Vale..." They nodded and signalled for him to continue. "I didn't really have any plans at the time, seeing as though I hated all holidays especially Thanksgiving. Well, when I came running into the apartment to tell you guys that Underdog, the giant balloon had gotten loose over the city, we all went up onto the roof."
He paused momentarily before going on. "Before I left the apartment, I noticed that – that your keys –"he pointed to Monica and Rachel, "were lying on the counter and I grabbed them as I ran outside. You know, because I figured we'd need them to get back in. And that's why...when we were all out in the hallway, and you guys were arguing over who had they keys – I tucked my hands in my jeans pockets and I found out that I still had them, I'd temporarily forgotten about that."
Monica's eyes grew wide as she listened to Chandler revealing this secret that he'd kept hidden for so long.
"And then, instead of giving them to you so that we could just go in...I kind of, didn't." He pulled an innocent face and his gaze landed on Monica who seemed ready to have an outburst any moment now.
"You had the keys and you let us make a scene anyway? You ruined all of my good efforts and the amazing food I had prepared that day?"
He quickly took her hands and his voice sounded soothing. "Yes honey, but hear me out ok? I have a fairly reasonable explanation for it. You see, in my mind I was thinking about what would happen if we didn't get inside on time. Yes the food would be ruined and I knew that you'd be upset, but I wanted us all to be together and for that, Rachel had to miss her plane to Vale." He glanced over at her and she was wearing the same shock expression as Monica was.
"And in the end, when we were all sitting around that table, eating grilled cheese sandwiches..." this last statement caused the other 5 to snicker, "I didn't feel guilty about what I had done. I did at first when I saw that Monica was so upset and we were all just sulking in the living room. But in the end...if I had the chance to go back to that moment, I'd probably do it again."
He smiled a little, apologetically as he awaited their reactions. Rachel's expression had softened down into a smile and she reassured him. "Actually, I'm glad I didn't go to Vale. When I heard afterwards what a bad time they ended up having...and come to think of it, I've never been that close to my family anymore after I met all you guys. I'm actually kind of glad you didn't give us the keys. Although you could've prevented us from fighting so badly." She playfully stuck out her tongue with this last remark.
Ross lifted his glass and smiled, prompting the other to do the same. "Here's to being each other's family, and to all be here, together...even after 10 years." They all clinked their glasses together before taking a sip. Chandler turned to Monica who was still a but confused with everything she had just found out.
"You're not mad are you?" Chandler ventured.
She smiled, "No I'm not. Although if you ever purposely let me cook all those delicious meals again just to have them ruined...I won't be held responsible for the consequences." She gave him a sweet smile and pecked him on the lips. "But I think it's great that because of that crappy Thanksgiving we ended up spending all of holidays together." She cast a glance to the gang. "And I hope that despite the many changes lately, that's one tradition that will last."
They drank again when the doorbell rang and they could hear exciting voices outside. Phoebe giddily jumped up yelling "We've got trick-or-treaters!!" before darting to the front door. The others followed, Chandler picking up a large bag of candy on his way. They opened the door revealing 3 boys and 3 girls all in disguise yelling out the well-known rhyme. They each got several pieces of candy and one actually complemented them because they had such nice pumpkins on their lawn.
Chandler beamed with pride as he looked down at his two beautiful creations and waved to the kids as they ran off to the neighbour's house. He closed the door and joined the others in the living room.
Even long after they'd put the children to bed, they remained seated with a glass of wine talking about anything and everything. And even though they weren't the ones who dressed up anymore, it was nice to spend this Halloween - and any other coming holiday - together. Plans for Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years had already been made, much to the satisfaction of Joey who didn't want to be left out just because he moved away.
None of them were aware of the fact that they were being watched through the window. Only Phoebe turned her head to the left and smiled at what she saw. There were four black cats sitting on Monica and Chandler's lawn looking inside. To her, it almost seemed as if they had a wicked smile on their face and looked approvingly at the sight before them...
A/N: Please leave me a review to tell me what you think.