Mason Park - Chapter Five

They made love twice that night, and after the second time, Chandler fell into what Ashley could only assume was a peaceful sleep.

She carefully crawled out of his arms and over to the phone. She picked it up and dialed a number she had memorized long ago.

It was 10:37 and she figured that they would still be awake, none of them had to get up extremely early anyways. Her call was answered after three rings.

"Hello?" A male voice asked.

"Ross? I thought I dialed Monica's number. It's Ashley."

"Ashley? Wow, I haven't spoken to you in a while. This is Monica's apartment, we've just been hanging out here and I was just about to head back to my place. What's up?"

"Oh, well I just wanted to let you know that Chandler is over here. I don't think he'll be home tonight, he's OK and everything, but he fell asleep and I don't want to wake him up." Ashley explained, glancing back down at Chandler as a smile spread across her face.

"OK. Well, I guess I'll talk to you later then. Thanks for calling us, we were starting to get worried." Ross laughed awkwardly and glanced around the room at Monica, Phoebe, and Rachel.

"No problem. I'll see you around. Bye." She hit the off button and threw the phone down on the couch before crawling back across the floor to where Chandler lay. She pulled another blanket off of the couch, threw some more wood into the fire, and curled up next to him. His arms instinctively wrapped around her and she buried her face in his chest, falling into a comfortable sleep.

Chandler walked into his apartment after a long day at work to find a small circle table in the middle of the room, two candles and two plates of food sitting on top of it.

He moved further in and shut the door behind him before setting his briefcase on the counter and removing his tie.

A smile crossed his lips as he called to his girlfriend of one year. "Ashley?" He moved past the counter and glanced over into the open bathroom.

She walked out of his bedroom dressed in a deep navy blue dress, her hair put up into a tight bun and the earrings he had given to her last week dangling from her ears. "What's all this?" He asked, motioning toward the table.

"It's our anniversary, silly, you didn't forget, did you?" She smiled as she walked over and wrapped her arms around his neck, giving him a passionate kiss.

His arms snaked around her waist, his hands running up and down her back. He pulled away and looked into her strikingly blue eyes. "Hey, lets skip dinner." He kissed her again and started to guide them toward his bedroom.

"Oh, no. We'll get to that. We have to eat because I spent all day preparing this and I haven't even had a snack. I'm starving."

He laughed and moved back over to take a seat across from her at the table. "So, what are we eating?" He asked, rubbing his hands together and looking over the table.

Chandler woke up the next morning with another pounding headache and rolled onto his back. His movement woke Ashley and she sat up to look at him, concern lining her face. "Chandler? What's wrong?" She scooted closer to him and rubbed her hand up his bare chest.

He gave her a confused look before the events of yesterday came back to him. He shook his head and closed his eyes again. "Nothing, I just have a headache.'' He was about to get up to find the bottle of pills but remembered that he hadn't brought them with him, he hadn't expected to be out all night.

"Do you want some aspirin or something?" Ashley wrapped the blanket around her, standing up.

Chandler nodded his head with his hand still over his forehead. He had never gotten back to the doctor's office yesterday, something that he now regretted very much.

He sat up and put his elbows on his knees just as Ashley came back from the kitchen holding a glass of water and two pills.

He took them gratefully and downed the glass of water before handing it back to Ashley. She went to put the glass in the sink as he searched for his clothes. He slipped his boxers and pants on, but his shirt was missing.

"Hey Ash?" Chandler called, still searching around the room for the lost item of clothing.

"Yea?" She asked, once again coming out of the kitchen.

He stopped his search and looked up at her, noticing how beautiful she looked wrapped in nothing but a blanket.

"Chandler?"

He shook his head and looked at the ground, his cheeks reddening. "Um, do you know where my shirt is?"

Ashley took a quick glance around the room, her eyes landing on the sleeve of a red shirt sticking out of the fireplace. She covered her mouth with her hand and stifled a laugh. Chandler was caught off guard by her reaction to the question and looked up at her. He looked down in the direction she was staring and noticed the sleeve of his shirt.

"Oh, that's just great." He walked over and picked it up, studying the charred edge with hate. "What do I do now?" He threw the tattered cloth back into the fireplace and threw his hands in the air.

"I have an old shirt of yours that you could wear. I'll go get it." She ran off to her room and he decided to gather her clothes for her.

Once she came back out, they traded the items they each held and she ran back to her room as he threw the shirt over his head.

He looked down at his watch and noticed that it was already 8AM. "Hey, Ashley?" He knocked on her bedroom door and waited for her reply.

"Yea?" She called through the wood.

"I think I'm just going to head home. I'd stay for breakfast, but they're probably waiting for me. I'd stay if I had time. I'll give you a call later, OK?" He finished, hoping that she wouldn't be too disappointed with him for leaving.

"That's fine. She opened her bedroom door and walked him to the front door. "Hey, I had a great time last night. We need to get together and talk about this though."

He nodded his head before grabbing his jacket and crutch. He bent down to give her a sweat kiss on the lips and left.

He closed his eyes, drew in a deep breath, and turned his head toward the sky before exhaling.

Quite a situation you've gotten yourself into, isn't it?

The voice came from no one, he was alone. The path that ran through the park was empty, there was nobody on the bench next to him, and it couldn't have come from the bushes.

"What?" He asked, looking over both of his shoulders with wide eyes.

The situation, with Ashley, with everybody. You don't love her, but you know she's madly in love with you. Hell, if she had her way, she never would have left you.

Again, his eyes frantically searched around him, there was nobody there. "Who are you? Where are you?"

Perhaps you could ask yourself those very same questions.

Chandler looked to the ground with wide eyes, staring at nothing in particular, he shut his eyes tightly and drew in another deep breath. "What?"

Oh for god sakes man, it's not that hard.

"Who are you?"

Well, nobody, really. I'm just here to help you think, ya know, like in the movies.

He sighed and shook his head, his fingers massaging his temples. "I don't need this. I can think on my own. Leave me alone!"

Yea, just keep telling yourself that. What are you going to do? You can't just leave the girl, you slept with her. But you can't stay with her, you don't know her, it would be too awkward.

"I don't know exactly what I'm going to do, yet."

You've been walking around for the past few hours and you've come up with nothing. You're hopeless.

"Well, you're not much better."

Oh of course I am. I don't have lost memories that resurface at the drop of a hat. I don't have four friends worried about me, and I don't have one that hates me for something that I can't even remember if it's true or not. I don't have to live with the sorrow of a lost life that was so much better than what you're now stuck with. You've lost so much, I've lost nothing.

"No, I haven't lost anything. I just can't remember it."

So you didn't lose your child, you didn't lose your wife, you didn't lose your best friend?

"It's going to be OK, just wait."

What if it's not?

Chandler looked up at a passing airplane and released and evil laugh. "I ask myself that very same question every hour of the day."

You're tired, Chandler. You're weak. You just want all of this to go away, you don't want to deal with it. You want to go to sleep and wake up in Monica's bed with her safely in your arms. It's not going to happen. Sorry.

"Well what am I supposed to do? How do I start do deal with this? What do I have to do first?"

You have to figure that out for yourself. I can't tell you what to do, I don't know what's best for you. You can do whatever you want to do, you can run away, you can stay and try to deal with this, you can act like nothing happened, the possibilities are endless. But I leave you with advice, opportunities will present themselves, recognize them, use them.

The cold wind swirled around the bench and Chandler reached in his pocket for his mittens.

He hurriedly put them on and stood to grab his crutch and head home.

The door opened without needing a key to be inserted in the lock and he spun around to shut it.

He threw his mittens on the counter and rubbed his hands together in an attempt to warm them up.

"Chandler? Where the hell have you been?" Monica shot out of her chair and Chandler jumped a clear foot backward, slamming back against the door.

"Christ, Monica! You scared the shit out of me!" He roughly shook his jacket off and threw it on top of his gloves before hobbling over to his room to change into a new pair of clothes.

"Where were you? You were supposed to be home hours ago!" She followed him to his room, stopping abruptly when he slammed the door in her face.

"I was out...thinking." His voice was muffled by the door and the shirt he was pulling over his head.

"Well you should have called! We were worried sick about you!"

His door was thrown open and he calmly walked out. "You guys shouldn't worry so much. I don't understand why you do. I'm fine, I can take care of myself, I'm a grown man." He walked to the fridge to grab something to eat, trying to hide his anger with himself.

"Well...you know...we've been through a lot too." Monica's look softened a little with sympathy and she ran her foot over the smooth floor.

"Oh, you have?" He slammed the fridge door and turned to face her. "Monica, you have no idea what I've been through! You have no idea what this is like for me! What living is like! Just, leave me alone." He stared to the ground when he brushed past her and walked straight back to his room.

Monica wiped the tears that threatened to fall from her eyes. He never used to yell. Before a few days ago, she had never even heard him raise his voice in any sort of anger. She shook her head sadly and took one last look over toward his room before leaving the apartment for her own.

to be continued.....

Wow, thank you SO much for all the reviews! I was so happy when I checked my email and found all of them just waiting to be read! I didn't intend to come off sounding mean last time, I'm just desperate and greedy for reviews ; ) I'm running out of material to post so I'll probably be slowing down with the updates, but I will get this finished before I start anything else! I'm determined! Sorry this chapter is shorter than usual, this also relates to the lack of material. Again, thanks for the reviews, and keep 'em comin! Oh, and sorry about that scene with Chandler in the park, it was stupid and corny, but I needed something there.

Quote of the moment - "Everybody has an opinion, and that's what separates us all."