Hey guys, thanks for the reviews! I appreciated every last one of them. :) Hopefully, things will start to make a little more sense in this chapter. A little, but not much. ;) Everything is explained (that I want to explain) in this chapter, so I won't say anything here except that I allude to a lot of things...see if you can figure it out. :)

Please leave me a review on this one; I think it's actually pretty good, but watch it get no reviews because whatever I think is bad in my fics, gets reviews, and the stuff I like gets none, lol. Strange, huh?

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Literally, nothing. I'm sitting here, wrapped in a blanket at the library where this computer is. (lol j/k)

5 Years Earlier

"I love you so much," he professed, caressing her delicate, snow-white skin. Touching her was like slowly threading scarves of silk between his long fingers; the combination of her skin, her smell- sweet like honey stirred in a clear springtime vase sprinkled with daffodils- and her eyes gazing up at him with the utmost trust made his heart simply burst with the love he felt for her.

"Aw, I love you, too." She snuggled in closer, nestling her head beneath his chin. Her raven colored hair was lush and soft, her eyes closed and contented. They were happy with what they had: each other.

"I can't believe we're married," Chandler confessed. "I just never actually thought this day would come."

Monica sat up and smiled at him, the mix of her loose, baby pink, camisole hanging off of her skin and his boxers that she had claimed in her name making him grin. "What d'ya mean, you never thought it would come?"

"It's just hard to believe that I'm married, I guess."

"When do you think we should tell everyone?" The smile was now less prominent on her face.

"Soon. Whenever you're ready, I guess."

She smiled and traced his perfect jaw line with the red curve of her manicured nail. "Are you ready?"

"I think so."

"Then I am, too."

She got up and grabbed her robe off the velvet-lined, hotel chair. As she looked out her window, the city of Las Vegas smiled back at her. To think that they had come here for their one year anniversary, and they had ended up making room for another.

"Where are you going?" Chandler asked.

Monica smiled and stated obviously, "To tell everyone, of course!"

"Right now?"

"Why not?"

Suggestively, he patted the empty, warm space beside him. "Don't you want to stay here for awhile longer? The others won't be up for ages. Think of what we could do in that time..."

Cars whirred busily below her on the streets, the neon lights were silenced during the day, and Vegas looked nearly identical to New York. Monica playfully ambled towards the bed and tossed her robe behind her. "Yeah, we have some time."

As she began unbuttoning his shirt, he stopped her. "Do you really want to do this right now?"

She laughed, "You led me on, Chandler Bing, don't tease me!"

"Well, my darling wife," they both grinned, "I'm afraid now that we're married I won't be putting out as much."

"Hey!" She playfully smacked him on the stomach and laid her head down on his chest.

"I'm just kidding," he laughed. "Although I hope that won't become a problem. I just want to hold you for awhile, kiss your gorgeous smile, never let go."

"Aww..." she cooed. "Did you just make that up?"

"Sort of," he blushed. "Was it stupid?"

"Not at all," she whispered, nestling her body into his, feeling the perfect heat they generated between each other.

"Good. I just wanted you to know how much I wanted to be with you."

"I know," Monica lightly breathed as he brought his lips down upon her smoky eyelashes. "I will always want to be with you."

----

Present Time

White, fleecy snow descended in clumps, coming to rest on her dark hair that no longer was thick, no longer was full. Inside, he slept peacefully, remembering a time when they had been in love, when they had been alive.

Outside, the love of his life fumbled with her car keys, her frail hands shaking a battered melody in tempo with the rising and falling of her shallow chest.

Around her, the night air cut through her skin, opening the scars that it created before. She glanced around frantically, wondering if anyone would see her making an escape.

Even if they did, she wondered if they would care. It was them that piled the bricks upon her fragile soul, they were the ones that watched her soul bleed and cry out in pain...but did they help? Did they care? They watched the screaming continue, but did nothing as long as it didn't pierce the air in their homes, cross the boundary lines of property in the Godforsaken town.

Even though she had screamed loud enough for the whole city to hear, they had pretended it was silence that had washed over the quiet, quaint neighborhood streets, not the blood, tears, sweat, and pain.

She dropped the keys and cursed wildly, almost wanting him to hear her and carry her back inside, wrapping her up in his strong arms and kissing her face, telling her to stay.

But if she stayed, all hell would break loose and the nightmare would continue. At least this way, it would only be a memory, a reflection of the past that merely played like an unending record in the photo-album of her tainted dreams.

The car started and she pulled out of the driveway, crunching the bones of icicles and fragile snowflakes beneath her. Once, she had been like an icicle, strong and tall, hanging on comfortably to her world. Now, she was like a snowflake, freefalling through the air and hoping she'd land on something soft.

Looking through her rearview mirror, she whispered a silent farewell to the life she had endured for so long. Looking in the passenger seat, she noticed the battered, small stuffed rabbit. She must have subconsciously tucked it into the car earlier. Or had it always been there, a painful reminder of what was before.

The window in their bedroom- only his bedroom now, she reminded herself- was still dark and frosted with the poisonous white icing. He was still sleeping, holding on to his last bit of sanity they had both had in the past.

Truly, that was the only time they had been themselves, when the night curtained the pale frosty sky and they could lay in bed, silent, for hours, holding each other and shivering at what they had been before.

The headlights seeped through the white plains of snow as she sped away, the car precariously tracing the outlines of the road, doubting the existence of the next street.

She hummed with remorse those words he had spoken to her to the tune of an enchantingly sorrowful melody remembering a lullaby forgotten. "I just want to hold you for awhile, kiss your gorgeous smile, never let go."

----

So...let me know if it was good, bad, whatever. ;) I know it's probably confusing now, and I know you're all going "What the heck? Why did she leave him?" But you'll see. :)

Oh, and those words Chandler says...I dunno if they're from a song or whatever, but I just made them up. And if they happen to be from song I don't know about, I'm sorry, then they aren't my words. But if they're not, then they are mine. lol...Okay.

By the way, I was like almost scared when I was writing the part in present time. I don't know, but just something about it just made me shiver. Maybe it was because it was cold in my house or something, because this fic isn't scary, it's drama/angst. :) And maybe romance, if I'm feeling nice.

So why don't you be nice and leave me a review? And then maybe I'll be nice, too.

Mel

(Hey, you. Yeah, I'm talking to you. The one sitting there in that chair, debating on whether or not to leave a review or not. I know you've got somewhere to be in twenty minutes, are tired, sick, hungry, or just don't feel like leaving me a review because your story is better than mine and I got more reviews for some reason. Just remember, what goes around comes around. Leave me a review to make my day, and maybe someone will also make yours.)

Lol that was VERY stupid. :)