Sorry for the long delay again guys. I keep forgetting to upload here! The good news is I've written up to Part 13 now, so I'm going to start posting on Tuesdays and Saturdays from now on. To get you guys caught up. I've also got two new fics coming out here very soon.

Sweet Beginings and Bitter Endings is a Mondler fic from before Friends started. I've tried to make sure certain things match up but it isn't realistic. That should be out by Wednesday.

Two Beds and a Coffee Machine is again, a Mondler. Monica is married to an abusive husband and she uses Rachel's wedding as a chance to escape him. That should be out by next Sunday.

Hope you enjoy this! And no, I still don't own them.

While You Were Sleeping

Part 8

Monica glanced up at the clock beside her bed. If she could even call it a bed. It was more a concrete block handily positioned next to a ceramic, off- white toilet. Monica hated this room. She hated it more than she hated herself right now. Looking quickly around it to check for any rogue insects that may have wandered in during the night. Noticing none she slowly manoeuvred herself until she was able to stand up with the minimum possible noise. She knew if she alerted anymore attention to herself, today of all days, Today when she had to stand in front of people she had never met and try and convince them of her innocence. Convince them when she herself wasn't sure if she was innocent. Convince them while her friends still lay dying. Convince them while she knew her husband was fighting for his life and all she could do for him was pray. She couldn't even hold his hand and tell him she loved him.

Was he the scream?

Did he struggle as he went down?

Did he see her face?

Was his last memory that of his wife shooting him?

Was he still alive?

Suddenly, out of the distance, the phone rang.

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No. No No. It couldn't be. No. Monica no. Monica stop it. Monica no! Please Monica! No

No

No

No

"Hello?"

"Mr Geller? It's Mr Hargreaves here, your sister's lawyer. We have a development. A woman's come forward. Claims to have been in the coffee house at the time of the shooting. I don't know what she's said yet but it's looking good. It's looking good"

Ross couldn't deal with that. Not today. Not when he had to give evidence for his sister. Evidence he wasn't even sure was true. Evidence he didn't want to give, he couldn't give it. Not when he didn't know. How could he stand up in court and protest his sisters innocence when he wasn't even sure she was? When she could be the one who was causing his sleepless nights. His nightmares. The images he had of Phoebe's face, smiling and greeting the person. And then darkness. In his mind he could never imagine the persons face. He could hear their breathing as he fell to the ground and a scream, he wasn't sure whose, as everything collapsed around him.

"Mr Geller? Mr Geller are you there?"

Ross nodded, and then realised Mr Hargreaves couldn't even see him, a fact he was grateful for. He didn't want anyone to see him like this. "Yes, yes I am"

He hard an inaudible grunt from the other end and waited for a reply, "Well I'll see you at one, alright? The trial starts at 12 and your welcome to arrive early but you can't be in there"

He hung up.

Ross ran to the bathroom and only lifted the toilet lid up a second before he vomited. His sisters trial started today. Her trial for murder. And for the attempted murder of his wife, his friends. Friends who stood a strong chance of dying before the year was out. Ross glanced up and caught his reflection in the mirror Rachel had placed above their sink. His eyes, bloodshot from lack of sleep, stared back at him devoid of any emotion. He'd survived. He'd screamed but he'd lived.

How could that be worse than dying?