Thanks again for all the nice reviews! Here's Part 16 for you all! And remember, review review review!

Nina

While You Were Sleeping

Part 16

Monica walked back from the courtroom, her body feeling as though it was not her own. She could barely feel her feet making contact with the solid ground as she was escorted back to the police van. The van that would take her to yet another wing of the prison. Only this time she wouldn't be there for life. The judge had estimated five years. Five years and she'd be taken from her cell and lead along a small corridor before being injected with enough drugs to kill her. And all for a crime she wasn't sure if she'd committed. How could she be punished when she didn't even know if she was guilty?

Stop it Monica!

Stop it!

Stop it!

Stop it!

She was guilty, she was a murderer. The entire country knew it now. The entire country knew what she was. They knew.

Even if she didn't.

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Chandler snapped the clasp shut on the red holdall, now resting on his bed. He'd wanted the blue one but Monica had insisted that the red would match more of his clothes.

Monica …

Had she known when she paid for it that her husband, her husband, would be using it when he left hospital. After she shot him, after she murdered their friends, people they knew. But, and still the question wouldn't leave him alone, did she?

He still couldn't picture Monica, a gun in her hand, towering over them, forcing them all into a corner before shooting them, one by one. Making them watch as each of them went down. Laughing, enjoying the power? She'd always liked being in control, but had she enjoyed that? Was she even capable of that?

Did he even know her? Had he ever really known her?

He needed to see her …

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"Thank you Mr Hargreaves, yes I understand. I do … it's just I think she has a right … I know it won't affect her sentence … of course … I'm just thinking as her friend … I understand, of course I do … yes Mr Hargreaves … no good at all. Thank you for your time … goodbye"

Rachel hung up, not feeling any better than when she'd dialled the number. Sitting down on her newly bought sofa she began thinking of anyone else who might be able to help her, then it suddenly struck her, why she needed help in the first place. Because of Joey … because he'd finally gone. Her best friend, her roomie, her everything had gone. And she needed to let his killer know, no matter what Monica had done, Rachel knew she still cared about her friends, and she needed to know that Joey was … was … she couldn't even bring herself to say the words. She couldn't even believe them, couldn't yet accept that the last year had even happened. Couldn't yet accept that she'd never see Joey and Phoebe, Iher/I Joey and Phoebe, again. That Chandler couldn't even face cracking jokes anymore, that she'd never have the child she wanted. Never. And that Monica was responsible for all this? It just didn't add up, somewhere in her brain it just didn't make sense.

Shaking the thoughts from her head, Rachel reached for the phone again, the number of Monica's wing staring up at her from the hastily scrawled note.

555-0175

Seven numbers. That was all. Seven numbers and she could get a visiting order, go and see Monica. Try and sort everything out. Tell her about Joey … mention that Chandler had been discharged. Try and inject some form of normality to the proceedings.

Dialling quickly before she had the chance to change her mind, she had already decided she would give them two minutes to answer before she hung up. She didn't even have to wait twenty seconds.

"Dawson Wing, how can I help you?"

Rachel paused, unsure of how to proceed, stuttered her prepared sentence out, "It's Rachel … Green … I was … I was …just … well .. I'm Monica Geller's friend …I wondered if I could request a … a … a … a visit please?"

She could hear papers being rustled on the other end, "I'll send you a visiting form, if you send it back straight away you can come on the 12th if you like"

Rachel didn't even need to check her diary, if she had anything planned she'd cancel it. She needed to see Monica. "Great, thanks. Erm … could I request a private room? Only I have some bad news for her … "

The woman said yes, of course, and Rachel hung up, suddenly aware that the first time she would see her best friend in a year would be in a prison, while she was breaking the news of a friends death. She wasn't even sure what state Monica would be in. The lawyers and doctors wouldn't tell her, she wasn't family, and Ross had made it clear he wanted nothing more to do with his sister.

Would she even want to see her?