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You Owe Me

Pain shot through his lower back as he tried to move his right leg. His hands gripped onto the side of the chair as he ignore the pain and continued. He groaned in frustration when it became too unbearable.

"Well, that's a great start." Dr Steve Hardy, the psychotherapist told him.

"I lifted my leg an inch of the ground!" Chandler stated, glaring at him slightly.

"Yeah but to even be able to move at all is a good sign." He helped Chandler back into the wheelchair. "You're going to have to be patient about this, take things slow."

"Yeah, I guess…" Chandler sighed in defeat. He had just finished his hour of Psycho. Apparently there had been some minor nerve damage from the bullet and he now found it difficult to move from the waist down. His left side wasn't to bad, he was able to lift his leg right up but there was still quite a bit of pain. It was the right side that worried him, he could hardly move without pain shooting through his body.

"Don't worry about it, okay? Things looked pretty good day." Steve told him. "There is a high chance that in a couple of weeks, you'll be out of this chair."

"I hope you're right."

"Okay, well I think we should leave it there for today." He replied, noticing how tired he was looking. "And I think you'll be glad to know that, I'll agree that you can go home tomorrow…"

"That is good news."

"But you'll have to come back in 3 days for Psycho…"

"Yeah, yeah…I will…thanks…" Chandler grinned at him and began to wheel himself out the room.

XxXxX

The next day, Monica stood beside Chandler outside their apartment building. She looked at him in concern, he had been so excited about being allowed home but now they were there, he looked depressed.

"Come on, then…let's go." Monica said cheerfully as she picked up his bag and headed towards the entrance.

"Mon…maybe we could get a coffee first…" Chandler suggested, glancing at Central Perk quickly.

"Is everything alright?" She asked gently, moving back to his side.

"Yeah, course it is…" He smiled although she could tell it was fake.

"Chandler?"

He sighed in defeat and looked at her. "It's just that I'm not going to be able to get up there on my own…."

"Well, I could go and get Ross or Joey…"

"Yeah, that's the thing, Mon…" He shook his head, giving her a small smile. "I just wanna wait a while before I let my male pride take a hit."

"Honey, there's nothing wrong with asking for help." She placed a hand on his cheek.

He looked down at his hands in his lap. "Yeah…."

"But y'know I could do with some coffee." She smiled at him.

They weren't surprised to see their friends sat on the couch, like normal.

"Hey, what you doing here?" Phoebe asked, surprised to see them so soon.

"Well, I guess one night my Mom and Dad got bored…" Chandler started.

"I didn't mean that!" She rolled her eyes.

"I got out early…" He gave her a small smile.

"What can I get you?" Gunther asked, walking over to them.

"Just a coffee…." Chandler ordered. "So, what's going on then?"

"Nothing much, we were just deciding what we should do tonight." Rachel told him. "I think some celebrating is needed."

"Yeah, sounds good!"

"Honey, I don't think you should over do it…" Monica advised.

"Mon, it'll be fine!" Chandler sighed. "Just the 6 of us having a laugh."

"Well, okay…." She agreed uneasy and moved to sit down on the couch.

"You okay, Man?" Ross frowned to see Chandler not moving.

"Um, yeah sure…" Chandler said after a few seconds of silence as he stared at the single step that lead down to the couch were his friends were all sat.

"Chandler?"

"I'm fine, seriously…" He forced a smile.

"Okay if you're sure…" Ross said slowly, not really believing him.

"Here you go…" Gunther handed him his coffee but then shook his head when Chandler went to give him the money. "It's on the house."

"Gunther, take the money." Chandler sighed.

"You're a hero, you don't need to pay." He told him, walking off.

Chandler stared after him and before anyone could do or say anything, he slammed the coffee down on the table next to him and wheeled out.

"What's going on?" Rachel asked, glancing at Monica.

"I'll be right back…" She replied, standing up and going after him.

When she got outside she saw Chandler sat with his head in his hands, she slowly walked over to him, gently putting her arm around him.

"I hate this…" He said quietly, trying to brush away the tears that manage to escape his eyes.

"Hate what?" She asked softly.

"I hate everyone treating me differently, I hate not being able to do anything by myself… I couldn't even storm out probably."

"Honey, you've been shot… it's going to take a while to fully to recover."

Chandler nodded slightly, closing his eyes while taking a deep breath, trying to calm himself down at bit.

"You wanna go back in?" She asked.

He shook his head. "I just want to go home…"

"Okay." She gave him a small hug. "Umm, do you want me to get someone… To…um...help?"

"Yeah, I can't do myself, can I?" He said quietly looking down at his hands.

"Okay, I'll be right back…" She gave his shoulder a reassuring squeezing before handing back into Central Perk.

XxXxX

Later they all gathered in the girls' apartment to celebrate Chandler coming home like they planned but Chandler wasn't enjoying it. He wasn't allowed to drink because of the tablets he was taking plus he was still depressed about how he couldn't do anything himself. To make things worse, Joey had disappeared again once he had found out that police couldn't do anything because they didn't have much to go by.

"Maybe we should let you get some rest…" Ross suggested, glancing at Chandler who hadn't said much all night.

"Where do you think Joey's gone?" He asked, ignoring his statement.

"Umm, I dunno…" Ross glanced around at the other. "I could look for him…"

"No need." Joey appeared at the door.

"Where you been?" Chandler asked he was really starting to worry that the incident might have ruined his friendship with Joey.

"Just out…walking around and thinking." He shrugged.

"Oh…"

"I've made a decision." Joey said quietly, not looking at any of them, just staring at his feet.

"Joey, I just want to forget this and move on!" Chandler sighed, frustrated.

"I can't…well not here anyway."

"What's that suppose to mean?" Phoebe asked.

"I'm moving to L.A tomorrow morning…I'm going to stay with my sister out there for a while before I get my own place."

"What?! You can't leave!!" Rachel exclaimed.

"Yeah, this is your home!" Monica added, shooting a look at Chandler who was sat staring at his best friend.

"I can't carry on living here knowing what happened…knowing that guy has gotten away with nearly killing my best friend and knowing that it wasn't my fault!"

"Joey! It wasn't your fault!" Ross told him. "What's it going to take to make you realise that?!"

"I don't know…" Joey shook his head. "But I know I can't stay…I'm sorry."

"So, you're just going to run away?" Rachel asked tearfully.

"I'm not running away. I'll keep in touch." He told them. "Plus moving to L.A might do my career some good…"

"Can't you just wait a while? You might change your mine." Monica asked hopefully.

"No, I can't, sorry.." His eyes settled on Chandler, the only one who hadn't said anything. "Chandler?"

"You're not going…" Chandler whispered.

"I've got to."

"No you don't!" Chandler told him. "You're staying here."

"I can't."

"Yes you can!!" Chandler raised his voice slightly, causing everyone to jump slightly.

"I'm sorry."

"NO! You owe me!"

"What?"

"I saved your life! You owe me big time!" Chandler told him. "So you can't leave!"

"I'll do anything you want Chandler…" He told him. "But I can't stay."

"You don't understand! Even since this has happened, I've been trying to forget it, move on but there is always something to remind me!"

"Honey, maybe you should calm down." Monica said in concern.

"No! I have to be stuck in this damn thing for the next couple of months if I'm lucky! I can't do anything by myself and you just want to leave?!" Chandler shouted, all the anger and pain that had built up since it all started spilling out. "If you leave… then what I did was pointless…"

"I'm sorry you feel the way…" Joey said quietly "I'm really grateful for what you did but I can't stay…."

"Joey, please…" Phoebe pleaded.

"I'm sorry…" He walked towards the door. He turned and looked at Chandler one more time. "I've already handed in my notice to Treeger…"

Silence took hold of the room once the door closed behind him and they all stared at it. The silence was broken seconds later by the sound of sobs.

Ross, Rachel and Phoebe exchanged looks when they saw Chandler break ing down…the first time they've seen him cry….ever.

TBC

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