Gone for the Moment - Chapter Six
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One agonizing hour and several horrible cups of coffee later, a doctor finally came out to relax the nerves of five hopeful souls.
"Are you all here for Chandler Bing?" The doctor asked, glancing around the waiting room and it's five occupants.
"Yes, we are. How is he?" Ross asked, springing out of his chair to greet the doctor.
"Well, first off, I'm Dr. Carlson, I'll be Mr. Bing's doctor while he's here. Are any of you related to him? I'm afraid I can only tell his family right now."
"I'm his brother-in-law, his wife's on her way. They're his friends, but please, doctor, we are his family. It would take us forever to contact his parents," Ross explained and put on his best 'pleading' face.
"All right, I guess I can make an exception. Why don't you guys have a seat?" He asked, motioning towards the chairs they had all come out of.
"He lost a lot of blood, we actually weren't sure if he was going to make it when he first got here. We got him breathing again and stopped the bleeding but he's still in critical condition until his body can get itself back up to par. I'm afraid I can't let any of you in to see him yet though, at least not until his wife arrives," Dr. Carlson said.
"So..is he going to be okay?" Rachel asked, still going over the fresh information in her head.
"Yes, he should be fine. But, like with all of our other attempted suicide patients, he'll have to see a physcologist."
"For how long?" Ross asked.
"As long as the physcologist thinks it will take for Mr. Bing to make a full mental recovery."
"Chandler's not crazy," Phoebe protested, not liking the idea that Chandler actually did need professional help.
"I never said he was. But obviously there's something bothering him enough mentally for him to try and kill himself and we can help him get past it," Dr. Carlson explained as his pager went off. "I'm sorry but I have to get going. If you have any questions, have one of the nurses page me. Also, I'd like to know when Mrs. Bing gets here," he tucked his clipboard under his arm and walked briskly down the hallway toward the nurses station.
They all settled back into their seats, digesting the news of Chandler's situation.
"So what do we do now?" Rachel asked, looking down the row at her friends.
"We wait," Ross replied simply. "We wait until Monica comes."
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Six hours later...
Monica speed-walked down the hallway, her feet a blur and her eyes frantically searching hallways for a friendly face.
"Monica!" Rachel called, running up to her as she was poking her head in another patient's room.
Monica spun around and raced over to her friend, wrapping her arms tight around her when they met.
"I'm so glad you're here," Rachel whispered into Monica's shoulder.
"It's good to be here," Monica started. "Well, not here, but..you know what I mean."
"Where's Jake?" Rachel asked, glancing down at Monica's arms and noticing that no baby occupied them.
"I dropped him off at my parents' house. I didn't want him here," Monica explained as they walked toward the small seating area. "So, how is he, Rach?" She asked somberly, stuffing her hands in her coat pockets.
"He's..well, he's alive. The doctor said he's still in critical condition, but he should be okay."
"What happend?"
Rachel chewed her thumb nail and nervously stuck her other hand in her pocket like a child that has just given a bad report card to her parents. "He..he tried to kill himself, Mon."
Monica stopped dead in her tracks and stared at Rachel in disbelief. "What?" She spat, and stepped closer to Rachel.
"Monica, Chandler loves you. He didn't want you to go and he didn't want to give up on your marriage. He was a wreck after you left. He barely ate, he almost never came out of his room, we had to lie our asses off so he wouldn't be fired. It was horrible, Mon."
"Oh my God...well why didn't somebody call me?"
"We did! But you were never there!"
"Where's everybody else?" Monica asked, once again glancing around the stark white hallways.
"They're down the hallway. Come on, we should get down there."
Monica and Rachel walked the rest of the way in silence, niether finding words to say in this untimely situation.
"Mon," Ross almost shouted as he stood from his chair and wrapped her in a bear hug.
Monica stepped away from Ross and moved on to give Phoebe a hug. Monica stopped after one step towards a barely responsive Joey, who was blankly staring at the ground.
"Is he okay?" Monica whispered to Ross, still looking at Joey.
"I don't know. He hasn't said anything since he found Chandler." Ross explained, gesturing towards Joey's blood stained clothes hidden under his black jacket.
She nodded her head and then turned to face Ross. "So, can I see Chandler?"
"Yea, we haven't been allowed in to see him yet, the doctor wanted to talk to you first. He said to have one of the nurses page him. I'll go try to get ahold of him," Ross said before jogging off in search of a nurse.
Monica sat down heavily in a chair next to Rachel and leaned her head back against the wall.
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Another hour and a brief talk with the doctor about Chandler's condition brought Monica to his door, clutching the handle with a cocktail of emotions.
She was angry that he had done this to himself, she was horrified that he could have died, she was urgent to see him, and she was relieved that he was alive.
She snapped her wrist and the door opened, exposing an unconscious, pale, unshaven, thin Chandler.
Stepping into the room and closing the door behind her, Monica's hand covered her mouth in shock as she moved towards the bed slowly.
She pulled a chair up to the bed and wearily sat down in it.
She looked away from Chandler and averdeted her eyes to her hands. As she rubbed them together, the absense of her wedding ring stuck out to her and she quicklky glanced up at him, hoping that him seeing her without it on wouldn't hurt him too much.
She left it in Minneapolis, burried in one of her dresser drawers, positive that her marriage was over. I should have kept it on until it was final, we are still married.
She quickly shook off the feeling of guilt and reached up to gently take his hand in hers, careful not to disrupt the white bandage that hugged his wrist.
The gentle movement woke Chandler from his haze and he turned his head to see what had caused him to be brought out of the peace of unconciousness.
"Mon...yo-you're here," he whispered grogily.
Monica's head snapped up and she quickly began debating whether to stay and talk or bolt from the room and get on the next flight back to Minneapolis.
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to be continued...
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You guys, thank you SO MUCH for all the reviews! I really really love reading them and hearing what you guys think, that and hearing what agony you are in to get the next chapter, mwuahahahaha...jk. I didn't have time to proof read this so sorry if there are any mistakes. This chapter was a little longer but hard as heck to write. I had to just stop the scene where Monica sits down and waits for the doc to come because I didn't know how to continue it, so, sorry if it sounds bad! Anyway, let me know what you think! Please review!
