Chandler stood by Monica's door. He couldn't believe what he saw. It was the most.. disgusting, disturbing thing he had ever seen. Should he go back in there or should he just leave. He couldn't leave. He promised the twins that he would tuck them in. So he could tuck them in and then... leave. Yes that was what he was going to do.
"Daddy..."
Chandler immediately turned his head and found Erica dressed in her pink pajamas. "Yes honey?"
"What are you doing?"
"I was about to come tuck you in." He smiled and picked her up. "Where's Jack?"
"In his room." Erica said giving Chandler a sweet smile. "Where's mommy?"
"In her room." Chandler kissed Erica's cheek and opened the door to Jack's room. "Hey kid." His room was a complete mess. Monica would definitely have a heart attack if he saw the mess of toys.
"ERICA! Where is fat Dan!" Jack screamed as he threw a big stuffed bear on the floor.
"I don't know!" She screamed back.
"You hided him!"
"Nuh uh!"
"Wait a minute who's Dan?" Chandler asked putting Erica down.
"Fat Dan! Jack's dinosaur." Erica said with a big smile.
"Erica hided him!"
"Did not! You did!" She screamed pointed at him.
Chandler smiled and bent down to Erica's height. "Honey.."
"Yes daddy?" Erica gave Chandler that sweet smile she gave him before.
"Where's Dan?"
"In the couch." Her innocent smile grew.
"Why did you hide Dan?"
"Because Jack sitted on Charlie."
"Go get Dan."
"Ok." Erica quickly ran out of Jack's room.
Chandler picked Jack up and put him on his bed and tucked him in. "Night kiddo."
"Night daddy." Jack smiled and kissed Chandler's cheek. "Thanks for watching my game."
"You did a great job." Chandler smiled and kissed his forehead. "I'm going to try and make it to all of your games."
"Really?" Jack's big blue eyes lit up. They really were Monica's eyes. Jack and Erica both had Monica's beautiful eyes. Even though it was impossible. They really did.
"Really."
"Promise?"
Chandler nodded. "I promise."
"Here's Dan." Erica said throwing a big, blue, round dinosaur, at Jack. Ross had obviously given it to him.
"Ok. I'll see you Friday ok?" Chandler smiled and kissed Jack's forehead again.
"Ok. Bye daddy. I love you."
"Love you too kid." Chandler got up and picked Erica up. "Bye." Chandler walked into Erica's room and placed her into her very pink bed. "Night angel."
"Night daddy."
"I love you."
"I love you too daddy. When are you coming to see us again?"
"Friday."
"Really?"
"Yep."
"When's Friday?"
"Day after tomorrow."
"Really?"
"Uh huh."
"Yay!"
"I'll see you Friday honey. I love you." He planted a kiss on her forehead and stood up. "Bye princess." He said as he walked to the door.
"Bye daddy!"
Chandler blew her a kiss and she imitated him. He turned around and saw Monica coming out of Jack's room. "I was just about to leave.."
"Ok.." Monica said avoiding eye contact with him. "Are you umm.. coming to Jack's game?"
"Yea."
"Ok well, I guess I'll see you then." She nodded and forced a small smile.
"Bye." He said walking towards the stairs. "Mon.."
"Yes."
"You know you can always talk to me right?"
Monica nodded. "I know. Thanks." She said and walked into Erica's room. "Hi honey. Did you have fun?"
Chandler watched as Erica talked about the night giving Monica all the details. He smiled and walked down the stairs.
Monica sighed as she parked her car and got out. She was 5 minutes late. She was never late picking up the twins, but she was really busy at work and lost track of time. She ran towards the gate and saw the twins talking to a man. It was the back of a man's head that she didn't recognize, since theonly 1st grade men teachers were either bald or blonde,and this man had a full head of hair.. She began to panic what if it was some stranger trying to kidnap them? He couldn't be another parent since well he didn't have any other kids near him except the twins. "That's what happens when you are late picking up the kids." She whispered to herself. Good thing she was there and not 10 minutes late. It was a private school why were they letting strange men in anyway? Monica ran towards the twins. "I'm so sorry I'm late you guys." Monica looked over at the man and was shocked to see Chandler. "Chandler?"
"That's my name." He smiled.
"What are you doing here?"
"I wanted to talk to you."
"You.. you do?" Maybe he was going to talk to her about what he had seen the night before. Of course that was what he was going to talk to her about. But why was he there? Maybe he got fired. He was always at the office at this time. It was usually the time when he was really busy. "What about?" She asked taking the twins backpacks and lunch bags.
"Stuff. Rachel said that she would watch the twins while we talked." He took the backpacks from Monica and took Erica's hand. "She's actually talking to Emma's teacher right now."
"What do you need to talk to me about? We can talk about it right now."
"I don't think so. Rachel's over there." He said pointing at Rachel who was holding Emma and walking over to them. It looked like she was yelling at Emma.
"Hey Mon." Rachel smiled and put Emma down. "Emma has a little pinching problem." She shook her head and ran her fingers through her blonde hair. "I'll talk to you about that later. You guys go talk and I'll take care of the twins." She smiled and put a hand on Jack's shoulder.
"I don't think it's a good idea. Besides the twins have.."
"I know I know Jack has basketball and Erica has golf. I know Mon I've taken them before."
"I don't want to put you out of your way Rach.."
Rachel rolled her eyes. "Monica Emma and Erica have golf together and Jack's basketball practice is like a block away from there. Don't worry. Have fun."
"Rachel can I talk to you for a minute?" Monica smiled and took Rachel's arm and pulled her aside. "I don't want to talk to Chandler."
"Why not?"
"Because I don't! Isn't it weird that Chandler took a day just to talk to me?"
"No it's not. Monica just talk to him. He doesn't have days off very often and it'll be fun sweetie."
"Rachel please help me. I don't want to."
"Monica it sounded pretty important. Just go."
"Rachel, I know what he wants to talk to me about and I just.."
"No. You are going to go and you are going to tell me everything that happened." Rachel smiled and walked towards the kids who were playing around with Chandler. "Ok you guys ready to go?"
"Yes." Erica smiled.
"Mon give me your keys." Rachel smiled and held out her hand.
"What? Why?" Monica gave Rachel a funny look.
"Because Chandler drove me here and you are going with Chandler so I need your keys. Besides all of the kids stuff is in your car."
"That means I should take them." Monica smiled.
"No." Rachel moved her hand closer to Monica. "Give me."
"No." Monica pushed Rachel's hand away.
Rachel rolled her eyes and pried the keys out of Monica's hands. "I'll see you guys later." She smiled. "Ok you guys lets go." She walked towards the car and got the kids into the back seat.
Monica watched Rachel leave and then turned to Chandler. "I hate you."
Chandler grinned. "Come on." He said leading her towards his car.
Monica opened the door and her eyes widened. It was a complete mess. Of course she did expect it from him but it was crazy. "Oh my god!"
"Sorry." Chandler said taking the stack of papers on the passenger seat and putting it in the back. He grabbed his suitcase and threw it onto the back seats.
"There's so much paper in here!"
"Work." He smiled as he backed out of the parking lot.
"Where are we going?"
"Get some lunch. I'm hungry."
"Oh." Monica looked over at him and then pushed the radio button. If the radio was on he probably wouldn't talk to her. She listened to the radio for a little while and then looked at Chandler who was very concentrated on driving. He opened his mouth to say something and Monica quickly pulled out her cell phone and started dialing. "Hey Steve." Monica saw Chandler's head turn. "Is Jack there? Good. Yea I had to do something. Did he change out of his uniform? Good." Chandler pulled into a parking lot and turned off the car. "Yea." Monica laughed and got out. "I'll talk to you later. Bye." Monica hung up and put the phone in her purse. She followed Chandler into the restaurant.
"Two please." He smiled at the hostess.
"Right this way." She smiled back and led them towards a booth. "Enjoy your meal."
"Thank you." Chandler smiled and slid into the booth.
Monica sat down across from him and looked around. It was a nice clean place. It was a little dark though.
"You hungry?" Chandler asked looking through his menu.
"Not really. I had a big lunch."
"You did?"
"Hi. I'm Alice and I'll be your waitress. Can I get you some drinks to start?"
"Yea." Chandler smiled. "I'll have.. coke."
"Water." Monica smiled politely.
"Alright. I'll be right back." The waitress smiled and walked away.
"What'd you eat?"
"A little bit of a lot of things."
Chandler looked up at Monica and smiled. "You're amazing."
Monica gave him a funny look. What was that supposed to mean? Was he being sarcastic? She knew that he knew about her. Maybe that's what he was talking about. "Thanks."
"You're an amazing mother, amazing friend, amazing cook. You're just.. all around amazing." He smiled.
Monica nodded. Ok he was acting strange maybe he didn't know. He kept smiling at her and looked back down at his menu,
"Here are your drinks." The waitress smiled and placed their drinks down in front of them. "You guys ready to order?"
"Yes." Chandler smiled. "I'll have a burger and she will have a chicken salad."
"No." Monica's eyes widened. "Chandler I already told you that I had a big lunch."
"Do you guys need more time?"
"No." Chandler kept his smile. "A burger and a chicken salad. Thanks." Chandler nodded and handed the menus to the waitress.
"Chandler what the hell? I told you I already ate."
"It's a little salad Monica. It won't kill you"
Monica sighed and took a sip of her water.
"So are you sure there's nothing going on between you and Jack's coach?"
Monica rolled her eyes. "Yes. I'm positive there's nothing going on between us. I promise Chandler. If something happens between us you'll be the first to know." Monica smiled.
"Good. That's all I ask." Chandler drank his coke and looked around the restaurant. "I've decided that I'm going to spend more time with the kids."
"You are?" Monica asked a little surprised.
"Yea. I feel really bad. I mean I love those 2 kids more then anything, and I don't spend enough time with them you know?"
"Yea." She smiled.
"I've been working so much after I got promoted and I've really missed out on the kids lives."
"Yea.." Monica nodded. "Well that's good that you want to spend more time with the kids." Monica smiled. "They're going to love it." They sat quietly for a while and drank their drinks.
"Oh yea I want to give you this." Chandler reached into his pocket and handed her a white envelope.
"What's this?" Monica asked taking it and looking at it. It was a blank envelope.
"Open it later." He smiled.
"Ok." Monica set the envelope beside her. What was in it? Maybe it was a love letter? Maybe he wants her back? Maybe it was something really bad like he was engaged. He wouldn't tell her if he was. Well he would just he wouldn't write it in a letter. He wouldn't do that to her... or would he? He's done a lot of things to her that she never saw coming. Monica stared at the white envelope. She really wanted to open it now.
"I know you want to open it so go ahead." Chandler smiled.
Monica picked up the envelope and slowly tore it open. She pulled out some paper and read the first piece of paper which was a white lined paper.
Hey Mon. You're probably sitting right in front of me reading this. I want you to know that I care about you even though we're divorced. You're beautiful. You may remember me walking into your room accidentally last night. I'm sorry about that. But what I saw was not very pretty. It freaked the crap out of me by the way. I know you're not ok and I want to help you. I know you're not eating and I never really realized that until a couple hours ago. It's about 5:30 in the morning and I've been up all night doing some research. I don't know why you're not eating, but it's really scaring me. Maybe you're sick and haven't told me. I don't know, but I know that you're going to tell me to mind my own business and I will after you get help. I love you. There are some places that I found that I think will help you a lot. Please get help Mon. It's for the kids. What happens if one day you tell the twins to eat and they say 'but you never eat mommy' what are you going to say. You need help. I'm here for you and so is everyone else. I'm not going to make you get help because I can't. So if you decide to get help I promise I'll take great care of the kids. I love you and am always here for you.
Love always, Chandler Bing.
Tears filled Monica's eyes as she put the letter down and looked up at Chandler. "I don't need help." Monica said quietly throwing the papers at him. She stood up and was about to storm out.
Chandler grabbed Monica's hand and pulled her down to sit next to him. He pulled her into a big long hug and kissed her head.
The waitress came over and set the burger and salad down.
Monica looked at the salad her eyes filled with tears. She didn't need help. She was fine. Perfectly fine.
"Thank you." Chandler nodded and slightly smiled at the waitress. He kissed the side of Monica's head one more time and released her from his arms. He took a big bite out of his burger, and watched Monica as he ate. "You gonna eat that salad?" Chandler sipped his coke.
"Sure.." Monica nodded. She wanted to prove to him that she really didn't need help. Eating wasn't that hard. She did it for years. She used to love food.She sat up straight picked up a fork and started wiping it with a napkin, even though it was probably very clean. She slowly moved the fork down towards the salad. The closer her fork got to the salad the more she began to shake. When the fork finally touched the salad she could feel her heart beating faster and faster. She lifted her fork and slowly brought it up to her mouth her hand unconsciously shaking. The fork seemed to be getting even heavier. Maybe if she closed her eyes it would be easier. She closed her eyes and continued bringing the fork to her lips. As soon as she felt something on her lips her heart began to race even faster and her head began to hurt. She felt the fork slip out of her hands and heard a big clang. She opened her eyes and stared at her fork that fell back onto the plate. She couldn't eat it. She looked up at Chandler and tears began to swell up in her eyes. She began to look around and saw that there were people staring at her. She looked back at Chandler and then realized that he had already finished his burger. "You eat fast.."
"Or it just took you about 15 minutes to bring that fork to your lips.."
"No way." Monica shook her head and reached across the table for her water.
"I'm serious. I really do think you need help Mon. "
"Here you go sir." The waitress said with a friendly smile bringing Chandler the bill.
Chandler took the bill and paid for it. "Thank you." He said handing the waitress the bill when she came back.
"Would you like your change?"
"No thanks." He smiled.
Monica slowly got out of the booth and waited for Chandler. How could that be? 15 minutes? He was lying. It's impossible for that to happen. She felt him wrap his arm around her shoulder and kiss her temple. She missed it when he did that. They got into the car and just sat there.
"You going to get help Mon?"
"No. Because I know I don't need it."
Chandler nodded and started the car.
"Did you talk to Rachel.. or anyone about this?"
"No. " They both sat quietly in the car as Chandler drove Monica home. "I'm going to go pick up the kids. Is it ok if I have dinner with them?"
"Yea."
"I'll drop them off before 9."
"Ok. Make sure they do their homework." Monica nodded and stepped out of the car.
"I will. Thanks for having lunch with me."
Monica forced a smile. "Yea."
"Here." Chandler held out a big yellow envelope.
"I don't want it."
"Take it."
Monica took the envelope and slammed the door. She opened the door to the house andsat down on the big couch and opened the envelope. It was another stupid letter, but this time it was typed out. She read the first couple of sentences and her eyes widened.
Thanks for the reviews! I hope you liked this chapter. Please please review!