Chandler opened the door to Monica's house and walked in. He still had the key to her house, which she would probably want back. He turned the lights on and couldn't see Monica so he decided to run up stairs. He knocked on Monica's door and when he didn't get an answer he walked in. "Monica?" He asked staring into the darkness. "Mon? You in here?" He turned on the lights and found Monica sitting beside her full length mirror. She was sitting in a ball crying. "Sweetie are you ok?" He asked walking over to her. "Mon?" He sat down. "What's wrong honey?" He asked quietly. "What is it?"
Monica looked up. Her eyes were red and puffy and her nose was running. "I'm so ugly." Monica's face began to scrunch up and she cried even more.
"Oh no honey. No." Chandler stroked her hand with his finger. "You are beautiful. The most beautiful woman I know."
"No. I'm grosse."
"Never." Chandler whispered and brought her hand to his lips and kissed it. "No you're gorgeous."
"Really?" Monica stood up. "This is gorgeous?"
Chandler stared at her incredibly fragile body. It was like the same disturbing body he had seen before, except she had a red dress on and he was up close. She was bony. She didn't look that bad but she looked pretty bad. He remembered buying her the dress a couple months before they got divorced. He remembered the first time she tried it on. She was absolutely gorgeous. She looked nothing like she did in the dress before.
"You think this is beautiful?" Monica asked staring at herself in the mirror. "Because I don't." Monica looked down at Chandler. "What happened?" She cried.
"I don't know." He was wondering the same. Chandler sighed and stood up. "How about you get to bed? It's really late."
Monica looked over at Chandler who was already grabbing clothes for her to sleep in. "I think... I umm.. I think I need help..."
Chandler stopped what he was doing and looked up. "You do?"
Monica nodded.
Chandler gave Monica a small smile and continued what he was doing. He was glad that she wanted help. He set her clothes on the bed, and walked over to her. He took her hands and held them. "I'll make some phone calls in the morning."
"Thank you." Monica cried and pulled him into a hug.
He kissed her head. "Go change. If you need anything.. you know my number."
Monica nodded and watched Chandler walk towards the door. "Can you stay?"
"What?"
"Can you spend the night? Just.. tonight."
Chandler thought for a while. He didn't want to leave her while she was like that. He knew she was scared out of her mind and he couldn't just leave her. But then he had a lot of work he had to do that he didn't bring with him. "Uh... yea. Yea I'll stay."
Monica smiled and grabbed her clothes.
"I'll be downstairs then if you need me." Chandler nodded and exited Monica's room. Before heading down the stairs Chandler wanted to check on the twins and see how they were doing. He poked his head into Erica's room. She was holding onto a big teddy bear, it was probably as big as she was. He smiled and walked into Jack's room. He picked up a big dinosaur lying on the ground near Jack's bed and placed it beside him. He pecked Jack lightly on the forehead making him stir a little bit. Thankfully he didn't wake up. Chandler walked out of Jack's room and down the stairs he sat on the big comfortable couch and turned on the TV. He had so much work to do because he had taken the day off. He did a lot of his work during the night. He didn't really get much sleep. He usually stayed up most of the night doing some projects. The only times when he really sleeps is when he spends the day with the kids. They definitely made him tired. He walked over to the fire place and looked at all the pictures. There was a big picture that hung above it. It used to be Monica and Chandler's wedding picture but it was now a big picture of the twins. Chandler looked at the small pictures that sat above the fire place. There were tons of pictures. Mostly of the twins. There were a few pictures of the twins and Rachel and Phoebe's kids.
"You're still up?"
Chandler turned around and found Monica standing by the couch. "I'm sorry.. did I wake you up?"
"No, I was just going to go clean."
"Mon.. I think you need to get to bed."
"You aren't sleeping."
"I'm not tired."
"Well neither am I."
Chandler walked over to her and sat on the couch making her sit next to him. "You scared?"
"Of what?" Monica asked playing with the sleeve of her robe.
"I don't know.."
"Yes. I'm sorry for yelling at you today."
"It's ok. I understand."
"I'm sorry for using the kids.."
"It's ok." They both sat quietly for a while staring at the TV. "So what's gonna happen with the kids if I have to leave?"
"I'll take care of them of course."
"But you're so busy."
"I know.. but I'm their dad. I'm gonna take care of them. Perfect care of them. It'll be fine."
"How long will I be gone for?"
"I think a couple of weeks or so."
Monica nodded. "You promise you'll take good care of them?"
"Yea.. Well I'll try my best." He said putting an arm around her.
Monica put her head on his chest and hugged him.
He felt very comfortable. He loved cuddling with Monica. It was a little weird since they weren't married but he still liked it. "Mon do you think we could ever be together again?" He asked stroking her hair. "Mon?" He looked down at her and saw that she had fallen asleep. He smiled and took the blanket off the back of the couch and draped it over her.
"Ready?" Chandler asked popping his head into Monica's room.
Monica looked around her room one last time and nodded. It would be the last time she would see her room for a while. "Yes."
Chandler smiled and walked over to her suitcase. "Everyone's downstairs." He picked up her suitcase and carried it downstairs.
Monica walked towards the door and started walking down the stairs. It had been a week since she decided to get help. It was a very long week. Her friends were very surprised. And she had to hire a substitute chef for a while. It actually took a while but she ended up hiring a good one. Not a chef that was as good as she was but a good one. She stood at the bottom of the stairs and found everyone downstairs waiting for her.
"You all set?" Ross asked standing up.
Monica nodded. "Yea. Where are the kids?"
"Outside with Chandler." Phoebe said quietly holding onto Mike's hand.
Rachel tried to not burst into tears. She stood up and slowly walked towards Monica. She pulled her into a big hug. "Sweetie.." Rachel started to choke up. "I..." He bottom lip began quivering and tears slid down her cheeks. "We're all here for you. We love you... I.." Rachel sighed. "I just can't believe this is happening to you..." Rachel hugged Monica one more time. "I'll make sure that Chandler doesn't feed the kids pizza every night." She gave him a small smile and hugged her again. "We all love you so much."
Chandler walked into the house carrying Deacon and Phoebe's 3 year old son Henry. "Disor." Deacon said pointing out the door. "You are turning into your father."
Monica let out a small laugh breaking the weird tension in the room. "Yep. He's definitely Ross'."
"Down." Henry said wiggling around in Chandler's arms. Chandler let Henry down and put Deacon on the floor too. Henry ran over to Mike and Deacon just stood next to Chandler staring at him.
"I guess.. we better get going." Monica nodded. She really didn't want to say good bye to them. It was too sad. Monica hugged everyone and kissed Deacon and Henry. "I'll see you two when I get home." Monica smiled at the two of them. "I'm gonna miss you cuties." She said poking both of their stomachs gently making both of them giggle. "Bye." Monica waved at everyone else. She really didn't want to make her leaving a big fuss since she'd be back before they knew it.
Monica walked over to Emma, Erica, and Jack who were all playing around a big tree in front of the house. "You guys I'm leaving."
"Bye mommy!" Erica screamed as she ran away from Jack giggling.
"Bye mama." Jack waved at Monica and continued chasing the girls. "Erica! Give it back to me!"
"Bye Emma!"
"BYE!" She screamed. "Throw it to me Erica!"
"Aren't you guys going to give me a hug?"
Erica ran over to Monica and quickly pecked her on the cheek. "Bye mommy!" She said and ran off.
"Mommy Erica and Emma won't give me back my ball!" Jack whined as he ran up to Monica keeping an eye on Erica making sure she didn't do anything with his toy.
"Erica Bing!" Chandler yelled.
Erica ran up to Chandler smiling sweetly. "Yes daddy."
"Give Jack his ball back."
"Fine." Erica said throwing a tiny bouncy ball onto the grass and ran into the house.
Jack grabbed the ball. "Thanks daddy."
"Bye honey." Monica wrapped her arms tightly around Jack and kissed his cheek. "I'm gonna miss you."
"Bye mommy." Jack pecked Monica on the cheek and ran into the house.
Monica stood up and watched him slam the door shut. She sighed and turned around to look at Chandler. She got into the car and buckled up. The kids didn't even care that she was leaving. She could feel tears wanting to come up. But she didn't want to cry. She looked out the window at her house.
"You ok?" Chandler asked as he climbed into the car.
"Yea." Monica nodded. "I'm fine." Monica looked down at her hands and then up at Chandler. "Can we go now?"
"Yea." Chandler started the car and started driving.
"The kids didn't care that I was leaving." Monica said quietly.
"They don't know what's going on."
"I know.. but I just.." Monica sighed. "I guess I just wish they cared a little... you know?"
"Yea." Chandler nodded. "Don't worry about it ok?"
Monica nodded. It was a very quiet drive. She was a little nervous. Chandler stopped in front of a big yellow house with lots of flowers. She watched Chandler step out of the car and grab her suitcase. She unbuckled her seatbelt and got out of the car.
Chandler walked over to her and took her hand. "Everything will be fine." He whispered. They walked to the front door and rung the doorbell.
"Are you sure this is the right place?" Monica asked.
"I'm pretty sure."
"It looks like a house."
"That's because it is a house."
The door opened a middle aged woman stood at the door with a big smile. "Hi! You must be Monica." She opened the door wider. "Come in, come in."
Monica nervously stepped into the house and looked around. The house was bright and filled with tons of beautiful flowers. "Wow this place is beautiful." Monica tried to give her a small smile.
"Thank you." She smiled. "My name is Anne."
"I'm Chandler. We talked over the phone."
"Yes." Anne nodded. "Why don't I show you two around?" She smiled even bigger. She showed both of them around the house and talked about what was going to happen. "So I guess I'll let you two say your good byes." She said walking into the living room.
Chandler looked at Monica. "You gonna be ok?"
Monica smiled and nodded. "Yea." She wrapped her arms around him. "Take good care of my babies."
"I will." He said kissing her hair. "Have fun ok?"
"Ok." She smiled looking up at his eyes.
"Get better soon."
"Oh I will." She hugged him one more time. They stood like that for a while.
"Do you think when you come home.. we can try to..."
"Chandler you have to leave now." Anne said coming into the room, ruining their moment.
"Ok." He said taking Monica's hand. "Just one more minute."
"Ok." She said walking back into the living room.
"So I'll come visit you." He kissed her forehead.
"Can we try to what?"
He shook his head. "Nothing." He hugged her one last time. "I'll see you later." He smiled and opened the door. For a second the two locked eyes with each other and Chandler left.
Monica stared at the door and turned around. She was all alone now. No kids, no friends, no family.. no Chandler. She sighed and walked into the living room.
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