Daddy: Chapter 3

Chandler was sitting on his couch watching Baby Einstein DVD's with Winter when there came a knocking on the door. He gently placed Winter in her baby carrier and strapped her in before getting up and walking over to the door. He opened it and smiled when he saw Ross standing there; presumably a little mad about something.

"Hey, Ross," Chandler said, moving to the side so that Ross could come in, "Want to watch some Baby Einstein with us?" he asked trying to get Ross in a better mood. "It's Disney and educational!"

"No thank you," Ross mumbled, angrily. He walked swiftly over to the kitchen and pulled open the fridge forcefully, grabbing a bottle of coke. He opened it and threw his head back, gulping down the cold liquid.

Chandler looked from Winter, who gave him a happy smile before turning back to Baby Einstein, to Ross, unsure of what to say. He walked over and sat at the counter, and gave Ross a look inviting him to join him.

Ross came and sat down next to Chandler, setting his coke bottle down on the counter and putting his head in his hands.

"Sorry, man," He said, "I just had a bad visit with my parents."

Chandler frowned. He had always been slightly in awe of Ross' 'happy childhood' it seemed so distant from his own that it was almost like some sort of fairy tale and he couldn't imagine something happening to make Ross mad. Not to mention the fact that Ross was not exactly an easily angered person.

"Alright, Ross," Chandler said, leaning an elbow on the counter and turning to look at his friend. "What happened?"

"Well, I was telling Mom about you when I accidentally let it slip that you had a daughter," Ross started, not able to look Chandler in the eyes, as though he was ashamed of this.

Chandler sighed. It was very clear that Ross' parents hadn't taken this news well. But then again, what could he really expect, not many people would take this well. "And I take it that they didn't take it very well,"

Ross looked up at him, before taking another long gulp of coke. "My mum freaked out at me, and then I freaked out at her in your defense, and let's just say that it wasn't exactly a pretty party."

"Sorry," Chandler said with a sigh, running a hand through his hair, "It would be a little much for me to have expected that your parents would just accept the sixteen year old father as your friend."

Ross looked at him, "Chandler, this isn't your fault that they are both annoying jerks," He thought about it hard for a second than added: "Actually, just my mom, my dad didn't say a word." Ross laughed at this.

Chandler smiled, "Still, I'm sorry if I got you into trouble with your parents."

Ross grinned, "My sister didn't seem to have a problem with it, though. She was smiling ear to ear."

Chandler laughed, "An ear to ear smile? I'm the luckiest guy on the planet!"

Ross shook his head with a sigh, "You are so immature, you know that right?"

"Of course I do, and I wouldn't have it any other way."

"So how was your day, Chandler?" Ross asked, "Did you talk to your mom?"

Chandler froze and bit his lip.

After Chandler had called his mom back they had had a long talk. She had explained to him about her new book (entitled 'What is Really Under That Red Suit') and about how she was working on another one, too. He told her all about how Winter is doing and about Ross. Neither had brought up their previous fight, as neither seemed it was important. They both knew that by picking up the phone and calling her back that he was apologizing to her, and he didn't want to say the words, and she didn't deem it necessary to hear them.

"Yeah," he said, his eyes fixated on the counter. "She's not coming down. Me and Winter will have to have our Thanksgiving dinner here, not like she can eat solid food or anything, but I just wanted it to be special, you know?"

Ross sighed. He felt so bad for Chandler; it was like the poor guy just couldn't catch a break. He noticed Chandler look behind his shoulder at Winter, still watching Baby Einstein from her carrier and then look back at the counter.

"Have Thanksgiving with my family," Ross blurted out before even having thought of what the consequences of this might be. He suddenly felt the urge to take it back, but he knew that that would probably hurt Chandler's feelings.

"Thanks, Ross," Chandler said; and he meant it. It was a really nice gesture, but he also knew that there was no way Judy Geller was going to let Chandler badly influence her own 16 year old daughter, not only that but he knew that Ross had just blurted it out and didn't really think that it was a good idea. "But your parents are never going to let me go over to your house and spend Thanksgiving with you. They probably don't even want you hanging out with me."

Ross narrowed his eyes. "I don't care," he said, surprising Chandler and himself. "I will call them, and I will tell them that you are coming to spend Thanksgiving with us. Once they meet you I'm sure they will like you." He nodded to himself, thinking it over in his head. "Yeah," he said to himself, "That'll work. I'll see you later, man." And with those last words Ross exited the apartment, leaving Chandler sitting there, speechless.

Chandler looked over and noticed that Winter was looking at him. "I know that he's strange, but you'll get used to him," She smiled.

"I am beautiful no matter what they say
Words can't bring me down
I am beautiful in every single way
Yes, words can't bring me down
So don't you bring me down today

To all your friends, you're delirious
So consumed in all your doom
Trying hard to fill the emptiness
The piece is gone left the puzzle undone
That's the way it is"

Monica Geller stood in front of her mirror singing softly with Christina Aguilera on her CD player. She knew that she wasn't beautiful, she weighed 200 pounds, but it still made her feel nice to hear this song. She heard the phone ringing over her music and quickly pressed the pause button on the CD player and yelled "I'll get it!" to her parents downstairs. She had been expecting her best friend Rachel Greene to call.

"Hello?" She asked, picking up the phone and plopping down on the bed.

"Hey, Mon, it's me,"

"Ross," Monica said with a smile, leaning back on her pillows, "What's up, bro?"

"Listen, you know that friend that I was telling you guys about, Chandler, with the baby?" Ross sounded very nervous and unsure of what he was saying.

"Yeah, man, mom and dad are still downstairs freaking out," Monica said.

"And what about you?" Ross asked.

Monica smiled; she had been expecting this question. "Well, I think that if he has a daughter, he has a daughter. He made a mistake, but he's obviously taking care of her and it seems to me by what you said that he loves her a lot. I say, good for him that he still has a sense of humour."

Ross sighed. "Thanks, Mon," he said, "That's exactly what I wanted to hear."

There was a long silence, and Monica knew that something was coming, she could just feel it.

"Listen, Mon, I need you to convince mom and dad to let Chandler and his daughter Winter come over for Thanksgiving. Chandler's mom can't make it in from Spain, and he doesn't want Winter's first Christmas to be horrible."

Monica was shocked to say the least, "Ross, mom hates me, believe me, you have a much better chance at that then me."

"Just ask them, and tell them that I will call them later,"

"Ross," Monica started, but he had hung up. "Darn you!" she hissed into the phone.

She blew her hair out of her face. "This should be fun," She grumbled.

Hey, thanks for the reviews again. Thanksgiving will be sometime in the next couple of chapters. I'm from Canada and we have Thanksgiving in October, so doing it in November seems really strange to me, but I guess it doesn't matter, it's a great holiday no matter what month it's in. Hope that you liked this chapter, please review and let me know. Thanks a lot, TickTockNelly