Bitter Harvest

It has been almost two months since Monica discovered that Chef Montgomery James was working at Javu. She was furious at first, wondering how the owners of the restaurant could replace her so callously. She thought that would have been illegal, given that she was on maternity leave. After the initial shock wore off from her first encounter with him, she went outside and called Phoebe and Mike so she could get some free legal advice. It was out of Mike's purview, but he was able to scrounge up enough information to at least assuage her fears about her chances of having continued employment.

She wasn't completely satisfied though until she finally sat down and talked to the owners, Frank and Dave. They assured her she was still the head chef, albeit with a change in the dynamics. Alberto, the sous chef she had been working with ever since she started at Javu, received an offer to be the head chef of his own kitchen at a restaurant in Chicago. With no head chef and no sous chef, the owners became desperate and made some call to friends of theirs in the industry to see if there was anyone looking for temporary work to cover until Monica returned. They were given Montgomery's number and brought him in, but only a few weeks later, he received his own offer for a job at a different restaurant in the city. Faced with either matching the offer or searching for yet another head chef, they decided to make his position permanent.

Monica was surprised and asked why they never called her when they ran into trouble staffing the kitchen, but that was when they told her their plan: two head chefs. They were convinced it would work. Monica and Montgomery would split the week up and work together on Saturdays. They told her how it would make planning vacation days or arranging for time off due to family emergencies much easier. They also thought it could allow the restaurant to have an interesting menu, a mix of both chef's distinct flavors, causing a buzz of excitement at the prospect that people wouldn't know what to expect when they came there to eat.

Monica was skeptical that two dominating, strong personalities could survive, working the same job in the same space, but she really didn't have any choice. To his credit, Montgomery was much more open to sharing the menu, and Monica had to begrudgingly admit, he was a fine chef with some innovative ideas. He was a little obnoxious, sloppy, and he hit on all the waitresses and even some of the customers, but he was receptive to Monica's opinions and seemed to respect her as a chef. She still had some concerns, but she felt better once she had taken back over half of the regular menu.

She actually found that she liked her new schedule, working one less day a week has given her a boost of energy, and she gets to see the babies more often. Chef James has even proven to be more flexible than his first impression had led Monica to believe, and he had no problem swapping shifts with her so she could be home and celebrate the twins six-month birthday which was only a few weeks away.

It was Saturday, and that was when the two of them worked together. It was normally a race to see who could get in the restaurant first, in order to decide who ran the kitchen. Whoever got in the earliest would start setting up the recipes for the specials that they wanted to offer that night, organize the kitchen, and run the entire operation with the other acting as a glorified sous chef. For Monica, it was important to be able to take the lead when it came to the special's menu; the restaurant made the highest profit margin off those added items, and that meant that there was a good chance it would catch the owners' eyes when a specific dish sold very well. Even though Monica was learning to adapt to this new work arrangement, she was still determined to prove that she was the better chef, and therefore, deserved to be the only head chef at Javu.

Unfortunately for Chef James, Monica was never late. She would find herself at the kitchen, hours earlier than she had to be, normally suppressing a triumphant smile when Montgomery would come in, shocked at how far along she already was into the day's preparations. She felt as if she may finally have exerted enough authority in the restaurant and that he might actually be starting to take a back seat to her as far as who is the real head chef. It helped that his work ethic, while good, was not even in the same ballpark as Monica's. Her attention to detail and high energy during a dinner shift were unparalleled and it forced him to almost instinctively take a supportive role to her on the night they occupied the same kitchen.

Tonight, was going to be a little different. Tomorrow was October 31st, and Monica was too busy preparing the house for the twins first Halloween to get in as early as she normally would. Although Chandler had offered to help so she could leave on time, Monica had the uncontrollable urge to ensure everything was ready on her own. Since the holiday fell on a Sunday, she invited everyone to come over; her parents, Chandler's father, Ross, Rachel, Ben and Emma, and even Phoebe and Mike. It would be a full house and she wanted everything to be perfect.

Monica made sure to add every detail when she decorated the house. There were cobwebs made from cotton and white frayed yarn, paper pumpkins hanging from the ceiling, and playful monster character decals pressed up against the walls. They had orange and black streamers strewn across the ceiling in each room and bowls filled with candy everywhere. She set up games where the kids would have to reach into covered bowls labeled fingers, eyeballs, and teeth, which were really carrot sticks, gumballs and candy corn.

Outside she had carved pumpkins displayed on the porch, plastic pumpkin lights that ran down the driveway and she even found a handmade witch and ghost, sewn together out of fabric, at the craft fair that she and Chandler took the twins to last month. They were connected to stakes and planted into the ground near the front door. When they found the woman's booth, filled with all kinds of stuffed characters to use as decorations, Monica appeared as if she was going to buy the entire collection, but Chandler was able to talk her out of it, and they settled on just the two.

Then there was the candy. She had candy corn in bowls, and little bags filled with assorted mini chocolate bars or sweets like taffy, jellybeans, and licorice. She had a small amount of larger, full-size chocolate bars for Emma and Ben, and she had dozens of pieces of chocolate that she made, individually wrapped, that she couldn't wait to share with the neighborhood children. As far as Monica was concerned, her candy was going to be the way to win over their neighbors. Who would want a tootsie roll when they could have one of her homemade treats? She was preparing herself to become a legend on the block. The lady with the amazing candy that everyone wanted.

While Chandler was sweet enough to offer to do something to help, he simply did not know the system, and it was going to take longer to teach it to him than it would for Monica to do it herself. Instead, he did his part by taking care of the twins. Now at five months old they were starting to sleep through the night; they still woke up around five, which Chandler, still not a morning person, groaned about. The one thing that he did get to enjoy, now that the twins were sleeping more regularly, was all the sex they were having. Monica was a fan of that as well, often initiating, as if she were making up for lost time. The first five months felt like they were barely intimate, both tired at different times of the day; both working or focusing on some household chore. Worse would be when the babies would keep waking up and interrupting them when they did finally find some time alone to be with each other. It was frustrating for the both of them. Now though, thanks to the new sleep schedule, they've felt closer to each other than they had in months.

The twins were also starting to sit up on their own for longer periods of time. Wobbling about while their tiny hands gripped and pulled at toys. It provided Chandler with endless hours of amusement to see them teeter and totter and sometimes fall over onto the pillows they would have set up as a precaution. They'd babble a lot more as well, and Monica would melt as she heard their tiny, unintelligible voices when they tried to express that they were happy or frustrated. Chandler would quip that it was like living with a couple of despots; they were demanding, had terrible hairstyles, and he couldn't understand a word they would say. He even began referring to them as "the two little dictators", which Monica was not a fan of.

On Saturday morning, Monica told Chandler she needed to do one more thing for Halloween. Chandler noted to himself that this week had been filled with endless mentions of "one more thing" to do. He would have made a joke, but he could see the stress Monica was putting herself under and knew it would not be well received. He also knew that with her working that night and feeling the pressure of a time crunch, she would never be able to give whatever it was that she perceived as a critical detail to add to tomorrow's festivities her full attention with him and the babies in the house, so he took the twins for a long walk around the neighborhood. When he returned the house smelled of savory sweetness.

"Mon. What did you do?"

"I used the pulp from the jack-o-lanterns and seasoned it to make some pies! Now I have the pumpkin seeds roasting in the oven. Just a little sea salt and they will be a great treat to have for tomorrow."

Chandler looked around the room, bowls of candy covering almost every surface. "Oh, good. I was worried we wouldn't have anything to snack on."

Monica looked down sheepishly and tried not to let him see the smile she had as a reaction to his joke. "Whatever. This is their first Halloween and I want it to be perfect."

"I know. It's a good thing too, because that newborn down the street has been bragging all week about what his mom was doing for tomorrow and I think it made Jack and Erica jealous." Chandler dropped his sarcastic tone and walked over to his wife, placing his hands on her waist. "Mon. They're babies. They don't know what tomorrow is. You shouldn't have run yourself so ragged doing this."

"Well, I know what tomorrow is and I wanted this. I want tons of pictures of them in their cute little costumes and I want the house to smell like candy and children ringing the doorbell. I want everyone telling me how amazing it was and for people to rave to us all year about my chocolate!"

Chandler pulled her in closer to him as she wrapped her arms around his neck. "You just want to be everyone's favorite house on the block, don't you?" He leaned down to kiss her and could feel her grinning against his lips. Monica pressed her body into his, allowing herself to enjoy the intimacy and melt into him. "So, you working with the guy with the backwards name tonight?"

Monica laughed. "Yes. I'm working with Montgomery. Why?"

"That name is so pretentious." Chandler used a mocking tone and spoke as if her were some upper class New York yuppie. "Mitzie, you simply must come with me to see Montgomery".

Monica playfully slapped him on his chest. "Oh, he actually isn't that bad."

Chandler ran his hands up and down Monica's sides as he played with the fabric of her shirt. "I don't like the guy. He has a weird name. His last name is a first name and his first name is a last name. It's weird."

Monica chuckled and then adopted an exaggerated, rueful smile. "I know. It isn't a normal name like Chandler Muriel Bing."

Chandler feigned shock and pretended his feeling were hurt. "Ow. That cut deep. I'm going to kill Ross for telling you that." He leaned over and gave her a kiss under her jawline. "When do you have to leave? The walk put the babies to sleep. What do you say you and I…" Chandler wiggled his eyebrows, gave her an obnoxiously slow wink, and nodded his head.

Monica pulled back from him and began to untie her apron. "Are you having a seizure?"

"What? No. I'm being seductive."

Monica folded up her apron and hung it over the back of one of the kitchen chairs. She then grabbed Chandler by the hand. "You might want to work on that." She looked over at the clock. "Well, I don't have a lot of time. You might have to be fast."

Chandler grinned at her and turned to bring her towards the stairs. "I will. I promise. You won't even know I was there!"

Monica shook her head and rolled her eyes. The two of them shared a laugh and then scurried up the stairs and into their bedroom.

Monica enjoyed her late morning sex. Whenever it happened, it felt like a wonderful surprise. Something she had no idea that she needed or craved that always helped relieve most of the tension she would carry around with her throughout the day. She never understood why people felt you had to wait until nightfall to have sex. Always going to bed and trying to race against the clock so you could get one in before it got too late and you ended up having trouble waking up for work the next day. She much preferred it in the afternoons. A lazy Sunday, where you could have a late lunch to regain your strength after spending an hour or so exploring each other's body. She loved her long days of sex, food and napping with Chandler when they lived in the apartment. There was no pressure to perform at a specific time. It was just natural, and easy, and fun.

Unfortunately, her favorite distraction now meant that she was running late for work and she found herself racing into the city, which was not a good way to keep her stress levels down. It also did not help that there was heavy traffic on the parkway. When you add to that all the work she did in the kitchen, baking pies, and then having a round and a half of day sex, she knew there was no way she was going to beat Montgomery to the restaurant. She wasn't thrilled with the idea of having to let him run the kitchen, and as she drove in, she contemplated coming up with some excuse that would force him to hand over the reins for the night. She abandoned that idea fairly quickly, worried it could negatively affect their deal to let the first person in run things. Which normally worked out to her benefit. She finally resigned herself to her fate as she convinced herself that she could handle it for one night.

When she did finally arrive at Javu, Chef James was in the lobby, writing the specials on the chalkboard that would go out in lobby by the front door. She took a glance and rolled her eyes. He loved using teriyaki way too much for her liking, and two of the three entrees were much too similar. She just shrugged her shoulders and made her way into the kitchen to greet the rest of the staff. After making some small talk with most of the line cooks, Monica excused herself to the backroom so she could put her purse, keys and phone in her locker and throw on her chef's coat and hat. Montgomery walked in the room with a pad he was studying.

"Monica. I'm glad you're here. I wrote out a list of what we're doing tonight. Do you think you can make these sauces for me?" He walked over and handed her the pad. As Monica read it, he leaned over her and put his hands on her shoulders so he could see it as well.

"I can do that. Where's Jerry tonight? He normally does the sauces."

"His sister's wedding. I also could use some help with these sides." He pointed at the list and Monica nodded, affirming she could take care of it. "That's a good girl." He patted her on her hip as he left the room.

Monica froze for a moment. "Good girl?" She shook her head. "This is going to be a long night."

Monica had already finished the last batch of the spicy teriyaki sauce Chef James had requested. She was preparing to store it when he walked over to her.

"Wait. I know you're Chef Monica Geller and you always make everything perfectly, but I should taste it since this is my kitchen tonight."

Monica rolled her eyes and smirked as he approaches her with his tasting spoon already in his hand. As he leaned over to take some of the sauce, he placed his hand on the small of her back, resting it there longer than Monica was comfortable with. She tried to slide over a few inches to escape his grasp without being too obvious about her intentions. Montgomery did not seem to notice her or how unsettled she was, and mindlessly gave her a thumbs up as he walked away.

Once she completed her preparations for the dinner rush, she wiped down a few of the prep stations and could not help herself as she ran through her own checklist as she made sure everything they needed was out and easy to grab. She took note that the prep stations looked to be organized correctly. Montgomery noticed her inspecting everything and he walked over to her and smiled.

"Don't worry, I have everything set up how you like it. I found that it's just easier that way instead of rearranging everything whenever you aren't here."

Monica smiled. "Well, my way has been working for me for a long time."

"It's a good system, even if it took me a week or so to figure it out." He placed his hand on her shoulder and gave it a light squeeze before leaving the kitchen to have a pre-shift meeting with the maître de. Monica folded her arms and looked around. The kitchen did look good. She even noticed the walk-in was set up properly, adhering to all the food safety codes, unlike when she first walked into his kitchen.

"Maybe it won't be that bad letting him run things for one night."

After closing, Monica decided to take a quick inventory while the rest of the staff was cleaning up and storing some of the unused ingredients. Chef James was out front, talking with Geoffrey one more time before he finally entered the kitchen to address the crew.

"Hey guys! This was a good night. Everyone really was amazing tonight. Especially our little lady here."

He reached over and put him arm around Monica's waist, his hand every now and then sliding over to the small of her back. Monica tried to move out of his reach like she normally would when his hand would linger on her for too long, but she found it difficult to do that that as she was squeezed between him and the prep station.

"Monica was able to work in my kitchen all night without giving me a hard time or correcting anything I did."

He turned to her and his tone became slightly sarcastic.

"I know I've only been a head chef for over ten years, but somehow, getting the approval of someone with less experience than me really let me know I have finally made it in this biz."

He looked at her and smirked as he tried to elicit a laugh from her at his joke. Monica can only offer a half-smile; she was still uncomfortably focused on where his hand was.

Montgomery began to rub her back and his hand slowly started to slide down as he traced it along the top of her buttocks. Monica stiffened up.

"A round of applause for Chef Geller."

The rest of the staff look around at each other and begins clapping and Chef Montgomery quickly slips his hand lower, now fully cupping the side of Monica's backside and his finger begins to run too far over as he caressed her ass. Monica's frustration finally boiled over and she jabbed an elbow at him, pushing him back.

"Okay look! I was willing to let you slide tonight with some stuff, but keep your hand off my ass!"

Montgomery looked at her with a slight expression of shock on his face.

"What? Look, I'm not grabbing your ass. Not on purpose. Maybe you're too short or something?"

Monica, completely exasperated, gasped in shock. "What does that even mean? Look, just don't touch me anymore okay. I mean, you shouldn't be touching me or anyone else for that matter."

"Monica. I touch everybody here. It is a tight kitchen and we have to work fast. I tap people on the back so they know I am walking by."

Monica stepped away from him, her eyes burned with anger. She then pointed at the rest of the staff. "Uh, I'm pretty sure you never grabbed Javier's ass."

Chef James scoffed. "Monica. Don't flatter yourself. You're much too old for me. I like my women young. And, you're kind of a bitch. I'm just not attracted to you. With all that, why would I grab your ass?"

The rest of the kitchen staff seemed visibly uncomfortable, watching the two of them. They tried to return to their work so they could close up and go home, but they were also too distracted by what is going on between the two head chefs. Monica, raised her hands gesturing for him to stop talking.

"Look, just don't touch me. If this happens again, I am going to have to talk to Frank and Dave about this."

Montgomery snorted out a laugh. "Go ahead. Whose side do you think they are going to take? Me, the guy who bailed them out? Or you, a woman who had to take four months of maternity leave for babies she couldn't even have herself? I mean, Jesus Christ, what did you need all that time off for? You didn't give birth to them!"

Monica, knew she should walk away. She knew what she was about to do would only makes things worse, yet she could not help herself. She was angry. She was tired. She felt violated, both physically and emotionally. And finally, she has decided that she really hated this man with the stupid name and she hated his stupid face. She shoved him hard, which took him off guard as he stumbled backwards a bit. She drew her hand back and with all of her strength, she slapped him across the face.

Chef James got quiet. His cheek started turning red from the impact. He rubbed it and was clearly in pain.

"I guess Frank and Dave are going to hear about this after all." He looked around the room. "You guys are all witnesses. You saw she attacked me."

Monica, still seething with anger, stepped back. She closed her eyes to catch her breath. Chef James turned to look at her and when she opened her eyes back up, he offered her a half-smile.

"You're screwed Geller."

A/N – Yeah, I guess I cast a villain for this arc. We can all hate Chef Montgomery James and his stupid name.