Monica's Perfect Day

Monica's eyes fluttered and her day began. She heard the unmistakable, familiar sound of her children's faint giggles coming from downstairs. It was not loud enough to have been what woke her, but from the moment she opened her eyes, she could hear those two tiny happy voices, and it filled her heart with a warm comfort that eased her mind and made her smile. She slid out of bed and glanced at the clock, noting by what time it was, that Chandler must have let her sleep in. For once, she was not complaining about waking up late. Thanks to the pregnancy, she needed all the extra sleep she could get. She had read in one of her pregnancy books about how tired she might get during the first trimester, but nothing prepared her for how weak she has been feeling these last few days. She walked over to the bedroom door, slipped on her robe and padded her way through the hallway and down the stairs in search of the source of the joyful noise she was hearing.

When she reached the bottom of the stairs, she could hear her husband slowly count out, "One…two…three!" then there was a snap of metal and wood which was followed by two little babies giggling and then her husband's familiar chuckle. Like a chorus of joy. "Want to go again?"

She smiled as she turned the corner to enter the den. Chandler had both Erica and Jack on his lap and he set the easy chair back into an upright position. "You know, I was always the fastest draw in the the Tri-State are with one of these things. Your uncle Joe would always try to beat me, but I was too quick for him." She leaned up against the frame of the entryway and watched as he slowly slid his hand down to grasp the release bar on the side of the chair. "Okay, hold on. One…two…three!" In one motion, Chandler wrapped one arm around his two children as he pulled the lever, letting the chair slide back quickly into a reclining position. Jack and Erica would bounce up and down on his lap as they laughed at the motion of the chair, which had Chandler snickering after them at their reaction. He turned his head to look at Monica and smiled. "Hey, how are you feeling?"

"Much better. I feel very well rested. Did you guys eat?"

"Well, these two did." Chandler began to tickle his two children, causing them to double over as they laughed.

Monica's face lit up as she watched. "Do you want me to make something for you?"

"Are you up for it?"

Monica twisted up her face into a crooked frown. "Well, it's probably just going to be a toasted bagel or something like that."

Chandler nodded, not taking his attention away from his children as he continued to tickle at their bellies. "Sounds good to me. I'm in."

Erica turned her attention towards Monica and began to reach her arms out to her. Monica smiled down at her daughter and walked closer to the three of them. "What is it? Do you want to come with mama into the kitchen?"

"Mama."

Monica stopped in her tracks and pulled her hand to her chest as her eyes went wide at the sound of Erica's tiny voice. "Woah! What?" She darted her eyes from her daughter to her husband, as if trying to get some form of confirmation that what she heard actually just happened.

Erica's forehead wrinkled up as if she were figuring out some secret of the universe. She pushed a bit with her lips, causing some air to ripple through her closed mouth, until she was able to find the right combination of sound and mouth movement again. "Mammmmma"

Chandler smiled and looked down at his daughter. "That's right Erica. That's Mama."

Again, Erica tried to mouth out the word as expertly as she could. "Mmmmama."

Monica tried to hold back her excitement and stood next to the chair, looking down at Erica. "Well, maybe she doesn't know it is me and she is just copying what you and I said."

Chandler pursed his lips and turned Erica to face Monica. He pointed to his wife to get his daughter to look up. "Erica. Who is that?"

"Mama."

Monica snatched Erica from his lap faster than he could react and hugged her daughter close to her. She placed kisses all around the top of her head. "That's right sweetie. I'm mama."

Chandler smiled and stood up, placing Jack on the floor, who immediately began to slither over to the corner of the room where his toys were stored. "Well, looks like I'm making those bagels."

Monica walked down the stairs after successfully putting the twins down for their afternoon nap. She looked over at the clock to note the time. Chandler had to go into the city for work after breakfast, but was coming home early enough so she could get to the restaurant in time for the dinner shift. It was still several hours until then, and she was glad that Rachel and Emma came by to help pass the time. "Well, we probably only have about forty minutes. They don't stay down as long as they used to anymore."

Rachel looked over at Emma who was sitting on the floor in the living room, coloring in a book with some crayons. "I know. Wait until they get to be Emma's age. All you do is fight about sleeping. Either she doesn't want to go to bed or she wakes up too early, or if we have to be somewhere that morning, she doesn't get out of bed." Rachel shook her head. "Watch. Hey, Emma. Want to try and take a nap?"

"I don't like sleeping."

"But you have to go to sleep tonight, right?"

"We'll see."

Monica laughed and turned to Rachel. "We'll see?"

Rachel rolled her eyes. "I must have said it to her or something like that because that's her answer to everything now." She clapped her hands together and leaned down to pick up an overstuffed tote bag. "Anyway, now we can get onto the real reason I came over." She turned the bag upside down, emptying the contents onto the couch. Magazine clippings and photos began to pile up between the two women. "Monica. You have to help me!"

Monica's eyes went wide as her mouth dropped open. She picked up a random clipping that had a picture of a three-tiered cake. "Are these all for your wedding?"

Rachel began to breath in sharply as she started to sound panicked. "Yes. I have too many choices. I need you to help me narrow them down."

Monica furrowed her brow as she kept picking up clippings and examined them. "I thought Phoebe was your maid of honor? Where is she?"

Rachel shook her head. "Look Mon, I love her. We all do. But you and I know that Phoebe cannot be trusted to pick this stuff out. She'll make the groomsmen wear spacesuits and the flowers in my bouquet will get a funeral." Monica exhaled a laugh. Rachel grabbed her by the arm and began pleading with her. "C'mon! You know you're the best at this."

Monica paused her own movements and a half smile began to form on her lips. "I'm sorry. I am going to need you to say that again."

Rachel rolled eyes and huffed impatiently. "You're the best at this."

Monica's smile became wide and she beamed at Rachel's proclamation. "I know!" She started to move the clippings around on the couch into piles. "Okay! Let's get started! First off, a tote bag full of papers with no labels or sense of order? Are you planning a wedding or a frat party?"

Rachel shrugged her shoulder. "I know! Please help me make sense of all this. It is everything I have seen in a magazine over the last ten years that I actually liked. Now, I don't know where anything is or where to start."

Monica put her hands out and began to gesture emphatically at the paper clippings strewn about the couch. She reached over and dragged to coffee table closer to them. "Okay, well, we should start by separating everything into groups. The hall, the food, the dress, the bridesmaid dresses…"

Rachel stood up and wiped her pants off. "Hey, you know, I will probably just be in your way here. How about if I make some coffee while you do this?"

Monica does not look up at Rachel to respond, still lost in her thoughts. "You know, you're right. I think we might need folders and a binder and maybe even five different colored pens for this."

Monica walked into the restaurant and smiled as she witnesses quite an unusual sight; several tables were full of customers. A rare occurrence this late in the afternoon. She felt a slight rush of excitement as she walked through the dining room. The restaurant had been so slow in the hours between lunch and dinner that she had begun to worry if they would ever get a happy hour crowd; which was crucial to their success. She thought to herself that maybe this was a sign that things might be turning around.

She greeted a few of the employees in the lobby and then stuck her head in the kitchen to say hello to the staff as they were already preparing for this evening. She took a quick scan and saw that everything looked to be in order; although, she did think the towels they were using to wipe down the prep tables should be replaced soon with cleaner ones. She shrugged her shoulders, deciding she could address that after she had a quick meeting with her restaurant manager.

She walked into the office to find Geoffrey going through some receipts and he looked up and smiled to greet her. Monica took off her jacket and hung it up on the coat rack as she instinctively grabbed the inventory ledger and started to look through it. "Hey, so, did we actually have a lunch crowd today?"

Geoffrey smiled and nodded enthusiastically. "It was a good lunch! We had a great crowd almost all day. Javier ran the kitchen beautifully; you would have been proud. And, to top it all off, we are already above our projections for the entire day by seventy-five dollars."

Monica nodded, clearly impressed by the news. "Wow. We're in the black!"

Geoffrey frowned a bit and returned his attention to the receipts on the desk. "Well, we are still down twelve-hundred for the month."

"Ugh. Don't you know not to give a pregnant woman bad news? I was thinking I might work the kitchen for tonight. I might leave after dinner though; probably around nine."

"Okay. Are you sure you are up for it?"

Monica smiled and grabbed her chef's coat from the rack. "Yeah. I'll be honest, today was the first time in a couple of weeks that I have felt really good. No nausea or exhaustion; I feel focused and energized. I want to take advantage of that."

"Wow! That's great! Well, then what are we in for tonight chef?"

"I thought I would try some skewers tonight. We should still have some of those hanger steaks left, right? I was thinking marinated beef and chicken. I made this chimichurri sauce last night while I was here that I think would be perfect."

"Okay. I'll put them on the board."

"Also, I was thinking about deep fried Oreo cookies with ice cream as a special dessert. We still have some of that batter left, right?" Geoffrey nodded in response. "Good. Do not let Chandler find out about this. They were his idea. He had them at some chain restaurant in the city and if he knew I was using one of his suggestions here he would be impossible to live with. I'm sure though we can do them much better with the right kind of batter and maybe some powdered sugar, or a drizzle of chocolate sauce on the side." Geoffrey tapped his finger on the tip of his nose, gesturing that he understood what she was saying.

Monica left the office and made her way into the kitchen. She looked around at everything, taking a quick inventory but finding that nothing seemed to be out of place. She turned her head to some of their sauces that were already prepped and ready for use. She smiled proudly and spun around to address the kitchen staff. "Javier! Did you turn all these around so the labels were facing out? I love that!"

Monica checked the clock as she entered her home. Half past nine. She crept through the hallway and turned towards the den to find Chandler sleeping in his recliner. She smiled at him and quietly took off her shoes and coat, placing them in the closet.

She decided to slowly climb the stairs and poke her head in the twins' bedroom to check on them. The door creaked as it opened and she winced and closed her eyes a bit, worried the sound might wake her children. She peeked through one squinted eye and stared in silence at the two cribs, but saw no movement. Deciding it was safe to enter; she lightly padded her way into the room and settled herself on one of the rocking chairs, scooting it forward so she could watch her children sleep.

She noticed that it looked like Jack was wearing one of Erica's pajama sets and that Erica's own outfit did not match. "He is never going to get that right. He's going to send Jack to school one day in a dress. How many times do I have to show him my system?" Just as she was about to lift herself up from the chair, she noticed Erica's eyes flutter open and her heart stopped, almost in fear that her daughter was going to wake up, fully energized and ready to play.

Monica leaned over the edge of Erica's crib and began to whisper. "Shh baby. Go back to sleep. Mama didn't mean to wake you."

Erica stretched her little arms and rolled over. "Mama." Fell from her lips as she closed her eyes and fell back to sleep.

Monica's legs felt like cement. Hearing her daughter squeak out a quiet "mama", further signaling that her first word was no accident. It almost made her weak in the knees and fall to the floor. She wiped a tear from under her eye and crept back out of the room.

She thought of going downstairs to wake Chandler, but decided to go and wash her face and fix her hair first. She went into the bathroom and turned on the light, stopping in her tracks as she looked around the small washroom. There were clean towels on the rack, the mirror and faucet were shining and free of smudges. The room smelled of cleaning products and lilacs. She could only smile as she surmised the cause for the immaculate state of her bathroom. "Oh my god. Chandler cleaned the bathroom."

Monica leaned over her slumbering husband and place a soft kiss on his forehead. "Hey."

His eyes opened slowly as a smile spread across his lips. "Hey. I missed you today."

"Me too. How was your day?"

"Terrible. You?"

"Amazing." Chandler slumped a bit in his chair and Monica ran her finger along his shoulder. "Don't pout. I have a feeling your day may end with a bang. Want to meet me upstairs in five minutes?"

Chandler quickly sat up straight as he flashed her a salacious smile. "Really? You sure you're up for this?"

Monica nodded her head slowly and slipped her robe open a little, revealing a thin, sheer, black nightie underneath. "Just a little preview."

Chandler jumped from his seat and she placed her hand on his chest. "Just give me five minutes." He nodded impatiently as he watched her leave and heard her footsteps on the stairs as she made her way up to the second floor.

The bedroom door swung open and Monica smiled as she saw the hungry and excited look on her husbands face as he entered the room. He started to roughly work the buttons of his shirt as he tried to get undressed as quickly as possible. Her chest swelled with pride at how she could still get this kind of reaction from him. She had lit a few candles, letting their soft, flickering glow act as the only light in the room. She pulled back the covers and spread herself across the bed seductively, allowing her nightie to slowly slide above her thighs.

Chandler almost lost his breath as he lunged for the bed, but then stopped himself. "Wait! Let me brush my teeth!" Monica giggled to herself and watched as he bounded out of the room.

Monica stirred from her sleep and felt sluggish and disoriented. She looked around the room and tried to let everything come into focus. The last thing she could remember was Chandler leaving to brush his teeth. She lifted the covers and found herself still wearing the nightie and a pair of sweatpants. She screwed up her face, rolled over, and started to shake her husband.

"Chandler. Psst. Hey, wake up."

He rolled over to face her and began to rub his eyes. "Why do people whisper when they are trying to wake somebody up? It doesn't make it any more pleasant."

"What happened?"

"When I got back from the bathroom you were out cold."

"Why didn't you wake me up?"

"I tried. If I didn't see you breathing, I would have sworn you were dead. I wasn't exactly gentle when I put those sweatpants on you." Monica looked down at herself again and huffed out a chuckle. "Don't worry about it. You had a long day."

Chandler went to roll over again, but was stopped in his motions when Monica placed her hand on his shoulder. She reached down and began to yank her pants off. "Don't fall asleep on me now mister. You and I are going to wake up and do this right!"