A/N: Thank you for all the reviews! I really appreciate it :)

BluEyes and Jen, you guys get a whole load of affirmative answers from me: Yes, it's Kip. Yes, it's the Train song, and yes, there's no Rachel yet :)

And another thing, no Joey yet, either.

If It's Love

Chapter 2

"You should have been more careful, Chandler." Ross shook his head disapprovingly. "Phoebe actually lives with Monica, and she did a better job of hiding the invitation."

The three of them were in the bar, and Chandler had thought it would be best to share with Ross and Phoebe how upset Monica had been on finding Kip's wedding invitation on his couch

"Yeah," Phoebe nodded proudly, "I just packed it with my mother's skull and took it to my grandma's place." Swiveling on the barstool to face the guys, she looked at them like there was nothing strange about her statement, and the two men just stared at her, dumbfounded.

Finally, Chandler shrugged helplessly. "How was I supposed to know that she'd come to my apartment while I wasn't there, looking for something that I don't even remember borrowing?"

"Well, for starters, you could stop borrowing flowery shampoos and leave-in conditioners from us," Phoebe suggested and on noticing the dirty look that Chandler was giving her, she swiveled away from him, exclaiming, "Oh, look, my beer is getting warm!" She finished her beer with one huge gulp and plopped the can down on the counter. "Okay, I gotta get going. I'm taking the stereo over to grandma's today," she said as she got off the stool.

"Let me get this straight. So you're never going to tell Monica that you're moving out, until she wakes up one day and actually finds you missing?" Chandler raised an eyebrow.

"Uh-huh!" she replied brightly, picking up her oversized bag from the stool next to hers. "That's the plan."

"Phoebe! Don't you thi-" Ross started, hoping to knock some sense into her head, but she cut him off swiftly.

"Hey, your sister is driving me crazy! The other day, I just put my feet up on the couch, and she threatened to cut my toes off, one by one!" She pointed at Ross menacingly until he physically backed away. "Did you see that spaghetti stain on the cushion? She'd probably kill me with one of her ladles!"

"Pheebs, calm down." Chandler stroked her arm soothingly. "It's okay. We won't tell her about the cushion. And hopefully, by the time she finds it, you'll be dead of natural causes."

She shot one final glare at Ross. "Yeah, let's hope so," she grumbled before leaving the bar.

"Man, she is scary," Ross muttered, turning to Chandler, who nodded in assent. "Hey, I saw your roommate ad, by the way. Any responses yet?"

"Yeah, a couple. One guy wanted to know if ferrets were allowed in the apartment. That was plural, if you didn't notice. Ferrets. The other is an Italian-American actor guy. He didn't really sound all that bright, but I'm meeting him later in the evening anyway." He finished his drink. "Man, I sure do miss Kip," he sighed. "He may have been a crappy boyfriend, but he was a great roommate."

"I don't know, Chandler." Ross shook his head. "I was never fond of that guy. I never really saw what you and Monica saw in him."

"Did you talk to Mon today?"

"Yeah, it's her weekly 'talk-to-mom' day. She's dreading it." His mother always found something about Monica to criticize, and now that Monica was single, his mother's arsenal would be even better stocked up.

"I haven't seen her since last night. Do you know when her shift ends today?" Ross shook his head. "I guess I'll just have to wait till evening then. If I'm lucky, I'll get to her before she talks to your mom." He hopped off the barstool and patted Ross on the back. "Alrighty, then. I have to go check if the ferrets guy called again. Say hi to Carol for me." He lowered his voice, "And good luck with tonight."

The last time he'd had sex was a vague memory now. He hoped at least his friend, despite all his marital problems, would get lucky that night.

~.~

"Hello, sweetie. How are you? How is Kip?" Judy asked in quick succession.

Most moms would probably wait to hear about the well-being of their daughter before moving onto that of the daughter's boyfriend, but not her mother. Her mother's brain had always seemed to possess a homing radar for her problems. It could always, always detect what was lacking in Monica's life and bring it to crystal sharp focus.

"I'm fine, Mom. Kip should be, too, I guess," she sighed, wondering for the umpteenth time as to why she was putting herself through this every single week.

She knew for a fact that Chandler hadn't spoken to his mother since Christmas. There were people around the world who probably spoke to their mothers only once a year. But still, she was one of those overly-optimistic kids, who thought that someday, maybe their mothers would have something nice to say to them.

Luck had never once been on her side on that matter, though.

"He should be? What's that supposed to mean?" her mother sounded confused.

"Kip and I broke up," she revealed finally. She'd kept it a secret from her mother for three months, but now, she saw no point in doing so. She was beyond caring.

"What...?" her mother asked, shocked. "What happened?"

"It just didn't work out. We wanted different things." It was partially true. She had wanted a future with him, he wanted a future with 'Julia' instead.

"Monica..." her mother sighed, disappointed. It was a sound that Monica was, unfortunately, extremely familiar with. Her mother somehow made her hate her own name. "Honey, you were single for almost a year before Kip. Who knows how long it will take you to find another boyfriend this time around? Can't youjust try to work things out with him?"

"I don't know, Mom." Her nostrils flared. "I'm sure his fiancée would have some objections to that." The minute she said it, she knew it was the worst thing she could have told her mother.

"Oh, God. He dumped you for another woman?!" Judy exclaimed. "Monica, at your age, I was married to your father and Ross was on the way! If you keep driving men away like this, you're never going to-"

Monica pulled the phone away from her ear and gave it a nasty look.

Mental note: Calling mom = Bad idea. Bad. Idea.

~.~

"Hey!" Chandler entered her apartment cheerfully, but with one look at her face, he knew he was a little late today than he'd have liked. Yep, she'd talked to her mother already.

"Hey," she mumbled back, listless.

"I'm heading to the bar. You wanna come down with me?" he maintained his cheery tone, hoping it'd perk her up. No such luck, though. She seemed determined to wallow in her woes.

"No… I don't really feel like it," she shook her head.

He sighed and moved to sit down beside her on the couch. "Is this about Kip?"

Kip. Nowadays, with Monica, everything was about Kip. This was not the Monica he was accustomed to seeing, and it broke his heart to watch her be this dejected over a guy who was so utterly undeserving of her.

She shook her head again. "I talked to my mother."

"Ah." He pulled himself closer to her, draping an arm across the back of the couch, his fingers squeezing her shoulder sympathetically.

"Was he cheating on me, Chandler?" she asked him abruptly after a few seconds of silence.

"What?" he stared at her, confused.

"Three months is just too short a time to fall in love with someone new and to get married, don't you think?" she looked at him defiantly.

"So this is about Kip."

"Was he cheating on me?" she repeated her question.

"I don't know, Mon," he shrugged, replying honestly. "If he had been, and if I knew that, do you really think I'd keep something like that from you?"

"Ugh..." she sighed, looking down. "You're right, I'm sorry I asked you that. I don't... I don't know what to trust anymore. I don't how I could've been so blind, so foolish. And I just feel so..." she trailed off, and he instantly knew that she was about to cry.

"Hey, look at me," he tapped her shoulder to get her to face him again, and when she did, he took her hand in his and held it in his own firmly. "If he did cheat on you, then he's an asshole," he said simply. How he had failed to notice what a douchebag his former roommate was was a question that constantly haunted him these days. If only there was something that he could do to save her from this fruitless heartache. "He didn't deserve you, Monica. In fact, you don't deserve him. You deserve a guy who knows your worth," he told her earnestly.

She smiled her first smile of the day, touched. "Really?"

"Really," he smiled back. "I mean, you're beautiful, you're smart, and trust me when I tell you this," he looked at her seriously. "You would be the crowning glory of any guy's dating record. Kip was just unbelievably stupid."

For a guy who supposedly lacked social finesse when it came to women, he was incredibly good at it when it came to her. Knowingly or unknowingly, he had just the right words for her, whenever she needed them. "Thank you, Chandler," she pulled him into a hug and buried her face into his neck. "I have no idea what I'd do without you," she breathed.

To an outside observer, the moment would have seemed awfully intimate to be shared between friends. But for the two people inside it, this was normal and natural. Just two best friends being the best of friends.

"Ditto, Mon," he squeezed his arms around her tightly for a second before pulling away, smiling. "Now, how about that drink?" he queried but didn't wait for her answer. He just tugged at her hand to get her to stand up.

"Well," she reluctantly let herself be pulled up, returning his smile. "If you insist."

"I do," he nodded solemnly. "I don't think you've met my good friend, Gunther, yet," he said as he led her down to the bar. "See that guy over there?" He pointed at the new waiter once they reached inside the bar. "The one with hair whiter than your bathroom tiles?"

She laughed. He had always been able to get her to laugh, too, so very effortlessly. It felt wonderful to be happy for once. Maybe things would eventually get better, she thought to herself as she leaned her head against Chandler's shoulder.

Eventually.

~.~.~

A/N: I hope everyone's familiar with who Kip is. If you aren't, he was Chandler's roommate before Joey. The show says Kip and Monica dated, and when they broke up, he got 'phased out'. Chandler also says that Kip 'ran off and got married' in TOW The Dozen Lasagnas, and that's what I'm basing this series on.

Well, this chapter is just for setting up the foundation. I think you might know where I'm headed with this if you've read the summary.

(This series will be more T-rated from this point on. Nothing too explicit, but you've been warned :))