A/N: Man, oh man, did you see all those reviews? You guys rock! Thank you for letting me know that you like the story. It made my day :)
Disclaimer: I still don't know the purpose of this thing. It's not like anyone's gonna believe me if I said that I do own them.
Forever and a Day
Chapter 3
3 weeks later
Work at the office was becoming hectic. Probably because he'd volunteered doing the additional work.
It'd been more than twenty days since what Chandler referred to in his mind as 'The Night'. The words were designated with uppercase first letters in his brain.
Things between him and Monica were nowhere near normal. The seconds and minutes which used to be filled with happy banters, were now filled with awkward and painful silences. They both went out of their way to avoid each other.
So much for pretending like nothing had happened.
He came home late at nights and she left home early in the mornings. The time he spent hanging out at apartment 20 seemed to be ever dwindling. The last time they accidentally bumped into each other was the previous evening, at Central Perk. The moment he'd entered the coffeehouse, she'd changed her order as 'to go'. As she'd passed him, she'd given him a slight nod of acknowledgement and a cursory smile – the kind you give an acquaintance whom you resent.
He looked down at the paperwork that he was supposed to complete by the end of the day. He went over it absentmindedly, his thoughts still lingering on his strained relationship with Monica.
She'd made it clear to him through their sporadic exchange of words in the past three weeks that she did not wish to talk about what had happened.
But now, he didn't care whether she wished for it or not. That night had placed immense strain on their friendship, and if they didn't talk their problems through, it might as well be the end of their six-year-long friendship.
He missed her as a friend. He missed her like he'd never missed anyone before.
He would to talk to her that evening and sort things out, whether or not she wanted to talk about it.
~.~
Monica sat with her elbows on the kitchen table, her forehead resting on her palm as she waited for the kitchen timer to go off.
Her period was a week overdue. She'd never once been late by even a day in her entire life. Not once.
Five Minutes to go.
She'd dreamed about this moment one too many times in the past four years, but never once had she imagined it'd be this way.
In her dreams, she always had a huge smile on her face as she waited for the stipulated five minutes to get over, anticipation evident on her features. Her gorgeous husband would hold her hand, looking equally giddy with expectation. After five minutes, they'd go and see the pregnancy test, hand-in-hand. On seeing the small, pink plus, they'd hug and kiss, unable to hide their ecstasy, and he'd tell her that he loved her, his voice filled with emotions.
As she lifted her eyes to look at the timer, her dreams collapsed, giving way to reality.
Two more minutes.
There was no husband to hold her hand, nor did she have a huge smile on her face.
She didn't even want to think about what would happen if the tests - yes, she'd bought three, just to be on the safe side - were positive.
She'd always wanted a baby, but never once had the possibility that she could be unmarried or be a single mother, entered her mind.
Don't think about it.
But what if it was positive? What would happen if she were pregnant? Would Chandler ask her to get rid of the baby?
She crossed her arms protectively across her stomach and closed her eyes. An image of Chandler's gentle face flitted across her closed eyelids. She knew at that instant that he'd never ask such a thing of her.
The alarm went off.
Time to face reality.
She slowly made her way to the bathroom, her limbs moving reluctantly.
The three sticks, perfectly aligned with each other on the closed toilet lid, showed the same sign.
Three pretty pink pluses, staring right back at her.
She had to talk to Chandler.
~.~
Chandler climbed up the stairs of his building slowly. He'd left work early under the pretense of 'feeling like coming down with something'. Although he wasn't coming down with anything, he sure didn't feel completely all right. He was trying to decide what he should say to Monica as he slowly walked to her apartment and reached it.
The doorknob squeaked in protest as he turned it. He was met by a gloomy silence that unsettled him, causing his resolve to slightly waver. He brushed the feeling aside and squared his shoulders.
The apartment seemed to be empty at first, but as he entered the living room, he found Monica asleep on the couch, curled up in the fetal position. He knelt down beside her and looked at her closely.
She looked pale and her eyebrows quirked suddenly, like she was having a bad dream.
Not having the heart to wake her up, he softly kissed her on the forehead and rose to leave. Just as he was about to open the door to let himself out, he heard her call out for him.
"Chandler?"
He turned around, his heart picking up pace. "Hey, Mon."
"What are you doing here so early?" she asked him, her face confused and preoccupied. She got off the couch and entered the kitchen and leaned against the back of the couch, her fingers reaching back to clutch the material of the cushion tightly. She needed all the strength she could muster for this.
He ran his fingers through his hair nervously and came forward a few steps so that he was near the other end of the couch. "Actually, I came to talk to you," he said softly.
"Oh."
"I hate what's going on between us, Monica. You agreed with me on that night that it was a mistake, so why are you doing this? Why are you avoiding me? If I could erase that night off our lives, I'd do it in a heartbeat. But I can't. We need to get past this, Mon." He took a step towards her, and added softly, his eyes betraying his emotions. "I miss you." It was barely a whisper, but she heard him clearly.
"I miss you, too," she whispered back.
"Then let's put this behind us and carry on with our lives, with our friendship. You mean too much to me to lose you over one night of drunken stupidity. Please, Mon?" One step closer. He ended his sentence as a question, his voice pleading.
She took a deep breath and gave him an answer that he'd never have expected in a thousand years. "Chandler, I am pregnant."
He took a step back involuntarily.
He wasn't surprised altogether, but it still hit him like a million bricks. He wasn't surprised because, the moment she left his apartment that night, he'd searched his bedroom thoroughly, hoping to find a used condom or at least a foil condom wrapper, but had found nothing. He hadn't mentioned it to her, not wanting to freak her out. Later, he'd convinced himself that it was nothing to worry about, so as to not freak himself out. And now, he felt like an idiot for not mentioning it to her.
But, God, it still hit him like a million bricks.
He stood still for fifteen seconds, his eyes wide with shock.
She waited for him to say something, but he remained silent. The usually verbose man was now rendered speechless. She couldn't take it any longer. "Chandler, please say something," she said, her own voice taking on a pleading tone.
He forced himself back into reality and met her eyes. "Are you sure?"
She nodded. "Three positive pregnancy tests."
"Oh, my God," he murmured to himself, shaking his head. He didn't often dream about his future, but this sure was a surprise. "Oh... my God."
"And I am keeping the baby," she added for good measure, realizing a second too late that the statement held an implicit meaning.
He looked at her sharply, his cheeks flushing red with what she presumed to be anger. "Did you ever think I'd ask you to get rid of the baby?" he asked her, his voice hitching almost imperceptibly at the word 'baby'.
She considered lying, but he could always see right through her. She nodded. "Yes, it briefly crossed my mind."
Hurt flashed across his features. "I may be a moron for sleeping with one of my best friends, Monica, but I am not a jerk."
"I realized that a second later, too," she said softly, tears stinging at the back of her eyes. "I am sorry, Chandler. I have no idea what I am going do with this now. All these years... in all these years, I never thought it would come down to this. What are we going to do?" she asked him, scared of what his answer might be.
"Marry me," he said simply.
"What?" She wondered whether he was playing a cruel joke on her, but one look at his face, she knew he was as serious as can be.
"Marry me, Mon. You mean the world to me," he said softly, his eyes filled with earnestness and affection.
"Chandler, that's ridi-" she began to protest, but he cut her off.
"No, it's not ridiculous. It's the best thing I've ever thought of in my entire life. I love you, Monica. Even if it's only just as a friend, I've never loved anyone as much as I love you. And now, we're going to have a baby together. It's a sign, Mon. Marry me." He'd crossed the distance between them and was standing right in front of her.
She noticed that the look on his face was something she'd never seen before - hope, sincerity, and love, all combined in one. She marveled at her own ability to refuse him. "I love you just as much, Chandler." She raised her fingers to brush his cheek. "But that's not the kind of love you look for when you're going into a marriage, you know?" she finished softly, tears beginning to spill from her eyes.
Life was just plain cruel.
She thought he'd protest, but instead, he nodded and pulled her into his arms. "I know," he whispered against her hair, allowing her to cry on his shoulder, feeling her warm tears permeate his shirt and spread across his skin.
He kissed the side of her head. "Do you remember how I said we could have a baby together when we're forty?"
Oh boy, did she. She nodded without lifting her head from his shoulder.
"Yeah, I think we're going to have one some fifteen years sooner." He stroked her arm gently.
She lifted her head from his shoulder to look into his eyes. "I am scared, Chandler."
He kissed her forehead. "I couldn't be more terrified, Mon. But you know, we managed through the conception pretty well." He chuckled as she smiled back through her tears. "I think we'll get through the pregnancy and the birth parts, too, just as fine." Even as he said it, he couldn't help but hear the nagging voice in his mind say that this was too huge a commitment at the age of twenty seven. He tightened his arms around her and tried to ignore it.
"I hope so." She returned her head to his shoulder.
They stood in silence for a several moments, their arms still around each other, until he spoke again.
"You know I'll always be there for you, right?" he whispered, holding her tightly to his chest.
A paroxysm of emotions overwhelming her, she nodded against his shoulder. "I know," she whispered back. "I know."
~.~.~
A/N: I've read fics in which Chandler first freaks out and then comes to his senses. I just thought this would be an interesting change. I love Mondler mushiness and I hope you fellow Mondler fans out there, liked this. So four chapters of just Mondler interaction, I guess I'll have to bring in the other characters soon...