A/N: 10 reviews for one chapter! That's a rare phenomenon in Friends fandom, these days. So, thank you! And I agree: The best relationship is Chandler and Monica :)

This chapter takes place when Monica is about twelve weeks pregnant, and it isn't about Mondler telling the news to their parents. I figured I could deal with that later.

And another thing: This chapter is a little too sappy. I hope no one's allergic to mushy-sappy chapters :D

Disclaimer: If I did own them, do you really think I'd be writing fan fiction? I'd probably be making a reunion movie. Sigh…

Forever and a Day

Chapter 8

"Pheebs, Duncan called last night. He wanted to invite you to his wedding and was wondering what your address was." Monica finished off her juice in one big gulp.

Contrary to how things had been when she'd started to gain weight as a teenager, she now had a reason to consume huge amounts of food, without others commenting on it.

"Yeah, I don't think I'll be going. It'd be too weird," Phoebe shrugged, but a second later, she added excitedly, "Ooh, I wonder if his brother's gonna be there! Then that would be different," she giggled, taking another bite of her pancake.

Monica smiled back, shaking her head.

"Good mornin'!" Ross greeted the other five as he entered the apartment. He pulled up a chair and sat down next to Joey for his breakfast. "So, how are you feeling today?" he smiled at his sister.

"Great, actually. I haven't thrown up since the day before yesterday," she grinned back, looking at Chandler briefly. "And no horrible dreams in the past three weeks, either," she added, leaning towards Chandler.

He smiled back, ruffling her hair fondly.

"So guys, will you be able to make it to my play tomorrow evening?" Joey asked, looking up from the massive pile of pancakes on his plate.

"Yeah," Phoebe, Rachel, and Ross nodded. "Sure."

"Sorry, Joe," Chandler shook his head apologetically. "Monica and I have that OB/GYN appointment of hers to go to tomorrow. We won't be able to make it."

"Yeah, sorry," Monica nodded.

"Nah… that's okay," Joey shrugged, returning to his pancakes. The lesser the number of people, the lesser he was going to be made fun of.

"Oh, I totally forgot about your appointment!" Phoebe turned towards Chandler and Monica. "Isn't it going to be your first ultrasound? You'll see the baby! You'll hear its heartbeat!" She looked at them excitedly as they grinned back at her. "And you'll know whether it's a boy or a girl!"

Monica frowned. "No, I thinks it's a little soon for that."

Chandler nodded. "Yeah, the books say that it'd be possible only around the eighteenth week to determine the baby's sex through ultrasound," he finished Monica's statement and shrunk back in his chair on receiving weird looks from the other two men.

"You read a book on pregnancy?" Joey asked him incredulously.

Rachel interrupted before Chandler could reply. "Ignore them, Chandler. I think it's amazing that you're so involved." She rubbed his arm lightly and got up to clean up her plate, leaving him smiling smugly.

"So what do you guys want it to be? Boy or a girl?" Phoebe's enthusiasm rubbing off on others, they all looked at the parents-to-be expectantly.

"I don't care. I'd love the baby either way," Monica shrugged, getting up as well, conveniently avoiding the question.

The others left it at that as they started off conversations of their own. They left for work, one by one, leaving Monica and Chandler alone as she started to get ready for her work.

When he finally closed the 'entertainment' section of that day's newspaper, he heard her call for him from her bedroom.

"Chandler! Come here!"

He couldn't sense the tone. He knew that she was excited about whatever it was that she wanted to tell him, but it's never reassuring when a pregnant woman calls for you from her room with a sense of urgency.

He immediately threw the newspaper on the coffee table and made his way to her room. "Monica, what? What is it?" He opened her door to find her standing in nothing but her slip, with a euphoric grin on her face.

He stared at her in amusement. "So it is true that pregnant women get horny around the end of the first trimester. Mon, couldn't you have waited until tonight?" he grinned at her suggestively, taking a step into the room and closing the door behind him.

He knew he was pushing his luck with these innuendos, but she always indulged him with a smile and a blush, and some retort of her own. At this point, it felt like their private, little game where the only objective was to push the boundary a bit more every time. He enjoyed it immensely and he got the feeling that she did too.

This time she just glared at him for a second, but her huge smile returned. "No, gutter mind. Come here!" she motioned for him to come closer, and when he obliged, she took hold of his hand and placed his palm on her lower abdomen, and then dropped her hand to her side.

He looked at her in confusion, only to see that she was looking back at him with excitement. But as he moved his hand a bit, over the silky fabric, his expression of bemusement turned into one of awe.

He'd found what she'd wanted him to find.

"Oh, my God…" he whispered, lightly caressing the tiny bump on her abdomen.

She smiled up at him giddily. "There's a bump!"

"That's the baby…" he looked at her, his eyes wide with surprise.

He could feel a surge of pure happiness course through his body as he realized that this was the first physical proof that his baby was in there. "Wow," he murmured, astounded.

She smiled back at him, placing her own hand over his again. "I know."

~.~

He'd been grinning like an idiot all day long, an unfaltering smile taking up permanent residence on his face.

If just the feel of a baby bump made him so ecstatic, he didn't know how he'd react the next day at the doctor's office, where he'd hear the baby's heartbeat, and actually see the baby.

His assistant had already been glancing at him worriedly.

He entered Monica and Rachel's apartment and found Monica, Joey, and Ross along with Ben in the living room. He placed his briefcase on the kitchen table and entered the living room, with his smile still intact. However, the look on Monica's face made his smile falter.

She was wearing a sad frown as she looked at her nephew who was sitting in his little rocking seat on the coffee table, and from the looks of it, Ben was frowning back at her, looking just as sad.

He sat down next to her. "Hey... Is everything okay?"

She turned to him, bleary-eyed, but before she could answer, Joey jumped in.

"Hey, Chan! Look at this." Joey lifted Ben from his seat and brought him near Monica. The moment the he was brought near Monica, the 3-month-old began to whimper, much to the amusement of Joey. Joey grinned at Chandler, moving the baby away from Monica for a couple of seconds, allowing the infant to pacify, and brought him back near her. Sure enough, Ben cried again. "Isn't that cool?" Joey grinned.

Chandler turned to Ross, who just shrugged helplessly. Although Ross found it slightly amusing, and was even a little proud that his son had an extra sense that allowed him to sense whenever he was brought near his aunt, he knew that his sister wasn't as amused.

Chandler could see the tears forming at the corner of her eyes. He knew, at any other time, Monica would have just glared at Joey until he backed off, and at any other time, he himself would have found Ben's aversion to his aunt to be funny and even a little entertaining. But the pregnancy made her more vulnerable. At that moment, she wasn't his 'emotionally strong' Monica. Rather, she was a Monica who was on the verge of an emotional breakdown.

He discreetly motioned for Joey to back off. Joey looked at him, clueless, until he got the hint. He nodded, placed the baby back in the seat, and left the living room to raid the fridge for the third time that evening.

"I am pregnant, I am unmarried, and my nephew hates me," she said, her voice low, still frowning at Ben.

"Mon, don't be silly!" Ross chided her. "Ben loves you."

She glared at her brother. "Oh, really?" She leaned forward and lifted Ben. The moment he entered her embrace, he began to wail as if he were being tortured. "See, he does hate me." She handed the baby to Chandler, sniffing. Suddenly she turned pale, her eyes widening in horror. "What if my own baby hates me?" she asked Chandler.

"Mon-" Ross started, trying to tell her that her fear was just plain ridiculous, but seeing that she was already on the verge of tears, he kept his mouth shut, stood up, pointing at the kitchen counter lamely, leaving Chandler alone to comfort her.

"Monica, our baby is not gonna hate you," he assured her gently, making funny faces at Ben. Even though Ben hadn't learned to laugh yet, he'd learned to smile those little baby smiles. He graced Chandler with one. "For that matter, even Ben doesn't hate you." He turned the baby towards Monica. "Here, hold him."

She looked at him apprehensively and shook her head. "I don't want to."

"Oh, come on, Mon," he brought the baby further near her. "See? He wants his aunt to hold him." He brought the baby closer and moved him back suddenly, making Ben smile widely. "Look, he's enjoying it! Just hold him for a second. If he cries, I'll take him back. I promise," he smiled at her encouragingly.

She looked at him, doubtful, but she reached out her arms tentatively to hold the baby. Yet again, Ben cried when she held him. She shook her head, disheartened, and handed Ben back to Chandler. "Chandler, I don't want to-" she started, but he interrupted her.

"Okay, okay, you know what, let's take him somewhere else. Let's- let's go near that window," he pointed as he stood up, carrying the baby with him. When he saw that she was reluctant to follow, he offered her his hand. "Mon, please?"

She sighed, taking his hand, allowing him to pull her towards the window.

"Now, hold him," he offered her the baby again.

"Chandler…" she protested feebly, suddenly feeling physically and emotionally drained. Why couldn't he just leave her alone to wallow in self-pity?

"Absolute last time," he said softly as he placed the baby in her arms.

Ben, however, had not tired of whimpering. Just as he started to whimper again, Chandler placed his hand on the baby's head, and turned to Monica. "Why don't you try rocking him?"

She didn't have the energy to protest. She did as she was asked to and swayed slightly on the spot, gently rocking the baby.

The constant whimpering turned to a few desolate sobs and finally stopped completely. She looked at Chandler in amazement. "He's not crying!"

He smiled at her, looking down to see Ben's face. "See? I told ya! And, he's almost asleep," he pointed at the baby, who yawned slowly, elaborately.

She smiled back at him, an unknown emotion for him overwhelming her. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," he grinned back. He turned towards the kitchen to see that the other two were looking at them with an identical, strange expression. He shook his head, turning back towards the window. He suddenly pointed at something. "Look, Ben! That's your Auntie Monica's underwear on that telephone pole!"

She kicked his ankle lightly, shifting the now-asleep baby on her shoulder.

He turned towards her again, still smiling at her softly. She grinned back at him, both of them reaching an unspoken conclusion.

They could do everything to perfection, as long as they did it together.

~.~

"Chandler, are you freaking out?" Monica asked him from her place on the examination table, which strangely felt extremenly comfortable.

He stopped pacing around the room to look at her. "No. Why?"

"Nothing. It's just, you've circled the room twenty-eight times now, and it's only been ten minutes but I already feel like I am watching a toddler on sugar buzz." She looked at him pointedly. "And I certainly don't think I'd be able to take six more months of that."

"Sorry," he grinned at her nervously, coming to a still near her, placing his hands next to hers on the table. "I am just excited. Aren't you excited?"

"Of course I am excited! But right now, I am thinking you are excited enough for the both of us," she smiled back. "Why don't we talk about something? That should keep you from pacing around till the doctor comes."

"Okay," he nodded, thinking of something to talk about. "So, what do you really want the baby to be, boy or a girl?"

"I said it before, I'd love the baby irrespective of whether it's a girl or a boy," she shrugged, adjusting the rather thin hospital gown.

He looked at her silently for a couple of second, gauging her reaction. "You want it to be a girl, don't you?" he cocked an eyebrow in an 'I know you too well' manner.

"Wha-! I never said-" she started to protest, but off his skeptical look she shrugged again, smiling sheepishly. "I can't help it, girls are prettier!" she exclaimed in a Monica-esque way, just as Dr. Nelson entered the room.

"Hello there, it's good to see you two again," the doctor smiled at them. "So, Monica, are you ready for the sonogram?" The doctor pulled the ultrasound probe from its place and reached for a bottle on the adjacent tray.

Monica nodded as she pulled the paper cover over her waist, pulling the dressing gown above her abdomen, revealing her bare belly.

"Okay, this may feel a little cold," the doctor warned as she squeezed a blob of gel onto her stomach, sliding the probe over her abdomen.

There was no time for preparation, it all happened within seconds - a fast rhythmic galloping that intensified as the doctor moved the probe around her stomach. A foot, a hand. And then the baby, curved like a jellybean, with a head much larger than the rest of its body; a baby that was kicking its teeny legs, probably still beyond tiny, but kicking around like it'd never tire of it.

"Oh, my God!" Monica laughed, looking at the screen.

"Yes, you seem to have a very active baby in there," the doctor grinned back at the couple. "But it's still very small, that's why you don't feel anything yet."

Monica turned to Chandler and saw that he was staring at the screen, transfixed. He pointed at the screen a moment later, grinning widely. "Would you just look at that! Still kicking away like nobody's business," he laughed, looking at Monica.

The room abruptly came to a silent standstill, except for the still rhythmic fetal heartbeat and the sound of the tapping of keys by the doctor on the instrument.

Even though, from the very beginning, the gravity of the situation had not been lost on either of them, this moment seemed to make it all the more real.

It was their baby moving around in her belly, unknown even to her. It was their baby's heartbeat that resonated throughout the room.

Their baby.

The doctor hit a button on the monitor, freezing the black and white image of the fetus on the screen. She noticed that the young couple had suddenly turned silent. "I'll get someone to get you the pictures," she smiled at them and before she left the room, she added, "I'll just give you two a minute."

The couple turned to look at the monitor again. Looking at it, they knew that the tiny being that was now frozen on the screen would mean to them more than anything else ever had or anything else ever would.

His fingers brushed against hers on the side of the table. Once, twice - as though by accident. The third time, they weaved their way through hers, holding her hand gently in his.

She looked down at their entwined fingers and realized that there probably still was a hope for the happy family that she'd always yearned for.

As she looked up at him, he smiled at her, his eyes filled with warmth and love. He whispered pointing at the screen with their entwined hands. "That's our baby."

She smiled back as she nodded, willing the tears to stop. "Stupid pregnancy hormones," she murmured, laughing through her tears.

He smiled back as be bent down to kiss her on the forehead, his grasp on her fingers tightening.

Yes, there was still hope.

~.~.~

A/N: See? They do have hope! And so must you… ;)

How long did it take you to read this? Fifteen minutes? It took me six hours to come up with it. Guys, I love writing this fic, and if you're enjoying this, it makes me doubly happy. I'd really appreciate it if you reviewed.

Oh, and I've got some actual romance planned out for the next chapter :D