AN: Another update! This is a sort of long one because there was really no place for me to stop because so much happened in this chapter. Hope you like how this turned out. PLZ R&R!
Disclaimer: See first chapter.
Chapter 13
Chandler pulled up to the curb in front of Monica's house and looked over at her. He could see her hands shaking as she reached over to open the door.
"I can come in with you," he told her. "I don't care what they say to me. I just want to be there for you in this."
"No," she shook her head at him. "Ross and Carol will be there anyway. So I should be fine."
"Hey," Carol appeared before Monica's side window. "Are you ready?"
"As I'll ever be," Monica climbed out of the car.
"Keep me updated!" Chandler called. "My phone will be on all night."
"You got it!" Carol called back as she walked with Monica into the house.
They heard Chandler pull away from the house as they shut the door behind them. They spotted Ross watching the nightly news with Jack in the living room as they heard Judy moving around behind the swinging door that led into the kitchen. The table was already set and ready for them to eat that night's supper.
"Hey," Ross spotted them. "Mom said that supper is almost ready."
"Thanks for inviting me," Carol smiled as Jack turned off the TV and turned to face them.
"How are you feeling, honey?" Jack looked at Monica.
"A little better," she told him as she put her things at the bottom of the staircase.
"School ended a while ago. Where've you been all this time?"
"Chandler and I had a meeting at his church," she told him. "We were interested in volunteering on Wednesday nights when they start up again in a couple weeks."
"Oh,"
"Ok, it's all ready." Judy came out of the kitchen with the last of the food. "Let's all sit down and eat."
They all moved to sit down at the table with Jack and Judy at either end, Ross and Carol on one side, and Monica on the other side.
"This is nice," Judy smiled. "It's been a while since we've all been home to eat a meal together."
"Well Chandler is busy with his family," Monica told them.
"Whatever the reason, we're glad you're all here." Jack told them.
Supper was definitely awkward. Jack and Judy tried their best to get the conversations rolling around the table, but the teenagers were having none of it. Monica barely ate anything, just pushed the food around her plate to make it look like she was eating something. She was too nervous about what she would have to do after they were all done eating.
After supper finally ended, Ross helped his mom and dad clear off the table and pack everything up as Carol sat with Monica in the living room as she prepared to tell them when they all came out of the kitchen.
"We're here for you," she told her as they saw the three of them coming out of the kitchen.
"What's going on?" Jack spotted them. "Is everything all right?"
"Not really," Monica stood up to face them. "Could you guys sit down? I have some really major news."
"All right," Jack and Judy sat on the couch as Ross joined his sister, standing next to his girlfriend. "So you guys know what she's going to tell us?"
"Yeah," Ross said softly.
"Well don't keep us in suspense," Judy looked at them.
"This isn't going to be easy for me to say no matter how I decide to tell you," Monica spoke up. "So I'm just going to say it."
Monica glanced at Ross and Carol briefly and they nodded as she turned back to her parents. She took a deep breath before attempting to speak again.
"Ok here goes," she looked straight at her parents. "I'm pregnant."
You could've heard a pin drop after Monica revealed her big news. Jack and Judy sat stunned on the couch as Ross and Carol exchanged worried glances over Monica's head.
"You're what?" Jack demanded as they both got up from the couch.
"I'm pregnant," Monica repeated. "I had it confirmed yesterday."
"So you didn't have food poisoning?"
"It's morning sickness."
"I would assume that boy is the father." Judy spat.
"His name is Chandler, and yes he's the father."
"All right, let's not panic. We'll handle this." Jack stood up and embraced his daughter.
"R-Really?" Monica looked at him in shock.
"Of course. We'll take care of everything."
"Take care of what exactly?" Monica pulled away from him.
"There's really only one option right now."
Chandler sat on the couch in the den mindlessly watching some kind of chick flick with Phoebe. He had no idea what it was about, too occupied with what was going on at Monica's right now. He kept glancing at his phone to see if he had any calls or texts.
"What's going on?" Joey came in and plopped down on the couch beside Chandler. "Anything yet?"
"Nope," Chandler shook his head.
"Why are we watching this?" Joey reached for the remote.
"Don't even think about it," Phoebe shot him a look.
"I dare you to try it," Chandler smirked at him. "I tried the same thing a few minutes ago."
"So this thing with you and Monica," Joey looked at him.
"I'm not sure about anything right now," Chandler sighed. "All I know is that I'm going to be with her through all of this."
"No offense, but I'm so glad that I'm not in your situation."
"Ok what's going on with you guys?" Chandler looked at them. "I feel like it's always about me, so tell me something."
"Well I just let Terry know that I'm trying out for football." Joey told him.
"Seriously?" Phoebe looked at him.
"I played before I moved to Queens. I played a little bit at my old school, but I got kicked off the team when I kept skipping practice."
"Aren't tryouts over?" Chandler asked.
"Well it turns out that there's an opening on the team because of all of Chip's academic problems."
"So there will be two athletes in this house," Phoebe smiled.
"I need to tryout first." Joey told her.
"You'll get the spot." She told him as Chandler's phone started going off.
"It's a text from Carol," Chandler told them.
"What's it say?"
"It says, 'Things aren't going well. Will keep you updated.' "
"All we can do is wait." Phoebe told them.
"I'm not getting an abortion!" Monica glared at both of her parents as Ross and Carol moved in front of her.
"You're a kid. You can't possibly do this by yourself."
"Who says that she'll be alone in this?" Ross looked at them. "I support her no matter what. You, as her parents, should do the same."
"You are still in school," Jack told her.
"I'll be done by this time next year." She told them.
"Now that you're pregnant, it will be a lot harder to keep up with everything." Judy added.
"I am not getting an abortion. I have a say in this and I say that I'm not getting one." Monica put herself directly in front of her parents. "I bet that you wouldn't be suggesting it if it wasn't Chandler's child that I'm carrying. You're just upset because now I'm connected to him and his gay dads for the rest of my life."
"She's right," Carol nodded.
"I'll be upstairs," Monica started towards the staircase.
"We're not done here." Jack stated.
"Well I am," she went upstairs.
"Monica-" Jack started after her, but Ross held him back.
"You're not going anywhere near her," he told him as they all heard a door slam upstairs.
"She is our daughter."
"You sure haven't been acting like it the last several months." Carol glared at them.
"We didn't ask for your input." Judy told her.
"I'm giving it anyway."
"Carol, go check on Monica." Ross looked at her. "I can handle them."
"Are you sure?"
"Go on," he told her and she started upstairs.
"Thank you, sweetheart." Judy started.
"I didn't do it for your sake," Ross spat. "This is a house divided. I understand that you weren't expecting this situation, no one was, but you can't force Monica to do something that she doesn't want to do."
"She's still our child."
"You haven't been acting like it recently. It's no wonder that she ran into Chandler's arms because she didn't feel any love here."
"Are you blaming us?" Jack stared at his son incredulously.
"Not totally," Ross mumbled.
Monica reached her bedroom and took out her phone and shakily dialed the familiar number.
"Chandler?" she started crying. "It was awful. They weren't even listening to me. They want me to get an abortion. You know I would never do that. I couldn't even think straight. All these pregnancy hormones are making me all weepy."
She looked up as the door opened and Carol slipped into the room and sat beside her.
"I need to get away from them," Monica cried into the phone. "At least for tonight."
"Chandler?" Carol took the phone from her. "She's packing a bag right now. Do you think your dads would let her stay there tonight? If not, I'm sure my parents wouldn't mind. Sounds good. She'll see you in about twenty minutes."
"What are you talking about?" Monica wiped her eyes as Carol hung up her phone and handed it back to her.
"Pack an overnight bag. Just the necessities. You shouldn't be in this house tonight. I'll sneak you out."
"All right," Monica found her duffle bag in her closet and started filling it up with all the necessary clothes and bathroom supplies.
"What's going on?" Ross appeared in the doorway.
"I'm sneaking her out," Carol told him. "She can't be here tonight."
"You're right," Ross sighed.
"Care to be the diversion while I sneak her out?"
"We don't need a diversion," Monica told them. "I can just climb down the drainpipe that's outside my window."
"That's not safe."
"I've done it plenty of times."
"It's not safe for you to do now that you're pregnant." Ross told her.
"You're right," she sighed.
"Don't worry, we'll get you out of here." Carol told her as she zipped up her duffle bag. "Are there any breakables in there?"
"No," Monica shook her head and watched as Carol took it and dropped it out the open window.
"Once we get you out, just grab it and you can go to Chandler's."
"He just texted me," Ross looked at his phone. "Terry will be in his car down the street in a little bit. He'll flash his lights to let you know that it's him."
"Are we ready?" Carol asked and Monica slowly nodded. "All right, let's go. Ross, you go first."
"Got it," he walked out of the room and the other two slowly followed him down the stairs.
Terry and Charles had been locked in their room arguing ever since they got home. They let the teenagers order pizza as they kept arguing about the situation that Chandler was now in.
"I can't believe you knew when I got home last night and you said nothing to me." Charles stated.
"You were exhausted from doing inventory all day." Terry defended.
"And today?"
"I told them that it'd be better to tell you in a safe environment. Pastor Dan agreed with me."
"I just can't believe this is happening," Charles sighed.
"Look I know you're scared about this whole situation," Terry lowered his voice. "So am I. Your son is scared out of his mind right now, though. We need to be there for him instead of giving him the cold shoulder like you've done ever since they told you the news."
Terry had almost gotten Charles completely calmed down when there was a frantic knock on their bedroom door. He opened it as Chandler started rambling about Monica. He finally got the story out of him and they all made plans to meet Monica halfway.
"I'm going," Chandler told him.
"No, you stay here." Terry told him.
"But-"
"Chandler, listen to him." Joey told him. "Your anger towards the Gellar's might make you do something that you regret."
"I'll be fine."
"I'll go," Joey volunteered. "She'll be fine."
"Fine," he watched them leave and texted Ross as he walked back out to the den where Phoebe was.
They both started pacing as Charles came out to them. Chandler was sitting on the bottom step of the stairs as he watched the front door.
"Mind if I sit here?" Charles approached him.
"It's your house." He mumbled. "But Phoebe's a witness for me."
"I won't do anything," Charles sat down beside him. "You have to let me have my angry moment. I was not expecting it to be revealed that Monica is pregnant when I walked into Pastor Dan's office."
"Well I wasn't expecting the pregnancy test to be positive."
"Good point,"
"Shouldn't they be back by now?" Chandler looked at his watch.
"It depends how long it took her to sneak out of the house."
"I guess you're right."
Monica and Carol made it outside while Ross distracted their parents in the kitchen. Monica snuck around the side of the house and grabbed her bag before rushing down the sidewalk with Carol.
"Where are they?" Carol scanned the street until they saw headlights flashing at them. "There!"
"Monica!" she heard Joey's voice as a passenger side door opened and he grabbed her. "Are you ok?"
"I am now," she sighed.
"Let's go before Chandler charges down here himself." Terry called and Monica climbed into the back seat.
"Carol, thank you." Monica told her.
"Don't worry about it." She told her. "I'll go cover our tracks. Let me know what's going on."
"You got it," Monica closed the door as Carol started back towards the Gellar house and Terry drove away.
"So how bad was it?" Joey looked in the back seat.
"It was horrible," Monica sighed.
"You're safe now." Terry told her. "At least for tonight."
They reached Chandler's house and Joey took Monica's bag as Terry led Monica into the house. Chandler leapt off the stairs where he was sitting and hugged her tightly.
"Are you ok?" he asked her.
"Fine for now," She told him softly.
"What will happen tomorrow?" Chandler looked at his dads.
"We'll worry about that tomorrow," Terry told them. "Why don't you four get settled into bed for tonight? Monica you can bunk in with Phoebe."
"All right," the other three led Monica upstairs as Terry and Charles went back into their bedroom.
"That girl is not safe at that house," Charles told him. "We have to do something."
"We can't do anything as long as they are still her legal guardians. She just turned seventeen a few months ago."
"What about her emancipation?"
"Chandler said that it's going to take a month at least for them to process it."
"Maybe we can move the process along if we explain the situation."
"It might work," Terry sighed. "So does that mean that you're not upset anymore?"
"I'm getting there."
"Those kids are scared out of their minds," Terry told him. "As they should be. They need support from their families right now, not judgment. At least one of their families should be supportive."
"I'll work on it."
"Good," Terry sighed.
Monica changed into her pajamas and walked out of Phoebe's bathroom. She saw not only Phoebe waiting for her, but Chandler and Joey as well.
"I'm fine now," she told them.
"I don't believe you." Chandler told her as she sat down beside him.
"It was just awful," she whispered as she laid her head on his shoulder.
"How so?"
"They wouldn't listen to me. They just kept telling me that I had to get an abortion. I'm their daughter so I had to do as they said."
"No one will force you to get an abortion."
"Even if you're not eighteen yet, you still have the right to do what you want right?" Joey asked. "I mean, it's your body."
"I don't know," Monica teared up. "I just know that I can't destroy an innocent baby for selfish reasons."
"We'll all stay with you tonight," Phoebe suggested. "You shouldn't be alone after all that's happened."
"I'll go get some extra blankets," Joey stood up and Phoebe followed him out.
"I felt something when they started talking about abortion," Monica whispered. "Like a kind of protectiveness for the baby."
"You've decided, haven't you?" he looked at her and she nodded. "So what do you want to do?"
"I think you already know," Monica looked at him and he nodded.
AN: CLIFFHANGER! I know, I'm evil! But I had to leave you wanting more. LOL! Hope you liked this chapter. What do you think will happen now? PLZ R&R!
