AN: So here's another chapter for you guys. I hope you like it. PLZ R&R!

Disclaimer: See first chapter.


Chapter 14

"So what do you want to do?" Chandler asked.

"I think you already know," Monica looked at him.

"Yeah, I think I do." He nodded. "But you need to say it."

"I want to keep the baby." She said softly. "I want to raise it hopefully with your help."

"I was hoping you would say that." He smiled at her.

"Wait, you wanted this the whole time?" she looked at him shocked.

"I knew I didn't want any strangers raising it where there was a chance that they wouldn't even tell it about us."

"You know it's not going to be easy."

"It's going to be very hard," he agreed. "But I think we can do it if we have each other."

"What do you think your dads will say?"

"I have no idea."

"We'll tell them in the morning," she said as Joey and Phoebe came back with a pile of blankets. "But I am exhausted after everything that happened today."

"Like my dad said, we'll worry about everything tomorrow." They all set up their blankets and pillows on the floor and covered as Phoebe turned out the lights.


Charles and Terry were awake early the next morning trying to make plans to help out Monica and Chandler as best as they could. Charles called up to the courthouse to see if he could find anything out while Terry ran some errands. Around eight o'clock, Charles made his way upstairs to wake everyone up. All of their rooms were empty; except for Phoebe's.

When he walked in, he spotted Phoebe curled up on the bed, Joey stretched out on the floor on the one side, and Monica resting her head on Chandler's chest as they lay on the floor at the foot of the bed.

"Son wake up," he started to shake Chandler and he slowly opened his eyes.

"What?" he rubbed his eyes as he saw his dad standing over him.

"You all need to be downstairs in ten minutes." He informed him.

"We didn't do anything, just so you know." Chandler whispered. "We just didn't want Monica to be alone last night."

"It's all right son," Charles assured him. "All four of you need to be downstairs. We have some things to discuss."

"Ok," Chandler slowly untangled himself from Monica as his dad left the room.

"What's going on?" Monica slowly sat up.

"We all need to be downstairs," he told her.

"For what?" Joey mumbled as he and Phoebe slowly sat up.

"A family meeting I think."

"All right," Joey slowly stood. "As long as there's coffee."

"Oh god," Monica leapt up and rushed into the connecting bathroom.

Chandler sighed and followed her in as Joey and Phoebe started downstairs. Chandler just stood by the sink as Monica bent over the toilet. He didn't know what he could do to help her.

"Are you ok?" he asked her as she stood up and rinsed out her mouth.

"As well as I can be," she sighed. "This is normal."

"How long is this supposed to last?"

"According to the literature, approximately three months, the entire first trimester."

Monica's phone started ringing and she went to answer it as Charles called for them to come downstairs. Monica was still talking on the phone when they walked into the kitchen.

"Yes, thank you." Monica smiled as she hung up the phone.

"What was that about?" Chandler asked as Terry arrived home.

"That was the courthouse," she told them. "Apparently, my emancipation came through so it's official."

"You're serious?"

"They said that it would take a month and it's done already," Monica looked at Charles. "Did you have anything to do with this?"

"That was my plan after the events of last night," he told her. "But when I called up there they said that it had already been processed."

"So what does that mean?" Joey asked through a mouthful of cereal.

"It means that my parents have no control over me anymore." Monica told him. "I'm just not sure what to do now."

Uh, dad?" Chandler stopped the conversation. "Monica and I came to a decision last night. About the baby, I mean."

"And what'd you decide?"

"We want to keep the baby," Monica told them. "And to raise it ourselves."

"And possibly with a little help from you." Chandler added.

"We had a sense that would be your decision in the end." Terry told them. "Are you guys sure about this?"

"Positive," Monica told them.

"So what do we do now?" Chandler looked at his dads.

"Well last night, Terry and I decided that it wasn't safe for you at your house now." Charles looked at Monica. "Since your emancipation came through your parents wouldn't be able to stop you if you would move in here."

"What?" Chandler looked shocked. "Are you serious?"

"Everyone at the table," Terry told them. "We have some things to discuss as a family."

"What kinds of things?" Chandler asked as they all sat at the table.

"First of all, yes we are serious about you living here." Charles looked at Monica. "It's the safest option for you right now."

"Second, we've been doing a little research about what kind of services that are available for teens in your situation." Terry said. "The only way for Chandler to not have to pay child support would be for you guys to get married."

"Even if we live together?" Chandler asked.

"Yes."

"We know it would be a lot to take on, especially in your senior year of high school, but if it can help you I think we should consider it."

"You guys take the time to think about it," Charles told them. "We'll support you no matter what you decide to do."

"In the meantime, we need to get Monica's things out of her parents house and brought over here."

"I'll call Ross," Monica took her phone and left the room.

"So how do you two feel about all of this?" Terry looked across the table at Joey and Phoebe. "You both are a part of this household too, so your input does matter."

"I don't mind," Joey went to take his dishes to the sink. "Monica's my friend. If we can get her away from her parents and into someplace that's safer for her, then it should be here."

"I'm all for it," Phoebe added. "This house is all boys, so I can't wait for there to be another girl in this house."

"Ross and Carol are over at my house right now," Monica came back into them. "My parents don't know I'm missing yet."

"All right, let's say that we all leave in a couple hours to go get your stuff." Terry told them. "But Monica needs to eat something first."

"I don't think I can keep anything down." She told them.

"I'll make you some dry toast and herbal tea." Terry told her. "If that doesn't help, we also have saltine crackers and ginger ale."

"Thank you," Monica sat back at the table as Joey and Phoebe left to go get dressed and Chandler got himself some breakfast.

"I'll call someone for a police escort when we go over there," Charles spoke up. "Just in case."

"That's probably a good idea." Monica told him.

"I also picked these up this morning," Terry placed a pill bottle on the table. "The doctor from the clinic called in a prescription for prenatal vitamins."

"Thank you." Monica opened the bottle.

"We need to start looking for a baby doctor," Chandler said suddenly as he ate his breakfast. "Something I didn't think I'd be saying until I was at least thirty."

"One thing at a time," Terry told him as he brought the toast over for Monica. "We just need to get through today, and then we'll deal with everything else."


A couple hours later, everyone was all ready to go get Monica's belongings. Charles had set Monica up in the guest room down the hall from the others for the time being. They all came downstairs as the doorbell rang and Charles came out and opened the front door.

"Hey Tom," he greeted his friend from the police force. "Thanks for doing this for us."

"Not a problem," he took a couple things from inside his police jacket. "I decided to bring this along since I was coming here anyway."

Monica took the manila envelope that he held out to her and slowly opened it. She smiled as she pulled out her official notarized emancipation papers.

"So it's definitely official now, right?" she looked up at him.

"Definitely," Tom smiled at her. "So they can't stop you from doing anything anymore."

"Are we ready to go?" Terry came out.

"Let's go," they all walked out to the garage and piled into the three cars and followed the squad car over to Monica's house.


Chandler parked his car by the curb in front of Monica's parents' house. Terry and Charles parked behind him and everyone climbed out of the cars as Monica led them to the front door of her house. The door opened as they reached the porch and Carol stood before them.

"They just figured out that you're gone," she told her. "Ross is trying to keep them calm."

"Thank god," Jack came in and saw Monica. "You came back."

"I'm only here so I can get my stuff," Monica informed him.

"What?"

"I'm moving in with Chandler." She stated.

"You are not moving in with that boy," Judy came in with Ross.

"Oh yes, she is." Charles and Terry came up with some boxes for all of Monica's things.

"You need to leave now, or we'll call the police." Jack told them.

"Don't bother," Terry told them as Tom came in behind them. "We brought them with us."

"Mr. and Mrs. Gellar," Tom handed them some papers. "This is a copy of Monica's emancipation papers. You have no legal right to stop her from leaving this residence."

"What-" Jack took the papers and looked through them. "How long have you been working on this?"

"Almost a year," Monica informed them. "I just knew that I couldn't stay in this house a minute longer than I had to."

"Are we doing this or not?" Joey came up to everyone else with Chandler and Phoebe.

"Let's go," Monica told them and she walked around the adults and started upstairs.

Chandler grabbed the boxes from his dads and followed her up into her room. All the adults stayed downstairs as everyone else went into Monica's room to help her pack up everything.

"Do we have enough boxes?" Phoebe asked.

"We can get more," Chandler told them.

"How much can I put in storage at your place?" Monica looked at Chandler. "I have quite a few boxes up in the attic."

"We have quite a few extra rooms still." Chandler told her. "So we can bring it all over."

"If you guys want to start in here, I'll start going through everything in the attic." Monica told them.

"Be careful." Chandler told her.

"I'll go with her," Carol followed her into the hallway where Ross was pulling the door to the attic down from the ceiling. "What all do you have up here?"

"Holiday decorations, my childhood things; I just don't want to leave anything behind." Monica climbed the stairs and located all of her boxes.

"If I find anything that you forgot, I'll just bring it to you." Ross told her.

Joey, Chandler and Ross took all the boxes out to the cars as they became full. Phoebe, Carol and Monica kept packing up all of her belongings as the day wore on. Judy remained downstairs while Jack kept coming upstairs and glancing into the room. Monica kept ignoring him so he went back downstairs.

Chandler came in towards the late afternoon and saw the room almost bare. Carol was folding up the bedding she had just pulled off the bed, Phoebe was finishing emptying out the dresser, and he could hear Monica in the bathroom.

"Hey," Chandler smiled as Monica came out of the bathroom. "How much longer do you think? My dads want to know."

"We're almost done," Monica told him. "I just have a few things in the kitchen, and then we can go."

"I'll take that," he took the box from her. "I'll let my dad know."

"Almost done," Monica sighed as she took the last empty box and went downstairs. She walked into the kitchen and grabbed a small selection of mugs and other cups and plates, and a few cooking utensils that she had bought with her own money.

"All done." Monica announced as she joined everyone in the entryway.

"All right, let's go." Joey took the box from her and went outside.

"Honey, you don't have to do this." Jack stated.

"Yes, I do." She said firmly. "You won't let me do what I want. It's my body, so it's my decision."

"And what is your decision?" Judy cut in.

"That is none of your business anymore." Monica told her. "So goodbye."

Monica followed everyone outside and climbed into Chandler's car. They were both quiet as he followed his dads cars back to the house.

"So…What happens now?" Monica asked.

"I guess we help you unpack for now." He told her as they all pulled into the garage.

"You know what I mean," she looked at him as they grabbed some boxes. "We need to talk about what your dad suggested this morning."

"I know," he told her as everyone got out of the other cars. "We'll talk about it tonight."

"All right, round two." Charles announced. "Let's get this all inside."

They all started unloading all the cars and took them up to Monica's new bedroom. It took them all a couple hours to unload the cars and take all her belongings up to her room.


Monica collapsed on her bed after the day had finally worn down. They spent an hour unloading the cars of her things, and she spent another hour after that trying to get started on the organizing. She gave up when she knew she wouldn't accomplish anything and just took a shower and got ready for bed.

She was about ready to turn out the light when there was a light knock on the door.

"Decent?" she heard Chandler's voice.

"Come in," she called and the door opened and he came into the room.

"Sorry I didn't come find you sooner," he closed the door behind her. "I just wanted you to get settled in a bit first."

"Ready to talk?" she sat up as he sat on the bed beside her.

"Yeah," he sighed as he glanced over at her. "So what are your thoughts about what my dad told us this morning?"


AN: So what'd you all think? What will Monica and Chandler decide to do? I live in Ohio and know NOTHING about state laws and guidelines for assistance. This is how I'm writing it for the story. Anyway, PLZ R&R!