AN: Hello everyone! Sorry for the long delay. Life has been so crazy busy the last several months. I just completed my schooling this past week. I have a class to makeup but I will be doing that at my own pace through an outside website. Then I will officially be done with school and I will have earned my Associate's degree for Early Childhood Education through the University of Arizona Global Campus. Sorry for the rambling. I just wanted to let you all know what I have been up to and why I haven't been posting.

Onto the Story!

Disclaimer: See first chapter.


Chapter 34

It was very difficult for Chandler to get out of bed the next morning. It took Monica three tries before he even became coherent. He slowly dragged himself out of bed and got dressed before heading downstairs for breakfast. He was surprised to only see Terry there in the kitchen just starting to make breakfast.

"Where-"

"I had Monica start waking you early," Terry smiled at him. "I knew it would be difficult to get you up this morning, considering you didn't get home until after midnight."

"I didn't hear a word you said," he mumbled as he slid into one of the seats at the table and leaned his head back against the wall behind him.

"Coffee," Terry brought a mug over to him. "I give you permission to stop and get an energy drink if you want."

"He didn't hear you," Monica came into them. "He's sleeping with his eyes open. Which is weird."

"Yeah, I recognize the look." Terry went to the refrigerator and started pulling out some ingredients.

"You don't usually make us breakfast during the week. You tell us that we're on our own."

"Maybe making him his favorite breakfast will wake him up." he told her.

"Which is?"

"French toast," he told her. "For now. He's always changing his mind."

Charles came into the kitchen then and spotted his son sleeping sitting up as Monica sat next to him scrolling on her phone. He looked at Terry as he fired up the griddle.

"This is why we don't let him close on school nights," he told him.

"He said it was really busy last night," Monica told him. "They had to turn away orders towards the end."

"Whoa," Phoebe came in followed by a barely-awake Joey. "The kitchen is never this full this early."

"And Chandler looks freaky," Joey mumbled.

"He's asleep," Monica told him.

"With his eyes open?"

"He does it only when he's really tired. He didn't get home until after midnight."

They all just sat around and talked as Terry made up breakfast. Monica finally shook Chandler to wake him up and he sat up and looked around.

"Good morning," Terry smiled at him as he brought a big platter of french toast over to them. "I figured I would make you something to wake you up."

"Will you be able to make it through the school day?" Monica asked.

"I'll be fine," he said softly.

"Save some for everyone!" they heard Phoebe and looked over to see Joey piling three french toasts on his plate.

"I have more," Terry called. "But Joey, two at a time."

"Fine," he put a couple back.

Chandler blinked his eyes rapidly in an attempt to wake himself up. Terry brought back over his mug of coffee that he had heated up in the microwave for him. Everyone slowly ate as they all watched as Chandler tried to keep himself awake. They all finished up and started to help clean up the kitchen and went to get their things.

"Here," Charles handed his son a large thermos. "Coffee. It should last you throughout the morning."

"Thanks," he mumbled as the group walked out to the garage.

"We're taking my car," Monica told them. "You are tired and I am not getting into an accident."

"Fine," Chandler sighed as they all climbed into her Ford Explorer.

"Thank goodness," Terry sighed as he saw Monica's car pull down the driveway.

"I would expect a call from school today," Charles told him as he gathered his things. "I am off now. I'll call you at lunchtime."

Chandler dragged himself into school and towards his locker. Ross and Carol were waiting for them all and were surprised when Chandler didn't even acknowledge them.

"Long night?" Ross asked.

"I closed last night," Chandler mumbled.

"And your dads approved that?" Carol asked him.

"I was covering for someone who was going to a funeral."

"Will you be able to make it through the day?"

"We'll see, I guess."

The first bell rang and they all went their separate ways to their first class. They all watched Chandler in concern as he slowly followed Monica down the hall towards their class.


Charles went home for his lunch that day to see if the school had called Terry or not. They both were surprised to not have gotten a call from the school yet considering the state that Chandler was in when he had left that day. Terry made them both something for lunch and Charles actually got to sit down and enjoy his lunch, rather than running from task to task when he stayed at the club.

Charles was getting ready to head back to the club when Terry's phone started to ring.

"It's the school," Terry sighed as he clicked it on. "Hello. Yes. We'll be down to get him in a little bit. Since it's so close to the end of the day, just pull the others out of class. We'll go home together. Thank you."

"Well let's go get them," Charles followed him out of the house.

By the time that Terry and Charles walked into the school ten minutes after getting the call from the school, Joey and Phoebe were waiting for them outside the office.

"Thanks for springing us early,"Joey smiled at them.

"Monica's with Chandler in the nurse's office," Phoebe told them.

"Wait out here for us," they nodded as they watched them head towards the nurse.

They walked into the inner office and spotted Chandler sitting up in a chair trying to stay upright and Monica trying to keep him awake with no success.

"How was he today?" Terry went to him.

"Not great," Monica told them. "The teachers were getting upset. When the history teacher threatened to send him to the principal, I convinced him that he was getting sick."

"I went along with it," the nurse told them. "I don't want to get him in trouble for no reason other than being tired for trying to provide for his new family."

"Thank you," Charles told her as he helped his son up. "We appreciate it."

"Not a problem,"

The group made their way out of the office and met up with Joey and Phoebe in the hall. They all made their way out of the school and towards the parking lot.

"I still have to drive my car back," Monica told them.

"You two go with Monica," Terry told Joey and Phoebe. "And we will meet you back at the house."

Charles helped his son into the backseat of his car and his head fell back against the seat as he closed the back door.

"This looks like more than just not getting enough sleep," Terry glanced in the backseat as Charles started up the car.

"I'm thinking the same thing," Charles stated as they made the drive back to the house.


Monica pulled up the driveway and the three of them climbed out of the car and headed inside. They all walked in as they saw Charles coming out of the family room and Terry following a few seconds later.

"Is he ok?" Joey asked.

"He's asleep," Charles told them. "Try to stay out of the family room while he's sleeping."

Monica headed upstairs to put hers and Chandler's things in their bedroom. Her phone started to ring as she reached their bedroom and she fished it out of her bag. She didn't recognize the phone number, but decided to answer anyway.

"Hello….yes, this is Monica Bing….oh, yes Pastor Dan said that he would set up a meeting soon….things have been a little crazy lately….I am sure Chandler would be ok with that."

Monica headed back downstairs as she saw everyone gathered in the kitchen as Terry started on that night's supper.

"Ok. We'll see you Sunday morning. We can meet you in the front lobby by the cafe. Perfect. See you then."

"Who was that?" Charles looked at her as she hung up her phone.

"There's a couple at church that Pastor Dan wanted me and Chandler to meet. It's a young married couple that are in college right now. Last year before they graduated high school they had a baby too. Pastor Dan thinks it's a good idea for us to connect with them."

"I agree," Terry told her.

"Hey," Joey came into them. "I wasn't disturbing Chandler, but I heard him starting to moan really loud. So I went in to see if he was ok."

"And is he?" Monica asked him.

"He said to tell you that he needs the survival kit. Whatever that means."

"Do you guys still keep his ice pack in the freezer?" Monica started to open the freezer door.

"That will work for now," Charles told her. "I'll get the other one ready."

"What's going on?" Phoebe asked them.

"Chandler gets migraines sometimes. We started keeping a kit in the kitchen so we were prepared for them."

"It makes sense actually," Terry said. "We knew something was going on with him. I don't know why we didn't connect the dots sooner."

"Because he hasn't had one for almost a year,"

"I'm surprised he didn't get one sooner," Monica started. "He told me that they are triggered by stress. It has been more than stressful for both of us the last few months." Monica wrapped the ice pack in a towel and headed into where Chandler was.

Chandler was moaning softly as Monica reached him. He had pulled the blanket from the back of the couch over him and had his head covered completely.

"It's me," Monica whispered.

"Mmm," he slowly pulled the blanket down off his head.

"I have an ice pack for you," she gently placed it on his forehead. "Your dad is working on the other one."

"Thank you," he whispered as she sat on the floor in front of him. "Don't-"

"What?"

"You shouldn't take care of me so much," he mumbled.

"Are you kidding me?" she looked at him. "You have done nothing but take care of me since before we officially became a couple. You still take care of me when it comes to the pregnancy. This is small compared to everything that you have done for me."

"How is he?" Charles came in.

"Sensitivity to light is taking affect," Monica told him.

Charles went to dim the lights in the room and came back to his son as he lay stretched out across the couch. He placed a small trach can on the floor in front of the couch and Monica looked up at him.

"Sometimes the nausea gets bad enough that he throws up,"

"Got it,"

"No nausea," Chandler mumbled. "Yet."

"Yet being the key word," Charles stated. "Terry is making you up some broth. After you eat a little bit you can go up to bed and have an early night."

Chandler nodded as he pulled the covers back over his head. Monica stayed by his side as Charles returned to the kitchen.

"I am going to have to start a journal about you," she told him and he slowly pulled the covers back down to look at her. "So that I can go back and reference things to try to remember about you."

"I get to start one on you then," he smirked at her.

Monica sat talking softly to him for the next while as he dozed on and off. She looked up as Terry came in with a wooden tray and she pulled the covers back down.

"Terry has your supper," she told him.

"Ok," he slowly started to sit up as he felt a wave of nausea hit him.

"Easy," Terry set the tray down and helped him the rest of the way. "You ok?"

"Yeah, it passed." he said softly.

"Take your time," Terry placed the tray over his lap. "You can head upstairs after you finish. I'll get the tray later."

Terry walked out of the room and Chandler slowly started started to eat what was before him. Monica sat next to him as he started becoming drowsy.

"You are done," she placed the tray on the coffee table. "You've had more than half of this. You need to get settled into bed."

Chandler nodded and allowed her to help him up off the couch and walked with him up the stairs to their bedroom. He headed for the dresser and pulled out some pajamas and headed towards the bathroom.

"I'm going to see if taking a shower helps," he told her. "Sometimes it does."

"Alright," she watched him. "I'll go down and have some supper and bring up another ice pack for you when I am done."

"Thanks," he closed the door behind him and she headed out of the room.

Monica walked into the kitchen and spotted everyone getting ready to eat. She smiled as she saw that her brother and Carol had arrived.

"Hey," Carol smiled at her. "Terry just told us about Chandler. How is he?"

"He's taking a shower right now," she told her. "He said that it helps sometime. Then he's going to lay down."

"He's usually better by the next day," Charles told her.

"It's ready," Terry turned off the stovetop as Charles got some plates out. "We can all just eat in here."

"Sounds good," they all dished out the pasta onto their plates and gathered around to eat.

After she was finished eating, Monica grabbed another ice pack and headed back upstairs to check on Chandler. She walked into their room and saw him starting to get settled into bed.

"Hey," she smiled at him. "Did the shower help?"

"A little," he said softly. "It also drained my energy."

"Well take these," she placed a couple ibuprofen in his hand and handed him a bottled water.

"Thanks," he swallowed them down and lay back as she placed the ice pack on his forehead. "Do you mind closing the curtains? The streetlights are starting to come on and they're a bit bright."

"Got it," she went to pull the curtains closed and came back to help him cover and turn out the bedside lamp. "Now you just rest. I'll leave you to the quiet, but I'll be back up in a little bit."

"I'll probably be asleep when you do," he mumbled.

"Good," she smiled at him. "Rest is what you need right now."

"You're so pushy," he mumbled as he smiled at her.

"But you love me for it," she smiled back.

"Yes I do,"

"Just rest," she headed for the door. "I'll see you in a little bit."

"Ok," he mumbled as she quietly closed the door behind her.

Hopefully it wouldn't take him that long to recover from this.


AN: So what did you all think of this? I hope you liked it. Please review!