AN: Sorry that it has been so long since I updated this story. Things have been crazy for me the last few months. I am hoping to post more regularly. I hope you enjoy this update.
Disclaimer: See first chapter.
Chapter 35
By the next morning, Chandler's migraine had disappeared. He was still a bit run down, but he knew he would be fine in no time. Which was good because that night was Ross' birthday dinner. None of them were looking forward to seeing Jack and Judy Gellar, but they were looking forward to seeing their reactions when they all walked in. Plus Charles and Terry had booked a couple of lanes at the bowling alley for them later that night with unlimited pizza, snacks, and soda to enjoy until closing time.
Chandler and Monica were sitting on the couch in the den with Chandler's laptop open before him as they talked about something for school. Joey and Phoebe were sitting nearby as they watched a movie on TV.
"Hey," Terry came into them and they all looked up at him. "Since you are feeling better Chandler, would you like to go down to the dealership to get your trade-in? You told me you had made a decision on which car you wanted."
"They have one in stock?" Chandler asked him.
"Lucky for you, he saved one for us since they are in high demand right now."
"Ok," Chandler shut down his laptop and started to stand.
"Can we come?" Joey asked.
"Sure," Chandler shrugged and they all started out of the room.
Chandler, Monica, Joey, and Phoebe climbed into the porsche as Charles and Terry got into their SUV and both vehicles pulled down the driveway. A few minutes later, they pulled into a dealership and pulled around to the back where the offices were.
"Charles, Terry," a man came out to them. "Good to see you."
"Nice to see you again Jared," Terry smiled at him. "Do you still have it?"
"I sure do," he spotted the group of teenagers headed their way. "Hello Chandler."
"Hi," he smiled politely, having only met him a handful of times.
"Ready to see your new beauty?"
"Yes," Joey answered and the adults chuckled as Jared led the group over to a black range rover.
"Go ahead and explore," Jared told them and the teenagers rushed over as Jared went back to chat with Charles and Terry. "It is completely safe and it has the added features that you requested."
Monica climbed into the front passenger seat next to Chandler in the driver's seat as Phoebe and Joey climbed into the passenger seats behind them.
"This is nice," Monica smiled.
"So I did good then?" Chandler looked at her.
"Yes,"
"Whoa, is this a DVD player?" Joey pressed a button and it flipped down.
"Terry added a few extra features that I didn't ask for," Chandler told them.
"So what do you guys think?" Terry came over to them.
"It's awesome!" Phoebe told him.
"It's great," Chandler smiled at him. "Thank you."
"You guys can continue to explore it while we go get the paperwork taken care of inside. Then we can go get the title taken care of."
"Got it,"
"So third row seating, heated seats, navigation…." Monica explored the front.
"Charging ports," Chandler opened the front middle console. "Plus it has the rear camera for when backing out. And the tether for the car seat."
"Nice," she smiled at him. "And plenty of room for all the baby things."
"Turn on the radio," Joey said. "I want to hear how it sounds."
Terry and Charles watched from Jared's office window as the group explored the new car. Jared came back in after going to retrieve the paperwork that was needed.
"I think they like it," Jared joined them at the window. "And there's the sound system."
"And you assure us that it is safe?" Charles looked at him.
"Absolutely. I have always looked out for my clients."
"We're starting to get worried for him with graduation, college, and of course the baby coming."
"Completely safe for families," Jared told them. "I just can't believe that Chandler is married with a child on the way."
"We are still coming to terms with it all," Terry said.
"Well let's get this paperwork done. Those teenagers look like they want to take it for a spin."
They all spent the next hour up at the dealership getting everything completed. Chandler cleaned out all his belongings from the porsche, which wasn't much. Charles and Terry took the group with them to get the title, and Chandler called the insurance company to get everything switched over.
"Alright," Jared handed over the keys to Chandler. "It is officially yours now. Have fun and be safe."
"Thanks," Chandler smiled as he accepted them.
"You guys may go now," Charles told them. "Be back at the house by five so we have time to get ready for Ross' party tonight."
"We still need to get him something," Phoebe said. "What does he like?"
"Science stuff," Joey told her. "He's a dork."
"He has other interests," Monica said as they all climbed into the range rover and closed the doors.
"Seatbelts!" Charles called.
"Relax," Terry assured him as Chandler pulled out of the dealership. "He is always safe."
That night, they were all finishing getting ready for Ross' birthday dinner. They were all getting dressed in fancy clothes since it was a nice restaurant. When it was over, they would all come back and change into more comfortable clothes for bowling later on.
"Are we ready?" Charles came out to the front hall where everyone was waiting.
"Can I have my phone out when we get there?" Chandler looked at Monica. "For recording your parents' expressions the moment we walk in?"
"No," she playfully smacked his arm. "Besides, this is going to be awkward."
"Your Nana will be there," Terry told her. "If she's the same as I remember her, there will not be an awkward moment. For us anyway."
They all headed out the door and the teenagers climbed into Chandler's new car while Terry climbed into Charles' car with him. They drove across town to the restaurant and started their way inside. They stopped to talk to the maitre d briefly before being directed to the back room. They spotted Ross sitting uncomfortably at a long table with his parents, grandmother, Carol, and her parents.
"Here we go," Chandler took Monica's hand. "Ready?"
"As I'll ever be," she told him as Ross spotted them and smiled.
"Welcome," Althea stood up to greet them as Jack and Judy sat shocked at the group starting to sit at their table.
"What is the meaning of this?" Judy asked.
"What?" Ross looked at her. "You said I could invite whoever I wanted. Why wouldn't I invite my sister and best friend and their extended family?"
"This was totally worth it," Carol smiled at them.
"Hush," Adalee nudged her. "But you're right."
"So you didn't invite my granddaughter to her brother's birthday dinner?" Althea turned on her daughter and son-in-law.
"They don't talk to me unless it pertains to them yelling at me that I am throwing my life away," Monica stated.
"What's new with you?" Althea turned back to Monica and Chandler. "Last I heard was that you were waiting to hear on some scouts for college?"
"He was offered full-ride scholarships from every college scout that attended his last game," Charles stated proudly.
"And have you two made a decision where you plan on going to college?"
"We're still discussing it," Monica smiled. "But we are leaning a lot towards NYU. They have a lot of criteria that we are wanting. Especially with the baby coming."
"Sorry, but this is Ross' night," Chandler spoke up. "I don't want to take away from his special day. Can we tell you about this later?"
"Of course," Althea smiled at him. "You are absolutely right."
"I don't mind," Ross shrugged.
"Are we ready to order?" their waitress came up to the table.
"Tonight is on me for all of you," Althea looked at the surprised group. "Order what you want."
"So lobster?" Joey ventured.
"Dude," Chandler looked at him. "Save room for later."
"Right,"
"What's later?" George asked.
"We have something planned," Carol looked at her dad.
"Got it," they all placed their orders.
As the dinner went on, Jack and Judy Gellar looked more and more displeased. Especially when they heard Ross talk about hanging out with everyone later on. Chandler smiled as Monica made sure to let everyone know about the better party for her brother as they were starting to depart.
"I have a change of clothes in my car," Ross told them. "I can just come to your place and change."
"Come see the car I just picked up this morning," Chandler told him as they all went out to the parking lot.
"You finally decided on one?" Ross went to check out the range rover. "Nice."
"Third row seating, lots of safety features, and it has the Latch system for the car seat."
"Let's go," Joey called impatiently. "I would like to get out of these clothes as soon as possible."
"Come on," they all climbed into their cars and pulled out of the parking lot, leaving Jack, Judy, and Althea behind.
It didn't take the teenagers long to change out of their fancy clothes and into ones that were much more comfortable. They all climbed back into the cars and made their way across town and to the local bowling alley. They walked in and saw two lanes marked off, so they proceeded to unload their things and walked to the counter.
"Hey Chandler," the owner came out to greet him when he saw him approach the counter.
"Hi Ted," Chandler greeted him back as they all got their rental shoes.
"Terry called earlier to reserve the lanes for you all. You also get unlimited pizza and soda. I'll start you out with one pepperoni and one cheese, and a pitcher each of pepsi and mountain dew. If that's good with all of you."
"Sounds good to me," Chandler shrugged.
"Just let us know when you get low," the group went to claim a couple tables by their lanes as Ted followed with the pitchers of soda and cups for all of them.
They all collected their rental shoes and returned to their area to put them on. After getting their shoes on, the girls went to the counter to request some songs for them to play.
"So how's it feel to be an old man now?" Chandler smirked over at Ross.
"Real funny," Ross rolled his eyes at him. "You know in a few short months I'll be able to say the same thing to you."
The smile suddenly disappeared from Chandler's face and Ross and Joey exchanged looks as the girls came back over to them. Monica looked between the three of them as she saw the look on her husband's face.
"What's going on?" she asked the group and Joey gave her a shrug.
"I'm going to go pick out my ball," Chandler stood up and left the group behind.
"What happened?" Monica asked her brother. "We were only gone for two minutes."
"I don't know what happened," Ross looked at them all. "We were just joking around. Then he got all serious and just shut down."
"What were you joking around about?" Carol asked.
"Our birthdays. He called me an old man. I told him it wouldn't be long before I could say the same thing to him."
"Oh,"
"What?" Monica looked at her. "What did he say?"
"Yeah, what was so bad about it?" Ross looked at his girlfriend.
"Ok," Carol sat down in one of the chairs and they all joined her. "It's about his mom."
"What about his mom?" Joey asked.
"When he wound up in the hospital and his dads took custody of him, they filed a restraining order against his mom and stepdad."
"That's normal though, right?" Phoebe asked.
"Yes it is," Carol nodded. "Except that they usually run out within a few years unless you keep renewing it or filing new charges."
"And has it run out?" Monica asked, fearing for all of their safeties.
"Not yet. Charles and Terry renew it every year. But with Chandler turning eighteen in a few months, they won't be able to do it anymore with him legally becoming an adult."
"So his mom could just show up one day out of the blue and we wouldn't be able to do anything about it?" Ross asked.
"Most likely,"
"Where is he?" Phoebe looked around and they all looked towards the ball racks, but didn't see Chandler anywhere near them.
"I know where he is," Monica stood up as she glanced at Carol. "I'll get him. He probably knew that you would tell all of us about this."
"Probably,"
Monica walked through the crowd and made her way out of the building. She walked a little ways as she saw a puff of smoke wafting from around the corner of the building. She rounded the corner and saw him leaning against the brick wall as he inhaled deeply from the cigarette that he had between his lips.
"I thought you promised me that you had quit doing that," she spoke and he looked over at her abruptly. "We both agreed that I wouldn't tell your dads that you still did it if you quit because we have a baby on the way."
"This is the first one that I have had in a very long time,"
"How long?" she stood next to him as he dropped the cigarette to the ground and stomped on it.
"When me and my dad weren't speaking before my soccer injury,"
"That was just a few weeks ago,"
"It's always because of her,"
"What do you mean?"
"I only started smoking because I would get stressed thinking about my mom and what happened to me."
"That is very unhealthy," she took his hand and he nodded. "Instead of doing that, you could always talk. To me, your dads, our friends. Not smoke."
"I know," he sighed as he looked at her finally. "Carol told you, didn't she?"
"About the restraining order, yes. Is there something else?"
"No. It's about the restraining order. My birthday should be a reason to celebrate,"
"It is," she assured him. "It will be."
"It will also be about her being able to have access to me whenever she wants."
"Your dads won't let that happen,"
"They won't be able to stop it,"
"Look, as of right now, your mom can't get to you without getting into a lot of legal trouble. So let's put this out of our minds and remember the reason why we are all here and why your dads are paying for everything."
"Ross's birthday," Chandler sighed. "Did I ruin the celebration for him?"
"I'm pretty sure that my parents did that with the dinner at the stuffy restaurant."
"Let's get back in there," Chandler took her hand and they walked back into the bowling alley.
They both picked out their bowling balls and made their way back to the group. They all glanced back at them as they were putting their names into the computer for their game as they were eating some of the pizza that had just arrived at their tables.
"Hey," Ross smiled at him. "You good?"
"I'm good," Chandler responded.
"Are we good?"
"We're good," Chandler assured him. "Sorry I left."
"It's ok. I know there's a lot that you don't want to tell us about. I just hope that you'll let us in eventually. No pressure."
"I'm starting to," he smiled at Monica.
"Come on," Phoebe pulled Chandler away from the awkward conversation. "Put your name in so we can start playing."
"Got it," he sat down to type in his name as Monica watched him loosen up again after their conversation.
AN: So what did you think? Let me know in your reviews!
