AN: Sorry for the long stretches between updates. Things are crazy on my end. I hope you enjoy this update. PLZ R&R!

Disclaimer: See first chapter.


Chapter 36

The next morning, none of them wanted to get out of bed. Since it was Sunday and they were all supposed to be going to church they had no choice. Charles and Terry made their rounds waking up everyone, and were mostly met with grumbles.

Terry knocked on Chandler and Monica's bedroom door before sticking his head into the room and spotting Chandler at the desk in front of his computer. He could hear the shower on, indicating that Monica was in the bathroom already.

"Good morning," he greeted, and Chandler turned around to look at him.

"Morning,"

"What are you doing?"

"Working on the next blog. It's due this week."

"What's this one about?"

"You'll have to find out with everyone else."

"Ok," the bathroom door opened and Monica came out. "Your turn."

"I'm going," Chandler closed the laptop and went into the bathroom with his change of clothes.

"Did something happen last night?" Terry looked at Monica.

"What do you mean?" She looked up from her jewelry box.

"I know him well enough by now that I can tell when something feels off."

"I'll tell you about it later," she told him.

"I'll see you downstairs then," Terry closed the door behind him and made his way back downstairs.

Charles looked up from setting out some breakfast muffins for everyone as Terry came in. He noticed his facial expression and looked at him in question.

"Is everything ok?" he asked him. "Did you get Chandler and Monica up alright?"

"They were already awake," Terry told him as he got some glasses from the cupboard. "He was working at his computer and Monica was already taking a shower."

"They've been up for a while," Charles stopped what he was doing. "Something happened."

"Monica confirmed it. She said she will talk to us about it later."

"Ooh, muffins," Phoebe came into them as she dragged Joey in behind her.

"We have banana, blueberry, and mixed berry." Terry told them.

"Coffee is ready," Charles added. "There's also orange juice."

"Sweet," Joey took a couple muffins as they heard a noise and the group looked up as Chandler and Monica came in with all their things for church. "You guys are leaving already?"

"We're meeting that couple in the cafe," Monica told them.

"She wants to get there early," Chandler mumbled.

"Grab some breakfast first," Charles grabbed some muffins for them as Chandler went to get a couple travel coffee cups and filled them up.

"Thanks," Monica took the muffins from them.

"Will you guys be in Sunday school?" Phoebe asked them.

"I'm not sure," Chandler told them.

"We'll see you there," Terry told them as they walked out to the garage.

Chandler pulled his car into the church parking lot and put it in park. They both climbed out and started to make their way inside the building. They walked inside and spotted a couple talking to Pastor Dan.

"Chandler, Monica," Pastor Dan called them over. "I'd like you to meet Evan and Hannah Westcott. You all have a few things in common."

"Nice to meet you," Monica smiled at the couple.

"You too," Hannah smiled back.

"I will leave you to it," Pastor Dan told them and he gathered up his things and walked in the direction of his office.

"Should we sit?" Evan gestured to the cafe. "Our son is sleeping in his car seat over here."

"Sure," Chandler followed the other three to an area with a couple tables where an infant was settled on the floor in a car seat and fast asleep.

"We know this is a little awkward," Hannah stated as they all sat down. "But Pastor Dan approached us a few weeks ago and told us about you guys. We wanted to at least meet you."

"So what's your story?" Monica asked them. "Sorry if that's too forward."

"It's fine," Evan assured her. "We grew up here. We were seniors last year when we found out that we were going to be parents. Hannah's parents kicked her out when we announced it, but my family took her in and they supported us. We're in college now and it is tough, but I wouldn't change any of the choices or decisions that we made."

"That's pretty much it in a nutshell," Hannah told them.

"Kind of like us then," Chandler stated. "Except we had to sneak Monica out of her parents house when it was announced. She was emancipated anyway."

"I always felt overshadowed by my brother," Monica told them. "Not his fault. It was mainly my parents. So I spent as much time as I could at my friend's house or at Chandler's after we started dating."

"No wonder Pastor Dan wanted us to meet," Hannah said. "We have a lot in common."

"So you're from around here then?" Chandler asked.

"Yes we are," Evan told them. "When Hannah got kicked out, my parents did take her in, but they couldn't afford to house another person. So I started calling family members to see if anyone was willing to take us in. My grandparents agreed to house us on the condition that we stayed in school and got jobs to pay towards the household. They live nearby so we agreed and moved in with them within the week. We were able to graduate on time."

Charles and Terry arrived at the church with Joey and Phoebe and scanned the front lobby for Chandler and Monica. Charles spotted them sitting at a table at the cafe with another couple. The girl was rocking a small child in her arms as they all talked.

Monica looked over as she spotted a group coming inside the church and waved at the group as they walked over to them.

"These are my dads, Charles and Terry," Chandler introduced them. "And Joey and Phoebe live with us too. This is Evan and Hannah Westcott, and this is their son Matthew."

"Nice to meet you all," Evan smiled at them.

"I see we are all getting acquainted," Pastor Dan came up to them. "Good. I did want Chandler and Monica to know that we have a class on Wednesday nights for single parents. It will give you a chance to get to know other young parents in the area, and there's lots of resources that you all can use as well."

"Sounds great," Monica smiled.

Everyone else went off to their Sunday school classes after talking with Hannah and Evan a little bit longer. Chandler and Monica decided to continue talking with the couple so the four of them stayed in the cafe.

"So where do you go to college?" Chandler asked.

"NYU," Evan told them.

"That's where we plan on applying," Monica told them. "Chandler was offered an athletic scholarship, it has a great culinary problem, it offers childcare, and an excellent writing program."

"Seriously?" Chandler sighed as he saw her staring at him. "Now?"

"Your dads are planning on having another meeting with us. They will probably bring it up seeing as how the guidance counselor called them in to discuss it with them."

"So your dads are having meetings with you huh?" Hannah spoke up. "How many have you had so far?"

"Just one," Chandler told them. "We had to sign an agreement stating what all would be our responsibility once the baby comes."

"Along with telling us that we had to find the OB-GYN on our own and start thinking about childcare."

"I'd be prepared for one where they tell you that you need to start contributing to the household."

"We're prepared," Monica told them. "So are we going to be getting together regularly? Or…."

"We normally come back every Wednesday and Sunday for church," Evan told them. "We could meet those days if you guys are available."

"I would like that," Chandler smiled at the couple.


Evan and Hannah joined Monica and Chandler along with the rest of the family for the sermon. Before they parted ways, they exchanged numbers and made plans to meet up that next Wednesday. Everyone arrived back at the house and went to change out of their church clothes and into more comfortable clothes. Chandler and Monica set up their school things in the kitchen as Joey and Phoebe disappeared into one of the rooms upstairs.

Charles walked into the kitchen with Terry and spotted the couple crowded around Chandler's laptop as they talked in soft voices.

"So can I put it in if I don't name any names?" Chandler asked her.

"Fine," she sighed.

"What are you two up to?" Terry asked them.

"Working on the blog for this week," Chandler told them.

"Do you mind taking a break so we can talk?" Charles asked them and Chandler shut down his laptop.

"I guess you were right," Chandler looked at Monica.

"Aren't I always?" she smiled at him.

"As long as you don't ask me about anything that I published with my blog," Chandler looked at his dads.

"Your Uncle Max convinced us not to," Terry told him. "But we would like to talk to you about our meeting with the school guidance counselor."

"I knew that would be brought up," Chandler sighed. "It's no big deal."

"It is a very big deal that you don't want to pursue something that everyone can see that you have a lot of talent at."

"I don't want any connections to Nora," Chandler stated. "Especially one where she could come at me and say that I got this talent from her."

"If you are to get anything from your mother, I would be happy with something positive like this writing talent of yours." Charles told him. "The counselor would like to see you pursue this in college."

"I'm not sure about that,"

"Compromise," Terry spoke up. "You can major in the business classes that you want to take if you agree to minor in creative writing classes."

"You'll let this go if I agree?"

"Yes,"

"Deal," Chandler sighed. "Can I go back to my homework now?"

"One more thing," Charles stopped him from opening his laptop again. "We need to have another talk about things that we will be stepping back from in regards to you being parents within the next several months."

"More specifically, us making all your meals."

"What do you mean?"

"We will no longer be providing meals for you two,"

"What?" Monica asked.

"We have noticed that you guys usually wait around for us to make your meals or snacks on a daily basis."

"No we don't," Monica told them. "You make the meals and call for us telling us that it's ready. If you wanted us to make our own meals we would have."

"Even when we work, you always save us a plate for when we get home," Chandler added.

"Well that stops now," Charles told them. "From this point forward, you will be making your own meals and buying your own snacks."

"Using your own money to buy everything that you need." Terry added.

"So do you have a budget in mind?" Chandler asked.

"Let's start off with fifty dollars for the whole week," Terry told them.

"Is this just meals at home? Or do we need to start taking our own lunches to school as well?"

"We provide everything that has to do with your schooling, so just everything that you eat at home for now,"

"What about spices and condiments?"

"You can use what we have here,"

"Appliances too?"

"You can use any appliance that we have here,"

"Meal prep?" Chandler looked over at Monica.

"Meal prep," she agreed. "I'll go find our lists."

"I'll call Evan and Hannah," Chandler took out his phone. "They mentioned this morning that they go shopping at Aldis on Sundays. Maybe they won't mind us coming along."

"You guys are agreeing to this way too easily," Charles stated.

"We've been researching everything that would make things easier once we go to college," Chandler told them. "Meal planning and prep was one of them. Also, Terry showed me how to meal prep when I moved in here. I still remember everything."

Chandler left his dads standing speechless in the kitchen as he followed Monica upstairs to their room. Within the hour, Chandler and Monica headed outside to Monica's car with a shopping list in hand and made their way to meet Evan and Hannah at the store.


AN: So what did you think? I hope you all liked this update. PLZ R&R!