Several days had passed since the infamous 'hat' incident and there was no sign that the hostility towards her was going to ease off anytime soon. Every shift was filled with snide remarks, degrading comments and nasty pranks. They really seemed to despise her no matter what she did. At least today's grueling shift was finally over and it wouldn't be long until she could go home, climb into bed and crawl under her nice warm covers. Although she wouldn't admit it to anyone, she was utterly exhausted.

Before she could leave she just needed to inspect the clean-up work; anyone could make a kitchen clean but she liked to ensure it was 'Monica-clean'. Giving it an extra wipe and ensuring the pans were stacked neatly, the handles all facing to the right, she stepped back to admire her sparkling handiwork. It looked damn good.

Monica's proud smile faltered as Huwie suddenly walked into the otherwise empty kitchen; she had hoped he had already left but apparently no such luck. She bit her lip as he approached her, a disturbed smile on his face and she readied herself for whatever was coming.

"I found these lying around upstairs," he indicated to the three large glass jars he was holding. It looked like tomato sauce of some kind but why would they be upstairs? "I thought I'd be helpful and bring them back to the store room."

"O-k," she said slowly, confused.

A frown stayed engraved on her features as she tried to work out what he was up to. She'd bet her new steam-mop and all the accessories that he wasn't doing any of this out of the kindness of his heart. He was scheming something…but what?

"Will you get the door? My hands are full."

Monica eyed him critically for another moment and then eyed the said door. It seemed safe enough.

"Sometime today would be nice. Some of us have lives ya know and I don't want to spend the night here with you."

She held in her automatic response to let him know that the feeling was mutual. Cautiously she walked towards him, heading for the store room. As she came directly opposite him she saw his eyes change, barely containing their glee. She watched in slow motion as he lifted the jars to almost shoulder height and then let go, quickly stepping back.

Monica leapt back instinctively, whacking her side against one of the counter tops and grimaced as the pain shot through her. The jars hit the hard floor with a loud smash, the glass shattering instantly. Bright red tomato sauce splattered everywhere, on her, on the cupboards, on the floor she'd just spent 20 minutes cleaning…

"Wh-?"

"Opps," he cut in, looking smug. "I'm such a clutz. Oh well, I'll see you tomorrow… unless you actually take the hint and quit."

She stared at him in disbelief as he walked out leaving behind the mess. How could he do that? Why tonight when she'd been so ready to go home and collapse? Annoyed, she took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down as she surveyed the scene. There was no way in hell she was leaving it in this state overnight.

"What happened?"

She looked up surprised to see Chandler standing there. It was like he had a sixth sense when it came to her in trouble. She allowed her eyes to take him in; it was the first time she'd seen him out of his waiter uniform and in civvies. He was just in jeans, a shirt and a leather jacket but boy did he look nice. Very nice.

"Monica?"

She jumped meeting his concerned blue eyes.

"Oh sorry, it's uh nothing, just another one of Huwie's hilarious jokes," she dismissed quickly, feeling her cheeks warming in embarrassment at getting caught checking him out.

She quickly turned away, crouching down and reaching for the larger pieces of glass.

"I know I sound like a stuck record but Huwie's a jerk," Chandler commented, "Let me help you."

With that he took off his jacket, hanging it on a spare peg and started to roll-up his charcoal shirt sleeves.

"You don't have to do that, it's late and your shift is already over."

"Both true but I'm almost thirty so my mom lets me stay out as long as I like," he joked and despite her mood she couldn't help but laugh slightly. She didn't know how he did it but the man always managed to lighten her mood no matter what this place threw at her. "Come on, just let me help," he insisted, "with two of us on the case it will get cleaned up quicker."

"Are you sure you haven't got somewhere better to be? I don't want to keep you from…whatever it is you do when you aren't here."

They hadn't really ever talked much about life outside of work.

"Nah," he dismissed easily avoiding the question, "you really aren't keeping me from much, believe me. Now let's do this."

"Ok," she nodded, grateful for the help and the company, "Thank you, Chandler."

"No biggie," he flashed her a quick grin before grabbing a container for the broken glass to go in. His hands joined hers in the tomato mess, pulling a face as they carefully located the larger shards amongst the gunk. "So, you still aren't tempted to fire him? Not even a little bit?"

"Right now I am, but come tomorrow I know I'll chicken out," she confessed. "I'm not very good at firing people. I'm not sure I could do it."

He paused for a moment looking thoughtful, "Hey, you know what you could do? I, well it sounds a little silly but you know Orson Wells, the director?" she nodded, unsure where he was heading with this. "Well, it was rumored that at the beginning of every movie he would hire somebody, just so he could fire the poor sod in front of everyone. It showed people straight away that he was the boss man and if you didn't do it the way he wanted, you'd be out."

"Ok…" she could see where he was going with this, "but who could I fire?"

"As long as it isn't me," he teased, a sparkle lighting his stunning eyes as he went back to picking carefully at the jagged glass. "You got any friends or family that you could fake hire just to fire?"

She paused in her cleaning action, "You know, you might actually be on to something," she told him thoughtfully. "That's a really good idea."

"I'm known to have them occasionally," he quipped a cheeky grin on his face.

"I even know who would do it. One of my best friends, Joey, is an actor and he's used to being fired, a lot. Hell, he got fired from a burger-king commercial just last week," she laughed but Chandler didn't join in as expected.

She glanced over to him curiously, watching in surprise as his face shifted, turning slightly darker. His smile slipped briefly from his face and she watched as he swallowed hard shaking his head at himself before visibly trying to pull off a more enthusiastic expression. He failed miserably.

"Sounds perfect," he lied. "So, uh, he's an actor? Is he big? Been in anything I'd have seen?"

He stood up then, distancing himself as he went to fetch the dustpan and brush.

Monica frowned a little at the sudden change in atmosphere but decided not to question or push it right now. He'd been so compassionate to her this last week or so and she didn't want to risk ruining that or making him uncomfortable. Without their little fire escape tete-a-tetes she didn't know how she'd get through the more crappy shifts.

"Um," she tried to get her focus back onto his question, "Not really, he's been in a few things here or there but nothing big. He's done a few extra parts in movies, lots of commercials – he was even the face of VD for the health department one year," she chuckled a little at the memory. "I guess his biggest part was when he was on Days of our Lives, but it didn't last long."

"The soap?" Chandler asked, seeming to relax a little.

"Yeah, he played Dr Drake Ramoray for a while," she explained, still subtly studying him. "My roommate Rachel, she loves the show so much and couldn't believe when he landed the role. She was over the moon ecstatic! She helped him read the scripts just to see what was going to happen in advance. He even let her go down to the set to watch them shoot. I think she was more heartbroken than he was when they killed him off."

He nodded, seeming to take it all in in that quiet way he did, "How'd he, uh, go?"

"Fell down an elevator shaft."

"Oooh, that's gotta hurt," he joked and Monica found herself chuckling along with him.

"Yeah," she agreed smiling fondly, "he's a great guy but not the brightest. He accidently made a comment in a magazine article that pissed the writers off, so they showed him what they thought."

Monica started to laugh but realized that once again he wasn't joining in with her.

"Yeah…writers can be powerful people sometimes," he muttered before standing to grab some cloths and spray. "So," he redirected the conversation, "do you think he'll agree to let you fire him?"

She nodded, still confused by him.

"I'm sure if I promise Joey a sandwich plus a day's wages, he won't say no."

"Nice," he grinned in approval.

"He's a good guy, you'll like him," she promised, hoping it was true.

"I'm not gay," he pointed out lightly.

"I didn't mean it like that," she gently hit him, careful not to get any sauce on his shirt, "I never thought you were gay."

"Good," he said softly, his eyes meeting and locking with hers. His eyes were so addictive, especially the way he was looking at her right now. Her stomach tightened in anticipation. "I'd hate for you to think I was."

He continued to hold her gaze and her heart rate sped up as the connection they seemed to share passed silently between them. She thought for a moment he was going to kiss her but after a beat he looked down, breaking the spell.

"This, uh," he cleared his throat, "this looks pretty good," he gestured to the sparkling surface, all signs of the tomato incident erased. "We should run a cleaning business after hours."

"I'll consider it," she teased, still excited from their almost-maybe-kinda moment. "But only if we can call it Monica's Maid Brigade and we could have these uniforms and ooh our logo could be on our aprons and..."

"And the dream's over," he joked, his eyes dancing. "Anyhow, I think our job here is done and we should get out of here before you make me sign my life away with some kinda cleaning contract. You wanna go grab your bits? I'll hang around whilst you lock up."

"You don't have to do that," she argued but he shook his head uninterested in her protests.

"I want to."

"Ok, then…thanks."

He offered her a small nod and another one of his special smiles. A little thrill ran through her as she took the stairs two at a time to fetch her coat and purse from the cloak room. A large smile spread across her face as she realized something; Huwie's little plan to make her evening miserable had completely back-fired.

"He said yes!" Monica said excitedly as she stepped through the fire escape the next day.

Chandler raised an eyebrow, "You proposing to people now? Anyone I know?"

"No," she laughed as she settled beside him, closer than usual. "I'm gonna hire Joey so I can fire him."

"Oh, congrats," he grinned that gorgeous smile of his.

"He's going to start on Friday, it's gonna be quite fun to boss him around and yell at him."

Chandler turned to her, studying her a moment, "You're looking forward to it aren't you? Getting to fire someone."

"Maybe," she replied coyly, taking in his raised eyebrow, "Ok, yes I am. I just hope it works and people start respecting me."

"If it doesn't then maybe you'll get the confidence to fire someone for real. Starting with Huwie."

"Possibly," she shrugged, tucking her hair behind her ear. She knew it was unlikely, "We'll see."

He chuckled softly, inhaling on his smoke before returning to his notepad, jotting something down. She watched him for a moment before breaking the silence.

"I've never asked about that," she said curiously, gesturing to the notepad, "I mean I always see you with it but never asked what it's for. You always seem to be scribbling in it."

He froze, looking like a deer caught in headlights. She hadn't been expecting that reaction at all.

"Oh, uh this?" he flushed, flipping the cover closed, preventing her from seeing what was written on the pages, as he flustered, "It's nothing, really. Just stupid stuff."

She frowned at the sudden awkwardness; she couldn't help but wonder just what his story was.

"Hey," she reached a hand out to touch his knee, pleased when he didn't reject her. "You've seen a lot of my stupid. I mean you've rescued my chef jacket from the oven, let me cry on you over my hat…do I need to continue?"

"Nah, you're not stupid," he insisted, shaking his head "you're just unlucky to be in such a stupid place. Of course it's gonna upset you. They take it too far."

"Thank you," she studied him, deciding his moral support was more important than getting answers from him right now. Everyone had secrets and she didn't need to know his. Not just yet. "Look, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to put you on the spot with that. I was just curious. If you don't want to tell me then that's ok."

His blue eyes went from her to the notepad and back to her. Indecision written clearly on his face.

"Honestly," she promised, squeezing his knee.

He sighed, stubbing out his cigarette. "I'll tell you but I haven't got time now, my break finished a few minutes ago. You free after work? You know, barring any tomato jars committing suicide?"

She looked down chewing her lip, "You asking me out?" she asked quietly as he froze again, her question hanging in the air between them.

"Um," he stood up automatically stuffing the mysterious notepad in its usual pocket. His hand ran over and smoothed down his dark red tie as he picked his words. "I'm not sure," he finally admitted. "I mean I'd like to but…I don't know if I should."

She tried to hold back the smile. He wanted to ask her out. Despite whatever was holding him back he obviously felt something between them.

"Well, I'm free," she confirmed to him softly. "Whether it's a date or not."

It was his turn to swallow as he ducked his head briefly before looking back up at her. He eventually cleared his throat and offered her a shy smile before nodding.

"Ok then, I'll uh see you later."

"Sure," she waited until she was alone until she allowed the large smile to spread across her face. He liked her. He was going out with her later, even if it was just as friends.

Things were definitely going in the right direction.

Monica practically floated through the final hours of her shift. Despite the usual cutting comments and someone deciding to hide all the chopping boards, her good mood wasn't broken. Every now and again he'd catch her eye from across the room and he'd offer her this little smile that did something to her insides.

It seemed to take forever but finally people started to leave. Her heart warmed when she realized Chandler was hovering, his eyes tracking Huwie to ensure he didn't try and pull anything after last night. She kinda liked that he cared enough to try and protect her.

Soon it was just the two of them left and Monica couldn't help but smile, discreetly running her eyes over him. He must have already gone upstairs as he was already dressed in dark jeans and a blue casual shirt and she couldn't help but admire the man. He was gorgeous.

"You ok?" he asked, and she blushed furiously, realizing she had been caught staring yet again.

"F-fine," she replied quickly, "sorry I was just um…let me go grab my coat."

"Sure."

Monica ran up the stairs to the cloakroom. She pushed open the door, stepping back in time as a large pan of water came crashing down onto the floor in front of her. Her heart was pounding and she took some deep breaths only to be startled when Chandler appeared beside her, his front practically pressed to her back.

"You ok?" he panted, his hand on her shoulder. "What was that?"

"Oh, it's nothing," she promised as she turned to him, "Just another stupid prank."

He sighed in annoyance, shaking his head in frustration as he took in the scene, "That could have been dangerous. If that had landed on you you could have had concussion or worse. What's wrong with them? Why can't they just leave you alone?"

"It's ok," she promised but the angry look didn't leave his face.

"Hey," on instinct her hand reached out, her palm lightly touching his cheek, trailing to his stubborn-set jaw trying to ease his tension. "Don't worry about it," she said reminding him softly, "they're just a bunch of idiots, remember?"

He nodded wordlessly and that's when she noticed just how close they were to each other. Their faces were mere inches apart, her hand still touching his cheek. Their eyes locked, searching one another's, although for what she wasn't sure. The room was silent other than their harsh breathing as time seemed to stand still.

Then she felt him move forwards just fraction, his eyes dropping to her lips. It was enough. She leaned in closing the gap, using the hand on his face to guide him as their lips pressed together. She felt the spark between them almost instantly. Surprised at the chemistry, her eyes fluttered closed and she deepened the kiss. He was kissing back just as hard, just as passionate. She felt his hands, one gripping her waist, the other cradling the back of her head, his fingers tangling in her hair; she couldn't suppress the slight moan which he echoed.

Chandler eventually broke away, swallowing hard and taking a step back from her, putting space between them. He ran a hand through his short hair, making it stick up at adorable angles as he pulled a slight face, "Sorry, I uh, I wasn't intending to do that."

He was apologizing? She hadn't expected that.

"You don't have to apologize," she insisted a little confused, "I uh enjoyed it."

He sighed and Monica couldn't interpret the look on his face. He wasn't exactly jumping for joy but you couldn't fake a kiss like that. No way. It had been too good for him not to have felt something between them.

"Look, uh, let's rescue your stuff and go get that drink."

She stared at him another moment before finally nodding. She stepped over the water to get her purse and jacket as Chandler went to fetch some paper towels. She didn't know him, she had to remind herself. She didn't know much about his past or even his present other than he seemed a really nice guy. Maybe he shouldn't be kissing her for a reason? Did he already have a wife or girlfriend?

She hoped not.

Quietly they left the room, and she smiled as she felt his hand on the small of her back. If he wasn't interested then surely he wouldn't be this touchy-feely with her? They stepped out into the cold air and he waited whilst she locked up the restaurant.

"Where to?" he asked and she shrugged, not having a destination in mind. She was just keen to spend some time with him, try to figure out the enigma that was Chandler Bing. "Well there's a bar just up the street which I've heard is good. Wanna try there?"

"Sure," she offered him a smile as they started to walk side-by-side.

The night air was cool but no unpleasantly so, so they were able to set a leisurely pace as they strolled along the Manhattan sidewalk.

"So, you always been a chef?" Chandler asked, "You're damn good at it."

She blushed a little at the compliment, hoping he wouldn't see it in the moonlight, "Thanks. I've always wanted to cook, much to my mom's disapproval but this is my first 'head chef' job. My last job was a waitress in a 60s diner wearing an awful wig and fake boobs."

His laugh sounded loud in the quiet street, his eyes shining, "Now that I would've loved to have seen," he winked at her.

"It wasn't pleasant, believe me," Monica shook her head at the memory, "especially when they introduced the roller-skates."

He laughed again, shaking his head, "Roller-skates? Seriously? Boy, you've had in tough on the job front, huh?"

"That's kinda why I'm hoping this one will settle down," she confessed into the night air.

"It will," he promised, his voice softening. "Just wait until Friday and you fire your friend. You'll have them eating out of your hand."

She chuckled, wishing she was as certain, "Maybe. So what about you? Always wanted to be a waiter?"

"As long as I can remember," he joked, waiting a beat, "of course not. The pay is lousy, the customers rude and condensing and my colleagues? A load of jerks…present company excluded of course."

"Of course," she smiled. "Then how come you're here?"

"It's a long story," he informed her but his focused appeared to be on the bar that had come into sight. "Is that Johnno?"

They stopped as Monica squinted at the figure outside the bar, her heart sinking, "It looks like it," she sighed. "I'm really not up for seeing any of those guys. At least when they abuse me at work I'm getting paid."

"Don't worry about it, we'll find somewhere else," he offered easily. "Crap, that's Tony and Christie," he winced as he recognized the people gathering by Johnno looking in their direction. "We better get out of here. Follow me."

With that Chandler quickly grabbed her hand, pulling her close to the building they were next to. Keeping his eyes on the bar across the street, he kept them as near to the wall as possible. Monica tried to keep the grin off her face, finding the whole situation quite amusing now he had transformed into 'Mission Impossible' mode. Pressing their backs against the brick he moved them stealthily along the edge, darting down a side alley at the earliest opportunity.

He started running then and as their hands were still joined she had little choice but to follow, letting him weave in and out of a few alleys and side-streets before he finally stopped.

"I think we're clear," he announced looking around and Monica couldn't help but chuckle, shaking her head fondly.

"What?" he raised an eyebrow.

"You're cute," the words left her mouth before she could process what she'd said. Once her brain caught up she panicked, "I mean-"

"You're kinda cute too," he admitted shyly with a bashful little grin.

She hadn't been expecting him to say that and she blushed looking away. He squeezed her hand gently before dropping it and took another look at their surroundings. She followed suite.

"You know where we are?" she asked.

"Yep," he said confidently, "and I even have a suggestion of where we can go if you're game?"

"Great," she nodded impressed. "Where?"

"It's a little unconventional," he teased, "You trust me?"

With a frown she nodded, playing along, "I guess so."

He smiled widely, wiggling his eyebrows mischievously as he silently took hold of her hand again.

"Where are we going?" she asked.

"Patience Chef Geller," he grinned. "You'll see."

A/N- wow! Thank you so much for all the reviews guys. I didn't even think anyone would be interested in this 'kinda AU' so a huge thank you!