A/N: I finally got my computer back from Dell, and it works! Yea! (Dell still really sucks though. My laptop broke down after barely two months, and it took them about a month to get around to fixing it) It's connected to the Internet and everything! Expect more updates. In fact, I think I'm almost done with this story – maybe two or three more chapters and an epilogue. I'm also considering a sequel where 16-year-olds Jack and Erica find out about their Mom's secret.

Chapter 5

"I can't do this."

Chandler put both hands on his fiance's shoulders. "Yes, you can. You're the legendary superhero Hurricane, who's saved the world at least a dozen times over. I think you can handle your parents."

"I don't know about legendary...": Monica replied with fake modesty, a small grin on her face.

"Come on, Mon," Chandler pleaded. "What's the worst that can happen? They totally freak out, go ballistic, get really mad, say they don't love you anymore..." He trailed off at the scared look that came over Monica's face. "Okay, I'm really bad at this. Explain again why Ross isn't here with you instead?"

Monica rolled her eyes. "Because I want you! I mean, my parents love you! And if Ross was here, I'd be struggling for attention the whole time. When I tell them I'm a superhero, I don't want them to automatically think about how it affects Ross."

"How could they possibly think about -"

"'Oh my God, Ross you poor thing, having to find out that your sister didn't trust you,'" Monica interrupted, mimicking her mother.

Chandler nodded. "Point taken. Look, honey, it won't be that bad."

"How do you know that?" Monica demanded.

"Because I know your parents," Chandler retorted. "Yeah, they favor Ross sometimes, but you know they love you!"

"My mom loves it when she finds reasons I'm not a good daughter," Monica retorted, "This'll make her ecstatic."

Chandler sighed. "For the last time, Mon, there's nothing wrong with saving lives and taking down bad guys."

"That's not it," Monica replied, "Chandler...I didn't tell my own parents that I'm a superhero. I think they might be a little angry about that. Plus the fact that the rest of the gang, including Ross, knew before them?"

Chandler paused, staring at her. "Yeah, there you might be a little screwed. But, you know what, they're your parents. Suck it up and tell them."

Monica considered his words, then let out a breath. 'Okay."

Chandler gave her a reassuring hug. "All right, so let's go."

"Right behind you, sweetie." However, when he went to ring the doorbell, she turned to bolt back to the Porsche.

Chandler grabbed her arm. "Get back here!"

With Chandler's persistent urging, she rang the doorbell.

"Monica, Chandler, come in!" Judy Geller exclaimed, ushering her daughter and future son-in-law into the living room. "You've been standing out there so long! Monica, why did you try to go back to the car?"

Monica blushed. "Sorry, Mom. I, ah...thought I forgot my car keys, but then Chandler reminded me they were in my pocket."

"Oh. Well, please, have a seat. Chandler, how's your job?" Judy asked. Monica and Chandler took seats next to each other on one couch, while she sat on the opposite couch.

Chandler gave her an uneasy smile. "Same as always."

"Oh, that's good..." Judy replied.

"Not really," Chandler muttered.

Sensing the tension in the room, Judy called into the kitchen, "Jack! Monica and Chandler are here!"

"I'm coming, Judy!" Jack entered the living room. While greeting the two guests, Jack explained, "Sorry about the delay, kids. Here's a tip - don't use the bathroom for the next half hour or so."

"Thanks, Dad," Monica sighed.

Jack shrugged. "What? I'm just saying!"

"So, what brings you two here? When Monica called to say she wanted to come over, I think I nearly had a heart attack," Judy inquired, while Jack took a seat next to her.

Monica traded looks with Chandler. "Well, nothing really important...just thought I'd stop by..."

"Monica, we know," Judy interrupted.

Monica's eyes widened. "W-what?"

"Ross called us," Judy continued, "He said you've been so depressed lately..."

"I'm going to kill him," Monica murmured under her breath.

"Honey, there's nothing to be ashamed of," Jack put in. "In fact, we'll even pay for your therapist."

Monica blinked. "Hold on...a therapist?"

"Well, Ross said how depressed you are, we just figured you were coming over to tell us about your condition," Judy explained.

Monica put her head in her hands This could not be going any worse, she thought. "Oh, God."

"No, no no no no no," Chandler added. "Monica is not depressed. She wants to tell you something totally differnt."

Judy let out a sigh of relief. "Oh, that's good. For a while there we thought it was something serious."

Monica just sat there for a moment. "You know what, it's not that important. It can wait. In fact...you really don't need to know at all..."

"Monica," Chandler whispered, taking her hand in his. "You can do this."

She squeezed back, loosening her grip when she saw him wince in pain. "Mom, Dad, there's been something I've been hiding from you for a long time, ever since I was a teenager..."

Judy put a hand over her mouth, horrified. "You're not a...lesbian, are you?"

"What? No! Mom, how could you..." Monica huffed, annoyed. "This is something else. Something much more...unbelievable. So I'm just going to ask you to please, please have an open mind. And, just so you don't have to think about it - yes, Ross has known, but only for a few weeks."

"Known what?" Jack pressed.

Monica glanced one last time at her fiance, then breathed, "That I'm a superhero. Mom, Dad...I'm Hurricane."

"Monica, I don't know what you're trying to pull here, but I'm not amused. First you get us all worked up, and then you go and pull this nonsense?" Judy retorted, angry.

"Mom, I'm not trying to pull anything," Monica assured her. "I swear! I have powers, I fight crime, I wear the tight supersuit, I'm on the Zenith team...for the most part."

Jack put an arm around his wife, who was getting more and more irritated. "Sweetheart, it was fine to play pretend like this when you were five, when you told everyone you were a professional chef, but let's face it, you're not five anymore."

"I know that, Dad. That's why you have to believe that I'm being serious. I do have powers." Monica paused, unsure of where to go from there. She had been focusing on just telling them for so long, that it didn't even occur to her that she would have to prove what she was saying.

Judy got up from the couch. "I can't listen to this anymore."

"Mom, wait!" Seeing no other option, Monica stood and blew the door to the kitchen shut.

Judy froze, then turned to face her daughter. "How in the world..."

Chandler tugged on Monica's arm. "Honey, maybe you should sit down."

Monica didn't listen. Instead, she sent a strong breeze through the room. The curtains flew open, and loose papers fell to the floor. Judy had to put a hand on her hair to prevent it from becoming undone. "That's one of my powers."

Jack stared at her. "You have more?"

"Just one more, and I only found out I had it last week," Monica answered.

Chandler stood up next to her. "Uh, honey? I don't know if you should show them that one just yet..."

"Chandler, I'm letting it all out. No more secrets." Monica closed her eyes and concentrated. Slowly but surely, she levitated a few feet off the floor, until her head was hitting the ceiling. After a few seconds, she touched ground again. She then waited for her parents' reaction,

Unable to support herself, Judy sat down next to her husband. "Oh my God...I can't believe this."

"Neither can I." Jack looked at his daughter with pure amazement. "Why didn't you tell us?"

Monica lowered her eyes. "Because I was afraid you'd stare at me like I was some sort of freak. Like you're doing right now."

"Excuse me." Judy jumped up from the couch and dashed into the kitchen.

Monica got up as well. "Maybe I should..."

"Let her go, honey," Jack told her, then patted the seat next to him. When Monica sat, he took her hands in his. "You have to understand this is a little hard to us to take. You've been our little Harmonica for so long...it's going to take a while before we associate you with a crime fighting superhero. One that gets beat up by huge guys every week."

"I don't always get beat up. I beat up a lot of guys, too," Monica defended.

Jack paused. "Dear God, I didn't even think about that."

Monica and Chandler exchanged exasperated glances. This was going to be a long night.

Phoebe let herself into apartment 19. She stopped, surprised at the scene in front of her. And after seeing Monica fly, she didn't think anything would startle her ever again. "What the..."

"Hey Pheebs!" Joey greeted. Once again, he was sitting on the couch reading one of the comic books.

What had stunned Phoebe was that Rachel was sitting on the recliner, equally engrossed in the comics. She didn't even glance up. "Hey."

"You know Rachel, just because you're a woman thirty-year-old reading comics, doesn't make it any less pathetic," Phoebe remarked, referring to Rachel's joke about the Superman convention.

A brief look of guilt crossed Rachel's face. "I think I made a snap judgment there. But, you know, I gave them a chance, and I gotta tell ya...comic books are cool!"

"Yeah they are! Rach, maybe later we can play Playstation!" Joey exclaimed.

"Sure, that sounds..." Rachel paused, staring at him. "You're turning me into Chandler, aren't you?"

"No..." Joey responded, but quickly broke eye contact.

Shaking her head, Rachel asked Phoebe, who had taken a seat on the island, "Speaking of which, how's it going with him and Monica at her parents' house?"

"I don't know," Phoebe shrugged. She and Monica had set up a plan where Phoebe would call every once in a while to give Monica an excuse to leave the table. "I called her twice, but she didn't pick up. I'm a little worried."

"She's fine. She can handle this." Rachel wasn't positive if she was reassuring herself or Phoebe.

"Yeah! They're probably talking, eating dinner..." Joey trailed off, reminded that he didn't have his own dinner yet. "I'm ordering a pizza. You guys want some?"

The girls said yes, then went back to their conversation while he got the phone. Rachel let out a deep sigh. "Ross went with them, right?"

"No," Phoebe corrected. "Just them two."

Rachel raised an eyebrow. "Really? That's interesting."

"Monica had her reasons," Phoebe figured.

Tilting her head, a small amused smile crossed Rachel's face. "I bet it's driving Ross nuts that Monica didn't ask him."

"He is," Phoebe informed her, also grinning. "He was over there when they were leaving, still trying to convince Monica that he should go. I think he wants to see his parents' reactions more than anything else."

"I bet he had his camera set up and everything," Rachel laughed. She then became more serious with worry. "I hope everything goes all right. Monica was pretty stressed today."

"It can't make her any more stressed than she already was," Phoebe observed.

Rachel frowned. "That's true. I just feel so bad. Chandler was telling me that he can't stand not being able to help her, and I have to say I know the feeling."

"Yeah! I can tell how upset and frustrated she is all the time...it's kind of wearing me down," Phoebe admitted.

"Okay, pizza should be here a half hour or less," Joey announced, resuming his place on the couch. The phone in his hand rang, and he glared at it. "Don't tell me they forgot the address! They should know it by now."

Phoebe grabbed it from him, getting the feeling that it wasn't the pizza place. "Hello? Monica! Hold on, Rachel and Joey are here; let me put you on speaker."

Monica's voice filtered through the room. "Phoebe! Why weren't you at your place?"

"Because I was here," Phoebe answered.

Rachel rolled her eyes, then called, "Hey, Mon! How are you holding up?"

"How am I holding up? How am I holding up?" Monica nearly screamed. "I'm freaking out over here! It was a total disaster. My father keeps asking me how I know how to fight so well, and my mother...she's actually wondering why I'm only a back up superhero! And they're both really hurt that I didn't tell them until now!"

"Aw, honey," Rachel breathed. "Though I have to admit, that does sound like them."

After a moment, Joey asked, "How do you know how to fight so well?"

"Oh my God!" Monica shrieked. "This is not helping! What do I do? I can't take much more of this, and we haven't even finished dinner yet!"

"Mon, what you do is stay and answer all your questions. Get it over with, then get the hell out of there," Phoebe suggested.

Monica sighed. "That's what I was planning on doing! But do I really have to wait and answer their questions?"

"You know what, she's right," Rachel put in. "Stick around, let them say what they want to say. Then let them think about it for a while, wait for them to call you."

"But call them before it gets to like a month and you still haven't spoken," Rachel added.

There was silence, then Monica cleared her throat. "Let me ask you this. Have either of you ever told your parents you were a superhero?

"No..." Rachel and Phoebe responded.

"Didn't think so," Monica huffed. "I'll deal with this my way, thank you very much." Then she hung up the receiver with a definitive click.

"Wow," Joey muttered. "Poor Mon."

"Yeah, I've never heard her voice so panicked like that," Rachel breathed.

Phoebe thought for a second, then asked, "You know what I just thought of? Wouldn't her parents already know about the possibility that she could have powers, or have powers themselves? Isn't that kind of thing usually inherited?"

"Well, in past comic books, some people touched radioactive stuff, or were aliens," Joey suggested. "I mean, can we really be sure that Monica's human? Or hasn't come in contact with radioactive waste?"

The girls stared at him, and Rachel protested, "Joey! Don't be ridiculous! Of course Monica's human! That's the stupidest thing I ever…" She paused, her eyes widening. "…oh, God."

"It has to be one or the other, and she could have kept it a secret from us. We weren't so smart about catching on to her superhero side," Phoebe pointed out.

"No!' Rachel shook her head. "It's not possible. End of story."

"But -" Joey began.

Rachel cut him off. "No buts! That's it! The only way we'd know for sure is if we asked Monica, and I'm not about to go up to my best friend and ask her if she's human! We're never talking about this again, okay?"

There was a minute of silence, then Joey worked up the courage to argue, "But I don't know any humans that can fly…"

Rachel glared at him. "Shut up, Joey."

"Okay."