This one plopped into my head last night and I just had to write it. I haven't moved until it was ready and I hope you like it as much as I do. :) It doesn't really go well with the story Rachel tells in the one-shot before, but as they are all separate stories that shouldn't be a problem. :) Tell me what you think about this one. :)

Thunderstorm

Monica is standing at the big window in her new apartment and watches the city by night. She moved in her grandmother's apartment a few weeks ago, but still can't get enough of the twinkling lights of the city and loves the fact that there is always a light somewhere. Sometimes she can even see the stars from her small balcony, but not tonight. Dark, heavy clouds darken the night even more and the rain hasn't stopped since this morning. Everyone is expecting a thunderstorm sometime soon.

Watching the stars Monica feels a strange loneliness inside of her. One of the two rooms is still empty, she doesn't know what she can put in there and she doesn't have any friends in the city yet. All she is doing is going to work and sometimes catching up with her brother Ross, who lives a few blocks away.

Monica sighs and sinks down onto the couch. She wraps a blanket around her shoulders and turns on the tv. There isn't anything interesting on right now, but the voices and pictures make her feel less lonely.

Suddenly Monica startles up. She must have fallen asleep on the couch and something woke her up. There it was again. Monica stands up and walks towards the window. It is the wind howling outside and the rain is pattering against her window. A bright lightning flashes through the dark night and just a moment later there is a deafening noise. The thunderstorm must be right above her now. She can't even count the lightning and there is not a second of silence between the thunders.

Monica's heart is beating fast. She was never scared of a thunderstorm, not even as a child, but she was never alone during one before. There were always her parents or Ross or someone around her. Now, with the horrible noises of the thunders and the wind and all by herself, it's different. Monica sits down on the couch again, wraps the blanket around her tightly and turns the volume of the tv up.

But it's not getting better. Monica thinks about crawling away into bed. But as another lightning lights up the darkness she knows that she can't sleep like that.

"Don't be so chicken-hearted," she mumbles to herself, but she doesn't sound convincing. Not even to herself.

She thinks about calling Ross, but he might not even realize the weather. Most likely he just enjoys the time with his wife, that's all he's able to do at the moment. Kip told her to come over anytime, Monica remembers. When she moved in her next door neighbor came over right away and told her he'd help her whenever she needs any help. But she can't go over there now. Not while she's really scared about this stupid thunderstorm. From the very first moment she has met Kip she kind of had this tiny crush on him. Every time they meet each other in the hallway she feels these stupid butterflies in her stomach and she's not really able to have an adult conversation with him. She can't go over there now. Not like that.

Suddenly a thought enters Monica's mind: What about Chandler? Her brother's old roommate moved in with Kip just a few days ago. Ross already came over with him once and introduced them again. They do know each other from Thanksgivings a few years ago, but haven't really seen each other since then. Of course, they've met whenever Monica visited Ross, but they never really got to know each other. When he and Ross came over he seemed to have forgiven Monica that whole toe-cutting-incident. Monica was relieved about that.

Monica sighs. There's not much to do anyway. She can't stay here all by herself and he lives next door. She wouldn't even have to go outside. It's the easiest thing to do. Monica takes her courage in both hands and walks over to the other apartment. Breathing in deeply she raises her hand and knocks at the door.

Nothing happens. But the noise level is still very high so they might not have heard her. She knocks again, louder this time, and tries the door knob. The door opens and she looks into the apartment carefully. It is dark inside, but the tv shines into the living room.

Monica sees the silhouette of someone sitting on the couch. Monica crosses her fingers that it's not Kip and clears her throat.

"Hey," she shouts.

The person on the couch startles up and turns around to see her.

Seeing Chandler takes a load off Monica's mind.

"Hey," she says again and smiles. She doesn't really know what else to say or do.

Chandler smiles, too. "Hey, Monica. What's going on?"

"I … I … just … I didn't want to … I … I wanted to … see how you are doing," she says shyly. She doesn't want him to know that she's scared of the thunderstorm.

Chandler smiles and points to the couch. "Do you wanna join me?"

Monica nods gratefully and approaches the coach. She kind of has the feeling that Chandler knows why she came over. So why hide it? There's nothing wrong about it.

"Thank you. I didn't want to be alone," she admits and sits down.

"Me neither. I thought about coming over to see you," Chandler mumbles.

Monica looks at him surprised. "Really? Why didn't you?"

"Well, it's bad manners," he shrugs. "A guy is not allowed in a girl's apartment in the middle of the night. Even more when he doesn't really know the girl and she's his good friend's sister."

"What century do you live in, Chandler?"

"Maybe I just haven't had the guts to come over," he then admits and laughs. Monica joins the laughing and relaxes a little bit.

"So how do you like it here?" She asks him.

"The apartment is great. I get along really well with my roommate and there's this girl next door who I can't wait to get to know better." Chandler smirks.

Monica blushes, but luckily it's dark in the living room so Chandler doesn't notices.

"Do you still see Ross a lot?"

"Not as much as I want to, to be honest. He's always with Carol. It was already like that at college, but it's even worse since he moved in with her."

"I know. He doesn't come over a lot to my place either. That shouldn't bother me that much, but I began to really like him during the last few years. I hated him as a child, but know I come to realize what great of a brother he really is."

"Maybe we three should start to hang out. What do you think, Monica? We could also check out that bar downstairs! Have you ever been there?"

Monica shakes her head. "No. I didn't really have the time to go there. And I don't know anyone who wants to go there with me."

"Well, now you have," Chandler smiles and Monica can't do anything else than smile, too.

They fall into silence for a while, just listening to the thunderstorm which is getting lighter and lighter.

"I think I should get a roommate, too," Monica suddenly says.

Chandler nods. "Yeah, that's a good idea."

"It's always good to have someone to be around, especially on nights like this."

Chandler clears his throat. "I know that Kip already offered you that and you probably know that it's the same for me, but you can always come over, Monica. I meant what I said earlier: I really want to get to know you better."

Monica feels tears in the corner of her eyes and swallows. "Thanks, Chandler, that's really sweet."

Chandler just smiles and shrugs.

Ross has already told Monica that Chandler isn't very communicative and that he often uses humor as a defense mechanism. She realized in the few moments they spend together until now that he's the guy who doesn't allow anyone to see his feelings and what he had said just a few seconds ago touched her. She was glad when Kip told her to come over whenever she needed help. She knew where to go when she needed someone to repair something or to unclog her toilet. But as soon as Chandler offered the same thing – he even used similar words – she knew that he will be the one she turns to when she needs advice. When something good happens in her life. Something bad or something she doesn't even understand. She now knows where to go whenever she's feeling down and needs someone to cheer her up. She's just about to getting to know Chandler, but she already knows that he's someone special.

"So, Monica, how should your new roommate be?" Chandler asks suddenly.

"She needs to be tidy!" Monica doesn't even have to think about that.

"What?" Chandler chuckles. "That's the first thing you think of?"

Monica blushes. "Sorry, I … I …"

"Hey, no need to feel sorry. It's just not the thing that comes to my mind first when I think about a potential roommate."

"Well, I like it clean," Monica mumbles, hoping Chandler wouldn't find that weird.

"Okay, she must be tidy. What else?" Chandler continues and Monica loves him for it.

"Funny?" She asks, insecurely.

"Yes! Funny's always good!" Chandler laughs. "You might want to watch out her humor doesn't get in the way with my humor though!"

Monica laughs, too. "We would not want that!" She gives him a wink.

"What else?"

"I don't know. It feels weird to create my perfect roommate. I can't think of anything else."

"Okay, how about I suggest something and you tell me if your new roommate needs it or not?"

"Okay."

"What about hot?" Chandler asks and smirks.

Monica shakes her head vehemently. "No! I don't need that."

"But just imagine she would be that really hot girl that …"

"No! Then you and Kip would hang out in my apartment all the time and drool over her and I would have to clean it up afterwards!"

"But I thought cleaning is fun for you?"

"No! No over-average beautiful roommate! No!"

"Well, all right. And … intelligent?"

"I don't think that's important for a roommate."

"It is! Imagine she's really dumb and you had to explain everything to her multiple times."

"Oh no, I could never do that. You're right. She should be at least a little intelligent."

"Good. What about psychic?"

"Psychic? Are you kidding me? Why would I want a psychic roommate?"

"She could tell you about your future and stuff. It could help."

"Can't you think about useful characteristics?"

"Are you questioning my ability to think of characteristics?"

"Noooo," Monica giggles. She hasn't laughed that much in years. In fact, she's wondering if she's ever laughed that much. She was never really good at talking with guys, but it's so easy with Chandler. She enjoys the time with him so much. Her face muscles already hurt from too much laughing.

"Would you like a … creative roommate?" Chandler asks.

"Hey!" Monica yells suddenly and points to the tv. Chandler hadn't turned it off earlier, he'd just muted it.

"What? What happened?" Chandler shouts back, trying to sound as dramatic as Monica.

"Pretty woman is on. We have to watch it!"

"Oh, no, no, no," Chandler shakes his head. "We're not watching a chick flick!"

"Hey! It's not a chick flick. Have you even seen it before?"

"No. I don't need to see it to know it's a chick flick!"

"Please, Chandler, please, please, please!" She makes puppy eyes at him, hoping it helps.

"No, Monica! I don't want them to take away my man card!"

"What? Your man card?"

"Yeah, have you never heard of it?"

"No, because it's nonsense! Turn up the volume, please!"

Chandler shakes his head once again.

"Chandler, turn it up!" Monica demands.

"No!"

Monica tries to grab the remote, but Chandler holds it away from her.

"Chandler, please. Watch this movie with me!"

"Fine…"

"Thank you!"

"… but I need a beer, do you want one, too?"

"Yes, why not? Or do they take away my woman card if I drink a beer?" Monica teases.

Chandler sticks out his tongue at her and gets up to get a couple of beers and a bag with chips. He sits down again.

"Let's watch this movie," he sighs and turns up the volume.

As the credits roll Monica tries to wipe away her tears secretly. However, Chandler seems to notice, because he squeezes her shoulder. During the first part of the movie he pulled her close and she put her head down on his shoulder and hasn't moved since.

"I can't believe I've just sit here for almost two hours just to watch two people fall in love."

"So, you liked it?" Monica asks, smiling.

"Of course," Chandler says, his voice dripping of sarcasm. "Can't think of anything I could have done in these two hours!"

"Oh, I'm sorry, were you busy before?" Monica teases. "Because when I came over it looked like you were just flipping through the channels."

"Yes, I was, but at least I didn't watch a movie where everyone cried at the end."

"You cried?"

"No!"

"But you just said …"

"Monica! I didn't cry!"

"Come on, Chandler, you can tell me. I won't tell anyone. You can keep your man card."

"I didn't cry."

"Okay, you didn't. But you liked the movie, right?"

"Well, let's just say it wasn't as bad as I first thought."

"See? I'll show you many more movies like that. You'll love it."

"Great," Chandler moans and Monica has the feeling that he is rolling his eyes.

As they both fall into silence Monica looks out of the window. The day is already dawning. It's still raining, but the thunderstorm of the night seems to be over. The summer is definitely gone now, Monica thinks and shivers.

"Are you cold?" Chandler asks and puts a blanket over both of them before Monica even has the chance to answer.

"I just thought about the winter. It's getting colder and colder now."

"That's true. I like the summer a lot more. Do you …"

Suddenly the apartment door opens. "Chandler? Why are you already up?" Kip asks.

Chandler turns around. "Monica and I couldn't sleep so we stayed up and talked. Where have you been?"

"I was at Julia's! You remember the girl I met at the …"

"Oh, Kip, I remember all of the girls you meet!" Chandler laughs and rolls his eyes.

Kip shrugs and looks at Monica. "Did you come over to see me?"

Monica shakes her head. "No, actually I wanted to get to know Chandler better." This was the first time she was able to talk to Kip like a normal person and it felt so good. She knows that she wouldn't have had as much fun with Kip as she had with Chandler and that's great. There are still a few cheeky butterflies in her stomach as he looks at her with his green eyes, but not as much as before.

Monica gets up from the couch and yawns. "Well, I'm gonna go now and make some breakfast." She looks at the two men, who are both starring at her. "Hey, do you want to come over for breakfast?"

Kip shakes his head. "No, thank you. I have to go to sleep for a while. I haven't gotten much sleep last night, if you know what I mean!"

"I think we do," Chandler says and rolls his eyes. Kip walks into his room and Chandler turns to Monica. "I'd love to come over for breakfast!"

"Oh, Chandler, but you know I don't have a hot roommate yet?" She smiles at him.

"Oh, you don't? You should definitely get one soon!"

Monica laughs and opens the door to the hallway. "I will think about it. But for now you'll have to put up with me." She gives him a wink and walks towards her apartment.

"That's okay for me," he grins and waves. "See you in a bit, Mon!"