Then
Chapter 5: Perfection
"Knock knock," Jack said.
"Who's there?" Chandler responded, sitting on the couch next to him.
"Interrupting cow."
"Interrupting co-"
"Moo!" he cut him off, laughing, and Chandler laughed as well. "Knock knock."
"Who's there?"
"Tank."
"Tank who?"
"You're welcome!" he exclaimed, and Chandler burst out laughing.
"You ready to eat, buddy?" he asked, standing up, and the little boy nodded, following him into the kitchen.
_._._
"Ooh!" Monica gripped her stomach with one hand, and the blanket in front of her with the other.
"Mon, you ok?" Chandler asked, sitting up.
"No, no, no!"
"No, no, no, you're not ok?" Chandler asked, starting to panic. "Or, no, no, no something else?"
"Well, I've been better, but…I've been having contractions, and I've been trying to ignore them, because the baby cannot be born today! I'm not due for another two weeks, and we already have two kids with this birthday. We cannot have three!"
"What?!" Chandler jumped up. "Get up, get up! You're in labor?! We have to go to the hospital!"
"No! I am not having three kids with the same birthday! Not gonna happen!" she crossed her arms. "You are not being born today," she looked down at her stomach.
Chandler laughed out loud. "Mon, honey, love of my life…I really don't think you can be stubborn about this," he smiled. "And, this is actually a good thing, because my mom's here for the twins' birthdays, so she can just stay here with them."
Monica teared up, "What kind of mom misses their kids' first birthday?"
"Mon-" she cut him off, gripping his hand tightly.
"Ok," she nodded a few minutes later after breathing through the pain. "We can go to the hospital now."
_._._
"Can you say 'baby?'" Chandler asked Erica, who was in his arms. They were looking through the nursery window at the hospital.
"Bebe!" she grinned. She had begun speaking a couple of months ago, and at 12 months old, had a vocabulary of quite a few words. They had been practicing that word for the past month in preparation for her sister's birth. He wasn't sure she knew what it meant, but she knew her parents got a kick out of it.
"That's right," he hugged her, "That's your sister, Phoebe," he pointed her out. Erica followed his finger, but really had no idea what he was pointing at.
"Bebe!" she repeated, and Chandler laughed. It worked for her name, too. Bebe. Pheobe.
It had been a long night. A really long night. Monica was in labor for 22 hours, an insanely long time for someone so impatient. But now, it was over. And the next day. Phoebe had not been born on the twins' birthday, but on the next day. Monica was ecstatic that it took so long when she found this out. Nora has stayed with them over night, and Monica's parents had joined for a little while the next day. The babies had no idea they were missing out on their first birthday, but Monica felt incredibly guilty about it and had sent her parents to substitute for them being gone. Nora had joined them at the hospital an hour earlier, and Jack and Judy should be arriving any moment.
"Dada," Chandler turned around, hearing Jack. Baby jack, not grown up Jack.
"Hey, buddy!" he kissed him, then hugged Judy, who was holding him.
"Congratulations," she smiled at him. "Jack is in Monica's room. She just woke up, so I told her I'd come find you."
"Bebe!" Erica exclaimed again, and Chandler and Judy laughed, walking back to Monica's room.
_._._
Chandler stopped in the doorway of Monica's room, cup of coffee in hand. Monica was holding Phoebe. Erica and Jack were both sitting on the bed as well, amazed at the little baby. Wanting to see her, touch her, kiss her, hold her. Erica soon learned that "Bebe" was this little girl, and kept saying it to her, wanting to her to respond. Grown-up Jack was sitting in one of the chairs, watching a baseball game on TV. Judy and Nora were on the other side of the room talking. Ross and Rachel were now missing, but he figured they went to take Emma home.
Seeing the scene in front of him, Chandler's eyes watered up. This was his. His family. His wife. His kids. They were, in fact, The Bings. And they were, in fact, happy. Monica looked up, seeing him in the doorway. She returned his smiled. Chandler tried, unsuccessfully, to blink away his tears as he walked over to the bed, kissing her as he sat down.
This was the definition of perfection.
_._._
"Knock knock," Jack said, entering the kitchen.
"Who's there?"
"Banana."
"Banana who."
"Knock knock."
"Who's there?"
"Banana."
"Banana who?"
"Knock knock."
"Who's there?"
"Orange."
"Orange who?"
"Orange you glad I didn't say banana?" Jack giggled, slipping into his seat, between his two sisters.
"That's a dumb joke," Erica said, taking a drink of her milk. "You tell a joke, Daddy!"
"Um, a guy walks into a bar-"
"Chandler," Monica warned.
"He says 'ouch!'" he looked at her, not about to tell an inappropriate joke. Erica and Jack laughed, and Phoebe wrinkled her forehead, not quite understanding.
"Jack," she looked at him. "You tell another one. You're funnier than Daddy."
"From the mouths of babes," Monica laughed, nudging Chandler, who was still laughing.
Yea, this was perfection.
_._._
I could just see you, with a baby on the way
And I could just see you, when your hair is turning gray
What I can't see is how I'm ever gonna love you more
But I've said that before
And now you're my whole life
now you're my whole world
I just can't believe the way I feel about you, girl
We'll look back someday, at this moment that we're in
And I'll look at you and say
And I thought I loved you then
(Then, Brad Paisley)
_._._
to be continued…
Gum would be perfection. Haha. I use the word "perfection" all the time, and always have the urge to add, "Gum would be perfection." However, I'm not sure how many people would actually get that, so…I just add it in my head.
Anyway, I decided not to do the actual being born part of this because I know that I, personally, have at least 3 or 4 fics involving a scene where Monica and Chandler's kid is being born. And I didn't want to write another one, and figured you guys could live without one.
Please review! I have parts of the next two chapter written, so the more reviews, the more motivation I have to finish them!