Chandler sat in his office on Monday morning a week later, trying to concentrate on the WENUS.

It wasn't happening.

He'd gotten a call from Kathy on Wednesday. She said she was sorry - said she had never meant to hurt him.

They had extended the show's run another three months and she wouldn't be back in New York until later in the year.

She told him she'd hired a company to pack up her things and ship them to her mother's house in Chicago. They'd be there Thursday afternoon, if he could be there.

He listened to her - told her he hoped the show had a good run and that, yes, he would be there on Thursday.

It wasn't bitter. It was emotionless, flat, like they had never loved at all.

And he wondered if the last six months had been a mirage.

But for some reason his overall feeling was one of relief. He'd have an excuse to call Monica, but also a reason he couldn't meet her for lunch Thursday.

He'd called and left a message on her machine at home, knowing she would be at work.

Thursday came and went. She hadn't called him back.

Their kiss had rocked him to the core.

One minute he was bemoaning the loss of what he thought was the love of his life. The next he was kissing his beautiful, caring, consoling best friend and felt a passion stir in him that burned like he'd been thrown into a bonfire.

And he had to find a way to put it out. Now.

Monica was getting married in less than three weeks. To Richard - a handsome, wealthy doctor who Chandler genuinely liked. They had been together a long time and she was planning her future with him.

There was no room for him to start developing stronger feelings for her. No room.

He knew he had to take control over it before he was too far gone - before it happened to him.

Because over the past week he'd started thinking about how everything in his life had happened to him. He happened into a job he hated. He happened into a relationship that ended terribly. He happened to cry on his engaged best friend's shoulder.

He happened to kiss her.

Something had to change.

"Mr. Bing?" his secretary's voice came over the intercom. "Monica Geller is on Line 3."

His heart lurched.

"Ah…" he stalled, trying to come up with a story to dodge the call. Nothing came to him. He sighed. "Put her through."

He took a deep breath.

"Hey."

"Hey," she said quietly. "So, um, how'd it go?"

He furrowed his brow.

"How did what go?"

"The packing?"

"Oh," he said, understanding. "Fine. Yeah, they, um, they got done pretty quickly, actually."

"Good," she said. "I was just wondering…"

He nodded but didn't speak. An awkward silence followed.

"Chandler?" she asked.

"Yeah?"

"I just wanted to make sure you were still there."

"I'm here."

"Um...I…I'm sorry," she said, in a nervous whisper. "I shouldn't have…have…kissed you that night…"

He closed his eyes.

"Hey…no, no. I'm sorry. I…you…I mean…" he stammered out.

"I know," she said, nodding to herself. She cleared her throat.

"Do you…are we on for Thursday, like usual?"

Like usual. Right.

"Yeah, sure," he said. "I don't have anything on my schedule right now."

"OK," she said. "I guess I'll…see you there."

"Yep, yep," he said, suddenly in a rush. "Um, I gotta go."

"OK, bye."

"Bye."

He hung up the phone and stared at it for a couple minutes before standing up to head over to his boss's office.

Something had to change as soon as possible.

###

Chandler watched as Monica shrugged.

She'd just told him that Richard was leaving for an ophthalmologist conference the next day, because there was a "weekend of golf to be played" in Tampa before the kickoff of the conference took place Sunday night. He'd tried to talk her into going with him, but she told him there was just too much to do before the wedding.

"It's no big deal," she said, with a wave of her hand. "He'll be out of my way for a few days and maybe I can get some stuff done."

Chandler chuckled at that.

Monica smiled.

Lunch was going well, better than she expected actually. They were both uneasy as Christy had led them to their booth, but as they started to talk - about almost everything except what had happened between them on the balcony - it started to feel comfortable.

It started to ease into what it had always been, the highlight of her week.

She was relieved that it appeared he had largely moved past the pain of the end of his relationship with Kathy. Even talking to her last week hadn't thrown him backward.

He was forging ahead and Monica was proud of him.

"So, tell me about this new opportunity at work," she said, as Christy came to the table to clear their plates away and drop off their check.

He looked at her a moment and cleared his throat.

"I…um…well, I told Doug I needed a change," he said, carefully. "I didn't want to stare at data and stats all day anymore. He asked if I was open to another position within the company. And, uh, there are a couple openings in our communications division. They are looking for people who understand the data and analysis but can explain it in plain English. So, I'll be writing - telling people what the WENUS and ANUS mean."

She giggled. "Maybe you can explain them to me."

"Oh sure, and you can explain to me how to make that seven-layered lasagna the 'right way,'" he smirked, making air quotes with his hands.

"Ha!" she smiled at him. "Sounds like they're pretty high on you."

He bit his lip and nodded.

"Yeah, I think so. I've talked with the hiring manager a couple times this week," he said, as he glanced at his watch. "Actually, I've got to get back. I have, ah….a meeting with him at 2."

"Oh," she said, as a wave of disappointment washed over her - she wanted to spend more time with him.

She tried to shake the feeling away as he got up to go pay the bill, and then she realized she was staring at him.

And her mind flashed back to the balcony and his hands in her hair, and his lips soft and powerful on hers…

She shook her head quickly. She'd spent the last week trying to push thoughts of their kiss, and her reaction to it, out of her mind. She'd thrown herself into wedding details and work. And it had helped some, but she was still sad that they hadn't seen each other for more than a week. She had missed him.

Monica sighed, stood up and started to walk toward the front door. She waved to Christy as she passed by.

After he paid the bill he joined her and they made their way down the steps to the sidewalk.

It had started to drizzle a little bit.

"Well, I should let you get back," she said as she turned to him, suddenly feeling shy.

"Yeah…"

He gave her his lopsided grin as he reached out to her. She fell into his embrace, hugging him tight, feeling his arms tighten around her.

She fought the sudden urge to tell him not to go as she gripped the back of his suit jacket.

Chandler took a deep breath, taking in her scent and holding her close.

He wanted to stay rooted to the sidewalk, holding her.

They stood there together another moment before he slowly pulled away.

"I've got to go," he whispered.

"I know," she said quietly, stepping away. "I'll see you soon?"

He nodded, not trusting himself to speak.

"OK," she said. Inexplicably she felt tears sting her eyes as he smiled a little, turned and hurriedly walked back toward the financial district.

She took a deep breath and hailed down a cab.

The drizzle was changing over to rain.

###

His secretary followed him back into his office when he returned.

"I'll put Tom McFarland through when he calls," she said. He nodded, taking off his wet suit jacket and hanging it on the back of his desk chair.

She handed him a large brown envelope.

"Your itinerary, hotel reservations and plane ticket are in there," she said. "You're flight's at 10 a.m. Monday. I don't know if Mr. McFarland or his assistant Sarah Wallace will meet you when you land, but I'm sure he'll let you know today."

He nodded again. "Thanks, Helen."

She gave him a sad smile and walked back out to her desk, closing the door behind her.

He sat back in his chair and opened the envelope.

He took out the plane ticket and stared at the airport code.

LAX

Chandler looked up and gazed out the window, wondering for some reason if it ever rained in Los Angeles.

NOTE: Thank you for the amazing reviews for the last chapter - and the whole story so far! A special thank you to guests, and those I can't PM, especially Mondler2014. Thank you from the bottom of my little writer's heart :)