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The yellow cab pulled up to the building, and a rushed Joey and Chandler jumped out of it, hurrying inside. Monica spotted them immediately, walking up to them. "You two are late!" she said to them, hitting each of them on the arm, "where have you been?"

The question was to neither one of them in particular, but everybody involved knew she was talking to Chandler. He swallowed, "I, uh," he tried to ignore how incredible she looked in the formal dress she had on, but he was finding that task impossible, "I went into work and then I…" he sighed, unable to lie to her, "I...took a walk,"he finally admitted, avoiding her eyes.

Monica critically looked at him, a concern in her eyes. She knew when Chandler did his whole 'take a walk' thing that he usually had something major on his mind. She wished she'd managed to speak with him earlier...maybe it would have helped them both if they had talked."You took a walk? That's where you were all afternoon?"

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He hated that she knew him so well sometimes, "Yeah."

Joey noticed the tension in the air and stepped forward, "but we're here now! And you look fantastic."

Monica finally stopped looking at Chandler to turn to Joey, smiling at him a little, "thanks Joey. You look great too." She turned back to Chandler, plucking his shirt between her fingers, "Where is your tie?" She suddenly frowned, realizing how underdressed he looked.

Chandler looked down at his own wardrobe, remembering that he didn't add the neckwear to his shirt earlier. Oops."Oh." He dug in his pocket, pulling out the red silk, it matched her dress perfectly,"I just didn't have time to put it on."

"Put it on, please," she couldn't cope with much more going wrong today, "Dinner will be right after the rehearsal and we don't have time to-"

"Alright," he cut her off sensing a tirade about to begin, "I just need a mirror." He started to walk in the direction he guessed the bathroom was in when he felt her hand on his arm. It burned and he swallowed, raising an eyebrow. She pulled him to a chair in the room.

"Sit," she instructed, pushing him just a little.

Chandler tried not to let his mind go to a sexy place with a tie and a chair, but it was too late, "w-what are you doing?" Her delicious perfume filled his nostrils with the scent of her.

She was pulling on his collar to make it stand up, "tie, please."

He handed it to her, watching dumbstruck as she put it around his neck, "I didn't know you could tie a tie."

Monica smiled down at him, "yeah, I wanted to know how to do it when I was little so I could make Ross dress appropriately for my tea parties, so I had Dad teach me."

He laughed at that, the first time he'd really laughed in a while, "that sounds like you," he teased.

Monica shrugged one of her bare shoulders, "he kept wanting to wear his stupid dinosaur mask. It was not in the dress code." He chuckled again and watched her as she flipped the fabric back and forth, trying to ignore the urge to pull her down in his lap.

She pulled the short end to tighten the tie, "is that too tight?"

Chandler was staring into her blue eyes, shaking his head, "no, it's perfect."

Monica stared back at him, a small smile on her face, "good."

He wanted her this close to him all the time. In the morning before he got out of bed and at night before he went to sleep. Why couldn't he have it? His life was so freaking unfair.

His eyes flicked down to her lips, and he swore her eyes did the same. It was as if they were the only two people in the room, in the world. His heart rate sped up. His head was spinning, did she just move closer to him?

No, she wouldn't move closer to him. Because if she did, that would mean she wanted him to do what he wanted and kiss her. But that wasn't true. It couldn't be true; she was getting married. Tomorrow.

Their stare session ended when Rachel laughed loudly on the other side of the room. Chandler cleared his throat and she took a step back from him. He slowly stood from the chair and leaned down, kissing her softly on the cheek.

He hated that it was the only kiss he could give her, "thanks again, for the tie." His voice cracked a little.

"You're welcome." She said simply, smiling up at him.

He smiled back at her, "Joey was right, you know."

Monica turned her head at the new conversation, "right about what?"

Chandler ran his hand through his hair, "you do look fantastic tonight...beautiful."

She swallowed, "thanks," she said to him quietly before sharing one last look before walking back to the group.

Monica shook off the weird feeling and tried to listen to the idle conversation that was going on around her, but it was difficult. She was all over the place right now. She hadn't been able to talk to Pete at all, he'd been too busy, even for a 10 minute break. As a result she'd spent the afternoon worrying and panicking and those damn doubts were still there, niggling at her.

Were they rushing this? Were they as in love as she thought they were? Could she imagine living with him? Forever? Being Mrs Monica Becker?

"Are you ok, Mon?" Rachel asked quietly.

She looked at her roommate and nodded, "sure."

"If this isn't what you want, it's better to realize it now then tomorrow...or worse, the day after that."

"I know," she whispered, wrapping her arms around herself. She did know that. She just wished she knew what she wanted.

"Don't be pressured by anyone, ok?" Rachel commented as her eyes fell on Mrs Geller as the older woman faked a hysterical laugh at something someone said.

"I won't," she promised.

"Mon," Ross interrupted her as he and the boys approached. He pointed behind him to the front where the reverend and the rest of the wedding party stood and she tried to focus, "they're ready to get started when you are."

"Ok," She swallowed, glancing over to the double doors once more, "Pete should get here soon."

Chandler couldn't resist rolling his eyes at the mention of the groom. Joey caught it and turned to study Monica, watching her face for any more signs of doubt to cross it. There was something on her features but nothing concrete.

He cleared his throat, "Well, where is he?" Joey asked, poking the bear just a little.

"He's on his way." Monica replied, her tone slightly more stern.

Joey definitely found a little bit of doubt that time, "Oh, okay."

Monica's cell phone rang and she excused herself, stepping away from the three of them. Joey discreetly followed her, stepping close enough so that he could hear at least one side of the phone conversation.

"Hi! No, everything's ok," she lied. She really just wanted to see him, talk to him, have him reassure her that this was the right thing to be doing, "we're just waiting on you to get here." Joey crossed his arms and pretended to laugh about something Ross said with the rest of the group, "what? Why? What do you mean it's over ran? But you've been there all day! No, no, I'm not mad but I just…" She sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose, "okay. I'll let everyone know. Yeah. Okay. Bye."

Joey discreetly stepped back into the circle. She hadn't sounded particularly happy but it wasn't enough proof that she didn't want to marry the guy; she was just pissed at him. Monica stepped over to them, clearing her throat,"So, Pete's still at work. His meeting overran."

"Are we about ready, Ms. Geller? I have another appointment at seven." The reverend said to her.

Monica shook her head, "No, I'm sorry. My fiance isn't here and we need him to do the rehearsal."

"Why don't you have somebody to stand in for him? Then you can show him after dinner tonight. That way, everybody wins, right?" Ross said, sensing his sister's mood.

Monica sighed reluctantly, "okay, yeah, that would work, I guess." How was she meant to decide if marrying Pete was the right thing to do when he wasn't even here for the rehearsal? She felt like she was running out of time.

Joey rolled his eyes at Ross, "golden boy."

"And I was on time," Ross replied smugly.

"Okay, let's do this..." She knew she should be excited as she began collecting everybody, heading to the three bridesmaids and three groomsmen headed to the other end of the aisle. This her wedding rehearsal, her, Monica Geller. She'd dreamt about this her whole life, ever since she was a little girl. She should be so thrilled that this was actually happening.

But she wasn't. She still had doubts plaguing her, seeming to get stronger with every passing moment. She could feel both girls' eyes on her which only made her doubts more real. Why couldn't she just get over this? Make a decision?

"Who's filling in for the delayed groom?"

Oh right. She shook her head to try and clear it as she scanned her options.

"Chandler, come stand up here so we know about where Pete will be." Chandler's eyes grew big at Monica's request.

He panicked. He couldn't stand up there. What kind of torture was she trying to put him through? Wouldn't it be easier to just run him over with a monster truck?

He cleared his throat to try and get some words to come out, "I uh, I don't think…" Wow, he sounded really dumb, "I've got to know…"

Monica scrunched her eyebrows together at his uneasiness, she didn't have time for this,"You just take people to their seats, what's the big deal? Joey is pretending to be my Dad since he can't miss championship poker night, apparently. I tied your tie, so you owe me one." What was his problem? "Get up there."

Chandler tried, but failed, to come up with any excuse not to go up there. Everybody was watching him, waiting on him expectedly to join the happy wedding party. He sighed, defeated. "Fine."

"Thanks," Monica tried to smile. It was her wedding rehearsal and she'd be expected to smile. No one else knew her inner thoughts and unless she wanted them to know before Pete she'd have to pull herself together. "Okay then," she rolled her shoulders bracing herself, "let's get started."

"Okay, we've only got thirty minutes until dinner is served, so this needs to be quick. Chandler and Joey you'll be bringing people in."

"Might be wrong because I don't get to practice." Chandler mumbled.

"Not the time, Mr. Bing." Sarah, Monica's wedding planner said to him, "Okay, so cue the music, Kayla and Ross you come now," she waited a few seconds, trying to get the timing right. "Phoebe and Shane, now." The two walked all the way down the aisle as Chandler stood up front, trying to pretend that he was anywhere else.

"And last but not least, Rachel and Jake." Chandler watched as his friend and Pete's brother walked down, Jake standing right behind him. "Okay, cue bridal music."

Chandler gulped, trying to find something on the back wall to stare at so he could try and not look at her as she walked down towards him. Try and block all of this out. It didn't work, because as soon as she stepped into his vision, the music flooded his ears and he was doomed.

He watched as she slowly drifted towards him, her arm linked through Joey's.

God, she was breathtaking.

He tried to remember whether or not he was good at acting, to see if he could fake a vomit-induced runaway. He shut his eyes, biting his lip. That wasn't going to work.

They finally got to the end of the aisle and Joey leaned over, kissing Monica on the cheek just as her Dad was to do the next day. He shot Chandler a worried look before stepping back.

"Okay Chandler, you, as Pete, would step to her now and take her hand, walking with her back up here." Sarah cut in.

Chandler looked over at the red headed woman, nodding at her, but inside he was screaming.

He stepped down the three steps, shaking Joey's hand and linking Monica's arm with his. They stepped back up, standing face to face, their hands hanging in the middle.

The reverend began saying his lines, but Chandler didn't hear them. He was staring into her eyes again, hoping that the man would get to 'you may kiss the bride' soon.

She was smiling nervously and he smiled a little. He hoped she couldn't feel his palms getting sweaty or his heartbeat speed up, "Chandler?" His blurry world came back to the real one when he finally heard his name.

"Yeah?"

"Did you hear Reverend Jones?" Monica whispered.

Chandler cleared his throat, "Uh, no. I'm sorry."

"This is rehearsal," she said, smiling at him, "you're not really getting married." His smile faded, and he didn't even try to hide it. He didn't want her to think that he was afraid of marriage anymore.

Not if he married the woman in front of him, anyway.

Clearing his throat, he tried to get rid of every single thought in his head and focus, "I'm sorry, would you start again?" Chandler said to Tom.

"Pete, will you take Monica as your wife, will you pledge to share your life openly with her, to speak the truth to her, in love? Will you promise to honor and tenderly care for her, to encourage her fulfillment as an individual through all the changes in your lives?"

Chandler swallowed, and hated that he used Pete's name instead of his own. He cleared his throat, looking into her eyes, "I will."

Monica smiled gratefully at him as he turned to her, repeating the same phrase, millions of thoughts running through her head. "Monica will you take Pete as your husband, will you pledge to share your life openly with him, to speak the truth to him, in love? Will you promise to honor and tenderly care for him, to encourage him fulfillment as an individual through all the changes in your lives?"

Would she? The vows were so final. So real. Could she vow to all that? For life?

Her stomach flipped.

His stomach flipped

She eventually squeezed Chandler's hands, smiling at him again. It wasn't real, not today at least, "I will."

"Then we do the rings, yada yada." Monica turned to get a fake ring from Rachel and put a fake ring on his ring finger on his left hand. "I now pronounce you husband and wife, Pete, you may kiss your bride."

Monica smiled, pulling on Chandler's hands to get him closer. His heart rate sped up again, and he was pretty sure he was shaking. He leaned in closing his eyes, thrilled that karma was finally going to reward him for all these and let him kiss the woman of his dream just once, but she turned her head to the side at the last second, kissing him on the cheek.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I present Mr. & Mrs. Pete Becker!"

Chandler tried to regulate his breathing from the almost kiss, disappointment flooding through him as Monica linked her arm through his, walking down the steps as new fake husband and wife, followed by the pairs of bridesmaids and groomsmen.

Sarah walked in after them, "That was great! Let's run it one more time, and then we'll go eat!"

Chandler let his head fall back, looking at the ceiling.

Monica squeezed her eyes shut in confusion.

Both were thinking the same thing...crap.