Chandler sat in the brown barcalounger, turning in his chair when the door opened, "oh, hey." He couldn't help the smile that spread across his face, "what are you doing over here? I thought you and the girls…"

Monica stepped further into the apartment, "well the girls were driving me a little crazy, so I sent them away." He raised an eyebrow, "They already had dates planned," she explained, "because I'm not supposed to be here, I'm supposed to be on a private jet right now, heading toward a private island near Hawaii."

He looked down at the carpet, wincing, "I'm-"

"Don't finish that sentence," she warned, "so they were going to cancel, but I insisted they go. I mean no reason for them to sit at home on Saturday night with a single non-married person, right?"

"Actually, single means not married," he said to her, earning another glare from her that he couldn't help but find absolutely adorable.

"So, I found myself sitting over there with nobody to talk to and I wondered who else was single and unmarried and hopefully dateless on a Saturday night?" He couldn't help but laugh.

"That's true babe, I am single and unmarried," he chuckled again, "but so is Ross, Joey, Rachel and oh yeah, Phoebe too."

She stepped another step closer to him, crossing her arms and tried her hardest to frown despite the smile growing on her lips, "I should go find one of them, then?"

He'd missed this silly banter so much, "Definitely not," he said to her, "we can be single and not married together."

"Amen to that," she grinned, looking at his roommate's door, "Where's Joey?"

"Probably on a bed somewhere with a girl he doesn't really know," Chandler replied easily, "it is Saturday night, why do you ask?"

Monica stepped towards him again, "no reason." She looked past him at the TV behind his chair, "why are you watching a hand steamer infomercial?"

"It's the best thing on tv on a Saturday night?" He chuckled and she raised an eyebrow, "because I was watching Cops and it went off."

"Cops? That's what you were watching?"

He squinted his eyes at her, "you already have one of those steamers, don't you?" he guessed.

She was close enough to hit him on the arm, "why do people always assume that I-"

"Mon…"

She rolled her eyes, "it'll be here Tuesday." He went into a laughing fit and she leaned forward to hit his arm again, "oh, shut up." Even though he was laughing at her, she was glad to see him back to his normal self again. To see him laugh, smile and joke again. He must had been so miserable through all of that, she couldn't imagine how he must've felt. When he stopped his laughing, she smiled down at him, "it's good to see you smile," she said honestly.

His smile got bigger and he grabbed her hand, pulling her down into his lap, her legs dangling over the side of the chair, "it's because of you." He confessed softly, wrapping one arm around her legs and threading his fingers through hers with the other hand, "is that ok?"

In answer, she bent her neck and placed her lips on his, enjoying the feel of them. She vaguely wondered why she recently wanted to kiss him whenever they were alone. It was as if a floodgate had been opened by that first kiss yesterday. He untangled his hand from hers, cupping her face, pulling her deeper into the kiss. Obviously, he was enjoying their kisses as much as she was.

She broke it, smiling down at him, "if I knew you were such a good kisser, I would have started kissing you a long time ago."

He chuckled, surprised, "oh, really?"

She groaned, sitting up so that she could get more of him, attacking his lips again. It was the perfect kind again, sending tingling sensations though him, and he broke the kiss, "Mon-Monica…" He was breathing hard, "If you don't…" he closed his eyes, trying to will power his way back to reality, "If you don't stop that I'm gonna…"

She was breathing equally as hard, understanding his problem, "why not?"

He groaned, "if we're not ready to date, we're really not ready for sex."

She pressed her lips together, nodding her head. He was right.

"Ok, yeah," she agreed, trying to calm her breathing. It had been such a roller coaster these last few days, she definitely wasn't ready to throw sex into the mix, "ok." she repeated, her hands rubbing the front of his shirt in an attempt to slow down the situation, "we can still hang out though, right?"

"Of course, I wouldn't have it any other way," he swallowed, offering her his best boyish smile. As she settled more comfortably into his side, he pulled her tighter to him, stroking her arm and back gently. "So," he questioned the top of her head, "how are you really doing?"

"I'm ok," she sighed, not lifting her head, "I know I did the right thing, but it's still a lot to adjust to. Pete asked the wedding planner to cancel everything on our behalf so I haven't had to do any of that," she semi-shrugged, "my mom and dad have been surprisingly understanding about it all. They even want to come over tomorrow to spend some time with me."

"Thats...nice?" he ventured and she chuckled.

"Yeah," she smiled, "it actually is for once. And Rachel and Phoebe have been really supportive, and Ross and Joey have been really sweet. I'm really lucky."

"Yeah," he said softly, "yeah you are."

Cops started showing again and Monica groaned in response.

"Wanna watch a movie or something?" he asked, already knowing the answer.

"That ok?" she requested, "I don't wanna interrupt if you're in the middle of some dramatic chase or something?"

He chuckled, kissing the top of her head, briefly revelling in the fact that she was here, in his arms. It still hadn't fully sunk in that the nightmare was actually over. That she was no longer engaged. No longer gonna be Mrs Becker. He figured it would take a while before he could confidently stride into their apartment and not expect to see her and Pete snuggling on the couch, or kissing on the balcony or worse...the bedroom door being closed.

He shuddered slightly, closing his eyes and pulling her a fraction closer just savouring being allowed to be this close to her. That there was no boundaries or life shattering secrets coming between them. That he could fully relax, be open and honest with her, not having to hide such a huge chunk of himself.

It was as terrifying as it was liberating.

He turned down the volume on the TV when he was certain she'd fallen asleep. He stared at the screen not paying attention to the couple acting their hearts out. He was content just to stay here, Monica asleep in his arms. This time last night he'd thought he'd ruined everything and now here they were; like this. To some it may have seemed a bit of an anticlimax but he was more than happy with the turn of events.

For once life things seemed to be going in his favor. He wasn't gonna question it. Just try to enjoy it. He closed his own eyes, still praying that he wouldn't wake up and find this all a dream.

The apartment door opened and Chandler came out of his doze.

"Hey man, why's the tv so….oh."

Joey smiled as he looked at them and Chandler couldn't help but return it.

"She ok?" his roommate asked quietly, careful not to wake her. It had been an intense few days for all of them.

"She's getting there," Chandler promised softly, a little in awe. He was pretty certain if it was him going through this he'd be completely flustered and flappy right now. "How was your night?"

"Good," the expected dirty smile crept onto Joey's face, "hooked up with this really pretty girl and she lived above the bar! How cool is that?"

"Very convenient," Chandler commented.

"Did you just chill here with Monica?"

"Yep," he smiled smugly, it was a pretty perfect night for him.

"Are you gonna stay chilling with her?" he asked and gave a half-shrug, careful not to jostle her, "do you need me to get you anything? Food, water...blanket?"

Joey had a heart of gold and Chandler couldn't help but appreciate it.

"Yeah, thanks….a blanket would be good."

Joey nodded easily, grabbing the throw off the yellow couch and draping it over them.

"Want me to tuck you in?" he teased and Chandler just shot him a glare. "Alright, alright, I'll leave you to it. See ya."

With that the Italian retreated to the bedroom leaving Monica and Chandler tucked up together. Using the remote to shut it off, he rested his head against hers and closed his eyes, confident that he was gonna have some sweet dreams.

A couple of hours passed and his eyes opened when he felt her shift beside him. He shut them again, pretending to be asleep when her head turned up toward his. "Chandler," she whispered, and he ignored her, afraid she was about to get up and leave him for the night. He didn't want that.

"Chandler," she whispered a little louder, shaking his arm, "Chandler, wake up." He reluctantly opened his eyes, blinking a couple of times.

"Hm?" he said, "what's wrong?" He pulled the blanket up over her shoulder with his free hand.

"My butt is numb," she said softly, "are you comfortable?"

His arm was numb, his left leg tingled, and he was pretty sure he couldn't ever move his neck properly again, but he never wanted to move from this current position with her, ever, "I'm alright."

She sighed, and his heart began to beat faster again, "do you mind if we move over to the couch? That way I can stretch out." She and Chandler had fallen asleep together several times, but now things were a little different. It may have been the opposite of taking things slowly, but the fact was that she really didn't want to be alone tonight, and here was a man that wanted to hold her next to him and that was just fine with her.

He looked at her through the darkness of the living room, smiling, "yeah, sure." She didn't want to go across the hall and go to her own bed, she wanted to go over to the yellow couch with him and allow him to sleep with his arms around her. It's what dreams were made of.

She stood up from the brown chair first, rubbing her back end with both hands, groaning a little, "you need me to massage that for you?" he teased lightly, holding the blanket and walking ahead of her to the sunshine couch. He laid down first, watching as she sat down beside him and snuggled next to him, wrapping the blanket around her arms. "I could get used to this," he admitted to her, kissing her temple.

She turned her head up to look at him, stretching her neck to kiss him, "goodnight Chandler."

"Night Monica," he whispered. He stared at the ceiling, listening to her breathing as she drifted off to sleep.

Rachel walked into the boy's apartment the next morning, finding Joey sitting at the bar, eating a muffin.

"Joey have you-"

Joey immediately put his finger over his lips for her to quieten her voice, pointing with his thumb towards the yellow couch, "they're sleeping!"

Rachel furrowed her brows together, walking a few steps further into the apartment until the pair sound asleep came into her view. Her mouth fell open and she covered it, walking back over to Joey and pulling on his arm to follow her to the hallway, "what? What's going on? I didn't know they were dating! She's not ready to date!"

Joey shook his head, "they're not dating, exactly, I think, they're just...sleeping."

Rachel crossed her arms, "I've been worried sick about her, and she was just across the hall sleeping with Chandler?"

Joey sighed, "my guess is she probably didn't want to be alone."

"She told us to go!" Rachel said back to him, "I wouldn't have left her."

He shook his head, "she knows that, Rachel. And they've fallen asleep together thousands of times, what's so different about it now?"

"Well now, Chandler loves her, apparently."

Joey really missed his muffin, "he does, but he's not rushing her into anything. They're not dating, they just understand each other, now can I please go get my muffin?"

Rachel ignored his request, "I just hope she doesn't jump into this with Chandler and she's not ready..."

"Rach, you gotta calm down. It's not like she's in there with some guy she just met, she and Chandler have known each other forever, and they're just friends, just like they were before this whole Pete thing went down. Nothing has changed. Chandler knows what happened, he knows she's not ready for another relationship."

Rachel took a deep breath, "okay," she looked at Joey, "but you promise me that you'll keep an eye on them. I need to know that she's okay."

Joey nodded, "yes, I promise."

"Okay, okay." She took a breath, trying to calm herself down, "I just didn't expect that when I walked in there," she admitted.

He patted her shoulder, "everything's okay."

"Alright." She sighed, grabbing Joey's arm before he could get back inside, "wait! You've gotta hear about this date I had last night."

"But I-" Joey protested.

"It involves another female," she interrupted.

"Oh yeah, I need to hear about this!" He rubbed his hands together in anticipation, his muffin forgotten on the counter.

Back inside, Chandler let his eyes open slowly, smiling when he remembered who was asleep next to him. He pulled her even closer, inhaling her scent. She shuffled, and he watched as her eyes fluttered open. She looked at him, rubbing her hand on his chest, "good morning."

"Mm," he replied, "morning."

"Am I killing your arm? Do you want me to-"

"No way, never move," he said, tightening his grip on her.

She smiled, bringing her hand up to rub his cheek, "when did you get so adorable?"

He chuckled, "I've always been adorable, sweet and charming," he kissed her forehead, "maybe you've just never noticed."

"Maybe I didn't," she admitted, closing her eyes again, "can we just stay here for a while?"

"God, yes," he said to her, "you know, I would've given everything I owned to do this a week ago." He heard her sigh at that, "I'm sorry," he said, "I don't want to bum you out."

"Chandler you were okay, though, right? You didn't want to do anything stupid-" she stopped. She couldn't bring herself to say it.

He looked up at the ceiling, shaking his head, "No, but I thought about running away to another state and starting over several times," he admitted, and hearing that made her heart ping. She gripped him even tighter at the thought of losing him from her world, "hey, it's okay."

"Not if you were going to leave here," she said, her voice a little louder than the whispering they were doing before, "you would've come talk to me, though, right? Before you left?"

He furrowed his eyebrows together, "no."

"Chandler!" She leaned up on one elbow so she see could into his eyes directly, "what do you mean you wouldn't have come and talked to me?"

"I mean you were going to marry another man, Mon. I wouldn't come and talk to you about being crazy in love with you. That wouldn't make any sense."

"It wouldn't make any sense for you to leave and start a new life somewhere without talking to me first."

"But it wouldn't have changed anything. You were getting married. It wouldn't have changed that or the way I feel about you."

She sighed, "I could've convinced you to stay."

"By saying what?" he asked, he really wanted to know.

She laid down on his shoulder again, "I don't know," she admitted softly. He reached for her hand and intertwined his fingers with hers.

"I'm not going anywhere," he said with a grin, "now you're pretty much stuck with me."

She pulled her leg up over his, gripping his t-shirt again to pull herself up, placing her lips on his again. He moved his hands down her back and pulled her all the way on top of him. Her hands held his face in place while his found her back jean pockets.

The lack of oxygen he had in his lungs was unimpressive as he broke her kiss and was just about to dive into another one when a new noise came from another person in the room.

Joey.

Busted.

"I see the whole 'friends' thing is going very well," he had a smile on his face like he'd just walked in on a sex scene.

Monica knocked the blanket off of her waist and climbed off of him, standing up from the couch, followed by Chandler, who stood and stretched his back, "morning Joe."

"Mornin."

Monica chuckled and walked passed him, patting him on his shoulder, "come over in a while for breakfast."

Joey nodded at Monica's back, waiting until she'd left the apartment before he turned back to his roommate, "friends, huh?"

Chandler walked passed him to the refrigerator, pulling out the orange juice carton and checking the expiration date before pulling down a glass, "we're just friends."

"I can't remember the last time I made out with Phoebe on the couch with my hands down her pants."

He looked at him over the glass, "have you ever made out with Phoebe on the couch?"

"That's not important. Why did you tell me that you and Monica are just friends?" Joey sat down at the counter and happily picked up the rest of his half eaten muffin. Reunited at last.

Chandler rolled his eyes and filled the glass again, "we are just friends."

"Then why was she on top of you just a minute ago?"

He couldn't help the smile that came across his face. He already missed her body weight on his, and they were supposed to stay on the couch forever. If only was that simple. "Because we've been getting along really well."

Joey laughed at that, swallowing the bite he bit off of and finishing the rest, "whatever, man. I told you that I'm happy for you. And I am. But what I just saw? That wasn't friends."

"It was two friends who care a lot about each other," he said, running a hand through his hair, "don't read anymore into it."

"She's not ready to date, and I just told Rachel that I would make sure that you weren't rushing into anything."

He groaned, "I know she's not ready to date," he replied, "I'm not rushing her into anything. I told her to take her time, and that I would still be around when and if she wants to date me. What you saw was just an innocent kiss between friends because we understand each other. And just a warning, you might witness a few more between us. She's in a weird spot right now. Nobody is rushing anybody. Monica and I? We're good and we really don't need you guys being are chaperones when we're together."

Joey stood off the barstool, nodding a little, "Okay. Fine. I believe you."

"Alright then," he sighed, breathing deeper.

"I'm gonna go change."

Chandler nodded, "Okay."

He watched his roommate go into his bedroom and leaned back on the counter, running a hand over his face. Last night had been the best night's sleep he'd had in a long time and it wasn't even in a bed. He hoped Monica would want to do that again sometime soon but as he'd promised her...and apparantly Joey and Rachel, he wasn't going to rush things. Right now the frindship lines were a little fuzzy and blurred but they were still there and he had to be careful about crossing them too quickly.

At least Joey vaguely understood.

And when the other friends caught them making out, he hoped they'd take it just as well...

A/N- a much gentler chapter this time! We hope you still enjoyed it. Thanks so much for all the reviews.