Late 1992

It was a Monday morning and Monica was scrambling some eggs together in a bowl. Ross was sitting at the table reading the paper, every once in awhile mentioning something he was reading about. Chandler walked in the front door in a robe and slippers and sleepily sat down at the table across from Ross.

"I think I'll call out of work today," Chandler said as he took a banana from the fruit bowl.

"Why, are you sick?" Ross asked, the newspaper still in his hands.

"Sick of work, yes," Chandler replied. "Sick in general, no."

"So basically, you're being lazy," Monica said, turning toward him.

"Pretty much," Chandler shrugged.

"Say, by the way," Ross put the newspaper down. "Are you guys free tonight?"

"It depends what it is," Chandler said,

"Carol and I are supposed to be going to the Plaza for dinner tonight. As you guys know, things have been a little rocky between us lately, and I was hoping that maybe if I treated her to a fancy night out, it might help. But it's also been super awkward lately trying to talk to her, it's like everything I say, she shuts me down, and she never tries to discuss anything with me. Could you guys come along? It might help having another couple there to help break the ice and maybe we can all have a good time together."

"But we're not a couple," Monica pointed out.

"I know that," Ross said. "But Monica, you're my sister and Chandler, you're my best friend. I don't know who else to ask and I'm just not wanting to do this alone."

"The Plaza is kind of expensive," Chandler crossed his arms.

Ross sighed. "I'll pay for half of your meals. Will you guys go then?"

"Sure!" Monica and Chandler both chimed in together.

Monica was applying her mascara in her the bathroom when she heard Chandler walk into her apartment. "I'll be out in a minute!" she said.

"No hurry!" Chandler replied. He looked around in Monica's cabinets and found a cleaning rag and took it out to polish his shoes.

Monica walked into the kitchen and smiled at Chandler who was putting a lot of effort into polishing the shoes.

"I think you're good," she said. "I can see my reflection in them."

"I don't get to dress up much so I wanted to try to look nice," Chandler replied, smoothing his tie. "You look beautiful. If that's okay to say." He cleared his throat loudly.

"It's fine," Monica smiled. "You look pretty snazzy yourself. You're more dressed up that you were for Ross's wedding."

"It's a new suit," Chandler shrugged. "You ready?"

"Yes, I just need to grab my shoes," Monica quickly walked toward her room.

They were somehow able to catch a cab rather quickly for the time of day it was. When they arrived at the Plaza, Chandler gave Monica a hand to help her out of the cab. The warmth of his hand felt nice to Monica on this chilly evening. Chandler always seemed to radiate warmth whenever he touched Monica, whether it was a brief hand hold, a hug, or just a simple touch on the shoulder. They had beat Ross and Carol there even though they had been running a few minutes late. Nonetheless, they were seated at the table Ross had reserved earlier in the day.

Monica looked over the menu. "Everything looks amazing! I don't know how I'll decide."

"I'm glad Ross is paying part of the bill. Their chicken soup is $24.50. And that's just soup! Who pays that much for soup?" Chandler shook his head in disgust.

"I don't think that's too expensive. It says here they use local organic chicken, and it also comes with a side salad," Monica pointed out.

"Okay Ms. Fancy Chef," Chandler teased. "I guess I have no place to complain to you about food at a restaurant like this."

"I think it's okay if you say your opinion, it doesn't offend me. I mean, it's not like I made the chicken soup. If you had said that about my chicken soup, we would have a problem."

"Well lucky for me, it's not."

Monica gave him a weird look.

"I don't know," Chandler shrugged. His attempts at jokes sometimes failed miserably. He looked at his watch. "Where the hell are Ross and Carol? They're really late."

At that moment, the waiter came to their table. "The rest of your party seems to be a tad late. Would you two like to order now, or wait until they arrive?"

"We'll give them a few more minutes," Monica replied.

"So you know that guy who sits in the cubicle in front of mine?" Chandler ran his hand through his hair, deciding to take advantage of this rare time where the two of them were alone, dressed up, and about to partake in wonderfully delicious food. They may not be a couple, but Chandler could pretend in his mind that they were. Even if that was weird. No one would know anyway.

"Yeah, the guy who eats raw eggs at his desk?"

Chandler shuddered. "Yes. Him. Anyway, he's getting married to this woman who's literally 19 years old. He's 55. 55! Isn't that crazy?"

"It's definitely disturbing," Monica agreed.

"Anyway," he tried to change the subject, realizing how odd that conversation was. "How's your job? Did the creepy guy leave yet?"

"Larry? No, he's still there and creepy as ever," Monica rolled her eyes.

A few minutes later, the waiter was back at their table and took their orders. Ross and Carol still hadn't shown up.

"Gosh, I wonder if something happened," Monica sounded a little worried.

"Hey, I'm sure they're fine," Chandler put his hand on top of one of hers, gently caressing her thumb. "You know how Carol can be."

Boy did Monica know. It's not that Carol was rude or mean in any way. But she just had this quality about her. Monica couldn't place her finger on it, but Carol just didn't fit in with the rest of them. She loved her brother so much and was happy he had found someone that made him happy, but Monica often wished he hadn't married so young and waited for someone better to come along. Carol often would back out of plans at the last minute, or come up with lame excuses as to why she wouldn't go to an event. Monica pushed her worry aside and decided Chandler was probably right; Carol had decided to just stay home.

When they had finished with dinner, they both continued to talk for quite some time. They both had ordered several drinks, and by the time the restaurant was beginning to close, they were both rather drunk.

"Chandlerrrrr," Monica reached across the table and vigorously wiped his tie. "You had a crumb and I had to get rid of it."

"Hey, I was saving that for later," Chandler pouted.

Monica giggled. "You are soooo funny Mr. Bing. Bing! Your name is so funny. I love your name. Bing!"

Chandler raised his eyebrows. "Okay, we need to get you home. I've never seen you this excited about my name before."

"Oh no, I'm having so much fun with you Chandler! We can't go yet. We need to dance! See, those people over there are dancing!" she pointed excitedly at a few couple slow dancing at the other side of the room.

"I'll bust my ass if we try to dance. I might be a little less drunk, but I don't trust my dancing skills. Hell, I don't trust them when I'm sober. And you, well just believe me that I'd be sparing you from highly potential embarrassment for even attempting to dance." Chandler stood up and once again, helped Monica up. She grasped onto him tightly and he placed his arm around her, leading her outside.

"Isn't the city soooo beautiful?" she exclaimed pointing enthusiastically at the many lights of Manhattan.

"Yes, it's a swell place to live," Chandler said as he tried to wave down a taxi.

On the ride back, Monica snuggled up next to Chandler and pointed out everything she saw outside the window. Chandler just nodded along and occasionally would say "yeah that's great" or "that's cool."

When they got back to the apartment building, Chandler walked Monica into her apartment, and told her she should probably lay down. He guided her to her bedroom and planted a kiss on her forehead.

"I'll see you tomorrow Mon," he said and started to turn away.

"No Chandlerrrr, please stay. You can't leave me now. I'll be lonely," Monica batted her eyes up at him.

"You want me to sleep here?" Chandler asked incredulously.

"Yes! I neeeeeed you. You neeeeeed to stay here. My bed is big enough for the both of us!" she plopped down on her bed and patted a spot next to her for him to sit down.

"Well, I guess I'll be staying here tonight," Chandler felt a little uneasy, considering he was in love with her, but he decided it was for the best since she was so drunk and who knows what she might do if she was left alone. He cared way too much about Monica to ignore her begging for him to stay. If she wanted him, he would be there.

~Monica's POV-Present

Sharing a bed with Chandler that night had felt so right. I might have been drunk, but I remember a lot about it. I snuggled up next to him and fell asleep pretty quickly. I guess he slipped out early the next morning, in case I didn't remember and he didn't want to freak me out. I don't know, we never talked about it after.

I've been cleaning my apartment all day, trying to keep my mind off things. I went over to Joey and Chandler's earlier to try to talk to Chandler but he wasn't there and Joey didn't know where he was. It's probably for the best. I just don't know if I can be honest with him. I want him to know how I feel, but I don't want to tell him. If he doesn't feel the same way, I just know our friendship will be messed up. Everything will be weird and we'll have to be polite to each other because our friends have no idea we slept together and they don't need to know. I can't even imagine all the questions they'd have for us. I kind of want to tell Rachel though, but she's stuck in Greece right now. I think I'll just go lay down for a bit and try not to think about any of this.