Chandler stood in the corner of Monica and Rachel's apartment with a beer in his hand, watching the several people on the dance floor dance the night away. He looked down at his watch, learning that the New Year was only 15 minutes away.

He glanced in the direction of Monica again and cringed just a little when Michael, her date, leaned down and whispered something in her ear.

He had no reason to get jealous, really, since he and Monica weren't a couple and were just 'having fun', as made very clear by Monica. This Michael guy had asked her out a couple of days ago, and when she learned that Rachel wanted to throw a New Year party, she invited him to it.

His mind continuously went to their adventure a few days ago. He fought the urge to go over there and remind her just how much fun it was between them. He missed her soft touch on his skin, the way her mouth and skin tasted, the sound she made when she moaned, the smell of her perfume and shampoo, and the way she looked when desire was all over her face.

He gulped and headed to the door, needing to get away for a while. He stepped across the hall into his own apartment, flopping down in one of the leather chairs. He leaned his head back, the memory flooding his brain again.

Four Days Earlier…

Chandler stuck his head in apartment 20, looking around first before going all the way inside. Monica turned and looked at him as she washed the breakfast dishes, "hey! What are you doing here? Everybody's gone to work," she looked down at her watch, "and you're going to be late."

He shut the door, sticking his hands in his pockets as he walked towards her. "I called work and told them I would be a little while."

She turned towards him fully, removing her dish gloves, "why are you going to be late?"

He took a few more steps, "I wanted to say thanks for breakfast."

She grinned at his new tone, "you did," he stepped closer to her, close enough to reach her now, "remember? You said, 'thanks for the pancakes, Mon!'"

He furrowed his eyebrows together, "did I sound like that?" he chuckled softly, placing a hand on her hip, pulling her the rest of the way to him, "maybe I said thanks," her smile grew when she looked down at his hand and then back up at him, "but it wasn't a proper thank you."

She cleared her throat, using her eyes to look him up and down, "how are you going to do that?"

He put his other hand around her back, pulling her closer, "I have an idea." He closed the gap between them, attacking her soft lips. Her hands slid up his body to the back of his head, her nails scraping his scalp as he deepened the kiss. He backed her up until her butt hit the counter behind her and she let out a moan when he lifted her with ease and put her on it.

Again, he didn't know how far she'd let him take this. They were finally alone, no friends or coworkers around watching them, and he wanted to take full advantage. But it was a gigantic step-one he didn't know if she was ready to take. His lips left hers to return to that spot on her neck again, "oh, god. Chandler…" she breathed.

His question was answered when he felt her pushing his suit jacket off of his shoulders and moving her hands up to loosen the tie. When she got it off, he groaned and moved back to her lips as she yanked the shirt out of his pants. He began kissing down her neck again, moving down and onto her shoulders, using his hands to push the dress straps out of his way. He moved his hands down her body and pushed the bottom of her dress up towards her thighs, earning another moan from her.

She finally got all of the buttons undone and he yelped a little when her colder hands touched the warm skin on his torso. He moved back to kissing her, his hands sliding up her thighs when he felt her making quick work of his belt buckle. His head began to swim, was he really about to do this? With Monica?

He had a brief thought that he should probably check with her to make sure she wasn't just caught up in the moment, but she showed no objection so far, in fact, she seemed to be just as much into this as he was. He moved further down towards her chest when she finally finished with the belt, returning her hands to his torso, needing to feel his skin again. He moved his mouth from her and kissed her again feeling her jump a little when the phone on the other side of the counter rang.

"Just ignore it," he said, his voice in that low, raspy stage. He moved his hands to her back pulling her dress down from her back to expose more of her skin.

She put her hands on either side of his face, pulling him back to her mouth. He was right; they didn't need any interruptions now. He had just moved his hands up to her breasts when the answering machine clicked on, a strange man's voice filling the otherwise quiet room, "uh, Ms. Geller? We've had a little problem at the restaurant, the stove caught fire and we need you to come down here and tell us what to do. Give us a call."

"What?" She said out loud, and the kissing and touching stopped. She moved off of the counter to get to the phone. She dialed the seven numbers quickly, "This is Monica, what in the hell happened?" Chandler pressed his swollen lips together, already missing her mouth and her hands on him. He liked the feeling he had just a few minutes ago, "well put it out!" He wondered how mad she'd get if he walked over there and continued feeling on her while she was on the phone. But since it seemed to be pretty serious, he decided against it, "Is anything else damaged?" She turned to look at him, silently apologizing, and it was then he realized that this wonderful event that just happened between them was about to be cut tragically short, "yeah, I'll be right there," she told her co-worker, hanging up the phone and stepping towards him again.

He gave her a small smile, "well, that was fun while it lasted."

She looked at him, placing a hand on his bare chest, disappointment evident on her face, "I'm sorry," she said softly, "I'll make it up to you. They need me down there."

He wrapped his arms around her again, "It's okay," he leaned down and gave her a soft kiss, "I'm looking forward to that make up session." She giggled and hit him playfully. She was pulling him down to her lips again, and he didn't object, giving her a deep, intimate kiss. She finally broke away from him, pulling down the bottom of her dress and fixing the straps on her shoulders. "So um, what if you and I go on a date or something?"

He was confused when she laughed, "Chandler, come on."

"What?" He really wanted to know why she found that so funny, "I'm serious."

She stopped at the door, her hand on it. "This is fun," Monica replied, "why mess it up?"

Chandler stared at her for a second, but then chuckled dryly, "yeah, yeah. Maybe you're right. Why mess it up?"

She smiled, "okay, good." She stepped over to him, placing a sweet, soft kiss on his lips, "I'll see you later."

"Alright," he watched her as she disappeared behind the door.

His eyes sprang open when he heard a voice, "Dude, what are you doing? Come back over here! We're about to count down!"

He sighed, rubbing his face with both hands to try and forget that memory. Oh, if only he could. "Yeah, I'll be over in a second."

"Two minutes, let's go!"

Chandler rolled his eyes at his intoxicated roommate and stood, grabbing a new beer out of the refrigerator. He walked across the hall and rejoined the party, heading to the spot he was in before. "One minute everybody!" Somebody yelled, and all eyes turned to the TV.

Several people passed him, bumping shoulders with him and the room suddenly seemed too crowded for his liking. He climbed out of the window to the balcony, watching the TV through the glass.

He took a swig of his drink and watched as the ball hit the bottom and the numbers lit up the screen. His eyes scanned the crowd of the party looking for Monica, but he quickly gave up and decided that he couldn't see her anyway, since her face would be buried in Michael's.

He cringed at the thought and turned around, leaning over the balcony on his forearms. He looked up at the sky as small snowflakes began to fall.

He felt a hand on his shoulder, and before he knew what was happening his back was against the wall, hands holding his body against the brick. He recognized the taste of her mouth immediately, so he wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her closer, and she wrapped her arms around his neck.

Chandler pulled back first, but only because his lungs were about to explode from the lack of oxygen. He didn't let her go, holding her body close to his own, "what are you doing?" He asked softly, not that he cared. She could do that anytime, he'd never object.

A chill ran through her and she shivered, so he instinctively pulled her even closer, "it's the New Year," she told him, "you're supposed to kiss somebody."

He chuckled, "you had somebody to kiss, though," he returned. "Here," he let her go long enough to pull his jacket off of his own shoulders, wrapping it around her bare arms, "you're going to catch pneumonia."

Monica bit her bottom lip. She'd been thinking about him non stop since he'd made the suggestion for them to go on a real date, "thank you," she said to him for the jacket, before leaning up to kiss him again.

He let her lips touch his just for a second before he pulled back again, "Monica, what about your date?"

"He left," she said simply.

Chandler was sure he was gaping at her, "what, why?"

Monica let a smile come across her face as he pulled her closer to his body. "I kept looking around the room," she said to him softly, "and when he asked me what I was looking for, I was honest with him. He didn't like my answer, so he left."

"What were you looking for?" He really needed to know. He knew they should probably head back inside before they both got sick from the cold air, but going inside meant that they couldn't be this close anymore, and he didn't want that at all.

Monica raised one of her hands it placed it on the side of his face, "I realized that you are the person that I'll never stop looking for in a crowded room."

God, yes, that's what he wanted to hear, "Mon-"

She put her finger over his lips, "I'm not done yet," she smiled at his reaction. "When you made the date suggestion, I thought you were crazy." He furrowed his eyebrows together, but relaxed when she wrapped her arms around his neck, "but then I thought about it and you and I could be pretty good together. I like you a lot, Chandler Bing."

"Yeah?" Chandler replied, a smile coming across his face, "I like you a lottle."

She furrowed her eyebrows at him, "A lottle?"

"Yeah." He smiled, "it's like a little, except it's a lot."

She laughed, and he leaned down, kissing her lips softly at first, but the kiss quickly deepened. He gripped her tighter when she moaned, wanting this moment, just like the others, to last for a lifetime. They finally broke, and she continued to kiss his jawline, still holding his head with both hands. He pulled her into a tight hug, his arms under his own jacket around her.

They only pulled apart when a new voice was heard, "there you are!" Ross said, stepping through the window and grabbing onto both of them, "happy new year you guys!"

Chandler and Monica patted him on the back, "yeah, you too," Chandler said through his teeth. He was sad that his alone time with Monica seemed to be over.

Ross backed up from them and pulled his sleeves further down his arm, "it's cold, what are you guys doing out here?"

Monica bit her lip, trying to think of an excuse to tell her big brother, "I got hot in there with all those people," she finally said, "you know, all those bodies and all that sweat, woo!"

Chandler chuckled, "and I wanted to…" he looked up at the sky, snow falling on his face as he tried to come up with a good enough excuse, "smoke."

"Oh come on, man! That's no way to start the New Year! You know how much we all hate it when you smoke."

Chandler rolled his eyes at the predictable response. He nodded, because if it'd get rid of Ross faster, he'd promise anything, and he wasn't even smoking anyway, "I know. It was my last one, promise."

Ross pointed behind him, "well I'm going back in, and you two should too! You're going to get sick! That's no way to start the New Year either!"

Chandler looked down, unable to agree with his old college roommate. Standing out in the cold making out with Monica was definitely his new favorite way to bring in a New Year, and he made a mental note to try and do it next year as well. He stuck his hands in his pockets and watched as Ross climbed back inside the apartment. He walked to the edge of the balcony, turning back around her to face her, "so, I haven't forgot about that thing you owe me."

She grinned, stepping close to him again, "I hoped you hadn't," she said to him.

He smiled back to her and winced when someone turned the lights back on inside from the dim party scene earlier. It lit up the entire small space, and anybody who looked out the window could see everything they were doing.

Damn it.

"So, we should uh, set a date."

Monica crossed her arms and since she didn't have his body up against her own it was suddenly too cold for conversations on the balcony. She smiled at him, when did he get so damn cute? "Yes, we do."

"Friday sound good?"

She grinned again, "yeah, Friday sounds perfect. What are we going to do?"

"Now what fun would I have if I told you?" He stepped even closer to her as she chuckled, "do you think anybody would see us if I kissed you again?"

Monica didn't turn her head, but used her eyes to look at the window, "I'd say yes." She shivered as the wind blew right through her, the snow falling quicker.

"Why don't you head back inside and I'll owe you one?" He placed his hand on her arm, rubbing back and forth to try and warm her up at least a little.

She nodded at him, "okay." She started to leave, but turned just before she got to the window, "just so you know, I haven't been this excited about a date in a while." He grinned at that and she looked down at the concrete beneath her feet, tucking a piece of her hair behind her ear before looking back into his eyes, "thank you for reminding me what butterflies feel like."

He wanted to pin her down and kiss her so bad it hurt, but they both knew it'd attract every pair of eyes, including each of their friends.

He grinned as she walked passed the window inside, his jacket still wrapped around her arms.

This was possibly going to be the best year of his life.