Hi guys, and thank you :)
Here's part two!
Chapter 22, part two
Monica had told Chandler go to wait downstairs and take a look around after he'd changed. She wanted to take her time, she wanted to look perfect that night. Or as good as she possibly could, she personally thought she looked fat and bloated because of her pregnancy. But on the other hand she liked being pregnant, and she liked the fact that other people could see that she was with child.
It did make her a bit sad that she had so much other things to focus on than just the baby, but she didn't want to be left alone, and this was the only way to keep the guy she was meant to be with, around. She didn't believe in meant-to-be, at least she'd never had before, but now she'd started thinking. She couldn't imagine spending her life with anyone else but Chandler. There was something special between them, she'd always knew it, and despite all their arguments and differences she loved him very deeply. And she knew he felt the same way about her.
That's why she needed to make their relationship work, and that's why she'd put so much work - and money, to be honest - into this all.
Monica looked at herself in the mirror after putting on the red dress she'd brought with her. She remembered the last time they were in London she'd also wore red. The neckline was both sexy and elegant, and luckily the whole dress looked good on her. Even she admitted that to herself, and she actually loved the way you could see the bump on her stomach.
She applied some red lipstick and perfume before again telling herself that she looked fine. She took her purse and left the room, it was time for dinner.
When Monica arrived downstairs, it didn't take long to find Chandler. He was at the bar, sitting and talking to the bartender. Monica walked up to him.
"Hey," she said so he would notice her.
Chandler turned to look at her, his eyebrows rising in surprise. "Oh hi.." he said, looking at her up and down.
"What?" Monica asked, smiling.
"You.. you look gorgeous," he complimented, eyes still wide. He thought Monica was always beautiful, but tonight she looked radiant. He didn't know much of these kind of things, but he could tell she looked more confident than in a long time.
Monica couldn't help but grin. "Why thank you, sir. You look pretty handsome yourself," she said, briefly touching his dark tie.
Chandler smiled before standing up. "So, what's next, dinner?"
The dinner was going well, better than well. The food and the place were great, and most importantly they were having fun together. Monica and Chandler were like they'd used to be, and this time it felt real for both of them. They were already starting to think that two weeks wasn't necessary, they would be okay much sooner. But then something happened, and the whole direction of the evening changed.
"Monica darling, is that you?!"
They both turned to look at the blonde woman sitting at the next table. She was looking at Monica, not believing her eyes.
"Oh my god, Amanda!" Monica said, just as surprised.
Amanda got up, clearly excited to see Monica. "It's so good to see you!"
Chandler watched as they shared a hug. He had no idea who this Amanda was, he just knew her accent was unbelievably fake.
"What are you in London for?" Amanda asked Monica as they ended the hug.
"Well, me and my fiance-," Monica nodded towards Chandler, "just decided to, um.. We're on a vacation."
"Oh, I didn't know you're engaged! Congratulations," Amanda said, before looking at Chandler. "Well, you look okay," she said, leaving Chandler confused. She turned to Monica again, "you look so different!"
"Well, I -"
"I haven't changed at all! I'm just as thin and beautiful as I used to be! And you.." she noticed Monica's stomach. "Oh my god! You're pregnant?!"
"Yes," Monica smiled happily.
"This is just amazing, we need to celebrate! My friends and I are going to play snooker, you should come with us!"
Monica shared an uncomfortable look with Chandler. "Um.. See, I don't know-"
"I don't take no for an answer, I haven't seen you in ages! Finish your dinner and let's go," Amanda smiled before going back to her table.
"Who the hell was that?" Chandler asked after she'd left.
"Amanda used to live in our building before you. We used to be friends," Monica explained. "Then she moved to England and got that fake accent."
"Yeah.. well she's annoying," Chandler stated.
"Yeah," Monica agreed, before turning silent.
Chandler looked at her eat as she didn't say anything. "You're not gonna go, right?"
Monica looked up and opened her mouth to respond, but didn't say anything. She couldn't say no to Amanda, she would hate her. And Monica couldn't stand if someone hated her. But then, if she went with her, the whole evening would be ruined.
"No," Monica said finally.
Chandler narrowed his eyes. "You want to, though?"
"No, I don't want to go," Monica said. "But you heard her, she doesn't take no for an answer! If I say no, she'll drag me with her."
"I highly doubt that, but if that happens, we'll just.. run away from her."
Monica sighed. "Then she'll hate me. You know I don't like it when people hate on me."
"So, you're just gonna go and leave me here, alone?"
"Well, didn't you make good friends with that bartender guy..?" Monica asked hopefully. Chandler shook his head in disbelief. "You could come with us!" Monica suggested quickly.
"No," Chandler said, clearly offended. "Just go have fun with Amanda and her friends or whatever, I'll be in our suite thinking about our relationship which is by the way still fine, remember?"
"Chandler, don't do this," Monica pleaded. She knew she was making the wrong decision, right here. But she just couldn't say no to Amanda. It was crazy, 'cause Chandler meant so much more to her.
"Hey, weren't you the one who said that this is just about us? Well, I didn't know us included this random woman called Amanda. But now that I know, I guess it's just fine. See you around," Chandler said before standing up and walking away. Monica watched as he went to pay the bill, and then he left.
Monica entered their suite about twenty minutes later. She walked in, soon finding Chandler lying on their kingsize bed. He turned to look at her.
"So, as you can see, I didn't go. Happy now?" Monica said finally.
"Nope."
"What?"
"Do you have any beer?"
Monica looked at him for a minute. "No, why would I have any beer? Look in the fridge."
"Good idea," Chandler said before getting up. Monica looked at him as he made his way to the fridge and took a beer. He looked awfully carefree, and Monica could sense it was fake. Almost as fake as Amanda's accent.
"So you're not mad at me?" Monica asked anyway.
"Nope."
"But you're not happy that I decided to stay?" Monica asked, confused.
Chandler shrugged after taking a gulp of his beer. "Whatever."
Monica rolled her eyes. "So you are mad."
"No, I just said that I don't care. You should do what you want to do."
"I did, I want to be here with you," Monica said, putting her purse down.
"Okay.. yay."
"Okay, what do you want me to say?"
"I don't know, Mon," Chandler said, finally sounding serious. "This whole idea was stupid."
"No, it wasn't," Monica shook her head and sat down on the bed. "This was a great idea, and I've put a lot into this."
"You didn't have to. I just wanted to take a break from everyday life, take a trip, relax and spend some time with you. But you planned everything out. Not that I don't like this hotel and the idea.. but come on, I got to know that we're going to London at the airport."
"Well, I'm sorry for wanting to revive our relationship and-and make you happy," Monica said, slightly offended.
"Spending time with you makes me happy, you make me happy. Not deluxe suites and fancy hotels, and definitely not the fact that you decided to go celebrate with your old friends when this whole thing is about us."
"But I stayed," Monica protested.
"And a while ago you were still going."
Monica sighed. "See, I told you I'd mess this up. I just wanted us to have fun, okay?"
"We should be able to have fun without all this stuff!"
"That's right, we should. But we can't," Monica said and buried her face in her hands.
"Well, can you blame me?" Chandler's question was followed by a long silence, before he could hear Monica sobbing quietly.
"Do you.. Do you think I should get an abortion?" Monica looked down.
Chandler shook his head in disbelief. "I.. I can't believe you just said that," he said, his tone softening. "Don't ever even think of that again, Mon. No, I definitely don't."
Monica nodded, knowing how crazy it was. She knew Chandler would never want something like that, especially when there's a huge chance that the baby is his. "After all that's happened.. do you think less of me? Do you think I'm a slut?"
Chandler took a deep breath. "No. Monica, that's crazy," he said. "Stop asking those kind of questions, you're scaring me."
Monica nodded again without a word. She dried the few tears that had fallen down her face. Chandler stood there, studying her desperate face. He knew she was lost. He knew they were both lost. They were both lost - alone and together, and he knew neither of them should be. "Marry me," he muttered quietly.
Monica turned to look at him. "What?" she asked, not sure she'd heard him correctly.
Chandler looked away, not really sure what to say. He blurted out a lot of things he didn't mean but this was different. He did mean it, which scared them both. His eyes met hers again. "I'm sorry, but I think you should marry me," he finally said.
Monica gasped slightly. He was actually being serious. Suddenly her hands started sweating as she doubted if this was really happening. He just couldn't be saying those words. But yet he was. And he stayed serious. "Come again?" she said after awhile.
"We're in London, in the same damn hotel.. where we got together in the first place. That's the best thing that's ever happened to me. Now over two years later I still think so. You might be pregnant to another guy and I can't say I don't care or it doesn't matter, 'cause in real life it does. I have no idea how I'm going to get through it if it's not my baby but.." Chandler said and sat beside her on the bed. "I'll make myself get through it. I'll have to. Because I'd rather fight, yell, cry or whatever with you than be alone or with anyone else."
Monica gazed in his truthful, honest eyes. She watched as he grabbed her numb hands gently in his own.
"It took me this long to realize that. Too long, I'm sorry. But.. I love you, Monica," Chandler said. "And I love whoever is inside you."
She didn't know what to say. She could just feel her eyes tearing up again as they sat there in silence. He was waiting for an answer but she didn't know if she could give him one. She couldn't say yes, it wasn't right. Yes, she wanted it, she wanted him. She'd always wanted to get married. But this wasn't right, because marriage isn't based on fighting, yelling or crying. It's about happiness. Making each other happy.
Tears streaming down her cheeks, she asked, "Are you happy?"
Chandler seemed to be surprised of the question. He sighed heavily before answering. "I.. I don't know, Mon," he said.
Monica sobbed, looking away. "Have I ever made you happy?"
"Only you asking that question shows just how much we've parted in the last couple of months, and I hate that," Chandler said. "When I proposed to you.." he paused as he once again recalled what she had really been doing right before that, "I meant every word. You make me happier than I ever thought I could be."
Monica looked back at him. "How come you don't know if you're happy, then?"
"You haven't been there to make me happy, you haven't been yourself lately. You make me happy when you, the real you is present," he explained. She tried to dry her tears with her palm, but stopped as he started doing it for her. "Are you happy?" he asked softly after a short silence.
"No, I'm not," Monica said honestly. "Which is stupid because I should be. I'm going to be a mom, for god's sake, and I can't be happy. I wanna be happy, Chandler. Why don't you just.. make me? We both know you can."
"We need to do it together," Chandler said. "That's why I'm asking this. If you say yes, we'll both promise we'll always do everything and anything we can to make each other happy."
Monica watched as he kneeled down in front of her...
Well that was emotional!
Haha, I'm telling you, even I wasn't expecting that to happen. But I felt like something really had to happen, so.. there you go, proposal number two :D yeah, I said number two and I laughed, you know, because of Joey.
And what the hell, Amanda? :D I don't know where that came from.
Anyway, what do you think? What will Monica say, and what do you want her to say? Please leave a review :)
