Hi you guys and thank you all!
Special thanks go to Blunz - thank you so much for reading the story right from the beginning and leaving a review for every single chapter! Actually I needed to start writing so I could get your reviews again :D So, a huge praise for you, and I'm simply flattered by your words!
Here's the next chapter, and it's pretty long..
Chapter 25
After spending the greatest day and night together, it was time for Monica and Chandler to head back to New York. They took a flight in the morning so they would be home somewhere around midnight. They wanted to surprise their friends in the morning, so they didn't call them as they'd promised.
They were happy to go home, see their apartment and go back to normal life. They couldn't wait to see their friends and tell them the good news. But on the other hand, they missed London already, even before leaving. Those four days had definitely been beyond amazing. Obviously they had wanted it to last a little longer, but home sickness got in the way. And why wouldn't the magic last in New York? They were happily together, and expecting a Daniel or an Emma.
After the seven hour flight, the longest cab drive and climbing up so many stairs, they were finally there.
"Here we are," Chandler said as he pulled the key out of his pocket.
"Here we are," Monica repeated, smiling. For some reason she was so excited to be home and go to sleep in their own bed in their own apartment again.
Chandler frowned as he tried to open the door. "It's already open," he said, pushing the door open. They stepped inside the apartment and soon noticed that the whole gang was in the living room.
All four heads turned to look at them in surprise. "Monica and Chandler!" Rachel almost screamed. She got up from the couch running to hug them both, Phoebe right behind her.
"Oh my god! Your belly has grown so much in four days!" Phoebe said to Monica.
"I know!"
Joey walked up to Chandler. "Dude, I missed you!" he said, hugging him tight.
"Missed you too, Joe," Chandler said.
"What are you doing here?" Ross asked, hugging them too.
"I could ask you the same question," Monica said, a bit shocked of the attack.
The four of them shared looks with each other. "We've been, um.. kind of living in here," Rachel admitted.
"What?!" Monica said.
"Well, you gave us the keys!" Rachel protested.
"Yeah, for emergencies!"
"I think there's an emergency if there's more food in your fridge than there is in ours when you're not even home!" Joey said.
"So, all of you huh?" Chandler asked. "Where have you been sleeping?"
"Ross and I slept in your bedroom and the girls stayed in the girly guest room," Joey explained.
Monica rolled her eyes. "Oh god, I'm too tired to handle this," she said. "First of all, I think you guys owe us to carry our bags."
"Where to?" Ross asked.
"To our bedroom," Monica said.
Ross and Joey shared a look. "Okay, but I don't know if there's enough room.." Ross said.
Monica frowned. "What do you mean?" she walked into their bedroom Chandler in tow. They both sighed as they saw what was going on. So much for having a good night sleep together in their own bed. "Why is there a fort made of boxes in our bedroom?" Chandler asked as they returned into the living room.
"Joey and I built it the day you guys left," Ross explained. Joey nodded keenly.
"They've been sleeping in there," Rachel said.
"We had doubts but we've been watching and we're pretty sure there's nothing more between them," Phoebe confirmed.
"Seriously? 'Cause I think I just saw men's underwear in there," Chandler said.
"What?!" Joey and Ross said in shock.
"It was a joke."
"Really? We really put ones in there to freak you out," Phoebe laughed, getting a glare from the guys.
"What's going on in the guest room, then?" Monica asked.
"There's just a pink little tent, that's all," Rachel said.
"A tent?" Monica asked, her frown growing deeper. "What the hell have you guys been doing?"
"We just wanted to have fun, I mean you would never have let us do this!" Rachel said.
Monica let out a sigh. "Where are we supposed to sleep now?"
Phoebe shrugged. "You can always join us in the tent."
"Yeah, and Chandler can come in the fort with us," Joey suggested.
Chandler snorted. "Thanks, but as much as I'd love to follow in my father's footsteps and spend my night with two other guys, I think I find the idea of sleeping with my fiancée more appealing," he said and put his arm around Monica's shoulders. She couldn't hold back a smile.
"Your fiancée and the mother of your child..?" Rachel added cautiously.
Chandler grinned warmly at Monica. "Yes, and the mother of my child."
Even though Rachel practically squealed in excitement, Monica couldn't but notice how happy Ross actually looked.
"Okay, now you just have to tell us what happened in London!" Phoebe said.
"Aw, not tonight," Monica groaned.
"Yes, tonight! We've waited long enough," Rachel said and dragged Monica and Chandler both on the couch with her.
Phoebe sat on the coffee table with Ross, and Joey sat on the armchair, all ready to hear them out. "How did you guys make up? And how did you find out?" Ross asked.
"Well.." Monica glanced at Chandler. "At first, we were having such a great time. You know, the hotel was amazing and the suite, and the.. well, London," she explained. "We could really enjoy each other's company and it was great, we were having fun. But when we're having dinner, guess who comes up to me."
Phoebe gasped. "Richard! It was Richard, wasn't it?"
Monica and Chandler shared a look. "No. Why would Richard be there?" Monica asked.
"Oh, I was talking about Richard Simmons," Phoebe clarified.
Monica rolled her eyes. "Anyway, it was Amanda."
"Oh no, not Amanda!?" Phoebe gasped again. Monica nodded. "But she's such a bitch!"
"Oh I know," Chandler muttered.
"Who's Amanda?" Joey asked.
"This woman who used to live in this building.. So, basically she ruined the evening.. with my help," Monica mused cautiously. "But later it was all good again."
The others stared at them before the silence was broken by Rachel. "Too many details!"
"Have some privacy, for god's sake," Ross added sarcastically.
Monica sighed. "I'm tired, okay? And does it really matter? We talked and it just worked out."
"Fine. At least tell us, how did you find out that it's your baby?" Rachel said.
"Well, um.." Monica started. Suddenly she felt kind of nervous, she didn't want to be judged again. But as Chandler took her hand in his, she knew it was alright. "Suddenly I just remembered that, um.. I was supposed to be on the pill at the time the baby was conceived, but actually I wasn't."
"How?" Phoebe asked, confused.
"I hadn't been taking them, for many.. stupid reasons that I'm not gonna share with you right now. And then, I realized that Richard and I used protection but Chandler and I didn't, so.." she gave her friends a weak smile. Chandler kissed the side of her head supportively - they both noted this was the first time she'd been talking about this whole thing so openly in front of their friends.
But luckily they didn't judge her for anything, not even her brother. They all congratulated the couple and hugged them once more before deciding to call it a night. Rachel gave Monica and Chandler permission to sleep across the hall in her room for the night, which they appreciated. They really wanted to spend every second with each other.
They didn't even bother to change as they were so tired after the flight. They just made their way to apartment 19 and to Rachel's room. Lying on the bed, Monica snuggled up against Chandler's chest. He wrapped his arms around her protectively in silence - screw the sleeping space.
"I'm proud of you," he muttered after a few minutes.
Monica opened her eyes to look at him sleepily. "For what?"
"For being so brave and strong, determined.. all the things you are," he said.
Monica looked at him, smiling widely. She truly was touched by his words. She had always thought he had a way with words whenever he really wanted. But what mattered the most was the fact that he really meant them, and she knew he did. "I love you," she said and leaned in closer to give him a slow, lingering kiss.
"I love you too," he said after breaking away a minute later.
Monica sighed in content. Suddenly she wasn't all that tired. She looked around the room - she hadn't visited there in such a long time. "Remember when you lived here and I would always sneak in quietly?"
"Well I do remember what happened after the sneaking in part," Chandler said, causing Monica to laugh.
"Me too," she said.
Chandler smiled at her. "Good times."
"Yeah.." Monica said absently. "I never thought we would actually make it."
Chandler looked at her for a moment. "Me neither."
"After London.. I fell for you so fast," Monica said, playing with the hair on his nape.
"You did?"
"Yeah. I guess the first time I realized I had feelings for you was when.. when we had our first fight."
"Guess that makes sense.. we have a fight and you start developing feelings," Chandler said sarcastically.
"You know what I mean!" Monica said. "It was starting to get kinda serious in a way.. you know, couples have fights and then you came all 'I guess this is over'.. you were so cute and stupid."
"I'm still those things," Chandler stated.
Monica chuckled. "I can't believe we haven't talked about this before. When did you start having feelings for me?"
Chandler gave it a thought. "I'm not sure.. I know I cared about you a lot, I mean I've always cared about you, but I guess the feelings came kind of surreptitiously. I didn't realize that I was in love with you until it just came out of my mouth when you put the turkey in your head and danced on Thanksgiving. It kinda freaked me out."
"I noticed," Monica said. "I was so glad you said that. Even though you tried denying it, I knew it was true."
"I knew you knew," Chandler smiled.
Monica smiled too as she gazed into his eyes. He gazed back in a way she'd seen a lot during the past couple of days, and she knew what it meant. The moment lasted about five seconds before she started removing his t-shirt. They barely managed to get it off before she brought her lips on his in a deep kiss. Rachel probably wouldn't be delighted to know what was about to happen in her bed, but it's not like they were going to tell her. Monica kept their lips locked as crawling on top of him, and that's when..
"Ow!" she yelped.
"What what what what?!"
"The baby kicked," Monica said.
"Oh.. good," Chandler sighed in relief. "You kinda scared me there."
"Sorry, but that was a big one. I think someone feels the need to remind us of his existence," Monica smiled.
"Well, I hope he's done by now," Chandler said, pulling her closer again and kissing her. He was just about to remove her blouse when she yelped again.
"Again?" he asked.
"Yeah."
Chandler sighed. "Fine, I'll leave mommy alone."
Monica chuckled as she rolled off of him. "You gave in pretty quickly, don't you think?"
"Well, I think we both know I'm gonna be the weak parent."
"I don't. I'll make sure you'll learn to discipline," Monica said. "I don't wanna be the bad guy all the time, you know."
"Fine," Chandler said. "But can you believe that in 3 months we'll be having a baby? We're going to be parents, like a family."
"I know.. It's amazing," Monica said. "Are you scared?"
Chandler snorted. "No." Monica gave him a look. "Okay, fine! Of course I'm scared. And you aren't?" he said.
"Of what?" Monica frowned. "I'm not scared, what is there to be afraid of? I've been preparing my whole life to be a good mom. What could go wrong? I mean, obviously I am slightly worried of the whole giving birth part, and the baby's health 'cause we can't see everything in the ultra. And even though I'm really trying my best in carrying the baby, you never know. Then there's the labor.. I know I'm pretty strong, but I also know that it could take really long and it could be really hard and painful and difficult. I mean, at the end of the day I'm just one tiny woman and it's not like I can practice pushing a whole child through my-"
"Woah," Chandler cut her off. "Breathe, Mon!"
Monica took a deep breath, her eyes tearing up. "See, I'm not scared," she sobbed.
Chandler sighed as he held her. "Yeah, I can see that," he said. "It's gonna be alright, okay?"
"How do you know?"
"I just know, because there's nothing you can't do.. except giving massages."
"Not helping," Monica sobbed quietly.
"Okay. Well, if Phoebe can give birth to triplets, I think it's pretty clear that you can do this. Don't you think?"
Monica shrugged. "Maybe."
"And I'm gonna be right there next to you, and if you feel like it, you can scream and yell and blame me for everything."
"That is so sweet," Monica smiled and wiped her tears.
"How come you never told me about this before?"
"I don't know," Monica muttered. "I've always been fearless and strong.. I guess I didn't want you to start thinking otherwise."
"Well, trust me when I say that I'll never start thinking otherwise. You're the strongest person I know," Chandler said and kissed her head.
"Really?"
"Uh huh," Chandler said. "Both mentally and physically."
"Physically?"
"Yeah. Don't you remember how you totally kicked that girl Janine's ass out on the street few years ago?"
Monica brightened up. "And how I beat you at arm wrestling on Halloween?"
"Hey, you did not beat me! I was tired from arm wrestling with Ross!"
"That's a stupid excuse. You know I'd beat you anyway."
"You wouldn't."
"Oh really? You wanna give it a try?"
"No, I'm tired and you're all.. pregnant."
Monica rolled her eyes. "More excuses! Just admit it, I'm stronger than you."
"Fine, you're stronger than me," Chandler sighed.
"Thank you!" Monica said and kissed his cheek.
"The fact that I said it doesn't mean I meant it," Chandler yawned. "I just think we should get some sleep."
"Fine," Monica said. "Goodnight, Chandler."
"Night, Monica."
At that very moment, Chandler realized he was happier than he had ever been. Ever - and he was stunned by it. He really liked consoling Monica, and it had been awhile since the last time. He was relieved to know he could do that normally again. Making her feel better was something he'd really missed during their dark period. It had hurt him so bad to see her unhappy especially without being able to help her. But now, everything was just perfect.
While he fell asleep, Monica rested in his arms wide awake for another half an hour. She couldn't sleep. Even though Chandler had made it sound so easy, she couldn't get the thought of giving birth out of her head. She knew it's supposed to be a happy thing, but she was nervous. The baby's health was really on her responsibility. Monica looked at her sleeping fiancé who had a wide smile on his face. Honestly, he looked like a moron. Her sweet moron who needed to take prenatal classes with her. She needed to make sure she'd done everything she could to be as good as possible at giving birth.
Monica rolled out of bed, careful to not wake Chandler. She got up and out of the room, entering the living room. She was hungry - the last time she'd eaten was on the plane like six or seven hours ago. She went to the kitchen and looked in the fridge, finding an empty shelf after another. Wow. She had expected this from Joey but after Rachel moving in, she'd really thought there would be at least something to eat. Well, the truth was, they always ate at Monica and Chandler's place.
So, Monica made her way across the hall and to their own apartment. She winced in surprise as she found Rachel sitting in the kitchen.
"Rach!" Monica exclaimed.
"Hey Mon. Shh, they're all sleeping," Rachel whispered. "Why are you up?"
"I couldn't sleep," Monica said, closing the door quietly behind her.
"Oh, jet lag?"
"Probably, and I also had a lot on mind.. What about you? You couldn't sleep either?"
"Nah, Phoebe kept kicking me in her sleep," Rachel said.
Monica nodded knowingly before making some cereal for herself.
"You're kinda happy now, aren't you?" Rachel grinned.
"You bet," Monica smiled and sat down next to her friend.
"Sooner or later you are going to tell me everything, know that."
"I'm telling you Rach, there's nothing more to tell," Monica said.
"I'm gonna need to know all the details," Rachel said. "I know your life is going so well right now, but I'm still your best friend and I don't want to lose you."
Monica looked at her, surprised. "Is that what you're worried about?" she asked, and Rachel shrugged. "You're not gonna lose me!"
"I'm not?"
"No, you're my best friend!"
"I know I am!"
Monica gave her a tight hug. She'd really missed her and all of their friends, even though she and Chandler had been away for only four days. She knew what Rachel meant, though. The whole incident had really affected her other relationships too, and she would fix it.
Rachel broke away from Monica's embrace. "I'm really happy for you guys, we've been so worried."
"Really?"
"Yeah. Thank god Chandler finally managed to forgive you."
"Yeah.. he's incredible," Monica said absently when a weird thought crossed her mind. "Do you think he's back with me only because of the baby?"
"What? Of course not! Why would you think that? He loves you so much, and it's not even guaranteed that the baby is his, you know."
Monica frowned. "What do you mean?"
Rachel looked at her. "Well, you did have sex with Richard. I know you used a condom but honestly, they're about 98 percent effective, and you have to be really careful."
"I know that, and I'm always careful," Monica said, the furrow between her eyes deepening.
"Really? Weren't you two like really drunk?"
"Well.. Yeah, kind of but-"
"Let's face it - you cheated on your boyfriend with your ex. That's how drunk you were! I wouldn't be surprised if you had completely forgotten about the condom."
"But we didn't forget! And 98 percent is enough for me to be sure that Chandler is the father. And besides, Chandler and I had sex twice that night," Monica protested.
"Okay, okay. I believe you," Rachel nodded.
Monica looked at her suspiciously. "Good," she said and finished eating. She got up and put her dishes in the sink. "Goodnight," she said before leaving the apartment.
She went across the hall and to Rachel's room where Chandler still was. He drew her in his arms immediately as she lay down on the bed. "Why were you up?" he muttered.
"I just had something to eat," Monica whispered.
"Okay," Chandler said and went back to sleep.
Rachel's words kept haunting in Monica's head. Who's side was she on? Fine, they were drunk and stupid, but that doesn't mean they could forget protection.. right?
And that's when it hit her. She couldn't remember it, not visibly. She couldn't remember seeing a condom wrapper, she couldn't recall anything related to that. Oh god. She needed to call Richard.
Ow, look at me! Once again making things complicated.
And you just know you have to stop writing when you start spelling Monica's name as Somica.
Anyway, that was not my best work and I don't even know why. What did you think? Please leave a review or that phone call to Richard will turn into something more!
Okay, it won't.
Oh and by the way, it's my birthday today! :D worth a mention, right?
