Happy New Year everyone! I've been keeping busy with family for the holidays so I didn't have as much time to write as I'd have liked. I feel like this chapter is kind of a mess but I promise you I'm going somewhere with this story, so just stick with me! Slight warning for mentions of sex at the end of the chapter, but nothing graphic...thank you to everyone who has read and reviewed so far...y'all make me love writing again! Please keep it up with the feedback and hopefully I'll have another chapter out to you guys this week!

"Chandler! Hurry up! We're going to be late!"

Chandler hid an eye roll as he pulled on his coat. Monica had been in a mood all morning, and the closer they came to the doctor's appointment, the snippier she became. Chandler was trying his best to just grin and bear it; he knew she was tired, sore, and hormonal, and had every right to be a bit crabby, but it was taking all of his strength not to give his usual quippy responses and send her further over the edge.

"Honey, we have over an hour, we'll get there in plenty of time," he assured her. He walked up behind her, wrapped his arms around her waist, and kissed her neck. "Just relax, okay?"

"Chandler," she whined. He chuckled and kissed her again, on the cheek this time, then turned her around to get her lips. She allowed herself to be manipulated in his embrace, then finally sagged against his chest, all the fight leaving her. "Can we please go? I just really don't want to be late."

"I know," Chandler responded, kissing her forehead tenderly. "Let's go."

He took her hand and led her downstairs to hail a cab. It was just starting to warm up, but the day was wet, so Chandler held her close to him while they waited for an empty taxi to pull up. He helped her into the back seat before sliding in next to her and giving the driver their destination. While slightly less on edge now that they were safely on their way, Monica was still more tense than not, and Chandler stroked his thumb over the back of her hand in an effort to soothe her nerves. She shot him a grateful smile and squeezed his hand, leaning to rest her head on his shoulder for the duration of the ride.

"You okay?" he whispered into her forehead.

"I think it just hit me this morning how real it all is," she admitted. "Like, this is how it'll be for the next seven months, except harder. I'm already so tired, I don't know if I can do it."

"Hey, come on now," Chandler murmured, bringing her hand up to kiss it. "You're the strongest, most amazing woman I know. If anyone can do this, it's you. And clearly you're not the first person to get pregnant." He grinned and shrugged, and she giggled, the set of her shoulders loosening ever so slightly, but it was enough. "Sure, it'll be hard, but we're gonna do this, okay? You and me together."

"I love you so much," she responded honestly, looking up to gaze into his eyes and he stared right back.

"I love you too, Mon," he replied, squeezing her hand again with a smile.

They spent the rest of the ride in comfortable silence, and when they did make it to the doctor's they were over twenty minutes early. Monica looked at her watch guiltily, but Chandler just shook his head and smiled before leading her inside. Fortunately, they didn't end up waiting for long before the receptionist called them back to a room where Monica changed into one of those typical hospital gowns—she still made Chandler turn the other way, no matter how many nights they slept beside each other—and they continued to wait in silence for Dr. McKay to make her appearance.

Chandler wished he was a mind reader, and could know what was going on in Monica's head. It made him nervous how in her own head she had been lately, and he wanted nothing more than for her to open up to him, to let him fix whatever it was. She was always the strong one, for all of them, and now it was Chandler's turn to be strong for her.

Just as he was about to vocalize his concern, there was a knock on the door and Dr. McKay appeared.

"Long time no see!" she greeted, going straight for the computer in the corner and clicking the mouse a few times. "How has everything been? Any questions before we get started here?"

Monica shook her head, still oddly quiet, and Chandler furrowed his eyebrows in concern. Dr. McKay just brushed right past it, continuing with her usual questions and taking her usual measurements, and Monica answered with what seemed like the shortest answers possible.

"I'll be back in one moment and we can take a look inside there!" Dr. McKay exclaimed. "We may even be able to hear the heartbeat today!" Without waiting for a response, she flitted back out of the room. Chandler followed after her without thinking, and stopped her just outside the door.

"I'm a bit worried," he admitted when she asked him what was wrong. "Is it…normal for her to be so quiet all the time? She's not usually this subdued, and when I ask her what's wrong, she never really gives an answer."

"Low energy during pregnancy is completely normal, especially during the first trimester," she assured him. "Her body is adjusting to the different hormone levels and other changes, she should pick back up again in the next few weeks."

"Is there anything I can do then?" he asked.

"Just make sure she's getting enough rest, enough nutrition, and isn't exhausting herself with strenuous work. You can continue keeping an eye on her, and give me a call if you see anything else that worries you, but so far everything seems to be in good condition."

Chandler breathed a sigh of relief, and thanked the doctor before turning around and heading back into the examination room.

"What was that about?" Monica asked before the door was even closed behind him.

"Nothing," he promised. "I just had to ask her a quick question, but everything is fine."

She stared him down for a moment, as if daring him to break and give her more information, but it didn't take long for her to deflate and Chandler moved to wrap his arms around her waist from behind so that she was half-lying on his chest.

"Mon?" he asked when they had settled in their position. Monica hummed in response. "You promise to say something if you feel anything wrong?"

She turned to meet his eyes, her own blue eyes wide with surprise. "Chandler, where is this coming from?" she asked.

"Just promise you'll tell me if you're not okay?" he repeated.

"Of course," she responded carefully. "Honey, are you sure you're okay?"

Chandler just laughed. "I'm not the one with a person growing in my uterus."

Monica smiled and pecked his cheek as Dr. McKay reentered the room to prep the ultrasound. Chandler stepped back and out of the way, his only contact with his girlfriend her hand in his own. The doctor explained a few things quickly that Chandler didn't catch, but assumed that Monica had, because she nodded intently and squeezed the hand that was holding his.

The next few minutes seemed to happen in slow motion. One moment, he was half-listening to the quick conversation between the two women, the next the only sound in the room was a quick but steady thud as another grainy image appeared on the screen.

God. That was it. That was his baby. Chandler was actually listening to his child's heartbeat and he was overcome with so much emotion that he had to grip the edge of the bed Monica was sat on to keep from collapsing altogether. The rest of the world was a blur; everything had narrowed down to the still tiny but much clearer image on the ultrasound screen and the constant thrum thrum thrum of his baby's heartbeat.

"Oh my god," he breathed after a moment, when no one else had said anything. Monica's grip on his hand tightened, and he couldn't tell if the shaking was coming from her or him—most likely both of them.

"It's…" Monica choked out, emotion clouding her voice. Chandler couldn't blame her; he knew he was moments away from bursting into tears himself. Without moving his eyes from the screen, he moved closer to her again, pressing his mouth to her hair gently.

"It's real," he whispered. Tears clouded his vision and he squeezed his eyes shut, just taking in the sound of his child's heartbeat and the feel of his girlfriend breathing. "That's a real person in there."

"Uh huh," Monica sniffled. Doctor McKay must have left them alone for a while, because when Chandler blinked his eyes open again the two of them—three of them—were alone in the room, so he closed his eyes again and wrapped his arms fully around her waist, and they just listened.

Monica was quiet on the taxi ride home, but Chandler wasn't as worried as he had been that morning. He just held her hand and sat next to her in comfortable silence the entire way. His head was still buzzing, the thump thump thump ringing in his ears as he thought about how incredibly surreal this all was. Elevven weeks along, Doctor McKay had said, almost a full trimester. In just six months there would be a baby. He was going to be a dad in six months. There was going to be a tiny person depending on him to keep it safe and alive; he'd never had a responsibility even close to that before.

He was scared, he could admit that. This was terrifying, and each day as it became more and more of a reality, the more he thought about all the ways he could mess it up. But no matter how scared he got, he knew he wouldn't run again. Couldn't. He meant every word when he had told Ross that he wanted to be here. He wanted to be with Monica. As long as he had her by his side, nothing seemed unmanageable. She kept him anchored, kept him calm. She was his rock, whether she knew it or not.

He felt a gentle tug on his hand, the one holding Monica's, and broke out of his thoughts to see that they were parked in front of their building. He pulled some cash from his back pocket to pay the taxi driver and waited for the change before helping Monica out of the cab and wrapping an arm around her waist to guide her up the stairs.

"Chandler, I'm pregnant, not an invalid," she protested, pushing weakly at his side but making no real effort to move away from him.

"I don't care," he grinned, kissing her hair as they walked. "You're my girlfriend, I'm gonna take care of you whether you like it or not."

"Well aren't you sweet," she teased back. She wouldn't admit it, but Chandler could tell that she was tiring much more quickly than she normally would just from climbing the flights of stairs to their apartments. Silently he shifted so that she was leaning on him more, and she didn't respond.

When they finally reached their level, they headed directly to Monica's apartment, where they were unsurprised to find the other four already hanging out.

"Hello children," Chandler greeted when the entered, and immediately they were swarmed by grabbing hands and questions of the afternoon's appointment. He ignored them all in favor of walking Monica to the couch and sitting down with her in his lap. Over the past few weeks it had become more natural to be affectionate in front of their friends; they had always been close, so it was just a matter of not second-guessing their every move anymore.

"Well?" Phoebe prompted as they got settled.

"Well what?" Monica responded with a teasing smile.

"Come on, Mon, how'd it go?" Rachel asked, sitting next to them on the couch, while Phoebe took the chair and the other two boys sat on the floor on the other side of the coffee table. There was a bowl of popcorn sitting on the table—somehow the group had managed to feed themselves in Monica's brief absence—and Monica reached for a handful. She offered a piece to Chandler, which he ate out of her hand, before finally addressing the others.

"It was fine," she shrugged. "The baby's healthy, I'm healthy."

"We heard the heartbeat," Chandler added.

"And Chandler cried!"

"You cried too!" Chandler argued.

"Yeah, but I'm all hormonal and stuff," Monica reasoned. "I have an excuse!"

"Yeah well…shut up," Chandler huffed. Monica turned and kissed his cheek, and he smiled back at her. She reached for another handful of popcorn, this time poking him on the nose with a piece before feeding it to him.

"Alright, let me up, I'm gonna pee, then get started on dinner," Monica said finally, tapping on his arms around her waist.

"No, no, hey, I can make dinner," Chandler protested.

"Not if we actually want to eat it, you can't," Monica returned, kissing him quickly before going to the bathroom while the rest of the group laughed at Chandler's defeated expression.

Dinner was a long affair, and all Chandler wanted was to curl up in bed next to his beautiful girlfriend and sleep for about three days. Unfortunately, he had a 9am meeting the next day so that wasn't possible, but he would settle for a solid eight hours. He helped Monica with the washing up when they had finished—she hadn't allowed him anywhere near the food preparation—in an effort to expedite the process, but the other four had set up camp in the living room and he knew Monica wouldn't want to go to bed until all her guests had left. As tired as he was, he could practically see the exhaustion radiating from her, and he really, really wanted her to rest.

He said as much to her, and she shot him a look that was obviously meant to shut him up before he said anything to their friends. He returned the look with a raise of his eyebrow, trying to communicate his distrust of her judgement at the moment. She huffed and put down the plate she was washing, took the towel from his hands to dry her own, and wrapped her arms around his torso and looked into his eyes.

"Chandler, stop it," she scolded quietly. "I'm fine. I'm just a little tired, that's normal for the first trimester. Just give it a week or so and I'll be back to normal, okay?"

"Still," he protested. "If you're tired, you should rest. Stop fighting it. It's not your job to be strong right now, remember? Go get into bed, and I'll take care of the guys."

"Do you want to stay over tonight?" she asked.

"Always," he grinned, kissing her forehead. "Give me five minutes."

She nodded and quietly slipped from the room while Chandler turned to address the group seated around the coffee table, completely oblivious to the conversation in the kitchen.

"Mon and I are gonna head to bed," he interrupted whatever they had been talking about. Four heads turned towards him, Joey with a suggestive raise of his eyebrows. "Dude, no!" he exclaimed. "She's tired, I'm tired. I just wanted to say goodnight, and to tell you to keep it down out here. I mean it, she really needs to get some rest."

The others nodded, giving each other looks that Chandler couldn't quite decipher. He decided it wasn't worth it to question them at…not even ten at night. God, he must be getting old. Either way, he gave a salute before turning in the direction of Monica's bedroom. He quietly opened and closed the door, just in case Monica was sleeping already. As he approached the bed, Monica rolled over and leaned up on her elbow, reaching out for him with her other hand.

"Hi," she grinned when he was close enough for her to pull him in by his shirt.

"Hi yourself," he replied, pecking her on the lips as he knelt over her. She pulled him in for a deeper kiss as she ran her hands up his chest, pushing his shirt up with it. Chandler broke the kiss long enough to tug it all the way off while Monica did the same to her own. He leaned back down to kiss her again, rolling onto his side and pulling her close to him. He broke the kiss again and she turned her attention to his neck.

God it had been so long since they had done this and Chandler could feel himself getting hot already, just from a bit of kissing.

He rolled on top of her again and ran his hands down her sides to the top of her sweats. "You sure you wanna do this?" he asked, stroking her waist.

"Oh god yes," she giggled, meeting his lips again. Chandler didn't need to be told twice; he was only human after all.

Afterwards, Chandler lay with Monica's head on his chest, running his hand gently up and down her back. In that moment, he wanted nothing more than to stay there forever with her. Despite having so much to think about lately, one thing always at the forefront of his mind was them. Where were they? They hadn't really had that conversation since Monica had told him she was pregnant, and while Chandler liked to think they had grown closer over the past six or so weeks, he really didn't want to assume anything. All he knew was that he loved her, that he had never loved anyone as much as he loved her, and that he likely would never again love anyone as much as he loved her.

With all that considered, why shouldn't they start moving their relationship forward? They didn't have to get married right away; maybe they could try living together? He already stayed at her apartment more nights than not, might as well make it official right?

Or, what if she did want to get married now? Chandler certainly wouldn't be opposed. Sure, it was fast, but they were having a baby after all. Nothing about this relationship could be considered taking it slow. And he really did love her, more than anything in the world he loved her. When he pictured his future—which he had been doing a lot lately—she was always in it, right by his side. Did Monica see the same thing?

He realized that they really did need to talk about it again, make sure they were on the same page at the very least. If nothing else, to confirm that she's happy with where they are.

"Mon?" he asked softly.

"Hmmm," she responded, already starting to drift off. Chandler paused then shook his head.

"I love you," he whispered, abandoning his initial thought. Honestly, he hadn't even known what he was going to say, how he was going to begin. Ordinarily, post-sex would be the perfect time for such a serious talk, but Monica was tired, so tired Chandler was surprised she had wanted to do anything, and he wasn't exactly wide awake himself.

"Mmmm," she answered sleepily, and he kissed the top of her head before allowing himself to drift off to sleep as well. When he dreamed, he dreamed of the future, of the baby, and of her.

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