Okayyyy here's another chapter! We're really starting to move the plot along here now...all the feedback from you guys had given me so much motivation to write; this is already the longest story I've ever written and I'm nowhere near done! So, thank you all so much for that, and PLEASE continue to leave me comments! Also, I've been meaning to mention that I have absolutely zero personal experience with pregnancy so everything I know is either from watching Friends or from the research I've done online for this story, so if I'm missing anything or something is very wrong, it's because I actually have no idea what I'm doing *shrugs*. Now, without further ado, here's chapter 6!

"Aww, do you really have to go?" Chandler whined childishly as he pinned Monica against the counter. Phoebe and Rachel were sitting at the kitchen table snacking on some fruit and pretzels that she had set out, watching the exchange with a mixture of amusement and fondness.

"We can't all call in sick any time we want," she laughed, kissing him on the nose. "I'll be back late, so just come over first thing in the morning, okay?"

"How come you have to work late though?" he pressed. "Don't they know you have a needy boyfriend at home?" He grinned so that she would know he was joking—mostly—and she lightly smacked the side of his face.

"Believe it or not, they don't care," she teased back. "I'm actually gonna be late if I don't leave though."

"Fine," Chandler huffed. "Promise you'll call me if you need anything?"

"Always," she confirmed. She cupped his face in her hands and kissed him slowly. He pressed closer, trying to deepen it, but she pulled back, pushing him away with a hand to his chest. "I love you," she said quietly, blue eyes gazing intently into his own.

"I love you too," he smiled shyly. He stepped back to let her pass and helped her into her coat. With one more kiss, she was out the door, leaving Chandler smiling stupidly after her.

"Aww, you are so whipped," Phoebe teased from behind him. He shook his head before turning around to where the other two were still sitting at the table, eyebrows raised knowingly.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked casually, grabbing a YooHoo from the fridge and taking a drink.

"Oh come on, you still haven't stopped smiling," Rachel accused. "You're thinking about her right now, aren't you?"

"So what if I am?" Chandler asked, a note of defensiveness creeping into his tone.

"Oh, nothing, it's just sweet," Rachel dismissed, giving Phoebe a look, like they had all been giving each other the other night. He couldn't let it go this time.

"What? What is that?" he asked, looking between the two of them in frustration.

"Nothing!" Rachel exclaimed.

"It's not nothing!" Chandler argued. "That is not a nothing look, that is a something look, and I want to know what it is!"

"It's really not a big thing," Phoebe responded. "It's just…what's up with you guys?"

"What do you mean?" Chandler asked.

"You've only been going out for a few months, right? And now you're having a baby together, but you claim you're not that serious yet? Which is fine, except you do stuff like that," she nodded to the door, referring to their previous exchange. "And you totally are."

"Okay first of all, we never said we weren't serious," he corrected. "We are serious, really serious. We just said we didn't want to get married just because of the baby."

"So do you want to get married?" Rachel pressed.

"No!" Chandler exclaimed, putting his hands up in defense, before taking a breath and relaxing again. "I mean, it's so soon, right? We've been together barely seven months, we're not even living together. Marriage is so far in the future, it's not even a discussion right now!"

"So it is in the future then," Phoebe continued the questioning, and Chandler was getting a little embarrassed by the whole thing.

"I don't know, maybe," he shrugged, shy, playing with the now empty bottle in front of him on the table. "We really haven't talked about it."

"Chandler?" Rachel looked at him skeptically.

"I'm serious!" he defended, suddenly feeling very exposed, like he had revealed too much. "It's just not on the radar at the moment. We have other things to deal with. Can we be done talking about this now? Please?" The girls shared another look, this one vaguely sad, like they knew something he didn't. He would press, but that would likely lead back to the same conversation he just escaped, and he didn't want that.

With one more look back at Rachel and Phoebe—who were now deep in a quiet conversation, probably about him—he crossed the hall to his own apartment, someplace he had been spending very little time recently. Other than to change clothes and occasionally to shower, he spent all his time with Monica, usually electing to stay over at hers so he could be there for everything: the morning sickness, the late night cravings, the frequent massages that she needed to relax enough to sleep. He wanted to spend every moment with her, and with the baby. Not for the first time, he wondered whether they should try to move their relationship along.

He collapsed into his chair and ran his hands over his face. It wasn't supposed to be this complicated, was it? That's why they had had the discussion up front, so that there would be no confusion as to where they were months down the line. Yet here they were, ten weeks later, and Chandler honestly had no clue where their relationship was going. How absurd is that? Baby on the way? No problem, piece of cake. Navigating the complexities of a serious relationship? Woah, look out. Was there something wrong with him? Was this just something he was freaking out over? If Monica was experiencing similar confusion, surely she would have said something, wouldn't she? He hadn't, obviously, but Monica was supposed to call the shots. She was the one who had had successful (or at least, relatively successful) relationships in the past, she knew what to do better than he did. If they needed to talk about something, she would bring it up. Which leads him back to this whole where-are-they fiasco being strictly a Chandler problem.

I'm such a screw up he thought to himself. We said we were going to take our relationship slow, and that's what we're doing. You agreed to that. It's not her fault you might have changed your mind!

And that was the terrifying part: he really thought he was ready for more. As much as he tried—and failed—to play cool while talking to the girls, he was itching to take their relationship to the next level, whatever that level may be. It probably was too soon for marriage, but there had to be something they could do, something big to show themselves, and the others, just how serious they were. Something bigger than a baby, of course.

Problem was, he was absolute garbage at relationships, and had no idea how bring any of this to Monica's attention. In the past, whenever he was having girl problems, it was always Monica he would go to for guidance. He couldn't do that here, and he didn't really think that going to Phoebe and Rachel was an option, as anything he said would likely make it back to Monica anyways. And he knew better than to trust Joey or Ross with serious relationship advice.

Just then, the phone rang, startling him out of his thoughts. Slowly, he stood up and strode over to the counter and picked it up.

"Hello?" he answered.

"Hi, sweetie," came the unexpected response from the other end.

"Mon?" he asked. "Is everything okay?"

"Oh yeah, it's just a bit slow right now and I missed you," she responded casually, and Chandler felt his face heat up with happiness. She missed him. It had been—he looked at the clock—just over two hours and she already missed him too. It gave him home that maybe they were still on the same page.

"Aww, I miss you too, honey," he smiled, taking the phone to sit back down in his chair. "Slow night? Does that mean you'll be home early?"

"I wish," she laughed. "The dinner rush will probably start in less than an hour, and we'll be swamped until closing."

"Dammit," Chandler sighed. "You sure you don't want me to wait up for you?"

"Please don't," he could practically see her rolling her eyes. "Chandler, I mean it, I'll be tired, I won't want to talk to anyone anyways, and you have slept in your own apartment in over a week."

"So?" he huffed. He knew he was whining, and was definitely trying her patience, but he really, really wanted to see her before the morning.

"Honey, we can survive a night apart," she reminded him. "We've been spending a lot of time together, it'll be good for us to slow down a bit, don't you think?"

"Oh, umm…" Oh. So not so much on the same page, then. "Yeah, yeah, you're right," he rushed. "I'll…see you tomorrow morning then?"

"I love you," she responded. "So much. You know that, don't you?"

"Yeah, I know," Chandler responded distractedly, because now every alarm in his head that could possibly be going off at the moment was on full blast, and he felt his entire world shift just enough to notice, and not in a good way. "I love you too."

He hung up the phone then, not waiting for any sort of goodbye, and let the device fall from his hand. Could he have misread their entire situation? She clearly wasn't as serious about them as he was, and wasn't it possible that she was only still with him because of the baby? That otherwise they'd have broken up weeks ago? All at once, every insecurity Chandler had previously stifled came back in full force until his head was full of she doesn't love you, get out while you can, this is why you avoid commitment.

Suddenly he was terrified. Terrified of losing her, terrified of being cut out and away from his child, terrified of losing all his friends in the process of all this. He needed…he didn't know what he needed, he needed Monica to walk through the door right now and tell him that she needed to be around him the same way he needed to be around her. She was like oxygen, and he could only hold his breath for so long.

He was being ridiculous, he knew. She was at work, he was going to see her the next morning before he went off to work, then would see her again when he got home in the evening and in all likelihood he'd end up staying the night again. They could survive one night apart, but her words were haunting him.

It'll be good for us to slow down a bit.

Slow what down, exactly? They were moving slower than any of his previous relationships (if you could even call them that). He knew that it had been for his benefit at first, that she hadn't wanted to scare him off with too much, too fast, and he appreciated that. But he thought he had made it clear that he didn't have those problems anymore. He couldn't imagine Monica of all people suddenly having fears about commitment.

The apartment door opened, and Chandler looked up in time to see Joey enter with an unfamiliar blonde. He was so not in the mood to deal with whatever Joey had planned for the night, so with only a nod of acknowledgement he retired to his bedroom. Even with the door closed, he could hear voices from the living room, so he flopped back on his bed—not bothering to undress—and pulled his pillow over his head. It could have been minutes or hours later that he finally fell into a dreamless, restless sleep, the knowledge that he'd get to see his girlfriend when he woke up the only thing keeping him from wallowing in misery for the entire night.

It was still dark out when Chandler woke up. Joey's room was quiet, so it must have been very late, or very early. He went to roll over and check his clock, but was startled by the figure sitting on the edge of his bed.

"Mon?" he whispered.

"Hey," she responded quietly. "Didn't mean to wake you."

"No, no, I'm glad you did," he groaned, sitting up and stretching his arms in front of him. "What's the matter?"

She shrugged and scooted closer to him, and he brought his arm up around her shoulders. "I guess…I don't sleep very well by myself anymore," she admitted. Chandler's heart lurched at the vulnerability in her voice and pulled her down to lie on top of him. She rested her head on his chest and draped an arm over his stomach as he gently ran a hand through her hair.

"I don't like sleeping without you either, honey," he soothed, kissing her forehead. "I'm so glad you came in here."

"Thank god," she sighed, and he smiled down at her fondly. Everything in his world suddenly fell back into place with her in his arms.

"Hey Mon?" he asked cautiously, worried that what he was about to say would cross some boundaries they weren't ready for.

"Hmm?"

"What you said earlier, that we're moving too fast…did you mean it?" He held his breath as he waited for her answer. She was silent for several moments before tightening her arm around his torso.

"I…I don't know," she spoke slowly. "I think I'm just overthinking everything right now. It's scary, with everything going on, and the way it sometimes feels like my body's rebelling against me, it just feels like I'm out of control, and I don't know what to do about that. So I'm just kind of…freaking out about everything really."

"Hey, hey, look at me," he encouraged, lightly brushing her cheek. Her blue eyes met his and he kissed her forehead. "It's just me, right? Don't freak out about me, talk to me."

"No, I know, you're right," she sighed. "You've been so good, you're making all this so easy for me and I don't even tell you that enough."

"Oh, c'mon no, don't cry," Chandler soothed, tucking his girlfriend's head under his chin and rocking them back and forth. "You're amazing, Monica. You are. I'm so lucky to be with you, okay? I love you so much, nothing could ever change that. I promise."

She nodded against his chest and he squeezed her tighter, pressing his mouth lightly against the top of her head.

"I'm sorry I'm such a mess right now," she sniffled after a few moments.

"Shhh, it's not your fault," he assured her gently. "You're pregnant, you know these mood swings are normal. Just relax, let me take care of you, like we said. You and me, okay?"

"You're so good to me," she mumbled again, running a hand gently along his side. "Thank you."

"Hey, what's a boyfriend for?" he smiled, lightly brushing his thumb across the side of her face. "You seem like you've been feeling better these last few days?"

"Start of the second trimester," she responded. "Apparently the next three months will be a bit more pleasant. I think the morning sickness is over, at the very least."

"Good," he said, pressing his forehead to the top of her head briefly. "I don't like it when you're miserable."

"Not miserable," she correctly. "But I'll definitely enjoy having some energy back for a while."

"Has it really been three months already?" Chandler asked incredulously. It really didn't seem like it had been that long. It was all still a little surreal to him, the thought of having a child of his own in a few months.

"Scary, isn't it?" Monica agreed. "We've still got a long way to go, though."

"God, we're gonna be parents in like six months," Chandler realized, sitting up slightly to look down at her. "Actual, real parents with a real kid. That's scary."

"Do you actually think we can do this?" she asked seriously, meeting his eyes. "Like, are we gonna be good parents? What if I screw it up?"

"Mon, you're gonna be an amazing mother," Chandler assured her. "You're so natural with Ben, and you're gonna love this baby so much, you couldn't mess it up if you tried."

"Really?"

"I promise. We're gonna work all this out, okay? But not right now, it's late, and you need as much sleep as you can get." He felt her nod and relax in his arms, and he allowed himself to relax as well. With her next to him again, he wondered how he had ever managed to sleep alone. Being with her just felt so right in every way possible, and he still had hope that she felt the same.

"You're thinking too loud," she mumbled sleepily, and he huffed out a laugh.

"Sorry babe," he kissed her forehead one more time and rolled them on their sides so he was spooning her from behind.

"Mmmm…night."

"Night Mon."

"So, someone didn't come home last night."

Chandler smirked into his coffee cup at Rachel's observation, but Monica never turned from the pan she was washing.

"I did come home," she responded simply. "I just left again."

"I see the night apart went well," Rachel continued as if she hadn't spoken, and now Monica switched off the water and turned around.

"What's that supposed to mean?" she asked, and Chandler looked between the two girls in confusion, sensing that he had missed a conversation.

His suspicions were confirmed when Phoebe entered moments later and Rachel immediately announced to her, "Monica went over to Chandler's last night." Phoebe smirked and held out her hand, and Rachel placed what looked like a twenty dollar bill in it.

"What, did you guys bet that we couldn't spend a night apart?" he finally joined the conversation.

"Later," Monica eyed him sternly, and Chandler nodded, taking another sip of his coffee.

"It's not a bad thing!" Phoebe protested. "It just means that—"

"Phoebe!" Monica interrupted, and shot Chandler another glare when he tried to speak up again. So it would be one of those days. "There's nothing wrong with us wanting to spend time together."

"Honey, we never said there was," Rachel responded. "We just said—"

"I'm going to get dressed," Monica inserted again. "Chandler, don't you need to get to work?"

He didn't, really (punctuality was not really something he prioritized when it came to his job), but he knew well enough that she wanted to get rid of him, likely to talk to Phoebe and Rachel alone, or at least ensure that they didn't talk to him. Whatever, if it was really important she would tell him later.

On his way out the door, he crossed paths with Joey, who was just waking up and on his way across the hall for his own breakfast.

"I wouldn't go in there," Chandler warned. "I think Mon's in a mood, and Rachel and Phoebe are there."

"But we don't have any food!" Joey whined. "What kind of date would I be if I sent a girl home hungry?"

"The kind that's not going to call back anyways?" Chandler reminded him, switching his briefcase to the other hand to share its weight.

"Okay, fair," Joey admitted with a shrug. "But what's going on in there?"

"I dunno man," Chandler shook his head. "Monica ended up spending the night last night, and apparently Phoebe and Rachel had a bet on if she would or not…they really aren't telling me anything honestly, and I know better than to ask."

"Oh I see how it is," Joey wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

"Dude, no!" Chandler exclaimed. "We just slept, we didn't do anything. We just like being together."

"Dude, do you two ever sleep apart anymore?" Joey asked.

"I'm allowed to spend the night with my girlfriend!" Chandler protested. "It makes up for the first five months when we never got to spend the night together."

"I'm just asking, no need to get all defensive!" Joey threw his hands up in surrender.

"Sorry," Chandler shook his head. "It just seems like lately our relationship has been a popular topic of discussion, and that's exactly what we didn't want to begin with."

"Hey man, I get it," Joey put a hand on his shoulder. "How about we invite Ross over tonight to watch the Knicks game, just us guys, no relationship talk," he suggested. Like that would ever happen.

"Sure," Chandler shrugged anyways. It had been awhile—probably since Ross had moved out over a month ago—since the three of them had had some real guy time.

"Sweet," Joey nodded. "See you when you get home man!" He the continued on into Monica and Rachel's apartment, and Chandler just shook his head as he turned towards the stairs. He could call Monica when he got to his office, see if she wanted to meet up for lunch, then spend the evening with the girls. Maybe tonight would be the night they actually slept apart. If their friends were going to place bets on their relationship, the least he could do was make it interesting.

As always, feedback-positive or constructive-is greatly appreciated and makes me update faster!