A/N- Thank you to all the amazing people that have left feedback. I'm in shock at the lovely reviews and how much people are enjoying this, so thank you all very much and I hope you continue to enjoy it.

Just to warn you this chapter was a lot longer but I've decided to split it into two. It means this chapter now ends on a rather mean cliffhanger. The next part should be quick to edit and hopefully up in the next day or so but the decision is yours whether to read now or to wait until the next chapter is up too...

"Uh, Chandler had a little too much to drink," Ross admitted breathlessly, "help me get him up the stairs?"

"Sure," Monica easily hooked her arm around Chandler's waist and pulled his arm over her shoulder.

"Thanks."

Ross resisted commenting on his sister's renowned freaky super-human strength. Exhausted, he took a deep breath as he adopted the same position on Chandler's other side. He found it ironic that Chandler was so far gone he was totally oblivious to the fact that the woman he'd spent all night trying to forget now had her arms tightly wrapped around him. Perhaps that was a good thing.

"Where'd you guys go and why the hell did you let him drink so much?" she asked pissed.

"Just a bar," Ross panted, ignoring her latter question, not wanting to go into any details just yet. Instead he deflected with a question of his own, "how was your date?"

"Awful," Monica admitted as they slowly struggled up the stairs. "I can see where Rachel was coming from, he's a chef and cute but man was he boring. He had no sense of humor at all. "

"That's, uh, a real shame."

His tone held a lack of sincerity to it, which caused her to look over at him inquisitively, "what's that supposed to mean?" she asked.

"Nothing," he said quickly but her brother had never been good at lying; something was going on but she'd grill him for information later- it usually wasn't that hard. First they had to concentrate on getting Chandler up these stairs safely and making him comfortable for the night.

They finally made it to their floor and opened the door to number 19. The lights were out indicating Joey wasn't back from his date yet. Flicking them on, they practically carried Chandler's dead weight across the living-room and into his bedroom. He fell onto the bed, eyes-closed and unmoving.

Monica disappeared for a moment and came back with a washing-up bowl, placing it beside the bed in case it was needed during the night. She carefully removed his tie and each shoe, before pulling the cover over him tenderly. She kissed his forehead giving his hair a quick tousle as she stood up, "I hope he doesn't feel too bad tomorrow."

Ross watched the scene with interest, Chandler's confession still at the forefront of his mind. He wondered if this was a mutual thing. Could his sister have deeper feelings for Chandler too? Could her behavior be proof of this? She cared for him, that much had always been obvious but where was that friendship line drawn for the two of them? Did they even know?

By mutual consent they left Chandler's room and headed over to the girls' apartment. Rachel wasn't home yet so Monica made some tea for the two of them, deciding it was too late an hour for coffee. As the kettle boiled, she studied her brother as he sat at the kitchen table looking lost in thought. Once the tea was ready she placed it in front of him before taking the seat opposite.

"So?" she finally asked, taking a sip of her drink.

"So what?"

"So what's going on with Chandler?" she asked, her hands warmed by the mug.

Ross sighed, still debating what to do. He didn't want to lie to his sister but he didn't want to breach Chandler's trust but Chandler was hurting, really hurting. If he could do something to help his friend which also might possibly make his little sister happy he had to try. Didn't he?

"Hey," she placed a hand on his arm, "talk to me."

Ross could see the irony of the situation yet again. Just couple of hours ago he'd been using the exact same words to try and get Chandler to open up. However, Ross wasn't drunk and it wasn't his secret to tell. Not really, but then he pictured just how miserable and crushed Chandler had been. Should he interfere?

"Ross, come on, don't make me sit on you."

That brought a quick smile, "that doesn't scare me anywhere near as much as it did when you were 14."

"Come on, I want to help."

The thing was she would want to help Chandler, Ross was sure of that. If she'd seen him at the bar, heard his pain then she would do everything in her power to make him feel better. She was one of Chandler's best friends, they were so close. She would want to know everything and try to fix it; she was good at this sort of thing.

Despite what Chandler feared, Ross knew that Monica could never hate him. Never. Chandler might not want to tell her, worried that it would be weird between them but he could intervene and avoid all that. If he told her and she didn't feel the same way, then Chandler never had to even know.

"Ok," he finally sighed, still debating how much to say, "but Chandler can't know we've had this conversation."

"What does that mean?" she asked concerned. "Is he alright?"

"Yeah," Ross quickly reassured his sister. Her concern for Chandler helped spur him on. "Do you remember I had a crush on Rachel, I mean, before we got together?"

Monica nodded frowning.

"It was tough," he continued. "I didn't want her to know because we were friends and I thought I'd missed my chance. I felt like I was going crazy and it absolutely killed me when she went out with Paolo."

"Ok…" Monica couldn't quite see where this was going. When they'd sat down to talk she really hadn't been expecting it to start this way.

"But what made it easier was Chandler and Joey being there for me- without them I probably would have gone crazy. Sure they teased me, got fed up with me and gave me some really really bad advice but at least I had them to talk too ya know? Without them I'd probably have kept it all inside until it was too much. Maybe I'd go to some bar...drink myself stupid to try and get over it and forget..."

Slowly Monica started to connect the dots.

"So Chandler's got a crush on someone and hasn't told anyone? Poor guy," she added at his nod. "Who is it?"

"Do you think Chandler did the right thing telling Rachel that I was in love with her?"

She blinked then shrugged, "he didn't mean to tell her," she pointed out to her brother, "but Rachel was glad to know, until you turned up with Julie and went to get that cat. God, he's not in love with Rachel is he?"

The thought of Chandler and her roommate didn't sit well on her stomach for some reason but she didn't want to study that right now. She pulled a look of distaste as she sought out some more tea. Again, Ross noted her reaction that with interest.

"No," he confirmed.

"Good," she sighed, relieved.

"Good?" Ross queried, a gentle amusement coloring his voice. She had to like him a little bit.

"That would have been awkward for you if he was in love with your ex," she shrugged.

"But it was good Rachel was told right?" he persisted still needing reassurance. "Despite everything that happened after, do you think it was good that Rachel knew the truth?"

"Yeah," Monica agreed thoughtfully. Whilst she hated the break up they had gone through and how hard it had been on the group, she didn't regret that they had got together. At least they had tried and who knows, maybe in some reality somewhere they were still living happily together. "It was worth the risk you guys took."

Ross nodded, swallowing hard, his decision made. Monica deserved to know the truth and Chandler deserved her to know too. If she didn't feel the same way maybe she could find some way to make it easier on him; to support him. Chandler was a mess and Ross feared he couldn't continue like this for much longer before burning out. He had to help him even if it meant breaching his trust. He had to take that risk if it meant helping him.

"Ross?"

He took a deep breath as he cleared his throat, knowing there was no way back after this.

"It's you," he said quietly as Monica froze, "he's in love with you."

TBC…..sorry!