Wow I can't believe this has almost reached a 100 reviews! You guys are amazing. Thank you!

Chandler stood in front of the mirror in his bathroom trying to calm his nerves. He was wearing the dark blue shirt that Monica had bought him for his birthday last year, a suit jacket and some dark pants. He thought to himself that he scrubbed up quite nicely when he put a little effort in.

Just as he was exiting the bathroom, he saw the front door open as Joey returned from his date. Damn.

"Hey man, look at you all dressed up," Joey commented, noticing the bunch of roses on the counter, "what's going on?"

"Just gotta do a thing," Chandler muttered, too nervous for small talk. He'd hoped he would have left before Joey came home.

"A thing? This late?"

"Yep," he wasn't giving anything away, not even to Joey; especially as this still had the potential to go horribly wrong.

"Oh, okay. Say is everything alright with you and Ross? It seemed kinda tense earlier."

Crap. He didn't have time for this.

"We're fine," Chandler promised, "just a misunderstanding but it's sorted now. Look, I've gotta go so I'll see you later," with that he grabbed the flowers and was out of the door before his roommate could ask any more questions.

He stepped out into the fresh night air; the lateness of the hour brought an inevitable chill but it wasn't too cold or bitter. Clutching the roses he walked quickly, prepping himself with every step he took.

He could do this. He had to do this. This was his chance.

He made it to the restaurant where Monica worked and hovered nervously across the street, just waiting. His palms started to sweat and he was very glad he'd decided against wearing a tie. He could see the main restaurant lights were dimmed so no customers were left.

He just had to wait.

He hated waiting.

Anxiously he looked at the roses in his hands, twisting them around. He'd thought roses would make a nice romantic gesture but now he started to second guess himself. Were they too clichéd? He'd deliberately gone for a mixture of yellow and red, of friendship and love. Hoping to symbolize the relationship he so desperately wanted with her.

He heard the bang of a door closing across the street and he jerked his head up, all thoughts of the roses leaving his mind. It wasn't Monica. Another bang. Still no Monica. Then another.

Then there she was, stepping out of the door pulling at her coat and adjusting her handbag. His breath caught, she was so beautiful. She was so perfect and so far out of his league. What was he doing here?

Oblivious to his dilemma, she started to walk away; away from him. No, he had to do this. He had to.

This was it.

"Monica!" he called, quickly crossing the street.

She froze, surprised as she turned to face him, "Chandler?" her surprise turned into a large smile, "what are you doing out here?"

She was pleased to see him; that had to mean something. "Um," he paused in front of her, trying to calm his nerves and steady his breathing. It wasn't working. "I-I needed to talk to you," he stuttered, drinking in the sight of her. If this went badly then it might be a while before he could be this close to her again.

She nodded encouragingly, "I've been wanting to talk to you too, you don't know how badly," she admitted quietly.

"Ok…that's good," Chandler let out a deep breath, relieved that she at least wanted to talk to him. "Hey, uh, fancy walking through the park?" he suggested, his head indicating in that vague direction. Parks were romantic and he'd do anything right now to help his chances.

Looking at Chandler she could see how nervous he was and it made her just want to hug him. To reassure him that she was there and wanted this too. She'd thought of nothing else all day and with every minute that had passed she'd realized just how much she wanted a relationship with him. Being here with him now, finally being this close to him just cemented it. She wanted to try a relationship with him.

"Sure," she smiled, excited by everything that was happening. On impulse she looped her arm through his, pulling him closer to her. The simple action made his heart race. "Nice roses by the way."

"What? Oh right, sorry, they're for you," he admitted sheepishly as he paused to hand them over to her. He couldn't believe he'd forgotten them.

"They're beautiful," she accepted them gratefully, bringing them up to her nose to smell them, "thank you."

He knew he should be coming up with some cheesy line about them not being as beautiful as her but he couldn't find the words. Instead he settled on a mumbled, "you're welcome."

As they slowly walked towards the park he tried to get a handle on his nerves. This was Monica, his best friend. She'd accepted roses from him, had her arm through his and kept throwing him a smile that made his stomach do little flip-flops. These could only be good things. Surely, this meant she had to be at least a little bit interested in him. Ross had to have been right. He held onto that hope.

They walked the couple of minutes to the park in silence. Each lost in their own thoughts as they tried to compose what they would say in this upcoming conversation. Both knew it was gonna be the defining moment of their relationship.

"So," Chandler finally spoke as they entered the darkened park, grateful for the scattered lampposts to show them the path, "Ross told me that he told you about Friday night."

"Yeah, he did," she agreed quietly. "It came as quite a shock to me," she confessed, "I didn't know you felt like that and I hadn't considered you in that way… well not for a really long time."

He nodded, filing that information away for another conversation. They continued their slow pace, "I didn't plan on you finding out like that."

"Did you plan on me ever finding out?" she asked curiously.

"Probably not," he admitted with a grimace. "I didn't think I'd ever have a chance with someone like you and I didn't want to risk our friendship…risk losing you."

Monica stopped their walk and turned to face him, "that was…is my biggest fear about all this," she confessed, her eyes full of honesty. He swallowed, nodding and his arms automatically went to her sides, holding her in a very loose embrace.

"It's a big risk," he said softly, his eyes lost in hers. "I was scared that if you found out you'd avoid me and we'd lose this closeness," he gestured to how close they were standing to one another. "Then I worried that if we ever did actually get into a relationship and it went wrong…" he swallowed, closing his eyes against the painful images. "I can't imagine losing you Monica," he whispered, "you're my best friend. I-I don't know what I'd do if I lost you…"

"Chandler," she whispered, her hand coming up to gently caress his cheek, trying to erase the traces of pain, "hey, look at me." His blue eyes met hers full of fear, hope and guilt. "I've thought about it a lot too," she insisted maintaining eye contact. "You've always been there for me Chandler, through everything. You're such a good friend, my best friend and I was terrified of losing you but then I realized something."

"What?" he whispered hoarsely.

"That life's too short for what-ifs," she swallowed, praying he could sense her sincerity through her words, touch and eyes. "Our friendship is so strong that it could make the foundations for the most incredible relationship. We already know and love each other so much, that this is the next natural step. We can't let our fear of what-ifs stand in the way of this, otherwise we might miss out on the most spectacular thing ever."

He swallowed, unable to believe just how remarkable this woman standing in front of him really was. He had no idea what he'd done to deserve her looking at him the way she was. He just knew he wanted to kiss her.

He leaned forward slowly, giving her time to pull away if she wanted but praying desperately that she wouldn't. She didn't. Instead, he felt a hand on the back of his head encouraging him to move faster to close the gap between them. Their lips met and they gasped at the feeling; both were surprised at how natural it felt. It was just so right, so good. They kissed softly at first and then harder as they desperately tried to get closer to one another.

Monica made a small sound which shot through Chandler. He pulled her tighter to him, the kiss deepening and he couldn't help but let out a groan of his own. This was amazing. She was amazing. He'd dreamt so many times of this moment but none of them held a flame to the real thing. To her.

Eventually they pulled apart and just stared at each other as they tried to catch their breaths.

"Wow," Chandler smiled, keeping her close to him. "I thought I'd be the one having to convince you." His heart was still racing and he smiled tenderly at her, "you're so brilliant."

She smiled, slightly embarrassed, looking down for a moment. She felt his hand on her cheek and she looked back up at him beaming. "I can't believe we didn't do that sooner," Monica confessed, "that was…just…"

"I know," he smiled, his hand moving to run a couple of fingers through her soft hair, then onto her cheek, "I know." He then leaned forwards again for another taste which she happily obliged.

After the kiss had finished, they slowly began their walk again. Chandler had an arm over her shoulders and she had one around his waist, each wanting to keep the other as close as possible as they kept a gentle pace.

"I still can't believe this is happening," he finally admitted, tightening his hold on her for a moment. "I'm expecting to wake up any minute now."

"I can pinch you if you like?" Monica offered to which he laughed. Looking up at him she realized she liked it when he laughed because of her.

"Not right now, maybe later," he winked and it was her turn to laugh.

"So what happens now?" Monica asked. "Do we go on a date? Do we tell the others?"

"You mean this doesn't count as a date?" he asked teasing. "I dressed up and brought you flowers."

"That you did," she smiled, clutching the roses a little tighter to her, "it was very sweet and romantic." He tried to keep the blush from his face at the praise, "but what about the others?"

"Well, they have to buy their own flowers."

"Chandler!" she laughed. "You know what I mean. Do we tell them?"

This time it was Chandler who stopped their stroll. They turned to face each other, falling out of the embrace but taking each other's hand, both still needing some sort of physical connection.

"Maybe not straight away," he suggested hesitantly.

"Why not?" she could sense there was something he wasn't telling her, "hey?"

"I just figure it's gonna take us a few weeks to settle into this ya know, find our feet?"

"Ok…"

"And I think it would be nicer to do that without all the others watching us like we're their latest entertainment. I want to be with you Mon and part of me wants to run through this park screaming at whoever's still stupid enough to be awake that you want to be with me, but another part of me doesn't want to go public with this quite yet, lessen the pressure….does that make sense?"

"Sure," she smiled squeezing his hand, "I understand, the gang can be a little intense at times."

He nodded, relieved that she understood where he was coming from.

"How long for?" she asked.

"We play it by ear?" he shrugged. "Just until we're comfortable."

"What about Ross?"

"Well, we probably have to tell him," Chandler agreed, "he's most likely pacing the floor of his apartment right now wondering what's going on."

"Let's hope he hasn't got a good imagination," she whispered pulling him in for another kiss. "I don't want my brother thinking about anything we do tonight."

"Tonight?" Chandler swallowed hard. He'd assumed she'd want to go slow, adjust to their changing feelings.

"Oh yeah," she looked at him seductively and it took all his willpower not to make their first time together be there and then on a park bench.

"God, you're going to be the death of me," he laughed, grabbing her arm and recommencing their walk at a much faster pace than before.

TBC…

I hope you liked it and it was worth the torture/ wait.

The good news (hopefully you'll think its good news anyhow) is that unlike most my 'first time' stories I'm actually continuing past the point of them getting together. I quite like the idea of the change in dynamics with Ross knowing and having to keep it a secret. So there's about another 5-6 chapters :o)