Disclaimer. I don't own the characters. There is no more gain than the writing practice that is done here
Chapter 2: Execute the plan,
In the morning Chandler waited until 7:10 AM. to call his house, he knew that at that moment Monica would be taking a shower and then making breakfast for the children to go to school, and he left him the following message
"Here I am, send the children to school, go to work, I'll be at home when they come back from school and I'll wait for you to talk"
In this message there was a lie, he wouldn't wait for her to talk about anything.
He also called his work to let them know that he was sick and that he probably wouldn't be able to return until Monday.
Around 8:30 AM. he knocked on Ross's house, he knew the boys would be out for school by now and Rachel and Ross would still be home.
When Ross opened the door he was startled to see Chandler's face, contorted, with red eyes, a sign that he had cried, he was pale. Ross freaked out thinking something might have happened to Monica or the kids. Rachel appeared behind him to see who he was and had the same shock when she saw Chandler's face.
Chandler greeted, entered, without a smile and without making any joke which was more worrying.
"I need to talk to you, I'm going to need your help for a few days"
Rachel asked anguished, "Chandler, what's wrong?"
"Monica and I are getting a divorce, I need the phone number of the lawyer Ross knows and I need the kids to stay at your house for a few days, I want them to be out of this drama, and I don't want them or me to be in that house until Monica leaves"
Ross with an astonished face asked again "Chandler what is happening"
"Last night I found out, from this damn book, that Monica, who is having a relationship with Richard, started about three months ago and a month ago they started fucking"
Ross turned pale and Rachel's eyes filled with tears.
Chandler asked Rachel, "You didn't know anything?"
"No, I swear, Monica didn't tell us anything, if she had I would have told her to think about what she was doing" Rachel said with a shaky voice.
Chandler with some sarcasm said "Rach, knows very well what she's doing from what she wrote in the little book, take it, read the diary, I don't care if she gets upset because I give it to you to read, I no longer have to be loyal to her"
Chandler, who until then had remained standing, collapsed on the sofa and with a serious voice said "well, last night I made a plan of the things that I have to do and how I want them to be done" "here's a copy"
And he continued "As you will read in the diary, they are planning to go live in Paris, therefore, in short, my plan is to get an immediate divorce, I keep the children and I want full control over them, it is the right thing to do when the mother will live miles away"
Then he adds "In any case, I do not want to separate her from the children, therefore, I want her to enjoy a wide visitation regime, that she sees them when she wants and as much as she wants"
"The only limit is that neither of us can take them out of the country without the express consent of the other"
Returning to his sarcastic tone, he said, "I don't think Richard is interested in raising other people's children in Paris anyway."
"In addition" he adds "If they have to travel outside the country, up to the age of 14 they must do it with an adult we trust, I know what it is like to travel alone on a plane when you are a child"
"Another thing she's sure going to care about," Chandler added. "As for the money, as soon as we sign the divorce, I'm going to transfer half of our savings to the bank account she says." "I'm also going to put the house in sale as soon as possible and once it is sold I will transfer 50% of the sale to that account"
"She can take absolutely everything in the house, except the children's clothes, toys, books and memories"
"And finally," Chandler continued firmly, "I want she to leave the house right now, I'm giving her three days to go live with Richard, who will surely be delighted" "if she can't take everything now, don't worry." I don't want anything at all, so when it's sold I'm going to put everything in the house in a deposit and I'm going to give you the keys, so you can give it to Monica and she can do what she wants with the furniture and everything else"
"Also, Ross she should leave you a power of attorney so that you can sign the sale in case she has already gone to Paris."
"I'm also asking in the plan that, if she had any respect for me left, don't let Richard into the house under any circumstances, at least respect what was our home"
And now, turning to Rachel, he said, "That's why Rach, I'm asking you and Phoebe to help her with the move in the next three days."
"This morning I left a message on the answering machine just to tell she to go to work that I received the children and then we would talk"
"But part of that message is not true, I am going home to wait for the children and if you allow me I am going to bring them here, I do not want to take the children to a hotel, and when I go home I will to leave the plan on the table"
"Chandler and where are you going these days..." asked Ross
"to a hotel, but don't worry, at first I had the idea of crashing the car, then I thought about getting drunk locked up in a hotel room for years, but then I thought about my children, they are going to need me more than Never, I cannot fail them, I cannot do what my father did to me, I will be there for them, I will be fine for them, they will see a strong and present father, even though I is destroyed inside."
Rachel, who was tearing up at that moment, said "Chandler, you can't go to a hotel, Erica can sleep with Emma and Jack with Martin, and you settle in the guest room, there's no way we're going to let you stay alone in a hotel"
"Rach, I don't want you both to take sides with either of us, it's better that I go to a hotel"
Ross spoke for the first time, he was also devastated, he couldn't believe what Monica was doing to her children and her husband, "Chandler, I'm sorry, it's impossible, at least for me, not to take sides with you, you're like a brother for me, I know that you love my sister and everything you have done these years to make her happy, I can't believe that my sister is doing something so stupid, I'm sorry, I don't want to talk to her or see her either, I really don't know her, leave you for Richard that old shit is amazing! "
Ross with a firm voice told him "you will stay with us as long as it takes and we will support you in everything"
Chandler told them that now he was going to Manhattan to try to see the lawyer and then he would come back to the house to bring the kids with Rach and he would leave the plan on the table with Monica.
He asked Rach if Monica called her and asked for him to explain that he didn't want to talk or see her.
As soon as Chandler left, Rachel called Phoebe with the news.
Meanwhile at the house, after the boys went to school, Monica called Richard to tell him about Chandler's phone message and that they would talk that night, Richard offered to accompany her during the conversation telling her
"Monica, I'm worried that you'll be alone with him during the conversation, I could accompany you in case things get aggressive"
Monica laughed. "Richard obviously you don't know Chandler, he would never attack anyone, he can argue, but he is a gentleman without an ounce of aggressiveness. I know that the conversation is going to be hard, sad, that he is going to be hurt, I would have preferred him to find out from me and not from the diary, so I could have explained my feelings to him, but hey, I hope that tonight we can talk, and your presence would only make the talk even more uncomfortable"
Richard was not very convinced but he accepted Monica's position, he only asked her to call him when the conversation was over to stay calm.
Monica went to work thinking about how she was going to talk to Chandler in order to hurt him as little as possible, she was going to try to be home early.
At noon Chandler entered the house, his feelings rushed to his heart and his head, the place overwhelmed him, it was full of his smell, of his memories.
Abruptly he lifted all the photos that were on the tables, on the shelves and on the walls and piled them on the kitchen counter, he only kept two photos, one where Monica was with the babies and another where he was with the babies, both photos would be kept for his children, who deserved to have memories. He didn't want any pictures of what was now his recent past.
He goes into his bedroom and put some clothes in a bag, just for the three days that he would be at Ross's house, and he did the same with the clothes for the kids.
In his bedroom there was a photo of them on his wedding day, he looked at it with pain and disgust, took the photo out of the frame and tore it to pieces and threw it on the bed.
He went down to the kitchen and waited for the kids to come home from school and he left the note with "the Plan" on the counter held up with a cup so that Monica would see it as soon as she entered.
As soon as the boys arrived, he explained to them that the three of them were going to Aunt Rachel's house for a few days while their mother had things to do. His heart was still very convulsed and he wanted to regain some peace of mind to explain to his children what was happening.
