Hello, this story is ending, there are 4 chapters left, and since I don't like to leave stories unfinished or in the face of a long wait for a new chapter, I will be uploading one chapter a day since next week I will be absent throughout September.

I am finishing another story that I will start publishing when I return.

I want to thank those who have stopped to read this story, and especially , I appreciate your reviews, and regarding your comments about the translation, never take them as criticism, on the contrary, they helped me a lot to pay more attention and to improve, although I admit that I still need it, I hope that the next one will be better.

Until next time, and I look forward to his reviews regarding the whole story, that helps and encourages me to continue writing.

I repeat, I am not the owner of the characters, I only rely on them for the sheer pleasure of practice writing stories without any economic interest, and these two characters inspire me.

Chapter 8 - The visit – Getting to know them.

When they entered the house, Hope did not remember having ever been in that place, only that the smell of the environment was familiar to her, just a sensation, not a certainty.

Chandler gave her a little tour of the living room, his desk, a playroom for the kids, and the kitchen, which was huge, to Hope's surprise.

"What a big kitchen...? exclaimed Hope

"I think I told you that Monica was a chef, when we moved into this house it was paramount that the kitchen was big" … said Chandler with a wistful smile…. "She would devise meals here and then take them to the restaurant…. the kids and I get used to all kinds of flavors and combinations… they eat everything" and he smiled again.

Then he took the bags and led her upstairs, put his bag on the floor and walked Hope to the guest bedroom. When they went down the hall, he indicated each child's room, although it was easy to tell because on each door there was a colorful wooden carving with their names.

"This is going to be your room…. It may seem somewhat masculine because Joey, my actor friend, stays in this room, he lives in LA and visits us several times a year, but now this is your room, if you don't like something or want to change it, you are free to do so. I'll leave you to settle down and rest," Chandler said and continued.

"In a couple of hours Rachel will be here with the kids, meanwhile I'm going to make dinner." Chandler left, closing the door behind him.

Hope sat on the edge of the bed, perhaps the room had some masculine notes, but it was very cozy and had a large window that overlooked the garden full of flowers. She stared out the window, thinking about the sensations Chandler produced when he touched her, and the incredible color of his blue eyes… she couldn't stop looking at them, they attracted her… "

She then went downstairs and she found Chandler in the kitchen seasoning a chicken, and there were freshly washed vegetables on the counter for a salad.

"You know how to cook …? said Hope somewhat surprised.

"Yes, after being married to a chef you end up learning, plus I really liked helping her, actually we prepared breakfast and dinner together…. Obviously she did the most difficult, but I liked to help, we both liked to share that task." and Chandler's look filled with longing.

At that moment the door opened, it was Rachel with two children jumping…. that when they saw their father they ran towards him.

"Daddy, said the girl, I missed you", and hugged her legs.

"Oh, here comes my bunny" he picked her up and gave her a hug and a kiss, put her down and then looked at Jack, "Where's the lion? And Jack ran up laughing and jumped on his father. "The lion is going to eat you daddy…" and he also received his hug and kiss from him.

Meanwhile Hope greeted Rachel and gave her a smile.

When Chandler put the kids down, they stared at that lady who was with their dad, and she smiled at them.

They were confused, she was familiar to them but they didn't really know who she was.

Chandler knelt down, hugged them, and said softly, "Erika, Jack, don't you remember Mom...?" He took a photo that was on the island and showed them, "Come, she is mom…"

Hope also crouched down and held out her arms, "You're not going to give mom a hug and kiss."

The kids immediately yelled Mom in unison, and rushed into her arms."

Rachel, who was standing in the kitchen doorway, had tears in her eyes.

"Mommy, come and see the bicycles that dad told us that you asked Santa Claus to bring us ... Jack said, and he added" and also the lion costume" and Erika continued "And the doll that you asked for me, with three dresses!" come see her, she is in my room, she sleeps with me" and they were pulling her hands.

Hope looked at Chandler and Chandler nodded, and the three of them disappeared down the stairs.

Rachel looked at him, ¿does she really remember them?

"Not at all, but yesterday she made it clear to me, quite coldly, that she was only coming "out of curiosity and for a visit" and then she would return home, of course in Montreal"

"Seriously, did she tell you that…?"

"Yes, so I put two conditions on her, with the children she had to behave like their mother, I cannot allow her to confuse or hurt them, and with Jack and Judy she has to be empathetic, they are her parents, whether she remembers them or not, she cannot look at them with coldness or indifference, they are not going to stand it and it is not fair"

"Did you tell her that?

"Yes with total clarity and with the same coldness and harshness with which she addressed me... she promised to do it in both cases"

"I thought she came to try to remember…. Rachel said sadly.

"Yes me too, …. a new disappointment…. but the idiot is me who keeps hope…. Monica's gone, she's not coming back, and Hope is just a visitor…. nothing more... I should have listened to Phoebe's warnings."

"Rach, tell Judy that I'm going to take her home tomorrow, I want her to meet them in their environment, I hope she behaves with some warmth..." "And tell Ross to wait until Wednesday to come, to space out the meetings"

"Don't worry, I'll tell them" Rachel left, and the children and Hope went downstairs.

"Chandler said, well kid's dinner is almost ready so help set the table...

After dinner, Chandler told them it was bath time and bedtime. Erika asked Hope, "mommy come with us and read us a story…" and Hope quickly replied "yes of course." and she went with them.

Chandler cleared the table, washed the dishes, and went to his desk.

After the kids were asleep, Hope went downstairs and saw that the kitchen was empty and everything in her place, she walked through the house and saw light on Chandler's desk, she knocked on the door. "Chandler is me"

"Yes, come in, I was finishing a job for tomorrow, this week let they know that I won't go to the office, but there are some jobs I have to do from here." "You need something?"

"No, I just came downstairs in case you needed help with the kitchen, but I saw that it's all done..."

"Yes, thank you, you still helped me with the children, at least today I don't have to touch the story..." and he smiled.

Hope thought, "at last he smiles at me"

"Hope, tomorrow at mid-morning we will go to the house of….Monica's parents ..., I thought it was better that you see them in their space"... "I've already arranged with July, the nanny, to stay with the kids"... "It's likely that they want us to have lunch with them, they're going to want to have you as long as possible, but as soon as you feel uncomfortable or tired just tell me and we'll go"

"It's ok no problem, …. Well I'll let you work, I'm going to sleep…. Good night"

"Good night Hope"

Once again Hope was left wanting to talk to Chandler…. she felt that he was avoiding her…. maybe Dr. Mercier was right, she had been too harsh and she had hurt him, but she had acted that way because she was afraid to come out of her cocoon in Montreal.

The next morning when Chandler came downstairs he found Hope in the kitchen making breakfast….

"Hello, good day, what are you doing…?" asked Chandler surprised

"Yesterday you made dinner for everyone, today I make breakfast, I hope you and the kids like pancakes with blueberries…"

"Yes, they are our favorites, but add cinnamon and a touch of ginger…" Chandler commented.

"I always put cinnamon and ginger in them, it's my secret…" Hope said looking at him surprised.

"Well, it must be an open secret, that's how Monica made them and I make them..." Chandler emphasized, Hope looked at him, but he looked away and said "I'm going to wake the children, they're quite lazy..."

The kids ran downstairs, "Mommy there's a smell of pancakes, you put cinnamon and ginger on them like daddy"

"Yeah," Hope said, that's an open secret…, and looked at Chandler with a smile that he barely returned.

He's still upset, Hope thought, what do I do to make it go away..."

After July arrived, Hope and Chandler left for Jack's house. Hope looked quite nervous, when they got out of the car Hope's hands were shaking a little, Chandler put his arm on her shoulder and gently squeezed her against him and with a smile he said, "Calm down, everything will be fine." …"

And there the feeling of peace and tranquility returned again, Hope looked into his eyes and said "Thank you, ... I don't know how you do it, but you always manage to calm me down…" Chandler looked away and banged on Jack's door.

Jack opened it and his face was red, his heart pounding even though Judy had forced him to take a painkiller.

"Hope," Chandler said... "This is Jack your dad..."

Hope remembered her promise to look and treat her warmly as she approached Jack and greeted him with a kiss on the cheek.

Chandler was surprised by the way Hope was acting, but he was glad that she had understood what the situation was...

Then Judy approached, she could not stop her tears from running down her cheeks, she only said "Daughter, what a joy to see you safe and sound" Hope also gave Judy a kiss on the cheek and gently squeezed her arm.

The four of them went into the living room…. "Mon… sorry…. Hope" Judy said, "we know you don't remember us, but it doesn't matter, what matters is that we found you and you're fine, we're not going to kiss you, hug you and squeeze you, which is what our hearts ask for, we respect who you are now, Chandler explained us well, but you have no idea how happy we are that you came to meet us…. I hope you like us…" Judy finished.

"I'm sorry if it seems strange to me to call you mom or dad, since I don't remember you at the moment and I don't know if I ever will, but I know that you are my parents, I know what that means to you and I know that to you I am Monica, so I don't mind being called that, as I'm going to try calling you mom and dad, if that's okay with you."

"Of course daughter" …. That was the only sentence that came out of Jack…. "It would fill us with joy… but we won't pressure you for more…. That's already a lot…" Jack's eyes filled with tears.

Then Judy wanted to show Monica where her bedroom was, and Ross's, of course, full of trophies, they showed her photos, and Hope asked Judy why she was so fat when she was a teenager.

"Look," said Judy, "we don't take a parenting course and do it well, but that doesn't excuse me, I gave too much preference to Ross and I was very demanding and critical of you, during your adolescence and you rightfully thought that my behavior was due to lack of love, and you took refuge in food. Then without anyone's help you decided to overcome it, you studied, you became independent before Ross, and looking back, you were always stronger and braver than your brother, we didn't have a good relationship until you started being with Chandler, who is the best a man that a woman can have by her side, of course, after Jack "... Judy smiled at her husband and continued..." you got married and the twins were born, and I could see, the way you raised them, without preference for either, that you became a better mother than me. And for all that I love and admire you."

"It doesn't matter that you don't remember any of that, I just want you to know" Judy smiled at her, and Hope smiled back.

They were obviously invited to lunch, the flavors of Judy's food were familiar to Hope, but she didn't say anything.

After lunch and a little chat, Chandler, without Hope showing any tiredness, went ahead and told them they were going home, and told his in-laws to go see their grandkids as usual, since the grandkids adore them.

When they were in the car Hope told Chandler that she had a good time, that Jack and Judy seemed like honest people, good people…

"Yes they are," Chandler affirmed, "I love them very much… it's just that at the beginning when I met them the truth is that I didn't like Judy at all, she was very critical of… Monica…. she was my best friend and it bothered me that she treated her like that, Monica always tried to please her and she got stressed from her, Judy always pressured her to have a boyfriend, to get married, and that pressure hurt her. But when they found out that we were together, and although I was not her ideal husband for her daughter, she calmed down, she got to know me, she saw that we loved each other and her attitude changed completely..."

"You know, it's good that she recognized her mistake, even if you don't remember it, it did me good..." Chandler finished.

Ross and Rachel came over with Emma after work on Wednesday afternoon.

Ross was nervous and tempted to hug his little sister, but he held back.

Emma smiled at her aunt and asked if she could hug her, she had missed her so much, Hope gave her a cute smile and she went to hug Emma herself, she was another girl who didn't deserve to be confused,

As soon as Jack and Erika came downstairs, the three children went to play in the playroom.

Ross, he didn't know what to say, he just looked at her, and Rachel took the floor. She asked Hope how she was feeling, how she had been doing with the meeting with her parents and the four of them began to talk more animatedly.

After a while of chat Ross was encouraged to speak.

"Mon…. sorry …. Hope... I want you to know that even if you don't remember me, you are my little sister, and as we grew we became best friends, I love my little sister very much, and I miss her… I know she's not here, but I can't help but look at you and see her, but do not feel pressured by my affection, it is enough for me that you know how much I love my sister Mon.

"Ross, in these few days I see that everyone makes an effort to call me Hope, I know that, in our first meeting with Chandler and Rachel, I was very scared, not remembering anything is horrible, terrifying, and I think that is why I clung to my new name, because it was my safe place, my cocoon, but these days I feel that with you it is forced to call me that, for more than thirty years I have been Monica, just a few months ago I am Hope for you, and now I see that it is ridiculous that you call me that." explain honestly Hope

"It may be that in Montreal I am Hope, but here, with the people who have known me and loved me for years, I am Monica, and now I prefer to be called that…. and I also prefer that you talk about Monica in the present, when you say "was" I feel as if she had died, and although I don't remember you, I'm alive" …. And looking at Chandler she said... "especially you, I prefer that you call me Monica and not talk as if you were a widower" and she smiled at him

Chandler blushed, and worried, as he was going to do now to keep his distance, with Hope it was easier, he had convinced himself that she was someone else, and speaking in the past tense about Monica also allowed him to get away from her…. But now …"

Still, Chandler smiled back, but he told himself "no illusions, no hope."

A couple of days later, the last one Monica met was Phoebe, Rachel had already warned her that she could call her Monica, however, Phoebe did not trust this new woman, she did not like that this was just a visit and then everyone would be devastated, especially Chandler.

Monica asked how they met, and Phoebe told her about her life on the streets and how she became her best friend.

Thus she began a long tale:

"You put an ad to find a roommate and you chose me…- "Incredibly!" and she laughed

"When we met you were order, cleanliness, hygiene, control, and I was absolute freedom, so at one point I thought that before losing you as a friend it was better to lose you as a roommate and I moved in with my grandmother …"

"But we're still friends, we saw each other every day, and what I appreciated most about you was that you never judged me, no matter what I did, I had two or three boyfriends at the same time, you never judged me, you could advise me from your point of view sight, but you let me be..." "And I always appreciated that"

"I think you know, then Rachel joined the group and we became the three musketeers" …

"You and Chandler, when the twins were born, moved here, after a while Rachel did too, but I stayed with Mike, my husband, and Sofia, my daughter, in Manhattan"

"Then we made a commitment to meet every Saturday at your house or Rachel's for a barbecue, and we did it on time until you disappeared."

"It was the worst year of my life, and look, I had bad ones, the uncertainty killed us, and to that was added our concern for Chandler, who was a shadow of our friend, we feared for his sanity, until one day Rachel and I managed to convince him to go to a doctor, he had to do it for his children, or they would lose them both "

"It's not that from then on he was the same again, but he achieved some peace, being able to sleep without nightmares, although he kept looking for you stubbornly"

"When you appeared we were overjoyed, but it didn't last long, you had lost your memory and you didn't even want to see us"

Monica looked down.

Phoebe continued…. "I have to be honest with you, I was furious with you, I understood that your amnesia was not your fault, but that you didn't even want to meet your children…. That you treated Chandler so coldly, who would give his life for you, I couldn't understand it."

"And to tell you the truth, I'm still afraid that one of these days you'll say, "well, thanks, the visit is over" and leave.

Monica looked into her eyes…. "Phoebe, I can't assure you what I'm going to do, but if I tell you that when I talked about visiting and going back to Montreal, I did it because I was afraid of leaving the little world in which I had taken refuge, it was the only thing I knew and I was scared that I would find on the other side. But I assure you that I really want to get to know you, even more, I want to know about myself, who I was, what I was like, who I loved, I want to know what I feel, because I know that I feel things for each one of you, even though I can't remember you."

"Okay Monica, I'm just asking you not to hurt the children or Chandler, the children will surely be able to move on, they are still young and can forget, but Chandler would really be killed."

"Phoebe, you all talk to me and look at me with warmth, but Chandler shuns me, I can't connect with him…. I tried, but he walks away"

"Monica, he's scared too, he suffered terribly when you disappeared, and then you hurt him, when he saw you for the first time you didn't even want to see the album, and when he went looking for you, you told him you were coming "out of curiosity and to visit." and now he doesn't trust." Phoebe continued:

"And I also have to tell you, since I don't want someone else to tell you, I have been encouraging him to move on, to get over you, to try to meet someone else, to go out, it's been more than a year since the only thing he has done is go looking for you, or go from home to work, he has not had a friendly or physical relationship with a woman in all this time, and that is not good for him"

"Do you want him to forget about his wife, to fall in love with another woman…? Monica said with a shocked face and a sharp pain in her stomach.

"Monica, I'm not against you, but if you don't remember him, if you don't show any intention of trying to remember, if you came just out of curiosity, if you plan to return to Montreal and you don't feel anything for him either, what do you want me to do…" Phoebe said clearly.

Monica was silent, she took her eyes off Phoebe, she felt annoyed with this friend who was trying to get Chandler away from his wife…. although in reality she did not remember being his wife, nor did she remember him as her husband …. she resented the thought that he could get over Monica.