May 7th, 1998
"Why did Uncle Ross say Auntie Rachel's name? I thought he was marrying Emily," Hannah asked her father as he held her as they stood in the reception hall.
"I don't know, sweetheart," Chandler said at a loss for words.
"Does that mean Auntie Rachel and Uncle Ross are married now?" Hannah asked, wrapping her little arms tighter around her father's neck.
"No…. I don't think so. Look, here comes Mommy," Chandler said as Monica approached them.
Despite everything that was going on, he wanted nothing more than to bury himself between her soft, smooth thighs and make senseless love to her again. There was no resisting, Monica Geller. She was divine and delicious.
He knew one thing for sure: if he were to marry Monica, he would say no other woman's name but her own at the altar.
"Mommy, are Auntie Rachel and Uncle Ross married because he said her name instead of Emily's?" Hannah asked.
"No, honey," Monica said as she smoothed her daughter's golden curls.
"Then why did he say it?" Hannah asked on a mission for answers. Adults could be confusing sometimes, and she hardly understood why they did what they did.
"My poor baby. This whole thing must be confusing for you, but Uncle Ross wasn't thinking, and he said the wrong name on accident," Monica explained.
"But why?" Hannah asked.
"Because he's a moron," Chandler blurted out, which earned a giggle from Hannah and a slap in the gut by Monica.
"Well, I knew it! I just knew something like this would happen. That's what happens when you marry someone when you are still in love with another," Maggie said as she approached the little family.
"I'm sure that's not why. I think Ross was just surprised to see Rachel is all," Monica said.
"Right, and you two just fell asleep watching a movie," Maggie said, looking pointedly between Monica and Chandler, who blanched and feebly opened their mouths to respond, but no words came.
"Come now, sweet pea. Let's get you upstairs," Maggie said, taking the young girl from her father's arms.
"You have a long trip ahead of you tomorrow," Maggie added, referring to their return to New York.
"But I'm not sleepy," Hannah pouted.
"Yes, but how about we go watch Mary Poppins?" Maggie said, gently persuading the young girl.
"That sounds supercalifragilistic!" Hannah exclaimed.
"Expialidocious," Maggie added.
"Good night, baby," Monica said, sweetly kissing her daughter.
"Good night, Mommy," Hannah said, reaching out from Maggie's arms to wrap her tiny arms around her mother's neck, who closed her eyes, savoring the moment.
"Good night, little princess," Chandler added as he kissed her daughter's hair.
"Good night, Daddy," Hannah yawned into her father's neck.
"Not sleepy, huh?" Chandler chided quietly so only she could hear, which made Hannah giggle.
Her laughter made Chandler smile proudly. Making his daughter laugh and smile brought him joy he could not fathom until he had a child.
"I love you, sleepy beauty," Chandler whispered before giving her a tighter squeeze.
"I love you too, Daddy," Hannah yawned again, which made Chandler chuckle.
"I love you, baby girl," Monica said as she smoothed her daughter's hair.
"Love you, Mommy," Hannah said, smacking her tiny lips before wrapping her arms around Maggie's neck and burying her head in the crock of her neck.
"Not sleepy at all," Maggie winked at the pair.
"By the way, if you want to watch another MOVIE in Chandler's room, just know that I plan to leave for the country to visit with my sister by seven in the morning, so if you are back by then. I think I heard something about Joey spending the night with Felicity again," Maggie winked.
"Ok, thanks, Maggs," Chandler laughed awkwardly as she just nodded, carrying a dozing Hannah.
"So, do you want to? Go back to your room to watch a movie?" Monica asked.
"Hell, yeah!" Chandler said excitedly, and they both turned to leave, but a very antsy Rachel approached them.
"Monica, I need to talk to you. Can we go back to your room?" Rachel asked.
"I don't know…. right now?" Monica asked as Chandler stood behind her with his hand resting on her lower back, and images of them humping against each other as they kissed deeply flooded her brain and made her so hot, and it did not help that his thumb was caressing the small of her back.
"Yes, I can't stand to be here one more second. I feel like this is all my fault," Rachel said.
"Well, it sort of is," Chandler quipped, and Monica turned to glare at him even though he had a point.
"Chandler!" Monica chided, and Chandler just shrugged as if puzzled by his admission.
"See, this IS all my fault!" Rachel whined.
"No, no. Let's go talk," Monica said, glaring at Chandler.
"Thanks, Mon," Rachel said as she turned, and Monica followed her out of the room and turned back to Chandler to mouth, "I'm sorry."
Chandler gave a small, understanding smile and mouthed, "It's ok."
Once Monica and Rachel were out of the room, Chandler felt around his coat jacket and sighed in relief when he felt his cigarette box. A cigarette or two was what he needed with how the day was going.
Just when he was about to pivot to leave and find the terrace, he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned to see Ross staring pitifully at him.
"Hey, man, I was wondering if you could come with me to the honeymoon suite?" Ross asked.
"Look, man, I love you like a brother, but not like that," Chandler quipped.
"No," Ross's shoulders slumped.
"I am going to wait for Emily, and I was hoping you could wait with me," Ross explained.
"You think she is going to go there?" Chandler asked.
"Well, I don't know what else to do?" Ross whined, threw up his hands in defeat, and lowered his head.
"No, yeah, we should go wait there," Chandler said, patting his friend's back.
"Thanks, man," Ross smiled sadly.
"I don't know what I would do without you." Rossa gratefully added.
"Of course, that's what friends are for," Chandler encouragingly smiled as he patted his friend's back, and they walked out of the reception hall together.
On the outside, Chandler tried to smile reassuringly, but on the inside, he was feeling total disappointment yet again.
Ross and Rachel's drama always found some way to come between Monica and him. He wondered if this rate if they would ever be together again. He could not blame Ross for every stupid thing he did to push Monica away, but the Ross and Rachel saga always found some way to rear its ugly head at the worst possible time for them.
January 1st, 1994
Chandler could tell he was in the doghouse. The icy glares from Monica did not go unnoticed by him. He had messed up big time, but he did not intend to. He had run into his ex-girlfriend Janis while shopping for party supplies, and somehow, he had stupidly invited her to their New Years Eve party.
He did not want to invite her, and he was not entirely sure why he did so other than the fact that it seemed she had nowhere else to go for the evening, and he found the invitation slipping out of his mouth like word vomit. She kept hanging all over him all night long until she finally disappeared with one of his coworkers.
He watched as Monica, in her form-fitting silver dress cut so low in the back, he could see the apex of her back and delicious behind that he just loved to caress and enter from behind, exchanging pictures with a group of mothers from her Mommy and Me class.
She was slowly killing him with her icy stares and sultry attire, and he wanted nothing more than to take her into her bedroom and have his way with her, but she had excused herself from the group of women to slip inside of their daughter's nursery.
He managed to excuse himself from the small group he was talking to which included Ross and some of the other fathers from the said group, but Rachel stopped him on the way and said, "Don't blow it, dude," before walking to the kitchen to pour another glass of wine.
Chandler entered the nursery to see her standing over their daughter's crib, watching her sleep.
"Hey," he said, placing his hand on her lower back, and he felt her tense from his touch.
"Hey," she said with a shaky breath, and he gently turned her towards him.
Her puffy, red eyes were apparent indicators that she had been crying. Even with ever so slightly smudged mascara, she was still the most beautiful woman in the room.
"I'm so sorry," he said, taking her into his arms.
"You didn't do anything to be sorry about," Monica said.
"It's not your fault I'm incredibly hormonal, jealous, and don't want to share you with anyone," Monica said, breathing in the spicy, intoxicating scent of his cologne and enjoying the warmth of his embrace.
"Hey, you have every right to be jealous," Chandler said, lifting her chin to tenderly gaze into her eyes, and then a mischievous grin spread across his charismatic face, sending a jolt of electricity through her already hot and bothered body.
"I've already marked you by impregnating you with my seed," Chandler smirked in his devilishly handsome, boyish charm.
"Oh my God!" Monica exclaimed, pinching her side.
"I am not a dog, Chandler!" Monica exclaimed as she smacked his chest.
"Yeah, but you do have such a pretty little kitty," Chandler whispered into her ear as he wrapped his arms around her. She leaned into him, and he could feel her pretty, little kitty against his hardening shaft.
"And she's not wearing any panties," Monica breathed as she looked up at him with hooded, hungry eyes before batting her eyelashes at him, giving his chest a gentle pat and sauntering away, which made Chandler inwardly groan.
"Nicely played, Geller," Chandler smirked as he put his hands in his trouser pockets and rocked back on his feet.
"I thought so, Bing," Monica said, turning back towards him.
"Hey," Chandler said, gently pulling her arm, and she stopped just in front of him as he entwined his fingers with hers.
"I don't love Janis anymore, and I certainly never loved her like I love you. I could never love anyone the way I love you. Being with you has spoiled me for all others," Chandler said as he caressed her cheek.
"I know, that goes for me too," Monica gulped as she leaned into him, and he wrapped his arms around her waist, and she wrapped his arms around his neck as they kissed deeply.
February 14th, 1997
"I can't believe that you and Joey encouraged Ross to keep that he slept with Chloe from Rachel," Monica hissed as she turned around to face Chandler in the hall.
"I know it was stupid," Chandler whispered, closing the door to apartment twenty behind him.
"You're right. It was stupid!" Monica retorted as she crossed her arms over her chest.
Chandler rolled his eyes in frustration. They had just spent the last day and night locked in her bedroom with Joey and Phoebe as Ross and Rachel fought in the living room, and now, she and he were fighting at the ass crack of dawn.
"To be fair, I'm not the one that slept with someone else," Chandler defended.
"Yeah, but you encouraged Ross to keep it from Rachel. Did you not hear the same fight that I heard? Because Ross trying to hide it made the whole thing that much worse. Rachel is so upset!" Monica said, throwing her hands up in aggravation.
"What were you and Joey thinking?" Monica asked, pacing in front of him.
"I mean, what would you do if you cheated on me? If you can't be honest with me…" Monica began as Chandler stopped her, putting his finger over her lips.
"But that's the difference. I would never cheat on you, Mon," Chandler said, staring intensely into her eyes, making her weak in the knees, and she would have let him kiss her senseless then and there and forget the whole mess.
However, she could not forget that he had encouraged Ross to lie and take the cowards' way out. His actions screamed at the commit-phobic Chandler that scared her to death, and she couldn't allow herself to get sucked back into that, even though it was tough and painful to resist him.
"Yeah, but your advice to Ross, to lie and avoid the difficult conversation, makes me worry that you haven't changed one bit and that your answer is to run away still, and that scares me, Chandler," Monica said, looking into his blue eyes and seeing the pain that filled them.
Chandler's look of agony nearly killed her, but his immaturity scared the hell out of her even more.
"I know," Chandler said, looking down in defeat. "I've lost you again, haven't I?" Chandler asked, putting his hands over hers, which were pressed against his chest.
"For now, you have, yeah," Monica sniffed before looking down and pushing herself away as she despondently made her way back into apartment twenty, too sad and too tired to look back and see him leaning against his apartment door on the verge of tears.
"Happy Valentine's Day, Mon," Chandler whispered before closing his eyes to weep.
May 15th, 1997
"I cannot believe Rachel shaved Bonnie's head," Monica laughed, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear as she stumbled on the soft, grainy sand.
"I know! Ross is so pissed!" Chandler chuckled as he placed his thumb on her arm to steady her.
"Of course, they just had to go and ruin our good time with their drama," Monica said as they continued to make their way towards the shore.
"To be fair, Rachel's jealousy is what caused it. The rest of us were enjoying the company of the hot lady," Chandler said.
"You, butt head, and my brother were," Monica said.
"Hey! Admit it. Bonnie's fun!" Chandler defended as he walked alongside her in the sand.
"It's so peaceful out here," Monica said as she abruptly stopped and looked wistfully at the shore ahead of them.
"It is," Chandler lamented as he turned his head towards her. The moonlight cast her in an enchanting glow, and she looked as stunning as always.
"I wish Hannah were here with us," Monica sadly sighed as she scanned the night sky. This was only the first night away from her daughter, and she already missed her.
"Me too," Chandler said before gently pinching her arm, and she turned to smile at him as he placed his hand on her cheek, and they leaned into kiss.
"However, if Hannah were here, we would not be able to go skinny dipping," Chandler said before pulling away and pulling his shirt over his head as he ran towards the lapping water.
"Chandler!" Monica laughed before running after him and pulling her shirt off.
"Isn't this how Jaws started?" Monica yelled as she chased him into the water.
"Yup," Chandler replied as he tossed his shorts onto the sand before humming the Jaws theme, which made Monica giggle as she chased him into the surf.
January 29th, 1998
"Would you like more tea, Daddy?" Hannah primly asked while holding a porcelain tea kettle with white flowers.
"Why, yes, I would," Chandler replied in a fake British accent.
"Thank you, my lady," Chandler replied as Hannah pretended to pour tea into the tiny teacup.
"Oh, no, it spilled," Hannah frowned, looking at the imaginary spill on the lacy tablecloth draped over her play table.
Hannah said, picking up a lacy napkin to clean up the alleged spill. Chandler smiled lovingly at his daughter. She was so much like her mother, and she was indeed a little princess.
"Hey," he heard Cathy say, and he turned to greet his girlfriend.
"Hey, beautiful," Chandler said, kissing her hand, which made Hannah giggle.
"What are you two up to?" Cathy asked, looking at the fancy spread before her.
"We're having a tea party with Hoppy," Hannah clarified, pointing to the stuffed white rabbit her father gave her as a newborn.
"Well, it looks so fancy and pretty," Cathy commented.
"Do you want to join us?" Hannah asked, looking up at the woman with her bright blue eyes – her mother's eyes.
"No, thank you, sweetie. I need to talk to your Daddy. Do you mind if I steal him away for a moment?" Kathy sweetly asked the little girl.
"No," Hannah shook her head politely.
"Bye, thank you for stopping by," Hannah waved at the lady.
"Bye," Kathy waved back sadly at the little girl before blowing her a big kiss, which Hannah returned.
"What's up?" Chandler asked, pulling her into his arms once they left Hannah's room.
"I slept with Nick," Cathy blurted out as she reluctantly pulled away and turned away from him, afraid to see his reaction.
"Are you serious?!" Chandler hissed, feeling stung, shocked, and betrayed.
"What? When? Why?" Chandler stuttered, feeling like he had just taken a hit to the gut.
"You and I both know why, Chandler," Kathy defended.
"Because you think I am still in love with Monica, you decide to cheat on me?" Chandler threw up his hands in disbelief.
"I see how you look at her and how she looks at you. I know you don't make love to me the way the way you made love to her. I just wanted that with somebody. I wanted to be that girl to somebody, and I don't think I'm that girl to you," Cathy said.
"And cheating was the answer?" Chandler asked.
"I know it was wrong, and I am so sorry, Chandler," Cathy said, walking up to Chandler and putting her arm on his, and he recoiled as if a hot poker was touching him.
"I mean, given the way you and I started, I am not entirely surprised that this happened," Chandler whispered with disdain.
"Wow, that is so low," Cathy replied, fighting back tears of shame and anger.
"So is what you did," Chandler whispered.
"Goodbye, Chandler," Cathy solemnly said before turning to leave.
"Goodbye, Cathy," Chandler coldly said as she walked out the door.
Once she was gone, he balled up his hands into tight fists before banging them against his head.
He felt hurt and betrayed but oddly felt relieved as if he had been let out of a contract he did not want to stay bound to for the rest of his life. He supposed they were bound to end sooner or later if he felt that way.
He took a deep breath and plastered on a smile before returning to his daughter's bedroom.
May 10th, 1998
"Yes, yes, yes," Monica cried as she dug her French tip manicured nails into Chandler's taut back as she lay beneath him with her long, slender legs wrapped around his waist.
"You feel so good, baby," Chandler whispered into her ear before dipping his head to kiss her neck again.
"So do you," Monica moaned as she slid her hands down to cup his tight butt. He had the body of a tennis player and a cock that filled her perfectly.
His kisses were like heaven, and his moans were honey to her ears, and the way he gazed at her as they made love turned her insides to butter. She craved him, and she needed him. No other man had been quite enough for her, but Chandler had been more than enough for her.
He was her dream come true. She felt like she was Snow White and he was Prince Charming.
The little princess they made slept soundly in her bed while they made love. They were both beyond exhausted from the trip and the time change, but they were too horny and desperate for each other to care.
"You feel so good inside me, baby," Monica whimpered between kisses. His thrusts were too delicious for words. She felt like she was floating on cloud nine.
"I love being inside of you. No, I crave it," Chandler whispered as he gazed into her eyes.
"I love you," Monica desperately whispered.
"I love you too," Chandler smiled affectionately down at her.
"No," Monica said, stilling her movements, prompting him to do the same.
"I love you, and I can't let you go again. I can't do it again. I need you, Chandler, and I want to try to make us work this time," Monica said, staring intently into his eyes.
"God, so do I, baby. You have no idea how much I want to be with you," Chandler whispered as he placed his hands on either side of her head to caress her flushed, freckled cheeks.
"I know you're scared, and I am scared too, but maybe we could try to be scared together this time," Monica offered.
"Well, I can't promise that I won't say or do anything stupid or go all Chandler on you," Chandler replied.
"I know," Monica nodded. "And I can't promise I won't overreact to you freaking out or skip ten steps ahead," Monica smiled.
"You wouldn't be the Monica I know and love if you didn't," Chandler said before dipping his head to kiss her shoulder.
"I'm going to try this time, Mon. I am," Chandler said as he closed his eyes and pressed his forehead against hers.
"Me too," Monica smiled through tears as she gazed up at him and caressed his neck.
She was so floored sometimes by his genuine vulnerability and sincerity. When he allowed himself to open his heart to her, even just a little, it amazed her how vulnerable, loving, and tender he was.
She saw it when he interacted with her child, but he would pull back from her at times as if he were afraid to lose or break her, and he did stupid things to push himself away, fearful of allowing himself to get so close to her that they would become too close.
"Will you try to trust me this time not to hurt you or for you to hurt me?" Monica asked, intertwining her fingers with his own, and he looked up and met her gaze.
"To let me love you wholeheartedly without you getting scared and running away," Monica whispered wistfully.
"I will," Chandler gulped as he fought back his tears.
"I don't want to be Ross one day standing at the altar marrying the wrong woman. I want only you forever and always," Chandler whispered.
"I want only you too, baby," Monica cried.
"You and I are not Ross and Emily, Ross and Rachel, or your mother and father. We are Monica and Chandler. We are so in love with each other and so meant to be together. I feel like you are a part of me, and I am so in love with you that it hurts, and I know you love me that much, too," Monica said, giving his hand a gentle squeeze and the back of his neck a feather-light caress.
"I do, Mon, more than the stars in the sky, deeper than the deepest part of the ocean, and affinity galaxies and back. You will always have my heart," Chandler whispered before leaning into her.
"Oh, Chandler," Monica cried as he brushed her tears away before leaning in to kiss her deeply.
They both started to whimper as they moved in sync yet again. Their tears mixed as they kissed, and their hearts beat as if one.
To Be Continued