Chapter 2: New Intimacy

In the dim light of Chandler's bedroom, the door locked, Monica and Chandler kissed tentatively, in the midst of undressing each other reverently. There was a solemnity to the action, the air thick with the weight of what they were about to do. The best friends knew full well what the consequences would be once they took this step, crossed this line. Whether that future would be embraced or shunned was still uncertain. It frightened Monica, to tears.

It was comfort to know how Chandler was just as aware. Kissing her tenderly, he touched Monica with a kind of awe, gentlemanly cautious. Monica found it quite sweet.

They broke apart tenderly, gazing at each other with mutual ardor. "I don't want to hurt you…." Chandler breathed. His eyes roved over her body, causing Monica to flush, in spite of herself.

She shook her head. "You won't." She smiled at him wetly as she made the promise. She should have figured that Chandler was a gentle lover, what with his lack of confidence in this area. She wiped at her eyes, shivering as she felt Chandler cup her cheek, caress it, catching the tears that fell. "….. I don't want to ruin our friendship."

She was heartened when he didn't lie to her by claiming with false assurance that they wouldn't. It meant he was just as aware of that risk himself. That he valued it.

Chandler and Monica slowly embraced and kissed, Monica swooning into this man's arms as he lowered her gently back onto the bed.

She wordlessly spread her legs for him.

He mounted her and mated with her.

Quietly, tenderly, they made love.

All she could do was hold on and enjoy the ride. And was it ever a ride! At one point, Monica slapped her hand up against the glass pane of the window above her before her palm dreamily fell away, leaving behind a dewey print. Monica was astonished and so proud of Chandler when he brought her to orgasm; she came with an amazed cry.

"Monica….." Chandler breathed, swaying above her, sounding in awe. "God, what you do to me, woman….." She was pleased at the effect she had on him, and that it was sufficient to make him cum inside her.

The couple held each other, sweaty and spent. Monica buried her face into his neck. Never had she felt this satisfied. Never had she felt so safe. "I trust you…." she whispered into his skin. "I feel safe with you. I….."

The rest of those three little words stuck in her throat. She held back from saying them. She knew the man – it would be too much for him, too fast. His commitment phobia wouldn't allow him to take it for what it was, and all after what tragically had all the makings of a rebound.

So Monica was floored when Chandler drew back, gazed into her eyes and declared with such fire: "I love you."

Her bottom lip trembled, and Monica began to weep. Chandler shied back slightly, unnerved.

"I'm sorry…. Did I…. Did I do something…..?"

Monica shook her head. "I've…. I've been dreaming of hearing you say that…. since I was 18!"

Chandler chuckled. "I think a part of me has wanted to say that since I was." A pause, and then: "Do you….. love me too…?"

Monica threw her arms around his neck and nuzzled her face against his. "I love you!" she wept.

Chandler gently brushed Monica's sweaty bangs out of her eyes, dipping his lips to hers for a kiss. Monica gazed at him, stunned and elated that he actually had told her he loved her. After only one round in bed, and only a handful of kisses, and it made her wonder: could she be the key to showing him what a real relationship could be like?

That is, if that's what this was and if they ever got to that point. "…. What about Kathy….?"

Chandler just gave her a tousled grin and bent to kiss her again. "Kathy? Who's Kathy? I've already forgotten that name….."

Monica moaned happily and pressed herself against Chandler, getting lost in the feel of him, in her arms.

"You're beautiful….. So beautiful, Mon….." Chandler hissed into her skin.

Monica shook her head. "No, I'm not…." she mumbled.

Chandler drew back, gazing at her in bafflement. "You are," he insisted, his voice filled with such fire, she lost her breath. "God, Monica, how could I have ever even looked at Kathy and felt anything when you…. you were…."

He began to make love to her again, leaving the thought unfinished but implied: when you were there the whole time….?

As they spent the night together, slept together in every way that two people could, Monica wondered how far this would go. How far it could go. If she and Chandler might even one day get married. She did not ask him this, for fear of scaring him away.

Though from the way he loved her now, Monica knew she would be hard pressed to make him go anywhere. Nothing could drive them apart. Kathy must have known that on some level, to cede the field as she had.

As they spent upon hours that night having sex, Monica gazed down into Chandler's eyes and she knew:

This man was hers. He was all hers.