In honor of the passing of our beloved Matthew Perry.

Chandler was taking a nap on the plane, and he was very cute when he slept. Monica's brain however was racing. What was she going to say to Pete? He was in a hospital bed so she wasn't worried that he would do something to her. Could she do it alone? She knew she told Chandler she wanted to go alone, but maybe he should go with her. Above all else, she wanted answers.

A plane change in California and one in Texas and they were back in the noisy streets of New York. They gathered their bags from the carousel and hailed a cab. Being that it was very late by this point, Monica gave her address and figured Chandler could stay the night at her place and go home in the morning.

She grasped his hand tightly and turned his head from the window to look at her. The lights of the city shone light on her face and she was hoping that he couldn't see the worry written all over it. He gave her a warm and tender smile and squeezed her hand back. She let a small sigh and leaned her head on his shoulder and enjoyed the ride back to her apartment.

When they arrived, they climbed out of the cab, Monica grabbing their suitcases and Chandler paying the man. Chandler took the bags from her and she let them into her apartment building. They went up to her apartment where she unlocked the door and led them inside. She saw the light blinking on her answering machine and decided that she would listen to the messages in the morning. She heard Chandler set their suitcases down and felt him come up behind her and give her a tight hug from behind.

"What are you thinking about Mon?" he asked quietly.

She sighed and leaned into his embrace. "Pete."

Monica could feel Chandler tighten up slightly before he relaxed and turned her so that he was facing her. "Monica. I am serious. Please don't go to see him. I know you want answers, but I don't think you will ever get one from him. Not only the restaurant but he also called to threaten you." He wasn't angry. She could see that he was concerned. He brushed her hair away from her face with the back of his hand and rested both of his hands on either side of her face. "If you do want to go I can't stop you. I do want to go with you though. I want to see the man for myself. I want you to be safe. I love you."

There it was. He loved her. Her breath hitched in her throat, and she felt like she would burst into tears. He loved her. She saw his eyes widen slightly as he realized what he said. He loved her! She smiled as he clearly was becoming uncomfortable with the silence.

"Uh. Well, you know. I lo-love you in the way that some-someone loves, well. What I mean is-"

She giggled and cut off his stammering by planting a kiss on his lips. She pulled away and looked into his eyes. "I love you too, Chandler."

He breathed a sigh of relief and gave her a hug. "Good. That could have been really awkward. I definitely saved it with my explanation."

She laughed and patted his chest. "Yeah, nice save honey." She grabbed his hand. "Let's go to bed."

The sun started to rise and Monica slowly opened her eyes. She was lying on Chandler's chest. His breathing was slow and deep, and he looked peaceful. At that moment, with the orange glow of the sun shining lightly on his face, she realized just how much she was in love with him. After Richard, she didn't want to date again for a long time. But here she was, in the arms of the most beautiful man, who had the biggest heart of anyone she had ever known. She moved his arm from around her and carefully climbed out of bed and threw on her robe.

She walked out to the living room and decided to listen to her messages on her machine.

3 New Messages.

Monica. This is just a confirmation of your appointment this Friday with Doctor Trella. Please give us a call back to confirm.

She made a mental note to call the office back in a little bit when they opened.

Miss Gellar. This is Frank from the NYPD. I tried calling your cell but I wasn't able to leave a message. I was calling to let you know that we have found the tapes. We'll call you with more information when more arises.

She didn't even hear the last message. She stood unable to believe that this was what she had just heard. She really just couldn't believe it.

She was going to go back to bed and lay with the man of her dreams but with this news, she was wide awake.

Chandler woke up and stretched his arms above him. He reached out for Monica, but the bed was cold and empty. He looked around the brightly lit room and didn't see her so he decided to get up. He threw on his pants from the night before and padded out to the living room. He saw Monica sitting on the terrace outside, her wet hair tied back and she was wrapped in a deep red robe and was staring out into the city. He smiled at how peaceful she looked. He walked over to the window and started to climb out to be with her.

"Good morning." She said sweetly to him. Her legs were pulled up to her chest and she was holding a mug of coffee. She looked breathtaking.

"Morning honey" Chandler responded taking a seat next to her. "When did you get up?"

"Early. I would have made you a coffee but I wasn't sure when you would be up."

"That's okay."

There was a quiet calming that overcame them. The only sound was the busy street below them.

Chandler took a deep breath in. It was definitely different from the warm sea air that they were in nearly 24 hours ago. "Monica-"

"They found the footage." Chandler paused. Did he hear her right?

"What?"

Monica looked at him, tears starting to form. She nodded, not trusting her voice. Chandler stood up, grabbed her coffee, set it on the ledge, and pulled her into a tight hug. She hugged him back tightly and started to cry into his shoulder. They stayed in the hug for a few moments until Monica calmed down. Chandler pulled her back, looked into her eyes, and kissed her softly on the forehead.

"Do you still want to go see him?" Chandler asked softly.

Monica thought for a moment before shaking her head. "I don't think I need to. I want to just put this behind me."

Chandler smiled at her. "Okay. I will support you in whatever you decide. I love you."

"I love you, too."

fin.

Well, folks. that's the end. It has been well over ten years since I began this story, and I said I would never come back to complete it, but here we are. A completed story.

For those who read this a long time ago and are coming back, hello! There were a couple of changes that I made, I reread what I had written and realized some of the mistakes I had made so I went back and fixed them.

I can't believe that I started this when I was a wee child at 16 and I am now a week away from my 27th birthday. I hope that I was able to tie up some of the loose ends from this story and give a little bit of closure to everyone who has read this story.

To everyone new here, I hope you enjoyed and you lucked out on the 10-year hiatus. It is not where the original story line was going to go, but that was years ago and I don't remember what was going to happen.

Everyone, thank you. From the bottom of my heart.

Matthew Perry
8.19.69-10.28.23