Author's Note: The first few chapters will get posted fairly regularly as I only have to make minor edits. The later chapters still need a lot more editing so that will delay how quickly I can post those chapters. Thanks for reading.

August 2009

Monica stared at the two lines as she sat on the floor of the bathroom. She had been ignoring all of the signs for the past week. Assuming that the exhaustion was due to raising five year old twins. But when Chandler had found her in the bathroom vomiting the night before, he had insisted that she should go to the doctor.

"I am not sick," She had said defensively, before another wave of nausea hit and she threw up again.

"Oh and this is definitely proving your point," Chandler had said. She had tried to glare at him but she was too focused on trying not to vomit. He sat next to her and rubbed her back gently. "Come on, Mon. You've been exhausted all week; we know there's been a stomach bug going around. I mean this morning you were gagging at the smell of coffee. It's not like you."

His comment hit Monica like a ton of bricks. She tried to think of when she had her last period but realized that she couldn't remember. She thought back to when Rachel and Pheobe had been pregnant. Especially during their first pregnancies. How they constantly talked about strange food aversions and morning sickness that would last all day. But that was impossible. She couldn't get pregnant. They had accepted their fate long ago. But now the thought was in her head and she knew that it wouldn't leave her until she had confirmation that she wasn't pregnant. She would just have to go to the store tomorrow to buy a pregnancy test. And she couldn't tell Chandler. She wouldn't get his hopes up like that. So she sighed and stood up slowly.

"Okay," she said quietly.

"Okay?" Chandler asked.

"If I'm not feeling better by tomorrow, I will try and make a doctor's appointment."

"Am I dreaming?" he asked and Monica rolled her eyes at him. "Monica Gellar? Agreed with me?"

"Oh shut up," she smacked him on the chest. "Come on, it's late and I want to go back to bed."

She didn't sleep for the rest of the night. She couldn't be pregnant. She just…she couldn't be. She was forty. They knew that they wouldn't be able to conceive naturally. But the signs were there. It wasn't like she and Chandler were using any protection, they didn't need to. She had turned and looked at him fast asleep next to her.

"Chandler," she whispered. He didn't stir. Good. She couldn't tell him if he was awake. Because then she would get his hopes up and then she would end up breaking his heart when the test came back negative. But she had to say something, or else she would just blurt it out and ruin everything. "I think I might be pregnant." She whispered to him. He grunted and turned over. Monica panicked and thought that he had heard her, but then his breathing evened out again. Monica pulled the covers up and hoped that she would eventually fall asleep.

Monica felt worse the next day, but she couldn't let Chandler know, or else he would practically drag her to the doctor's office. So when he asked her the next morning if she had called to make an appointment, she had to think quickly.

"Actually I feel so much better today," she lied. "I guess it was something I ate last night."

"Really?" he asked. "So I made a giant cup of coffee for you, then." He placed a large mug in her hands and she had to swallow the wave of nausea that hit her suddenly.

"Oh," she took a deep breath. "That's…so sweet of you."

"Monica…" he started.

"Oh would you look at the time!" she said very quickly and placed the large cup on the counter. "You are going to be late for work, mister. You have that big presentation coming up soon. And I have to get the kids ready for camp so you better go!" She put her hands on his chest and practically pushed him out of the kitchen.

"Monica…" Chandler tried again but kept pushing him until he was nearly at the front door.

"Really, Chandler, I'm fine." She smiled sweetly at him and that seemed to have done the trick, at least for now.

"Okay," he relented. "But if I get home and you're still sick I'm bringing you to Urgent Care myself."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Monica replied and nearly pushed him out the door. She took a deep breath and then turned around to see Jack and Erica, staring at her confused.

"Are you okay, Mommy?" Jack asked.

"I'm great," Monica lied again. "Why do you ask?"

"Because you were talking really fast and your voice got super high." Erica answered.

"I'm just…really excited about today." Monica panicked.

"Why?" Jack asked.

"Because...because the weather is so nice. Now you two need to go get dressed, or else we're going to be late for camp."

The twins glanced at each other before going back upstairs. Those kids were too damn smart. This was going to be a lot harder than Monica initially thought.

Luckily today was Monica's day off from work. Monica had started working part time at a restaurant closer to home. It was one of the hardest decisions she had made. She loved working at Javu. She had made friends with the whole staff. The people who worked for her actually respected her. It was so different after dealing with Allesandro's for so many years. But Jack and Erica were her priority. She wasn't going to miss bedtime or dance recitals because she was stuck working a late night shift.

After she dropped the twins off at camp, she was finally able to drive to the store. She found herself staring at all the different pregnancy tests, and she couldn't stop thinking of when they first started trying to have a baby. They were both so excited in the beginning. And then Chandler had to move to Tulsa and every pregnancy test kept coming back negative, no matter how many books or articles she read. She finally had to snap out of the memory and decided to grab a bunch and headed to the checkout counter. The drive back home took forever and when she finally put the car into park. She placed her head on the driving wheel.

"I'm not pregnant," she told herself. "I'm not pregnant. I'm going to take one of these stupid things and then I can move on and be done with this." She went inside and headed into the bathroom and grabbed one of the pregnancy tests. She didn't need to read the instructions; she's taken enough of these tests to know how it works. She ran the test, started the timer, and waited. Apparently, she was only waiting about 5 minutes, but it felt like it was days before the timer finally went off. She took a deep breath, walked over and saw…two lines.

No, no that can't be right. Two lines meant a positive pregnancy test. Unless pregnancies tests have changed in the past 6 years. It must be a bad test. It must be. She grabbed and ran another test. And once again…two lines appear.

"Oh my god," Monica said, covering her mouth. "Oh my god."

She ends up drinking an obscene amount of water within the next few hours, because she still doesn't believe what she's seeing. It should be one line. It was always one line. Every single time she took one those stupid pregnancy tests all those years ago. But again and again the test results come back as positive. By the fifth test, she has to admit that she's pregnant. It took years for her to come to terms with the fact that she would never be able to carry a baby. And now, after all this time, she had gotten pregnant without even really trying. She spent all morning sitting on the bathroom floor, staring at the multiple pregnancy tests that she didn't even hear the door open. She barely reacted until she heard a knock on the bathroom door.

"Monica?" She heard Chandler through the door. "Are you okay?"

"W-what are doing back home?" Monica asked in a panic.

"I decided to take an early lunch and come check on you." He said. "Since, you know, you were feeling so much better today."

"You didn't believe any of that this morning, did you?"

"Not for one second."

"Damnit."

"Mon, I've known you for like 20 years at this point. I know when you're lying. Now will you please open the door?"

Monica looked around at the multiple tests and boxes scattered across the counter and the floor. What a mess. She might have been able grab them and throw them in the closet before he opened the door but realized that she couldn't hide this. Not from him.

"It's unlocked," she said softly.

She's not sure how to describe his reaction. A mixture of shock, disbelief, and confusion as he found her on the floor of the bathroom, with multiple pregnancy tests scattered all over the place.

"Monica?" he asked.

"I started thinking about it last night. How tired I was, the nausea, the strange food aversions. I kept telling myself that it was impossible, but I couldn't get the thought out of my head. So I told myself I would take a stupid test. Because they always came back negative. But then…" she stopped and gestured to the multiple tests lying on the floor. He stared at them and then stared back at her again.

"Say something," she said. The silence was suffocating "Anything at all…tell me some stupid joke. Please."

Instead he kneeled on the ground and pulled her into a crushing hug as he kissed her all over her face.

"I love you," he murmured. "I love you so much."

"I love you, too" she replied as he wiped her tears with his thumbs. She didn't even realize that she had started crying. They just hold each other on the bathroom floor, both still in shock at this point.

"I guess it makes sense," he mumbled into her hair.

"What does?"

"We finally accept the fact that we won't be able to get pregnant, and then you get pregnant when we're not even thinking about trying."

"I don't know what we're going to do" Monica said. "I mean, I'm going to have a baby when I'm forty."

Chandler started to laugh.

"What's so funny?" she asked.

"Do you remember when Ben was born? And you were so upset because you thought you would never have a kid?"

When we're forty, if neither of us are married, what do you say you and I get together and have one?

"Well," he started. "Here we are, married, and having a baby at forty. We ended up completing the pact without even realizing it."

"I don't think I remember agreeing to that pact." Monica said.

"Oh, I'm sure you did." Chandler said and then looked at his watch. "Oh god, I have to head back to work. How am I supposed to head back to work after this."

"I don't know, but listen you can't tell anyone," Monica said. He opened his mouth but she interrupted him. "I mean it! It's way too early at this point."

"Okay, okay. I will try my hardest not to say anything."

"Thank you," she said as they both stood up.

He kissed her briefly before heading out the door, grinning from ear to ear.

Monica spent the rest of the day in a daze. She needed to find a doctor and had no idea where to start looking. She couldn't ask Rachel or Pheobe; they would both get suspicious. And if Rachel found out, then the entire state of New York would find out. She would need to start taking prenatal vitamins. How far along was she? Did she drink any alcohol recently? Did she eat anything that could be harmful to the baby in the past few months. And what about work? And what if something happened to the baby? She would probably be considered a high risk pregnancy due to her age. She remembered that Pheobe had to go to tons of doctor's appointments when she and Mike had their baby a few years ago. So many questions were running through her mind until she finally forced herself to look at the clock and realized that she had to pick up the twins from camp. Her hands were shaking in the car the entire time. And how were they going to tell the twins? She and Chandler had recently started having the adoption talk with both of them. Would they be upset with a new baby? Would they be jealous? She spent most of the afternoon lying on the couch, until Chandler came home from work that evening.

"You are going to be so proud of me," Chandler said as he walked into the living room. "I didn't make a single baby comment. Not one! Not even a bun in the oven joke. Do you know how much restraint that took?"

"That's…great," she said slowly as she moves to a sitting position on the couch.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Chandler asked as he sat down next to her.

"I just…are we ready for another kid?"

"I mean, if we were able to get through two babies at the same time, I feel like only having to take care of one this time should be a breeze…unless you think it's another set of twins."

"Chandler!"

"Or maybe triplets like with Pheobe."

"Chandler, you're not making this any better!"

"I'm sorry," he said. "But why are you freaking out so much about this? I mean when we found out Erica was giving us a two for one special, you panicked for maybe two seconds and immediately accepted it while I was losing it."

"Yeah, and now it seems like we've switched places." She said and placed her head on his shoulder. "There's just so much that we have to do. And I have no idea how to start. And I mean Phoebe's last pregnancy was considered high risk and she was 37. And I'm 40 and I just…what if something bad happens, Chander?"

"Hey, come here," he said as he pulls her closer to him. "Whatever happens, we're gonna get through it together. Like we always do."

She lets him hold her for a while. When they were first told that their chances of getting pregnant were nearly impossible, it felt like her whole entire world had come crashing down. She spent the night crying into Chandler's shoulder as he comforted her. But they grew stronger together and decided that if they couldn't have their own kid, then they could give a home to a kid who needed one. And adopting Jack and Erica was the best thing that she ever did.

"I guess you're right," she said as he kisses her temple. "When did you get to be so smart?"

"Well this is what happens when you're in your forties." He said. "All this life experience. All this wisdom that I have gained from my time on this earth that I now get to share with you." He stopped for a moment. "Do we have any chocolate milk left?"

"I think there's some left in the fridge."

"Yay!" Chandler stood and did that stupid dance and nearly ran to the kitchen.

"Be careful, you might spoil your dinner." Monica said from the couch.

"No I won't," Chandler whined as he comes back a bottle of Yoohoo. She simply laughed at him.

"Now come on," he says as he sits back down on the couch. "We'll go make an appointment to see a doctor sometime next week and see what the next steps are. And I'll make sure that I won't tell anyone that you're having a baby until you're ready."

"YOU'RE HAVING A BABY?"

They both turned slowly and saw Erica standing in the doorway with a big toothy grin.

"Eri-"

"JACK!" she shouted at the top of her lungs as she ran out of the room, her dirty blonde hair whipping behind her. "JACKY! MOMMY'S HAVING A BABY!"

"A BABY?" Monica heard Jack reply from another room. Monica couldn't stop herself from laughing as Chandler buried his face into his hands.

"Well," Monica started. "You made it about five hours, which is about 4 and a half hours longer than I thought you would." She patted him on the shoulder and followed Erica out of the room.