The One Where Chandler and Monica Fall In Love

By Joey

Monica looked around nervously as her stomach growled. Luckily, no one had noticed, not that anyone was paying any attention to her as she walked down the street. She noticed a small café to her right, and making up her mind, turned and entered.

As soon as she had stepped through the door, Mon wish she hadn't. The place was crowded. And mostly of females. They were all gathered around one particular table in the centre of the café. Straining, Mon could see the heads of two guys, one dark and the other lighter. She asked a passing waitress what was going on.

"We've got to famous people here today," the waitress, a young girl, said excitedly. "I can't believe it." Before Monica got a chance to ask who the people were, the girl was gone. Feeling her hunger fade, Monica grabbed what she believed to be a piece of paper out of her wallet and joined the line. Ten minutes later, she found her self at the front, near the lightheaded guy.

"What would you like me to sign," the guy asked, sounding bored.

Monica silently handed him the piece of paper. She still didn't know who it was. She hadn't been paying attention to the incessant chatter that had been going on through out her wait.

Chandler had written half of his name on the paper before he realized what he was signing. "Where did you get this?" He demanded. He looked up, but the person wasn't looking at him. "Where did you get this?"

Monica turned back, realizing the guy was talking to her. She looked down at what he had been signing. It was the picture of herself and Chandler that she kept in her wallet. One to remind her of her best friend, a person she hadn't seen in years.

"It's mine," Monica looked up, eyes connecting with the others'. "Chandler!?"

"Monica!?" Chandler replied in shock. "Mon, is that you?"

Monica nodded. "Chandler, I can't believe it's you!"

Chandler jumped out of his chair and pulled Mon into a hug, picking her up and swung her around. Carefully, though, cos of all the other people.

"It's so good to see you Monica. It's been what? Three years?"

"Yeah," Monica smiled at her ex-best friend. "I know you're famous, but how did you, guy-who-couldn't-get-a-girl-in-this-life-time get all these woman?"

"My partner," Chandler replied, grinning. "Joey, look who's here!"

"MONICA!" Joey shouted, jumping out of his chair to give her a hug. "It's been so long Mon. Did you see my last movie?"

"Of course I did Joey," Monica smiled at him affectionately. "Didn't everyone! It was great Joey. You're hilarious."

"Thanks," Joey replied modestly. Something Monica decided he must have gained in the last three years.

"I want my autograph!" one of the ladies who'd been standing around finally butted in. The other ladies nodded and chimed their agreement.

"Wait for us Mon," Chandler told her. "We've got a lot of catching up to do."

Half an hour later the three left the café, exhausted. They got into a cab, and headed back to Chandlers house at his insistence.

"Monica, I can't believe you're here!" Chandler told her. "It's been to long."

"I know what you mean," Monica nodded sadly, the memories hitting her like a brick wall.

'Guess what guys?" Chandler crowed as he entered Central Perk.

"What?" everyone, except Joey who wasn't there replied bored.

"I'm going to HOLLYWOOD!" Chandler shouted.

"Why?" Rachel asked.

"I've got an audition for a movie!"

"But you're not an actor," Phoebe pointe out the obvious.

"I know, but I went to Joey's audition with him, and they needed another person, and they asked me to audition!" Chandler shouted.

Monica looked over at him, but he was to excited to notice the tears that had formed in her eyes.

"When will you be back?" She asked softly.

"I don't know, it depends if I get it or not. If I get it, I won't be back for probably a while, who knows!" Chandler replied, finally sitting down.

Monica nodded silently. He was her best friend, the guy she'd recently developed a crush on, even thought she hadn't told him. She stood up silently, and walked out, brushing the tears from her eyes.

She later found she'd left to early, as he had to go straight to the airport, and she had never seen him again, except for on the big screen. No one had every found out about her 'crush', or about the one night they'd gotten a bit too drunk...

Standing inside Chandler's house, the tears started down Mon's cheeks slowly at first, but with growing speed. Joey excused himself, knowing this was between Chandler and Monica, not him. He always knew he wasn't as close to Mon as Chandler. But then again, Chandler had been her best friend for years.

"Oh Mon," Chandler moved forward, not sure what to do. Chandler felt awkward as he put his arms around her, and pulled her to him. "I'm sorry Mon."

"Sorry isn't enough," Mon sobbed. "I waited forever for you to call, write, anything and I got nothing. You were here one day and gone the next. Why Chandler? Why did you do that?"

"I..." Chandler faltered. What could he say?

"Was it because I wasn't good enough?" Monica asked softly, afraid to here the worst.

"What? No, of course not Mon," Chandler shook his head, the tears forming in his eyes. "You were my best friend!"

"Don't be mad at yourself," Monica told him, moving out of his hug. "I know the pressure of instant fame can make you forget people, but still..."

Chandler sighed, he could tell she was really upset. He didn't know what to do. It felt like old times, not knowing how to act around a girl. But this was different, this was his ex-best friend, the one he should be able to talk.

"Oh that's right, I'm not important, cos I'm not famous," Monica said as the tears continued to stream down her face.

"That's not true Mon, and you know that!" Chandler tried to reassure her.

"How do I know that?" Mon asked. "How am I suppose to know that I'm still important to you, when I haven't seen or heard from you in three years. THREE YEARS Chandler. It's a long time. It wouldn't have taken long to phone and say 'hi' or write a letter."

"I know, and I don't have an excuse for what I did," Chandler hung his head. "All I can do is try to make up for it."

"And how do you expect to do that?" Monica asked, brushing her arm across her face angrily, trying to get rid of the tears.

Chandler paused. "I don't know."

"I didn't think you would," Monica sighed. "I thought you knew me all these years, and I thought you were my best friend. I guess I'm wrong," Monica gave him once last look then headed for the door and let herself out.

Chandler watched as the door closed and then went and fell onto the couch. After a few minutes, Joey came out and joined him.

"Where'd Mon go?" Joey asked as he sat down, holding a sandwich in front of him.

"She left," Chandler told him, staring at the door, as if she might reappear.

"Did you at least get her phone number, address or something?" Joey asked.

"OH SHOOT!" Chandler shouted. "Now what am I going to do?!"

"Well," Joey laughed. "There is an invention called the phone book."

Chandler glared at Joey, but ran and got the phone book anyway and looked through it quickly until he found Monica's name and phone number. Chandler punched in the number and held the phone impatiently as it rang.

"Hello?" a little girl asked, before her voice was replaced by Mon's.

"Sorry," Monica apologized.

"Hi Mon, it's Chandler."

"Chandler!" Monica sounded shocked. "Just wait a minute." Chandler heard Mon turn to the person who had answered the phone and told her to go play.

"Who's kid?" Chandler asked as Mon uncovered the phone.

"Mine," Monica said shortly.

"Oh," Chandler paused. "Are you married?"

"No," Monica said quickly.

"Then who's is it?" Chandler questioned. "What's her name?"

"Robyn," Monica replied. "Robyn Samantha Bing," Monica said the last name softly and Chandler didn't hear her.

"Wow," Chandler said shocked. "Who's the dad?"

"Um," Monica hesitated.

"You don't know?" Chandler replied, even more shocked.

"No, I... it's just that..." Monica trailed off.

"Oh, he doesn't know, does he," Chandler caught on.

"Right," Monica laughed silently to herself. She knew she wasn't in a very funny situation, but it still seemed funny to her.

"Can we, can we get together later?" Chandler asked. "I want to be friends again."

"Same," Monica replied softly. "I'm busy right now, but I'll phone you later, okay?"

"Sure," Chandler almost hung up, dazed about the news, but Joey grabbed the phone from him.

"Mon, just wait a minute, I want to talk," Joey told her. "I've just got to switch rooms."

"Okay Joey," Monica told him. She waited until he picked up an extension, and Chandler hung up. "What's up Joey?"

"Why didn't you tell Chandler the truth Mon?" Joey asked.

"The truth? What do you mean?" Monica asked worried.

"About Robyn. Chandler told me about what happened that one night. It's Chandler's kid, isn't it?"

Monica paused before answering. "Yeah," she told him as she broke down into tears. "How can I tell him that? It only happened one night, and we've never been more than friends. He doesn't love me, and he wouldn't love Robyn like a dad should."

"You don't know that for sure Mon," Joey scolded her. "You've got to tell him." Monica protested but Joey interrupted her. "Or I will! By the way, I'm picking you guys up in a couple hours and we'll go out for dinner."

After Monica hung up with Joey, she went into Robyn's room to check on her. Robyn was playing with a pile of blocks, so Monica sat on Robyn's bed, watching her. She thought about Chandler, and knew that if he saw Robyn, he'd know the truth. Robyn looked exactly liked him, except that she was female.

What was she suppose to do? She couldn't walk up to Chandler and say, Hi, this is your kid! It was to complex for that. How was she going to tell him? It had been hard enough telling Ross, Rachel and Phoebe. Ross had been angry at her for 'doing it' with his best friend, Rachel because she'd never said anything and Phoebe had been, well, Phoebe was Phoebe.

And now she had to go to dinner with Joey. While a few years ago it would have been a fun experience, now it would probably mean they'd be bombarded with people wanting autographs and wanting to know who Monica and Robyn are. She wanted to phone Joey back, but was afraid of Chandler picking up, so she decided she'd just have to deal with it.

When Joey arrived back at Chandler's, Chandler met him at the door. "Where have you been?"

"What?" Joey replied. "Why does it matter? I'm a big boy now."

"You went and saw Mon, didn't you?" Chandler told him.

"Yeah," Joey admitted. "Is there something wrong with that? You should meet Robyn, she's so cute. You'd love her."

"Why didn't you take me with you?" Chandler questioned, a hurt look on his face.

"She is my friend too, you know," Joey defended himself.

"I know, but..." Chandler trailed off.

"Look Chandler, Mon and I agreed to meet for lunch at her place tomorrow. Why don't you come with me? You and her need to talk. You haven't seen each other in three years and you guys were such good friends."

"Okay," Chandler replied, defeated. "I'll come. But don't tell Mon ahead of time. I'd like to surprise her."

"Sure," Joey nodded. He knew that it was Chandler who was going to be surprised. Robyn looked exactly like him, except female. If Chandler didn't figure it out himself, and quickly, he had to be stupid.

"Come on Joe, we're going to be late," Chandler shouted up the stairs. "COME ON!!!!"

"I'm coming Chandler, hold your horses," Joey shouted back. "Just fixing some stuff." Joey hurried down the stairs and the two jumped into the limousine Chandler owned. The ride to Monica's apartment was quiet, neither saying a thing, and they didn't speak until they were standing in front of her door.

"Are you ready?" Joey asked. Chandler half shook his head and half nodded. Joey looked at him sympathetically and knocked on the door. Monica opened it almost instantly, and Joey watched as she froze, when she spotted Chandler.

"Mommy!" Robyn called from the background, breaking Monica out of her daze.

"I'm coming Rob," Mon called back calmly. She invited them in quickly and hurried into the living room, to see what Robyn wanted. Robyn was standing proudly beside a tower she'd made of blocks. Monica and Joey congratulated her while inspecting her masterpiece. Chandler, on the other hand, just stood in the door way to the room, a look of shock on his face.

"Why didn't you..." Chandler trailed off.

Monica didn't reply, just turned around, picking up Robyn and walked over to him. "Robyn, this is Chandler. Say hi."

"Hi," Robyn said shyly, before burying her head in her mom's shoulder.

"Here," Joey held out his arms and Monica passed Robyn over to him. He took her down the hall to her bedroom, leaving Chandler and Monica staring at each other. It was Monica who broke the silence first.

"So," Monica said softly. "Would you like to sit down?"

"Sure..." Chandler said stiffly and the two walked over to the couch and sat down. "Is that..." Chandler couldn't finish the question.

Monica just nodded mutely. Like him, she just couldn't say. She had actually started to convince herself that she would never need to tell him.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Chandler whispered.

"Because, you were too busy with becoming famous. We never dated, it only happened because we were drunk that one night. I didn't think you'd love Robyn, and be a dad to her. I didn't..." Monica trailed off when she saw the pained look on Chandlers face.

"But you didn't even give me a chance!" Chandler protested softly. He paused, then said in an awed voice. "I can't believe I'm a dad. That I've got a little girl!"

"I know," Monica nodded her head in agreement. She let the tears that had been building up flow, and Chandler had tears in his eyes as well.

"Well," Chandler joked as the tears ran down his face. "The press is going to love this!"

"NO!" Monica said sharply.

"No what?" Chandler replied.

"I don't want the press calling and people following Robyn and me around," Monica replied. "I like my life the way it is. Yes, I wish that you and Joey were in it more. But Robyn's so young, she doesn't need to be put through everything."

"Monica, now that I know about Robyn, I'm not going to ignore her. I want to watch her grow up and I want her to know me as her daddy."

"I know, and I would like that too," Monica sighed. "But you've got to understand Chandler. I don't want Robyn to have to deal with being in the public eye at such a young age. I don't want to have to deal with being in the public eye."

"I'm not going to pretend that I don't have a child," Chandler protested.

"I'm not asking you to do that," Monica replied.

"Then what do you want me to do, Mon?" Chandler questioned. "How am I suppose to be a dad to her if I can't let the media know I'm a dad? No one would ever believe her. And she needs a dad Mon."

"I know, I know," Monica sighed. "I don't know what to do. I mean, you're never normally around here, how would you manage to be a dad to her? You'll never see her."

"I'd make sure I was out here every chance that I got." Chandler sighed. "I know it would be hard, but I could figure something out."

"Like what? Seeing your daughter once every few months? I don't want her to have to experience that Chandler," Monica sighed again.

"Yeah, well I don't want her to grow up without me. I grew up without a dad Mon, and I wish everyday he'd been there for me," Chandler looked her in the eyes. "Mon please, just give me one chance."

TO BE CONTINUED...