~Epilogue~

Yay! An epilogue!!! I’ve had this idea for how to end this since I started the series. Okay, this takes place in the future, about ten years later, I guess. CnM have been married for eight years and have a daughter, Morgan, who’s seven, and a son, Matt, who’s two. And no, I’m not being cliché by naming him Matt, there’s an actual reason behind it that I’ll explain later. Kay? Kay. Oh yeah, there’s a little bit of strong language, but I don’t wanna change the rating for like two words, and I think you can all handle it, LOL. And please review, thanks ;)

Chandler ran into the hospital waiting room and immediately spotted Monica, who was holding Matt.

"Daddy!" Matt smiled when he saw Chandler.

"Hey buddy," he kissed his forehead before looking up at Monica, "Is she okay? What happened?"

"Yeah, they said it’s just a hairline fracture and she’ll have to have a cast for six weeks. I guess she fell off the monkey bars at recess," Monica paused and smiled at Chandler, "she’s fine, but she wants her daddy."

"Okay," he turned to walk away, "Mon?" he turned back around, "Can we talk later? We never got to talk."

"I don’t think there’s anything to talk about, Chandler," Monica sighed.

"You never let me explain…"

"Maybe there was nothing to be explained," Monica said coldly.

"And maybe things aren’t always what they look like," he answered.

"Fine," Monica caved. "Come home with us, we can talk later."

"Thanks, Mon," he smiled, walking toward Morgan’s room.

~*~Flashback-a few months earlier~*~

"Sorry, I know how much you hate coming to these things," Chandler leaned toward Monica. They were at his office party. "I hate it, too."

Monica shrugged, "I don’t mind."

"Well, I have to go talk to Doug. If you don’t want to submit yourself to that, I think I saw Michelle walk that way," he pointed.

"Thanks," Monica laughed.

"No problem," Chandler sighed, "Wish me luck," he kissed her cheek before walking away.

Monica walked in the direction Chandler had pointed, and sure enough, there was Michelle. Michelle’s husband, Dean, worked with Chandler and their daughter was friends with Morgan.

"Hey," she smiled when she saw Monica. "These things are torture, huh?"

"Oh, yeah," Monica agreed.

"I don’t see the point, no one likes coming."

"I haven’t seen the point and I’ve come with Chandler for the past ten years," she paused, "Actually a few times before that, I think."

"What do you mean? How’d you come with him before you were together."

"Oh, we were friends for years before we ever got together."

"Oh, that explains how you can trust him so much."

"What?" Monica looked at her, confused.

"Well, yeah. You’d have to trust your husband who has a secretary who looks like that."

"Like what?"

"Lauren. You haven’t met her?" Michelle looked at Monica, "Dean said something about her a couple weeks ago, I guess they just hired her, and wow. She is something! She’s 25 and gorgeous…"

Monica stopped listening, wondering why Chandler hadn’t mentioned anything to her about it. "Hey, um, sorry, but I need to go find Chandler," Monica excused herself. She saw Doug and walked over to him, but Chandler wasn’t with him.

"Hey, do you know where Chandler is?"

"Yeah, he went into his office about ten seconds ago."

"Thanks," she smiled at him before going over to Chandler’s office. She opened the door and couldn’t believe what she saw. Chandler kissing who she could only presume was Lauren. Monica turned around and ran out.

Holding back tears, Monica pushed the down arrow on the elevator. She wiped her eyes, wondering what was taking the elevator so long. "Come on," she whispered.

"Wait, Mon," Chandler ran out after her.

"Leave me alone, Chandler," Monica didn’t turn around, not wanting him to see her cry.

"Monica, it’s not what it looks like! Let me explain…"

"Explain what, Chandler? Explain how big of a fool I’ve been for trusting you?" She turned to face him.

"Mon," he pleaded as the elevator door opened, "Just…don’t go, Mon, let me explain."

Monica stepped onto the elevator, turning to face him before the doors closed. "Fuck you."

~*~Back to present~*~

Daddy!" Morgan smiled when Chandler walked into the room.

"Hi, baby," he walked over to her and kissed her forehead. "Are you okay?" he sat down next to her.

She nodded, "Yeah. And I’m sorry, I knew we weren’t s’possed to be sitting on top of the monkey bars, but we did anyways, and then Jesse fell and pulled me down, too."

"It’s okay, I’m not mad," he smiled at her, looking down at the bright pink cast on her arm, "As long as you’re all right."

Morgan nodded and Chandler pulled her into a hug. "Dad?" she asked.

"Yeah."

"Are you gonna come home tonight?"

Chandler looked down at her, "Yeah, honey, I am."

"Good," she smiled, "I miss you."

~*~

By the time they got home, both kids were asleep. Chandler took Morgan to get her ready for bed while Monica took Matt.

Chandler lay Morgan down on her bad, taking her shoes off before pulling her blankets up around her. "Is it morning yet?" she asked, waking up.

"No, it’s still night, go back to sleep," Chandler whispered.

"Will you be here in the morning?"

"Yeah, I promise."

"Pinky promise?" she held out her hand.

"Pinky promise," he smiled, shaking her pinky before kissing her. "’Night, Morgan, I love you."

""Night, love you, Daddy."

Chandler turned around to find Monica in the doorway. "I’ll be down in a minute, we can talk then," she whispered, then went over to tell Morgan goodnight.

Chandler went into Matt’s room to kiss him goodnight. He smiled, seeing the racecar bed they’d put in there a few months earlier. He’d been so excited about getting a ‘big boy’ bed. Chandler leaned down and kissed Matt’s forehead, pulling his blanket back up and around him.

Chandler came downstairs and saw Monica was already there, sitting on the couch.

"You wanna talk?" she asked as he sat down, "Talk."

~*~Flashback-same night as before~*~

"Sorry, I know how much you hat coming to these things," Chandler leaned toward Monica. "I hate it, too."

Monica shrugged, "I don’t mind."

"Well, I have to go talk to Doug. If you don’t want to submit yourself to that, I think I saw Michelle walk that way," he pointed.

"Thanks," Monica laughed.

"No problem," Chandler sighed, "Wish me luck," he kissed her cheek before walking away.

"Bing!" Doug slapped his butt and Chandler jumped. He’d worked with him for how many years, although now he’d gotten a promotion and was Doug’s superior, but he still always jumped when he slapped his butt.

"Hi, Doug," he grimaced.

"So, how’s the family? How old are your kids now?"

"Morgan’s seven and Matt’s two," Chandler answered.

"That’s nice. So, enough of the small-talk," he said, "Here’s what I’ve been thinking…" Chandler stopped listening.

"Chandler?" Lauren tapped him on the shoulder.

"Excuse me," he smiled at Doug, "Yeah?" he turned around to face her.

"Umm, can I ask you something?"

"Yeah, sure."

"Well, can I ask you in your office? It’s kinda personal…"

"Are you sure you wanna ask me?"

"Yeah," she answered so Chandler reluctantly followed her into his office.

"So, what’d you want to ask me?" Chandler asked after Lauren shut the door.

She grabbed him and pulled him in toward her, kissing him. Chandler pulled away.

"What the hell are you doing?!"

"I just…I thought you liked me," she looked down.

"Lauren, we can’t do this."

"Why not?"

Chandler grabbed a picture off of his desk and tossed it to her before walking out the door. Lauren looked down at the picture. It was Chandler with his arms around Monica, with Matt and Morgan sitting in front of them, all four smiling. Lauren just sighed and sat the picture down.

Chandler scanned the room, looking for Monica. "Doug?" he walked up to him, "Have you seen Monica?"

"Yeah, she just ran out of here. She looked pretty upset."

It took a second for it to click for Chandler as to why Monica looked upset. "Shit!" he ran after her. "Wait, Mon."

"Leave me alone, Chandler," Monica said, her back to him.

"Mon, it’s not what it looks like! Let me explain…"

"Explain what, Chandler? Explain how big of a fool I’ve been for trusting you?" she turned to face him.

"Mon," he pleaded as the elevator door opened, "Just…don’t go, Mon, let me explain."

Monica stepped onto the elevator, turning to face him before the doors closed. "Fuck you."

~*~Back to present~*~

Monica looked up at Chandler and could tell he wasn’t lying. She buried her head in her hands. The room was dead silent for what seemed like forever.

When Monica looked up, there were tears in her eyes. "I’m so sorry, Chandler," she choked out.

"Mon-"

"No, don’t say it’s not all my fault, it is. I didn’t listen to you…and I just saw you in there with Morgan. I didn’t realize she’d see it as you leaving us."

"She’s seven, how else would she see it."

"They miss you Chandler, I…I miss you."

"You kicked me out, Mon," he said softly.

"I know, and I’m so sorry. God, I’m sorry," she broke down crying. "And I believe you! I don’t think you’d cheat on me…"

Chandler moved over next to her, wrapping his arms around her. "Shh, it’s okay Mon."

Monica wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face in his shirt. "I’m sorry, Chandler," she wiped her eyes. "I love you."

"I love you, too," he leaned in to kiss her, the fact that he missed her replaced being mad. He couldn’t be mad at her when she was in his arms crying. "And god, I missed you, too."

"So…what are we gonna do?" Monica asked.

"I don’t know…"

"Are you staying?"

"Will you let me?"

Monica nodded, "I want you to."

"Okay," he hugged her again.

"It’s late, want to just go to bed? We can talk more in the morning…" Monica asked and Chandler nodded, so they walked up to their room, hand-in-hand. They got ready for bed as if nothing had happened in the last couple of months.

Monica got into bed and cuddled up next to Chandler, "I didn’t know it was possible to miss someone this much."

"I know," he kissed her hair, "At least you had Matt and Morgan."

"I am sorry, you know."

"I know that, too," he leaned in and they started kissing, but were interrupter when Matt started crying. Chandler sat up, "Is he still having bad dreams?"

"Yeah," Monica nodded.

"I’ll go see if he’s okay," Chandler got up, coming back with Matt in his arms a few minutes later. He lay back down and put Matt between them.

A few minutes later, Morgan opened the door, "I had a bad dream, can I sleep in here?" she asked.

"Yeah," Monica smiled and she climbed onto the bed, lying between her mom and brother.

Chandler gently rubbed Matt’s back for a few minutes, just watching him and Morgan sleep. At first they’d been told they wouldn’t be able to have kids, ironic given their original reason for getting together. Morgan had come as a surprise, and they’d given up on having any more kids after her, but five years later came Matt.

Chandler looked around the room. There were pictures of Morgan and Matt on the walls, along with Ben’s high school graduation picture. He just smiled, remembering the day Ben was born, the day that started it all. Or in some way it had been, it’d just taken them a while to actually realize it. He couldn’t believe that Ben had graduated that year, it just didn’t seem like that long ago.

Chandler continued looking around the room, his eyes landing on a picture on Monica’s nightstand. It was an old picture of him and Monica. No matter how mad she had been at him, she’d left the picture there. He’d been afraid that it’d be too hard to go back too the way that things were before if Monica believed him, but now he began to believe otherwise. They were in love.

Despite everything, they still loved each other.

After he was sure that the kids were asleep, Chandler reached his arm around and reached for Monica’s hand. "I love you, you know. And I’d never cheat on you."

"I know. And I’m sorry for not trusting you," Monica looked over at him, "I love you."

"I know," he brought her hand to his mouth and gently kissed it. After laying in silence for a few minutes, Chandler grinned, "Hey, you’re birthday’s in a couple of months, you’re gonna be 40…anything you want?"

"Good-night, Chandler," Monica laughed.

"Mon?"

"Yeah?" she asked, slightly annoyed.

"I love you."

"Ditto."

~~In loving memory of Matt. Though I didn’t really know him, he was like a ~~

~~brother to one of`my friends, giving me reason enough to dedicate this in his memory~~

So that’s it!!! The end, fin, finito, um, I’m out, but that’s it!!! Please review ::gets down on knees and gives sad puppy dog face:: was that too pathetic? LOL, anywayz, please review, I always appreciate it!!!: )