I’ll Be There For You

By Lucy Henson, teacherchez@hotmail.com

Disclaimer: I don’t own any of them.

This is dedicated to all of those who died in those awful attacks on the WTC on September 11th.

Oh, and to get the ‘Siberian hamster’ joke at the funeral, you have to have seen Fawlty Towers, ‘Basil the Rat’.

Three days later, sitting in Central Perk, her friends surrounded Monica. Chandler, Rachel, Ross, Phoebe and Joey were the best friends she could ask for. And then there was Gunther, who wasn’t really a friend, but wasn’t not a friend either.

She knew she had to tell them sometime. Sitting there, with Chandler’s arm around her, she could almost believe that it wasn’t happening. And then she’d feel a wave of emptiness, or Chandler would give her a look that said ‘Tell them’, and she’d worry again.

She opened her mouth to speak. "Guys—" she began, but was interrupted by Ross, arriving from the phone.

"Monica. I have to tell you something, but don’t get angry with me, ok? All right, now, uh, Richard, he, uh, had a heart attack yesterday. And they did everything they could Monica, but Mom told me that, uh, he didn’t make it." There was a little cry of horror from the gang.

"Chandler?" she choked out.

"Oh, Monica!" cried Rachel, running over to her. She tried to hug her, but Chandler was in the way. She settled for patting her arm instead. Phoebe and Joey echoed the cry.

"I-I can’t believe it. I just got over it, and now…" Monica trailed off. She wasn’t so sad anymore, because she had cried all she could for Richard. She just wasn’t so happy either. She knew her father would be devastated, but that her friends wouldn’t really be too sad. They had never totally trusted him.

"Got over it?" Joey asked. "What do you mean?"

Monica hesitated. "I, oh God, I can’t believe this, I split up with Richard, and now he’s dead, and I didn’t say I was sorry and oh my God."

"Oh, sweetie," Rachel patted the arm again. "I’m so sorry."

"Why?" Phoebe the unquenchable asked.

"Be-because, oh, no, uh, this is hard." She stalled. "Okay, there will never be a good time for me to tell you this, will there?" They didn’t answer; they didn’t know what she was talking about. "Chandler knows, I told him. Okay, uh, I’m pregnant."

"Pregnant?" asked Joey. "Whose is it?" Chandler smacked him. "What?" He realised. "Oh, sorry."

"How far along are you?" queried Rachel, and Phoebe nodded eagerly.

"About ten weeks," Monica replied. "Wow, I can’t believe you’re this cool about it."

"Did Richard know? Did he split up with you because of that? Cos if he did, I’m gonna go kick some dead ass," Ross said, very eloquently.

"No, he didn’t know. He didn’t want children, so I split up with him." Monica sighed. "Ugh, I feel sick."

"Ah, hormones," Joey said, wisely. The others all gave him odd looks, and he shrugged. "What, I delivered a baby once."

"I’m gonna go throw up." Monica fled to the bathroom. The rest of the gang looked at Chandler.

"So, why did she tell you?" asked Ross.

"Because she was crying and I asked her what the matter was." The reply was brief, and gave nothing away.

"What did you say?" This was from Phoebe.

"I told her that I would help her."

"Why?" came from Rachel. "You’re scared of babies and women and commitment."

"I don’t know. I wouldn’t be committing to Monica; I’d just be helping out a friend." He paused. "It’s not as if I’d be dating her." Although that might be nice, he added to himself. "I still don’t want to commit to anyone."

"Huh?" Monica asked, as she returned from the bathroom. "So, I guess this is morning sickness."

"Have you had it before?" asked Chandler.

"No, actually. I felt a teeny bit off yesterday, but I didn’t throw up," she answered. "Wow, this is pregnancy."

* * *

Three days later, Monica attended Richard’s funeral, with Joey, Ross, Chandler and Phoebe. Rachel was visiting her father. It was a short, sad service, and Monica had to deal with telling her mother the news about the baby. She had asked Chandler and Ross to help her, and had decided not to tell her mother that she split up with Richard.

Straight after the service, while Joey and Phoebe were chatting to other guests, pretending to be the gay lover and long-lost Siberian hamster-turned-human of the deceased, Monica, Chandler and Ross approached Jack and Judy Gellar.

"Mom?" asked Monica.

"Oh, sweetie, I wish you’d do something with your hair," Judy snipped at her daughter.

"Mom, I think Monica has something to say," Ross stepped in for his sister.

"Yes, yes, what is it?" Judy had no time for this.

"I’m having a baby."

"Oh, my little harmonica, all grown up!" Jack said, wiping his eyes. Already sad about his friend’s death, it was too much to know that his baby girl was having a baby of her own.

"Is it Richard’s?" asked Judy.

"Mom!" Monica was outraged. "Of course it is. And Chandler said he’ll help me look after it."

"Well, that’s nice, dear." There was an awkward pause. "C’mon, Jack. There’s the Obermans. I heard their eldest son just got married." With that, Mrs. Gellar bustled off, leaving Jack to follow, helplessly.

Monica stared blankly at the space where her mother had been. "That went well."

At that point, Phoebe and Joey appeared. "Wow, this is great!" Phoebe exclaimed. "Everyone thinks a Siberian hamster actually exists! It’s just a rat, you know."

"And people agree that Richard was definitely gay," Joey added.

"Joey!" exclaimed Ross. "Monica is having his child, and you think he was gay?"

"It’s okay, it’s good to laugh, right?" Monica said, and gave a false laugh. "Ha! See, see me laugh, I’m fine, right? This laugh proves it, doesn’t it prove it, I am totally over Richard, totally, I think I need to get drunk right about now." She was about to go off to the drink table when Chandler pulled her back.

"Hey, hey, Miss Gellar, you can’t hurt that little baby in there by drinking, can you?" She shook her head. "Right, now we’re going back to your apartment, and you’re going to stay there until you have stopped grieving."

"I’m not grieving, I’m over him, I’m fine, I’m Monica, I’ve never been better," Monica babbled. "I’m having a baby, I have to be good for the baby, my baby, Richard’s baby, oh I miss him…" She began to sob, and Joey turned away, embarrassed.

"Right, that’s it, you’re coming home," Chandler told her. "See you guys," he told the rest of them, and they left.

When they arrived back at Monica’s apartment, she had stopped crying. "I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to… go all weird back there."

"It’s okay."

"Chandler, I was nearly right, I am nearly over Richard, and then, I promise, I’ll be a mom to this baby. And," she added, shyly, "if you want, you can be the dad – not like, us married, or anything," she hastened to add, "I just mean, like, be there for it when it needs you."

"Of course," Chandler said. "See, I am not scared about this because I’m not committing, right? I’m just saying I’ll look after you and a baby. This isn’t scary."

"It’s not," Monica smiled. "Yeah, we can get through this."