Monica was stunned. "You – you mean it?" she asked. He nodded eagerly. She kissed him quickly. "Then yes."

"Yes?" Chandler repeated.

"Yes," laughed Monica. "Come on, I love you more than I’ve ever loved anyone else, why should I not say yes?"

"I don’t know," Chandler gabbled. "I-I just never thought that you would want to marry – me. I always thought you’d marry someone older, someone like, uh, like…"

"Richard?"

"Yeah, I guess." He swallowed. "So you mean it? You want to marry me?"

"God, yes!" Monica told him, beaming with joy. "I’ve told you three times." Chandler grinned, and slipped a beautiful ring onto her finger.

"I spent ages shopping for it," he told her, proudly. "I guess that’s what it feels like to be my dad –shopping for jewellery."

She laughed, and kissed him again.

He put his arm around her, and looked her in the eye. "You wanna go tell the others?"

"Hell yeah," she replied.

* * *

The newly engaged couple ran down to Central Perk, where they guessed the others would be. They were right. Ross and Rachel were bickering about some girl from a copy place – apparently Ross had ‘looked’ at her. Phoebe was telling Joey about one of her past lives.

"Wow – you were a hooker?" Joey exclaimed.

"Well, kinda. They called me an ‘immoral wench’ in those days, though." Phoebe’s eyes were shining. Joey was the only one who ever believed in her past lives.

"Guys, guys, I have – we have," Monica corrected herself, "big news."

"Ooh, ooh, I know!" Phoebe cried. "You’re pregnant!"

"Wow, the bump is such a give-away," Chandler said, sarcastically. "We all know she’s pregnant. Our news is that we’re en—"

"We’re engaged!" Monica cut in, showing her new ring. Chandler gave her a slightly odd look. "Hey, I wanted to tell it," she explained.

"Engaged?" asked Rachel. "Really?" She craned her neck to see the ring. "Wow, nice ring. Must’ve cost a fortune, Chandler."

He nodded. "She’s worth it," he replied.

"So you’re really engaged?" Rachel queried again.

"Yes really," said Monica, testily.

"Are you sure?" Ross questioned.

"Of course," Chandler confirmed. "Why is it so hard to believe?"

"Because you," pointing to Chandler, "are a commitment phobic kinda guy, and you," pointing to Monica, "are having someone else’s kid," Joey summed it up.

"I’m sure they never knew that," Ross sighed.

"Hey, maybe they didn’t," Phoebe defended Joey.

"Be quiet," Monica ordered. "Now, I think we should have a December wedding, which means we’ll have to get going, cos it’s November now. I think we should have the wedding before the baby’s born, and…"

"Hey, it’s my wedding too," Chandler said. As Monica shot him an evil look, he hurriedly added, "But hey, that sounds great. I love that idea. Go with that."

"Wow – can I be maid of honour?" Rachel asked.

"Uh, I-I, well, that is…" Monica stalled.

"If she gets to be maid of honour, I can play my guitar," Phoebe said.

"Okay," Monica said, in her typical, Monica way.

"And can I be best man?" Joey whined. "I really wanna be a best man! Do not make Ross your best man!"

"Fine with me," Ross said. "But I have to be—"

"How about if you’re both my best man," Chandler interrupted shyly.

"Hey! I am not becoming part of Ross!" Joey yelled, amidst the laughter of Rachel and Monica.

"I meant, why don’t I have two best men?" Chandler explained.

"Oh. Yeah, I’ll go with that." Joey went red. "I have to, uh, use the bathroom." He left.

"Wow… married, huh?" Ross said, casually. "Y’know, Chandler, before I married Carol, her godfather said one thing to me. And since Monica’s godfather was Richard, and he’s, well, not alive, I think I should say this to you, Chandler."

"What would have happened if Monica had married Richard?" Phoebe pointed out.

"He might have found it hard to chop off his own head," Ross replied. "Right, Chandler, if you ever treat Monica badly, I will chop off your head."

Monica snorted with laughter, and Rachel howled. Phoebe giggled, and Chandler laughed out loud. "Where would you get an axe?" howled Rachel.

"I have one," Phoebe said, opening her bag. She took out a large axe, and handed it to Ross.

"An axe?" Joey yelled, coming back from the bathroom. "Ah! Ross will kill us all! Run for your lives!" He ran out of Central Perk.

* * *

That night, lying in bed, Monica and Chandler talked. They really talked, not just chatted.

"I think you should move in here," Monica said, suddenly. They had been discussing Ross and Rachel, and this was an abrupt change of subject.

"Yeah, why not," Chandler assented. "If we’re gonna get married, we can’t live in separate apartments."

"I also think that we should have a small wedding," Monica sighed. "I’d love a big one, but if we’re going to get married within the next two months, I think we’d better have a small one. Just the gang and some of our relatives."

"Which ones?" Chandler asked, apprehensively.

"Your mom, my parents, and that’s it."

"Oh, I’ll go with that," Chandler agreed. "Y’know, I always thought you’d want a huge wedding – everyone you ever met being there, and in a huge church."

"Well, I’d like one, but we could not plan that in a month. And maybe we shouldn’t get married in a church, cos it’s not like we ever go, is it?" she pointed out.

"Yeah, I guess. A little registry office, then?"

She nodded and kissed him. "We’ll book it tomorrow." She kissed him again, and they giggled, rolling over and over in the bed, happy that they were going to get married, happy that they could tell people about their new loves.