Loving Lillie, Part Three

Disclaimer: I don’t own any of these characters, apart from Lillie – oh, and Kimmy.

Lillie stayed the night at Chandler and Monica’s. She was finding it hard to take in all of the information. So, she was born because her mom’s best friend’s dad raped her mom? The first question she had asked was: Does Rachel know? The answer was a very firm ‘No’. And she wasn’t allowed to tell her, either. The only people that knew in the world were Monica, Chandler, Rachel’s dad, and, now, Lillie.

“Does he know?” Lillie asked.

“No, I told everyone that I had a boyfriend,” her mom replied. “A boyfriend who dumped me when he found out about the baby – you, I mean.”

Chandler sensed that Monica was not happy with the situation. “Why don’t you tell us about your life, Lillie?” he asked. She nodded.

“Okay, so I was adopted by Jess and Lloyd when I was three months old. You know that, right?” She looked at her new parents.

“Yes,” Monica nodded as she spoke. “They told me that.”

“Right, and they adopted me because they couldn’t have kids. I don’t know why, but anyway…” she paused, wondering how to tell her story properly. “Okay, they told me from the start that I was adopted, because their other kids were adopted too – ”

“You’ve got brothers and sisters?” asked Chandler.

“There were five of us – Lonnie, Anna, Matthew, Terri and me. Four girls, one boy, everyone used to say we were weird. Lonnie’s the eldest, and there were four years in between her and Terri – she’s the baby.”

“Big family,” commented Monica. Chandler glanced at her, but she didn’t seem to be upset. She looked interested.

“Yeah, well, Anna and Matt were twins, and Jess and Lloyd liked big families. So, I was the second oldest – younger than Lonnie, and older than the rest. We all got on really well. We went to the same school, and we were really happy. I was closest to Lonnie – there’s only six months between us. We never called Jess and Lloyd Mom and Dad, though. I don’t know why.” Monica put her arm around her daughter, and smiled at her. This seemed to give Lillie strength, and she continued.

“And everything went on like this for about fifteen years. Lonnie was eighteen, I was seventeen, Anna and Matt were fifteen and Terri was fourteen when it happened. Jess, Lloyd, Anna and Matt were going shopping, and they were in a car crash. Anna and Lloyd were killed straight away, and Matt died in the ambulance…” She wiped her eyes. “Sorry, it’s only been three months, it’s still hard.”

“That’s okay,” Chandler said, softly. “You don’t have to go on, not if you don’t want to.”

“I have to.” She paused. “Jess died a week later in hospital – Lonnie and I were there with her. So, when Jess had died, us three went to stay with her aunt for a few weeks. Eventually, she said…” She thought about how to put this. She told it exactly as it was. “She told us to find our own families. Lonnie doesn’t have any parents, but Terri knew where her mom lived. She went to stay with her. Lonnie got her own apartment with her boyfriend, and I wanted to find you. So I did.”

Monica remained silent after Lillie finished her story. She didn’t know what to say. She didn’t really want Lillie back in her life, but she couldn’t just ignore the girl that had been through all of that. Especially when that girl was her daughter. “I’m sorry,” she said, squeezing Lillie’s shoulder.

“Hey, guys!” came the smiling voice of Chandler’s best friend, Joey Tribbiani. He walked in, smiling. “Hey… who’s the hot chick?” he asked, referring to Lillie. She blushed, and looked at her mother for help.

“M-my daughter,” Monica confessed, in little more than a whisper. “And don’t call her a hot chick,” she added, warningly.

“You have a daughter?” asked Joey, shocked.

“Who’s a got a daughter?” asked an attractive fair-haired woman, walking through the door at that moment. “If you mean Ross and Rachel, we all know about that.” She paused as she spotted Lillie. “Holy mother of God, who’s that?”

“Monica’s daughter,” Joey informed her, and immediately went back into his shocked position.

“You have a daughter?” asked the blonde.

“Yes, her name is Lillie and she’s eighteen, Phoebe,” Monica sighed.

Phoebe looked as shocked as Joey. “When? Where? How?”

“How?” Chandler repeated, bemused.

“It fits,” Phoebe told him. “But, seriously, Monica, when did you have a daughter?”

“Eighteen years today,” Lillie spoke for the first time.

“But you were only – young then,” Joey finished, after trying to take eighteen away from thirty-three and failing miserably.

“Fifteen,” Monica supplied.

“You go, slut,” Phoebe cheered.

“I was not a slut,” Monica insisted. “I was raped, actually.”

“Oh, God,” Phoebe muttered. “By who?”

There was an awkward silence. “I-I don’t know,” Monica said, finally. “So, this is Lillie, what did you want?”

“Breakfast!” Joey announced, gleefully. He moved towards the fridge as Rachel, Ross and Kimmy entered.

“Hi guys, Lillie,” Rachel greeted them.

Lillie found it hard not to utter a cry of, “You’re my sister,” but she held it in. She gave a small “Hi,” and left it at that.

“I’m Rachel Green,” said the owner of the name to Lillie. “This is Monica’s brother Ross, and this is our daughter, Kimmy Gellar. She’s your cousin.”

“I-I know,” Lillie told her. “Mo-” Should she call her Monica or Mom? She paused. “They told me. And Ross is my uncle, right?”

“Uh-huh,” Rachel nodded. “And this is Joey Tribbiani,” she pointed to the man eating. “And Phoebe Buffay,” she added, nodding at the blonde lady. “So,” she began, in a confidential tone, “What do you think of your mom?”

“She’s lovely,” Lillie said, smiling. “I’m really glad I met her.” She hesitated. “But – she doesn’t really want to know me.”

“Oh, honey, no!” cried Rachel. “It’s just – you bring back bad memories for her. When she had you, her life was awful. When she gave you away, she began a whole new life, and now her old life has come back.”

“Oh,” Lillie said. “So, does that mean that she wants me or not?”

“I think she wants you more than she’s letting on,” Rachel thought aloud. “I mean – I was there when you were born. Well, not when you were actually born, but I saw how unhappy she was when she gave you away. She said she didn’t want you, but she was so miserable. And she’s always wanted a child. When Kimmy was born she was green with envy. She was begging Chandler for her own.”

“I need to talk to her.” Lillie stood up, and went over to Monica.

“M-Monica,” she began. “I need to talk to you.”

“What about?” Monica asked.

“Do you love me?” asked Lillie, worried.

“I-I, I guess,” Monica faltered. “No, wait. I don’t guess. I’ve only known you one day, but I think you’re pretty great. And I’m going to try and forget what happened when you were born, and I’m going to try and love you.”

Lillie felt a huge smile growing on her face. A smile that was mirrored on her mom’s face. The mother and daughter fell into a hug, laughing and crying at the same time. Lillie said those words that she had longed to say since she was little.

“I love you, Mom.”

A/N: That one’s done then. I know it was only three parts, but I liked it. Kinda. And Kimmy, I really hope you don’t mind me using your name for the baby.

Please R+R!