Love You, Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don’t own any of the characters mentioned in this story.

In the week since the five friends had discussed baby names, Monica and Chandler still hadn’t thought of any names that they liked. There were plenty of names that Monica liked, and plenty of names that Chandler liked, but none that they mutually liked. Chandler liked Bethany and Christopher, but Monica liked Molly and Jamie. And when you added Phoebe, Rachel and Joey’s suggestions in, then you had ten names, and no hope of choosing the best one.

When Nora Bing heard of their dilemma, she sent them a baby name book, with her favourites circled in red. When they received that, Chandler asked Monica whether she had told her parents.

"Yes," said Monica, leaving it at that.

Chandler didn’t want to push it. He guessed that Judy had been horrible to her, about being an unmarried mother. But he couldn’t help himself. He hugged her, and whispered,

"Was it as bad as that?"

Monica laughed. "It wasn’t that awful, actually. But she told me it was disgraceful, having a child when I’m not even married."

"Well, why not?" asked Chandler. "We’re engaged, why not get married before the baby’s born?"

"Okay," Monica replied, surprising both of them. “Why not?”

“How about December 8^th?” asked Chandler. “That’s in four weeks. We can have a bit of time to prepare, and you won’t be too – too pregnant to fit into your dress.”

“Sounds good,” Monica replied, easily. “Where shall we have it? Registry office?”

“Uh-huh,” Chandler nodded. “Who shall we invite?”

“Rachel, Phoebe, Joey, Mom and Dad, your mom – your dad?”

“No way,” Chandler said, firmly. “He’d only come in a dress or something. Ross?”

“No way,” Monica smiled, mimicking Chandler. “He’d only mess up the ceremony.”

They were quiet for a second, and then Chandler summed it up. “Okay, small wedding, December 8^th, in a registry office.”

“Ya know why that sounds so good?” asked Monica. Chandler shook his head. “Because it’s ours.”

There was a comfortable silence. Neither of the two wanted to break it, but Chandler felt he had to. He pushed Monica away from him, gently. “Does Ross know?”

“Know about what?”

“The baby, the wedding, anything.” Chandler didn’t want to make Monica angry, but he had to know what his ex-best friend thought of everything.

Monica sighed. “Okay, he knows we’re engaged, and he knows about the baby, but Mom says he doesn’t want to talk to us. He’s hanging around with Carol and Susan.” This last bit of information had surprised her when she heard. Ross must really hate the two lovers, or he wouldn’t hang around with his ex-wife and her wife.

“Carol and Susan?” gasped Chandler, obviously thinking along the same lines as his fiancée. “Wow, he must really hate us.”

As they were having this conversation, there was a knock at the door, and Joey, Rachel and Phoebe came in. “Hey guys,” Rachel called out. “Can we come in?”

“You already are,” Monica pointed out.

“Hey, a baby name book!” Joey pounced on it. “Wow, whoever thought that Ezekiel was a name?”

“I knew a guy called Ezekiel once,” Phoebe announced. “He lived on the street and had three iguanas.”

“Guys,” Chandler began. “Monica and I have set a date for the wedding.” That quieted everyone. “December 8^th.”

“In a registry office, and we’re just going to invite you guys, my mom and dad, and Chandler’s mom,” Monica told them.

“But you are gonna have a dress, right?” asked Rachel, worried.

“I guess,” Monica said. “If we can get one in four weeks.”

“Can I be your best man?” asked Joey, excitedly.

“Yeah, sure, man,” Chandler said. “I was going to ask you anyway.”

“Ooh, ooh, who’s going to be maid of honour?” asked Phoebe, eagerly.

Monica paused. “I don’t know.” She panicked slightly. Why hadn’t she thought of it before?

But, thankfully, Chandler came to the rescue. “How about if Rachel is maid of honour, and Pheebs provides the music?” Monica smiled at him gratefully. And everyone else seemed delighted with the solution.

* * *

A week later, Jack, Judy and Nora had all been told about the wedding. They had also decided to invite Gunther, because he was – in a way – one of their friends. He had been angry at first, but when he realised that Chandler was marrying Monica and not Rachel, he soon came around to the idea.

No one could decide on a name for the baby. Monica had had her first sonogram, and was insisting that the baby had Chandler’s nose, but no one else could tell anything like that.

Rachel and Monica went shopping for dresses, dragging an unwilling Phoebe along with them. She insisted that she needed to write some songs, but Monica said that traditional hymns would be fine. As they stood there, trying on dresses, Monica felt something in her small bump.

“Oh!” she gasped. “The baby kicked!”

Phoebe and Rachel raced over to her and put their hands on her stomach. “Wow,” whispered Rachel. “There’s a little person in there.”

Phoebe shuddered. “A mixture of Chandler and Monica. It’s going to be a sarcastic little neat freak.”

Monica was going to reply to that, but decided not to. Without Chandler there, she couldn’t win. Chandler was the king of irrational arguments.

An hour later, they left the shop, each clutching a bag with her new dress in it. Monica’s dress wasn’t exactly a traditional wedding dress, instead, it was a pale gold dress, very long, and she looked wonderful in it. Rachel had bought a shorter, tighter, strapless pink number, and Monica had giggled, picturing Gunther’s face when he saw it. Phoebe’s dress was a light blue colour, and was the same style as Monica’s, only shorter. All three girls looked beautiful in their dresses, and they couldn’t wait to show them off to Joey and Chandler. Because they weren’t having a traditional wedding, Monica felt that Chandler could safely see her dress.

As the three women twirled for the guys, showing off their new dresses, the baby kicked again. Chandler was thrilled, and insisted on holding his hand to the bump for the rest of the day. “That’s my baby in there,” he said proudly to Gunther, when they arrived at Central Perk. He refused to let Monica have coffee, because of the caffeine, and insisted that she drank milk, to build up the baby’s bones.

Monica didn’t mind her fiancé’s pushiness. She felt that she would do anything for Chandler and his baby, and she knew that he felt the same.

A/N: Sorry it took so long to put up. Year Nines aren’t meant to do GCSEs, and they shouldn’t. Hint, hint, to any teachers out there! Please R+R, anyway.