Love You, Chapter Five

Disclaimer: I don’t own any of these characters.

Monica woke up every morning feeling happy. She went to bed feeling even happier. And it was all because of her new husband Chandler. He made her feel so wonderful about herself. And then there was the little person growing inside her. She couldn’t believe that in just over two months, she would be a mother. This was what she had wanted ever since she was in kindergarten.

Even though they hadn’t had a traditional wedding, and she was pregnant before they married, Monica still felt as if she were living in a fairytale. And Chandler felt the same. She knew that this kind of happiness only came once in a lifetime. But she was going to make it last for the rest of hers.

In the few months since the wedding, Rachel and Gunther had continued sleeping together, and Rachel had confessed to Monica that she was falling in love with Gunther. Monica had smiled about that. Ever since Rachel had walked into Central Perk that first time, Gunther had been blindingly, obviously in love with Rachel. And now Rachel was falling in love with Gunther. It was amazing.

Monica loved getting home from work and arriving back at her apartment. She and Chandler had started decorating the baby’s room, with a lot of help from Joey, Rachel and Phoebe, and a bit of help from Gunther, who was fast replacing Ross in everyone’s affections. Nora Bing had given them some money to help them through the first few years, which, she told them, were always the hardest. Carol and Susan had offered some of Ben’s old clothes, but Monica had turned them down. She didn’t want to take things from Ross’ son, and she wanted to buy her child’s clothes herself, she told Chandler.

“I can’t wait ‘til we can go baby clothes shopping,” Chandler had agreed.

“You don’t have to wait,” Rachel protested.

“Yeah, baby!” cried Joey.

“Wow, this time I’m actually going to see a baby after it’s born,” Phoebe said, happily.

“Let’s go now,” Monica decided. “How about the baby store on 42^nd Street? They have all cute little clothes – and we still need a crib and a pram and other baby stuff.”

They all got up, and left, Monica pausing to lock up.

About ten minutes later, they arrived at the baby store. A woman was outside with twins. “Oh, cute, cute!” cried Phoebe. “What’re their names?” she asked the woman.

“James and Matthew,” the woman replied, smiling. “They’re seven months old.” She indicated Monica’s stomach. “When’re you due?”

“Nine weeks,” Monica answered. “I can’t wait!” Chandler pulled her closer, and the five friends walked into the store. Monica gasped. It was like a baby world. Rows upon rows of clothes, prams, cribs, changing tables, car seats, everything that you could possibly think of was there. The five of them wandered in the direction of baby clothes.

* * *

A week after first visiting the baby store, Monica had gone back there five times, with either Rachel or Chandler. She refused to take Phoebe, because Phoebe would pounce on every mother with children, ask what the child’s name was, and tell Monica that she should call her child that. On the fifth time she visited, she took Chandler, and they bought the crib and pram. When they got them back to the baby’s room – Rachel’s old room – the room finally looked completed. The walls were white, and the carpet was pale blue, as were the curtains and lampshade. The crib was white, with blue edges, and the pram was navy blue.

“It’s wonderful,” Monica whispered. She turned to face Chandler, and kissed him. “I love you so much,” she added, happily.

“Me too,” he whispered back. “I can’t wait until the baby comes.” As if on cue, the baby kicked. “Hey there, Little One,” he laughed. They had fallen into the habit of calling the baby Little One, as they still didn’t have a name for it.

“Little One feels left out,” giggled Monica. “Oh, stop it!” Chandler started tickling her, trying to make her giggle even more. She didn’t really mind. It was fun – she was with her husband and her child, and they were having fun.

* * *

A few weeks later, Rachel and Gunther were chatting in Central Perk when Monica and Chandler arrived. Monica immediately picked up on the eager look on Gunther’s face. “What’s up?” she asked. Rachel and Gunther ignored her.

“It’s not that I don’t love you,” Rachel said, slowly. “I – I guess I’m just not ready for marriage.”

“Oh,” Gunther sighed, the eager look quickly being replaced by a sadder one. “But we can still date, right?”

“Oh yeah!” Rachel cried. “I don’t want to break up.” The two of them kissed, much to the amusement of Joey, who had suddenly appeared behind Chandler.

“Yeah baby,” he said, smirking at the couple.

“Don’t, Joey,” Monica rebuked him. “They’re in love.”

“Well, so are we,” Chandler told her. “But we don’t go around kissing, do we?”

“But you’re married,” Joey said.

“Oh, I never knew that,” Chandler quipped, sarcastically.

“You didn’t?” cried Joey, making the two kissers break apart.

“What?” asked Rachel, her lipstick clearly visible on Gunther’s mouth. Phoebe arrived at that very moment.

“Nice lipstick, Gunther,” she told him, sincerely. “Is it Ruby Rose?”

“May-maybe,” Gunther stuttered, embarrassed. “I have to work now.” He got up, and left the five friends by themselves.

“So?” asked Monica of Rachel.

“So what?” Rachel countered.

“What happened between you and Gunther?” Monica was eager for details. She wanted to know everything that had gone on between her friend and Gunther.

“He asked me – to marry him,” Rachel faltered.

“What?” Phoebe shrieked. Everyone in the coffee house turned to look at her. “Sorry.”

“And I – I said no,” Rachel continued.

“Are you mad, woman?” Phoebe cried. “That man has loved you ever since that day you ran in here in your wedding dress!” Rachel nodded. “And you love him, right?” She nodded again. “So why did you say no? For the love of God, woman, why did you say no?”

“Because I’m not ready for marriage,” Rachel mumbled. Monica hid a smile. Phoebe would get Rachel to accept this proposal; she could see it coming.

“Pah!” Phoebe muttered. “You can’t say you aren’t ready for marriage until you’ve tried it,” she explained. There was a pause. At this point, Monica always expected Ross to give some comment about how that wasn’t true, and then they would get the whole lesbian joke again.

“I’m not marrying Gunther just to prove you right, Phoebe,” Rachel said, firmly. Monica gasped. Rachel was standing up to someone? “My life is perfect just now,” she continued. “I’m in love, but I’ve only been dating for a few months. I don’t want to rush into anything.” She paused. “Look at Ross. Look at what happened with Emily. He messed up that marriage, because they’d only been dating for six weeks. I don’t want to make the same mistake. I love Gunther, I really do, but I – I don’t want to rush into anything, I don’t want to do anything that would ruin my relationship with him.”

When she had finished, there was a silence among the friends. Gunther appeared from behind the counter, and hugged Rachel. But the reason the others were floored wasn’t because of that. Rachel had mentioned Ross. She had mentioned the person that they hadn’t spoken about for months. They avoided the topic like the plague. Rachel especially, because of what she had told him, just days before he hurt Monica. She had told Ross that she loved him. But, thought Monica, that wasn’t the same Ross. The Ross that had objected to Monica and Chandler’s relationship was not the same Ross that Rachel had loved.

Monica felt Chandler’s arm around her. She hardly noticed it, because she was thinking so hard. She needed to get in touch with Ross. Then her life would be perfect.