Author's note: This is set towards the beginning of season 4, shortly after the beach trip. Dan works with Chandler and wants to go on a date with Valerie (a Bloomindales employee), but Valerie wants to make it a double date so they each invite a friend.

"My friend's on his way, he said he got held up at his apartment. Some sort of pet emergency," Dan explained, noticing Monica eyeing the empty seat beside him. "I swear he's coming," he added hastily as both women turned to look at him.

"Wouldn't be the first time I've been stood up on a blind date," Monica sighed as she took a sip of her wine. It's not like I was looking forward to this anyway she thought. The restaurant was nice, a good venue for the double date Monica found herself reluctantly a part of.

"No, he'll show up. He knows I won't let him hear the end of it, especially after all the moping he's done over this girl…" Dan replied, suddenly wishing he'd shut up once he saw Monica's face.

"You brought a guy who's pining over another woman?" Monica said, exasperated.

"No, uh, he says it's just a crush," Dan began, before his eyes caught the man they'd been waiting for. "Oh thank god," he muttered as the man approached them.

"Sorry I'm late I just…" he began until he took a look at the people at the table. His eyes met Monica's and the confusion in her expression mirrored his own. "Monica? Wha-what are you doing here?" he asked, taking another look at the rest of the party to make sure he was in the right place.

"I was just about to ask you that," Monica replied, pleasantly surprised to see a friendly face. Maybe this won't be so bad after all she thought.

"You two know each other?" Dan asked.

"Yeah, Monica lives across the hall from me," he replied, taking in her appearance. The blue dress really brought out her eyes, as if Chandler needed any more reason to gaze into them, and hung nicely on her frame. "I'm Chandler by the way," he said as he snapped himself out of his trance, shaking Valerie's hand before taking a seat.

"Valerie," she said politely.

"So, Dan says you have a crush on someone," Monica said with a smile. She thought they told each other everything, so part of her was a little surprised that he hadn't mentioned it before, but that was overshadowed by a need to know who the girl was. Chandler stared at her, speechless. "Well, what's she like?" she nudged playfully.

"Well uh sh-sh-she uh…that is to say uh…" he stammered as he tried and failed to stop himself from blushing. "You, uh, you wouldn't know her," he managed after a moment of floundering. He looked over to Dan and Valerie to change the topic, but the two were engrossed in their own conversation. "It's really not a big deal," Chandler added hastily, but Monica didn't believe him.

"Oh come on, you can tell me anything," Monica said, smiling as she took his hand with hers. Chandler was mercifully spared having to give her an answer by the waiter. After the party had placed their orders, Chandler turned his attention back to Monica.

"So how did you get roped into this?" he asked, eager to start a topic not related to his growing crush on the brunette.

"Valerie works at Bloomingdales and asked Rachel to be here for moral support," Monica began.

"Wait, are you telling me that you've been Rachel this whole time? Wow I've been calling you Monica for years," Chandler joked, bringing a smile to both his face and hers.

"Rachel was feeling sick and asked me to take her place, so here I am," Monica finished with a playful glare, taking a sip of wine. "Honestly, I was kind of dreading it. I hate blind dates," she admitted.

"Me too. Dan had to beg me to be the date for Valerie's friend. But then again, I knew this couldn't be any worse than the last blind date I went on," Chandler agreed with a smirk as Monica realized what he meant.

"Oh yeah, wasn't Janice your last blind date?" Monica asked, laughing as he gave her a nod.

"You have no idea how relieved I was to see that you weren't Janice," he admitted before growing quiet for a moment. "I, uh, probably should have mentioned this earlier seeing how this is technically a date, but uh," Chandler began before taking a deep breath. "You look beautiful," he said sincerely, giving her a genuine if somewhat bittersweet smile.

"Aw, you're so sweet," Monica said, her cheeks flushing slightly as she couldn't help but grin. "You're looking good yourself," she noted. She wasn't sure if it was the wine or the setting, but he genuinely looked handsome, something she hadn't noticed before. Monica felt herself staring at him and quickly glanced elsewhere. "So tell me about this girl," she said, eager for a distraction. Chandler almost choked on his wine.

"Do you always ask your dates about their secret crushes?" Chandler joked, hoping she would drop it.

"No," Monica reluctantly admitted. "I'm your date?" she asked with a small smile.

"Well if you're not I spent way too much time getting ready," he teased with a smirk. "I don't know about you, but I was told tonight was a date," Chandler said. Monica smiled.

"All right, all right. So what's your first move?" she asked, causing Chandler to raise an eyebrow. "Y'know, your game plan. What does Chandler Bing do on dates?" Monica continued. Chandler laughed.

"Well, he normally doesn't make it this far and when he does the jokes tend to send them running before dessert. And if that doesn't do it he usually says something stupid that pisses them off," he joked. Monica squeezed his hand sympathetically.

"Those girls don't know what they missed," she said reassuringly. Chandler looked pleasantly surprised.

"Really?" he asked, flashing a sweet grin.

"I mean, they didn't even get the chance to see your commitment issues pop up," Monica teased.

"Ow," Chandler replied with mock hurt, but Monica could see him trying to suppress a smile. Their food arrived shortly after, and the evening continued with easy conversation and playful banter.

"So I pick up the phone pretending to be Bob and she starts talking about how lousy my…performance was and Ross is standing right there!" Chandler finishes as Monica struggles to keep from giggling. Both of their desserts have long since been eaten and Dan and Valerie were long gone. "I mean, I know I'm not the best but it was humiliating! Joey wouldn't have had that problem," he admitted with a sigh.

"Hey, just because Joey's had a lot of girlfriends doesn't mean he's great in bed," Monica pointed out. Chandler glared at her.

"We share a wall," he deadpanned. "Either he's really good or every girl in New York loves agreeing with him," he argued. His eyes widened as he glanced at his watch. "Wow it is really late," he noted looking for a waiter to bring him the check.

"Really, let me see," Monica said, leaning over to check his watch. "Wow, has it really been that long? No wonder the staff's been glaring at us," she noted. Realizing they had a little bit of time while they grabbed the check, she found a scrap of paper and a pen from her purse and started drawing.

"Mon, what are you doing?" he asked, leaning over to see her drawing a diagram of a woman.

"You want to know how to please women right? Well, here's something a lot of guys don't know…"

A few minutes and a couple of numbers later, the check arrived, and both Chandler and Monica were flushed. "So how much for my meal?" Monica asked, reaching into her purse for her wallet, waiting for her blush to fade.

"Don't worry about it, I've got it," Chandler said with a smile as he slipped a few bills into the check, leaving a very generous tip as an apology to the staff. "Let's get out of here," he said as he stood.

"Walk me home?" Monica asked playfully.

"I guess I can do that," he teased as the two began the walk home.

"Y'know, that's the best date I've been on in a long time," Monica admitted as they walked. Chandler couldn't help but grin.

"Even the last five minutes?" he asked.

"Even the last five minutes," she confirmed. "I can't remember ever being comfortable enough with a guy to talk about something like that on a date."

"Would you…would you want to maybe," Chandler stammered as he stopped walking. He ran a nervous hand through his hair. "I dunno…do this again?" he asked hesitantly. Monica thought for a moment. This was Chandler. It was only a few weeks ago that she'd said he wasn't boyfriend material, but now she wasn't so sure. Part of her hesitated. Chandler was her best friend, and she didn't want to lose him if this didn't work out, but at the same time she'd never had a first date like that before.

"I…I think I'd like that," Monica decided with a smile.