I am one hundred percent content. I've never felt more relaxed or at ease in my entire life.

I don't know that I've spent this much time naked with someone, either.

Life's pretty good for Chandler right now.

At the moment, I'm lying with Monica, my head at the foot of the bed, gently stroking her feet that are braced against my chest, my own legs stretched out behind her, trying to tickle her with my toes and failing miserably.

A happy sigh escapes my lips and even in the darkness, I can see her smile at me. Neither of us has said anything for a while; the only noise is the sound of New York at night, filtering through the window we opened earlier to absorb some of the late spring breeze before the nights turn muggy.

"Rachel will be home tomorrow."

Ah, yes—Rachel. Poor Rachel who has been stuck in Greece on standby for almost 4 days finally got a flight out, and is probably on her way. From what Monica said, Rachel had several layovers, so what should probably be an eleven-hour flight turned into something like seventeen hours.

However, with Rachel being back, the little world Monica and I have created in her apartment will have to come to an end. Not that we've been completely in seclusion; Ross got in a couple of days ago, and Joey and Pheebs are always around. Since we've decided not to go public with…whatever it is we're doing, we've been taking advantage of any alone time that comes our way. The last few nights alone in Monica's apartment have been bliss; it's disappointing that it has to end.

"Maybe her flight'll be delayed," I say as I crane my neck to kiss Monica's ankle. In response, I feel her smack my calf in—what I hope is—a playful manner. "That's not nice."

"Yeah, well, I'm not ready for this to end." I freeze as what I just said hits me. "I mean—you know—all this time we've had alone. Not THIS." I emphasize "this" by waving my hand back and forth between us.

She just shrugs as if it's not a concern. "We'll just have to be more careful. And maybe spend more nights at your place than here. Rachel's too nosy. Joey's a heavy-sleeper, right?"

"Yeah."

"So, we'll just have to manage our time." She quirks an eyebrow at me. "Unless, you'd rather tell all of our friends—"

I don't even let her complete that sentence. "No. I don't feel like we need to be under a microscope. We tell those guys we're seeing each other and we won't have a minute alone. We'll spend all of our time answering questions and being teased…"

She finishes my thought. "And after seeing how public Ross and Rachel's relationship was the entire time…I know."

"Besides," I say, shifting my body around so that I can crawl up next to her. "I kind of like having you to myself for right now."

Without missing a beat, as soon as I've settled down next to her, Monica slides her body on top of mine. She folds her hands on my chest and, as soon as she reaches up to kiss me, rests her chin in her hands. "Yeah, it's been pretty great."

"And surreal." She quirks an eyebrow at me, puzzled. "I just…I never thought my life would take this turn. I'm in bed with the most beautiful woman in the world. And the most beautiful woman in the world is making plans to spend more time in bed WITH ME. It's pretty surreal."

A grin spreads across her face as she reaches up to hold my cheeks and pulls herself up me a bit so that her face is directly over mine. "Really? 'Cause nothing in my life has ever felt more real than being here with you."

I feel my heart start to speed up and I swallow heavily, not really sure of how to respond to that. Fortunately, she saves me from myself by soundly kissing my lips.

"You know," she breathes, the edges of her lips touching the edges of mine. "This might be the last time we have the place to ourselves for a while."

I gently grab her by the nape of the neck to pull her lips more firmly to mine and mumble, "Mmmhmm?"

She pulls back from me for a moment. "Want to be loud?"

My smile is huge—big enough to actually hurt my cheeks—as I flip her over so that she's now beneath me. "K!"