The cigarette felt shorter than usual as Chandler was smoking more frantically. He was in a hurry, because Monica would soon be here, and she didn't like him smoking. He knew that, but he had been waiting, and when he waited, he smoked. Maybe he had wanted to smoke, too, because surely he didn't need to arrive that early.

He tried scratching the itchy skin around his hurting eye, but winced at the pain. He probably should have done something to hide it a bit. But he could be clumsy, he was sure that Monica wouldn't guess what had really happened. He didn't want to tell her about Bradley, it was something that only concerned him and his parents and he didn't feel like admitting to anyone else what had happened. He was ashamed, and he wasn't ready to face the facts just yet. He didn't want Monica to feel bad for not having noticed, too, when he had been hiding it so hard.

When he had called her back, after his father was gone, Monica had asked if they could see each other. He had agreed, but as minutes passed, he kept wondering why she wanted to see him. She hadn't sounded too serious, or about to say something heartbreaking to him, but she had sounded a little annoyed.

He took a mint for his breath, then another one, and a chewing-gum, hoping that Monica wouldn't mind the smell too much.

He frowned when he saw her coming, but that she wasn't alone. He threw his chewing-gum in a garbage as he was walking toward her, and kissed her as a greeting. She didn't respond and pulled back. "What happened?" she asked, taking his head in her hands to examine his face.

"I, er, was late to see my father, so I was going a bit too fast on my bike..."

"You should be more careful on that thing!" Monica scolded him, but kissed his cheek to show that she wasn't pissed at him, just worried.

"Sorry," he said sheepishly.

At least, she didn't say anything about the fact that he probably smelled like smoke.

"Chandler, this is Ross, you remember him," she finally said when her brother cleared his throat. "He's visiting for the weekend."

"Sure," Chandler nodded, extending his hand and smiling.

Ross studied him as he ignored his hand, disapproval written all over his face. "So, you're with my sister..."

"Ross, you said you wouldn't do that," Monica rolled her eyes.

"You better not hurt her," Ross still said, ignoring his sister.

Chandler wanted to laugh, but didn't, simply smiling. "Right. Nice seeing you again, too."

"Sorry, I just don't want anything to happen to my sister."

"Can't say I get the feeling," Chandler tried to joke, but Ross didn't seem to be in the mood to laugh. "Okay... So, why are you here?"

"Ross, cut it," Monica said as Ross didn't answer. "I'm babysitting him so my parents can throw a surprise party to him."

"Clearly, someone does not understand the meaning of a surprise party," Ross instantly said.

"I know! Mom and dad are the worst when it comes to surprises."

Chandler enjoyed the exchange between the two siblings. He put his hands in his pockets, waiting for them to be over with their pretended argument.

He knew that Monica had never really liked her brother when they were living together, but now that he was away in College, she appreciated their time together a bit more. Her mother didn't seem to be acknowledging her efforts and achievements any more than before, but at least Ross was bragging less than before. He had always been rather proud of making his mother happy just by sneezing – without realizing that Monica wasn't too happy about constantly being pulled down by her own mother – but now it often came as embarrassing when she mentioned some things of his childhood that she was still proud of.

"Anyway," Monica said after a while, probably noticing that she and Ross could go on for a long time, but that Chandler wasn't really in the conversation. "How did it go with your father?"

"Good, good. It was a bit awkward, but he left earlier, and we'll be in touch, at least. Oh, and my mother broke the engagement off!" he smiled.

"Oh, you must be happy!" Chandler nodded at Monica's enthusiasm for him. She had never quite put her finger on the reason why he hated the guy, but she had come to trust his judgment, and she was happy for him. He had really been bothered by Bradley, so she hoped he would feel better.

"Your parents got together again?" Ross asked, trying to keep up.

"Yeah, it worked so well the first time that they thought they'd keep getting together and breaking up," Chandler answered, very seriously.

Ross nodded, then glared at his sister when she burst out laughing. "What?"

"I'm kidding, my mother was engaged to someone I didn't like much. I'm just glad he's gone."

"Well, the other possibility was possible! Stop laughing at me," Ross nudged his sister who just laughed harder.

Chandler knew that it was funny only because she knew everything – especially that his father was gay – and Ross didn't know a lot about his life, but he found Monica laughing absolutely adorable. And he always loved to see her laugh at what he said.

He smiled, kissing her hair as she talked with her brother. He was glad to see that they got along better than before, persuaded that they could become close eventually. He was more optimistic about other people's lives than his own, apparently. But maybe he could become friends with Ross again, as well.

As it turned out, Ross was a bit like him. They both enjoyed science, they both had a good culture and could joke about literacy or historical themes, they both weren't sure of what they wanted to do in their lives – although Ross had taken paleontology in College on a bet and was now very glad to be following this formation. And they both cared deeply for Monica.

That's it for this story! It's a bit of an open-ending, that doesn't fully closes Monica's story line maybe, but the point was to focus on Chandler for this fic, and it's voluntary anyway ;)

Thank you all for your support, it was great to go back to this fandom and be able to share this fic with you! I hope you enjoyed it.