Mad World
Chapter 10
~.~
I own no lines blatantly stolen from canon. It's been a while since I had a disclaimer. I should probably say I don't own the characters I've been playing around with for the past decade, too.
~.~
Joey looked at the cards in his hand, frowning. Chandler and Phoebe both sighed audibly, almost in unison, from their seats on either side of him in the waiting room. Phoebe's prediction had been correct, and Rachel was nowhere near actually giving birth when she called, so Phoebe and Joey would have had plenty of time to finish breakfast. And then some.
Twelve hours of very little progress later, they still sat in the waiting room, waiting. Monica had called her parents and then gone to wait with Rachel and Ross, leaving the other three to their card game.
"Wait," Joey shook his heads, still looking at his cards. "How do you play Gin again?"
Chandler and Phoebe looked at each other before throwing their cards on the coffee table in front of them.
"C'mon, just explain one more time and I'll get it!" Joey pleaded, picking up the cards and shuffling them.
~.~
"M my name is Mark and my wife's name is Martha. We come from Montana and we sell markers," Joey nodded for Phoebe to go.
"N my name is Nancy and my husband's name is Ned. We come from Nevada and we sell nothing," Phoebe continued.
"O my name is-"
"Oh my god," Chandler cut Joey off, throwing the magazine he had been attempting to read on the table beside him. "Hungry?" he looked at Monica, unable to take the remainder of Joey and Phoebe's game.
"Starving," she nodded, and the two of them took off in search of the vending machines they had seen.
Joey and Phoebe shrugged.
"O my name is Oscar and my wife's name is Olivia. We come from Oregon and we sell oregano."
"Clever," Phoebe smiled. "P my name is Phoebe, ooh, ooh," Phoebe grinned, pointing to herself, "and my husband's name is Peter…."
~.~
Chandler closed his eyes, attempting to sleep, for at least a few minutes in the uncomfortable waiting room chairs. They had now been at the hospital for going on twenty-four hours, and there was still no baby. As Monica leaned her head against his shoulder, also attempting to sleep, Chandler snuggled closer, kissing the top of her head before drifting off to sleep.
~.~
Thirty-six hours. Thirty-six hours and no baby.
The four in the waiting room had taken turns going in to see Rachel, but now that she had been moved to the delivery room, they were all waiting in anticipation. They had also exhausted all forms of entertainment available to them, and Joey was now slouched down in his chair, nearly asleep next to Phoebe, who was playing Cat's Cradle with a piece of floss from her purse that she had tied together. Monica was mindlessly flipping through a magazine for the third time, trying hard not to think of the nearly two months she had spent in that exact building in a nearly identical waiting room and how close she had come to losing Chandler in that time. Because all of this time spent there today was starting to feel eerily similar to that, and she kept glancing at Chandler beside her to assure herself that he was, in fact, there.
Chandler, on the other hand, was now thinking about the last time he remembered being there for a birth (though he knew he had been there when Phoebe had the triplets, he didn't remember it), and it had been Ben. He smiled to himself, thinking of the conversation with Monica in the waiting room, offering to have a baby with her if neither of them was married by the time they were forty.
Funny how life had turned out.
Even if he couldn't remember a good chunk of it.
"I'm gonna go grab some coffee," Chandler finally stood up, about to fall asleep again and needing to walk around. "Anyone else want any?" he glanced first at Monica, and then to Joey and Phoebe. Monica and Joey shook their heads.
"I'll take some," Phoebe nodded.
"Be right back," Chandler added, turning down the hallway, a sense of familiarity rushing over him.
When we're forty, if neither of us is married…what do you say you and I get together and have one?
Why won't I be married when I'm 40?
Chandler hit the down button on the elevator, taking it down to the next floor before stepping off.
There was that déjà vu feeling again.
I don't know if you've ever looked up the term 'goofing around' in the dictionary before.
He had been here before. Right here. He could feel it. He could almost remember it. He continued walking, mind on overdrive.
Well, I have, and the technical definition is two friends-
With Monica. He had been right here, with Monica. Sat right here, with Monica.
-who care a lot about each other and have amazing sex and just wanna spend more time together.
When the triplets were born.
But if you have this new fangled dictionary that gets you made at me, then we have to, y'know, get you my original dictionary. I am so bad at this.
And Monica was going to go out with that nurse because Chandler said they were only goofing around.
I think you're better than you think you are.
I think you're better than you think you are.
I think you're better than you think you are.
He had been right there, with Monica, having a conversation about what they were, when Phoebe was having the triplets. After coming back from London.
London.
I'm still on London time, does that count?
Chandler was now all but running back towards the elevator and then past it, up the stairwell at the far end of the hallway, in too much of a hurry to wait.
I tell ya what. You roll another hard eight, and we get married here, tonight.
He continued as fast as he could, down the next hallway.
The only thing that matters is that you, you make me happier than I ever thought I could be. And if you let me-
Chandler slowed down, turning the corner back to the waiting room, pausing once Monica was in site, attempting to swallow the knot forming in his throat.
-I will spend the rest of my life trying to make you feel the same way
"Could you not find the cafeteria?" Phoebe asked, looking up as Chandler slowly walked towards them. "It's one floor down, directly below us," she explained, but he wasn't looking at her. He was looking at Monica. He had tunnel vision through which he could only see Monica.
He licked his lips, taking a deep breath. "I'm still on London time, does that count?" he whispered, finally finding his voice.
Monica looked up slowly. "What did-what did you just say?" She didn't want to think it meant anything more than it did. It could be a phrase he remembered, a moment. She didn't want to get worked up over nothing.
"I'm still on London time, does that count?" he repeated slowly, on the verge of tears, and Monica bit her bottom lip.
"Is that, is that all or-"
Chandler shook his head. "Being over international waters. Joey finding out about us because of an eyelash curler. Proposing to you the first time because I was scared. Vegas for our first anniversary. Almost getting married in Vegas. Moving in together. A third, real proposal-"
Monica cut him off, throwing her arms around his neck as she hugged him, hard, tears streaming down her face.
"Any surprises that come our way, it's okay, because I will always love you," Chandler quoted his own wedding vows, and Monica lost it completely, both of them clinging to each other, a mess of limbs and tears. "God, I love you so much."
"I love you, too," Monica choked out, "oh my god," she tightened her arms around him, the moment feeling surreal after the past few months. He lifted her off the floor he was holding her so tightly, and Monica clung back. She needed to hold him, needed to feel him, needed reassurance that this moment was real, that she wasn't going to wake up from it.
"Do me next," Joey bounced up and down as they slowly pulled away, Chandler's arm still around Monica's waist as she wiped away her tears. Chandler just laughed.
"What?"
"Tell me the past four years of my life!" Joey said giddily, and all Chandler could do was laugh some more, too happy for any other response. Phoebe smacked Joey lightly on the back of the head. "What was that for?" he turned towards her.
"It's a girl!" Ross ran into the waiting room. "She's a girl! A perfect, beautiful baby girl!"
"Chandler remembers!" Joey countered back, pointing to Chandler.
"Had to get us back for stealing your thunder on your engagement night, didn't you?" Ross joked, turning towards Chandler and Monica, who both laughed. "Anyway, I'd better get back. I'll come get you guys when you can see her," Ross added, heading back to Rachel and his new baby.
~.~
"Look who I found," Ross said, opening the door for Chandler, Monica, Phoebe and Joey.
"Hi," Rachel smiled as they filed slowly into her room.
"Oh my gosh, look at her!" Monica was the first one in, followed close behind by Chandler.
"She's so tiny and perfect!" Phoebe added as Rachel handed the baby to Monica.
"Don't take this the wrong way," Monica cradled the baby in her arms, Chandler reaching out to touch the baby's hand, "but I'm so glad you guys got drunk and had sex!"
"Me, too," Rachel nodded in agreement, smiling at Ross.
"She's like a real person!" Joey took her from Rachel.
Chandler, though, wasn't listening to the rest of the conversation. "We should have one of those," he leaned closer to Monica's ear, wrapping his arms completely around her waist from behind. "Now."
"Now?" Monica asked, looking at the baby, but concentrating on his breath against her cheek. He nodded, his stubble from not shaving from the past couple of days rough against her cheek. "Now, now?" she asked, pointing towards the door, and Chandler laughed slightly.
"Well, maybe when we get home."
"I love you so much."
"I love you, too," he kissed her cheek.
"Monica," Phoebe said, it having been the second time she repeated her name, and Monica finally turned towards her. "Baby name crisis. You've had yours picked out since you were fourteen. Baby names: go."
Monica laughed. "Well, if it's a boy, it's Daniel."
Rachel looked at her expectantly. "And if it's a girl?"
"I don't want to say…."
"Oh, c'mon, we're not gonna want it."
"Okay," Monica smiled, "it's Emma."
"Emma…" Rachel teared up, looking down at the baby girl in her arms. "See? I don't want it," Rachel choked out, unsuccessfully trying to hold in tears.
"Take it."
"What?" Rachel looked up at Monica in surprise, not expecting that from Monica, of all people.
"Take it," Monica nodded. "She's clearly an Emma."
"But you love that name."
"Yea, but I love you more," she smiled at Rachel. "Besides, nothing goes with Bing, so I'm screwed," she turned slightly, smiling teasingly at Chandler, who smiled back. She was a tiny bit serious about the name, but at the same time, there was no one else's last name she would want her children to have.
"I think today's my favorite day ever," Rachel smiled, taking Emma back as Monica handed her over, looking down at the baby, and then up at Ross.
"Mine, too," Monica and Chandler said in unison, smiling at each other softly after they did.
Because, on that day, in that moment in time, despite everything that had gone wrong in the past few months and past few weeks, in that little hospital room, surrounded by everyone they loved and the feeling of new life and the excitement of Chandler remembering, everything was suddenly, in drastic contrast, right in their world.
~.~
And, ladies and gentlemen, there ya have it :) I can't believe I actually did it in ten chapters like I said I would, ha! Thanks so much for the reviews, I appreciate each and every one of them. And a special little thanks to Exintaris and Friendsfan101 for their loyalty…I think they've both read and reviewed nearly every chapter I've posted here for the past almost two years (can you believe I've been back two years? Sheesh, time flies), and I appreciate it…more than words can say.
I think I will probably write another Mondler fic, since there's currently the audience for it. I have two in progress saved on my computer (one that I can't find to save my life, but I know it's there!), so I might pick up with one of them. As long as you guys stick around. Deal?
Anyway, thanks again to all of you readers and reviewers. I'm always a bit saddened when I finish a fic…something about the finality of it. Such is life, I suppose….