28A/N: Guys, thanks so much for your reviews and the feedback; it made me smile! And without further ado, I present to you the second (and last part) of this fic. Unless you're dying to read an epilogue and I'll eventually find time and inspiration to post one. Can't wait to hear what you think of this.
Chandler looked into the doctor's brown eyes, but was unable to detect any clues on his wife's state.
"Why don't you sit down while your friend here gets you another glass of water, huh?" The man raised his eyebrows at Ross who was quick to catch on and nodded his head while making his way to the water dispenser.
Chandler on the other hand hated this kind of behaviour. Why couldn't doctors just straight-out tell the relatives what was going on? What was all this fuss about? It surely didn't help his nerves, for crying out loud!
He shook his head. "I don't feel like sitting, it's all I've been doing for the past few hours." His palms felt sweaty and he could only imagine what kind of an impression the doctor must have of him; bags under his eyes and half of his shirt covered in blood. But he couldn't care less.
"How is my wife?" He repeated his earlier question. He just had to know.
Doctor Miller cleared his throat before slowly nodding his head. He had done this a million times and yet it had never gotten any easier.
"She's doing okay for now."
Chandler let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding before exhaling loudly. "Oh thank God!"
"She's heavily medicated though and still very weak so I'd suggest you wait and give her some rest before going in there," he went on carefully, knowing the kind of reply he would get from any husband who was in this man's situation.
"I have to at least see her, please," Chandler pleaded and after a little while, was able to convince the doctor. As they were walking towards the hospital room his wife was in, he tried to find out more to put his mind at ease.
"So do you know what happened? She's been trying to hide it from me, but she has been feeling a little off for the past two weeks already," Chandler confessed.
Doctor Miller looked at him curiously as they continued to walk down the long corridors. "How do you mean?"
"Well, I think she's overdone herself again. She's been working long shifts – she's a chef, you know, lots of being up on your feet – which tired her immensely. Feeling dizzy sometimes, I'd assume, given the fact that she's constantly been tired and not sleeping properly. Just two nights ago I swear that she was burning up," Chandler paused briefly, "You must think I'm a horrible husband, telling you all of this but not reacting. But my wife, she's the fiercest person I know. She'd rather be dying than to admit that she's sick… well, I guess I shouldn't joke make jokes at this stage."
The doctor gave him an understanding smile. "You've done nothing wrong. You found her and brought her here as fast as you could. I know it's tough hearing this right now, but that was all you could have done at this stage."
They finally stopped in front of a white door with a small glass window and the doctor turned to Chandler again.
"I know that it might look as if she's doing horribly at the moment, but I think I can safely tell you that she's going to be fine again. We still have to run a few tests and strengthen her again, but right now it looks like she's recovering from an infection that got the best of her due to a weakened immune system and not enough rest. I'll check back later today and let you know as soon as we got the results from the blood test, okay?" The doctor gave him an empathetic smile and patted his shoulder.
"Thanks, doctor." Chandler gratefully nodded when the man left him again to tend to his other patients. He pinched the bridge of his nose and tried to brace himself for what he was about to see.
There were a lot of machines in the room that made a myriad of noises and Chandler wasn't sure whether that reassured him or made things worse. He quietly made his way over to Monica's bed and noticed the plastic tube that was going inside her nose and the IV that was on the back of her hand. Her eyes were closed and a bandage was covering the wound on her head. She looked so incredibly small to him that he had a tough time believing this was his usually so strong and upbeat wife.
He finally took a seat in the chair that was placed next to her bed and reached out for her pale hand that had the IV in it.
"Hey Mon, it's me," Chandler whispered as he watched her closely, the steady noise coming from the heart rate monitor reassuring him. At first it was only her eyelids that fluttered briefly, but as he continued to carefully stroke her hand she began to stir slightly.
"Sweetie, you remember what happened? You're in the hospital right now, I think you fell and hit your head," he calmly tried to explain to her mostly unmoving form.
After a few more minutes, she slowly moved her head and her eyes fluttered open partly. "Chandler?"
Her voice was barely above a whisper, but he sat up straight as if hit by lightning.
"Yes, baby, it's me. How are you?" He softly replied as he continued to stroke her hand. "I've been so worried."
It took her a few moments to adjust to the light and the unfamiliar room, but when her husband's face came into view she managed to smile slightly. "I-I feel a little weak."
Chandler grinned at her as he leaned down and placed a kiss on her forehead. "Yeah? Never thought I'd ever hear you admit that."
She laughed softly before closing her eyes again for a short moment. "How long have I been unconscious?"
Before he could answer, she looked at him again. "And how did your presentation go?"
He shook his head and tried his hardest not to laugh, knowing that this was still a serious situation that could have ended quite differently. "It went great. But what's more important is how you are doing, okay?"
Monica just nodded, trying to remember the last thing that had happened before she apparently passed out and got picked up by an ambulance.
"You've been out of it for a few hours, I guess," Chandler never even broke eye contact. "I tried to call you as I was on my way home, but you wouldn't answer the phone. I'd been stuck in terrible traffic and when I finally got home sometime past 8 o'clock, the entire house was dark and I found you face down on the floor next to the stairs," he bit his lip, thanking God for the millionth time today that his wife was alright.
Monica nodded slowly before taking in his appearance. "What happened to your shirt?"
Chandler glanced down briefly before shaking his head and moving over to sit on the bed and pulling her into his embrace. "It's nothing," he placed another kiss on top of her head and smoothed down her hair as he took in her smell. "Someone had to lift you up, didn't they? Even though the floor was most likely 'Monica-clean'."
She chuckled softly before clinging onto her husband's strong arms. "Thank you."
"No, thank you for being alive. I… I have no idea what I would have done without you, Mon." He felt a lump form in his throat as he searched for her blue eyes. The blue eyes he never ever wanted to miss in his entire life.
"It's okay, Chandler," she whispered and continued to hold him close as she tried to understand what had happened to her and what kind of a horrible ordeal her husband had been through during these past hours.
"I… I think I remember being upstairs and wanting to do something… or grab something… and then the phone went off and I wanted to get it…?" She shook her head while exhaling, clearly still tired from everything.
"Don't worry, you'll figure it out eventually," Chandler nodded when noticing how exhausted she still was. "The doctor says they'll be running a few more tests to find out what's been going on so they'll let us know as soon as they have the results. Why don't you get some more rest, huh?"
Monica nodded, fighting a yawn as she squeezed his hand. "I will. Just… the kids are alright?"
"Yeah, they're fine. They're probably still asleep because they're spending the night at your parents' house, remember?" Chandler didn't want to overwhelm her with all the information as he was also not sure what she remembered and what was lost on her.
Monica patted his hand and closed her eyes again, a small smile on her lips. "Right. Thank you, Chandler. I love you."
He pressed another kiss to her forehead before slowly untangling himself from her and covering her up again. "I know, sweetie."
###
The sun was slowly rising and illuminating the white hospital room. Chandler had spent most of the night in a very uncomfortable chair next to Monica's bed, in the meantime having informed Jack and Judy of what had happened. They planned on visiting with the twins as soon as Monica and Chandler got the okay from the doctor that she was able to accept visitors. He groaned as he felt most of his limps coming back to life. The need to get up was becoming unbearable so he decided to give Monica some more space and stretch his legs along the seemingly endless hospital corridors that were apparently made for walking. Just when he had closed the door behind his back and wanted to set off, Doctor Miller made his way towards him.
"Good morning," he greeted.
"Oh hello, good to see you still around," Chandler nodded and shook the doctor's hand, still very grateful for everything he had done for his wife.
"Yeah, that's life as a doctor for you. Never an end to the working day," he winked with a smile and lifted up a clipboard that had a pen attached to the upper part. "Got your wife's blood test results back."
Chandler perked up and stood up straight, the need to move around momentarily forgotten. "You do? So… y-you know what's happened to her?"
Doctor Miller nodded slowly. "Well, as for what happened last night…I can only take a guess as nobody was around. But as you assumed, your wife must have missed a step and hit her head, thus passing out."
Chandler bit his lip, not sure if the paper attached to the clipboard in front of him held good or bad news.
"So once she can leave the hospital – which should hopefully be by tomorrow or the day after – please make sure that she takes things easy. It really does look like she's been overworking herself. And from what you've told me, admitting that she needs rest isn't something that she will easily accept?" He questioned.
"No, not really," Chandler grinned and shook his head. He knew it was part of who Monica was and he loved her for it, but sometimes it surely didn't hurt for his wife to be a little more laid back and let him take charge of things for a change. "But I'll try my best."
"I'm sure you will," Doctor Miller nodded as he looked up from his clipboard again. "And I'm sure you will have a lot of motivation to do so."
Chandler looked at him quizzically before tilting his head. "Whaddya mean?"
"Mr Bing," the man in the white coat came closer before smiling down at him when he turned over the clipboard. "Your wife is pregnant."
Blinking, Chandler looked at the doctor in disbelief. "Come again?"
"Monica is expecting a baby. She's about six weeks along so that might explain the fatigue and the tiredness. But we double-checked everything and she and the baby are fine, so just take things slow once you get back home. Congratulations." He patted Chandler's back and made his way down the corridor before knocking on some other patient's door, disappearing just as quickly as he had appeared before.
Chandler stood there in the hallway, his entire world having instantly been turned around. Monica was pregnant?! He only now noticed that the doctor had pushed the sheet of paper into his hands so he turned it around and continued to stare at the black letters on the white material.
Pregnant.
With a huge grin on his face, he turned around and stopped when he saw that Monica was awake again through the small window. His hand found the wooden surface of the door and he thanked the heavens for protecting the love of his life and the precious new life both of them had apparently created.
All of a sudden, he couldn't wait to tell her.
And he couldn't wait to come back right here. Back to this hospital. Because in less than eight months, they would be here to welcome their third child into the world.
Their very own miracle baby. Right here.
