Wow, is really all I can say. I have several Friends fics in the works, and the first got such a good response, I guess I'll post this one too. Hope you enjoy!

This takes place in Season Three, just before Monica and Richard's break up.

Chandler shot straight up in bed, his heart racing. For a moment, he thought it had been the horrible dream he'd been having, but after a few moments, a loud banging could be heard from his front door. Sighing, he stood and walked through the living room, Joey on his heels. A little frustrated and very tired, he swung the door open to reveal Rachel, near tears

"What's going on?" he asked, his mood suddenly reversed into concern.

"She's gone," Rachel said, in the smallest voice they'd ever heard from her.

"What are you talkin' about!" Joey yelled.

"Monica! She's gone!" Without a word, Chandler and Joey strode past her into the apartment across the hall. The sight that greeted them stopped them dead in their tracks: the apartment was nearly empty of knickknacks and utensils. Chandler moved at a near-run to her bedroom, and was horrified to find most of Monica's clothes gone, as well as all her personal items. As he emerged again, Ross came stumbling through the door with Phoebe, his face slack and sullen.

Without thinking, Rachel fell into his arms, crying silently. Phoebe and Joey were still relatively clueless, but Chandler's face was screwed up in thought. Breaking the silence, Ross spoke first.

"Monica left me a message," he said softly. Chandler moved closer to the group to hear him better. "She and Richard had a huge fight, apparently. She packed up everything and moved away. She didn't say where, or why, but it had to be something huge." Ross spoke, his voice void of emotion, as everyone stayed frozen to the spot. After nearly three years of being inseparable, one of their own was gone.

For a few moments, no one said a word or moved. Finally, Chandler went back to his apartment and changed, coming out minutes later fully dressed.

"Dude, where are you going?" Joey asked, racing after him down the hall.

"To see Richard. I mean he's gotta know something, right?" The rest readily agreed, and after a few minutes of preparing, they all jumped in a cab and took off.

"First of all, what she did was not my doing. Secondly, if she didn't tell you why, then she didn't want you to know." Richard sat on his couch, eyeing the five friends warily. Ross was visibly seething at the man, Phoebe and Joey were giving him cold looks from the corner, and Rachel was trying not to cry in front of everyone. Chandler was a little harder to decipher, and Richard decided on silent anger.

"This is my sister we're talking about!" Ross had opted for the un-silent approach. "Tell me where she is right now!"

"I can't!" Richard returned just as loud. "She didn't tell me where she was going. But I do know why."

"Then why!" An outcry came from several of them, Ross the loudest.

"Because she's pregnant," Richard said quietly, effectively silencing any retorts. "And I'm not ready to have a child in my life. She got mad and said we were through, and she stormed out. I'm not sure where she went, but I did make her promise to call you Ross."

"Thank you," was all the eldest Gellar could come up with before going silent again.

"I can't believe this," Joey said as they made their way to the lobby area. "How come she didn't tell us?"

"Look, we'll talk to her when she calls," Ross said, being unusually calm. "I have to worry about what I'm going to tell my parents."

"Hey Rach," Phoebe said, "If she's gone for good, I can move in with you!"

"She's coming back!" Rachel yelled, more out denial than anything. The four continued talking, formulating plans to get Monica to return, speculating on why she opted not to tell any of them, and even going so far as to place bets on the sex of the baby. The only one to remain silent the entire way back was Chandler, and he had one thought running through his head.

She's coming back.

My mother never returned to New York City. She never even talked about it at all. My name is Daniel Matthew Gellar, and this is my story.