Finding you

Chapter 6

That night, no one could seem to fall asleep - well, except for Joey. 

 Ross and Rachel were up, discussing the fact that Lux was somewhere alone in Manhattan for some unknown reason.

 Chandler slept in his bed, just staring up at the ceiling. He couldn't stop thinking about Lux. And Monica. And what the hell he was going to do.

 Monica couldn't sleep either. She had tried to call her daughter about 50 times, but every time it went straight to voicemail. She tried to sleep, but it was impossible; Lux was in New York without her and Monica couldn’t stop thinking about where she was at that exact moment. Was she in a hotel? Was she on a bus bench? Or could she be in his apartment, sleeping on one of his old BarcaLoungers or something? That seemed like the most likely choice, but she still didn't know. And she was going crazy not knowing.

 Lux lay in the pull out couch in Chandler and Joeys apartment. She couldn't stop squirming around, trying to find a comfortable position on the couch. But it was pointless; she wasn’t sleeping anytime soon anyways. 

 But that damn couch wasn't what was keeping her awake; it was the thought of her mother. Lux didn't know if Monica had found out if she was missing, better yet, in New York. Maybe she was on her way there right now.

 Lux hoped she didn't know, because as soon as her mom got here she would take her back home, to Miami, away from New York and her father.

 But… maybe she could find a way to get Monica to talk to Chandler. Maybe she could get them to fall in love all over again.

 That would be almost impossible, but she knew it was worth trying. She wanted her mom to be happy. And she knew that this would make her happy. They could be a family.

 ***

 Lux woke up to the sound of a loud bang followed by some muttered swearing.

 She sat up and noticed that she was not in her bedroom on her usual bed, but on an uncomfortable pull out couch in an old apartment.

 She looked over to where the noise was coming from to find Chandler picking up a frying pan from the ground. Around him he had different packs of pancake mix, eggs and random bowls. 

 He noticed Lux, who was now awake and stifled a small laugh. "You don't know how to make pancakes by any chance, do you?"

 Lux smirked and walked over to the small kitchen. "My mother is Monica Geller. If I didn't know how to make pancakes from a box — which is one of the easiest things ever — I think she would kill me."

 She walked over to where Chandler was sitting and looked at the 3 different boxes of pancake mix in front of her.

 "Okay well first, you need to check the expiration date." She said as she grabbed the two boxes that were expired to put them in the trash.

 "Wait, wait, wait," Chandler stopped her. "This one expires on October 20th! That's 7 months away."

 Lux rolled her eyes. "Yeah. October 20th, two years ago."

 Chandler grabbed the box and examined it. "Oh.."

 Lux snatched it and put it in the trash. "Next, you need to read the directions on the back of the box that isn't expired." She told him as if he were little kid.

 "Well, I would, but I need my reading glasses for that... and I have no idea where they are."

 Lux sighed. "This is going to take a while.."

 10 minutes later Chandler was on his chair watching TV when he heard Lux call out.

 "Alright. The pancakes are ready."

 He quickly stood up, rushed over to the kitchen and sat down on one of the stools as she put the plate down in front of him.

 "Do you need me to cut them up for you too?" She teased.

 Chandler just smirked and began to drown his pancakes in syrup.

 After Chandler had made the excuse that he couldn't read the directions on the box of pancake mix, Lux had kicked him out of the kitchen and told him shed call him over once the pancakes were done.

 Turns out she can be just as bossy and arrogant as her mother.

 So the two sat together and ate their pancakes, both drowned in syrup.

 "You need to call your mom." Chandler pointed out before he stuffed his mouth with more pancakes.

 Lux sighed, "It's not that big of a deal. She thinks I'm at a friends house."

 "That doesn't matter. You need to tell her where you really are. You can't just expect her to think you're at a friend’s house this whole time. And then when you go back home, you're what, just never going to see me again??"

 Lux sighed. "I don't know. Obviously I'll see you again. Il figure something out.” She tells him.

 Lux wasn't sure if she was going to tell her mom. If she told her, Monica would be so mad and everything would change. But if she didn’t tell Monica, then nothing would change at all. And Lux wasn't sure if she wanted that either.

 Just then, Joey emerged from his room.

 "Morning Chandler, morning little female version of Chandler." He greeted as he walked over to the pancakes. "These better be for me." He says as he gestures to the third plate on the counter.

 Lux nodded and Joey immediately snatched his plate.

 "What time are we gonna meet Phoebs at again?" He asks.

 "Ten." Chandler responds. "So we've got an hour."

 Joey was probably the most excited since he and Phoebe had always been so close; she was like a big sister to him. He hadn't seen her in so long and missed her a lot.

 "And by the way," Chandler added. "If Phoebe asks, Lux is your niece."

 Joey have him a confused look.

 "I didn't want to tell Phoebe —or anybody at that— that me and Mon, well, have a kid." He said as he gestured to Lux. "So when Phoebe saw Lux, I told her that she was Cookie's daughter.

 "What!? That makes no sense! Cookie's been in jail for three years!"

 "As long as you don't tell her that, I think you'll be okay."

 So the three ate their pancakes and talked. Lux laughed as Joey and Chandler told her the old stories about her mother when she used to live in New York.

 Lux was glad she had found Chandler. For the first time in her whole life she finally had a father. A dad. She actually, truly had a dad.

*** 

AN: I know, I know, Its been WAY too long! I've been really busy with school and I've been working on a lotof new stuff and kindabeen putting this story behing and I'm sorry about that. I'll try and update a lot more  starting now.