Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
❁
"tell him," rachel giggled at her sister from across the orange couch. "no way," ella playfully objected her sister's wishes. "tell him, tell him," phoebe excitedly chanted. "just please tell him!" monica jokingly pleaded the green to spill. "oh would you guys shush!" ella waved off her friends while trying her best to control her nervous laughter. "tell me what?" chandler leaned over the couch toward ella with a smirk on his face. "look at you, you won't even look at him," rachel put her hands on her hips and laughed at her sister. "oh, come on tell me. i could use another reason why women won't look at me." "okay, okay. last night, i had a dream that, uh, you and i, were uh–" "doing it on this table!" phoebe cut ella off pointing to the table, ella sinking down into her seat and covering her face in embarrassment. "wow," chandler smugly smiled at the table and then back to the three giggling girls. "excellent dream score," joey raised his hand to high-five chandler. "makes you wonder why you'd dream that, huh?" "more importantly, was i any good?" chandler looked back over to ella from across the couch clasping his hands with curiosity. "well you seemed to be pretty good," ella crossed her arms after revealing. "interesting, cause in my dreams, i'm always surprisingly inadequate."
❁
"hello ella," chandler smirked at the blonde as he laid spread-out on the central perk table. "i'm just gonna ignore that. can you guys see me operating a drill press?" ella frustratedly sat down on the orange couch joining the rest of the friends. "i don't know. what are you wearing?" joey looked up from his cup of coffee, all the friends turning to glare at him. "ella, why would you want to operate a drill press?" ross furrowed his eyebrows at her. "well, at the antique shop, i work on commission and it's been a pretty slow few weeks. i just need some extra cash since i'm still trying to save up for a place of my own," ella explained to the friends. chandler didn't understand why his heart sank at the thought of her moving out but, he just knew he'd miss the hell out of her. "hey, hey, chan. she could work for you," joey naively suggested. "thanks joey, that's a good idea," chandler sarcastically shot back at him. "what's so wrong with me working for you?" ella defensively crossed her arms across her chest. "i mean after that dream of yours, don't you think it's gonna be a little hard to stay off me," chandler continued to joke in attempts to convince the green otherwise. ella just glared at chandler slightly blushing, but still waiting for a serious response. "as if its not the other way around. what's the job?" ella loosened up to tease the bing. "well, my secretary is gonna be out for a couple of weeks. she is having one of her boobs reduced. it's a whole big boob story." "i guess i could be a secretary," ella readjusted herself in her seat as a sudden beep came from ross's pocket. "what are you playing with?" rachel walked over to the group after hearing the sound. "oh, it's my new beeper," ross smiled at rachel as he held up the device. "what the hell does a paleontologist need a beeper for?" "is it like for dinosaur emergencies. 'help, come quick, they're still extinct'," monica added to the joke resulting in a laugh from all of the friends. "no, it's for when carol goes into labor. she can get me wherever i am. i mean, all she has to do is to dial 55-jimbo," ross seriously explained to everyone. "a cool phone number, and a possible name for the kid."
❁
about an hour into ella being chandler's sub-secretary, she was already throwing her interior design ideas at him. the office phone began to ring but, ella was a little too into what chandler's new curtains could look like to notice. "can you hear that?" chandler looked from his paperwork to up at ella. "oh i didn't even notice," ella softly giggled at herself, still not picking up what he was trying to tell her. "see that'll stop when you pick up the phone," chandler gave her a sarcastic smile. "oh my god," ella completely snapped back into reality and picked up the phone. "mr. bing's office," ella picked up the phone in her best attempt at a 'seductive' voice. "no i'm sorry, he's in a meeting right now. will he know what this is in reference to? and he has your number? alright, i'll see that he gets the message. bye bye," ella continued, the voice getting slightly better as she kept talking. "what?" chandler stared at her wide-eyed in confusion. "ross says hi." "ah!" chandler smiled with relief. "i love this!" ella smiled brightly hopping off the desk. "don't love it too much. my secretary is coming back next week," chandler reminded her. "don't pretend you wont miss me." "oh how i'll miss your decoration tips so very much. well, now, i actually have to get to work," chandler gave the green a fake smile. "okay, i'll just be outside," ella headed out of the door. "bye-bye," chandler sweetly waved using a sing-song tone. "bye..." ella returned the sing-song tone and closed the door behind her.
❁
"okay, andré should be there in like 45 minutes. all rightie, bye bye. just easier that way," ross impatiently hung up the phone and joined his friends in the purple living room. "oh, come on. you told me about the last dream," chandler scoffed after rachel let it slip that ella had another dream about him. "no way, not after how you reacted to the last one," ella subtly blushed, keeping her eyes on the magazine in her hands. "oh, why not. was i doing anything particularly...saucy?" chandler smirked back trying to get her to spill. "okay fine! uh...let's just say you weren't the only one there," ella finally looked up from the magazine trying to hold in her giggles. "joey was there." "alright. so, tell me. was it like you and chandler, and then you and me, or you and me and chandler?" joey quickly moved over to the two as he rubbed his hands together intrigued. "you know what's funny?" ella softly giggled. "what?" joey confusedly but excitedly got even closer. "there were times, when it wasn't even me," ella teasingly smiled at the two boys. chandler and joey laughed to themselves until they realized what she meant. "nice," rachel high-fived ella, the two sisters smugly smiling at each other. "that is so sweet, you guys," phoebe got up from her seat from behind the boys and hugged the two.
❁
the next day chandler and ella could be found playing paper football across chandler's desk. "you don't have to answer if its personal but, do you have the whole giving up on love thing still going?" chandler softly asked pausing the game. "still going pretty strong. besides creepy men and joey, i haven't really been hit on, in new york city," ella scoffed as she reluctantly joked. "don't forget that i've hit on you," chandler held his hand to his chin in attempts to make her feel better. "yeah–but guys like you usually go for girls like rachel or monica, guys like joey, most guys..." ella trailed off fidgeting with the paper 'football'. "what if, hypothetically, one of those guys didn't go for monica or rachel, and they just went for you?" silence fell into the room as ella looked up at chandler and the two locked eyes for what felt like forever. "hey–sorry to interrupt. i'm nina and i'm here for the files helen asked for a few minutes ago," a brunette bursted into chandler's office with a flirty smile on her face and a clipboard in hand. way to kill the moment.
❁
"monica, let's go. come on now people, woman in labor," ross rushed all of his friends out of their apartments as he frantically paced in the hallway. "hey ross, look what i've got going here," chandler did an interesting dance under the door frame. "chandler please stop that, and joey get out of the fridge," ella passed the boys on her way out of the apartment. "alright, alright," joey followed shortly behind her. "what is that?" ross furrowed his eyebrows at the sandwich joey held in his hands. "for the ride," joey shrugged his shoulders. "yeah, like in a cab..." chandler sarcastically pointed out. "save it." "okay, hating this," chandler gestured his hands at ross. "i can't believe it, i'm gonna be an aunt. i'm gonna have like a nephew," monica sobbed as she walked out of her apartment. "that's nice. get out let's go, come on," ross bluntly rushed her out of the building. the friends began to make their way out of the hallway and to the stairs, chandler of course immediately wrapping his arm around ella's shoulder. "let's have a baby!" phoebe excitedly jumped up and down clapping as the group made their way down the steps.
❁ ⇔ 1537 words a/n: its a shame i've had this chapter unpublished for over a year and didn't really go back to it until i started rewriting and its such a key part to s1 of this story. whatever its here now so i hope you enjoyed :)
