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Biography
Erica Bing is the biological daughter of a woman named Erica from Ohio who was given up for adoption by her biological mother along with her fraternal twin brother Jack. She was adopted by Monica Geller and her husband Chandler Bing who had initially intended on only adopting Jack as Erica was technically considered a surprise. The following week, Monica fired someone at work who ended up holding a grudge, a week after that, Erica ended up getting extremely sick. Not wanting Jack to catch whatever Erica had caught, she took Erica to the doctor, though they never arrived. Her former co-worker knocked her out and kidnapped Erica, selling her to a baby broker, though was never caught.
Monica had been brought to the hospital and when she came to, she had learned that someone had taken Erica, which devastated both her and her husband. It made her even more obsessive, to the point of being immensely overprotective with Jack to the point of smothering him because they never thought they would see Erica again, not even knowing if she was even still alive considering how sick she had been when Monica went to take her to the doctor.
Erica had been taken to the doctor and had been diagnosed with meningitis, something that had caused her to permanently lose her hearing, rendering her completely deaf. Another couple, who were also unable to have children and were desperate to have a child of their own, had been interested in adopting, having gone through two failed adoptions. As Erica was considered an "abandoned" baby that no one "wanted", or at least that was the story that was told to the baby broker, he thought that this child would be a good fit. He mentioned Erica to the couple, but also told them that due to her contracting meningitis several weeks before, she was now completely deaf and they would all have to learn sign language if they were to adopt this child.
The couple, who were older than Erica's original adoptive parents, did not see eye to eye on the matter. The wife, a woman by the name of Ann Kelsey, thought of the complications that would come along with raising a child with a disability, while her husband, a man by the name of Stuart Markowitz, who was so desperate to have a child, did not care, had to beg his wife to see that being deaf was not that big of a deal and that they could easily provide everything she would ever need. Once Ann saw Erica, she instantly became smitten with the child and agreed to adopt her.
Erica grew up with her new set of adoptive parents, none the wiser of what had originally happened. She was a total sweetheart who loved both of her parents, but was more of a daddy's girl, adoring Stuart most of all due to his more playful nature as her mother was a bit more strict. After her parents fired her last nanny due to him trying to seduce her mother, they hired a woman that had been unknowingly stalking them for over a year, who had become obsessed with Erica. A month after her hiring her, the new nanny took off with Erica while she was asleep. They traveled for months, and with not many people knowing sign language or even wanting to be involved, no one seemed to help her.
They soon arrived at a diner in Manhattan where a police officer happened to be eating with her son, who had been watching the clearly distressed girl, sitting in the booth, not eating anything. She looked like she had been barely fed at all. The nanny had been eating and the officer had clearly heard the woman say that the girl wasn't hungry. The officer paid a kid to spill something on the woman as an excuse to get her to clean up before approaching Erica, asking her if she was okay, but Erica didn't answer, or even look at her. It was like she didn't even realize that she was there. She tapped on the girl's shoulder and tried to ask again, but the girl quickly pointed to her ear, indicating that she was deaf, her body trembling. Luckily she had managed to learn some sign language so that she could communicate with her.
The officer signed to the girl, asking her if that woman was her mother. Erica subtly shook her head no before the officer signed to the girl asking her if she was in danger, to which the girl nodded subtly yes she was. Erica signed that the woman took her from her mommy and daddy, causing the officer to act quickly, calling for backup before telling the girl that she was a police officer and that she was going to help her. Once the woman was arrested, they took Erica back to the precinct where she was Erica used crayons to give a basic description of her parents hair and eye colors as well as drawing that basically told them that her mother was taller than her father. The key thing in the drawing were the Mickey Mouse ears the family was wearing. Erica told them that she went to Disneyland all the time and lived really close, indicating they lived somewhere near Anaheim or the surrounding areas.
Once they found her file in her missing person's case indicating that Erica had been reported missing ten months ago as Erica Markowitz, the captain of the squad, who was the officer that rescued her before, had informed her parents that she was indeed alive and safe, and that they were feeding her. Her parents informed the captain of her allergies and to be very careful what they fed her, and that they would be on the next flight there to come take her home. Meanwhile another officer had found a DNA match in their system, indicating that she was a previously missing child named Erica Bing and had called her first set of adoptive parents, who lived in Westchester. Both sets of parents happened to arrive around the same time, though the Markowitz's arrived first as they had been informed the day before, with the Bing's arriving about five minutes later.
Erica, upon being reunited with the parents that raised her, was extremely happy, especially as her parents took turns holding her and apologizing in sign language for letting that woman take her away from them. While Erica had been deeply attached to her father, being with her crazed nanny made her realize how much she loved and deeply missed her mother, and sat with her for a long time, until the Bing's came into the room. Monica saw the adorable, blonde haired girl sitting in the blonde haired woman's lap, cuddling with her and approached them, trying to call out to Erica, but Erica didn't seem to hear her or even notice her enter the room. Monica assumed that the little girl was being rude and ignoring her and was about to get snappy with her until Chandler stopped her, realizing that Erica was deaf. Ann immediately asked who they were and what they were doing in here, until one of the officers explained the situation to the captain and the captain explained the situation to both families.
Ann and Stuart realized that their adoption of Erica was not legal as she had already been adopted, however, technically due to Erica's kidnapping the first time, they never signed Erica's adoption papers as they couldn't with her being missing and technically they had only legally adopted Jack. This left Ann and Stuart with a legal loophole that allowed the two of them to be legally Erica's parents, not the Bing's. Still, Monica and Chandler tried to sue Ann and Stuart for custody of Erica to begin with as they had been originally chosen by the twin's birth mother to be their adoptive parents and this could be considered fraud due to the kidnapping, but with Ann being an experienced trial lawyer, she defended their case and won the custody battle, with the judge asking that they maintain contact for the sake of the twins relationship with one another.
During the custody battle, Erica was forced to live with the Bing's until the first hearing. Neither Monica nor Chandler knew sign language and they were unable to communicate with her as a result, allowing Ann to argue that they should be granted temporary custody on the grounds that the Bing's did not know sign language and therefore had no way to communicate with her. Monica and Chandler spoke with their lawyer, who argued that a hotel was no place for a child to live during the case, but with Monica and Chandler being unable to communicate with Erica, Ann and Stuart were granted temporary custody as a result. After Monica and Chandler lost the case, they tried to appeal, but they failed every time. Chandler was soon offered a promotion in LA, causing them to consider moving there just to be close to Erica so that Jack could get to know his sister, while they all tried to learn sign language in the meantime to communicate with her.
Erica was thrilled to go home with the parents she had been raised by. She told her mother that she was scared of Monica and that Jack was mean to her, referring to Monica as the scary lady, Jack as the mean boy, and Chandler as to nice man. She couldn't hear what they said, but she could read facial expressions and could tell when people were angry. Monica seemed to get frustrated, though mostly due to her inability to communicate with Erica, who seemed terrified of her. Fatherhood seemed to have calmed Chandler somewhat, who found a way to use pictures to communicate with Erica, a method often used with non-verbal people on the Autism spectrum, however when he tried to relay this to his lawyer, Ann argued back that Erica told her that it only worked if Mr. Bing was home as Erica was terrified of Monica and refused to communicate with her using the pictures due to how afraid she was of her and that Jack had been hitting her. With Chandler working most of the time, there was no communication. This was how Erica was able to go home. Chandler was the only one that Erica actually liked out of the three of them as he was a bit more patient with Erica.
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Family
MONICA GELLER Link Here
Monica Geller is the first adoptive mother of Erica with her husband Chandler. Two weeks after her birth, Erica became extremely ill. Not wanting Erica to pass it to her twin brother Jack, Monica decided to take her to the doctor. However, a week prior she had fired someone in her kitchen, who was pissed and wanted revenge. The woman knocked Monica out and stole Erica, selling her to a baby broker. Unfortunately the police were unable to find her, devastating them both.
CHANDLER BING Link Here
Chandler Bing is the first adoptive father of Erica, While they are initially shocked that there are twins and he begins to panic, after her kidnapping he realizes how much he truly cared about her even if they only had her for a couple of weeks. He is devastated by her disappearance.
JACK BING Link Here
Jack Bing is the fraternal twin brother of Erica. They never really had a chance to know each other, though Jack always feels as if something is missing due to his sister's disappearance.
ANN KELSEY Link Here
Ann Kelsey is the second adoptive mother of Erica. After finding out that they were unable to have children, she and her husband Stuart Markowitz decided to adopt. They went through a couple of children before learning of a supposed abandoned baby girl named Erica that had just gotten over meningitis, but was now completely deaf and was three weeks old at this point. Knowing they would have to learn sign language, they thought that this was their chance since not many couples would want to take in a child with extra work involved, and Stuart begged her to do it. Ann instantly fell in love with Erica.
STUART MARKOWITZ Link Here
Stuart Markowitz is the second adoptive father of Erica. After finding out that they were unable to have children, he and his wife Ann Kelsey decided to adopt. They went through a couple of children before learning of a supposed abandoned baby girl named Erica that had just gotten over meningitis, but was now completely deaf and was three weeks old at this point. Knowing they would have to learn sign language, they thought that this was their chance since not many couples would want to take in a child with extra work involved, and Stuart begged her to do it. Stuart was instantly attached to the infant and adored her. As Erica grew, she became a daddy's girl, and though she loved both of her parents, it was clear she was very attached to Stuart.
