A/N: Hi, people! … Phantom would like to add "Hello my freaky darlings!" to that. It's Phantom and Sapphire, back again. We're reposting this to fix a coulpe of things and such. We don't own Friends, what you don't recognize is ours (mwa haha). Anyway, enjoy and review. No flames, but constructive criticism is alright… well, at least for Phantom, it is.
Rachel, Ross, Monica, Chandler, Joey and Phoebe were walking along one of the paths in Central Park with a three and a half year-old Emma and two-year-olds Erica and Jack. The day was beautiful; not a dark cloud in sight. The area of the park they were in was quite crowded with people taking advantage of the weather, so a lot of people were around them, making it hard for them to find a nice open spot to settle in.
" Hey what about that one?" Rachel suggested, pointing to an abandoned looking table. It had a bag that looked like it was from Subway on it.
Ross shook his head, " It looks dirty," he said.
" Ross it's a park," Rachel glared at him, " The table is going to be dirty. God, you're worse than the kids!"
" Yeah, and besides Monica has her cleaning supplies in her purse." Chandler pointed out.
" I so do not!" Monica looked at him, and then sighed, " You're right, I do! But you never know what kind of germs are at a park so you can never be too prepared!"
" There's a table." Mike pointed to a picnic table, across the park, " Doesn't look too dirty to me."
Monica patted her bag, and grinned, " Just in case," she said.
They found the spot Mike had found, and started to settle down and have the sandwiches they had brought when Rachel "aw"ed and pointed at something, startling everyone else. Ignoring the fact that she had noticed their reactions, Rachel pointed at a couple who was in the middle of one of the sections of grass. They were watching as a little girl played with a German Shepherd. The woman laughed and rested her head on the man's shoulder, blocking his face from view temporarily. She also had a hand on her stomach, just as a pregnant woman would. Their backs were facing the other group.
"Look at that!" Rachel grabbed Ross' hand. "I want that to be us in a couple of years!"
Ross blinked and looked down at Rachel's own stomach, which was sticking out due to the fact that she was pregnant. All they were missing was the dog. What world did she live in?
Rachel seemed to read his thoughts and just rolled her eyes before looking back at the couple. "It's still adorable. I mean, look! The girl looks just like her mom!" she insisted.
The group laughed and looked to see her observation. However, they all stared as the next development of the scene unfolded in front of them. The man had leaned forward and swatted playfully at the German shepherd when the dog barreled over to him. Of course, it was nothing new to see a full-grown man playing with the dog. It was who was playing with him that shocked everyone. The man who had started to play-wrestle with the dog was none other than Tag Jones.
"Whoa." Joey was the first to speak. "Who didn't see that comin'?" he raised his hand. "I didn't." He looked around. "Anyone?" He thought he wasn't backed up, but everyone did agree, they were just too surprised to voice it at the moment. Then again, they figured they should've expected it. It was New York, the Big Apple, after all. It was huge, but it made for a small world. Phoebe finally raised her hand in agreement, but everyone else remained silent. Mike and the children were the only ones silent for a different reason: wondering just who the black-haired man was. The only one who didn't keep her reaction in check was Rachel, because she literally let out a screech.
Alarmed, Tag looked over.
Rachel clamped her hands over her mouth and whirled around, but it was too late. Tag had already seen her.
"Rachel?!" Tag asked, getting up and walking over to her. The little girl and woman he was with just looked at each other before getting up themselves and following him.
Rachel turned back around and put on an overexaggerated smile. " Tag! Hi!"
"It is you!" Tag grinned before pulling her into a hug. "Wow!" he pulled away and looked her over. "You look great!". He looked at the others. "You all do!" he looked at Mike, and the smile dropped. "Uh… who are you?" he looked at the kids. "And these guys?" he added.
Rachel blushed, curious as to his reaction about Emma. "Well, this is Mike, Phoebe's husband, then Erica and Jack, Monica and Chandler's twins."
Tag nodded a greeting and shook hands with Mike and smiled at the twins. "Tag Jones."
"Short for?" Mike asked.
"Nothing, actually." Tag replied.
"Hm." Mike nodded.
" You mean its not short for anything?" Joey said, shocked, " I thought it was short for like Taggart or something?"
Tag raised an eyebrow, then shrugged. "Eh, that's my father. I'm legally tag. Something about him not wanting to be one of those 'old fashioned boys'… I really don't see why, though. It's like Joe and Joseph. Still pretty much the same, and Joe's automatically Joseph, not just Joe, and… you get the point." He dismissed his argument.
Rachel smiled, then looked at Emma. "Onto the rest. This is Emma." she paused and inhale briefly. "Mine and Ross' daughter."
Tag looked stunned briefly, but took it in strides. A smile was back on his face within a couple of seconds. "Really? Good for you!"
Rachel tried to hide her own surprise at his reaction. That went better than expected. She looked at the two behind him. "Your turn. Who are your friends?"
Tag laughed. "Right." He turned around and looped his arm around the woman's waist. "This is my girlfriend, Taylor."
"Hi." The other woman took her hand in a heartbeat and shook it.
" Hey, how you doin'?" Joey leaned back, winked, and nodded.
Taylor raised an eyebrow.
Tag pointed at Joey warningly, " Don't." He remembered that was Joey's signature pickup line, and he wasn't going to lose his girlfriend to it. "I repeat, girlfriend."
" Oh, right." Joey looked down, but then looked back up, " Does she have a sister?"
" Um, no," Taylor said, " I'm an only child."
"…Why do I think you're lyin'?" Joey asked.
"Anyway," Rachel cut in, trying to get past that subject, and looked at the little girl who was now hiding behind Taylor . She noticed the girl looked like Emma's age, "Who's this cutie?"
Tag turned and his grin widened, "Jules, come on. Don't be shy."
The girl just looked up at him.
Tag sighed, but the smile never left his face. "This." he picked up the girl. "Is Juliet." He leaned towards Andrea. "Our daughter."
Rachel blinked again. "Oh." She repeated in the same way that she had before.
Joey, who was still in back of the group, leaned forwards so only the others in the back could hear, "Heh. Awk-waaaaaaaaard."
Monica stepped on his foot.
" Daddy, what does awkward mean?" Juliet asked.
" It means...unexpected." Tag explained to her.
" This isn't awkward." Rachel waved a hand a Joey. She glared nervously at him, and he looked down at the ground. " It's just old friends running into each other."
" How about that scooter! Been a while, hasn't it? Have you ever tried that on one again?" Joey looked up at Tag, trying to make the situation lighter. Even he knew there needed to be a subject change, so that was saying something.
Tag laughed. "No. Tried to, then I got this one," He pointed at Taylor . "Followed by this one." He swooped down and kissed Juliet's cheek, causing the girl to giggle.
" What scooter?" Mike asked, confused.
" Don't ask." Chandler said.
Tag laughed, then looked at Rachel "Do you guys still have that?"
"Yeah, we do." Rachel nodded. "Someone wouldn't let us get rid of it." She shot Joey a look.
Joey whistled and looked away.
His five other friends glared at him.
" What?" he said, finally admitting to it, " It's fun to ride. It would be a waste to get rid of it. Emma you'd like a scooter, wouldn't you?"
Emma laughed. "Sure!"
" Don't put any ideas into her head, Joey!" Rachel warned, " That thing is dangerous."
Tag laughed, then patted Joey's shoulder, " Yeah, "he said, "Then I better count on you to hook me up with that thing again."
Joey laughed. "You bet."
"Yes!" Tag cheered. Then paused. "Of course, if Tails here doesn't mind."
Taylor laughed. "Shut up. You know I don't care what you do. Thing is, I'm with Rachel here. Just don't give Julie any ideas." She kissed his chin. "Go right ahead and get that scooter when she's in school."
"See!" Rachel exclaimed, " Someone agrees with me!"
Tag wrapped an arm around his girlfriend and smiled at the others. If it was one thing he knew, it was that exchange could've gone much worse, and it went over perfect. He couldn't ask for much else. "Hey, some of my buddies are coming over to watch the Jets game in a couple of days. I still live at my place. Why don't you guys join us? I can't guarantee that the Jets are gonna win, but it's worth catching up, huh?" He offered.
"I'm in!" Joey nodded. All he needed to hear was "football" and he was game, no pun intended.
Rachel nodded. "Sounds good here, too." She looked at her group. "You guys?"
"Sure," the others replied.
Rachel turned back to Tag and smiled. "Tell us when to show up and we're there."
"Great. Hm… say, three?"
"We're in."