The One Where They All Get Over It
Author's Note: Yes, I'm back, after too long away (though I have been reading and reviewing). I have been contemplating this one for a while, and now finally commit myself. This is just a short and I hope appetite-whetting introduction.
WARNING: As anyone who has read much of my work will know, I specialise in unorthodox couplings of the Friends, though I have produced versions of the ones established in the show (and most favoured by fanfic writers), Ch&Mo (once) and Ro&Ra. But this does not feature these or any other couplings of two Friends favoured by some fanfic writers, including myself (e.g. Jo&Ra, Ch&Ra, Mo&Ra, Ch&Jo), nor will it involve Ph&Mi or any f/f relationships. It is dedicated to any Friends enthusiasts who may have felt doubts from time to time about whether Ch&Mo and Ro&Ra (or any other couplings within the group) could last in the long or even the short term.
The time when it begins should be equivalent to somewhere in Series 8, but the story is strongly AU, in that characters appear and events happen before they do in the show.
Disclaimer: The Friends characters do not belong to me, but to Bright, Kauffman and Crane Productions and Warner Bros. Their use is not intended for profit, only for entertainment.
Chapter 1: Phoebe
Phoebe sat alone at a table in Central Perk, frowning disapprovingly at the loudly chattering group who occupied the couch and armchairs. That had been her and her friends in happier times. How close they had been! She still had friends, of course, but not like them. Her attempts to create a group to replace them, with a common meeting place where they would show up regularly, had not been successful, not least because her friends did not always take to each other. No, the relationship that she had been part of, with Joey, Monica, Ross, Rachel and Chandler had been unique. Maybe her onetime boyfriend Roger the shrink had been right when he described them as co-dependent, though wasn't that sort of how friends were supposed to be? And that had come out during his childishly bad-tempered reaction to being rejected by the others, so she was not sure that it was worth anything. To her the important thing was that they had supported each other and held together, despite occasional fights, Monica's constant freakiness of various kinds, and the repeated tensions between Ross and Rachel, for a very long time – longer than most of her friendships had kept going, if the truth were told.
She sighed again, as she always did when memories of how the group had broken up returned. You would have thought that, if they had got through Ross and Rachel's big fat breakup, the Emily business, and the Vegas marriage, not to mention Chandler's problems over Janice and Kathy and Richard's renewed play for Monica, they could survive anything. But, the way she saw it, the trouble had begun with Ross and Rachel. Their refusal to see that they were lobsters, but inability or unwillingness to let go and move on from each other properly had been a continual source of frustration – though she had to admit, if one had really moved on, that one might well have left the group.
She wondered how many of them would show today; she had sent messages to everyone, saying she had something important to tell them and making it quite clear that all the others were being invited too. Surely enough time had passed by now for Ross to have got over it, and also Chandler, though there had been great bitterness there. She felt sure that Monica and Rachel were likely to come; Phoebe had kept in touch with both of them, and knew that they still met often, though she saw them only rarely. Sometimes she speculated, rather mischievously, whether they would not have made a good couple; they had certainly both shown real unhappiness when Rachel moved out. But when Chandler in turn moved out of Monica's apartment Rachel had not moved back in, nor had she taken over Chandler and Joey's old apartment when Joey left it, unable to afford the rent on his own. It was like she had acknowledged that that phase of her life was over.
She sighed yet again, when thinking of Joey. She missed him; he had been more of a brother to her than Frank Jr. would ever be. She really hoped he would show, but you could never tell when he was going to be in town. His agent had thought it likely, so she had hopes.
"Something the matter, Phoebe?" said Gunther, appearing suddenly by her side. "You look sad."
She turned to smile at him. At least he was still there; she wondered if he would ever leave Central Perk.
"I was just thinking of old times," she said, "and feeling sad about how we broke up. But then, I'm hoping to get them all together again – I have something to tell them – and that shouldn't be sad."
Gunther's eyes lit up. "You mean, Rachel will be coming?"
Phoebe knew, if no one else did, that Gunther had a permanent crush on Rachel. "I hope so," she said. "She and Monica and I are still on pretty good terms. Whether Ross or Chandler show" – she shrugged – "that's another matter."
He nodded, but plainly didn't care much. "What about Joey?"
"I'm sure he'll come, if he's in town," said Phoebe.
Gunther grinned. "If I'd known, I'd have told you to promise complimentary coffee and cookies – that would have brought him running."
Phoebe snickered. "Yeah. Well, do we get them anyway?"
Gunther smiled warmly. "Of course. I liked having you guys around, you know, even though Rachel was the world's laziest waitress and Joey spent all his time trying to charm any hot female customers." Then his expression turned more serious. "What went wrong, anyway?"
Phoebe drew a breath. "It's a long story. It all began with that business over Rachel's sister Jill …"