"Look I've gotta go, mom's calling me!"
She jumped off her bed and ran to the banister
"WHHHHAAAT?" She screamed down at her mother.
"Emma you get your butt down here RIGHT now"
She stomped down the stairs and rolled her eyes to see her parents kissing in the kitchen.
"Could you guys STOP it!" She demanded
"Nope" replied her giddy from laughing mother.
"Honey, Aunt Monica wants you go check on Erica for her ok?"
"But Maaaa" she whined
"nope, no buts"
She stomped away leaving her parents in the kitchen alone.
"Ross what are we going to do about her?" Rachel asked.
"She's going through a phase Rach, she'll get over it"
"Well I'm darn sick of it. She's acting like a spoilt little brat" She vented as he kissed her neck and held her. "Shh... we'll deal with her later, let's just enjoy ourselves while the kids are all out" Ross whispered in Rachel's ear.
"You're right" Rachel moaned as the phone rang.
"Ignore it" Ross told her as he kissed his wife, she ignored him, answering the phone.
"Rachel, it's Phoebe"
"I know Phoebs, you're number comes up on caller..."
"Whatever Rach, look I totally forgot Mike's birthday and I was hoping that you could bring over a few balloons and streamers I made a cake and Joey is organising... something. I just called Mon and Chandler, please help I need to get this organised, he's been really down lately and I just want him to see we all care for him and we're here for him"
"Sure Pheobs, we'll be over soon ok?"
She hung up the phone and was grabbing her keys and handbag as explained to Ross what was going on.
On the drive over there Ross kept thinking about how much their lives had changed in the last decade or so. They were all parents now.
Even Joey was a dad, actually, he made a pretty great father. Him and his wife, Alex had been together five years and their daughter, Bailey, was three. Mike and Phoebe had three kids, two boys and a girl (Fletch was their eldest, he was 13, then Cade who was 12 and Aspen, their daughter was 6). He couldn't help but think of Ben , Emma and Claire. He loved his kids and his wife and couldn't even imagine how his life would have turned out if not for Rachel. He glanced over at his wife who had just flicked herself in the eye with her hair. He laughed at her and she smiled.
The best thing about them, in his opinion was that they always made each other laugh. "I love you Rach" he told her. She smiled and nodded whilst talking to Monica.
"Mon, where can I get... Umm..." she read a list of things off to her sister in-law as Ross thought about how different things had been since moving to the suburbs. Another thing that had changed. All of them had moved to the suburbs, commuting to the city each day, they agreed with Monica and Chandler that it was so much easier to raise their children there. The schools where better and houses were far bigger.
They arrived at Phoebe's house with bags galore and he tooted the horn expecting everyone to come out to help. No one did, so between the two of them they juggled twenty bags and Rachel laughed as he rang the doorbell with his tongue.
Phoebe was so glad that they got there when they did. Mike was about ten minutes away, Monica and Chandler were wrangling all the kids and Phoebe was putting pizza boxes on the table. She wasn't happy that all her family had eaten the past week was takeaway but her and Mike had been so busy she didn't have time to feed them much else. "Mummy" Aspen called, interrupting her thoughts. "What is it snowball?" She asked her crying daughter.
"Fletch and Jack aren't playin' wif me" she cried and her mother picked her up and kissed her.
"EVERYONE, He's nearly HERE! HIDE!" Called Monica.
Phoebe loved her friends, how they took care of everything she needed and how easily everyone got on. She smiled as she hid behind a wall, waiting for her husband, about how even the snotty teenaged children managed to get involved in 'family' events.
"!" They all screamed whilst blowing party whistles in Mikes face. A smirk grew across it and he kissed his wife hello. "Thank you" he whispered in her ear as he ventured around greeting all his friends.
The night had been great, Monica was so glad all her friends kids got along so famously. The twelve adults had sat at the dining table most of the night drinking wine and chatting about their lives. Alex and her had been getting on quite well, and she was so glad Joey settled down. Alex was perfect for him. She was funny, interesting, intelligent and grounded. She wasn't at all high maintenance and she fit into the group so well. She looked over at Chandler as he walked into their bedroom. She wrapped her arms around his neck and thanked him for tucking the twins in. She was so exhausted and Erica nagged her every time they were close. She really wanted to meet her birth mother and Monica couldn't get through to Erica. She was starting to panic, she didn't want to upset her daughter and she knew that she took the news of being adopted far worse than Jack had. Jack didn't care. When they told him, he smiled, kissed both his parents and held his hand up against his fathers. "We have the same hands, I'm your son" he told him. Then he sat next to his mother and kissed her on the forehead before running off to play basketball. Erica cried and asked questions neither Monica or Chandler really knew how to answer. She told them she had always felt as though she was different, that she was disconnected in some way. It broke Monica's heart to hear that from her daughter and after that conversation she cried to Rachel, Alex and Phoebe for hours. Chandler broke her thought by kissing her tenderly on the lips. "Let's go to bed" he took her dressing gown off and tucked her in. She was so tired she couldn't even keep her eyelids open. She fell asleep before Chandler had even turned the lights off.