The Mystic Triangle

Monica, Rachel and Phoebe were enjoying a girls' night in at Phoebes. Chandler was minding the twins, and Ross and Mike were staying out of the way, under strict instructions not to expect to claim their womenfolk until late.

'This is so nice,' Phoebe said, after a lull in conversation. 'Just the three of us.'

'I know,' Monica said. 'It's not as easy as it used to be so it's even more special. Rachel just smiled.

'Three's a special number,' Phoebe mused. Monica and Rachel looked at each other tolerantly. 'Third time lucky.'

'Three witches in Macbeth,' Rachel laughed.

'Three daughters of the king,' Monica said.

'Three wishes,' Rachel said.

'And we're sitting in a triangle too,' Phoebe said. 'That's a powerful symbol.'

'I would have thought that was the pentagram,' Rachel said.

'Triangles are important,' Phoebe said, not to be distracted.

'Love triangles,' Monica said.

'Bermuda triangle,' Rachel laughed.

'Isn't that where Carol Susan and Ben have gone?' Monica asked.

'No, that's the Cape Verde Islands. It's for something Susan's filming.'

'Where are they?'

'Mike's got an atlas,' Phoebe said, and after short while found it. They looked at the islands.

'Oh, near Africa,' Monica said.

'Hey you could make a triangle with it,' Phoebe said, 'Those islands, New York and London.'

'Or Paris,' Rachel said, thinking of the job she'd nearly taken there. 'There's nothing special about London.'

'Oh yes there is,' Monica said with a smile.

After the girls went home, and after Mike returned, Phoebe returned to the atlas and had another look at it over a cup of herbal tea. It occurred to her that there was a grouping of three suggested by the triangle she had seen but it would have been extremely tactless to mention it. She leaned back on the couch and notice a rock that Ross had given her. It was of virtually no scientific value but she'd seen it at his place and had thought it looked interesting so he had given it to her. It had a sort of three way crack. She superimposed the rock on the North Atlantic. Funny. One line was pointing to the Cape Verde Islands, one to New York and one to London. She flipped it around clockwise once. It lined up again.

'Hey Phoebe, are you coming to bed?'

'Sure,' Phoebe said, and left the book and the rock where it was.

Ross was emerging from sleep. A feeling stole over him that something was not quite right. Through his eyelids he thought that it seemed to be lighter than he had expected. Would it be time to get up soon? He was still too tired to move. Next to him was a familiar presence, but there was something wrong with that and he couldn't work out why. He felt Rachel get out of bed. She was walking very heavily, he noted. She must be tired too. The bed didn't feel quite right either. He wondered whether it was something he had drunk last night.

He waited with eyes closed. It was quieter than he expected. Even at this time of night he'd have expected it to be noisier. Suddenly he noticed something else. Those were the wrong kind of bathroom sounds. He sat up and stared. This was not his bedroom – where the hell was he?

The bedroom door opened and through it came a heavily pregnant Emily who stared in horror at him. And screamed.