A/N: I do not own the show "Friends" or the majority of the characters.

Chapter One: The Bings

She ran her hands over the wrinkled surface of the photograph, from corner to corner, looking at all of the faded faces that stared back up at her. Six faces, preserved forever with this one photograph. Sure, there were lots of photographs, but this one she held close to her heart. She looked at it every time she got depressed about school or work or boys. It reminded her that there was always something to look forward to in life. Some things were worth working for, worth living for. Seeing how happy those people were made her work harder in school so that she would maybe end up as happy as them. Her heart warmed just looking at the picture, which she kept hidden at the bottom of her sock drawer.

She couldn't believe how young her parents looked. Her uncle and aunt looked the same; her uncle still with greasy hair, her aunt still gorgeous. She could see where her cousins got their good looks from. She couldn't say the same about her and her brother, though. She still remembered the day her parents told her she was adopted. It was no surprise. She was a short, skinny blonde girl with gray eyes and a stout nose. She looked nothing like her parents. She did have a picture of her birth mom, which she hid in another drawer. She looked more like her than anyone else, well, of course, except her twin brother.

"Erica! Jake's here!"

She jumped at the sound of her father's voice. "Um, coming!" she shouted.

She quickly checked her hair and clothes in her full-length mirror, popped two tic-tacs in her mouth (oddly, like her mom, she had to eat them in even numbers), and took one last look at the beloved photograph of the six friends outside of Central Perk and shoved it underneath her socks before exiting the room.

On the first floor of the Bing home, Monica Bing and her son Jack were working on his psychology class project.

"Okay, mom," said the sandy-haired, green-eyed, fifteen-year-old. "Just lie down on the couch and relax."

"Alright," said Monica, doing as she was told. "This shouldn't be hard, honey. I am so good at relaxing."

"Whatever," said Jack, rolling his eyes. He took pulled up a seat beside the sofa. "Okay, mom, I need you to close your eyes and picture your wedding day."

Monica closed her eyes and smiled back on the memory.

"Now, say the first thing that comes to your brain. Ready?"

"Mm hmm."

"Okay. Pudding or jello?"

"Pudding."

"Paris or Nicky?"

"Nicky."

"Superman or Spider-man?"

"Superman."

"Doctor or dentist?"

"Doctor."

"Seigfreid or Roy?"

"Roy."

"Very interesting," Jack said as he wrote on a clipboard. "Very interesting, indeed."

Monica opened her eyes. "What was that experiment supposed to do?"

"I'm not sure," he answered, standing up. "See, I really like my psychology class, but I have no idea what is going on. I guess the human brain can't get oxygen through hair that looks this good." He flipped his hair, flashed a smile, and then turned to leave the room, but not before accidentally walking into a pole.

"Oh, honey, are you okay?" Monica called.

"Uh huh. Great, ma."

Monica buried her face in her hands. "Oh, it's like Joey never left!"

In the kitchen, Chandler was talking to his daughter Erica's boyfriend, Jake Naysmith. Even as an adult, Chandler Muriel Bing used humor as a defense mechanism.

"So Jake, how was your Christmas?" he asked as he flipped through the newspaper.

"Um, pretty good," he replied. "My family and I went to my grandparents' place in Florida."

"Oh, were you bored?" he asked.

"No," he answered. "I went fishing with my dad and my grandpa."

"Huh," said Chandler, thinking back. "That's interesting. The only time my dad and I ever did any kind of male bonding was when we went any place with males." Chandler paused for a moment, sadly. "And he could do lots of bonding with them."

Jake slowly inched his chair away from Chandler.

"Hey Jake!" Erica Bing squealed, walking into the room. She bounced over happily to him and leaned in to give him a kiss, but Chandler stepped in between them. Erica rolled her eyes and gave him a peck on the cheek. "Hi daddy."

He reluctantly moved out of the way and let the two kiss, but Erica made sure it lasted no longer than two seconds because if she knew her dad at all, he was looking at his watch, counting.

"So, are you ready to go?" she asked.

"Yep," said Jake. He grabbed her ski coat off the coat rack and helped her put in on.

"So where are you two going?" Chandler asked, trying hard not to sound uncomfortable.

"We're just going for a walk," Erica answered.

"A walk where?" he pried.

"Around the corner," she replied. The two headed for the door, but Chandler still called out, "Which corner?"

Monica entered the room and out her hand over her husband's mouth.

"Bye honey! Bye Jake!" she called to the couple.

"Bye!" they called back, moving hurriedly out the door.

Chandler looked on, his heart breaking. He turned around to face his wife and said, "Excuse me. I'm just going to pull out my heart with steak knife and put it in the blender."

"Oh, Chandler, she's almost sixteen," Monica said, giving him a hug. "You have to let her grow up sometime."

"But she's just a kid," he whined. "I don't want her to have a boyfriend. I want her to stay a baby forever."

"Honey, I think we have to watch 'Father of the Bride' again," Monica said. "I'll make the popcorn, you start the movie."

"That's the third time this month," he said.

"Man, you guys are sad," Jack piped up, entering the room and going straight to the refrigerator. He searched around for a moment then turned to Monica.

"Mom! We are out of the yogurt with the crosswords on the back of the box!"

"He, on the other hand," Monica whispered to her husband, "will never leave us."

Outside, Erica and Jake were walking hand-in-hand down the street.

"So, are you excited about the Snowball?" Erica asked, rubbing playfully up against her boyfriend.

"Sure," he answered, not in the happiest tone. "I can't wait."

Erica came to a sudden halt. She knew something was up. Jake usually got more excited about social events at John Forrester High than she did. She was sure his suit was already on hold at some fruity-tooty store.

"What's the matter?" she asked him.

He drew in a deep breath. "Well, here's the thing, Ricky…" He couldn't make eye contact with her.

Erica could suddenly feel her heartbeat in her ears. She began to sweat in places she didn't know sweat came from.

"Erica," Jake said, turning to her slowly, "I think that you are a really great girl, but I think that we have better chemistry as, you know, friends."

All Erica wanted to do at that moment was run to her room and squeeze the life out of the photograph of her parents, her aunt and uncle, and their two other best friends.

"How can you say that?" she choked out through tears. "We've been going out for almost five months and suddenly we're better off friends?"

Jake just shrugged. "Things change, Ric." He looked at her sadly. "I'm sorry, really I am."

"Whatever," she replied, turning and running back to her house.

Monica and Chandler were in the living room when they heard the back door slam.

"Erica!" Monica yelled, rushing up from the couch. "What's wrong?"

"Leave me alone!" she screamed back, running up the stairs. She ran into her room, slammed the door, and grabbed the picture out of her sock drawer. She was disheartened after seeing those six people smiling when she felt so betrayed. Not by Jake necessarily. She just felt like she had been cut short, that something big was waiting for her out there and she was just within reach of it but not quite there.

What she didn't know was that there were a group of people thrown out into the universe that felt exactly the same way.

>>Well, what do you think? I know it's short, but it'll get better! I promise!

PhOeBe DyNaMiTe