Phoebe had just gotten settled the delivery room of the maternity ward. The doctors had run some tests, and there was was still no sign of Joey, even though Chandler assured her he was on his way. She looked up at the clock, getting more and more stressed out and anxious with every passing minute that he wasn't there. She couldn't imagine going through this without Joey by her side, and she knew that he wouldn't want to miss this for anything. He was so excited to be a father. She put her hands on her stomach, where the baby was.

"Look, I know you're anxious to get out of there...I know your cousins probably trashed the place, when they were in there, I mean, there was three of them! ..But if you could hold on just a little bit longer, so that your daddy can be here when you do come out that would be.."

She fell silent when she heard the door open, hoping to see Joey, but it was only Chandler and Monica coming back in, with Ross and Rachel.

"Hey, sorry we're late, Pheebs! We had to drop Emma off with the babysitter." Rachel said, as she came to Phoebe's side and put her arm around her. "How are you feeling, Sweetie?"

Phoebe gave a shrug. "Eh..can't complain, I guess. The worst part hasn't even started, yet."
Rachel gave her an effectionate squeeze. "Don't worry, Pheebs. It's not so bad..once it's over."

Ross looked around the room curiously. "Wait..where's Joey?"

"He's on his way." Chandler replied, looking at his watch. "He's running a little late, but...it is Joey. I mean, maybe he got lost in the parking lot or something!"

Phoebe sighed, propping herself up somewhat on her pillows in an attempt to make herself more comfotable. "Yeah, well he better get here, soon. These contractions have been a bitch!...Oh God, here comes another one...SOMEONE GIVE ME THEIR HAND!" she yelled.

Chandler immediately took a few steps back, holding his arm, which was apparently still sore from her last contraction, and shook his head. "No way. Not doing that again!"

Ross went over to Phoebe, giving her his hand. "Chandler, don't be so inconsiderate! How would you feel if-AAAHHHH! OH GOD, MY HAND! YOU'RE CRUSHING MY HAND!"

Ross continued shrieking in pain, as Phoebe screamed along with him. Ross pulled his hand back when it was over. "Jesus, woman!"

Chandler nodded, knowing his pain, all to well. "And I thought Monica was freakishly strong. It's probably a good thing she never gave birth the traditional way, or I would have no arms to hold my children with."

Rachel knelt down beside Phoebe's bed, seemingly worried about her friend. "Oh God, Phoebe, does it hurt real bad? Maybe we should get you some drugs, or something.."

"Yes, please for the love of God, get her something!" Ross agreed, still holding his hand in pain.

"No, I don't want any drugs, I just want Joey! Where is he, dammit!?"

Chandler shrugged. "Well, if I were him, I'd be hiding in fear right now!" he said.

Monica looked at her husband in the same exasperated way always she always did when he cracked one too many nervous jokes at inappropriate times, and he shut up, taking the hint.

"I'll go downstairs and look for him again." he said, and left the room.

Joey ran as fast as he could to the front doors of the hospital, and up to the front desk. The drive there seemed to take forever. He broke more driving laws than he cared to think about trying to get there, but it didn't matter. This was something that he knew he could not miss, for any reason, and he couldn't let Phoebe go through this alone.

"Excuse me!" he exclaimed, still panting as he reached the receptionist desk. "I need to.." before he could finish his sentence, the woman looked up from her desk, her eyes widening at the sight of him. "Oh my Goodness! Sir, what happened!? Are you alright?"

"What!?" Joey looked down, and realized that at first glance, he must have looked like a seriously injured, perhaps dying man. He was still in costume, which included a bloody axe wound to his chest. "Oh..no, no, this is fake blood!"

The receptionist rolled her eyes. "Look, sir..if this is some sort of sick joke, I will call security!"

"NO!" he interrupted, getting frustrated as he tried to explain. "It's stage blood, I'm an actor! Look, I need to find my wife! She's having a baby, and.."

"Joey?"

Joey turned around, seeing Chandler coming towards him from down the hall. "Chandler! Thank God! Where's Phoebe? Did I miss it!? Is the baby here?"

Chandler gave a similar reaction to the fake blood as the receptionist's as he got closer to Joey, staggering back a few steps, in horror.

"BAAAAH! Jesus!"

Joey became annoyed and rolled his eyes. "It's fake blood, Chandler! I didn't have time to change!"

"Oh...of course. Because showing up to the ER covered in real blood wouldn't make any sense!" Chandler muttered. "Where have you been, man!? Phoebe just went up to the delivery room, she's been worried sick about you! Come on!"

He grabbed Joey's arm, quickly leading him over to the elevator. He glances again at his costume as they wait for the door to open. "Although you should probably change before you go into the room with her, or you're just gonna end up scaring that baby right out of her!"

Once they took the elevator upstairs, they both ran down the hall towards the Maternity ward. They met everyone else in the hall, minus Phoebe before they reached her room.

"Oh my God, Joey! There you are!" Monica said as they approached them. "What the hell happened!?"

Joey sighed. "It's fake blood! FAKE! ..Look, is Phoebe ok? Where is she?"

Just then, a doctor came out of Phoebe's room and walked over to them, holding a clipboard in one arm.

"Excuse me, are you Joseph Tribbiani?" he asked.

"Yes!" Joey told him, turning around.

"Great, I'm Dr Turner. Your wife is doing just fine. We're just prepping her for delivery right now, so why don't you go with the nurses and get scrubbed in so you can join us?"

Joey breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that he was on time, and everything seemed to be under control. "Alright, I will. Thank you." he turned to face his friends. "I guess I'll see you guys when it's over."

"Yeah we'll just wait out here." Ross said, patting him on the back. "Good luck, man!"

The four of them went to go sit in the waiting area while a nurse took Joey into another room.

...

Phoebe was trying everything she could, mentally, to keep the baby inside of her until Joey arrived, but she was in so much pain that it was becoming unbearable. She just wanted this to be over with so she could stop hurting. A nurse was by her side, attempting to keep her calm and encouraging her to take deep breaths, but the absence of Joey was distracting, and making it difficult for her.

As Phoebe breathed, she saw the door open in the corner of her eye and looked up. She let out a huge breath of relief when she saw that he had finally shown up.

"Joey! Oh, thank God you're here!" she said. She managed to smile, even through the pain.
He rushed over to her side, taking her hand. "I'm here, Pheebs! I'm so sorry I'm late! I just wasn't expecting this to happen so soon!"

"I know, neither was I! God..can you believe it? We're going to be parents!" she said, with excitement.
Joey smiled and leaned over to give her a kiss. He was just as excited, now that this was finally happening, after 9 months of waiting.

"I know, this is amazing, I'm so happy, Pheebs!..Are you alright, though? Are you in a lot of pain?" he asked.

"Ugh..like you wouldn't believe. Oh no..it's happening again!" Phoebe took a deep breath, preparing herself for the huge contraction she knew was about to come.

"AAAAAAAAAUUUUGH! Oh God! Oh GOD, NO! I JUST WANT THIS THING OUT! JUST GET THIS DAMN THING OUT OF ME, I WANT IT OUT!" she screamed, her face becoming red with agony.

Joey made an attempt to conceal his laughter at what she just said. He didn't mean to laugh, but he was nervous. His wife quickly took notice, and became enraged.

"Are you laughing!? You think this is funny!? This is all your fault! YOU DID THIS!" She cried, punching him in the arm with a strength Joey never knew that she had.

"OWWW! GEEZ! I'm sorry! I'm just nervous, Pheebs!" he said.

Just then, opened the door and returned to the room. "Mr and Mrs Tribbiani? Our test results are showing that your baby is positioned at a more complicated angle than usual, and the placenta has become adrift. If we were to go through with the traditional labour, the baby would be in danger of becoming tangled in the umbilical cord."

Joey looked from Phoebe to the doctor, becoming worried, and confused. "So what does that mean?"

"It means that we have no choice but to delivery this baby by Cesarian section." Dr. Turner explained.

"Woah, wait...what's a Cesarian section?" Joey asked, growing even more confused.

"You know, a C-section, Joey." Phoebe told him. He looked at her with a blank stare. Phoebe rolled her eyes.

"Joey, they're going to cut me open, and take the baby out!"

"What!? That sounds horrible!" Joey said.

"Yeah well..if it means less pain, then I'm all for it! I just want it to stop!" Phoebe told the doctor.

"Well, fortunately, we'll be able to give you something for the pain." assured her. "I'll get the surgical team, and we'll get started right away."

Several minutes passed after the doctors set up everything for the C-section operation and gave her some sort of sedative IV that was working wonders for her. The pain and stress that Phoebe had been feeling earlier slowly began to melt away from her body, and she was beginning to feel 100% better. She laid back on her pillows, in a sudden blissful daze, as she stared up at the ceiling of the maternity noticing the colorful paintings. Rainbows, butterflies and fluffy white clouds.

She felt no pain, or pressure. She was unaware of whatever the doctors were doing to her at the moment. She didn't even know if they had begun to operate yet. She raised her hand above her face, just staring at the rings on her fingers for a moment, almost forgetting what was going on and that any minute now she was going to be a mother.

"Joey?"

She felt him take her hand, gently squeezing it. "I'm right here, babe. How are you feeling?" he asked.
"I feel...pretty awesome, actually!" she said. "Wow..I am so high right now! ..You know, I should take drugs more often!"

Joey laughed. "Well, you're doing awesome, Pheebs! I'm proud of you." he told her and kissed her cheek.
"Yeah, I don't feel anything at all! I think I much prefer having kids this way..." she said. She turned her head, looking up at Joey.

"Joey?" she said, gently placing her hand on the side of his face. "I love you. You're gonna be such an amazing dad, you know that?"

Joey smiled down at her, brushing her hair back. "I love you too, Pheebs. So much!"
Joey was trying to concentrate to what was going on on the other side of the operating table, but it was hard for him to watch them cut her open like that, even though he knew she wasn't in any pain. He also didn't understand half of the medical terminology the doctor and the nurses used with each other, even after having played a doctor on TV. All he knew was that any minute now, he was going to be a father, and his life would be changed forever. He was anxious, nervous and excited, all at once. He couldn't believe that he and Phoebe were going to have a family.

A few more minutes passed, and before he knew what as happening, Joey heard the tiny, but shrill sound of someone crying. He looked up and saw the small, pink, bundle the doctor had just lifted out of his wife, and he froze, paralyzed with overwhelming emotions. His jaw dropped and his eyes immediately filled with unexpected tears. That tiny, screaming, blood-covered thing the doctor was holding, was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen in his life.

"It's a boy!" the doctor announced. "Congratulations, Mr. and Mrs. Tribbiani!"

"It's a boy.." Joey repeated, in disbelief. "Oh my God! That's our baby! Phoebe, we have a boy!" he cried.

Phoebe stared up at the baby in awe. "Oh my God.." she said, with a smile.

He put his arms around her, and just held her tightly, but carefully, because he didn't want to hurt her in her fragile state. He kissed once again, on the temple. "You did it, Pheebs! I'm so proud of you!"

After a few seconds, Phoebe didn't answer, and Joey had a sudden gut-wrenching feeling that something was wrong. He felt her go limp in his arms, and when he looked down, he saw her eyes roll back into her head. "Phoebe?"

The machine that had been monitoring her heart throughout the entire operation was barely picking up anything at all. Joey froze with sudden fear. "PHOEBE! DR TURNER?! What's happening!?"

The doctor and nurses had been occupied with cleaning off the baby, and turned around. quickly began giving orders to his staff, and said something about "severe hemorrhaging".

"She's fading fast. We need to do a transfusion, right away! Somebody go down to the lab immediately! We need A positive." Dr. Turner was saying. "Mr. Tribbiani , I'm sorry, but I'm going to need you to step outside right now."

The next thing Joey knew, someone was pulling him away from Phoebe, forcing him to let go of her, as they all began to crowd around her, working quickly, trying to save her.

"What's going on, doctor!? What's wrong with her!?" he demanded as one of the nurses took his arm and tried to lead him to the door. Joey yanked his arm away.

"No, I'm not going anywhere! I can't leave her!"

"Mr. Tribbiani , I'm very sorry, but you can't be in here right now!" the nurse said, taking him out into the hall, away from the room.

"What's going on!? Will someone just answer me, for Christs sake!?" Joey was getting more and more angry as the nurse left him out there. He sank down onto one of the benches in the hallway, his head in his hands, feeling more terrified that he'd ever felt in his life.