Phoebe's laugh rang through the buzzing airport. She looked over and saw Ross and Chandler chuckling, of course they had known and Joey didn't. She was kind of nervous, however, that Joey's face didn't change for a whole thirty seconds after she told him the big news.
"Joey, are you okay?" she asked, slightly worried she might have just given her best friend a heart attack or a stroke.
"Yeah, yeah, just… you're pregnant?" he replied barely moving his face. She nodded and he asked, "How come you didn't tell me?"
Her worry disappeared and she giggled, "Well I was just about to tell you over the phone when you announced you were moving back. I was so excited that I had forgotten to tell you and then after that, Mike and I decided it would be a good surprise!"
"So when's it due?!" his face finally changed from stunned to excited.
"Sometime next month!" Chandler chimed in.
"Boy or girl?" Joey continued to interrogate.
"Shhhh!" Ross interjected while placing a hand over Chandler's mouth. "Mike knows but Phoebe told us in the very beginning she doesn't want to know."
Joey smiled. "So you don't know what you're going to name it?"
"Oh no, not quite yet. I was thinking Tallulah, but ya know, Mike just wouldn't go for it," Phoebe answered.
Joey laughed. Phoebe couldn't help but notice the physical changes in Joey. He had gotten tanner of course, being out in the sun and by the beach and such. But stronger? Yes, Joey's arms were bigger. She had heard everyone in L.A. works out, she didn't know she had never been there, but was Joey one of them? Maybe it was the fact that Joey was wearing a t-shirt and shorts even though it was late August and pretty chilly in New York. Oh, but he didn't know, it was still probably a hundred degrees in L.A. She wondered what the transition must be like for him.
"So where are Rachel and Monica?" Joey asked when they had all piled in Chandler's car.
"At the house," Chandler replied without turning to look at Joey, who sat in the back. Of course, he couldn't turn around, he was driving. "We're surprising you with a little get-together like old times."
"Monica's cooking," Ross added with an elbow to Joey's ribs. Phoebe sat in the front seat and laughed while Joey clapped his hands excitedly. Poor thing hadn't eaten a forkful of Monica food since he left.
Her stomach kicked. "Oh, oh you guys!" Phoebe exclaimed. "He or she is kicking! Feel, Joey!" She placed Joey's hand on her tummy and he groaned as he stretched uncomfortably, sprawling all over Ross just to feel her baby.
"Oh my, he… or she… is strong!" Joey laughed. "I still can't believe you're pregnant."
"Yeah, I know I had told Mike that I didn't know if I wanted kids, but everybody else was doing it," Phoebe smiled.
Chandler and Ross laughed. They both had two children and when it came to it, Phoebe realized that in a month or so Joey would be the only one without a baby. He was what, forty-something now right? She was forty, and he had to be older than her, maybe.
It was a long drive, with Ross narrating the adventures of the past three years in a long story that was probably twice as long as it should have been. He had a tendency to ramble on… They pulled up at the house. Chandler and Monica's beautiful house, the one they had worked so hard to get. Phoebe smiled thinking about how perfect it actually was. Little Erica and Jack each had their own room, Chandler and Monica had a bedroom and Chandler had an office, and they even had a room for Joey.
After the guys unloaded all of Joey's luggage from the back of Chandler's civic, they walked into the house and dropped his stuff just inside the door. Rachel came running when she heard Joey call, "Honey, I'm home!" Phoebe had laughed but of course it was a little corny. Nobody cared, actually, because they had missed Joey so much. He could say whatever he wanted until they all died and nobody would care, maybe.
After Rachel had hugged Joey a super long time, she led him into the kitchen where Monica stood in her old apron and standing over the stove. "Miss me?" Joey asked jokingly, and she turned around a little too sharp and dropped a bunch of silverware on the floor. Again, Phoebe noticed the greeting wasn't so cleverly planned but she didn't care. Ross scooped down to pick up the silverware, while Joey worked his hardest to interpret Monica's high-pitched squeals.
"Joey!" she practically jumped up and down. "Oh my GOD! I'm making your favorite-- meatball subs!"
He rubbed his tummy and moaned, "Mmmmmmm. Mon, you don't even know how good your food smells to me right now. I've eaten Chinese take-out and pizza for so long."
She laughed and Erica and Jack tumbled in through the backyard door with Emma trailing behind. Erica looked almost exactly like her birth-mother, Erica. She had bright blonde hair and bright blue eyes. Jack, compared to his radiant sister, was a little darker. His hair was a kind of sandy color and he had duller blue eyes. But he was still gorgeous. Emma, now four and only a year older than her so-called "cousins," looked most like Rachel. She had blonde hair, originally bright blonde but in the past few years, Phoebe noticed it had gotten darker. Emma had brown eyes, just as dark as Ross's, and she definitely had his arrogant smile… not to mention his bossy attitude. Being an only child, other than Ben (Ben was now 12, but he lived with Carol and Susan so he didn't see Emma so much), Emma was admittedly spoiled. Rachel was terrible at refusing Emma's requests. The adults had tolerated it, but she is still reprimanded for it often.
Over dinner, Joey shared his exciting stories of Los Angeles, girls he had met, jobs he had tried out for and lost, and it even came to him explaining his new career choice: modeling. Soon after dinner and a "Welcome Home Joey!" cake, Ross and Rachel had to leave because Emma was becoming exhausted and quite frankly, annoying. Chandler had put Erica and Jack to bed. Even Joey was weary when Phoebe got up to leave, so Chandler had taken him to his room and Phoebe stepped out the door hearing Chandler say, "Goodnight Joey, sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite!"