Disclaimer – I own nothing to do with Friends.

A/N – This chapter took way longer than I thought it would to write. Hope you enjoy.

XXX

Joey pouted as Monica slapped his hand away from the plate of bread rolls sitting on the table.

"Joey, no eating till everyone gets here," she said sternly.

"Why did you tell me to get here earlier if we aren't eating earlier?" he asked. "I'm hungry."

"We're still eating at seven. As soon as Phoebe and Mike get here, I'll tell you what's going on."

"Okay, but they better hurry up or I'm ordering a pizza."

"Joey, go and sit down. They won't be long."

After another 10 minutes of Joey's complaining, Monica was relieved when Phoebe and Mike walked through the door, Mike carrying the baby seat which held their sleeping four month old son.

"Hey, Mon," said Phoebe. "What's up?"

"Finally!" Joey exclaimed. "Can we eat now?"

"I need to talk you all about something first. Sit down."

Mike and Phoebe sat on the couch with Joey. Mike carefully placed baby Finn by his feet.

"Where's Richard?" asked Phoebe.

"He's picking the kids up from my parents. He'll be back soon." Monica sat on the coffee table and leant on her knees. "Okay. There's someone else joining us for dinner."

"Who?" asked Phoebe.

"Chandler. I ran into him at the coffee shop earlier."

"Chandler?" asked Mike. "Isn't that the guy who stole Ross's wife?"

"Yes he is," said Monica. "They've been married ten years and they've got three kids; Zoë, Noah and Henry. They're going through a really hard time right now. Chandler's struggling to cope with things and he could really use some support."

"What's wrong?" asked Joey.

"About eighteen months ago, Emily got sick. The muscles in her heart had weakened and she was diagnosed with a condition called dilated cardiomyopathy. They tried every possible treatment but nothing worked and she just got worse. Two months ago, they
came to New York to see a specialist and while they were here, Emily had a heart attack that caused massive damage. She's been in hospital ever since and Chandler's been staying in a hotel with the kids. The only option left is a transplant."

Monica watched Joey and Phoebe, trying to gauge their reactions. There were tears and concern in Phoebe's eyes, but Joey looked angry. He ran his hand over his chin before standing up and leaving the apartment, ignoring Monica shouting after him. They
heard the door to Joey's apartment slam behind him. A moment later, Rachel walked through the door, Emma walking beside her, Liam perched on her hip.

"What's up with Joe?" she asked.

"I just told him Chandler's coming over," said Monica. "No Ross?"

"No. He says we can all do what we want, but he can't face Chandler."

Monica sighed. She could understand Ross still being angry, but she had hoped Emily being sick would help him get over it and move on.

"Okay," she said, standing up. "I guess it's just us then."

XXX

Chandler knocked on the door apprehensively. His nerves had been building all day and he was feeling very twitchy right now. Monica opened the door and smiled reassuringly.

"Hi," she said.

"Hi."

"Where are the kids?"

"They're with my mom. When I told her I was coming here, she insisted on babysittingso I can get some time to myself."

"Probably a good idea. I'm guessing you could use a break." She moved further into the hall and pulled the door shut behind her. "Listen, I need to tell you something before we go in there."

"What is it?" he asked, trying to swallow the lump in his throat.

"Ross isn't here. I told him you were coming and he said he couldn't face you."

"I guess I should have seen that coming." He ran his hand through his hair, and then folded his arms across his chest. He really couldn't blame Ross.

"One more thing. I told Phoebe and Joey that you were coming. Phoebe's still here and she's looking forward to seeing you. But Joey stormed off."

Chandler looked down at the floor. It was Joey he had missed more than anyone.

"Chandler, are you okay?"

"Yeah," he said, looking up. "I'll be fine. What about Rachel?"

"Rachel's here. And she brought her kids."

"Rach is a mom?"

"Yeah. Emma is like her little mini-me and Liam is so much like his dad it's scary."

"Is their dad here too?"

"About a year after you left, Rachel got back together with Ross. They got married just before Emma was born."

"Ross married Rachel. Wow. What about the rest of you? Married? Kids?"

"Well, Joey is still Joey."

"Of course."

"Phoebe got married to a guy called Mike. He's really nice. They have a baby boy called Finn. And I married Richard."

"Richard? Tall guy with a moustache Richard?"

"That's the one," she said, smiling. "We have two little girls. Isabelle and Rose."

"I'm really happy for you. For all of you."

"You ready to go in?"

"Yep. Let's go."

Monica stepped into the apartment with Chandler following sheepishly behind. Phoebe and Rachel stood side by side, waiting to greet him. As he smiled and waved at them nervously, they went straight to him and embraced him tightly. All three of them were
on the verge of tears.

"I've missed you," he said.

"We missed you," Rachel replied.

"A lot," added Phoebe.

The girls each kissed him on the cheek before the hug broke.

"We're sorry about Emily," said Rachel. "How's she doing?"

"She has good days and bad. Today's not too bad."

"How are you?" asked Phoebe.

"Pretty much the same," he said.

Rachel hugged him again as she began to cry. "If you need anything, you know where I am."

"Same here," added Phoebe.

"Thank you," he said. "Both of you. You don't know what that means to me."

"Come on," said Phoebe, taking his hand. "Come and meet everyone."

XXX

"This is Noah on his last birthday," Chandler said as flipped to the next photograph in his iPhone. "Six years old and he still hasn't mastered cake goes IN mouth not around it."

Sitting on either side of him on the couch, Phoebe and Rachel both cooed at the image. Chandler moved onto the next picture. Emily sat on a blanket in a park, Henry on her lap, Zoë and Noah behind her leaning on her shoulders, all four of them with huge
smiles and the sun shining brightly on them.

"That's a lovely picture," said Rachel. "When was that taken?"

"A couple of months ago," Chandler said. "The day before we came to New York. Em wanted a happy picture of her and the kids."

Chandler stared at the photo in silence. Rachel squeezed his arm, trying to comfort him. She wished there was something more she could do. Telling him it would be okay seemed so hollow. And she didn't know if it would be.

"They do look happy," said Phoebe. "You have a beautiful family."

"I know," he said. He looked at the picture a second longer, before returning the phone to his pocket.

"We have to arrange some sort of mass play date," said Richard. "Get all the kids together. I think with all of us, there'll be just enough adults to handle them all."

"Yeah," said Rachel. "I like that idea."

"Me too," said Phoebe.

"That'd be great," said Chandler. "Zoë would go totally crazy over little Finn. She's in a total baby phase. It's cute but kind of scary for her father to hear his 9 year old daughter say she wants one."

"Tell me about it," said Richard. "Izzie's exactly the same."

"Emma is too," added Rachel. "Ross says that no boys are getting any where near her, ever."

Chandler chuckled. "That sounds like Ross."

There was an awkward silence at the mention of Ross's name. Phoebe squeezed Chandler's knee.

"He'll come around," Rachel said.

"Maybe," said Chandler.

"Okay, guys," called Monica from the kitchen. "Dinner's ready."

The girls, Chandler and Mike made their way to the table, as Richard went to Izzie and Rose's bedroom to drag the children away from whatever game they were playing. Everyone had just sat down as Joey came through the door.

"Chandler," he said, awkwardly. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Erm, yeah," he replied. "Sure."

Chandler stood up from the table and followed Joey across the hall. Once inside they stood staring at each other uneasily for a moment before Joey took a deep breath and broke the silence.

"Okay," he began. "I cleared out the spare room and there's a double bed in there and the couch pulls out to a double as well. So there should be enough room for all of us."

"I don't understand."

"You're not staying in a hotel. You need your friends."

"Monica said you were angry that I was coming tonight."

"I was. I was angry that you'd been in the city for so long, struggling with three kids and a sick wife, and this was the first we knew about it. You didn't feel like you could call me."

"I figured none of you would want to see me after what I did. You were all so angry with me back then. Ross still doesn't want anything to do with me."

"What you did to Ross sucked. It really hurt him. It hurt all of us. But that was 12 years ago. You need us now."

"Thank you, Joey."

Joey stepped towards his friend and wrapped his arms around him. He thought back to the day he found out Chandler had left New York. Finding the note on the door had devastated him. Every day since then, he'd regretted the way he had treated Chandler.
This was his chance to make amends.

The two men slapped each other on the back and pulled apart, both very much looking forward to being room mates again and putting the past behind them.

"Let's go eat," said Joey. "I'm starving."

Chandler laughed as they made their way back to Monica's apartment.