Joey sat down on the leather sofa in the hotel lobby. Ross, Rachel, Monica and Chandler had already checked out and left. Joey had also checked out of his room, and now he was waiting for Phoebe. He sat there, nervously wringing his hands together in his lap and let out a deep breath. He didn't know what he was going to say to her. He just knew that things were already starting to get weird between them. As if it wasn't already difficult for him to be around Phoebe. But all throughout breakfast, he couldn't stop thinking about how great it would be if they were a couple. It would be so perfect. He loved her so much, and all he wanted to do was make her happy. And right now,she wasn't happy, and it was his fault for letting his feelings get in the way of things. 'I wish it hadn't happened like this..' he thought.

He was so busy being mad at himself that he didn't see Phoebe approach him. He looked up with a start when she cleared her throat.

"Hey." she said, as she sat down in the chair next to him.

"Hey.." he replied. He still didn't know where to begin or what to say.

"Hey, uhm..do Ross or Rachel know?"

Joey gave her a puzzled look. "Uh...no? At least, I don't think they do. They were asking a lot of questions this morning, but I didn't tell them anything. Why, did you?"

"No." Phoebe said. "I just...thought that was what you were going to ask me. But they don't know, right? I mean how could they?"

"Right." Joey agreed. "But that's not what I wanted to talk to you about. Uhm...look, Phoebe. I just...wanted to ask you..." he swallowed hard and made himself look her in the eye. "Is there...uhm.. are we ok? I mean..we're still friends, right? Nothing has changed?"

Phoebe tilted her head, sympathetically. She reached over and patted his shoulder. "Of course, Joey. I mean, yeah..maybe things are kinda
messed up and weird, right now, but...we'll get through it. We'll always be friends. You know that."

Joey gave a half smile. He was relieved to hear her say that. "Alright..just thought I'd make sure."

Phoebe started to get up to leave.

"So, uhm.." Joey said, rising to his feet as well. "Are you planning to tell Mike soon? Not that I'm rushing you or anything.."

"Oh. Well...actually, uhm..I think...that I've changed my mind. I'm just not going to tell him, so...he won't know."

Joey furrowed his brow. "Really? Pheebs, are you sure that's a good idea?"

"Well...yeah. I think." she paused and gave an uneasy sigh. "I want to tell him, Joey. But I know that it would hurt him. And what he doesn't know, can't hurt him, right?"

"But what about you?"

Phoebe shrugged. "What about me?"

"Well, you said yourself that you couldn't live with yourself not telling him. Pheebs, I know you. You always do what's right. If you don't tell him it'll drive you crazy, and you guys are already having problems."

"Ugh...I know," Phoebe said with a groan, as she slowly sat back down in the chair, placing her head in her hands. "We are having problems, but...I still have faith in our relationship. I keep telling myself that him not being around is not that big of a deal, and it's something we can fix, you know? But this...this is huge! Joey, if I told him right now, it would ruin everything!"

Joey just stood there, not knowing what to say, even though he didn't agree with her idea. Phoebe looked up at him momentarily and sighed before she glanced away.

"I know it sounds dumb, but...you wouldn't understand."

After a moment, Joey sat back down in the chair beside her. "Well..you're right. I don't know anything about being married. But I do know what it's like to be in love with someone who doesn't love you back.." he mumbled, as he stared down at the floor.

"You mean Rachel?" Phoebe asked, innocently. "Sweetie, I thought you were over her."

Joey couldn't help but give a short laugh, because she didn't have any idea that he meant her.

"I am.." he told her. He wanted to just come right out and say it, but he didn't think now was a good time.
Not after everything that happened last night. It would just further upset her. But he hated keeping it to himself like this. It was driving him crazy. "Anyways.." Joey said, changing the subject. "Phoebe, in the end it's your decision. But if I was you, I'd tell him. Because if you don't, it's just going to eat away at you and make you more unhappy than you already are!"

Phoebe rolled her eyes at him. "You make it sound like it's so easy. Just 'tell him' that I basically destroyed our marriage last night!"

Joey exhaled, his stomach sinking a little, with guilt. 'She's not the one who destroyed it, I am.' he thought.

"Look, Joey.." she began, in a calmer tone. "What's done is done. And I don't know why I...well, I wasn't thinking clearly, at the time. We both weren't. But the best thing we can do right now is just move on, and pretend it never happened, ok?"

"Pheebs...I don't think that's a good idea. I mean, I don't want you to end up getting hurt!"

"I won't!" Phoebe argued. "I mean..I'll deal with it. And why do you care so much, anyways?"

"Because, I love you." Joey froze, in disbelief of what just came out of his mouth. He hadn't meant to say it, it just slipped out. He stared at her, nervously waiting for her reaction. But she didn't seem to get what he meant at first.

"Awh, Joey, that's sweet." she said with a smile.

"No..that's not what I meant.."

Phoebe's smile dropped once she realized what he was saying. "Oh...Y-you mean you...you love-love me. Is that what you're saying? Oh. I see. Oh, dear.."

Joey didn't know what to say. Neither of them said anything for several seconds as Phoebe just stared off into space, trying to process this.

She turned in her chair to face him. "Since when?"

Joey raised his shoulders. "I dunno."

Phoebe gave him a look that told him she wasn't impressed with that answer. He took a deep breath.

"For a while..I guess. The truth is, I think I've always loved you, Phoebe. But I didn't realize how bad it was until recently. I wanted to tell you. I almost told you last night but..uh, things got out of hand. Look, I know that now probably isn't the time to be telling you this, but..it's true."

"But..Joey, didn't you already go through this with Rachel? I mean...you thought you were in love with her, but it didn't work out? I mean, maybe this is the same kind of thing. I kinda vaguely remember you telling me last night that it bothered you to see all of us getting married."

Joey shook his head. "It's not like that, Pheebs..I mean, yeah..it is kind of like the thing with Rachel, but it's different, too. I don't know how to explain it. All I know is that I haven't been able to stop thinking about you since I moved away. And asking myself why I didn't snatch you up when I still had the chance, you know?" He gave her a half-smile, before he glanced down at the floor again. "I got over Rachel pretty easily. I mean, I knew that she and Ross belonged together. And I realized that we were too close of friends to be anything more."

"Uhm...hello?" Pheoebe made a gesture to herself, indicating that she was in the same situation.

"I know..." he sighed. "Look, I know that I'm too late. And I keep trying not to think of you in that way, but...and last night, you just looked so beautiful. And when you started talking about Mike, and everything...Look, I knew I shouldn't have let things get out of hand like that. I knew I should have stopped. But...I just thought, 'This might be the only chance I'll ever get to be with her'. And I know how bad that sounds, but I don't mean it like that. What I did was stupid, and selfish, and.." Joey stopped to take a breath, and slowly let it out. He thought telling her this would make him feel better, but the more he talked, the worse he felt. "Pheebs, I'm really sorry. About everything. I just want to fix this for you. That's the least I can do. You love Mike..and you belong with him, not me. Please. Let me fix this. I'll tell him for you. I'll tell him everything."

Phoebe started to shake her head. "No, Joey, I can't let you do that...Do you realize, that if he knew all of this, even if we did stay together, our friendship would be over? There's no way he'd be ok with it. I might never see you again."

"Ok, but what if somewhere down the road, he finds out?"

"How would he?"

Joey shrugged. "I don't know..someone else finds out and tells him? Or more likely, you can't deal with keeping it a secret anymore, and you just tell him yourself. Don't you think he'd be more understanding if you just told him now, and got it over with? Look, Pheebs...this is still fixable. You guys can work this out, and everything else. Go to marriage counseling, and live the happy, married life, that I know you both want. And if he doesn't want you to see me anymore, well...you gotta do what you gotta do to make it work, right? He's your husband,
and you love him."

"Joey, I can't tell him." She said again. "I know that maybe it'll make things harder for myself, but..I'll deal with it. I mean, it's better than me having to lose you. Or him."

Joey opened his mouth to argue with her, but he stopped himself. He gave another shrug. "Alright. If you don't want to tell him, it's your choice, I guess. But, if you change your mind.."

Phoebe nodded, without saying anything. She slowly rose to her feet, and so did Joey. When he did, she put her arms around him, tightly. Joey held her as tight as he could, for at least a minute, wishing he didn't have to let her go. But eventually, he did.

"I'll, uh.. I'll see you later, ok?" she said. She turned around and started walking away.

"Hey, Pheebs?"

She turned back to him.

"I was just wondering...uhm.." Joey shoved his hands in his jacket pockets, and shook his head. "Nothing. Forget it."

"What?"

"Well...it's just...if you weren't already married to Mike..do you think maybe you'd be interested in..y'know, being with me instead?"

Phoebe thought about it for a second or two before a grin spread across her lips. "Yeah, I would. In a heartbeat."

Joey couldn't help but smile back. He nodded. "Alright...I'll see you later."

"Yeah. Bye."

After she was gone, Joey felt his cellphone in his pocket and took it out, staring at it for several minutes. He scrolled through his contacts and found Phoebe and Mike's house number. His thumb hovered hesitantly over the call button. 'Don't do it.' he thought. But he couldn't stand the thought of letting Phoebe make a poor decision that would more than likely just come back to haunt her later on, when Joey wasn't there to do anything to help her. 'Don't do it. Just walk away...'

Joey sighed. He put his phone back in his pocket and walked out of the hotel. He stopped walking and looked at his phone again. Finally, he made up his mind what he should do. "I'm sorry Phoebe.." he muttered. "It's for your own good. I just want you to be happy." He knew she was going to hate him for this. He pushed the button. It rang a few times. Joey almost hung up when he heard Mike's voice answer.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Mike? It's Joey. Look, uh..do you think I could meet up with you to talk about something? It's kinda important."

"Yeah, sure. I'll be home for the next hour or two. You could come by the apartment. You remember where we live, right?"

"Yeah, yeah...I'll stop by in a few minutes."

"Great. See you then."