I know the end of Chapter 10 might have seemed like The End, but it wasn't meant to be. This rather long chapter wraps it all up. Maybe it's a little hasty, but I have other stuff waiting to be typed and other ideas I want to explore when I have the time (I don't think Triangle is going to work, but I am willing to try if more interest is displayed), so I didn't want to carry this on for ever. I hope you all enjoyed it. Comments and reviews always welcome.

Chapter 11: The Rovers' Return and After

Rachel was humming to herself as she gave the counter a totally unnecessary wipe in Monica's Place. Everything was going well, she thought. Monica was near the end of her second trimester and beginning to show. She was in such good health that it sometimes required the united efforts of the entire staff of Monica's Place to prevent her from overtaxing her strength and make her take regular rests. She had positively insisted that she could look after herself and did not need Rachel around every moment, so that Rachel could finally yield to Chandler's urging – and that of her own heart – and move in with him. They had settled down together without any real problems. The transition was made easier for Chandler because he had lived alone for a while, not wanting to get in a room-mate whom he would then have to dislodge. It had put some pressure on his finances, but they had won through. The next step, of course, was marriage. She was in no doubt that she would marry Chandler if he asked, but for the present she was perfectly content to wait and enjoy living with him.

'Heyyy! How's my favourite coffeehouse manager?' came a very familiar voice, and she looked up to see a very tanned and stylishly dressed Janice standing in the doorway, fashionable travelling bag slung over one shoulder, beaming at her.

'Janice!' she cried, and ran out from behind the counter to embrace her. 'It's so great to see you!'

'It's great to see you too, sweetheart,' said Janice, returning her hug strongly enough to make Rachel gasp. 'And before I say anything else, I want to thank you for encouraging me to try my hand at acting. I've had a blast, and they pay me for it too.' She gave a great whooping laugh.

'You're going to have a cup of the best coffee I can offer, I hope?' said Rachel.

'Sure,' said Janice enthusiastically. 'And a big one. You can't get coffee like New York's over there. Say, you don't happen to have one of your cakes available, do you? Even a cookie would do. I only got off the plane a short while ago, and I'd much rather have anything you've got than airport food, so I waited.'

'I can do better than cake or cookies,' said Rachel. 'How about some of Monica's baklavà? It's not up to Eléni's, but then, nothing could be.'

'Ooh, baklavà!' said Janice with even more enthusiasm. 'Lead me to it.'

Before long they were seated at a table and Janice was demolishing a large cup of coffee and an equally large portion of baklavà with evident enjoyment, as Rachel watched her indulgently.

'So how is Monica?' said Janice. 'Still with …?' She paused, evidently searching for the name.

'Richard,' Rachel supplied. 'Yes, they are still together, and very happy as far as I can tell. He's taking all the baby business very well – but then he can afford to, since she's not living with him.'

'She's … okay about me and Joey?' said Janice a little diffidently.

'Don't worry about a thing,' said Rachel, patting her on the hand. 'The news came as a great relief to her, to be honest. I hope you won't mind my saying, but we were rather surprised. I mean, there was a time when Joey couldn't stand even being near you.'

Janice chuckled happily. 'I'll bet you had a good laugh over that. Well, you know, when you're all thrown together in a strange environment, working together all the time, relationships can easily develop. He was very kind to me, passing on some of the basics of acting, though he's not so good at thinking about how he does things as others were. They were all kind, in fact, but, well, I liked Joey best.' She flashed a smile. 'But you shouldn't think of this as any great romance. We're very happy to date, but we have no long-term plans and aren't going to start living together or anything. He's got an apartment lined up, and I'm back in my old one. Are you still living with Monica?'

'No, I moved in with Chandler nearly two months ago,' said Rachel, blushing a little.

'That's good,' said Janice, beaming at her. 'I'm really happy that that has worked out so well. He couldn't be in better hands.' She took Rachel's hand and gave it a strong squeeze, looking completely sincere.

'So, tell me all about shooting the series, and if you met any big stars, and all that,' said Rachel.

Janice was happy to hold forth, and kept Rachel, the morning waitress Mary Ellen, and the few customers who had come in enthralled with tales of the filming. She would not reveal too much about the theme of the series, although she did mention details of particular episodes, and one constant element.

'Say, you know that laugh of mine, that used to drive you guys up the wall?' she said. 'Well, in the series, it's my secret weapon. Any bad guys that hear it at full strength are demoralized, even monsters and stuff, and they have to cover their ears at least, or run and hide. But I have to be so careful how I laugh in normal circumstances, because I make glass shatter, windows break, that kind of thing, and' – she slapped the table and began giggling – 'my character has a very good sense of humour!' She bent over, temporarily helpless with laughter.

Everyone else laughed with her. Rachel privately marvelled at the change in Janice. It was as if going into acting had released something in her personality. She showed an easy self-confidence that she had not displayed before, except when routing the robber, and she was if anything even more flamboyant than she used to be, but in a wholly endearing way, and her warm heart and generous spirit were very much in evidence. She did not have a bad word to say about any of the people she worked with, as became obvious when one of the customers revealed himself to be a freelance reporter and asked her for an interview. This was to be the first of the famous Janice interviews, universally recognised by the tabloids, celebrity magazines, and chat shows as good value because of her quick-witted responses and outspoken, often pungently phrased comments. These were almost always directed at intrusive paparazzi, free-lance photographers and interviewers, over-demanding directors, and self-important studio brass, rather than at her fellow actors, scriptwriters and all the technical people who worked in movies and TV. Naturally, this made her extremely popular in the profession, even if many considered her hopelessly naïve and uncritical of her acting colleagues.

The morning had moved along, and Rachel had had to get to work again behind the counter, when Joey finally came in, to be embraced first by Janice, then by Rachel. He had not changed very much, although Rachel thought she detected signs of a new maturity.

'How is Monica?' he said to her quietly, when he had a chance to talk; the reporter had cornered him too.

'She's fine, Joey,' Rachel reassured him. 'I hope this doesn't bother you, but she is completely gone on Richard. She doesn't regret her love affair with you for a moment, but that's all ancient history for her now.'

'That's great,' he said. 'I bet you guys were surprised about me and Janice, huh?'

Rachel couldn't help grinning. 'To be honest, we all laughed like anything.'

Joey grinned also. 'It's like … she's a completely different person from what I imagined. How I can have been so dumb! Isn't she great?'

They both looked at Janice, centre of an admiring audience and happy to be so, but completely free of any diva-like airs.

'You're a lucky man, Joey Tribbiani,' said Rachel. 'I wouldn't let that one get away, if I were you.'

Joey pulled a face. 'Janice is great, but … I'm not sure I see this as really long-term. Don't tell her I said so, though.'

Rachel smiled. 'Still the same old Joey.' She reached out and tousled his hair. 'It's good to have you back.'

At lunchtime there was something of a gathering of the clan, for Ross and Phoebe came in, as they frequently did, and also Carol and Monica, with Ben. Monica was very happy to see Joey, but her reaction to him was clearly that of a friend and no more. Conversation centred first on the publication of Ross and Phoebe's first guidebook, to the museum's collection of very early palaeontological material, which looked like being an immediate success, and then on their plans to get married in the near future, before Monica became too uncomfortably large.

'But I can't be a bridesmaid,' she insisted. 'It just wouldn't look right.'

'Okay,' said Phoebe. 'But couldn't you be, like, Matron of Honour? That would be appropriate. And Rachel's going to be Maid of Honour, and Chandler Best Man.'

Monica looked uncomfortable. 'I think a very pregnant Matron of Honour is going to take people's attention away from you,' she said. 'I think it should be our mom, if you want a Matron of Honour. I'll just be the sister of the groom, and great friend of the bride.'

'Oh, okay,' said Phoebe insouciantly. 'I don't want to push you into anything. Now, I have some other people to ask.' She began trying to catch Janice's or Joey's eye, but they were engrossed in conversation with each other. Finally, Phoebe yelled impatiently, 'Hey, Hero Twins! Over here!'

Both jumped and looked at her, startled. She smiled.

'Janice, would you be a bridesmaid at our wedding?' she said. 'And Joey, will you be a what-do-you-call-it?'

'An usher,' said Ross. 'We'd be very pleased.'

'Sure,' said Joey happily, while Janice looked very touched, and said quietly that she'd be thrilled to do it.

'Then that's settled,' said Phoebe decisively. 'Okay, Joey and Janice, what kind of hokum is your series offering to the public? I hope this isn't supposed to be, like, some real period in the past. Are there any dinosaurs in it?'

'There are monsters that look like dinosaurs sometimes,' said Joey. 'But it's not meant to be any time in the past, as far as I know.'

'It's not even clear if it's meant to be our earth,' said Janice. 'None of the placenames are real names, for instance, and it's all fantasy, with magic and ghosts and monsters and all. See, the basic premise is that our characters are twins by the same mother, fathered on the same night, but his father is a god and mine is a mortal. But we are brought up together, and when Joey's character decides to go out into the world and be a hero and make it a safer place for human beings and all, I insist on going with him.'

'Yeah, and all the time I'm trying to protect her, but actually she's looking after me,' says Joey. 'She's smarter than me, you see, and just as good at fighting, and she has this secret weapon.'

Janice gleefully told them again about the secret weapon, which made everyone laugh. 'The writers are great,' she said. 'Although some of our adversaries are pretty grim, and there's a lot of ferocious fighting, there's also a lot of light-hearted stuff, which should make anyone laugh. I liked doing that the best, to be honest.'

'There's all kinds of great characters,' said Joey, 'and you should see the scenery! New Zealand has got everything, as far as that goes.'

'It sounds like a potential smash hit,' said Ross. 'I hope it takes off for you guys. I'm certainly going to watch it.' He looked slightly defiantly at Phoebe.

'That's okay, Ross,' she said, smiling at him. 'So will I. It's when they start getting the real past so wrong that I feel antsy. People shouldn't be misled.'

'There are people out there who don't even know who won the Second World War, Phoebe,' said Carol, 'for all the stuff that's constantly produced about it. Some levels of ignorance are invincible.'

'Well, I'm never going to stop trying to tell them better,' said Phoebe mulishly.

Ross leaned across to hug her. 'My dear academic Phoebe.'

Phoebe giggled, and everyone else smiled. More than one reflected on how Phoebe had changed, although Rachel felt that this was simply the reverse of the confident belief that she had displayed in her alternative world picture before.

Ross and Phoebe's marriage was not a very lavish affair, but it attracted some media attention because Joey and Janice were participating. Already a good deal of advance publicity and rumours had leaked out about the Hero Twins series, and as they had been involved in promoting the show they had become minor celebrities; Joey, of course, was already known for his work on Days Of Our Lives.

Janice was extremely firm with the media personnel who showed up at the wedding, and went to great lengths to ensure that they realised that Ross held a significant position, and Phoebe was beginning to do so, in a serious academic discipline.

'If I ever hear that any of you has referred to either of them as a geek, or anything like that, no more interviews for you or whatever you rode in on, paper, magazine, TV programme, okay?' she threatened at full volume. The media personnel quailed and promised to show proper respect for Ross and Phoebe's vocation.

Jack and Judy Geller were very pleased to have a new daughter-in-law who had so much in common with Ross, but Phoebe was already beginning to make it quite clear that she would put up with no nonsense from Judy. Her announced intention of trying for a baby immediately was music to Judy's ears, although it deprived her of an opportunity to contrast Monica and Phoebe to the discredit of one of them. No one could avoid noticing that Monica was pregnant, but she was still in blooming health, and even her mother, although she had shown signs of reverting to type on the basis of superior knowledge of pregnancy and giving birth, could not really find anything to criticise. She did venture one remark about Monica's maternity clothes, but before Monica could respond Judy noticed Phoebe turning a very beady eye upon her, and hastily offered to get Monica something more to eat.

'After all, you're eating for two now, dear,' she said. She looked about to enlarge on this, but Phoebe somehow seemed to intensify her gaze, and Judy hurried off.

'I'll just bet she was going to make some comparison with when you were a teenager,' said Phoebe to Monica, grinning. 'But don't you worry: it's going be two against one, from now on.'

'Thanks, Pheebs,' said Monica sincerely. 'I can handle her better, and she has improved, but this feature of her character is like one of those weeds that you can never completely chase out of your garden. It is great to have the US Cavalry show up from time to time.'

They smiled at each other.

'Say, do you think this will give Chandler and Rachel ideas?' said Phoebe, looking at the dance-floor, where Chandler and Rachel were circling to a slow romantic tune, wholly wrapped up in each other.

'I hope so,' said Monica. 'But now that I'm having to take more of a back seat at the restaurant, they're working harder than ever.'

'What do you think about Joey and Janice?' Phoebe went on, looking across to where they formed the centre of a very lively group.

Monica shook her head. 'I don't think either of them is really serious,' she said. 'But if they keep doing this series together, who knows?'

In the new year the Hero Twins series began to be aired, and it was a hit from the start: a second series was commissioned after only three episodes had been shown. This meant that Joey and Janice would have to return to New Zealand shortly, but they were able to watch the first episodes with their friends, who became enthusiastic fans of the series, even Phoebe. As they had been promised, there was a good deal of exciting action, as well as exotic settings and colourful characters. But the high point in the early episodes for all of them was the occasion, which Janice and Joey had carefully kept secret, when she laughed a dungeon door off its hinges. This sequence, which included inventive use of special effects, as the door buckled and the hinges cracked, and frantic joking on Joey's part to keep Janice's character laughing, reduced them all to complete hysteria, even Janice and Joey who had already seen a rough cut, and later references to it, which they could not resist making, had almost as strong an effect.

'Oh Lord!' said Monica, wiping her eyes after one such occasion. 'I'm surprised that didn't send me into labour when I first saw it. Of course, you guys knew what was coming.'

Janice grinned. 'Talking of labour, when are you due?' she asked. 'I'm guessing, in a couple of months or so?'

'Yes, should be early March,' said Monica.

'Right,' said Janice decisively. 'We'll be off to New Zealand soon, but I'll be here, if I have to swim. I'm getting it put in my contract, I get a week off around then. You'd better not be late, is all.' She made a tremendous mock frown at Monica.

'Oh Janice, you don't have to do that,' said Monica, very touched.

'I want to,' said Janice, looking very determined. 'You guys are like a second family to me now.'

So it was that when, finally, Monica went into labour in early March, the gathering which attended the labour included Janice, though not Joey; the producers of the series had been willing to let Janice go for a short while, but not both of them. On the day itself, Monica delayed going into hospital for a long time, insisting that the pangs she had been feeling since early morning were not regular enough, and must be false labour. But when Janice arrived at the apartment, having been informed by Rachel that she thought Monica was in labour even though Monica didn't think so, she at once told her to get to the hospital.

'Labour pangs can be irregular,' she said, 'and yours are lasting long enough, and hurting enough, to look like true labour to me. And don't bother about letting everyone else know; I'll handle that, if you'll give me your address book.'

'But …' Monica began.

'Go!' yelled Janice in the manner of her Hero Twins character. 'Or,' she put on a threatening look, 'do you want to make me laugh?'

Monica giggled. 'Okay, okay,' she said. 'If you're going to do everything, phone me a taxi.' She lay back on the couch in luxurious relaxation.

Janice grinned. 'Glad to.'

When Monica got to the hospital, supported by Phoebe and Rachel, who had come from their workplaces at once, Janice was proved right. Monica's labour was far advanced. An even larger gathering arrived than for Ben's birth: Chandler and Ross came with Janice, and then at intervals Carol, Richard, and Jack and Judy Geller checked in. Not long after her parents' arrival, Monica was told to start pushing. In a revival of her old competitiveness, this led her to try to push the baby out faster than it wanted to come.

'Monica dear, you'll strain yourself,' Judy protested.

Monica looked obstinate. Judy looked around. 'Janice, you tell her,' she appealed.

'She's right, Monica,' said Janice. 'You should always remember, even your mom can be right some of the time.'

Judy bridled at this, but said nothing. Monica smiled and said, 'Okay, I'll ease up. But I would so like to get this over!'

'We all feel like that, dear,' said Judy with some sympathy, 'but Nature has to be allowed to take its course. It won't be all that long now.'

It was at this point that the midwife demanded that everyone except the father leave.

'No father here,' said Phoebe. 'Judy, you should stay with her.'

'I want Janice!' said Monica emotionally. 'She's the one who helped Carol through it.'

Judy and Janice looked at each other. 'We'll both stay,' said Janice diplomatically. Judy nodded, and the midwife, under pressure from several determined females –  – for Phoebe and Rachel weighed in when she showed signs of resisting Monica's wishes – could only agree.

A bit over two hours after she had entered hospital, Monica gave birth to a daughter, more or less exactly at 8 in the evening of March 4th, 1996. The baby, whom everyone proclaimed to be beautiful, though she looked much the same as most babies, was announced to be Josephina Judith Geller-Tribbiani – an order of names on which Monica insisted with a vehemence unusual even for her – to general acclaim. In the mysterious way that such things do, the news that a star of the Hero Twins was attending a friend's labour had leaked out, and reporters and photographers began to show up, so that the birth became even more of an event than Monica had anticipated. Se actually welcomed the attention, becoming more like the old controlling Monica than she had been for some time, and it was some while  before the united efforts of Judy, Carol, Phoebe, Rachel, Janice and the midwife could persuade her that she needed to rest.

'Well,' said Judy as they left the waiting area, 'a second grandchild. Things aren't turning out so badly after all, are they, Jack?'

As he agreed, Phoebe went 'H'm' in a marked manner. 'Why "after all", Judy?' she asked rather pointedly.

Judy looked at her apprehensively, even seeming to blush a little. 'I only meant …' she began, and then dried, not sure how to go on.

After letting the silence last a little, while Judy looked more and more uncomfortable, Phoebe waved a hand and said, 'Never mind.' She felt it did no harm to put her mother-in-law on the spot every now and then, after all the times she had made Monica so unhappy, but she didn't want to torment the poor woman too much. She did not understand how she managed to intimidate Judy so, but it was a very useful talent to possess, and she intended to make full use of it. 'Now seems as good a time as any to tell you our news, eh Ross?' she went on.

'Yes,' said Ross, beaming. 'Phoebe's pregnant.'

'I thought you looked a little bigger,' said Judy, rallying. 'When's it due?'

'Should be in early October,' said Phoebe. 'And we've decided, we don't want to know what the sex is, so it'll be a surprise for all of us.'

As they chattered on cheerfully about this, Chandler, behind them, looked at Rachel, who seemed pensive.

'Everybody's doing it, doing it, doing it,' he chanted.

She grinned at him. 'It certainly seems that way. It's going to change things in our gang, isn't it?'

'Things have changed a lot already,' said Chandler. 'And they're going to go on changing. That's real life, I guess.' He felt in his pocket. 'This is maybe not the best time, but …' He produced a box and right there, in the reception area of the hospital, went down on one knee, opening the box in front of Rachel for her to see the ring set with small diamonds. 'Rachel, my dearest love, will you marry me?'

Rachel gasped with surprise, and for a moment tears welled up in her eyes, almost blinding her. 'Chandler, of course I will,' she said happily, and reached forward to embrace him. Eagerly, he placed the ring on her finger and stood to hold her. She hugged him hard, putting all her delight at this fulfilment of her dreams into the hug.

He gasped. 'Easy, Rachel. You wouldn't want me with cracked ribs all taped up at the wedding.'

'No,' she said, 'let alone the honeymoon.' She put up her face to kiss him.

'Is that what I think it is?' cried Janice, who had been chatting with Carol as they brought up the rear. 'Yes it is, by cracky: it's a ring! Have you really proposed, Chandler?'

He nodded. 'I couldn't bear to wait any longer.' Rachel looked at him in amazement: had he really been planning this for some time?

'How long have you been waiting, then?' she said, raising her eyebrows at him.

He grinned at her. 'Oh … since soon after you moved in, and I found out how great it was actually living with you. But I didn't want to rush things too much.'

'Well, good for you,' Janice said emphatically. 'Good for both of you. I wish you all the happiness in the world.'

'Yeah, congratulations,' said Carol with enthusiasm. 'So you're all settling down, huh?'

'All but Joey and Janice,' said Chandler, winking at Janice.

'Oh, I expect I'll come to it,' said Janice, 'but I'm having too much fun at the moment, and as for Joey – ' she giggled. 'The day he settles down, pigs might fly.'

'So you don't think you might grab him yourself?' said Rachel in slight disappointment.

Janice shook her head. 'He's a great guy, and we have a lot of fun, but I'm not sure I'd trust him as far as I could throw him at the moment. He's too ready to be attracted to every cute woman he sees, and too good at attracting them. In ten years, maybe … but I don't want to wait that long if I can help it!' She gave a great whoop of laughter. 'Even after all I've seen, I want one of those little things that Carol and Monica have, and Phoebe is going to have. But I'll have to wait till the Hero Twins is pulled, I think: juggling a pregnancy and the shooting schedule would be murder.'

'We'll have to talk about your schedule,' said Rachel. 'I'd like you to be Maid of Honour, if you're willing, since you pushed Chandler into asking me out.'

'Thanks, Rachel,' said Janice. 'I'd love to.' She grinned. 'But if Monica gets married I'll have to beg off. You know what they say: three times a bridesmaid, never a bride.'

Laughing, they went out into the night.