[There is a short flashback here from the ninth season, especially episode 903, TOW The Pediatrician, episode 909, TOW Rachel's Phone Number, and episode 910, TOW Christmas in Tulsa.]
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Joey and Chandler woke up together, lying close in bed and watching each other's eyes. They kissed, and Joey pulled Chandler back into his arms. "You said you've been dreaming about me?"

He put his head on Joey's shoulder. "Yeah, for a few weeks now."

"Are we together? Without her?"

He nodded. "I mostly dream about Vegas and London, and picture what I should have done and said. It was so real sometimes that I'd wake up and reach for you in bed, but it was only her there. Then I'd stare at my wedding ring and tell myself, 'How dare you think that?! She's you're wife and you promised to give her a baby.' So I just went on, and pretended it meant nothing. It was too late for you and me, you know? But I kept picturing you when I was with her, and caught myself almost saying your name in bed."

"Me too," Joey said. His dates continued to be nothing special compared to Chandler, so he had settled for pretending.

Chandler closed his eyes and clung to Joey. "Why did I make all those stupid choices? Why did I keep hurting you?"

Joey shook his head. "It wasn't--it wasn't all your fault. I was the one who asked to date girls, right?"

"Yeah, but 'I never stopped trying to get dates', either. And then you stopped dating again and tried to make it just us, but I brushed you off and just didn't get it."

"I should have been more direct, I guess."

"No! Trust me, Joe, I would have panicked had you said 'I love you' or 'Let's tell everybody.' I mean, remember what happened in Vegas? I just, I just wasn't ready for us as a couple, and I always thought of you as the macho stud who lived out all my fantasies with women. I didn't want to give that up."

Joey pondered that and shrugged. "Remember in Vegas, I was the one who kissed you?"

"Yeah, and I was the one who wanted a road trip to escape any decision or responsibility!" He frowned and met Joey's eyes. "I'm sorry I couldn't say 'I love you' then. If I could do it over, I'd say, 'To hell with Monica and Richard! I've been thinking about you kissing that guy for a month. I've been thinking about a damned sandwich longer than her lunch date! It's you I came to Vegas for.' I wish I'd known about Phoebe then. That's why she hit me so hard, wasn't it?"

Joey nodded. "You should have seen her hit me yesterday."

Chandler looked appalled and started to ask about that, but was interrupted by the buzzing of his alarm. He had to get ready for work. "Damn!" he sat up and turned it off. "I haven't hated my job this much since I was working in data processing."

Joey shrugged. "At least--at least you're not in Tulsa."

Chandler nodded and was reluctant to leave the bed yet. "If you wanted me to move to Tulsa for you--for any reason--I'd go."

Joey smiled and kissed him. "There's no soap operas in Tulsa."

"I know." He felt defeated and finally got up from the bed.

***

Joey eventually headed for work too. *Days of Our Lives* was a good, steady job, but he had often thought about moving to Hollywood to get more movie roles. What if he did go? Would Chandler really go with him? Just quit his job and uproot himself? Never see Monica or any of their friends again?

Just to test Chandler, Joey could tell him that he was moving, couldn't he? But would that be the end of it? Monica had agreed to move with Chandler to Tulsa, but backed out at the last minute for a new restaurant job. Strangely, no one considered her a bad wife for letting him go alone; everyone was just happy that she'd stay in New York because she was "the glue that holds this group together," according to Ross.

Joey could remember being the only one actually upset the day that Chandler left for Tulsa. The only one who put on a childish act and made a scene. He should have been used to being left by Chandler by now, but it still hurt. The only consolation this time was that Chandler's wife was also giving up him for four days a week, but you'd think she'd be more miserable about it. They acted as if their marriage was completely unchanged, with no long distance, and no days when Chandler was just tired and cranky from all the traveling. And Monica would never let up with the sex, as if she could really be ovulating day after day and week after week.

Joey would often catch Chandler asleep on the couch while Monica was at the restaurant, still unable to sacrifice her job to be with him during his few days in New York. Joey would just sit with him in silence and think, *No wonder he can't be as funny as he used to be.*

"Joe?" He'd sometimes wake up while Joey was there. "Are we alone?" he'd ask.

Joey would nod.

"Ross isn't home, is he?"

"No," Joey would answer, or else he'd go close the drapes on the big window.

"Good." Chandler would visibly relax then, and Joey would come lie against him. It was just a comforting embrace since Chandler was too tired for anything else. It didn't feel like pity then; it felt like love.

Once, Chandler laughed softly. "I told her last night, 'It's better for Joey to think you're cheating on me, than for him to think I'm cheating on him.' I almost added, 'He loves me,' but I don't think she would have believed me." He sighed and caressed Joey's hair. "How are you holding up?"

Joey shrugged. "The same." Same as always.

Chandler kissed him, and asked haltingly, "Would it, would it be wrong if... if you moved to Tulsa, or somewhere close, and we had four days a week?" But he bit his lip and shook his head at his own question. "Forget I said that."

Joey just clung to him and watched Chandler twist his ring round and round on his finger.

The next week, Chandler decided to quit that damn Tulsa job and come home. He told Monica that he came back for her, but Joey had seen that look in Chandler's eyes. At the Christmas party, Chandler got out some mistletoe and kissed Joey in front of everybody, who only laughed, like at New Year's.

After such bravery, Joey had hoped that Chandler would leave her this time, but he didn't. When Joey asked him about it after the holidays, Chandler looked troubled. "How can I quit, and then leave her too--no money, no baby, no marriage? All gone, just like that?"

"But do you love me?"

Chandler frowned. "What if, what if it's just a crush? What if I was just tired and delirious and saying stuff?"

Joey stormed out, and thought he'd never forgive Chandler for that.

***

In the recliner, Joey was waiting for Chandler to come home again.

Chandler came in the door, carrying a Joey special--two pizzas--with him. He seemed to think he needed to bring something every day. "Hi, Joe," he put down the pizza boxes on the kitchen counter. "I know it's not Friday, but I--"

"Chandler," Joey interrupted him, and motioned for him to come sit.

So Chandler joined him on the big recliner again. "What's wrong?"

Joey put an arm around him. "I was thinking about when you kissed me last Christmas. Remember before that, when you had to commute to Tulsa?"

He grimaced. "I try not to think about Tulsa that much. They were the longest three months of my life."

"But what about us? When we'd lay there on your couch?"

"Yeah, that was--nice." Chandler sighed and lay his head on Joey's shoulder. "It was a good thing I was too exhausted to cheat, or we'd have to confess all those bonus days to Monica."

Joey was pensive. "It was the only thing that made me happy then, when you were gone all the time."

"Really? It wasn't patronizing, giving you a cuddle now and then because I was too chicken to leave my wife for you?"

"But you weren't too chicken to quit your job. You came home for me."

Chandler nodded, but felt guilty. "But I didn't do enough. I should've told her everything and ended it, instead of letting it continue another year."

Joey nodded. "I wish you did." After a silence, he asked, "Did you really believe that you were tired and delirious and saying stuff?"

Chandler clung to him. "It was--it was better than thinking that I'd made a terrible mistake, not just when I married her, but years before too. It was better than thinking I was so desperate that I'd ask you to move to Tulsa and be some kind of Oklahoma wife. I mean, what right did I have?"

Joey whispered, "I used to wish that Monica went to Tulsa, and we were here. Or maybe we both went to Hollywood, and you became a movie writer." He shook his head. "I never thought you'd really quit that job, Chandler. I mean, after all those years... You didn't even ask Monica's permission first."

"It wasn't for her," he said. "You know, I didn't tell Monica this, but that Wendy lady did make a pass at me in the office. When she kept trying to make me cheat, I thought, if anybody's gonna do that, it's gonna be Joey."

"Really? And you never told Monica that? I mean, even with a lie?"

"No. How could I keep a straight face saying, 'I quit because I didn't want to cheat on you'?" Chandler looked sad. "I wanted to be happy with you, Joe. I should have made you happy. I'm so sorry."

"I know."

"Tell me what Hollywood would have been like. Would we have a cat, and a view of all that smog? Would you take me to all your movie premieres, and I wouldn't fall asleep? Would we make out and be in all the tabloids? And would my mom and dad be impressed?"

Joey smiled. "You wouldn't care, being in the tabloids?"

"No. Because we're not a secret anymore. We never should have been."

Touched, Joey kissed him and caressed his face. "Maybe, maybe you and me could be together like that. Maybe it would work. I mean, if Phoebe can love Monica all these years and finally get her now, maybe you and me have a shot too."

"You mean that?" Chandler almost didn't dare to hope.

Joey nodded. "But--but I'm gonna need some time to trust you again."

"Of course! However long you need."

"And this time, it's not okay to keep dating girls--or guys, either--and if I hear you moan about missing sex with Monica, or anybody--!"

"I know, I know! I will never, never think of anybody but you!"

"And no threesomes either!"

"Absolutely! Nobody but you, period. Monogamy all the way."

"And, um, you have to forget all the money I've ever owed you, ever!"

"Ye--" Chandler stopped and frowned. "But money was never part of the problem."

"I know," Joey chuckled. "Just thought I'd throw it in."

Chandler smiled and laughed, feeling that he might really be forgiven after all. He kissed Joey and hugged him. "I love you, Joe."

"I love you too."