Joey ran in to Monica's and Chandler's apartment, grinning widely and
excitedly. He had in his hand a large yellow envelope in his hands. It was
obvious that he was happy about something, because his eyes seemed to
sparkle as he grinned at his friends.
"Guys! Guys!"
Chandler, who had been eating breakfast with a six-month pregnant Monica, looked up at him the same time that he did. He knew that Joey was thrilled about something, but he couldn't help to bring out his humor. "A little excited about somethin', Joe?"
Monica smiled at Chandler before turning to Joey. "What's up, Joey? What's that?" She pointed to the yellow envelope that Joey had, which caused Joey to start getting excited again.
"Remember that audition to that movie that I tried out for? I got the part! *I'm* going to be in a movie! I'm the friend of the main character in the movie, but I'm in it! I'm in it, I did it!"
"That's great, buddy!" Chandler and Monica said as they grinned and stood to hug him. After they hugged and 'celebrated', Joey smiled at them. "The only bad thing is that I have to leave today, b-."
Before he could continue, Chandler frowned slightly in confusion as he watched Joey starting to sit down along with them. "Wait, what? You have to leave?"
"Oh, yeah, it's just that they have the filming out of the city." Taking one of the fresh bagels that were in the basket in the middle of the table, he kept explaining. "The movie's supposed to start in the middle of the mountains while it's snowing, so we're going there."
Leaning back on her chair, Monica unconsciously put her hand over her belly; which seemed to be growing every day with the pregnancy. She and Chandler had found out that they were pregnant when she was about two months along, but the fact that she was going to be a mother wasn't settling in yet. She loved putting her hand there, though, as if she were already holding her child. When she heard what Joey said, though, she frowned slightly. "But, Joey, you can't go. Christmas is next week, are you going to be back by then?"
Joey stopped in mid-chew, having ignored that fact altogether by mistake. "Oh man.! I wanna have Christmas with you all of you guys too. But I have to work, and." Sighing, he leaned back. "Damn."
Chandler smiled understandingly and nodded slightly. "We'll figure something out, buddy. Aren't you going to go pack?"
The worried look that Joey had gotten when he realized that he'd miss Christmas with all of his friends went away at Chandler's question, and he jumped up of his seat; forgetting the bagel on the table. "Oh yeah, I have to go pack!" Rushing out, he headed out the door and closed the door behind him. As he was about to open the door of his apartment he realized he had left the bagel on the table, so he headed back and grabbed the bagel before grinning at Monica. "Thanks for the bagel, Mon." With that, he headed out quickly and to go packing.
It didn't take long for the news of Joey's movie to spread and for the other three friends to find out about it. Also, not long after, they all decided to meet in Central Perk since Joey had been called by the director, telling him that he needed to leave in a few minutes. As they waited for him, Rachel turned to the rest of her friends; holding Emma on her lap. "Can you believe Joey's going to be a movie star? *Our* Joey!"
Ross chuckled and smiled. "He deserves it; he's been waiting for this for a long time. I'm glad that it finally came."
Phoebe nodded in agreement after putting down her cup of tea. "Hopefully he'll be back by Christmas." She grinned at Chandler and Monica. "It's going to be you guys' baby first Christmas! Even if it's not born yet, but still!"
Chuckling, Chandler put a hand over Monica's belly to where the baby was. He was going to say something, but Joey rushed in quickly and with a suitcase in hand. "Guys, I have to get going now. Hey, I was thinking, why don't you guys join me up there in the mountains? Yeah, we can rent a cabin somewhere else and we'll have Christmas there."
Monica smiled. "Joey, are you serious?"
"Well, yeah, Mon. I don't know if I'll be back by then, and we'll have a different Christmas this year. Come on, what do you say? It'll be fun!" When Ross, Rachel, Phoebe, Chandler and Monica smiled and agreed to his plan, Joey smiled. "Ok, then I'll call you guys to set up the plans, ok? This is going to be so cool!"
Rachel stood and went to him, holding Emma. She was just as excited as Joey was about the whole movie. Her ex-crush/ex-roommate/and one of her best friends was going to be a movie. She and Ross had gotten back together a few months ago and were now living in the same apartment. "Joey, if you talk to someone famous, ask them for an autograph for me, ok?"
Joey chuckled and hugged her and Emma. "Ok, Rach. You guys take care." When Ross came up, they hugged each other.
"Good luck, Joey. You'll do great."
Grinning, Joey hugged him again. He hugged Monica and Chandler before hugging Phoebe. "Sorry, Pheebs, guess our dinner for tonight got canceled. Tell you what, when I get back we'll go. And I'll pay for both, how's that?" That night it was their monthly dinner date, and now it had to be broken due to the movie. But he was worried about how she'll be, since she and Mike had broken up just a week ago. The conversation about marriage had come up again, and Mike had said that, he still didn't want to ever get married. "Will you be ok, Pheebs?"
Phoebe smiled, nodding. "Yeah, I'll be fine. You go get 'em, Tribianni." She hugged him again before she and the others walked him out and waved goodbye to him.
The silence of Chandler's and Monica's apartment was the only thing that could be heard. Both of them were in bed, sleeping. It was a cold winter's night, and the coldness seemed to have been increasing; yet the couple rested comfortably as they kept each other warm. The apartment was warm anyway, because of the heater that was on, but it was starting to snow again and getting colder. It wasn't that late, it was a bit past midnight, but they had been exhausted after going shopping the rest of the day for the baby and for the rest of the Christmas presents. Suddenly, the silence was broken as the phone started ringing. The first one to wake up was Monica, but she kept her eyes closed since it was Chandler who was closest to the phone. When the ringing continued, she moaned in complain. "Chandler. Answer the phone."
Chandler, who was half asleep still, moaned back. "You answer it."
"The phone's right there.!"
Grumbling under his breath, Chandler clumsily reached over for the phone. "Hello? . Yeah. Yes, I'm Chandler Bing." The sleepiness that he had been feeling and he had answered with flew out from him in an instant as he sat up quickly; feeling how the color was draining from him. "But is he ok? Y-. Yeah, we'll be there as soon as we can. Thank you." In a daze, he hung up the phone; not even realizing when the phone fell from his hand and onto the floor.
When the phone hit the floor, Monica woke with a start since she had fallen back asleep. She turned to Chandler, but when he saw him breathing heavily, she frowned in confusion. "Chandler? Sweetie, what's wrong?" She put a hand on his back and, when she saw the expression of worry and concern sketched all across his face, she frowned even more and sat up completely. "Chandler, who was that? What happened?"
"Th. That. He."
"God, Chandler, you're scaring me, what happened? Who was that?"
When the weight of what he had been told started to hit him, Chandler felt as his eyes started to get flooded with tears. He turned to Monica and, after trying to swallow the knot in his throat, he talked in a very low voice. "It's Joey. He. There was an accident. His car. He lost control of the car he was driving, and."
"And what, Chandler? Is he ok?" By the way that he was talking she knew it was serious, but for both their sakes, for all of their sakes, she refused to believe that.
"They wouldn't tell me much, but.. They don't think that he'll make the next twenty-four hours."
Monica didn't realize when she let out a small gasp and felt her own tears start to flood her own eyes. Chandler and Monica hugged each other; neither of them able to do anything else. It was way too much to take in. After a short while, though, not wanting to waste any time, they got out of bed and got dressed as they called Phoebe, Ross, and Rachel; and they all decided to meet up in the hospital. Apparently Joey had been transported to a hospital there in New York, so that's where they were all going.
Ross got to the hospital with Rachel, since they had needed to find a babysitter for Emma. Rachel had started crying as they were coming to the hospital, but she had forced herself to stop as they got out of the cab. When she saw that the rest were already sitting in the waiting room, the reality of what had happened hit harder and more tears slipped out. Ross, noticing this, wiped the tears away and put an arm around her as they made their way towards them. "How is he? Do you guys know?"
Phoebe shook her head. "The doctor hasn't come yet, and no one knows how he is or doesn't want to tell us yet."
About an hour later, a doctor walked up to them. He knew that they were there for Joey Tribianni because they had been constantly asking the nurses if they knew how he was. When he got to them and the guys and girls noticed, they stood up. "My name's Dr. Reynolds. I suppose you're who's here for Mr. Tribianni?"
The five friends stood and started asking at the same time, "How is he? Can we see him now? Is he going to get better?"
The doctor stared at their worried faces for a short moment, not knowing how to break the news to them. "Mr. Tribianni. He is in a very serious condition. He suffered a severe concussion, his wrist is sprained, some ribs are fractured. But his right leg was hurt badly. It was an open fracture, and he lost a considerable amount of blood. We performed surgery and his leg is set back in place. The concussion, though, was so severe that he is in a coma, and.we're not sure he'll make it. We've done all we could to maintain him as stable as he can be, but.his chances are not good. You should be ready for the worst."
The three girls gasped under their breath, and the guys held them. Ross turned to the doctor. "But that can't be. I mean, he's. He can't."
When the doctor didn't say anything, they knew that he wasn't lying. In the back of their mind he was hoping that this was all just a nightmare and that he was going to wake up at any moment. But the enormous and gruesome weight of reality seemed to be way too big for everything to be a nightmare.
"Can we see him?" It was obvious that the doctor was going to say no, but Chandler stopped him before he got the chance. "Please, doctor. We really need to see him, if what you're saying is true."
Hesitating, the doctor finally nodded after a while. "Alright, but only for a few minutes and one at a time. Who wants to go in first?"
At that, the five friends turned to look at each other with teary eyes already, not knowing who was going to be the first to go see Joey. Ross, finally, patted Chandler's back affectionately. "You go, man. We'll go after."
Chandler nodded slightly before following the doctor. When he walked in to a small room in the ICU, he was taken aback by the sight of his friend. Joey was on a bed, hooked onto all sorts of heart monitors, respirators, IVs, and even a bag of blood for transfusion. His right leg was put in a thick cast that started from his knee down to his toes, and was set on top of two pillows. His stomach and chest were bandaged, but they couldn't be seem completely since he was wearing a thin hospital gown. His hair seemed messy, and his face was covered with small cuts, bruises, and scratches, as well as his arms. His wrist was set in a wrist brace. Chandler had to stare at him for a while, not believing that this was his friend. The same one that had married him and Monica. The one that he had been room-mates with, the one that was so excited about being in a movie the day before.
The one that was also so full of life: the one that he considered as a brother.
Choking back a few tears, Chandler walked to the bed and sat down on the chair that he put close to him. Whispering, he took his hand gently and reassuringly. "Joey. Damn, man, what'd you do? How could you lose control of your car, buddy? But everything's going to be ok. I promise, buddy." There was a knock on the door, and he knew that he needed to get out. Sighing, he started to get up, but Monica walked in. "Mon, what are you doing here? Didn't the doctor say only one?"
"He said I could come in." She walked to Chandler and, when he got up and hugged her, she hugged him back tightly. "He's going to be ok, Chandler. He has to." Still hugging him, she turned to look at Joey; not feeling how the tears that she had been able to finally control out in the waiting room were starting to fall from her eyes. "Right, Joey? You're going to be an uncle. Our baby's going to want to meet you." Not being able to hold it anymore, she started crying again. They hugged each other tightly, both of them trying to stop crying. Chandler, knowing that she couldn't be there anymore, started to lead her outside.
Ross and Rachel walked inside after they got out. At the sight of Joey the way he was, though, Rachel gasped once more and took a step back; her own tears starting to fall. She turned to Ross and, when he hugged her, she buried her face in his shoulder. "I'm so scared, Ross. He can't go. He can't.! He's one of our best friends, Ross, he can't."
Ross hugged her and rubbed her back gently, fighting his own tears. "He won't, Rach. He's not going to go anywhere, ok? The only place he'll be going is back to his apartment when he's feeling a little better. Ok?" When Rachel nodded, they both went next to him and Rachel sat down; holding his hand after kissing his cheek gently.
"Hi, honey. God, look at you. But you're going to be ok, right? You're going to be just fine." Wiping away her tears, she leaned close to him and kissed his cheek again. Ross kissed Rachel's forehead when she turned to him, but when she started to get up and go outside, he sat down on the chair and leaned to him as he whispered. "Hey, Joe. We're all right here, ok man? We'll be here until you can leave with us." Not knowing what else to say, he got up slowly and started walking out to join the rest.
Phoebe, once seeing them walking out, started walking in. Chandler and Ross both stood since they had sat back down. "You want us to go with you, Pheebs?"
"No, thanks, I can do it."
"Are you sure? He looks-."
"I'm sure, thanks." She walked inside his room before going to the chair next to his bed. Unlike the rest, she wasn't full out crying. Her eyes were stinging with tears, but she didn't want to let them fall. "Joey, what are you doing here? You're not supposed to be in this place. You're not supposed to be dying either, Joey. Not you." At that, her tears started falling, but she kept talking in a low voice for him as she held his hand. "You better wake up soon, Joseph Francis Tribianni, ok?" Leaning close to him, she kissed his cheek and his forehead before starting to get up; still holding his hand. "Stay with us, Joey. Don't go anywhere." She kissed the top of his hand gently before setting it back down. Wiping away her tears, she started to walk out but, as she did, a loud and continuous beeping noise started to come from the monitors. She turned to look at Joey and, suddenly, the beeping turned into a flat line. Terrified, she ran out of the room; calling for a doctor. The doctor and other nurses ran inside the room, but made Phoebe go back outside.
The others, at Phoebe's call, had stood up quickly and held each other. Phoebe, unable to hold it anymore, started crying.
"He's gone."
At that, no one knew what to do at first. How to react couldn't even begin to register in their minds. He was gone? No, he couldn't be, they had just been there with him. He was hurt badly, but. Chandler shook his head, ignoring the fact that his voice seemed to crack as he talked. "What do you mean he's gone? He can't be gone, Phoebe. He's not gone."
Phoebe tried to fight back the tears, but they kept flowing out of her eyes quickly and without ceasing. "I had.just finished talking to him, and all of a sudden. He's gone, Chandler. He's gone, you guys, he's gone."
All of them shook their heads in denial but, one by one, they started to fight back their tears but in futile. Not long after, they all hugged each other and cried, terrified that Phoebe was right. That their best friend Joey was gone.
"Guys! Guys!"
Chandler, who had been eating breakfast with a six-month pregnant Monica, looked up at him the same time that he did. He knew that Joey was thrilled about something, but he couldn't help to bring out his humor. "A little excited about somethin', Joe?"
Monica smiled at Chandler before turning to Joey. "What's up, Joey? What's that?" She pointed to the yellow envelope that Joey had, which caused Joey to start getting excited again.
"Remember that audition to that movie that I tried out for? I got the part! *I'm* going to be in a movie! I'm the friend of the main character in the movie, but I'm in it! I'm in it, I did it!"
"That's great, buddy!" Chandler and Monica said as they grinned and stood to hug him. After they hugged and 'celebrated', Joey smiled at them. "The only bad thing is that I have to leave today, b-."
Before he could continue, Chandler frowned slightly in confusion as he watched Joey starting to sit down along with them. "Wait, what? You have to leave?"
"Oh, yeah, it's just that they have the filming out of the city." Taking one of the fresh bagels that were in the basket in the middle of the table, he kept explaining. "The movie's supposed to start in the middle of the mountains while it's snowing, so we're going there."
Leaning back on her chair, Monica unconsciously put her hand over her belly; which seemed to be growing every day with the pregnancy. She and Chandler had found out that they were pregnant when she was about two months along, but the fact that she was going to be a mother wasn't settling in yet. She loved putting her hand there, though, as if she were already holding her child. When she heard what Joey said, though, she frowned slightly. "But, Joey, you can't go. Christmas is next week, are you going to be back by then?"
Joey stopped in mid-chew, having ignored that fact altogether by mistake. "Oh man.! I wanna have Christmas with you all of you guys too. But I have to work, and." Sighing, he leaned back. "Damn."
Chandler smiled understandingly and nodded slightly. "We'll figure something out, buddy. Aren't you going to go pack?"
The worried look that Joey had gotten when he realized that he'd miss Christmas with all of his friends went away at Chandler's question, and he jumped up of his seat; forgetting the bagel on the table. "Oh yeah, I have to go pack!" Rushing out, he headed out the door and closed the door behind him. As he was about to open the door of his apartment he realized he had left the bagel on the table, so he headed back and grabbed the bagel before grinning at Monica. "Thanks for the bagel, Mon." With that, he headed out quickly and to go packing.
It didn't take long for the news of Joey's movie to spread and for the other three friends to find out about it. Also, not long after, they all decided to meet in Central Perk since Joey had been called by the director, telling him that he needed to leave in a few minutes. As they waited for him, Rachel turned to the rest of her friends; holding Emma on her lap. "Can you believe Joey's going to be a movie star? *Our* Joey!"
Ross chuckled and smiled. "He deserves it; he's been waiting for this for a long time. I'm glad that it finally came."
Phoebe nodded in agreement after putting down her cup of tea. "Hopefully he'll be back by Christmas." She grinned at Chandler and Monica. "It's going to be you guys' baby first Christmas! Even if it's not born yet, but still!"
Chuckling, Chandler put a hand over Monica's belly to where the baby was. He was going to say something, but Joey rushed in quickly and with a suitcase in hand. "Guys, I have to get going now. Hey, I was thinking, why don't you guys join me up there in the mountains? Yeah, we can rent a cabin somewhere else and we'll have Christmas there."
Monica smiled. "Joey, are you serious?"
"Well, yeah, Mon. I don't know if I'll be back by then, and we'll have a different Christmas this year. Come on, what do you say? It'll be fun!" When Ross, Rachel, Phoebe, Chandler and Monica smiled and agreed to his plan, Joey smiled. "Ok, then I'll call you guys to set up the plans, ok? This is going to be so cool!"
Rachel stood and went to him, holding Emma. She was just as excited as Joey was about the whole movie. Her ex-crush/ex-roommate/and one of her best friends was going to be a movie. She and Ross had gotten back together a few months ago and were now living in the same apartment. "Joey, if you talk to someone famous, ask them for an autograph for me, ok?"
Joey chuckled and hugged her and Emma. "Ok, Rach. You guys take care." When Ross came up, they hugged each other.
"Good luck, Joey. You'll do great."
Grinning, Joey hugged him again. He hugged Monica and Chandler before hugging Phoebe. "Sorry, Pheebs, guess our dinner for tonight got canceled. Tell you what, when I get back we'll go. And I'll pay for both, how's that?" That night it was their monthly dinner date, and now it had to be broken due to the movie. But he was worried about how she'll be, since she and Mike had broken up just a week ago. The conversation about marriage had come up again, and Mike had said that, he still didn't want to ever get married. "Will you be ok, Pheebs?"
Phoebe smiled, nodding. "Yeah, I'll be fine. You go get 'em, Tribianni." She hugged him again before she and the others walked him out and waved goodbye to him.
The silence of Chandler's and Monica's apartment was the only thing that could be heard. Both of them were in bed, sleeping. It was a cold winter's night, and the coldness seemed to have been increasing; yet the couple rested comfortably as they kept each other warm. The apartment was warm anyway, because of the heater that was on, but it was starting to snow again and getting colder. It wasn't that late, it was a bit past midnight, but they had been exhausted after going shopping the rest of the day for the baby and for the rest of the Christmas presents. Suddenly, the silence was broken as the phone started ringing. The first one to wake up was Monica, but she kept her eyes closed since it was Chandler who was closest to the phone. When the ringing continued, she moaned in complain. "Chandler. Answer the phone."
Chandler, who was half asleep still, moaned back. "You answer it."
"The phone's right there.!"
Grumbling under his breath, Chandler clumsily reached over for the phone. "Hello? . Yeah. Yes, I'm Chandler Bing." The sleepiness that he had been feeling and he had answered with flew out from him in an instant as he sat up quickly; feeling how the color was draining from him. "But is he ok? Y-. Yeah, we'll be there as soon as we can. Thank you." In a daze, he hung up the phone; not even realizing when the phone fell from his hand and onto the floor.
When the phone hit the floor, Monica woke with a start since she had fallen back asleep. She turned to Chandler, but when he saw him breathing heavily, she frowned in confusion. "Chandler? Sweetie, what's wrong?" She put a hand on his back and, when she saw the expression of worry and concern sketched all across his face, she frowned even more and sat up completely. "Chandler, who was that? What happened?"
"Th. That. He."
"God, Chandler, you're scaring me, what happened? Who was that?"
When the weight of what he had been told started to hit him, Chandler felt as his eyes started to get flooded with tears. He turned to Monica and, after trying to swallow the knot in his throat, he talked in a very low voice. "It's Joey. He. There was an accident. His car. He lost control of the car he was driving, and."
"And what, Chandler? Is he ok?" By the way that he was talking she knew it was serious, but for both their sakes, for all of their sakes, she refused to believe that.
"They wouldn't tell me much, but.. They don't think that he'll make the next twenty-four hours."
Monica didn't realize when she let out a small gasp and felt her own tears start to flood her own eyes. Chandler and Monica hugged each other; neither of them able to do anything else. It was way too much to take in. After a short while, though, not wanting to waste any time, they got out of bed and got dressed as they called Phoebe, Ross, and Rachel; and they all decided to meet up in the hospital. Apparently Joey had been transported to a hospital there in New York, so that's where they were all going.
Ross got to the hospital with Rachel, since they had needed to find a babysitter for Emma. Rachel had started crying as they were coming to the hospital, but she had forced herself to stop as they got out of the cab. When she saw that the rest were already sitting in the waiting room, the reality of what had happened hit harder and more tears slipped out. Ross, noticing this, wiped the tears away and put an arm around her as they made their way towards them. "How is he? Do you guys know?"
Phoebe shook her head. "The doctor hasn't come yet, and no one knows how he is or doesn't want to tell us yet."
About an hour later, a doctor walked up to them. He knew that they were there for Joey Tribianni because they had been constantly asking the nurses if they knew how he was. When he got to them and the guys and girls noticed, they stood up. "My name's Dr. Reynolds. I suppose you're who's here for Mr. Tribianni?"
The five friends stood and started asking at the same time, "How is he? Can we see him now? Is he going to get better?"
The doctor stared at their worried faces for a short moment, not knowing how to break the news to them. "Mr. Tribianni. He is in a very serious condition. He suffered a severe concussion, his wrist is sprained, some ribs are fractured. But his right leg was hurt badly. It was an open fracture, and he lost a considerable amount of blood. We performed surgery and his leg is set back in place. The concussion, though, was so severe that he is in a coma, and.we're not sure he'll make it. We've done all we could to maintain him as stable as he can be, but.his chances are not good. You should be ready for the worst."
The three girls gasped under their breath, and the guys held them. Ross turned to the doctor. "But that can't be. I mean, he's. He can't."
When the doctor didn't say anything, they knew that he wasn't lying. In the back of their mind he was hoping that this was all just a nightmare and that he was going to wake up at any moment. But the enormous and gruesome weight of reality seemed to be way too big for everything to be a nightmare.
"Can we see him?" It was obvious that the doctor was going to say no, but Chandler stopped him before he got the chance. "Please, doctor. We really need to see him, if what you're saying is true."
Hesitating, the doctor finally nodded after a while. "Alright, but only for a few minutes and one at a time. Who wants to go in first?"
At that, the five friends turned to look at each other with teary eyes already, not knowing who was going to be the first to go see Joey. Ross, finally, patted Chandler's back affectionately. "You go, man. We'll go after."
Chandler nodded slightly before following the doctor. When he walked in to a small room in the ICU, he was taken aback by the sight of his friend. Joey was on a bed, hooked onto all sorts of heart monitors, respirators, IVs, and even a bag of blood for transfusion. His right leg was put in a thick cast that started from his knee down to his toes, and was set on top of two pillows. His stomach and chest were bandaged, but they couldn't be seem completely since he was wearing a thin hospital gown. His hair seemed messy, and his face was covered with small cuts, bruises, and scratches, as well as his arms. His wrist was set in a wrist brace. Chandler had to stare at him for a while, not believing that this was his friend. The same one that had married him and Monica. The one that he had been room-mates with, the one that was so excited about being in a movie the day before.
The one that was also so full of life: the one that he considered as a brother.
Choking back a few tears, Chandler walked to the bed and sat down on the chair that he put close to him. Whispering, he took his hand gently and reassuringly. "Joey. Damn, man, what'd you do? How could you lose control of your car, buddy? But everything's going to be ok. I promise, buddy." There was a knock on the door, and he knew that he needed to get out. Sighing, he started to get up, but Monica walked in. "Mon, what are you doing here? Didn't the doctor say only one?"
"He said I could come in." She walked to Chandler and, when he got up and hugged her, she hugged him back tightly. "He's going to be ok, Chandler. He has to." Still hugging him, she turned to look at Joey; not feeling how the tears that she had been able to finally control out in the waiting room were starting to fall from her eyes. "Right, Joey? You're going to be an uncle. Our baby's going to want to meet you." Not being able to hold it anymore, she started crying again. They hugged each other tightly, both of them trying to stop crying. Chandler, knowing that she couldn't be there anymore, started to lead her outside.
Ross and Rachel walked inside after they got out. At the sight of Joey the way he was, though, Rachel gasped once more and took a step back; her own tears starting to fall. She turned to Ross and, when he hugged her, she buried her face in his shoulder. "I'm so scared, Ross. He can't go. He can't.! He's one of our best friends, Ross, he can't."
Ross hugged her and rubbed her back gently, fighting his own tears. "He won't, Rach. He's not going to go anywhere, ok? The only place he'll be going is back to his apartment when he's feeling a little better. Ok?" When Rachel nodded, they both went next to him and Rachel sat down; holding his hand after kissing his cheek gently.
"Hi, honey. God, look at you. But you're going to be ok, right? You're going to be just fine." Wiping away her tears, she leaned close to him and kissed his cheek again. Ross kissed Rachel's forehead when she turned to him, but when she started to get up and go outside, he sat down on the chair and leaned to him as he whispered. "Hey, Joe. We're all right here, ok man? We'll be here until you can leave with us." Not knowing what else to say, he got up slowly and started walking out to join the rest.
Phoebe, once seeing them walking out, started walking in. Chandler and Ross both stood since they had sat back down. "You want us to go with you, Pheebs?"
"No, thanks, I can do it."
"Are you sure? He looks-."
"I'm sure, thanks." She walked inside his room before going to the chair next to his bed. Unlike the rest, she wasn't full out crying. Her eyes were stinging with tears, but she didn't want to let them fall. "Joey, what are you doing here? You're not supposed to be in this place. You're not supposed to be dying either, Joey. Not you." At that, her tears started falling, but she kept talking in a low voice for him as she held his hand. "You better wake up soon, Joseph Francis Tribianni, ok?" Leaning close to him, she kissed his cheek and his forehead before starting to get up; still holding his hand. "Stay with us, Joey. Don't go anywhere." She kissed the top of his hand gently before setting it back down. Wiping away her tears, she started to walk out but, as she did, a loud and continuous beeping noise started to come from the monitors. She turned to look at Joey and, suddenly, the beeping turned into a flat line. Terrified, she ran out of the room; calling for a doctor. The doctor and other nurses ran inside the room, but made Phoebe go back outside.
The others, at Phoebe's call, had stood up quickly and held each other. Phoebe, unable to hold it anymore, started crying.
"He's gone."
At that, no one knew what to do at first. How to react couldn't even begin to register in their minds. He was gone? No, he couldn't be, they had just been there with him. He was hurt badly, but. Chandler shook his head, ignoring the fact that his voice seemed to crack as he talked. "What do you mean he's gone? He can't be gone, Phoebe. He's not gone."
Phoebe tried to fight back the tears, but they kept flowing out of her eyes quickly and without ceasing. "I had.just finished talking to him, and all of a sudden. He's gone, Chandler. He's gone, you guys, he's gone."
All of them shook their heads in denial but, one by one, they started to fight back their tears but in futile. Not long after, they all hugged each other and cried, terrified that Phoebe was right. That their best friend Joey was gone.