As always: the characters of FRIENDS do not belong to me.  If they did I would have a LOT more money.

Where we left off:

At about two in the morning eleven days after Nick and Jessie disappeared, there was a strong, urgent knocking on Phoebe's door.  She stumbled out of bed half asleep and made her way to the door muttering something about the impatience of aliens and how they could at least wait until it was light outside so she could see if they were really green.  What she saw on her doorstep shocked her to her very core.  Before her stood Nick Geller, with his arm draped around Jessie Moore.

            "Hey, Aunt Phoebe."

            "Nicholas Geller!  What in the hell is wrong with you?  You need to go home right now! Your parents are sick with fright!  They are so terrified that something bad has happened to you.  Where is your head?"

            "Phoebe, wait, please hear me out."

             "I won't hear you out until you call your parents and tell them that you are safe.  Where in the hell have you been for eleven days?  Do you think it is funny that you have scared the wits out of everyone that loves you, both of you?"

            Nick interrupted Phoebe with a shocking statement, "Phoebe, we've came here to ask for your help.  We didn't know what else to do, no one would listen to Jessie and what she wanted for her daughter.  So we took matters into our own hands.  Pheebs, Jessie and I are married…"

Part Ten:  The One Where The Unexpected Happens

            Phoebe just stood there looking at them in shock.  "You're what? What?"

            "We're married Aunt Phoebe.  We have been since the night we left."

            "But how? First of all, come in.  Second of all, get on the phone and call your parents before they kill both of you."

            "Before we call them, Aunt Phoebe we really wanted to talk to you." Nick said.  "Can we just sit and talk first?"

            Phoebe sighed.  How she always got brought into the middle of these situations she didn't know.  "Alright, come in and we'll sit down and talk.  But then you ARE calling your parents both of you.  Nick your parents would be very mad at me if they knew I was doing this." Once everyone got settled in on the couch, Phoebe asked, "What the hell were you two thinking?  You can't just run off and get married! You are only 16 years old! What about school? Huh?  And I thought neither of you wanted to be parents. I thought you wanted to give this baby up for adoption.  How did you even get married without your parents' permission?"

            Nick interrupted, "Aunt Phoebe if you'll hush for a minute I'll tell you.  We decided to get married so that we can make decisions for our child.  Jessie is tired of her life being dominated by her parents.  Granted, my parents have been good through this whole situation for the most part, we felt this was the only way to help our little girl. So we found out that in Massachusetts they will let minors get married at age 14 with the permission of a judge.  So we drove into Massachusetts, made a case for the Judge and he granted permission since we are both 16 and Jessie is pregnant.  We got a license and waited for 24 hours and then got married.  So, we are legally married."

            "Your parents are soo not going to like this." Phoebe said.  "You really need to call them now.  God, Nick your Mom is a mess with worrying over you."

            "I know." Nick looked down at the floor in guilt, "I feel real bad.  And I thought about calling her but Jessie and I needed some time to think and plan our future and our baby's.  And we decided that we would still like for you to have her Aunt Pheebs."

            "But if you two are married, how will that work? Why would you get married and then give your baby up for adoption?"

            "If we are married then we can decide who gets our baby without parental input.  We don't have to answer to our parents for our decisions we are totally emancipated."

            "Yeah but then what you will do? Once I keep your daughter?  Then where will that leave both of you?  Do you want to be stuck in an unhappy, teenage marriage? I don't think you thought this through very well, either of you."

            Jessie finally spoke, "We really did think it through.  After the baby is born and the adoption is finalized we can always get an annulment or a divorce.  I am not taking Nick's last name anyway so no one at school will even know.  We have no plans to stay married whatsoever.  We don't love each other, but we do love our little girl and we want her to be happy.  We think she will be happiest with you and we think this the only way that we can ensure that you get to adopt her."

            The three of them sat there in silence for a few minutes.  "Nick, you really do need to go call your parents.  I can't sit here any longer knowing that they are still worried about you.  You need to tell them what is going on.  They deserve to know."

            Nick walked over to the phone and dialed his parents' number.  Phoebe and Jessie could only hear some parts of the phone call but they got the gist that the Ross and Rachel and Jessie's parents would be arriving at Phoebe's place shortly.

            Within thirty minutes The Geller's and The Moore's were sitting in Phoebe's living room.  Rachel had thrown her arms around Nick and sobbed in relief.  Jacob Moore had surprised everyone when he was the one to react very relieved to see his daughter.  "Jessica, I'm so glad that you are alright.  Your Mother and I were very frightened." He put his arm on her shoulder, "Thank God that you are safe."

            When all of the hugs and relief speeches were finished, Nick looked at Jessie and then over at Phoebe.  She nodded her head and Nick began to speak, "Mom, Dad, Mr. and Mrs. Moore, there is something that Jessie and I need to talk to you about.  I would appreciate it if you would hear me all the way out before you start getting all excited and yelling at me."

            Ross looked sternly at him, "Nicholas, what did you do?"

            Nick sighed and continued, "Please Dad, just hear me out.  Alright, well Jessie and I love our little girl so much and all this tension between our families has been killing us.  We want her to have the best parents that she can have.  We want her raised by someone who will love her and give her the best that they can.  That's why we both had agreed that we want Phoebe to raise her and adopt her.  But Mr. Moore you were so resistant to that idea that we felt we had to take matters into our own hands.  We had to make sure that our daughter gets what we feel is best for her.  So we went into Massachusetts and got permission from a judge and then we got married."

            Gasps were heard all around the room followed by silence as the four parents absorbed the shocking information that they had just heard.  Rachel burst into tears.  Ross stormed out of the room angrily.  Mr. Moore sat there glaring at Nick, and Mrs. Moore went and sat down next to Jessie and threw her arms around her sobbing.     

            Rachel looked at Nick with tears streaming down her face, "We have got to find a way to get this fixed.  You two cannot stay married.  You don't love each other; you aren't old enough to be married.  You certainly aren't ready for the responsibilities and hard work that a marriage takes."

            Ross came back into the room, still visibly angry but trying his best to contain his anger and frustration.  "We will just go down to the courthouse in the morning and have them get this marriage annulled.  That is clearly the answer here."

            The other parents all nodded their heads in agreement.  This response from their parents made Jessie even more upset.  "Have any of you not heard anything that we have told you?  We don't want to be treated like babies.  We are capable of making some decisions, with or without your consent.  The Judge thought we were of sound mind and were capable of being good parents. So he agreed to marry us.  Maybe all of you should get your heads out of the clouds and realize that we are not babies any longer!"

            "Jessica," Mrs. Moore began, "None of us are trying to make you feel like you are babies.  We simply want what is best for you and for Nick.  Once your daughter is born and you become a Mom, you will be able to understand this concept more fully.  We just know that this marriage did not happen for the right reasons and it happened with the wrong foundations.  We don't want you in that kind of marriage, sweetie."

            "We have no intentions of staying married, we just want to be married until after the baby is born.  That way we can make sure that she goes where we want her to go.  We don't want our parents deciding for our daughter, we want to do that.  And I am not taking Nick's last name or anything so no one has to know but those of us sitting in this room."

            "But where does this leave your daughter? If you don't plan on keeping your daughter why would you get married?"

            "So that we can choose who we want to adopt her.  We want Phoebe to adopt her.  That is what we want for Phoebe to raise her like she is her own.  And someday when she is ready she can tell her about us.  But we want her to be able to decide these things.  And we want her to have the freedom to be a Mom without two sets of grandparents constantly butting in, trying to help her make all the decisions."

            By this point Phoebe was crying too. "You guys, I'm not sure that I'm worthy of this baby.  She sounds like she has two wonderful parents in you two.  Are you sure that this is what you really want?"

            Jessie went up and hugged her, "Without a doubt.  Phoebe, we want you to adopt our baby."

            Ross looked like he was about to cry.  He took Rachel's hand and led her out of the house onto the front porch.  They sat down next to each other on the steps, both trying to think of the right thing to say in this continuing nightmare.  Finally Rachel spoke, "Ross, sweetie, I think they are right.  I think Nick and Jessie are capable of making this decision."

            "But, Rach, we want the same thing!  Why didn't they just come to us?  Why did they have to run off and ruin their lives by getting married?  Now, they will have to go through a divorce or an annulment.  At such a young age!  It's going to ruin their futures."

            "Ross, I think they really did think this through.  They think they did what is best for this daughter.  You can't fault them for that."  She put her hand gently on his knee, "What we would have done?"

            "You got pregnant before we were married and we didn't run off and get married!"

            Rachel laughed, "Oh, Ross, sweetie, we did so many stupid things.  What about our wedding in Vegas or the whole videotape incident?  And we didn't run off and get married when I got pregnant with Nick because we were adults and we didn't have to.  But we soon realized that we love each other and our son and wanted to be a family.  Now our son has his own family, whether we like it or not.  It's a fact that we will just have to accept."

            Ross smiled at her, "I'm really glad that I married you."  He leaned in and kissed her.

            "And I'm really glad that you knocked me up." She grinned wickedly at him, "Now let's get back inside and see what we can do to help our son."

            After several hours of talking the adults and the young parents-to-be had worked out a solution that everyone could agree with.  Nick and Jessie would live with Phoebe until such time as the baby was born.  Once their daughter was born, Nick and Jessie would move back home to give Phoebe bonding time with the baby.  The kids also agreed to get their marriage annulled immediately so as to prevent having to go through a divorce proceeding after the birth.  Things just seemed to have worked out for everyone involved.  Phoebe busied herself getting a room ready for the baby, and working with her attorney to get the papers drawn up.

            Meanwhile, at the Bing household, things were going pretty quietly.  The girls were happy in school; Taylor was now 13, Madison 14, and Sierra 15.  Madison and Monica were starting to have more and more disagreements and Maddi was becoming more and more distant in her relationship to Chandler as well.  Monica and Chandler both wrote it off as part of adolescence and didn't think anything of it.

            Nick and Jessie settled into life at Phoebe's.  Nick seemed to be more adjusted and his grades went back up in school.  Their marriage was annulled quietly and without incidence.  Jessie was entering her last trimester and going to school was harder for her now, but she still plugged along trying to get in as many classes as she could before she had the baby.

            Ross and Rachel made arrangements to go to a trip to Hawaii following the birth.  They were leaving Travis and Lauren with Monica and Chandler.  They told Nick that if he behaved himself he could stay home by himself, and of course his Aunt and Uncle would check in on him occasionally.  Everyone seemed to be healthy and happy.  For once there was peace and quiet in all the households.

            Until one fateful day, something happened that changed all their lives forever.  One day Madison Bing didn't come home from school.  Monica was in the living room folding laundry when Sierra came through the door. "Hey Mom."

            "Hey Sierra, how was school?"

            "Boring and pointless as always."

            "Sierra!  School is very important for your future."

            "Yeah, yeah, whatever Mom. I'm going to my room to work on my homework.  What's for dinner?"

            "I thought maybe I would make salmon."

            "Again? I guess that will be alright, better than that tortellini stuff that Dad likes."

            "Okay, sweetheart I'll call you for dinner." Monica went back to her laundry.

            About fifteen minutes later, Taylor came running through the door. "Mom!" she cried out.  Monica could immediately sense the panic in her daughter's voice.

            "What is it Taylor? What's the matter?"

            "Madison wasn't on the bus!"

            "What? What do you mean she wasn't on the bus?"

            "Well, I got on the bus she wasn't in her usual seat but I thought maybe she decided to sit in the back with Megan or something.  Sometimes she does that.  But then when the bus stopped in front of our building, she didn't get off the bus."          

            "Oh my God!" Monica started to freak out.  "Sierra!" She screamed for her oldest daughter in such a way that Sierra came tearing out of her room visibly frightened.  "Madison didn't come home from school.  Do you have any idea where she could have gone?"

            "No, Mom. I don't.  Maybe she just went to a friend's house."

            "Well, she didn't ask.  She's not allowed to go over to a friend's house without asking, you guys all know that."

            "Maybe she had tryouts after school.  She's been wanting to try out for the softball team."

            "She didn't tell me about any practices or tryouts."  Monica grabbed her car keys, "Sierra, call your Dad at work.  Tell him to come right home. I'm going to the school."

            "Mom, don't you think you are overreacting just a little bit?  She's probably just fine." Monica barely heard her oldest daughter's words, as she tore out of the house.  She drove down to the middle school where Madison and Taylor both attend.  The school looked almost empty.  Monica ran up the steps and into the office.  The receptionist was able to tell her that Madison was not in school at all that day.  "What? I saw her get on the bus.  How could she have not come to school?"

            "I'm very sorry Mrs. Bing.  I don't know.  The only information that I have is that she was absent from her classes."

            "Were there any tryouts scheduled for after classes today?"

            The receptionist shook her head, "Not that I know of.  They are usually on Thursday or Fridays. Could she perhaps have gone home with a friend?"

            Monica sighed, "I haven't called any of them yet. I wanted to check here first."  Her cell phone rang, "Hello, Hi Chandler.  No she's not at school.  In fact, she didn't go to any of her classes today. I'm really worried. Can you get Taylor to help you and call her friends? I'm going to go to the mall and some of the other places that she likes to go."  Monica thanked the receptionist and left the school.  She was trying really hard not to panic, but it was starting to set in.  Her daughter was missing.  How could this be happening?  They had just gone through this with Nick.  It wasn't fair that this family should have to go through something like this again. Once was enough to kill them all.