Chandler looked out into the blackness that surrounded him. He laid on the cold floor as he felt his life draining away. This was where he was going to die he realized. It was getting harder to breath, and the icy pain that had ripped through him twice was beginning to fade into numbness. He squeezed his eyes shut and tried to will death on himself faster, he figured he was as good as dead anyway. As he laid there, loud voices suddenly made him aware of his surroundings. He heard the two men yelling and then a familiar voice.

"What if I am going to try something? Why don't you just fucking shoot me now, and get it over with? Or better yet I'll do it myself and save you the trouble!"

Joey! Chandler's eyes quickly opened to a blurred vision of the wall he was lying next to. Joey had just asked to be shot. What the hell is going on? He listened intently to who he now remembered to be the criminals, and realized what was going on. Joey thought he was dead and most have abandoned his plan, and now they were going to drag him over to where Joey was. Oh shit. He needed to let Joey know somehow that he was alive so that he would go through with his escape plan. Chandler closed his eyes and stifled his heavy breathing as one of the criminals walked over to him. He felt two hands grab him by the ankles as he slid across the floor. It took all of his will power not to cry out as the numbness he had felt before quickly receded and was replaced with pain. By the time the dragging stopped, Chandler was all but unconscious as he laid motionless in front of Joey.

He felt his head being lifted and fear ran through him. Do they know that I'm alive? He remained completely still and breathed as little as he could manage as he waited to see what would happen next.

His fear turned to confusion as he felt someone gently grab his hand.

"I love you."

Joey? He felt a hand stroke his face and he relaxed his body. His fear and confusion was replaced with a warm, safe feeling, something that he never thought he would ever feel again. He felt Joey bend down and kiss his forehead and in that moment, Chandler felt more loved than he ever had in his entire life. He couldn't let Joey die along with him in this place. He had to do something, and soon. He gently squeezed Joey's hand as it was intertwined with his own, and tried not to startle him.

--

Joey looked over to his hand that was holding Chandler's. He swore he felt something, but he had to be imagining it. As he brought his back down to Chandler's face, he was startled at what he saw. Chandler's blue eyes staring back at him. He just starred for a moment, not exactly sure what to do as he noticed a slight smile coming across Chandler's face.

"Ch.. Chandler?" Joey whispered as he looked up at the two criminals whose backs were turned to them as they argued on the other side of the store.

His smile grew a little bigger. He didn't want to scare Joey and make a commotion or else both of them would wind up dead.

"Did you come back from the dead?"

He laughed a little. Even now, Joey was still Joey. "No Joe, I never died. Look you need to get out of here," he whispered, "You and the other hostage need to do what we talked about."

"What?! Are you crazy? I'm not leaving you now after I just got you back, if we go through with the plan, you're getting out with me."

Chandler knew that there was no changing his mind. He remembered earlier how he was against leaving Joey behind. He wasn't just going to let his friend sit there and die with him.

"I have a plan."

--

The four of them sat huddled on the sidewalk across the street from the store. The morning sun grew hotter as it's place in the crystal blue sky got higher. It was going to be a beautiful day in New York City. None of them said a word to each other, they didn't know what to say. Their tears had stopped, but each of them were filled with an emptiness they could not fill. It was Ross who broke the silence as he looked at what was taking place across the street.

"What?" Ross suddenly exploded. Why aren't they paying them off?!"

"What?" asked the others in confusion to Ross's remarks.

"Look! There a SWAT team moving in on the building! They aren't going to pay them off!" He ran over to the nearest cop, "What the fuck is going on?"

"Take it easy, Mr. Geller." said the cop as he walked over to someone who was in charge to find out what was going on.

"Relax Ross," Rachel said softly, shaken at his sudden burst of rage.

"I will not take it easy! Joey's in there! His life's at stake and they're going to go in shooting! We already lost Chandler, there's no way these bastards are going to take someone else away from me!"

"Don't you think we know that?" Rachel shouted. "God, Ross, I'm as terrified as you are.. we all are!" she said looking at Monica and Phoebe, "We all know what is at risk here! Joey is in that building with guns probably pointed at his head.. he watched his best friend get shot down! Don't you think we realize the danger in the situation? I don't know what's going on either," she said as her voice grew softer, "but we have to trust that these people will do what they think is best to get him out of there.. alive."

Tears glistened in the corners of his eyes along with raw emotion as his fear, worry, and rage came to a head. Rachel took him in an embrace as grief permeated Ross's brown eyes , while a solitary tear ran down Rachel's cheek. Just then Lt. Daniels walked over to them.

"We're going in." Daniels informed them. "We can't wait anymore. The situation is too fragile, we can't risk taking anymore time. The criminals are getting desperate, we are going to move in and take them out by force."

"Through the back?" asked Phoebe skeptically as she looked across the street.

"Yes. It will be tricky. I won't lie, we only have that back door to work with, we need the element of surprise. But we will have people ready to move in the front as soon as we get the ball moving."

"Is this going to work?" Monica asked. She did not look optimistic.

"I have complete faith in the abilities of my men."

"That doesn't answer my question."

"This is our best shot."

"Why am I not encouraged," she said as she turned away and looked toward the building they were going to charge through soon.