AN: This is the final instalment, longer than usual because it all seems to belong together and also I want to pick up Revenge of the Exes

Million Dollar 6

Today was the day Emily was arriving. Ross could remember every other time that he'd been at the airport, waiting for her plane. Previously the waiting had been impatient - part of the reason it had been so important to marry Emily was that he'd never have to do this again - or at least, not so often. Presumably she would have visited her family from time to time but that wouldn't have happened all that much.

This time he wasn't so sure how he felt about her arrival. He wanted her plane to be delayed or something - but then he wanted the meeting as soon as possible as well. If she was pregnant he wanted to know at once. If she was going to be mad at him he wanted to wait.

He glanced at Monica. Everyone was waiting with him in the arrivals area - everyone except Rachel. Rachel hadn't wanted to be left behind.

'You said you weren't going to give in to her demands,' Rachel had warned him. No matter what lies he had told Emily. So Rachel was not going to be left out.

Everyone agreed though, that Emily must not see Rachel as soon as she saw Ross. With Emily's propensity to run off, the last thing they wanted was for her to cut and run. Joey said to Chandler privately that if she did and got run over and killed by a car that might be the best solution of all because Ross would inherit the whole of the million dollars. Chandler decided not repeat this statement to anyone else. Rachel was at the airport but she was hanging out in the Departure lounge. Although each of Monica and Phoebe volunteered to keep her company Rachel could tell that they were dying to see what happened when Emily arrived and said she would wait alone.

The others meanwhile had been coaching Ross.

'Make sure you find out what her news is first,' Monica instructed. 'Don't get carried away.' If Emily was pregnant, they would take her to Ross and Monica's parents and let her get softened up by their reactions over the pregnancy. They'd give her a day or two and then spring it on her that the apartment she was living in was not far from everyone else's and that Rachel was not going to be excluded. Monica thought it very unlikely that Emily would leave Ross after that, even if she didn't like it, because their reunion would have given them a chance to remember the things that brought them together, and besides, there would be the baby to consider.

If she wasn't pregnant, then Ross would come clean. Maybe, after seeing him again, she might be more reasonable, Monica thought, although whether she would be more reasonable after finding out about the lies was questionable. That was the risk that they were taking - but if it was not for the lies she wouldn't be there to persuade anyway.

They weren't just tense about the meeting with Emily. Each of them now owed a lot of money, more than they could afford with a bill of $5,000 coming from Joey's friend. Chandler and Monica had had a lot of fun picking out which items of jewellery Monica could sell to raise money but Monica would like to have the chance to redeem some of that jewellery. Chandler would certainly not be able to buy her replacements for a while. A long while.

'What if she doesn't win?' Ross asked, yet again.

'We wouldn't pay him,' Joey said.

'And we'd get a refund of the other $5,000?' Ross queried.

'Sure,' Joey said.

'I hope so,' Ross said, 'Your other friend's interest rate was pretty steep. We're going to be in big trouble if we can't pay it off quickly.'

'Hey it's not bad at short notice!' Joey said, 'Stop worrying. Go to the bathroom.'

'Why?'

'You're shifting around like you need to go.'

'I don't.'

'Go anyway,' Joey said.

'I just feel a bit nervous that's all.'

'Relax,' Joey said, 'It'll be fine.'

'It's not you she's going to be mad at if she hates what's going on,' Ross said. He turned to Monica, 'Do I look okay?'

'Of course you do,' Monica said. She'd answered this question several times already, 'Just relax, as much as you can. Be as nice as possible even if she's bad to you.'

'Why?' Joey interrrupted.

'Because even if Ross can claim money from her in a divorce settlement she can still make things difficult for him,' Monica said.

'Oh,' Joey said.

'Divorce has been known to be difficult,' Monica said patiently.

'Why is it taking so long?' Ross asked. They had been waiting a long time. Emily's plane had touched down more than an hour ago. It was hard to tell which of the stream of passengers exiting the arrivals gate had come from that flight but some of them must have come through by now.

'They're not going to let her out immediately if she's just won a prize,' Chandler said, 'There'll be press photographers and things to sign and all kinds of stuff. They're not just going to shove a cheque in her hand and say "here you are, don't spend it all in one shop."'

Finally she came through the arrivals gate, looking bewildered.

'Ross!'

'Emily!' They stood looking at each other, Emily clutching her hand luggage. Emily looked past him at the others and Ross knew she was looking for the one who wasn't there.

'Hello,' she said to them all, sounding wary.

'Hi Emily,' they chorused back, wondering what was the matter with Ross and Emily. Wasn't this the big reunion scene? Was she being a reserved Englishwoman? Was Ross having trouble acting? Finally they approached each other for a tentative hug.

'I'm sorry I'm late, something very strange has just happened to me,' Emily said, breaking the hug awkwardly. 'Do you mind if we don't just rush off for a cab. I really need to sit down and have a mineral water or something. You're not going to believe this.'

'Sure,' Ross said, 'Whatever you want.' He took her arm, 'There are better cafes in Departures. That's just a short walk away.' He missed Monica's frown. Rachel was in Departures. Monica slipped away to find Rachel.

'All right,' Emily said.

'And Joey can get your luggage,' Ross said.

'It's probably the last one on the carousel,' Emily said. 'It's just one suitcase, thankyou Joey.'

'That'd make it easy for Joey then,' Ross joked. Joey glared at him and raced for the baggage department. He only hoped that Emily had not brought her whole wardrobe with her in a gigantic suitcase. He didn't want to miss a thing.

In Departures, Ross, Chandler, Phoebe and Emily were at a table at an airport bar. It seemed to Phoebe that things hadn't lightened up between Ross and Emily yet. Instead of talking to Ross, Emily was talking to Phoebe, asking her about her pregnancy and childbirth. Gathering information, Phoebe thought, and tried to be as helpful as she could. Hopefully Emily wasn't pregnant with triplets. That was no easy job. Phoebe had noticed that Emily wasn't wearing her ring and wondered why.

'The reason I was delayed,' Emily said, once Phoebe had finished her hospital stories, 'Was that I've won some sort of prize. I've won a million dollars just for being on this flight.' She shook her head. 'I can't believe it.'

'That's wonderful!' Chandler said in a way that proved that he should not try acting.

'Wonderful!' Phoebe echoed.

'Wow, that's amazing,' Ross said. 'That means there's two reason for champagne if we can get it here.'

'Champagne!' Chandler said and gave the order.

'Not for me thanks,' Emily said.

'But it's a celebration!' Chandler said.

'I don't touch alcohol any more,' Emily said. The others looked at each other.

'Any special reason?' Chandler asked with a smile.

'Do you want us to go away so you can tell Ross in private?' Phoebe asked solicitiously as Joey arrived with Emily's small suitcase.

'Go away?' he exclaimed, 'I've only just arrived.' Monica came up to the table at the same time, having warned Rachel to keep out of sight. Emily frowned.

'Why would I want any of you to go away?'

'To explain why you can't drink,' Phoebe said. 'It's a very special thing to say.'

'What?' Emily stared. 'That I'm detoxing? What's so special about that?' The others stared back.

'You're detoxing?' Monica asked.

'Yes,' Emily said, 'No alcohol, no tea, coffee, dairy products, wheat.'

'It sounds terrible,' Joey said, overcome with horror.

'It's really good you're doing that,' Phoebe said, almost as happy with the news as she would have been with a baby. 'Everyone should detox, once in a while. I'm going to detox soon, but I've got to get my strength back first. I just ate all the wrong things while I was pregnant, I know I did.' Emily nodded.

'I feel so much better already. I should have done this a long time ago.'

'So,' Monica said, 'What is your news?' Everyone else nodded. What was her news?

'Hold on,' Joey said, wanting to be sure, 'You're saying that you're not pregnant?'

'Pregnant?' Emily exclaimed. 'No. Whatever gave you that idea? I'm certainly not pregnant.' The others were looking shifty and Ross said,

'They were just wondering what your news was. They were making guesses.'

'My news?' She stared back at them all. 'Well that is a private matter.' She bit her lip, looking uncertain. She turned to Ross. 'You would tell them all immediately anyway,' she said. 'You know how our wedding became a civil ceremony at the last minute? My father had to get a civil celebrant? Well that man was an imposter and his qualifications weren't fake. The only thing that mattered to my father was that it was cheap. We aren't married.' Emily reached into her bag and pulled out the wedding ring and laid it on the table between them. 'That's why I'm not wearing this, because I'm not really your wife. We don't have to get divorced at all because we were never married.' Emily glanced at Ross's hand. At the last minute they had remembered that he should be wearing a ring. Luckily he'd been able to find his wedding ring, one of the few things that hadn't been sold.

'We weren't married?' Ross asked for confirmation.

'After all that, we weren't married,' Emily said. 'It's all been very strange.' Emily looked at her fingers, interlacing them. 'I thought you'd find that a relief, but then you rang me. I don't mind living with you as though we were married. We could get married in New York. No-one else needs to know that we weren't married in London. If you still wanted to get married. Or perhaps we could just live together, try it out for a while, to make sure.'

'Oh,' Ross said. Chandler suddenly realised the other significance of Emily's news...

'I thought maybe that since you'd said you would -' She left her conditions unspoken. Chandler made frantic hand signals at Ross. Improvise! How, he had no idea, but Ross had to think of something, otherwise their chance at any share of one million dollars would go. A generous minded girlfriend, especially one whom they could persuade to marry Ross as soon as possible could get them out of a lot of trouble. That might mean a more prolonged pretence but something had to be done.

'Emily, I love you,' Ross said, 'But I'm not going to stop seeing my friends. I'm not going to move away from them.' Emily stared.

'But you said you'd moved.'

'I haven't,' Ross admitted. 'I lied to you. I'm living with Joey and Chandler.'

'You lied to me? You lied to me about that woman?' Emily asked in shock. 'You brought me all the way over here with lies? Why?'

'Because I love you, Emily,' Ross said, 'That's the only reason.'

'If you really loved me you would want to make things work. You wouldn't be so desperate to keep seeing whatshername.'

'Her name's Rachel,' Monica said coldly.

'How could I ever forget?' Emily riposted. 'Ross certainly can't and it seems that he can't keep away from her either even though he claims to love me.'

'It's not that, Emily, she's a friend, that's all,' Ross said.

'I don't believe it,' Emily said. 'If she was just a friend you wouldn't be making such a big deal about it. If you really loved me you wouldn't have a problem with not seeing her.'

'If you loved him you wouldn't do this to him,' Monica rushed in. 'Rachel is one of Ross's friends, you can't take away his friends.' Emily looked at her and said,

'I was prepared to leave my country for him, to start a new life and change everything. I'm only asking him to make one change, to keep out one person. And now I find he's a man who tells barefaced lies.' She picked up her bags. 'I'm going home. Don't you ever dare contact me again, for any reason, you Liar.'

Joey and Chandler looked at each other. The account for the next $5,000 was now due, they would owed $10,000 in total at high interest rates. Monica, Phoebe and Rachel were in debt for the deposit. Ross was in debt for Emily's air ticket. No divorce settlement would occur...

'Emily!' But she was walking resolutely away from him. Not by a twitch of the head did she show that she'd heard him. Ross stood up as if to pursue her and Monica laid a hand on his arm.

'Are you going to give in to her, because that's what it would take?' Monica asked. Even then, Ross realised, because of his lies, it would be touch and go. Why had he ever agreed to this? It was goodbye to Emily and hello to heartbreak all over again. What had been point of it all? Just some crazy scheme that he should never have agreed. He should have realised that if Joey agreed to it, there must have been something wrong with it. Technically it was a success but really it was a failure. The stupid champagne had arrived, its frivolous contents mocking him with its false promises of happiness and laughter. He seized the bottle and smashed it on the ground.

Meanwhile, in another part of Departures...

Rachel was staring moodily into space. Monica hadn't been able to tell her very much about Emily when she'd found her, and Rachel was dying to know what was happening. Was she or wasn't she? She had been waiting for over an hour. That must mean she was pregnant and that the deception was going to continue a little while longer. She hated that idea, but at least it would be temporary. She hoped that Monica hadn't forgotten her and that she hadn't just been left at the airport.

Suddenly a familiar figure came into view in the departure lounge. Joshua. Her heart skipped a beat. She hadn't seen him for such a long time - or so it seemed to her. How did she really feel about him? If she hadn't had those feelings about Ross, maybe she wouldn't have gone over the top with Joshua. They might still be dating, she realised with a twinge of regret, and having a great time. They might have had a future if she hadn't so clumsily proposed marriage to a bruised newly divorced man. She had scared him off, all because of Ross, who didn't want her. Whatever Monica had said about her confession, at least Rachel knew for sure that she had no chance. She could now focus on other people and not mess things up. Maybe she could go over and say hello...

Then another familiar figure - Emily! Emily! What was she doing here? That must mean she wasn't pregnant, they'd broken the news and she'd stormed off. Rachel couldn't help feeling relieved. Emily would be out of their lives for good - but at least Ross's money problems would be solved. Rachel relaxed. That meant she could go off and find the others. Then she noticed Emily and Joshua were talking and she stopped to watch. They were looking chummy - and to Rachel's horror, Joshua gave Emily a hug. Couldn't she leave any of Rachel's exes alone? And why the hell did her exes like Emily so much? Joshua had let go of Emily and she had turned to pick up the suitcase that had been knocked sideways. By his gaze, Rachel could tell he really liked her.

Rachel turned on her heel and stormed off. Emily wouldn't be smiling when Ross asked her for money over the divorce, Rachel thought.