The gang arrived at Ross's apartment, and Phoebe was already there to answer the door.

"Hi guys!"

"Hey!" Ross rushed over from setting the table to greet his friends and put away their coats. "I'm so glad that you could all come tonight. Emily, sweetie, come say hello!" He beckoned her nearer and put his arm around her shoulder.

They all murmured hellos and nodded as Ross introduced them to Emily. Actually, she had briefly met some of the gang already when she first arrived, and there had been the recent rugby game in the park too. Still, Ross looked forward to having everyone get to know Emily better, for she was really a delightful and charming person when she wasn't soaking wet and having a bad day.

So they all sat down to dinner together. Phoebe in particular loved Emily's accent and kept trying to imitate it. Emily was good-humored about it, and she asked if Phoebe was handling her pregnancy well. "I think it's so generous of you to do this for your brother and his wife."

While they all chatted in a friendly manner, Monica was glad that Rachel was behaving maturely tonight and not muttering petty remarks about Emily under her breath. Monica didn't want to have to feel guilty all over again for liking Ross's girlfriend. "So, Emily, is this your first trip to America?"

"No, I've been here before. I'm just taking a two-week holiday right now to visit my uncle, my cousin, and some of my old friends, like Liam and Devon."

"Oh, are those the rugby guys that Ross mentioned?"

"Yes. They and some other lads from home are playing fairly often in the park." She looked at Ross and patted his arm, feeling glad that he had survived the rugby game without any permanent injuries.

"Are any of them cute and single?" Monica asked.

Emily laughed. "Yes, some of them. Would you like me to introduce you?"

Monica nodded eagerly. "Yeah. I really should have come to that game when Ross played, but I got kind of caught up with some stuff." Obsessing about the light switch, she had waited in line for three hours to get electrical plans to the apartment building, then kept trying to follow the wire through the walls, but without success. She really was in desperate need of a man, and if it was a big, tough English guy, all the better. Ever since high school, Monica had secretly fantasized about meeting a foreigner and falling in love with him.

"That's all right," Emily replied cheerfully. "I'm sure we can arrange a meeting, probably while they're playing in the park tomorrow afternoon."

Ross frowned and looked rather insecure, "Do we really have to see Liam again?"

"Don't be jealous, Ross. Liam is just my ex now. We're good friends like you and Rachel are."

"Oh, of course." Ross cheered up then, for he had moved on from his feelings about Rachel. "I meant, um, I meant that I didn't want to be drawn into another rugby game."

Emily chuckled and said, "Don't worry, they won't want you to join in again, not after how much pain you caused them last time. It embarrassed them."

Ross grinned and boasted to the others, "I made a man twice my size cry!"

Rachel laughed and began to see that dating Emily was doing wonders for Ross. He was becoming so impulsive, outgoing, and fun. In fact, he hadn't mentioned dinosaurs all evening, nor become mopey and annoying. Ross truly seemed happy.

"You know, Mon, if things don't work out with me and Joshua tomorrow, I'm tempted to join you and get me one of those strapping rugby guys too. It sounds like fun."

"Oh, that's a great idea!" Monica said excitedly. She was glad that Rachel had finally realized that she had plenty of options and didn't have to wait around obsessing about Joshua. Rachel's crushes tended to be fleeting and superficial, after all, and maybe all she was in the mood for was a fling. "We could double date."

Ross asked, "Chandler, how's it going with you and Janice?"

"Great!" Chandler smiled. "She's home with Ruthie tonight, but then she's gonna come and stay with me for the whole weekend." He couldn't help glancing at Phoebe just then. "I can't wait!"

Phoebe furtively winked, then explained to Emily, "Ruthie is Janice's daughter with her ex-husband Gary, the Mattress King."

"The Mattress King?"

"Oh, you haven't seen the commercials on TV? He's the guy with the kingy stuff and the royal jester and all that. I'm so glad that Janice left him for good and came back to us. She's too good for him. Right, Chandler?"

Chandler grinned and nodded, hoping that no one noticed Phoebe's use of the term "us." He said, "I'm not gonna let Janice get away from me this time. You should meet her, Emily. She knows a lot about art, and maybe we could go to the Guggenheim Museum together if you're interested."

"Oh, that sounds lovely. Ross, what do you think?"

"We could go to the Met too."

While everyone kept discussing Janice and making plans to visit museums together, Joey sighed and felt depressed. Trying not to let Chandler see his reaction, he bit his lip and just picked at his plate of food. Joey couldn't understand why Chandler, let alone Phoebe, seemed to like Janice so much. Maybe Phoebe just liked weird, annoying people like that psychiatrist Roger and Chandler's crazy roommate Eddie. But now she and Chandler seemed to be actively recruiting people to like Janice, and that made Joey worry. Were they going to try to win over Ross, Rachel, and Monica too? Were they going to go after Joey next?

"By the way," Chandler asked Monica, "are we still on for babysitting this weekend?"

"What? Oh yeah, but I might not be home for much of the weekend, because I might be working at the restaurant, or Rachel and I might even be out double dating. Are you sure that you trust Joey to watch Ruthie by himself?"

When Joey gaped and looked offended, Monica added, "I meant, after that whole leaving Ben on a bus incident."

Chandler defended Joey. "That was two years ago, and we just got distracted by the hot women on the bus, okay? Besides, Joey babysits his nieces and nephews all the time, and he knows way more about kids than me. Of course I trust him."

"All right, I'm sorry!" Monica said to both Joey and Chandler. "Don't get so upset. I just hope that Joey doesn't make too big a mess while he's staying over in our apartment." She frowned and grumbled at having to call that awful, cramped place her apartment. "It's so small and crowded already. Why can't Joey just babysit her at your place?"

Chandler coughed discreetly and murmured, "Because Janice and I need some private, romantic time together, and we don't want to disturb the kid during her naptime, if you know what I mean."

Monica chuckled and rolled her eyes. "Yeah, but you two can't have sex *all* weekend."

Chandler just gave her a look as if asking, "What makes you think we can't?"

Monica stopped laughing and looked stunned. "Really?"

Chandler smiled broadly and didn't say a word. Remembering the trip to the beach, he thought to himself smugly, "That'll teach you for turning me down and laughing at me."

Joey couldn't help groaning with disgust at the thought of Chandler and Janice having all-weekend sex, but unfortunately this noise attracted Chandler's attention.

Chandler turned to him and finally noticed his lack of appetite. "Joe, what's the matter? You've hardly touched your dinner."

Joey struggled for an excuse. "I, uh, I'm just... you know, saving some room for the bread and jam we got at home."

"Oh, right! I almost forgot about that." Chandler checked the time on his watch. "Hey, it should be done baking by now, huh? I bet it'll taste really good."

"Yeah." Joey was relieved that Chandler hadn't seen through his lie. He really didn't want to get on Chandler's bad side again.

"Maybe we should skip dessert tonight," Chandler said.

***

After dinner, the gang said goodnight to Ross and Emily, then they all went home. They entered the guys' apartment and eagerly removed the cinnamon raisin loaf from the breadmaker. As promised, Joey sliced the loaf in half to share with the girls.

"Mmm, it smells so good," Monica said as she put the hot bread onto a plate to avoid getting crumbs everywhere. "I kinda feel guilty for not sharing this with Phoebe and Ross too."

"Well, we can buy some more flour and make another loaf some other time," Chandler suggested. "Besides, we owed you for yelling at you tonight."

Rachel smiled and said, "That reminds me. Monica, I need you to come and help me pick out a knockout dress for me to wear tomorrow, when I ask out Joshua."

"Okay. Bye, guys. Thanks." They went across the hall and took their half of the loaf with them.

Joey finished slicing up the remaining bread, then he put the slices on two plates.

Chandler sat down with his plate and tasted the bread. "Wow, this is delicious. Even without jam."

"Think how much better it'll be with jam!" Joey grinned and grabbed most of the jars from the kitchen counter. "Which flavor do you want to start with? Strawberry? Currant? Grape? Oooh, cherry!"

Chandler smiled. "I don't care. Which do you recommend, Joe?"

Joey shrugged and set all the jars down on the table in front of them. "I don't know. They all taste so good, I can't decide." Joey closed his eyes and randomly picked up a jar of jam. "Okay, this one. Then we can keep picking other jars until we run out of flavors."

Chandler laughed. "I don't think you should eat all that jam tonight. I thought those jars would last us for a week."

Joey scoffed. "You have a lot to learn about jam." With a spoon, he started scooping out big heaps of jam onto one of his slices of bread. "Wait, maybe I can do like with the jam crackers, and I can just dip the bread into the jar." He picked up the slice and started to roll it up so that it would fit into the jar's mouth.

"Hey, wait!" Chandler stopped him. "You'll get crumbs all in the jar, Joey. Just keep using the spoon."

Joey pouted, then suggested, "Well, what if we make this jar just my jar?"

Unable to resist Joey's adorable, child-like expression, Chandler sighed and nodded indulgently. "Okay, then I guess I'll pick out another jar for me." He grabbed another jar and opened it, though he certainly didn't intend to finish the whole jar tonight. Chandler used a knife to spread the jam lightly onto his bread, then he ate it, savoring the great taste of fresh home-baked bread. He also thought about saving some of his bread for tomorrow, or even making a whole new loaf to share with Janice and Phoebe this weekend. That would require another trip to the store.

Meanwhile, Joey ate very fast and kept making a mess with the bread and the jam.

No doubt attracted by the bread's aroma, the chick and duck came over to them and started eating the breadcrumbs that fell on the floor. They begged for more, so Chandler gave them some scraps from his bread.

Joey finished his first jar of jam and started to open another jar, but his hands were all sticky. "Damn it! Where'd we put the napkins?" He started to lick his fingers clean.

"Here, I'll open it for you." Chandler grabbed the jar from him, but got jam all over his fingers. "Joey!" He reached for a towel and wiped off both his hands and the jar. However, when he tried to open the jar, it was sealed too tightly, and he struggled with it.

Hurriedly wiping his hands, Joey reached over and tried to help Chandler unscrew the lid. As they gripped and struggled with the jar, Chandler realized that Joey's hands were touching his. It normally wouldn't have bothered him, but because of his dreams and sexual fantasies about Joey lately, Chandler felt rather nervous.

Suddenly, the jar opened and Joey grinned. "Cool! Thanks, Chandler." Joey took the jar from him and started dipping more bread into it.

"No problem," Chandler mumbled. "Um, I think that's all I'm gonna eat for tonight." He got up and put his remaining slices of bread into the fridge. "Don't eat my bread, but you can have the rest of my jar of jam."

"I can? Cool! Night, Chandler."

"Goodnight, Joe." Chandler then went to use the bathroom, before retiring to his bedroom. As he undressed and tried not to think about Joey touching him, he thanked God that Janice was coming to spend the weekend with him. That, and the threesome with Phoebe, would surely set him right.