[In season 2, there was no Thanksgiving episode, unlike all other seasons of *Friends*. Episode 208, TOW The List, had a subplot about Monica making Mockolate recipes for Thanksgiving, but there was no big dinner among the friends, and they skipped right to Christmas in the next episode. So for this story, I will assume that everyone except Chandler spent Thanksgiving with their families that year. Joey's flashback (set between episodes 308 and 309) will explain why things changed in season 3.]
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After Ruthie's bedtime, Janice and Joey took the toddler back across the hall to tuck her in. Monica happily watched Ruthie sleep and softly talked with Rachel and Joey about her desire to have a baby. "If Devon and I had a baby together, do you think it would be a girl or a boy? If it's a girl, I want to name her Emma, and if it's a boy, Daniel."
"Emma?" Rachel answered. "That's weird. Ross wanted a girl named Emily for our first kid."
"He did?"
"Yeah, he talked about it when we were dating. Hey, it's weird that he's now dating a girl named Emily. I wonder if it means anything."
"Hmm."
"Whatever you do, just don't talk to Devon about having babies yet. You don't want to scare him off."
"Of course."
Joey drank his beer and asked the women pensively if they thought Chandler and Janice would get married someday. "I hope he won't move far away. I hope I'll still get to see him."
"I'm sure he'll come visit a lot, Joey. Ross always came around a lot even after he married Carol."
"Good," Joey said, trying not to worry. He feared that Chandler might be one of those guys who quickly left behind their old bachelor life and only went out with other couples. Joey didn't want to lose Chandler, just because he couldn't settle down in a couple too.
Rachel smiled and joked, "If Chandler moves out, who gets to keep your birds, you or him?"
Monica joined in with a laugh. "Yeah, who gets to keep all the new furniture he bought you? Will you wind up with just the white dog statue, huh?"
"Ha-ha." He was not amused. "It's our stuff. It's all ours." He didn't really care about who got what anyway. Maybe Chandler would have a game room in his and Janice's place, so Joey could come over all the time and play foosball or darts with him.
"Hey, speaking of moving, Joey, do you think you can convince Chandler to switch the apartments back?"
"Yeah!" Rachel agreed.
Joey shrugged. "Maybe, but I don't know how to argue with his book stuff."
"Oh, he's just being stubborn about that. Talk Janice into helping you. He wouldn't fight both of you, I bet."
"Um, okay." Joey wondered what it would feel like, him teaming up with Janice on an issue. He hoped it wouldn't be anything like Joey and Janice's Day of Fun. He was tolerating her fairly well now, but then again, she began singing pretty loudly with Phoebe today, and that had annoyed him. Joey also thought that he would still get jealous whenever she cooked with Chandler or talked about art and books again, so he wasn't sure if he could like her completely.
***
Janice, Chandler, and Phoebe resumed their threesome until they exhausted themselves again. Then they all said goodnight and went to sleep, but as Chandler lay in bed between Janice and Phoebe, he had another erotic dream...
Despite their locked doors, Joey somehow came into the bedroom and got very mad when he discovered the three of them together. "Chandler!" he spoke accusingly. "You had a threesome, and you didn't tell me about it! I'm your best friend!"
Chandler gasped and sat up, hushing Joey so that he wouldn't wake up the women. "I'm sorry. I-I wanted to tell you, but they made me promise not to!"
Joey still looked deeply hurt, "This is why you got me out of the apartment, huh? You don't trust me. You said I was your best friend!"
"You are, Joe. Of course I trust you. I'm so sorry. How, how can I make it up to you?"
"Let me join you." No longer pouting, Joey suddenly and decisively started crawling onto the bed.
Chandler was shocked and confused. "Joe? What are you--?"
Joey just pulled him close and kissed his mouth. It was a hot, passionate kiss, like Phoebe had often given to Janice. Chandler was so turned on that he didn't push Joey away, nor ask why he was doing this. Chandler just kissed him back and helped Joey start stripping off his clothes...
"Joey... Joe..." Chandler kept moaning his roommate's name in his sleep, and he restlessly shifted in bed as he dreamed of them doing naughty things to each other.
Janice woke up from all the noise and found Chandler dreaming beside her. Surprised and fascinated, she lay there listening to him and watching him in the throes of some erotic fantasy. With this dream, and Chandler's own confession about his dream with the strippers, Janice found herself reevaluating her earlier assessment that a dream didn't have to mean anything. Maybe this dream did mean something.
She remembered how she had caught Joey and Chandler in some intensely emotional moment today, and how, when she and Chandler joked about moving in together, Chandler had said that he couldn't leave Joey. He also said he couldn't quit his job because he was supporting Joey and the birds, almost in the tone of a man with a family to look after. Janice also recalled how, last time, Chandler had often wanted Joey to come along with them on dates, instead of regarding Joey as an inconvenient third wheel. As far as she could tell, the guys had always been close and affectionate, and their bond seemed unusually strong, even among their close-knit circle of six friends.
Janice considered that perhaps Chandler was bisexual after all, and he subconsciously longed to get closer to Joey. He was certainly aroused while thinking of Joey now, and he even sighed "I love you" with a frankness unknown to him in his waking hours. It had taken a long time for Chandler to admit that he loved Janice, after all.
Janice wasn't at all upset or jealous, for she knew that Chandler was her soulmate, and they were forever. Indeed, he had already been quite permissive and tolerant of Phoebe's tendency to cling to Janice this weekend; Janice had feared that Chandler would object about Phoebe's favoritism, but he took it all very well indeed. So Janice decided that in return, she should help Chandler admit to and explore his own desires too. She just had to be sure that Joey felt the same way about Chandler, though.
***
On Monica's couch, not far from where Ruthie was sleeping on the loveseat, Joey lay awake thinking about Chandler and Janice again. Would they really get married someday? Would Janice be the one that Chandler would finally, actually commit to? Would Joey be able to stand it and be happy for him?
Shifting restlessly under the covers, Joey remembered how upset Chandler was after Janice left him the last time. First he kept singing sappy Lionel Richie songs with Phoebe, then he wanted to wear his bathrobe and eat peanut clusters all day, then he wanted to start drinking in the mornings. Even when Chandler seemed to be over her months later, just the sight of Janice with Gary at Rockefeller Park had made Chandler drink himself stupid and behave badly at Joey's birthday party. That wasn't the worst night, though. No, the worst night was right after Janice had returned to Gary:
Just days before Thanksgiving, Joey had a hot date in his bedroom, but when he reached into his nightstand for condoms, he discovered that he was all out. She didn't have any in her purse either, so Joey put on a robe and went to borrow some from Chandler.
When Joey entered the darkened room, Chandler groaned and quickly pulled the bedcovers over his head.
"Sorry," Joey said as he approached the nightstand. "I'll only be a sec. I just need some condoms." He reached inside and discovered that there were plenty in the drawer. "Oh good! You got a twelve-pack. Can a have a few?" He started to tear three off, then reconsidered and decided that he would try for four times with his date.
Chandler spoke miserably, "Take all of them, if you want. I bought them for me and Janice, but now she's gone, and I don't need them anymore."
"Oh." Joey frowned and felt guilty now, belatedly remembering that Chandler had told him about this twelve-pack before; he complained that he couldn't return them because Janice had choked on the receipt. "I'm sorry, man. I forgot." He sat on the bed and reached over to pat Chandler on the shoulder.
Chandler moaned pathetically, "I'm gonna die alone."
"No, you're not!" Joey pulled the blanket out of the way and intended to hug Chandler, but then he stopped, looking quite shocked at what he found.
Chandler was crying and miserably clutching the shoe that Janice had left behind after their breakup in Central Perk.
"Chandler! You've gotta throw that thing away." Joey tried to take the shoe from him, but Chandler stubbornly held on tight.
"No! No, it's all I have left of her, Joe. Maybe if I keep this shoe, then she'll come back someday for it. Like, like Cinderella, you know?"
Joey stared at him with pity and horror. Grief had clearly made Chandler lose his mind.
"Why'd she have to go?" Chandler sobbed. "Why did she have to leave me now, of all times? We, we didn't even make it to Thanksgiving, and I thought I was finally gonna have a happy Thanksgiving with her."
Joey insisted, "Nah, you don't need her, Chandler. You'll have a great Thanksgiving without her."
"No I won't! You don't get it, Joe. You and everybody else have families to go home to for Thanksgiving, but I don't. I'll just be sitting here eating my grilled cheese sandwiches and Funyuns again, like last year."
Joey shook his head. "You don't have to be alone for Thanksgiving! It's not too late. Come on, you wanna come with me to my parents' house again? Or if it's too crowded, I'm sure Monica and Ross would invite you over again."
Chandler turned away and pouted. "No, I'm sick of being some pathetic tag-along at somebody else's holiday, with somebody else's family."
"You're not--"
Joey was interrupted by his hot date suddenly calling out from the other room. "Joey! What's taking you so long?"
"I'll be right there!" he replied to her. Then he took Chandler's hand and continued reassuring him. "Come on, it won't be like that. We love having you with us. We love you." He hugged Chandler close and wondered not for the first time why Chandler's mom or dad never invited him over for holidays. They were divorced from each other, yes, but surely they still loved their son? Nora had certainly seemed friendly enough when she visited, but Chandler always said, "It would only bring back bad memories." Not that the memories didn't return anyway.
Chandler still clung to Janice's shoe. "I just--I just wish it could be like that Thanksgiving a couple of years ago, you know? When Underdog got away. Remember when everybody had to stay and we all had dinner at Monica's?"
Joey shrugged. "Yeah, that was okay, after we all stopped fighting about the burnt food."
"Fighting was part of it, Joe. We felt like a family, almost. I know it sucked for you guys, but it was, it was the only decent Thanksgiving I've had since I was just a kid."
"What?" Joey was shocked. "But didn't you have some good ones with Ross in college?"
Chandler shook his head. "No, 'cause the first one, Ross was still mooning over Rachel and we didn't go out and use our fake IDs like he promised we would; then the next time, Monica cut off my toe, and that ruined the whole year. That was the last time I went to a Geller Thanksgiving! I mean, sometimes I came along when Ross was having Thanksgiving with Carol's folks, but that just reminded me how I didn't have a girlfriend."
"Oh." Joey understood now. "Then you started having those Thanksgivings alone or with Kip's folks?"
"Yeah," Chandler said. "Or your folks, or Phoebe's, or whosever turn it was to bring me along that year." He sighed sadly. "It's just, when we were all here, the six of us, it was different. It was good. You guys couldn't be with your families either, so I wasn't the only one depressed. We just watched the parade and ate my sandwiches and joked about your VD poster. And I told my Thanksgiving story to Rachel, she told us all about skiing in Vail, and Phoebe talked about her grandma's lunar boyfriend. We even saw Ugly Naked Guy dancing with Ugly Naked Girl. If *he* could get a girl, surely I could, right?"
"Yeah, of course. You'll find someone."
That didn't cheer up Chandler at all. "I already found someone: Janice." He choked up again. "And she left me." He started crying once more and muttered about dying alone.
"Chandler!" Joey was exasperated and didn't know how to comfort him. Why did Chandler have to keep clinging to the memory of Janice? Then Joey got an idea. "Hey, um, how about--how about this Thanksgiving, we all stick around again? We could stay here, like we did before."
"What?" Chandler turned around and didn't quite believe him.
Joey nodded. "Sure. We could--"
"Joey!" the woman called out again.
"In a minute!" Joey yelled back, getting irritated. "Uh, where was I? Oh, right. Look, I could stay here, you know? My parents always have trouble making room for the whole family for the holidays, what with cousins, uncles, aunts, and everybody. So maybe I could just tell my folks that I'll drop by there on like Friday or Saturday instead, when it's less crowded. I could talk Phoebe into doing that too, especially since her grandma lives in town. And Rachel, you know, her family isn't going to do their annual skiing trip, ever since her parents got divorced. And I bet Monica and Ross would stay and have Thanksgiving with us too, since their parents aren't into hosting big Thanksgiving dinners anymore. We could work it out."
Chandler was touched and surprised by this suggestion. "Really? You wouldn't mind it?"
"Nah, it's good. We could all have fun again, like you said."
Chandler smiled, but then reconsidered and felt guilty. "No, but--but it's selfish of me to make you all stay, just so I won't be alone again."
"No, it's not just for you, Chandler. Rachel's gonna be depressed too, and Monica's always upset whenever she comes back from hearing her mom rave about Ross and criticize her. They'd all have a crappy Thanksgiving anyway. This way, we can be together, you know? We just, um, have to not bug Monica about making three kinds of potatoes and stuff."
"Yeah," Chandler nodded. "And I'll make my own grilled cheese sandwiches too." He sat up and hugged Joey gratefully. "Thanks, Joe."
Joey smiled and started to say, "You're welcome," but his date called out again. "All right, already!" he snapped at her. With one last hug, Joey got up and left Chandler's room with the twelve-pack of condoms.
So that was how the gang decided to always have Thanksgiving together, not just Christmas and other holidays. Sometimes it got a little crazy, especially with Ross and Monica's childish competition at football, but in general, the group did enjoy being together like a surrogate family.
After Joey let Chandler out of the box this past Thanksgiving, he caught up with Kathy on the street, and kissed her for a long time. Then he invited her back to Monica's apartment so she could call her mother and say that she wasn't going to Chicago after all. Everyone was happy for the couple, and Chandler had remained grateful to Joey that entire night. "This is the best Thanksgiving ever! You forgive me, and Kathy's here too. Could this night *get* any better?" he laughed with uncharacteristic giddiness. "Oh, and you're really my secret Santa, Joe? This is the best gift you ever gave me! The best!" They hugged again.
Joey had enjoyed seeing Chandler so happy for once, and he hoped that he would remain that way for many holidays to come. Unfortunately, Chandler and Kathy eventually broke up, and Joey feared that things would take a turn for the worse again. Joey had never expected Janice to return, but now that she had, Chandler insisted that they were soulmates and would be together forever. Perhaps that was a good thing, considering how devastated Chandler had been without her.
With a sigh, Joey decided to just deal with his dislike of Janice and be happy for Chandler. He should look on the bright side, after all. If they really got married, then he could throw Chandler a bachelor party.
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After Ruthie's bedtime, Janice and Joey took the toddler back across the hall to tuck her in. Monica happily watched Ruthie sleep and softly talked with Rachel and Joey about her desire to have a baby. "If Devon and I had a baby together, do you think it would be a girl or a boy? If it's a girl, I want to name her Emma, and if it's a boy, Daniel."
"Emma?" Rachel answered. "That's weird. Ross wanted a girl named Emily for our first kid."
"He did?"
"Yeah, he talked about it when we were dating. Hey, it's weird that he's now dating a girl named Emily. I wonder if it means anything."
"Hmm."
"Whatever you do, just don't talk to Devon about having babies yet. You don't want to scare him off."
"Of course."
Joey drank his beer and asked the women pensively if they thought Chandler and Janice would get married someday. "I hope he won't move far away. I hope I'll still get to see him."
"I'm sure he'll come visit a lot, Joey. Ross always came around a lot even after he married Carol."
"Good," Joey said, trying not to worry. He feared that Chandler might be one of those guys who quickly left behind their old bachelor life and only went out with other couples. Joey didn't want to lose Chandler, just because he couldn't settle down in a couple too.
Rachel smiled and joked, "If Chandler moves out, who gets to keep your birds, you or him?"
Monica joined in with a laugh. "Yeah, who gets to keep all the new furniture he bought you? Will you wind up with just the white dog statue, huh?"
"Ha-ha." He was not amused. "It's our stuff. It's all ours." He didn't really care about who got what anyway. Maybe Chandler would have a game room in his and Janice's place, so Joey could come over all the time and play foosball or darts with him.
"Hey, speaking of moving, Joey, do you think you can convince Chandler to switch the apartments back?"
"Yeah!" Rachel agreed.
Joey shrugged. "Maybe, but I don't know how to argue with his book stuff."
"Oh, he's just being stubborn about that. Talk Janice into helping you. He wouldn't fight both of you, I bet."
"Um, okay." Joey wondered what it would feel like, him teaming up with Janice on an issue. He hoped it wouldn't be anything like Joey and Janice's Day of Fun. He was tolerating her fairly well now, but then again, she began singing pretty loudly with Phoebe today, and that had annoyed him. Joey also thought that he would still get jealous whenever she cooked with Chandler or talked about art and books again, so he wasn't sure if he could like her completely.
***
Janice, Chandler, and Phoebe resumed their threesome until they exhausted themselves again. Then they all said goodnight and went to sleep, but as Chandler lay in bed between Janice and Phoebe, he had another erotic dream...
Despite their locked doors, Joey somehow came into the bedroom and got very mad when he discovered the three of them together. "Chandler!" he spoke accusingly. "You had a threesome, and you didn't tell me about it! I'm your best friend!"
Chandler gasped and sat up, hushing Joey so that he wouldn't wake up the women. "I'm sorry. I-I wanted to tell you, but they made me promise not to!"
Joey still looked deeply hurt, "This is why you got me out of the apartment, huh? You don't trust me. You said I was your best friend!"
"You are, Joe. Of course I trust you. I'm so sorry. How, how can I make it up to you?"
"Let me join you." No longer pouting, Joey suddenly and decisively started crawling onto the bed.
Chandler was shocked and confused. "Joe? What are you--?"
Joey just pulled him close and kissed his mouth. It was a hot, passionate kiss, like Phoebe had often given to Janice. Chandler was so turned on that he didn't push Joey away, nor ask why he was doing this. Chandler just kissed him back and helped Joey start stripping off his clothes...
"Joey... Joe..." Chandler kept moaning his roommate's name in his sleep, and he restlessly shifted in bed as he dreamed of them doing naughty things to each other.
Janice woke up from all the noise and found Chandler dreaming beside her. Surprised and fascinated, she lay there listening to him and watching him in the throes of some erotic fantasy. With this dream, and Chandler's own confession about his dream with the strippers, Janice found herself reevaluating her earlier assessment that a dream didn't have to mean anything. Maybe this dream did mean something.
She remembered how she had caught Joey and Chandler in some intensely emotional moment today, and how, when she and Chandler joked about moving in together, Chandler had said that he couldn't leave Joey. He also said he couldn't quit his job because he was supporting Joey and the birds, almost in the tone of a man with a family to look after. Janice also recalled how, last time, Chandler had often wanted Joey to come along with them on dates, instead of regarding Joey as an inconvenient third wheel. As far as she could tell, the guys had always been close and affectionate, and their bond seemed unusually strong, even among their close-knit circle of six friends.
Janice considered that perhaps Chandler was bisexual after all, and he subconsciously longed to get closer to Joey. He was certainly aroused while thinking of Joey now, and he even sighed "I love you" with a frankness unknown to him in his waking hours. It had taken a long time for Chandler to admit that he loved Janice, after all.
Janice wasn't at all upset or jealous, for she knew that Chandler was her soulmate, and they were forever. Indeed, he had already been quite permissive and tolerant of Phoebe's tendency to cling to Janice this weekend; Janice had feared that Chandler would object about Phoebe's favoritism, but he took it all very well indeed. So Janice decided that in return, she should help Chandler admit to and explore his own desires too. She just had to be sure that Joey felt the same way about Chandler, though.
***
On Monica's couch, not far from where Ruthie was sleeping on the loveseat, Joey lay awake thinking about Chandler and Janice again. Would they really get married someday? Would Janice be the one that Chandler would finally, actually commit to? Would Joey be able to stand it and be happy for him?
Shifting restlessly under the covers, Joey remembered how upset Chandler was after Janice left him the last time. First he kept singing sappy Lionel Richie songs with Phoebe, then he wanted to wear his bathrobe and eat peanut clusters all day, then he wanted to start drinking in the mornings. Even when Chandler seemed to be over her months later, just the sight of Janice with Gary at Rockefeller Park had made Chandler drink himself stupid and behave badly at Joey's birthday party. That wasn't the worst night, though. No, the worst night was right after Janice had returned to Gary:
Just days before Thanksgiving, Joey had a hot date in his bedroom, but when he reached into his nightstand for condoms, he discovered that he was all out. She didn't have any in her purse either, so Joey put on a robe and went to borrow some from Chandler.
When Joey entered the darkened room, Chandler groaned and quickly pulled the bedcovers over his head.
"Sorry," Joey said as he approached the nightstand. "I'll only be a sec. I just need some condoms." He reached inside and discovered that there were plenty in the drawer. "Oh good! You got a twelve-pack. Can a have a few?" He started to tear three off, then reconsidered and decided that he would try for four times with his date.
Chandler spoke miserably, "Take all of them, if you want. I bought them for me and Janice, but now she's gone, and I don't need them anymore."
"Oh." Joey frowned and felt guilty now, belatedly remembering that Chandler had told him about this twelve-pack before; he complained that he couldn't return them because Janice had choked on the receipt. "I'm sorry, man. I forgot." He sat on the bed and reached over to pat Chandler on the shoulder.
Chandler moaned pathetically, "I'm gonna die alone."
"No, you're not!" Joey pulled the blanket out of the way and intended to hug Chandler, but then he stopped, looking quite shocked at what he found.
Chandler was crying and miserably clutching the shoe that Janice had left behind after their breakup in Central Perk.
"Chandler! You've gotta throw that thing away." Joey tried to take the shoe from him, but Chandler stubbornly held on tight.
"No! No, it's all I have left of her, Joe. Maybe if I keep this shoe, then she'll come back someday for it. Like, like Cinderella, you know?"
Joey stared at him with pity and horror. Grief had clearly made Chandler lose his mind.
"Why'd she have to go?" Chandler sobbed. "Why did she have to leave me now, of all times? We, we didn't even make it to Thanksgiving, and I thought I was finally gonna have a happy Thanksgiving with her."
Joey insisted, "Nah, you don't need her, Chandler. You'll have a great Thanksgiving without her."
"No I won't! You don't get it, Joe. You and everybody else have families to go home to for Thanksgiving, but I don't. I'll just be sitting here eating my grilled cheese sandwiches and Funyuns again, like last year."
Joey shook his head. "You don't have to be alone for Thanksgiving! It's not too late. Come on, you wanna come with me to my parents' house again? Or if it's too crowded, I'm sure Monica and Ross would invite you over again."
Chandler turned away and pouted. "No, I'm sick of being some pathetic tag-along at somebody else's holiday, with somebody else's family."
"You're not--"
Joey was interrupted by his hot date suddenly calling out from the other room. "Joey! What's taking you so long?"
"I'll be right there!" he replied to her. Then he took Chandler's hand and continued reassuring him. "Come on, it won't be like that. We love having you with us. We love you." He hugged Chandler close and wondered not for the first time why Chandler's mom or dad never invited him over for holidays. They were divorced from each other, yes, but surely they still loved their son? Nora had certainly seemed friendly enough when she visited, but Chandler always said, "It would only bring back bad memories." Not that the memories didn't return anyway.
Chandler still clung to Janice's shoe. "I just--I just wish it could be like that Thanksgiving a couple of years ago, you know? When Underdog got away. Remember when everybody had to stay and we all had dinner at Monica's?"
Joey shrugged. "Yeah, that was okay, after we all stopped fighting about the burnt food."
"Fighting was part of it, Joe. We felt like a family, almost. I know it sucked for you guys, but it was, it was the only decent Thanksgiving I've had since I was just a kid."
"What?" Joey was shocked. "But didn't you have some good ones with Ross in college?"
Chandler shook his head. "No, 'cause the first one, Ross was still mooning over Rachel and we didn't go out and use our fake IDs like he promised we would; then the next time, Monica cut off my toe, and that ruined the whole year. That was the last time I went to a Geller Thanksgiving! I mean, sometimes I came along when Ross was having Thanksgiving with Carol's folks, but that just reminded me how I didn't have a girlfriend."
"Oh." Joey understood now. "Then you started having those Thanksgivings alone or with Kip's folks?"
"Yeah," Chandler said. "Or your folks, or Phoebe's, or whosever turn it was to bring me along that year." He sighed sadly. "It's just, when we were all here, the six of us, it was different. It was good. You guys couldn't be with your families either, so I wasn't the only one depressed. We just watched the parade and ate my sandwiches and joked about your VD poster. And I told my Thanksgiving story to Rachel, she told us all about skiing in Vail, and Phoebe talked about her grandma's lunar boyfriend. We even saw Ugly Naked Guy dancing with Ugly Naked Girl. If *he* could get a girl, surely I could, right?"
"Yeah, of course. You'll find someone."
That didn't cheer up Chandler at all. "I already found someone: Janice." He choked up again. "And she left me." He started crying once more and muttered about dying alone.
"Chandler!" Joey was exasperated and didn't know how to comfort him. Why did Chandler have to keep clinging to the memory of Janice? Then Joey got an idea. "Hey, um, how about--how about this Thanksgiving, we all stick around again? We could stay here, like we did before."
"What?" Chandler turned around and didn't quite believe him.
Joey nodded. "Sure. We could--"
"Joey!" the woman called out again.
"In a minute!" Joey yelled back, getting irritated. "Uh, where was I? Oh, right. Look, I could stay here, you know? My parents always have trouble making room for the whole family for the holidays, what with cousins, uncles, aunts, and everybody. So maybe I could just tell my folks that I'll drop by there on like Friday or Saturday instead, when it's less crowded. I could talk Phoebe into doing that too, especially since her grandma lives in town. And Rachel, you know, her family isn't going to do their annual skiing trip, ever since her parents got divorced. And I bet Monica and Ross would stay and have Thanksgiving with us too, since their parents aren't into hosting big Thanksgiving dinners anymore. We could work it out."
Chandler was touched and surprised by this suggestion. "Really? You wouldn't mind it?"
"Nah, it's good. We could all have fun again, like you said."
Chandler smiled, but then reconsidered and felt guilty. "No, but--but it's selfish of me to make you all stay, just so I won't be alone again."
"No, it's not just for you, Chandler. Rachel's gonna be depressed too, and Monica's always upset whenever she comes back from hearing her mom rave about Ross and criticize her. They'd all have a crappy Thanksgiving anyway. This way, we can be together, you know? We just, um, have to not bug Monica about making three kinds of potatoes and stuff."
"Yeah," Chandler nodded. "And I'll make my own grilled cheese sandwiches too." He sat up and hugged Joey gratefully. "Thanks, Joe."
Joey smiled and started to say, "You're welcome," but his date called out again. "All right, already!" he snapped at her. With one last hug, Joey got up and left Chandler's room with the twelve-pack of condoms.
So that was how the gang decided to always have Thanksgiving together, not just Christmas and other holidays. Sometimes it got a little crazy, especially with Ross and Monica's childish competition at football, but in general, the group did enjoy being together like a surrogate family.
After Joey let Chandler out of the box this past Thanksgiving, he caught up with Kathy on the street, and kissed her for a long time. Then he invited her back to Monica's apartment so she could call her mother and say that she wasn't going to Chicago after all. Everyone was happy for the couple, and Chandler had remained grateful to Joey that entire night. "This is the best Thanksgiving ever! You forgive me, and Kathy's here too. Could this night *get* any better?" he laughed with uncharacteristic giddiness. "Oh, and you're really my secret Santa, Joe? This is the best gift you ever gave me! The best!" They hugged again.
Joey had enjoyed seeing Chandler so happy for once, and he hoped that he would remain that way for many holidays to come. Unfortunately, Chandler and Kathy eventually broke up, and Joey feared that things would take a turn for the worse again. Joey had never expected Janice to return, but now that she had, Chandler insisted that they were soulmates and would be together forever. Perhaps that was a good thing, considering how devastated Chandler had been without her.
With a sigh, Joey decided to just deal with his dislike of Janice and be happy for Chandler. He should look on the bright side, after all. If they really got married, then he could throw Chandler a bachelor party.