At the hotel bar, Joey and Chandler sat together, drinking heavily.

"I'm sorry, Joe." Chandler didn't like seeing him so depressed. "I wonder if there's a strip club somewhere that we could go to, to cheer you up?"

Joey shook his head, not being in Phase 2 yet. "No, I-I just want to remember Kate now. Do you remember her, Chandler? Her blue eyes, and her soft hair and her smile? The way that she used to talk?"

Chandler shrugged. "Mostly I remember her kissing her boyfriend in front of you. I remember you calling up all those girls on the phone to apologize for sleeping with them and dumping them afterward. I remember you staying at home and crying about her until you decided to buy a chick to cheer you up."

"Yeah, then you got the duck too."

"Two good things came from that whole Kate mess, at least."

"Yeah."

As they were talking, a woman with long, curly hair came into the bar. When she saw the guys at the bar, she called out, "Joey?"

Joey turned around and couldn't believe his eyes. "Kate?"

"Joey, oh my God, it's really you!" She rushed forward and hugged him.

"Kate! What--what are you doing here?"

"Well, my brother, you know, is a pharmacist, and he had a conference here. He said I should come and enjoy the sunny weather in Barbados. Ha! Actually, he's trying to fix me up with somebody here, but thankfully, we could never find my name tag to let me into his conference. Mostly I've been hanging out by the pool or in here, reading scripts. It's so great to see you, Joey."

"It's great to see you." He hugged her again and held on tight. "I-I should have remembered about your brother."

Chandler cleared his throat loudly. "Hey, I'm Joey's invisible friend, Chandler."

Kate pulled out of Joey's arms and smiled, shaking Chandler's hand. "Hi, um, I'm Kate. Sorry for not seeing you there. I'm, I'm kind of an old friend of Joey's."

Chandler informed her, "Actually, I'm an old friend of Joey's too. I met you once, on the opening night of that play, Boxing Day."

"You did? Oh, I'm sorry. You were one of the friends that he brought to the theatre that night! Sorry, I guess I was kind of distracted then."

"Yeah, by your boyfriend Marshall," he said acidly.

Joey nudged Chandler in the ribs. "Hey, Kate, do you wanna go somewhere and talk for a while?"

"Oh, great! Yeah. Um, what about your friend?"

"Don't worry. Chandler's got to go back to his wife now."

"Joe--"

"Bye, Chandler. Good luck making a baby." He put his arm around Kate and walked off with her, lost in her blue eyes.

Stuck with the bar bill, Chandler tossed down some money angrily and followed after them. He was supposed to be helping Joey get over Kate, not hook up again! Chandler didn't trust her, either. What if Kate turned out to be a bitchy, deceitful slut this time too? What if she led Joey on and broke his heart again? Chandler was determined not to let that happen.

So Chandler trailed after the couple as they took a long walk through the hotel, chatting and laughing together. They finally ended up in the game room and sat down.

Chandler hid behind a potted plant and listened to them talking for hours. They discussed the events of the past six years, as well as more recent things, like all the rain in Barbados. Kate even asked whether Joey's father still had a mistress, and Joey reluctantly admitted that he did.

"It's been fourteen years! Why won't he stop already? Why won't mom make him?"

"Oh, I'm sorry!" Kate hugged him comfortingly and kissed him.

Joey sighed, then changed the subject to his younger sister Dina, who had a baby with Bobby Corso. Joey tried to help them out and be a good uncle, but he still worried and felt that they were too young to go through this. "I guess they're really not gonna get married, but the least he could do is give up on his stupid gangsta-rap band!"

Chandler had never heard Joey share so much with a woman before, and he imagined that their all night talk six years ago must have been similar.

Joey and Kate were clearly falling in love again, and they even discussed possibly seeing each other after Barbados. Maybe she would come visit Joey in New York, or maybe Joey would come visit her in L.A.

Then Kate kissed Joey rather passionately and asked, "Is it okay if we go back to my room? And this time I hope our chaperone isn't coming with us." She glanced in Chandler's direction.

Joey smiled. "Goodnight, Chandler! Go join your wife like I told you to."

Chandler was embarrassed at being caught, but he stood up and said, "You shouldn't rush into anything, Joe. You just broke up with Charlie!"

"I don't care," Joey answered. "Go on. Monica's gonna be worried about you!"

Chandler groaned and started to go, but then he turned back and looked at Kate threateningly. "If you break his heart one more time, I'll--I'll make a website about you and post mean things!"

Joey and Kate just laughed, then met each other's eyes and kissed again. They left together while Chandler went back to his hotel room.

Monica woke up when Chandler crawled into bed with her late that night.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to wake you."

"It's okay, sweetie. So how's Joey doing?"

"Actually, he's spending the night with Kate."

"Kate? What do you mean?"

"Turns out, that name tag does belong to Kate Miller. The same Kate that left Joey six years ago. She's here with her brother, the pharmacist."

"Wow! So lots of lovers got back together thanks to our meddling: Phoebe with Mike, Ross with Rachel, and Joey with Kate. Isn't it great?"

Chandler shrugged and lay back with a sigh. "I think Joey's rushing things with Kate. I mean, she might be acting nice now, but she might just leave him again. I mean, she was only nice to Joey that last time because he was making her feel better about the horrible reviews on opening night. And then she just accepted that job in L.A. without even calling Joey or anything, and then she left."

"You sound like you hate her."

"I just don't trust her. I don't think she understands commitment. She cheated on her boyfriend with Joey, and didn't even feel guilty at all. And what kind of person stars in a play, then bails for another job after one lousy night?"

Monica said, "Well, Joey's not exactly a person who understands commitment either. And that play was awful."

"I know, but Joey loved her. She's just gonna break his heart again!"

"Chandler, calm down! If Joey's willing to give her a second chance, then let him. Who knows? Maybe she's changed for the better. Maybe it will work out. I mean, Rachel is giving Ross another chance and forgiving him for sleeping with that copy place girl. Phoebe is giving Mike another chance after they argued about getting married."

Chandler thought about it and said, "Well, we--we don't really know if Phoebe and Mike will work out. I mean, after Phoebe dumped David, and he came back because he couldn't get an earlier flight home to New York, Phoebe did invite David to stay in the room with them."

Monica sighed. "Yeah, that was weird, and awkward. She should have let David go stay with Ross or something, but she really insisted on it. I guess because she felt so guilty."

"Yeah," Chandler said. "I think I heard Phoebe and Mike fighting about that this morning, so they've got some problems to work out. Also, you know, it seems like Mike only came here and proposed to Phoebe because you warned him about David. I bet he wasn't really ready to get married at all. What would he have done if Phoebe had accepted? Go along with the engagement just to avoid an argument? Or made a Mike-shaped hole in the door?"

Monica laughed and recalled, "Remember when you proposed and I almost had a Chandler-shaped hole in my door? Yeah, an insincere proposal is no better than an insincere acceptance. But you know, you could say the same thing about David. He only proposed to Phoebe because you gave him some bad advice."

"I didn't tell him to propose! I just said to show that he was open to marriage. He just took it too far."

"Right. Why do guys want always want to rush things with Phoebe? Gary the cop wanted to move in with her after only a couple of months. Now David proposes in half that time."

Chandler shrugged. "Maybe it's just the kind of guy that Phoebe attracts. And Ursula. That Eric guy wanted to marry Ursula after only two weeks."

"Yeah, some people are just so crazy and impulsive. Remember when we thought Pete was going to propose to me, and I seriously considered saying yes?"

"Yeah! Thank God that millionaire was crazy about Ultimate Fighting instead of you."

"Hey! He was still crazy about me. I dumped him."

"And I'm glad you did." They kissed, then Chandler yawned tiredly. "What a long day. What with the couple-swapping and the ping-pong, I'm beat."

"Yeah," she smiled. "Goodnight, sweetie."

"Goodnight."

Joey woke up with Kate the next morning and smiled happily. "Hey," he said, and kissed her.

She snuggled up to him and laughed. "Hey. My hair must be a mess. It always gets frizzy in the humidity."

"You and Monica should give each other tips."

"She's the one married to Chandler, right?"

"Yeah. You should meet them all, you know."

"Sure, that would be fun. And you should meet my brother, if I can get him away from his conference for a while."

Joey glanced at the clock. "Oh, wait! I gotta go pack."

"Oh! Do you really have to leave for New York already?"

"Yeah. I really wish I could stay here." If only they had run into each other earlier on this Barbados trip.

Kate sighed. "It's okay. At least you have a TV show to get back to. Mine was cancelled."

"I've been there! Did you see me on Mac and C.H.E.E.S.E?"

She laughed. "Yeah, you and a robot sidekick. Almost as much fun as me fighting crime from a wheelchair and occasionally wearing the Batgirl suit."

Joey hugged her encouragingly. "You'll get something else. Maybe if you come back to New York, you'll have better luck."

"I hope so. All the scripts I'm getting lately make Boxing Day look like Shakespeare."

"So you'll come back?"

She shrugged. "Yeah, why not? I mean, I'll have to go home first and talk to my agent and my brother and everything. But then I'll pack my bags and get on a plane to New York, okay?"

"Okay. I can't wait!"

"Me neither." She kissed him lovingly. "Until then, you'll call me, right?"

"Right."

"And tell your friend Chandler not to give me the evil eye anymore. The only boyfriend I have this time is you."

He kissed her happily, then got out of bed and hurried to dress and join his friends.

Ross and Rachel lingered in bed for a while.

Stroking her hair, Ross said softly, "Hey, I'm sorry about hiding that phone number and getting so upset about that Gavin guy. You and me weren't together, and even if we were, I should have learned from that whole Mark disaster."

Rachel nodded. "Yeah. But to be fair, Ross, you were right. I was the one who asked you not to date anybody while I was pregnant. We should have had a talk about what that might mean after Emma was born."

Ross chuckled. "Yeah, everybody tells us to talk things out, and we never do. Why is that?"

Rachel shrugged. "Maybe because when we talk about us, we get back into that whole 'we were on a break' issue."

Ross asked her, "Do you really forgive me for that, Rach?" It had been a sore point between for so many years.

Rachel nodded. "Well, I-I don't want you doing it again, certainly. But the point was never really whether we were on a break or not, Ross. It was about me being hurt that you could sleep with her so soon. But you know, even after you did that, I still kept falling back in love with you at the beach, in London, and those kisses before and after Emma's birth. To tell the truth, I wasn't even gonna call that guy from the bar because I was thinking about you and me that night. We keep having these moments, Ross, when all the fighting goes away, and it's just us. You know?"

"I know. I love you, Rachel, and I promise you I will never hurt you again, in any way. I know I was horrible to you about Mark and your job... I mean, if anything, I could've driven you straight into his arms, and I would've completely deserved that. Plus, since then, I've experienced Emily being unreasonable and jealous about me, and now I see how you felt, and why you needed that break to begin with."

She smiled. "See, that's all I wanted--for you to understand how I felt."

"I know." He kissed her. "So this time I am gonna trust you and talk things through and behave like an adult, okay?"

"Okay. And I'll do the same for you. No more of this 'once a cheater, always a cheater' stuff from my mom. I mean, what does she know? She got divorced. It's not like you're Barry, the serial cheater. We can forgive and move past it. For Emma. For us."

"For us." He kissed Rachel, and for the first time in years, they looked forward to a great future.

Dina Meyer, who plays Kate, recently starred on the TV show Birds of Prey, which got cancelled. Assume that the same thing happened to Kate.

Also, see Chapter 5 for further explanation of why David stayed the night with Phoebe and Mike.