I've made significant revisions to chapters 1-3 (and soon 4), to flesh out the Joey/Kate and Ross/Rachel scenes. It's to lessen the haste and to increase the depth of the romantic developments.

Meanwhile Ross was at home, going through the NYU faculty directory and marking all the attractive, available women that he knew.

Rachel came back after putting Emma down for a nap, and she joined him on the couch. "What are you doing?"

"I'm still trying to find somebody to fix David up with."

"Oh, right. Chandler finally got him to agree to go a date?" She yawned and remembered being a bit tired and distracted while Ross was on the phone with Chandler last night.

Ross nodded. "David mostly just wanted to spite Mike by going to his piano bar with a hot date. I also think it would be good if we made sure that Phoebe was there at the same time, and then she could get jealous when she saw David with someone else."

Rachel said, "That sounds cruel, Ross. Do you really want to do that to her?"

Ross frowned and considered her point. "Well, I-I thought it would help her to realize whether she still has feelings for him or not."

"But I think she should come to that conclusion on her own, Ross. Certainly not during an uncomfortable, public confrontation. That would be humiliating and heartbreaking."

Ross realized that she was right. "Oh no! I-I hadn't thought about it like that before. Poor Phoebe."

Rachel nodded and sighed. "Yeah, and the more I think about it, Ross, I'm not sure that you guys should be trying to push David into dating so soon. I mean, it's only been a couple of weeks since Phoebe dumped him. Let him have some time. I doubt he's even through Phase 1 yet."

Ross berated himself. "I've been so insensitive! I've pushed him and nagged him, when he didn't feel ready!" Tossing down the faculty directory, Ross groaned and felt like he'd been an ass, focusing so much on his plan that he forgot the emotions of the people involved.

Rachel hugged him and kissed him sympathetically.

Ross leaned against her shoulder and said, "It's just--just that I feel so sorry for him, Rach, because he reminds me of what I went through after London, you know? Divorcing Emily, losing my apartment, and my job. I-I felt really pathetic and directionless, and I even got crazy over that Thanksgiving sandwich! Meanwhile, Emily was off getting engaged after only three months, and getting married again three months later! It really hurt. I'm worried that David's feeling just as hopeless after seeing Phoebe return to Mike. I don't want him to suffer like that."

"I know, Ross! I remember how manic you were that year. I mean, you were feeling so low that you even dated Janice for a while!"

"And I whined so much that I annoyed her, and she broke up with me!"

Rachel patted his arm. "Yeah, I know, honey. I do understand why you feel so bad for David; I feel bad for him too. But I just don't think that playing matchmaker is really going to help him at all. There are other ways to be there for him. I mean, you already helped him with his career, and returning the engagement ring. That's good, right?"

"Yeah." He squeezed her hand. "But I just worry about him getting lonely and mopey when he's at home by himself."

"Then don't let him be alone. Maybe--maybe invite him to your poker nights with Joey and Chandler, or start drawing a new Science Boy comic with him, or whatever. I think that would help him cope."

"You're right," Ross said. "I guess having him date some trophy girl out of spite isn't exactly healthy."

Rachel nodded and laughed. "Hey, remember when we both kept trying to spite each other with dates? You ended up being some woman's babysitter, and I ended up with a college kid stealing money from me."

Ross chuckled and shook his head. "It was so childish of us, wasn't it?"

"It was!" She nuzzled him, and they hugged and kissed again.

Before Ross could call Joey and Chandler to nix their matchmaking plan, however, the front door opened, and Phoebe came rushing in, crying.

"Pheebs! What's wrong?"

She sat down on the couch and said, "I-I broke up with Mike--"

"Oh! What happened?" Rachel moved closer and took her hand.

Phoebe waved her hand dismissively. "No I don't care about him. He's a lying bastard, and I'm throwing him out! No, I-I want to see David."

"David?" Ross spoke up with interest.

"Yeah, Ross, you've got to help me! I realized what a huge mistake I made, and I almost went straight to David's apartment, but then I remembered that he's dating Charlie now." She cried more fiercely. "So--so, Ross, tell me what I should do. How serious is he with Charlie? Is he really happy with her? Has he slept with her?"

"I, um," Ross hesitated, feeling bad about his earlier lie. He hadn't realized that Phoebe would be so hurt. "No, no he hasn't. He's not... anything with her."

"They broke up?" Her tears subsided a little, and she asked with new hope, "Do you think David will forgive me after what happened in Barbados? Would he take me back, or be offended?"

"Oh, Pheebs," Rachel said and felt quite sorry for her too.

Ross clarified, "They--they were never dating, Phoebe. They did talk on the plane, but I lied about David going out with her."

"What!" Phoebe glared at him furiously and demanded to know just what David had been doing since Barbados, then.

"Getting a new job and returning the ring, and then just moping at home. Me and the guys tried to fix him up with some women, but he wanted to be alone. He missed you."

Phoebe was touched by that, but still outraged at Ross. "Why would you lie to me like that! That's a terrible thing to do!"

"I'm sorry, Pheebs! I-I just meant to help him. I thought it would make him look less pathetic to you, and you might feel jealous enough to come back to him."

"Oh! You shouldn't manipulate people like that! I'd kick your ass, but I want to go see David right now." She started to get up.

Rachel stopped her, though. "Wait, Phoebe, are you just doing this on the rebound from Mike? You shouldn't go to David just to spite Mike."

"I-I'm not."

Ross asked, "Are you sure, Phoebe? He doesn't need his heart toyed with and broken again."

"I-I wouldn't do that to him! I love him."

"Then why did you dump him so quickly for Mike in Barbados?"

"Because Monica told me not to accept David's proposal, and she called Mike, and he showed up, and--Oh!" She gave up in frustration. "Why did any of you ever have to meddle in my life! And--and you just said that you wanted me to go back to David, so that's what I'm gonna do! But after that, don't any of you do this again!" She then stormed out and slammed the door, crying again.

Across the street, Joey and Kate came over for dinner at Monica's place. Chandler still felt a little cold and suspicious of Kate, but at least she had not objected to letting the rooster and duck live at the apartment again. For Joey's sake, Chandler strove to be polite as they waited in the living room for the other friends to arrive.

Monica asked, "So, how was your day?"

Kate smiled, "Oh, it was all right. It's been a long time since I was in New York, and I had to get my bearings again. Then of course, Joey took me to work with him and gave me a tour of the set. He even tried to get me to audition for a little part on DOOL, but I decided not to."

"Why not?" Monica passed some appetizers to her.

Kate looked at Joey rather significantly, then she said with a shrug, "Well, um, when I found out that Joey had slept with a large number of the interns and extras there, I decided I would rather go out and find work on my own."

"Oh!" Monica was rather embarrassed, while Chandler choked on a cracker and coughed loudly.

Joey was concerned, and he came closer to pat Chandler's back and try to clear his throat of the cracker. "You all right?"

Monica also gave him a glass of water, and soon Chandler was able to breathe freely.

"You okay now?" Joey remained near him.

Chandler nodded and said, "I'm fine. I-I was just--just surprised." He glanced at Kate.

"What do you mean?" Joey asked. "You already know that I've slept with a lot of the interns on the soap."

"I know," Chandler said, "but Kate didn't. Why would you tell her something like that, Joe?"

Kate interrupted, "Oh, he didn't have to tell me. There was some backstage gossip that I heard on the set, and I got the picture pretty quickly."

"Really?" Monica asked. "And you're okay with it?"

Kate answered, "I'm not okay with working there and actually seeing the women, but other than that, why should it bother me?" She shrugged pragmatically. "Joey wasn't cheating on me. It's been over six years since we were last together, and I've been with a lot of guys in the meantime too."

Joey nodded and put his arm around her again. "But not anymore. We're together now."

She smiled and kissed him fondly. "Yes, we are."

Chandler cleared his throat and took another sip of water.

Joey then grabbed another appetizer and asked, "Hey, Chandler, do you think you could help Kate get an audition?"

"I'm not an agent," Chandler protested.

"No, but you're working at that advertising agency, and you did that commercial for those shoes that were on fire. Could you maybe recommend Kate for a part?"

"Oh, I don't know if anything's really coming up..."

"Chandler!"

Before they could get into an argument about it, Ross and Rachel suddenly arrived, which made everyone look up.

"Hey!" Monica went over to greet them with hugs. "There you guys are! Did Emma's nanny run late?"

"Um, a little, but something else happened."

"What?"

Rachel announced, "Phoebe broke up with Mike!"

Ross added, "And she's going back to David!"

The others gasped and murmured in confusion, and Kate asked who Mike and David were.

"Oh!" Ross and Rachel finally noticed her and apologized for not introducing themselves. "Sorry."

"It's okay. Nice to meet you."

They exchanged greetings, then Ross suggested, "Um, why don't we tell you guys all about this over dinner? Phoebe's obviously going to be late."

"Right."

"Okay."

So the group sat down at the kitchen table and began to eat. They took turns explaining to Kate how Phoebe first met David eight years ago, and how he left for Minsk. Then David's original three-year experiment got extended considerably, though he visited New York a couple of times for scientific conferences. Then they covered Mike's history with Phoebe, and the love triangle, and the events in Barbados.

"Oh my!" Kate said, while Joey squeezed her hand.

Ross and Rachel then detailed their conversation with Phoebe that afternoon, and told them how upset she had been about their meddling.

"Wow. So she's over there trying to make up with David now?"

"Yep. We still don't know why she broke up with Mike, though. Phoebe said something about him being a liar."

"Do you think we should go ask? Is he still at Phoebe's apartment?"

"I don't know."

"She said she was throwing him out, but it's going to take a while to pack his stuff and move out all his furniture."

"Yeah."

"Maybe she'll want to stay with one of us until he's gone."

"Or she might stay with David."

They all ached with curiosity, hoping that Phoebe or David would call them soon and let them know what happened.

Monica served dessert, and to distract themselves from the suspense, they started chatting about Kate's day and asked how she was adjusting to living with the birds. Joey also suggested that they all tell the story of the trivia game and the apartment switching. So they did that, but still kept looking at the clock and thinking about Phoebe.