Joey called Carol and Susan, who weren't home, so he left a message. "Hi, it's Joey. I, uh, I need to talk to you guys about something. It's about me and Chandler. We, um, uh... well, something happened. Can I see you guys? Soon?"
Then Joey hung up and sat there worrying. Now that he thought about it, he wasn't exactly sure how to explain the whole situation to them. Would the wives think that Joey had taken advantage of the fake marriage (and Chandler's vulnerability since Monica dumped him), just for sex? He couldn't take it if they too refused to believe that he loved Chandler.
With a frown, Joey reluctantly got up and left for his auditions for the day, trying to hope for the best.
Susan called back that afternoon, having got home early from a photo shoot. She could certainly guess what Joey's message was about and decided not to wait for Carol to come home from school. "Hello, Joey?"
"Yeah, Susan. Thanks for calling." He remembered their encounter at the door and became apologetic. "Listen, you guys aren't mad or anything about the other night, are you? I know we should have cancelled--"
"No, no, that's fine, Joey. Just, you know, don't make a habit of it. It was fun traipsing all over New York for your punishment, but we can't overuse our babysitters, especially since Ross is so busy with Phoebe nowadays."
"Right," Joey said. "Of course."
"Anyway, about your message, Joey--do you and Chandler wanna come over to our place tonight and talk about what's going on?"
Joey paused and sounded uncertain. "I, um, I don't know if he'll want to come, Susan. He doesn't like leaving home right now--because, because of Phase One, I mean."
"Right," Susan responded, "Phase One." She knew it was just an excuse, and could hear him nervously clearing his throat. "So I guess you don't want to leave Chandler alone right now?"
"No, I don't," Joey answered. "I think I should stay here with him, make sure he's okay. But, um, I still really need to talk stuff over and get your help... about this."
Susan felt impatient with his vagueness, but didn't want to push Joey into a confession if he didn't feel comfortable over the phone. So she offered, "Look, um, we're actually planning to come by this weekend for the com--for the baby shower for Phoebe. How about we stick around afterward and talk to you guys then?"
Joey was confused. "This weekend? Wait, Phoebe's pregnant already?"
"No one told you yet?"
Joey shook his head and felt awful. "No, um, I haven't seen anybody around for a week now. I thought they'd call if something important happened."
"Yes, but your phone line has been busy several times."
"Oh, um, yeah." Joey was embarrassed. "I forgot that. We should have put the answering machine on or something, but Chandler's been... distracted and not thinking."
"Well, that's--completely understandable, with Phase One and all. Anyway, Joey, the party's this weekend, and Rachel will probably come by soon to drop off your invitations. It's a coed baby shower, and we'd appreciate it if you could get Chandler to come to the party."
"Party? Are you sure? He's not in the mood for--"
"We know, but it's just that we worry about him shutting himself away from the whole gang so much. That's why we wanted Monica and Rachel to make the party coed. Just something small and non-threatening to get you guys together for a while. Besides, if you can get Chandler to go out shopping with you for baby gifts, it could make him focus on Ross and Phoebe instead of on any issues that he's going through right now."
Joey shrugged and considered it. "Yeah, I guess that could help some, but I'm not sure if I can talk him into it."
"Well, just try your best, Joey. If you can't get him to come shopping with you, let alone to the party, you guys can just chip in for the gifts that we're bringing. Whatever happens, I promise that after the party Carol and I will definitely come over to your apartment and have a nice long talk about everything."
"Thanks," Joey said. "I really appreciate it."
"You're welcome. We'll see you this weekend, okay?"
"Okay." Joey hung up and worried a little more. All this talk of a party caught him off guard. Was it really wise to have Monica and Chandler in the same room so soon after their breakup? And what else had he missed besides Phoebe's announcement of her pregnancy? Was she already packing up to move in with Ross?
Suddenly, Rachel knocked on the door and asked if she could come in.
"Yeah, it's open."
Rachel entered and smiled timidly. "Hi. Long time no see. It's just, you guys have been keeping your door locked lately."
"Yeah, I'm sorry about that."
"And, um," she fidgeted and toyed with two invitations that she held in her hands. "Um, well, I--I came to tell you that Phoebe's officially pregnant now and..."
"Are those the invitations?"
"What?" she was surprised and confused.
"The invitations to the baby shower. I was just on the phone with Susan, and she told me about it."
"Oh! Geez. I wish I'd known that. Here." She handed over the invitations and cleared her throat. "I mean, uh, I know you guys will think it's weird to get invited to a baby shower, and we do know that it is so soon after Monica and Chandler's breakup, but we just--we miss you guys a lot and we'd like it if you could come. Anyway, in the invitations, Monica's listed the places where Ross and Phoebe are registered. You can pick any kind of baby gift to get them, but the main point is just to bring yourselves, okay? Ross and Phoebe will be glad just to see you guys again, and we all miss you both."
Joey nodded. "We miss you guys too. I'll try to get Chandler to come, if I can."
"Good. Well, we'll see you guys this weekend. Hopefully." Rachel hugged him briefly then hurried out the door, relieved that she'd managed to accomplish her task without too much difficulty.
"Now we just have to survive the baby shower/secret coming out party," she muttered under her breath as she returned to her and Monica's apartment. Rachel wondered if Chandler would actually come, or if she and Monica would have to go with Carol and Susan's Plan B: breaking the news to Chandler in private, after the party.
Monica came home from the store with supplies for the party, and she kissed Rachel before putting the bags down in the kitchen. "Hey, sweetie."
"Hey, Mon." Rachel helped her put away the food and other stuff.
Monica asked, somewhat nervously, "So, did you invite them yet?"
Rachel nodded. "Yeah."
"How was it?" She had wanted to help Rachel deliver the invitations, but they had agreed not to risk it, in case Chandler came home unexpectedly and reacted badly to seeing her. Monica could certainly understand it if Chandler had been brooding on their breakup for a week, and then exploded furiously as soon as he learned that they had invited him over for a party.
Rachel shrugged and said, "It was okay. At least Chandler didn't show up. I don't know if I could have faced him, with all this guilt, you know?"
"I know, sweetie." Monica hugged her, and they went to sit down on the couch.
Rachel laid her head on Monica's shoulder and continued, "Well, so I spoke to Joey. The door wasn't locked this time, and he didn't seem cold or anything. But then again, he doesn't know that I'm the one you left Chandler for. Anyway, I started announcing Phoebe's pregnancy, but then it turned out that he already knew because he'd just been on the phone with Susan, who told him all about the baby shower."
"She did?"
"Yeah, I called her afterward to ask about that, and she said that Joey had called her about, uh, returning their books or something, and she went ahead and told him about the baby shower. You know, just to help us convince Joey to bring Chandler."
"Oh. So are they coming?"
"I don't know. He said he'd try to get Chandler to come, but nothing definite. I'm sure he can't make this decision until he talks to Chandler about it."
Monica nodded. "Yeah, and if Chandler doesn't want to go, Joey will surely want to stay home and comfort him that night. We may have to go with Plan B after all."
"Yeah, it looks like it." She shrugged and tried to be cheerful. "And hey, if they don't come, we'll only have to tell Ross and Phoebe at first, and they'll at least be in a good mood about their baby, you know? But then we'll have to go across the hall and break the news to Chandler and Joey too. Susan said they'll be expecting her and Carol to drop by anyway, which makes it easier to tag along I guess."
Monica hugged Rachel closer. "It just seems so soon, though. I broke up with him last week, and now I'm throwing a baby shower, so I can ambush him with, 'Oh, by the way, I didn't leave you for a man. I left you for Rachel.' God! I just know he's gonna freak out so bad."
Rachel kissed her comfortingly. "But then he'll get better, honey! He'll get better, even if he has to smoke a lot and yell and even, you know, vent all his resentment of his gay dad on us. But the important thing is we're gonna face him, together." She squeezed Monica's hand.
"Together," Monica nodded. "If only we could do it some other time, though! Maybe after he's had a month or so..."
Rachel shook her head. "No, no, you heard Carol and Susan! We can't put it off too long, and besides, do we want to keep our relationship a secret too, like you and Chandler did after London? It's better to be completely honest, in case any part of him is still hoping to get back together with you, like Ross was with Carol, and with me. We have to do this."
Monica sighed and agreed, "We have to." They kissed again, then got up to get started on dinner.
