Chandler got home from work and was surprised to see Joey in the kitchen, cooking something. "Joe? You're--you're home."

"Yeah," he answered. "I'm just making some dinner for us."

"Us? You mean you and your date? But I thought you'd call if--"

"I mean you and me, Chandler. There's no date."

Chandler still hesitated by the door, apparently unable to understand him. "Are you going out later, then? When the nightclubs open?"

Stifling the urge to get angry, Joey took his hand and pulled him close, making sure that Chandler noticed the wedding ring still on his finger. "No, I'm staying right here."

"Why? Last night you said you wanted to go out. Not stay home anymore."

"I wanted to go out with you, Chandler. Not some girl."

"It's okay if you go. I don't want to hold you back--"

"Chandler, listen to me! I wanna stay with you. I just do. Unless you wanna piss me off and spoil your chances for sex tonight, don't argue with me."

Catching his breath at the thought of another intimate night together, Chandler said nothing further.

Joey sighed and kissed him lightly, then let go and concentrated on his cooking again. "And as for that note you left me this morning--" he grimaced at the memory of it, "--don't do that again, ever. If you've got something to say to me, you wake me up and say it."

"I'm--I'm sorry." Chandler shrugged. "But you just looked so peaceful there, and I'd worn you out last night."

Joey nodded and smiled a little. "Yeah, I know. In fact, you might have to go easy on me tonight."

Chandler frowned with concern. "Did I hurt you? Is, is that why you're staying home tonight? Oh, I'm sorry! I got carried away--"

"Chandler! What did I tell you about arguing with me?" Then he exhaled and spoke less sharply. "For your information, last night was good." Joey kissed him again. "Very good. It was just new for me, that's all. We'll take it slow tonight, okay?"

"O-kay." Chandler stood there and met his eyes uncertainly. He didn't comprehend "slow" anymore, not when it came to them having sex. In fact, for the past week, they almost always made out the moment that Chandler came home, then made a mad dash for Chandler's bedroom, forgetting entirely about dinner until hours later, when their growling stomachs urged them to get out of bed and either order some fast food or snack on some leftovers.

Joey wanted a real dinner tonight, and real conversation. Their relationship had to be about more than just sex and comfort, didn't it? He hoped so. Stirring the food he was cooking, Joey said to Chandler, "Hey, dinner's almost ready. Why don't you go get changed out of that suit and then set the table for me?"

"Oh. Okay." Chandler shrugged and headed for his bedroom, while Joey finished cooking and wished that they were more like a regular couple.


So the guys sat down to dinner at the foosball table, and Chandler had to admit that the pasta tasted better than all the junk food they'd been having lately. "Mmm, good." He accidentally got some of the sauce on the side of his mouth.

Joey hesitated a moment before reaching over and wiping off the sauce with his thumb.

Chandler met his eyes and sucked the thumb into his mouth, clearly hungry for more than just the sauce.

Joey almost leaned in and kissed him, before he opted for restraint and pulled his hand back. He coughed and said, "Hey, did you know that Phoebe's pregnant now?"

"She is?" Chandler blinked. "Wow. Ross works fast."

"Yeah, apparently. I don't even know that much about it really. It just happened sometime last week, and I only heard the news today. Nobody told us before because, you know, we've been locking the door, not answering the phone, and never going out."

"Oh."

"Anyway, Phoebe's even having a baby shower this weekend." Joey tried to sound casual about it. "So I figure that we should go and get them to tell us all about it."

"To a baby shower? Isn't that a girls-only thing?"

Joey shrugged. "Yeah, but Carol and Susan wanted to make it coed because it's been so long since we've seen the gang. What with this last week, and our month of punishment before... I guess they think it would be good for us."

"Oh." Chandler stared down at his plate in uneasy silence, then asked quietly, "Is Monica gonna be there?"

Joey frowned worriedly. "Would it bother you?"

"Of course it would!" He put down his fork and looked rather upset. "I mean, she dumped me a week ago! She cheated on me and dumped me! I don't wanna see her now!"

"Chandler, shh! It's all right." Joey got up and went over to embrace him. He knelt close to Chandler's chair and kissed his cheek, brushing his fingers through his hair. "I'm sorry, I should have known. I just thought--well, you haven't even talked about her since that night you said you wanted to find someone else. A soul mate."

Chandler calmed somewhat and put his head against Joey's shoulder. "Yeah, but I don't wanna see her, Joe. Maybe the others, but not her. It's too soon."

"Right," Joey nodded. "So we'll stay home, then. It's okay."

"Thank you," Chandler whispered, clinging to his arms. "Um, if you want to, you can go without me. If you miss seeing the gang, I wouldn't mind--"

"No, no," Joey shook his head and kissed him softly. "I'd miss you more."

Chandler looked at him as if trying to decide whether to believe Joey or not. To avoid an argument, he just said, "Thanks," and returned the kiss.

Joey stopped Chandler from becoming too passionate, then pulled back from him breathlessly. "Um, we should--we should finish dinner before it gets cold."

Chandler was disappointed, but hungry. "Okay."

With all the willpower he could muster, Joey stood up and returned to his own chair.

They resumed eating for a while, and Chandler kept stabbing his fork into the pasta. Finally he said, "Um, can you tell them for me, Joe? Tell everybody I'm sorry. If it were a better time, or Monica wasn't there... I mean, maybe we could go to Phoebe's sonogram, or something?"

"Yeah," Joey smiled encouragingly. "Yeah, maybe we could help Phoebe move to Ross's apartment, or put together some baby furniture."

"Sure, that--that sounds okay. How soon are they gonna start doing that stuff?"

"I don't know. I haven't talked to them yet. You wanna call them and ask?"

Chandler frowned and hesitated. "Right now? Maybe they're having dinner too, or hanging out with Monica and Rachel. I think--I think you should go see them in person, Joe. Ask them if they can make sure that Monica doesn't come when we're coming. You know?"

Joey understood Chandler's reluctance to see his ex-girlfriend, but didn't like him being so withdrawn from the rest of the gang. It really wasn't healthy. "Okay," he shrugged. "I guess I could catch them at Central Perk or at one of their apartments tomorrow. Ross is still teaching at NYU, right?"

"Yeah, unless something else happened that we didn't hear about. You could catch him before or after his class," he suggested.

Joey nodded and squeezed his left hand. "Hey, don't worry about it, Chandler. Rachel told me that everybody misses us, so I'm sure we could work something out."

"They really miss us?" Chandler seemed surprised.

"Of course! Don't you miss them too?"

Chandler shrugged and sounded bitter. "I guess I just thought they'd all be busy making friends with Monica's new boyfriend by now."

"What? They'd never forget about you like that!"

"Well, they forgot about Kip after he broke up with Monica. We all did. Besides, what if this new guy is all cool and charming like Richard?" He frowned. "What if it is Richard? Did you hear who he is yet?"

Joey shook his head. "Uh, no, Rachel didn't even mention the guy to me. Neither did Susan. Do you want me to ask about him?"

Chandler thought about it, then finally decided, "No. I'd rather hate him anonymously, without knowing what a macho, hot, sophisticated stud he is. Listen, Joe, if you somehow meet him tomorrow, can you please try not to like him? At least, not more than me?"

"Are you kidding, Chandler? I'd never like him more than you!"

"You haven't met him yet."

"I don't need to meet him. You're--you're better than anybody." He squeezed Chandler's hand again and gave him a very firm, loving kiss.