CHAPTER SEVEN: LOS ANGELES

Long after Phoebe's plane had taken off, Joey had stayed at the airport. Their goodbye had been hasty. Hell, that entire morning had been hasty. He had awakened when he'd felt a warm body snuggling up to his. "Phoebe" he remembered thinking, followed immediately by "She's leaving". It was that thought that had distressed him to the point that their lovemaking had been desperate. Desperate enough for him to have considered asking her to stay, but he couldn't have done that to her. One of the things he loved about Phoebe was her loyalty, and she would've never done that to Mike.

He was still in awe about having been with her. That alone told him how much he meant to her, but still, he would have done nothing that would hurt Phoebe or make her feel uncomfortable. So he'd said nothing.

The ride to the airport had been full of Phoebe's incessant chatter about this and that movie star and how beautiful people were in L.A. He had managed to answer with monosyllables, when at all.

It wasn't until they'd been at the gate that he'd started to speak.

"I'm REALLY glad you came, Pheebs. I wish..." but she had interrupted him.

"Joey, let's just say 'see you later' ok? Take care of yourself and don't stop e-mailing us" He'd seen the slight moisture in her eyes, but her smile had been big. Then she had held him tightly for a bit, before she hurriedly boarded.

The day had gone by excruciatingly slow for Joey after finally leaving the airport. Usually glad to have time off, he found himself looking forward to going back to work, if only to have something to occupy his mind in. Something besides these past few days.

He'd been tempted to call her, but had resisted the urge because he figured Mike would be with her and he couldn't deal with that. He thought about calling Chandler, but he didn't know how to start.

When the feeling of restlessness had gotten to the point that not even food calmed him down, he'd gone to his favorite beach spot only to find that it was loaded with memories of her. He'd sat for a while but the respite he usually got had eluded him. The spot wasn't just his anymore. It was theirs and he no longer derived any joy from just being there.

So here he was, eating pizza and drinking beer on his balcony. The Joey special was almost gone, and he was about to get ready to go out when the phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Hey Joe. How are things in la la land?"

"Chandler! Hey man!!! Things are great! How are you guys? And the twins? Are they better?"

"Yeah Joe. The chickenpox magically went away in less than a week" was Chandler's sarcastic retort.

His sarcasm went over Joey's head as usual. More so today than ever since he was hearing without really listening. He wanted to talk to Chandler.

"Chandler, I'm so glad you called. I was just thinking about you guys"

"Believe me, Joey, we too have been thinking about you. A lot. Especially since yesterday"

"Why? What was yesterday?"

"Do you remember how you wanted to marry me and Monica and how at first we didn't want you to because we figured you'd find a way to screw it up?"

"Yes. Showed you didn't I? He said with a smile.

"Sure you showed us. You showed us we should have trusted our instincts"

"What?? What's wrong?"

"Oh nothing much. Just that being an ordained minister online doesn't last forever. It didn't even last till our wedding date. The City of New York regretted to inform us in a letter yesterday that our marriage was invalid"

"Oh my God! Dude, I'm sorry. I was so excited that you'd agreed for me to marry you that I wasn't paying much attention... How mad is Monica at me?"

"Well, she's decided that since we're no longer husband and wife. You're no longer our friend, and won't be until we're married again. I said that everyone made mistakes and friends should be forgiving. Of course I waited until she'd left the room to say it. "

"Still scared huh?"

"Oh yeah. That's kind of why I'm not so much calling you from my cell, as I am upstairs cleaning the cellar"

"Dude you're so whipped!!"

"Yeah well. You'll get your turn, Joey. I have a feeling that you're gonna be worse than Ross and I with your wife. So, did you and Phoebe have fun?"

Yes, we did. You know? I kind of wanted to talk to you about that..." Joey was thinking of the best way to start, when he heard Monica's voice on the background.

"That had better be a wrong number you're talking to..."

"For the umpteenth time... you have the wrong number!" Joey heard Chandler say into the phone before the line went dead.

He smiled at his antics, but couldn't help feeling disappointed that he didn't get a chance to tell Chandler about him and Phoebe. Replacing the receiver, he went to where he kept his laptop and got online to check on what Chandler had told him. He couldn't believe those people. You would think they would send you some kind of notice that your permit was about to expire.

He felt bad that Monica and Chandler were inconvenienced. He hoped this incident wouldn't affect the adoption or disrupted their lives more than having to sign a piece of paper again. This sucked, but Joey wasn't overly worried. It wasn't as if he did this for a living. He'd only done this for Chandler and Monica...

Realization hit Joey like a ton of bricks. He sat dumbfounded in front of the screen, hardly breathing for a while. Then his heart started beating wildly and he shot up from the chair and ran to the phone, and hastily dialed a number.

"You've reached the Hanningans. We're not home, but leave us a message"

Hearing Mike's voice on the machine gave him pause. He had to think for a minute. Actually, more than a minute. This turn of events required major mulling over, a course of action and sound decisions, none of which were his strong suit.

Suddenly, L.A. was wrong. Too polluted. Too crowded. Too shallow. Too sunny. Too far.

He sat by the phone for a while, trying to decided his next move, and in a burst of decisiveness, dialed another number.

"Hi Ma. It's Joey. Guess what? I'm coming home...."