How often does a person get on a plane, and not want to get off? As far as Chandler Bing knew, flying was never an experience that a person wanted to last forever. As he sat in the back row of the large 747, talking to the second most beautiful woman he had ever seen, he was beginning to change his mind. He couldn't remember the last time he had smiled so much.

He told her everything. He talked about Monica and the divorce and leaving New York City. He talked about his friends and the life he left behind. He told her about Central Perk. He told her about the insane chain of events that ended with him owning part of his favorite hangout. He told her about his empty life in Rome. He told her about his best friend's dreams coming true.

"We're gonna have to stop in a little while. We're getting close to the coast and the passengers are gonna start waking up." Amy glanced around the cabin and noticed a few of the passengers had already awoken.

"Well that's good, ya know, because I was running out of things to talk about anyway." Chandler smirked and nodded, the same way he had done a million times before after a joke. It felt good to him.

Amy laughed, but it wasn't a complete laugh. It was some sort of hybrid of smiling and laughing. In his head, Chandler was now dubbing it a "smaugh." Years ago, it would have been one those small little traits that Chandler would have found way too annoying. At the moment, he found it addicting. "So, you think you've told me everything, huh?"

"Well not everything. I mean, I gotta save some things for Oprah." Chandler sat up a little straighter in his chair. He was feeling great. It was incredible. It was even more incredible when he remembered that just a few hours ago he was drunk and well on his way to a hangover.

Amy smiled, giving Chandler a brief glimpse at some of the whitest teeth he had ever seen. "Oh god, my cheeks hurt from laughing so much." Chandler was ecstatic on the inside. He hadn't felt this feeling in so long. He couldn't quite place it. What was it? "There is one more thing I wanna know. After all that's happened, why are you going back to New York?"

"Well when I left the first time, I forgot all my Lionel Ritchie records, so I just wanted to go back and get them." He paused for a second, but he didn't know why. What was this familiar thing? Amy laughed, and he was about to continue, when he realized exactly what it was he was feeling. He was smiling. He his hands were flying as he talked. He was pausing for laughter.

He was funny. Chandler Bing felt funny once again, and for a brief second, he was so happy that he wanted to cry.

Amy sensed the wheels turning inside his head. "Is something wrong?"

"No." Chandler slowly shook his head. "As hard as that is to believe."

"Well then answer my question. Seriously! A curious mind wants to know." She leaned back a little in her chair. She was so interested in him. His story was so heartbreaking, yet he still had a light shining inside of him. She could see it. So many things about him appealed to her, but it was the light inside that refused to burn out that really drew her to him.

"I don't know. Most of me just wants to let everything go. You know? Just forget about Monica and the divorce and move on with my life. But there's this little part of me, somewhere deep inside…I think it's in this area here," Chandler moved his arm around his lower chest. "I think it might be my appendix. I mean, it doesn't do anything else. So yeah, my appendix wants to know what happened." Chandler shrugged. "I think my appendix needs some answers."

"They took my appendix when I was seventeen." Amy stopped and then looked away, slightly embarrassed. "I don't know why I mentioned that."

"It's okay." Chandler leaned in close. "If you want, when we land, I can try to help you find it." Both of them laughed, and neither moved away.

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Finally, they were done for the night. Business was always great at Central Perk, but ever since the six of them had redone the place, people couldn't stay away. It was terrific for their bank accounts but horrible for their health. They were always exhausted. For Ross and Rachel, it was a second job. They both had their careers, but now the time they used to spend hanging out in the coffee house was spent working in the coffee house. Monica was there full-time, as was Phoebe, who had all but abandoned her career as a masseuse.

They had hired some help. Nic, the first girl they employed, was recently promoted and given the title of operations supervisor. She took a lot of the small stuff off their hands, handling paper work and personal issues with the other workers. She had proven herself quite capable in the five months she had been working there.

Nic watched as the last of the waiting crew left the building, and then turned her attention towards cleaning up. It had become a ritual for them. Every single night, without fail, one could walk by Central Perk after closing and find the five of them cleaning up. Nic looked around and saw her four bosses in a corner talking. They were good people. She was happy to work for them.

She remembered when she had first started. She was sure that she was going to be fired. Monica had found her in her apartment after returning from a trip, and had incorrectly assumed that she had slept with Chandler. The issues were worked out not long after that, and things worked out quite well for Nic. Things didn't work out quite as well for Monica and Chandler though.

She found it somewhat strange that she had six bosses, and even stranger that she hadn't seen two of them in what seemed like forever. As sad as it was, she remembered very little about Chandler. She hadn't known him for very long, and for the time that she did, he was only a ghost of the person he had once been. There just wasn't enough left of him to remember.

Joey, however, she remembered everything about. She had fallen for him the second she had laid eyes on him. He was everything she had ever wanted in a man, and she wasn't very happy to find out about his relationship with Rachel, another one of her bosses. They had definitely made a connection though. Nic was sure of that.

In his absence, her crush on him wavered some, but not a lot. Even though making a move on him would surely end her career at Central Perk, Nic couldn't say with absolute certainty that she would never try it. If the opportunity presented itself, she just might go for it. Before she could travel any farther down that path of thoughts, Ross interrupted her.

"Hey Nic, I'm taking off for the night. Have a good one." Ross smiled and moved passed her toward the doors. Rachel was already waiting outside.

"Where are you going? You're supposed to stay and help us clean up. It's tradition." Nic playfully crossed her arms across her chest.

"I know, I know, but I have a good excuse. I have to go with Rachel to pick Chandler and Joey up from the airport." Ross knew that Nic was aware of their respective social situations. Even though no one directly discussed it with her, she was around enough to pick up the necessary pieces of information and put the puzzle together. Everyone knew that she knew.

"Oh, I see. It's so late, though. It's a strange time to be arriving someplace."

"Well, Joey wanted to get here as soon as he could. He really misses Rachel." Ross nodded and began to walk out the doorway. "I'll see you tomorrow."

His last comment had stung a little bit. She never liked to hear about Joey and Rachel. She had heard Rachel speak of him, and had heard the others talk about the two of them together, and she could tell they were desperately in love. Not even knowing that could prevent her from feeling the way she did.

She walked toward the counter and picked up a towel, depressed to have so much work left to do, but somewhat excited about the return of Joey.

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Unfortunately for Chandler, Amy had to go back to work. Chandler hadn't gotten any sleep, even though he intended to, but at the moment it didn't matter. His thoughts were on her and her alone. Talking to her had been a surreal experience. She laughed at his jokes and she smiled at him. It had been awhile since Chandler had gotten such reactions from people. Lately, he couldn't even make Joey laugh.

Joey didn't know what to think. Part of him was thrilled to see Chandler in such a blissful state, but another part was terrified of the possible mess this development could create. Joey did not want to bring Chandler back into Monica's life with a new woman on his arm, but Chandler was clearly happy, and that was something Joey just couldn't ignore.

Joey looked towards his friend. "What's her name?"

"Amy." Chandler wandered how long Joey was going to stay silent. He was sure that Joey was flipping out internally, but at the moment he didn't care. Things were happening so quickly. He was feeling so different. He didn't have the time or the capacity to worry about Joey. "She lives in New York."

"Wow. That's only halfway around the world from where you live." Joey smiled and sat up in his chair. As they got closer and closer to New York, he was focusing less on Chandler and more on seeing Rachel. They had been apart for far too long.

Chandler could tell that Joey's thoughts had shifted, as they so often did. He was happy for him. Joey was never the type of guy who looked for love, but when he found it, he never wanted to let it go. Courting Rachel was not the easiest thing Joey had ever done. Chandler knew it had been painful for him. After spending his entire life bedding any female he desired, Joey was crushed to find that the only one he wanted forever didn't want him. Joey had once described it to him as "irony, or poetry, or something."

Chandler looked around the cabin to see if he could spot Amy, but he couldn't. So, he turned his attention back to Joey. "Are you excited?" It was a dumb question, but he couldn't think of anything else to ask.

Joey smiled wide and rubbed his palms together. "You bet I am. New York, baby!"

Chandler checked to see if Joey had disturbed any of the other passengers. Sure enough, he had, and sure enough, he was oblivious to it. "That reminds me of you in London." For a few brief moments, memories of Monica and him in England came flooding back. The start of it all. The first time he had ever seen her as…

Joey interrupted his thoughts. "Are you excited?"

"Nowhere near as excited as you, Joe." Amy walked through the curtains from first-class and immediately caught Chandler's eye. He smiled at her, and she smiled back before turning to help an elderly woman. "But I'm not dreading it as much as I was."

"Good." Joey yawned, then continued, "I'm just happy you decided to come, cause I gotta tell ya, I didn't think I was ever going to convince you." He laughed a little to himself.

"You're not the reason I changed my mind, Joe."

"I'm not?" Joey, now alerted, turned in his seat to face Chandler. "Then what made you decide to come back?"

Chandler smiled as Amy made eye contact with him again. Without looking away from her, he answered his friend. "My appendix."

Joey bit his lip and nodded as he turned away from Chandler and started to look out the window. He mumbled to himself, "I always thought you were Christian."

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Hundreds of people pushed their way towards the door of the plane. After a long flight across the Atlantic Ocean, they all wanted to be on solid Earth again. Chandler and Joey made their way inch by inch toward the exit. Chandler spent the entire time arguing with himself in his mind. He really wanted to ask for her number, but he just couldn't remember how to do that with a woman.

It then occurred to him that he had never known how to do that. With maybe the exception of Ross, he had the worst luck with women. If his relationship with Monica hadn't just drunkenly stumbled into his life, he would have been alone forever, he was sure. Hell, he never would have had the nerve to even ask Monica for her number. Lucky for him, he had already known it.

Before he knew it, they were at the exit, and then they were out of the plane. He had stalled for as long as he could, trying to give himself as much time as possible to build up the courage to ask her, but he just couldn't do it. The transformation was complete. He really was back to his old self – funny and gutless.

They were polar opposites as they walked down the gateway. Joey was visibly excited. He knew Rachel was only a few feet away. Chandler was visibly upset. Perhaps the key to his getting over Monica was only a few feet away as well, but he had left it behind.

"Chandler!"

He turned to look down the narrow hall full of people, and he couldn't help but grin as Amy pushed her way towards him. She held a piece of paper in her hand, folded neatly into a perfect square. It reminded him of someone.

"This is my number. I'd love it if you called me. Maybe we could get together before you go back to Italy." She did it again. She "smaughed."

"Yeah. That would be…perfection." He smiled and looked down the gateway toward Joey, who had refused to stop. "I should catch up to him. I'll see you later." He turned around and was about to start walking away when she grabbed him and pulled him back.

And then she kissed him, and his entire life changed.