Missing

Monica of course, wanted to see for herself, checking in all the places Emily had looked, even some of the ones she'd overlooked, owing to the fact that Ross was a six foot man wearing a plaster cast on his leg.

'He has gone,' Emily said, wide eyed.

'Okay, okay, let's not panic,' Monica said, sounding more confident than she felt, 'He probably went down to the corner store for something.'

'But for what? We were going shopping. He already gave me a list of stuff he wanted,' Emily objected. 'I got him everything on the list. He knows I'd be getting him everything on the list.'

'Maybe he forgot something,' Monica said. 'You have to admit it's a possibility. He wouldn't like to wait.'

'That's true,' Emily said, 'He'd want it right away. Let's go down and see if he's at the corner shop.'

Coney Island

Picture Ross, Rachel and Joey at the Go Kart rides:

'I am not going to let that man in my Go Karts,' the operator said.

'Come on man, his leg is already broken,' Joey cajoled, 'What harm could it do?'

'He's got another leg,' the Go Kart man said. 'What if he breaks that one and sues me?'

'I won't,' Ross said, 'I'll drive carefully.' The operator stared at him.

'You'll drive a Go Kart, carefully?'

'Oh yeah, of course, I will, I'm a very careful person,' Ross said.

'Except when crossing roads,' Rachel murmured. Ross glared at her. The operator said incredulously,

'Mister, you can't drive a Go Kart carefully. It's about smashing one car into another. Why don't you try the Tea Cups instead?'

'I'm a grown man, if I want to ride the Go Karts I will!' Ross exclaimed. A four car pile up occurred. All four watched the ensuing mess.

'C'mon Ross,' Rachel said, not liking this ride at all, and leading him away. 'You had your fun on the swing rides. Let's go do something else.'

Central Perk

Ross had not been at the corner shop, but when they returned to the apartment, to consider their next move, they had had an interesting encounter with the old lady who lived in the building, the one who went shopping several times a day for a few items of groceries at a time.

'That was your husband?' asked the lady.

'Yes,' Emily said, 'You've seen him today.'

'You poor dear,' said the old lady, 'He must be a terrible trial to you. I'd blame his friends.'

'What friends?' Emily asked.

'The two who were with him. A man and a woman. I didn't like the look of those two, especially the man. He looked like a con artist. I hit him with my stick you know. I hope they haven't gone off with your life savings' She waved it around to demonstrate, only just missing Monica.

'Two people took him away?' Emily confirmed. 'What did they look like?'

'There was a young man, clean shaven with short dark hair, a bit plump, and there was a skinny woman with light hair.'

'Joey? Rachel?' Monica said involuntarily.

'Thanks for your help,' Emily said. She and Monica, without needing to discuss it, changed their steps for Central Perk.

'Joey and Rachel?' Monica said again, but more nervously. Under the circumstances, it was better that Rachel keep her distance from Ross, although she was with Joey, so that made it less of an issue. At least, she hoped it would be less of an issue with Emily.

'So they've taken him out,' Emily said.

'It could have been someone else.'

'Who else would it be? If it was Phoebe, the woman would have said blonde. Of course the man…'

'Chandler's not plump,' Monica said firmly, 'Not in the slightest.'

'Besides, he'd leave a note,' she said.

'I don't know why the others didn't leave a note. Joey might forget, but I don't see the others forgetting.'

'I guess Ross was too excited at getting out. I've done my best,' Emily said, 'There's only so much I can do on my own. And you've all helped when you could.'

'Don't worry Emily,' Monica said.

'But I don't know where he is, I don't know if he's all right.' They walked into Central Perk and sat in the chairs. 'I don't even know what to do next.'

'Well at least he's with two other people,' Monica said, 'He can't come to any harm.'

Coney Island 2

Picture Ross, Rachel and Joey at the rollercoaster

'Wheeee!' Ross exclaimed as they went around a killer bend. Rachel's knuckles on the handrail were white. Joey's face was turning green. He really wished he hadn't had the fairy floss.

The ride ended.

'Let's do it again,' Ross said, as Joey staggered off on his own.

Central Perk

Emily and Monica had split up the search to visit each of the possible apartments the three could possibly be in. They had not found any sign of them, but had brought back Chandler and Phoebe to discuss the problem with.

'So, where could they be?'

'Have they been at here?' Chandler asked at the end.

'One of the waitresses said so,' Monica said, 'But she didn't know anything else.'

'They didn't leave any kind of note?' Chandler said. Emily looked at Monica.

'I ran back to the apartment to see if they'd turned up. When I lifted up the shopping and found this,' she produced the note. 'But it doesn't say anything except that they've gone out, and we've already worked that out.'

'Well, I guess the only thing you can do is wait for them to come back,' Chandler said.

'They'll be home when they're hungry,' Phoebe nodded.