Chapter 7: Finale

Author's Note: Well, here it is; this is The End. Thanks to all my loyal readers and especially my reviewers, whose compliments have been very uplifting (if any of you are checking out my other stuff, could you think of leaving me a review? I can always use them). I have put a lot into this, and it's gratifying to have it acknowledged. But I can't really claim special credit for the writing. I've been doing it all my life, and I ought to be good at it by now, because, as my bio indicates, I am very much older than any of you (I only started watching Friends when I was older than Richard in Season 2). So why do I do it? Because though I don't identify with any of them I love them, flaws and all, in an avuncular way, and want them to be happy. If I could just drop in on Central Perk and set them right … but they'd only mess up some other way.

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Emily walked closer, and the other customers in Central Perk, whose attention had been attracted by her loud comment, turned back to their conversations.

"Well, I was over in New York, and I thought I'd drop by, just on spec," she said. Her eyes were fixed on Ross. "After all, we were married once, remember." To Phoebe, her tone seemed too deliberately casual.

"How could I forget?" said Ross bitterly. "That was some marriage, even though we never lived together. I got rid of all my stuff for you, and then I got thrown out of that apartment and had nowhere to live. You don't forget something like that in a hurry."

"I never wanted you evicted," said Emily rather stiffly. "That was entirely my cousin's doing. But you had the beautiful Rachel to console you, didn't you?" Her tone was light and ironical, but the glance she shot at Rachel showed considerable hostility.

Ross gaped at her, apparently too thrown by her total misreading of the situation to know where to start in answering her. But Rachel did not hesitate.

"What the hell are you talking about?" she said quite fiercely. "Ross and I weren't together."

"Oh, come on, Rachel," said Emily with an air of derision. "You were ready to go off on what was meant to be our honeymoon with him. You can't tell me nothing came of that."

"That's exactly what I am telling you," Rachel said insistently. "You know perfectly well, he went running after you."

"Ah, but surely, once you were back in New York …" Emily said in a voice full of innuendo.

After a pause, Rachel said in a different, quieter voice, "I was Ross's friend. Even after we broke up the second time, we managed to stay friends. But we never became more than that again. This is the first time we've even met in quite a while."

"That's right," said Monica in a distinctly belligerent manner. "Ask any of us, and we'll tell you the same." Her eyes swept round the group commandingly, and Phoebe saw that the old Monica was back temporarily. Obviously, it would be totally inappropriate and unfair to Rachel to bring up complications like Vegas weddings and bonus nights, and Phoebe simply said, "Yeah, that's the truth," while others agreed in various ways..

Emily was clearly shaken. She sank into a chair at a table nearby, whose occupants had vacated it, evidently not wanting to overhear what might turn into a vicious fight at any moment.

"But, but … you never got together again?" she said, looking between Ross and Rachel with an air of great incredulity. "When you didn't return my call, Ross, I thought you must be with her, for sure."

"Ah, that call," said Ross, seeming to seize an opportunity. "What was I supposed to make of that, on the night before you were going to marry someone else? Did you run away before saying the words, this time?"

His gaze went to her hand meaningfully. The others looked, to see that her ring finger was bare.

"No, I went through with it," said Emily quietly. She sighed deeply. "It was one of the worst mistakes of my life. We divorced recently, and that's partly why I'm here, for a change of scene – and to see my uncle, of course."

"That's all?" said Charlie in a penetrating manner. "Or were you hoping that even after all this time there might be something left, that Ross hadn't completely gotten you out of his mind, as you clearly haven't gotten him out of yours?"

There were gasps and murmurs from several of the others. Emily flushed.

"And who are you, to ask me that?" she said frostily.

"Oh, permit me to introduce you," said Ross, smiling at Charlie. I bet he's relishing this chance to stick it to Emily, Phoebe thought. "This is Charlie Wheeler – my fiancée."

The blood left Emily's face as fast as it had appeared. "Oh," she said in a stunned voice, then, after a distinct pause in which they all watched her in silence, awaiting her reaction, "con-congratulations." Abruptly she got to her feet. "Look, I'd better go."

"No, stay," said Charlie commandingly. "You need closure. All the others have been explaining things and reconciling – why should you be left out?"

"Well, I can think of a good reason," said Joey, fixing an angry glance on Emily. "She tried to break us up."

Emily shook her head in apparent denial, but did not say anything.

"No, Joey, she deserves the chance," said Charlie calmly. She looked round them all. "None of you seems to have made the effort to see the whole thing from Emily's point of view. There she was, on the day that's supposed to be one of the best in a woman's life, having all her hopes for the future shot out from under her, publicly, by the strong suggestion that her husband-to-be wanted someone else more." Her gaze at Emily was sympathetic. "I would find that unbearably humiliating. Anyone might be forgiven for going a bit unbalanced after that."

Slowly Emily sat down again, her eyes fixed on Charlie.

"And then, when she thought she could forgive Ross for that," Charlie continued, in the same calm analytical voice, "to find him at the airport, actually going off with Rachel. That has to be one of the dumbest things you ever did, Ross – and Rachel, you can't deny that, underneath, you had some hope of getting him back."

Everyone turned to Rachel, who looked taken aback to find herself the centre of attention. She sighed and spread her hands. "Well … no," she said slowly. "I had realised I was in love with him still. I even told him so, when I got back from Athens. But I only had to say it, to realise how ridiculous I was being." She looked at Emily, without obvious hostility. "It was you he wanted then. I even told him to do whatever it took to save his marriage. I just didn't think that would mean cutting him off from all his friends – because that's what avoiding me would have meant. They weren't about to give me up, or him either."

"Hell no," said Joey fiercely, glaring at Emily.

"I never allowed for the strength of the bond between you all," said Emily. She was now looking steadily at Rachel, though her voice was a bit hesitant. "I … to be honest, I thought you would be pushed out, and I didn't care. I was feeling very bitter towards you."

"Understandable," said Charlie judiciously. "Vindictive, but understandable. But it's like Rachel says: she never made any real attempt to get Ross back, even after the final break with you. I think it could be said, that shows her in a better light."

Rachel sighed and shook her head as if recognising past folly, but when she next spoke to Emily her tone was one of simple curiosity. "Did you really come here, hoping to start again with Ross? I mean, it's been more than three years. And if you thought he was with me at the time of your second wedding, didn't you think we'd still be together now?"

Emily looked rather abashed. "I did know about that second time you got together, but very briefly. I thought … I sort of hoped … maybe you'd have broken up again. My second marriage started going wrong quite quickly, and that kept thoughts of Ross in my mind, because I kept thinking … how different it might have been with him." Her voice seemed to tremble very slightly with these last words. "So, when I was free, I just wondered … I know, it sounds stupid, looking at it now."

"Did your marriage go wrong because you kept thinking of Ross?" said Chandler, with a certain edge to his voice.

"Oh no, no," said Emily quickly. She paused, then drew a breath. "There's no reason why you shouldn't know, really. In some ways it was … rather similar to the situation between Ross, Rachel and me, though in others it was different." Suddenly she began to sound very much in earnest. "Ross, I want to take this opportunity to say how sorry I am for what I put you through. Miss Wheeler, you have been very understanding – "

"Charlie, please," said Charlie, with a smile.

Emily smiled back very briefly. "Well, Charlie, you have got to the heart of what was driving me in those days." She looked around, and sighed. "I expect you people hated me for what I did then, so you may well consider what happened next poetic justice. Everyone could see, everyone but me, that we were both marrying on the rebound. Even my stepmother warned me. And if I never got Ross totally off my mind, Henry was worse. I found out, he was constantly ringing his ex, he made opportunities to see her – and she encouraged him, the bitch! It was a bit like that Princess Di thing: there were three of us in that marriage. But I was luckier than her – there were no children or anything, I could walk away. And when I found he was breaking the promise I got him to make, to stop all this contact with her, that was it: I jacked it in." She shook her head. "Knowing what I know now, I think Ross and Rachel would have behaved better than that."

Ross straightened up and his expression lightened, while Rachel looked embarrassed but rather pleased.

"I know I only made things worse by being ready to go to Athens with Ross," she said seriously, "but I felt so sorry for him. And, Charlie, of course you're right: underneath, I never quite gave up this dumb hope that somehow he might come back to me. So we're not so different, Emily, and I guess I should say sorry to you too. That British guy I talked to on the plane was right when he said no good would come of it. Why he said that was because I was planning to tell Ross that I was still in love with him, before the wedding," she explained. "But when I saw you two together, I just couldn't do it."

Emily smiled at her. "That was well done, even if it didn't stop things going wrong later." She sat back, seeming to relax a bit. "And I really ought to apologise to all of you for messing Ross up so; it must have made him very difficult to live with. But here you all are; you seem to have kept together, even if you don't live in each other's pockets any more."

"That's where you're wrong," said Phoebe firmly. "We haven't always been friends since that time. Things really fell apart later, because of something that started at your wedding."

Some of those present looked surprised, even disapproving that this should be mentioned to Emily when she did not need to know, but Monica simply nodded.

"Yes," she said, "Chandler and I got together then, and for a long time we were in a relationship."

"Wow!" said Emily, actually grinning. "You and Chandler? I'd never have thought – " But then she stopped and her face went serious again. "But it sounds as if you've broken up, which I'm sorry to hear."

"It certainly wasn't much fun," said Chandler in his old ironical way. "But now we've both gotten over it, and we can be friends again, can't we, Monica?"

"Yes," said Monica readily. "We worked best as friends, I think. When you were living with me and couldn't get away, my need to be in control of everything was bound to get irritating. Phoebe had the sense to get out before we had a major fight, but I'm lucky I didn't alienate you permanently, Rachel."

Rachel shrugged. "We had some pretty vicious fights, but we kept going."

"You were very close, weren't you?" said Emily. "I envy that. I was friends with my flatmates, but not like you."

"Criticising Rachel was like water off a duck's back," said Monica lightly. "With Chandler it was different, though for a long time he didn't show it."

"Hey, I think we've gone over the past long enough," said Rachel lightly. "We're all pretty happy now, aren't we? I have a new date and so do you, Ross is engaged, Chandler's back with Kathy – "

"Yes," Chandler broke in, "Emily, let me introduce you to Kathy. We dated once, but we broke up because I was so dumb and immature."

"I wasn't much better," said Kathy as she shook Emily's hand. "But things are different now."

"Yeah, living with Monica taught me some things," said Chandler, smiling at Monica. "When I met Kathy again, I felt much more confident."

"Though it was pure luck that we did meet again," said Kathy. "I had gone to LA, and Joey and I met on set."

"You went to LA?" said Emily to Joey. "Well, good for you. I suppose I don't need to ask if you've settled down with someone yet. I haven't seen any flying pigs." She looked at him mischievously.

The others chuckled, while Joey grinned, taking no offence. "But what about you, Phoebe?" Emily said. "I never heard, but I hope you had the babies okay."

"Oh yes," said Phoebe nonchalantly."All three were, like, safely delivered, and now Frank and Alice are working their asses off bringing them up."

"And has nothing else interesting happened in your life since?" Emily asked quite lightheartedly.

Before Phoebe could answer, Joey straightened up. "Hey, that reminds me. Phoebe called us all together because she had something important to tell us, and that has kinda got lost along the way. So what is it, Pheebs?"

"Hey, yeah, Joey's right," said Monica. "Is it about Ursula?"

"Or something else to do with your family?" said Rachel.

"Did you get a new job?" said Chandler.

"Or did you finally decide you believed in evolution?" said Ross teasingly. He was now looking totally relaxed.

Phoebe looked unprepared to be in the spotlight, but this did not stop her responding to Ross's sally vigorously.

"No, Ross, how could I ever fall for that crap?" she said. "And no, I didn't get a new job: I'm still working as a masseuse. But it does kinda have to do with Ursula."

"Tell us, then," said Monica, leaning forward eagerly, and the others did the same, full of anticipation. Even Charlie, Kathy and Emily seemed interested in the answer.

"Well," Phoebe began rather hesitantly, "it was, like, my thirtieth birthday, you know, and I got to thinking I should try to make it up with Ursula. So I went round to her apartment to wish her happy birthday."

"Was she doing porn again?" said Joey excitedly.

"No, Joey," said Phoebe patiently, "and it wouldn't have been important if she was. She told me no, we were thirty-one, and when I went like 'Huh?' she said she could prove it. Of course, I thought she was winding me up, like when she showed me this note that was supposedly from our mom, and I went away mad. But then I thought of going to our birth-mom, and she did some calculating and said yeah, that was right, we were thirty-one. So I'm a whole year older than I thought." She sat back, with an air of having said all that was necessary.

There was a stunned silence, broken by Chandler. "That's it?" he said. "The eagerly awaited revelation of the ages is that you're a year older than you thought?" He seemed to be trying not to laugh.

"This is important to me," Phoebe said insistently. "There's all kinds of things I meant to do before I was thirty-one."

There was further silence for a moment, and then Chandler bent forward, suddenly convulsed by laughter. The rest all joined in, even Emily. Phoebe protested with apparent indignation, "Hey, you guys! This really is important to me!" But it did not sound as if her heart was totally in it.

Charlie was one of the first to recover. "I'm sorry, Phoebe," she said, wiping her eyes, "but after all the serious stuff and the angst and so forth, that was the perfect anticlimax.." She shook her head, then, so fast it could easily have been missed, she winked at Phoebe. My God, she's a smart cookie, Phoebe thought. Ross is lucky to have landed her.

"Yeah, it was a good gag," said Ross, who had been looking thoughtful. "Just what we needed to release all the tensions. But it's not the whole truth, is it, Pheebs? You wouldn't put Joey to all the effort and expense of flying over from LA just to tell him that."

Phoebe produced a sly grin. "You got me. No, I just wanted to see whether you would swallow it. No, my real news is, David has come back from Minsk, and we're together, like, permanently – "

"Hey, Pheebs, that's great," Joey cried, and others echoed him.

"That's so romantic," Rachel sighed.

"Will you get married?" Monica asked, looking very interested.

Phoebe shook her head. "Neither of us has the money to pay for that stuff, and anyway I don't believe in it much. And there's more." She smiled around at them all, a little shyly. "I'm pregnant."

There was an outburst of congratulations and good wishes.

"Only two months gone," she said in answer to Monica's eager question, "but I thought it was time I told you guys. But, Ross, even if I called you together just to tell you my real age, it would have been worth it. Otherwise, we'd have gone on in our little boxes, you seeing Monica, and Monica seeing Rachel and sometimes me, and Chandler seeing Joey, and Joey sometimes seeing me … Don't you understand, you guys? We belong together." She looked around challengingly. "Okay, you've all moved on, and things can't be the same, but that's no reason why we can't meet when we have the chance. Now you're all here, and you've all said sorry and forgiven each other, and we can all see that everyone's doing okay. But I have to say, Emily showing up was kind of a bonus and none of my doing."

"Are you sure, Phoebe?" said Emily teasingly. She now seemed in quite a lighthearted mood. "Maybe your powers extend beyond seeing auras, and your concentration on getting them all together sent out a mystic summons that brought me here willy-nilly."

This caused some amusement, to Emily's obvious gratification.

"Well, it's true, I was a witch in a previous life," said Phoebe, with an air of modesty about past achievements. "Anyway, this has been good for you too, obviously."

"Oh, very," said Emily enthusiastically. "It has done me so much good to apologise, and it's made me see that I must move on from Ross, once and for all – sorry, Ross."

"Nothing to be sorry about," said Ross relaxedly. "I'm happy if you can take it that easily." It was plain that he took pride in having had such a prolonged effect on Emily.

"It was past time," said Emily. She looked around, suddenly appearing a little apprehensive. "Look, I, er, I don't know how you're going to take this, and of course you're under no obligation, but … well, I'd like to invite you to have dinner with me, all of you, Charlie and Kathy included. It can be a way to show how sorry I feel about the past."

"Can you afford that, Emily?" said Ross, sounding concerned. "I have my apology, and I'm quite satisfied with it. I don't need a meal as well."

"Oh, but … just for old times' sake, Ross?" she said pleadingly. "I'll understand if you have other plans, or just say no, but … I'd like to know more about your lives over the last years. I always found you such an interesting group. And as for the cost, don't worry about that. I came into a bit of money when a great-aunt died, and I'm using some of it to travel around."

"You should come over to LA," said Joey in a cheerful way. Plainly, the offer of food along with the apology had effectively overcome his hostility towards her.

"Well, I might," said Emily. "But what I really want to see are places like Dodge City and Santa Fé and Tombstone. I'm a sucker for the old West." She giggled in self-deprecation.

"Then you should definitely hit California," said Kathy. "There's still a lot of stuff to be seen from the Gold Rush days."

"Great!" said Emily with maximum enthusiasm.

"Why don't you get a coffee or something, and we can talk about where we're gonna eat," said Phoebe. "It has to be some place where you can get vegetarian food."

Emily beamed. "Sure. I like good vegetarian food myself."

Joey pulled a face. "That is so not my style."

"Aw, come on, Joe," said Rachel wheedlingly. "You don't have to eat it. I'm in, by the way." She said it casually, but her glance at Emily and a slight inclination of the head showed that, as far as she was concerned, the past was now a closed book. Emily nodded back, looking pleased.

"I think we should accept this in the spirit in which it is offered," said Charlie to Ross in a rather determined way.

"Sure, sure," he said easily.

"Let's do it," said Kathy to Chandler quite eagerly. "I want to do some catching up today."

"And so do I," said Monica, her eyes fixed on Chandler. "I want to hear all about your job, Chandler."

Chandler looked gratified. "Sounds like a plan. Thank you, Emily, we shall be pleased to accept your kind invitation." He put on a fruity British accent, evidently attempting to sound like Emily's father.

She shrieked with laughter. "That's my father to the life! So, what are you doing these days, Chandler? Still bashing in the numbers?"

A hubbub of conversation broke out. Obviously, once everyone had accepted Emily's invitation, they were in no hurry to settle the details. Gunther came and took more orders, and looked pleased when Emily remembered him.

Phoebe felt she could not stop smiling. She loved them all so, and for all her forebodings her plan had worked out well. She noticed Charlie trying to catch her eye.

When she turned, Charlie leaned forward. "Good work," she said in a low voice.

Phoebe felt justified and proud, but there was one more thing. "Guys," she said loudly, "I think it would be good if we, like, hugged, the way we used to do."

"Great idea," cried Joey, jumping to his feet. The others all rose too, smiling at each other. After a little manoeuvring – the furniture was something of an obstacle – they managed to get into a hugging group, with Chandler and Joey at the centre, while Charlie, Kathy and Emily watched, all beaming at this embodiment of a friendship that they recognised to be something very special.