[In response to Nick's review, yes I am aware that the storyline won't fit into season 10 since, first of all, I have Phoebe with David instead of Mike. I started this story just after the season 9 finale, based on certain assumptions I had about how things would go in season 10. If you want me to label it as an AU, I will. And yes, Joey did get himself a girlfriend in L.A., but it didn't work out with Kate. (This is Kate Miller from season 3, whom he clearly had feelings for before she moved away. Assume that too many years have passed and they've changed too much.)
The point is that Joey is not over Chandler yet and that the women he finds in L.A. haven't lived up to what he wants, so he goes back to his womanizing ways. I believe that Joey is capable of being serious and broken hearted about someone when he's really in love. Plus, he is deeply afraid of causing trouble between another pair of his friends, so he makes excuses about why he should exile himself from them.]
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When Chandler arrived at the airport in L.A., he remembered that Joey liked those big Toblerone candy bars, so he bought one. It was a silly indulgence, but it had been so long since he had bought anything for Joey, and the gesture felt comfortingly familiar.
After leaving baggage claim, Chandler took a cab to his hotel and checked in. He didn't want to just presumptuously show up at Joey's door with his luggage and ask to stay for the whole weekend. It had been two years since they last saw or spoke to each other. Besides, he was jet lagged and weary, so he wanted a chance to freshen up and rehearse his words one more time before going to the address that Phoebe had given him.
Chandler changed his clothes, then unpacked the photo that he had brought with him. It was the final group picture from Joey's farewell party two years ago. Normally it resided in one of Monica's meticulously cross-referenced photo albums, but Chandler had furtively removed it when packing for this trip.
Chandler stared at the photo and noticed the way that Joey put his arm around him, looking almost guilty for touching him. He was trying to do the right thing by leaving Chandler, but that didn't make it any easier or less painful.
With a sigh, Chandler put the photo down and picked up the Toblerone bar, then he went downstairs to hail a cab to Joey's apartment building. He hoped that Joey wouldn't keep arguing with him about how wrong it was to break up a family, but maybe it might take all weekend (or longer) to convince Joey to stop being so stubborn.
***
Chandler arrived at a pretty nice apartment building. According to the cabbie, lots of up and coming actors lived here on their way to becoming rich and famous.
When Chandler reached Joey's apartment door, he took a breath, then knocked.
Joey soon came to the door, commenting out loud, "That must be my package." When he opened it, he gasped, utterly shocked and speechless.
Chandler shrugged and held up the Toblerone bar jokingly. "You like chocolate, right?"
Joey didn't react to the offer, just stammering, "Chandler? Wha--what are you--?"
"You look so different," Chandler noticed, "yet the same. I, um, I've got something to talk to you about, Joe--in private."
As he waited for Joey to invite him inside, a woman suddenly entered from another room, carrying a baby. She said, "Joey, I'm so sorry! She spit up on your leather couch before I could get a rag. I promise I'll clean it up."
Now Chandler was shocked and speechless. Joey had a baby? A wife and a baby? But Phoebe had said he didn't have anybody special.
Joey turned to the woman. "Uh, that's okay, Sarah. Never mind."
"You sure?"
"Yeah, go sit back down with her, will ya?"
"Okay." She departed with the kid, looking rather relieved that Joey wasn't upset about his expensive furniture.
Chandler just stood there, heartbroken and lost. "Oh my God," he whispered.
Looking tense, Joey pulled him inside and shut the door. "Why did you come here? What's going on?"
Chandler couldn't speak at first, just handing him the Toblerone bar and finding a chair to sit down on.
Taking a seat too, Joey put the candy aside and remained confused. "I don't get this. Phoebe said a surprise in the mail. Why are you here?"
"I was, I was just--" he choked up and couldn't continue calmly. "Do you, do you love her?"
Joey glanced in the direction of the other room and shrugged. "You mean Sarah? I, um, it's kind of hard to explain..."
Crushed and assuming the worst, Chandler got up to leave. "I-I shouldn't have come. I better go."
"Chandler, wait! Hey, come back!" He stood up and followed him to the door.
Shaking his head, Chandler couldn't hold back the tears. "This was all a mistake. I'm sorry."
Joey grabbed his arm and wouldn't let go. "Come on, will ya tell me what's going on already? Is something wrong with Monica? Or the gang? Talk to me!"
"It's too late! Too late." Chandler just wanted to go back to his hotel room and cry.
Joey hugged him and gave him some tissues, trying to comfort him even if he didn't know what was going on. He couldn't stand to see Chandler this upset.
Sarah peeked in from the other room, asking hesitantly, "Is something wrong? Should me and Maddy go?"
Joey turned to her and nodded. "Yeah, um, we should meet some other time. I'm sorry, but my--my friend dropped by all of the sudden."
"I understand. I'll call you tomorrow and make another appointment. Let me go get Maddy and her stuff."
Against Chandler's protests, Joey moved them back to the chairs and sat down again, waiting for Sarah and the baby to leave. She waved to Joey, then let herself out of the apartment.
Joey looked at Chandler, who had calmed down somewhat, though he remained sad. "Now will you talk to me?"
Chandler sighed and frowned. "What's the point? If you love her..."
"Chandler, can you just tell me why you're here? Did Monica come too?"
"No. She's probably off having the time of her life in New York. When the cat's away, the mouse will play. You should know that; you saw her drooling all over guys at your soap opera party."
"It's just--it's just flirting," Joey said dismissively, but didn't seem entirely convinced himself. Still, he defended Monica. "She doesn't really mean anything by it. She always says you're the love of her life."
"She says it, but she doesn't mean it. It's more out of habit now."
Joey touched his hand and looked worried. "What are you saying? You guys are having trouble? Maybe you need to see a marriage counselor or something?" He tried to be encouraging and optimistic.
Chandler sighed at the touch of his hand and whispered, "Therapy's not gonna fix this. I love you."
"Chandler!" Joey started to pull away uncomfortably.
Chandler leaned closer. "No, listen to me! Maybe you don't love me anymore, Joe, but you should hear me out, 'cause I came all this way. I love you. I really do. These past two years, I tried to keep myself busy with the kid, and my job, and pretending that me and Monica belonged together like you said, but it's no use. I keep remembering your kisses, and when I saw your movie a while back, I imagined us making love. And it's not like Monica tries hard to be committed to me. She's always hitting on other guys, and Phoebe even says that Monica has a soulmate that she really belongs with, not me."
Joey frowned worriedly. "Phoebe? What does Phoebe know about this?"
"I told her," Chandler said. "I told her about what happened on Christmas and why you really left for L.A."
"What?! How could you do that, Chandler? She'll tell Monica and everything will go wrong--"
"It already *has* gone wrong!" he answered. "I'm, I'm gonna divorce Monica--"
"No! No, you can't!"
"Joey, I have to! If I wait any longer, then this marriage is gonna get worse and worse, and my kid is gonna be so traumatized, and it's gonna be just like my parents' marriage. I have to end this before it's too late."
"Chandler, it's not that bad! You can't abandon your kid, your wife--"
"I can, and I will!" he spoke with determination and finality. Then his face softened, and he looked at Joey sadly. "I thought maybe I could be with you, if you loved me, but since you've moved on... I don't know, I guess I'll take a break from things. Maybe I'll go to Vegas and visit my dad for a while. I don't think I'll stay there for good, but it will give me a chance to figure out what I want to do next."
Joey stubbornly protested, "Chandler, don't do this! It's wrong. Don't give up on your marriage so quickly. Ross and Rachel gave up on each other for stupid reasons all the time, but now they're happy and getting married again."
"Stop it!" Chandler got angry. "Stop it! We're not Ross and Rachel! We never have been and we never will be. Monica and I couldn't be more different from Ross and Rachel if we tried! We would joke away all our fights, and pretend like nothing bothered us at all."
"You were happy--"
"No! That's not happy at all; that's fake happy. We were just, just bottling up our feelings and holding on out of desperation to not have another failed relationship. Me and Monica are more like, like Janice and Gary. Remember Janice and Gary, Joe? They were gonna divorce, and I was in love with her, and everything went great until she started kissing him again. You told me to bow out so that Janice and Gary could give it another shot, but it didn't work out between them. Their family still broke up, and Janice ended up with a new guy anyway. I gave it a shot with Monica after you left, but it didn't work. No matter how much I don't want to hurt her or our kid, I can't forget you, Joe. I can't pretend that I never kissed you, or that I'm happy with Monica. I can't live this lie anymore."
"But Chandler, how can you just leave them?"
"Because it's for the best. I mean, I'll still try to get shared custody of Daniel and be there for him, but I just can't stay trapped there with Monica. I can't."
Joey said nothing, looking sad and trying to figure out some other argument he could counter with. Surely there was some way to work things out?
Chandler sighed and thought back to his childhood. "Joey, didn't you ever wonder why my dad stayed with my mom for ten years? Ever since Monica made me get back in touch with my dad, I've had some phone conversations with him about it."
Joey shrugged. "He didn't know that he was gay yet. Like Ross and Carol."
"No, actually it's not like that at all. Yeah, Carol never knew that she was a lesbian until Susan came along; that's why she and Ross stayed married for seven years and were able to become friends afterward. But my dad had doubts right from his wedding day. I mean, he had sex with his best man and wore the wedding dress on the honeymoon, for God's sake! My dad knew that he'd probably made a mistake, but he stayed anyway to keep the family together, because he got my mom pregnant. He was trying to do the right thing, biding his time until I was eighteen and out of the house. But see, he couldn't really wait that long, and he was lonely and tempted and depressed. Both my parents became bitter alcoholics, and things just deteriorated between them until they were bickering and cheating on each other all the time. Then finally all the secrets and lies came out on Thanksgiving, when I was nine years old. They just built up all this misery and resentment that it had to explode in a giant catastrophe. Well, I'm sure as hell not gonna do that to my kid! I'm gonna be an adult and get the hell out before it's too late."
Joey was stunned by this. "You really think you and Monica would turn out like your parents if you stayed married?"
Chandler nodded. "Yeah, it's wrong to stay together just for the kid. People should only stay together because they really love each other, not because they feel an obligation. Just imagine what a disaster it would have been if Carol had stayed with Ross just because she found out that she was pregnant with Ben. They'd just get bitter and be cheated out of the people they really love."
Joey seemed to finally understand Chandler's point of view. "So you're really gonna divorce Monica? No matter what?"
"Yeah. As soon as I get home, I'm gonna talk to her about it. Hopefully by then, Phoebe will have finished making Monica fall in love with her soulmate."
"Soulmate?"
"Yeah, you remember that Don guy that Phoebe said was Monica's soulmate? He loved stinky cheese, and kept talking about gourmet restaurants and his villa in France. He kinda looked like Richard, when his mustache was shaved off."
"Oh yeah. I think you mentioned him to me once. Wait, Phoebe's trying to fix them up now?"
"Yeah, she thinks that if Monica falls in love with him, then she won't be so angry and upset about me divorcing her. We can maybe become friends again."
"Wow."
"Anyway, um," Chandler cleared his throat and shrugged, "I'm sorry I came here out of the blue. I was just hoping that you might still love me, and Phoebe was convinced that you were single. I'm sorry." He started to get up and leave.
"Wait!" Joey stopped him and made him sit down again. "I-I do love you, Chandler. I still do."
Chandler was confused by the sincerity in his eyes. "But what about your wife and kid? Are you happy with them? Will they be okay?"
Joey confessed, "That's not my wife and kid, Chandler. You just assumed that."
"Well, who are they, then?"
Joey shrugged and explained, "Well, I-I was thinking about adopting Maddy."
"Adopting?"
"Yeah. See, Sarah's this actress I know, and her boyfriend left her when she got pregnant, and she's been trying to make ends meet by herself, but it's hard. We were talking about me maybe taking Maddy, 'cause I'm making pretty good money. She's not sure she can give up her kid for good, though, so we were trying to figure out how often she gets to visit and help out."
Chandler was amazed. "You were really thinking about having a family, Joe? But you're not together with her? You don't wanna be with her?"
Joey shook his head. "Nah, we're just friends. I, um, I was having trouble getting over you, Chandler. I already found Kate and tried to get serious with her, but we didn't work out. So I went back to just dating all the girls again, but then Phoebe called me when she had Frannie, and I felt like I was so pathetic, still not settling down with anybody. So I started babysitting for Sarah a lot, 'cause I like kids and it was nice having a friend to hang out with. That was it for a while. But then Phoebe called me this week and got me all anxious about settling down again. So I asked Sarah whether she'd mind it if I adopted Maddy, and she agreed to think about it. I figured, if I couldn't be married to anybody, maybe having a kid would be enough so I wouldn't be alone."
Chandler hugged him and kissed him. "You won't be alone. I love you."
Joey nodded and clung to his arms. "I love you too."
"Do you still wanna adopt Maddy? If you do, then I'll move here and get some job in L.A. so we can be together. I just gotta fly back and visit Daniel as much as Monica lets me."
Joey was touched and surprised by this offer, but he shrugged and answered, "I don't know. I didn't finish talking to Sarah, and now everything's changed. We could all talk it over I guess, after you divorce Monica."
"Okay." Chandler sighed and kissed him, feeling happier than he had in over two years.
The point is that Joey is not over Chandler yet and that the women he finds in L.A. haven't lived up to what he wants, so he goes back to his womanizing ways. I believe that Joey is capable of being serious and broken hearted about someone when he's really in love. Plus, he is deeply afraid of causing trouble between another pair of his friends, so he makes excuses about why he should exile himself from them.]
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When Chandler arrived at the airport in L.A., he remembered that Joey liked those big Toblerone candy bars, so he bought one. It was a silly indulgence, but it had been so long since he had bought anything for Joey, and the gesture felt comfortingly familiar.
After leaving baggage claim, Chandler took a cab to his hotel and checked in. He didn't want to just presumptuously show up at Joey's door with his luggage and ask to stay for the whole weekend. It had been two years since they last saw or spoke to each other. Besides, he was jet lagged and weary, so he wanted a chance to freshen up and rehearse his words one more time before going to the address that Phoebe had given him.
Chandler changed his clothes, then unpacked the photo that he had brought with him. It was the final group picture from Joey's farewell party two years ago. Normally it resided in one of Monica's meticulously cross-referenced photo albums, but Chandler had furtively removed it when packing for this trip.
Chandler stared at the photo and noticed the way that Joey put his arm around him, looking almost guilty for touching him. He was trying to do the right thing by leaving Chandler, but that didn't make it any easier or less painful.
With a sigh, Chandler put the photo down and picked up the Toblerone bar, then he went downstairs to hail a cab to Joey's apartment building. He hoped that Joey wouldn't keep arguing with him about how wrong it was to break up a family, but maybe it might take all weekend (or longer) to convince Joey to stop being so stubborn.
***
Chandler arrived at a pretty nice apartment building. According to the cabbie, lots of up and coming actors lived here on their way to becoming rich and famous.
When Chandler reached Joey's apartment door, he took a breath, then knocked.
Joey soon came to the door, commenting out loud, "That must be my package." When he opened it, he gasped, utterly shocked and speechless.
Chandler shrugged and held up the Toblerone bar jokingly. "You like chocolate, right?"
Joey didn't react to the offer, just stammering, "Chandler? Wha--what are you--?"
"You look so different," Chandler noticed, "yet the same. I, um, I've got something to talk to you about, Joe--in private."
As he waited for Joey to invite him inside, a woman suddenly entered from another room, carrying a baby. She said, "Joey, I'm so sorry! She spit up on your leather couch before I could get a rag. I promise I'll clean it up."
Now Chandler was shocked and speechless. Joey had a baby? A wife and a baby? But Phoebe had said he didn't have anybody special.
Joey turned to the woman. "Uh, that's okay, Sarah. Never mind."
"You sure?"
"Yeah, go sit back down with her, will ya?"
"Okay." She departed with the kid, looking rather relieved that Joey wasn't upset about his expensive furniture.
Chandler just stood there, heartbroken and lost. "Oh my God," he whispered.
Looking tense, Joey pulled him inside and shut the door. "Why did you come here? What's going on?"
Chandler couldn't speak at first, just handing him the Toblerone bar and finding a chair to sit down on.
Taking a seat too, Joey put the candy aside and remained confused. "I don't get this. Phoebe said a surprise in the mail. Why are you here?"
"I was, I was just--" he choked up and couldn't continue calmly. "Do you, do you love her?"
Joey glanced in the direction of the other room and shrugged. "You mean Sarah? I, um, it's kind of hard to explain..."
Crushed and assuming the worst, Chandler got up to leave. "I-I shouldn't have come. I better go."
"Chandler, wait! Hey, come back!" He stood up and followed him to the door.
Shaking his head, Chandler couldn't hold back the tears. "This was all a mistake. I'm sorry."
Joey grabbed his arm and wouldn't let go. "Come on, will ya tell me what's going on already? Is something wrong with Monica? Or the gang? Talk to me!"
"It's too late! Too late." Chandler just wanted to go back to his hotel room and cry.
Joey hugged him and gave him some tissues, trying to comfort him even if he didn't know what was going on. He couldn't stand to see Chandler this upset.
Sarah peeked in from the other room, asking hesitantly, "Is something wrong? Should me and Maddy go?"
Joey turned to her and nodded. "Yeah, um, we should meet some other time. I'm sorry, but my--my friend dropped by all of the sudden."
"I understand. I'll call you tomorrow and make another appointment. Let me go get Maddy and her stuff."
Against Chandler's protests, Joey moved them back to the chairs and sat down again, waiting for Sarah and the baby to leave. She waved to Joey, then let herself out of the apartment.
Joey looked at Chandler, who had calmed down somewhat, though he remained sad. "Now will you talk to me?"
Chandler sighed and frowned. "What's the point? If you love her..."
"Chandler, can you just tell me why you're here? Did Monica come too?"
"No. She's probably off having the time of her life in New York. When the cat's away, the mouse will play. You should know that; you saw her drooling all over guys at your soap opera party."
"It's just--it's just flirting," Joey said dismissively, but didn't seem entirely convinced himself. Still, he defended Monica. "She doesn't really mean anything by it. She always says you're the love of her life."
"She says it, but she doesn't mean it. It's more out of habit now."
Joey touched his hand and looked worried. "What are you saying? You guys are having trouble? Maybe you need to see a marriage counselor or something?" He tried to be encouraging and optimistic.
Chandler sighed at the touch of his hand and whispered, "Therapy's not gonna fix this. I love you."
"Chandler!" Joey started to pull away uncomfortably.
Chandler leaned closer. "No, listen to me! Maybe you don't love me anymore, Joe, but you should hear me out, 'cause I came all this way. I love you. I really do. These past two years, I tried to keep myself busy with the kid, and my job, and pretending that me and Monica belonged together like you said, but it's no use. I keep remembering your kisses, and when I saw your movie a while back, I imagined us making love. And it's not like Monica tries hard to be committed to me. She's always hitting on other guys, and Phoebe even says that Monica has a soulmate that she really belongs with, not me."
Joey frowned worriedly. "Phoebe? What does Phoebe know about this?"
"I told her," Chandler said. "I told her about what happened on Christmas and why you really left for L.A."
"What?! How could you do that, Chandler? She'll tell Monica and everything will go wrong--"
"It already *has* gone wrong!" he answered. "I'm, I'm gonna divorce Monica--"
"No! No, you can't!"
"Joey, I have to! If I wait any longer, then this marriage is gonna get worse and worse, and my kid is gonna be so traumatized, and it's gonna be just like my parents' marriage. I have to end this before it's too late."
"Chandler, it's not that bad! You can't abandon your kid, your wife--"
"I can, and I will!" he spoke with determination and finality. Then his face softened, and he looked at Joey sadly. "I thought maybe I could be with you, if you loved me, but since you've moved on... I don't know, I guess I'll take a break from things. Maybe I'll go to Vegas and visit my dad for a while. I don't think I'll stay there for good, but it will give me a chance to figure out what I want to do next."
Joey stubbornly protested, "Chandler, don't do this! It's wrong. Don't give up on your marriage so quickly. Ross and Rachel gave up on each other for stupid reasons all the time, but now they're happy and getting married again."
"Stop it!" Chandler got angry. "Stop it! We're not Ross and Rachel! We never have been and we never will be. Monica and I couldn't be more different from Ross and Rachel if we tried! We would joke away all our fights, and pretend like nothing bothered us at all."
"You were happy--"
"No! That's not happy at all; that's fake happy. We were just, just bottling up our feelings and holding on out of desperation to not have another failed relationship. Me and Monica are more like, like Janice and Gary. Remember Janice and Gary, Joe? They were gonna divorce, and I was in love with her, and everything went great until she started kissing him again. You told me to bow out so that Janice and Gary could give it another shot, but it didn't work out between them. Their family still broke up, and Janice ended up with a new guy anyway. I gave it a shot with Monica after you left, but it didn't work. No matter how much I don't want to hurt her or our kid, I can't forget you, Joe. I can't pretend that I never kissed you, or that I'm happy with Monica. I can't live this lie anymore."
"But Chandler, how can you just leave them?"
"Because it's for the best. I mean, I'll still try to get shared custody of Daniel and be there for him, but I just can't stay trapped there with Monica. I can't."
Joey said nothing, looking sad and trying to figure out some other argument he could counter with. Surely there was some way to work things out?
Chandler sighed and thought back to his childhood. "Joey, didn't you ever wonder why my dad stayed with my mom for ten years? Ever since Monica made me get back in touch with my dad, I've had some phone conversations with him about it."
Joey shrugged. "He didn't know that he was gay yet. Like Ross and Carol."
"No, actually it's not like that at all. Yeah, Carol never knew that she was a lesbian until Susan came along; that's why she and Ross stayed married for seven years and were able to become friends afterward. But my dad had doubts right from his wedding day. I mean, he had sex with his best man and wore the wedding dress on the honeymoon, for God's sake! My dad knew that he'd probably made a mistake, but he stayed anyway to keep the family together, because he got my mom pregnant. He was trying to do the right thing, biding his time until I was eighteen and out of the house. But see, he couldn't really wait that long, and he was lonely and tempted and depressed. Both my parents became bitter alcoholics, and things just deteriorated between them until they were bickering and cheating on each other all the time. Then finally all the secrets and lies came out on Thanksgiving, when I was nine years old. They just built up all this misery and resentment that it had to explode in a giant catastrophe. Well, I'm sure as hell not gonna do that to my kid! I'm gonna be an adult and get the hell out before it's too late."
Joey was stunned by this. "You really think you and Monica would turn out like your parents if you stayed married?"
Chandler nodded. "Yeah, it's wrong to stay together just for the kid. People should only stay together because they really love each other, not because they feel an obligation. Just imagine what a disaster it would have been if Carol had stayed with Ross just because she found out that she was pregnant with Ben. They'd just get bitter and be cheated out of the people they really love."
Joey seemed to finally understand Chandler's point of view. "So you're really gonna divorce Monica? No matter what?"
"Yeah. As soon as I get home, I'm gonna talk to her about it. Hopefully by then, Phoebe will have finished making Monica fall in love with her soulmate."
"Soulmate?"
"Yeah, you remember that Don guy that Phoebe said was Monica's soulmate? He loved stinky cheese, and kept talking about gourmet restaurants and his villa in France. He kinda looked like Richard, when his mustache was shaved off."
"Oh yeah. I think you mentioned him to me once. Wait, Phoebe's trying to fix them up now?"
"Yeah, she thinks that if Monica falls in love with him, then she won't be so angry and upset about me divorcing her. We can maybe become friends again."
"Wow."
"Anyway, um," Chandler cleared his throat and shrugged, "I'm sorry I came here out of the blue. I was just hoping that you might still love me, and Phoebe was convinced that you were single. I'm sorry." He started to get up and leave.
"Wait!" Joey stopped him and made him sit down again. "I-I do love you, Chandler. I still do."
Chandler was confused by the sincerity in his eyes. "But what about your wife and kid? Are you happy with them? Will they be okay?"
Joey confessed, "That's not my wife and kid, Chandler. You just assumed that."
"Well, who are they, then?"
Joey shrugged and explained, "Well, I-I was thinking about adopting Maddy."
"Adopting?"
"Yeah. See, Sarah's this actress I know, and her boyfriend left her when she got pregnant, and she's been trying to make ends meet by herself, but it's hard. We were talking about me maybe taking Maddy, 'cause I'm making pretty good money. She's not sure she can give up her kid for good, though, so we were trying to figure out how often she gets to visit and help out."
Chandler was amazed. "You were really thinking about having a family, Joe? But you're not together with her? You don't wanna be with her?"
Joey shook his head. "Nah, we're just friends. I, um, I was having trouble getting over you, Chandler. I already found Kate and tried to get serious with her, but we didn't work out. So I went back to just dating all the girls again, but then Phoebe called me when she had Frannie, and I felt like I was so pathetic, still not settling down with anybody. So I started babysitting for Sarah a lot, 'cause I like kids and it was nice having a friend to hang out with. That was it for a while. But then Phoebe called me this week and got me all anxious about settling down again. So I asked Sarah whether she'd mind it if I adopted Maddy, and she agreed to think about it. I figured, if I couldn't be married to anybody, maybe having a kid would be enough so I wouldn't be alone."
Chandler hugged him and kissed him. "You won't be alone. I love you."
Joey nodded and clung to his arms. "I love you too."
"Do you still wanna adopt Maddy? If you do, then I'll move here and get some job in L.A. so we can be together. I just gotta fly back and visit Daniel as much as Monica lets me."
Joey was touched and surprised by this offer, but he shrugged and answered, "I don't know. I didn't finish talking to Sarah, and now everything's changed. We could all talk it over I guess, after you divorce Monica."
"Okay." Chandler sighed and kissed him, feeling happier than he had in over two years.