As I said before, the love scenes between Joey and Chandler will be posted at Forever Fandom, but not here, due to the restrictions against sexually explicit material.
In New York, Monica's shouting over the phone had woken up David, the kids, and the birds. David put on his glasses and realized that Monica must have found out about Joey and Chandler. He got up and attempted to soothe the children, but he could still hear Phoebe and Monica arguing heatedly in the living room.
Phoebe said, "Monica, don't blame Chandler. It was my plan--"
"Yeah, your plan!" Monica turned on her with outrage. "How could you do that to me, Phoebe! You're supposed to be my friend!"
"I am! I was just trying to help you--"
"Help me? You betrayed me! You tricked me into letting Chandler go to L.A., and you set me up with Don! You broke up my family, you--you home wrecker!"
"But I--"
"Just leave me alone!" Monica pushed her aside and started toward the bedroom where she could hear Daniel crying. "I'm getting my son and leaving!"
In response, David picked up the little boy and came out of the room, handing him to Monica.
"Oh!" She clutched him close to her and sobbed miserably.
Phoebe attempted to approach Monica again, but David stopped her and quickly suggested, "Honey, can you go in and calm down Frannie?"
"But--"
"Please? And the birds too." His face told her that he wanted to try talking to Monica himself, so Phoebe gave in.
"All right."
"Thanks." After Phoebe had shut the door behind her, David cautiously turned to Monica and murmured, "Um, do you, do you want to sit down a moment? You're in no shape to drive right now."
Seeing his point, Monica followed him back to the couch, where she sat huddling with Daniel on her lap. She wanted to rock him back to sleep, but he was growing ever more agitated by his mommy's tears.
David handed her some tissues and offered, "I-I can drive you both home, if you want. I just need to pack up Danny's stuff first, you know?"
She swallowed and nodded.
So he got up and gathered up the toys that had been left in the living room, before going into the bedroom to retrieve Daniel's blanket and overnight bag. He whispered to Phoebe, "I'm gonna drive them home, and then probably call her brother to come stay the night. I'll have to explain everything to him too, so I don't know how long I'll be. Don't wait up."
"Okay. Goodnight." She kissed him lightly, and held their baby up for him to kiss too.
Then David returned to the living room and helped Monica get up and grab her purse. He got out her car keys, and closed the door as they left the apartment.
She still looked very upset as he escorted her downstairs, and he wondered whether he should risk hugging her.
"I know I don't know you that well..." he began, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder.
Monica felt lonely and vulnerable enough that she allowed the embrace, putting her head against his shoulder while she still cradled her young son.
David patted her back soothingly. "I'm so sorry, Monica. Truly sorry. I-I would have tried to talk Phoebe out of her scheme, but I didn't even find out about it until you were already on the date, and Chandler was with Joey."
Monica moaned miserably, "Why would she do this?"
David sighed and shrugged. "She--she meant well. It's one of Phoebe's psychic intuitions, I suppose, that this was all destined to happen somehow. After Chandler confessed to her about Joey the other day, she devised a plan to reunite them and to fix you up with that British guy at the same time. So you see, in her way, she was trying to help, but she just became so enamored with her plan that she couldn't see how devastated you'd be. I'm very sorry, Monica, and I'm sure she is too, now that she realizes the results of her manipulation."
"If she's psychic, she should have known!" Monica complained.
David nodded sadly and shifted the bag on his shoulders. As they arrived at the Porsche, he unlocked the doors and helped her secure Daniel into the baby seat in the back. Then he drove them to Greenwich Village while Monica still sobbed miserably. Once they parked and unstrapped Daniel, they decided to go ahead and cross the street to Ross and Rachel's apartment.
Ross and Rachel were stunned to see Monica so upset, and after they heard what had happened, they certainly welcomed her to stay the night with them.
"Oh my God!" Rachel hugged Monica and took hold of Daniel.
Ross was even more furious because Chandler was away in L.A. now instead of handling this mess face to face. "That bastard!"
David stayed long enough to help explain the details and to try to smooth things over, so that the friends would know that Phoebe was not actually evil and coldhearted, just misguided and stubborn. Then he said goodnight and caught a cab for home.
---
Meanwhile, in Joey's bedroom in L.A., he and Chandler were kissing and moving toward the bed. Joey still felt somewhat guilty about doing this now, in light of Monica's enraged phone call, but Chandler kissed away his hesitation and murmured that he needed this comfort to get him through his divorce.
So Joey pulled him closer and gave in to the passion...
The next morning, Joey woke up first and turned to look at Chandler lying next to him. He was amazed that he wasn't just dreaming again, and that Chandler was really here. One short day ago, Joey had woken alone in this bed, convinced that he would never be with Chandler outside of his wishful fantasies, and that he should do his best to forget those fantasies anyway.
Now everything had changed. Now Joey wasn't just mourning what might have been between them and what could never be. Now Chandler had come to L.A. for him, and now they were lovers.
Of course, Joey still felt guilty about Monica and their son, but that didn't diminish the wonder of actually having Chandler here in his bed. Joey wasn't alone in this misery anymore, and Chandler really loved him too. Joey lay close and just watched him sleeping, letting it ease the pain of the past two years of despair and loneliness.
Finally, Chandler woke up and started rubbing his eyes. "Joe--"
Joey hugged him tightly and whispered, "I missed you. I missed you so bad."
Chandler returned the embrace and tenderly stroked Joey's hair. "I missed you too."
Joey cried a little. "I wish--I wish you didn't have to go home so soon. You just got here."
"I know," Chandler answered. "But I gotta go." He sighed sadly. "Thank you for last night, Joe. It was--it was special, you know?"
"Yeah." Joey still clung to him.
Chandler kissed him and said, "Don't worry. We can still call each other, Joe, and you can come visit me next weekend, right?
"Yeah."
"Okay. So I'll see you then."
He finally got Joey to let go of him, and then he got up to shower and get dressed. Joey offered to take Chandler to the airport.
"Well, I have to pick up my bags that I left at the hotel first."
"Okay." Joey put on a robe and began changing the bed sheets.
After Chandler came out of the bathroom, Joey showed him an old photo that he kept of them on the nightstand. It was from when they were roommates, happy and hugging as always. He whispered sadly, "Sometimes, when I was trying to forget about you, I'd hide it away somewhere, you know, but--but I still couldn't get over you, so I took it out again."
Chandler hugged him. "I couldn't get over you either, Joe. I'd think about you on Christmas and your birthday, trying to tell myself to move on. But I couldn't, and these past couple of months since Phoebe called you from the hospital, I wished I could get up the courage to call you too." He kissed Joey and gave him another picture of them, from Joey's birthday party two years ago.
"I love you."
"Love you too."
Over breakfast, Chandler called the airline to check if he could exchange his return ticket for an earlier flight. Then he and Joey picked up Chandler's bags from the hotel and checked him out, before heading to the airport.
At the gate, faced with the reality of Chandler leaving again, Joey got really upset and wanted to go with Chandler back to New York.
"No, you should stay here. Take care of Maddy and talk to Sarah some more. You'll visit me in a week anyway."
"But you'll need somebody to protect you. Ross will wanna kick your ass."
"Are you kidding? Monica's the freakishly strong one!" He tried to laugh at his feeble joke, but failed. He reassured Joey, "Well, I'll ask Phoebe to shield me, I guess. She owes me for spilling the whole plan to Monica."
Joey tried not to worry. "I'll miss you."
"I'll miss you too." He kissed Joey again, then grabbed his bags and boarded the plane.
After Joey watched him disappear down the walkway, he turned and noticed that some other people at the gate were staring and whispering about their kiss. Was Joey being paranoid? He tried to ignore it and just look out the window, watching for Chandler's plane to leave, but many questions nagged at him.
Was Joey famous enough yet that people would recognize him from movies and TV, or were the gawkers just sheltered or homophobic people who were not used to seeing gay kisses in public? Also, how likely would it be that someone with a camera might have snapped a picture of them kissing? Would that someone think to sell it to tabloids? Should he call his agent and ask him how to diffuse any possible rumors that might arise? Should he deny it and say it was a case of mistaken identity? Or say that the kiss was merely friendly and taken out of context? Or not respond at all?
Joey got anxious and headed home. Besides, he also had to talk things over with Sarah, even though neither of them were really sure about going through with the adoption.
---
Meanwhile, Chandler flew home, and called Phoebe to tell her that he was coming back early. Phoebe asked if he and Joey had worked things out, then agreed to pick him up from the airport and fill him in about Monica.
As they drove back to Manhattan in her grandma's taxicab, Phoebe apologized for spilling the plan too soon, but she had been excited about Monica confessing that she'd kissed Don. "She was feeling all guilty about it, and I was trying to convince her again that Don's her soulmate. Then I told her about you and Joey being soulmates, and she got really mad."
"I'm not surprised."
"Anyway, so that's when she called you guys and ripped into you. I tried to calm her down after she hung up on you, but she was furious at me too. So David talked to her some and drove her and Danny home. They went to Ross and Rachel's place and told them what happened too."
"And they wanna kick my ass, don't they?"
"Yeah. They're still kinda pissed at me, but David tried to apologize for me. Monica's still ranting that if I'm so psychic, I should have seen how bad this would turn out."
"Well, she does have a point--"
"Hey, don't you start on me too! I'm the only friend you've got left right now." Phoebe sighed and tried to calm down. "Look, I'm sorry, okay? Sometimes I'm not so accurate with certain predictions. That's why I go to see a psychic too. I was just really confident about this plan and thought it would work. I mean, it did work with you and Joey getting together, right?"
Chandler nodded. "Yeah, well, just try to be more careful, and help me deal with this divorce, all right? I don't want to lose custody of Daniel."
"I know. But the good thing is that today's Saturday, so Monica can't really go through with her threat to get a lawyer and cut you out until Monday. You've got some time to catch up and get a lawyer too."
"Right." He tried to look on the bright side. "So where am I gonna stay now? Has Monica thrown out all my stuff from the apartment yet?"
"Well, she probably got a late start on it, because she stayed at Ross and Rachel's last night. You can leave your bags with me and David for now, but we'll have find you somewhere else soon, since we're already crowded with our new baby and the chick and duck. I'll ask if David has some scientist friends you can stay with, or something."
"Okay."
After they arrived at Phoebe and David's apartment, she told Chandler that he better change into new clothes, because wearing his clothes from Friday was going to give off too big a clue that he had slept with Joey. He blushed, and changed in the bathroom while Phoebe asked David if he'd heard from Monica, Ross, and Rachel yet. In a way, David was becoming a sort of informal liaison, since they considered him neutral.
David said that they had got Emma's nanny to agree to watch both kids while the adults went over to Monica's apartment to discuss the divorce further and pack up Chandler's stuff.
Chandler decided that he wanted to go over and try to apologize face to face, and Phoebe agreed to go with him while David stayed with Frannie and the birds.
At Monica's apartment, Chandler and Phoebe opened the door to find their former friends taking out their hostility on his belongings. Before Chandler could try to apologize, Rachel berated him about how he could abandon his wife and kid like this, and Ross angrily asked where Joey was.
"He's still in L.A.--"
"Oh, so he's too chicken to come and face what he's done to Monica? He doesn't care about who he's hurting!"
"Hey, Joey tried to fight this!" Chandler said. "He even moved all the damn way to L.A. and stopped talking to all of us for two years, because he was so scared of wrecking everything. He told me that I belonged here, and I should just forget about our kiss! He tried to get over me and even adopt a kid, but--"
"So it's your fault then! You're the selfish bastard!"
They kept arguing, and Ross even tried to hit him, but Chandler dodged timidly.
Meanwhile, Monica was very pissed off at Phoebe because this morning, Don had sent Monica some flowers with a card apologizing for kissing her last night. "You told him to do this, didn't you? It's part of your stupid plan! I can't believe you still have the nerve to try to fix me up!"
Phoebe protested, "No, I didn't tell him anything! I didn't! I haven't spoken to Don since I first set up the date. Ask him yourself!" She also got out her cellphone and showed Monica the call history. "See, there's his number. Only two calls made to him, days ago, to set up your dinner. Nothing since then."
Monica was confused, but decided to go into her bedroom to call Don and make sure that Phoebe hadn't called him using another phone, like her home phone. Phoebe remained in the living room to help defend Chandler.
Don answered the phone, and Monica told him that she got the flowers he sent her. He was glad and desperately apologized again about the kiss. When she interrupted him to ask whether Phoebe had put him up to sending the flowers, he was confused.
"No, I-I didn't talk to her. I was too ashamed that I'd done something so disgraceful with her good friend, and you were probably telling her all about it anyway. Monica, I-I really don't know what came over me last night. I swear that I don't go around coming onto married women. I just forgot myself somehow with you, and I'm very sorry. I feel so wretched. Look, if--if you want me to, I'll apologize to your husband and let him hit me when he gets back. Or would you rather pretend that nothing happened and never speak to me again?"
Monica said bitterly, "It doesn't matter. Chandler already knew all along, and it was all part of his big plan. He's gay and leaving me!"
"Wh-what?" Don stammered in shock. He had no idea that Chandler was gay, let alone that he had some elaborate plan to leave her. Don quickly offered Monica his sympathy and said that Chandler would have to be gay, to not appreciate a wife like Monica.
Monica was suspicious, asking if Phoebe had told him about her plan.
"Phoebe's plan? But I thought you said it was Chandler's plan?"
"It was Phoebe and him together, trying to set me up! They say that they thought I would be happy with you and accept the divorce, but I bet they just wanted me to cheat, so they could blame me and Chandler could get custody of our son!"
"Oh my God!" Don was horrified and couldn't believe that a sweet person like Phoebe would be so scheming and dastardly. "Phoebe's clearly changed a lot in the last few years!"
Monica was surprised by Don's reaction, and asked again, "You really didn't know about it?"
"No! No, not at all." Don admitted that he briefly suspected something odd was going on, but Phoebe had told him it was because of her psychic vision that they would make a profitable business deal. "Monica, please believe me, if I had known they were planning something nefarious, I would never have agreed to be a party to it. I'm--I'm so sorry I didn't press Phoebe further. I was such a fool to let her use me like that!"
Monica started to trust Don because he sounded so sincere and regretful. She confided in him some more, telling him that Chandler had just come home early, and Phoebe had brought him to apologize.
"Oh, is that what that row is? I didn't know if I was hearing correctly over the phone."
She told him that Ross and Rachel were here too, and that they were helping her through the divorce. Don offered to lend any help he could as well. "Would you need me to testify at a divorce hearing that you were innocent in our kiss? I would certainly do that."
Monica thanked him, but said that she didn't think Chandler would have the gall to bring up the kiss in court, what with him running off to see Joey. "But I'll let you know."
"Okay. And this is certainly the end of my friendship with Phoebe. I've a mind to go over there right now and shout at her too!"