Anything for Love

Chapter 20: The One Where Joey and Phoebe Get Back Together

Monica and Rachel excused themselves into the other room, but they promptly pressed themselves against the closed door to listen into Joey and Phoebe's conversation on the other side.

"I need to sit down." Joey sat down on the couch and covered his face with his hands for a moment before looking up at Phoebe. "Why did you lie to me?"

Phoebe shrugged. "I saw you on The Early Show. I heard you tell the host that you didn't want to be a father. I figured I would spare you the responsibility." She sat down next to him on the couch.

Joey looked at her. "I only said what I said because I knew you didn't think you could have children, and I didn't want to make you feel bad by saying I wanted kids when you didn't think you could have any!" He then looked down at his lap. "I also didn't want to have kids if you weren't the mother."

Phoebe blushed. "Really?"

Joey nodded, and looked at her again. He gently stroked her cheek. "I told you, you're the only woman for me, Phoebs. I know you don't believe me, but Summer was never anything more to me than my friend and co-worker. We never went out on a date, and we certainly never dated or even kissed. Well, there was that one kiss, but it was just for show so the paparazzi didn't catch on to the fact that she is actually gay."

"Didn't you stop to think how I would feel about it?" Phoebe asked.

Joey's cheeks flushed in shame. "I didn't, and that is one thing I am willing to accept the blame for. I'm sorry for that. I'm also sorry that I took on this stupid movie role. It wasn't worth leaving you, and it certainly wasn't worth losing my best friend over."

"You didn't lose me. I'll still be your best friend," Phoebe said quietly, looking down at her own lap now.

"That's not good enough anymore," Joey said simply.

Phoebe looked at him. "Why not?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Joey asked her. "Now that I've fallen in love with you, how could I possibly settle for anything less than being your husband?"

Phoebe shrugged. "I don't know. I know I am pretty hard to get over."

Joey nodded. "You are."

Phoebe sighed, her resolve weakening. She was beginning to see that he really had been telling the truth all this time. She suddenly felt like a fool. "I'm sorry I didn't believe you when you said you weren't cheating, and I'm sorry I lied to you about both dating Cliff, and about the twins being his."

Joey nodded. "You should be! I would never cheat on you, Phoebs. If we're going to be married, you're going to have to trust me completely even when things look bad. You need to talk to me and not hire private investigators or jump to conclusions. Summer isn't my first love interest on a TV show or movie, and she certainly won't be the last. I can't keep worrying that you're going to think I'm cheating on you."

Phoebe nodded. "You're absolutely right! But you need to be there for me to talk to when I need to you be. I know you get busy when you're filming, but you have to make time for me too. I should be more important to you than any job, especially now that I'm having your babies."

Joey nodded. "I apologize for that too. I promise you, from now on, you and the twins come first even if I'm in the middle of filming. But, unless it's an emergency, please don't hold me to that when I'm filming something live."

Phoebe smiled. "I can agree to that. Really though, I'm sorry about that whole private investigator thing. I saw the pictures and I guess it just made me go a little crazy."

Joey raised an eyebrow. "You think?"

Phoebe rolled her eyes. "I'm being serious! I saw how busty and beautiful Summer is. Would it be that far off to think you could accidentally fall for her if she were straight?"

Joey nodded. "It would because she's not you. I don't know who you see when you look into a mirror, but if you see someone any less beautiful than Summer, then I need to get you a new mirror. All I see is the most beautiful woman in the world. Summer could never hold a candle to you, straight or not!"

Phoebe snorted. "Yeah, right! You're B.S.-ing me."

Joey shook his head and stroked her cheek. "Not even for a second! I never should have left you to film that movie."

"You did it for us and our future. I should have acted like an adult and realized that," Phoebe said. "And then I lied and pretended I was dating Cliff just to hurt you." She laughed bitterly. "I was so stupid to ever think I could lie to you about Cliff being the twins' father. That wouldn't have been fair to you, them, or Cliff. Heck, it wouldn't have been fair to myself!"

"I want to marry you as soon as possible," Joey said.

"You still want to marry me?" Phoebe asked in surprise. "After everything I did?"

Joey nodded. "I think it's safe to say, you weren't the only one who handled things wrong. I handled things pretty badly myself. I should have talked with you instead of allowing us to break up."

"Can we forget everything bad that happened and just learn from our mistakes?" Phoebe asked.

"Only if you marry me," Joey said with a smile.

"I don't want you to want to marry me just because of the twins," Phoebe told him.

"I want to marry you because I love you and I never stopped. You're the only woman for me, Phoebs. If I have to say it a hundred times or more just to get through to you, I will. "You're the only woman for me. You're the only woman for me. You're the only woman for me. You're the on—"

Phoebe put a hand over his mouth. "All right all right! Yes, Joey, I will marry you."

Joey grinned, got down on one knee, and presented the ring she had given back to him.

She smiled, and held out her left ring finger.

He promptly placed the ring on her finger.

"I hope you don't mind marrying me when I'm fat. I'll be ready to pop by the time we get a wedding planned," Phoebe grumbled.

"Not necessarily," Joey said with a smile.

Phoebe shot him a look. "Baby, I don't think you realize all the planning that goes into a wedding. It will take months unless we elope, but I don't really want to do that since you mean so much to me, and this is your first wedding."

"Well, I don't care how much weight you put on with the twins, you'll still be the most beautiful woman to ever exist!" Joey assured her.

Phoebe rolled her eyes. "I still say you're full of bull crap, but I appreciate your words anyway." She grinned at him.

He grinned too, and then kissed her, softly at first, and then more passionately.

Phoebe tangled her fingers in his hair and pulled him close, deepening the kiss. She had missed kissing him even more than she had realized.

Rachel and Monica both came back into the room them, tears of joy in their eyes as they wished them congratulations and gave them huge hugs.

"I'm so sorry I didn't approve of you guys at first! I was just being stupid!" Monica said.

"Me too! Rachel told them. "I want to be in your wedding after all!"

"Me too!" Monica said.

"Yay!" Phoebe said, hugging her two best female friends.

Joey hugged them as well.

"We're so happy for you guys!" Rachel said.

Monica nodded, wiping tears from her eyes.

"Go pack your bag. I want you to spend your last night here with me," Phoebe said to Joey.

"You don't have to tell me twice!" Joey said to her, a huge, happy grin on his face.

He stopped at the doorway to the room he had been staying in and looked back at Phoebe. "At least now we know that the reason you couldn't get pregnant wasn't because of you. It was because you didn't have someone who loved you enough. Now you do."

"And I didn't have a real man until now," Phoebe added to what he said.

Joey grinned at this, then ran back and kissed her again before finally going into his room to pack his things.

Phoebe sighed contently as Rachel and Monica both hugged her again. She didn't know what she had been thinking, letting herself and Joey break up. One thing she did know, was that she was never going to let it happen again. She was done being stupid.

Phoebe closed her eyes, enjoying being in Joey's arms in bed. She sighed happily. "I really missed this. I missed you."

"Me too," Joey said before kissing her temple. "You have no idea how much I missed you. I missed holding you…" He pulled her closer. "Kissing you…" He kissed down her neck. "Making love to you…" His hands roamed slowly down her body.

She moaned, and pulled him down on top of her.

They kissed more passionately, hands roaming down each other's bodies until at long last they were making love again, and it was as if no time had passed.

Even when it was over, they still held each other close, kissing, and not wiling to let the other go, as if they were afraid that if they did, they would lose each other again.

Joey rested his forehead against hers and kissed her once more before laying down beside her again. "I missed that the most!" he teased with a grin.

Phoebe grinned as well. Then her smile faded as she remembered something. "What happened to that date you had tonight?"

Joey was stunned for a minute. "What?"

"Chandler said you had a date," Phoebe informed him.

"Chandler needs to learn to shut his mouth sometimes," Joey complained.

"Did you… Tonight, or any time while we were broken up?" Phoebe wasn't going to be like Rachel had been with Ross and hold it against him, but she needed to know if he had slept with anyone else or it would kill her wondering and imagining the worst.

Joey took her hand and kissed her fingertips. "I did not. I couldn't. I missed you too much. My date tonight wanted things to go further, but I couldn't. We kissed, but very briefly, and it led to absolutely nothing because all I could think about was the fact that she wasn't you. I never kissed anyone but you…and her aside from the fake kiss with Summer. I certainly never slept with anyone since dating you. Even when we were broken up, you were the only one I wanted." He smirked, and gently stroked her cheek. "You broke me. I'm no longer the womanizer I used to be."

"Well, good! I'm glad. In that case, you better never get unbroken!" Phoebe said.

Joey shook his head. "Never."

They kissed again, and ended up making love a second time. Then they showered together, both too tired to let the shower go any further. They dressed for bed.

Joey then headed to the kitchen and fed Prince Harry, who purred, and rubbed up against his leg.

"Did you miss me?" Joey asked him. "I suppose I missed you too. But don't tell Phoebe." He pet the cat and even picked Prince Harry up to kiss his head.

Phoebe, who was standing in the doorway to the bedroom watching them, smiled. Joey was going to make a great dad, she knew.

It was hard for Joey and Phoebe to tear themselves away from each other, but when it came time for Joey to leave for Vegas, they had no choice. They made love once more and then he showered, dressed, and had to go. He promised he would be back soon. He was going to talk to the director and producer about getting the weekends off, or at the very least, every other weekend. He couldn't stand to be away from Phoebe for much longer. He was glad that the movie was only going to be filming for three more months. Still, three more months was three months too long for him. He planned on never being away from her for that long ever again after this.

After he left, Joey headed to Monica's. He had told Phoebe that his flight took off an hour earlier than it actually did. First, he had some unfinished business to take care of before he got on his flight. It was business that was long overdue.

Monica was surprised to see Joey when she opened the door. "Hey, Joey. I was just on my way to work. What's up?"

"I won't be long. Can I come in?" Joey asked.

Monica nodded, and motioned with her arm. "Of course! Come on in."

"I just need to talk to you about something real quick," Joey said to her.

"I wouldn't have even been here today had I not left my purse here accidentally last night, so you're in luck!" Monica said with a smile.

Joey smiled too, and walked into the room. Monica shut the door behind him. "I was actually hoping you could help me with something." He walked over and sat on the couch.

Monica sat down beside him. "Sure! What do you need?"

"I was kind of wondering if you would help me plan a surprise, spur of the moment wedding for Phoebe and myself," Joey revealed.

Monica smirked. "Don't you think Phoebe would want to be included in her own wedding planning?"

Joey shrugged. "We were originally going to elope anyway. She only wanted it to be a bigger wedding since it will be my first and only marriage."

Monica was still skeptical. "Still, I think this is something I think she'd like to know about."

Joey held up his hands. "Just hear me out. She doesn't think a wedding can be planned so soon, and I know she is not keen on getting married when she is huge, so that doesn't leave us a lot of time unless we married after the babies are born, which isn't an option. However, I have a plan where we can both be happy, and Phoebe will be pleasantly surprised. Believe me, I know she'll love this."

Monica was intrigued. "All right. I'm listening. She absent-mindedly scooched closer to him. "What did you have in mind?"

Joey grinned. "I thought you'd never ask."

It only took a couple of calls and it was a done deal. Joey made the call to The Plaza. He knew it would be perfect if he and Phoebe could marry in The Plaza Hotel's Terrace Room. It would be beautiful and so romantic seeing as he and Phoebe had spent the majority of their time as a new couple at The Plaza. He had even reserved the room they had stayed at. They would now be able to spend the night there on the day they married. Monica's restaurant would cater the reception, which would take place in The Plaza's Grand Ballroom. They would then fly out to spend a few days in Paris. Joey knew Phoebe had always wanted to go there.

Joey had talked to the producer and the director, and instead of weekends off, the producer agreed to give him five days and five nights off of filming. They would work around him as a wedding present to him. He was warned he may have to work late night extra hours to make up for the time gone, but he knew it would be worth it.

Lucky for Joey's celebrity status, The Plaza was able to do the wedding the very next month. The only unfortunate thing is they would have to get married on a Thursday since The Plaza was pretty much booked on weekends, but Joey didn't think it would be a problem. He just wanted family and a few close friends anyway.

Rachel and Monica promised to take Phoebe shopping ASAP for her dress. Monica and Rachel knew Phoebe so well that they were able to act as both florists and wedding planners last minute without Phoebe's help. They knew her tastes, so they wouldn't have to ruin the surprise by asking her what she wanted. The dress was the only thing Phoebe would be picking out herself.

Monica and Rachel also planned on inviting anyone Phoebe would want at the wedding like her brother and his family. Her birth mother would be invited as well. They were bypassing invitations and going straight to phone calls to save time. There wouldn't be that many people to merit invitations anyway, they figured.

Joey would call his own family.

"What about vows? She's going to need time to write hers," Monica had asked Joey.

"She and I have already discussed it. We don't want to write them out. We want both traditional vows and vows we make us as we go along. We both feel it will be more romantic to just speak in the moment," Joey had explained.

So it was settled.

"I just hope Phoebe won't get angry that she didn't get to plan her own wedding," Monica said to Rachel after they had ordered the flowers.

Rachel smiled. "As long as she gets to marry Joey, I really don't think she'll care. Besides, I think a surprise wedding is kind of romantic." She sighed dreamily.

Monica smiled. "It does sound very romantic, doesn't it?"

Rachel raised an eyebrow at her. "Except for you. You'd go nuts not being able to control every aspect of it."

Monica was going to protest, but she stopped, knowing it was true. "Well, then I guess it's a good thing Phoebe isn't me."

Both women grinned at each other. Phoebe was going to be in for one heck of a surprise, and she was going to love it!