Monica walked into her apartment to find a very upset Phoebe and nervewracked Joey. She barely set her suitcase down when she was pounced on.

"Monica!" Phoebe cried. "Oh my God!"

"What's wrong?" Monica asked, immediately surveying her apartment.

"Where's Ross and Rachel?" Joey demanded.

"They went to Italy," Monica replied. "Why?"

"Something terrible happened!" Phoebe shouted.

"It's a disaster!" Joey yelled.

"What's with all the yelling?" Chandler asked, coming in. "You'd think someone's place burnt down."

"How did you know?!" Joey asked, his eyes bugging out.

"Wait...what?" Chandler said, confused.

"Phoebe! Just tell us," Monica ordered.

"Ross and Rachel's apartment burned down," Phoebe spilled. "We just got the call an hour ago."

"Oh my God," Monica gasped, covering her mouth with her hand.

"What are we gonna do?" Chandler asked.

"They said they would call when it was cleared to go there. They need everything that's left cleared out. I guess we salvage what's left for them since they're not here," Phoebe said sadly.

"Do you remember the hotel you were staying at in Italy?" Monica asked Chandler. He shook his head.

"This will destroy them," Joey said sadly.

"How long are they gone for?" Phoebe asked.

"At least a week. You guys, I feel so bad," Monica said, wringing her hands.

"Where are they gonna stay?" Joey asked.

"They'll stay here," Monica said. "With me. I have the spare room."

They all looked at each other, knowing how distraught both Ross and Rachel were going to be when they found out that they lost their home.

Ross & Rachel

"I think this tops our last honeymoon," Rachel sighed, stretching out on the beach. Ross was sitting on the towel beside her.

"I agree, especially because we know our friends aren't just gonna show up and ruin it," Ross chuckled.

"You don't suppose Joey discovered he has some relative he didn't know he had over here and is gonna appear from nowhere asking to stay with us in our hotel?" Rachel teased.

"I will be the first to send him packing," Ross reassured her. She reached for his hand and squeezed it.

"I can't help but have this feeling something big is happening," she said.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"I don't know. I just have this feeling," she replied.

"Good or bad?"

"I'm not sure. I guess we'll find out."

A Week Later

"Okay, that's everything," Monica huffed, setting the last box down. Joey and Chandler set theirs down as well. Phoebe was supervising on the couch since she was very pregnant at this point.

"Their whole lives in five boxes," Joey lamented. "That seems so sad."

"I wish there was more we could have saved, but the fire was pretty extensive," Monica sighed. She arranged the boxes in the spare room so that there was room to walk around the bed still. Ross and Rachel were coming home today, and she was trying to mentally prepare for their reaction to all this.

"I guess I should get to the airport," Chandler said. They had agreed that one of them would pick up Ross and Rachel to bring them here rather than letting them go to their apartment.

"Good luck," Monica said. He gave her a grim smile before going out the door.

"How are you doing?" Phoebe asked.

"I'm fine," Monica answered, giving Joey's direction a meaningful look.

"He knows," Phoebe said.

"What?! Phoebe!"

"You left us all alone for too long. We ran out of things to talk about," Phoebe said defensively.

"You couldn't have just had more sex to make up for it?" Monica demanded. Joey gasped loudly, pointing and looking back and forth between Monica and Phoebe. He started shaking his head violently.

"Oh, give it up. I know," Monica snapped. "I had to hear it from Emily."

"Emily?!" Joey asked, horrified. He stared at Phoebe.

"She figured it out," Phoebe said, her voice shrinking. "But on the bright side, Ross and Rachel still don't know."

"Can we keep it that way?" Joey asked. "It's so much pressure." He started yanking on his collar.

"God, you've been living with Chandler too long," Monica snorted.

"Hey, this is new for us, being in a committed relationship this long," Phoebe said. "Don't ruin it."

"Fine," Monica agreed.

"So back to the whole Chandler thing," Phoebe said eagerly. "Are you gonna tell him?"

"I think you shouldn't. He just got left at the altar," Joey added. Monica looked at the both of them staring at her with googly eyed expressions.

"I...I don't know," she admitted. She really didn't.

Chandler

He was feeling very anxious when he arrived at the airport. He had no idea how to handle the emotions that were going to come his way once Ross and Rachel found out about what happened. He wasn't really sure why he offered to pick them up aside from the fact it was hard to be in a room alone with Monica right now. He was feeling very mixed up and confused, and he didn't want her to know. He just got left at the altar for crying out loud. He didn't want Monica to be his rebound. That being said, didn't not wanting that to happen mean he truly did care for her? He shook his head. Ross and Rachel emerged from the gate, and he couldn't think about Monica anymore.

"Hey," Ross said, grinning. "What are you doing here?"

"I've come to escort you home," Chandler answered, putting on a fake grin.

"That's...nice, but we can get home ourselves," Ross noted, cocking his head.

"Actually, this is perfect," Rachel said. "We can stop by Monica's and give everyone the souvenirs we got them!"

"Yes!" Chandler exclaimed a little too emphatically. They both stared at him.

"You okay?" Ross asked.

"I just really like souvenirs," Chandler answered. He grabbed Rachel's bag and headed towards the cab.

Ross & Rachel

As soon as Rachel saw Monica, she knew something was wrong. She turned to see Chandler avoiding looking at them altogether, and she really knew something was wrong.

"What happened?" Rachel asked. She looked directly at Monica. "Did you...?"

"No!" Monica shouted before Rachel could finish her sentence with "sleep with Chandler?!"

"I think you guys should sit down," Joey said, gesturing to the couch. Ross and Rachel looked at each other then.

"This seems serious. Guys, you're scaring me," Ross said, still standing. The others looked back and forth from one another and then all turned to face them.

"The fire department called," Phoebe finally said.

"Your apartment burned down," Monica finished. There was a stunned silence from Ross and Rachel until Rachel finally broke it.

"Oh my GOD! What?!" she shrieked. She knew it. She knew something big was coming! This was horrible.

"Our apartment...?" Ross managed to say. He felt like he was choking.

"What happened?" Rachel cried.

"They said it started in the apartment below, so yours got damaged a lot, but we managed to salvage some things," Monica said hurriedly.

"You salvaged?" Ross asked, incredulous. "Why didn't you leave it for us to do? Mon, it's our apartment."

"They needed it all out of there immediately," Monica said defensively. "You guys were in Italy. They said whatever was left was getting thrown out!"

"Ross, I'm not mad they did it," Rachel said, putting her hand on his chest to prevent him from exploding. "Thank you, guys, for doing that."

"But...but...what do we do now?" Ross asked, finally realizing they were homeless.

"I've set up the spare room for you. You can stay here until you find something," Monica answered.

"I want to see it," Rachel said suddenly.

"Are you sure?" Phoebe asked. "It's pretty bad."

"Yes," Rachel nodded. They all decided to go for support. Ross was dreading it as was Rachel. Their home was gone. The burning thought Ross had the whole ride over was: What if they had been there? Would they have escaped?

Later

Rachel slid her hand across the sheets to find Ross's hand. She was crying. The image of their home looking like the site of a bombing was stuck in her mind.

"We'll be all right," Ross reassured her, hearing her sniffling.

"It's just...Ben took his first steps there," Rachel cried. "It was our first home as a married couple. We were gonna raise babies there."

"I know. I'm just as shocked and upset, but we have to stay positive. A better apartment will come along, Rach. I just know it."

"I wish I could be as confident as you are."

"We'll get through this together. Just think, we will get a lot of free meals," Ross said. She could hear him smile then.

"Right. Well, as long as we get free meals that will solve all our problems."

"I'm trying to make you smile."

"I know. It's just not working right now," Rachel sighed, curling into him. He stroked her hair slowly. He understood. He just hoped she would eventually come to peace with what happened.

Monica

She was sitting on her balcony and doing some serious thinking. It was 1:30 a.m., and Ross and Rachel were sleeping. Chandler was across the hall, and Monica kept thinking about going over there and professing her love. She knew it was foolish to do so soon, but the words were always there every time she saw him. It was going to kill her until she told him.

"Be strong," she told herself firmly. There would be a right time eventually. She could feel it.

Joey & Phoebe

"I feel so bad," Phoebe said. They were at her apartment, and Joey was cuddling her from behind. Phoebe couldn't get Ross and Rachel's expressions out of her mind when they saw their home in such ruin.

"Me too."

The babies kicked then, and Joey started giggling as they pounded at his hand that was on Phoebe's belly.

"I'm due really soon," Phoebe said.

"Where did the last eight months go?" Joey asked. They weren't quite at nine. The doctor did say, though, that sometimes with triplets, birth came early.

"Oh!" Phoebe cried out suddenly. Joey tensed.

"What? What's wrong?" he propped himself up to look at her. Her face was clenched in pain.

"I...I think that was...oh!" she cried out again. Joey leaped out of bed.

"Are you in labor?" he asked. Phoebe struggled to sit up, clutching her belly.

"I d-don't know," she stammered. It was definitely not a normal pain she ever had. It could only mean one thing. The babies were coming.

"But...but you have six more weeks," Joey said, frantic.

"I was told this could happen," Phoebe grunted as another wave of pain hit her.

"We gotta go to the hospital," Joey told her, starting to rush around and throwing stuff into bags. He helped Phoebe out of bed and got her changed. It was almost two a.m., and Joey knew he had to call Alice and Frank right away. He reached for the phone when she stopped him.

"Can this just be our moment until we get to the hospital?" she asked.

"What do you mean?" Joey was confused.

"When I deliver these babies, they're gone. I just...I just want to pretend for an hour that these are our babies, and that they'll come home with us."

"Oh, Phoebs," Joey said, pulling her in close. Of course this was upsetting her. He should have known. He kissed her forehead. "Of course I'll wait to call."

"Thank you," she said into his shoulder. They stayed that way until another surge of pain hit her.

"Time to go," Joey urged. She nodded, clutching his hand in hers tightly. It was time to give birth.