July 6, 2000

Rachel sat up in the dark and hissed from the sudden pain she was feeling. The clock said 2:43 a.m., and the room was sticky with humidity. It had been a hot summer so far, which annoyed Rachel. Being hot and pregnant was horrible. She made a note to tell Ross the air conditioner was broken again.

"Hmm," she said, rubbing her belly now. She was pretty sure she was having contraction pain, but she wasn't a hundred percent sure. She was half asleep, and she had read all about Braxton Hicks contractions. She didn't want to panic and rush into the hospital if it was nothing. She settled back down onto her pillow and distracted herself with thoughts of what had been going on with her friends in the last two months. Phoebe and Joey were planning their wedding. Chandler and Monica were openly dating now since everyone knew about it. They were such a cute couple. Rachel smiled to herself. She couldn't wait until they decided to get married.

As for her and Ross, they had been playing with baby names, but nothing had been picked yet. They still didn't know if they were having a boy or a girl, so they figured they would just come up with it as soon as they saw their baby.

"Ow!" Rachel yelped as another wave of pain washed over her. She looked at the clock again. 2:50. Her pain was seven minutes apart. She was pretty sure that was labor. Then she frowned. Her leg had just moved over a wet patch.

"Oh no," she said. Her water had broken in her sleep. She reached to shake Ross. "Ross!"

"It's Tyrannosaurus not Tyrannicalsaurus," Ross muttered in his sleep.

"Ross!"

"They eat meat."

"ROSS GELLER!" Rachel shrieked, smacking him hard.

"What? What?!" he shouted, jolting awake and sitting up. "Rachel?"

"Who else?" she asked.

"I dreamt I was having a debate with John Horner," Ross said. "He was arguing with me."

"Ross, I'm in labor," Rachel cut him off. He stared at her for a second before hitting full out panic mode.

"Okay," he said. "Okay. Okay."

"Stop saying okay."

"All right," he said, getting out of bed. "We got this. Um, you grab your bag."

Rachel struggled out of bed slowly as Ross began to run around. She threw on her maternity dress because it was too hot for sweat pants. Ross barrelled past her multiple times as he hurried to get ready.

"Car seat," Rachel said when he was standing there, thinking.

"Yes," he said, rushing to get it. Rachel got her bag and added her wallet to it. She went to stand by the door beside the car seat. Ross appeared in the doorway of their room, jumping around and trying to get his leg into his pants. Rachel couldn't understand why he was wearing pants when it was so hot. He was trying to put is head through the arm of his t-shirt when he called out to her.

"You have your I.D.?" he asked, fighting with his shirt.

"Yes."

"Your change of clothes?"

"Yes."

"Baby blanket?"

"Yes."

"Pacifier?"

"Ross, we packed it all weeks ago. We're good to go," Rachel said. He finally got his shirt on properly and joined her.

"We're having a baby," he said. It had finally hit him.

"We are," Rachel said, smiling. He kissed her gently before she doubled over with pain from another contraction.

"Okay, okay!" he exclaimed, helping her out the door. "We're going!"

Hours Later

Monica sat watching as Joey paced, Phoebe scribbled notes for a new song for the baby, and Chandler fiddled with his yo-yo. It was a new phase he was going through apparently, something to keep his hands occupied. He had explained to her that sometimes he still had urges to smoke, so keeping his hands busy was a way of combating that. She had to admit that he had learned some neat tricks, but watching him now, he moved his hand too soon, and the yo-yo snapped back and promptly smacked him in the face.

"Ow," he said.

"It's been hours," Joey piped up now. "Is she all right in there?"

"Giving birth takes time," Monica assured him. "She's all right." She hoped Rachel was all right. Ross had called her just after three in the morning to tell her they were going to the hospital and left it up to Monica to call the others. Chandler had been beside her, so she really only had to go across the hall to get Joey and Phoebe. Phoebe's apartment was almost ready to move back into but not quite yet. It was now five in the afternoon, and Ross hadn't come out yet.

"They could name the baby Phoebe, if it's a girl," Phoebe said. "Phoebo if it's a boy."

"They should pick Joey," Joey insisted.

"What's wrong with Chandler?" Chandler asked.

"You already got a baby named after you," Joey accused.

"Oh yea..."

"I was sure the two of them would argue over names," Monica mused. "I guess Rachel's blood pressure scare took precedence."

Chandler succeeded in having his yo-yo fly out of his grip at this point, and it bounced across the floor. He went to retrieve it when Ross appeared.

"We did it!" he cried. "We have a baby!"

"Congratulations!" they all cried.

"Come on," he urged. "They've got Rachel settled back into her room now. I waited until she was allowed visitors before coming to get you."

"You just enjoyed keeping us all on edge for that much longer," Monica accused. He had a small smirk on his lips at that.

"Come on," he repeated, leading the way. They all followed, and Phoebe and Monica both gasped when they saw Rachel holding the little bundle in her arms.

"Meet our son," Ross said, gesturing.

"You had a boy," Phoebe sighed happily.

"You're gonna name him Joey, right?" Joey asked. Ross and Rachel shared a look.

"We haven't exactly picked out a name yet," Rachel answered.

"You'll figure it out," Monica assured her.

"Easy for you to say," Ross snorted. "You already know what your babies' names are gonna be."

He missed Chandler's frantic finger across the throat "stop it" warning. Monica swallowed. Her babies. The ones she was never going to have because her doctor had told her she couldn't have children back when she tried to have a baby via sperm donor.

"Oh," Ross said, realizing suddenly. "Um..."

"It's all right," Monica said. "I don't mind sharing. I was always going to name my daughter Emma."

"Aww. I wish we had a girl," Rachel said. "I'd call her Emma."

"There's still time," Phoebe reasoned. "You can always have another baby."

"I just finished having this one, Phoebs. I think I'm gonna pause for a bit before pushing out another one," Rachel said, a little annoyed.

"Try pushing out three in a row," Phoebe commented. Did everyone forget she had triplets?!

"I'm sorry," Rachel apologized. "Of course that was hard. I didn't mean anything by it. I'm just tired."

"It's okay," Phoebe reassured her.

"What was the name for your son?" Ross prompted Monica, who was lost in thought.

"Oh. Daniel," she answered.

"Ohhh," Rachel said, putting a hand to her mouth and looking at her son. "Daniel."

"We can't take your name," Ross said. He felt bad for forgetting Monica couldn't have children.

"I want you to," Monica insisted. "I can't use it. And I'd love for you to. If you have a girl in the future, you can call her Emma too. Please, it would mean a lot to me if you used the name."

"Okay," Rachel nodded. "Then this is Daniel."

"You could always adopt," Ross said to Monica. "Name that baby Emma."

"It's okay, Ross," Monica said. "I don't know what my future is going to hold. I might just let the baby dream die altogether."

"Don't say that," Phoebe admonished.

"I really don't know what I want to do," Monica said. "I might adopt someone older anyway. I've heard so many times how older kids don't get picked, and that breaks my heart. But...I've got lots of time to think about it. Don't worry about me. Please. This is your day, your moment. Let's just celebrate the birth of Daniel."

"Knock, knock," Carol's voice said then. "Is this a bad time? Someone wants to meet their new baby brother or sister."

"Brother," Ross beamed. Ben hurried in, and Ross picked him up and took him over to Rachel. "This is Daniel."

"He's so small," Ben said.

"He'll get bigger."

"Just like I did."

"Yes."

"I love him," Ben said, making Rachel's heart burst. "I don't know him, but I love him. Is that weird?"

"No, Ben. It's not weird at all," Ross told him.

They took turns holding Daniel then, and Chandler put his arm around Monica to give her a hug. She really did feel okay. She didn't know why they were suddenly concerned about her. She had known for years now that she couldn't have a baby. It wasn't new.

But it still gave her a little twinge inside, though, knowing she couldn't hold her own child one day.

Days Later

Rachel was exhausted. Daniel cried a lot, and it seemed Monica was the only one who could get him to stop and go to sleep. She knew she couldn't rely on Monica forever, and she could tell Monica was growing tired of running back and forth across the street to their apartment. Rachel felt bad about Monica's situation, but Monica kept assuring her she loved being an aunt, that it was good enough for her.

"Hello," Ross said, coming in with Ben. Ben had insisted on visiting a lot since his brother was born. Carol was glad for the break. Ross had been talking with her about shared custody, and Carol had seemed up for it, which had surprised both Ross and Rachel.

"Where is he?" Ben asked.

"Over here," Rachel answered. Daniel was in his baby carrier and looking up at everything. Ben sat down beside him and gave him his finger to hold. Rachel loved how much Ben adored his brother.

"I can't wait to live here too," Ben piped up. Carol had said she had asked Ben if he wanted to live part time with Ross, and Ben had eagerly said yes.

"It'll be wonderful to have you here," Rachel smiled at him.

She meant it.

Monica

Distraction. That was all she needed. She was going crazy thinking about kids and babies and adoption. She had even started looking online for older kids to adopt. She needed a break.

"Mon, is there anything I can do to help?" Phoebe asked.

"I just...I need to keep busy," she said.

"I wish I could give you something to do," Phoebe sighed.

"But there is something you can give me," Monica said, realizing suddenly.

"What?"

"Your grandmother's famous cookie recipe!"

"The one I was sworn to never reveal on my grandmother's death bed?" Phoebe asked.

"I'll never get to bake them for my kids," Monica said.

"Use my own trick against me," Phoebe nodded, referring to her use of her mother committing suicide to get things she wanted from the others frequently. "Well done. All right. You can have it."

"Yes!" Monica fist pumped.

An Hour Later

"What's wrong?" Joey asked Phoebe as she came into Chandler's apartment, wringing her hands.

"I promised Monica my grandmother's cookie recipe, and it's gone! The fire destroyed it! I just looked."

"Cookies?" Joey asked, his ears perking.

"What am I going to tell her?" Phoebe asked, wailing a little. "It's supposed to cheer her up!"

Joey's eyes were following the bag in her hand that kept flailing around as she spoke. He could see there was a cookie in there, and he wanted it.

"All I have is this," she said, showing him the cookie finally. His mouth started to water.

"I could eat it," he suggested.

"Wait! That's brilliant!" she exclaimed.

"It is?"

"Yes! Monica can taste it and find out the ingredients! She's good at that! You're the best," Phoebe said, grabbing his cheeks and making his lips pucker out so she could kiss them firmly before turning on her heel and rushing over to Monica's.

"But...the cookie..." Joey said forlornly, his hand outstretched as the door slammed behind her.

Chandler

"What is happening?" he asked, coming into Monica's apartment that evening to find it a disastrous mess. Monica had cookie dough on her cheek and in her hair. Phoebe was at the table with a bunch of cookies in front of her.

"No," she said, shaking her head. "That's not it either."

"Mon?" Chandler prompted.

"I'm figuring out Phoebe's grandmother's cookie recipe," Monica said.

"Is that why your kitchen has been taken over by cookies?" Chandler asked sarcastically. "I just assumed the Cookie Monster had been here."

"The Cookie Monster is across the hall," Monica gestured. "He's gone to put his stretchy pants on."

"Oh no," Phoebe said suddenly. "I got batch 16 again." She put her hand over her mouth and ran for the bathroom.

"I didn't realize you could make bad cookies," Chandler frowned.

"Do you think I'm crazy?" Monica asked him suddenly.

"Do you really expect me to walk right into that open fan blade?" he countered.

"I'm serious. I feel like I've gone crazy."

"Monica," Chandler said, going over to her. "You're not crazy. You're feeling different emotions because Ross and Rachel had a baby, and you won't be able to experience that kind of feeling."

"How do you explain the baking?" she asked. He looked around at the mess.

"Well," he said. "It's like when I play with my yo-yo to occupy my hands when they want to hold a cigarette. You need this to occupy your mind from thinking about babies."

"Right," she nodded. "You're right. I'm not crazy."

"No, you're not."

"All clear," Phoebe said, coming back. "My grandmother must be laughing from where she is."

"I'm sorry I couldn't recreate it," Monica said to her.

"It's all right. Some of my family members in France might know. My grandmother got it from her grandmother, Nesele Tolouse."

Both Chandler and Monica heard it at the same time.

"Who?" Monica asked.

"Nesele Tolouse."

Monica went to grab her bag of chocolate chips and threw them at Phoebe.

"Nestle Tollhouse?!" she exclaimed.

"Oh my God, this is the recipe!" Phoebe cried. Then..."Oh, no."

"I wasted a whole day trying to figure out something I already had," Monica moaned.

"And this is why you're burning in hell!" Phoebe shouted at the floor. Chandler raised his eyebrow but said nothing.

Monica started to laugh hysterically then, making them both look at her.

"You okay?" Chandler asked. She nodded through her laughter.

"I sure was distracted," she answered, snickering and snorting, which made Chandler and Phoebe start to laugh with her. Monica hugged Chandler tightly after a moment.

"I'm all right," she said. "I'm all right."

Joey burst through the door then in his stretchy pants.

"Bring on the cookies!" he said gleefully, going to sit and start shoveling them into his mouth.

Monica was sure glad to have such good friends.