Chapter 4 - This is getting exciting!

Rachel pulled the duvet around her ears, willing the alarm to simply stop and allow her one more day of sleep. An annoyed elbow nudged her in the ribs, and she remembered the previous night.

Of course, it was nothing exciting. Ross came over; they talked for a bit; made out; he apologised for the 'we were on a break' thing; she cried; they made out. It continued all night. No wonder she was still exhausted.

Despite the bony elbow in her side, Rachel still refused to move. Once he realised this, Ross leant over her and slammed down on the clock several times, until it let out its last little whimper. He lay back down; this time with Rachel huddled up next to him.

"I love you." Rachel's voice was muffled by the cover, but the message came across the same.

At any previous time, Ross would have jumped out of bed in a panic, possibly fallen over a bra, and kicked up a fuss about it being too soon. But this was Rachel.

He simply stated, "Marry me."

Rachel smiled. Although it was a joke – hopefully – she knew how much she meant to him, and agreed with a groan and a stretch.

"Right, get out of bed." Ross pushed her so that she had no option but to roll off onto a pile of last night's clothes.

On recovering from this, she grabbed the covers and pulled them back to allow the cold air to get to Ross' naked body. "And you!"

After a childish game of tickling and throwing pillows that ended with a broken vase, they quickly got dressed and left the safety of the bedroom.

"OK. We have to sort out Frankie and Georgia." Ross ruined the moment.

Rachel hadn't let a single thought about her boyfriend cross her mind since Ross entered her apartment. Thinking about made her feel guilty, so she jumped on Ross while he was on the sofa and giggled out an objection.

"No, we have to talk about this," he continued, "I am meant to see her at lunch, so I can tell her then. When are you seeing Frankie?"

Suddenly, Rachel remembered her rushed plans, only in time to tell Ross before the knock on the door.

Awkwardly, she opened the door to the only perfect boyfriend she had ever had and dumped him for a cheating ex.

As Chandler rocked back and forth on the squeaky chair (supposedly with anxiety, but it was actually to annoy Rusty), he spotted a shadow cross the window in the door. About twenty people had done this, or one person several times, but every time Chandler froze, desperately wishing that this one would be Joey.

It was his last chance.

The phone call at four in the morning could mean one of three things: 1. an emergency involving friends or family, 2. somebody frantically searching for a Chinese takeaway or 3. one of his sisters wanted to get married. Granted, he did add the third one to his list after this particular call, but it was sure to happen again with the number of sisters Joey had.

He grumbled as a feminine voice screeched down the receiver- almost deafening him -that she wanted to get married. At first he thought it was a crazed fan, but soon discovered that he would have to take a four hour drive to approve some dork for Mary-Angela.

What a life.

Chandler almost wet himself when the door first opened, but once he saw it wasn't anyone he knew, he sighed. It was a man that would have come up to Chandler's shoulder, and wasn't imposing any threat at the time. He had bright red hair and a monobrow, meaning a snort of laughter came from Rusty. To be honest, Chandler couldn't see the difference between the two until the new, short man took off his hair.

"Nice wig, Jazz! Where did you get it, a fox's tail?!" At this, Rusty was the one who nearly wet himself this time, and he ended up rolling around in the fits of the giggles.

"Ha. Ha. Ha." Chandler was surprised to see that 'Jazz' didn't have any tone in his voice. "Very funny."

It almost killed Chandler to see someone who couldn't pull off the simplest sarcastic comment, but by biting his lip he managed to control his angered sense of humour.

So far, the man the Rusty had called Jazz hadn't acknowledged Chandler, and he was hoping it would stay that way.

"This the guy?" Too late, he'd been noticed.

"Y'up. Proposed 'n' everything... and he's already married!" That set the pair off into hysterics.

"What's his name? I met this lovely girl who claimed to have been widowed when a car crash killed her husband..." he turned to Chandler, "Her name was Monica."

Rage brought forward a spur of shouts from Chandler, "You dare touch her I'll kill you with my bare hands!"

Jazz nodded towards the chair Chandler was sitting on, "With your hands tied behind your back? That would be impressive. I'd like to see that."

Rusty was now hiding in the shadows of the corner of the blank room, standing well out of the way. Jazz must have been his boss, or something, because before he came in Rusty had been all over Chandler; pushing his chair in circles, slapping him across the face, and evenbiting him. He was kinda weird, but that was the least of Chandler's worries. As Jazz pulled out a long, slim gun, Chandler swalloed his anger and hoped that shutting up would keep him out of danger.

"Say one word that gives away what's happening, this will be shoved down your throat. Am I making myself clear?" Jazz had a facial expressin that showed no emotion. That made him all the more scary.

Chandler nodded in agreement. He knew that in any other situation he'd be panicing, but because he knew Joey was coming, he figured he wouldn't need to say anything. Then again, it was Joey.

Yawning, he pulled into the sandy drive at about half past nine. After the early phone call, Joey had tried and failed to go back to sleep, but wasn't able. He figured he'd be able to get back to New York by about four-ish if he left at the apartment at five, so he borrowed Monica's old Porsche and headed off.

The place he arrived at was nothing like he'd imagined. It was nothing more than a dirty, sandy plain with a boarded up farm house that looked abandoned and a barely-in-use barn. To one side of the barn, in the shade, there was a reasonably fertile patch where some flowers and vegetables were growing, and in the midst of this shrubery was his sister.

He hadn't seen her for over a year, and he was shocked to see how muscley she'd gotten. All the tending to the farm must have left a good impression on her. Despite this, she was still the most feminine of the Tribbianis, and had a slim figure. Once she caught sight of the car, Mary-Angela ran forward to greet Joey, almost getting run over in the process.

"Joey!" She wrapped herself around his neck and pulled her legs up so he could spin her round.

Huffing from the extra muscle weight she'd gained, he replied, "Mar-Angela... you've grown! That's not often said when you're twenty seven! Look at those muscles!"

"I can't believe you're here! And, I'm getting married!" After revealing her true feelings for the first time in weeks, she let out a great whoop and ran off towards the house, signalling for Joey to follow.

"Hey," he called after her, "Only if I approve him!"

All this conversation could be hear from inside the sweaty room that Chandler was being held in. Once the sound of car tyres could be heard, Jazz and Rusty left the room to greet their guest. It had gone quiet, and Chandler was still rocking back and forth on the squeaky chair, only this time it was because of anxiety.

A quick shuffling of keys at the door, and Rusty came in to untie him.

"No funny business, remember." He motioned to the window, "We'll be watching you."

He rushed out, and momnent later Chandler heard Jazz saying, "He's right through there. Come out with the verdict when you're ready."

It was time.

Cor, I bet your getting annoyed at how long I'm dragging this out! That is called good righting. Eh. Eh.