Chapter 4 The Failed Wedding and the Pregnancy Test

Eleven months later it was Phoebe and Joey's wedding. Joey was standing outside the chapel. It was twenty minutes before the wedding and Joey's feet were shuffling. Bridesmaids Monica and Rachel; Maid of Honor Dina, Joey's sister; Best mans Ross and Chandler were all waiting outside the chapel waiting for the wedding to begin. Phoebe looked up.

"I've got to go to the bathroom really quickly," Phoebe told Rachel and Monica. "Except it may be a little while so come after me if you think that I'm taking too long. I'm sure that I will."

"Why?" Rachel asked.

"Just, because," Phoebe told Rachel. "I... I'm getting a little bit nervous. Five minutes before the wedding, call me out of the bathroom, alright?"

Monica looked Phoebe up and down. "Tell us," Monica told Phoebe. "You have to tell us what's going on."

"I'm just nervous," Phoebe told Monica, but she was uncertain as she spoke and both Rachel and Monica could hear it. "Believe me."

Phoebe grabbed up her purse and dashed into the bathroom and Joey looked at Rachel and Monica. "What's going on?" he asked. "Where'd she go? It's only nineteen minutes till the wedding starts, now, and if she's not back in time I'm just going to be saying 'I do' to the air."

"Don't worry, she'll be back," Rachel assured Joey not looking him in the eye. "She'll be out soon."

"Really?" Joey asked. "She'd better be back in time."

Rachel had never heard Joey sound so gruff and Ross walked up. "What's up?"

"Joey being strict," Rachel sighed. "Joey's never been like this before. I guess that he really wants this wedding."

"Of course he wants it," Monica said. "Why would he not? He's been looking forward to this, for God knows how long. This means a lot and Phoebe just running out may have ended it."

"I don't think that's it," Ross said. "I think that Phoebe's doing something."

"Do you know something?" Rachel asked him.

"No, I swear that I don't," Ross promised Rachel, "but she's been acting a little odd lately, but I can't figure out why she's acting odd."

"Really?" Monica asked. "What kind of odd? I mean, she can be acting odd, iffy odd, really odd, extremely odd, and over the top odd."

There was a moment of silence before Ross began to laugh. "Are you serious? Over the top odd? What kind of odd is that?"

"No, really," Monica told Ross. "There's a such thing as over the top odd. How odd has she been acting lately?"

"I don't know," Ross admitted. "I mean, she hasn't been eating as much lately and she's been cutting down on a lot, but that's all that I-"

The minister walked over to them and turned. "We're ready to start the ceremony early. Is everyone here?" He looked around. "Where is our bride?"

"In the bathroom," Chandler responded. "She's nervous."

"Being nervous is always normal, Chandler," the minister told him. "I get why. I mean, you're spending your life with a new woman and you'll never be able to sleep with someone different. You'll look up to the same face everyday and half the people that I've married have been divorced."

"That makes me feel real good," Joey told the minister, who nodded, and backed off.

"Except we're ready to start. Get the bride," the minister added quickly before leaving.

Ross eyed Rachel and Rachel nodded. "Mon, let's go and get her."

They headed towards the bathroom and Rachel called, "Pheebs, they're ready to start the wedding early! Are you ready to come?"

"No, give me three more minutes."

"Why three?" Rachel asked.

"Um, I have to finish fixing my-" Phoebe began, but the sound of a snapping bobby pin cut her short. "Dammit! Mon, Rach, can you tell Joey that I just snapped the bobby pin and that my hair is falling down?"

"The ceremony is about to start," Monica told her. "Can we just come in?"

"No!" Phoebe ordered. "Stay there, I'll be out in a minute."

Twenty minutes later

"Friends, family, we gather here today to celebrate the joyous marriage of Joey and Phoebe. They have come a long way and the joy that they have shared through their engagement, dating time, and friendship has been glorious and they have found happiness that they have always wanted. I wish them the best of luck in the days that follow so that their marriage will be a healthy and happy one. Now you may read the vows."

Dina handed Phoebe her vow and Phoebe began to read. "Joey, I always knew that there was a part of me that was meant to be with you. I knew that I loved you and that someday we would probably get together. It has always felt right. That first date meant more to me than any other and when we got together I was just happy and realized that this is where I was meant to be. Your caring heart, loving eyes, and sweet and funny nature have given me even more reason to love you. I have been looking forward to this day since I was eleven, but I never expected to be standing here in front of one of my best friends. Walking down the aisle showed me just how much I loved you and you loved me and how far I've made it. I love you."

Phoebe held her vow tight as Ross began to hand Joey his vow. "No," Joey said all of a sudden to the shock of the guests and everyone else. "I can't do this. I'm sorry, Pheebs."

Joey kissed Phoebe and then began to leave the church, but Phoebe called out to him. "Joey! You can't go."

"No, he can't," Rachel muttered to Monica. "What's he thinking running out on Phoebe like this? It was his idea to get married. I ran out, but I guess that Barry just didn't turn me on and I wasn't the one who asked to get married."

"Except you agreed to marry him and didn't break the marriage at any point," Monica muttered back and Rachel shrugged.

"I guess that you're right, but Barry went on our honeymoon without me," Rachel pointed out quietly. "He went with Mindy and he and Mindy are divorced anyway."

"Well, he would have had two divorces if he had married you," Monica said.

"Unless... I was still married to him now," Rachel said.

"No!" Phoebe called out, breaking their conversation. "You can't go."

"Why not?" asked Joey closing the church door shut slowly.

"Because..." Phoebe turned to Rachel and Monica. "You two saw me rush into that bathroom today and I decided that I just wanted to be sure before the wedding, but the truth is that... I'm pregnant."

"What?" Joey gasped.

"I'm... I'm pregnant," Phoebe said.

"Oh, Pheebs," Joey whispered. "I love you so much, but you just don't turn me on that much anymore. I can't, I'm sorry..."

Chandler blinked and said quietly, but loud enough for Joey to hear, "This is the worst wedding I've ever been to!"

Joey rushed out the doors and Ross just stared after them. "What's Joey thinking, seriously? I mean, he's just turned so serious all of a sudden after he and and Phoebe got engaged."

"I know," Chandler said back. "And this could be the end of their relationship."

"Yup, and now I have two close friends who've run out on a wedding," Ross muttered. "And I'm dating one of them now."

Phoebe was at the verge of tears and Ross was hugging her with Chandler beside him. Rachel and Monica quietly slipped up to her and Phoebe blinked with pain.

"Now what?" she asked. "Am I going to be alone?"

Cliffhanger for Chapter 5... now what?