Over the next couple of weeks, Chandler hid how miserable he was from Monica and the others. He missed Joey desperately, and blamed his insomnia and trembling on his nicotine withdrawal. As promised, Chandler helped Monica convert the guest room into a nursery by painting the room and assembling the baby furniture--a crib, a changing table, shelves. Monica was more adept with the tools than Chandler was, but he did his best to assist, and she took it as an encouraging sign that he wanted to focus on their baby and their future together.

In actuality, Chandler was thinking of the past. He was remembering the time that Joey had built an entertainment center and sliced Chandler's door in half with a power saw. If only Joey were here now. If only they could preserve the guest room the way it was when Joey slept here with him. But that was not to be, and Chandler resigned himself to his lonely fate.

At least Joey called him daily, with his voice always full of concern. Chandler would cling to his voice and stare at a photo of Joey that he kept hidden in his desk at work. He wished that he had a more recent picture of Joey with a beard, and he even asked Joey when he was going to go back to auditions, and would he shave his beard or take new head shots?

Joey replied, "I don't know. Are you okay, Chandler? Really okay?"

Okay? How okay could he be, with the love of his life thousands of miles away? "I love you," he whispered.

A pause. "I know."

There was a silence, then Chandler changed the subject. "So, um, did you meet any nice girls today?"

"You sure you want to hear about that?"

"Yes. Did you find Kate yet? You could hire a detective maybe."

Joey said he wasn't in a hurry and needed to save money.

So they talked daily, trying to maintain a balance between their friendship and Chandler's occasional need to repeat that he loved Joey.

At home, when he was in bed with Monica, Chandler would always think of Joey and try to remember his voice and his touch so that he could pretend. Of course, he had to be careful, and catch himself from saying Joey's name. He'd had many years of practice, though.

Sometimes he wondered about Monica and Richard. If she still loved that big tree, shouldn't Chandler let her go like Joey said? But every time he brought up Richard's name, she just thought he was being jealous and would insist that she loved Chandler.

Chandler speculated that she was afraid that Richard wouldn't take her back now, that he hadn't truly meant what he said about wanting babies, and that he wouldn't accept another man's kid as his own. Maybe she was just too afraid, and their marriage was too safe and comfortable.

Then, suddenly, something quite unexpected happened. Joey called Chandler one day and announced, "I'm coming back to New York."

"You're what?" He was stunned and breathless.

Joey repeated, "I'm coming home. I'm just, I'm so worried about you and Monica. I can't take it anymore. I need to see for myself whether she loves you or not."

"She doesn't," he said matter-of-factly.

"Chandler! Stop arguing with me. Maybe you're seeing things that aren't there."

"And if I am? Then what?"

"I don't know," he sighed. "I'll figure it out when I get there. I just have to make sure that I don't run into Ross or Rachel, you know?"

"Yeah, I know. I can tell them to stay away."

"Thank you. Oh, and I'm gonna need a new apartment, so if you could help me out..."

"Sure. Monica knows some contacts. But if you're getting an apartment, does that mean you'll be here a while?"

"Yeah," Joey said. "I'm--I'm coming back to stay, actually. I mean, all my family's in New York, and after being out here in L.A., I don't like it that much. And I should make it up to all those showbiz people I pissed off."

"Sure." He was happy that Joey was coming home, for whatever reasons.

"Anyway, I don't want to wait until you find me an apartment. I'm gonna catch a flight this afternoon, and I'll stay with my sister Cookie for now."

"Okay. When do you get here? Should I pick you up from the airport?"

"No, Cookie will get me, and then we'll probably go say hi to my parents and sisters and everybody. I'll call you guys when I can come over to your place. Is it okay if we meet for coffee or something, after dinner?"

"Sure. I'll tell Phoebe to come over too."

"Okay. I'll see you tonight."

After Chandler hung up, he was giddy and amazed and happy. He kissed his picture of Joey and thought about how soon it would be that he could see Joey again, in the flesh. To see him, to be near him.

Taking a breath to calm himself before calling Monica, Chandler realized vindictively that for once he could tell his wife, without any argument, that Ross and Rachel couldn't come over. Finally! Let them stay at home with their baby for once.

So Joey arrived in New York that very same day. After he finished visiting all his relatives, Joey called ahead to make sure that Ross and Rachel wouldn't be at Monica's apartment.

Chandler assured him, "They're staying home. They understand."

"Okay, I'll be there soon."

Monica made some special desserts, knowing that Joey would probably still be hungry even after dinner with his parents, and Chandler pulled the drapes on the window again so that Ross and Rachel's apartment wouldn't be visible. He also searched the apartment to make sure that none of Emma's baby things had been left behind from any previous visit.

Phoebe arrived with her guitar and tried to come up with a welcome home song.

When Joey arrived, they all greeted him with hugs and kisses. The girls were taken aback by his beard, and Chandler only smiled, happily surprised again.

"Ooh, you look so rugged!" Phoebe flirted with him.

Joey laughed. "Hey, don't you have a boyfriend?"

"Yes, but I'm still a woman." She growled sexily.

Chandler didn't mind this flirtation. He'd never hated Phoebe like he had come to hate Rachel. Phoebe was so unlike Chandler, for one thing, and Joey and Phoebe had flirted for years, so Chandler had time to get used to the idea that maybe one day they'd end up together. He wanted Joey to be happy.

Monica smiled and welcomed Joey inside, presenting her special desserts.

"Oooh!" Joey took the whole tray for himself and sat down on the couch.

They all smiled indulgently and joined him in the living room.

As he ate, Phoebe played her newly finished welcome home song. "Joey, Joey, our sweet Joey. He went away for a while, But now he's back. And we all love him, Especially his new beard."

Everybody laughed and Phoebe put down her guitar. "So you're really back for good, huh?"

"Yeah. I'm sorry for ditching you guys before."

"It's okay. You needed to work out some issues."

Monica added, "It's so good to see you. Now our baby's going to have his Uncle Joey after all." She patted her tummy, which was just starting to show.

"Yeah," Joey said, and started to feel guilty and worried about the baby. Would it really be raised in an empty, loveless marriage? He glanced at Chandler and noticed that he was just sitting there, silently basking in Joey's presence.

Phoebe asked, "So are you gonna get a new apartment around here, Joey?"

Joey shook his head. "No, um, it would be too awkward, seeing Ross and Rachel all the time." The girls nodded understandingly and patted his arm. "I'm gonna take Chandler's advice and move a little further away."

"Oh, where?"

"Well, I was wondering, Mon, if you knew whether Richard was still selling his old apartment. Something like that was what I had in mind."

"Oh, I think he might have, Joey. I'll have to ask my dad. I know that Richard definitely did move to a bigger place."

"Yeah, well, let me know about that. Maybe that real estate agent could help me find someplace else nearby. In the mean time, I guess I gotta see Estelle about getting some work. I had lots of savings from Days of Our Lives, you know, but L.A. was a really expensive place to live. I couldn't find any decent apartments the whole time I looked."

So for now, Joey focused on just getting settled in New York again, and decided to deal with his anxieties about Monica and Chandler's marriage later.