Hello again! I just love writing, does it show? I hope it does, because I love it! And I actually love this story! And this is the first story that I have done, that's actually being planned out. Awesome, huh? But I'm not sure how many chapters I want it to be yet. Anyways, enjoy please!

They had talked Chandler into going to the waiting room and resting, but it had taken a lot of convincing. Callie had gone into the ICU to check on Joey. There had still been no progress in the weeks that followed.

Callie had secretly began losing hope that she would ever see his beautiful smile again. She sat in the chair beside the bed, then took his hand in hers. It had been raining all day today so the weather fit the situation perfectly. She brought his hand to her lips and kissed it softly. She had made a habit to always do that when she visited him. But as always, his hand was cold. "Come on, Joe. Fight for us. Come back to us. Chandler's a wreck, as am I. The others are trying to stay calm for us though." She sighed softly. She laid her head on edge of the bed.

She felt a gentle squeeze which liked to have scared her to death. "Joey?" She asked, standing up quickly. She pushed the button for the doctor, then waited until he came in followed by the nurse. "He just squeezed my hand!" She quickly told them.

The doctor walked over and shined a bright light into both of his eyes, then nodded to the nurse. "Excuse us for a moment, and go and talk to your friends. Tell them the good news." The doctor told her.

Callie nodded, then walked out of the room. She found them in the waiting room. "Hey, guys." She greeted them. "Good news, I think Joey is finally waking up." She announced proudly.

Everybody looked excited about this new information. "Did he seem okay to you?" Chandler asked nervously. He wasn't ready to get his hopes up just yet.

Callie shrug. "I don't know, the doctor told me to leave the room before he actually woke up, I had just felt him squeeze my hand which liked to have given me a heart attack."

Chandler started to say something else, when the doctor came out of the room and walked towards them. He looked really tired and exhausted. He paused beside them. "He is just starting to wake up, so we don't want to overwhelm him with so many faces at once." The doctor informed them. "We are not really ready to move him out of ICU yet, because he's not completely out of the woods, things could still go wrong. So in the time being, we would like you guys to see him only two at a time. Okay? I wish I could give you a better guarantee than this though." He walked away.

Rachel thought a moment. "Two at a time.. alright. I think Chandler and Callie should go in first. They seemed the most worried out of all of us."

Callie nodded in gratitude, then glanced towards Chandler. "Alrighty, come on then." She said, leading him towards the room.

Joey had his eyes opened a slit, glancing around in confusion. Where was he? The room appeared to be a sort of white color. And why was he hurting so much? He closed his eyes back, then quickly flicked them open again when he heard the door open. He gave a small smile when he saw Callie and Chandler, which quickly faded when he remembered that he was in a strange room. Then everything quickly flashed back into his mind. Central Perk.. Charlie.. he remembered seeing Chandler laying in the floor not moving.

Callie walked to one side of the bed, while Chandler went to the other. "You scared us!" Callie said. "We thought we were going to lose you."

Joey just smiled at that, fighting to stay conscious. "You guys worry too much," he murmured. "I'm not going anywhere anytime soon." He chuckled.

Callie laughed at that. "So how are you feeling?"

He was silent for a moment before answering. "I'm in pain. Everything hurts," he answered. He glanced at Chandler, who had just been standing there in silence. "You alright?"

Chandler shook his head. "No, I'm not. We almost lost you, Joe." He took a shaky breath, but fell silent again.

Joey just sighed, then drifted back to sleep, loosing the battle to stay conscious.

Callie took his hand in hers. "You just rest," she whispered, then brought it up to her lips and kissed it, then she reached over and kissed the top of his forehead. "Come on, Chandler. Let's just let him rest now."

Rachel was sitting in one of the uncomfortable chairs, waiting. She kept glancing at her watch. Ross and Phoebe was sitting on either side of her, while Monica was up pacing.

It wasn't long before Callie and Chandler had come back. "He seemed to be in good spirits," Callie told them happily. "But then he fell asleep, I'm guess from the pain medication they probably put him on because he told us that everything hurt."

Monica hurried over and wrapped her arms around Chandler's neck. "Are you alright?" She asked concerned.

Chandler sighed softly. "I will be," he said, then slowly pulled away from her. "Guys, I will be back. I need to go for a walk." Without waiting for anyone to say something, he walked off.

Monica watched him leave, then sighed softly. "He does know that he can talk to us about whatever is bothering him, doesn't he?" She walked over to sit down beside her brother.

Chandler didn't go for a walk like he said he was going to do, instead he just walked outside to smoke a cigarette. Smoking normally helped to calm his nerves. He leaned his head against the building and closed his eyes.

He heard footsteps approach him, but just thought that it was one of the others, so he didn't bother opening his eyes. He felt two hands wrap around his neck, which made him snap open his eyes. He dropped his cigarette, and tried to fight his attacker off. The hands around his throat had tightened their grip, making him cough. The world around him was starting to get darker, until he lost consciousness.

Charlie walked around the corner of the building, smiling. "You did great there!" He said to his new friend.

Ross glanced at his watch. Chandler had been gone for a while now. He glanced towards the girls who were all sleeping in the uncomfortable chairs. He sighed when his cell phone started ringing, so he quickly answered. "Hello.. what?!.. are you sure?.. No, Chandler's not here right now.. he went for a walk like an hour ago and hasn't made it back yet.."

Rachel opened her eyes when she heard Ross talking on the phone. Then sat up when he hung up. "What was that about?" She asked, softly.

Ross glanced at her in worry. "That was one of the detectives. It seems that Charlie broke out of prison, and he wasn't alone."

She tilted her head to the side. "What?! Who else was there?"

He took a deep breath before answering. "Eddie Menuek."

Dun, dun, dun! Who expected this? Anybody? Anyone? Well, I believe I had mentioned not being ready to end this story yet, so you had to expect something like this, right? What will happen next? Enjoying this so far? Hopefully, anyways. :) Anyways, follow, favorite, comment, or all three. Toodles!

Tall, Out!