Chapter 4: Everyone

It was the next night, and Monica and Chandler were simply dying to tell their friends the good news. They had already called both sets of parents (who were thrilled about having another grandchild), and had decided to host a dinner that night in order to tell all of their friends. Monica had been cooking while Chandler was watching the babies. They had just put the babies down for a nap, and were talking about how they thought each of their friends would react.

"Well, I bet Phoebe's going to get real excited." Chandler said. "She'll probably start jumping up and down. She may even write a song about us."

"Oh, yeah, she did." Monica replied as she continued to cook. "And she said the song will probably be called, 'Surprise, I'm Pregnant.'"

"You already told her?" Chandler asked. "Seriously, why are we having this dinner again? To give Joey free food?"

"Chandler, she's the only one I told." Monica replied with a bit of an eye roll. "Anyway, I think Ross will get all emotional, and Rachel will probably cry a little."

"Sounds about right." Chandler said. "And it probably take Joey about 10 minutes to realize what we are talking about."

Monica laughed, when suddenly they heard a knock on the door.

"Oh gosh, Chandler, they're here!" Monica exclaimed. "How do I look? Do I look cool? Do I look collected? We've got to be on our A-game Chandler. We can't give it away before we tell them."

"Ok, Mon…" Chandler said slowly. "It's a pregnancy announcement, not a competition. You're fine."

"Are you sure it can't be a bit of a competition?" Monica muttered to herself as Chandler answered the door and let everyone in the house.

"Hi guys." Phoebe said as she gave Monica and Chandler a hug. "You know, I really have no idea why you're hosting this dinner." She said with wink. "But I have some songs prepared for…whatever might happen tonight.

As she walked off, Ross asked Mike, "Dude, don't you ever question the weird things your wife says?"

"I did at first," Mike said thoughtfully, "but I learned it's easier to just go along with it."

"Agreed." Chandler interjected.

They all continued to talk for a few minutes while Monica finished cooking dinner. Then she served the food, and they all sat down to eat.

"So, why'd you guys host this dinner?" Phoebe asked, clearly trying to get Monica and Chandler to spill the good news. Before they could answer, however, Joey interrupted.

"Um, hello! It's free food and beer. Do you need any other reason to host dinner?" Monica, glared at Phoebe for making things awkward. Meanwhile, Chandler noticed that Ross and Rachel seemed to not be listening, and were whispering back and forth to each other.

"What are you whispering like a bunch of grade-school girls for? Is it something you want to share with the class?" Chandler asked them. Ross gave Chandler a glare, but Rachel looked at Ross with a nod.

"Actually, there is something we wanted to say." she said slowly as she stood up. "I mean, we were going to wait until after dinner, but…"

"Yeah" Ross said as he stood up with her. "Um…I know it's a little soon, but I wanted to tell you guys: last night I asked Rachel to marry me."

"And I said yes!" she said with a squeal as she hugged Ross. "We're getting married!"

Monica and Chandler's jaws dropped. While everyone else offered congratulations to the happy couple, Monica and Chandler pulled away to talk about their game plan.

"I can't believe it!" Monica whispered in outrage. "Of all nights to announce their engagement, they had to pick tonight."

"Well, it's not like they could've known." Chandler said slowly. "And you did say that the night they announced their engagement, you would announce that you were pregnant. How that could actually happen, I'll never know."

As he said this, Phoebe walked over.

"Ok guys, we have a major problem." Phoebe said, clearly concerned. "My song won't work with these two getting engaged. Although, it is Ross and Rachel. Maybe there is a 'Surprise, I'm Pregnant' with those two. I should probably go check…"

"Phoebe, stay here!" Monica yelled as quietly as possible. "What are we going to do about tonight?"

"Well, we possibly can't tell them now, can we?" Chandler said. "I mean, this is their night. And remember what happened the last time someone stole someone else's thunder?"

"Nonsense, Chandler!" Monica exclaimed. "It was supposed to be our night. And besides, a pregnancy announcement is worth way more than an engagement announcement."

"According to what, the International Announcement Competition handbook?" Chandler asked sarcastically.

"Monica's right." Phoebe said "I mean, those two have been married before. And Ross has been married loads of times. It's more like he's announcing the daily news than a big surprise. I mean, the headline basically reads Ross Geller to Marry Again. Trust me, Bing Family Announces Surprise Pregnancy is a much better headline."

"Why are we talking about newspaper headlines?" Chandler interjected.

"She's right, though." Monica said forcefully. "We just have to find the right way to approach it. We don't want to be rude about it."

"Oh don't worry, I've got that covered" Phoebe answered. Before Monica and Chandler could stop her, she walked over to the rest of the group and yelled "Hey everyone, Monica and Chandler have something they want to say!" She then waved her hand at them, smiled, and sat down.

"Ok then." Chandler said slowly. "Well, hats off to Phoebe for that thrilling introduction. Uh, Monica?"

Monica gave Phoebe a dirty look before continuing for Chandler. "Well first off, I want to congratulate Ross and Rachel on their engagement." Monica said with a nervous smile as she looked at the two of them.

"Yeah, way to go Ross." Joey interjected. "Going for four marriages, huh? Trying to reach a high score?"

"No, Joey, this is my last marriage." Ross said in an irritated tone of voice.

"Anyway." Monica continued. "We're sorry about the bad timing on this, but we actually hosted dinner tonight because there is something we want to tell you."

"Yeah, you see…uh, uh." Chandler tried to say it, but he got nervous. "Uh, Monica?"

"Well, what we're trying to say is…oh, just look." she said as she pulled the pregnancy test out of her pocket. She had been carrying it around all day as a way of reminding herself that she wasn't dreaming, and thought it was the best way to tell the news. It had worked on everyone else so far.

The rest of the gang looked at it, and Joey exclaimed "Rachel's pregnant! Ross, you really should be able to control yourself by now!"

"What?!" Ross said, clearly taken aback. "No, no, Rachel's not pregnant…you're not pregnant are you?" he muttered at her as he looked at her.

"Of course I'm not pregnant!" she said, clearly shocked by the turn of the conversation.

"Joey." Chandler said, looking at him. "Monica's pregnant."

"Well don't look at me, I didn't do it!" Joey yelled. Monica sighed and Chandler put his face in his hands.

"We know that, Joey." Phoebe interjected. "Chandler's the father, I already checked."

Chandler gave her a shocked look, while the rest of the group started to realize what was happening.

"Wait…you guys are having a baby?" Rachel asked with tears in her eyes?

"Mmm hmm." Monica said as she started getting teary eyed too. The two girls ran over and started hugging each other.

"Dude." Ross said with a goofy smile on his face.

"Oh, I don't even care that you stole our thunder!" Rachel said with a smile. "I'm so happy for you guys."

"I know!" Monica exclaimed. "I swear, I wasn't actually planning on announcing it the same night you announced your engagement. Even though I did say I was going to do that a few years ago."

Meanwhile, the guys all started talking about the big announcement.

"Joey, why on earth did you think that I thought you got Monica pregnant?" Chandler asked him, clearly frustrated by Joey's earlier statement.

"Well, it was just the way you were staring at me when you said it." Joey replied hastily.

"Joey, it's called eye contact!" Chandler replied, clearly exasperated.

"Anyway." Ross said, trying to steer the conversation back on track. "Congratulations, man. We're so happy for you guys."

"Thanks." Chandler said with a big grin. "And sorry about stealing your big night."

"Oh, don't worry. I get married all the time, so it's not a big deal. I'm just setting a high score." He said as he glared at Joey.

"Well, don't look at me, I didn't say it." Joey exclaimed. "Or is this more of that eye-contact thing?"

"Uh, Joe?" Chandler interjected. "You did say it, remember?"

"Oh, that's right, I did say that." Joey said with a chuckle.

"Well, we're super excited for you." Mike told Chandler. "Oh and if Phoebe talks about stealing your baby for us, just ignore her. She does that sometimes."

Chandler looked at Mike with a confused face, but before he could say anything, Phoebe started playing her guitar and singing.

"Don't worry Mike, it's not you and me,

But someone is having a baby.

Who will be the new baby handler?

That's right, it's Monica and Chandler!"

As Phoebe continued into a chorus of "la la la" everyone starting laughing and continued talking amongst themselves. Monica and Chandler, meanwhile walked over to each other and started to hug.

"Hear that?" Chandler said. "We're baby handlers."

"Sounds a little freaky." Monica answered. "But don't worry, there's nobody else I'd rather be a baby handler with.

"Including Joey?" Chandler asked, making fun of Joey's insinuation earlier.

"Especially including Joey." Monica replied with a laugh. "Well, this night certainly didn't go the way we planned."

Chandler thought for a moment about his and Monica's relationship before replying with the obvious truth: "Does anything ever go the way we planned?"

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I really hope you have enjoyed reading my story. You can thank my sister for this last one (she told me it simply couldn't end at the previous chapter, which inspired me to write this chapter). Anyway, please comment letting me know what you think of the story. Thanks!