A/N: Thanks for the reviews, everyone!

The ride to upstate filling them with dread,

The Friends just managed to keep thoughts sane in their heads,

Rachel and Ross wished that Emma would nap,

While Phoebe talked with Joey, the phone in her lap

Chapter 2

"Ross, no!"

"But…"

"No!"

"Come on, it wouldn't be that bad…"

"Ross, no, I am not letting you put headphones on my three-year-old daughter!" Rachel insisted. She was in the passenger seat of the family's new minivan next to her boyfriend, and the two were on their way to Monica and Chandler's house. Normally, they rode the Metro-North Railroad up from Grand Central Station, but they couldn't since they needed to bring the presents.

Along with overnight bags. The entire group was staying over in Westchester as a fun way to celebrate the holiday together, rather than having to bother with driving up two days in a row. The house had four bedrooms – Monica and Chandler's, one each for Jack and Erica, and the Joey Room. Since the babies would share a room until they were older, there was an available guest bedroom. Joey had graciously moved to the living room couch to give his room to the Geller-Green trio, while Phoebe and Mike would take the guestroom.

Rachel couldn't wait, and she knew neither of the others could too. It had been so long since the six of them had really hung out together. They were sure to have a blast…especially after the kids went to bed and they broke out the alcohol.

But until then, Rachel was having a less enjoyable time on the car ride there. They had just gotten on the Cross Bronx Expressway, and traffic was at a standstill. Stupid snow, Rachel thought, watching as a heavy white storm swirled around them. If it wasn't snowing, we would've been there in a half hour. Instead, they had been stuck in the same spot for about that long.

They were feeling it too. Emma had just discovered Barney. And their minivan came with a DVD player for the backseat.

Ross turned to her and gave her a pleading look. "Rach, if I have to listen to a song about imagination one more time, I might just start imagining running Barney over with this car! And you know how much I love dinosaurs!"

"I know it's probably the most annoying thing on the face of this earth," Rachel attempted to console. "But her ears are so little! If we start now, who knows how much we'll damage her hearing…and that's before she turns thirteen and starts blasting her own music!"

Ross didn't say anything, but paused and let the music from the Barney disc be heard. Children sang out to a corny melody, "Please and thank you are the magic words!" He then smirked at her. "Need I say more?"

"Alright, yes, that is going to drive me crazy," Rachel admitted with an exasperated sigh. Ross was being such a child about this. Didn't he care about their child's well-being at all? "But I'm not putting headphones on our daughter. If you hate it so much, I dare you to turn it off."

At that, Ross hesitated. Emma had carried over the Terrible Two's, and was likely to cry if she didn't get her way. After several arguments, they had reluctantly agreed that she most likely got that gene from both her parents.

But Ross wasn't one to back down. "Fine," he grumbled. Since the car wasn't moving anyway, he reached over and turned off the DVD.

And Emma let out a loud wail:

"I Want Barney! I Want Barney!"

"Like that's so much better," Rachel remarked as she began to turn around and console her daughter. "Aw, Emma, baby it's okay, Mommy will turn it back on…"

Then. Sir Mix-A-Lot's "Baby Got Back" sounded from the radio. Emma quieted down and giggled as she clapped her hands. "Yay! Baby back!"

Rachel whirled around to glare at Ross. "Ross! I thought we agreed to not play that anymore! She's at that age where she repeats everything! Do we want another Daycare Incident?"

As "Baby Got Back" played, Rachel's mind flashed back to a couple of months ago. Emma had just started part-time daycare that year to make it easier on "Aunt" Phoebe, Emma's primary babysitter. There had been a class sing-a-long, and when the teacher asked what the students would like to sing…well…

"That was one time! And we told Emma not to repeat 'Baby Got Back' or any of the lyrics anymore," Ross reminded her, but his face had turn red from embarrassment as he had remembered it.

Rachel sighed. "Well, this song is going to end eventually. We need to be prepared." Then she bent down and rifled through the bag of DVD's she'd brought for the trip.

"Rach, can't we just tell her that Santa's not going to bring her presents if she cries? That's what my parents did and I turned out fine!"

"First of all, that's mean, and secondly, if we end up having to keep that promise and she doesn't get the…" Rachel trailed off at Emma. "D-o-l-l h-o-u-s-e, I'm going to cry! And I can throw a better tantrum than she can!" Rachel insisted.

They'd gotten Emma her first big Barbie doll house for Christmas, and she couldn't wait to give it to her. It was wrapped and stowed in the trunk underneath the pile of other presents. They'd told a disappointed Emma that the "big pretty box" was a present for Erica. What she didn't know was that they were planning on ripping off the decoy wrapping paper and putting it all together so it was the first thing Emma saw when she came downstairs.

Ross let out a groan of aggravation. "So what do you suggest?"

"This," Rachel insisted as she pulled a DVD out of the bag. It was Wee Sing's The Best Christmas Ever, the only DVD other than Barney that Emma would watch.

Ross groaned again, but gave a reluctant nod. "Fine."

As "Baby Got Back" ended, Rachel turned around and held up the DVD case for Emma to approve. "Hey, Em! Look what Mommy's got!"

"Yay! Poofer!" Emma exclaimed, referring to the main elf in the movie.

Rachel nodded as she slid the disc in the player. "Yeah, Poofer!" She fast-forwarded through the commercials and sat back down in her seat. With a smirk at Ross, she sang along with the movie, "We wish you a Merry Christmas…"

Phoebe rested on the couch with her feet up and the phone base in her and Mike's apartment, on the phone with Joey. The couple was running a little late because of Mike's gig playing Christmas music on the piano at a nearby hotel. He'd just rushed in and was in the shower, so she decided to take the extra time and see how her best friend's flight had gone. "Hey, Joey!" Phoebe greeted. "How was the trip?"

"Great! I hit on the stewardess, and she gave me two bags of peanuts!" Joey exclaimed.

Same old Joey, Phoebe thought with an amused shake of her head. "So where are you now? Are you at Monica and Chandler's yet?"

"Nah. The plane landed early, so I'm going through Manhattan. Hey…do we have to get presents for Emma, Erica and Jack?"

Phoebe rolled her eyes. "Of course we do!"

"Oh, uh…then, their presents got lost on the flight. Stupid airport!"

"Hey, that was a good lie!" Phoebe congratulated. "But you've still got some time. It's snowing really bad outside, Monica and Chandler would probably understand if you were a little late."

"Good. I'm going through Manhattan, you want anything from Central Perk? I'll stop on my way there and check to see if anything changed. Hey, maybe Gunther finally dyed his hair!"

Phoebe laughed. "Joey, Gunther does dye his hair."

"What do you mean? It is white, isn't it?"

"Yeah, sure," Phoebe sighed.

"So are you there yet? Tell everyone I said hi!"

"Joey, if I just asked you if you're there yet, obviously I'm not there."

"Oh, right. Well tell everyone I said hi anyway when you do get there. Hey…you don't think Emma will want a bag of…half a bag of peanuts, do you?"

"I don't think so," Phoebe said with a laugh. "Oh, Joey, you should see it. Ross and Rachel got her the cutest dollhouse. I checked, and it definitely doesn't have an aroma room. Cause, you know what happened last time."

"Yeah, definitely want to make sure of that. So are you in the car now?"

"We will be in a few minutes. Mike had a gig, so we're leaving a little late. He's feeling guilty about the late start since it'll take us really long to get there in the snow."

"That's the good thing about subways, no snow to worry about."

"How are you getting here from Manhattan?" Phoebe asked.

"Metro-North Railroad. I didn't even know there was one of those until Monica and Chandler moved! Do you think there's a Metro-South Railroad?"

Phoebe shrugged, though Joey couldn't see her. "Maybe. There is an Eastchester, so maybe there's a Metro-South too."

"Maybe. Hey, Pheebs, I gotta get the subway to Manhattan now. I'll see you soon! Merry Christmas!"

"It's 'Happy Christanukkah'," Phoebe corrected with a giggle. "We're celebrating both holidays now, remember?"

"I know, but I feel disloyal to Santa if I say that. Bye, Pheebs!"

"Bye, Joey!" Phoebe replied, then hung up the phone. She hoped that Joey got there soon so that everyone would be together again.

If she had to keep her good news secret for one more day, she didn't think she would be able to hold it in anymore.

A/N: Couldn't resist a little nod to a Christmas classic I used to watch all the time when I was a little kid. The Best Christmas Ever was a tape from the Wee Sing children's videos collection. They churned out a lot of catchy children's videos in the early '90s.