Chapter 1: I Saw Something
Rachel Green stepped out onto the sidewalk in front of Central Perk, taking a moment to breathe in the fresh air as she clutched her coffee in her hand. It was a sleepy Saturday morning at the height of summer, despite being one of the longest days of the year, with the sun already well and up.
The blonde fashion executive had gone down to the usual coffee shop haunt alone for once, but that was all right. It had been nice to be alone with her thoughts, which were still in a giddy haze weeks later.
Her dear friends, Chandler and Monica, were married. Married! And she, Rachel, was now pregnant with her first child. That last bit of good news had been difficult to wrap her head around, considering she had found out at her best girl friend's wedding reception. But Chandler and Monica were over the moon that they were going to have a little niece.
Rachel started to move down the sidewalk, lost in the happiness that was her life. The shock of being knocked up out of wedlock had worn off, and she and Ross were beginning to approach their impending new situation as mature adults. Chandler and Monica were in wedded bliss in their little love nest that was Apartment 20. Joey was still Joey, as stubborn a bachelor as ever, but he seemed almost child-like in his exuberance at how there would soon be a new baby in the house.
As for Phoebe…. well, Rachel assumed she was happy. Her masseuse friend had not been around as much lately, following Chandler and Monica's wedding and even the subsequent return from their honeymoon. Never mind – she was probably just busy at the massage parlor, with an influx of clients. People tended to splurge on luxuries, particularly during the summer months.
Rachel waited at the light, standing on the corner of Bedford and Grove. As she anticipated the WALK sign to turn on, she happened to look across Bedford Street, her gaze on a sweep, only for it to freeze as it landed on:
…. Was that Phoebe? At first blush, even from a distance, Rachel recognized the shape of the head anywhere, even in profile. Some passersby going along the sidewalk now cleared a path, giving Rachel a clearer line of vision. From this angle, it appeared as though Phoebe was enthusiastically kissing someone….
Rachel beamed, a happy-for-someone-else's-happiness kind of thrill going through her. Her best friends were married; she and Ross, while not together, were having a baby together, and now Phoebe seemed to have found someone new! It was nice to think that she had gotten over that David guy from some years back.
The bustle on the street cleared a little more across the way, so that Rachel now got a good glimpse of just who Phoebe was so passionately kissing. When she did, Rachel froze.
It struck and startled her to realize that she knew both of the people involved. One of them was her dear friend. While the other was…
That knowledge wasn't so axis-tilting, however, as this fact: Phoebe was passionately kissing another woman.
Rachel watched as the couple broke apart sensuously, lovingly. She was staring, open-mouthed, at her friend Phoebe, so stunned that she completely missed the little white man icon flashing to indicate WALK.
From all the way across the street, Phoebe happened to turn her head…. and her gaze landed on Rachel.
She saw Rachel. Rachel knew Phoebe saw her. And even more damning of all, Rachel knew that Phoebe knew that she, Rachel, had seen the kiss that just transpired.
The other woman involved, who Rachel also knew, was now turning her head, following her paramour's gaze in wondering what was going on. Rachel turned her face away, ducking and hustling across the corner of Bedford and Grove towards the apartment building, her expression still slack-jawed in disbelief.
She climbed the stairs up to the third floor, her mind spinning. Really, she shouldn't be so shocked. Not too long ago, just before the wedding, in fact, Phoebe had actually kissed her, and right on the mouth, following a disastrous three-way dinner involving them and Rachel's old sorority sister. Considering that kiss had come out of the blue, Rachel had taken it surprisingly well. Then again, that might have been shock. She hadn't even been too offended when Phoebe had adjudicated how "[she'd] had worse."
Revisiting that memory with fresh eyes, Rachel started as it dawned on her: had that comment implied that Phoebe had kissed women before? Perhaps even dated women? If so, why wouldn't Phoebe have said anything? Rachel felt as though she had just stumbled upon a huge invasion of Phoebe's privacy, and she didn't know what to do about it.
Unfortunately, the urge to gossip is not so easily tamed.
Monica Geller - …. Geller-Bing, the young bride corrected herself with a dizzy grin – glided into her kitchen, yawning around a wide smile. It had been a romantic morning of sleeping in and canoodling with her favorite person. The feel of…. of her husband's arms around her had made her feel so safe and secure that at some point, she had drifted off again.
Thank goodness for life's simple pleasures, like summertime Saturday mornings with no work. It almost bemused the brand-new wife to waltz into her own kitchen and find the space not only bustling, but used. A less deliriously happy Monica might have bristled at anyone else cooking in her primary domain, but at present, she was too much in love and all around satisfied with her life to care.
Chandler turned from the counter, his face lighting up upon seeing his wife and he wound his arms around her, ducking his head for a chaste peck on the lips good morning.
"Hmmm….. bonjour, mon amor," Monica hummed, lips upturning into a dazzling grin against his. She preemptively took pity on him by translating her amorous murmurs of love into English. "Good morning, my husband."
"Morning. Paris still on the brain, I see."
Monica let out a happy sigh and rounded the kitchen table. "I don't think I'll ever get over it…."
Joey lifted his face out of his plate of eggs, his smile soft and sentimental as he observed his friends, whose marriage he had blessed and consecrated. "Aww, you guys are so cute!"
"I know!" Monica twittered, her grin almost smug. Turning her head, she reached up to kiss Chandler tenderly.
The sound of the refrigerator door slamming made husband and wife both jump and jerk apart. Ross frowned at his sister and brother-in-law.
"Here's a thought: next time you enter a room – take a quick scan…"
Monica huffed and rolled her eyes. "Ross, Chandler and I have been kissing each other for the past three years. We're married. You're gonna have to get used to the idea of your sister and your best friend sooner or later."
"I am used to it!" Ross whined. "And no one is more thrilled than I am. I'd just… rather not think about it."
The newlyweds glanced at each other and snorted. "Prude," they echoed at the same time.
"Wow…." Joey gaped, amazed. "Do it again!"
"Do what?" Monica wrinkled her nose.
"Saying the same thing at the same time! Must be a spouse thing…." He pointed at Chandler. "Come on, buddy, let's try to think of the same thing and then say it!"
Chandler's lips twisted in bemusement. "Because marriage is now supposed to involve telepathy."
Joey tried anyway. After a beat, he suddenly yelled out, "BACON!"
"CAN'T DO IT!" Chandler yelled back.
Monica lifted a hand to her mouth to stifle a laugh, lest she accidentally suck a bit of egg down her windpipe. "If you and Joey were married, that would be quite a sight…"
Chandler made a face. "Ew, gross. At that point, the only thought I'd have is, 'How fast can I get a divorce lawyer?'" He turned pointedly in the direction of his brother-in-law, whose face collapsed into a resting-bitch scowl.
"Oh, sure! Play that card! Real good!"
"Whine all you want, man," Chandler stole an arm over his wife's shoulder, beaming at her. "At least I'm never gonna need one…." Monica beamed, giggling and the couple leaned in for another kiss.
"My husband, ladies and gentlemen…." She purred, pleased.
The door to Apartment 20 suddenly opened without warning, and Rachel came dashing through at a run. Slamming the door behind her, she looked almost panicked.
"Rache?" Monica rose and rounded the table, looking concerned. "Are you all right? What happened?"
Rachel dumbly shook her head. "I'm fine…." she mumbled, her voice sounding somewhere outside of herself.
Ross drifted into his ex-girlfriend, his eyes flying right to her stomach. Rachel wasn't showing yet, but no doubt the baby would make its presence known before long. "Is the baby OK….?"
"She's fine," Rachel clipped. At Monica's face alighting with pleased delight, Rachel faltered, catching herself. "We don't know the sex of the baby yet, Mon. It's just… when I picture it, I see a girl."
Ross's smile had an almost cute quality to it, indulging. "My money's on a boy. It's the Geller genes." He didn't notice his sister's sneer at this.
Rachel snorted. "Because you just can't wait to turn our son into a dino-lover…" Something about this last phrase now rattled around in her head, and she turned pale, her mind flashing back to what she had seen on the street.
Joey now joined the group. "Rachel, seriously: what's wrong? You look as though you've seen a ghost."
Lifting her head, glancing around at all their worried looks, Rachel finally couldn't keep it bottled up anymore and had out with it:
"Did you know that Phoebe likes to kiss girls?"
There was a long beat as everyone just blinked at her. Then, Joey, Chandler and Monica all burst out laughing.
"Awesome!" Joey chortled like the immature horn dog he was. His smile was a bemused one, as if Rachel had just told a really naughty joke and he was jolted that she, of all people, had done so. He turned away, shaking his head. "Phoebe kissing girls…. Oh, I'm writing that down…."
Perhaps it was his having some depth of experience that only Ross now seemed to take the outburst seriously, at face value. "What?!"
Rachel bit her lip. "I saw Phoebe kissing another woman out on the street…"
"Where?" Chandler asked, drifting in closer to stand next to his wife. Monica sent her husband a worried glance.
"Across from Central Perk. I was waiting at the crosswalk, and I spotted her across the way."
"Kissing a woman," Ross pressed. "Do you know who?"
"Ross!" Monica scolded. "I'm sure Rachel doesn't know that…"
"I do know the other woman, actually…" Rachel swallowed.
The others stared. "Well?!" Ross demanded, arms waving emphatically and impatiently.
Rachel glanced away. "I'd rather not say." She had said far too much already.
Chandler formed his arms into a 'T'. "Time out: Rache, are you sure the person you saw was Phoebe? Our Phoebe?"
"Of course, I'm sure!" Rachel snapped. "I'd know her anywhere!"
Chandler nodded. "And you say you can identify the woman she was with?"
Monica scoffed. "What is this, an episode of Law & Order?" She turned away in disgust.
"What?" Joey blinked. "Don't you want to know why Phoebe was kissing some chick?"
"Of course I do! But I know better than to interrogate her or anyone else about it!" Monica scolded, glaring around at them all, even her husband. "I know you must have been a little caught off-guard to see that, Rache, but who Phoebe kisses isn't any of our business!"
"Did Phoebe see you?" Chandler wanted to know. He was almost half-hoping, for all their sakes but especially their friend's, that the answer was No.
"Yes…." Rachel whispered.
Monica lowered herself into a chair, her mind spinning. "She must be so scared…." She murmured. She glanced up at Chandler, looking almost stricken. "If Phoebe saw Rachel, then she's probably going to be terrified to come to us…."
"Maybe she won't," Joey shrugged. "But even if she doesn't, Monica's right: we can't confront Pheebs about it."
Monica frowned. "There's a strong choice of words, Joe…."
Joey flushed, abashed. "You know what I meant!" He rounded on Ross. "How did you find out Carol was lesbian?"
Ross frowned in thought. "I didn't walk in on her and Susan, if that's what you're wondering…."
Chandler guffawed through his lips. "Carol had to sit him down and tell him! If she hadn't, poor guy would have likely never noticed!"
Ross started to glare at his sister's husband, and then stopped. "You know… he's right. I'm not sure if I ever would have noticed unless I bumped into Carol and Susan on the street. Back then, I just…. saw what I wanted to see. And what I didn't want to see…" he shrugged. "… I didn't. Willful blindness, I guess you could call it."
Monica was starting to wring her hands, appearing near tears. "I want Phoebe to come to us…" she whimpered. "She should know that she can come to us about anything!" She glanced back at Chandler. "Right?"
Chandler nodded, standing behind his wife's chair and rubbing her shoulders. "I want to believe that. I want Phoebe to believe it, too. But she might not be sure that she can come to us about this – especially not after knowing that Rachel knows…." He couldn't imagine, but Monica was right: Phoebe had to be so scared right now.
"Phoebe has always been tougher than any of us have given her credit for," Joey pointed out. "She grew up on the streets, for heaven's sake! Maybe it'll take some time, but I have to believe she'll come to us eventually – when she's ready."
"What Joe said," Ross nodded fervently. "Until then: act like we don't know."
"How is that going to help?" Chandler flapped his arms.
"I've perfected a really good poker face, Chandler! All actors have one. I'll teach you!" Joey promised.
"What about me?" Rachel mumbled. "I can't just pretend that I don't know – she saw me!"
"You're right," Ross nodded. "The best thing you can do, Rachel, is not to treat Phoebe any differently. That goes for all of us – no matter how much we pretend we don't know or not."
There were nods of agreement all around.