third person pov
whilst monica takes rachel to the hospital, gianna, chandler, joey and ross are lounging in central perk. chandler had split the newspaper so joey could read the funnies whilst gianna read the news over chandler's shoulder. she was curled up in a ball, cup of coffee hugged to her chest as chandler leaned back into her slightly, holding the paper out in order for her to see. beside them in the arm chair, ross stared into space.
"i had a dream last night where i was playing football with my kid." ross mutters, looking up from the floor.
"that's nice." the others chorus, not taking their eyes off of what they were doing.
"no, no, with him." ross repeats, proceeding to mime holding the baby like a football as soon as the other three looked up. "i'm on this field, and they, they hike me the baby..." ross begins and gianna looks at him with a furrow in her brow "...and i, i know i've gotta do something cause the tampa bay defence is comin' right at me." he continues and joey shakes his head.
"tampa bay's got a terrible team." he replies and ross shakes his head.
"right, but it is just me and the baby, so i'm thinkin they can take us. and so, i uh, hah-hah, i just heave it down field." ross adds and gianna's eyes widen.
"what are you crazy?" she stammers, looking over at chandler.
"that's a baby!"
"he should take the sack?" joey continues and ross shakes his head again.
"anyway, suddenly i'm down field, and i realise that i'm the one who's supposed to catch him, right? only i know there is no way i'm gonna get there in time, so i am running, and running, and that, that is when i woke up. see i, i am so not ready to be a father." ross groans, looking over at the three.
"hey, you're gonna be fine." chandler tries and ross shakes his head.
"ross, you're one of the most caring, most responsible men in north america. you're gonna made a great dad." gianna smiles and ross smiles weakly back.
"yeah, ross. you and the baby just need better blocking." joey adds and ross nods his head, feeling a little bit better. "oh, have any of you guys ever been to the rainbow room? is it real expensive?" joey continues and chandler shrugs.
"well, only if you order stuff." he jokes and gianna looks at her brother confused.
"i'm taking ursula tonight. it's her birthday." joey smiles and ross comes back with a cup of coffee.
"wo-wo-whoa. what about phoebe's birthday?" ross asks and joey shakes his head.
"when's that?"
"tonight." gianna replies, looking at her brother in disbelief.
"oh, man. what're the odds of that happening?" joey scoffs, contemplating his ill fortune. the other three share a look before turning back to joey.
"you take your time." ross mumbles, waiting for joey to have a moment of realisation.
"there it is!" chandler exclaims as joey smiles in realisation. "so what're you gonna do?"
"what can i do? look, i don't want to do anything to screw it up with ursula." joey explains and gianna looks at her brother.
"and your friend phoebe?" she asks, hoping to get through to him.
"well, if she's my friend, hopefully she'll understand. i mean, wouldn't you guys?" joey replies and gianna scoffs, sitting back on the couch.
"man, if you tried something like that on my birthday, you'd be starin at the business end of a hissy fit." chandler adds, sitting back next to gianna. joey just sits and digests his friends opinions whilst gianna wraps her arms around chandler's arm, her head resting on the top of his shoulder before looking down at the newspaper again.
*
"...so, he said it was just a sprain, and that was it." rachel explains. monica, gianna and rachel were helping set up for phoebe's birthday party as all her friends were gathered around. chandler stood at the kitchen table watching the three girls.
"uh, you left out the stupid part." monica replies, gesturing with the wooden spoon she was holding.
"not stupid. the very cute, cute, cute doctors asked us out for tomorrow night, and i said 'yes.'" rachel continues and gianna shakes her head with laughter.
"i think it's totally insane, i mean, they work for the hospital. it's like returning to the scene of the crime. you know, i say we blow off the dates." monica suggests and gianna shakes her head.
"oh c'mon monica, have some fun." gianna laughs, carrying a bowl to the kitchen table.
"what? monica, they are cute, they are doctors, cute doctors, doctors who are cute!" rachel explains, spelling it out on the air for monica.
"alright, what have we learned so far?" chandler jokes as gianna places the bowl down. there is a knock at the door and suddenly the music is off. everyone runs and hides except for monica and rachel. gianna crouches down beside chandler behind the kitchen table. she feels herself begin to teeter on her feet and grabs onto chandler's thigh for support. he glances down at her hand before his eyes scan up to her. she smiles softly up at him as monica and rachel open the door.
"SURPRISE!" the entire party yells, standing from their hiding spots to see ross frightened, throwing his arms up in defence and phoebe's cake flying to the floor.
"what the hell are you doing?" ross snaps. "you scared the crap outta me."
"was that the cake?" rachel asks, as ross picks it up from the floor.
"yeah, yeah." he nods, opening the box. "i got a lemon schmush."
"come on, she'll be here any minute." monica urges, ushing everyone to the coffee table.
"i hope it's okay." rachel mutters.
"oh..."
"happy birthday peehee." chandler reads, glancing at the smashed cake.
"well maybe we can make a, a, 'b' out of one of those roses." gianna suggests, pointing to the icing.
"yeah, we'll just use our special cake tools." ross replies sarcastically and gianna screws her face up at him.
"hey, what's going on?" no one had noticed but phoebe had walked in the door and was glancing down at the cake in front of them.
"oh, we just..."
"surprise!" everyone exclaims, noticing phoebe standing with them.
"oh, oh, oh!" phoebe stammers, her eyes widening with excitement. "this is so great! oh my god! this was not scary at all!" she continues, hugging gianna. "hi everyone! hi betty! betty, hi! you found betty! oh my god!" phoebe smiles, waving at betty. "this is great. everybody i love in the same room, where's joey?" a silence falls upon the room as phoebe glances around, her face beginning to fall. gianna looks sadly up at chandler as they all think of something to say.
"did you see betty?" chandler asks, pointing to betty across the room. phoebe smiles in thanks but can only feel as though her twin ruined her birthday.
*
a while later, gianna sat curled up at rachel's bedroom window, watching the air outside. she sniffled before sighing deeply as the door clicks open.
"hey gianna." phoebe smiles, closing the door behind her. gianna looks over her shoulder and smiles at phoebe. "are you alright?"
"y-yeah-" gianna mutters, looking back to the window. "just a little overwhelmed." phoebe nods whilst she sits on the end of rachel's bed. faint melodies could be heard through the door, the sound of laughter following along. "you should go out there, it's your party." gianna smiles and phoebe laughs slightly. "is everything alright pheebs?" phoebe looks up slightly and smiles weakly.
"i love the party. i just wish joey was here." she replies and gianna's shoulders drop.
"i'm sorry about joey." gianna mutters, looking up to see phoebe. "you have every right to be upset."
"it's okay. it's not your fault." phoebe smiles weakly before a silence falls between the two. "do you want to come and get some cake?"
"yeah that sounds great. just give me a minute." gianna responds and phoebe nods, clicking the door shut behind her. a silence falls over the room again before gianna pulls herself together. as soon as the door closes behind her, a pair of arms is wrapped around her.
"are you alright?" gianna smiles softly as she pulls away slightly, seeing chandler looking down at her.
"yeah." slowly, she reaches up and brushes the hair from his forehead as he reaches across and pushes a strand of hair behind her ear. the moment was theirs, silence surrounded them as they just looked at each other, soft smiles covering her lips.
"hey gianna-" ross' voice startled the pair and they jolt away from each other slightly. chandler and gianna dart their eyes away from each other, heat rising up their necks. their hearts were pounding, soft smiles covering their lips. "cake?"
*
a couple of days later, everyone bar joey is in rachel and monica's apartment for breakfast. rachel is speaking quickly on the phone to her father after monica had sabotaged her during their double date with the cute doctors. ross, chandler and gianna are seated around the coffee table playing scrabble together whilst monica sits beside them eating her breakfast.
"daddy...daddy...daddy...why, whyyyy would i sleep with billy dreskin? his father tried to put you out of business!" rachel pleads, looking over at monica menacingly as she continues to speak with her father. monica smiles a sweet apology at her until she is distracted by marcel climbing over the furniture.
"ross, he'd got the remote again." she groans, watching marcel climb onto gianna's shoulders with the remote.
"good. maybe he can switch it back." ross replies, his eyes still on the scrabble board. there is a pause as marcel presses a button, changing the channel to spanish bugs bunny.
"maybe not." gianna mumbles, taking the remote from marcel as he clambers away.
"hello?" rachel speaks into the phone again, switching the line from her father before a horrified look covers her face. "um, yeah, uh-" she snaps her fingers at gianna who turns the television off, raising her eyebrow at rachel's gestures. "okay, ah, hold on a second, lemme lemme just check and see if she's here." as if forgetting her previous anger at monica, rachel holds the phone at an arms length and limps to where she was. "It's the woman from the hospital admissions office. she says there's a problem with the form. oh god, oh god..."
"oh god, whaddawe do?" monica panics, setting her breakfast down.
"i don't know, whaddawe do!" rachel agrees, continuing to hold the phone away from her.
"i don't know! why don't you just explain? what do they want? find out what they want!" monica questions as they others watch the girls panic.
"okay..." rachel mutters before handing the phone back to monica. "no, you do it." monica rolls her eyes quickly before taking the phone.
"hello, this is monica...yeah? oh..." monica sighs before smiling at rachel. "okay, yes, we'll be right, we'll be right down. thank you." she hangs up the phone and turns back to her friend.
"what?"
"we forgot to sign one of the admissions forms." monica nods and rachel sighs.
"ohhh." she smiles in relief. "okay, you were right. you were right! this was just not worth it!" rachel finally agrees with monica, receiving a grunt of triumph from her.
"hey." behind the rest of the group, joey had entered the apartment quietly, a glum look on his face as he takes a sat beside gianna.
"hey!" chandler and ross reply before noticing the look on his face.
"trouble?" phoebe asks, her tone scathing.
"your sister stood me up the other night." joey mutters, letting gianna wrap an arm over his shoulders sympathetically.
"oh, no. don't you hate it when people aren't there for you?" phoebe taunts, ripping the bread apart in her fingers aggressively.
"well, did you try calling her?" ross asks, hoping to ease the tension between phoebe and joey.
"i've been trying for two days. when i called the restaurant, they said she was too busy to talk. i can't believe she's blowin me off." joey groans, his head falling to gianna's shoulder. phoebe watches the pair interact. she wanted to be angry with joey, but as she watches his shake his head in pain and disbelief, she knows that is isn't his fault.
*
whilst monica and rachel are heading to the hospital, phoebe had left to see her sister and joey for central perk, ross, chandler and gianna remain in the apartment, continuing their game of scrabble.
"okay, worst case scenario. say you never feel like a father." chandler says, sitting forward slightly. gianna straightens her back whilst keeping her chin propped up with her hand on the coffee table, trying not to doze off.
"uh-huh." ross mutters, glancing up from the scrabble board.
"say your son never feels connected to you, as one. say all of his relationships are affected by this."
"do you have a point?" ross interrupts, hoping chandler was going somewhere with his conversation.
"you know, you think i would." he replies teasingly before turning to look at marcel across the room who instead of scampering was stretching his neck as much as possible, making an unvoiced noise from his throat. "what's up with the simian?"
"it'll just be a furball." gianna advises, turning her attention back to the scrabble board.
"okay...who's turn is it?" chandler asks watching ross count on his paper.
"gianna's, i just got 43 points for 'kidney'." ross replies, not looking down at the board.
"no, no, you got zero points for 'idney'." he argues, gesturing towards the tiles. gianna furrows her brows in confusion as she searches for the missing letter.
"i had a 'k'. where's my 'k'?" ross questions before they all turn their attention to a unvoiced hissing across the room. gianna sits up quickly, realising marcel had swallowed the letter tile.
*
"you've get to help me, my monkey swallowed a 'k'!" ross shouts as the three of them race into the emergency room. gianna quickly reached for chandler's hand as they darted through a group of people. chandler felt his heart burn as he looked down to see gianna swallowed in her brother's jacket she'd stolen, hair falling in front of her eyes.
"you go get that animal outta here." the nurse replies angrily, pointing at the small marcel swaddled in a fluffy blanket.
"no, no you don't understand the animal hospital is way across town, he's choking! i don't know what else to do." ross pleads, glancing down gently at marcel.
"what's going on?" from behind chandler, ross and gianna, rachel and monica appear having finished filling out the honest hospital forms.
"marcel swallowed a scrabble tile." chandler replies as they all turn around before turning back.
"oh." rachel stammers, her eyes wandering to see gianna and chandler's hands intertwined tightly, a soft smile rising to her lips. however chandler, gianna and ross turn quickly back after realising it was monica and rachel behind them.
"excuse me! this hospital is for people!" the nurse argues and gianna feels herself get increasingly frustrated. she thinks of what she can do, her eyes watching marcel in ross' arms.
"lady, he is people. he has a name, okay? he watches jeopardy! he touches himself when nobody's watching. please, please have a heart!" ross protests, his voice strained.
"give me a room and i'll take a look at him." she offers quickly, startling the others in the group.
"i'll get you a room." the group turns to see dr mitchell, one of the doctors who went on a date with rachel and monica. gianna smiles politely as monica and rachel stand in disbelief.
"oh thank you."
"micheal."
"rachel."
"what?"
"monica."
"oh."
"hi." after a confusing exchange of words between rachel, monica and dr mitchell, he shows gianna to a free room and she gently takes marcel from ross before closing the door behind her and getting to work.
*
gianna gently strokes marcel's forehead as she sits beside him in the hospital bed. opposite her, dr mitchell looks down at the scrabble tiles.
"that was incredible." he mutters, glancing up at her. "i've never seen someone work so quick in an operation. let alone on a monkey." he continues and gianna smiles softly up at him, her fingers gently patting marcel's face.
"thanks. uh, could you send everyone in now?" she asks and dr mitchell nods, opening the door for ross, chandler, monica and rachel to enter.
"how is he?" ross stammers, looking at gianna as she stands from her chair.
"he's recovering from the anaesthetic but he'll be okay." she explains and ross nods, smiling appreciatively at her before taking her seat at the bedside. rachel and monica smile gently at gianna, watching as she turns her back to them. behind her, chandler gently places his arms over her shoulders, resting his chin on the top of her head.
"hey-" he mutters, his breathe weaving through her hair.
"hi." she replies quietly, watching ross take care of marcel.
"he looks so tiny." ross mutters, brushing his fingers over marcel's head gently. the door suddenly bursts open, allowing phoebe and joey to rush in.
"we just got the message." joey says, closing the door behind him.
"is he alright?" phoebe asks, taking position beside rachel and monica.
"yeah. gianna got the 'k' out. she also found an 'm' and an 'o'." ross smiles before turning his attention back to marcel.
"we think he was trying to spell out 'monkey'." chandler jokes, only to recieve a disapproving look from ross.
"well, gianna said he's gonna be fine, he's just sleeping now." ross continues, a soft smile on his lips as gianna places a gentle hand on his shoulder.
"so, you feel like a dad yet?" she asks, raising an eyebrow with a smile at him.
"no, why?"
"hey, come on, you cam through, you did what you had to do. that is very dad." chandler adds, smiling brightly down at ross. ross considers for a moment before noticing marcel begin to stir.
"oh, look, he's waking up!" monica coos, pointing down at marcel's tiny figure.
"hey, fella. how you doing?" ross asks gently, watching as he suddenly grabs ross' finger with his whole fist and squeezes it so tight that ross finally know what it is to be a father. he looks back over his shoulder at his friends who smile encouragingly down at him. gianna squeezes his shoulder gently as chandler keeps his arms wrapped around her in a tight hug, his chin resting softly on the top of her head.
*
I'M SO SORRY IT'S BEEN SO LONG!
i've started uni and everything is finally picking up with assignments and tests. hopefully will get a few more chapters in.
i've also been writing a few imagines for bucky barnes from the mcu - let me know if you would been interested in me releasing them in another book.
NOT EDITED
love, pipes <3