I’ll be there
for you – Epilogue
By Lucy Henson, teacherchez@hotmail.com
Disclaimer: I don’t own
any of these characters, they all belong to Bright, Kauffman and Crane, and I
make no profit from this. I also do not own the song "I’ll be there for
you”.
This is dedicated to my
grandad, who died on 14th February 2000. We all love and miss you.
"It’s a girl!" cried Susan, running into the waiting room. Ross got up and raced into the delivery room to congratulate Carol, but the others stayed in the waiting room, congratulating a happy new mother on the birth of her daughter.
In the eight years since Jenna Bing was born, a lot had happened. Two more weddings in the gang, five more births, and each of them (except one) had been just as exciting as that first wedding and birth, long ago now.
* * *
The second wedding had been, obviously, Ross and Rachel’s. They had married on Monica and Chandler’s first anniversary – a cute little idea of Phoebe’s. Why not all share the same wedding anniversary? However, Rachel had insisted on a big, fancy wedding. So they had the white flowing dress, the big church, the three-tiered cake, all of the $10,000 wedding that Rachel had dreamt of since she was young. Rachel Green became Rachel Gellar in style.
The wedding had been perfect; no one made any mistakes, one-year-old Jenna didn’t cry, Ben the ring bearer didn’t fall over once, and the happiness was rounded off by Monica’s announcement at the end. She and Chandler were having a baby.
Eight-and-a-half months later, Monica was taking Jenna out for a walk before going to Central Perk to meet Phoebe and Rachel. As she pushed Jenna in her stroller, she felt a sharp pain in her large middle, but ignored it. If it was labour, she probably had ages to go yet – when she had Jenna, she’d been in labour for almost 24 hours, hadn’t she? She sat down on a bench to give Jenna a cookie.
Ten minutes and two inquisitive strangers later, it became obvious that she didn’t have any time to waste. The contractions were coming almost every thirty seconds, and she just knew her water was going to break any moment. As she spotted Rachel across the street, she called out, the pain masking her voice. Rachel turned to see Monica screaming on a bench, Jenna next to her.
Fifteen minutes later, Monica was in an ambulance with Rachel (Phoebe had Jenna), pushing as hard as she could. By the time they reached the hospital, she was almost a mother again. Chandler ran in just in time for the birth of his daughter, Janie Amelia Bing.
* * *
Carol, Susan and Ross proudly showed off their first daughter as a “parenting team”. Her name was Rosie Josephine Willick – Ross had never got there on the surname front. But neither had Susan, to his supreme satisfaction. It had taken eight years of fertility treatment for Rosie to arrive, and in those eight years, Carol and Susan had become much closer to the gang. So much so, that they gave Joey his way with Rosie’s middle name. And Rosie was the nearest name Carol could find to sound like Ross.
Showing off her daughter, Carol was like any other new mom. So was Susan. And Ross was like any new dad, partly because he knew Rachel wouldn’t mind. Rosie wasn’t his first daughter, but she was his first daughter with Carol, and a child he had waited a long time for.
* * *
The third wedding had been Joey’s. He had married a girl whom he met on a blind date. A heavily pregnant Rachel had accepted an invitation to some opera with her boss’s English niece, but had had to postpone it when she went into labour. Instead of letting Emily Waltham down, she had convinced Joey to take her out, and they had become great friends. They then became lovers all in one night, and grew tired of Emily flying back from London every week, so decided to marry. After six weeks, they married in New York (not London, as the Waltham family wanted) so that a heavily pregnant Phoebe could be there. Phoebe had been pregnant with her brother’s surrogate triplets, Frank Jr. Jr., Lesley and Chandler (who ended up being a girl). They were born three weeks later.
In a strange coincidence, Ross had named his newborn daughter Emily Julia Gellar, but they settled for calling the baby Julia when it seemed obvious that Emily was a permanent addition to the gang. Four-year-old Jenna and two-year-old Janie were fascinated with their cousin, and told their mother that they wished they had a baby around. That was all it took for Monica to get broody, and Thomas Grenville Bing arrived after nearly a year.
That made Emily and Joey broody, and their daughter Olivia came just over a year after Thomas. “Like stepping stones,” Chandler had joked. Joey had become worried.
“No one’s going to tread on my baby!” he had panicked, until Emily told him that Chandler didn’t mean it literally.
* * *
Phoebe was holding Rosie now, a sleeping Rosie. Carol was also asleep, and Phoebe and Rachel were in the nursery. “Doesn’t seem long since we were last in here, does it?” Rachel asked, stroking Rosie’s hand.
“Two years, Rachel,” Phoebe remarked. “With me.”
* * *
Phoebe had been six months pregnant, pregnant with a fatherless child. Scientist David had been killed in an explosion in his lab, and Phoebe was left to raise his unborn son – whom she had named Davie. He had been conceived during the only ever trip from Minsk to the USA – in 2000, unfortunately after an argument with Joey. She was babysitting for Julia, now two, and had been reading to her until naptime. When the little girl fell asleep, Phoebe began to talk to her bump.
“Hello, little foetus!” she told him. “Well, I guess you’re not a foetus any more, I don’t get science, not like your daddy, Davie. Ooh, big kick, well done. Hey!” She stopped as the baby gave a very hard kick, and she sat down. “Something doesn’t feel right. I feel kinda floopy, baby, don’t do that again, huh?” The baby responded with another kick, and Phoebe felt a sudden gushing feeling between her legs. “That’s not supposed to happen.”
Thirty minutes later she was in the hospital with Joey, Emily, Rachel and Monica. Ross had stayed with the sleeping Julia, and Chandler was looking after his children and Olivia. Lying in a hospital bed, she was told the worst. Her waters had broken; baby Davie had a fifty-fifty chance. He was going to have to be delivered by C-section.
After another thirty minutes, she was alone, holding a tiny, barely breathing Davie in her arms. They had taken him out of his incubator to say goodbye to his mom. She kissed the tiny body for one last time, and felt him shudder and take a last breath. She clutched the body, shaking with sobs, feeling as though she had lost the love of her life twice. Everyone else had found love; everyone else was a parent – except her.
And as the rest of the gang had filtered through into Phoebe’s room, and had seen her tear-stained face, they knew what had happened. They didn’t need to be told. By this time, Chandler and Ross had arrived, leaving the five children with Judy and Jack Gellar. Joey led the gang into the room.
“Look, Phoebe, we’re so sorry,” he whispered, stroking her hair back from her face. She was still cradling the dead baby, but she buried her face in Joey’s shoulder and sobbed. Emily came over as well.
“Pheebs, t-there’s something I want to say to you,” she began. “See, Chandler said he made this promise to Monica when he found out she was having Jenna.” Phoebe looked up. “He told her that he would always be there for her. And, see, I might not have known you for the longest, and I might not be your best friend, but I think you’re a great person, and I just want to say that we will always be there for you, Phoebe. You might not have David, or your son, but you will have us. We promise that.”
“We will always be there for you,” Monica agreed. And, one by one, they all repeated the oath, even Phoebe.
I’ll be
there for you
So no one told
you life was gonna be this way
Your job’s a
joke, you’re broke,
Your love life’s
D.O.A
It’s like you’re
always stuck in second gear,
And when it
hasn’t been your day, your week, your month
Or even your
year…
I’ll be there for
you
When the rain
starts to pour
I’ll be there for
you
Like I’ve been
there before
I’ll be there for
you
Cos you’re there
for me too…