―

―

Marty smiled at Scott as she entered his apartment, seeing him sat on the couch, his laptop on the coffee table in front of him.

Looking up, the man smiled at his girlfriend, "Hey."

"Hi," Marty greeted him, taking a seat next to him, "How's it going."

"Good, I think," Scott nodded, "Only a few more chapters and a lot of tweaking and then I'll send it off to some publishers."

"And then will you let me read it?" The redhead wondered.

Scott shrugged with a small smirk, closing the laptop lid, "Maybe." He said, before tackling the girl into a hug, making her squeal.

―

"No way!" Chandler scoffed in disbelief.

Monica nodded with a grin, "I'm telling you, she went to the airport, and she's gonna go for it with Ross!"

"That's so great." Marty smiled.

Phoebe let out a breath, "Oh my god. This is huge. This is bigger than huge. This is like, all right, what's bigger than huge?"

"Um, this?" Joey asked.

"Yes." Phoebe nodded.

"Guys," Monica said, looking at Joey, Chandler and Marty, "You got your hair cut." She realised, gesturing to the boy's shorter hair and Marty's new bangs.

Chandler nodded, "Yes, yes, we did, thanks to Vidal Buffay."

"'Cause, you know, if you don't look good, we don't look good'," Phoebe imitated in a low voice, before grinning and high fiving Marty, "I love that voice."

The door to the apartment then burst open, an out of breath Rachel barging in, scrambling for breath, "Airport, airport. Ross, not alone, Julie, arm around her. Cramp, cramp." The brunette panted out, clutching at her side.

"Okay, I think she's trying to tell us something," Chandler called, "Quick, get the verbs."

Rachel glared at Chandler, hitting him, "You, you, you said he liked me," She growled, as Ross and a woman entered the apartment, making Rachel's tone change into a faux, bright, happy one, "You, you slowpokes!"

"That's all right, Rach, we got the bags," Ross nodded sarcastically, saying hello to his friends, "Hi, hello. Julie, this is my sister Monica. This is Chandler. Phoebe. Joey, what up?"

"What up?!" Joey smiled widely.

"Everyone, this is Julie." Ross introduced.

"Julie." Rachel huffed out, as Marty handed her a bottle of wine.

"Ohh," The rest of the gang realised, turning to Julie with an awkward smile, "Hi!"

Julie smiled sweetly at them all, "Hi, but I'm not here, you haven't met me. I'll make a much better first impression tomorrow when I don't have 20 hours of cab and plane on me."

"And bus." Ross added with a sigh.

"Oh my god." Julie nodded.

"The screaming guy?"

" And the spitting?"

Ross turned to his friends, "You gotta hear this story."

"We're on this bus, that's easily 200 years old." Julie starts.

"200 at least." Ross agreed.

"And this guy-"

"And the chicken pooped in her lap!" Rachel cut Julie off with a huff, before covering her mouth with her hand, wincing fakely, "Oh, I'm so sorry. I just gave away the ending, didn't I? Oh! It's just, I just heard this story in the cab, and it is all I can think about."

Monica looked at Julie, scrambling for something to say, "This is amazing. I mean, how, how did this happen?"

"Well, Ross and I were in grad school together." Julie told them.

"But we haven't seen each other since then," Ross continued with a dopey smile, "Well I land in China, guess who's in charge of the dig."

"Julie!" Rachel squeaked, taking a large gulp of wine, Marty immediately filling the glass back up for her, "Julie, isn't that great? I mean, isn't that just kick-you-in-the-crotch, spit-on-your-neck fantastic?"

Monica paused, lending Julie an awkward smile, "It's an expression."

"Well, we just wanted to say a quick hi, and then we're gonna go see the baby." Ross said.

Julie nodded, "And then we've gotta get some sleep."

"Yeah, it's really 6:00 tomorrow night our time." Ross told them with a laugh.

"Well, listen, don't tell us what's gonna happen though, 'cause I like to be surprised." Chandler joked as the new couple walked out of the door.

"Bye." Rachel called after the pair, slamming the door behind them, before turning back to her friends with a pained expression, falling into Marty's arms with a groan.

―

Scott and Marty sat at Monica and Rachel's dining table, eating the breakfast hat they had brought with them, Joey trying to figure out when he first went to a tailor and Monica still trying to convince Phoebe to cut her hair, like she did with Chandler, Joey and Marty.

"You know, I think I was sixteen." Joey said to Chandler.

"Please, just a little bit off the back." Monica begged Phoebe.

"I'm still on 'no'." Phoebe told her.

"Give it up, Mon." Marty told her gently, as she threw her and Scott's trash away, moving to stand behind the couch.

Rachel then gained their attention by poking her head in from her bedroom, "Uh, morning. Do you guys think you could close your eyes for just a sec?"

"No-no-no-no-no," Joey shook his head, clutching onto his pants, "I'm not fallin' for that again."

"What's goin' on?" Phoebe asked.

"Well, I sorta did a stupid thing last night." Rachel confessed.

Chandler raised an eyebrow, "What stupid thing did you do?"

Before Rachel could answer, her bedroom door opened further, revealing Paulo, "Bon giorno tutti!"

"Ewww!" Phoebe cried, getting up and walking away, as Scott stood up, immediately pulling Marty into her arms.

"Okay, Paulo, why don't you just go get dressed, and then you be on your way, ok, bye-bye." Rachel grimaced, pushing the foreign man back into her bedroom.

"You really did do something stupid." Scott nodded, Marty lightly smacking his chest, though a ghost of a smile still played on her lips.

"Rachel, how did this happen?" Monica asked her.

"I don't know, I just kinda ran into him last night." Rachel shrugged.

Phoebe cocked her head to the side, "Where?"

"At his apartment," She mumbled, kneeling down to sit at the coffee table, "Is this juice?"

"Whoa, whoa," Joey said, "And the fact that you dumped him because he hit on Phoebe?"

"Oh God, I know I'm a pathetic loser." Rachel groaned into her hands.

"Oh, honey." Marty pouted, kneeling by her side, rubbing her arm in comfort.

"Honey, you're not pathetic," Monica shook her head, "You're sad."

"People do stupid things when they're upset." Chandler nodded.

"My god, if I had a nickel for every guy I wish I hadn't-" Monica laughed, only to stop herself at the looks she was getting from her friends, "But this is about your horrible mistake."

Ross and Julie entered the apartment, everyone greeting him.

"Hi. Sorry we're late but we were—well, there was touching." Ross smirked, sharing a look with Julie. 

Paulo then came out of Rachel's bedroom, this time dressed, "Hey, hey Ross!"

Scott eyed Paulo, moving back to Marty's side, knowing how uncomfortable he made her feel.

"Hey, Paulo," Ross said slowly, confused by the man's presence, "What are you doing here?"

"I do Raquel." Paulo grinned.

Tugging on her boyfriend's shirt, Marty looked up at Scott and whispered, "Can we go?"

"You feeling uncomfortable?" Scott asked, tucking the girl's ginger locks behind one of her ears.

"Okay, you're gonna have to not touch my ass." Phoebe growled at Paulo, walking away from him.

Marty looked between them and Scott, nodding quickly, "Very."

"Yeah, let's go." Scott nodded, taking her hand, saying goodbye to everyone as they grabbed their coats, rushing past Paulo.

―

Scott and Marty poked their heads through the front door of Monica and Rachel's.

"Is he gone?" The girl asked.

"He's gone." Joey nodded, making the couple fully enter the apartment.

"How is she?" Marty asked, referring to Monica's disaster haircut, curtesy of Phoebe, "When she called I thought it was a fox on the other side of the phone."

"It's too soon to tell," Phoebe said solemnly "She's resting, which is a good sign."

"How's the hair?" Ross asked.

"I'm not gonna lie to you, Ross, it doesn't look good. I put a clip on one side, which seems to have stopped the curling." Phoebe frowned.

"Can we see her?" Joey asked.

"Your hair looks too good, I think it would upset her," Phoebe told them, "Ross, why don't you come on in."

"Yeah." Ross stood up, freezing when he realised what she meant.

"Bro, there is such a thing as too much gel," Scott nodded, "You look like you swam here." He said, making Marty stifle her laughter in Joey's arm.