He needed to focus. He was not sure what on. He walked down the streets of New York. The fallen autumn leaves fluttered around his feet. Nature was never his thing. They weren't pretty to him. Nature was Hailey's thing. He just liked to hear them crackle as his boots crunched them.

He needed to focus. He turned into Central Park. He saw six figures. They ran. They smiled. With carelessness and ease. A football was thrown. A bike with pink tassels ridden. Monkey bars sat atop of. He hated memories. He could not let go of the past. He held it tight in his grasp. It fell limp in his hand. The past was simply a memory. He had left. Nothing had stayed the same. Six years since he left. Four years since he had boarded the plane. Nothing had stayed the same. Babies had being born. Apartments packed up. The lobster's stretched apart. Friendships had been torn while families strengthened.

He needed to focus. He walked down the hall. His mind attempted to turn the corridor into a tunnel. He wanted to create a new vision. He wanted to see only ahead. The future mattered now. Not the past. He tried to focus. He could only see a void at the end.

He reached his destination. He stretched his hand forward. Grasping at the doorknob, he hesitated. He had only just said goodbye. Was he ready to see her again? He did not make the decision. The door swung open, wrenched from his grasp. Startled, he jumped back. A noise of surprise was released from his mouth. And there she was, her blue eyes sparkling up at him.

"Joey! I didn't expect you for at least another hour." He heard Rachel speaking but it took him a moment to pry his eyes off his son and slide them over to her.

Offering a small half-smile he responded, "I got an early start." He noticed the warm coats and shoes Rachel, Emma and Cole were wearing. "Were you going somewhere?" He felt Cole's arms encircle his legs. Reflex made him reach down to stroke the boys white-blonde hair.

"Just to the grocery store. Come in."

Side-stepping his son he entered the apartment he had once called his own. It was almost unrecognizable. The walls were now a soft yellow. The cabinets replaced and light green in coloring. The foosball table was gone. He had been prepared for that, having seen in at Monica and Chandlers the previous night. A wooden dinner table was in its place. The cobra's chair was still there but it had been pushed to the side making room for the sofa that now stretched across the area in front of the television.

In the area where the yellow chair had once sat was a set up clearly devoted to Emma. There was a work desk littered with crayons, a stand for her to paint at, boxes of toys and a poster of Cinderella.

"Oh that's right, you haven't seen it since I redecorated. So what do you think?" she asked, eyes alight, skimming over his form.

"It's nice. Different."

"Not so much a boys apartment anymore," Rachel stated.

Rachel moved into the kitchen and busied herself with the coffee pot. Joey silently placed himself atop a stool and waited for her to speak.

"So how long until you go back home?" she asked, placing a mug in front of him.

"Fly out tomorrow morning," he said, eyes staring defiantly at the bench.

He could feel her watching him, her warm green eyes boring into his face. A small smile had been a constant on her lips since she had opened the door. She was too happy to see him. Nobody had looked at him like she was in over a year. For a year everyone he had come across had greeted him with a morbid air surrounding them, like they were afraid to be happy in his presence. Except for Cole. The boy always greeted him with happiness and love shinning in his eyes. But whenever Joey looked at Cole, he saw Hailey.

Finally he felt Rachel's gaze shift. He looked up and saw that she was watching the children play on the floor. Turning his head he just caught a glimpse of Emma placing the final block on the tower the two had created. The little girl turned to Cole and the two shared a proud grin. Cole then picked his little body up off the floor, padded across the room to Emma's play area and turned around. He looked over at his father and flashed an impish grin. Joey's eyes grew wide and Emma and Rachel's eyebrows wrinkled into identical confused creases. Before Joey could move Cole hurtled across the room and threw his body at the tower, as a joyous scream was released from his lips.

The tower crashed around Cole. He rolled onto his back giggling at his own antics. Joey could hear Emma laugh and see Rachel chuckling. He could also hear a deeper laugh and it took him a moment to realize that it was his own. The smile slid from his lips.

He felt Rachel's gaze on him once more and this time returned the look.

"He's a good kid Joe. A bit eccentric I think, but he's gorgeous for it."

"He gets that from his mother," Joey said softly.

"Really? I don't know, Hailey was hilarious but I couldn't see a little version of her knocking over a tower like that. You on the other hand, I could definitely see."

"You think?" Joey asked and smiled softly when she nodded.

Rachel's sparkling eyes shifted and became more serious. "I read Cole and Emma a story, just after Chandler dropped him off." He knew why she was mentioning this. Suddenly he couldn't look at her any longer and dropped his gaze to the bench once again. "He said that you don't read him stories, that only Auntie Alex and Auntie Gina do."

"And?" Joey asked, looking back up at Rachel, his eyes hard.

"And?" Rachel repeated incredulously. She lent forward and gripped the bench, watching for a brief moment as her knuckles turned white.

"Emma can you take Cole into your room please, show him your bowling set," Rachel asked her daughter softly. The children disappeared and Rachel turned back to Joey.

"What are you doing to him Joey? That kid lost his mother before he was old enough to remember her. Why are you making him lose his dad to?" Rachel kept her gaze intense but recoiled slightly when she saw the anger appear on his face.

"Why are you judging me? You have no right Rachel. You have no idea what its like to lose someone like I did. I don't read to Cole because me and Hailey use to together. It was our family thing. She would do the girl voices and I did the boy ones. I can't do that without her."

"Joey I don't care about what you and Hailey did. I care about that little boy who doesn't get read bedtime stories, who doesn't get attention from his father. You haven't said a word to him since you got here. When you first saw him you looked at him like it pained you to do it. You can't do that to him. He doesn't deserve it."

"Don't you think I know that?" Joey lent forward and dropped his head into his hands. His fingers gripped his forehead tightly, ingraining little red marks into it. He spoke into his hands. "Every time I look at him I see Hailey."

"He's not Hailey Joey. He's Cole. Hailey's gone. You're going to have to accept that otherwise you're going to lose your son."

"Why are you doing this to me today." He looked up at her once more, his eyes flashing with anger. "I decided to move on this morning. I decided that I have to focus on the future. I don't need you yelling at me right now."

"I'm not yelling at y-."

"Really? Cause your voice is pretty damn loud."

"I'm just trying to stop you hurting your son," she said, her voice soft, eyes downcast.

"Yeah well don't. It's none of your business. Besides it's not like you don't have enough problems of your own. Look at this place Rachel. You're the only one who didn't move on."

"Get out Joey." And he did. He walked into his old room, grabbed Cole and stormed out the door. A moment after the door slammed shut he heard something smash, but he didn't turn around, he just kept walking. If he had he would have found Rachel slumped on the floor, tears leaking from her eyes and her coffee cup smashed in the sink.