Ross was floating on air, and the urgency of Rachel's words had yet to hit him. "That's nice," he sighed. As Rachel's words sunk in he became more alert. "What did you say?" he asked.
"I think the baby's coming." Rachel said again seriously.
"We have to get to the hospital!" Ross cried, grabbing Rachel's hand.
Their abrupt movements caught Dr. Green's eye, and just before Ross and Rachel reached the exit door Dr. Green stopped them. "Where do you think you two are going? You can't leave in the middle of the reception," he told them.
"Rachel's having contractions," Ross explained.
Breathing a sigh of relief, Dr. Green said, "Thank God, you two were married just in time." Impatiently, Rachel agreed with her father trying to get around him. Dr. Green failed to see the hurry. "Why? It's your first child," Dr. Green reasoned, "It'll be hours before it arrives."
"You're not helping!" Rachel yelled at her father. All the eyes in the room turned on her. The rest of the gang and Ross & Rachel's family came up to them concerned with Rachel's sudden outburst.
"Rachel dear, you're creating a scene." Rachel's mom said. "Why are you yelling?" Rachel impatiently explained that the baby was coming and her father wouldn't let her leave. "The baby's coming now?" Rachel's mother asked astonished. "We need to get you to the hospital."
"Believe me, I'm trying." Rachel said frustrated.
Loving being the bearer of bad news (misery loves company after all), Chandler told everyone the latest news. "I don't think you're going to be able to. I just saw on the news that after the parade the gay people decided to start a rally, and we're in the middle of it. The whole place is surrounded."
"What were you doing watching the news in the middle of the reception?!" Ross asked upset.
"Let's face it Ross, your reception is lame," Phoebe said bluntly. "Now if you would have gone along with my fiesta idea…"
"Now is not the time Phoebe!" Rachel yelled cutting Phoebe off.
"She gets cranky when she's in labor," Phoebe said rather surprised at Rachel's outburst.
Trying to keep the eye on the prize and get everyone back in order, Monica steered everyone back on track. "How are we gonna get out of here?" she asked seriously.
"What do they want?" Rachel asked Chandler.
Chandler tried to recall what he had heard on the news. "Something about representation in the media." As he said it, they all turned and looked at Joey.
"Wha…Wait a minute! No! No way!" Joey exclaimed panicked and knowing what everyone was expecting of him.
"Why not? They already think you're gay," Chandler reasoned.
"But…" Joey trailed off and looked at Rachel who looked back at him pleadingly. "Yeah, I'll do it." He left the room sulking and came back moments later. "Ok, I did it. They should be cleared out in an hour or so."
"An hour! I can't wait an hour!" Rachel cried in a panic.
"Dear, the guests can still hear you," Rachel's mother said hushed.
Whispering to Phoebe, "You were right, she does get crabby," Mrs. Gellar added.
Joey and Phoebe sat alone in the waiting room of the hospital, waiting to hear the news of their friends. Joey remained pouting over the events earlier that day. Phoebe couldn't stand to see her friend so upset. "Now you're all depressed again," Phoebe said sympathetically."
"I can't help it, nothing's going the way it should. First I lose my first love, and normally I'd fix that by going out and sleeping with tons of women, but if there was anyone left in the world that believed I was straight after the parade, they don't anymore."
"Well, I know you're not gay. And it was a really sweet thing what you did for Rachel," Phoebe said comfortingly.
"Thanks," said Joey. They sat there few a few minutes in awkward silence. "That kiss earlier…was it just because I was down?" Joey asked breaking the ice.
"Yeah, of course, I mean you're my friend. I wouldn't want to complicate that or anything."
"Oh," Joey said somewhat disappointed.
"Did you want it to mean something?" Phoebe asked.
"No...it's just, it was really good." Joey told her and Phoebe agreed that she was thinking the same thing. "So you know…we could just kiss," Joey said hopefully.
"Yeah, we could do that," Phoebe said hesitantly.
Again, they sat in awkward silence for a few minutes. Joey then decided to bring up that Chandler & Monica and Ross & Rachel's relationship didn't seem to complicate their friendship. "Are you saying you want something more?" Phoebe asked Joey.
"No!" Joey said abruptly. "Unless you do," he added. Phoebe looked at him uncertainly. "I'm just saying, you know, since no girl will ever date me again since apparently I'm gay..."
"So you want me as sort of a backup," Phoebe concluded.
"Yeah..." Joey trailed off, unsure on how Phoebe would react.
Phoebe thought about it for a minute. "Oh why not? I already am. I can date you until you find someone better," Phoebe said nonchalantly.
Joey and Phoebe sealed their new relationship with a hug (of course that's not how Joey wanted to seal it) and went to go check on Rachel.
Everyone waited to Rachel in her room as she was clearly in pain. "Is it time to start pushing yet?" Rachel asked complaining.
"I'm afraid it's still going to be a while. It's just Braxton Hicks contractions. You can get dressed and go home," the doctor told her.
"You kidding me? Braxton Hicks contractions again?!" Rachel cried upset. "But it hurt so much!"
"I knew you wouldn't be able to handle it," Phoebe said snidely. Rachel stared at her aghast. How could Phoebe make such an assumption? "If you think that was painful, just wait till the real thing," Phoebe explained.
"Phoebe, you're…" Rachel started and then let out a loud scream of pain. "Right," Rachel added breathlessly.
The doctor looked at Rachel again. "It looks like I was wrong. Congratulations Rachel, you're water broke. It shouldn't be long now."
"You were wrong?!" Rachel snapped. "What kind of quack doctor are you?!"
Seeing the doctor was upset by Rachel's remark, Ross interjected, "Honey, seeing that our baby's life is in this man's hands, it's probably not a good idea to make him mad."
Now that Rachel was on her way to giving birth, the doctor cleared the room of everyone but Ross as they all wished Rachel luck.
After Rachel gave birth, the gang came into see her holding her baby girl.
Rachel gazed down at her beautiful baby. "We still need a name for this little darling," she told Ross.
"Umm...about that...what do you think about Jill?" Ross asked hopefully.
Rachel made a face. "Ugh, Jill? Why would we name this little angel after my sister?"
"Because I sorta promised her," Ross said hoping Rachel wouldn't be too upset.
"You what?!" Rachel said in a hushed tone as not to startle the infant, but to let Ross know that she was clearly upset.
"Did you cross your heart?" Phoebe asked trying to find a loophole.
Ross rolled his eyes. "Yes."
"Well then you have to name the baby Jill, or Ross'll die!" Phoebe said panicked.
"I had to trade the baby's name to get your grandmother's ring," Ross tried to explain to Rachel.
"Oh, it's like Rumpelstilskin, except he didn't trade the baby!" Phoebe said brightly.
" So it's like Rumpelstilskin, only not," added Chandler sarcastically.
"Yeah!" Phoebe agreed, not catching Chandler's drift.
"Well, I don't think Jill wants you to guess her name since she wants the baby to have her name," Chandler said stuck on the Rumpelstilskin debate.
"There is no way that I'm going to name my baby Jill," Rachel said firmly.
"I guess we'll just have to give the ring back," Ross said, figuring it was the only way out of the deal.
"No! I love this ring!" Rachel said clutching her hand over her ring finger.
"Well then, I guess her name is Jill," Ross said reasonably.
"No! I love this baby!" Rachel said looking at her newborn child.
Frustrated, Ross asked, "Well then what are we gonna do?"
Being the voice of reason, Monica gave her input. "Why don't you just name the baby Jill and call her something else? Like by her middle name or something?"
Ross thought about the concept. "That could work," he agreed, "Rachel?" he asked.
"Yeah..." Rachel gave in. "I can't believe I'm letting my little sister win," she added upset. But they were still missing a name. "So what should her middle name be?" she asked.
"How about Julia?" Ross asked. He always liked that name. He remembered that was the name he hoped Ben would have if he had been born a girl.
"Sounds too much like Julie," Rachel said remembering the first girl she had to fight for Ross' attention.
"Emma?" Ross asked.
"Do you not remember Emily?!" Rachel said upset.
"Karen?" Ross tried.
"Carol, ex-wife number one!" Rachel couldn't believe how Ross could only manage to pull up names similar to his past relationships.
"Or ex-wife number three, and current wife's middle name," Ross reasoned.
"Oh yeah, Karen..." Rachel thought. "Karen could be good. Jill Karen Geller. It does sort of have a ring to it."
"So we've finally come up with a name?" Ross asked hopefully.
"Yeah..." Rachel agreed. Speaking to her baby she whispered, "Welcome to the world Karen."
Ross & Rachel's families came in to visit the new baby. "Everyone, I'd like you to meet our little girl, Karen," Rachel said proudly.
"Karen? Ross you promised you would name her after me! I want my ring back!" Jill said upset.
Rachel gave Jill a stern look. "We did name her after you. Her full name is Jill Karen Gellar."
"I just said I would name the baby Jill. I never said that's what we would call her," Ross said tauntingly.
Jill pouted, "Daddy!"
Dr. Green reluctantly sided with Ross. "I'm afraid if that's all he promised, he's right."
Taken aback by his new father-in-law, Ross thanked Dr. Green calling him dad.
"It's still Dr. Green to you!" Dr. Green said sternly. He wasn't about to let his son-in-law think that he had gone soft.
"Hey! Hey! The baby doesn't need to come into a world a yelling," Phoebe mediated.
"Why don't we all just be glad that Karen is finally here?" Rachel said bringing the attention back to the baby.
"Yeah," everyone agreed sighing and cooing at the new arrival.
A/N: And that's the end of the "series." I did sort of continue it with another story/series. I went back to the name Emma (as to not confuse people). And I think I may have made some other slight storyline changes. But it was meant to follow this story. Let me know if I should post it anyway (if you don't mind an unfinished project, and who knows, maybe one day I'll be motivated to continue).