Set post-finale, Chandler and Monica have their house and the twins, Ross and Rachel are still living in across the street, Joey is still in Apartment 19, Phoebe and Mike are married

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was late, Chandler and Monica had finally gotten the twins to sleep and were about to retire themselves when the phone starting ringing – loud – Chandler bounced in typical Chandler fashion to the phone and answered it on the 2nd ring.

"Hello" Chandler said irritably.

"Hey Man!" Joey's overly cheerful voice came over the phone

"Joe, hi, look this ain't a great time, we've just put Jack and Erica to bed and if the phone has woken them up then I'm gonna drag your sorry ass down here to get them back to sleep!"

"Jeez relax man, I just wanted to ask if you, Mon and the kids could come to Central Perk for breakfast tomorrow – got some BIG news!"

Chandler felt bad, he didn't mean to snap but juggling twins, a wife and a job was starting to tire him out. "Sorry man, I'm just exhausted, hang on lemme check with Mon." Chandler covered the hand piece with his hand while he turned to his wife. "Mon, Joey wants us to meet him at Central Perk for breakfast tomorrow, apparently he has big news – wanna go?"

"Yeah sure, it'll be nice to go back to the coffee house, feels like forever…" She stopped when she saw her husband wearing his trademark deadpan look.

"Mon it's been THREE weeks!"

"So, " she said defending herself, "feels like 3 MONTHS!"

Chandler laughed and put the phone back to his ear. "That'll be great man!"

"So ok with the Misses?" Joey teased

"Do you WANT to see us tomorrow?"

"Ok, ok, I'll go, see ya tomorrow – say hi to Mon for me."

"Will do, see ya tomorrow man."

"Bye dude."

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chandler, Monica and the twins were sitting on the orange sofa in Central Perk when Ross and Rachel entered.

"Hey guys" Rachel said as her, Ross (with Emma in arms) made their way to the couch.

"Where's Joey and Pheebs?" Ross asks.

"Joey hasn't arrived and Pheebs called my phone saying she'll be a bit late." Monica replied.

"Actually Babe I'm gonna go and get Joey, he's probably overslept and it'll be nice to see my old apartment again." Chandler said standing up.

"Chan, it's only been THREE weeks." Monica sarcastically threw at Chandler. Chandler stopped and turned around.

"You've been waiting to use that back on me since last night haven't you?"

"Yep!" Monica grinned smugly. Chandler shook his head and walked out.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chandler whistled as he bolted up the stairs, he still had keys to the building and apartment 19, Joey had insisted that he kept them, which had touched Chandler. Unlike Monica's apartment only Joey and Chandler had keys to number 19, excluding Rachel when she lived there.

Chandler reached the right floor and the grin dropped from his face, he smelt smoke – he ran to the door and put his hands on it. Warm to touch – not hot, warm.

"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god – not good, very bad, oh shit!" Chandler managed to get his phone out his pocket and called Mon.

"Pick up, pick up, pick up…Oh Mon! Call 911, there's a fire in Joey's!"

"What? Chandler that isn't funny!"

"You think I'd JOKE about something like this!"

"Where's Joey?"

"I don't know, I gotta go in – just call 911 Mon." Then he hung up

Chandler went back to the door

"JOEY, JOEY, JO-EY!"

Nothing

Chandler got his keys out and unlocked the door, he then took a step back and kicked the door in – he was met by heat, intense heat. He shielded his face and looked inside the apartment. The fire was in the kitchen and it was almost blocking Chandler's only path to Joey's room, he didn't hesitate for a second. Chandler ran through the apartment straight to Joey's room, he pushed the door open – fearing what state his friend was going to be in on the other side.

He stepped in and found Joey lying on his bed – Chandler was praying that he was just asleep, he grabbed a bottle of water next to his bed and threw it over Joey's face. He started to come around, coughing due to all the smoke.

"Wha? Chandler? What's going on?"

"Joey there's a fire we gotta get out of here!"

Chandler grabbed Joey and dragged him out of his room. Chandler looked for his path back to safety but found that it was now engulfed in flames; Joey stood shaking next to him.

"What are we gonna do?" Joey said in a very scared voice.

Chandler didn't even hesitate – it was like he was on auto drive, he ran back into Joey's room and grabbed as many coats and blankets that he could carry and dragged Joey into the bathroom. He quickly turned on the shower and dumped all the coats and blankets into the shower; he got in himself, fully clothed and grabbed Joey with him.

Joey didn't even question Chandler, he trusted him with his life and now that was actually reality. He started to shake and cough; Chandler grabbed his arms and looked him straight in the eye.

"Don't panic! The more you panic the more air you need and we don't have any to waste ok Joey."

Joey started at him blankly.

"JOEY!"

"Yeah, yeah, don't panic," he started to stutter, "Ok, so.. so.. wha.. what do we do?"

"We walk out the front door."

"WHAT! Are you crazy!"

"Joey, that's why we are in the shower, ok, the water will help, we'll wrap ourselves in these wet coats and blankets and make a run for it."

Joey stayed silent. Chandler knew they didn't have time to waste, how long had they been in here? 2 minutes maybe, a long time in terms of a fire. Chandler wasted no more time, he picked up a blanket and wrapped it around Joey's shoulders, and then he hung a coat over his head. They stepped out of the shower; Chandler held his hands on Joey's shoulder: he was shaking.

"It'll be ok Joe, I promise."

As they exited the bathroom the smoke and heat hit them full force, they started coughing violently. Chandler pulled them both down to the ground and they started to crawl as close to the door as they could without touching the flames. The door was still open, Chandler started getting dizzy, his lungs were burning but he didn't give up. He couldn't, he had a beautiful wife and 2 wonderful kids waiting for him – he will NOT give up.

When they got as close as they could Chandler pulled them up and held onto Joey.

"Joey, I'm going to push you really hard, when I do just keep your head under the coat and run as fast as you can and don't stop Joey, keep going until you are outside ok buddy?"

"What about you?" Joey whispered through coughs.

"I'm gonna be right behind you." Chandler replied ignoring the dots in front of his eyes. "Ready….GO!"

Chandler pushed and Joey ran through the fire and door – Chandler stood there, not willing to move until he made sure Joey was safe. Once he couldn't see him anymore Chandler turned and raced back into the bathroom for the other blankets and coats. As he entered he fell to his knees, coughing – NO don't give up! Chandler said to himself. He pulled himself up and over to the shower and leant in to grab a blanket.

The dots bouncing in front of his eyes suddenly got worse, he felt dizzy and his throat burnt. He finally lost the battle and his body dropped, he hit his head on the side of the bath he landed on the bathroom floor – unconscious while the fire raged around him.