Stay Gold

seven

chapter twenty nine ~ the one with a shaggy dog
Heather's POV

Celebrating Thanksgiving this year was different, because this year I had so much more to be thankful for. This time last year I was engaged but I had no idea what the year would bring and now I was happier than I had ever been before. I had married the love of my life and we were secretly blessed with a little baby which I hoped was growing healthier every day. Our first appointment was booked but we still had a few weeks before we needed to attend and Joey was very excited about being able to see the baby for the first time. We had so many questions for the doctor because this was our first baby, and even though Phoebe had been through pregnancy, we still didn't really know anything.  Monica was once again cooking up a monstrous meal for us to devour but she had run out of oven space and took Chandler over to Ross's apartment so that they could use his kitchen for some of the food. We were given instructions to not touch anything because it would all be ready to eat when they returned, until then the food wasn't ready to be eaten. Ross was not to be disturbed as he sat in the armchair and tried out the new game that my brother had brought home from work, originally you were given six minutes to name all of the US states but Ross hadn't finished and the new bet was that he could name them all before dinner otherwise he wouldn't be able to eat it. Rachel and Joey were in the kitchen, probably disobeying what Monica had told us and Phoebe had disappeared into her bedroom as she was still staying with Monica and Chandler whilst her apartment was being re-done. I had been trying to offer help to Ross but he wasn't overly grateful for my help, which meant that now I was just annoying him because it was funny to annoy him.

"Hey, you guys, I'm going to go out and take a walk." Phoebe said as she left her room with a large bag under her arm, I had never seen her use this particular bag before and had no idea why it was slightly moving.

Ross noticed as well as he pointed to it. "Phoebe, why is your bag moving?"

"Oh, it's not."

Rachel looked up from the kitchen table and looked worried, because everyone could see the bag moving. "Seriously, it's moving."

"What the hell's in there?" Joey gaped, standing behind Rachel as if she would block whatever was about to jump out of the bag. "It's just my knitting, that's all." Phoebe pats the bag but then we gasp as a shaggy dog pokes his head out of the top of the bag. She sees that we have all seen the dog and pats his head gently. "Yes, I knit this. I'm very good."

We somehow convince Phoebe to let us play with the dog, even though my brother hated dogs and wouldn't be happy with one in the apartment, we didn't care. And we were just happy that he wasn't around to stop our fun, so we were enjoying spending time with the dog. The only person who didn't seem interested was Ross and that was because he was focused on finishing the list of US states before Chandler returned to their apartment. Joey had disobeyed Monica about the food situation and was happily feeding a ball of stuffing to her. I sat next to my husband on the couch, stroking the dog's shaggy fur and just enjoying the comfort of having a dog around. We had never had pets growing up, which upset me and I knew that at some point I would want a dog to be part of our family. It was part of my dream about the future, living in the country with a nice house and a nice garden, watching my kids run around the garden with a scruffy dog. That was the future that I was desperate for and that was why I was working so hard now, so that I could achieve that dream one day and hopefully achieve it, with Joey by my side. The phone ringing, interrupted my dream as Phoebe moved to answer it. "Geller-Bing residence, how can I help?"