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Disclaimer: I don't own the characters from the TV show FRIENDS.

Susan and Carol had already gone home from the hospital and baby Ben was getting ready to go. Rachel was holding his baby carrier as Ross put him in. Two-day-old Ben Gellar was finally ready to leave.

Rachel: Okay, Ross, before we leave, remember, I have that doctor's appointment in fifteen minutes.

Ross: I know.

Rachel: I'm so excited! I can't wait to find out how far along I am and maybe we can find out the sex of the baby!

Ross: You want to know?

Rachel: Well . . . yeah . . . don't you?

Ross: No! I didn't want to know with Ben, cause I wanted it to be a surprise. Can't we do that with this baby?

Rachel: But, I really want to know so I can go buy stuff for her.

Ross: Her?

Rachel: Or him . . .

Ross smiled and they walked towards the elevator. Instead of going down, they pushed up and went to the floor above the maternity ward for Rachel's first OB visit.

Rachel: I'm so excited! I can't wait to see our baby!

Ross: I know . . . seems just like yesterday that I was seeing Ben's first sonogram. It was so amazing!

Ross and Rachel signed in and then took seats by the wall. Rachel put Ben's carrier down on the floor beside her chair and she peered down at him.

Rachel: He's amazing, isn't he?

Ross: Yeah . . . my boy is perfect . . .our boy.

Rachel: I don't want him confused between me and Carol . . .

Ross: He won't be . . . we'll make sure of that.

Rachel smiled at her boyfriends and leaned back in her chair.

Rachel: What do you want to have? A boy or a girl?

Ross: I don't care . . . just as long as it's healthy.

Rachel: Same here. But it'd be kind of nice to give Ben a baby sister.

Ross: I guess so . . . or a baby brother.

Rachel: I don't care what it is. But I've always wanted to have a girl first.

Ross nodded. The nurse came out and called Rachel back. So, Ross, Rachel, and Ben headed back with the nurse for the first appointment.

*~*

Phoebe stormed into Monica's apartment as Monica was putting Katie down in her baby swing.

Monica: Whoa! Phoebe, what's wrong?

Phoebe: Ugh! I lost a client today!

Monica: Oh! I'm sorry honey! Why?

Phoebe: He died! Stupid bus.

Monica: He got hit by a bus?

Phoebe: No. He took a bus to a restaurant where he got food poisoning.

Monica: Oh . . .okay . . .

Phoebe: Yeah . . . well, anyway, have you seen Joey?

Monica: He and Chandler went to play football with a few guys at the park.

Phoebe: Damn it!

Monica: What?

Phoebe: He was going to help me with the kids' room at my apartment. I'm taking the cribs out and putting in regular kids' beds.

Monica: Okay. Well, I'll help you.

Phoebe: Don't you have to work?

Monica: No. I called in sick because Katie was fussy this morning.

Phoebe: Okay. Well, I guess it wouldn't hurt. Let's go.

*~*

Rachel was lying on the exam table while Ross fed his newborn son a bottle. The doctor was performing the sonogram already.

Doctor: Well, you're three months along. You're due in September; I already got this from our initial exam. But the baby seems to be doing fine. Do you want to know the sex?

Ross and Rachel looked at each other.

Rachel: Yes.

Ross: No.

The doctor looked confused.

Rachel: Ross! Come on! Please? The next baby will be a surprise!

Ross: Next baby?

Rachel: Well, yeah! I've always wanted a big family.

Ross: Rachel, look, I really don't want to know.

Rachel: Then I'll find out.

Ross: No! Cause then you'll end up telling me!

Rachel: Oh come on!

Ross: Why don't we have the doctor write it on a piece of paper, put it in an envelope and then if we can think on it. If we decide to know, we'll open it up.

Rachel: But I've already decided!

Ross: But I haven't!

Rachel: Fine!

Ross: Doctor?

Doctor: That's fine with me. I keep paper and envelopes in here anyway. I always get these requests.

She pulled out a piece of paper, wrote the baby's sex on it, and then sealed it in an envelope. She handed it to Rachel. Ross took it from her.

Ross: I'll keep it, thank you.

Rachel glared at him.

Doctor: Don't worry. You and your baby are in perfect health. But the sex will be a surprise until you both decide to find out. I won't say a thing until you both want to know.

Rachel: Fine. Take HIS side!

*~*

Monica and Phoebe were sitting in the qunituplets' bedroom with five boxes stacked up against a wall. One box was open and Monica and Phoebe were putting the instructions out in front of them while little Katie slept in a bassinet in the corner of the room.

Monica: Okay, it says . . . attach . . . the hinge to the post and put the post on the frame. That doesn't seem so hard.

Phoebe: But what post . . . and what's the frame?

Monica: You have to put the frame together.

Phoebe: Oh . . . that doesn't seem so hard.

Monica: Out of these 5 posts.

Phoebe: What?

Monica: I don't know. What shape of a bed is this?

Phoebe: Normal. This is . . . weird.

Monica: Okay. How about we just do our thing with this and not look at directions.

Phoebe: Wow Monica! I didn't think you had it in you to not follow directions!

Monica: Ha ha. I think we can figure it out if we put our heads together.

Phoebe: Oh . . . all right. But we have to get these done quickly because Frank and Alice are coming over tonight to inspect the room. They want to make sure the kids will be okay in these beds. They're doing the same thing at their house . . .putting in the beds.

Monica: Oh come on. How hard can it be?

*~*

An hour later, Monica and Phoebe were standing in the room in front of five beds, side-by-side. Three of the beds looked okay, but two of them were lopsided and one was missing a post.

Monica: Not such a bad job . . .

Phoebe: No . . .but if you squint your eyes and tilt your head really far, it looks okay.

Monica: Should we call Joey?

Phoebe: Good idea.

Joey: Call me for what?

They turned around.

Phoebe: Joey! You were supposed to be here earlier to help me!

Joey: Sorry! I was . . .

Monica: Having sex?

Joey: Yeah . . . a little bit.

Phoebe sighed.

Phoebe: Get in here and fix this!

Phoebe and Monica left the room with baby Katie and headed out of the apartment, leaving Joey to fix the mess.

*~*

Rachel was sitting on the couch of the coffeehouse, holding Ben in her arms as he stared up at her sleepily. The envelope was sitting on the coffee table while Ross was up getting Rachel an herbal tea.

Rachel: Maybe just a little peek and daddy doesn't have to know . . .

Ben grunted and closed his eyes slowly.

Rachel: It wouldn't be . . . well, I really want to know!

Ross came back over and put Rachel's tea down on the coffee table.

Rachel: Thanks. I'm gonna go to the girl's room. I'll be right back.

Rachel handed baby Ben to Ross and got up from the couch. After she was gone, Ross grinned at his little boy and noticed the envelope lying on the table. He sighed and shook his head. But, he looked behind him and then back at the envelope. He looked at his sleeping son.

Ross: Maybe one little peek?

Ross slowly picked up the envelope and started to open it. Rachel came back around the corner quickly.

Rachel: ROSS!

Ross jerked around and his eyes were wide. He put the envelope back down.

Rachel: You were going to peek!

Ross: No I wasn't!

Rachel: Yes you were! You want to know!

Ross: Okay . . . fine.

Rachel: You want to look?

Ross: Yeah. Let's look. No . . . you look.

Rachel picked the envelope back up as Ross rocked Ben back and forth. She slowly opened it and looked at the paper. A grin fell over her face and she looked at Ross with bright eyes.

Ross: What is it?

Rachel: We're having a girl!

*~*

Chandler walked into the apartment after a long morning of playing football with Joey. Monica and Phoebe were sitting on the couch with Katie.

Monica: Hey honey.

Chandler: Hey.

Monica: Nice game?

Chandler: Yeah. I beat Joey and I won a hundred bucks.

Monica: Good. Go to the store and buy some diapers.

Chandler: What?! We're already out of diapers?

Monica: Two bags of diapers don't last very long, Chandler.

Chandler: Okay . . .

Monica: And also pick up some formula, a couple of tubes of diaper rash cream, and some . . . paprika.

Chandler: What?!

Monica: We're out.

Chandler: Fine . . .

Chandler turned around and walked out the door.

Phoebe laughed.

Phoebe: You've got him whipped.

Monica: Oh, he's always happy to help out.

Ross and Rachel came through the door with Ben.

Monica: Oh! There's my nephew!

Rachel immediately handed Ben to Monica while Phoebe took Katie.

Rachel had a big grin on her face as she sat down on the couch next to Monica. Ross sat the baby carrier down on the coffee table.

Monica: You're all happy! Did you go to the doctor?

Rachel: Yes!

Monica: Everything's fine?

Rachel: Yes!

Monica: Boy or girl?!

Rachel: Yes! Oh, I mean . . .

Ross nodded at Rachel.

Rachel: Girl!

Phoebe/Monica: Yay!/Yes!

Monica: I'm finally gonna have a niece!

Rachel: Yeah . . . I'm so excited!

Phoebe: Do you have any names picked out?!

Monica: Like Monica or something like that?

Ross: Well, we haven't talked about it yet.

Phoebe: Name her Phoebe! It's a good strong name!

Rachel: Well . . . uh . . .

Monica: Monica's better! They're naming her Monica!

Ross: We haven't decided on anything yet!

Rachel: We have six months to think of something!

Monica/Phoebe: Fine.

*~*

That night, Ross was taking a shower while Rachel put Ben down in his nursery. There were three bedrooms in the apartment, Ross and Rachel's, Ben's, and a new nursery for the baby would be created soon. But, if they were going to have more children in the future, they'd definitely have to get a bigger place.

Rachel put Ben down in his crib and smiled down at the infant boy. She turned on the monitors and grinned at him.

Rachel: You're so sweet, Ben.

Rachel walked out of the room and into the living room. Ross was walking out of the bathroom in a T-shirt and sweat pants.

Rachel: Hi honey.

Ross: Hey. You feeling okay?

Rachel: Yeah. Baby's fine, I'm fine, Ben's fine. We're all fine.

Ross: Okay, so we are having a baby . . . this is . . .

Rachel: I know . . . I wonder what she's gonna look like?

Ross: She'll probably look just like you. Your eyes, and your perfect little smile.

Rachel started crying.

Ross: Sweetie? You okay?

Rachel: Just the . . . hormones.

Ross chuckled and hugged her close. He knew the long journey to parenthood had begun. He kissed to top of her head and they walked to Ben's nursery together to watch him sleep, preparing themselves for the sleepless nights they would be having for a long time to come.