The One With Rachel's Going Away Party

Thursday, 29 April 2004

On Rachel's last night before Paris, she says goodbye to each friend individually but skips Ross, who chases her down to demand his, while Erica goes into labor three weeks early.

What happens

• Chandler and Monica schedule a going-away party for that evening, and Rachel finds her passport missing because Chandler has hidden it as a prank he now regrets.
• Erica returns to New York before she is too pregnant to travel and checks into a hotel, since Monica and Chandler are moving out in a few days.
• While packing the guest room, Chandler turns up a pair of fur-lined handcuffs and assumes Monica used them with an earlier boyfriend.
• Rachel decides to say her goodbyes one friend at a time and takes Phoebe into the guest room first, where Phoebe hands her a saliva sample for future cloning.
• Chandler tells Rachel outright that he loves her and will miss her, then breaks down mid-hug.
• Rachel says a general goodnight to the room and leaves without giving Ross the private farewell everyone else received.
• Ross storms over to Rachel, lists everything they have been to each other, and walks out telling her to enjoy Paris.
• Chandler finds photographs in the closet proving the handcuffs belonged to Monica's grandmother.
• Erica's recurring stomach pains turn out to be contractions, and Monica realizes she is in labor and rushes her to the hospital.
• Rachel goes to Ross's apartment and explains that she skipped his goodbye because he matters more to her than the others, not less.