The following is a chronological list of significant others (boyfriends, girlfriends, fiancees, wives, etc.) of the main 6 Friends characters in the series that have appeared in at least two episodes or are otherwise significant.

Rachel Green

Barry Farber

Inexplicably renamed from Barry Finkel, as he was called in the pilot episode, he was betrothed to Rachel who left him at the altar at the beginning of the show. He had a minor affair with Rachel later in season 1, while being engaged to Mindy, Rachel's maid of honour, marrying Mindy in the final episode of season 2. While he never appeared again in the show, it was revealed that he divorced Mindy in the middle of season 6. The character was played by Mitchell Whitfield .

Paolo

An attractive Italian downstairs neighbour, who hardly speaks any English and meets Rachel during a blackout. Their relationship starts in the middle of season 1, lasting about 5 episodes, and consisting mostly of what Rachel describes as "raw animal sex". Rachel dumps him when he makes a move on Phoebe while on her massage table, however gets back together with him for one night in the first episode of season 2, when she is upset about Ross's new girlfriend Julie. The character was played by Cosimo Fusco .

Ross Geller

See Ross & Rachel below.

Joshua Bergin

Jennifer Aniston's (who plays Rachel) real-life boyfriend at the time, Tate Donovan played Joshua, Rachel's customer, for whom she had to pick out a whole new wardrobe in season 4. They eventually start dating, but Rachel scares Joshua away with a proposal, when she is jealous about Ross's marriage with Emily.

Paul Stevens

Paul, played by Bruce Willis, is the father of Elizabeth, a student whom Ross was dating at the end of season 6. When Paul isn't pleased with the age difference between his daughter and Ross, while attempting to get Paul to like Ross, Rachel starts dating him. Unhappy with Paul being emotionally closed, Rachel convinces him to talk about his past, after which Paul cannot stop crying and gets dumped by Rachel.

Tag Jones

A very attractive guy whom Rachel hires as her assistant at Ralph Lauren with qualifications like "3 years of painting houses" and "2 summers at T.G.I. Friday's" in season 7. She dumps him on her 30th birthday when she realises Tag is not mature enough for her and that she should be looking for a serious relationship. Tag Jones' character was played by Eddie Cahill .

Gavin Mitchell

Gavin was assigned to Rachel's job while she was on maternity leave in season 9, leading Rachel to return to work early, so as to not lose her job. While initially considering Gavin a jerk, Rachel soon changes her mind and kisses him, but ends the relationship on the next day when she decides it would make things too complicated between her and Ross. Gavin was played by Dermot Mulroney .

Joey Tribbiani

See Joey & Rachel below.

Monica Geller

Fun Bobby

Fun Bobby (played by Vincent Ventresca ), a cheerful guy with the ability to make everyone else around him happy and laugh, had been Monica's boyfriend before the start of the show and makes his first appearance in the middle of season 1, when Monica calls him out of desperation on New Year's eve, but he turns out to be depressed about the death of his grandfather and spends the entire evening crying on the sofa. He makes another appearance in season 2, where Monica discovers that he is "fun" because he is constantly under the influence of alcohol, and after asking Bobby to quit drinking, time spent with Bobby turns out to be so depressing that she herself starts drinking in large quantities, because of which Bobby breaks up with her.

Dr. Richard Burke

Played by Tom Selleck, Dr. Richard Burke is a hunky optometrist who is 21 years older than Monica and close friends with her parents. They fall in love when she caters for him in the middle of season 2 and have a very close and deep relationship until the last episode of the season, when Monica discovers that Richard isn't willing to have any more kids. Being generally obsessed with having babies, Monica decides she cannot continue the relationship and they break up. Getting over Richard was described by Monica as the "hardest thing [she] ever had to do" and when they get back together in season 3, they decide to promptly end their new relationship, before it went any further than sex, so as not to face such a challenge again. Dr. Burke makes a final appearance in the last episode of season 6, interfering with Chandler's plans to propose to Monica, stating that he is willing to get married and have children. He however backs down after realising that Chandler is prepared to offer her the same thing, and that they are happy together.

Pete Becker

A multimillionaire CEO of a computer software company, having designed a very successful office application, Pete leaves Monica a $20,000 check with his number on it as a tip in season 3. While offended at first, Monica starts going out with Pete, but finds herself not being physically attracted to him. This soon changes with a kiss and the two of them date until the end of the season, when Pete, deciding to become "the Ultimate Fighting Champion", wrestles opponents significantly stronger and bigger than him on a TV show, being repeatedly beaten but refusing to give up. Monica, deciding she "can't watch him do this to himself", leaves Pete. Pete was played by Jon Favreau.

Chandler Bing

See Chandler & Monica below.

Phoebe Buffay

David

Played by Hank Azaria, David "the scientist guy" is a geeky but charming scientist with whom Phoebe falls in love in season 1. He is however forced to leave to Minsk, Belarus (incorrectly referred to in the series as being in Russia) to try to achieve "positronic distillation of subatomic particles". He makes a short appearance in season 7 on a one-day visit and another one in the beginning of season 9, on the same day that Phoebe gives a key to her apartment to Mike Hannigan (see below), who catches them making out, though quickly forgives her as David leaves. After having proved that "positronic distillation of subatomic particles" cannot be done, David returns permanently to New York and starts dating Phoebe again at the end of season 9. Phoebe, having broken up with Mike because he never wanted to be married, is still in love with him and accidentally refers to David as Mike on several occasions. David, having found out from Chandler the reason for her break-up with Mike, decides to propose to her, once and forever removing Mike from her life. However, Mike finds out about his intentions from Monica and proposes before him, and Phoebe chooses Mike over David.

Gary

Played by Michael Rapaport, Gary is a police officer whose badge Phoebe finds in the coffee house in season 5, that asks her out when coming to arrest her. They go out for a while, and Gary eventually asks Phoebe to move in with him. While reluctant at first, she agrees, but leaves him on their first morning at their new apartment when Gary shoots a bird.

Eric

Eric, played by Sean Penn, was originally engaged to Ursula, Phoebe's twin sister, in season 8 but leaves her when Phoebe exposes her sister's lies about her past. They attempt to date in the next episode, but Eric cannot stop thinking about the pain Ursula had caused him when he looks at Phoebe, and they break up.

Parker

Played by Alec Baldwin, Parker is an overoptimistic, zesty guy who bumps into Phoebe at a dry cleaner's in season 8. They date for a while, but Phoebe eventually grows tired of his constant cheerfulness and overly positive views, and dumps him.

Mike Hannigan

When Phoebe and Joey agree to set each other up with a friend in season 9, Joey forgets to find a date for Phoebe and lies to her, telling her he found a friend named Mike. He then shout's Mike's name in the coffee house, and when Mike Hannigan responds, he convinces him to play the part of his old friend at their double date. Phoebe soon realises Joey's trick and leaves, but Mike finds her on the next day and asks her out. They date for quite a while and decide to move in together. However, while Mike is moving in, he tells Phoebe that he never wants to be married because of what he went through in his last divorce. Phoebe decides that she shouldn't be in a relationship with no future and breaks up with Mike, however finds it impossible to get over him. When her long-lost love David arrives in New York and decides to propose to Phoebe to make her forget about Mike, in the last episode of the season, Monica tells Mike to get over himself and to do something. He then flies into Barbados, where the whole gang was at the time, and proposes to Phoebe before David. Phoebe turns down his proposal, saying all she needed was to know there was a future, but starts dating Mike again. Eventually Mike proposes again, not without humorous complications, and gets married to Phoebe towards the end of season 10. In the final episode of the series, he also states that he is ready to have children with Phoebe. Mike was played by Paul Rudd.

Joey Tribbiani

Kate Miller

An actress with whom Joey stars in a play in season 3, turns out to be the first woman ever to whom Joey was attracted who didn't feel the same way about him. She eventually sleeps with him, but pretends it meant nothing to her on the next day, thus making Joey realise how many of his sexual partners must have felt. Eventually, after being dumped by her boyfriend, the director of the play, she starts a relationship with Joey, which is cut short as she leaves to Los Angeles to accept a role in "General Hospital".

Kathy

See Kathy under Chandler Bing below.

Janine Lecroix

Played by supermodel Elle MacPherson, Janine moves in with Joey when Chandler moves out to live with Monica in season 6, and while being extremely attracted to her, Joey doesn't make a move for a while, being afraid that the fact that they are roommates may become a problem. They get together eventually, but break up soon after, when Janine expresses her dislike of Monica and Chandler.

Charlie Wheeler

See Charlie Wheeler under Ross Geller below.

Rachel Green

See Joey & Rachel below.

Chandler Bing

Janice Litman Goralnik van Neihosenstein

Janice is portrayed as an extremely annoying character with a loud nasal voice, unpleasant laughter, and an extravagant fashion sense. While being Chandler's girlfriend from the start of the show, she isn't seen until the fifth episode, where Chandler breaks up with her. Later that season, Chandler invites her to a New Year's party in a desperate attempt to have someone to kiss at the break of the new year, but once again decides that she is too annoying and breaks up with her before midnight. After a few episodes, Chandler and Janice hook up again when she turns out to be his blind date set up unknowingly by Joey, but he breaks up with her the next day.

In the beginning of season 2, Chandler, convinced that he will never find love again, calls Janice, who turns out to be married and pregnant. In the last episode of season 2, Chandler befriends a mystery woman over the Internet, and when she turns out to be Janice, decides to get back together with her. This time the relationship lasts well into season 3, and ends when Chandler discovers that Janice still has feelings for her ex-husband and tells her to get back together with him for the sake of their child. In the middle of season 4, Janice and Chandler meet once again, and he decides to end their relationship before it starts again with a "pre-emptive strike", telling Janice he is being transferred to Yemen. When Janice follows him to the airport, Chandler is forced to buy a ticket and fly to Yemen.

In the middle of season 5, Janice makes an appearance as she dates Ross, still under the impression that Chandler is in Yemen. That relationship soon ends when Janice finds Ross too whiny and annoying.

In season 7, Monica, being engaged to Chandler, unintentionally invites Janice to their wedding, and Chandler claims he still has feelings for Janice, and that his marriage with Monica may be jeopardised by Janice's presence at the wedding, to get rid of her. A similar excuse is used again by Chandler in season 10 to prevent Janice from buying the house next door to the one he and Monica are buying. Janice also makes two less significant appearances at the end of seasons 8 and 9, where she reveals she is married to a near-deaf man named Sid. Janice thus makes an appearance in every single season of the series (she makes a voice-only appearance in season 6).

Joanna

Rachel's boss at Bloomingdale's, with whom Chandler went out once in season 3 and once again in season 4, both dates displaying his inability to reject people effectively, where he made numerous tries to let Joanna know he's not interested in her, but failed. They broke up when their BDSM activities in Joanna's office took an unexpected turn.

Kathy

An attractive woman whom Joey dates in season 4 for a while, and with whom Chandler falls in love. She eventually starts feeling the same way about him, and cheats on Joey, thus putting Joey and Chandler's friendship in great jeopardy, as Joey is extremely angry at Chandler for making the move behind his back. Eventually, Chandler is forgiven, but not without having spent several hours in a wooden box as punishment. When Kathy stars in a play where she simulates sex with an attractive man, Chandler becomes concerned that she may leave him for the actor, and becomes so paranoid that he wrongfully accuses her of being unfaithful, leading to a fight after which she actually does cheat on him, thus ending their relationship. Kathy's character was played by Paget Brewster.

Monica Geller

See Chandler & Monica below.

Ross Geller

Carol Willick

Ross's ex-wife (played first by Anita Barone and then by Jane Sibbett), who left Ross when she realised she was gay shortly before the first episode of the show, revealing that she was pregnant with Ross's child and giving birth to a baby boy named Ben (John & Charles Allen, Cole Sprouse) in season 1. In season 2 she married her lifetime partner Susan Bunch and makes occasional appearances, usually together with Susan and Ben, throughout the course of the series, with her final appearance in season 7.

The actress initially chosen to play Carol left the show after appearing in one episode, and Carol's appearance was "magically" changed when she was replaced by another actress in the following episodes.

Julie

An attractive Chinese woman born in New York, that Ross meets during his trip to China, returning with her as his girlfriend, to Rachel's great disappointment. They date for 7 episodes in season 2, during which Rachel is incredibly jealous and eventually tells Ross about her feelings for him while drunk, after which Ross slowly realises that his feelings for Rachel are too strong and he breaks up with Julie in favour of Rachel. Julie makes a short appearance two episodes after their break-up when she meets Russ, a guy similar to Ross in every way whom Rachel was dating. When Rachel dumps Russ after realising how similar he is to Ross, it is suggested that Julie and Russ fall in love at first sight and get together. Julie was played by Lauren Tom, and was the only recurring Asian character on the show.

Rachel Green

See Ross & Rachel below.

Bonnie

Played by Christine Taylor, Bonnie was a sexy friend of Phoebe's who Rachel agreed for Phoebe to set up with Ross, thinking that she was bald. Rachel then discovers that Bonnie has grown her hair back, and dates Ross for the last 2 episodes of season 3, at the end of which Rachel convinces her to shave her head again. When faced with a choice between Rachel and the bald Bonnie, Ross chooses Rachel.

Emily Waltham

When Rachel's boss asks her to take his niece Emily to the opera on the same night Rachel has her first "date" with Joshua, she convinces Ross to go instead of her. Emily, an English girl from just outside London (played by Helen Baxendale), and Ross end up in a bed & breakfast in Vermont at the end of the date, and the rest of their relationship is similarly fast-paced.

Greatly bothered by the fact that Emily has to keep travelling back and forth between New York and London, Ross proposes to her. Their wedding is set for the last episode of season 4, only 10 episodes from their first date, with Rachel being very unhappy as she slowly realises she is still in love with Ross, and deciding to tell him at the wedding in London. Deciding at the last minute not to tell Ross about her feelings, Rachel simply hugs Ross, however seeing Rachel brings back Ross's old feelings, and in response to the priests request to say "I take thee Emily", Ross says "I take thee Rachel", the quote being the cliff-hanger for season 4.

The wedding continues in season 5 and is finalised, however Emily runs away into hiding after the wedding. Ross then returns to the States, attempting to reach Emily and get her to forgive him over the phone, and when she finally calls him, he convinces her to come to New York, as she originally intended, with the condition that he will never see Rachel again. She also convinces him to sell all of his furniture that came into any contact with Rachel and move into one of her relatives' free apartments. The other 5 friends agree to support Ross as long as he is happy with being thus manipulated by Emily, but when Ross expresses his discontent at all the changes he has to make, the group make him realise that he cannot meet all of Emily's conditions, especially not seeing Rachel. Ross then tells Emily that he doesn't agree to her terms, and their marriage ends.

Jill Green

Jill, played by Reese Witherspoon, is one of Rachel's sisters, who comes into the city when her father takes back his credit cards from her in season 6. After convincing Jill to follow in her footsteps towards financial independence, Rachel becomes bothered with the flirting between Ross and Jill. She then asks Ross not to date her, to which he agrees, but still ends up kissing Jill, who was trying to spite Rachel for telling her what to do. Ross however promptly stops the kissing, realising that "if anything was to happen between [him] and [Jill], nothing could ever happen with [him and Rachel]", after which Jill returns to her father.

Elizabeth Stevens

A student in one of Ross's classes, who described Ross as "the hottie of the Palaeontology department" in her teacher evaluation, she is 12 years younger that Ross. Their relationship lasts for about 7 episodes until the end of season 6, despite obstacles such as the threat of Ross losing his job, and the disapproval of Elizabeth's father. When the rest of the friends make Ross realise there is no future for their relationship, Ross breaks up with her. Elizabeth was played by Alexandra Holden .

Mona

Mona (Bonnie Somerville ), a very attractive woman who works at Monica's restaurant, flirts briefly with Ross at Chandler and Monica's wedding reception in the first episode of season 8, and returns a few episodes later, going out to a see a Ukrainian film with Ross. Even though she is forgiving, understanding and very attracted to Ross, after incidents such as Ross changing his door locks after giving Mona a key, finding out about Rachel being pregnant with Ross's baby, an unpleasant encounter with Rachel's father, being continuously abandoned by Ross to take care of Rachel, and finally, Rachel moving in with Ross, she ends their relationship, making a brief appearance a few episodes later when Ross goes to her apartment to retrieve a pink shirt he left there.

Charlie Wheeler

Notable for being the only major recurring African-American character on the show [1], Charlie, played by Aisha Tyler, is an attractive palaeontology professor whom Ross is assigned to show around New York towards the end of season 9. Despite his efforts, Ross loses Charlie to Joey, with whom she goes out until the end of the season. In the final episode of the season, she realises she has much more in common with Ross and is quite attracted to him, and leaves Joey in favour of Ross. Her relationship with Ross ends a couple of episodes into season 10, when one of her old boyfriends, who happens to be administering a grant to Ross, confesses he is still in love with her, in response to which Charlie leaves Ross.

Ross & Rachel

Arguably the central theme of the show, the rocky Ross and Rachel relationship has been the main point of discussion for the show's fans throughout it course.

Ross's crush on Rachel purportedly started when he was in the 8th grade, however was largely ignored by Rachel, who admitted to being aware of it. In the first episode of the show, Ross asks Rachel if "it would be all right if [he] asked [her] out sometime, maybe", but never actually asks her out in season 1, being constantly interrupted as he is about to it. During Ross's trip to China in the final episode of the season, Chandler accidentally tells Rachel that Ross is in love with her. Admitting to have never looked at him "in that way", Rachel ponders a possible relationship, and eventually decides to go for it, going to the airport to meet him for the cliff-hanger of season 1.

In the first episode of season 2, Rachel is devastated when Ross returns with Julie (see Julie under Ross Geller above), and grows increasingly jealous, eventually letting Ross know that she is "over" him while drunk. Having thus found out about Rachel's feelings, he is faced with choosing between her and Julie, and writes a list of pros and cons about both of them with the aid of Chandler and Joey. While listing numerous quite offensive remarks about Rachel, Julie's side of the list reads "she's not Rachem (sic)". After seeing the list and not realising her name was misspelled, Rachel tells Ross nothing will happen between them, without having gone on a single date.

She repeatedly rejects his following attempts at getting together until she sees a home video of her prom night, where Ross decides to step in and take Rachel to her prom, when her date doesn't show until the very last minute, just as he was about to ask. Seeing Ross's noble gesture and his subsequent disappointment, Rachel kisses Ross and their relationship begins.

Even though they both nurtured their love toward each other throughout the series, the period between the middle of season 2 and season 3 was the only time they were in a true boyfriend-girlfriend relationship. It came to an end as Ross became increasingly jealous of Rachel spending a lot of time at work with a co-worker he thought she was having an affair with, and irritated her repeatedly by showing up with a picnic basket at her office and sending a barbershop quartet to sing to her. In response to this, she said they needed a break from their relationship, which Ross interpreted as a break-up. While drunk at a party a few hours later, Ross called Rachel to work things out, only to find out she had invited the co-worker over to console her, and hangs up. Wrongfully assuming she was in fact having an affair, he has an affair himself with "the hot girl from the copy place with the belly-button ring", as she was referred to by Joey and Chandler.

When Rachel stops by his apartment the next morning, apologising and asking to be his girlfriend again, he attempts to hide his affair, but is unsuccessful. As Rachel confronts him, he uses his trademark "we were on a break" statement as an excuse and repeatedly apologises. Rachel however does not accept his arguments and apologies, saying that she saw Ross as someone "who would never hurt [her]" and ends their relationship.

Initially not being able to be in the same room together, Ross and Rachel slowly begin to act civil again, and by the end of the season, Rachel decides she is ready for them to get back together. In the final episode of season 3, after convincing his current girlfriend Bonnie to shave her head, she tells him she never stopped loving him, leaving him a choice between her and Bonnie, this being the cliff-hanger of the season. In the first episode of season 4, it is revealed that Ross chooses Rachel, but Rachel writes an 18-page letter (front and back) explaining her feelings and asking Ross to accept full responsibility for their break-up, that she wants him to read before they can resume their relationship. Ross, having fallen asleep while reading the letter, accepts her terms, unaware of the responsibility he is accepting, and after finishing the letter and deciding that he finds it unreasonable, they break-up once again in the same episode.

When Ross is about to marry Emily (see Emily under Ross Geller above) in the final episode of season 4, Rachel realises that she is still in love with him and flies to London to confess her love to Ross. Changing her mind at the last minute, she simply hugs Ross, however seeing Rachel brings back Ross's old feelings, and in response to the priests request to say "I take thee Emily", Ross says "I take thee Rachel". While the marriage is resumed and finalised, Emily decides to hide from Ross in London while Ross returns to New York. In the second episode of season 5, Rachel finally tells Ross about her feelings, but they decide to pretend the conversation never happened, since Ross is married.

In the last episode of the season, while visiting Joey in Las Vegas, Ross and Rachel get very drunk and get married, the marriage being the final event of season 5. The next day in the first episode of season 6, they have no recollection of the marriage, and even though having woken up in the same bed, decide to assume that nothing happened. After finding out about the events of the previous night, Ross becomes extremely frustrated about the preposition of having 3 divorces, and lies to Rachel about having gotten an annulment. It is also revealed that he still has feelings for Rachel, and offers her to move in with him after Chandler moves in with Monica, presumably hoping that she will begin to feel the same way about him. When Rachel discovers that they are still married, she fills out the annulment forms herself, stating that Ross is gay, unable to consummate the marriage and an intravenous drug user. When Ross denies the claims to the judge, their case is dismissed and they file for divorce instead.

Ross and Rachel almost get back together for a "bonus night" in the first episode of season 7, but the magic of the moment is lost when Monica accuses Rachel of trying to steal focus from her on her engagement night, and it goes no further than a kiss.

In the final episode of season 7, it is revealed that Rachel is pregnant, and a few episodes into season 8, she reveals that Ross is the father, the baby having been conceived as a result of a faulty condom, when they got together for one night in season 7. A review of the videotape that had captured the event showed that Rachel was the first to come on to Ross, a fact she initially rigorously denied. In the final stages of Rachel's pregnancy their doctor recommends sex as a way to speed the labour along, and when Rachel is late, unable to bear her complaints any longer, Ross kisses Rachel, but does not get any further, as Rachel's water breaks. In the final episode of season 8, Rachel having just given birth to their daughter Emma (Elizabeth & Genevieve Davidson, Alexandra & Athina Conley, Cali & Noelle Sheldon), Ross is about to ask Rachel if she wants to start up their relationship again, when Joey accidentally gives Rachel the impression that he is proposing to her, picking up a ring Ross's mother had given Ross from the floor while kneeling on one knee, the moment being the cliff-hanger of season 8.

After having found out about Joey's "proposal" and Rachel's acceptance in the first episode of season 9, Ross reconsiders his plans of getting back with Rachel and decides to just continue living with her. However, after receiving a call from a man Rachel gave her number to at a bar, he does not pass the message to Rachel, revealing his harboured feelings. After having witnessed Rachel's kiss with Gavin later on in the season (see Gavin Mitchell under Rachel Green above), he accuses her of "moving on without telling [him]", and tells her he knows about the man at the bar. Furious at Ross for hiding the message, Rachel decides that their living situation isn't working and moves back in with Joey.

When Rachel reveals her intentions to leave to Paris to work for Louis Vuitton at the end of season 10 and holds individual "good-bye" sessions with all the members of the group except Ross, Ross gets very offended, and Rachel tells him it was because he means more to her than everyone else, in response to which he kisses her. After having sex that night, Rachel describes it as "the perfect way to say good-bye", to Ross's great disappointment. Initially attempting to get Rachel to stay, by bribing her old boss to offer her job back with a raise, after realising how much she was looking forward to leaving, he tells her to go to Paris. However, in the final episode of the series, he realises he is still in love with her and goes to the airport to stop her. Overcoming numerous humorous complications in the process, he catches her at the gate, confessing his love and asking her to stay. Unexpectedly, she simply apologises and gets on the plane. Arriving home a broken man, Ross finds a message on his answering machine from Rachel calling from the airplane, where she reassures him she loves him too and decides to get off the plane. While Ross is in dismay as the message ends before it is clear whether Rachel got off the plane, Rachel walks in the apartment and they embrace. While kissing, they tell each other that they're "not gonna be stupid any more", highlighting the fact that most of the reasons they haven't been together were quite superficial.

Fun fact: Throughout the course of the series, Ross and Rachel have had sex 300 times. Ross kept count.

See Joshua Bergen and Gavin Mitchell under Rachel Green, and Jill Green and Mona under Ross Geller for additional info on how their other relationships have been affected by their feelings toward each other.

Chandler & Monica

Initial hints at a relationship between the two were given in the final episode of season 3, when Chandler jokingly repeatedly asks Monica if she would date him. No developments are made, however, until the final episode of season 4, where Monica, upset after being mistaken for her mother by a drunken guest at Ross's wedding, seeks comfort from Chandler, but instead ends up sleeping with him.

Initially deciding not to continue their relationship, they soon realise they really are attracted to each other, and resume the relationship, while hiding it from the rest of the group. Throughout season 5, Joey, Rachel, Phoebe and Ross find out about the relationship (in that order), usually in humorous circumstances. In the final episode of season 5, Chandler and Monica were about to get married in Las Vegas, but decide they are moving too fast after seeing Ross and Rachel coming out drunk from the chapel. Instead, in the first episode of season 6, Chandler asks to move in with Monica and does so.

Chandler proposes to Monica in the last episode of season 6, with slight interference from Monica's former love interest Richard, and they get married in the final episode of season 7. In season 7, it is also revealed that when Monica came to Chandler's room in London, she was actually looking to spend the night with Joey. In the last episode of season 8, they decide to attempt to get pregnant, but after failing to do so, they visit a fertility clinic at the end of season 9, and it is revealed that Chandler's sperm have "low motility" and Monica's uterus is an "inhospitable environment". Having decided to adopt a baby instead, they are allocated the child of a girl from Ohio named Erica (Anna Faris) by the adoption service in the middle of season 10. In the final episode of the series, Erica gives birth to twins, whom Chandler and Monica name Jack (after Monica's father) and Erica (after their real mother).

Joey & Rachel

After a mock date in the middle of season 8, Joey finds himself strongly attracted to Rachel, but is reluctant to tell her, as he is concerned about how Ross may feel if they were to go out. When Ross tells Joey that he's OK with it, Joey tells Rachel about his feelings, only to be rejected. After the conversation, his feelings slowly fade away.

After seeing Joey act out a romantic scene in "Days Of Our Lives" at the end of season 9, Rachel has a dream where she kisses Joey, which makes her realise she has feelings for him. Deciding to kiss him at a party, she is unable to follow her plan through, as she finds Joey kissing Charlie (see Charlie under Ross Geller). In the final episode of the season, after Charlie leaves Joey in favour of Ross, Rachel confesses her feelings to Joey. Reluctant to start the relationship at first, Joey kisses her after seeing Charlie kiss Ross.

In season 10, Ross finds out about Joey and Rachel, and while attempting to act as if he is fine, clearly has issues with their relationship. Almost ending their relationship because of their concern for Ross, the couple decide to stay together, but soon realise they cannot have sex, as their friendship is too strong, causing acts of subconscious behaviour, such as Joey's inability to unhook Rachel's bra and Rachel uncontrollably slapping Joey's hand when he touches her thigh.