A random little ficlet written for the Gal Pal club at friends-boards

Disclaimer: I don't own any of them

With a sigh, she collapsed onto the couch, her eyes watching Chandler closely as he washed the dishes. Letting a small smile escape onto her lips she pulled a small journal from the bookcase, unlocked it and began to write.

Well, Christmas was as hectic as ever. Seven hyperactive children can be a bit of a handful. But it was great to see everyone together again. Of course Chandler and I still see everyone quite regularly, but everyone is so busy it's hard to find time to all meet up.

Ross and Rachel seemed to be getting on well again, I know Christmas is always quite hard on Rachel now, after all it was 3 years ago today that she and Ross had their first big fight, and she turned up here in tears.

The knocking on the door increased to an almost frantic level,

"It's Christmas Day!" Chandler had rolled his eyes, as he walked to open the door, revealing a heavily pregnant Rachel, clutching Emma in one arm, and a bag in the other.

"Rach! What happened?" Monica dashed to the door, relieving Rachel of her bag, and letting her into the warm,

"Ross..." She began, with a sniff, "Ross and I had a fight,"

"Oh sweetie," Monica gave her a hug, as Chandler took Emma and sat her next to the twins who were gurgling away quite happily in their cots.

"What about?"

"Well, I was still upset about him working late last night, I mean it was our first Christmas as a.. a proper family y'know?" Monica nodded sympathetically, she knew how important this day had been to Rachel, their first Christmas with the 3 of them all together. When Rachel had phoned her last night at 9pm, and said in a shaky voice that Ross still wasn't home, she had done her best to reassure her that he was probably stuck in traffic somewhere. As it turned out he had been doing last minute Christmas shopping, and had had to travel out of the city to get Rachel the perfect gift, but not wanting her to know he created a lie about having to work.

"And then he got annoyed about how many presents I'd bought Emma, but I just wanted her to have a brilliant day, I don't want her to go short on anything."

It only took an hour for Ross to arrive and apologise, and the now married couple made their way home. I would never forget the look on Rachel's face as we arrived at her and Ross' apartment the next afternoon so they could share their big news. Everyone was there, Phoebe and Mike, Joey and his new girlfriend Claire. It turned out that Ross' gift to Rachel was small, circular and decorated with diamonds.
"Guess what?" Rachel had flung herself on them as they walked in the door,

"Rachel, let them get in the door first!" Ross had laughed, as he wrapped the arm that wasn't holding Emma around her shoulders.

"Well?" Phoebe had pressed,

"Yeah, what's all this about?" asked an overly-excited Joey,

Rachel glanced at Ross, as if for confirmation it was ok to tell them now, and he offered her a grin.

"We're getting married." She said breathlessly, her eyes still gazing into Ross', her face alight with a smile.

"Again," Ross joked, causing Rachel to hit him playfully

"Oh my god!"
"That's brilliant!"

"I'm so happy for you guys!" The cries of happiness had erupted from the small crowd gathered by the door, and indeed they were. They had finally got it right; Monica thought with a smile, they were there.

I was so happy for those two, even Claire who didn't know them that well then, having only been with Joey a few weeks, could see how much they loved each other. They had gotten married in October, with Rachel 5 months pregnant with Alex at that time. But the wedding was so beautiful, yet understated. Rachel had the lavish wedding organising with Barry, this was about something different I guess. Of course mine managed to be lavish and romantic, but that takes a certain type of person to organise.

"Wow... she looks beautiful doesn't she." Ross has gasped as Rachel rounded the corner, arms linked with her father, and Monica could only agree. She knew Rachel had been having doubts about getting married whilst she was still pregnant 'It's so tacky!' she cried as she rejected another wedding dress.

Somewhat surprisingly it had been Joey, who had found the words to reassure her, 'Look Rach, this isn't about that. You already have one child, you've already been married! You're already a family; this is just... making it official.' And as she walked down the aisle Monica smiled inwardly, in a round about way, being pregnant seemed to make her look even more radiant. Only Rachel could pull off being pregnant on your wedding day with grace.

Joey was officiating the ceremony on Rachel's insistence that he'd done it at Monica and Phoebe's wedding, and she didn't want to be left out. Phoebe, the maid of honour, stood next to Monica, one side of the couple, with Chandler and Mike on the other side.

As Joey began speaking, thankfully without the war costume this time, Rachel made a grab for Ross' hand "

And we'll proceed to the vows." Joey said in his 'minister' voice as Phoebe called it, and Rachel began her vows

"We've had our ups and downs." She started tearfully, "We fell in love, and then out of it again. But I couldn't let go, I couldn't give up on that one chance, there was always a tiny shred of hope left. I never thought we'd get here. So close on more than one occasion but we're here now, and nothing has ever felt more right."

"Ross?" Joey prompted him, and Ross took a deep breath.

"I've wanted this, for so long. I never stopped wanting it." He paused as a loud sniff escaped from Rachel, "I always thought that eventually I'd get tired of waiting, but I never did, because some things... some things are just worth waiting for. It was always you."

It was so romantic, and they were jetting off on their honeymoon, leaving Emma with us. For a few months afterwards they seemed to be in a constant state of bliss, it was wonderful to see. Soon after their wedding Phoebe announced that she was pregnant, it seemed like everything was coming together.

The birth of Alex seemed to bring those two closer together, much like the twins did with Chandler and I. Unlike Emma's arrival, the birth was quite quick, and we didn't even find out till after he'd been born!

Pausing in her scribbling, Monica leaned over to the shelf and picked up a small photo frame, in it was Ross, Rachel, Emma and newborn Alex huddled around a hospital bed. A smile playing across her lips, she resumed writing

That photo, that Chandler took as we arrived, before they realised we were there. I hate looking at it sometimes, I always get the feeling I'm invading on a private moment, that those looks purely reserved for each other, were not meant for our eyes. Yet it just sums up their marriage in a single photo, they had finally got what they wanted.

Of course it was not all smooth sailing for the new Geller family, there had been the argument about Rachel returning to work, which in Rachel's own words as she relayed the events to me a few days later 'I won without a doubt'

"I don't want our kids to grow up not knowing us!" Ross had said, heatedly

"Oh don't be silly Ross; of course they'll know us, we'll see them every night."

"But spending all day, every day with a nanny? We can't both work all the time!"

"Well Monica and Chandler manage it, we found a balance with Emma." Rachel retorted, with a roll of her eyes.

"That was different we had the whole gang... we can't keep asking them to look after our kids, they have their own now." "

I'm not suggesting we do!" Rachel had exclaimed, before lowering her tone with a glance in Alex's direction, "You can't... my career means something to me Ross. I'm not saying it's as important as you," She said hurriedly, seeing his next remark coming, "I gave up Paris to be with you Ross, and I'd do it again in a heartbeat, but I can't give up everything. I don't want that, I wouldn't be happy."

Ross had remained quiet for a moment, as if taking that in, "Why don't... why don't you just go back part time to start with? At least until we figure something out." He offered, relieved he was at least willing to compromise, the argument blew over and they eventually reached a solution.

When Phoebe had given birth to Lily, her and Mike had also moved to a house in the suburbs, and good thing to! It was only a few months after Lily's birth that she became pregnant again. Oliver and Max are only one now, but I can tell their going to be little terrors when they grow up, they're already giving Pheebs and Mike trouble. But it was their move that flared up a desire in Ross to leave their apartment and give their kids a proper place to grow up, Rachel finally agreed as long as they didn't move too far from the city, she and Ross would have travel in to work everyday .

Their sudden flourish in house hunting seemed to stir something in Joey, the only one now who was still planning on staying in the city, and was still childless. But he asked Claire to move in with him, and they've been living together for nearly a year now.

As it happens Ross and Rachel are still living in their apartment, unable to find a house they both like, but as Rachel said there's no hurry.

So much has changed over the last few years it's hard to believe, weddings, births, moving houses.

The phone ringing interrupted her writing, and she picked up the receiver,

"Hello?"

"Hi Mon!" Rachel said happily,

"Hi Rach," Monica replied, snapping the diary lock shut, her phone calls to Rachel tended to last a while,

"Today was great, thanks so much for cooking all that again, you put me to shame." She laughed, and Monica's attention was caught by the photo again, now lying on the table in front of her. Things certainly had changed for Rachel, and Monica remembered the girl who had run into the coffee house 13 years ago, lost in the world.

"Monica honey? You still there?" Rachel's voice brought her back to the present "

Oh yeah sorry I was just...thinking."

"Everything alright?" Monica paused, to look at another photo on the shelf of everyone together, taken last Christmas,

"Every things great."