Ross held Rachel close, softly stroking her belly with his thumb. Her hands came to rest on his and she tilted back, a clear invitation for another kiss and he was quick to oblige. He rested his chin on her shoulder and let his mind drift to his sister and his best friend.
After Rachel's assurance Monica had confided in her and that she was indeed happy, he realized he had no reason to be upset. He knew Chandler for a long time, and he was certainly no jerk. And he seemed genuinely happy with Monica, if he could trust Joey's observations.
He could hardly believe he hadn't noticed the change in his friend or sister. They'd been in a relationship for six months without him realizing anything. Suddenly it occurred to him they were together for as long as he and Rachel were married. And he did remember that both of them had left halfway through the reception. Had they gotten together during that time?
He glanced briefly at Monica as she rushed by to her bedroom to get dressed. He knew Rachel had been right; Monica had been happy these last months. Looking back he could tell the change had indeed occurred around the time he and Rachel had gotten back from their honeymoon, so it seemed very likely the two had gotten together at the wedding.
Ignoring the hushed conversation between his friends and Rachel, he thought back to the reception. Monica had seemed incredibly down at one point, he remembered now. And she'd been drinking. But Chandler wouldn't have taken advantage of her. Or would he? Ross started to frown at the thought, but it quickly disappeared when he remembered that Monica was happy, so regardless of how it started, he could not be angry with his best friend.
Rachel smiled and nodded, but didn't really listen to what Joey and Phoebe were saying. Her mind kept drifting to Monica and Chandler and their secret. Clearly, Monica had way too much fun surprising them, but Rachel would remedy that herself later. Six months. That must have been a record for both of them.
Rachel started to think back to her wedding day. Both Chandler and Monica had left the reception early, she remembered. Monica had looked a bit depressed after some man had talked to her, and started to drink. Chandler had gone to sit beside her, that much she'd seen, but soon she'd lost track of them, talking to various family members and friends. Barely half an hour later they'd left the party.
Well, obviously, their relationship had started that day, and apparently it had been going very well, despite the secrecy. Then again, she hadn't been living with Monica anymore, and it wasn't very likely that Joey would have noticed anything. But that wasn't true, either; Joey had noticed a change in Chandler's mood and the frequent nights of Chandler not sleeping in his own bed. Still, it must have been a lot easier with her not being around all the time.
Rachel saw Monica from the corner of her eye as the latter walked toward her bedroom, a smile still on her face. Rachel wondered what kind of relationship they were having. Was it like she had with Ross, with many arguments but still loving each other? In the beginning, Rachel had feared she was in the same kind of relationship as her parents had been in. All that fighting didn't bode well, she thought, but Ross had told her they were very different.
Yes, they argued a lot, Ross had explained, but they were not big fights and not born out of hate, but out of a difference of opinion. The key was, Ross had continued, to never go to bed or leave the apartment in anger, but talk about it first, resolve the issue before going on. Plus, the making up afterwards was always enjoyable, he had finished, waggling his eyebrows in supplication. And now, half a year into their marriage, Rachel knew Ross was completely right, on all accounts. She glanced down at her belly when she felt Ross gently tracing some meaningless figure over it.
Yeah, they were good, despite the arguments. She glanced toward Monica's bedroom, and realized that, though Monica could be bossy, she and Chandler didn't seem the type to argue a lot. Not that Chandler would let her walk all over him, even if he was a big pushover, but they seemed to behave completely different from her and Ross. Even before all the relationship stuff had started, Chandler and Monica had seemed much closer than she and Ross had been.
Rachel sat in front of her mirror, applying her make-up. After the lunch, they'd decided to go out for dinner that night and they needed to leave in half an hour. For once she had managed to get all dressed up long before they needed to leave and applying the make-up was actually the last thing she needed to do.
She glanced at the reflection of Ross, right next to her own, and smiled. He wore nothing more than a towel and she felt totally turned on right then. "You better hurry up, honey. I'm almost done here."
He just snorted. "I suppose there's a first for everything."
She briefly stuck out her tongue before continuing with her task, but the smile on her face made that more challenging. She was looking forward to their dinner, mostly because she intended to be sitting next to Monica and find out more about the six months she'd spent with Chandler.
"Honey, why didn't you want to tell about the baby?"
Rachel let out a small laugh and glanced toward Ross' reflection. "Yeah, and steal her thunder? I'd like to live, thank you very much."
She saw Ross frown. "I don't think she sees this as her thunder." His frown morphed into a smile. "Now, if they'd get engaged, then we should be quiet about you having another baby."
"Another baby?!" Rachel turned around just as Ross looked down to put on his pants. "Ross, I'm not some kind of baby-making factory!" His head snapped back up, seemingly to assure her that wasn't what he thought, but she just went on. "I have no intention of becoming the barefoot-and-pregnant wife you think you can turn me in to." As she said it, she realized she was being unreasonable.
"Rach, honey, that's not what I meant. I just meant that if you ever get pregnant and Mon and Chandler would just be engaged…"
Rachel kissed him to make him stop talking. "I know, honey. I don't know why reacted like that. It's just that… well, I'm still trying to get used to the idea of having a baby and… I'm scared about the actual birth and then you started talking about more babies and we don't even know if I'm even going to be good mother. Besides you know how scared I got hmmp…" Rachel enjoyed the kiss for a bit more, glad Ross had chosen the same tactic as she had earlier.
"It's okay. When the time comes we can always talk about it if we want more children. And for the record," Ross continued as he turned back to continue getting dressed, "I know you'll be a great mom."
Rachel sighed and turned back to her mirror. "You sure gotta lot of confidence in me."
They had not thought this evening through, Rachel mused as Monica and Chandler ordered Champaign. She and Ross had decided to not tell them about her pregnancy just yet and let this night be about Monica and Chandler. But as Rachel indicated she'd rather have some mineral water, she knew the jig would be up pretty soon.
"Oh my god! Am I gonna be an aunt again?"
Rachel glanced at Ross, who just shrugged a little, and then turned back to Monica. "Yeah. Ross and I had planned to surprise you all this morning, but you beat us to it. We wanted this night to be about the two of you, so we decided to tell you another day."
"Oh, sweetie, you didn't need to do that."
"So you don't feel like I'm stealing your thunder?" Despite Ross telling her before and Monica's reaction just now, Rachel still felt some doubt. She felt Monica start to rub her arm.
"Of course not. It's not like we're getting engaged. If you happen to be pregnant then, you'd better…"
Ross just started to laugh and even Rachel had trouble keeping from giggling. It took a while for either of them was able to answer Monica's confused look and Ross beat her to it, nearly cracking her up again.
"Geez, Mon, Rachel isn't some kind of baby-making factory!"
Dinner was going great, and Ross was frequently shown just how much Monica and Chandler loved each other. They constantly sought each other, with just a look or a touch. It took away all his earlier worries and he could finally just be happy for sister and his old college roommate.
Ross turned his attention momentarily to the woman next to him. Rachel seemed to be extremely interested in Monica and this relationship. Ross assumed it was just because she was curious to how this all had started. Truth be told, so was he. Neither Chandler nor Monica had been very forthcoming with information regarding that aspect. The only thing they had told was that it had started after the wedding.
Ross turned back to his desert, half an ear on the soft conversation between Rachel and Monica. The bits and pieces he could pick up, told him Rachel was indeed busy trying to find out about the relationship. He was sure Rachel would tell him all about it later.
He glanced over to where Phoebe and Joey were sitting. They were now the two exceptions of their group, and Ross briefly wondered if it made them feel locked out somehow. They didn't show it, but it was definitely possible, even though Chandler, Monica, Rachel and him had talked to both of the others regularly.
He'd have to discuss this later with the others, see if they needed to do something as a group or something, to show they were still close friends. For now, he would just enjoy the evening with the five people he considered his closest friends.