TOW where Season 9 started right
By Jarhead
Codewords: R/R, Rachel POV
Summary: After Rachel said "okay" to Joey in that hospital room, this is what should have happened.
Authors note: This story has been floating in my mind since season eight's finale. Basically this is what I was hoping that the beginning of Season 9 would be, and then the real Season 9 happened and I quit watching in disgust. The following is my version, with some stuff that I did like thrown in. So, without further ado…
Joey is on one knee. I just agreed to to marry him. Why doesn't he look hap- the door just swung open. It's Ross. He's just standing there.
"Ross, this isn't-" Joey's saying and Ross is walking out. Well, he's good at that. Joey's following- OHMYGOD what was that crash? I get up and run, as fast as I can manage right now, mind you, out into the hall towards the sound. Before the elevator doors close I see Ross... he looks… broken.
He looks completely shattered.
"Oh, Joey." He's crumpled up on the floor leaning against the wall. His eyes seem kind of glossy. One of his hands is checking his jaw, the other clutching the back of his head. I kneel down in front of him, "Joey are you okay?"
"Rach I-" The nurses are rushing in to check on him.
"Whoa Joe, what nurse should we avoid?"
I turn to look at an approaching Chandler and Monica. The look on my face stops them dead in their tracks, and Chandler swallows any more comments he has. "For your information, ROSS did this!"
"Rach-" Not now Joey. I'm just about to rant here.
"Ross hit Joey! He hit Joey because Joey was enough of a man to propose to me!"
Chandler gets a deer-in-headlights look, Monica looks at Joey, "YOU PROPOSED TO RACHEL?" Mon you're gonna wake Emma all the way in the nursery- "ARE YOU CRAZY? SHE JUST HAD ROSS'S BABY!" Something on the floor caught her eye and she bent down to retrieve it. Looking at it, she started shouting again, "OHMYGOD, Joey this is Nana's ring!" Waitaminute- "YOU PROPOSED WITH MY GRANDMOTHERS ENGAGEMENT RING?"
I look at Joey- "Rach that's what I've been trying to tell you. The ring fell out of Ross's jacket. I wasn't proposing."
Everything goes dead quiet. "You mean... you mean, he was going to ask me... and then he walked in and saw you... Oh.... God." I might pass out. No, I'm not going to pass out; I'm going to start crying. No. No that's not happening either. I'm going to find my baby's father, and we're going to talk about this, and it'll be okay, period. Emma's not starting out her life any other way.
Then I look up at Chandler and Monica. "We have to find him." Chandler reaches down and helps me up, then does the same for Joey. Monica hugs me, "We have to find him," I say again.
"We will, sweetie."
The nurses are still hovering over Joey; his lip is bleeding but nothings broken, thankfully. He could probably charm the pants off of any of them, no, literally. He's even thinking about it, I can tell; it's just a reflex for him now. That's one of the things that makes him Joey. It's one of the reasons we could never stay married, even if he had proposed.
I look back at the others. Monica says, "Rach, you stay here with Emma in case Ross comes back. We'll go out and look for him, k'?" I nod. She squeezes my hand reassuringly.
"Alright, I'm going to see my baby. Find him. Please." Then they get out of my way.
***************************
Please be there Ross…
"Hello?"
"Carol, its Rachel."
"Rachel! How did it go?"
"Well,-"
"Ben can't wait to meet his sister. We all can't wait-" Okay blondie, you need to be quiet now-
"Carol, have you seen Ross?" You'd think that would shut her up-
"I remember when I had Ben…" There it is… " What? No… Why are you asking me – is Ross okay?!"
"Carol," If I knew that… "He punched Joey and left."
"PUNCHED JOEY?! Ross punched Joey? Why? What did he do?"
"Ross thought that Joey was proposing to me, so when Joey ran after Ross, Ross decked him."
"Oh, so then did Joey propose?"
"No. Anyway, if you hear from Ross could you tell him that I need to see him?"
"Yeah." The phone was silent, and then, "I don't believe that. I used to get hit on when I was with him all the time. Ross never hit anyone for me."
"Carol! Focus! Ross. When see. Tell him. Call Rachel! Thank you."
{click}
I get off of the payphone and go back to where Joey is standing by the nursery. He's holding an icepack on his lip; he struck out everyplace he tried. Phoebe came back empty-handed too, and is out getting a bottle of water.
"Joey, about what I said…"
"You didn't say anything."
"Joey I agreed to-"
"You didn't agree to anything, Rach. You NEVER said anything." Thank you Joey. "And Ross doesn't need to know what was never said, right?" I squeeze his hand. I look back at Emma through the glass. "God, she is so beautif-"
"What a wicked-" the janitor is singing. God, he keeps at it and I won't be able to have another baby – wicked… game? Wicked Game?
OH. MY. GOD.
"Hey Joe." They're back. I look over at three of my best friends in the world. Phoebe walks up, with a hopeful smile that falls when she sees Chandler's face.
Chandler and Monica don't have Ross with them.
"Rachel, we can't find him. He's long gone from the hospital. He's not at you guy's apartment, Joey's, our place. Jack and Judy haven't gotten any of their calls to his pager answered. He's just vanished." Ross has to be there. He has to be.
"It's okay Chandler. I might have an idea where he is..."
*************************
... I never dreamed that I'd love somebody like you,
I never dreamed that I'd lose somebody like you...
"WILL YOU MARRY ME" written in stars, where we ended our first date. There's just the right amount of sap, sentiment, and thoughtfulness – perks of loving a geek. They think of stuff like that. No rose petals, but then what's a girl to do at a time like this?
He's standing there leaning against the podium, shoulders slumped, and I'm sure there's still tears' rolling down his cheeks. His back is to me; he doesn't know I'm there. So it's time to change that.
"You know, Rachel Tribiani does have a certain ring to it doesn't it? Oh, well." He shoots up straight, but doesn't turn around.
"Here to yell at me for hitting your fiancé?"
"No. I'm here to nag you into going and apologizing to one of your best friends. Because I want Emma to actually be able to see her uncle Joey." Now he turns around, and he's confused.
"What- What are you talking about?"
I hold up my left hand, making sure the diamond sparkles a little. "Monica said it was your Nana's."
"JOEY PROPOSED WITH MY GRANDMOTHERS RING!"
"Again, NO! The ring fell out of your coat. Joey bent down to pick it up, and then you walked in and didn't even ASK what was happening! You just stormed out and then hit Joey when he went after you to tell you that he wasn't proposing!"
"He wasn't - Wait a minute, why are you out of the hospital, and where's Emma?"
"She's out in the hall with everybody-"
"Where you should be, too!"
"Well I'm sorry! But you see I had to go find her JACKASS of a father! I had to tell him that even though he IS A JACKASS, I still want to marry him! I had to tell him that I can't imagine marrying anyone else! Believe me I've tried! I really have tried, but it doesn't … it just doesn't work any more. Somehow, it always comes back to you and me. We keep doing…this… and I'm… I'm tired of fighting it." The anger's spent, and I'm crying by the end of my little announcement.
For a second Ross stands there, staring at me. Then he walks up and his arms envelope me, and we stand there for a while, leaving me wondering how many more times he can say "I'm sorry."
After the tears stop, he pulls away slightly, his gaze intense, he takes my hands into his, and slips the ring off of my finger. His other hand is cupped touching my cheek, so I can't look away. Then he does the most amazing thing, he let's go of my cheek and kneels, taking my left hand in his left.
He holds up the ring with the thumb and index finger on his right hand, and then the most beautiful words I've heard in my life leave his lips, "Rachel Karen Greene... Will you marry me.?"
"Yes." He slips the ring back on, and for the first time I realize something about it - It fits just right. The sizing isn't too loose that it'll fall off, and it's not tight enough to need salad oil to pull off. It's a perfect fit.
Our hands entwine as he stands, and then he kisses me. It's not what could be called a chaste kiss, but definitely a pure one. It's a promise of things to come. Eventually we break and I look into his eyes - They are talking in every detail, I'm sure he's committing this moment to memory as much as I am.
Finally, he speaks, "What do you say that we take our baby girl home." I smile and hug him. Then I turn and together we walk for the exit, toward our future.
End.