One Long Week

Chapter 1- The Makings Of A Bad Day

Written by: Gabe - Let me know about that site!

Disclaimer: These characters do not belong to me, but to Bright, Kaufman and Crane Productions and Warner Bros. Their use is not intended for profit, only for entertainment.

Author's Note: This is my version of how the whole J/R/R storyline might go down. Its going to have a lot less humor than my other fics and more Drama, Romance, and Angst. This is my first dip into the dramatic side of Friends. So be kind in your reviews,

Joey Tribianni sat at his kitchen counter with a bowl of cereal in front of him, and a spoon in his hand. His situation was driving him crazy. He didn't know how he got there, but some how, some way; he ended up falling in love with the girl next door. The door 10 feet from his very own.

He had told himself a million times, "There are rules Joey!" You don't date roommates. And if that rule was small enough to break, the next one wasn't. You don't date your best friend's ex-girlfriend. Not just ex-girlfriend, ex-wife.

Rachel and Ross had so much history. It seems like no matter what was happening in his life over the last eight years; there was always something between Ross and Rachel going on too. Falling in and out of love, having the "We were on a break!" argument more times than he could count, getting jealous over each other's new partners. For eight years that's all they did. And somehow, in between all that, the two of them had the time to get married and divorced.

He cursed at himself again in his head. He knew he shouldn't feel the way he did, but he couldn't help it. Who could spend so much time around Rachel Green and not fall in love with her eventually? It was impossible. A blind man could fall in love with just the sound of her voice. A deaf man could fall in love with just the sight of her smile. A blind and deaf man could fall in love with just her touch.

He finally understood how amazing Rachel Green was. She was beautiful in every single way a person could be. And somehow, over the last few weeks, this beautiful girl had managed to steal his heart.

He told his friends it was just a crush. Some odd burst of feeling stirred up by one great date. The best date he had ever been on. Joey smirked to himself as he realized that his best date ever, was one of the few ones where he didn't get laid.

That just showed him even more. Rachel Green was amazing.

He repeated the words in his head; "It's just a crush." And looked up at her bedroom door as he heard it start to open. A second later, she emerged from her room. Wearing a pink pajama outfit with fuzzy bunny slippers that he had let her borrow one night and never had the heart to ask for them back. They looked much better on her anyway.

"Hey sweetie." Two words. So simple, yet music to his ears.

Joey decided against words, he could accidentally slip up, and then all hell could break loose. He instead just smiled and nodded at her as she made her way into the bathroom to fix herself up for work.

Joey sighed and left his bowl of half finished cereal on the counter. This was getting out of hand. This "crush" wasn't going away. He stood and walked out their door, quickly making the short journey into the apartment across the hall. He arrived just in time to see Monica putting her coat on. "Hey Mon."

Monica quickly finished throwing on her jacket and grabbed her purse. "Hey Joey." She opened the door he had just closed and said, "Bye Joey," before closing the door behind her. As the front door closed, the bedroom door opened, and out of it came a very sleepy looking Chandler Bing. He was still in his pajamas and was still unaware that Joey was in his kitchen.

"Hey Chandler."

Chandler jumped slightly, startled by Joey's voice. He hadn't noticed him standing there. "Hey Joe." Chandler thought about how strange it was for Joey to be up before him. He quickly glanced over to the clock, and squinted his eyes at it to try to make out the time. He wasn't wearing his glasses or contacts, so the simple task was actually quite a challenge.

Joey noticed Chandler's odd face and at first thought he was just giving him an evil look for coming over to his house so early. But after a few seconds of confusion Joey realized that Chandler was trying to see what time it is. "It's 8 am man."

"Oh," was all Chandler replied. He shook his head lightly to fix his vision and then looked back to Joey. "Joey…It's a weekday. And it's before noon. Why in the world are you awake?"

Joey sighed and took a seat at the familiar kitchen table. "It's this whole crush thing Chandler...it's driving me nuts."

Chandler made his way into the kitchen and took a seat across the table from his friend. "It's a crush Joe. That's what they do. They stick in your head for a few days, drive you nuts, and then they go away."

"I know…but…it just…it seems deeper than that."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know. This is so hard man. This has never happened to me before."

Chandler looked a little strangely at him. "You've never had a crush on someone before?"

Joey shook his head. Chandler was not getting it. But it also occurred to him that he couldn't expect Chandler to understand it until he did himself. "No. I've had plenty of crushes before. The problem is, none of them have ever felt like this."

Chandler narrowed his eyes at him. He really didn't know what to make of the situation. It was really starting to sound like Joey had deep feelings for Rachel. But that just didn't seem like the Joey he knew. The Joey he knew never got deep feelings for anyone, much less his roommate and ex-wife of his best friend. He wasn't sure what the right thing to say was. It was the times like these he wished Monica was around to do all the talking. That way if anything went wrong, it wouldn't be his fault. Although his wife would probably take it out on him anyways…

"Well Joe, honestly…it sounds like you're feelings for Rachel are little bit deeper than a crush."

Joey was relieved inside. Someone finally understood him. "See! That's what I have been thinking! I think it's more than just a crush!" Joey's blood was pumping now. He had quickly exited his chair and was no pacing back in forth in front Monica and Chandler's kitchen sink.

Chandler could see the emotion in Joey. This was so unlike him. He found himself wondering what exactly Rachel did to turn his once womanizing, yet somehow charming best friend into the big bundle of nerves and confusion he saw in front of him. "So what *do* you think it is?"

Joey took a deep breath. He raced his left hand behind him to grip the kitchen counter, and slowly pulled his body towards it. Once he was leaning against it, he brought his right arm up to also grip the edge of the counter. He looked at Chandler, and monotonously let out the words, "I think I'm in love with Rachel."

Chandler's eyes grew wide. That was not the answer he was expecting. But before he could let out a single word of amazement the door burst open and Rachel entered. She was now out of the pajama outfit and was sporting a gray business suit that perfectly complimented her pregnant body.

"Good morning guys." Both men mumbled out their responses and looked back to each other. The look on Joey's face made it obvious that Chandler was to keep their conversation between the two of them. The look on Chandler's face was that of pure bewilderment.
Chandler's state of shock was broken by Rachel muttering, "Hey Chandler?"

Chandler tore his eyes from Joey and glanced over at Rachel who was now taking a seat across the table from him. "Yeah Rach?"

Rachel took a bite from her newly acquired bagel and looked at the messy haired man in front of her. "Don't you ever work anymore?"

Chandler smirked and leaned back in his chair. "Well, you know how I lied to my boss and told him me and Monica got divorced?"

Rachel remembered Monica relaying the story to her a couple of weeks ago. "Yeah."

Chandler smiled, obviously very proud of what he was about to say. "Well, last week I told him I needed a week off to move out of my apartment and hire a new lawyer. And, thanks too how much he hates his ex-wife, he told me to take as long as I needed."

Rachel nodded along with the story. "Wow. But won' you guys miss the extra income that won't be coming in?"

Chandler's smile brightened as he kept his glance on Rachel. "No. You see, it's a paid vacation I got going here.

Rachel raised her eyebrows, "Wow, that is impressive."

"I know." Chandler smiled as he nodded his head. "So how did you sleep last night Rach? Was the nausea still bad or did it go away?"

"It was ok. It only really started to get bad about 6 am this morning. After that, sleeping seemed like it was pretty hard. But before then everything seemed fine."

The answer didn't come from Rachel, it came from Joey. Both Chandler and Rachel stared oddly at him before Chandler chimed in with a comment. "Wow Rach. I love the new manly hair do. Starting to swing the other way. And that ketchup stain on your jeans is so unlike you. You better hope Monica doesn't see it because if she does she's gonna make you take her laundry course 101 all over again." Chandler smiled at Joey, who obviously was entertained by Chandler's sarcasm, but Chandler wasn't done. "And by the way Rach, what happened to your boobs?"

Rachel and Chandler both laughed as an annoyed Joey took a seat on an open chair at the table. "Ha ha," he replied, the annoyance in his voice was obvious. He was partly annoyed with himself though. He couldn't keep doing that. He couldn't keep slipping up and letting how much he really cared about Rachel come out. For an actor, pretending to not be in love shouldn't be too hard.

But it was. It was the hardest thing he'd ever done.

"Well, as much as I'd like to stay around and watch Joey do his impression of me some more, I have to go to work. Unlike some people, if I want to keep my job, I actually have to go to it." Rachel stood up and grabbed her purse. She gave one last smile to Chandler and Joey and then she headed out the door.

"Oh. My. God." Chandler let out a moment or two after she left.

"What?! What?!"

"You are *so* in love with her! I can't believe this! This is huge!" Chandler was now out of his seat, pacing back and forth on one side of the table as Joey paced around on the other.

"I know!" It was all happening so fast, it was almost like a dream. Joey was happy someone else knew though, and he was happy Chandler was that someone. He could trust Chandler to keep his secret.

Chandler's jubilation from uncovering Joey's secret quickly faded away as he came to another startling realization. "Joey." He took a deep breath. "Ross is going to kill you."

Joey nodded as if he already knew. "I know. But what am I supposed to do Chandler? I love her! I! Love! Her! And those two haven't been interested in each other for years!"

"It doesn't matter Joey! They dated! They were married! She's having his baby!"

Joey wasn't about to back down, even though he wasn't so sure that he was right. "I know! But where has Ross been these last few months?! Sure, he's around to take her to that stupid….llama…la.. la…"

"Lamas class?"

"Yes! But that's it! Other than that it's been me thee helping her through all this!"

"That doesn't make you the father of her baby Joe." Chandler was trying to calm him down. He felt bad for Joey. He had never seen him with such strong feelings for a woman before, and he knew how bad it must hurt to not be able to do anything about them.

"But it means you can't use her being pregnant against me!" Joey was irrate. He knew Chandler was right, but it just hurt to much to admit. He loved Rachel. He had finally admitted it to someone other than himself. And now he just wanted to admit it to her.

"I'm sorry man. I know this must be killing you. But there are rules Joe. You can't tell Rachel how you feel. I mean…can you imagine how chaotic things would get?"

"I know Chandler." He sat back down at the table. "I know. You're right…I just gotta wait for all of these feelings to go away." Joey nodded a Chandler as if to tell him that's what he was going to do.

"Ok. Good. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go get a bath. A nice, warm bubble bath."

"Don't forget your boat."

"I wont." Chandler stood and made his way into the bathroom. Joey sat alone at the kitchen table, trying to organize his thoughts. He went through scenario and scenario in his head, trying to find a way he could tell Rachel how he feels and not hurt Ross.

After about 10 failed scenarios in his head, the door to the apartment opened and Ross stepped in. He looked somewhat perky in his black suit, perfectly equipped with shiny shoes, a white dress shirt, and a yellow smiley face tie.

"Good morning Jo…" Ross stopped mid-sentence and looked at his watch. "What the hell are you doing up so early? Haven't you gone to bed yet?"

Joey tried not to let his frustration with the man show. After all, this was Ross, the number one reason why he couldn't be with Rachel. Ross, unconsciously and unknowingly, was keeping Joey from being with the one woman he had ever really and truly loved. "I don't know. But it definitely feels odd to be awake before noon."

Joey decided to play along with his little joke. There was no use in letting Ross know that he was a mess inside.

"Where's Chandler?" Ross managed to get out before taking a big bite out of an apple.

"In the bath. He's not going to work today."

"Really?" Ross nodded his head, and then looked wide-eyed at Joey as he got an idea. "Hey! I'll call in sick to work too! And then all three of us can hang out all day and have fun!"

"Sounds great!" It didn't sound great. It sounded horrible. All day with Ross meant a lot of chances for Joey to screw up and let the truth slip out. Secrets were not his high point. But what could he say?

"Cool! We're all gonna play hooky!" Ross quickly ran to the phone and started to dial. Joey rolled his eyes and leaned back in his chair. This was going to be a long day, and he was going to have to watch his tongue. He knew whenever they got together they talked about women. Joey sighed, this had the makings of a bad day.