by Tina
Disclaimer: These characters do not belong to me. They belong to Bright Kauffman Crane in association with Warner Bros.
This is a Ross and Rachel fanfic. For more, check out my site (on my profile).
Rachel looked down at the man knelt beside her, hugging her tighs. Tears flooded her sight, making her even more aware of the thoughts racing through her mind. He had cheated on her. Ross Geller. The love of her life. The one man she'd ever given herself completely to. She had let her guard down, allowed herself to trust him. She had loved him. And now he had cheated on her on their aniversary.
All the events that lead them to that very moment became suddenly fresh in her memory. Meeting Mark. Ross' jealousy. Her late hours at work. Then her impossibilty to make it to dinner that night, despite all the planning they had done. The fight. The long, long night without hearing from him again, after he hung up on her. Why did she have to invite Mark over?
And why did he have to sleep with her?
Ross had been at Rachel's apartment for nearly seven hours. However, they hadn't done much talking, overall. He was still carefully picking words to say, while she was still lost in a sea of questions, the bigger one being "and now what?".
"Do you wanna fight for us or do you wanna bail?" Ross' words echoed loudly.
Rachel still remained silent and simply let herself be hugged by Ross. She could hear his muffed sobs, as his face was pressed up against her knees. As much as she wanted to, she couldn't hate that man. As much as it hurt and it made her feel ashamed and betrayed, she knew him better than that. Yes, he made a mistake, but maybe... Maybe they shouldn't jeopardise their future because of that. Maybe this was something they could work past.
It would be hard, it would take a while and they would still go through a lot. But weren't they worth it?
Besides, it was not like he did it while he was sober and they were together, like so many of her past boyfriends. That didn't change the fact that it hurt, but it made a difference once Rachel thought things through. Ross was not that sort of person. He was completely devoted to her and nothing like this would ever happen again.
Right?
Maybe it would take a while for her to regaign her trust back and be able to answer these questions without thinking twice. But she was not going to run again. If she could give all of her past boyfriends another chance, she could do the same to Ross. If anyone should deserve it, this one should be him.
She rested one of her hands softly in his shoulders and he quickly looked up at her. They locked sad gazes and she slowly dropped down to her knees aswell, beginning to sob harder as he seemed to calm down.
"I need to know this won't happen again, Ross"
"It won't, Rachel, it won't happen again, I swear, I..."
He trailed off as he began to sob harder once more. Was she giving him another chance? The whole tension built up in him dissolved into tears that ran freely down his cheeks. She brushed them away and, for a moment, Ross couldn't help but feel lighter. He watched her intently as she whiped his tears away, while hers kept running free.
"Okay. Then I'm willing to work on this"
Her words were soft and they seemed to caress Ross' ears and all the way into his heart. Ross smiled gratefully at her, uncertainly taking her hands on his. They were shaky, soft, cold. But they were still able to provoke a familiar feeling in Rachel's stomach. Something she would terribly miss if she let him go.
"You won't regret this, Rachel. I promise you"
I promise you...
Almost two years had passed since Ross and Rachel's first disaster aniversary. It took them a while to work on their broken relationship, but given it the right dedication, patience and time, they were now closer than ever. There were still spots left to be covered, but Rachel always felt irritated and uncomfortable when they were approached. Ross figured the best thing for them to do were to let them go.
So now, so much time later, they could honestly say they had worked things out. She trusted him again and they were in love. They were, in fact, engaged and their history was a subject no longer to be touched. No one talked about it anymore. Both forgiven and... forgotten.
Rachel left her room wearing a sleeveless black dress and high heals. Her golden hair was down and her make up was light. She was holding a golden bracelet as she approached her roommate, Monica Geller.
"Hey, Mon, can you put this on for me, please?"
"Sure, sweetie. Ross called, he said he'll be over in like half an hour. Something about Ben being sick on his way to Carol's, I don't know"
"That's fine, I still need to make a few phonecalls"
"Really? 'Cause I was thinking maybe we could look at some bridal magazines together"
Monica flashed a smile at her best friend. Just that previous week Rachel had asked Monica to be her maid of honor. Rachel smiled back.
"Oh, there's always time for that!"
Monica put on that geeky childish excited look that was so typical of her and put a huge stack of magazines on the coffee table. Rachel gasped at how many there were.
"Wow, Monica. I'm not gonna have time for this"
"I know, that's why I've labelled them!"
"I'm sorry, you've labelled them?"
"Yeah, look" Monica said as she showed the magazines to Rachel. "I've marked the pages with colorful post-its and each color means something different. Here's the reference chart!"
Rachel took a well designed chart from Monica's hand.
"Chandler printed it out for me on his computer", she said, proud of her job. "So, if you need, say uh, flowers for the center pieces, you just check the red post-its! For classic wedding dresses, try the white ones. For classic, yet a little sexy, but nothing too out there, you go to pink! Or if maybe you want to go with-"
"Alright, alright, I got", Rachel cut her, chuckling a bit. "You have waaaay too much spare time, Monica".
The girls sat around the coffee table looking at magazines for a while, sharing thoughts and jokes. Soon, the door opened and Joey and Chandler walked in.
"Hello children"
"Whoa, looking hot tonight, Rach"
"Thanks, Joey, always knows how to please a girl", Rachel said, getting up from the couch and going into the bathroom.
"It was a compliment!" he shouted after her. "What is wrong with her?"
"Don't worry, it's that time of the year"
"You mean she's getting her period?" Joey asked, clueless.
"Yeah, 'cause she only gets that once a year", Chandler joked.
"Whoa, she is like my dream woman then"
"Chandler, Joey, shut up!" Monica said, exasperated. "It's her anniversary with Ross, it's approaching"
"Oh. I didn't know it was still a big deal"
"Well, you know... It's sort of implicit"
"Whoa, whoa, you lost me there, Mon" Monica shot Joey a look.
"They never admit it, but I always sense something different in the air"
Joey giggled and Monica shot him a look.
"Not that, Joey!"
Just then, Ross entered. He was wearing a dark blue button up shirt, a black blaser jacket and a broad smile on his face.
"Hey everyone"
They all greeted him back.
"Where's Rachel? In her room?"
"No, she's finishing getting ready in the bathroom"
"Oh, alright. So, what are you guys doing?"
"Oh, we're just- hm just hanging out. You know... talking"
Joey surely wasn't the most subtle person in this world. Ross shoot him a weird look, but decided to let it go.
The bathroom door opened and Rachel stepped out, looking stunning as she always did for him. She always managed to get his heart to skip a beat and this time was no different. Though they'd been going out for almost three years, some things never changed. It always felt like it was the first time, though their knollege on each other proved them wrong.
"Hey you"
Her smile shone so brightly.
"Hey you"
He greeted back. They walked towards each other and met halfway, sharing a soft kiss.
"You ready to go?"
"Yeah, I'm just gonna get my coat"
"Alright"
She kissed him a bit longer again and went into her room, his eyes following her, sparkling. Everything was perfect. Nothing could ruin this. The past was gone, it was dead and nothing could evoke it back to life. Nothing.
Right?
Okay, so this is only an experimental thing for me! I'll try to get more coming now that I'm on vacation, but I'll have to do it quickly 'cause next week I'm going "home" for about a month...! Your review is very important to me though!!! I'll try to make next chapter longer!