There's Been an Accident

With trembling hands, Rachel slowly unlocked the door to Ross' apartment, trying to decide on how to give him terrible news. She paced nervously around the apartment as she tried to form and formulate what she would say to him, and how she could make all of this easier.. well, as easy as could be expected, anyway. He was still at the University, no doubt giving another boring lecture and thought about calling him, but figured this is the kind of news, that had to be delivered in person.

She tried to reach Monica on her cell phone, but she and Chandler were out of town, on their way to Vermont, and either the phone was off or outside of the area. She stopped pacing, long enough to pull out a compact mirror, as Ross hated it when she was crying, and she needed to be the strong one, right now.. strong for him, and Monica. The dreadful words kept ringing in her ear 'There's been an accident... there's been an accident...there's been an accident'.

Meanwhile, Ross was at Central Perk, getting some coffee and humming a happy tune. He and Rachel had just gotten back together, for the 100th time, and he couldn't be happier, as Gunther was glaring and muttering behind the counter. He couldn't stand to see Ross happy, and he certainly could not stand seeing Ross happy, being with Rachel. He often ridiculed Ross, but underneath, he was quite jealous, wishing he could be Ross, for just one day. To know what it was like to hold Rachel, be held by her, and the feel of her moist lips, pressed against his own.

Rachel was sitting down on the sofa, once again trying to find a way to break the news to him. She knew it was not going to be easy, and knew that Ross would be devastated and would just fall apart, but she vowed she would herself, she would put everything back together, piece by piece.

She swallowed hard, and bit her lips to keep her emotions in check. There would be time for that later, right now she just needed to be here for Ross, and do whatever she could to ease the pain that was about to be inflicted.

She wished that she had a magic wand, and could just freeze time, so she would not have to be the one to drop a huge bombshell on him, or better yet, a magic wand that would just reverse time and space. Her cell phone started to ring, and glancing at the caller ID she could see it was Monica.

She sighed and hesitated, but finally picked up and spoke 'Monica, I think you guys should postpone your trip and come back home'. Monica laughed and said 'It took us 6 months to plan this trip, Rach'. Rachel simply repeated that they needed to turn around and come back, right that very second. Monica asked what was going on and Rachel said 'Please Monica, no questions right now. Just know that you need to come home'. The firmness in Rachel's voice took Monica by surprise, as she was not the confrontational type, as she told Chandler to turn the car around. 'I wish you'd tell me what this is all about'.

'I will', Rachel said, 'When you come back home' and they both said goodbye. 'One down', Rachel sighed glancing at the clock, wondering where Ross was as he was normally home by this time. She didn't have to wait much longer as Ross came skipping up the stairs, opening the door and setting his briefcase as Rachel sighed, stepping into the living room, from the bedroom. 'Hey, Rach what are you doing here', he greeted as he lightly kissed her forehead and proceeded to tell her about his day.

'You won't believe this', Ross began, 'Somebody in the lecture actually compared Barney the Dinosaur to Dino. I mean there's no comparison.. Dino could totally kick Barney's ass, don't you think'. When Rachel didn't offer one of her trademark sarcastic comments about dinosaurs, he asked if everything was ok. Rachel knew it had to be done, as she looked up at Ross, as her eyes started to water and said 'No, honey. Not really'

Ross asked what was wrong, as Rachel tenderly took his hand and led him to the sofa, as they sat down, Ross watching her intently. Rachel cleared her throat, as she usually did before saying something important and said 'Your parents and Ben were going to the zoo today'. Ross nodded and said 'Yeah, I was supposed to take him, but forgot about the lecture today. I hope Ben wasn't too much trouble'. Rachel tried to keep from crying as she just squeezed Ross' hands and said 'Honey, something happened today, on the way to the zoo'.

Ross felt his heart racing and asked what happened, and Rachel said as they were crossing the intersection, a car ran a red light and hit their car. Ross' eyes grew wide and said 'Was anybody hurt' as Rachel nodded and Ross asked what hospital they were at. 'Honey... they... they died', was the response. Ross stood up, not believing what he was hearing and said 'Who? Who died'? Rachel swallowed again and said 'All of them, baby'