Decided to continue the story after "The Next 24 Hours", but this is past 24 hours so I created a new story. I'm going to finish Paris, Je t'aime, but need to decide where it's going. I know so many of these stories have been done about Ross and Rachel after the finale, and I have no idea where mine is going. But i just wanted to write my version, so hopefully it won't be too similar to other ones (haven't read that many of them).
"I think she's finally down," Ross expressed as a sigh of relief, walking out of the second bedroom in his apartment.
"I thought we wore her out today. I figured she'd been out by seven," Rachel replied as she stretched out on the brown leather couch in Ross's apartment.
"I think she's the one who wore us out," Ross said, smiling as he sat down on the couch.
Rachel pulled her legs back so she could make room for Ross, and then stretched them back out onto his thighs. She returned a smile to him as she twiddled the fringe on the blanket she had wrapped around herself.
"You think she has any idea what's going on?" Rachel asked.
"I doubt it. She's not even two yet," Ross replied as he gently rubbed Rachel's ankles with his fingertips.
Rachel was referring to their reunion, and ultimately in the creation of their family. Just three days before, they had been two best friends with a child. They were two best friends who, in a moment of uncontrollable passion, had made love the night before Rachel was to leave for Paris. They couldn't explain the forces that had brought them back together that night. In the seven years since their breakup, a continued attraction for each other had remained in the back of their minds. Only once in those seven years had they given into that attraction, which resulted in the creation of Emma. But on the night she was to leave his life for good, Ross was finally able to admit that it more than just an attraction that had lingered on. He loved her. He loved her more than life itself.
Their feelings for each other had really never gone away. The timing was just always off when the other might have been able to admit something was still there. Ross, trying to move on from Rachel for good, had proposed to his girlfriend Emily within six weeks of meeting her. Rachel was still in love with him and tried with all the courage she could find in herself to tell him how she felt. But, because she loved him so much, she let him marry Emily and forced herself to move on. After a divorce from Emily, Ross continued to live his life without any true direction. Then after a drunken marriage to Rachel in Las Vegas, Ross realized he did still care very deeply for her, but denied it to his friends. It wasn't until Rachel got pregnant with Emma that they both realized that they still loved each other. Even after admitting that to each other the day after Emma was born, they never could get things quite right. In a moment of fear, Rachel had said "yes" when she thought Joey had asked her to marry him. Ross wasn't able to get over this, and they decided once again that staying friends was the best thing for them. It finally took the idea of losing Rachel forever for Ross to risk his heart and soul in a chance to get her back. It worked.
"She's so smart though," Rachel said, trying to convince herself that Emma could see that her parents were now more than friends.
"I know. Who knows, maybe she can," Ross said as he yawned.
"Aw, look who's tired," Rachel playfully commented to Ross.
"You two girls can really take the energy out of me," he replied, resting is head on the back of the couch.
"Well thanks to you taking us to that museum, my feet are killing me," Rachel belted back.
"You wore two inch heels, honey," Ross playfully said.
"Well, all my other shoes are still in boxes at Joey's," she replied in the same playful tone. "But most of those have heels too."
"Let me make them feel better," Ross said in an understanding voice as he grabbed one of Rachel's feet.
He gently massaged the underside of her foot with his thumbs, causing her to let out a slight moan. She smiled up at him, still trying to figure out how she got so lucky.
"Yeah, just keep doing that," Rachel ordered, closing her eyes and tilting her head up in the air.
"Ohh, I'm your personal foot massager now, aren't I?" Ross asked, increasing the pressure of the massage just a little.
"Hmm-hm," Rachel mumbled as she nodded, still keeping her eyes closed.
Ross switched feet and tried to get Rachel to come out of her extreme relaxation.
"You wanna go get your stuff from Joey's tomorrow," he asked, knowing that would get her to open her eyes.
"Sure," she nodded again, still keeping her eyes closed.
They had agreed that Rachel and Emma would move in with Ross right away. After all they had been through together, it didn't seem like they would be moving too fast. Ross had declared, "I'm never letting you go again" the night they got back together, so they both knew that this was something they didn't need to take their time on. Rachel had packed all of her stuff up in boxes to have shipped to Paris, so everything was still waiting for her at Joey's. Joey was going to send it for her once he knew she got to Paris, but she had asked that he just leave it in her room for a couple of days until she could come get it.
"Rach, your nail is purple," Ross said seriously, trying to get Rachel's attention from the little slumber she was falling into.
"Huh?" she asked, startled and sitting up slightly.
"Oh, that got you up," Ross flirted as he dropped her foot and began crawling on top of her.
With his hands pressed into the couch and supporting his entire body, Ross stared down at Rachel. She smiled shyly back at him, hoping that he was about to make a move on her. He allowed his arms to ease down so that his body now rested atop her, and he ran his fingers through her golden hair.
"You can't go to sleep yet," he insisted, planting a light kiss on her lips.
She moved her arms around his neck, massaging it with both hands.
"But you're tired too," she whined.
"Not too tired to do this," he said, placing his lips on her neck.
The touch of his tongue caused Rachel to shiver, so she moved her head to the side to give him better access. Her hands slid through his hair as he sucked lightly at her neck. His tongue glided from her neck to her left ear. Ross could feel her moving her body in anticipation for more as soon as he found her ear. This was her favorite spot. He knew that if he wanted to get her going, all he had to do was find the right spot on her ear and she'd be his.
She wiggled beneath him, indicating that she was taking great pleasure in what he was doing. His lips moved from her ear to her mouth, and they became engaged in a long, passionate kiss.
"Bedroom?" Rachel whispered, backing out of the kiss just long enough to do so.
"Yeah," he muttered, hardly able to contain himself from undressing her right there.
Rachel pushed him off of her, but found his lips again immediately after they stood up from the couch. They stumbled backwards towards the bedroom very similarly to the way they had done so three nights before. This time didn't feel so anxious though. There were no questions in the back of their minds tonight. They just wanted each other. They needed each other.
Just as Rachel pulled Ross by his shirt into the bedroom, hollers surfaced from Emma's room.
"Mommy!" the little girl screamed, almost as if she was having a nightmare.
Their sizzling bodies separated, as they both had to take a second to catch their breaths.
"You want me to go?" Ross asked, knowing that Rachel had endured many more late nights than he had over the last two years.
Still trying to catch her breath, Rachel responded, "No, it's ok. Just give me a couple of minutes."
Rachel went to Emma's room, hoping that she only needed to be changed. The baby was standing in her crib, holding a stuffed animal in one hand and nibbling on the thumb of her other hand. She had small tears streaming from her eyes.
"What's wrong, sweetie?" Rachel asked, picking her up from the crib.
"I want Hugsy," Emma babbled as she took her thumb out of her mouth.
Rachel rubbed the back of her head. "Em, Hugsy lives at Joey's. We don't live there anymore. Remember how I told you were going to live with Daddy now?"
"Please, Hugsy?" Emma pouted.
"Oh baby," Rachel said as she rocked her in her arms. "How about one of your dinosaurs?"
"Martin," Emma said in response to Rachel's question. She was referring to a book her parents would read her about a penguin named Martin.
"Did Daddy not read it to you?" she asked, hoping that Ross actually had.
Emma shook her head.
"Ok, one quick story and then you need some sleep, ok?"
Emma nodded her head back at Rachel. Rachel sat Emma on her lap in a rocking chair that Ross had bought right after Emma was born. She started reading the story, and luckily, within minutes Emma was out cold. Emma had always been good about sleeping through the night. Occasionally, she would wake up and request some juice or another story, but for a child her age she was actually very good about sleeping.
Rachel returned to the bedroom after double-checking to make sure Emma was asleep.
"I'm back," she whispered sexily, opening the door slowly.
Ross had fallen asleep with his clothes still on. Rachel put her hands on her hips in a bit of frustration, but also understood why he was so tired. She was actually exhausted too because they had spent a day at the park, then a museum, and then had gone to dinner. He looked very peaceful so she decided not to disturb him. Because most of her clothes were still at Joey's or somewhere across the Atlantic, she found one of his t-shirts and a pair of his boxers to change into. She crept slowly across the bedroom to turn off the lights after she did her nightly routines, and then crawled into bed. She didn't bother getting under the covers since Ross was lying on top of them, so instead she snuggled up next to him, placing her head on his shoulder. As much as she wanted to make love to him tonight, she was satisfied just being in his arms. These were the arms that could finally protect her and keep her warm again after all these years.
It didn't take long for her to fall asleep, but it also didn't take long for Ross to wake up either. He was a bit dazzled at first, but realized he still had his clothes on and that Rachel had already gone to sleep. He decided to stay that way, not wanting to disturb her from her sleep. He too would have been ecstatic with the chance to make love tonight, but was just as happy having her back in his arms again.
"Hey, Joey," Rachel said, greeting him with a hug as she entered the apartment she had called home off and on for the last three and a half years.
"Hey," Ross followed. He was carrying Emma and entered right behind Rachel.
"Hey guys!" Joey exclaimed, jumping up from his recliner. "Hey, Emma!"
Rachel hugged Joey as they had not seen each other since Monica and Chandler moved out three days before. She headed towards her old bedroom to see how many boxes they were going to be able to carry.
"Hey, Emma," Joey said, putting his arms out for her.
"You wanna go to your uncle Joey?" Ross asked Emma as he handed her off to Joey.
"You guys think we can get all of this in a couple of trips?" Rachel shouted from the bedroom.
"Let me come see how much it is," Ross hollered back.
"So how you guy's doing?" Joey asked quietly.
"It's really good. I'm really happy," Ross responded with a large smile.
"I'm glad you guys finally got it right," Joey said, patting Ross on the shoulder. He opened his eyes wide for Emma as she giggled at him.
"Me too," Ross replied as he made his way to Rachel's bedroom.
Ross surveyed the room to see how many boxes Rachel had. Surprisingly, she only had a few boxes. Joey came into the bedroom behind them with Emma still in his arms.
"You guys want me to keep Emma while you move or would you rather me help?"
"Well I think I can lift some of these so you can keep her if you want," Rachel responded.
"Gonna make me lift all the heavy ones?" Ross chuckled, tilting his head to the side.
"Aww, it's mostly just clothes and random stuff," Rachel blurted back even though she sensed Ross's sarcastic tone.
"So Joey, you really gonna do this LA thing?" Ross asked as he picked up the first box.
"Yeah, I think so. Gina's going out there in three weeks."
"We're really going to miss you," Rachel said, almost tearing up.
"I'll miss you guys too," Joey replied as he gave Emma a hug. "You better come visit."
"Oh, you know we will!" Ross exclaimed in his typical high-pitched voice. "I love having free places to stay!"
"You love anything that's free," Rachel sarcastically said as she picked up a box.
Ross squinted his eyes at her, but knew she was just kidding. They had always exchanged these kinds of looks with each other. They were looks that could be described as mean, but they were never actually serious with each other. (Except for the first year or so after their break up.)
"Ok, Emma, you're going to stay here for a little bit with Joey while Mommy and I move some of your stuff," Ross explained.
"K, Daddy," Emma answered while clapping her hands together.
Ross and Rachel spent the next hour moving her boxes to his apartment. If he had lived farther away, they would have had to get a truck. But it actually didn't take that long for them to get everything to the apartment. They spent some more time with Joey, promising each other that they had to hang out as much as possible before he left. Ross and Rachel had decided that they were going to rent a cabin in upstate New York this coming weekend, so they set a dinner date with Joey for the following Monday. It would be a very bittersweet moment when they had to say good-bye to Joey, but they were both very happy that he had something to move onto as all his friends got married and had children.
Ross and Rachel spent the rest of the afternoon clearing out space in what was now their apartment for some of her stuff. The biggest challenge was the closet, which ended with Ross agreeing to put some of his stuff in the closet in Emma's bedroom.
"Thank you, sweetie," Rachel said flirtatiously as Ross moved some of his shirts out of the closet.
"You're welcome. You can make it up to me tonight," he answered while giving Rachel a wink.
She winked back as she hung up some of her clothes.
"I still can't believe this place has bigger closets than Monica's," Rachel commented.
"That's how I lured you to move in the first time isn't it?" Ross reminded her.
"Well it worked," Rachel said.
Just as Rachel was finishing with one of her boxes of clothes, her cell phone rang.
"Hello……hey Pheebs!"
She smiled at Ross as he broke down one of the boxes.
"Yeah, hold on a second," Rachel continued. Putting her hand over the receiver, she looked at Ross. "Do you care if I go get coffee with her for just a little bit?"
"Of course not," Ross said in an affirming tone, indicating that she didn't need to ask him.
"Ok, I'll meet you down there in ten," Rachel said quickly, snapping shut the cell.
"She's in the neighborhood and just thought she'd see if I was around," Rachel explained to Ross.
Ross walked to Rachel and put his arm around her, kissing her on top of the head.
"Go ahead and have fun. I'll finish up with some of this here. But remember you owe me tonight," he playfully said.
"Thanks, hon," she said, grabbing her purse and walking towards the front door. "Be back in like an hour."
Ross went to check on Emma, who was napping in her room. He strolled back to the bedroom, unsure of what box to open next. Just like Rachel not to label the boxes, he thought to himself.
He cut the tape on one, pulling it open. It had a variety of items in it, including a photo album, Emma's baby book, and an assortment of other things. Ross noticed a shoebox, and curiously opened it. To his surprise, it was her "Ross" box that she had shown him years ago on Thanksgiving Day. He stared at the contents for a moment, and then sat down on the bed to further explore it. The movie stub from their first date. The dinosaur bone from the museum. The bracelet Rachel had worn at the hospital when she had Emma. Their divorce papers. Ticket stubs from a show they had seen on Broadway. A few random pictures of them from over the years, even one only taken a month before. And of course, the Frankie Says Relax t-shirt he had let her keep after their break-up. He pulled it out of the box to smell it. It had Rachel's scent, but he could also tell it hadn't been washed in quite some time. Noticeably missing was the eggshell, but he figured that had to start smelling eventually. He couldn't believe she had kept these things after all this time. And to think, she wasn't taking that much with her to Paris, but she had made room for this in one of her boxes. He decided to put everything back in the shoebox, and re-taped the box so she wouldn't know he had seen it. But a huge smile emerged on his face. He truly felt like the luckiest guy in the entire world.
