Summary: This picks up where Rachel's Secret left off and carries us through major changes in Rachel and Mandy's lives.

Ross and Rachel have five kids and live in Westchester: Mandy(18, Rachel's daughter, see Rachel's Secret), Emma (6), Caleb (3), Isabella (Bella, 18 months), Ben (15) also lives with Ross and Rachel

Monica and Chandler have Jack and Erica (5) and still live in Westchester

Phoebe and Mike have a little girl, Sky (4) and still live in the city

Joey is still in LA and still acting

Disclaimer: I do not own Friends, but Mandy is mine!

Author's note: Here is the sequel to Rachel's Secret that I promised! If you haven't read that story, you may want to read it before reading this one. I'm going out of town this weekend, so it will be next week before an update! Enjoy!

May 2009

Rachel leaned back in her lounge chair on the deck of the cruise ship and sighed. It was her last day of her vacation with Mandy and Mandy's best friend Kristie. She and Mandy were then flying to New York where Rachel had to be back at work on Monday morning, and Mandy was starting her summer internship at her mom's office. She looked over at her daughter who looked identical to Rachel when she was eighteen (without the huge nose) and sighed again. She wished her body still looked like that! Not that Rachel wasn't in great shape, but after 3 babies in the last six years her stomach had a little pudge that would not go away. Bikinis were also out of the question now, after the scar left from Bella's emergency C-section, but she figured a 38 year old mom probably shouldn't be wearing a bikini anyways. Rachel then began to think of her children back home. Ben had left while Rachel was gone to go spend the summer with his moms, so he wouldn't even be home when she got back. Emma was probably starting to drive her daddy crazy with her constant talking and continuous energy. Caleb had probably already destroyed the house and was more than likely running wild. Little Bella was a mommy's girl and was probably having a difficult time with her mom being gone. Even though Rachel had needed this vacation really badly, she did really miss her kids.

Mandy broke Rachel out of her daydream by asking, "So, are you ready to get home tomorrow?"

"Well," began Rachel, "I really miss Ross and the kids, but I could probably stand another week or two of vacation! I definitely don't want to start back to work on Monday morning."

"Yeah, I know what you mean," said Mandy. "I can't believe that as of tomorrow, I will officially be a resident of New York. I'm still in shock that mom and dad are letting me go that far away from home."

"I have a feeling you wouldn't be getting to move up here and work during the summer if you weren't staying at our house," said Rachel.

"You're right," replied Mandy. "I'm still kind of in shock that they are actually letting me live in a dorm starting in the fall."

"They're probably only doing that because you are living with me," Kristie said with a laugh.

"Once again, that is correct," said Mandy. "I really think my parents believe that I can't make it out on my own!" They all three laughed at this because they all knew it was very true!

"Oh Mandy," said Rachel, "I'm not going to be able to eat lunch with you on Monday because I have a doctor's appointment during my lunch hour."
"Is something wrong?" asked Mandy.

"No," started Rachel, "I'm just going to my doctor to see about scheduling a date to have my tubes tied."

"Have you told Ross that you want to have this done yet?" asked Mandy.

"Not yet," said Rachel. "But, I'm sure he won't care! I mean he doesn't want any more children either, and since I can't take the pill because I have allergic reactions to it, this is our best option. I mean, we've had two kids while using condoms and its not like Ross would ever have a vasectomy!"

"I still can't believe you got pregnant twice while using a condom," said Mandy. "How is that even possible?"

"Well, technically with Bella we forgot to use one, but with my tubes tied we won't have to worry about forgetting again!" said Rachel.

"I think this could be the weirdest conversation I've ever heard between a mother and a daughter," said Kristie.

"Well," began Mandy, "Rachel and I have a very unique relationship. We're almost more like friends."

"Yeah, and it'll stay that way until you do something bad!" said Rachel.

"Hey, you don't have to worry about me. I'm not you!" exclaimed Mandy.

"Let's just wait until after your first year of college to talk," Rachel said with a grin.

After laying out for a little while longer, Rachel, Mandy and Kristie went in and got ready for dinner. After dinner they went to the karaoke bar on the ship and had some fun on their last night of vacation!

Mandy and Rachel wearily got off the plane the next night. They were finally in New York. Mandy's parents were coming up in August with the rest of her stuff to move into the dorm, so for now all she had was two suitcases full of clothes for her summer internship. As they rode the escalator down to baggage claim, Rachel could already hear her children. Emma was asking Ross a million questions about how the bags got from the plane and onto the conveyor belt. Caleb was yelling "hi-yah" as he worked on his karate moves, and Bella was whimpering in her daddy's arms. All this activity stopped the instant they saw their mother step off of the escalator. Rachel was almost knocked over from the force of all three of them running to her! She gave each one of them a big hug and a kiss. Bella then latched onto her and wouldn't let go! Ross was eventually able to get to Rachel and give her a hug and a kiss. He then whispered in her ear, "How about I give you a really nice welcome when we get home?"

"That sounds wonderful," Rachel whispered back.

Once they got home, it took forever to get the kids in the bed because they were all excited to have Rachel home. It was okay though since the next day was Sunday and they could all sleep in until time to go eat lunch at Monica and Chandler's. Once Ross and Rachel were alone in their bedroom, Rachel contemplated talking to Ross about having her tubes tied, but decided to instead let Ross welcome her home. That discussion could wait until tomorrow. They were both so excited to see each other that neither one realized that they once again forgot the condom!

Please read and review! I hope you enjoyed!