AN: Hello! I'm back with a new story!

Summary: Ross and Rachel's conversation in the hallway in The One With The Fake Party brings old feelings to the surface. Plans Change, could their hearts change too? This is going to be a Ross and Rachel story but the other characters will be in it as well.

I don't know if anyone else is having the same problem as me with fanfiction, my story stats won't show up, so PLEASE leave me a review if you like this chapter because I want to know people are reading.

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: The characters from Friends and the lines from the show do not belong to me.

Ross sat on the step outside the door of apartment 20; the Bon Voyage party was still going on for Emily. This night couldn't be worse Ross thought to himself as he took a slow sip from the bottle of beer in his hand. He had the perfect night planned for him and Emily, and now his plans were ruined by Rachel throwing a fake party in order to seduce Joshua.

Suddenly the door to the apartment opened and Rachel walked out, still in her cheerleading outfit. Ross looked up at her with a miserable expression on his face.

"Oh, here you are. I was looking for you before. Joshua's gone so you and Emily are free to go," Rachel said with a lisp, due to her swollen lip.

"That's okay. She's still in there enjoying her fake party and uh, it's too late to do any of the things I had planned, so…" Ross replied unenthusiastically.

"Oh, Ross, I'm sorry. I completely ruined your evening," Rachel said sadly, as she looked at the ground.

"Yeah," Ross responded, slightly angry.

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, I made a fool out of myself," Rachel chuckled realizing how reckless she had acted. She leaned against the doorway.

"Helps a little," Ross replied, somewhat cheerfully.

"Is there room on that step for a pathetic loser?" Rachel asked.

"Yeah, have a seat," Ross said softly. He moved over on the step to make room for her to sit. Rachel carefully sat down beside him and paused a moment. She knew she had really hurt Ross' feelings; he wouldn't look her in the eye.

"I'm so sorry," Rachel said sincerely, breaking the awkward silence that had developed between them.

"That's okay, I mean it was just two-week thing anyway, I just didn't want it to end this way, you know?" Ross said, trying hard to forgive her, but he was still upset.

"Well, maybe you didn't want it to end?" Rachel realized out loud.

"What do you mean?" Ross asked, confused.

"You seem to really like her," Rachel explained softly, noticing it herself. Ross paused for a moment; he and Rachel hadn't ever had a deep conversation about their feelings for other people. Was she actually encouraging him to move on?

"Yeah, I really do. Yeah, but what am I going to do, I mean we both agreed that it was going to be a two-week thing, you know, no commitment," Ross said, before taking another sip of beer.

"Ross, that girl just spent the entire evening talking to your friends, asking to hear stories about you, looking through Monica's photo albums, I mean you don't do that if you're just in it for two weeks," Rachel replied. She was putting on a brave face, but on the inside that fact really hurt her.

"You think?" Ross said. He still couldn't believe these words were coming from Rachel.

"Yeah, you got like 14 hours until she has to be at the airport, and you're sitting here in the hallway with a 28-year-old cheerleader with a fat lip," Rachel said, trying to lighten the tense atmosphere by making fun of herself.

"Hey, you're right," Ross replied. He stood up but paused to look down at Rachel. She looked a little troubled. "Are you okay?" Ross asked without thinking.

"You mean my lip? Yeah I'm fine," Rachel said, as she gently put her icepack on her swollen mouth.

"No, I mean about this whole Emily situation," Ross said timidly. Rachel considered his question for a minute. She slowly stood up and locked eyes with him. Ross followed her eyes with his own as she rose from the step. He searched her eyes for any hints to her answer.

The way Rachel was looking at him, at that moment, stirred something inside him. It brought back an emotion he had pushed to the back of his mind for a while. For a second he couldn't remember why they weren't together; he was lost in her deep blue eyes.

"Yeah, I'm okay with it," Rachel replied uncomfortably, she shifted her weight from one foot to the other. "I mean I have Joshua now, well kind of…" Rachel said with a small laugh, but she quickly became serious. "Plans change," she stated quietly. She looked down at the floor so Ross couldn't see the hurt in her eyes.

Ross nodded. As he observed Rachel's expression he noticed something about her was different from when he began talking to her before. She almost looked hurt, not physically but emotionally. Ross couldn't tell if she was telling the truth or not.

Ross stood there uneasily before he decided he had better return to Emily.

"I'd better go…" Ross stated slowly. Rachel snapped out of her trance and looked up at him.

"Bye Ross," Rachel whispered. Ross took a step closer and debated whether or not to give her a hug. They were friends after all, why were things so awkward between them?

Ross hugged her anyways; his arms wrapped her in a gentle embrace. Rachel gently placed her hands on his back as she rested her head against his chest. She could hear his heartbeat and she wondered if he could hear hers, which had sped up. Rachel didn't know why this felt like a departure.

Ross eventually let go of her and gave her a shy smile before he headed back into the apartment.

Rachel slowly returned to the step wondering if telling Ross to go for Emily was such a good idea. Rachel wasn't entirely sure if she was completely over him. She remembered back to a time a few weeks ago in Central Perk.

"Emily is…incredible. I mean there-there are no words to describe it, I mean the whole weekend was like a dream. Oh! And you! Rach!" Ross said excitedly as Rachel entered from the bathroom.

"Oh, hey!" Rachel said.

"Hey! You were so right!" Ross exclaimed, approaching her.

"What?" Rachel said, confused.

"Uh, what you said, about us being in a place where we could finally be happy for each other," Ross explained. Rachel remembered saying that. But, now she realized she regretted it.

"Oh, hmm," was all Rachel could respond.

"I mean, I, I-I admit I-I wasn't quite there. Y'know, I mean the thought of you and that-that Josh guy…" Ross explained.

"Joshua," Rachel corrected.

"Joshua…guy at that club, dancing and having a good time, the thought of it kinda…y'know," Ross said.

"Yeah, I…" Rachel tried to say.

"But now! I'm there! I'm totally there! I'm-I'm finally where you are!" Ross said enthusiastically.

"Oh, thank goodness!" Rachel decided to reply.

When Ross had brought up them being happy for each other Rachel was taken aback. They had, shockingly, switched roles: Rachel was now the one trying to move on, but not wanting to, and Ross was the one that had found someone else.

That day in the coffee house Rachel was about to tell Ross that she was jealous of him going to Vermont with Emily, but then he interrupted her. She decided not to tell him because he expressed that he was over her. He was so happy, Rachel didn't want to ruin that.

As Rachel sat on the cold step she remembered the night she tried to get into Joshua's club. After that night she had been thinking that this whole Joshua relationship was not really what she wanted. At first she did want to be with Joshua. But now she thought maybe that whole club incident was a sign that they weren't meant to be together after all.

Those same feelings came back after this conversation in the hallway. Rachel realized that it felt like Ross was leaving because he was moving on from any chance at fixing their relationship. He was leaving her, in a way, by moving on.

Rachel decided that she did regret telling him to go for Emily, in fact she regretted ever setting them up in the first place. Before long, Rachel's thoughts were interrupted by Chandler entering the hall. He noticed Rachel's distressed expression.

"Rach, are you alright? You look upset," Chandler asked, concerned. He sat on the step beside Rachel.

"I was just thinking that maybe I'm trying to get into a relationship with Joshua for the wrong reasons. In the beginning it was just because he was cute and then because I'm jealous that Ross is happy with someone else. I just want some comfort," Rachel said. But before Chandler could respond someone came up the staircase. Rachel and Chandler turned their heads to see Joshua.

"Joshua," Rachel said, surprized. She stood up from the step.

"All those things I said about not being ready… I want to take them back," Joshua confessed. "I really do like you Rachel."

Rachel pondered her choices for a moment. She could either talk to Ross about her recently discovered feelings or try to move on with Joshua. She came to the conclusion that Ross had moved on so maybe she should find a way to move on too.

"Do you want to come in for some coffee?" Rachel asked.

"Sure," Joshua replied. Rachel led him into apartment 19 so they could be alone.

…..

Ross entered his sister's apartment to find Emily looking at another photo album. Ross crossed the apartment to stand behind the chair where Emily was sitting. He noticed it was an album with pictures of his and Monica's high school years. One of the pictures on that page stood out to him, it was of him, Monica and Rachel.

In the picture they were in Monica and Ross' backyard on a summer day. Rachel was smiling into the camera as Ross stood beside her making bunny ears with his fingers over Monica's head. Ross smiled at the memory. That was the summer he had seen Rachel in a bikini for the first time and his crush on her multiplied.

A few moments later Chandler walked into the apartment alone.

"Where's Rachel?" Ross asked.

"Joshua came back and then she took him back into the other apartment," Chandler replied. Ross got a strange feeling in the pit of his stomach. The thought of Rachel and Joshua together made him jealous again, but why? He was with Emily now. Rachel was free to do what she pleased.

As he thought of Rachel the conversation they had had in the hallway went through Ross' mind. He remembered a certain phrase she had said that puzzled him.

Plans change.

What did she mean by that?

Ross didn't have much time to deliberate because soon Emily was standing beside him. He was pulled out of his blank stare by her voice.

"Is something wrong?" Emily asked, wondering why Ross was acting so strange.

"No, nothing's wrong…" Ross replied. "Want to get going?"

"Sure," Emily responded. She wrapped her arms around him in a hug. Ross distractedly kissed her on the head. When they parted she watched him, what was on his mind? Emily turned away from him and headed to the bedroom to get her jacket.

"What's really wrong?" Phoebe asked as she approached Ross.

"Really, nothing's wrong," Ross replied defensively. But he knew that something was wrong, he hadn't felt like this in a long time. Ross felt like he did before his and Rachel's relationship began, jealous that she didn't want to be with him.

But Ross had no idea that on the other side of the hallway Rachel couldn't stop thinking of him. She and Joshua were sitting on the couch talking and drinking coffee, when Joshua reached out and held her hand in his.

Rachel let him hold her hand but deep down this still didn't feel right. But she was encouraged to continue by a familiar voice in her head. But now! I'm there! I'm totally there! I'm-I'm finally where you are!

I'm finally where you are.

The only problem was Rachel didn't quite know where she was.

…..

Ross glanced at the door, and sighed slightly. Phoebe noticed this and put two and two together.

"Is it to do with Rachel?" Phoebe asked pointing at the door. But, knowing Ross, even if it was about Rachel he wouldn't tell her.

"No," Ross said quickly. "I'm over Rachel and obviously she's over me, because she went into the apartment with Joshua. Why would I have her on my mind?" Ross said. He tried to his best to sound convincing.

"Okay, calm down. It was just an idea," Phoebe replied, putting her hands up in surrender.

Phoebe quickly dropped the subject of finding out what was on her friend's mind. The only thing was, Ross was easy to read. Phoebe could tell that he still had feelings for Rachel. He had always worn his heart on his sleeve, and the way he was looking at the door proved her suspicions. Ross was still in love.