Changes
It was one of those weekends they would spend at Westchester. Ever since they Chandler, Monica and the twins transferred almost two years ago, Ross, Rachel, Emma, Phoebe, Mike and their little bundle of joy visited them over the weekends. Although Joey was far away, he would fly in all the way from LA to attend special occasions.
Of course things were really different from before… but hey, they couldn't ask for more. They still had each other, and now they had their own lives to live.
Ross glanced at Rachel and smiled… After so long, he still had the power to make her quiver just by one look. He was about to leave with Chandler to buy Chinese food… but before doing so, he had to see his fiancée and make sure she was okay.
"Do you want anything, sweetie?" Ross asked as he entered the living room where Rachel was lounging.
Rachel stood up from the couch and approached him with a pout, "Do you have to go?" With the stress they both had with work, Emma, planning a wedding and apartment searching, they only had the weekends with each other completely.
"Yeah," he sadly replied, putting his face a few inches away from her. She tiptoed and gave him a peck. "Phoebe and Mike are on their way and Monica would freak out if the food wouldn't be here by then." He wrapped his arm around Rachel and kissed her forehead, "Don't worry, we have all night."
She flirtatiously smiled and gave him another peck, remembering they were dropping Emma off at his parents'. The kiss eventually deepened.
"Ehem." Monica verbalized clearing her throat to break them apart. Sure she was used to them after so many years, and it actually surprised her that their sweetness never faltered… even a bit. But of course, Ross was still her brother and they were a teeny bit too old to publicly display their affection.
Ross and Rachel both turned to Monica, nonchalant. They were used to it.
"Ross!" Chandler screamed from outside.
He kissed Rachel's forehead and went out the door.
"Bye sweetie," Rachel watched Ross walk to Chandler's car from the window. As soon as the car sped off, she went back to the couch and drank her tea.
Monica dropped down in exhaustion beside Rachel and turned her head towards her friend. "I am so tired." She began.
Rachel missed her best friend. Seeing each other at least once a month sucked. So many afternoons she'd enter Central Perk and wish that nothing had changed… well maybe except her and Ross.
Before Rachel could ask Monica why, a procession of three noisy, rowdy children entered the living room. Seeing how close Monica was to exploding, Rachel motioned her to calm down. She stood up and approached them.
"What are you three doing?" Rachel sweetly asked, pertaining to the banging of plastic pots and pans which she presumed belonged to Erica.
"Mommy," three-year-old Emma excitedly started, "We're playing parade!"
She smirked at her little girl. It was as if Rachel was looking at a mirror, seeing herself thirty-two years ago. Emma's hair was also golden and her eyes were as blue as the sea… but the toddler was getting bigger by the second, and traces of her father were slowly appearing, making her even more beautiful than her mother.
"Wike Disneywand!" Jack blubbered, having just watched the Disney celebration on DVD.
Emma gleamed and nodded, "Yeah mommy."
"Okay sweetie but don't be too noisy… the neighbors might complain," Rachel joked and kissed her baby's cheek.
Erica tapped Rachel's shoulder, "Auntie Rachel I'm not noisy."
Jack frowned, "Nu-uh!"
"Ya-huh!" Erica said back.
Rachel smiled then paid attention to her two-year-old niece and her nephew. But Monica finally gave up and stood up and bent next to her children, "Okay enough," she looked at Rachel.
"Terrible two's…" Rachel laughed, remembering how she and Ross would chase Emma around their Manhattan apartment to bathe her, feed her, and put her to bed.
"No Rach, terrible four's," she sarcastically replied. "Come with me," her voice went down to kindness as she motioned her kids to enter the play room, which was next to the living room.
Emma tugged her mommy's shirt to get her attention, "I'm hungry mommy."
Rachel stood up, glanced at her watch and saw that it was almost noon. "Oh no, daddy's still buying food. Do you want some of Aunt Mon's cookies?"
The child eagerly nodded and held her hands up high for Rachel to carry her.
"Mon, I'm getting cookies."
"Okay," Monica said in reply, still lecturing her children about fighting inside the play room.
Straddling Emma on her hip, Rachel ventured to the Victorian kitchen. She envied Monica and Chandler for having a house of their own… but after much debating and hesitation, she and Ross decided that they couldn't leave the city. Not at that moment anyway. So instead of house-hunting either in Westchester or Scarsdale, they went apartment-searching in Manhattan. It was their home anyway.
"I want milk too, mommy!" Emma told her mom as Rachel set her onto the counter.
"But sweetie, we're going to have lunch soon. I just want you to eat a little first so your tummy won't get ouchie." She tiptoed and reached for the cookie jar in the cabinet.
Monica then joined them with her kids in the kitchen.
"Mon, why is your cookie jar so high? Erica and Jack are like this tall," she placed her hand up to about less than two feet from the ground.
"Oh, that's for Chandler... he still thinks that jar's some ceramic kitchen design."
"Chandler?" Rachel laughed in amusement. Monica used to do that in her old apartment to keep the cookies from both Chandler and Joey.
Monica nodded and opened the screen door to the garden. The twins ran out to the sand box, both carrying cookies in their hands. Monica's eyes widened as she saw them and screamed, "Don't touch the sand with your hands while-" she sighed and sat down on the chair of the counter, "Forget it."
Rachel dusted off the crumbs on Emma's mouth and set her down on the floor so she could join her cousins. With that, the two best friends settled on the kitchen counter and watched their children play in the garden outside. Having kids made them more matured, more grown…
"So, how are you?" Rachel asked, not having seen her friend for a month.
Monica replied, "Exhausted. The twins are worse that terrible. They keep on fighting. Chandler can't even handle them! My things are messed up," she stopped, hearing Rachel chuckle.
"I'm sorry," she laughed.
Monica rolled her eyes and continued, "The playroom's walls have pen marks all over them; I've flipped my the couch cushion a hundred times because Erica and Jack spilled food on them… not to mention Chandler and Joey's spaghetti sauce last month; I haven't had sleep since last week because Chandler and I are potty-training them but he doesn't cooperate with me once the kids have accidents… Ugh," she grunted. She looked at her children in the sandbox and smiled, "but motherhood is something else. I just didn't expect to sometimes be a mother to Chandler."
Together they laughed at Monica's lame joke… And then Rachel smiled at the thought, she always knew her best friend would make a great mom someday.
Monica took a cookie from the jar and asked Rachel, "What about you, how are things with Ross?" Monica suddenly realized she hadn't asked Rachel that question for the longest time.
"We're okay," Rachel beamed.
She stopped chewing, "What?"
"We're okay. We've been great!" she exclaimed, like a newlywed back from her honeymoon.
"Are you serious?" To Monica's surprise, it had been almost two years since they got back together and not once did she receive a call from a sobbing Rachel; when in fact, she often called her about her shallow complains with Chandler.
Rachel nodded her head and looked at Monica funnily. "Is that a bad thing?"
"No," Monica wondered, "but seriously, you're okay? Like no 'we were on a break!' or 'hug-and-roll,' or 'my boyfriend's been married thrice and now we're getting married again,' or 'you cheated on me,' or 'you said my name at the altar,' or 'you said yes to Joey' problems?"
Rachel continued to shake her head at every inquiry and chuckled at the stupidity of their past, "No."
Monica thought in confusion. She felt odd because the Rachel and Ross she knew were… extremes. At one point, they would be fighting as if hell broke loose, at another, they would be as sweet as two people floating in Cloud 9. But despite heaven and hell, they loved each other… and that was all that mattered. "So you two haven't fought since you got together?"
"Monica, of course we have."
"About what?
"About his boring dinosaur stories," she laughed.
Monica stared, cheesed off. "That's it?"
"No, a lot of petty things too... Why do you look so upset? Do you want me and your brother to fight about stupid things again?"
"No," Monica looked grinned, finally convinced that things have changed so much since they got together… again. "I just feel weird seeing you like this."
"Like what?"
"I don't know. You seem so contented… so at peace. For 10 years, I lived with you and my brother – and I thought you two would always behave like cats and dogs."
Rachel grinned, Monica had a point. When she told Ross 'Cause this is where I wanna be, okay? No more messing around. I don't wanna mess this up again,' the moment she went back to his apartment, she really wanted things to work out between them. It was for herself, for Ross, and most importantly, for Emma. But since then, Rachel hardly paid attention to the shift of things between her and her fiancée… She simply went where the wind blew them. Suddenly, she felt this pride rushing over her.
"I thought so too," Rachel remarked.
"So any updates on the wedding?" Monica excitedly asked, knowing she was going to be their wedding coordinator.
Rachel glanced at her elegant 1 karat diamond ring and shyly smiled. The extravagant piece of jewelry had been on her finger for a year now, since he proposed during Valentine's Day last year. But even if they wanted to marry right away, with everything that had happened in their lives together and apart, they decided to wait to strengthen what they had… hoping and believing that this time, it would last forever.
But neither Ross nor Rachel could hold it any longer. Last February, they were close to eloping to Vegas together just to get it over and done with… but as soon as their parents knew about their plan, they got mad… not to mention Dr. Leonard Green who flipped at Ross (and only at him) for wanting to ruin his Sweet Pea's big day.
"I'm settling the budget with my dad tomorrow night and then I'll pass it on to you." Rachel was relieved her best friend enjoyed planning weddings (in spite of having two-year-old twins, Chandler Bing, work and a house to keep clean), and thought of it as a stress beater.
"How's Ross with your dad?"
"Ugh, Ross and my father have a love-hate relationship," Rachel sighed, "He hates Ross' guts but he loves Ross for me."
Monica laughed. Finally, there was a parent that hated Ross.
"But he adores Emma like anything else. My dad actually wants me to have another baby as soon as I get married."
Monica smiled, "And I thought he'd want you to stop producing Ross' children."
"I know!" Rachel mocked Monica.
"So are you?" Monica raised her eyebrow.
"Am I what?"
"Are you planning to have another one?"
Rachel paused in thought … If Monica asked the 'baby' question seven years ago, she would've freaked out and screamed her head off. And if Ross asked her back when they were first dating, she would've moved to another state. But then she looked at her adorable little angel playing in the backyard…
Emma instantly saw her and waved.
Rachel simply smiled and waved back then answered Monica's question, "Not too soon but yeah." She gleamed, "But please don't ask Ross that… he loves babies more than marriages, my father might not help fund ours if I get pregnant before May."
Monica laughed. She missed her brother and her best friend so much… she wished Rachel was still across the hall, a few steps away from her.
When Ross and Rachel decided they wanted to move out, Monica immediately showed them the houses for sale in Westchester. Yet Rachel and Ross could not leave the city… it had become too much of a home for them to leave. "Have you found a new apartment?"
"There's a 3-bedroom apartment along Park and 5th and it's pretty affordable and it's upstate, but Ross and I are still thinking about it." She and Ross spent years working, and working… finally, they saved enough to afford a comfortable life in a more comfortable home.
"Hey, it's all about me. What about you? How are you and Chandler?"
Monica bit her lip… it was as if the tables turned with her and Rachel. Her best friend was moving to a new apartment, planning a wedding, thinking of having another child… whereas she was having both heaven and hell with love in her family. "Chandler's fine. He can still actually surprise me by being a father." She giggled and was soon joined by Rachel.
But both ladies stopped as soon as they heard the garage door open. At any moment, the two boys would enter the kitchen, and they would complain once they find out their wives were talking about them.
Rachel reached for Monica's hand and said, "I missed you."
Monica smirked, "I know, I missed you too."
"Daddy!" Emma ran as soon as she saw her father come in.
Ross settled the paper bag of food on the dining table and took Emma in his arms and kissed her forehead.
Rachel looked up at them and smiled. Ross had been a great father ever since… even with Ben. When she first found out she was pregnant with Emma, a part of her felt assured she would be okay because Ross was there. How stupid was she to think that he would leave her in the first place.
"Hi," Ross bent down and kissed Rachel. "I got you spring rolls."
"Thanks sweetie," she smiled.
"I'm hungry." Emma groaned.
"Me too!" Erica went up to Monica.
"Me tooo!" Jack seconded the motion.
"Where's Phoebe?" Monica then turned to Chandler who looked surprised seeing cookies in ceramic furniture.
As if on cue, Phoebe and Mike with a stroller entered the kitchen. "Hello!" she greeted them. Having just given birth two months before, Phoebe's floopiness was already decreasing; her maternal instincts were kicking in. "Monica you still leave your front door open… this isn't an apartment, a robber might just enter and kill you all y'know…" her smartly remarked.
On second thought, her floopiness was slowly decreasing.
Emma waved goodbye to her cousins. She stifled a yawn and rubbed her eyes, "I don't wanna sleep in nana's house, mommy."
Rachel looked back from the passenger's seat and did a sad face, "Why?"
"Because she's gonna feed me broccolis again."
"But broccoli is delicious!" Ross commented.
Rachel chuckled, not knowing if he was convincing Emma to sleep in his parents' house, or if he was defending his mom for serving broccoli. "Broccoli, Ross?"
Ross glanced at Rachel and smiled, "Yeah, they're yummy."
The sun was slowly setting as they drove to Long Island. After arguing with her parents about broccoli, Emma finally fell asleep; while Ross and Rachel hummed to the familiar song on the radio as Rachel caressed his hand.
"Sweetie?" Rachel called his attention.
"Hmm?" he glanced.
"Are you proud of us?"
Ross tried to understand what she was trying to say but failed to do so. "Why should I be proud?" he asked sweetly, thinking if it was about Emma, or about their careers…
"Because we've changed so much since we first met?"
Ross chuckled "Yeah." He started to reminisce and blurted out the first thought that entered his head, "Hey, we were on a break!"
Rachel rolled her eyes and let go of his hand.
"Sweetie, I was just kidding!" he took her hand again but she pulled it from him, obviously looking pissed. "Rach?" he whined.
"Just when I thought you've matured," she looked out the window in annoyance, "You know what? Let's just go home. Emma doesn't want to sleep in Long Island anyway."
"Honey," he begged, "She just doesn't want broccoli. I can tell mom to serve something else…" He regretfully looked at her, "I'm sorry honey, please don't be mad at me? I thought we were completely over that."
"Then why did you have to say it?" she shot back.
"Because I was a stupid… and I still am." He pouted and begged like a dog, "and I do love you…?"
She finally looked at him. Weird as it may seem but whenever those words would come out of his mouth, she couldn't help but feel secure with his sense of honesty and truth. "You're stupid, you know that?"
He sheepishly smiled, "I know." Ross gently approached her hand once more. Sensing she wasn't going to take it back, he held hers. "Now what were you saying before I cut you off?"
Rachel took a deep breath as her temper went back to normal. "I was saying, before you rudely cut me of, Monica and I were talking about 'us' and I realized, we haven't messed around with each other since we got together."
"Wasn't that what you wanted us to do? You told me that this was what you wanted – 'you and me' here… and then… well I made the same joke again and you got mad, again," he nervously smiled.
Rachel amiably gazed at him. "You remembered everything I told you that night?"
He bit his lip and shyly replied, "Yes because I don't wanna mess this up…"
"Aw," she touched his cheek. He surely knew how to make her smile… he always did.
Ross glanced at her again and sarcastically asked, "Does this mean we're dropping Emma off at my mom's?"
"Ha-ha," she replied. They weren't too far from the Geller's home.
"Oh wait, did you mention to Monica about your father's budget?" Ross' tone suddenly became dull even if it was about their wedding.
Rachel could tell he still had resentment in him after her dad blamed him about the whole Vegas escapade. "Yes, I told her I'd call her tomorrow after I meet with him."
"Okay."
"Are you sure you don't want to go?" she felt like she was pushing a boulder up a hill.
He scoffed, "Oh believe me, I am very sure. And I'm sure your dad wouldn't prefer having me there either."
"Honey, my father doesn't hate you okay?"
"'You- imbecile from some stupid library- have no right to marry my daughter without my presence. You've already impregnated her and you also cheated on her- If my dear little Sweet Pea didn't love you, I would wish you were in hell by now,' means I like you?" Ross recalled.
"No," Rachel answered unsure. "But sweetie, he adores Emma… and he wouldn't want any other man for me than you. And Ross, he offered to pay half of our wedding."
"Rachel, that's his pride… I'm sure if I get you pregnant before the wedding, he'll pay for someone else to marry you!" Ross remembered one of his future father-in-law's rules before the wedding.
"So what if I do get pregnant before the wedding?" The thought suddenly came back in her head since she talked about it with Monica earlier.
Ross suddenly swallowed and kept silent. He slowly turned his head to Rachel with a horrified face, "Are you trying to tell me something?"
"No," Rachel slapped his arm and laughed, "It was a hypothetical question, Ross."
"If you do, I'll take you with me in hiding," Ross responded.
Rachel rolled her eyes; she was expecting a real answer.
Silence between them persisted for about five minutes… only the radio murmured sound.
Rachel continued to caress his hand and stopped as soon as she gathered enough courage to ask him, "Ross? What do you think of-"
"Having another baby?" he continued with a smile. Seeing her nod, amused at their mutual connection, Ross responded, "I want one… I hope you know that."
She widely grinned, "I know. I want one too."
Ross leaned over and softly kissed her, "Good."
Satisfied, they sat in peace until they drove up to the Geller house.
I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did making it... I just wanted to imagine how "Friends," particularly Ross and Rachel, would be at this day and age..:) I planned it to be a one-shot but I honestly don't know ifI shouldcontinue it... :)
Oh, Read and Review!