One Long Week

Chapter 2- Secrets Told and Hearts Broken

Written by: Gabe - Don't forget to check out my site, http://gabesfriends.cjb.net -- equipped with friends fics from various authors and a message board for all the authors to chat about new ideas, review fics, and chat about the show. If your interested in having your fics published their, just email me at @ ChandlerGabe@aol.com

Disclaimer: These characters do not belong to me, but to Bright, Kaufman and Crane Productions and Warner Bros. Their use is not intended for profit, only for entertainment.

Author's Note: This is my version of how the whole J/R/R storyline might go down. Its going to have a lot less humor than my other fics and more Drama, Romance, and Angst. This is my first dip into the dramatic side of Friends. So be kind in your reviews.

The three men all sat on the familiar couch in Central Perk. Each had their own preferred drink in hand and had their feet propped up on the coffee table in front of them. Chandler, sitting in between Joey and Ross, sighed, and then spoke. "You know what? This is just sad. We all have the day off, yet we're still here, at the coffeehouse, doing the exact same thing we do on normal days. We should be out doing something exciting right now."

Joey and Ross both stared blankly at Chandler. Both were wondering how they could go from a perfectly good discussion of the female anatomy to that. Joey chimed in first, "Wow. You being married is really starting to show. You used to love talking about women…especially their body parts."

Chandler rolled his eyes, "I'm serious man. We should get off this couch, go out, and do something crazy. It'll be fun. Then we can go home and brag to the girls that we did something wild while they spent their whole day at work."

Ross shrugged, "I don't know Joey. The man has an idea…it could be fun." Ross really didn't care what they did. It had been a long time since the three of them had really hung out together. Ever since Chandler got married their time together had seemed to dwindle. Now with fatherhood just around the corner again, Ross was anxious to spend as much time with his two best friends as possible.

Joey smirked, "I doubt there's anything crazy out there that I haven't done already." The truth was, Joey didn't want to go anywhere. He liked the situation as it was. As long as they were in the coffeehouse, Joey knew nothing unexpected would be thrown his way, and that made it easier to hide his secret.

Chandler stood up. "Come on, we are leaving this place and going to find something new to do." He didn't wait for Ross or Joey to reply he simply threw a ten-dollar bill on the table and headed for the door.

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Joey, Ross, and Chandler had been walking for quite awhile. None of them had sighted anything new, or relatively exciting for them to do, and all three were growing weary of the idea. They walked in silence another half of a block when Chandler held his arms out and stopped his two best friends dead in their tracks.

"Right there," Ross and Joey looked at the building Chandler had just indicated with the nod of his head. "Senorita Maria's Palm Readings an Fortune Telling."

Ross laughed. "You can't be serious. All theses places are just big cons, strictly made to cheat your hard earned money away from you." Joey mumbled his agreement and looked back to Chandler, seeing if he agreed with his two less enthused friends.

"Nope. We're going in. None of us has ever done it before, and it's semi-exciting, so it fits our standards. Besides, it's cold out here and I'm willing to bet they got heat." The three of them glanced at one another and headed on into the building.

It was a very fancy shop. The carpet was red, and the walls were painted a dark purple, with fancy gold frames and chains hanging all around. Chandler led the way to the front desk, which was decorated in assorted colors of fabric. An older lady sat behind it, with light gray hair, mostly hidden by a strange pink and purple cap worn titled on her head. Chandler quickly stated their business there and they were immediately led back to a dark room with a round table in the center of it.

Each of the guys took a seat and the strange old lady took one across from them. "Welcome to my lovely business gentleman. I promise you, you won't be disappointed with the acute accuracy of my predictions. First, to prove my knowledge of the future is real; I will tell you something about yourself that you already know, but something that I, a stranger, would not know. But first, everyone must join hands."

Ross was awfully glad to be in the middle, because that left Joey and Chandler to be the unlucky men who had to hold the hands of the strange old lady in front of them. After everyone's hands were connected, she began.

She nodded at Chandler; "We'll start with you. You are a newlywed. Your parents are divorced…Ah!" She exclaimed as if she had revealed some vital piece of information. "You used to fear commitment, but now you embrace it. You love your wife very much." Chandler was nothing short of impressed. He smiled as Maria moved on to Ross.

"You…you doubt my talents. You used to embrace commitment, but now you fear it. You've had your heart broken one too many times. And on more than one occasion the woman you were sure was the love of your life, left your life. But fear not young man, realization, risk, and possibly love are in your very near future." Ross was genuinely surprised by the lady's accuracy. He hadn't expected her to really know that much about him. She continued on to Joey.

"Oh wow. You young man…you're in love. You have a pure soul paired with a betraying heart. The one you love is the one you absolutely shouldn't…The secret is killing you…it's eating you alive…you just want to let it out…And you!" She quickly shot her gaze towards Chandler; "You already know the secret."

"What about me?" Ross questioned. "Do I know the secret?"

She closed her eyes for a few seconds…"No. You do not…In fact…you can never know the secret…because you are the cause of his pain."

Joey had heard enough; he quickly let go of Ross' and Maria's hand and left the room. Ross quickly followed leaving Chandler to pull out his wallet and pay the lady for her time. Before he exited the room, she warned him. "Be gentle with your friend, the road ahead will not be easy for him."

Chandler found Joey and Ross sitting on a bus bench outside. All three were impressed by the woman's accuracy, but only Ross was confused as to what Joey's fortune meant. "What was she talking about Joe? Who are you *so* in love with?"

Joey sighed and replied with a simple, "No one." That was too close. Ross already learned way more than he ever wanted him to know. He didn't want Ross to have to know he was the reason Joey couldn't be happy. He certainly would not want to hear he was a burden in Ross' or Chandler's life.

Ross believed him, I mean after all, this was Joey, and Joey didn't fall in love with any women. Joey was not a monogamous kind of guy, and Ross knew that. So when he said he wasn't in love with anyone, Ross didn't think twice about it. He even went as far as joking about it. "I was gonna say, 'Listen lady! This is Joey Tribianni! He doesn't get deep feelings for anyone! He doesn't fall for women! He just falls for their bodies!' " Ross laughed and looked over at Chandler and Joey, both sitting straight faced, not thinking the joke was funny at all.

Joey was torn inside. What was the right thing to do? He wanted so bad to let the truth out, not caring who he hurt in the process. But there was another part of him, who was forever loyal to his friends. He wanted so bad to be selfish. He wanted, for once in his life, to put himself before his friends. And he was going to.

"Alright Ross. There's something that I haven't told you."

Ross was concerned, and his faced showed it. Very rarely did he see Joey this serious.

"Ok." Joey took a deep breath and looked to Chandler, who was obviously holding his. "Lately, this weird thing has kind of happened to me. I have…for the first time in my life…fallen in love. And…I don't know how it happened. I mean one second, I felt nothing, and then in an instant, boom! There it was. This strange, new, scary feeling…that I had never felt before. And…from the moment I felt it, the first thing I wanted to do was share the great news with all my friends…but I couldn't do that."

"Why not? Being in love is one of the greatest things that can happen to a person. You should share that with everyone. I know I have…every single time."

Joey shook his head. "No, see it's different for me Ross. I'm not supposed to be in love with the person that I'm in love with. I'm…"

Ross cut him off, "Oh my god." Ross had just come to a realization. Both Chandler and Joey were scared of what might be coming next. "I get it…Now I understand why you couldn't tell me."

Joey felt a moment of relief. He knew that this was not over, but the fact that he didn't actually have to say the words "I love Rachel," to Ross' face was definitely a minor victory. "You figured it out?"

Ross sighed and shook his head yes while Chandler remained silent. "I can't believe you're in love with her."

Joey quickly jumped in, "Ross, I'm sorry. I didn't mean for this to happen. And if you don't want me to move forward with these feelings, I won't." Joey wasn't so sure he meant that.

"How can you love her though? I don't even love her yet and I have spent way more time with her than you have. I understand Mona is a nice girl and all but how could you fall so quickly for her." Joey shook his head and looked away as Chandler dropped his face into his hands. Ross looked at Chandler. "What's wrong?"

Chandler sighed, "He's not in love with Mona, he's in love with someone else." He didn't elaborate any further; it wasn't his place to say anything more.

Seeing that Chandler wasn't going to go into any further depth, he turned back to Joey. "Joey, will you please tell me what's going on? Whatever it is it can't be that bad." Ross had no clue how wrong he was.

"Ross…" he paused, but then continued on after some urging from his dark haired counterpart. "I'm…I'm in love with Rachel."

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The events of that day went nothing like Joey imagined they would. When he woke up that morning he thought he would spend the day really thinking about his feelings, and if possible, find a way to get rid of them. Instead, Chandler ended up figuring him out, and a few short hours later, he confessed to Ross what he had been hiding the last couple of weeks.

Ross was not mad at Joey for feeling the way he did. Ross knew that sometimes you just couldn't help whom you fall for. And Ross, of all people, understood how easy it is to fall in love with Rachel. Ross didn't get mad a Joey, until Joey told him he wanted to tell Rachel about his feelings.

Ross said that Joey and Rachel being together would make everyone uncomfortable. Joey didn't buy it, the only person that Rachel and he would make uncomfortable was Ross himself. Joey found that to be a pretty selfish reason to keep your best friend away from confessing his feelings to his first love.

Joey did agree with some of Ross' reasoning though. After all Rachel was pregnant with his kid, they had been married once, and their relationship never had any real closure. He knew if he acted on his feelings he would be betraying Ross. But he also felt like Ross was betraying him by asking him not to act on them.

He reclined his chair and closed his eyes, there had to be a peaceful solution to this problem. He just had to concentrate on it. But before he could really get down to thinking, the door opened, and in walked his roommate.

Joey opened his eyes to glance up at her, and by the look on her face he could tell something was on her mind. He silently prayed that Ross didn't tell her. "Hey… What's the matter?"

Rachel sat her purse down on the counter and sat down on the stool beside it. She sighed and then spoke, "Joey, we have to talk."

Joey had heard those words before, and he was smart enough to know that they never led in to a pleasant conversation. His hope that Ross didn't tell her was fading fast. "Sure."

Rachel adjusted herself on the stool and cleared her throat. "Ok, um, Joey…today, I talked to Ross…" Joey's heart sunk inside. Ross had sold him out. "And, we were discussing the baby…and we both came to the conclusion…that it would probably be best if…I moved in with him…"

Joey felt his heart break. He didn't want her to go. Even if it was just across the street, it seemed so much bigger. Like she was moving away from him personally. "Wh…why? Why would you wanna move?"

"Joey…it's just that…I should be living with the father of my baby…me and you both know that…I need someone who can help me take care of the baby…"

"I can do that!"

"Joey, come on. I need someone experienced. You're just…you're not…"

"I'm not what Rach?"

"You're just not grown up enough to take care of a child Joe. I mean come on! You're not ready for this!"

It was taking everything he had to not let his eyes tear up…if she only knew how much he had grown in the last few weeks. He tried to stay focus on the positive…at least she didn't know about his feelings…or at least she wasn't letting him know she knew.

He couldn't believe this was happening. How could Ross do this? Go behind his back and take the one person who meant everything to him away. And not because he wanted her, but just because he didn't want Joey to have her. Joey slowly felt his friendship with Ross slipping away…and at this point…he didn't really care.

He had to stop her from going. He would beg, and he would plead. But he refused to let the woman he loved move out of his home. He wouldn't be able to see her smile whenever he wanted to, he couldn't sit down and watch a movie with her whenever they felt bored…he was losing the best thing that ever happened to him.

"Rach…don't go…I love having you here…and…Come on! Living with me can't be that bad! We laugh, we hangout…we have fun! I mean who's more fun than me?! I'm Mr. Fun!"

"I know…but I just don't have time for fun anymore." And with that, she walked out of the apartment.

She had to tell a lot of people she was moving, and Joey had to pick up the pieces of his broken heart.

He had called it from the beginning. Today was a bad day.