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Chapter 4

Unfortunately they don't belong to me!

The next morning Ross was sat in his apartment watching Emma play in her pen as he nervously waited the arrival of Megan. He felt bad for breaking up with Megan like this but he knew that it was fairer to her this way in the long run, if he managed to work things out with Rachel then broke up with Megan it would be a lot harder. Ross was interrupted from his thoughts by a knock on the door. Megan greeted him in a cheerful mood

"Hi! How was your night with Emma? I had a great time at the party, Rachel was there which I didn't expect."

Ross was shocked, "Rachel was at the same party as you? Did you talk to her?"

"Yeah turns out she works with Anna at Ralph Lauren. We chatted for a little bit, is she okay? She seemed a little down. Anyway what was it you wanted to talk to me about?"

Ross looked down and took a deep breath before looking up at Megan "There's no nice way to do this, but I don't think we should see each other anymore and you've got to believe me when I say that its not because of you. Its really not, I think you are a great person and under different circumstances maybe something could of come of this. But there are so many issues that I need to sort out with Rachel. You know we've got this huge history and I just think that before I can get in with my life properly I need to resolve things with Rachel once and for all or at least let the wounds heal and the scars fade."

He paused before continuing "I don't know if there is any chances of a future for me and Rachel or not, but if there is even the smallest possibility that there is then I think I owe it to Emma, Rachel and even myself to give it ago. I'm sorry Megan I really am."

As she took everything Ross was telling her Megan couldn't feel anything but grateful to Ross. He was being honest with her and didn't want to lead her on knowing that nothing was likely to come of it.

"Ross surprisingly I do believe you. If I'm honest with myself, after dinner last weekend I never really expected this to turn into anything serious. I saw the way you and Rachel interacted with Emma and it was clear that you belong together as a family. I can only thank you for being honest with me."

Ross couldn't believe how well she had taken it, most women probably would have called him a liar and said he was just making excuse to dump them. "Thank you for being understanding."

"I'm not the kind of person to stand in the way of a family being together and hey you know where I am if things don't work out with Rachel. Not that I'll hold my breath waiting for your call."

Ross smiled "I wouldn't be so sure that you won't be hearing from me, things between me and Rachel never usually turn out so I don't see why they will this time."

"Well from they way she has acted around me the two times we have met I've got a feeling that she feels the same way as you."

Ross sighed, "maybe."

Megan stood up "there's no maybe about it. Look I should get going but Ross don't give up without a fight, when Rachel comes to collect Emma don't let her leave until you have resolved everything."

"If I do that it's likely that she will never leave."

At that Megan laughed a little, "isn't that what you want?"

"I guess." As Ross walked Megan to the door there was a knock.

"I'm guessing that's Rachel. Bye Ross, remember what I said and good luck." With that Megan gave him a kiss on the cheek, opened the door and said hello to Rachel before disappearing down the hallway.

Ross and Rachel stood by the door looking at each other for several moments before Ross invited her in. In order to delay talking to Ross and going through with the promise she had made on her way over of not leaving Ross's apartment until they had at least tried to sort everything out, Rachel walked straight over to the playpen and picked Emma up.

Ross had watched Rachel in a kind of trance as she crossed the apartment to their daughter, in awe not only of her physical beauty but also of her inner beauty and the way she interacted with Emma. Looking at the two of them together it was difficult to believe that for such a long time Rachel practically freaked out whenever babies or children were mentioned, she was such a wonderfully natural mother. Ross was soon brought out of his trance by the sound of Rachel's voice.

"Hey Ems, did you have a good time with daddy or did he bore you with all of his dino stories?"

"Hey! Emma happens to love my dino stories thank you very much"

Rachel highly doubted Ross's claim but in order to avoid an argument about it decided not to react to it but instead enquired about Emma, the one thing she felt safe talking to him about.

"So how was she last night? Did she sleep okay?"

"Yeah she was a perfect little angel as always."

"Are you sure that's Emma you're talking about? I wouldn't call waking we up at 4:30 most mornings being an angel."

"She must like sleeping here I guess, she didn't wake up till 7 this morning."

"Typical! The one night she sleeps through is the night I haven't got her."

Ross was angered by this, "Don't… don't complain Rach. I would love to have the chance to be woken up by Emma at 4:30 every morning."

Thinking of the picture on his nightstand that made them look like a family, Ross thought 'I'd give away everything I own if it would mean that you and Emma were with me everyday and night and we could be a family.' But didn't dear say it out loud so went with "In fact I'd give away everything I own if it would mean that Emma was with me everyday and night!"

Rachel felt guilty. She knew how much Ross hated not living with Emma and that it was mainly her fault that he didn't get to experience the early wake up calls and the other parts of parenting she sometimes found to be tiresome. Thinking about what it would be like to have Ross waking up at 4:30 in the morning to see to Emma with her strengthened Rachel's resolve to see her promise through because it created an image in her mind of the three of them living together as a family. An image that she so desperately wanted to become a reality.

Well that's the latest chapter, it's shorter than I had planned for it to be but the next chapter is probably going to a long one but isn't likely to be until next week as I am going to be very busy over the next few days!