Chapter Five.

It had been six or so years since Ross and Rachel had broken up, Ross tried to push any thoughts of Rachel to the back of his mind, but every now and again they kept cropping back up, now more than ever his thoughts of Rachel were occurring more frequently. But he was probably never going to see her again and he had to accept that, Monica and Rachel had stopped talking a while back and any hope of rekindling his relationship with Rachel was lost.

He was married… well divorced probably, Carol; his wife, soon to be ex-wife had just moved out, after realising she was a lesbian, his marriage was going down the drain which was definitely not how he pictured his first marriage ending up as.

"Hi," he replied mortified as he entered Central Perk, where his friends normally hung out, the group consisted of; Joey, Monica, Chandler and Phoebe.

"This guy says hello, I wanna kill myself," Joey said.

"Are you okay sweetie?" Monica asked.

"I just feel like someone reached down my throat, grabbed my small intestine, pulled it out of my mouth and tied it around my neck," Ross said shuddering at the thought of it.

"Cookie?" Chandler offered.

Monica turned her attention to the others, "Carol moved her stuff out today, let me make you some coffee," she said to Ross, Ross sighed he seemed to have a string of unsuccessful relationships which was growing by the minute.

"Ooh! Ooh!" Phoebe said plucking the air around Ross as she tried to cleanse his aura.

"No, no don't! Stop cleansing my aura; just leave my aura alone okay? I'll be fine alright? Really, everyone I hope she'll be happy," Ross replied, he had known Phoebe well enough to know that this was another one of her schemes to make him feel better, none of which actually worked. But she was always there for him, she was the first person he saw when Carol started seeing Susan and his marriage started falling apart… Even if that night did bring back some slightly weird memories, how did he think having a fling with Phoebe would solve his problems?

"No, you don't," Monica interrupted.

"No I don't," Ross agreed, "to hell with her, she left me!" Did seven years of marriage mean nothing to her?!

"And you never knew she was a lesbian…" Joey interrupted, Ross glared at him. Why did everyone have to bring that up? How was he supposed to know she was a lesbian when she didn't? Ross continued to listen to the conversation only giving his input on various occasion without paying much attention.

The others were trying hard to convince Ross that things would get better eventually, Ross was reluctant to believe them, "look, guys I don't want to be single, okay? I just…I just wanna be married again," he said his head sinking in his legs. Was it fate? Was it destiny? For at that precise moment a very wet bride entered the coffee house.

"And I just want a million dollars!" He claimed extending his hand hopefully.

"Wha-?" Ross asked, looking around the room locking eyes with the very wet bride, who looked strangely familiar for some reason, maybe he had bumped into her somewhere? She didn't look like the person who would browse around museums, maybe he knew her when they were kids?

Monica's attention was also consumed by the new arrival, "Rachel?!" She said incredulously, surprised to see the girl, and slightly deflated that she had now lost the bet she had made over a year ago… Hopefully Chandler wouldn't remember the bet.

"Oh God Monica hi! I just went to your building and you weren't there and then this guy with a big hammer said you might be here and you are!" Rachel replied smiling a genuine smile instead of her usual million dollar smile that could blind anyone who was within several yards.

"Can I get you some coffee?" Gunter interrupted.

"De-caff. Okay, everybody, this is Rachel, another Lincoln High survivor. This is everybody, this is Chandler, and Phoebe, and Joey, and- you remember my brother Ross?!" Monica replied pointing to each of her friends in turn.

Hi, sure!" Rachel said after a few minutes of long silence, although she confirmed that she remembered it, her facial expressions contradicted with her sentence and she didn't look 'sure' that she remembered Ross. All she could remember was the geeky guy in the afro, the one who was always on the keyboard, and the one whom she shared the summer she would never forget with. In the place of Monica's older brother, was a man in his twenties, the afro was gone; a whole tub of hair gel had replaced it and there wasn't a keyboard in sight…

"Hi." Ross said, raising his eyebrows wanting to question her current outfit, but then again for all he knew it could be in fashion, after all fashion was pretty crazy these days wasn't it? Somehow his predicament didn't seem likely, plus why would she be crying if it wasn't from a failed marriage or something? Needless to say he was still happy to see her, he motioned to hug her, and unfortunately his umbrella opened splattering even more rain over the two. He sat down, putting his umbrella down feeling deflated again.

"So you wanna tell us now, or are we waiting for four wet bridesmaids?" Monica asked.

Rachel didn't need prompting to tell her story, although it was probably a more exaggerated version of what happened. "Oh God... well, it started about a half hour before the wedding. I was in the room where we were keeping all the presents, and I was looking at this gravy boat. This really gorgeous Lamauge gravy boat. When all of a sudden I realised that I was more turned on by this gravy boat than by Barry! And then I got really freaked out, and that's when it hit me: how much Barry looks like Mr. Potato Head. Y'know, I mean, he always looked familiar, but... Anyway, I just had to get out of there, and I started wondering 'Why am I doing this, and who am I doing this for?'" She paused for a dramatic effect before continuing. "So anyway I just didn't know where to go, and I know that you and I have kinda drifted apart, but you're the only person I knew who lived here in the city."

"Who wasn't invited to the wedding." Monica stated.

"Ooh, I was kinda hoping that wouldn't be an issue..." Rachel admitted, "I was kinda hoping… that maybe you could help me out…"

"Well you were 'kinda hoping' a lot of things, and you can't stay with me," Monica stated, looking around the room wildly for some excuse, "because I already have a roommate… Phoebe," she finished, the others look surprised before nodded, and Ross shot his sister a dark look knowing full well that Phoebe didn't live with her anymore.

"I-," Phoebe began, but she was interrupted by Rachel.

"Oh, okay," Rachel said deflated.

"I don't live with her," Phoebe said, "I moved out because she was driving me crazy," she stated.

"But it can be like college again!" Rachel declared.

"I don't know…" Monica replied.

"You can always stay with me," Ross mumbled absentmindedly, the others turn to stare at him surprised at his sudden change of heart.

"Look, why can't I just decide later?" Rachel said simply. The others nod in agreement.

Ross, Phoebe, Monica, Chandler and Joey were all seated in Monica's kitchen, only Rachel was absent, she was supposedly job hunting but no-one believed her when she said this they all thought it was some excuse that they were supposed to swallow up.

"Guess what!" Rachel said bursting in, with a load of shopping in her hands, she looked surprisingly upbeat for someone who had just left a man at the man at the altar.

"You got a job?" Ross asked.

"Are you kidding? I'm trained for nothing! I was laughed out of twelve interviews today," Rachel concluded in a surprisingly chirpy tone as if she had swallowed a tub of optimistic pills.

"And yet you're surprisingly upbeat," Chandler commented dryly.

"You would be too if you found John and David boots on sale, fifty percent off!" Rachel claimed happily, the others stared at her bemused whilst Monica just looked angry.

"Oh how well you know me…" Chandler interrupted dryly.

"They're my new 'I don't need a job, I don't need my parents, I've got great boots' boots!" Rachel claimed, there seemed no way of deflating her happiness.

"How'd you pay for that?" Monica interrogated.

"Uh, credit card?" Rachel replied as if hoping that this was the right answer, apparently it wasn't as Monica glared at her with her eyes narrowed, with her signature 'I'm going to kill you' look that she shared with Ross.

"And who pays for that?" She continued, a sharp edge added to her voice, the other four remained silent, it was best not to ignite Monica's anger during moments like this.

"Um… my father," Rachel replied sheepishly.

"C'mon you can't live off your parents your whole life," Monica interrupted.

"I know that, that's why I was getting married," Rachel replied.

"Give her a break, it's hard being on your own for own for the first time," Phoebe interrupted, Rachel was just about to thank her when she continued, "I remember when I first came to this city. I was fourteen. My mom had just killed herself and my step-dad was back in prison, and I got here, and I didn't know anybody. And I ended up living with this albino guy, who was, like, cleaning windows outside port authority, and then he killed himself, and then I found aromatherapy. So believe me, I know exactly how you feel."

"I think the word you're looking for is 'anyway'…." Ross interrupted.

"You ready?" Monica said gesturing to the multiple credit cards that were lying on the table, Rachel shook her head.

"C'mon, cut, cut, cut, cut…" Ross chanted continuously, it only took a few more seconds before the others continued giving Rachel no choice but to cut the credit cards up, she grasped the remains of the credit cards, as she let a tear escape from her eye. Surprisingly, the simple task wasn't as hard as she had originally thought it would be.

"Welcome to the real world, it sucks you're gonna love it!"

The others said goodbye and soon it was only Ross and Rachel left with Monica, they decided to watch a film, although Monica didn't seem too pleased that there seemed to be no set arrangement of where Rachel should stay.

As the film reached the credits Ross began to conduct what he was planning to say; "look Mon, Rachel can stay at mine for one night, okay? And then she can stay at yours," He concluded.

"I'm right here," Rachel interrupted.

"Okay," Monica said finally after a few minutes of silence. The two left, although Rachel had no particular input in the decision.

"Look, you sleep in the bedroom, I'll crash on the sofa," Ross said in his 'no arguing' tone, which always made Rachel want to laugh, since Ross was particularly the definition of the sweetest guy possible and being stern, mean and strict just didn't work for him… She would've argued, but after opening her mouth she realised she didn't have the energy.

"Why are you being nice to me?" Rachel asked suspiciously.

"Why can't I be nice without you suspecting something?" Ross replied.

"Well you said and I quote; 'I'm still mad at you' the last time we met," Rachel asked.

"Well, I'm not mad it's been… Seven years?" Ross stated but it sounded more like a question rather than a statement, "and anyway I evaluated the situation…" He continued.

"Evaluated?" Rachel interrupted incredulously.

"Yes, evaluated, now if you would please stop interrupting me… and anyway it didn't make sense…" Ross continued only to be interrupted once more by Rachel.

"What didn't make sense Geller?" Rachel interrupted, "I kissed another boy simple, and it's not exactly rocket science."

"Not that," Ross said annoyed, "Will, the part of the puzzle that didn't make sense, he came by my house earlier that day to interrogate me about our relationship-," He continued.

"Get to the point, otherwise I may die of boredom," Rachel interrupted.

"I was getting there! Now, if you would just listen, Will saw me at the comic book store, and convinced me to go there for a special two for one offer that would end in an hour-."

"There isn't a two for one deal," Rachel intervened.

"I know that now, but it is apparent that he did that to get me out of the store… to see you kissing Chip," Ross concluded, realisation dawned on Rachel's face.

"Oh," She replied after several minutes of long silence. "So Chip was part of Will's plan?" Rachel interrupted, "I didn't think they were good friends."

"They had something in common, for us to break up," Ross said.

Rachel who looked very calm after realising this suddenly faced Ross with a look of pure anger adjacent on her face, "if you knew this why didn't you tell me?"

"I thought it would be better not to, plus Mon had told me you were seeing this guy, Barry was it?" Ross said simply.

"Oh, so you decided to make me feel guilty?"

"Rach, there was no point, you had Barry and I had Carol, I didn't even think that I would ever see you again," Ross reasoned.

"Fine," Rachel grumbled. "I guess you have a point," She moved a few boxes, "I'm sorry your marriage didn't work out," she said after a few moments of silence.

"Likewise," Ross mumbled.

"I didn't get married," Rachel informed him.

"Well, engagement then," Ross corrected himself. "Anyway you should get a job if you want to live in the city, have you talked to your parents yet?" He asked cautiously.

"No, my dad will just talk about how I'm an embarrassment and a failure…." Rachel said a sob escaping from her eye. "How do you and Mon do it?" She asked genuinely.

"I dunno, Mon's apartment was given to her by our grandma but other than that we've pretty much had to work for all we have, y'know for us to be more responsible," Ross said, Rachel nodded remembering the Geller's and wishing her family was more like theirs, what was her parents big plan for her? For her to marry some wealthy guy and to get money from him for the rest of her life and for her not to work for anything? Rachel was just about to go to bed when Ross interrupted her thoughts, "thank you for being here; I just didn't want to be alone…" He mumbled.

Rachel woke up the next day, confused; she was in a stranger's bed with stuff she didn't recognise… Where was Barry? For a few seconds the events of the previous day were a blur, what had happened at the wedding? It took a few seconds for her to realise that she had left the wedding and she was currently in Ross' apartment.

"Ross? I need to talk to you," A voice came from outside, it was a female's voice and it certainly wasn't Monica's or Phoebe's. The voice sounded calm but there was a slight edge to her voice.

"Carol?" Ross asked which ended the mystery of the owner of the mystery voice. "What's the matter?" By this time curiosity had gotten the better of Rachel, was she the infamous Carol, Ross' ex-wife? Was she crying? Why was she crying?

"I'm pregnant," Carol admitted finally, Rachel gasped as she felt as if she was in a soap opera with a really cool twist, she leaned her face against the door trying hard not to disrupt the privacy of the two by barging in.

"Oh, is it mine?" Ross asked realisation dawning on him.

"Well it can't be Susan's can it?" Carol replied irritably.

"Are you gonna keep it?" Was Ross next question.

"Yes, and Ross even though we're not together this baby needs his father, okay?" Carol asked, Rachel sighed, despite popular believe that she was a cold hearted woman who left a man at the altar (which she was) she had always known Barry wasn't right for her, and despite everything she had developed an inkling of hope that maybe somebody she would once again start dating Ross. The hope was now shattered, he was going to be a father now…

She leant too hard against the door and came flying into the living room, only to receive shocked looks from both Carol and Ross.

"Uh, I was just…" She mumbled, Rachel looked around for inspiration and grabbed a broom, "cleaning! I'm a cleaner!" She said triumphantly only to receive a strange look from Carol.

"Carol it's not what you think-," Ross began defensively.

"Ross, I don't care you sleep with whoever you want to, I mean it's not like we're together or anything," Carol replied a little too sharply.

"We didn't sleep together, she's… an old friend of mine from high school, and I'm just doing a favour… for a friend," Ross replied, Rachel couldn't help but let her heart sink when the word 'friend' slipped out of his mouth, but what was he supposed to say?

"Okay then," Carol said finally exiting the apartment. Soon it was just Ross and Rachel alone; Ross glared at Rachel annoyed that she had eavesdropped on their conversation.

"Green, you do realise that you're holding a broom the wrong way up don't you?"

A/N Reviews make my day! One chapter left oooooooooohh.

Quite a bit of this chapter came from the first episode c: and I decided to keep the Carol & Ben storyline in it.