A/N: okay so here is the next update. I just want to say that there won't be another update for about a week and a half because I am going on vacation so don't think I forgot about this story :)
And once again, reviews are appreciated
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There was not enough room in Monica's porshe so Ross and Rachel took a cab to Massapequa, Long Island. Rachel was alittle surprised when she was told they were going to Monica and Ross' childhood home because she thought the Geller sold their house. She was quickly told by Ross that they had trouble selling the house because of so much flood damage so they decided to stay put for a while
Ross and Rachel were pretty quiet for much of the ride down there, only a quick galnce her and there when the other wasn't looking. They arrived at the house an hour later and pulled up to the house Ross called his home for 18 years. However, Rachel was a bit confused when they pulled into the driveway.
"uh, Ross. Why are there Christmas lights on your parent's house?"
Ross had to laugh at the question.
"because they always put up Christmas decorations the day after Thanksgiving."
"But you're Jewish."
"I know. Don't ask me why but my parents always felt the need to buy a Chirstmas tree and decorate like all the other family's on the block. Don't you remember we were always the first house on the block to have decorations up when we were kids."
"ah, yes. It's all coming back to me."
Ross paid the cab fare after much much arguement from Rachel, who also wanted to pay, and the three of them exited the taxi.
"Mom, Dad. We're here," Ross shouted as they entered the house.
Soon they were all greeted by two loving parents.
"Happy Birthday dad."
"Thank you son. I'm glad you could make it," he said as he gave Ross a hug
"oh, we couldn't miss your birthday Jack. Happy Birthday"
"Thank you Rachel," he said, kissing her on the cheek. "and here's my beautiful granddaughter."
"gampa."
Jack took her from Rachel's arms and kissed her cheek.
"Come on Emma. Grandpa want's to show you a magic trick."
He walked away with Emma leaving Ross and Rachel with Judy.
"hey mom,"
"hello, sweetie," she said lovingly and kissed him on the cheek "how are you feeling?"
"good. Rach has been taking really good care of me."
"what would we do without her," she said smiling at Rachel, kissing her and giving her a big hug. "don't you look beautiful tonight."
"thank you Judy," she said blushing from the compliment.
"well you two just come on in and have something to eat. I'm going to see where my husband took my granddaughter," she stated, walking off to find the pair.
"it doesn't look like Monica and Chandler got here yet."
"how did we get here before them, especially when you had to get ready," he said kidding around
"will you stop already," she said as she smiled at him
"I'm really surprised we beat them here. Monica had Chandler on a strict schedule on when they were going to leave the apartment."
"well maybe they hit traffic," she said, shrugging her shoudlers.
As if on cue, Monica and Chandler came walking through the door. The first people they saw were Ross and Rachel
"hey guys, where's mom and dad?"
They didn't have to answer them because soon enough Jack and Judy were standing behind them ready to greet their daughter and her loving husband
"there's my little harmonica."
"Happy Birthday dad," she said bringing him in a tight embrace.
He kissed his daughter and then greeted Chandler. Judy did the same and Chandler kissed her on the cheek.
"hi mom."
Judy turned to her daughter and opened her arms to give her hug but suddenly stopped.
"did you do something different to your hair?"
"yeah, I cut it a little shorter," Monica explained knowing exactly where this was going
"oh, I see. Longer hair is a much better cut for your head shape dear. Oh there's Aunt Lisa, Im just going to go say hi," she said cheerfully and walked away
"that woman will ever change."
"Come on Mon. Let's get something to eat," Rachel said throwing a comforting arm over her shoulder.
"wait Rach. Can you take Emma away from my father, please. He's teachign her pull my finger."
"hey, I was going to teach her that."
Rachel and Ross turned there heads sharply to look at Chandler when those words left his mouth, giving him a not so nice glare.
"or not" he said cowering away and standing behind Monica.
Rachel went over to Jack and somehow released Emma from his grip. She made her way back to Ross with Emma in her arms and stood next to him.
"Ross, Rachel"
The both of them turned their attention to the older woman calling their names.
"hi Aunt Sylvia."
"oh my lord. Is this your daughter?"
"yes," they both said with love in their eyes.
"she is beautiful."
"thank you," they both repsonded proudly
"the last time I saw you two was at your parent's anniversary party and, you" she said pointing to Rachel, "were pregnant with her. My how the time has past."
They nodded in agreement
"I heard about the accident Ross. Im so happy you're okay."
"me too."
"Im sure your wife is taking very good care of you."
Ross and Rachel looked at her like she had two heads. Wife? What the hell was she talking about? How much did this woman have to drink?
"I'm sorry, what?" he asked.
"so how is married life treating you two? You guys have been married for over a year now, right?"
They looked at each other strangely, both having absolutely no idea what was going on.
"wh...what?"
"oh, I see your mother calling me. I'll talk to you kids later. You just have a beautiful family."
She soon disappeared into the crowd, leaving Ross and Rachel in much confusion.
"what was that all about?" she asked
"I have no idea," he said shaking his head back and forth. As he started going over things in his head he remembered something. "didn't she say the last time she saw us was at my parent's anniversary party?"
"yeah"
"Rach, we pretended to be married that night because my parents told everyone we were"
"oh my god, so now all their friends and family still think we're married."
"I guess so. What are we going to do?"
"what do you mean what are we going ot do? We are going to pretend we are married."
"what!"
"Ross, it's not that big of a deal. We did it before and it's only for the night" Ross began nodding his head showing her he was willing to go along with it "Besides, it was fun being married to you last time. Come on hubbie, let's get our daughter something to eat."
"okay," he said laughing with her as they joined Monica and Chandler to get some food.
Ross and Rachel didn't have to do too much pretending since they spent most of the night with Monica and Chandler. Every so often if Ross and Rachel were standing by themselves a few family members would tell them how beautiful their daughter was and how happy they look. They would just thank them and on a few occasions Rachel would casually wrap her arm around Ross' waist or stroke his arm. Surprisingly to them both it didn't feel uncomfortable in the slightest. It felt just like old times.
As the party was thinning down there were only a few guests left at the house. Rachel and Monica decided to help Judy clean up and finshed washing the dishes in the kitchen. Ross was talking to his father and Chandler, as well as a few other family members that remained at the party while Emma was sleeping on the couch. Ross rested his back against the wall of the entrance way from the living room into the kitchen and Monica and Rachel soon came out to join them. Monica walked over to stand next to Chandler while Rachel remained next to Ross. They casually joined into the conversation until one of the uncles brought something to everyone's attention.
"hey, look who's standing under the mistletoe."
Ross and Rachel both looked up, only to find the dangling green mistletoe hanging right above them
"go ahead. Give your wife a kiss."
Monica and Chandler immediately looked at one another when Uncle Dan said the word wife. They then turned their gaze to Ross and Rachel who were looking uncertainly at each other. Ross gave her a small smile and when she returned it he knew it was okay if he kissed her. As he leaned down to kiss her she closed her eyes waiting for his lips. She soon felt his soft lips that she remembered so well brush against hers giving her a soft kiss on the mouth. Their lips were only together for a few seconds until they broke from the kiss. They opened their eyes and just looked at each other, neither knowing what to do or what to say.
"excuse me, can I talk your wife for a second," Monica asked emphasizing on the word wife.
She grabbed Rachel's arm, pulling her aside so no one could hear their conversation. Rachel still had a glazed over look in her eyes after just sharing that kiss with Ross, with the taste of his lips still lingering on hers. Eventhough it only lasted for a few fleeting seconds, it was something they haven't engaged in in quite some time and it still had an affect on her.
"wife?"
"huh"
"Rachel. Why did Uncle Dan call you Ross' wife? and why the hell did you just kiss?"
"remember me and Ross got all that money at your parent's anniversary party because everyone thought we got married. Well, they all still think that is true so therefore I am Ross' wife."
"okay, but why did you kiss? I mean it's Ross."
"Monica, if someone is under the mistletoe, the tradition is you have to kiss. So that's what we did."
"well, how was it?" she asked excitedly
"it was...nice," she said softly.
As she spoke she looked over Monica's shoulder to see Ross talking to Chandler, probably explaining the same thing she did to Monica. She smiled as she looked at him and then she watched as he turned his gaze to meet hers across the room. He smiled at her with a certain look in his eyes that was hard to ignore. Both of their friends were getting angry with them because they were being completely ignored so they tore their gaze from eachother and turned their attention back to their friends.
--
All the guests left a half an hour later leaving just the four of them, Jack, Judy and Emma. After staying another hour they all decided it was time to leave and Rachel began gathering all of Emma's belongings.
"woah, would you look at it outside."
Everyone was curious as to what Chandler was talking about so they all went towards the window. They saw what looked liked the beginning of a very heavy snow storm. The entire ground was already covered in a bed of white snow as it continued to fall at an alarming rate.
"kids, there is no way I am letting you drive home in that. Your going to have to stay the night."
"mom, where are the five of us going to sleep?" Monica asked. "All there is is Ross' bedroom since you turned mine into a gym."
"well, your room is actually a guest room now since no one ever touched the gym equipment," she said staring at her husband
"I thought it was a good idea."
"Stupid Jack, the word is stupid." She turned her attention back to Monica, "anyway you and Chanlder can sleep in there and Rachel, Emma and Ross can stay in his room."
"mom, I don't know if that's a good idea," Ross said as he looked at Rachel.
"don't be ridiculous son. Me and your mother don't want to be worrying about your safety as you drive home so you are staying here."
Ross finally gave in as well as everyone else, besides they were all too exhausted to put up much of a fight. Chandler and Monica got settled in their room and Monica let Rachel borrow one of her old t-shirts and lounge pants she found in the closet. She changed into them and Rachel was very thankful that these clothes were from the time AFTER Monica lost all of her weight.
Rachel carried a sleeping Emma up to Ross' bedroom and somehow Ross made it up the stairs as well. She carefully layed Emma in the middle of the bed and tucked the blankets around her. Rachel was very happy she changed her out of her dress before she feel asleep. She then looked back at Ross who looked very unsure about the current situation they were placed in.
"I'll..ummm sleep on the floor."
"Ross, I'm not letting you sleep on the floor. Just sleep in the bed with me and Emma."
"Rach.."
"Come on, let's go to sleep," she said quickly, not really giving him anymore say in the matter.
Rachel quickly hopped into the queen-sized bed, throwing the blankets over her body. She watched as Ross slowly made his way over to his side of the bed and slipped under the covers. There wasn't much room in the bed since it was now being occupied by three people so it was a tight squeeze but comfortable nonetheless. Ross rested his back against the headboard and looked at Emma sleeping between them. Rachel had propped herself up on her elbow and was now stroking Emma's arm up and down.
"well, this is new."
She just looked at him and laughed at his nervousness but chose to ignore it.
"I can never get over how soft her skin is," she said quietly bringing attention to Emma.
"I know," he agreed
He ran his fingers in a line down her arm and over the palm of her hand. He smiled when he saw her fingers twitch.
"she felt you," Rachel said smiling
He looked at her and they stayed quiet for a few minutes as they listened to the quiet breathing of their daughter.
"hey, I'm sorry about that whole mistletoe thing," he whispered disturbing the silence that overtook the room.
"you don't have to apologize."
"I know we had to pretend we were married but I didn't want to make you feel uncomfortable and I wasn't sure if..."
"Ross, it's fine," she whispered, interrupting his incessent babbling.
"okay"
"how about we get some sleep."
He nodded and turned over to turn off the light. They both layed on their backs and situated themselves on their respective pillows with the top of their heads only centimeters apart. After Rachel's eyes adjusted to the darkness of the room she noticed something glowing on the ceiling. She noticed it looked like clusters of stars in all different sizes covering the entire ceiling but she wasnt sure.
"Are those...stars?"
"yeah, I put them up there when I was in junior high."
"hmmm...it reminds me of something."
Ross turned his head to face her and Rachel did the same.
"me too."
The streetlights shining outside his window filled his room with some light allowing Ross to make out the features of her face. He noticed a certain sparkle in her eyes and a smile spread across her face as they both remembered that incredible night they shared in the planitarium all those years ago. She turned her gaze back to his ceiling.
"So what are we looking at?" she asked with a smile on her face.
Ross smiled to himself as she asked the same question she did 9 years ago. He pointed to a section of stars by the window.
"you see that little cluster of stars next to the big one? That's Ursa Major."
Again they turned their heads to the side to look at each other. They both had identical smiles plastered on their faces.
"Really?"
"I have no idea. Could be," he said laughing, as he remembered having this exact same conversation with her.
They both started laughing quietly so they wouldn't disturb Emma. But when the laughter died down they were left looking into one another's eyes and the air around them became very serious. As they gazed deeply into eachother's eyes, they each saw that certain shine in the other's eyes they always used to see when they were dating.
It never disappeared.
"that sure was some night," Rachel said just above a whisper, referring to their past.
"uh huh," was all Ross could say. He swallowed hard, getting moisture back into his mouth trying to speak again, "it sure was."
He watched as Rachel turned on her side so her face was right next to Emma's as she continued to stare at him.
"Goodnight Ross."
"Goodnight,"
She closed her eyes but she knew Ross was still staring at her. Ross' eyes remained opened as he just watched her sleep and smiled when her bangs fell over her eyes from her slight movement. Sleep was beginning to wash over him and he soon closed his eyes.
Niether of them were completely asleep when Rachel threw her arm over Emma's body causing the back of her hand to brush against his. They both smiled in their sleep when they felt their skin touch both enjoying the feeling of being so close to one another again. They were alseep several minutes later and Rachel left her hand just where it landed.
Right up against his.
