Chapter 7: Détente

Author's Note: Well, here it is March 1st, and finally I am able to update. This has taken entirely too long, and I apologise. I am feeling my way here, without having a detailed plan to reach the conclusion I had in mind. I hope readers are getting something out of the ride, anyway.

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After a game of Monopoly that Monica enjoyed, even though she did not actually win – Joey, of all people, managed that, after an extraordinary run of luck, helped by advice from the others, all of whom Monica had gleefully driven out of business before him – she decided that she would not put off calling Ross any longer. She took the phone into a corner of the room and tapped in his number. To her surprise, a woman's voice answered; she realised after a moment that in all likelihood this was Chloe.

"Can I speak to Ross?" she asked.

"He's out doing some shopping right now," said the voice. "Can I get him to call you back?"

"I'm Monica, his sister," Monica said. "Is this Chloe?"

"Y-yes," came the slightly uncertain reply. "Er ... what are you calling for? Were you aiming to yell at him? He won't want that." She sounded protective.

Straight to the point, Monica thought. "Well, I am mad at him," she admitted, "but I need to tell him sorry for slamming the phone down on him. It's just ... well, maybe you can guess. I should have known, he wouldn't change his mind about Rachel and Mark."

"Then, she's ... not going out with Mark?" Chloe said hesitantly.

"She's not going out with anyone," said Monica bluntly.

"Oh ... I'm sorry," said Chloe, sounding sincere. "He seemed so certain they were together ... Well, um, er ... she's okay, though?"

Monica looked across at Rachel, who was chatting quite cheerfully with Chandler about work experiences, of all things, and could not help smiling affectionately.

"Yeah, she's okay, more or less," she said. "She's just concentrating on her career for now."

"Well ... okay," said Chloe a little uncertainly. There was a distinct pause; then she spoke again, after a drawn-in breath that made it sound as if she was nerving herself. "Look, can I say something, about you guys and Ross?"

"Go ahead," said Monica, wondering what was coming.

"He misses you," said Chloe simply. "Is there any way you could, um, sort of ... get together again? I know, it would mean letting go a lot of things that have been said, and there's some things you would just have to, like, agree you wouldn't talk about, but ... well, I just said it, he misses you. He won't admit it, but I can see it. He's not interested in my friends, and I can see why – he's too serious for them – and he doesn't seem to have any very close friends at his work. And I know how close he was to you all. And, um, maybe I shouldn't say this, but he is your brother."

Monica was nodding by the time Chloe had finished getting through this. "Yeah – my only brother. Well, it will be awkward, and I can't speak for the others, but I do want to get along with him, really. We've been quite close, as adults."

"So he's been telling me," said Chloe. Suddenly she gave a little snicker. "I guess maybe you're hinting at what I have kind of picked up, that you weren't close as teenagers. Brothers can be a pain then, can't they? I know all about that, though none of mine were older than me."

Monica found herself warming to Chloe. It's not like she's done anything really wrong, she told herself. Maybe she offered – it was pretty clear she had a crush on him – but Ross was the one who made the decision, in the end.

"Yeah, Ross was a real pain when we were kids," she said. "But since we came to New York ... Look, tell him to call me – "

"Here he is now," Chloe interrupted. "Ross, it's your sister on the phone."

After a pause, Ross said in an uneasy voice, "Monica?"

"Mom called," said Monica. "We agreed, I would say sorry for banging the phone down on you like that – though I don't see why you have to go crying to mom about it," she could not resist adding.

"Well, I'm sorry, okay, I overreacted, but it hurt," said Ross in an aggrieved tone. "I mean, here we are, brother and sister – "

"All right, all right," Monica broke in, not wanting Ross to get into a rant. "I'm sorry too. But it should show you, Ross. If we are gonna patch up this fight and get along, like mom wants, like Rachel thinks we should, you have to accept, there are things you just cannot say – "

"Hey, hold on!" he interrupted. "You did say, Rachel thought we should patch this up?"

"She was talking about you and me," Monica said, "but she did also say, to all of us, something about how we can't go on acting like you don't exist. This was when I was telling them about your TV thing. She's pleased for you, Ross, we all are – even Phoebe was sort of pleased."

"That's ... nice to know," said Ross a bit uncertainly. "So ... what now? Yeah, I would like to patch things up, in fact I want you to meet Chloe and see what a nice person she is. But how can we manage this, if I can't come to the apartment or to Central Perk?"

Monica thought, and decided to commit herself. "Come to Central Perk," she said. "I'll square it with Gunther. Let's decide on a time, and I'll warn everyone, and they can come or stay away as they please. You may get some of that," she added after a brief pause. "You should know, Phoebe's still very bitter about it all."

"Okay," said Ross, "how about next Saturday, about eleven thirty in the morning? Gives you time to do some cleaning and shopping before."

Monica could not help smiling at how he knew her routine. "Eleven thirty it is," she said, "and, yeah, I'd like to meet Chloe. I'm the only one who hasn't at least seen her."

"Yeah, that's right," said Ross, sounding as if he'd only just realised this. "Okay, I'll do that, and I'll understand if Rachel stays away. But, well, I'd like to, to see her again some time."

"I'll tell her," said Monica. "So, see you then."

When she reported these conversations to everyone else, and what she had agreed with Ross, everyone else looked at Rachel, and so did she, a little nervously; but she did not think that Rachel would go back on what she had said.

Rachel seemed to tense just a little, but then she relaxed and nodded. "Yeah, go ahead."

"You're gonna let him do this?" said Phoebe in a tone of outrage. "Just walk in again like nothing's happened, with his new girlfriend?"

As Monica was saying, "It was my idea, Phoebe," Rachel said, rather more emphatically, "Well, I'll have to think about whether I can stand to see Ross with Chloe. I could just about live with seeing him with Julie, but it sure hurt. But now it's different, because I'm certain I don't want him back, and I don't want to be the cause of some big rift between Ross and Monica." She smiled at Monica. "You've been so loyal. If you want this, I shouldn't stand in the way."

Monica smiled back. "Thanks, sweetie." She turned to Phoebe. "How about you? Chloe said, we're all gonna have to let go things that have been said, so I guess she's not gonna act mad at you."

Phoebe frowned. "And I'm not supposed to act mad at Ross, is that it?"

"Well, it won't be much of a get-together if you do," Chandler commented rather acidly.

"You really want this, don't you?" said Phoebe to Monica.

Monica sighed. It looked as if Phoebe might be difficult. "You know how close we've been," she said. "I miss that."

"Okay," said Phoebe in a resigned way. "Well, if Rachel is okay with it ... but maybe I'll show up, and maybe I won't." She gave Monica a rather defiant look.

"I'm not making this a kind of requirement, Phoebe," said Monica in a mildly reproving tone. "Guys, you're okay with this? Joey, you haven't said anything."

"Things haven't felt right without him," said Joey after a moment. "I'll show up."

"Yeah, me too," said Chandler. "Joey's talking sense, believe it or not."

-----

When Saturday finally arrived, Monica woke early and immediately tensed up as she remembered what was arranged for later that morning. She could not help worrying how Rachel would be feeling. But when Rachel finally left her room to go for a shower – she normally slept late at weekends – she seemed what was now her normal self, a bit subdued compared with how she had been when she was dating Ross, but reasonably cheerful. By the time she started having breakfast, Chandler and Joey had finished and left – Phoebe had not come in – and Monica was washing the dishes. She found that she could not stop herself looking at Rachel, to see if she was okay. In a while Rachel noticed and looked up.

"It's okay, Mon," she said, with a quirky little grin. "I'm not gonna bust out crying or throw a fit or anything. But I've decided, I won't come to Central Perk to meet Ross. I don't think I can handle that yet."

Monica sighed. "Well, that's understandable, sweetie."

Rachel nodded slowly. "I have been thinking," she said, "and I can see, we would be doomed if we did ever try to start something again. I just can't trust him, and obviously he can't trust me either. And you know what? He may think he could handle being just friends again, but I have my doubts. Not yet anyway; better just to sit it out a while." She looked rather sombre for a moment, then sat up and looked brighter. "Now, do you want me to help you tidy the apartment, or do you wanna go shopping and let me start on it?"

"I'll go shopping," Monica said, "just as soon as I've finished this. Thanks, sweetie."

When Monica returned from shopping, she noticed that Rachel had tidied the apartment reasonably well, and was sitting reading a magazine, looking quite relaxed.

"I called Phoebe," she said. "We're gonna hit the shops together."

Monica suppressed a sigh. It was too much to expect Rachel to be ready to see Ross with his new girlfriend, but she had not anticipated that Phoebe would be so implacable.

"Any idea why Phoebe is so mad about this?" she said. "I mean, I don't want to put you down, sweetie, but I wouldn't have said she was as close to you as, well, as I am."

"You know what I think?" said Rachel, showing a trace of impishness. "Phoebe's mad because she wanted me and Ross to be lobsters, and plainly we aren't."

Monica was pleased with this. If Rachel can make humorous comments like that, she thought, she's coming along well.

Then Phoebe burst into the room, plainly very enthusiastic about the idea of going shopping, and in a very short time Monica was bidding them farewell. Then there was nothing to do except wait until it was time to go down to Central Perk. Feeling nervous again, she looked around for something to clean. There were things that Rachel had missed, or not thought important ...

By eleven o'clock she could stand it no longer and went across to Chandler and Joey's to see if they were ready for coffee. They were playing foosball, so naturally she challenged them, but for once her concentration was off and they beat her handily, although in a re-match she beat Chandler alone, which cheered her. Then all agreed that they were ready for Central Perk.

It was not too busy at that time in the morning, and they hung around the counter to pick up their drinks. Earlier in the week Monica had taken an opportunity to inform Gunther that Ross would be coming in, probably with his new girlfriend, "but Rachel won't be here," she said, "and there won't be any trouble, I'm sure, so don't bar him, Gunther, please."

"Okay," said Gunther calmly. Then a look of alarm had appeared on his face. "But I hope this doesn't mean Rachel will stop coming in."

"Oh no," said Monica. "She's okay with our meeting up with Ross, and I'm sure she'll be ready to meet him again some time, but not yet."

Gunther had definitely looked relieved; now he simply nodded when she reminded him. Chandler and Joey took seats on the couch and the neighbouring armchair respectively, so Monica sat next to Chandler. For a while no one said anything; Monica could not think of anything to say. Plainly this made Chandler uneasy, but for once he did not come out with one of his jokey comments.

"How is Rachel about this really?" he asked Monica earnestly. "Is she gonna be mad at us?"

"I really don't think so," said Monica. "I'd say she's handling it pretty well. Don't forget, this was partly her idea. She doesn't want some great tremendous feud to build up, which is good, because I don't want that either, even if I do think Ross has behaved like an asshole."

"You can say that again," Joey growled.

Chandler opened his mouth, evidently to do just that, then must have thought it was too obvious, because he looked a little sheepish and shut his mouth again. And then the door opened and there they were – Ross and Chloe together. One of the positive sides of this, from Joey's point of view, was another chance to take in Chloe, but to his disappointment no belly button ring was in sight. Rather, she was quite modestly dressed, in a little jacket over a shirt, and a skirt and not too flashy high heels. At least the skirt was notably short, and the high heels made her legs appear to good advantage.

"Hi, guys," said Ross rather nervously. "Now, Chloe, you know Chandler and Joey, but you haven't met Monica my sister."

Chandler and Joey nodded, and Monica got to her feet, shook Chloe's hand, and beckoned her to sit next to her, on the other end of the couch from Chandler. Ross asked Chloe what she would like before she sat down. She asked for a mocha latte, and then smiled a little nervously at everyone. For a moment it looked as if silence would break out again, but then Chloe said to Monica in a deliberately quiet voice, apparently not wanting Ross to hear, "I'm so glad you agreed to this. Ross has been looking forward to it for days. But it looks like Rachel's not happy about it, after all."

"Well, would you be?" said Monica. "But I can promise you this, because she said it in my hearing. She doesn't want him back. She just needs more time to adjust."

"I understand," said Chloe. "And is Phoebe still mad at us?"

"She said to me, she's taking her time," Joey said, leaning forward.

"She's shopping with Rachel," said Monica.

"Shopping is very important to Rachel," Chandler explained to Chloe. "It's her all-purpose therapy."

Chloe grinned. "I can relate to that. I find it helpful sometimes."

Then Ross returned with Chloe's coffee and his own.

"Rachel and Phoebe are out shopping," Chloe informed him.

He looked slightly disappointed for a moment, then nodded. "Figures," he said in a resigned sort of way. He sat and looked around.

"Well, you, er, you know what's new with me," he said. "So what's new with you guys?"

"What's this?" said Chandler. "No riveting blow-by-blow account of your dinosaur panel?"

Ross grinned weakly. "Chloe's heard it all once. She told me, she didn't want to hear it again."

"Yes, Dr. Geller, the class could use a break," said Chloe, grinning. "There is such a thing as too much dinosaurs, you know."

This sentiment went straight to Monica's heart. "Well said!" she cried without even stopping to think, then wondered if Ross might choose to take umbrage. But he was smiling as Chloe looked at him teasingly.

"Most of the time she'll let me tell her stuff," he said to the others. "But I have to recognise, there is a limit."

"Hallelujah," said Chandler emphatically. "Chloe, if you can cut the dinosaur quota per week, you'll earn the gratitude of everyone here."

"Huh," went Ross in a disgruntled way. "Well, I think dinosaurs are more interesting than Wenuses."

Chloe gave a little shriek of laughter. "What's a Wenus? Is that something in your work, Chandler?"

"Weekly Estimated Net Usage System," Chandler said in a deliberately dreary monotone. "It's an important guide to our productivity – important to my bosses, anyway."

"That sounds kinda hard," said Chloe. "We just get assessed on the amount of copy work we get through and how many customer complaints we rack up, that kind of thing."

"Yeah, and they don't care if a complaint is justified or not," said Ross. "Some guy doesn't work out how what he wants is gonna look, and then he has the nerve to complain about it." He sounded mad on Chloe's behalf.

"I bet that's not the real reason," said Joey, grinning rakishly. "The real reason is, he wants another look at Chloe."

Ross glared at him, but Chloe giggled. "Well, maybe. Actually, I can often talk them out of making a complaint we have to log."

"I'll bet you can," said Joey, with maximum innuendo. Chloe grinned and winked.

Monica felt pleased. Chloe seemed to enjoy half-flirting with Joey and Chandler, and if Ross seemed not to care for this, at least in Joey's case, at least he didn't object openly. He seemed more subdued than normal and di not take much part in the conversation, until after a while he suggested that Chandler change places with Monica, so they could talk. He asked her how things were going with Pete.

"Fine," said Monica, feeling somehow warmer and brighter at the mention of her boyfriend. "But he's away on business at the moment. He's back tomorrow, though, and we have a dinner date. Talking of dating, Phoebe was dating two guys at once not long ago, but one walked into Central Perk when the other was there, and the end of it was, they both dumped her, one after the other." She laughed; she thought it was really quite funny.

Ross smiled half-heartedly. "What about Rachel?" he said. "There really is nothing going on with Mark? Suddenly, he's not interested?" He sounded incredulous.

Monica looked at him seriously. "Ross, don't you remember me saying, if we're to get along, there's things you just can't say? One of them is anything to do with Mark."

Ross shook his head, looking discontented. "Well, I can't understand it ..." he muttered, then, sounding hopeful, "Is she dating someone else, then?"

"No," said Monica shortly, hoping he would now get off this topic.

"What's the matter with the men in this city?" said Ross in an annoyed tone.

"Ross, I just don't think she's interested in dating at the moment," Monica said, her patience beginning to fray. "She's putting a lot of effort into her career – like I told you."

"Well, I, I guess that's a good thing," he said, his mood seeming to lighten. "And if she's out shopping, that, that's good Rachel behaviour."

"Yeah, she hasn't done much of that for a while," said Monica, not having thought about it before. "So, you and Chloe seem to be doing well."

"Oh, she's great!" said Ross, smiling broadly. "Don't you think so?" he added a little anxiously.

"I like her," said Monica. "She's good for you, I think."

"I've never had someone quite like her," Ross said. "She's not very into intellectual things, but she's smart, and she's not ambitious, but she's interested in her job and wants to do it well."

"Mmm," went Monica, forbearing to comment that something very similar could be said about Rachel, once she'd got the Bloomingdale's job. Something occurred to her.

"You guys doing anything about lunch? Maybe you and Chloe and I could go off somewhere, and have a kind of family lunch, if we can ditch the two puppies."

She looked indulgently at Chandler and Joey, who were blatantly competing for Chloe's attention. Chloe, very sensibly, was keeping the conversation general, laughing at their jokes and digs at each other, and making it quite clear that she was taking it all in fun, even Joey's rather insinuating compliments. Ross, she saw, was looking at Joey in a slightly hostile way, so she pulled at his sleeve.

"Don't you worry about her and Joey," she said in a low voice. "It's obvious to me, she's just playing along and not taking him seriously at all."

Ross's face cleared. "Yeah, you're right. It's just ... it's hard, you know, trying to convince yourself that a girl wouldn't prefer Joey ..."

"If Chloe had wanted someone like Joey, I bet she could have picked a dozen out of the copy shop customers," Monica murmured. "In fact, she could have picked Joey himself; he and Chandler used to go there to ogle her, didn't they? But she wanted you."

Ross brightened considerably. "Yeah." He smiled at her. "Thanks, Mon. And the lunch idea is great, but how are we gonna shake the guys?"

"I know how," said Monica. She raised her voice. "Guys, Ross and I want to talk family and personal stuff, which will likely bore the pants off you, so why don't we split up for lunch and we can meet back at the apartment later, before I go to work?"

Joey looked reluctant, but Chandler nudged him in the ribs and said, "Sure, Monica. Hey, is there anything in your fridge we can use for lunch?"

Monica groaned theatrically, but then thought that actually this could work out well. Rachel would have someone to talk with when she got back from shopping, and they could give her an account of how the meeting went.

"Yeah, you can look in there, and you know there's plenty in my cupboards," she said. "Help yourselves."

Joey jumped to his feet. "C'mon, dude, I'm hungry," he announced, and set off without waiting to see if Chandler would follow. Shrugging and grimacing at Monica and Ross, Chandler went after him.

"It's like I've never been away," said Ross happily. "So, Monica, I just remembered, you said Pete wants you to run this restaurant ..."

-----

It was past two thirty when Monica finally returned to the apartment, feeling very cheerful. She and Ross had a useful talk about the pros and cons of working in Pete's restaurant. He acknowledged that there were difficulties in working for your boyfriend and confirmed her in her belief that it was better for her to turn it down, regretfully of course. Instead, he suggested that she really put some effort into building up her free-lance catering work.

"Look at how well you did with Richard's party," he said. "Mom said he raved about your food, and that had nothing to do with his falling for you, because he wasn't the only one who ate it. Same at Carol's wedding: that was really good. You could make a go of it, I'm sure."

"Yeah!" said Monica, suddenly taken with the idea. "And you know what? Phoebe was a perfectly good waitress when I was at Richard's. We could make a great team."

"I can loan you money to get more equipment, if you need it," he offered.

"I'm still paying you back for the last loan," she objected.

"Maybe you should make a company and sell shares," said Chloe. "Then we could all buy some and share the profits."

"That's assuming there'd be any profits," said Monica lightly. "I need to do some figuring, and talk to Phoebe, because I'll need an assistant, but, hey, it's an idea! Thanks, big bro."

"You're welcome," he said, smiling at her affectionately. She smiled back, happy that they had established a good relationship again.

As well as having this fruitful discussion, Monica got to know Chloe better and learned a lot about her background, and decided that she could be perfectly happy to accept her as Ross's girlfriend. She and Ross also did some serious talking about future meetings, and agreed that, to avoid possible difficulties, he wouldn't show up in Central Perk too often, with or without Chloe, but make more occasional visits, until things had settled down more, and try to warn her ahead of time.

"I can only take so much of Chandler's gags, anyway," Ross quipped.

"Oh, I think he's funny!" said Chloe enthusiastically. "But he does do it rather a lot, doesn't he?"

Monica rolled her eyes. "Only like all of the time."

"He needs a girlfriend," said Chloe authoritatively.

"We all know that," said Monica with slight impatience. "But the one woman who truly loved him, well, it's a long story, but they broke up because she was married and had a daughter, and he didn't want to break up a family."

Chloe looked slightly perplexed. "If she truly loved him, why did she marry someone else?"

"Like Monica says, it's a long story," said Ross. "Why don't you let me tell it to you in a while?"

He looked at Monica in an almost pleading way, and Monica got the message: Ross was eager for some alone time with Chloe. She reached for her purse, but Ross shook his head at her.

"My treat," he said firmly, and Monica was happy to let him have his way. She bade him a fond farewell, gave Chloe a little hug, and set out for the apartment, feeling pleased with how things had gone and already thinking over what to tell Rachel, if she was there yet. Of course, she would probably get some account from Chandler and Joey, but they would know nothing about her lunch meeting with Ross and Chloe.

As she had rather expected, she found that even Rachel could not maintain an enthusiasm for shopping beyond a certain point, and was back, along with Phoebe, and of course Chandler and Joey were still there. Rachel was in fact modelling an outfit she had bought for them, to considerable acclaim from the men. She was looking as if she was having a good time.

"Hi guys!" Monica said exuberantly. "Did you buy lots of stuff, Rachel?"

"Did she ever!" said Chandler fondly. "The lettering on her credit card must be worn flat, it went into so many slots. And now we're getting a free fashion show."

"Yeah, but she won't show us the new bikini she bought," said Joey discontentedly.

Rachel giggled. "Be fair, Joey. I showed it to you all right, but no way am I gonna put it on. It's not the right setting." She grinned at Monica. "So, I hear you had a family reunion?" Her tone was one of innocent enquiry.

"Yeah," said Monica cautiously, not quite able to gauge Rachel's attitude from her tone of voice. "You, you are okay with that, aren't you?"

"Sure," said Rachel. "I said, I didn't want some big feud between you. And the lovely Chloe was there as well, I'm told. What's she like, really? I only got a glimpse of her."

"She's hot," said Joey emphatically.

"I know that already, Joey," said Rachel with an air of patience. "The way you and Chandler used to go on about her ..."

"She's fun to talk to," said Chandler. "Oh, and she keeps Ross in order: no surfeit of dinosaurs."

Rachel nodded, but her eyes were fixed on Monica. "What did you think, Mon?"

Monica tried to remember some of the phrases she had thought of. "I think, well, she's nice, and friendly, and sort of good for Ross. But that doesn't mean I wouldn't rather that you were with him."

Rachel shook her head. "Thanks, Mon, but ... never gonna happen." Her voice was quite calm.

Monica racked her brains for something else to say. "You know, he asked after you. He found it very hard to believe that nothing was going on with Mark."

"He expected me to be dating Mark, after you got so mad at him for talking like we were together?" said Rachel incredulously.

"Clearly, he found it very hard to give up the idea," Monica said. "But when I made it plain, you weren't dating Mark, he then seemed to want you to be dating someone else. He didn't like the idea that you had nobody."

Rachel smiled faintly. "Yeah. I remember when he was with Julie, and he was telling me all this stuff about how I deserved to be with someone who appreciated me. Of course, things were very different then. But he was really ... complimentary." She paused before the last word, and there was just the trace of a catch in her voice.

There was a short silence, and then Phoebe growled, "So he should be."

Rachel gave a little snicker. "Thanks, Pheebs. Okay, c'mon, let's not dwell on the past. Mon, you just have to see this gorgeous evening dress I bought."

"We all have to see it," said Joey insistently.

"Okay, Joey," said Rachel in an indulgent tone. "You did like it, didn't you? Well, you can see it again, but no getting up and wandering casually past my bedroom door while I'm changing, okay?"

Monica caught Phoebe's eye and both nodded slightly. Rachel was really getting back to her old self.