12. Biding time

"Oh, and that room right there should be the guest room.."

Sam's voice echoed throughout the vacant house as she toured Rachel through the same, deciding which room would be best suited for what purpose.

"Sam, we are nearly on the same page on everything except the walls of the living room. I would really love to have them painted a deep shade of purple." Rachel said, as she cast yet another look at the corners of the room they were currently standing in.

"Purple?! Why? What's so special about it?" Sam asked, a look of confusion clearly plastered on her face.

"For it was the colour with which I have spent the most important decade of my life. A decade which really meant a lot to me." Rachel replied, a misty look clouding her eyes.

"That's nice. Fine, we'll have them purple if it is so important to you." Sam replied, smiling benignly at her friend's sentiment.

"Thank you." Rachel replied, with a smile broader than Sam's.

Little while later, it was Sam who broke the silence yet again.

"Speaking about a special place though... How are things with Ross?" she asked, having noticed that Rachel hadn't really talked anything about him the entire evening.

"They are pretty good. In fact, I have planned to cook a Lasagne the next time he shows himself up. It's one of his favourites." Rachel replied, her response revealing only the slightest note of resentment. That had been enough of a hint for Sam though.

"Hmm. Busy this weekend as well, huh?" she asked, feeling sorry for her.

"Yup." Rachel replied, lowering her head.

The quarries at Audoin had indeed proved nothing short of a gold mine for Ross and his team. For they had successfully excavated almost an entire fossil in barely a couple of months which was no mean feat for any paleontologist out there. Especially for one who had almost zero on-field experience.

Though Rachel had been really pleased with his success, on the other hand it had also meant that Ross had been unable to keep his promise of weekly visits to Paris. For of course there was lot to do on the site right now. In the past two months Ross had managed only a couple of trips to the city. Not to mention that one of them had actually been a flyby on his way to the university to report his findings.

"Don't worry, Rach. It'll be okay. I mean, look at it this way. The sooner he gets the job done, more will be the time he gets to spend with you once it's all over. After all there are still nearly four months to go." Sam explained, whilst giving her a one armed hug.

"Yeah. I hope you are right." Rachel replied, grateful for her insight.

"And Lasagne?! You kidding me? Is Monica that good a mentor or what?" Sam asked her in a mocking voice.

Sam was indeed surprised to hear Rachel make so much progress in so less time. For she had known Rachel's culinary skills a little too well, having been her guinea pig for the first few 'experiments' she had made her taste.

Her remark finally brought a smile on Rachel's face.

"Hey! I'm not that bad a student you know." she said, to which Sam let out a chuckle.

"Besides, it's more like Monica is that determined a person. Once she sets her heart on you, she never really lets you go" she continued, her voice reflecting the deep affection she felt for her.

After all, it was a quality that did run in the family.

* * *

"Oh and how's Ben? Did he go to the football..." Ross asked over the phone, while masking his other ear so as to hear Carol's voice better over the shrill noise of the boring machines outside his tent.

"He won it for them?!" he said, exclaiming in delight after listening to the other end.

"Wow, that's incredible! Don't forget to tell him that Daddy's proud of him." he continued . Apparently Ben had actually asissted in two out of a total three goals his team had scored in the finals.

"Why don't you tell him that in person? As it is, you haven't talked to him in months!" said Carol, chastising him for his apparent lack of interest in his son.

"Carol, I..." Ross said, his voice a bit hesitant. "Things have been real busy here. And the time zones... I mean it must be what like midnight there now?" he asked, while looking at his watch which proclaimed that it was seven in the morning there right now. So It was indeed an hour past midnight in New York.

The heated voice emanating from the phone made it obvious that his ex-wife wasn't convinced at all.

"I'm sorry, Carol. I really am. I'll try to call tomorrow. I promise. Alright?" Ross finally replied.

"Alright. But you'd better not break it." she replied, after a moment's pause.

"I won't." said Ross, although he didn't sound totally sure of himself.

Ross's role at the site had proved to be quite a bit of challenge in itself. To start with, it was very different from the desk/podium job he had gotten used to over the years. This job was unpredictable. Because they had limited time, they were working 24 by 7 in shifts and hence Ross himself had had to pull off several all nighters. Plus whenever someone came across something which had even the slightlest resemblance to a bone, the entire team would be called for a dating analysis. His co-workers had mockingly nick named it as a 'Paleantological emergency'.

That didn't mean that Ross wasn't enjoying it. He was indeed having the time of his life. Yet, there were a couple of things he wished would be better. The constant drill and shudder created by the machines often drove him nuts. Why couldn't they just shut it for like an hour or so? Couldn't a man sleep around here, anymore? he thought.

But far greater than that was his guilt over drifting apart from the people close to his heart, which had now turned into a constant ache, often keeping him awake at times when he really should have been getting some sleep.

Exhausted from his shift, he was about to snuggle into his sleeping bag, when his phone began ringing again. He headed towards his makeshift desk, hoping that it was either one of his friends or family.

As it turned out though, it was someone who was both.

"Hey you!" came her voice, sounding cheerful.

"Hey you." Ross replied, reciprocating their newly reinstated signature greeting.

"So how's the diggin' going?" Rachel asked. "Find something new?"

"Well, we are still working on it. However yesterday we did make a major breakthrough." Ross replied, settling himself on the top of his sleeping bag.

"Yeah? What did you find?" she asked, excited.

"Two vertebrae." Ross replied, sounding smug.

There was a prolonged pause at the other end.

"Rach?" Ross asked, wondering whether the unpredictable network had played a prank with him again.

"Huh." came the response for the other end.

"What?" he asked, perplexed.

"You said major breakthrough, so I was thinking that it would be something big like a jaw or the skull." Rachel replied, with a flat undertone.

Ross couldn't help but roll his eyes at this. You say the word dinosaur and people had to imagine their jaws first.

"Jaws? Yes, they are significant but let's not underestimate the humble vertebrae, Rach. Especially not these two babies. They helped us predict the entire curvature of it's back. And mind you, that goes a long way when it comes to classifying these creatures." he said, explaining it to her.

"Okay. If you say so. For it really doesn't matter to me as long as you come home this weekend, mister." Rachel replied, unable to fathom his fascination for the beasts.

There was absolute silence at the other end.

"Ross? Are you there?" she asked, a bit concerned.

"I... " was all that he could muster. Today would be the third time he was about to disappoint her. In a row.

"Ross... please tell me that you will be coming." Rachel said, her voice sounding a bit stretched now.

"Rach, I..." he said, the words seemingly stuck in his throat. He didn't want to do this to her.

In fact, he didn't have to do this to her, he thought, having come to a decision.

"Yes. I will be coming." he said, with fresh determination in his voice.

"Really?!" came Rachel's response almost immediately.

"Yeah! Screw these guys! I mean, surely they can live a couple of days without me!" Ross replied, while mentally planning his argument with the committee.

"That's great! For I have a surprise for you." Rachel said, back to her cheerful self.

"You have?!" Ross asked, pleased to hear it.

"You are amazing. You do know that, right?" he continued, his voice a bit thicker than usual.

On the other end, Rachel smiled shyly before replying,

"With you around to remind me of it, how can I ever forget?"

* * *

It had taken a great deal of convincing, and a pretty heated discussion, but in the end Ross has won his case. He had been allowed to go to Paris for the day. In fact it had been the first time he had an entire day home. But that didn't mean that he was completely off the hook. There was still a great deal of documentation to be done, which was exactly what he had been up to the entire evening.

"Dinner's ready!" Rachel said, as she finished laying down the dishes on the table.

"Almost done. You get started, I'll be there." Ross replied, his eyes still engrossed in his laptop.

Since the time she had moved to Paris, Rachel had made tremendous progress as far as cooking was concerned. She had actually learned how to prepare lasagne from Monica, with her providing Rachel a live demonstration from her restaurant. Today was the first time she had prepared it unsupervised though. So it was obvious that she had been expecting something better reaction than a rather dry 'I'm almost done' from Ross.

"It's getting cold!" Rachel said, looking at him pointedly this time.

Ross, on catching her glare, decided to take a break from his work and clicked the cursor to save the article he was working on.

"I'm really sorry, Rach. I simply have to get this done by the end of the week." he said, as he made his way to the table and kissed her on the cheek.

"I promise to make up for it tonight, though." Ross continued, winking at her.

Ah... that puppy dog look. It was a trait which they both shared, yet found it extremely difficult to resist whenever they got it from the other. And just like that, Rachel's irritation at him melted almost instantaneously.

"Well... what about Emma?" she asked, blushing a deep shade of red.

"I have heard that this place has more than one bedrooms? Oh and the bathroom's pretty big too." Ross replied, as he settled down on his chair.

Rachel couldn't help but nod shyly at that.

"Now." Ross said, his tone all business like. "The moment of truth."

Saying so, he took a careful bite from the lasagne, somewhat wary from his past experiences. Rachel looked at him anxiously, waiting for his reaction with bated breath.

It seemed like she had managed to impress him though. For his expressions at the end of the bite were completely different from the ones he had started it with.

"Wow, I had never thought that such a day would come." he said, upon swallowing.

"Which day?" she asked, her fork midway between her mouth and her plate.

"A day when Rachel Greene could actually cook edible food for me." Ross replied, with a hint of mischief.

"Edible?!" Rachel exclaimed, upset. "Really?! Is that all..." she said, before she caught the glint of his eyes and realized his intentions.

For a while they both were silent, with the soft clatter of the forks being the only source of noise.

"Ross?" Rachel asked, struck by a thought.

"Mmm Hmm?" Ross replied, busy carving his lasagne.

"Then what had you imagined it to be?" she asked again.

"What are you talking about?" Ross replied, not getting her question.

"You know, all that time ago when you had it all planned out. The one where we bought a house in Scarsdale, had two kids and all..." Rachel replied, her voice trailing towards the end.

"You still remember the details?" asked Ross, surprised to hear her mention Scarsdale.

"Vividly." Rachel replied, blushing at his apparent admiration.

"Well... by then, I had imagined that we both would be earning enough to hire a cook." Ross simply said.

"And we would always head out to Mon's for the weekends. Or raid her fridge, like Joey does." he continued, his mind now reeling back to the dreams he had built all those years ago.

"That would have been fun." Rachel replied, chuckling at the thought.

"Yeah, it would have... It would have." Ross said, his eyes gaining a glazed look.

There was a slight note of sadness in his voice that wasn't missed by Rachel, who was suddenly regretting asking him that question.

"The lasagne's great, by the way." Ross said, pulling himself out of the reverie.

"Thanks." she replied, pleased with the compliment.

"No I mean seriously. At this rate you could even surpass Mon in a few months." Ross said, appearing genuinely impressed at Rachel's new found culinary abilities.

"Thank you. Don't tell that to Mon though. She will kill me." Rachel replied, her face glowing with pride.

"Of course! I mean the Pasta is good. But it's not THAT good!" Ross said, chuckling.

Rachel chuckled simultaneously in response as she kept down the fork, having finished her meal. She was about to take her plate to the sink when Ross stopped her from doing so.

"Oh wait. I'll do the dishes." he offered.

"Thanks." she replied, and gratefully headed to the bedroom. Yeah she could cook now, but it still required a lot of patience and concentration for her to get it right. Especially a rather delicate dish like Lasagne.

As Rachel prepared herself for bed, she couldn't help but get a bad feeling about the conversation they had only moments before. Although, she couldn't quite figure out the reason.

* * *

Ross cast yet another look at the photograph on his desk. It was a picture which they had somehow managed to click at Monica and Chandler's wedding reception. It was the only picture which had nearly everyone he loved. Everyone whom he called 'family'.

At the far left of the photo was him, dressed in that black suit he so often wore. Right beside him was Rachel, looking gorgeous as always in her gown. And though the bulge wasn't visible, she was already pregnant by then. So figuratively Emma was there too. In front of them were Phoebe and Joey, radiating nothing but pure joy for their friends. In the centre were of course the newlyweds, smiling so widely that their lips must have hurt.

On the other side, were his and Mon's parents, Judy and Jack Geller, who were a testimony to an everlasting relationship. To their side was Carol, who had been insisted to be included in the 'family picture' by both him and Jack Geller. Ben, occupying the spotlight of the picture, was situated between his best friend and his sister, both of whom already shared a strong bond with their young nephew. Oh and Susan was there too, right at the other end of the photo. Well, it was about time he accepted her, Ross mused, shaking his head fondly.

It had almost been four months since he had left New York. Four months. Yet the pain and longing that he felt on seeing the picture hadn't mollified even one bit. In fact, it had only increased in intensity, resembling a constant, dull ache most of the times.

On the bright side, most of his work on the field was now over. Tomorrow he would be packing his bags and heading for Paris to spend an entire weekend with... a part of his family.

For it would still be atleast an entire month before he would get to meet most of the other members, who had agreed to make an appearance to figuratively cut the ribbon at Rachel's new house. Even then though, they were going to be here for just a couple of days. And after that... they would be gone. Back to their lives in the Big Apple.

Ross wanted a family. And only now was he realising what it truly meant for him.

To add insult to injury though, he couldn't see it happening at all.

Not now and not ever.

* * *

"Hey, Mon!" said Rachel as soon as she heard the distinct click at the other end, an indication that the call had been picked up.

"You know, you might try saying my name too sometimes." came the reply at the other end. "Or did we fail to stand the test of time?"

Guessing by Chandler's light tone, it did seem like he was being his sarcastic self. Rachel, however, was not in a place to comprehend that.

"I'm so sorry, Chandler... I.. It's just that I wanted to talk to Monica and..." she said, her voice resounding emotions that were the polar opposites of Chandler's carefree banter.

"Hey, hey Rach! I was joking, alright? Joking!" Chandler replied, alarmed by the sudden turn of events.

"I know that it's really me you want to talk to. You are just afraid of Mon being jealous at us, that's all!" he said, in an attempt to lighten the atmosphere in a way only Chandler could.

A few tense seconds passed before a small chuckle was at the other end.

Relieved, Chandler continued,

"Mon's restaurant has an inspection today, Rach. She'll be there till late. You might try reaching her on the cell, but I honestly don't think she'll be receiving any calls until it gets done. I'm really sorry." he said, regretfully.

"Oh... okay." Rachel replied in a small voice.

"Can I take a message?" he offered.

"I... I don't know..." Rachel said, stumped. She had been desperately in need of talking with someone. Someone close to both her and Ross. So Sam had been ruled out immediately.

Someone close to both her and Ross. Why had it taken so long for her to realise this?

"Rach? You there?" Chandler asked, worried.

"Yyeah. Listen Chandler, can I talk to you?" Rachel asked.

"I don't see why not. After all, it's what you have been doing since the last five minutes." he replied, chuckling at his own sense of humour.

That was why, she realised.

"Please." her tone now much more urgent and pleading.

Chandler sighed. He knew he was the last person anyone would resort to when it came to emotional conflicts. So he realised the amount of desperation Rachel must be in. And hence, he felt he had no choice but to be faithful to her in her time of need.

"Sure Rach. What's wrong?" he asked.

"It's Ross." she finally confided.

That much he had figured.

"You guys had a fight?" Chandler asked, wincing.

"No. Everything's great, actually." Rachel said, not sure as to how to express herself.

"Okay..." Chandler said, surprised.

Was that the problem?! he thought. But thankfully, he didn't voice it.

"It's just something he mentioned, you know. In passing." Rachel said, trying again.

Saying so, she began narrating him the conversation they had had over her firsthand attempt at Lasagne. Chandler listened patiently to her, smiling at the part where Rachel mentioned raiding their kitchen. Once she was done, he asked,

"When did this happen?"

"Over dinner a couple months ago." Rachel replied, suddenly feeling a little foolish.

"Okay... And have you talked to him after this?" he asked.

"Yeah. Lots of times. He has even come home twice after that." she replied. Just talking about the 'situation' was making her feel as though there wasn't any at all.

"And did he sound any different?" Chandler queried.

He's much better at this than he gives himself credit for, Rachel mused.

"No." she replied, feeling as though a huge weight had been lifted off her shoulders.

"Then I really don't see why you have to worry about this Rach." said Chandler, reassuringly.

"Really?" she asked, now positively beaming.

"Yeah! I mean, he surely misses having us around. But it's you about whom he cares the most, Rach." Chandler replied.

"Thank you so much, Chandler. You've been a great help." she said, back to her original chirpy self.

"Anytime, Rach." Chandler replied, feeling glad that he had managed to get through it without making things awkward.

"It's just that I am so worried you know, what with the upcoming shifting a month from now..." Rachel continued, still letting out steam.

"I mean, I don't know why but I constantly get this feeling that he doesn't want to be here. Guess it's just those butterflies, though." she said, letting out a nervous chuckle as she did so.

"Yeah, I know. Only yesterday he was telling me exactly how much he was looking forward to coming back to New York next month." Chandler said in response.

There was a definite pause on the line before Rachel exclaimed in surprise,

"He's gonna go back?!"

There. He had finally pulled out a 'Chandler'

"You know what? I think I smell smoke. Our house may have caught fire. I have to go!" he exclaimed, alarmed and knowing only too well that she was not going to buy it.

He was about to hang the phone when he heard Rachel speak

"Chandler! Wait! What exactly did he say?"

Chandler sighed. He had to make things difficult for himself, hadn't he?

"I... look. It's probably nothing, alright? I mean, he has to come to New York anyways, otherwise he might have the entire CIA after him for going AWOL after using a federal grant." he said, trying to make her understand.

"Yeah, probably." Rachel said, the burden landing heavily on her shoulders yet again.

As she kept the receiver, she couldn't help but wonder why Ross hadn't told her this first-hand. Surely he should have told her something which was this important?

The more she thought about it though, the more she realised something. Maybe it wasn't his fault at all. Maybe it was because, unknowingly she had built a pretty straightforward yet profound assumption in her subconscious.

An assumption that from now on, they were going to be together forever. Or rather, they had already reached there and had already begun their happily ever after. Which was exactly why she hadn't even bothered asking him whether he would continue living in Paris once his grant expired. For she had simply assumed that he would.

Had she really been mistaken the whole time? Or was it simply her anxiety as she had only just mentioned to Chandler?

Whatever it was, she couldn't help but feel that they were simply bidding their time now.

A/N: I hope that this chapter didn't look hurried to you guys. Because even though it covers a span of 4 months, there really wasn't enough 'material' to last two whole chapters. So I made it into a single one. And stay tuned, 'cuz the next update will indeed make things clearer.

Oh and I wish you everyone a very happy Christmas Eve and a merry Christmas! :)