Chapter 14

It was only a couple days later and the group of friends were hanging out in the kitchen and living room when Rachel emerged from her and Ross' bedroom. Before she walked out of the hallway however, she peeked around the corner to make sure Ross wasn't home. When she saw that he was at work, she smiled and strolled into the kitchen, playing with something in her hand.

As she approached the counter, she noticed that the TV was on and that a pretty heated debate was happening between Joey, Chandler, and Phoebe on one of the characters of the show they were watching. Monica was the only one who wasn't part of the argument, watching them from the kitchen and smiling. She wore an apron around her waist and the smell of freshly baked cookies wafted through the air.

"Rach, you should listen to these guys argue. It's pretty funny," Monica said when she saw her, pointing to the rest of the group.

She smiled. "No thanks, I don't really want to lose any brain cells today," she joked as she grabbed her purse that was sitting on the counter.

Monica noticed that, also taking notice to the jacket she was wearing and raised an eyebrow. "Are you going out?"

"Yeah, just for a bit," Rachel answered, swinging her purse over her shoulder as she played with the small object in her hand.

"Alone?" she continued to question. "Didn't Ross tell us not to go out by ourselves? Here, give me a few minutes and I'll go with you."

Rachel immediately waved her hand to tell her friend to stop. "No, no, it's ok. I'll be quick, don't worry."

Her response wasn't good enough though and Monica crossed her arms, looking at her sternly. "Rachel…"

"Ok, ok, fine. Look…" She lowered her voice so the others couldn't hear her. "…I wanted to get Ross a surprise gift, you know… to really show him how much I care. I think he's still having a hard time opening up to me so I thought getting him something special might help." She held up the item in her hand, a small black memory card, to further her case.

"Aww, that's so-"

"Shh!" Rachel hushed, shooting a few glances to the rest of the group who were still arguing. "I really want this to be a surprise so I don't want the others to know, otherwise they'll end up slipping up like they always do. That's also why you can't come with me; because if we both go, they'll ask questions."

Monica seemed to ponder what she had said and she could tell that she understood because she was slowly nodding her head. A few moments later she turned back to her and looked her in the eyes with that 'I'm going to regret letting you do this' look.

"I still think this is a bad idea Rach."

Rachel pouted and put on her best puppy dog look. "Please Mon? I'll be careful. I just… I really want us to work out this time. I love him so much and I don't want to lose him again. I'll be quick, I promise!"

"Ugh! Curse your love excuse…" Monica muttered. "One hour, tops!"

"How about two hours? I might do a little shopping myself…"

"Rachel!"

"I'm kidding," she smiled. "One hour is more than enough time. I'll be back before then."

"You better, because if Ross comes home and asks where you are, I don't know what I'm going to say," Monica warned. "And if he finds out I let you leave by yourself he's going to kill me, and so I'm going to kill you."

"And that won't happen," Rachel reassured, touching her friend's hand. She glanced at her watch and sat back up. "Ok, I'm going to leave now. It's already getting kind of late."

"Wait, I forgot to ask, where are you going?"

"Sorry, can't tell you," she practically sang.

"Rachel, you have to tell me where you're going so I know where you are," Monica continued to press.

"Nope, it's a secret remember?"

"Rachel…"

"Bye!" she exclaimed, turning around and starting for the door without answering her question.

Monica let out a groan, giving up. "One hour!" she repeated.

"Ok mom!"

Monica rolled her eyes and watched her slip out the front door. When Rachel had left, she found herself staring at the door with a sudden sinking feeling in her stomach. She let out a sigh.

Why did she have a bad feeling about this?

…

About half an hour later, Rachel smiled at the frame in her hands as she walked along the sidewalk.

It had taken her a little longer than expected to find a place that could print and frame pictures, but she had still managed to track down the only store in the city that did offer those things. After waiting a few minutes for the pictures to be printed, she chose out a nice dark wood frame to compliment the picture. As for the picture itself, she ended up choosing the one with them kissing in it as it was her favourite one, and even wrote a little something for him and signed her name.

He's going to love it, she thought as she continued her stroll. She could already imagine his face when she surprises him with it, and the kiss that'll follow.

Now, all she needed was some flowers and right now she was headed to a nearby florist she had spotted during the ride over.

Rachel turned the corner at the block's intersection and continued on her walk, unable to stop smiling at the picture frame in her hand. She lifted it up into the afternoon sun and blew off some dirt that had found its way onto the glass, smiling at her own reflection.

Perhaps if she was paying more attention she would have spotted the black car that seemed to be following her from behind, or perhaps she had seen it but her mind didn't take notice as she was too indulged with her own thoughts and fantasies. Either way, she wasn't aware of the car behind her and that was her first mistake.

Her second mistake came shortly after when she turned the corner again and the following car did the same. Up ahead, a man dressed in dark clothing was walking her way with his head down and his hat covering his features. This time she did take note of the man in front of her but didn't take enough time to notice that something was off about him, but she would find that out soon enough.

Just as they were crossing paths, the man suddenly removed his hand from his pocket and his elbow accidently shot out and clipped her on the shoulder. Rachel stumbled forward and dropped the picture frame from her hands.

"Oh, I'm so sorry. I wasn't watching where I was going." She was about to turn to make sure the man was ok when she noticed her gift for Ross lying face down on the ground and immediately she was alarmed that it might have broke. "My picture frame!"

Quickly she ran over to it, crouching down to pick it up. But just as she was about to grab it she felt someone grab her shoulder.

Hard.

"Ow! What the hell?" Rachel asked, spinning around to find the man she had bumped into grinning at her from above.

"You're coming with me," he stated and immediately she knew she was in trouble as her eyes widened in panic.

Everything that happened next happened so quickly.

As soon as she realised she recognized the man from somewhere she instinctively hit away his hand and tried to run the other way. Unfortunately his arm was quicker and he grabbed her around the waist to keep her from doing anything. She started yelling for help but all she got in return as a revving engine as the black car that had been following pulled up beside them and two other men got out.

Already yelling for someone to help her, she quickly tried to get her cell phone to call for the police. Realising her arms, she started rummaging through her purse for her cell phone but just as she felt the object at the bottom, one of the other men from the car came over and snatched her purse from her hands, carelessly tossing it into a nearby bush and kicking the picture frame over as well.

With tears in her eyes, Rachel started screaming at the top of her lungs and began thrashing wildly to get away from the three men's grasps. She somehow managed to get away from the man who had his arm around her waist, but as soon as she freed herself she was grabbed once again. She kicked the man who had grabbed her from behind between the legs and heard him grunt, but shortly after another pair of hands seized her arms and pinned them behind her back. Another came over and covered her mouth, muffling her cries for help.

Still struggling to get free and realising that her escape looked bleaker with every second that went by, all of a sudden a bag was thrown over her head, making everything go dark. The hand covering her mouth was removed, resulting in an ear-piercing scream that she could have sworn shattered their eardrums but that still didn't stop them from completely immobilizing her.

"Let go of me!" Rachel yelled, and a part of her begged for them to stop. Unfortunately that did nothing and suddenly she felt herself being picked up off the ground.

"Throw her in the car," commanded a harsh, familiar voice.

"NO!" she screamed again, squirming around. She heard a car door open and her eyes widened in fear. Moments later, she felt herself being tossed into the back seat and her head hit something hard.

And everything went black.

…

Monica stood in the kitchen, foot impatiently tapping on the ground as her glance constantly shifted from the front door to the clock on the wall. She wore an irritated look on her face and with her arms folded across her chest, it was clear that she was pissed off.

"Where is she?!" she asked out loud through clenched teeth.

It just so happened that her friends had just walked into the kitchen and immediately they all sensed her anxiety and irritation in the air.

"Rachel's still not back?" Joey asked, taking a seat at the counter.

"No, and it's been two and a half hours!" Monica exclaimed, pointing harshly at the clock. "Two and a half hours! She told me an hour tops! I'm going to kill her!"

"Isn't Ross supposed to come back home soon?" Phoebe pointed out. Wrong thing to say at the wrong time, as she was immediately given a death stare that made her go quiet.

"YES HE IS AND SHE'S NOT BACK!"

"Ok Mon, breathe," Chandler said, placing a hand on her shoulder as he tried to calm her down. She took a few moments to calm herself and she let out some air through her nose. "Did you try calling her cell?"

"I did, but I keep getting her voicemail. She must have turned it off."

"And why would she do that?" Joey asked and Monica looked at him annoyed.

"I don't know. Do I look like Rachel?" she asked sarcastically. She took another glance at the time and took another breath, not looking a lot more nervous than angry. "Ross is going to be home any moment and he's going to freak if he finds that Rachel's not home."

"Not to mention he's going to kill you for letting her go out on her own," Phoebe mentioned, earning another glare. "Sorry, I'll be quiet now."

"Ugh, what am I going to do?" Monica asked out loud, resting her elbows on the kitchen counter and burying her head in her hands.

"Hey, by the way, where did Rachel go anyways?" Chandler asked, making her pick her head back up.

"Yeah, all we saw were you two talking in the kitchen and then all of a sudden she left," Joey added.

"Honestly I don't know. She told me she was going to… run some errands but that was about it."

Before anyone said another word, all of a sudden the sound of a car door shutting came from outside and they all turned towards the front door. All of them had a look of worry on their faces but none more than Monica who suddenly had the colour drained from her face.

"Oh my God, that must be Ross! What am I going to do?" she started freaking.

"Ok, ok, uh… lie!" Chandler stumbled.

"What?"

"Lie! Tell him you don't know where she is so he doesn't get mad!"

"What? Chandler I can't do that!" Monica countered.

"You have to! I just realized he's going to kill all of us because we all saw her leave but didn't do anything about it!" he exclaimed. Just like that the colour drained from Joey and Phoebe's faces too.

"Monica you have to lie!" Joey suddenly shouted.

"Yes, lie like you've never lied before woman!" Phoebe yelled as well.

"No guys, I'm not going to-"

Before she could finish her sentence, the front door swung open and Ross stepped in. Whistling to himself, he set his briefcase down on a nearby table and walked into his house, only then noticing his friends looking at him from the kitchen.

"Oh, hey guys, didn't see you there," he greeted, walking over.

Joey laughed nervously. "Ha-uh, yeah, didn't see you there either…"

Ross raised an amused eyebrow. "Um… ok," he said, grabbing an apple off the counter. "So what have you guys been up to today?"

"Nothing!" Phoebe answered abruptly as her friends shot her a look. Ross' raised eyebrow remained.

"Ok… you guys are weird today." He took a bite of the apple. "Have you seen Rachel?"

All four of them shot each other nervous looks.

"She's in the bathroom!" Chandler suddenly said, realising if none of them said something Ross would notice something was wrong. Instead he nodded and shrugged.

"Alright, well I'm going to go change," he said, finishing off the apple before walking to his bedroom.

As soon as he disappeared in the hallway, the four friends all simultaneously let out a sigh of relief. It was only temporary though as they realised he was going to come back soon and they needed something to say.

"Guys, I have to tell him," Monica said, looking incredibly guilty.

"No you can't! We'll all get in trouble and I don't like Ross when he's mad," Joey responded.

"Well we can't keep lying and pretending like she's here!"

"Sure we can! He bought the Rachel in the bathroom thing, didn't he?" Chandler pointed out.

"Oh, and you don't think he'll get a little bit suspicious when she's been in there all night?" Monica questioned.

"Hey, sometimes people take a long time to do their business!"

Moments after, Ross reappeared from the bedroom, looking as if he was searching around the house.

"Hey, I just checked my bathroom and there's nobody in there," he said in a confused tone.

Monica immediately shot Chandler a tone and he read her facial expression clearly as it suddenly dawned on him too. If Rachel was going to use a bathroom, chances are she'd probably use the one she and Ross were now sharing.

"Uh, of course, because she's in the other bathroom," Joey jumped in, motioning towards the second bathroom on the main floor.

Ross looked where he was motioning and his confusion increased. "You mean the bathroom that has the door wide open?"

"No, no, what he meant to say was that Rachel upstairs using our bathroom," Phoebe suddenly came in, saving Joey from the mistake he just made.

"Why would she use that one?"

"Ross, Ross, Ross," she said, shaking her head as she patted his back. "You never ask a woman where she uses the bathroom."

He raised an eyebrow but shook it off. "Ok, well I'm going to go ask her if she wants to go out tonight."

Chandler's eyes widened. "No thanks, I'm good," he said in panic, standing in front of him to block his way.

"Is your name Rachel?" Ross asked.

"Sorry," he said, raising his hand. "What I mean Is that Rachel politely declines your offer and suggests you just eat here tonight."

Ross looked at him, then turned to look at everyone else who shared the same nervous smile on their face. "Did you guys all eat something today? You're all acting so weird," he said. "Now if you excuse me, I'm going to go ask my girlfriend and not her messenger if she wants to go on a date tonight."

He pushed past Chandler and started walking towards the stairs when Joey ran forward and stepped in front of him.

"No you can't!"

"I can't?"

"Yeah because… bad gas, you know?" Joey said, plugging his nose and waving his hand in front of his face as if there was a bad smell lingering in the air.

"Ok, that's enough," Ross said, walking by him and starting up the stairs.

And he was right. Monica had enough.

"Ross, wait."

"What is it this time?" he turned around, clearly annoyed at this point.

"Y-yeah Mon, unless it's important you shouldn't say anything," Joey said as he and the other two friends shot her a panicked look, but she just shook her head.

"No, I have to," she said, turning to Ross. "Rachel's not here."

"Yeah, I know. She's upstairs, now if you would just let me go up and see her-"

"No Ross, you don't get it," Monica interrupted. "She's not here. She went out."

Ross' eyes widened. "What? What do you mean by out? You mean out back?"

"No, I mean she's out in the city."

"Rachel's out in the city alone?!" Ross shouted, making all his friends flinch. "Did I not make it clear that it's not safe to be walking around alone?! That wasn't a joke, this is serious!"

"Hey, we understood it!" Joey exclaimed in panic, not wanting Ross to get angry at him again. "It was Monica who let her go out by herself!"

She immediately shot Joey a death glare before slowly turning to her brother whose facial expression was a mix of anger and disbelief.

"You let Rachel go out alone?!"

"I'm sorry!" Monica burst out apologizing. "I was busy in the kitchen, and she was saying she'd be quick and she'd only be gone an hour, and before I knew it she'd already been two and a half hours!"

"Monica!"

"Yeah Monica, how could you," Chandler said, shaking his head. Ross turned to him.

"Don't think you all are off the hook either. Why didn't you stop her when you saw her leave?"

Chandler, Joey, and Phoebe all looked at each other and they each gulped, looking down with guilt plastered on their faces.

Ross shook his head in disappointment and turned back to his sister, who wore the most guilty look of them all. "Ok, so where is she?"

Monica shuffled her feet. "I… I don't know…"

"What? Did you not at least ask her where she was going?"

"Hey, this time that's not my fault!" Monica countered. "Your girlfriend refused to tell me where she was going because she was preparing a surprise for you and didn't want me to spoil it. And it's also why she didn't tell the others because she thought they'd slip up."

Ross took this information in slowly, taking a few moments to calm his anger. Monica was right, it wasn't all her fault and getting angry wasn't going to get them anywhere. If Rachel had been gone for so long and still hasn't returned, he had to act, and he had to act fast.

Quickly he walked over to the phone in the kitchen, punching in her number in hopes she'd pick up. Unfortunately only after a few beeps he got her voice mail and he slammed the phone back down, cursing silently.

"I already tried calling her like a million times but I also kept getting her voicemail," Monica said timidly, still unsure if her brother was pissed off at her.

"Forget it," he said, quickly grabbing his jacket from a chair. "We have to go find her."

"In the city? That'll take hours!" Chandler exclaimed.

"I don't care, we have to find her!" Ross snapped, and all his friends saw his emotions on display in his eyes. "I can't let anything happen to her. Now let's go! Pair up and I'm going to drop you off around the city."

With a simple nod, the four friends quickly grabbed their own jackets and silently followed Ross out the door, him slamming the door behind him.

He had to find her.

…

Hours later the friends met back up in front of a plaza where they had agreed to meet before their search had started. Ross had been the last to arrive, haven spent some extra time driving around and looking for that familiar blonde, but it to no avail.

"Anything?" was the first thing he asked as he approached the group. Each of them held a sorrowful look on their faces and he knew the news wasn't going to be good.

"Sorry Ross, we couldn't find her," Monica said, shaking her head. "Alexa and Stephen didn't have better luck either."

"Yeah, and Morgan's working but she had Carla look around the neighbourhood. Nothing so far," Phoebe added.

"Same with Nate and Henry, and of course we looked all over but didn't see her," Chandler reported, with Joey nodding as well.

"What about Scott and Lauren?"

Ross shook his head. "They're still looking and they said if they find her they'll let me know."

He ran his hand through his hair, letting out a sound of frustration before turning around and punching a tree, making all his friends flinch.

"Damn it, I need to find her!"

"Ross, you've got to calm down," Phoebe said, motioning to his hand that was now red. "We all want to find her and hurting yourself isn't going to help."

Ross exhaled deeply and nodded his head. "You're right Pheebs."

"You know, maybe we've been looking in the wrong places," she said, turning to Monica. "Mon, you were the one to talk to her last. Did she mention anything about where she was going to be?"

Monica shook her head. "No, all she said was she was going to get Ross a gift and that she was going into the city."

"Ok, well is there anything she said that can help us?"

"I don't think so…" Monica paused and took another second to think, and then suddenly she remembered something. "Wait, it's not what she said but I remember something she had! She showed me this little black thing in her hand when she talked about the gift she was planning."

"Hold on," Ross suddenly interrupted, stopping her. "Little black thing?"

"Yeah, I don't know how to describe it… it was kind of rectangular, thin, about this big," Monica explained, holding up her fingers to show her estimated size.

All of a sudden Ross' eyes widened as something clicked in his mind. "I know what that is! Quick, follow me!"

Without another word he turned and started walking towards the parking lot. The friends looked at each other and shared a confused look, but quickly followed suit.

…

Sure enough, Ross was right. He had guessed from Monica's description of the object Rachel had been holding as the small memory card they had received from the photographer who took their photos on their date a few days ago. That led to him realizing that Rachel must have taken it to have the photos printed and possibly framed, and knowing that there was only one store in the city that did that, he quickly drove across town as fast as possible

After reaching the store, he had gone in and talked to the owner, who confirmed that Rachel had been there to get some photos done and one of them framed, and using that information the gang started searching around the neighbourhood to see if they could spot her anywhere.

It was getting dark as the sun had just set and the streets lights were beginning to turn on. The gang was still walking around, with Ross leading the way, and though most of them were tired and seemed like all hope was lost, he kept trudging forward. He had to find her. If anything happened to her, he has no idea what he'd do.

"Ross," he heard Chandler say from behind him. He stopped and turned around to see that his friends had fallen behind and were still a couple feet away.

"You guys need to hurry up," he urged, starting to turn back around.

"Ross, we've been walking for hours," Joey said, trying not to whine but obviously drained of energy. "Don't you think we can look for her tomorrow?"

"No!" Ross stood firm. "Look, I have to find her. I don't care how long it takes, I can't stop searching and I won't."

"Ross-"

"Look, if you guys want to go home, that's fine, but I'm staying here. This isn't some lost dog, its Rachel. I need to find her."

"No Ross, that's not what I was going to say," Monica said, pointing at something nearby. "Look, what's that?"

Ross turned around and followed her finger to see what she was pointing at. Off to the side, hidden in a bush, something seemed to glimmer in the moonlight. Slowly he walked towards the bush, crouching down to see what it was, and when he pulled it out his breath got caught in his throat.

What he found was a framed picture of him and Rachel on that beach during the sunset. The glass was cracked and the moon had glimmered off the glass' edge. Also seemingly thrown into the bush was a black purse which he recognized as Rachel's, but at the moment, all he could do was stare at the framed picture in disbelief and agony.

"What'd you find Ross?" he heard Chandler ask as the others approached his crouched down figure.

"Wait, isn't that Rachel's purse?" Phoebe pointed out and Monica picked it up. Suddenly her eyes widened.

"Oh my God, it is!" She opened it up and checked inside, giving Phoebe a nod to confirm that it was their friend's purse.

"What is Rachel's purse doing in a bush?" Joey asked. They all thought about it for a moment, and one by one all their eyes started to widen.

"No, something must have happened to her," Monica determined, gasping into her hands.

"Hey, come on, we don't know that for sure," Chandler said, still trying to stay positive. "Right Ross?"

Slowly he stood back up, keeping his back to his friends. He held the frame tightly in his hands as they seemed to shake.

"No, it's true. She's gone."

"What?"

He turned around and showed the group the cracked picture frame, and he could literally see all their heart's break as soon as they saw it. His friends were speechless and the looks on their faces said it all. He opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out and all he could do was hold back tears that threatened his eyes.

"Rachel!" he suddenly spun around, yelling, as his eyes desperately searched the streets in front of him. "Rachel! Rachel, can you hear me? Rachel!"

He knew it was useless. She was gone, and though his mind refused to accept it, he knew it was true. He looked down at the cracked picture frame and ran a finger over Rachel picture, and that simple action made him fall to his knees as he held back all his streams of emotions.

He could sense his friends looking at him with sad, sympathetic looks but he knew neither of them could make the situation any better.

"Fuck!" he shouted out, punching the ground as small hints of tears appeared in his eyes.

He stared at the cracked frame and suddenly noticed writing on the image. Though there were glass shards in the way, he brushed them aside just enough for him to make out the words.

Ross, no matter what happens, past, present, or future, I'll always love you.

~ Rachel

"No…" he whispered out loud, finally letting a tear slip down and fall onto the broken glass.

This couldn't be happening. The love of his life was gone, and now he felt like he had nothing left.

"Rachel!"

…

Author's Note: Sorry to those who didn't want something to happen to Rachel. But come on, something had to happen if the story was to move forward. It's also a little cliché but whatever.

Hope you enjoyed nonetheless and leave a review down bellow. Thanks.