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Epilogue: Champagne Wishes

~.~

This first scene may seem ridiculously close to a scene someone else wrote lately (wink-wink), but…swear to god, it's not stolen, haha. A good chunk of it was actually written first. We are just both on the same wavelength, which you may or may not have noticed already. And, if you're now like, wtf are you talking about, I'll just continue on….

~.~

Rachel shivered, the kind of shiver that rips through your body uncontrollably to the bone, rubbing her pink mitten-covered hands together in an attempt to stay warm. One would think that, with all of the bodies around, it would be at least slightly warmer. But, no, with one of the coldest Decembers ever coming to an end, the sea of close to a million people was doing no good in keeping her warm. Really, it was doing nothing other than make her extremely claustrophobic, which, up until that point in time, she didn't even know she was.

"Tell me again," Rachel leaned close to Chandler's ear, tucking a hand between his arm and side for body heat, "why are we in Times Square for New Year's Eve?"

"Because we've both lived here forever and never done it," he reminded her of what they had decided.

"Right," Rachel nodded, teeth chattering as she leaned into him. "It sounded much more fun in theory."

Chandler laughed at that. "C'mon. It's not that bad," he wrapped his arm around her body, rubbing his hand up and down in an attempt to warm her up, though it didn't really do any good through her coat and five layers of clothing beneath. "Besides, it's something different."

"Yes, because I was completely against being in a nice, warm apartment with the same people we've spent the past four New Year's Eves with."

Chandler didn't respond to her last comment, instead glancing up at the countdown nervously before looking down. Less than a minute. The ball was dropping. "Hey, can you hold these for a second," he pulled his gloves off, handing them to her. "My shoe's untied."

"Yea, sure," Rachel grabbed them from him, clutching them tightly as she bounced up and down slightly, trying to stay warm and keep her teeth from chattering. "Hey, hey, they're counting," she motioned to him to stand up, the crowd starting to countdown from thirty. "Chandler," she looked down at him, and it was then that she realized he was not tying his shoe. His was down on his knee.

One knee.

Her breath caught in her throat, the world around them slowing down.

"Rach," he began slowly, but his voice was completely drown out by the crowd, lost somewhere in the space between them.

Twenty-nine. Twenty-eight.

Chandler stood up, grabbing hold of Rachel's hands. "Well, that sounded better in theory, too," he grinned, pulling her close as she laughed, squeezing her mitten-covered hands that were still hanging onto his gloves.

"Yea, can't really hear you down there," she choked out as she smiled at him, in complete disbelief of what he was about to do.

"Rach," he continued, her body now pulled flush against his, his face inches from hers so she could hear over the roar of the crowd as the countdown continued.

Twenty. Nineteen. Eighteen.

"I love you," he continued, every slow breath he took in preparation for the rest of what he was going to say punctuated with his warm breath condensating in the cold air in front of his lips.

Fourteen. Thirteen. Twelve.

"I love you, and I know it might be too soon, or out of the blue, but, that's how our entire relationship has been so far. And ,Rach," he leaned his face even closer to hers, speaking in a lower voice, close to her ear, "I want to be with you forever. I want to marry you."

Ten. Nine.

Rachel pulled back slightly, wanting to look him in the eye at that. Her lips curled into an involuntary smile, goosebumps of an entirely different kind making their way up and down her body, tears welling up in the back of her eyes.

He was right. It was probably too soon. And completely unexpected.

How very…everything about them so far.

Five. Four.

Chandler again leaned closer, the crowd growing even louder as the countdown neared one. "Marry me," he breathed out slowly, his hot breath against her ear.

Three. Two.

Rachel pulled back, tears in her eyes mirroring the ones in his. "Yes," she nodded enthusiastically, throwing her arms around his neck, and neither of them heard the roar of the crowd as the countdown reached one, and then zero. "Yes," she repeated before kissing him, a kiss seemingly no different than the kisses shared by the rest of the crowd surrounding them, a group of most likely inebriated college kids right behind them half-singing, half-humming Auld Lang Syne as fireworks went off.

It was like a scene out of a movie, that was the thought running through Chandler's mind. Perfection down to the definition of the word. Not something he was normally able to pull off.

As they pulled back, Chandler took his gloves from her hands, stuffing them into his pockets, slowly pulling off her gloves as well. He reached into his pocket before slipping the ring onto her finger. Or, rather, fingertip.

"Damnit, I was doing so well," he laughed, and Rachel joined him. "I guess that's what I get for trying to give you a ring meant for an eight-year-old," he grinned, and they both looked down at what was a plastic ring from a quarter machine.

Rachel looked up at him, grinning. "Does that mean I get to pick out my own ring?" she asked, eyes sparkling as fireworks continued to go off overhead.

"I thought you would appreciate that," he returned her smile, leaning down to kiss her once more.

"I don't know that you have a single flaw," Rachel grinned at him.

Chandler laughed. "Given my track record in…life…it would probably be helpful to remember that thought, right there, for the next fifty or so years…."

Rachel laughed, shaking her head at him. "I love you," she grinned, Chandler's arm still around her waist.

Chandler returned her smile, bending his neck down as he pressed his warm lips first against her cold forehead, then nose, then lips. "I love you, too…."

~.~

"There you guys are," Joey exclaimed as Rachel and Chandler walked through the doors of apartment twenty wearing identical grins, bottle of champagne in Chandler's left hand, his right hand entwined with her left. "The party left," he motioned around, where the four of them were the only ones left, Monica beginning to clean up, the rest of them on the couch.

"No kidding, are you guys frozen yet?" Phoebe asked. "Monica made hot chocolate," she motioned to the kitchen.

"How about champagne?" Chandler handed the bottle to Monica, who had walked over to them.

"You guys are about an hour and a half too late for champagne," Ross looked down at his watch.

"Hey, guys," Chandler repeated, and they all finally turned to look at him, and it was then that they all noticed the grins seemingly plastered to both of their faces. "How about some champagne?"

"And what are we celebrating, Chandler?" Phoebe asked, standing up as she walked over to where they were, as well.

"It's New Year's, Phoebs," Joey laughed, standing up and following them.

"And what are we celebrating, Chandler?" Phoebe repeated, Ross joining them as well.

Rachel and Chandler glanced at one another, Rachel finally blurting out, excitedly, "We're getting married!"

"Aw, yay!" Phoebe was the first to step forward, hugging first Rachel, then Chandler. "I'm so happy for you guys!"

"Du-ude!" Joey slapped Chandler on the back before pulling him in for a hug. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Chandler laughed. "Because you can't keep a secret to save your life?"

"Congrat's, man," Ross offered sincerely, holding out his hand to shake Chandler's.

"Really, you're gonna shake my hand?" he looked at Ross in disbelief, who finally laughed slightly before hugging him, as well.

Monica congratulated Rachel, hugging her before moving on to Chandler. She stood in front of him for a moment, both of them silent. Though things had slowly slowly moved back towards what could be considered close to normal with the group in the past few months, there was still a silent divide when it came to Monica. It was smaller between her and Rachel, but still more noticeable with Chandler. She bit her lip; he shifted his eyes towards the ground. He looked up; she held eye contact.

"Congratulations," she finally offered quietly, and Chandler smiled, a sincere, warm smile.

"Thank you," he replied quietly, sincerely, before wrapping his arms around her in a hug.

"Enough of that stuff," Phoebe waved her hands in front of her. "Champagne!" she reached for the bottle, now sitting on the table, grabbing some glasses as well. "Let's see the ring! Tell us everything!" she nearly bounced up and down, trying not to spill as she poured the champagne.

"Well," Chandler down at Rachel, one arm still around her as he took the glass Phoebe offered, "there isn't really a ring yet."

"What?"

"Was it just a spur-of-the-moment thing?"

"No, it was planned," Chandler defended himself against the last comment, which came from Ross.

"I get to pick out the ring," Rachel grinned.

Ross nodded in understanding. "Coming from the girl who returns so many gifts she has her own line at the customer service desk at Bloomingdale's, I'd say that's wise," he laughed.

"Hey, that's not," Rachel trailed off, finally shrugging in acceptance.

"Okay," Joey took the last glass of champagne from Phoebe. "What are we toasting to?"

"To Rachel and Chandler, obviously," Phoebe held up her glass as well, the rest of them following suit. "May the road rise up to meet you. May the wind be always at your back. May the sunshine warm upon your face-"

"Uh, Phoebs, neither of us is Irish," Chandler laughed.

"Not important," she wrinkled her nose, shaking her head.

"May old acquaintance be forgot!" Joey held up his glass, as well, overly enthusiastic, the rest of them laughing.

"To happiness and love," Monica finally offered quietly, holding up her glass.

Rachel smiled at Monica, repeating that. "To happiness and love."

"To happiness and love," everyone else repeated, clinking their glasses together before taking a drink.

Chandler looked back to Rachel, who was again looking at him. He grinned, taking her hand and giving it a tight squeeze. After everything they had been through the past year, that seemed the perfect way to start the New Year: with happiness and love.

~.~

Thank you all, so, so, so much for all of the reviews and support for this fic! I enjoyed writing it, and it's always a pleasure to finish a fic (especially a Rander fic!). I currently have a new Randler fic in the works, as well as a Mondler one, so…we'll see how soon I can get to writing either/both of those.

Final reviews are always appreciated :) Thanks again!