Rachel doesn't call back for the next week. Ross takes that as a rejection. He's not as much sad this time as he is angry. If Rachel doesn't feel the same way about him, she needs to just tell him. She needs to let him move on. He doesn't want her to just avoid him. He wants to know if it isn't going to happen and then get over it. But she won't even have that conversation. She won't even call.

Ross has given up. He's done. He doesn't want to keep dealing with this. If Rachel doesn't want to be an adult about it and just tell him how she feels, then he's not even going to try. And that's why instead of sitting around wondering what Rachel is thinking or calling Monica to see if she's heard anything, Ross is going out with Joey.

They're going to a basketball game. Joey had gotten tickets for him and Chandler a few weeks back (he figured Ross would be too preoccupied with the whole Rachel situation.) but it turns out that Phoebe isn't feeling very well and so Monica went over to see if she could help leaving Chandler to take care of the babies. At first Joey was disappointed and was going to try to sell the tickets last minute but Ross decided to go with him instead.

There's a knock at the door and Ross gets up and puts on his coat and then goes over to the door to greet Joey. When he opens the door he forgets to breathe for a second. Joey isn't on the other side of the door. Instead Ross sees Rachel standing there when he opens it.

"Rachel." Is all he says.

"Hi Ross." She replies.

He steps out of the way and lets her into the apartment without saying anything. There's a brief uncomfortable silence as Rachel sits down on the couch while Ross just stares at her.

"Look Ross—" Rachel starts but she's cut off but Ross.

"What are you doing here?" He asks.

Rachel looks away for a second and then looks back at Ross. "I didn't want to have that conversation over the phone. This has been really hard for me and I don't really know what to say. But whatever I'm going to say I want to say it in person."

"It's been hard for you?" Ross asks, not really waiting for an answer. "You left me hanging for almost four months! You said you would call me back but you never did! This has been tourchure for me and you're telling me it's been hard for you?"

"I don't know what to say, Ross." Rachel says. "I don't want to fight. I'm sorry for whatever I've put you through but I didn't know what to do."

"You could've talked to me!" Ross shouts. "You could've told me you don't feel the same way and we could've both moved on! But instead you let it drag on and on!" He sits on the arm of the couch and puts his head in his hands.

"I never said—" Rachel tries before getting cut off again.

"You never said anything!" Ross stands up suddenly. "You pretended you had no idea for months! You didn't even bother telling me that you knew because you didn't want to have to tell me that you don't feel the way I feel!"

"Ross." Rachel says. "I wasn't avoiding you because I didn't feel the same way."

Ross looks over at her. His face is almost expressionless. "What?"

"I love you, Ross. It's just so hard. We live in different countries."

Ross ignores the second half of her sentence. "You love me?"

Rachel nods and suddenly Ross is so happy. Everything that's happened in the last few months doesn't bother him anymore because Rachel loves him and that's all that matters.

"Really?" he asks, smiling.

"Yes." Rachel says. "But we can't be together."

Ross stops smiling. "Why not?"

"I live in France, Ross."

"So?" Ross says. "We can call each other all the time! And we can take turns visiting on the weekends!"

"I don't want to lose you as a friend, Ross." Rachel says. "What if it doesn't work out and then we can't stand to be around each other. What about Emma? We need to be able to get along for her."

"But what if it does work out?" Ross argues. "Wouldn't Emma be happier if we were together? If we don't even try we don't know what we're missing out on!"

"I care about you too much to lose you!" Rachel says.

"You won't lose me Rachel! I love you!"

"I just can't—" Rachel is cut off by the phone ringing.

They look at the phone and then at each other. Rachel nods at Ross. "Answer it."

Ross picks up the phone. "Hello?" he says.

"Hi." It's Monica.

"Oh hey, Mon. Can I call you back later? I'm kind of in the middle of something." Ross really doesn't want to stop having this conversation with Rachel. He's afraid that if they don't talk about it now, he'll miss his chance.

"Actually," Monica says, "This is kind of important."

"What?" Ross asks.

"I'm with Phoebe right now." Monica sounds worried. "She wasn't feeling well and Mike's at work so I went over to see if I could help and I think she's in labor."

"What?!" Ross says. "She's only seven months pregnant!"

"I know! But we called her doctor and he says that it's possible she might be having the baby early."

"Two months early?!" Ross doesn't believe this.

"Yes!" Monica says. "We're on our way to the hospital now!"

"Okay." Ross says. "Rachel and I will meet you there."

"Rachel?" Monica asks.

"Oh. Yeah." Ross says. "Rachel's here."

"Oh. Great!" Monica says. "I'll see you guys there."

"Okay. Bye!" Ross hangs up the phone and looks at Rachel. "Phoebe's having her baby!"

"I know." Rachel says. "I was sitting here the whole time."

"Oh yeah." Ross says. "Okay. Let's go then."


Once they're in a cab, Ross looks at Rachel. "Anyway," He says. "Rachel, if we just tried to—"

Rachel stops him. "I don't want to talk about this right now."

"Why not?"

Rachel sighs. "This whole situation is stressing me out and I really don't want to think about it until I know Phoebe is okay. Can you understand that?"

"Of course." Ross says. "So we'll talk about it later then?"

"Sure."


I hope you liked this chapter! Also in this story, the same amount of time doesn't pass between every chapter. That's why some chapters are a few days later and some are a few months later. So that's why Phoebe's pregnancy happens so quickly. Because almost four months passed since the chapter where she said she was three months pregnant. I just realized that that might be kinda confusing.