Chapter 1.
"So, you're really going to London?" Monica asked with a soft voice. 'So, I guess he's really leaving... I love my brother and I am happy that things worked out with Emily but isn't this a little drastic? I mean he just meet her a few months ago.' Monica thought.
Everyone was gathered around the living room in Monica and Rachel's apartment, listening in shock to what Ross just told them. They were staring at him, waiting for an answer. After saying the wrong name at the altar, Emily became extremely jealous of Rachel, she wanted to keep Ross as far as possible from her. So, she asked Ross to move to England with her.
Ross had thought about it, a lot. But after weeks of thinking, he made his decision. He was going with her. After his first failed marriage, he had to make this marriage work. It breaks his heart too, not seeing his friends every day. They were like family to him, but Emily was his wife and he had chosen for her. No turning back.
"Yes, I'm sorry and I'll miss you guys, but I have to do this..." Ross answered.
"We're going to miss you too, dude." Joey said with a voice crack. 'Man, Ross? Moving? To another country...? Another continent. Right? I'm not sure London is another continent. Anyways, he just met her a few months ago, I mean, I'm happy for him, but I don't want to lose one of my best friends.' Joey thought
Ross just gave a week smile and nodded a little. There was a long, awkward pause.
"So, when are you leaving?" Phoebe asked, and by that she broke the uncomfortable silence. 'I knew something bad was about to happen, I could feel it. And now one of my best friends is leaving to live in another country. This isn't right. He is supposed to be here, with us. And I am almost never wrong, well, sometimes I am, but not about Ross and Rachel! He had only known Emily for 3 months. Ross and Rachel are lobsters.' Phoebe thought.
"In 4 days." Ross answered.
"Wow..." Chandler softly said in disbelieve. '4 days. And then he is moving, to London for god's sake. I knew he loved Emily, but I would have never guessed he would give up his live here for her. He had friends, family, even a son here.' Chandler thought.
"We're all so going to miss you... Come here" Monica said as she pulled everyone in a hug, everyone except Rachel. Everyone had said something except Rachel. She stood there, totally numb and silent, not wanting to believe what she just heard out of Ross's mouth. Staring at nothing in particular, her eyes were filled with hurt. She could feel a single tear forming in the corner of her left eye.
'I couldn't believe what he just said... He was leaving? How could he leave us like that...? How could he leave... me? I know it sounds really self-involved and selfish.' Rachel thought.
"I'm really sorry to break this emotional moment but I have to go to work. The restaurant doesn't wait for me." Monica said, letting go of the hug. They let each other go from the hug.
They looked at each other. All of them releasing that this would be one of their last group hugs for a while. And everyone knew that.
"Yeah, I'm going to go too" Chandler said, while he turned around to grab his coat. "I've got a date." he said quiet proudly of himself with a smile.
"I have to practice for an audition so I should probably get going too, I might play the lead in a movie about World War I!" Joey said with a proud smile. Everyone started cheering.
"Good for you, Joe!" Chandler said.
"You know what? I'll make dinner Monday, that's in 2 days, to celebrate the news." Monica suggested, but everyone stared at her with, because what she said, came out as if she was happy that her brother was leaving. "That you and Emily are back together, not that you're leaving, of course." Monica said with an awkward smile.
"Or we could go out to dinner, I mean, you wouldn't have to worry about cooking, if that's okay with you?" Ross said. Everyone looked over at Monica, waiting for her response.
"Yes, sure, if it's fine with the others, it's fine with me." Monica said. Every nodded with agreement, again, everyone, but Rachel. She was staring in front of her, trying to hold back her tears. She was so deep in thoughts, that she didn't even realized what was happening.
Everyone gave said goodbye and left. The apartment was empty, except for Ross and Rachel. Ross looked over at her, realizing she had frozen, he called out her name.
"Rach..." Ross said with a soft voice.
No response.
"Rachel." Ross said again, but this time a little louder. Still no response. He walked over her, shook her shoulders to finally get her attention.
"Rachel, are you okay?!" Ross practically shouted looking into her eyes. Rachel woke up from her thoughts in shock. She looked at him, trying to find the words she wanted to say, but she didn't know what to say.
"I-I... H-how..." She stuttered.
"I'm sorry... But I have to make this marriage work, I hope you understand that." Ross said, he could see the hurt in her eyes, he could see this was breaking her heart, he could see that she was on the verge of breaking into tears. He felt awful, he felt so guilty. He felt guilty towards all of his friends, but especially Rachel. They had so much history, they'd been through so much, and now he was leaving for another girl. Even himself, thought that somewhere down the road, they'd find their way back to each other, but things didn't work out as they both thought it would.
"Y-yes, no of course I get that, I-I'm just a little surprised, I-I mean, it's going to be so weird having you not around... I'm going to miss you." She said with a forced smile. She lied. She was hurt, she was hurt that he could leave his best friends behind like that. 'He was with me for one whole year and no proposal or anything, but 6 weeks with Emily and he asked her to marry him... I can't believe that he cares so much more about her, than he cares about me... he could leave me behind, he could leave our history behind, for a girl he met a few months ago...' Rachel thought. She was hurt but also a little mad.
"I'm so happy you understand... And I'll visit you guys." Ross said with a happy expression while pulling her into a hug. He was so relieved that Rachel was okay with this, he cared about everyone's opinion, but he cared the most about her opinion.
"Yes.." Rachel said quietly... She forced a little smile on her face when they broke the hug.
He smiled back, but his smile was warmer, happier and more genuine.
"I better get going, I need to start packing my stuff"' Ross said while grabbing his coat and walking towards the door.
"Y-yes. Of course." Rachel said softly. He opened the door and looked back at her.
"Bye, Rach!" He turned around and closed the door after him.
"Bye..." She said quietly, but he'd already left. The tears she'd been holding, started to flow out. She stood in the middle of the living room, looking at the door he had just left through.
'We've always been on/off again, I just really thought that somewhere down the road, maybe near in the future, or far in the future, we could step over out stubbornness and just admit that we still love each other. Well I thought so, but now that he is leaving me- I mean us, I'm not sure anymore, that he still loves me... Maybe I should have told the truth in London. No, that would've been incredibly selfish... But now he is married to her, leaving me alone.' Rachel thought.
Rachel was alone at night, she tried to eat but she couldn't keep her mind off Ross. She tried everything to distract herself, she even began to do the dishes, but she stopped 3 minutes later. 'I'm leaving for London...' His words kept echoing in her head. The words that left her in complete shock, but in some way, she saw it coming. She knew that Emily would take her away from her. She just didn't want to believe that it was over.
It was about 2 hours ago that Ross left. She was all alone. Alone with her thoughts. She was sitting on the couch, watching tv. She wasn't even paying a little attention to what was happening on tv. Her thoughts were with Ross.
Was she being selfish? Rachel was so happy for him, he found love. But she couldn't help but feel like Emily was the bad guy, the bad guy who just swooped in, and stole Ross from them. She thought back to her and Ross' relationship.
'We had been together for a year. We were in love, and yes, we had our problems. But still. What would have happened if I didn't call that stupid break. One of the greatest mistakes of my life. Calling that stupid break. Asking Mark to come over. But he slept with that stupid copy slut. Who am I kidding. I am selfish. But not jealous. Right? I mean, we have a history. And of course I love him, I always will. But part of me still can't forgive him for what he did, the reason they'd broke up in the first place...' Rachel thought.
Suddenly she stood up. She needed to tell him the truth before he left. The truth about how she felt about him leaving.
She didn't bring anything, she tied her hair in a ponytail quickly; and she walked towards the door, grabbed the doorknob and walked downstairs. She opened the door and was waiting for a cab. It was October and it was about 10 pm It was cold and dark outside, She wasn't wearing a coat, she felt her skin creating goosebumps. A cab arrived and she went to his apartment. She buzzed the doorbell.
"Hello?" Ross asked through the intercom.
"Hi. It's me, Rachel, I'm sorry but I need to talk to you, it's kind of urgent." Rachel said, she didn't want to show the shake in her voice. She was incredibly nervous. She could actually see her hands shaking. She was biting her nails, like she always did when she was nervous.
"Yes of course, come on up." Ross said through the intercom. He sounded surprised to hear here at his apartment.
The door opened and she walked in, she took the stair. Her legs were shaking, her anxiety rose and a little tear formed in the corner of her eyes. She was still biting her nails while waking up the stairs, to the right floor. She saw his door. Before she knocked she thought of all the nights she'd spend here, waking up next to Ross, being in a happy relationship with him. Then she knocked.
The door opened, Ross stood there, with a worried expression on his face.
"Is everything okay?" He asked.
"How could you leave us like that?" She suddenly asked. His face went from worried to shocked. He thought she was okay with this. Did he she really just asked that?
"W-what?" He was able to ask.
"How could you leave us... How could you leave your best friends, and maybe this going to sound really selfish but, how could you leave me?" She asked. A single tear fell from her eye and rolled down her cheek.
"Emily is my w-" he was saying as Rachel cut him off.
"She is your wife. I know that. You don't have to remind me, okay? We had something for a year, I loved you, you loved me, and you throw all our history away for a girl you met 3 months ago?" She asked. More tears rolled down her cheeks.
"Rachel it's not like that. She is my wife, I love her." Ross said, he was getting annoyed and confused at the same time, what was she trying to say?
"You said my name." She quietly said. "I really thought that meant something!" She shouted.
"It didn't! I am sorry, Rach, but it didn't! Rachel we were together 2 years ago, you ended things with me!' He shouted back.
"Yeah, because you slept with some slut from the copy place! And I swear to god, if you are going to use 'we were on a break' again as excuse, I'll-" she was shouting at him, but he interrupted her.
"Do really think there is a day in my life that I don't regret that?! You really think that I don't regret messing up the best thing I've ever had with someone, losing the woman I loved since I was a kid?" He shouted back.
"Well I don't know! Emily replaced me really quietly, hasn't she?!" Rachel shouted back
"She didn't replace you! No one could ever replace you!" Ross shouted without releasing what he just said.
Silence.
A/N: Hi, this is my first fanfiction ever. I've always wanted to write fanfiction, but I never had any original ideas. Okay, so this is not very original. I know there are a lot of 'what if' stories about Ross leaving for London, but I have a twist I've never read before. I read ALOT of fanfiction. So, I think it's an original idea. Also, I just want to say that English is not my first language. So please don't judge me. Thank you SO much for reading. Please stick with me. And review, I want to know your opinions. And please help me improve the story, is the chapter too long, short, dramatic, fluffy or anything, tell me, and I'll keep all your opinions in my mind.