Chapter 3

"A Ticking Time Bomb"

The whole week went by in a flash. Rachel was doing great at taking care of two children, it even surprised herself. Rachel herself, never would've thought she could take care of a child, let alone two of them. Ross was proud and thankful for her. He couldn't even imagine handling this problem without her by his side.

Sure, Monica was living just across the street, and she was very helpful too. But still, she had her own life and they were trying to have a baby. Ross didn't want to disturb them, knowing how much his little sister wanted to have a baby.

The afternoon in the Green-Geller apartment was more chaotic than usual. It was dinner time. For some reason Emma was being extremely clingy today, which made Rachel completely occupied by her. Rachel never even had a chance to have a proper meal. So, for tonight's dinner, she ended up ordering some chinese food for the sake of her sanity.

She was cradling Emma in one arm, trying to sooth her baby daughter who was upset about something, while keeping an eye on Ben and making sure he ate his dinner. Things were getting overwhelming for her. She could've sworn she could lose her mind anytime soon.

She needed a break.

Noticing Ben being picky with his food, Rachel sighed in frustration. "Ben, honey.." She started. "Finish your vegetables, please."

The boy shook his head and pouted, "But I don't like carrots." He insisted.

She screamed as loud as she could in her head, praying for God to give her more patience. The last thing she wanted was to scream in front of the kids.

It wasn't like she didn't want to help Ross or regretted helping him. No, not at all. It was just today, her patience was being tested by both kids. Emma was being cranky that she needed to be held the whole time, Ben refused to do his homework earlier today and now he refused to eat his veggies, and to make it worse, the apartment was a mess. She didn't even have time to go to the bathroom or eat, let alone cleaning the apartment.

Just in time, the front door opened, revealing Ross with his briefcase in his hand and a smile on his face, still oblivious to the whole mess and Rachel's state of mind.

"Hey, guys.." He greeted them as he put his coat and briefcase away. "I'm home."

Ben ran to his dad and gave him a hug, "Hey dad."

Rachel sighed in relief. Lately she felt like she was a real housewife. She stayed at home, took care of their kids, cleaned the house, and all that but the benefits aside. Her relationship with Ross was going nowhere after that night he almost kissed her. They never brought out the topic, as if it never happened.

"Oh, thank God, you're home!" She said exasperatedly.

Ross looked at Rachel and was stunned for a few moments. She looked like a wreck. She somehow still had the same clothes she wore this morning when he left, her hair was a mess, and judging by the face she made, she was clearly overwhelmed and exhausted.

"What happened to you?"

Rachel bit her lips as she tried to hold her emotions inside. It was maybe the first time in her life she was so glad to see another adult around. She was on the verge of crying which was quickly noticed by him. He carefully took Emma away from her.

"I need a break." She whimpered softly and sighed.

Ross let out a soft chuckle and then he kissed her forehead, "Okay, you do deserve a break." He started. "Hey, what about this? Tomorrow is my day off. I can take the kids to my parents if you want. So, you can go shopping or whatever you want to do."

Rachel's face lit up by his suggestion. "Really?" She asked like a little kid asking their parents for candy.

Ross giggled, "Yeah."

"Thank you." She said softly and smiled. "Now, can you take care of Emma while I take a proper bath?"

"Okay." He smiled. "Take your time."

Rachel was about to leave when she remembered something, "Oh, and Ross?"

"Yeah?"

"Ben's teacher called this afternoon, asking for you. I told her that you will give her a call later. I wrote her number on the notepad."

"Okay, thanks."

Ross bounced Emma up and down whilst watching Ben playing with his toys. Ross had visited a child psychiatrist Rachel's dad recommended yesterday. The psychiatrist told him to take Ben the next time he visited so she could observe the boy. Now, Ross had to find a way to bring Ben to the child psychiatrist's office without making him worried.

"What are you doing?" Ross asked, as he put Emma on her bassinet after the baby fell asleep.

He then sat next to Ben on the floor.

Ben looked up and smiled. "See this, dad?" Ross nodded. "This is the mayor." Ben pointed to a lego mini figure. "He was being held by an evil T-rex and now Superman is going to save him!" He excitedly explained as he held a dinosaur toy in one hand and a superman figure in another.

Ross chuckled at his son's imagination and brushed his blonde hair playfully. "An evil dinosaur, huh?"

"Mm-hmm." Ben sheepishly nodded and continued to play.

"Hey, Ben.." Ross started, gaining his son's attention back to him.

"Yeah, dad?"

"How about we go somewhere, just you and me, this Saturday?"

Ben smiled at his suggestion. It had been a while since he was able to spend time just with his father alone. He missed it. "Yeah? Where?"

"It's a secret. But, I can assure you it's a great place with nice people and there will be a lot of toys you can play with."

"Really?" Ben's voice got a little higher, showing how much he actually loved the idea.

Ross smiled and nodded, "Yeah. And the best thing is, we can go for some ice cream after that."

Ben's smile grew wider, "Really? Can I get a chocolate sundae with some sprinkles on top?" He asked hopefully.

Ross nodded, "Sure. Whatever you want."

"Awesome!" The boy yelled ecstatically.

Rachel emerged from the bathroom half an hour later and found them playing together on the floor. She smiled as she watched them.

"Hey, what are you guys doing?" Rachel's voice gained both Ross and Ben's attention.

Ben smiled widely, "Aunt Rachel! Guess what?" The boy eagerly asked.

She took a seat on the couch and then asked, "What?"

"Daddy is going to take me to this secret place and grab an ice cream after that! How cool is that!"

Ross gave her a wink and she quickly understood. Ross had told her about his plan to bring Ben to the psychiatrist's office last night. She was glad he finally found a way to bring Ben there without scaring or making him worried.

"Secret place, huh?" She asked, playing along.

"Uh-huh. A secret place with a lot of toys!"

Rachel let out a chuckle, "Well, too bad I can't come with you guys. I have to take Emma for her monthly shot."

"Yucks! I hate shots!" The boy cringed.

"Oh, right. I forgot about that. Do you want me to come? I can reschedule if you want." Ross offered.

Rachel waved it off, "Nah, it's okay. I can always ask Monica or Phoebe to come with me."

"Okay." He smiled at her and mouthed 'Thank you'.

...

Ross, Rachel, and Ben sat down at the brown leather couch, watching the new Lilo & Stitch movie Ross had just rented, while Emma was sleeping in her bassinet set up in the living room. It's been two weeks since Ben had moved in with them. Since then, watching a movie together was something they regularly did on every Sunday. Ben had a bowl of popcorn in his hand and was engrossed by the movie. Ross, however, was deep in his thoughts.

Last week, Ben and Ross went to the psychiatrist's office. Though the doctor said there was nothing particularly wrong with Ben, he still felt worried about his son. Last Monday was Ben's first day back at school and the boy seemed to be doing pretty fine for the whole week. He still hadn't talked or asked anything regarding her moms, but thankfully he wasn't having any trouble in school either, according to Ben's teacher, Mrs. Henderson.

"Dad, is it true that turtles can live up to a hundred years old?" A curious Ben asked his dad, breaking Ross off from his reverie. "My friend said he went to a turtle conservation in Hawaii last summer and he said he saw a one hundred years old turtle there." He added.

Rachel looked at Ross expectantly. She was curious with the answer too.

Ross smiled, "Well, it depends on their species. Some species of tortoises can live up to a hundred years or more. In fact, turtles and tortoises are some of the most long-lived members of the reptile family." He explained proudly.

Rachel, again, was mesmerized by him. She found it endearing on how he knows about a lot of stuff, and not only about dinosaurs. That was definitely one of many other reasons why she had fallen in love with him. He was a smart and intelligent man.

"Wow! Cool!" Ben commented.

Ross let out a small chuckle. "Hey, here's an idea.." Ross started, gaining both Ben and Rachel's attention. "Maybe we should all go to the Aquarium sometimes."

His suggestion made Ben's face beamed with excitement. "Can we, dad? Please?" He asked hopefully.

"Sure" Ross ruffled Ben's hair playfully before averting his attention to Rachel. "Are you free next Saturday?"

She smiled. This would be their first family outing and the thought of it made the butterflies in her stomach fluttered with excitement. Even if she had another plan, she would gladly cancel them.

"Uh-hmm.. Sure. It's been a while since I stepped outside this apartment. It will be nice to rejoin society again." She half-jokingly said.

...

The next day, Rachel was alone with Emma in their apartment. Usually at this hour, she would go to Central Perk and have a cup of coffee with her friends. But today, for many different reasons, everyone was busy. Phoebe and Mike visited Montauk to visit Phoebe's mom. Ross, Chandler, and Monica were at work. Meanwhile Joey had an audition today. It was one of the days when she found herself bored and couldn't wait until her maternity leave was over, so she could go back to work.

Her maternity leave would be over in less than a month, so it was time for them to look for a nanny.

Rachel was sitting at the leather couch with Emma in her arms as she flipped through pages of resumes for the nanny.

"Let's see.. It said, she was forty years old, and had been a nanny for fifteen years.." She trailed off. "Oh, but she lives in New Jersey." She looked at Emma and said, "It's too far, isn't it, Ems?"

Emma was looking at her mother with her sleepy eyes with her pacifier in her tiny mouth, obviously clueless on what her mother was talking about. Rachel brushed her daughter's hair and kissed it.

Though she was super excited by the thought of getting back to work, she was sure as hell she was going to miss the days like today. Just spending her quality time with her newborn.

Just then the phone rang and she answered it.

"Hello? Rach?"

"Ross?"

"Yeah, it's me." He began. "Listen. I have a favor to ask you. Ben's teacher called and said that Ben was sent into the principal office. They wanted me to come, but I have this important department meeting that I can't miss." He sighed. "Can you please come and pick him up?"

Even though the last thing Ross wanted was to bother or ask Rachel for another favor, it left him with no choice. He couldn't reach any of his friends and frankly, lately it was Rachel that Ben could be comfortable with. Ross could only hope that what he was asking wasn't too much for her.

"Yeah, sure. I'll go." She replied in a heartbeat.

Rachel knew how much burden had caused Ross to carry through this whole accident. If she could help him even just a bit, she would gladly do it.

He sighed in relief. "Thank you so, so much! I promise I'll make it up to you."

She let out a small chuckle, "Yeah. You better be."

About half an hour later, Rachel reached Ben's school with Emma in her stroller. The school was packed with parents picking up their children. Somewhere around the crowd, she could've sworn she saw Sting's wife and their son amongst them, but before she could take a good look at it, they were gone. But then it clicked with her.

"Oh yeah. Sting's son is Ben's classmate." She said to no one in particular. She couldn't help but wonder if Ben was close with Sting's son. Maybe she would ask Ross about it later.

"Ms. Green?" A voice brought her up from her daydreaming.

Rachel turned around and found a middle aged woman with curly dark hair standing in front of her.

"Yes, I am Rachel Green. Uhm.." She pondered a bit, trying to explain to Ben's teacher what her relationship with Ben was. "I'm Ben's sister's mom. You must be Ben's teacher." She stretched her hand for her to shake.

Rachel smiled and secretly hoped that the teacher wouldn't question her complicated relationship with this family.

The teacher shook Rachel's hand before saying, "Yes, and you can call me Mrs. Henderson." She started with a smile before bent down to take a good look at Emma. "This must be Emma, Ben's sister. She's so beautiful."

For a moment Rachel was wondering how Ben's teacher would've known Emma's name. But before she could ask, the teacher explained herself.

"Ben talked about his little sister a lot." Mrs. Henderson gave her a warm smile.

Rachel smiled at the revelation. She was so happy that Emma had a brother who loved her very much and now that they were living together, she hoped that their bond would only get stronger. Her wish was for Emma to have a strong relationship with her sibling, just like Monica and Ross.

"Let me show you the principal office."

Rachel followed her and together they arrived at the principal office. As soon as they arrived, Rachel saw Ben sitting at a bench in a hallway in front of the principal's office. Ben was looking down at the floor, obviously looking very guilty and ashamed by his action. Rachel didn't know the details yet, but her heart broke as soon as she saw him.

The little boy just went through a lot. More than she could've ever imagined. She wondered if things started to get overwhelming for him and somehow it got him into trouble. Was that why they called him to the principal office? Rachel wondered.

"Please come inside, the principal is waiting for you." Mrs. Henderson started. "I can keep an eye on Emma if it's okay with you."

Rachel nodded and smiled thankfully, "That would be great, thank you."

She slowly walked toward the principal office's door and couldn't help but to feel nervous about the whole thing. Being a student, Rachel was never being called into a principal office and she wasn't a saint back in school.

She took a deep breath before knocking on the door and the principal let her in.

"Ms. Green. Nice to meet you." The principal shook her hand. "Please have a seat."

About half an hour later, Rachel found herself in front of the principal's office, trying to digest all the informations she had just received.

It turned out, Ben had punched one of his classmates, named Troy. However, when Ben was confronted by his teacher, he wouldn't tell her why he had punched Troy in the first place. Instead, he kept his mouth shut and kept telling his teacher that he was sorry.

Due to Ben's special condition, instead of getting a suspension, Ben received a warning. But, if he repeated his actions, a disciplinary action would be taken.

Rachel was having trouble dealing with this matter. Not only it wasn't really her place to talk about it to Ben or even being here in the first place, but she was also afraid of Ross' reaction. He would've been mad, that was for starters, but Rachel knew him very well. Ross undoubtedly would blame himself for this incident. Even though she knew and even God knew he had tried his best to be there for Ben and be the father the boy needed.

Just like a ticking time bomb, the accident had finally taken a toll on Ben, leaving them in a difficult position. It was something they were afraid of and whether they were ready or not, the consequences of the accident awaited them. They had to fix it and she was determined to help him.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"Everything is going to be okay. Everything is going to be okay." She repeated it softly as if it was a powerful spell that could help them get through this problem.