Chapter 7

"Cookies and Cream"

Note : The conversations written in italic were the conversations they had in the past.

It was Saturday, Ross usually didn't have to go to work on weekends, but today he had to attend an important seminar at NYU. That afternoon he went back home with a box of pizza in his hand as he promised to his son. He entered his apartment and found Ben was sitting on the couch while Rachel was kneeling in front of him, applying something on his knee.

"What happened?" Ross asked as he put the pizza over the apothecary table.

"Daddy!" Ben greeted him. "Ouch!" He exclaimed as soon as he felt a sharp pain on his wounded knee.

"Stay still, sweetie.. I'm almost done." Rachel said to Ben calmly before turning her attention to Ross and gave him a small smile, not wanting to make him worry. "He hurt his knee during his soccer game." She explained to Ross.

Ross came closer to take a look at the injury. The wound wasn't that deep, but it looked painful nevertheless. "Ouch." He cringed. "You okay, Ben?" He asked after noticing Ben was trying hard to conceal his pain.

"Uh-hmm. Doesn't hurt a bit." Ben lied. Being an eight years old and an older brother, he was determined not to cry over a small thing such as this. He was a big boy after all, just like he had told his dad numerous times whenever Ross started to baby him.

"I'm not a little kid anymore dad. I can do this on my own." He said to Ross whenever Ross was trying to help him get ready in the morning.

Ross stifled his laugh every time. Though Ross knew Ben sometimes would act clingy around him or Rachel, he wasn't going to make a comment about it. "Okay, if you say so."

Rachel and Ross shared a knowing look and smiled. Ben was really bad at lying, another trait he apparently picked from his dad.

"Alright." Rachel said as she put a dinosaur band aid over Ben's wound. "There you go. All done."

"Thanks Aunt Rachel." Ben smiled thankfully.

"You're welcome, sweetie." Rachel smiled and gave the boy's head a quick kiss before putting the first aid kit back in its place. "Now I'm going to check on Emma. She should be awake by now."

"Okay." Ross replied as he took a seat on the couch.

As soon as Rachel left, Ross asked Ben. "How was the game?"

Today was Ben's soccer match, which sadly Ross couldn't go as he promised Ben before. Instead, Rachel along with Monica and Phoebe had offered to accompany Ben to the game.

"We lose." Ben replied sadly. "But Aunt Rachel said sometimes it's okay to lose as long as we have fun."

Being a Geller, Ben was quite competitive as a kid. So, every time he loses he would get upset for days. Meanwhile, unlike The Gellers, Rachel was the opposite of them. All that mattered to her was to have fun and enjoy the game.

Ross ruffled the boy's blonde hair and offered him a smile, feeling proud of his own son. "That's true. Sometimes you lose, but it's okay. You've done your best and you had fun, that's enough. Even the greatest soccer players in the whole world sometimes have their bad days too, you know?"

Ben smiled and nodded. "I do have a lot of fun today, dad." Ben began his story. "We went to get some ice cream after and Emma had chocolate covered all over her face! She's so funny, dad." Ben chuckled as he remembered it. "... and then we watched Aunt Phoebe play her new song at the coffee house. It was so much fun!"

"Yeah?" Ben nodded ecstatically. Her aunts sure knew how to spoil the boy, Ross thought. "Looks like you didn't miss me at all, huh?" Ross playfully asked.

Ben quickly shook his head, not wanting his dad to become upset for being left out. "I missed you a lot dad. I wish you were there with us."

"Yeah, me too." Ross agreed. He hated missing this kind of opportunity to spend time with his son, especially on one of those special days like today. "I promise I'll be there at your next match."

"Okay." Ben smiled, satisfied.

Not long after, Rachel was back with Emma in her arms. "Look who's home?" Rachel asked the little girl. "It's daddy, Ems."

The little girl smiled excitedly as soon as she saw her daddy. She was indeed daddy's little girl. Though she might haven't fully understood the concept of parents, she still treated Ross, Rachel, and Ben differently, as if their little baby girl knew that they were her family.

Ross stood up and approached them with a goofy smile on his face. He was a hopeless romantic when it came to his family. He even had a bunch of photos of their kids on his desk back in his office. And of course there was one photo of the four of them that they had taken during their visit to the Aquarium. He kept those photos as a reminder on how lucky he was and whenever he was feeling down or had a bad day at work, he would look at those photos and it just made his day instantly better.

His family was everything for him, he couldn't begin to imagine his life without them.

"Hello, baby girl." Ross cooed as he held Emma in his arms. "Daddy misses you so, so much."

He didn't even mind if he looked like a fool whenever he babies his children and Rachel found it endearing. He was such a family man, much to her delight. She always loved watching Ross with Emma or Ben, it somehow warmed her heart.

"What?" Ross smiled and asked as he felt her eyes were fixated on him.

She blushed for no reason. "Nothing."

"Dad, I'm hungry!" Ben whined, breaking their little moment.

"Okay.. Okay.. Let's eat."

...

After putting Ben and Emma to bed, just like any other Saturday night, it was movie time for the adults. But for a reason, tonight was exceptionally special for Ross. After making up his mind to start things up with Rachel again, Ross pondered on how to tell her his feelings without making it awkward and he planned on doing it tonight before he missed his chance again.

"What are we watching tonight?" Rachel asked as she propped herself on the couch with a plate of assorted cookies in her hands whilst Ross was preparing the movie.

"Let's see.." Ross started as he went through a pile of DVDs they had just rented. "Well, other than a bunch of cartoons Ben had requested, we have 'Weekend at Bernie's' and-"

"Oh! Oh!" She exclaimed ecstatically. "Weekend at Bernie's!"

Ross shook his head and chuckled at her enthusiasm. She could be like a child sometimes which he found very cute. "Okay, 'Weekend at Bernie's' it is." Ross said as he put the dvd in.

Tonight he didn't mind watching anything in particular because his heart was pounding so hard, he probably couldn't focus himself on the movie anyway. He was putting together words in his mind, trying to figure out how to start the conversation with her.

"Wow, Geller. What's gotten into you today, huh?" She asked as he turned off the lights and then he sat down next to her. "First, the wine and now you let me choose the movie."

"Oh, just shut up and watch the movie." He brushed it off.

Not yet, he thought. His heart was still beating so hard, he had to calm himself down or else he would ruin everything he had prepared for. He stole a glance at the woman sitting beside him and his heart fluttered in excitement. She was dressed only in a plain old t-shirt and flannel pants, her hair was tied up into a bun and there were even remnants of cookie crumbles on her cheeks, still, he never saw any women as beautiful as she was.

Her blue eyes were sparkling as she watched the movie, that same pair of eyes he could easily get lost into. Her lips curved into a smile before she burst into a laughter at some scenes she found entertaining, and everytime she laughed, it triggered the same smile out of him. That was how much he loved hearing her laugh and seeing the smile on her face.

He let out a sigh.

He just wished he could be the reason for her to smile for the rest of their lives. He wished to share more moments like this in the future. He wished for a future with her. And he wished she'd granted him those wishes.

After stealing a last glance, he focused himself on the TV whilst his mind wandered. He needed to come up with something and it better be soon.

"I can't believe I've watched it more than a dozen times now, but I still somehow found it funny." Rachel made a comment about the movie after it ended.

He was still lost in his thoughts, he didn't realize that he was running out of time and she was talking to him.

She faced him and found him staring blankly at the TV. "Ross?" She shook his arm gently.

Her touch managed to bring him out of his trance. "Huh?"

"What's with you today?" Rachel asked, raising her eyebrow. "Are you sick or something?"

Ross was being awfully quiet today for a reason she didn't know. Yet.

"Uh, I'm fine." He answered nervously as he avoided her eyes. His eyes were wandering around the room until it stopped at a piece of Oreo left on the plate. Just like that, he suddenly had the greatest idea in his mind.

He took the cookie and split it in half, offering her the part with the cream, knowing how much she loved those. "Uh, it's the last one. Uhm, do you want to share?"

She was left bewildered by his question. They had just stock a bunch of those cookies a few days ago, since it was Ben's favorite. They could always open a new one if they wanted to.

He was so nervous to ask her out again as if he was still Monica's geeky older brother and she was this famous cheerleader back in high school. Though he knew better than anyone, what he had with Rachel was far over that. They even had a daughter together, for crying out loud! But yet, here he was, still overly insecure about himself when it came to her.

Times like this made him wonder how on earth he was able to be with her in the first place. What did she see in him? He wondered. She could have literally any other handsome single man out there, but she kept choosing him. He just wished that she hadn't changed her mind, he hoped that after all this time, she'd choose him all over again. Because after all they've been through the past few months, it was getting harder for him to imagine a life without her.

"Okay.." She had chosen to ignore his odd demeanor and took the cookie. "You do know we have another box of those in the pantry, right?"

He sighed. Now he was sure he just made a fool out of himself. She must've thought he was either drunk or he was out of his mind, he thought. He buried his face with his hands, frustrated with himself. Let's just forget about the oreos, she wouldn't remember it anyway, right? He asked himself that question.

"This is so stupid." He mumbled mostly to himself. "Of course you don't remember it."

She raised her eyebrows. "Remember what?" She curiously asked as she had zero clues on what he was talking about.

"The oreo." He looked at her hopefully. Seeing her confused face, he sighed. "On your first day in the city, we shared an oreo, remember?"

She paused for a moment, trying hard to remember that night. After all, it was nine years ago, she only remembered parts of it. But she did remember spending that night with him. Didn't he ask her out that night?

"I don't remember about the oreo." She confessed. "But I do remember talking to you."

"Do you remember what I said?"

"Uh, let's see.." She racked her brain for an answer. "Uhm.. If I remember correctly, I think you might have asked me out, but you never did."

Seeing her in that wedding dress after his horrible divorce brought up his dying feelings for her. Back then when he was in high school he always wondered what she would look like in a wedding dress -which according to his imagination she wore during their wedding. But when he saw her running inside the coffee house that fateful day in a wedding dress, she was so beautiful it left him breathless. She literally took his breath away, he had to remind himself to breathe.

She was exceeding his every imaginations.

Not wanting to repeat the same mistake as he did back then, he gathered all the courage he had left inside him and poured out his feelings.

"Yeah, I was so stupid back then." He admitted shyly and she offered him a smile. He looked at her straight in the eyes as he swallowed hard, trying to get himself together. "Rach, these past few months, uhm. It's been very hard." She nodded, agreeing with him. It was hard, especially for him and she knew that. "But having you by my side gave me strengths to overcome this problem. I owe you a lot and I don't even know how to repay you for all you've done for us. For me and for Ben."

She took his hand into her and patted it gently. "You don't owe me anything, Ross." She smiled. "I know you'd do the same for me."

"I know, but still... Thank you, Rach." He said softly. "What you did for us, especially for Ben, means a lot to me."

She nodded and her eyes were getting misty from his words. "Okay, stop it." She said as she wiped her tears and let out a small chuckle. "You're going to make me cry."

He chuckled softly and he wiped her tears away, she smiled thankfully in return. "I learned something from that accident." He began. "I learned that there's never enough time in this world and I want to be able to enjoy every second of my life without leaving any regret." He paused for a moment. "I'm talking about us, Rach."

He was done trying to conceal his feelings for her. He was done playing around, pretending as if she wasn't the only woman he had loved. He was done being stupid.

"I love you, Rach. I love you so much and I want to be with you." He confessed as he kept her hands on his and kept his gaze over her beautiful blue eyes.

Rachel's tears were streaming down from her eyes. She couldn't believe what he had just said to her. Ross wasn't the type of man who was straightforward with his feelings, but here he was, pouring his heart out in front of her, looking so fragile but yet so determined at the same time.

He finally said it. He literally put his heart out there and it was her to decide whether she would take him or rip his heart apart. He was prepared for it either way.

She let out a warm smile as she no longer could contain her own feelings. It was very overwhelming. She wasn't even second guessing her answer. She knew she loved him too. After all, he was the only man that was on her mind for a long time now. She fell in love with him again when she knew she was bearing his child and from then he was always on her mind.

"I love you too, Ross." She said softly. "I do.."

As his mind was still trying to process her words, his hands were already on her cheeks and the next thing he knew their lips were brushed against each other passionately. His heart was about to explode from all the excitement as he savored every moment of that kiss.

He missed it so much. He missed these feelings he had every time they kissed.

They leaned their forehead against each other as they finished their kiss. With both of them still left breathless from the amazing kiss they've just shared, they smiled at each other knowing how right this kiss was.

Just like their last kiss they shared in the hospital, this kiss felt right. It proves to them that they did belong to each other. No matter how hard they had tried to deny it, they were always coming back to each other. It was almost as if they were born in this world solely for each other. And it took them until today to realize it.

She sighed, finally feeling content about all this. It was the moment she had been waiting for these past few months. She looked at him for the last time before resting her head on his chest. He kissed her forehead and tightened his arms around her, not wanting to let her go again.

"So, can I ask you out sometimes?" He asked, breaking the silence. "Say, next Friday?"

She looked up to him and smiled. "Okay." He smiled brightly as he brushed a strand of her hair aside. "What took you so long?"

"Let's just say, you're right." He started. "I am bad at flirting."

She smiled. "Yeah, you do. And I thought you were drunk or something earlier."

They chuckled.

"Hey, give me a break. I'm trying to ask a woman whom I have a crush on for God's know how long."

"Alright." She giggled. "So, it's a date, huh?"

He smiled before he leaned in for another kiss. "It's a date."

A/N

Just a small chapter before their date. You guys probably know by now that I love to put references from 'Friends' episodes into my story. And this time it was from their pilot episode. I love their little interaction during that 'Oreo' scene. They were just so pure and Ross was really cute whenever he was nervous around her.

Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter! Thanks :)