Under Surveillance
(Thanks to Guntheress for the title, and thanks to Heather for the restaurant Red Robin. There's one comment in here that may be seen as offensive. I can assure you that's not my personal opinion it's just the opinion of the character.)
Part 1: Falling Apart
Christina laid on her bed in the room of her apartment,
twirling her blonde hair between her fingers.
Hopefully I can get out of this dump soon! She thought to herself, and imagined
how nice it would be once she did. No more sleeping in this lumpy bed, no more
living in this tiny room, and most importantly no more Giacomo!
Giacomo Soldi was the janitor of the apartment building, he
had immigrated to the United States a few years ago from Colombia or some other
third world shit hole! She didn't really care anyway, he was a complete lunatic!
The soon her she was away from him the easier she would sleep at night, but
regardless of the sick things he did, most of which she never wanted to know
about, he had helped her a lot. Almost ever since the first day she met Ross
Geller, he had helped. She smiled at the thought of Ross, even though she saw him
everyday at work she still missed him. Six months ago she started working as his
personal assistant at the university, and slowly fell in love with him. He was
so different than the previous losers she was involved with, and most
importantly was nothing like Tim! Christina shuddered at the thought of her
ex-husband. The bastard! That was her problem, even though she was absolutely positive
Ross Geller was just the man for her to spend the rest of her life with,
he was married! She had tired to seduce him, but soon realized that this would
be more difficult than getting some college boy to stray from his month long
girlfriend. That's when Giacomo came into the picture.....he taught her how if
she got to know them, then she would know what would break them up. As a matter
of fact he was so good at watching them it even scared her. She was too afraid
to ask him why he helped her, but she was pretty damn sure it wasn't out of the
goodness of his heart!
Her thoughts were interrupted by a sound over the speaker, she
got out of her bed and went over to the window. Across the street she could see
Ross and his wife talking. She laughed and leaned across the coffee table and
kissed him. Ha! Enjoy it while you can bitch! Christina thought to herself, as a
sly smile crept across her face.
Ross came into his office and plopped down in the chair.
'God I'm exhausted!' he thought to himself, and ran his hands over his
face.
"Dr. Geller?" a voice asked from the doorway. Ross
looked up, and saw his assistant standing in the doorway.
"Oh hey Christina," he said.
"Professor Markham called, he says he can't make it to
lunch today, and your 2:00 lecture has been moved to 12:00," she read from
her notepad.
"What?! UGH!" Great! That meant that he only had an
hour to finish getting ready for the lecture, he sighed," thanks
Christina."
"No problem." she said and turned to leave the
room. Ross caught himself looking at her butt as she left then immediately felt
guilty. Even though he didn't know why, him and Rachel had been married for six
years, and just looking didn't technically do any harm. He sighed again, he knew
why he felt guilty, even though it was more than six years ago the guilt was
still there. He stood up and picked up this notes for the lecture, thinking to
himself that maybe no matter how many years passed it would always be there.
Christina hummed to herself as she ate her salad during the lunch break, It had been a long hard day but she was still very
happy. When Ross came into the office after his morning lecture he looked tired,
irritable, and grumpy. She could only imagine what he would be like at the end of
the day, maybe because of that they would have another fight! She had observed
that the honeymoon was definitely over for Ross and Rachel, they were getting to
the point where they had been together for a long time and were getting tired of
each other. It was the perfect time for them to break up. She smiled again and
took a sip of her diet coke. 'Soon....I'll just have to be patient until then.'
"Come on! Aren't you ready yet?" Ross yelled
from the living room, Rachel glared in that direction then went back to rifling
through the drawers of her jewelry box. Ross came into the bedroom doorway and
gave her a look, "Rachel?!" he said impatiently.
"Just a second, I told you I'm trying to find my jade necklace!"
Rachel said back to him.
"We're gonna be late!" Ross said, that earned him
another glare, "Rach this is your big Ralph Lauren party!"
"Yes I know that! And I want to be on time, but first I
just want to find my damn jade necklace!" Rachel yelled slamming the
jewelry box shut on the last syllable.
"Well if you hadn't forgotten than maybe you'd have more
time to look for it!" Ross said in a lecturing tone.
Rachel gaped at him, " I did NOT forget!"
"Oh yeah right," Ross laughed
"Alright! I am not in the mood to fight about this right
now okay?" she yelled.
"Fine!" Ross said.
"Fine!" She responded.
"I'll go get us a cab." He grumbled as he walked
out the door.
"I'll meet you down there once I find the
necklace." She started to say but heard the door slam in mid-sentence.
Rachel sighed and continued her search. Her and Ross had been fighting a lot
recently, it was getting very tiring. 'I guess it's just a phase all married
couples go through....and we still have some good times' Rachel told herself as
she walked down the stairs, to meet Ross and the cab. She remembered how good it
was last night, they had ordered in, and rented a movie and for the first time
in a while actually enjoyed themselves. Rachel knew that a lot of their problems
were caused by how stressed out Ross was from work. 'Hopefully he'll have some
fun at this party, and relax a little bit.....AH! There it is!" She thought
to herself as she grabbed the necklace from off her nightstand, and went through
the living room and out the door, not noticing the tiny metal object by the
window seat that had been crushed under her heels.
Christina hiked up the stairs to her apartment, and went
through the door. Gaicomo was there bent over a table, which was covered in
pieces of metal, wire, plastic and other unidentifiable things. She always what
exactly it was he did there all day, but had learned long ago not to ask
questions, so she simply began to go to her room.
"The bug went out," Gaicomo said, stopping
Christina in her tracks, "we'll have to replace it."
"Again?" Christina said irritably, "That's the
third time this month! I.....I don't like going over there so much."
Gaicomo stood up and walked over to her, "If we don't
replace it, then we have no way of knowing what is going on over there!"
"I know that!" Christina said, trying not to let on
how nervous he made her, "But I mean....their neighbors are already
suspicious of us."
"Well then they won't catch us this time will
they?" he practically yelled, and stormed back over to his work
table.
With in a couple minutes Christina was pacing nervously at
the top of the landing in front of Ross's apartment, while Giacomo fiddled with
the lock. She wished he would hurry up, they had been seen on several different
occasions by the neighbors. She knew it would only be a matter of time before
someone got suspicious, especially if one of them was seen picking a lock while
the other stood guard.
"Come on!" Giacomo said once he finally got the door
open. They both rushed inside and shut the door behind them. Gaicomo looked
around for a few seconds then walked into the bedroom muttering something about
"Give me a moment."
Christina put a little surprise for later in the couch, then
just sat around for a while listening for noise in the hall that would suggest
they were coming home. Meanwhile Gaicomo put the tiny microchip on top of the
bedroom door frame, hoping it wouldn't fall off and be crushed like the last
ones. Once he was done he stretched his back then walked over to the dresser,
this room was thick with her smell. Opening the top drawer made the smell
stronger, it seemed to seep from every item of clothing. He picked up something
out of the drawer......a scarf. He started intently at it while running the item
through his hands. The velvety soft material seemed to pour over his hands, and
it was red........red like blood. 'Like her blood........'
"Gaicomo?" Christina's voice interrupted his
thoughts, "are you done?" Gaicomo looked at her, a look that chilled
her right to the bone. After what seemed like an eternity but was probably only
a few seconds, he nodded and walked past her out of the room. Christina stood
there for a few seconds trying to keep her stomach from turning over, she had
seen him over by the dresser and she had seem him stuff the scarf into his
pocket before walking out.
He was starting to scare her....he always had scared her! The
way the met was so strange it was only natural she wonder what he was about. She
still remembered it, she had been watching Ross and his wife in the park on day,
when suddenly he grabbed her and dragged her into an ally, then told her
"What are you doing?! HUH? You want the idiot professor?" She was
surprised that this stranger could know that, he didn't give her a chance to say
anything before going on to say, "Well your doing it the wrong way!"
She discovered from him that indeed she had been, but she wasn't sure if that
was a bad thing or a good thing. Gaicomo was down right creepy! It didn't seem
normal that he knew all of the things he did!
Rachel opened the door to the apartment, and came him inside
throwing her purse down. She was not happy. Ross came in behind her, she simply
went over to the fridge and got out a diet coke. Ross sighed, "Rachel
please don't start this."
"Don't start what?" Rachel asked feigning ignorance.
"I didn't even want to be there in the first
place!" Ross said.
"Oh well excuse me for thinking you might want to be a
part of my life! Why should you care?! I mean it's not like your my husband or
anything!" Rachel sarcastically.
"So what? I'm just suppose to run all around to all
these events and parties and stand by your side smiling like the first
lady?" Ross said back.
"I do the same at all of your....things at NYU!!!!"
Rachel responded.
"Yeah and you complain about all of them!" Ross
yelled taking off his jacket.
Rachel sighed with exasperation, "Ross I wanted you to
have fun at this party! You didn't even try to!"
"Well I'm sorry! I wasn't up for standing around pretending
to enjoy myself! I work hard Rachel!" Ross said.
"And I don't?!?!?! What you think all I do is dance
around looking at pretty clothes? There's a lot more to fashion than just the
runway!" She yelled
"Oh yes how could I forget you tell the models were to
stand to have their pictures taken. How silly of me! Wow Rach, you poor
baby....that must be really strenuous!" He said sarcastically.
"Alright you know what that's it! If your so tired than
it won't matter where you sleep will it?" Rachel said.
"Oh of course! Resort to the old make the guy sleep on
the couch trick! Well don't bother I'll do it voluntarily." Ross said
coldly.
Rachel glared at him, "Fine!" she said and quickly
went into the bedroom, slamming the door behind her. She undressed, put on her
pajama's, and laid down in bed before she broke down and cried into her pillow.
Though she hadn't let it on that last comment had hurt......bad.
Christina knocked on the door to Ross's office as she
entered. She found him there, sitting behind his desk looking at some unknown
point.
"Oh there you are," She said, "are you
okay?"
"Huh?" Ross said looking up at her, "Oh
uh....yeah I'm fine."
"Well, Professor Grant was looking for you, she said you
missed a meeting this morning." Christina explained.
"Oh my god that's right! That was today!" He said.
"So what's goin' on?" she asked.
"Nothing" Ross said.
" No don't give me that I know it's
something....here," she said and handed him his coat, "I'll buy you a
cup of coffee."
They sat across from each other in a booth at the diner over
two cups of mocha, he talked, and she listened to all that he told her....all
that he didn't know she already knew.
"So.....that's about it." Ross concluded.
"Well that's not so bad, I mean all couples have hard
times-" Christina began.
"No! This is more than just hard times, it's more
like....it's more like I've been unhappy for so long I don't even remember what
its like to be happy! Rachel was my high school crush I, I never dreamed that I
wouldn't be happy with her." Ross explained and looked down.
"Awww.....I'm sorry," She said and squeezed his
hand, "things don't always work the way you want them to huh?"
"No I guess not," he replied.
"Hey would you like to have dinner with me sometime?
Just to talk?" she asked.
Ross hesitated, "I....I don't know-"
"Dr. Geller-" she began.
"Call me Ross" he corrected.
"Ross, I'm just wanting to help you." Christina
said.
"Thanks, I just don't feel comfortable......." Ross
began.
"I understand." She said.
"Yeah," he said smiling at her, "thanks for
the coffee."
"No problem." She said as he walked out the door.
Once he was gone she smiled to herself. 'I'm getting closer.'
Rachel came home from work early that day, she noticed the
blanket and pillow were on the couch from Ross sleeping there last night. She
sighed and began gathering them up. She folded up the blanket then grabbed the
pillow, and noticed something in the couch. She picked it up.......'oh my
god!!!'....her heard began to race, and she suddenly felt like her lungs had
turned to steel. 'Breath in, breath out' she told her self over and over again.
At that moment Ross came in the door.
"Hey Rach-" he said, and looked questioningly at
her.
"What is this?!" she demanded holding out the item.
"Um....well I could be wrong but it looks
like....panties," Ross said stating the obvious.
"I know they're panties! What are they doing
here?!" Rachel yelled.
"I don't know! Where did you find them?" Ross
asked.
"I found them in the couch! You want to tell me how they
got there?" She asked.
"I don't know, maybe they feel out of the basket when
you were doing laundry." He suggested.
"These are not mine! These belong to someone else! How,
how could you do this to me? AGAIN!" Rachel yelled, trying not to cry.
"I didn't! You.....you could have bought those a long
time ago and just forgotten!" Ross said.
"Oh yeah right! Sure!" She said, now crying without
control.
"Rachel I swear to God I have no idea how those got
there!" Ross was beginning to panic he knew how bad this looked, but he was
just as confused as she.
Rachel looked at him through her tears and just shook her
head, "Oh Ross......the least you can do is not insult my intelligence! Be
a man and admit it! Admit it!!!!!!"
"I would if there was something to admit!!!!!!!"
Ross said, "Rachel your going to have to believe me-"
"Believe you?!?!?!?!?! How the hell could you even ask
me to believe you?! First that thing and now.....now this?" She said.
"That was six years ago! You said you trusted me!"
He yelled.
"I did until now!" Rachel said.
"If you really trusted me you would believe me." He
said.
Rachel looked away for a minute, then laughed cruelly,
"Believe you? Look at this." She said and passed him the panties, he
looked at them, "Why would I buy a pair of underwear that has someone else's
initials in them?"
Ross felt like he was going to have a heart attack, they were
there.....screaming up at him in pink thread. "Rachel-" he began.
"Get out!" Rachel said.
"Rach please."
"GET OUT!!!! Get out now! Out!!!!!" She screamed.
Ross set the offending item of clothing down on the kitchen table, turned and
left.
Ross wandered around for about an hour, eventually ending up
at his office.
"Ross?" Christina asked, looking up from her desk,
"Hey I thought you already left for the day?"
Ross blinked at her, then said, "Oh.....yeah"
"Is something wrong?" She asked. Ross looked at her
the slowly proceeded to tell her everything.
"It looks bad but......I honestly have no idea how they
got into our house," Ross said.
"Well, why would she not believe you?" Christina
asked.
He sighed, "I did cheat on her once...it was before me
were married, I was drunk.....she told me she forgave me.........she said she
trusted me again."
"Oh....I'm so sorry. Is there anything I could do?"
She asked.
"Well.....I was kinda wondering, if your offer still
stood?" He said.
She smiled, "Of course! How about tonight?"
"Sounds good," he said, "Red Robin, at
seven?"
"Okay," She agreed.
Rachel dragged herself back up the stairs to her apartment.
She had just gone for a long run hoping it would help her relax. It only succeeded
in making her tired as well as upset. She went strait to the bathroom and got
into the shower. The noise from the water pouring out of the faucet drowned out
the sound of the front door opening......
Ross packed up the paper work he had been doing. It was
almost seven. 'I wonder if I should go home to change" he wondered then
realized the meaning behind that thought.
Rachel shut off the water and stepped out of the bathroom in
her robe. All she wanted to do now was take a sleeping pill, eat about a quart
of ice cream, and then sleep for a million years. She padded her way through the
dark apartment to the kitchen, unaware of the figure who was close enough to
smell her shampoo and hear every breath she took. She poured herself a glass of
milk, then went over to the window seat to find her book. As she was walking
past the area between the bathroom and the kitchen a single finger reached out
and brushed through her hair. Rachel set the milk down and took off her robe and
crawled into bed, not bothering with pajamas tonight.
"Damnit! I left the bathroom light on!" she said to
herself, then put her robe back on. After she flipped the light off everything
went so fast she barely knew what was happening. Rachel turned around, the sight
off the man registered in her mind, but she didn't have time to respond. He
attacked her a second later, slashing at her arms with something. They tumbled
over a table, breaking the things on it. He tore at her robe and scratched
around her shoulders and chest with a knife. Rachel suddenly realized how much
danger she was in. She threw her fist into the air toward her attacker. It connected
with the side of his head so hard it practically broke her fingers, though she
barely noticed. She began scrambling away, but was not fast enough. He grabbed
her by her ankle, then drove the knife into her stomach. Rachel screamed in pain,
a second later he grabbed her by her hair and smashed her head into the floor.
