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.