(Okay this may have not been so clear in the beginning. Ross and Rachel are the only ones in this fic, the others have moved away and Ross and Rachel live in what is now Chandler and Monica's apartment. Sorry if there was any confusion about that.)

Part 2: Wish This Horrible Night Away

As soon as the cab pulled up in front of Red Robin, Ross jumped out and jogged up to the curb. Christina, who had been waiting out front for a while, smiled warmly and walked over to him.
"Hey, I thought you weren't going to show for a minute there," She said, and took his hand, "shall we go in?"
"Uhh....no. Look Christina this was a mistake," Ross said, "I know this may sound very conceited, and your motives are probably purely professional, but I'm not sure mine are."
"Wha-, what are talking about?" She asked.
"Rachel and I just had a serious fight so......my being here probably isn't the smartest thing to do. I'm sorry...." Ross said.
"Oh...well, okay, fine. I, I guess I'll see you on Monday then." She said.
"Yeah, see you Monday." Ross said, and turned to head home..........

********
The world seemed to be swirling around her, she opened her eyes and was hit by bright light like a wreaking ball. Rachel bolted up right and over to the pan beside her and threw up. She heaved over and over again until her stomach was empty, then settled back into the bed.
"Here breath through this." A voice said.
"NO!" Rachel said, and shoved away the oxygen mask, "I'm fine. Could.....could I get a sip of water?"
"Sure," he said, and someone handed her a small cup of water. She drank until the sour taste was washed away then took a minute to let her breathing return to normal.
"Are you okay now, Mrs. Geller?" the man asked.
"Yeah," Rachel said.
"I'm Dr. Powell." He said and held out his hand to her.
She shook it lightly, "Hi......where am I? How do you know my name?"
"You're at 53rd Street Medical Center, your husband brought you in." The doctor answered. Rachel turned toward the door, the slight movement made her head feel like it was going to explode. "OHHH!"
"Careful! Careful!" Dr. Powell, said and laid her back down. Rachel grasped her pounding head, and slowly turned toward the door. Ross was sitting in a chair out in the hall with his elbows propped up on his knees, staring at some spot on the wall.
"You've got a hell of a concussion," the doctors words brought her attention back to him, "that's what the nausea's from. And you have some liver damage from the knife wound but it should get better. Also several minor bruises and lacerations on your arms and legs those should be healed in a few weeks."
"Okay," Rachel said.
"Now I understand you are currently on birth control pills?" He asked, flipping through his chart.
"Yeah." She answered.
"Did you take yours today?" He said.
"Yes! Why are you asking me all of this?" Rachel demanded. He sighed and looked toward the door just as a woman in a white lab coat walked though, shutting the door firmly behind her. "This is Dr. Cynthia Means, she's the on call gynecologist here."
"And?" Rachel croaked out. 'oh please God....'
"She's here to do a rape kit on you." Dr. Powell explained.
"WHAT?!?!" Rachel screamed and sat up, ignoring how much the action hurt her head.
"We have reason to believe you've been sexually assaulted, Mrs. Geller," The woman explained gently, "some physical evidence was found-"
"Dr. Means.......I'm a married woman." Rachel offered, even though she knew it had been weeks since her and Ross had made love.
Dr. Means looked at her, "Mrs. Geller-"
"Look! I don't need a damn rape kit okay?!" Rachel interrupted.
"I'm not saying it for sure, we just know that there is the possibility. We could be wrong, but I'd really like to check and make sure," Dr. Means explained, "Okay?" Rachel felt like throwing up again, but she nodded her head. Everyone left the room, the door was shut and locked behind them, and the blinds were closed. Rachel laid as stiff as a board as Dr. Means eased her feet into the stirrups, and pushed back the sheet. She did not even have to ask, she could tell from her face when Dr. Means looked up. The doctor reached over and pulled a long Q-tip from the rape kit.....as Rachel's world collapsed.

**********
Christina had gone from mad to livid. Ross canceled their dinner so she went for a drink and ended up staying out until 4 AM. By the time she got home the rumors where already flying around from person to person. She raced up the stairs, no longer remember how hung over she felt a few minutes ago, and threw open the door. "What did you do?!" She managed to gasp out.
Gaicomo, who was sitting over his work bench as usual, calmly said "What do you mean? I didn't hurt her enough to kill her."
"Oh! Well, that makes it okay!" She yelled, "do you have any idea what you've done?!?! You may have just screwed all of this up!!!"
He looked at her, then in a split second tossed the table over and cleared the distance between them. His hand clamped down hard on her throat. She gasped and tired to free herself from his grip. "Maybe you'd want it to be you instead?" he asked. She looked at him, trying to figure out if he was serious or not. "WELL?!" He yelled, squeezing harder. She started to cry, and quickly shook her head no. He stared at her for a second then released her neck and went out the door. She collapsed to the floor coughing and gasping for breath. She was in way over head.

********
They kept Rachel in the hospital for a week, then released her after Dr. Powell felt the concussion had recovered enough. He wanted to keep her there longer but she begged him to let her go home. She could not stand it there, all of the nurses tip toeing around her, acting like what had happened to her was contagious, and they could get it. The wound at her side still hurt horribly, and she had a semi-chronic headache, but was glad to leave. Ross brought her some clothes, and helped her get into them. He had been in and out of the hospital several times, though neither of them had any idea what to say to each other. Rachel didn't argue when the nurse brought her a wheel chair, she was beyond caring about anything except get out of there.

They pulled up outside the curb in front of their apartment, and found a man and a woman waiting for them there.
"Ross and Rachel Geller?" the man asked as Ross helped Rachel out of the car.
"Yeah?" Ross answered.
"I'm Detective Kensington, and this is Detective Randall," The woman said, "We're with the New York Police Department, we like to talk to you about your attack."
"Excuse me!? She just came home-" Ross began.
"What do you want to know?" Rachel interrupted.
"Well for starters do you know the person who attacked you?" Detective Kensington asked.
"No," Rachel said.
"Do you think you could give us a description of him?" she said.
"Maybe we should move this inside." Detective Randall suggested. They all agreed it would be a good idea, and went inside. Going up the steps, the four of them bumped into someone. He was wearing a maintenance uniform and carrying a tool box.
"Excuse me" he muttered and walked pass, glancing into Rachel's eyes as he went. She knew him from somewhere......where was-? She gasped and stumbled as the memory came back to her.
"Ma'am?" Detective Randall asked, "Are you okay?"
"That's him!" Rachel whispered, and dug her nails into Ross's arm in an attempt not to fall over, "That's him I'm sure of it!" They looked after the man for a minute, then Detective Kensington turned around and approached him.
"Excuse me? Sir?" She said, showing her badge "May we have a word with you?"
"Who me?" He asked.
"Yeah," she said.
"Yeah.....sure" he said, and turned slightly then whipped around and threw the tool box at Detective Kensington. It hit her on the side of her head and knocked her down. Detective Randall ran after the man and grabbed him just as he was going out the front door from the lobby.

*********
"Gaicomo Soldi," Detective Randall read from the file in his hands, to Ross and Rachel who sat across from his desk in their office, "37 year old, Colombian immigrant....wanted in three states on nine different counts of sexual assault."
"This makes ten," Detective Kensington added.
"We've faxed his mug shot around, witnesses in all three states have made positive identifications. It will take a while to get to court, but we should get a conviction easily. Mean while we're holding him without the possibility of bail." Detective Randall assured them.
"Rachel.....I know it's not much of a consolation right now, but he would have done this again without a doubt.....you saved someone else from getting hurt." Detective Kensington said.

********
Christina stood in the middle of her apartment. She had heard just a few minutes ago. It came strait from an acquaintance who had been locked up in the drunk tank at the time they brought Gaicomo in. Her friend also informed her that he over heard the cops talking, and there was solid forensic evidence linking Gaicomo to the rape. He wasn't going to get out. She could hardly believe it......she was free. Gaicomo had been arrested, and couldn't hurt her (which she suspected he might), and the cops figured they'd solved their crime so they wouldn't be coming around any more.......all of the problems that were plaguing her a few moments before were gone now. She looked out the window at the city below, having wondering what exactly she should do now

******.
Ross stayed home for a few days until Rachel finally forced him to go to work. He was even worse than the nurses at the hospital, he treated her like if he said one wrong thing she would break, and the worst part was she had the feeling he was still mad at her for not trusting him, he just stayed because he felt sorry for her.
Rachel had been sleeping a lot since she came home, from how drowsy the she painkillers she was on made her. She woke up from a mid-morning nap at around 10 o'clock, and realized she had no idea what to do now. She could have gone and laid down in the living room and watched TV or read a book, but that didn't seem right. How could she do such normal things so soon after going through "the fate worse than death"?
'What am I suppose to do instead?' she asked herself, but could come up with no good answer.

******
Ross couldn't concentrate at all during his classes, all he could think about was that he shouldn't have left Rachel. It was less than three weeks after she'd nearly been killed, and he should be there to take care of her!

********
Rachel pondered her dilemma until she felt tired enough to go back to sleep, and gratefully did. A flashback came to her in her dreams, she remembered the pain over her entire body, she remembered opening her eyes slightly and seeing Gaicomo's face, she remembered him touching her..........she began remembering feeling him inside her, invading her in the most private way. She snapped out of her nightmare and instinctively grabbed the phone off the nightstand and dialed the university. Ross's assistant answered in a clear voice, "Ross Geller's office". Rachel opened her mouth to speak but the words stuck in her throat.
"Hello?.......Hello?" the voice said over the phone. Rachel gripped the phone as hard as she could, clenched her teeth, then hurled it across the room into the wall. After it was quiet again she heard a soft scratching sound. Her heart raced, what if that was someone trying to get in? Oh God what was going to happen to her? She still got dizzy easily, and had a hard time walking without pain because of how deep the wound to her stomach was. She got more and more scared as the noise continued. Finally unable to stand it any longer she pulled herself out of bed, balanced herself against the dresser until she felt steady then put her robe on over her night gown and walked out the door. The source of the noise was close.......the window! 'Could someone get in through there?!' she wondered, and she slowly made her way over to it. She reached out with a shaking hand, and tore back the curtain. An orange beak and feathers stared back at her. Rachel mentally kicked herself. 'A pigeon! It was just a fucking pigeon!' She leaned her back against the wall, slowly sank to the floor, then hugged her knees tightly and she rocked back and forth as she cried.

*******
Ross hurriedly packed all of his papers into his brief case. He wanted to get home quickly so he could make Rachel lunch. As he was walking out the door Christina stopped him to give him his lecture notes for this afternoon.
"I'm sorry about your wife by the way," She said.
Ross nodded, "Thanks."
"Yeah it's really sad. Good thing they caught the guy though." She said casually.
Ross looked at her, "How do you know they caught him? I haven't told anyone."
"Oh....well I heard it on the news." She explained nervously.
"No, the police haven't released that yet." He said starting to become suspicious.
"Uhh......" She began, then turned around and hurried away, "I have to be somewhere."
"Hey wait!" Ross yelled and ran after her. By the time he caught up with her in the parking lot she was already gone.

********
Detective Randall and Detective Kensington sat across from Ross and Rachel their living room while police officers searched their apartment.
"We looked at Christina's record," Detective Randall said, "she's barely even had a traffic ticket. The only significant thing is an abusive relationship with her ex-husband Tim Healey. But she was the victim there."
"How could she know?" Ross asked.
"Gossip gets around. It could be possible she has a friend in law enforcement." Detective Kensington offered.
"But if that's why then why would she run away? Couldn't she just tell me that?" He demanded, starting to get irritated.
"We have no way of knowing Mr. Geller, that still does not give use much reason to believe Christina is involved." Detective Kensington explained.
"Hey look at this," one of the officers said, and handed them a small metal thing.
"What is it?" Rachel asked.
"An audio recording device," Detective Randall said as he transferred it into an evidence bag.
"A bug?!?!?!" Ross yelled, "They've been bugging us!?!?!"
"Oh my god! What if there are cameras too!" Rachel exclaimed.
"Okay just calm down. Well have our officers do a full search of your apartment, if there are any more we'll find them." Detective Randall said, "This still does not link it Christina, but it does provide us with more evidence against Gaicomo. Especially if there are any fingerprints on it."
"Wait! What did you say her last name was?" Rachel asked, remembering something.
"Healey," Detective Randal said. Rachel got up and went over to a drawer in the kitchen.
"Look at this! I found these in the couch a few weeks ago, but Ross swore he didn't know anything about them." Rachel said and held out the panties she had found. They looked at them.
"C.H.," Detective Kensington read, "Mr. Geller were you involved in an affair with your assistant?"
"No! Absolutely not!" Ross said, a little angry that even the police thought he was cheating on his wife, despite the fact that it was the most obvious answer. The two detectives looked at each other then put the panties into an evidence bag.
"We'll keep this mind," They assured, Ross and Rachel. They finished searching the house and found a couple more bugs, but they were all crushed and broken. When they finally left Rachel went strait to bed. Ross stayed on the couch in the living room, neither of them slept very well that night.

*******
Christina was very angry at herself. She could not believe how stupid she was! How could she have said that?! She paced around her apartment. She knew she couldn't stay there for long. It was Gaicomo's apartment, so the police eventually would find it. And now they would be looking for her. She had seen the over at Ross's apartment through the window. She considered her situation, and what she could do about it. Her plan to get Ross had totally fallen through, and now she could be arrested. She was not going to end up in prison like Gaicomo, no way! She would have to take steps to keep that from happening......no matter what those steps might be.