The One Where Joey Loves Rachel 3: For the First Time

Hey guys! Sorry it took me forever and a day to finish this fic! Okay, here's the conclusion. Hope you J/R shippers like it! Thanks for being so patient!

Disclaimer: Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight, I wish I may, I wish I might, have these characters to own tonight...

After a few lingering, breathless moments, their lips parted...and their eyes widened. Rachel stepped back as she gasped. She couldn't believe what she just did. Worse, she couldn't believe what she just felt.

"Joey..." she whispered, still breathless. "What...what was that?!"

"What?! You kissed me!!"

She shook her head, trying to explain. "No...I mean what WAS that?!"

"Huh?!" Joey was completely dumbfounded, and his mind was still whirling from that incredible kiss. Rachel didn't know how to explain. She stood there, lost for words, while Joey stared back, completely vulnerable and very confused.

She swallowed hard and turned away. "Joey...Joey sweetie...I need to go."

"Wait, what?! I-I thought you wanted to talk! I mean, that's why you came over here! To make things better, right?"

"I-I know Joey...those were my original intentions but now..." Rachel lifted her gaze to meet Joey's. "But now...I-I think I've just made things worse...I need to go sweetie. I'm sorry." Rachel didn't even wait to hear his response. In the blink of an eye, Joey was left, standing in the middle of the living room alone. Again.

"What the hell just happened?!" he vented out loud.

***********

Rachel desperately pounded on Monica's door hoping her best friend was home. This was just too unbelievable...

"Rachel my goodness!! Like it's EVER locked!!" yelled an irritated Monica right in Rachel's face.

"Sor-sorry! I guess I just had all this crap in my head I forgot..." Monica eyed her suspiciously. "Who's inside?"

"Uh, nobody. Chandler's meeting Ross at the Coffeehouse, I think. I was just cleaning a bit before I made dinner."

"Oh..." Rachel sounded distracted. "Well I bet you're really busy so, um, I'll just go..."

"What? Rachel wait a minute!" Monica grabbed her arm before she turned away. "You pound on my door like some crazy pregnant lady and then you leave without telling me why?" Monica studied Rachel's face. She quickly put her hand over her mouth to prevent an excited scream. "You just slept with Joey!!" she squealed.

"What?!?!?! Monica No!!"

"Well then something else definitely just happened because you are absolutely crimson!"

"Umm, can we NOT have this conversation in the hall?!"

"Oh yeah, right." They walked into Monica and Chandler's. Rachel closed the door behind her. Monica stared at Rachel about to blow up. "Come on! Tell me!!"

Rachel took a deep breath. All of the things she had felt in that kiss were still freshly imbedded in her skin...and now...in her heart. "Mon..." she said softly. "We kissed."

"I knew it!" Monica was ecstatic.

"I just...I can't believe...oh gosh Monica, what am I doing?!"

"Huh? What do you mean, 'what are you doing'? You're *gettin'* some girly, that's what you're doing!"

"No, it's not like that! I mean...I don't think it's like that! Do you think I'm feeling all of this because of my hormones?"

"Wait..." Monica was confused. "What exactly are you feeling?"

"I dunno...I mean," Rachel's face becomes entranced. "I feel like a teenage girl again, you know? Like the little tingles and everything else that comes with a first kiss. But, I know the tingles go beyond that. I mean, I definitely felt...depth there. It was so intense! I-I couldn't even stay in the same room with him after!"

"Rachel..." cautioned Monica. "Are-are you saying you might have feelings for Joey?"

She thought for a moment before she answered, "Is that what it sounds like?"

Monica wanted to cry out of sheer joy for her best friend. "Oh. My. Gosh. Okay, tell me everything!"

"Okay, when I got there-" Rachel's story was cut short by Phoebe entering.

"Pheebs! Oh my gosh! Rachel kissed Joey!" yelped an unrestrained Monica.

"What?!" asked Phoebe surprised. Rachel nodded her head sheepishly. Phoebe didn't now what to say. Something didn't feel right. She had just seen him earlier this morning, and she knew how much his heart was breaking. If this was such good news, why wasn't Joey there celebrating with them? "Rachel...where's Joey?"

"He's in his apartment..." answered Rachel quietly. "Why?" Phoebe stared hard at Rachel, trying to read her face. She sighed.

"Rach, I-I don't want to sound mean, but...if-if that kiss means more to Joey than it does to you, please don't...I mean...it's Joey, you know? Don't take advantage of his feelings for you..." Rachel locked eyes with Phoebe. After awhile, she slightly frowned.

"You're right, Pheebs."

Monica didn't understand. "What? Rachel you just said-"

"No..." Rachel shook her head. "She's right..."

************

Joey was in his room holding Hugsy, contemplating yet again about how things were so screwed. Except this time, it wasn't his fault. It was Rachel's. SHE kissed HIM. And he was still completely miserable about it.

"Joe!" yelled Chandler walking in the apartment. He knew Joey was home. He and Ross walked straight to Joey's bedroom and pounded on the door.

"Joey come on, man!" pleaded Ross. "You've been in there all day!"

"How obvious do I need to be to make you guys understand I WANNA BE ALONE!" yelled Joey from his room.

"Obviously, not obvious enough. Maybe you should come out here to make it more obvious." Joey's bedroom door swung open to reveal him, very cranky.

"Get out." he hissed.

"See?! Now that wasn't so hard! Hey, since you're up! Let's all do something!" encouraged Ross.

"Ross!! I don't wanna do anything! Shouldn't you be somewhere boring somebody about something?!"

"Okay, you're lucky I'm gonna let that slide."

"No-no! Don't give me any sympathy points! Who cares if the woman of my dreams doesn't love me! Or if I feel like my heart's drowning! Or if I am in emotional HELL!" He went over to the chair and slumped down lazily in it. Ross and Chandler exchanged "uh-oh" looks.

"Joey..." started Ross carefully. "Pick yourself up, Joe...I mean...you're starting to scare me and Chandler. This-this isn't healthy, man."

After a few moments, Joey looked up at Ross sadly. "Ross...how many times have you been in love?!"

"Well uh...a few times I guess..."

"And how many of those times were with Rachel?"

"Uh, quite a lot..."

"Okay good, so now you should know how I feel." Ross slowly nodded his head. He understood completely.

"Joey...come on man..." pleaded Chandler. "You're like, A LOT worse than when me and Pheebs saw you earlier! You're supposed to be moving forward! Not back!"

"She kissed me."

"I know that you feel like crap and all but you just nee-" began Ross.

"What?!" asked Chandler.

"Wait, what?!" asked Ross.

"Yup that's right. About a half hour ago she came over wanting to talk, I talked, she kissed me, and then she ran away, ALL IN ABOUT 10 MINUTES!"

"She ran away?"

"Pretty much..."

"Well, well, what did she say?" asked Ross.

"I dunno...she uh, I guess she kinda just flipped and left." Ross and Chandler grabbed stools and sat next to Joey.

"Well that explains a hell of a lot..." said Chandler matter-of- factly. The guys looked at him weirdly. "I mean about Joey's attitude, not Rachel."

"Well I mean...Rachel...Rachel is a lot harder to understand than most women...that's why I try NOT to understand her anymore. Most of the time I just nod my head and smile..." Ross tried to explain. "I mean...I DID fall for her, yes...actually, over and over...but now that I look at it...it took me almost FOREVER to realize she and I just aren't meant to be..." He looked over at Joey sympathetically. "Yeah, man...good luck with that," Ross mumbled.

"Ah, yes. Thank goodness I fell in love with Monica because she is just *OH-SO-EASY* to understand!" Chandler said sarcastically. Joey looked at the guys incredulously.

"Remind me to start locking my door! Oh, and to NEVER take relationship advice from you guys EVER!" and with that he got up and went to his room. Ross and Chandler knew Joey was going to be a lost cause for a couple days. They shrugged at each other.

"Wanna get some coffee?" asked Chandler.

"We just came from there," said Ross.

"Yeah...so?"

"Okay."

**********

Rachel entered Joey's apartment quietly. She walked over and gently tapped on his bedroom door. From inside the room, Joey was just about ready to fall asleep, a victory over the struggle he had been dealing with for awhile now. That slight tap on the door annoyed him to the point where he wanted to just kick Ross and Chandler's asses. 'Why the hell couldn't they find somebody else to bother?'

"You guys are SERIOUSLY asking for a death wish!" He pulled it open, his temper ready to strangle the paleontologist and transponster...much to his surprise, again, it wasn't either of them. It was Rachel...very, very afraid.

"I'm-I'm sorry Joey...I didn't realize you were sleeping...umm...that's-that's why I knocked *lightly*...." she stuttered to explain. Joey felt awful for having yelled at her, unintentionally.

"It's okay, Rach." He began. He walked fully out of his room and into the living room. "I thought you were one of the guys..."

"Oh, well, uh, I'm sorry to disappoint you," she said almost laughing. Joey forced a smile.

"So...what are you doing here? I mean, I just didn't expect you to be back...so soon."

She swallowed hard "Yeah well, I need to apologize...for earlier." Her voice grew serious.

"Look, about the kiss, Rach, I mean, we can just go back to pretending it never happened okay? I-I don't want you to feel bad because obviously you made a mistake. It's okay, really." It pained Joey to say this. It pained Rachel to watch him say this.

She shook her head. "No, Joey...it's not okay," she whispered, getting closer. She felt her eyes water.

He continued, "But, but it has to be..." Joey watched as a single tear slid down Rachel's delicate cheek, over her lip, and off her chin. He bit his lip. "Rach...Rach please don't cry. You know I-I can't stand it when you cry..." Joey lifted his hand to wipe her face with his thumb. Rachel didn't take her eyes off his the entire time.

"Joey, I'm not crying because I'm upset..." she whimpered.

"Then...then why are you?" he asked, cautious.

Rachel smiled as she gently leaned in to kiss Joey...again. Her hands traced down his arms until she felt their fingers link. Joey felt himself falling...



Are those your eyes, is that your smile?

I've been looking at you forever, but I never saw you before

Are these your hands holding mine?

Now I wonder how I could have been so blind

Their fingers gently unhooked as Rachel's arms came up over his shoulder, Joey's arms around her waist...their lips still as one...

For the first time I am looking in your eyes

For the first time I'm seein' who you are

I can't believe how much I see

When you're lookin' back at me...

Now I understand why love is, love is

For the First Time

As they gradually parted their lips and their eyes slowly opened, neither one of them was afraid anymore...

Can this be real? Can this be true?

Am I the person I was this mornin' and are you the same you?

It's all so strange...how can it be?

All along this love was right in front of me

"Dance with me," whispered Joey.

"There's no music," answered Rachel.

"We'll make our own..."

For the first time...I am looking in your eyes

For the first time I am seein' who you are

I can't believe how much I see

When you're lookin' back at me

Now I understand why love is, love is

For the First time

"What does this mean, Rach?"

"It means...I think I'm falling in love with you..."

Such a long time ago I had given up on finding this emotion ever again

But you're here with me now

Yes, I found you somehow

And I've never been so sure

Their bodies swayed to the silence of the room. Melodically. Simply. Perfectly.

And for the first time

I am looking in your eyes

For the first time, I'm seein' who you are

I can't believe how much I see

When you're lookin' back at me

"Thank you..." whispered Rachel.

"For what?"

"For loving me so much..."

Now I understand why love is, love is

For The First Time...

With the end of the song, Rachel and Joey's lips met, and not because either of them were trying to find, or explain, or end their feelings. This kiss symbolized the beginning.

The end....

P.S. This fic included the song, "For the First Time" by Kenny Loggins.