Authors note: This is my very first story, so , I would really really be
grateful if you reviewed it when you finished it. Thank you, and enjoy the
story!
"Because you want more from me than I am ready to give." Those were the last words that Ronan had said to her, and those were the words that would cross her mind every single time that she would think about Ronan Stokes, and the three years she was together with him. She was sure that she loved him. Not one of her former boyfriends gave her the same feeling that Ronan did. She wanted more of him. She didn't want to be just his girlfriend, but wanted to be his wife, and raise a family with him. That's why she asked him the one question that made Ronan turn away from her.
**FLASHBACK** "Rachel, honey, I'm home." Ronan put his briefcase on the ground, and looked at the mail lying on the counter. Too busy was he, looking at the credit card offers, and letters from his law firm, to even slightly notice the candles on the dinner table, and the romantic dinner prepared, and ready to be enjoyed. Rachel Greene came from the bedroom of their very large Manhattan apartment. She came into the living room, where Ronan was reading a letter from the law firm that he worked at. Rachel cleared her throat in an attempt to distract Ronan's attention from the letter; to the romantic dinner she had spent all day preparing.
"Hey," was all he said as he glanced up and smiled at Rachel, but then he looked down again. Rachel tried to hide her disappointment. She had dressed herself in her fanciest dress that hung in her over filled closet. It was always Ronan's favorite, and always got his attention, but tonight it didn't serve its purpose.
"Um, Ronan, I was hoping that tonight you could leave your work for another time, and we could enjoy a romantic dinner, and talk." Rachel walked towards Ronan and sat on his lap and whispered seductively in his ear " afterwards we could enjoy some romantic time in the bedroom." She leaned in, and was about to kiss his lips, but Ronan turned away, slightly pushed her off his lap, and got up.
"Sure dinner sounds good." He said while walking towards the table. Rachel sat there for a while, totally surprised. In the three years they had been together, he never turned her down once. She got up and sat in the chair across from Ronan, who had already started eating.
"So, what was so important that you wanted to talk to me about?" Ronan asked while taking a sip of the red wine that Rachel had poured. Rachel hesitated for a while before she spoke.
"Well, um, we have been together for three years now." Rachel paused for a moment, and wondered how to continue. "I love you Ronan, and we both have steady jobs, and I think we're ready." Rachel looked up into Ronan's eyes to see if he was getting her message.
By the apparent look on his face, he didn't. "Ready for what?" he asked bewildered. Rachel grabbed his hand and took a deep breath, preparing herself for what she was about to say.
"Ronan," she began slowly. "I want to have a baby with you." She looked at the expression in his face change from bewilderment, to frustration.
"Rachel I told you a million times, I'm not ready" I don't want to be married right now. I have too many cases to work on." He said, hoping she would just leave the topic at that. But she dint. "We don't have to be married right at this second!" she said, starting to get frustrated, also. " Good God Ronan, you're almost thirty, and I'm twenty three. We're both more than ready." She paused for a minute before continuing on. " I love you Ronan, and I really want to have a baby with you." ] Ronan got up from his seat, and started pacing around the room. " I can't take it anymore. I truly cannot take it! You have bothered me for three moths now about a baby. We aren't even married yet, for goodness sakes! Do you want this child to be born a bastard?" He yelled out angrily.
Rachel had had enough. She stood up and walked over towards him angrily. "That isn't my fault that we aren't married yet. If you would have proposed, we would be married by now, and the only bastard I see here, is you!" That sentence was too much, and she knew it even before she had said the words, and now she regretted them more than anything.
"You know what, I'm done, and I'm through with you. I can't take it anymore! He had said it. Finally, after wanting to break up with her for a year, he did it. He looked at her face, which was filled with more sadness than he had ever seen.
"What?" she asked with a trembling voice.
"I'm breaking up with you, Rachel. I wanted to for a long time, a year in fact, but I never knew how I should do it.
Rachel stood there, paralyzed with shock. She had heard the words, but she started to feel them now. She had so many questions to ask, but only one came out. "Why?" she asked.
Ronan leaned against the couch, feeling slightly guilty for the pain he was causing her. "Because you want more from me than I am ready to give." With that sentence she started packing her things, and left the best thing that ever happened in her life, and for the fist time ever, she moved into a small apartment in a great neighborhood of Manhattan, by herself.
**BACK TO PRESENT** Rachel shook her head in order to get her thoughts back to the present. After her breakup from Ronan, she had taken a two-week vacation, and had decided to visit Seattle in order to clear her head. So far she had spent a week there. Coming to Seattle, she had expected it to be the rainiest and depressing places, but in her first week it had only rained once, and that was tonight. She was driving through a town that was just north of Seattle, and she was looking for some way to get back onto the interstate. She had missed the on-ramp because she was thinking about Ronan. 'Oh why cant I just get over him!' she asked herself. When she heard the phrase 'Love hurts' she never believed them until a week ago. Why had Ronan wanted to break up with her a year ago? That was he main concern.
The rain was coming down harder now, and Rachel looked at her watch. It was 9:45 PM, and very dark, considering the fact that it was early November. Since no one else was driving down the highway, she turned on her bights, and continued down the road. Soon, she started seeing sign pointing out the distances of nearby towns. 'Well, at least I'm getting somewhere" she though. Slowly, her mind started drifting back to Ronan. She shook her, and told herself not to think about him. 'That part of my life is over.' She convinced herself, but she still felt the hurt. She focused her full attention on the road ahead. Looking ahead, she saw a bench, where a bus stop was. Looking closer, she saw the figure of a man sitting on that bench. The bus stop didn't have any kind of roof to block the rain, and the man just sat there in the dark and unforgiving night. Just from the way he was sitting, Rachel could tell that this man wasn't happy, and something had made him so depressed, that he would sit in the cold, and bitter night. Rachel didn't know what made her do it, maybe it was how helpless he looked, but she pulled over right along next to him. Seeing him up close, she could see he was very well dressed, and when he looked up straight into her eyes, she could see that this man would do her no harm.
She rolled down the window of the passenger side and smiled at the man "Hey, cold night, huh?" she asked.
"Yeah it is." The man said unhappily. He was dripping wet, but Rachel still found him attractive. He had dark hair, and eyes.
"Look, I don't usually do this kind of thing, but do you want a lift?" she had spoken the words, but she still didn't believe it. She had asked a complete stranger if he wanted a ride. For all she knew, he could be a rapist, serial killer, or in some sort of car theft ring. But something about his eyes and the sadness in them made her trust this man.
He looked at her very surprised, but then smiled and nodded. "That would be great." He got up off of the bench, and opened the passenger side door. "Thank you so much Ma'am." He said gratefully.
Rachel pulled back onto the highway and looked at the man sitting next to her. "Hey, no need to thank me." Was all she had said, and she looked back onto the road.
A short silence followed before the stranger spoke again. "You know what, I think it would be really a good idea if I introduced myself." He paused and offered her his hand, which was still wet and cold from the rain. "My name is Ross Gellar." He smiled.
Rachel shook his hand and smiled back. "Rachel Greene." She introduced herself.
"Well, Mrs. Greene, its nice to meet you." He said enthusiastically.
"Oh no, it's not Mrs. Its ms. I'm not married." She corrected him.
He was surprised at the last sentence. "You're kidding me! A woman as beautiful as you?"
Rachel blushed and smiled at Ross's attempt of hitting on her. "Thank you for your compliment Mr.Gellar."
"Call me Ross. You saved me from the rain, and I think I should at least buy you a cup of coffee. What do you say?" Ross asked in a hopeful tone.
Rachel considered the question. Would there be any place open at this time? But the more important question was, why was she even considering Ross's offer? It had only been a few weeks since her breakup from Ronan, but for some weird reason, she was attracted to the man sitting beside her, whom she had only known about three minutes. "I, uh, I don't know. I mean its late, and honestly.." she paused and chuckled "I don't know anything about you."
Ross looked down, obviously a little hurt. He was never good with women. He was always the one being dumped, and never the one who dumped others. Ross was used to hearing the sentence 'Look, you're a great guy, but I think we should start seeing other people.' Which they were usually already doing. But if he was such a great guy, why did women dump him all the time. Was he not attractive enough? Or was it his lack of charm? 'Probably both' he thought. He finally broke the silence.
"Yeah, uh, I guess you're right." He said in a quiet and hurt voice. Concentrating on looking out the window he tried to forget about the fact that he was sitting next to this beautiful woman, that he was attracted to, and there was nothing he could do about it. Once the car would stop at whatever destination, they would say goodbye, walk away, and never hear from each other again. That thought saddened Ross, but he shook it off, and just concentrated on the rain falling heavily onto the window.
Rachel sat there pondering the way she had answered Ross. He had become quiet all of a sudden, and she couldn't help but wondering if her answer was the cause, or if he had run out of things to say. Finally, she answered the way she should have the first time.
"Well, on the other hand, I would like to get a cup of coffee. I'm sure we'll find some kind of coffeehouse open at ten o clock at night. Especially In this state." Rachel felt happier now, because she answered the way she really wanted to. Truthfully, she didn't want to part ways with this stranger yet, She wanted to get to know him better.
Ross was overjoyed with Rachel's answer, and he did a bad job of trying to hide his happiness. "That's true. I always thought that South America would be the capital of coffee consumption, but now I think the State of Washington takes the gold."
The continued talking about their separate reasons for being in Seattle. Her's was for vacation, and to escape memories of Ronan. His was for a paleontologist convention. He was a paleontologist, and Rachel was surprised to hear he was head of the paleontology department in some museum in Chicago. Rachel wasn't the only one to learn from Ross's life though. He also learned that she had graduated from NYU with a master's degree in fashion design, and that she worked for the designer Ralph Lauren. About ten minutes later, they came across a diner at the side of the road. Rachel pulled into the parking lot, and saw the light at the window saying 'We're open 24 hours!'
"See, I told you we would find some place that was open." Rachel said. They went isinde and took a seat at a small table, and ordered their coffee.
"Okay. This question has been bugging me for a while now, but I have to ask." Rachel paused before continuing. "Why were you sitting at a bus stop in the freezing cold rain?" she asked.
"Well, basically what happened, is that I was driving in the car with my fiancée, excuse me, my ex- fiancée, and out of the blue, she turns to me ad tells me she cant marry me, because she is in love with another man." He finished his explanation.
"Ouch. That doesn't sound so pleasant. I'm sorry." She said it in her most sympathetic tone.
Ross just held up his hand and said "Hey, nothing to worry about. To be honest, I didn't really love her as much as I thought, plus she was from England, and it would have never had worked out. She wanted me to give up my entire life in Chicago, and move to London."
"But still, that must have hurt a lot. I can't even imagine how I would have reacted. Out of curiosity, how did you react?" Rachel questioned. "Well, I got out of the car, gave her the keys, wished her a joyful life, watched her drive off, and started walking, until I came upon the bus stop, and then I just sat there and thought about things." He explained.
"Wow, you wished her a happy life?" Ross nodded and Rachel continued. "When my last boyfriend broke up with me, I didn't react so civil. I packed my things and left."
"What's wrong with that?" Ross asked.
"I didn't leave before I threw a curling iron at him." She laughed at the memory. For some reason, she didn't feel like crying about Ronan anymore. She just wanted to laugh about it, and Ross was helping her do that.
Ross laughed. "A curling Iron? Ouch." He paused a moment, afraid to ask the next question. "If you don't mind me asking, why did he break up with you?" he asked. And Rachel began the story of her and Ronan from the beginning, which was three years ago, when she was 20. After she had finished the story, they sat there in silence for a while and sipped their coffee. After a few minutes they started talking about other things like where they lived, and other things. After an hour of nonstop talking, a comfortable silence fell between them both.
Ross was the one to break the silence. "This Ronan guy was an idiot to break up with an amazing woman like you." He said in the most heartfelt voice she had ever heard. Looking directly into his eyes, she saw that he had truly meant them, and he wasn't just saying those words to make her feel better. He actually understood her. He put his hand on top of hers, at the table, and Rachel starred at the table, so that Ross couldn't see the tears starting to form in her eyes. She wasn't in tears because she missed Ronan. No, the tears were for another reason. They were there, because her heart was letting Ronan go, and the tears were of happiness, because the pain was starting to finally go away.
Ross spoke to her in a soft tone. "I've known you for only about and hour and a half, but I know this, you shouldn't be with a man who takes you for granted. And I know it hurts, but you shouldn't cry over a man like Ronan. You should be happy, because now you get to search for the man who you are meant to be with. The one man who loves you as much as you love him, who wants the same things as you."
Rachel looked up at Ross. She saw an expression on his face that she couldn't read. An expression that she never saw on a mans face before. He squeezed her hand harder. "Someone once told me, that a life lived without feeling true love and having that love returned, is a life that was wasted. Don't make that mistake, Rachel," Ross said encouragingly.
"Wow, no one has ever talked to me the way you just did. Not even my closest friends." Rachel said, and it was true. Her best friend, Phoebe Buffay, was always there fir her, and always there for her, and always gave her advice. But Ross's words were so heartfelt, and he was so caring. Not one of her former boyfriends was like that. Ross looked at his watch. "Wow, its already 11:15. I think we should start to head out." Ross said sadly, knowing that soon they would have to part ways.
Rachel felt sad too, but Ross was right. It was time they started back on the road. Ross asked for the check, and despite Rachel's argument, he paid for both. They made their way out to the car and got in. Soon they were back on the road. Both Ross and Rachel were quiet, not knowing what to say. If they talked, it would make the time seem less, but they both wanted to be in each others company as long as possible. Rachel thought for a moment that maybe they could go out again, but Ross had to leave for his hometown of Chicago, tomorrow afternoon. She didn't want to part ways with him yet. A man like Ross wasn't found every day, and there was no way she was just going to say goodbye to him, and never see him, or hear from him again. Not without one thing. Her impulsive side took over, and she pulled into the parking lot of a small motel, and parked the car.
"What are we doing here?" Ross asked bewildered.
Before she could offer a proper explanation, she had to think of one. Finally she spoke. "Alright, I'm just going to come out and say it." She paused before continuing. "I want to spend the night with you."
Ross couldn't believe what he had just heard. Did she actually want to sleep with him, or did she just want to talk all night. "Um, uh, uh, what? Are you kidding me, because if this is a joke, its not funny." he said. "And what do you mean by spending the night with me?" he asked confused.
"I know you must think that I'm crazy, but the thought of us just walking out of each others lives, terrifies me, because you're the first person I've been attracted to since Ronan, and I don't want to just leave that. I'm not just talking about a one-night stand, Ross. I want us to keep in touch. But tonight is just abut tonight, and whatever happens tomorrow, we'll worry about it when we get there."
Ross thought about what Rachel had just said to him 'this beautiful woman is attracted to someone as geeky as me?' Ross thought.
"Now the question is, are you attracted to me too? Rachel asked. All that Ross could do was nod. "So, what do you say?" she asked again. Rachel hoped that his answer would be yes. Ross was so nice to her, and he gave her the feeling that there was no one more important than her in the world. No one, not even Ronan, made her feel this way.
Ross considered the question. Of course was he attracted to her. But he wasn't really the type of guy to make love to a woman if he had only known her for three or four hours. Then again, an opportunity like this one didn't present itself every day. So, he gave her that he knew wasn't the smartest one, but the answer he felt in his heart. "Yes."
They both got out of the car, and paid for their room. Both were incredibly nervous, and did a terrible job of covering it up. Neither one of them knew what to make of the situation. They finally arrived at their room. Ross unlocked the door and opened it. The inside didn't look all too good, but hey, this was a motel, not the Ritz. There was one King sized bed in the middle of the room. The walls were a dark green shade, and hade pictures of bears and cougars in the wildlife. Made sense, considering the name of the motel was "The Evergreen Motel."
"Honestly, I've seen worse rooms." Ross, said, trying to break the tension.
"Yeah, I'm going to freshen up a bit." Rachel headed off to the bathroom and Ross sat down on the bed. He couldn't believe how he ended up here. Just a few hours ago, his former fiancée had dropped a bomb on him, and now he was in a motel with the woman who had gotten him out of the rain. He still couldn't believe that he was here, no matter how many times he repeated it to himself. Finally, Rachel came out of the bathroom. She had changed clothes and was now wearing a necklige that she had in her bag. Ross turned around and took in the sight in front of him. She looked even more beautiful.
"Wow, you look...amazing." He said. Rachel slowly started walking towards him.
"Now remember, tonight is just about tonight. What happens tomorrow just happens, alright?" Rachel reminded him, and Ross just nodded. They bodies met, and he gave her the most passionate kiss, and they made love the entire night, until both were exhausted. The next morning, Rachel awoke at dawn, and saw Ross sleeping peacefully beside her. She smiled as she recalled the night before. It was the craziest thing that she had ever done before in her entire life, but while she was lying there in Ross's arms, she couldn't help but thinking how right it felt. He had been so sweet and tender, and he made her feel good about herself. Even though Ronan had been a great guy and everything, he always concentrated on himself more. Ross was honestly the first man she had known who had actually cared how she felt about something. She turned around, and faced Ross, and stared at his sleeping face, as if she were memorizing it. She wanted to stay like this until he awoke, she wanted to spend the day with him, until he had to leave. She wanted to stay with him forever. All of a sudden it shocked her. She was falling in love with Ross, and she barely knew who he was. It scared her, and despite what she was feeling for him, she decided it was best if she left before he awoke. Rachel got out of the bed, and went into the bathroom to shower very quietly so that she wouldn't have to wake up Ross and explain why she was leaving. She knew that she would have to give some sort of an explanation, and she decided she would write him a note. The only problem was, what would she write? She got dressed quickly, pulled out a piece of paper and a pen, and started writing. Placing the note on her pillow, she sadly looked at Ross one more time, and then left the motel room. She got into her car and drove away as fast as she could, and never looked into the rearview mirror, out of fear that she would see Ross standing there. A few hours later, Ross awoke with a smile on his face. But something wasn't right. The area beside him was cold. He sat up.
"Rachel?" he called out, thinking that maybe she was in the bathroom. But there was no reply. He slowly got out of bed, and made his way to the bathroom. Knocking on the door, he called her name again. But like before, there was no reply. Ross turned around and looked around the room, her stuff wasn't there anymore. All of a sudden it hit Ross like a ton of bricks. She had left. He made his way to the bad once again, and saw a folded up piece of paper on what had been Rachel's pillow. He picked up, and unfolded it slowly.
Dear Ross, Last night was incredible, and I know that I told you that I didn't want this to just be a one-night thing, but as sad as it is, it has to be. This morning I noticed something. You and I are two very different people. You are a sweet, and caring person, who is prepared to give love to another person. Me, I am not prepared to return love, and I think I would only cause you pain if we were to be together. But last night, I experienced what true love feels like the first time in a long time. Since last night I do not believe that what Ronan and I had was love. It was stability, and safety. It was knowing the fact that I would never have money trouble. Last night, I experience what I believe was true love, and I returned it. Do me this one favor. Do not ever try to find me, and just go on with your life as if this never happened. It will be better this way. Believe me. I'm sorry that I am saying goodbye to you in this awful way, but I didn't know how else to do it. Please do not hate me. Love, Rachel Greene
Ross put the letter down. He could not believe it. After he had read this letter over and over, he still couldn't believe it. Ross couldn't help but feel stupid. He had feelings for Rachel. People had asked him before if he believed in love at first sight, and he actually never did. That was until last night. The only thing left to do, was to call a cab and ride to the airport. He didn't want to spend one more minute in this room. It only reminded him that he had been turned down once again. Rachel had written in the note that she didn't want him to find her. Even though he didn't want to, he would honor that request. He showered, got dressed, and called a cab to take him to the airport. All he wanted was to go back to Chicago, and get back to his normal life. Little did he know that his life would never be normal again.
*** 7 YEARS LATER****
"Mommy. Can I have a cookie?" Rachel's thoughts were interrupted as her daughter, Fiona, was speaking to her. Rachel had been thinking about Ross again, just like always around this time of year. She shook her head in order to clear her thoughts out of her head, and focused on Fiona.
"I'm sorry, sweetie. What did you say?" Rachel asked.
"I asked you if I could have a cookie." Fiona said impatiently. "Were you daydreaming again?" the little girl asked curiously.
Rachel smiled. "Yeah, I'm sorry. I guess I've been doing that a lot lately, huh?"
"Yeah you have. But it's ok. I daydream too." Fiona smiled. She looked so much like Rachel, but her eyes she must have gotten from her father, because they weren't blue like Rachel's. They were a dark brown.
"You can have a cookie as soon as you finish your homework. It's the end of the year, and I don't want you getting lazy on your work." Rachael said.
"But mom, my birthday is tomorrow. And Phoebe is coming over soon. Do you really want me to work, and you sit there and talk with your friend. That's not fair." Fiona complained in an attempt of getting out of doing homework.
"Well, how about this, you finish your homework, and you can go to your friend Josie's house?" Rachel offered. As soon as she finished her sentence, Fiona started on her homework. Rachel smiled to herself. Even though Fiona could get a little complicated at times, she was a good kid, and made Rachel's job of raising her easier. A few minutes, the buzzer went off. It was Phoebe, and Rachel buzzed her in.
"Hey Rach. How's it going?" Phoebe asked.
"Oh, everything is fine. Fiona is just finishing her homework, and then I will walk her to Josie's house. Then, we can go wherever." Rachel said. Within five minutes, Fiona was finished with her homework.
"I'm done. You can check my homework now, and I'll pack my stuff. Josie said it was all right if I spent the night. It's ok with you, right?" Fiona asked.
"Yeah, I don't mind." Rachel said. Fiona went off to pack her bag, and Rachel started checking her homework. Fiona was very smart for her age; in fact, the teachers were talking about letting her skip the third grade. But Rachel wanted Fiona to be with people her own age. But that wasn't her only reason. She wanted to hold on to Fiona for as long as she could, and if she let Fiona skip a grade, she would grow up sooner. Fiona was the only living reminder that Rachel had of the one man that she had ever felt true love for. The man that was many miles away, and whom she will never see again in her life, because she had told him not to look for her. Rachel finished checking off the homework, and walked with Fiona the few blocks to Josie's house. Afterwards, her and Phoebe walked to their favorite hang out spot. Central Perk. They each ordered their coffee, and took a seat at a table, since their couch was taken by a group of other people.
"So tell me Rach, it's that time of year again. Are you gonna get all emotional, and depressed again?" Phoebe asked bluntly.
"Well, its not like I want to be depressed Pheebs, but its just that every year around Fiona's birthday I get sad, because I keep wondering how things would be if I had told the father. I can't help but wonder if I would be married right now, with more kids, or what." Rachel admitted.
"But didn't you have a one-night stand with this guy, and didn't you tell him that you didn't want him to find you?" Phoebe asked.
"Well, yeah, but I don't know what it is. I just have these feelings for him." Rachel said. "He was just so sweet, and caring. And he looked great too. He had those dark brown eyes, that just made me go weak at the knees." Rachel said dreamily.
"Um, Rach, not to burst your bubble or anything, but you have a boyfriend. Does Tristan even know that you have feelings for this mystery guy?" Phoebe pointed out. Rachel shook her head. She had never told Tristan that she had feelings for Ross. She figured that she would never come across Ross again, so there was no point in hurting the man who she was with at the time. She didn't really love Tristan, but he loved her, and she liked the feeling of being adored.
Phoebe looked at her watch. "I'm sorry Rach, but I have to get to the massage parlor. I have to work this afternoon. So, I'll see you at Fiona's birthday party next week ok?"
"Yeah. Bye." Rachel waved. For the next few minutes she just sat there, and read a magazine. A little while later, she glanced up a second at the counter, and then down again. But then she looked back up. The man standing at the counter looked awfully familiar. He turned around, and looked Rachel directly into her eyes. To her horror, it was Ross. Judging by the look on his face, he was also shocked. He just stood there, staring at Rachel. Finally, Rachel stood up, and walked towards him.
" Hey Ross." Rachel smiled.
"Hey." He replied in a confused tone.
"What are you doing here in Manhattan?" Rachel questioned.
"Um, don't worry. I wasn't trying to contact you or anything. I wasn't going to ignore your request." He said in a cold tone.
Rachel felt bad. She knew she shouldn't have written that in her note, but it made her feel better at the time if she put that in the note. "I know you wouldn't do that. And I apologize for writing that. I don't know what I was thinking. I just figured it would be easier for us. Do you want to sit down with me? I think we have a lot to talk about." Rachel said. They walked to the table she was sitting at before. "So, what exactly are you doing here?" She asked once again.
"I live here now. I just moved into my apartment across the street from here. The museum in Chicago transferred me here, and I got a promotion." Ross answered.
"Wow, that's great. Congratulations. I guess things have gone well for you in the past seven years." Rachel said.
"You think things were going well for me? I was so confused through out the past seven years. Especially after you left so suddenly. I was blaming myself. I thought I scared you off or something. This sounds totally stupid, but I kind of hoped that we could go out, you know? I would have extended my stay in Seattle." Ross admitted, and Rachel felt bad. Ross wasn't the way she remembered him. He was different. He seemed colder.
"It's not stupid Ross. I wanted more too, but I was scared, and I just had gotten over a relationship. It wouldn't have been fair to you." Rachel said.
"Yeah. I guess your right." He paused for a minute, and took a drink. "Look, I think it's better if I get going. I have an important meeting at the museum today." He lied. He didn't actually have a meeting, but he didn't feel like seeing Rachel right now. Even though he was slightly happy to see her again, he still felt hurt from the event that happened seven years ago.
"Oh, well, you gotta do what you gotta do, right?" she said disappointedly. "But maybe we could meet somewhere sometime to just talk, you know? I think I kind of owe you a better explanation." Rachel said.
Ross just waved it off. "No that's fine. I think it was all in the nice little note you left me, and I don't really need a review of it, all right?" he said in a cold voice, and started walking toward the door. Rachel was too shocked to move, so she just sat there instead of going after him. It had been so long since she had written the note. Almost eight years. She couldn't even remember quite what had been in it. Whatever it had been, it must have hurt him bad. So, she just finished her coffee, and walked back toward her apartment. As soon as she walked in, she let herself fall on the couch. It had been a long day. She had never expected to see Ross again, even though she had a reminder of him. Her daughter. She smiled to herself as she thought about Fiona. It could honestly be said that Fiona was the best daughter anyone could ever hope for. Even though she was only seven years old, she always gave comfort to Rachel, by just being there, and letting herself be held. It's amazing how a child can change your life and turn it into a direction you never planned for. But unlike a lot of women, she didn't regret it. She didn't regret having that one night-stand, and she didn't regret giving birth to Fiona. In fact, Rachel saw it as the best thing to ever happen to her in her life. Her thoughts were interrupted by the ringing of the telephone. Rachel reluctantly got up.
"Hello?" Rachel answered. "Hey honey, it's me." It was Tristan. "How are things back home?"
"Their fine." She said that just to keep him from worrying, because in reality, she wasn't okay.
"That's good. Well, I just wanted to let you know that I should be home in about 4 days, all right?" he said.
"That's good, I cant wait until you get home." She said with fake enthusiasm.
"Okay, I have to go now. I have a meeting I have to get to, Love you." And with that, Tristan hung up the phone.
"Yeah." Rachel said to the silent phone line. Tristan had said those words so often, and she rarely returned them, because she really didn't love him, but she didn't want to hurt him. She had wanted to break up with him many times within the last year and a half that they had been together, but she always put it off. She didn't have the heart to dump Tristan. He was so sweet, and caring to Fiona and her. So she put that thought out of her head, and decided to stay together with him. But when she saw Ross today, it had made her think about where her and Tristan's relationship was going. She felt so bad about how she had left things with Ross, and now he was living in the same city, which made things complicated. She believed that he had the right to know that Fiona was his daughter. Finally, she picked up the phone book, and started searching, but she had forgotten what Ross's last name was.
"Was it Gregar, or Gellman?" she wondered. Then she remembered. Gellar. His last name was Gellar. She looked in the book, and luckily, there were only two listed Gellar, one named Monica, and one that started with the letter R. "Well, lets hope this is it." She started dialing, not knowing what she should say if he picked up, or if the R even meant Ross Gellar. The phone rang about 3 times before it was picked up.
"Hello?" said a familiar man's voice.
It was Ross! "Hi, please don't hang up, but its Rachel, and I really have to talk to you. Do you think we could meet at Central Perk tonight?" she waited for an answer, not knowing if he ever wanted to see her again. It seemed like an eternity before he finally replied to her question.
"I don't know if that would be such a great idea." Ross said, not only trying to convince her, but him also.
"Look Ross, I know how pissed off you must be at me right now, but you have to give me a chance to let me explain myself. I'm sure you have questions that you want to ask me." Rachel said.
"All right. I'll be there. What time should we meet?" he asked. "Well, it's about 3 now. What do you say around five o clock? Will that be good?" she asked.
"Yeah, five o clock sounds fine. I'll see you then. Bye." Ross answered.
"Good, till then. Bye." And then she hung up. She was so happy that he finally agreed to meet her, and this time, he might even stay long enough to actually talk. She decided to take a shower and get dressed up. Even though she knew nothing would happen between her and Ross, she still wanted to look nice for him, even if he might dislike her; deep down she hoped they could become friends. She stepped out of the shower, and rummaged through her closet. She had so many outfits that looked fantastic, but she couldn't decide which one was best for the event. Finally she picked out what she wanted to wear, put it on, and did her makeup. She knew that it may be a bit too much, but this would catch anyone's attention. She smiled to herself as she thought of the possibility that he might even become attracted to her. Her thoughts were interrupted by the knocking of the door. Rachel went to open it.
"Hey Rachel. What's the occasion? You're all dressed up?" Phoebe said.
"Phoebe, you will never believe what happened today! After you left the coffee house, I saw the guy!" Rachel said excitedly.
"Oooh ohh ohh! You saw Brad Pitt! Did you get his autograph?" Phoebe said even more excited.
"No Pheebs, I didn't see Brad Pitt. I saw something better. I saw the guy. You know, Fiona's father!" Rachel exclaimed.
"Are you serious! What's he doing in New York? Is he here to stalk you? I'll kick his ass!" Phoebe said angrily.
"Ok, Phoebe, you need to calm down all right. No, he is not stalking me. He's here because he got a promotion, and now he is working at the museum. Oh, and I'm meeting him for coffee in about half an hour." Rachel said.
"What? You're meeting him for coffee? What for?" she asked.
"Well, I told him that I need to explain myself, and just to talk." Rachel answered.
"Okay, that's great, but don't you think that's a bad idea? I mean, when you got back from Seattle, you were a mess for weeks. It was like you were in love with him, and that's fine, but you have a boyfriend right now. If you go to the coffee house, and meet this guy, you will fall in love with him again. Believe me, I'm psychic, I can tell these sorts of things. Do you really want to hurt Tristan like that?" Phoebe asked.
"I don't want to hurt Tristan, but I'm going to end it with him anyways. I can't stay in that relationship. I don't love him." Rachel confessed.
"Do what you want Rachel. It's your life I'm just warning you. Be careful, all right?" Phoebe said.
"I will. Well, I have to get going now. But I'll let you know how it goes. You can stay here if you want. That way I can talk to you as soon as I get back." Rachel got up and walked towards the door. "Wish me luck."
"Good luck." Phoebe said. And Rachel closed the door. On her way to the coffee house, Rachel kept thinking about what she would actually tell him. After a few minutes she was right outside the coffee house, and looking through the window, she could see Ross sitting by a table, and reading the newspaper. She couldn't help but think about how attractive he looked. But she shook it off, as she walked in, and went toward where Ross was sitting.
"Hey Ross. How are you?" Rachel asked.
Ross put down his paper. "I'm doing good."
"How long have you been waiting?" Rachel wondered.
"Not long, just about five minutes." Ross said. Rachel took a seat next to Ross. "Not to be too pushy but anything, but ever since you called and said you wanted to give an explanation, I have been curious to know what it was, because for the past eight years, there hasn't been a day that I didn't wonder what happened to you. I didn't know if you had gotten back together with that guy Ronan, or if you were trying to contact me, or what. I didn't know anything! And it drove me insane!" Ross said upset.
"I know. And I'm sorry for doing that. But I will tell you why I did it. That night, I felt something, and that scared me, because in the times before, when I felt something, I always ended up getting hurt in one way or another, and I didn't want to get hurt this time, so I figured, that it would be better if I left, even though I didn't want to. And God knows, I wanted to stay." Rachel said guiltily. "All I can say now, is that I'm sorry, and I really hope that you can forgive me." Rachel pleaded.
"I forgive you." Ross continued on. " I figure I cant stay mad at you forever, and in fact I wasn't mad at you, I was just hurt." He confessed, and that made Rachel feel so guilty inside. "But since I'm living in the same city as you, I figure we could be friends you know? Because I really want to get to know you again. And don't worry, I'm not going to hit on you." Ross joked.
" All right. So what do you say we start over, huh?" Rachel paused, and extended her hand. "Hi, Im Rachel Greene."
Ross took her hand and shook it. " Hello. I'm Ross Gellar. Nice to meet you."
Rachel laughed. "So, where do you live, since you moved here?" Rachel asked.
"Actually, I live right across the street from here. On my way here, I actually discovered that its about one hundred steps away from this place." Ross laughed. "Which proves that I have no life."
Rachel laughed also, and so they went on talking about how their lives had changed in eight years, but Rachel never mentioned one important detail. So, she avoided it as best as she could, and talked about her work, and how she had gotten promoted at her job by Ralph Lauren. The conversation went on and on, until the coffee house started emptying out.
"I think we better take this conversation somewhere else, because they are closing." Rachel said, after she noticed that some of the waitresses were sweeping the floors.
"Yeah, good idea. We could go to my place." Ross recommended.
"Sure. That would be great." Ross paid for both of them, again, to Rachel's protest, and they made their way over to Ross's apartment. Ross unlocked the door, and they walked in. He had it decorated with dinosaur statues, and other prehistoric things.
"Sorry about the dinosaur things, but I'm a paleontologist, and that's what I do for a living." Ross said embarrassed.
"Uh huh." Rachel wasn't really paying attention; she was contemplating whether or not she should tell him the truth about Fiona.
Ross noticed something was bothering her. "What's wrong, you're so quiet all of a sudden." Ross said.
"Well, there is something important that I really have to tell you." Rachel said with a shaky voice. She had no idea how to say this to him, of how he was going to react.
"Gosh, I don't even know how to say this." Rachel said nervously.
"Just say it. I'm sure it will be fine. I'm not angry anymore." Ross said comfortingly.
"Right. A few weeks after we were together, I found out something." Rachel started. Ross urged her to go on. "I found out that I was pregnant." Rachel said. Ross had a look on his face that she couldn't read. Maybe he didn't understand what she was trying to tell him. "I was pregnant with your baby." This time she had gotten her point across, and she read it on Ross's face. If he was mad, surprised, happy, or angry, she couldn't tell. All these looks flashed across his face in one split second, now she was just waiting for him to say something. Waiting for him to say anything.
He just stared off into space, as millions of thoughts raced through his mind. Rachel had a baby? It was his? But how did she know? "You were pregnant." He stated, more than asked. "Are you even sure that it's mine?" it was the question that burned most on his mind. Probably, because she had just broken up with Ronan a few weeks earlier, and he wanted to make sure, no matter how cold the question was. He needed to know.
"What? Who else's would it be Ross?" she replied angrily. She didn't believe that he had actually asked that.
"I don't know, maybe it was that Ronan's, or maybe you had a fling after you slept with me, how should I know. We never talked again until recently!" he said defensively.
"Well, I'll tell you this, she has to be yours, because she has your eyes. And she is extremely smart, and I know that she didn't get that from me." Rachel desperately wanted him to just accept the fact that Fiona was his child, but she knew that was going to be hard, because he had never seen her. If he had, he would probably believe it. Rachel couldn't explain how bad she felt whenever she went to the park with Fiona, and went to the playground, where all the children played, and were getting pushed on the swings by their daddy's. She could see the longing in Fiona's eyes. When Fiona was younger, she used to ask Rachel where her daddy was, and why all the other girls had daddy's, except for her. Rachel always felt an ache in her heart when Fiona asked, so whenever the question surfaced, she gave the same answer. Her daddy was away, working, and had no time to visit. Fiona just left it at that, and after she turned 5, she never asked the question again.
"Look Ross, I knew you weren't going to be exactly thrilled about this. It's a lot of information to take in at such short time, and on my way to the coffee house, I was so nervous about telling you, I even considered to not even tell you! But you have the right to know!" she was starting to get angry. " And now you know. You can go and do whatever you want. I did what I was supposed to do. You never even asked if it was a boy or a girl." And with that said, she started walking towards the door. She had enough of this. She had guessed he would be upset, but she wasn't expecting this reaction of him blaming her.
"Rachel wait." Ross ran behind her, and held the door closed so she couldn't go. "I'm sorry for how I acted. But it's just a shock, you know? I never expected this. I don't know how to handle this. Tell me, what do you want me to do?"
Rachel turned so that she was facing him. "What I want? I really would want for you to meet her at least. So that she will know that her father does exist." Rachel had tears in her eyes.
Ross was surprised, and a smiled crept to his face. "It's a girl?" he asked happily.
Rachel smiled and nodded. "Yep, her name is Fiona. People say she looks exactly like me, but she doesn't, she has your eyes. And she doesn't really have my personality, so she must have gotten that from you."
"Wow, I really wish she was here now. At this very moment." Ross said.
" If you're serious about meeting her, you can stop by tomorrow. She'll be home by then."
"Really? Are you serious? Well, what time would you like for me to come by?" Ross asked excitedly.
"Um, I would say about three o clock. That way I'll have the time to let her know what is going on. When she was younger she used to always ask me where her daddy was, and I always said that he was off somewhere working. " She admitted.
"Oh, well, what does she like? Does she like teddy bears, or Barbie Dolls, or something else. I mean, I can't just show up empty handed."
"She really likes to read. She likes books about anything that happened in the past, like the Civil War for example." Rachel said.
"Right she's into history. I'll remember that." He paused." I can't believe I'm going to meet my daughter." He smiled. "Oh, because of the whole excitement, I forgot to ask. What's her name?" Ross asked eagerly.
"Her name is Fiona. Fiona Rebecca Green."
"Wow, that's a pretty name." Ross said honestly. He still couldn't believe he had a daughter!
He looked directly into Rachel's eyes. "Thank you for telling me about her."
Rachel smiled. "You don't need to thank me. I should thank you for giving her to me." She looked into his eyes, and they shared a loving gaze, slowly; unsurely, Ross leaned in, and meets her lips. They shared a passionate kiss, until Rachel stopped it. She stood up, and walked towards the door.
"Right, I, um, I'll see you tomorrow then. Let me write down my address." She grabbed a pencil, and paper, and wrote it down quickly." Here you go, I'll see you." And she left abruptly, leaving Ross there with a confused look on his face. He couldn't believe that he had kissed her, but he wasn't regretting it. What hurt him though, was the fact that she left so quickly. He didn't see a ring on her finger, so he assumed she wasn't married, and he knew that she would have told him about it earlier. She hadn't mentioned anything about having a boyfriend, even when they were on the subject. Ross sat there, thinking. He was attracted to this woman, that was for sure, and she had given birth to his child. It seemed like a perfect scenario, but was he going to do something about it? And if he was, would everything turn out all right, or would someone have to get hurt?
On her walk home, there was only one thing on her mind, and that was Ross, and Tristan. Oh, what a mess she had gotten herself in, maybe Phoebe had been right. Maybe she should not have meet Ross tonight. All it did was confuse her. She felt something in that kiss, and it frightened her, because she was together with a man who adored her, and worshiped the ground she walked on. The problem was that she didn't feel anything for Tristan; yet she felt something for Ross. There wasn't much she could do, except to live with it for now, and deal with it later. Tristan wasn't even in town, so that made things a little bit easier. She finally made it to her building, and entered her apartment. She was exhausted, so she just went straight to bed, and fell into a deep sleep.
The next morning, Rachel awoke to the sound of the buzzer. 'That's probably Phoebe." She figured. So she got up, and buzzed her in.
"Hey Rach. How was the little get-together yesterday?" Phoebe asked.
"It was, um, fine. I guess." Rachel replied.
Phoebe looked at Rachel intently. "Oh oh. That doesn't sound too good. What happened?"
Rachel pulled up a chair, and sat at the dinning table. "Well, I met him at Central Perk, and we just talked for a really long time about what's changed in the past years, and our personal lives. Basically just getting to know each other again. Then, he asked me to his apartment." Rachel said quietly, and Phoebe interrupted her.
"He invited you to his apartment?" Phoebe was shocked.
"Ok, don't jump to conclusions, all right? I took him up on his offer, and we went to his place. Then, I told him about Fiona." Rachel admitted.
"You did? How did he react? Give me all the details!" Phoebe shouted out excitedly.
"Um, at first he was really quiet about the whole thing, and I felt so bad, because I cant even imagine what it would be like to have someone come up to me and tell me I have a child walking around that I didn't even know of. Then, he got mad, and least I could do." She said.
Phoebe just nodded, but then, she sensed something. "Did anything else happen. Because I'm getting this vibe that you're not telling me the entire story here."
Rachel had wanted to avoid this situation. That kiss was so great, but she shouldn't be kissing other men. It wasn't fair to Tristan, even if she didn't feel anything other than friendship towards him. "Well, um, yeah something else did happen." Rachel paused, and Phoebe was listening eagerly. "We kissed." " What?!?!? You kissed?" Phoebe was shocked! "I can't believe this! Was it a good kiss?" she asked seriously.
Rachel smiled at the memory, and just nodded. "Oh, it was one hell of a kiss, I'll tell ya." She couldn't stop smiling.
Phoebe was happy for her best friends, but then it hit her. "What are you going to do about Tristan?"
Rachel's smile immediately left her face, as if a powerful blow had smacked it off. For a while there, she had forgotten completely about Tristan. "My God, you're right. I can't do this. I have a boyfriend." She said to out loud.
"That's right, you do. But you know what? I never saw you this happy before. If you want my opinion, I think you should be true to yourself, and make a decision. Tristan may adore you, and you may like the attention, but you never talk about Tristan with that look in your eyes the way you do when you talk about Ross. You have to do what your heart tells you." Phoebe said.
"You're right. But I just don't get it. I never believed in love at first sight, but it happened to me, and it happened unexpectedly. And the fact that I have stronger feelings for a man who I had a one night fling with, than my boyfriend. It just seems so strange." Rachel said. " Well, I'm going to jump in the shower before Fiona comes home." And with that said, Rachel went to get ready. She still had to prepare her daughters birthday party.
A few hours later, after Rachel and phoebe had decorated the entire apartment for Fiona's birthday party, there was a knock on the door. Rachel went to answer it, expecting to see Fiona there, but it was Ross with a present in his hand.
"Hey, come on in." Rachel opened the door wider for him to come in.
"I know I'm early, but I figured I could help you with decorating and stuff." He pulled his right arm away from behind his back, and gave Rachel a bouquet of flowers. "And these are for you." He said charmingly.
Rachel couldn't help but blush. He was so charming. "Thank you. They're beautiful. I'm going to put them in a vase. You can have a seat in the living room if you like, and I will be right there." So, she showed him to the couch, and she went into the kitchen to get a vase.
Phoebe was putting the last decorations on Fiona's birthday cake, when she saw Rachel come in with the flowers. "Wow, those look nice. Who'd you get them from?" she asked.
Rachel smiled as she put water in a vase. "They're from Ross." She said shyly, as she felt her face grow red. 'What is going on with me?' she thought to herself. She was acting like a young schoolgirl who had a crush on a boy.
"Really? He's bringing flowers now, eh? I don't care what you tell yourself, but I really think this guy likes you just as much as you like him." Phoebe tried to convince Rachel. This morning, Rachel had told her that she was in love with Ross, and that she knew for a fact that he could never love her in return, because of the big secret that she had kept from him.
"Maybe. But I still don't know. Maybe he is just trying to be nice." Rachel was trying to convince not only Phoebe, but also herself, that Ross didn't like her in that way. She figured that this way she wouldn't get hurt, and wouldn't have to hurt anyone in the process.
"Well, let me meet this mystery guy. To this day I still have no idea what he looks like. It's about time that I can put a picture to the name." Phoebe said. Rachel led her to the living room, where Ross sat, reading a magazine. When he heard people coming in, he turned around, and faced the two women.
"Ross, this is my friend Phoebe Buffay. Phoebe, this is Ross Gellar, Fiona's dad." Rachel introduced the two.
"Hi, its nice t meet, you. Rachel told me about you yesterday." Ross said.
"Really? Well, I've heard a lot about you too." Phoebe accidentally let it slip.
"Uh, well everything is all decorated. All we have to do now is wait for the guests." Rachel changed the subject.
A few minutes, Fiona's friends started showing up. Fiona had said that she wanted a surprise party, so what Rachel had done, is let Fiona plan her entire party, because Fiona wouldn't want anyone else doing it, but Rachel decided the date secretly. That had been the deal. After all the guests had shown up, Rachel went to pick up Fiona and her friend whom she had spent the night at.
"All right. Let's go in." Rachel said it loudly so that the people inside could hear her, and hide. She unlocked the door, and turned on the lights.
"SURPRISE!!" Everyone jumped out, except for Ross who was just sitting in a chair with an angry look on his face. Rachel caught the look, but had no idea why he was angry. Until she looked over the room. Standing in the middle was Tristan. With a big smile on his face, with Fiona in a hug. Now she understood the angry glare on Ross's face. She had to explain herself some way. Just how would she do it though? After a long, and uncomfortable silence, Tristan spoke.
"Hey honey, are you surprised to see me?" he said to Rachel with a smile on his face, expecting to get a hug. But the happy reaction never came from Rachel. Instead, he got a curious stare from Rachel, and Phoebe. "What's going on here?" he asked curiously. Tristan had thought that Rachel would be happy to see him.
Rachel shook her head. "Tristan, I have to talk to you in the kitchen for a minute." Tristan and Rachel walked off into the kitchen.
Phoebe looked at Ross, and noted how confused, and hurt he looked. She walked towards him, while the children all gathered around Fiona. "Ross, I know this looks bad, but Rachel is going to break up with him. Believe me." She said reassuringly.
Ross looked at her surprised. "Why didn't she tell me about him? I mean, we were out for hours yesterday, and she never even said anything about him! Why would she do this?" he asked himself that question more, than he did Phoebe, but he just wished he had some clear answers. He was so confused right now.
"Well, I guess she never told you because she really likes you." Phoebe told him.
Ross looked at her with surprise in his face. "Does she really?"
"You better believe it. I remember when she first came back from her little get-away in Seattle, she was upset for months, and then she had Fiona, and she was a little happier, but she was still sad around her birthday, because she wanted the father to be there. And now I know who the father is, and all I have to say is, I really hope that you will stay with her, if you two get together." Phoebe admitted.
Inside the kitchen, the mood wasn't too happy.
"So, you're telling me, you don't love me anymore?" Tristan asked in a hurt tone. "And this guy, Ross, is Fiona's father?"
Rachel just nodded. "I'm so sorry Tristan, I really wanted to end it sooner, but I never knew how to do it, and for a really long time I figured that I could learn to love you, but I couldn't. At least not in the way you loved me."
Finally, Tristan asked the question that had been bothering him from the start of this converstion. "Do you love him?"
Rachel pondered this question for about a second, before her heart screamed it to her. 'Yes, you love him, bow don't deny yourself happiness.' "Tristan, I am so sorry about everything." She paused. "Yes, I do love him." She admitted to him.
Tristan just nodded, and looked into her eyes. "Then go to him, and tell him. Go out there, and be happy with him." He smiled.
Rachel smiled, and hugged Tristan. "Thank you for being so understanding about this. I know the right woman is out there just waiting for you." Rachel smiled, and went into the living room, but didn't see Ross anywhere. She looked at Phoebe for an explanation. "Phoebe, where is Ross?"
Phoebe shook her head. "Rachel, he left. I told him how much you liked him, because he had to hear it, but he left afterwards, because he said that he had ruined everything for you. I really tried to talk him out of it, but he wouldn't listen! I am soo sorry, Rachel." Phoebe said.
Rachel felt tears sting her eyes. "I've got to find him. Could you watch the party, I'll be back in two hours. Phoebe, I have got to find him." Rachel pleaded. Phoebe just nodded. Rachel grabbed a coat and left the building. She searched almost everywhere for two hours, with no luck, so she returned to her apartment just in time to see her daughter opening presents. After the party, Rachel started to clean everything up, while Phoebe and Tristan helped.
"Rachel, you can't give up. I'm sure he is somewhere out there. You just have to find him. Otherwise you'll regret it." Tristan said. "If you find love and that person loves you in return, don't let that fly by."
"You're right. I'm heading out again, and I'm not coming back until I find him." Rachel again left her apartment in order to find her love. She again searched everywhere. His apartment, the coffee house, the Museum, she really looked everywhere, and he was nowhere to be found. After three hours of searching Rachel had just given up, and started walking around Central Park. All she could think about was Ross, and the times they had, even though there weren't many. She thought about he first time she met him, how sweet he was to her, how heartbroken she had been that night, and how he had helped her get over Ronan. And now, she may not see him again, and he may miss out on watching his daughter, their daughter grow.
It was a rainy night
When he came into sight
Standing by the road
With no umbrella, no coat
So I pulled up along side
And I offered him a ride
He accepted with a smile
So we drove for awhile
I didn't ask him his name
The lonely boy in the rain
Fate tells me it's right
Is this love at first sight
Please don't make it wrong
Just stay for the night
All I wanna do is make love to you
Say you will, you want me too
All I wanna do is make love to you
I got loving arms to hold on to
So we found this hotel
It was a place I knew well
We made magic that night
Oh, he did everything right
He brought the woman out of me
So any times easily
And in the morning when he woke
All I left him was a note
I told him, "I am a flower, you are the sea"
We walked in the garden, we planted a tree
Don't try to find me, please don't you dare
Just live in memory, you'll always be there
All I wanna do is make love to you
One night of love was all we knew
All I wanna do is make love to you
I got loving arms to hold on to, oh
Ooh, we made love
Love like strangers
All night long
We made love
Then it happened one day
We came 'round the same way
You could imagine his surprise
When he saw his own eyes
I said, "Please, please understand
I'm in love with another man"
And what he couldn't give me, ho, oh
Was the one little thing that you can
All I wanna do is make love to you
One night of love is all we knew
All I wanna do is make love to you
Come on, say you will, you want me too
All I wanna do is make love to you
One night of love was all we knew
All I wanna do is make love to you
Say you will, baby, want me too all night long
All I wanna do is make love to you
All night long
All night long
Rachel lied that night. She didn't just want this to be a one-night stand, but she had wanted more. All of a sudden, when she came upon the fountain, she saw the figure of a man. She walked up, and realized it was Ross. She approached him slowly, but he still heard her, and turned around. She could see the hurt and pain in his eyes.
"Ross, before I tell you anything, I just want you to know that I didn't mean to hurt you in any way. I know I should have told you about Tristan, but, I want you to know, that I broke things off with him." Rachel told Ross.
"Why did you?" He asked curiously. He knew what she was trying to tell him, but he wanted to hear her say it.
Rachel paused for a minute. "Because, I love you Ross. I've loved you since that first night we met, and I've loved you ever since." She paused. " I know you probably don't love me back, because I've lied to you way too many times. But at least you know, and I completely underst-" she was interrupted by Ross giving her the most passionate kiss she had ever experienced.
"Oh, I love you too, and I will never ever leave you again, as long as you don't leave me." He smiled.
"I promise, I wont leave you. Now, lets go home, so you can meet your daughter." And they walked out of the park together with their arms around each other. Rachel could only think about how lucky she was. She thought about how one moment had ended her relationship to Ronan, one moment had let her meet Ross, and one moment had brought the two hearts back together, and would make it so that they would never leave them heartbroken again. Yes, one moment had changed her life forever.
THE END
"Because you want more from me than I am ready to give." Those were the last words that Ronan had said to her, and those were the words that would cross her mind every single time that she would think about Ronan Stokes, and the three years she was together with him. She was sure that she loved him. Not one of her former boyfriends gave her the same feeling that Ronan did. She wanted more of him. She didn't want to be just his girlfriend, but wanted to be his wife, and raise a family with him. That's why she asked him the one question that made Ronan turn away from her.
**FLASHBACK** "Rachel, honey, I'm home." Ronan put his briefcase on the ground, and looked at the mail lying on the counter. Too busy was he, looking at the credit card offers, and letters from his law firm, to even slightly notice the candles on the dinner table, and the romantic dinner prepared, and ready to be enjoyed. Rachel Greene came from the bedroom of their very large Manhattan apartment. She came into the living room, where Ronan was reading a letter from the law firm that he worked at. Rachel cleared her throat in an attempt to distract Ronan's attention from the letter; to the romantic dinner she had spent all day preparing.
"Hey," was all he said as he glanced up and smiled at Rachel, but then he looked down again. Rachel tried to hide her disappointment. She had dressed herself in her fanciest dress that hung in her over filled closet. It was always Ronan's favorite, and always got his attention, but tonight it didn't serve its purpose.
"Um, Ronan, I was hoping that tonight you could leave your work for another time, and we could enjoy a romantic dinner, and talk." Rachel walked towards Ronan and sat on his lap and whispered seductively in his ear " afterwards we could enjoy some romantic time in the bedroom." She leaned in, and was about to kiss his lips, but Ronan turned away, slightly pushed her off his lap, and got up.
"Sure dinner sounds good." He said while walking towards the table. Rachel sat there for a while, totally surprised. In the three years they had been together, he never turned her down once. She got up and sat in the chair across from Ronan, who had already started eating.
"So, what was so important that you wanted to talk to me about?" Ronan asked while taking a sip of the red wine that Rachel had poured. Rachel hesitated for a while before she spoke.
"Well, um, we have been together for three years now." Rachel paused for a moment, and wondered how to continue. "I love you Ronan, and we both have steady jobs, and I think we're ready." Rachel looked up into Ronan's eyes to see if he was getting her message.
By the apparent look on his face, he didn't. "Ready for what?" he asked bewildered. Rachel grabbed his hand and took a deep breath, preparing herself for what she was about to say.
"Ronan," she began slowly. "I want to have a baby with you." She looked at the expression in his face change from bewilderment, to frustration.
"Rachel I told you a million times, I'm not ready" I don't want to be married right now. I have too many cases to work on." He said, hoping she would just leave the topic at that. But she dint. "We don't have to be married right at this second!" she said, starting to get frustrated, also. " Good God Ronan, you're almost thirty, and I'm twenty three. We're both more than ready." She paused for a minute before continuing on. " I love you Ronan, and I really want to have a baby with you." ] Ronan got up from his seat, and started pacing around the room. " I can't take it anymore. I truly cannot take it! You have bothered me for three moths now about a baby. We aren't even married yet, for goodness sakes! Do you want this child to be born a bastard?" He yelled out angrily.
Rachel had had enough. She stood up and walked over towards him angrily. "That isn't my fault that we aren't married yet. If you would have proposed, we would be married by now, and the only bastard I see here, is you!" That sentence was too much, and she knew it even before she had said the words, and now she regretted them more than anything.
"You know what, I'm done, and I'm through with you. I can't take it anymore! He had said it. Finally, after wanting to break up with her for a year, he did it. He looked at her face, which was filled with more sadness than he had ever seen.
"What?" she asked with a trembling voice.
"I'm breaking up with you, Rachel. I wanted to for a long time, a year in fact, but I never knew how I should do it.
Rachel stood there, paralyzed with shock. She had heard the words, but she started to feel them now. She had so many questions to ask, but only one came out. "Why?" she asked.
Ronan leaned against the couch, feeling slightly guilty for the pain he was causing her. "Because you want more from me than I am ready to give." With that sentence she started packing her things, and left the best thing that ever happened in her life, and for the fist time ever, she moved into a small apartment in a great neighborhood of Manhattan, by herself.
**BACK TO PRESENT** Rachel shook her head in order to get her thoughts back to the present. After her breakup from Ronan, she had taken a two-week vacation, and had decided to visit Seattle in order to clear her head. So far she had spent a week there. Coming to Seattle, she had expected it to be the rainiest and depressing places, but in her first week it had only rained once, and that was tonight. She was driving through a town that was just north of Seattle, and she was looking for some way to get back onto the interstate. She had missed the on-ramp because she was thinking about Ronan. 'Oh why cant I just get over him!' she asked herself. When she heard the phrase 'Love hurts' she never believed them until a week ago. Why had Ronan wanted to break up with her a year ago? That was he main concern.
The rain was coming down harder now, and Rachel looked at her watch. It was 9:45 PM, and very dark, considering the fact that it was early November. Since no one else was driving down the highway, she turned on her bights, and continued down the road. Soon, she started seeing sign pointing out the distances of nearby towns. 'Well, at least I'm getting somewhere" she though. Slowly, her mind started drifting back to Ronan. She shook her, and told herself not to think about him. 'That part of my life is over.' She convinced herself, but she still felt the hurt. She focused her full attention on the road ahead. Looking ahead, she saw a bench, where a bus stop was. Looking closer, she saw the figure of a man sitting on that bench. The bus stop didn't have any kind of roof to block the rain, and the man just sat there in the dark and unforgiving night. Just from the way he was sitting, Rachel could tell that this man wasn't happy, and something had made him so depressed, that he would sit in the cold, and bitter night. Rachel didn't know what made her do it, maybe it was how helpless he looked, but she pulled over right along next to him. Seeing him up close, she could see he was very well dressed, and when he looked up straight into her eyes, she could see that this man would do her no harm.
She rolled down the window of the passenger side and smiled at the man "Hey, cold night, huh?" she asked.
"Yeah it is." The man said unhappily. He was dripping wet, but Rachel still found him attractive. He had dark hair, and eyes.
"Look, I don't usually do this kind of thing, but do you want a lift?" she had spoken the words, but she still didn't believe it. She had asked a complete stranger if he wanted a ride. For all she knew, he could be a rapist, serial killer, or in some sort of car theft ring. But something about his eyes and the sadness in them made her trust this man.
He looked at her very surprised, but then smiled and nodded. "That would be great." He got up off of the bench, and opened the passenger side door. "Thank you so much Ma'am." He said gratefully.
Rachel pulled back onto the highway and looked at the man sitting next to her. "Hey, no need to thank me." Was all she had said, and she looked back onto the road.
A short silence followed before the stranger spoke again. "You know what, I think it would be really a good idea if I introduced myself." He paused and offered her his hand, which was still wet and cold from the rain. "My name is Ross Gellar." He smiled.
Rachel shook his hand and smiled back. "Rachel Greene." She introduced herself.
"Well, Mrs. Greene, its nice to meet you." He said enthusiastically.
"Oh no, it's not Mrs. Its ms. I'm not married." She corrected him.
He was surprised at the last sentence. "You're kidding me! A woman as beautiful as you?"
Rachel blushed and smiled at Ross's attempt of hitting on her. "Thank you for your compliment Mr.Gellar."
"Call me Ross. You saved me from the rain, and I think I should at least buy you a cup of coffee. What do you say?" Ross asked in a hopeful tone.
Rachel considered the question. Would there be any place open at this time? But the more important question was, why was she even considering Ross's offer? It had only been a few weeks since her breakup from Ronan, but for some weird reason, she was attracted to the man sitting beside her, whom she had only known about three minutes. "I, uh, I don't know. I mean its late, and honestly.." she paused and chuckled "I don't know anything about you."
Ross looked down, obviously a little hurt. He was never good with women. He was always the one being dumped, and never the one who dumped others. Ross was used to hearing the sentence 'Look, you're a great guy, but I think we should start seeing other people.' Which they were usually already doing. But if he was such a great guy, why did women dump him all the time. Was he not attractive enough? Or was it his lack of charm? 'Probably both' he thought. He finally broke the silence.
"Yeah, uh, I guess you're right." He said in a quiet and hurt voice. Concentrating on looking out the window he tried to forget about the fact that he was sitting next to this beautiful woman, that he was attracted to, and there was nothing he could do about it. Once the car would stop at whatever destination, they would say goodbye, walk away, and never hear from each other again. That thought saddened Ross, but he shook it off, and just concentrated on the rain falling heavily onto the window.
Rachel sat there pondering the way she had answered Ross. He had become quiet all of a sudden, and she couldn't help but wondering if her answer was the cause, or if he had run out of things to say. Finally, she answered the way she should have the first time.
"Well, on the other hand, I would like to get a cup of coffee. I'm sure we'll find some kind of coffeehouse open at ten o clock at night. Especially In this state." Rachel felt happier now, because she answered the way she really wanted to. Truthfully, she didn't want to part ways with this stranger yet, She wanted to get to know him better.
Ross was overjoyed with Rachel's answer, and he did a bad job of trying to hide his happiness. "That's true. I always thought that South America would be the capital of coffee consumption, but now I think the State of Washington takes the gold."
The continued talking about their separate reasons for being in Seattle. Her's was for vacation, and to escape memories of Ronan. His was for a paleontologist convention. He was a paleontologist, and Rachel was surprised to hear he was head of the paleontology department in some museum in Chicago. Rachel wasn't the only one to learn from Ross's life though. He also learned that she had graduated from NYU with a master's degree in fashion design, and that she worked for the designer Ralph Lauren. About ten minutes later, they came across a diner at the side of the road. Rachel pulled into the parking lot, and saw the light at the window saying 'We're open 24 hours!'
"See, I told you we would find some place that was open." Rachel said. They went isinde and took a seat at a small table, and ordered their coffee.
"Okay. This question has been bugging me for a while now, but I have to ask." Rachel paused before continuing. "Why were you sitting at a bus stop in the freezing cold rain?" she asked.
"Well, basically what happened, is that I was driving in the car with my fiancée, excuse me, my ex- fiancée, and out of the blue, she turns to me ad tells me she cant marry me, because she is in love with another man." He finished his explanation.
"Ouch. That doesn't sound so pleasant. I'm sorry." She said it in her most sympathetic tone.
Ross just held up his hand and said "Hey, nothing to worry about. To be honest, I didn't really love her as much as I thought, plus she was from England, and it would have never had worked out. She wanted me to give up my entire life in Chicago, and move to London."
"But still, that must have hurt a lot. I can't even imagine how I would have reacted. Out of curiosity, how did you react?" Rachel questioned. "Well, I got out of the car, gave her the keys, wished her a joyful life, watched her drive off, and started walking, until I came upon the bus stop, and then I just sat there and thought about things." He explained.
"Wow, you wished her a happy life?" Ross nodded and Rachel continued. "When my last boyfriend broke up with me, I didn't react so civil. I packed my things and left."
"What's wrong with that?" Ross asked.
"I didn't leave before I threw a curling iron at him." She laughed at the memory. For some reason, she didn't feel like crying about Ronan anymore. She just wanted to laugh about it, and Ross was helping her do that.
Ross laughed. "A curling Iron? Ouch." He paused a moment, afraid to ask the next question. "If you don't mind me asking, why did he break up with you?" he asked. And Rachel began the story of her and Ronan from the beginning, which was three years ago, when she was 20. After she had finished the story, they sat there in silence for a while and sipped their coffee. After a few minutes they started talking about other things like where they lived, and other things. After an hour of nonstop talking, a comfortable silence fell between them both.
Ross was the one to break the silence. "This Ronan guy was an idiot to break up with an amazing woman like you." He said in the most heartfelt voice she had ever heard. Looking directly into his eyes, she saw that he had truly meant them, and he wasn't just saying those words to make her feel better. He actually understood her. He put his hand on top of hers, at the table, and Rachel starred at the table, so that Ross couldn't see the tears starting to form in her eyes. She wasn't in tears because she missed Ronan. No, the tears were for another reason. They were there, because her heart was letting Ronan go, and the tears were of happiness, because the pain was starting to finally go away.
Ross spoke to her in a soft tone. "I've known you for only about and hour and a half, but I know this, you shouldn't be with a man who takes you for granted. And I know it hurts, but you shouldn't cry over a man like Ronan. You should be happy, because now you get to search for the man who you are meant to be with. The one man who loves you as much as you love him, who wants the same things as you."
Rachel looked up at Ross. She saw an expression on his face that she couldn't read. An expression that she never saw on a mans face before. He squeezed her hand harder. "Someone once told me, that a life lived without feeling true love and having that love returned, is a life that was wasted. Don't make that mistake, Rachel," Ross said encouragingly.
"Wow, no one has ever talked to me the way you just did. Not even my closest friends." Rachel said, and it was true. Her best friend, Phoebe Buffay, was always there fir her, and always there for her, and always gave her advice. But Ross's words were so heartfelt, and he was so caring. Not one of her former boyfriends was like that. Ross looked at his watch. "Wow, its already 11:15. I think we should start to head out." Ross said sadly, knowing that soon they would have to part ways.
Rachel felt sad too, but Ross was right. It was time they started back on the road. Ross asked for the check, and despite Rachel's argument, he paid for both. They made their way out to the car and got in. Soon they were back on the road. Both Ross and Rachel were quiet, not knowing what to say. If they talked, it would make the time seem less, but they both wanted to be in each others company as long as possible. Rachel thought for a moment that maybe they could go out again, but Ross had to leave for his hometown of Chicago, tomorrow afternoon. She didn't want to part ways with him yet. A man like Ross wasn't found every day, and there was no way she was just going to say goodbye to him, and never see him, or hear from him again. Not without one thing. Her impulsive side took over, and she pulled into the parking lot of a small motel, and parked the car.
"What are we doing here?" Ross asked bewildered.
Before she could offer a proper explanation, she had to think of one. Finally she spoke. "Alright, I'm just going to come out and say it." She paused before continuing. "I want to spend the night with you."
Ross couldn't believe what he had just heard. Did she actually want to sleep with him, or did she just want to talk all night. "Um, uh, uh, what? Are you kidding me, because if this is a joke, its not funny." he said. "And what do you mean by spending the night with me?" he asked confused.
"I know you must think that I'm crazy, but the thought of us just walking out of each others lives, terrifies me, because you're the first person I've been attracted to since Ronan, and I don't want to just leave that. I'm not just talking about a one-night stand, Ross. I want us to keep in touch. But tonight is just abut tonight, and whatever happens tomorrow, we'll worry about it when we get there."
Ross thought about what Rachel had just said to him 'this beautiful woman is attracted to someone as geeky as me?' Ross thought.
"Now the question is, are you attracted to me too? Rachel asked. All that Ross could do was nod. "So, what do you say?" she asked again. Rachel hoped that his answer would be yes. Ross was so nice to her, and he gave her the feeling that there was no one more important than her in the world. No one, not even Ronan, made her feel this way.
Ross considered the question. Of course was he attracted to her. But he wasn't really the type of guy to make love to a woman if he had only known her for three or four hours. Then again, an opportunity like this one didn't present itself every day. So, he gave her that he knew wasn't the smartest one, but the answer he felt in his heart. "Yes."
They both got out of the car, and paid for their room. Both were incredibly nervous, and did a terrible job of covering it up. Neither one of them knew what to make of the situation. They finally arrived at their room. Ross unlocked the door and opened it. The inside didn't look all too good, but hey, this was a motel, not the Ritz. There was one King sized bed in the middle of the room. The walls were a dark green shade, and hade pictures of bears and cougars in the wildlife. Made sense, considering the name of the motel was "The Evergreen Motel."
"Honestly, I've seen worse rooms." Ross, said, trying to break the tension.
"Yeah, I'm going to freshen up a bit." Rachel headed off to the bathroom and Ross sat down on the bed. He couldn't believe how he ended up here. Just a few hours ago, his former fiancée had dropped a bomb on him, and now he was in a motel with the woman who had gotten him out of the rain. He still couldn't believe that he was here, no matter how many times he repeated it to himself. Finally, Rachel came out of the bathroom. She had changed clothes and was now wearing a necklige that she had in her bag. Ross turned around and took in the sight in front of him. She looked even more beautiful.
"Wow, you look...amazing." He said. Rachel slowly started walking towards him.
"Now remember, tonight is just about tonight. What happens tomorrow just happens, alright?" Rachel reminded him, and Ross just nodded. They bodies met, and he gave her the most passionate kiss, and they made love the entire night, until both were exhausted. The next morning, Rachel awoke at dawn, and saw Ross sleeping peacefully beside her. She smiled as she recalled the night before. It was the craziest thing that she had ever done before in her entire life, but while she was lying there in Ross's arms, she couldn't help but thinking how right it felt. He had been so sweet and tender, and he made her feel good about herself. Even though Ronan had been a great guy and everything, he always concentrated on himself more. Ross was honestly the first man she had known who had actually cared how she felt about something. She turned around, and faced Ross, and stared at his sleeping face, as if she were memorizing it. She wanted to stay like this until he awoke, she wanted to spend the day with him, until he had to leave. She wanted to stay with him forever. All of a sudden it shocked her. She was falling in love with Ross, and she barely knew who he was. It scared her, and despite what she was feeling for him, she decided it was best if she left before he awoke. Rachel got out of the bed, and went into the bathroom to shower very quietly so that she wouldn't have to wake up Ross and explain why she was leaving. She knew that she would have to give some sort of an explanation, and she decided she would write him a note. The only problem was, what would she write? She got dressed quickly, pulled out a piece of paper and a pen, and started writing. Placing the note on her pillow, she sadly looked at Ross one more time, and then left the motel room. She got into her car and drove away as fast as she could, and never looked into the rearview mirror, out of fear that she would see Ross standing there. A few hours later, Ross awoke with a smile on his face. But something wasn't right. The area beside him was cold. He sat up.
"Rachel?" he called out, thinking that maybe she was in the bathroom. But there was no reply. He slowly got out of bed, and made his way to the bathroom. Knocking on the door, he called her name again. But like before, there was no reply. Ross turned around and looked around the room, her stuff wasn't there anymore. All of a sudden it hit Ross like a ton of bricks. She had left. He made his way to the bad once again, and saw a folded up piece of paper on what had been Rachel's pillow. He picked up, and unfolded it slowly.
Dear Ross, Last night was incredible, and I know that I told you that I didn't want this to just be a one-night thing, but as sad as it is, it has to be. This morning I noticed something. You and I are two very different people. You are a sweet, and caring person, who is prepared to give love to another person. Me, I am not prepared to return love, and I think I would only cause you pain if we were to be together. But last night, I experienced what true love feels like the first time in a long time. Since last night I do not believe that what Ronan and I had was love. It was stability, and safety. It was knowing the fact that I would never have money trouble. Last night, I experience what I believe was true love, and I returned it. Do me this one favor. Do not ever try to find me, and just go on with your life as if this never happened. It will be better this way. Believe me. I'm sorry that I am saying goodbye to you in this awful way, but I didn't know how else to do it. Please do not hate me. Love, Rachel Greene
Ross put the letter down. He could not believe it. After he had read this letter over and over, he still couldn't believe it. Ross couldn't help but feel stupid. He had feelings for Rachel. People had asked him before if he believed in love at first sight, and he actually never did. That was until last night. The only thing left to do, was to call a cab and ride to the airport. He didn't want to spend one more minute in this room. It only reminded him that he had been turned down once again. Rachel had written in the note that she didn't want him to find her. Even though he didn't want to, he would honor that request. He showered, got dressed, and called a cab to take him to the airport. All he wanted was to go back to Chicago, and get back to his normal life. Little did he know that his life would never be normal again.
*** 7 YEARS LATER****
"Mommy. Can I have a cookie?" Rachel's thoughts were interrupted as her daughter, Fiona, was speaking to her. Rachel had been thinking about Ross again, just like always around this time of year. She shook her head in order to clear her thoughts out of her head, and focused on Fiona.
"I'm sorry, sweetie. What did you say?" Rachel asked.
"I asked you if I could have a cookie." Fiona said impatiently. "Were you daydreaming again?" the little girl asked curiously.
Rachel smiled. "Yeah, I'm sorry. I guess I've been doing that a lot lately, huh?"
"Yeah you have. But it's ok. I daydream too." Fiona smiled. She looked so much like Rachel, but her eyes she must have gotten from her father, because they weren't blue like Rachel's. They were a dark brown.
"You can have a cookie as soon as you finish your homework. It's the end of the year, and I don't want you getting lazy on your work." Rachael said.
"But mom, my birthday is tomorrow. And Phoebe is coming over soon. Do you really want me to work, and you sit there and talk with your friend. That's not fair." Fiona complained in an attempt of getting out of doing homework.
"Well, how about this, you finish your homework, and you can go to your friend Josie's house?" Rachel offered. As soon as she finished her sentence, Fiona started on her homework. Rachel smiled to herself. Even though Fiona could get a little complicated at times, she was a good kid, and made Rachel's job of raising her easier. A few minutes, the buzzer went off. It was Phoebe, and Rachel buzzed her in.
"Hey Rach. How's it going?" Phoebe asked.
"Oh, everything is fine. Fiona is just finishing her homework, and then I will walk her to Josie's house. Then, we can go wherever." Rachel said. Within five minutes, Fiona was finished with her homework.
"I'm done. You can check my homework now, and I'll pack my stuff. Josie said it was all right if I spent the night. It's ok with you, right?" Fiona asked.
"Yeah, I don't mind." Rachel said. Fiona went off to pack her bag, and Rachel started checking her homework. Fiona was very smart for her age; in fact, the teachers were talking about letting her skip the third grade. But Rachel wanted Fiona to be with people her own age. But that wasn't her only reason. She wanted to hold on to Fiona for as long as she could, and if she let Fiona skip a grade, she would grow up sooner. Fiona was the only living reminder that Rachel had of the one man that she had ever felt true love for. The man that was many miles away, and whom she will never see again in her life, because she had told him not to look for her. Rachel finished checking off the homework, and walked with Fiona the few blocks to Josie's house. Afterwards, her and Phoebe walked to their favorite hang out spot. Central Perk. They each ordered their coffee, and took a seat at a table, since their couch was taken by a group of other people.
"So tell me Rach, it's that time of year again. Are you gonna get all emotional, and depressed again?" Phoebe asked bluntly.
"Well, its not like I want to be depressed Pheebs, but its just that every year around Fiona's birthday I get sad, because I keep wondering how things would be if I had told the father. I can't help but wonder if I would be married right now, with more kids, or what." Rachel admitted.
"But didn't you have a one-night stand with this guy, and didn't you tell him that you didn't want him to find you?" Phoebe asked.
"Well, yeah, but I don't know what it is. I just have these feelings for him." Rachel said. "He was just so sweet, and caring. And he looked great too. He had those dark brown eyes, that just made me go weak at the knees." Rachel said dreamily.
"Um, Rach, not to burst your bubble or anything, but you have a boyfriend. Does Tristan even know that you have feelings for this mystery guy?" Phoebe pointed out. Rachel shook her head. She had never told Tristan that she had feelings for Ross. She figured that she would never come across Ross again, so there was no point in hurting the man who she was with at the time. She didn't really love Tristan, but he loved her, and she liked the feeling of being adored.
Phoebe looked at her watch. "I'm sorry Rach, but I have to get to the massage parlor. I have to work this afternoon. So, I'll see you at Fiona's birthday party next week ok?"
"Yeah. Bye." Rachel waved. For the next few minutes she just sat there, and read a magazine. A little while later, she glanced up a second at the counter, and then down again. But then she looked back up. The man standing at the counter looked awfully familiar. He turned around, and looked Rachel directly into her eyes. To her horror, it was Ross. Judging by the look on his face, he was also shocked. He just stood there, staring at Rachel. Finally, Rachel stood up, and walked towards him.
" Hey Ross." Rachel smiled.
"Hey." He replied in a confused tone.
"What are you doing here in Manhattan?" Rachel questioned.
"Um, don't worry. I wasn't trying to contact you or anything. I wasn't going to ignore your request." He said in a cold tone.
Rachel felt bad. She knew she shouldn't have written that in her note, but it made her feel better at the time if she put that in the note. "I know you wouldn't do that. And I apologize for writing that. I don't know what I was thinking. I just figured it would be easier for us. Do you want to sit down with me? I think we have a lot to talk about." Rachel said. They walked to the table she was sitting at before. "So, what exactly are you doing here?" She asked once again.
"I live here now. I just moved into my apartment across the street from here. The museum in Chicago transferred me here, and I got a promotion." Ross answered.
"Wow, that's great. Congratulations. I guess things have gone well for you in the past seven years." Rachel said.
"You think things were going well for me? I was so confused through out the past seven years. Especially after you left so suddenly. I was blaming myself. I thought I scared you off or something. This sounds totally stupid, but I kind of hoped that we could go out, you know? I would have extended my stay in Seattle." Ross admitted, and Rachel felt bad. Ross wasn't the way she remembered him. He was different. He seemed colder.
"It's not stupid Ross. I wanted more too, but I was scared, and I just had gotten over a relationship. It wouldn't have been fair to you." Rachel said.
"Yeah. I guess your right." He paused for a minute, and took a drink. "Look, I think it's better if I get going. I have an important meeting at the museum today." He lied. He didn't actually have a meeting, but he didn't feel like seeing Rachel right now. Even though he was slightly happy to see her again, he still felt hurt from the event that happened seven years ago.
"Oh, well, you gotta do what you gotta do, right?" she said disappointedly. "But maybe we could meet somewhere sometime to just talk, you know? I think I kind of owe you a better explanation." Rachel said.
Ross just waved it off. "No that's fine. I think it was all in the nice little note you left me, and I don't really need a review of it, all right?" he said in a cold voice, and started walking toward the door. Rachel was too shocked to move, so she just sat there instead of going after him. It had been so long since she had written the note. Almost eight years. She couldn't even remember quite what had been in it. Whatever it had been, it must have hurt him bad. So, she just finished her coffee, and walked back toward her apartment. As soon as she walked in, she let herself fall on the couch. It had been a long day. She had never expected to see Ross again, even though she had a reminder of him. Her daughter. She smiled to herself as she thought about Fiona. It could honestly be said that Fiona was the best daughter anyone could ever hope for. Even though she was only seven years old, she always gave comfort to Rachel, by just being there, and letting herself be held. It's amazing how a child can change your life and turn it into a direction you never planned for. But unlike a lot of women, she didn't regret it. She didn't regret having that one night-stand, and she didn't regret giving birth to Fiona. In fact, Rachel saw it as the best thing to ever happen to her in her life. Her thoughts were interrupted by the ringing of the telephone. Rachel reluctantly got up.
"Hello?" Rachel answered. "Hey honey, it's me." It was Tristan. "How are things back home?"
"Their fine." She said that just to keep him from worrying, because in reality, she wasn't okay.
"That's good. Well, I just wanted to let you know that I should be home in about 4 days, all right?" he said.
"That's good, I cant wait until you get home." She said with fake enthusiasm.
"Okay, I have to go now. I have a meeting I have to get to, Love you." And with that, Tristan hung up the phone.
"Yeah." Rachel said to the silent phone line. Tristan had said those words so often, and she rarely returned them, because she really didn't love him, but she didn't want to hurt him. She had wanted to break up with him many times within the last year and a half that they had been together, but she always put it off. She didn't have the heart to dump Tristan. He was so sweet, and caring to Fiona and her. So she put that thought out of her head, and decided to stay together with him. But when she saw Ross today, it had made her think about where her and Tristan's relationship was going. She felt so bad about how she had left things with Ross, and now he was living in the same city, which made things complicated. She believed that he had the right to know that Fiona was his daughter. Finally, she picked up the phone book, and started searching, but she had forgotten what Ross's last name was.
"Was it Gregar, or Gellman?" she wondered. Then she remembered. Gellar. His last name was Gellar. She looked in the book, and luckily, there were only two listed Gellar, one named Monica, and one that started with the letter R. "Well, lets hope this is it." She started dialing, not knowing what she should say if he picked up, or if the R even meant Ross Gellar. The phone rang about 3 times before it was picked up.
"Hello?" said a familiar man's voice.
It was Ross! "Hi, please don't hang up, but its Rachel, and I really have to talk to you. Do you think we could meet at Central Perk tonight?" she waited for an answer, not knowing if he ever wanted to see her again. It seemed like an eternity before he finally replied to her question.
"I don't know if that would be such a great idea." Ross said, not only trying to convince her, but him also.
"Look Ross, I know how pissed off you must be at me right now, but you have to give me a chance to let me explain myself. I'm sure you have questions that you want to ask me." Rachel said.
"All right. I'll be there. What time should we meet?" he asked. "Well, it's about 3 now. What do you say around five o clock? Will that be good?" she asked.
"Yeah, five o clock sounds fine. I'll see you then. Bye." Ross answered.
"Good, till then. Bye." And then she hung up. She was so happy that he finally agreed to meet her, and this time, he might even stay long enough to actually talk. She decided to take a shower and get dressed up. Even though she knew nothing would happen between her and Ross, she still wanted to look nice for him, even if he might dislike her; deep down she hoped they could become friends. She stepped out of the shower, and rummaged through her closet. She had so many outfits that looked fantastic, but she couldn't decide which one was best for the event. Finally she picked out what she wanted to wear, put it on, and did her makeup. She knew that it may be a bit too much, but this would catch anyone's attention. She smiled to herself as she thought of the possibility that he might even become attracted to her. Her thoughts were interrupted by the knocking of the door. Rachel went to open it.
"Hey Rachel. What's the occasion? You're all dressed up?" Phoebe said.
"Phoebe, you will never believe what happened today! After you left the coffee house, I saw the guy!" Rachel said excitedly.
"Oooh ohh ohh! You saw Brad Pitt! Did you get his autograph?" Phoebe said even more excited.
"No Pheebs, I didn't see Brad Pitt. I saw something better. I saw the guy. You know, Fiona's father!" Rachel exclaimed.
"Are you serious! What's he doing in New York? Is he here to stalk you? I'll kick his ass!" Phoebe said angrily.
"Ok, Phoebe, you need to calm down all right. No, he is not stalking me. He's here because he got a promotion, and now he is working at the museum. Oh, and I'm meeting him for coffee in about half an hour." Rachel said.
"What? You're meeting him for coffee? What for?" she asked.
"Well, I told him that I need to explain myself, and just to talk." Rachel answered.
"Okay, that's great, but don't you think that's a bad idea? I mean, when you got back from Seattle, you were a mess for weeks. It was like you were in love with him, and that's fine, but you have a boyfriend right now. If you go to the coffee house, and meet this guy, you will fall in love with him again. Believe me, I'm psychic, I can tell these sorts of things. Do you really want to hurt Tristan like that?" Phoebe asked.
"I don't want to hurt Tristan, but I'm going to end it with him anyways. I can't stay in that relationship. I don't love him." Rachel confessed.
"Do what you want Rachel. It's your life I'm just warning you. Be careful, all right?" Phoebe said.
"I will. Well, I have to get going now. But I'll let you know how it goes. You can stay here if you want. That way I can talk to you as soon as I get back." Rachel got up and walked towards the door. "Wish me luck."
"Good luck." Phoebe said. And Rachel closed the door. On her way to the coffee house, Rachel kept thinking about what she would actually tell him. After a few minutes she was right outside the coffee house, and looking through the window, she could see Ross sitting by a table, and reading the newspaper. She couldn't help but think about how attractive he looked. But she shook it off, as she walked in, and went toward where Ross was sitting.
"Hey Ross. How are you?" Rachel asked.
Ross put down his paper. "I'm doing good."
"How long have you been waiting?" Rachel wondered.
"Not long, just about five minutes." Ross said. Rachel took a seat next to Ross. "Not to be too pushy but anything, but ever since you called and said you wanted to give an explanation, I have been curious to know what it was, because for the past eight years, there hasn't been a day that I didn't wonder what happened to you. I didn't know if you had gotten back together with that guy Ronan, or if you were trying to contact me, or what. I didn't know anything! And it drove me insane!" Ross said upset.
"I know. And I'm sorry for doing that. But I will tell you why I did it. That night, I felt something, and that scared me, because in the times before, when I felt something, I always ended up getting hurt in one way or another, and I didn't want to get hurt this time, so I figured, that it would be better if I left, even though I didn't want to. And God knows, I wanted to stay." Rachel said guiltily. "All I can say now, is that I'm sorry, and I really hope that you can forgive me." Rachel pleaded.
"I forgive you." Ross continued on. " I figure I cant stay mad at you forever, and in fact I wasn't mad at you, I was just hurt." He confessed, and that made Rachel feel so guilty inside. "But since I'm living in the same city as you, I figure we could be friends you know? Because I really want to get to know you again. And don't worry, I'm not going to hit on you." Ross joked.
" All right. So what do you say we start over, huh?" Rachel paused, and extended her hand. "Hi, Im Rachel Greene."
Ross took her hand and shook it. " Hello. I'm Ross Gellar. Nice to meet you."
Rachel laughed. "So, where do you live, since you moved here?" Rachel asked.
"Actually, I live right across the street from here. On my way here, I actually discovered that its about one hundred steps away from this place." Ross laughed. "Which proves that I have no life."
Rachel laughed also, and so they went on talking about how their lives had changed in eight years, but Rachel never mentioned one important detail. So, she avoided it as best as she could, and talked about her work, and how she had gotten promoted at her job by Ralph Lauren. The conversation went on and on, until the coffee house started emptying out.
"I think we better take this conversation somewhere else, because they are closing." Rachel said, after she noticed that some of the waitresses were sweeping the floors.
"Yeah, good idea. We could go to my place." Ross recommended.
"Sure. That would be great." Ross paid for both of them, again, to Rachel's protest, and they made their way over to Ross's apartment. Ross unlocked the door, and they walked in. He had it decorated with dinosaur statues, and other prehistoric things.
"Sorry about the dinosaur things, but I'm a paleontologist, and that's what I do for a living." Ross said embarrassed.
"Uh huh." Rachel wasn't really paying attention; she was contemplating whether or not she should tell him the truth about Fiona.
Ross noticed something was bothering her. "What's wrong, you're so quiet all of a sudden." Ross said.
"Well, there is something important that I really have to tell you." Rachel said with a shaky voice. She had no idea how to say this to him, of how he was going to react.
"Gosh, I don't even know how to say this." Rachel said nervously.
"Just say it. I'm sure it will be fine. I'm not angry anymore." Ross said comfortingly.
"Right. A few weeks after we were together, I found out something." Rachel started. Ross urged her to go on. "I found out that I was pregnant." Rachel said. Ross had a look on his face that she couldn't read. Maybe he didn't understand what she was trying to tell him. "I was pregnant with your baby." This time she had gotten her point across, and she read it on Ross's face. If he was mad, surprised, happy, or angry, she couldn't tell. All these looks flashed across his face in one split second, now she was just waiting for him to say something. Waiting for him to say anything.
He just stared off into space, as millions of thoughts raced through his mind. Rachel had a baby? It was his? But how did she know? "You were pregnant." He stated, more than asked. "Are you even sure that it's mine?" it was the question that burned most on his mind. Probably, because she had just broken up with Ronan a few weeks earlier, and he wanted to make sure, no matter how cold the question was. He needed to know.
"What? Who else's would it be Ross?" she replied angrily. She didn't believe that he had actually asked that.
"I don't know, maybe it was that Ronan's, or maybe you had a fling after you slept with me, how should I know. We never talked again until recently!" he said defensively.
"Well, I'll tell you this, she has to be yours, because she has your eyes. And she is extremely smart, and I know that she didn't get that from me." Rachel desperately wanted him to just accept the fact that Fiona was his child, but she knew that was going to be hard, because he had never seen her. If he had, he would probably believe it. Rachel couldn't explain how bad she felt whenever she went to the park with Fiona, and went to the playground, where all the children played, and were getting pushed on the swings by their daddy's. She could see the longing in Fiona's eyes. When Fiona was younger, she used to ask Rachel where her daddy was, and why all the other girls had daddy's, except for her. Rachel always felt an ache in her heart when Fiona asked, so whenever the question surfaced, she gave the same answer. Her daddy was away, working, and had no time to visit. Fiona just left it at that, and after she turned 5, she never asked the question again.
"Look Ross, I knew you weren't going to be exactly thrilled about this. It's a lot of information to take in at such short time, and on my way to the coffee house, I was so nervous about telling you, I even considered to not even tell you! But you have the right to know!" she was starting to get angry. " And now you know. You can go and do whatever you want. I did what I was supposed to do. You never even asked if it was a boy or a girl." And with that said, she started walking towards the door. She had enough of this. She had guessed he would be upset, but she wasn't expecting this reaction of him blaming her.
"Rachel wait." Ross ran behind her, and held the door closed so she couldn't go. "I'm sorry for how I acted. But it's just a shock, you know? I never expected this. I don't know how to handle this. Tell me, what do you want me to do?"
Rachel turned so that she was facing him. "What I want? I really would want for you to meet her at least. So that she will know that her father does exist." Rachel had tears in her eyes.
Ross was surprised, and a smiled crept to his face. "It's a girl?" he asked happily.
Rachel smiled and nodded. "Yep, her name is Fiona. People say she looks exactly like me, but she doesn't, she has your eyes. And she doesn't really have my personality, so she must have gotten that from you."
"Wow, I really wish she was here now. At this very moment." Ross said.
" If you're serious about meeting her, you can stop by tomorrow. She'll be home by then."
"Really? Are you serious? Well, what time would you like for me to come by?" Ross asked excitedly.
"Um, I would say about three o clock. That way I'll have the time to let her know what is going on. When she was younger she used to always ask me where her daddy was, and I always said that he was off somewhere working. " She admitted.
"Oh, well, what does she like? Does she like teddy bears, or Barbie Dolls, or something else. I mean, I can't just show up empty handed."
"She really likes to read. She likes books about anything that happened in the past, like the Civil War for example." Rachel said.
"Right she's into history. I'll remember that." He paused." I can't believe I'm going to meet my daughter." He smiled. "Oh, because of the whole excitement, I forgot to ask. What's her name?" Ross asked eagerly.
"Her name is Fiona. Fiona Rebecca Green."
"Wow, that's a pretty name." Ross said honestly. He still couldn't believe he had a daughter!
He looked directly into Rachel's eyes. "Thank you for telling me about her."
Rachel smiled. "You don't need to thank me. I should thank you for giving her to me." She looked into his eyes, and they shared a loving gaze, slowly; unsurely, Ross leaned in, and meets her lips. They shared a passionate kiss, until Rachel stopped it. She stood up, and walked towards the door.
"Right, I, um, I'll see you tomorrow then. Let me write down my address." She grabbed a pencil, and paper, and wrote it down quickly." Here you go, I'll see you." And she left abruptly, leaving Ross there with a confused look on his face. He couldn't believe that he had kissed her, but he wasn't regretting it. What hurt him though, was the fact that she left so quickly. He didn't see a ring on her finger, so he assumed she wasn't married, and he knew that she would have told him about it earlier. She hadn't mentioned anything about having a boyfriend, even when they were on the subject. Ross sat there, thinking. He was attracted to this woman, that was for sure, and she had given birth to his child. It seemed like a perfect scenario, but was he going to do something about it? And if he was, would everything turn out all right, or would someone have to get hurt?
On her walk home, there was only one thing on her mind, and that was Ross, and Tristan. Oh, what a mess she had gotten herself in, maybe Phoebe had been right. Maybe she should not have meet Ross tonight. All it did was confuse her. She felt something in that kiss, and it frightened her, because she was together with a man who adored her, and worshiped the ground she walked on. The problem was that she didn't feel anything for Tristan; yet she felt something for Ross. There wasn't much she could do, except to live with it for now, and deal with it later. Tristan wasn't even in town, so that made things a little bit easier. She finally made it to her building, and entered her apartment. She was exhausted, so she just went straight to bed, and fell into a deep sleep.
The next morning, Rachel awoke to the sound of the buzzer. 'That's probably Phoebe." She figured. So she got up, and buzzed her in.
"Hey Rach. How was the little get-together yesterday?" Phoebe asked.
"It was, um, fine. I guess." Rachel replied.
Phoebe looked at Rachel intently. "Oh oh. That doesn't sound too good. What happened?"
Rachel pulled up a chair, and sat at the dinning table. "Well, I met him at Central Perk, and we just talked for a really long time about what's changed in the past years, and our personal lives. Basically just getting to know each other again. Then, he asked me to his apartment." Rachel said quietly, and Phoebe interrupted her.
"He invited you to his apartment?" Phoebe was shocked.
"Ok, don't jump to conclusions, all right? I took him up on his offer, and we went to his place. Then, I told him about Fiona." Rachel admitted.
"You did? How did he react? Give me all the details!" Phoebe shouted out excitedly.
"Um, at first he was really quiet about the whole thing, and I felt so bad, because I cant even imagine what it would be like to have someone come up to me and tell me I have a child walking around that I didn't even know of. Then, he got mad, and least I could do." She said.
Phoebe just nodded, but then, she sensed something. "Did anything else happen. Because I'm getting this vibe that you're not telling me the entire story here."
Rachel had wanted to avoid this situation. That kiss was so great, but she shouldn't be kissing other men. It wasn't fair to Tristan, even if she didn't feel anything other than friendship towards him. "Well, um, yeah something else did happen." Rachel paused, and Phoebe was listening eagerly. "We kissed." " What?!?!? You kissed?" Phoebe was shocked! "I can't believe this! Was it a good kiss?" she asked seriously.
Rachel smiled at the memory, and just nodded. "Oh, it was one hell of a kiss, I'll tell ya." She couldn't stop smiling.
Phoebe was happy for her best friends, but then it hit her. "What are you going to do about Tristan?"
Rachel's smile immediately left her face, as if a powerful blow had smacked it off. For a while there, she had forgotten completely about Tristan. "My God, you're right. I can't do this. I have a boyfriend." She said to out loud.
"That's right, you do. But you know what? I never saw you this happy before. If you want my opinion, I think you should be true to yourself, and make a decision. Tristan may adore you, and you may like the attention, but you never talk about Tristan with that look in your eyes the way you do when you talk about Ross. You have to do what your heart tells you." Phoebe said.
"You're right. But I just don't get it. I never believed in love at first sight, but it happened to me, and it happened unexpectedly. And the fact that I have stronger feelings for a man who I had a one night fling with, than my boyfriend. It just seems so strange." Rachel said. " Well, I'm going to jump in the shower before Fiona comes home." And with that said, Rachel went to get ready. She still had to prepare her daughters birthday party.
A few hours later, after Rachel and phoebe had decorated the entire apartment for Fiona's birthday party, there was a knock on the door. Rachel went to answer it, expecting to see Fiona there, but it was Ross with a present in his hand.
"Hey, come on in." Rachel opened the door wider for him to come in.
"I know I'm early, but I figured I could help you with decorating and stuff." He pulled his right arm away from behind his back, and gave Rachel a bouquet of flowers. "And these are for you." He said charmingly.
Rachel couldn't help but blush. He was so charming. "Thank you. They're beautiful. I'm going to put them in a vase. You can have a seat in the living room if you like, and I will be right there." So, she showed him to the couch, and she went into the kitchen to get a vase.
Phoebe was putting the last decorations on Fiona's birthday cake, when she saw Rachel come in with the flowers. "Wow, those look nice. Who'd you get them from?" she asked.
Rachel smiled as she put water in a vase. "They're from Ross." She said shyly, as she felt her face grow red. 'What is going on with me?' she thought to herself. She was acting like a young schoolgirl who had a crush on a boy.
"Really? He's bringing flowers now, eh? I don't care what you tell yourself, but I really think this guy likes you just as much as you like him." Phoebe tried to convince Rachel. This morning, Rachel had told her that she was in love with Ross, and that she knew for a fact that he could never love her in return, because of the big secret that she had kept from him.
"Maybe. But I still don't know. Maybe he is just trying to be nice." Rachel was trying to convince not only Phoebe, but also herself, that Ross didn't like her in that way. She figured that this way she wouldn't get hurt, and wouldn't have to hurt anyone in the process.
"Well, let me meet this mystery guy. To this day I still have no idea what he looks like. It's about time that I can put a picture to the name." Phoebe said. Rachel led her to the living room, where Ross sat, reading a magazine. When he heard people coming in, he turned around, and faced the two women.
"Ross, this is my friend Phoebe Buffay. Phoebe, this is Ross Gellar, Fiona's dad." Rachel introduced the two.
"Hi, its nice t meet, you. Rachel told me about you yesterday." Ross said.
"Really? Well, I've heard a lot about you too." Phoebe accidentally let it slip.
"Uh, well everything is all decorated. All we have to do now is wait for the guests." Rachel changed the subject.
A few minutes, Fiona's friends started showing up. Fiona had said that she wanted a surprise party, so what Rachel had done, is let Fiona plan her entire party, because Fiona wouldn't want anyone else doing it, but Rachel decided the date secretly. That had been the deal. After all the guests had shown up, Rachel went to pick up Fiona and her friend whom she had spent the night at.
"All right. Let's go in." Rachel said it loudly so that the people inside could hear her, and hide. She unlocked the door, and turned on the lights.
"SURPRISE!!" Everyone jumped out, except for Ross who was just sitting in a chair with an angry look on his face. Rachel caught the look, but had no idea why he was angry. Until she looked over the room. Standing in the middle was Tristan. With a big smile on his face, with Fiona in a hug. Now she understood the angry glare on Ross's face. She had to explain herself some way. Just how would she do it though? After a long, and uncomfortable silence, Tristan spoke.
"Hey honey, are you surprised to see me?" he said to Rachel with a smile on his face, expecting to get a hug. But the happy reaction never came from Rachel. Instead, he got a curious stare from Rachel, and Phoebe. "What's going on here?" he asked curiously. Tristan had thought that Rachel would be happy to see him.
Rachel shook her head. "Tristan, I have to talk to you in the kitchen for a minute." Tristan and Rachel walked off into the kitchen.
Phoebe looked at Ross, and noted how confused, and hurt he looked. She walked towards him, while the children all gathered around Fiona. "Ross, I know this looks bad, but Rachel is going to break up with him. Believe me." She said reassuringly.
Ross looked at her surprised. "Why didn't she tell me about him? I mean, we were out for hours yesterday, and she never even said anything about him! Why would she do this?" he asked himself that question more, than he did Phoebe, but he just wished he had some clear answers. He was so confused right now.
"Well, I guess she never told you because she really likes you." Phoebe told him.
Ross looked at her with surprise in his face. "Does she really?"
"You better believe it. I remember when she first came back from her little get-away in Seattle, she was upset for months, and then she had Fiona, and she was a little happier, but she was still sad around her birthday, because she wanted the father to be there. And now I know who the father is, and all I have to say is, I really hope that you will stay with her, if you two get together." Phoebe admitted.
Inside the kitchen, the mood wasn't too happy.
"So, you're telling me, you don't love me anymore?" Tristan asked in a hurt tone. "And this guy, Ross, is Fiona's father?"
Rachel just nodded. "I'm so sorry Tristan, I really wanted to end it sooner, but I never knew how to do it, and for a really long time I figured that I could learn to love you, but I couldn't. At least not in the way you loved me."
Finally, Tristan asked the question that had been bothering him from the start of this converstion. "Do you love him?"
Rachel pondered this question for about a second, before her heart screamed it to her. 'Yes, you love him, bow don't deny yourself happiness.' "Tristan, I am so sorry about everything." She paused. "Yes, I do love him." She admitted to him.
Tristan just nodded, and looked into her eyes. "Then go to him, and tell him. Go out there, and be happy with him." He smiled.
Rachel smiled, and hugged Tristan. "Thank you for being so understanding about this. I know the right woman is out there just waiting for you." Rachel smiled, and went into the living room, but didn't see Ross anywhere. She looked at Phoebe for an explanation. "Phoebe, where is Ross?"
Phoebe shook her head. "Rachel, he left. I told him how much you liked him, because he had to hear it, but he left afterwards, because he said that he had ruined everything for you. I really tried to talk him out of it, but he wouldn't listen! I am soo sorry, Rachel." Phoebe said.
Rachel felt tears sting her eyes. "I've got to find him. Could you watch the party, I'll be back in two hours. Phoebe, I have got to find him." Rachel pleaded. Phoebe just nodded. Rachel grabbed a coat and left the building. She searched almost everywhere for two hours, with no luck, so she returned to her apartment just in time to see her daughter opening presents. After the party, Rachel started to clean everything up, while Phoebe and Tristan helped.
"Rachel, you can't give up. I'm sure he is somewhere out there. You just have to find him. Otherwise you'll regret it." Tristan said. "If you find love and that person loves you in return, don't let that fly by."
"You're right. I'm heading out again, and I'm not coming back until I find him." Rachel again left her apartment in order to find her love. She again searched everywhere. His apartment, the coffee house, the Museum, she really looked everywhere, and he was nowhere to be found. After three hours of searching Rachel had just given up, and started walking around Central Park. All she could think about was Ross, and the times they had, even though there weren't many. She thought about he first time she met him, how sweet he was to her, how heartbroken she had been that night, and how he had helped her get over Ronan. And now, she may not see him again, and he may miss out on watching his daughter, their daughter grow.
It was a rainy night
When he came into sight
Standing by the road
With no umbrella, no coat
So I pulled up along side
And I offered him a ride
He accepted with a smile
So we drove for awhile
I didn't ask him his name
The lonely boy in the rain
Fate tells me it's right
Is this love at first sight
Please don't make it wrong
Just stay for the night
All I wanna do is make love to you
Say you will, you want me too
All I wanna do is make love to you
I got loving arms to hold on to
So we found this hotel
It was a place I knew well
We made magic that night
Oh, he did everything right
He brought the woman out of me
So any times easily
And in the morning when he woke
All I left him was a note
I told him, "I am a flower, you are the sea"
We walked in the garden, we planted a tree
Don't try to find me, please don't you dare
Just live in memory, you'll always be there
All I wanna do is make love to you
One night of love was all we knew
All I wanna do is make love to you
I got loving arms to hold on to, oh
Ooh, we made love
Love like strangers
All night long
We made love
Then it happened one day
We came 'round the same way
You could imagine his surprise
When he saw his own eyes
I said, "Please, please understand
I'm in love with another man"
And what he couldn't give me, ho, oh
Was the one little thing that you can
All I wanna do is make love to you
One night of love is all we knew
All I wanna do is make love to you
Come on, say you will, you want me too
All I wanna do is make love to you
One night of love was all we knew
All I wanna do is make love to you
Say you will, baby, want me too all night long
All I wanna do is make love to you
All night long
All night long
Rachel lied that night. She didn't just want this to be a one-night stand, but she had wanted more. All of a sudden, when she came upon the fountain, she saw the figure of a man. She walked up, and realized it was Ross. She approached him slowly, but he still heard her, and turned around. She could see the hurt and pain in his eyes.
"Ross, before I tell you anything, I just want you to know that I didn't mean to hurt you in any way. I know I should have told you about Tristan, but, I want you to know, that I broke things off with him." Rachel told Ross.
"Why did you?" He asked curiously. He knew what she was trying to tell him, but he wanted to hear her say it.
Rachel paused for a minute. "Because, I love you Ross. I've loved you since that first night we met, and I've loved you ever since." She paused. " I know you probably don't love me back, because I've lied to you way too many times. But at least you know, and I completely underst-" she was interrupted by Ross giving her the most passionate kiss she had ever experienced.
"Oh, I love you too, and I will never ever leave you again, as long as you don't leave me." He smiled.
"I promise, I wont leave you. Now, lets go home, so you can meet your daughter." And they walked out of the park together with their arms around each other. Rachel could only think about how lucky she was. She thought about how one moment had ended her relationship to Ronan, one moment had let her meet Ross, and one moment had brought the two hearts back together, and would make it so that they would never leave them heartbroken again. Yes, one moment had changed her life forever.
THE END