I know, I know, I promised I'll update faster and all but I was depressed. If you read Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, you know what I'm talking about. I'm not done mourning yet, but I can finally write Friends. Sorry for the long delay, I really am sorry. Thank you people, for liking my story, for sticking with me while I update, for everything. But stop asking me if it's MC or RR or RC, etc. If I answered you, there'd be no surprise in the story. So just bare with me and remember that even if it seems like one thing… well things aren't always as they seem! LOL. You know what's funny? I have more than two pages of a plot written down for this story and it's not over yet, but so far in the last two chapters, I've only covered oh about 3 LINES!!! I'm gonna try to write more meaningful chapters from now on (and not spend so much space trying to get to a point). * rolls eyes at myself * Well that was the longest Author's Note ever, so I'll get going with the story. Still don't own them, never will, but the plot is mine, mine, mine!

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Sighing, Chandler got up from the couch. There was little point in trying to fall asleep when it wasn't possible to get comfortable on the lumpy cushions of it, and every thought he had was so occupied by Rachel that if he was sleepy, he wouldn't have noticed it. Still lost in thought, he walked through the kitchen, heading for the backyard door, when something hit him on his head from the dark.

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Rachel was trying unsuccessfully to fall asleep. Tossing and turning in her bed, she finally gave up. Standing up quietly, careful not to wake up Monica, she put on appropriate clothes and sneaked out of the room. She went to the kitchen and opened the fridge to look for a snack or a drink or anything. Finally, she took out a bottle of Dasani water which seemed to be the only drinkable thing in there since the Gellers were due to go grocery shopping the next day. She heard a noise and turned around. The moonlight from the backyard door dimly lit up the room and she saw a figure wandering towards the door, seemingly lost in thought. Before she could stop herself, Rachel hit the person on the head with her water bottle. What if it was a burglar?

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"What—are—you—doing—here—???" A female voice yelled quietly while continuously hitting the male figure on his head.

"Rachel? It's me Chandler, stop doing that!!!" Chandler recognized the frightened voice as the object of his thoughts.

"Chandler?" Rachel put down the water. "Oh my god, I'm sorry. I thought you were a burglar or something." She apologized.

"And you were gonna kill me with a water bottle?" Chandler asked incredulously.

"Umm well it was the only thing that came to mind at the time…" Rachel blushed but it wasn't visible in the dark.

"All right" Chandler sounded highly amused. "What are you doing up this late anyway?"

"I couldn't sleep so I came down to get some water and well why are you up too?"

"Couldn't sleep." Chandler said simply. "Well I'm gonna go sit outside for a while. Good night."

"Yeah… Wait can I come with you? You freaked me out so much, I doubt I would be able to fall asleep again today." She smiled at him apologetically when he reached his hand to rub the sore spot left from the Dasani bottle.

"I don't see why not. Just please, keep that bottle away from me." He smiled at her and she smiled back.

They went out on the back porch of the Gellers and sat there, talking about pretty much everything. They hadn't minded the time until Rachel noticed the sun starting to rise. She nudged Chandler to watch as the sky turned to an orange-yellow-ish colour instead of the cool dark blue it was before. It was still dark but the first few rays of sunshine had peeked from beneath the light fluffy clouds. The two watched as the sun rose slowly, as if waking this part of the world. The darkness melted into the warm, light day this one was promising to be.

Entranced by the beauty of this simple act of nature, Chandler almost didn't notice that Rachel had leaned her head on his shoulder and slipped her arm around him. Almost. He snapped out of his dreamy mood and jumped up, immediately regretting his action. Rachel looked at him, hurt, disappointment, confusion and guilt evident as she looked up at him.

"Rach, why—I'm sorry… Look, I can't do this to Ross. He—he—" Chandler trailed off, mumbling indistinctly to himself.

"What does Ross have to do with this?" Rachel asked, now more confused than anything. She liked Chandler, and he acted like he liked her too. So what was the problem?

"Rachel, he likes you."

"Yeah but I like you. And if I'm not mistaken, you seem to like me too. Ross can't control me" She broke Chandler off, getting mad.

"I do, I do like you. And yeah, he can't control you, but Rach he likes you A LOT." Rachel stared at him, still confused. "Rachel… Ross is in love with you. He is, and he's my best friend, and I can't let anything ruin that. I'm so sorry, like you wouldn't believe but…"

"Ross? He—he's in LOVE with me? I mean, I know he likes me but… When did this happen?" She seemed to be thinking out loud.

"It's been happening since the ninth gra—" Chandler stopped himself, turned a strange pale white and hurried into the house before he could say anything else.

Rachel was left alone, sitting on the steps, trying to take all this in.

Um, basically this is the end of this chapter. Yes, it's pretty short but I'll have the next one soon and I really will. I'll even start writing it now. I will! Well please review. Please, please, please. I hope you liked it… I'll try to have the next one up tomorrow or so since this one's extra short… Or possibly even today. Well thanks for reading *cough * review * cough*