Chapter 6: Information for Everybody
Author's Note: Well, here I am, back again (and it wasn't a vacation, except that being in Greece is always half a vacation :) ). I have made a few minor changes to Chapter 5, which anyone who happens on this should look at (not to mention earlier chapters), if they haven't already, or they won't have the remotest idea what's going on. Thanks to my faithful reviewers: you spur me on to greater depths of high class (I hope) melodrama.
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There was a short silence, broken by an intake of breath and something that sounded very like another sob. Then Janice said in a dragging voice, "I sort of lied to Ross, but I can't lie to you. I don't know if what I feel for you is love – I've never been in love with a woman – but if it's not, it'll do till love comes along. I'm sorry, Emily – you weren't meant to know. How did it get out? Rachel and Monica promised me …"
Emily turned an enquiring glance to Rachel, who spread her hands apologetically. Emily nodded and said, "Ross wouldn't say who told him, but I doubt it was them. Others may have got the idea, from our behaviour. But Janice, tell me the truth: did you set up this job so that you could have me around even more of the time?"
Janice made a choking noise and then really began to cry, so loudly that Rachel and Kim could hear, although Janice seemed to have dropped the phone. Then Emily heard Maggie's voice.
"Mommy, mommy, don't cry!" she was saying in obvious distress. Then she must have picked up the phone. "Why are you making my mommy cry?" she shouted, while in the background Janice sobbed helplessly.
Emily cut the connection and jumped up. "I must go to them!" she cried, looking wildly at Rachel and Kim. "Rachel, could you take my case up to your apartment? I don't know when I'll get in."
"Sure," said Rachel, "but Emily, you do realise that Ross will only see this as confirmation of his suspicions?"
"I don't care!" cried Emily fiercely. "I can't bear to hear her crying like that, and poor Maggie …!" And with that she ran from the room.
"Go with her," said Kim urgently. "They'll need support, all of them."
"Oh, thank you, Kim!" Rachel cried in a voice brimming with gratitude. She grabbed her coat and purse, and Emily's case, and hurried after her. She found her on the street, frantically waving for a cab.
"I'm coming with you," she announced. "Ross can hardly suspect the worst if we're there together."
The smile with which Emily greeted this warmed Rachel right through. "Thank you, Rachel," she said, "though he does seem capable of believing almost anything, on very little basis. But clearly he was part-right about this. I wonder who tipped him off?"
"That doesn't matter," said Rachel, so infected by Emily's urgency that she was jumping up and down in her efforts to secure a cab. Whether this struck a sympathetic chord in the heart of some driver or it was just plain luck, at that moment a cab drew up beside them. Emily gave the address and cried, "Please hurry! My best friend is in a very bad state."
"I'll do my best, lady," the driver responded, and drove off in a way that suggested he had caught some of Emily's urgency too. He did indeed make extraordinary efforts, and Emily rewarded him with a massive tip. She ran for the door of Janice's apartment block, fumbling in her purse.
"Luckily, Janice gave me some keys," she muttered to Rachel. As soon as they were in she ran for the stairs. Rachel, not used to exerting herself so much, decided to follow at a more sedate pace, with the result that when she entered Janice's apartment through the wide open door, she found Emily already inside and embracing Janice, who was crying on her shoulder as if her heart would break, while Maggie was looking at them hopefully. She seemed pleased to see Rachel.
"Auntie Rachel, why did mommy cry at what auntie Emily said?" she asked. "See, auntie Emily doesn't want her to be unhappy."
"No, honey," said Rachel. "But it's one of those grown-up things that you're too young to understand yet. Look, your mommy and auntie Emily have some talking to do, so would you like me to read to you or play a game?"
Maggie looked at her mother, who was beginning to calm down. "Auntie Emily's making mommy better," she said with satisfaction. "Let's go to my room."
With one ear cocked for any sound from the living room, Rachel followed Maggie.
"I wish auntie Emily had come before, when mommy was crying," Maggie said.
"Why, has your mommy been crying a lot?" Rachel asked.
"Not as much as this," said Maggie, "but she does cry sometimes. Can we read the Tale of Squirrel Nutkin?"
"Not Mrs. Tiggywinkle?" said Rachel teasingly.
Maggie looked disdainful. "That was long ago."
They were near the end of the story when Janice and Emily appeared in the doorway, arms round each other's shoulders. For a moment Rachel felt hope, though what she hoped for would, she knew, be bad for Ross – but their expressions made clear that there was to be no happy ending of the kind she would like.
"Rachel, I can't find words to thank you enough for coming, or your boss for letting you," said Janice rather hoarsely. "Please thank her for me."
"She'll want news in exchange," said Rachel. "So … what have you decided?"
Janice and Emily sighed and looked at each other.
"I love Janice, but I don't think I feel about her the way she does about me," Emily said, "even though it's very flattering." She took Janice's hand and squeezed it.
"And we agreed, we can't do it to Ross anyway," said Janice sadly. "We just have to hope that the feelings will fade. So," she paused and took a deep breath, "we are going to stay away from each other for a while, to help that, though we'll talk on the phone."
"So – no job?" said Rachel.
"No job," Emily agreed. "It certainly wouldn't help."
Rachel sighed, feeling very sad for them both. "I see what you mean. So, what now?"
"I can't just up and leave Janice," said Emily a bit defensively. "She's bound to be feeling shattered. I'll stay here for a while and come on to you later."
"Do you think that's wise?" said Rachel, with an apologetic glance at Janice.
"Wise or not, it's what I'm going to do," said Emily determinedly. "I'll explain to Ross later. He ought to be pleased – he's getting everything he wants," she added in a depressed way.
"Oh God, I'm so sorry, Emily," said Janice tearfully, wringing her hands.
"You have nothing to be sorry for, Janice," said Emily, looking at her warmly. "You have done nothing wrong."
Janice gulped, then said, "Why don't I make us some coffee? We could all use some refreshment."
"Good idea," said Rachel. "I'll just finish off Squirrel Nutkin, and I'll be with you."
While they were having their coffee, Rachel's cellphone rang. It was Kim.
"Emily ought to know," she said urgently. "Ross tried your office number and I answered. He was looking for her, and he knows she's gone to Janice's, but the damn fool rang off before I could tell him that you were there too. He sounded very upset."
"Thanks a million, Kim," said Rachel. "I'll pass it on. Look, can I take the rest of the afternoon? I'll make it up."
"I know you will," said Kim. "Yeah, try to get things sorted out. See you tomorrow."
Rachel passed on Kim's message. Emily blanched.
"Oh God, I'd better get back, or he'll believe the worst," she said. "Janice, I'm sorry …"
"I can manage," said Janice with an attempt at a smile. "You came when I needed you most, and that helped so much. Get in touch when things have calmed down a bit, won't you?"
"Of course," said Emily, hugging her so tenderly that Rachel found it hard to believe that she was not in love with Janice, even if she didn't recognise it.
Emily and Rachel went back to Ross and Emily's apartment, but to their slight surprise he was not there. After unpacking the now redundant case, they went on to Central Perk, but he was not there either, although it was now well on in the afternoon. Gunther said, when questioned, that he had not been in again since lunchtime. He was looking a little sheepish, and Rachel suspected he had been involved in what had happened, as he had in the breakup between her and Ross, but she did not wish to aggravate the situation further by questioning him.
They decided to wait, on the assumption that Ross would show up sooner or later. Rachel took the time to bring Monica up to date on all that had happened by phone, but she was still stuck at Alessandro's and couldn't get away. Eventually Joey, Chandler and Kathy showed up. Rachel told them what had happened, and Joey instantly looked so guilty that she realised he must have played a major part.
"Joey," she said sternly, "did you give Ross all these ideas?"
Joey swallowed. "Um, well, in a way I did, but they weren't my own, you know, and anyway it was Gunther who really told him. He offered it to do it, when I couldn't see a way to get Ross on his own."
"So Ross was getting stuff at third hand, at best," said Rachel. "Okay, Joey – if they weren't your ideas to start with, whose were they?"
Joey looked hunted.
"Joey!" Rachel insisted.
"Phoebe's," he croaked.
"Oh – my – God!" said Rachel, in conscious imitation of the old Janice. "As in, I-am-showing-signs-of-a-crush-on-Ross Phoebe?"
"She didn't tell me that!" said Joey, startled.
"Well, she wouldn't, would she?" said Emily tartly. "But it has to be faced: she was half right."
"She also said," Joey continued, almost babbling in his attempt to justify himself in Rachel's judging eyes, "that Ross had a crush on Janice, and I thought that was wrong, he ought to be paying more attention to you."
Emily nodded, looking at him not unkindly. "I got told … other people's suspicions about that, and he did bring it up as an argument. I am to stop seeing Janice, if you please, because he is uneasy about his feelings for her. That was one of the reasons I walked out."
"Joey, I hope you don't think Janice will fall into your arms if you offer comfort, after this," said Rachel rather severely. "That's what was behind it all, wasn't it? Nor yours either, Gunther," she said, raising her voice and looking at him. He hastily moved away from the table he had been polishing nearby, evidently trying to eavesdrop. "She won't be feeling ready to be interested in any man for a long time to come. That's how I was when Ross was with Julie."
Joey looked downcast, and his ears went red.
"Talking of Ross, here he comes now," said Chandler suddenly, "and Phoebe with him."
Looking at them, Rachel instantly divined that something had happened between them. Phoebe had a strange air of satisfaction about her, while Ross looked very surprised, even shocked, to see Emily. She jumped up as he approached.
"Ross, you were part right," she said abruptly. "Janice was, is, in love with me, and she did set up the job so that I could be with her even more. So, I'm not taking the job and, and we've a-agreed," her voice was shaking a little by this point and she paused and took a deep breath, "that we won't see each other for a while, so she can get over it. Obviously, I'm not moving out."
"That's, that's great news," Ross stammered, but instead of seeming relieved, he looked worse than ever for a moment, Rachel thought. Then he seemed to pull himself together. He held his arms open. "I know how much this must hurt you, when she was such a dear friend," he said.
Emily walked into his arms and buried her face in his shoulder for a moment. Then she pulled away, groped for a handkerchief, blew her nose hard and wiped her eyes. "I, I'm sorry I went off at you like that," she said. "Look, let's go out together, just the two of us." She gazed at him intently.
"Got nothing ready again?" said Ross in a funning tone, then, realising this was hurtful in the circumstances, "sorry, bad joke. Seriously, I'd like nothing better."
They went off together, hand in hand. Rachel looked after them, feeling a bit sentimental, as the others seemed to, but she turned away a moment early and caught a fleeting expression on Phoebe's face that looked very like despair, or at least pain. It vanished before she could be sure, but Phoebe was noticeably quiet after that. Rachel would have liked to know how she had come to be entering Central Perk together with Ross, but it did not seem wise to press her on it. That night, though, she mentioned her suspicions to Monica as they were tidying up in the apartment.
"Best to leave it for now," said Monica. "You know Phoebe. She'll tell us when she's good and ready." She sighed. "The one I'm really worried about is Janice. Should we ring?"
"Oh honey, of course we should," said Rachel, feeling remorseful at not having thought of it earlier. Hastily she grabbed the phone and entered the number.
"Janice, how are you?" she said as soon as Janice spoke. "Mon reminded me, we hadn't rung."
"Well, to be honest," said Janice in heavy tones, "I'm rather drunk. Maggie's in bed asleep, thank God, but … I can't go to sleep. I can't stop thinking about her," she wailed.
Monica was listening in, and she and Rachel looked at each other in alarm.
"I'm coming round," said Monica decisively. "In fact – could you put us both up?"
"You don't have to," Janice protested, but Monica cut in.
"I'm sorry, Janice, but I think we do. You need support. Please don't try to keep us out."
"Okay," said Janice dully. "Sure, I can put you both up, since you'll be sharing a bed." She produced a sound between a giggle and a sob. "Thanks."