Title: The Prince Of Tides-
Author: Kaitlyn
Summary: "Man wonders and God decides When to kill the Prince of Tides"
Rating: PG-13
The smell of coffee and tea wafted over the entire apartment and seeped slowly underneath the closed door of the bedroom. Filling her head and urging her to consciousness, Rachel's eyes slowly fluttered open. There was a brief, confused panic that hit her unexpectedly. The bedroom felt foreign and cold to her. It wasn't until she rolled over and realized that Ross was not at her side that she discovered why. The scent of coffee and tea explained it- he must have been making breakfast again. She loved and reviled, both at once, his continuous attempts at domesticity. While charming, they still contained some plastic quality. She sometimes couldn't help but believe that his unyielding optimism was more a struggle for his own sanity, rather than hers.
She hesitantly rolled out of bed and padded slowly to the kitchen. She didn't bother with the bathrobe this morning, seemingly unaware of her own nudity. She had never been very shy when it came to her sexuality, but something about Ross had always extinguished even the tiniest ray of modesty within her. Even from their first time together, something had always made her certain that he would never hurt or judge her. She knew that he thought she was the most beautiful woman alive, and his physical and verbal worship of her body never hurt her comfort with him.
She paused at the kitchen door, allowing herself to watch him before interrupting his solitude. He was pouring coffee into a mug, his gaze fixed as intently as a surgeon's during an operation. A smile pulled at the corners of her lips as she watched him stir her tea in a separate mug, adding just the right amount of honey. He knew her better than probably anyone else ever had; certainly better than either of her parents, and perhaps even better than Monica. She cleared her throat, causing him to turn away from the counter to face her.
His eyes widened to the size of golf balls and his jaw hit the floor when he saw her stark-naked form just standing there by the door. She smiled, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear- partially out of habit and partially to fill the somewhat awkward and uncomfortable silence that had obviously been provoked by the events of the previous night and now her apparent nudity.
"Hi," she purred, in a voice still clouded with sleep that came from the back of her throat. He shook his head a bit in an attempt to clear his mind and to tear his eyes away from her. He sat the mugs down on the counter, clearing his throat and blinking once or twice. Act casually, he thought. Don't make this harder than it has to be.
"Uh, Hey." He forced a weak smile, knowing well that she was on to him and wasn't buying it for one moment. He took a deep breath. God knew when they would finally muster up enough courage to actually confront the events of the previous night. Part of him knew they had been stupid. However, another part (and a larger part), knew that it had been the first time either of them had felt right it months. For a moment, it been them again, and nothing that brought them together like that could ever be stupid. She smiled what seemed to be genuinely and crossed the room to where he was.
"Is it okay if we talk?" Her eyes were wide and hopeful when she spoke the words, almost as if she truly believed he might have said "no". He let out a puff of hair he hadn't noticed he'd been holding and tucked another loose strand of hair behind her ear.
"Of course." He turned to sit down at the table, but thought better of it when she didn't move to do the same. Instead, he just stood there in front of her, waiting for her to speak. His eyes did not leave hers even for a moment. She breathed deeply before beginning, nervously clasping her hands together against her stomach, as she always did when speaking to him about something important.
"I know last night was..."
"Wonderful." He didn't want to interrupt, but he also didn't want to give her a chance to say something negative. He didn't want to know that she might have actually regretted it. A wave of relief passed over him when she smiled and tilted her head to the side, slightly.
"Yes, it was wonderful. Also, though, I know that it felt rushed. Especially with everything that's been going on around here lately, I know it must have seemed a little bit out of the blue. I just want you to know that I didn't intend for it to be like that, and if it made you uncomfortable, then...well...that's the last thing that I wanted."
Uncomfortable. How could she ever think that? "Everything that's been going on around here lately" was what was uncomfortable. Touching her...kissing her...loving her. None of those things could ever be uncomfortable. Those were the only things keeping him sane. He took her wrist in his hand and moved his thumb over it, tracing the vein there.
"Rachel, nothing you've ever done has ever made me uncomfortable. You're the most comfortable thing in my life. What happened last night only happened because, for the past few months, nothing has seemed right, and that was the most "right" thing either of us could think to do. And you know what?"
"What?"
"It was the most right thing I've done in a long time. It felt right. You feel right." It felt good to tell her those things. He couldn't remember the last time he'd told her something like that. All of the hollow "I love you"s and empty "It'll be alright"s that had plagued them for what seemed like forever had offered only a synthetic sheet of comfort that was, for all of it's efforts, nonetheless transparent and cold. These were the first words between them since the announcement of her cancer that had offered any authentic sense of warmth or belonging.
**********************************************************************************
"Ross, that is not a word! We've looked it up in three different dictionaries!" They sat on the floor in the living room, positioned on either side of the coffee table with the Scrabble board sprawled out between them. Rachel wore one of Ross' blue dress shirts and her reading glasses as she flipped haphazardly through Webster's. Ross playfully tossed a science dictionary her way, insisting that "floboton" was, in fact, a word.
"I'm telling you, I remember it from graduate's school! It's some sort of muscle tissue or something!"
"Some sort of muscle tissue or something? Well, as long as you can define it," she teased. This earned her a flying pillow in the side of her head. The atmosphere between them in the past month had been worlds apart from what they had been used to. It was relaxed and familiar and them. If someone had seen the Ross and Rachel of the two months ago and then been told that they would be acting this way now, they would not have believed it.
Suddenly, his playful, boyish grin turned to something more fiery and passionate. He crawled around to her side of the table, picked her up over his shoulder, and plopped her down on the couch. She put up little protest, and he was soon kissing her neck and running his hands over her with the hormonal eagerness that he'd possessed at 16. His hand was halted at the top button of her (his) shirt by the sudden opening of the front door.
"Hey, keep it on!" Phoebe closed the door behind her, juggling a few bags and a purse in her hands. Exasperated, Ross crawled off of her and slouched, disappointed, beside her on the couch.
"I'm sorry, I thought this was our apartment," he quipped. Phoebe made herself at home on the chair beside them and rummaged through her many plastic bags.
"Doing some shopping, Pheebs?" Rachel asked, removing her glasses and setting them on the table in front of her.
"Yeah, and Monica asked me to pick up something for you. By the way, I love the wearing-his-shirt thing. You should do that more often!" Ignoring her comment, Rachel cleared her throat.
"She asked you to pick something up for me?"
"Yeah, here it is!" Phoebe pulled her hand out of one of the bags, revealing a small white box.
"A home pregnancy test?!" Rachel squealed, immediately turning her eyes to Ross, who was stunned speechless on the couch beside her.
"What? You didn't ask her to pick this up for you?"
"No!" Rachel didn't know what else to say. She was afraid that Ross was going to snap any minute. She watched him in anticipation, but his gaze remained fixed on Phoebe, waiting anxiously for an explanation. She had none to offer.
"Oh...well...this is awkward! I guess I'll leave you two to talk about this! See ya!" Phoebe collected her bags and ran out the door as quickly as humanly possible, leaving a freaked-out Rachel and stunned Ross in her wake. Ross shifted slowly on the couch to face Rachel.
"Rach...um...do you know anything about this?" He searched her eyes for any sort of consolation- anything that would offer the least bit of insight as to what had just taken place. No such luck. Her eyes were dark and scared- he wasn't sure if she was scared of him or of what she was about to say.
"I...um...well...I talked to Monica yesterday afternoon about some things. Maybe she just overreacted and assumed something she shouldn't have." Ross' face did not lighten at all with this revelation, and it was obvious that this was not the answer he'd been waiting for. She was still holding something back.
"What did you talk to her about?" He was not upset or angry. His voice held a cautious apprehension that was wary of worsening an already touchy situation.
"It really could be nothing. It's just that, well, I'm late." Ross swallowed deeply. He really wished he had paid more attention during junior high health class. He knew perfectly well what that meant, but his knowledge of the female reproductive system was still pitifully sparse.
"Does that have to mean that you're pregnant?" He chose his words carefully. He was not going to freak out about this.
"No! Not at all! It could have been caused my so many things. I've been under a lot of pressure and anxiety lately, with...well, you know. Not only that, but the doctor said..."
"Woah, woah, woah. The-the doctor? You went to see the doctor and didn't even tell me about it? When was this?" He was losing his cool and he knew it. There was nothing he could do about it, though. He could feel his tempter spinning out of control. How could she keep something potentially so important from him?
"Ross, it was nothing! I didn't think there was any use in telling you and getting you worried when I knew there was a good chance it didn't mean anything! It probably ISN'T anything! The doctor said that woman suffering from cancer experience all kinds of anatomical and biological side effects. An irregular menstrual cycle is perfectly normal for women in my position!" His gaze was still stern, but the sight of her flustered and tear-threatened face broke him a little and cause him to lower his voice and collect himself a bit.
"Okay, so what? Do-do you think you're pregnant?" It wasn't the hint of tears in the corners of her eyes that scared him. I wasn't even the way the corners of her mouth twitched as she contemplated breaking down into a sob. What really scared him - what terrified him to his core- was that he didn't know how he wanted her to answer that question.
"I don't know." She sounded so feeble- so helpless. In that instant, he felt like the biggest asshole that had ever lived. Why the hell was he always messing things up like this? He was so selfish sometimes. He scooted closer to her and wrapped his hands around her back. burying his head in her shoulder.
"Well, do you want to take the test?"
(Note to Oliver: I know I said I wasn't going to take the story down this path, but it seemed like pretty emotional, interesting stuff. Too good to pass up. We'll just have to wait and see what happens! Reviews welcome!)
Author: Kaitlyn
Summary: "Man wonders and God decides When to kill the Prince of Tides"
Rating: PG-13
The smell of coffee and tea wafted over the entire apartment and seeped slowly underneath the closed door of the bedroom. Filling her head and urging her to consciousness, Rachel's eyes slowly fluttered open. There was a brief, confused panic that hit her unexpectedly. The bedroom felt foreign and cold to her. It wasn't until she rolled over and realized that Ross was not at her side that she discovered why. The scent of coffee and tea explained it- he must have been making breakfast again. She loved and reviled, both at once, his continuous attempts at domesticity. While charming, they still contained some plastic quality. She sometimes couldn't help but believe that his unyielding optimism was more a struggle for his own sanity, rather than hers.
She hesitantly rolled out of bed and padded slowly to the kitchen. She didn't bother with the bathrobe this morning, seemingly unaware of her own nudity. She had never been very shy when it came to her sexuality, but something about Ross had always extinguished even the tiniest ray of modesty within her. Even from their first time together, something had always made her certain that he would never hurt or judge her. She knew that he thought she was the most beautiful woman alive, and his physical and verbal worship of her body never hurt her comfort with him.
She paused at the kitchen door, allowing herself to watch him before interrupting his solitude. He was pouring coffee into a mug, his gaze fixed as intently as a surgeon's during an operation. A smile pulled at the corners of her lips as she watched him stir her tea in a separate mug, adding just the right amount of honey. He knew her better than probably anyone else ever had; certainly better than either of her parents, and perhaps even better than Monica. She cleared her throat, causing him to turn away from the counter to face her.
His eyes widened to the size of golf balls and his jaw hit the floor when he saw her stark-naked form just standing there by the door. She smiled, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear- partially out of habit and partially to fill the somewhat awkward and uncomfortable silence that had obviously been provoked by the events of the previous night and now her apparent nudity.
"Hi," she purred, in a voice still clouded with sleep that came from the back of her throat. He shook his head a bit in an attempt to clear his mind and to tear his eyes away from her. He sat the mugs down on the counter, clearing his throat and blinking once or twice. Act casually, he thought. Don't make this harder than it has to be.
"Uh, Hey." He forced a weak smile, knowing well that she was on to him and wasn't buying it for one moment. He took a deep breath. God knew when they would finally muster up enough courage to actually confront the events of the previous night. Part of him knew they had been stupid. However, another part (and a larger part), knew that it had been the first time either of them had felt right it months. For a moment, it been them again, and nothing that brought them together like that could ever be stupid. She smiled what seemed to be genuinely and crossed the room to where he was.
"Is it okay if we talk?" Her eyes were wide and hopeful when she spoke the words, almost as if she truly believed he might have said "no". He let out a puff of hair he hadn't noticed he'd been holding and tucked another loose strand of hair behind her ear.
"Of course." He turned to sit down at the table, but thought better of it when she didn't move to do the same. Instead, he just stood there in front of her, waiting for her to speak. His eyes did not leave hers even for a moment. She breathed deeply before beginning, nervously clasping her hands together against her stomach, as she always did when speaking to him about something important.
"I know last night was..."
"Wonderful." He didn't want to interrupt, but he also didn't want to give her a chance to say something negative. He didn't want to know that she might have actually regretted it. A wave of relief passed over him when she smiled and tilted her head to the side, slightly.
"Yes, it was wonderful. Also, though, I know that it felt rushed. Especially with everything that's been going on around here lately, I know it must have seemed a little bit out of the blue. I just want you to know that I didn't intend for it to be like that, and if it made you uncomfortable, then...well...that's the last thing that I wanted."
Uncomfortable. How could she ever think that? "Everything that's been going on around here lately" was what was uncomfortable. Touching her...kissing her...loving her. None of those things could ever be uncomfortable. Those were the only things keeping him sane. He took her wrist in his hand and moved his thumb over it, tracing the vein there.
"Rachel, nothing you've ever done has ever made me uncomfortable. You're the most comfortable thing in my life. What happened last night only happened because, for the past few months, nothing has seemed right, and that was the most "right" thing either of us could think to do. And you know what?"
"What?"
"It was the most right thing I've done in a long time. It felt right. You feel right." It felt good to tell her those things. He couldn't remember the last time he'd told her something like that. All of the hollow "I love you"s and empty "It'll be alright"s that had plagued them for what seemed like forever had offered only a synthetic sheet of comfort that was, for all of it's efforts, nonetheless transparent and cold. These were the first words between them since the announcement of her cancer that had offered any authentic sense of warmth or belonging.
**********************************************************************************
"Ross, that is not a word! We've looked it up in three different dictionaries!" They sat on the floor in the living room, positioned on either side of the coffee table with the Scrabble board sprawled out between them. Rachel wore one of Ross' blue dress shirts and her reading glasses as she flipped haphazardly through Webster's. Ross playfully tossed a science dictionary her way, insisting that "floboton" was, in fact, a word.
"I'm telling you, I remember it from graduate's school! It's some sort of muscle tissue or something!"
"Some sort of muscle tissue or something? Well, as long as you can define it," she teased. This earned her a flying pillow in the side of her head. The atmosphere between them in the past month had been worlds apart from what they had been used to. It was relaxed and familiar and them. If someone had seen the Ross and Rachel of the two months ago and then been told that they would be acting this way now, they would not have believed it.
Suddenly, his playful, boyish grin turned to something more fiery and passionate. He crawled around to her side of the table, picked her up over his shoulder, and plopped her down on the couch. She put up little protest, and he was soon kissing her neck and running his hands over her with the hormonal eagerness that he'd possessed at 16. His hand was halted at the top button of her (his) shirt by the sudden opening of the front door.
"Hey, keep it on!" Phoebe closed the door behind her, juggling a few bags and a purse in her hands. Exasperated, Ross crawled off of her and slouched, disappointed, beside her on the couch.
"I'm sorry, I thought this was our apartment," he quipped. Phoebe made herself at home on the chair beside them and rummaged through her many plastic bags.
"Doing some shopping, Pheebs?" Rachel asked, removing her glasses and setting them on the table in front of her.
"Yeah, and Monica asked me to pick up something for you. By the way, I love the wearing-his-shirt thing. You should do that more often!" Ignoring her comment, Rachel cleared her throat.
"She asked you to pick something up for me?"
"Yeah, here it is!" Phoebe pulled her hand out of one of the bags, revealing a small white box.
"A home pregnancy test?!" Rachel squealed, immediately turning her eyes to Ross, who was stunned speechless on the couch beside her.
"What? You didn't ask her to pick this up for you?"
"No!" Rachel didn't know what else to say. She was afraid that Ross was going to snap any minute. She watched him in anticipation, but his gaze remained fixed on Phoebe, waiting anxiously for an explanation. She had none to offer.
"Oh...well...this is awkward! I guess I'll leave you two to talk about this! See ya!" Phoebe collected her bags and ran out the door as quickly as humanly possible, leaving a freaked-out Rachel and stunned Ross in her wake. Ross shifted slowly on the couch to face Rachel.
"Rach...um...do you know anything about this?" He searched her eyes for any sort of consolation- anything that would offer the least bit of insight as to what had just taken place. No such luck. Her eyes were dark and scared- he wasn't sure if she was scared of him or of what she was about to say.
"I...um...well...I talked to Monica yesterday afternoon about some things. Maybe she just overreacted and assumed something she shouldn't have." Ross' face did not lighten at all with this revelation, and it was obvious that this was not the answer he'd been waiting for. She was still holding something back.
"What did you talk to her about?" He was not upset or angry. His voice held a cautious apprehension that was wary of worsening an already touchy situation.
"It really could be nothing. It's just that, well, I'm late." Ross swallowed deeply. He really wished he had paid more attention during junior high health class. He knew perfectly well what that meant, but his knowledge of the female reproductive system was still pitifully sparse.
"Does that have to mean that you're pregnant?" He chose his words carefully. He was not going to freak out about this.
"No! Not at all! It could have been caused my so many things. I've been under a lot of pressure and anxiety lately, with...well, you know. Not only that, but the doctor said..."
"Woah, woah, woah. The-the doctor? You went to see the doctor and didn't even tell me about it? When was this?" He was losing his cool and he knew it. There was nothing he could do about it, though. He could feel his tempter spinning out of control. How could she keep something potentially so important from him?
"Ross, it was nothing! I didn't think there was any use in telling you and getting you worried when I knew there was a good chance it didn't mean anything! It probably ISN'T anything! The doctor said that woman suffering from cancer experience all kinds of anatomical and biological side effects. An irregular menstrual cycle is perfectly normal for women in my position!" His gaze was still stern, but the sight of her flustered and tear-threatened face broke him a little and cause him to lower his voice and collect himself a bit.
"Okay, so what? Do-do you think you're pregnant?" It wasn't the hint of tears in the corners of her eyes that scared him. I wasn't even the way the corners of her mouth twitched as she contemplated breaking down into a sob. What really scared him - what terrified him to his core- was that he didn't know how he wanted her to answer that question.
"I don't know." She sounded so feeble- so helpless. In that instant, he felt like the biggest asshole that had ever lived. Why the hell was he always messing things up like this? He was so selfish sometimes. He scooted closer to her and wrapped his hands around her back. burying his head in her shoulder.
"Well, do you want to take the test?"
(Note to Oliver: I know I said I wasn't going to take the story down this path, but it seemed like pretty emotional, interesting stuff. Too good to pass up. We'll just have to wait and see what happens! Reviews welcome!)