As always these characters do not belong to me except for all the kids! This story is not written for profit but purely for entertainment purposes.

This chapter picks up exactly where the old one left off (TOW Things Get Worse) so you may want to read it first.



TOW The Big Decision

The next day at lunch with Monica, Rachel bore her soul. "What the hell did we do wrong Monica? He's completely out of control. He's coming home drunk, he got Jessie Moore pregnant. I just don't know what we are going to do with him. Nothing we do seems to work. And Ross is so tense with this. I know he blames himself. Geesh, Mon, I love them both so much and this is tearing me apart."

Monica hugged her, "I know you do Rach. They are both lucky to have you. Just a suggestion; why don't you send Nick to stay with Mom and Dad for awhile?"

"As in Mom and Dad Geller? They are getting a little old for that aren't they?"

"They would love it. It would be good for them- for Nick and for you. You could all use a break from each other and the stress this situation has put you in. I'm sure the sexual tension between you and Ross is building up."

"Yeah once since we've brought Lauren home."

"Once in four months? This is you and Ross we are talking about here. No wonder he is so stressed out."

"We both are. I mean we have a belligerent son and a brand new baby who is just so wonderful. And poor little Travis may as well be forgotten in all of this. Neither of us have had much energy to spend with the poor little guy lately. I mean we are just too old for all of this madness! Which reminds me, what is this I heard about you and Chandler arguing all the time?"

"Who told you that?"

"My nieces. Something about you wanting to adopt a baby and Chandler saying hell no a lot."

"Oh, let's just say that I'm going through a baby fever phase. I mean my baby is 11 nearly 12. How is that possible? And I always wanted four but Chandler insisted that we stop after Taylor."

"Well, Mon, you did already have a 3 year-old and a barely 2 year-old when Taylor was born."

"Funny how our three are like little stair steps and yours and Ross' are like seven and eight years apart."

"Well you know how long we tried between Nick and Travis and I did have that miscarriage. And Lauren was a complete surprise," Rachel smiled at her sleeping daughter, "although now that she is here she is such a wonderful surprise."

"I just miss having babies around the house. I feel so old and Taylor is entering that horrid pre-teen phase. Ugh! Maybe the third time really is the charm."

"Well, whenever you get to missing babies, I will just send Lauren over to her Aunt Monica for awhile."

"That would be great! Lauren and I will become buddies! I will spoil her so!" Monica started rambling on about all of the fun things her and Lauren would do together and how she would be her favorite aunt.

Rachel and Monica left their lunch both feeling better about the situations at their respective homes.

By later that afternoon Rachel had phoned her in-laws and made plans for Nick to spend the rest of the summer with his grandparents. The only problem was how to tell Ross. That was trickier than she had counted on. Ross completely freaked out at first. But Rachel eventually won him over with her reasoning. None of them were really prepared for just how hard Nick would take it.

"You don't want me anymore! I make a few mistakes, I just try to be a kid and you want to pass me off to someone else!"

"Nick honey that is not it!" Rachel tried to reason with him.

"You just want the ever complaint Travis and your precious little girl. I am just unwanted baggage-"

"Nicholas listen to us-" Ross started to explain.

"No! Mom, Dad you listen to me! If you really want me to go to Grandma and Grandpa Geller's FINE! Don't ever expect me to come back! I hate you for doing this to me!" By now Rachel was sobbing and Ross was pacing around the room.

The three of them had been arguing back and forth for over an hour when a key turned in the door and in walked- Ben!

"Uh-oh," Ben said, "I can see I picked a bad time."

"Hey Ben!" Ross went over and hugged his 21 year-old son. "There is a never bad time."

"Hi Ben." Rachel also went over and hugged him and tried to hide the sadness in her voice. "It is great to see you!"

"Well we had a two day break at University and so I thought I would come visit. And there is someone I want you to meet." He pulled on the hand of a beautiful young girl. "This is Cortland Lindley, she's a- a friend."

"Hello Cortland. What a beautiful name! It is so nice to meet you." Ross and Rachel both focused their attention on Ben and Cortland.

"Figures!" Nick muttered to himself "And I suppose if she were pregnant with his baby it would be the greatest news ever!" He stormed into his room and slammed the door behind him.

The rest of the evening flew by quickly as Nick stayed in his room blasting his stereo and angrily packing for his trip. Ross, Rachel, Travis, Lauren, Ben, and Cortland spent the evening getting to know each other. Ross and Rachel were pleased with Ben's choice in Cortland. She was a marvelous young lady who was great with kids and obviously adored Ben.

When it was time for bed Ross said "Well Rach and I are kind of tired so we are going to head for bed. Ben, you can sleep in Nick's other bunk bed and Cortland we will pull the couch bed out for you." Ben started to object and then changed his mind.

About two in the morning Rachel woke to giggling and moaning. She sat up in bed quickly and made sure Ross was still asleep. He was sleeping soundly beside her.

She got out of bed and opened the door to the living room. It was as she thought; Ben and Cortland were in bed together. Rachel wasn't sure what to do except she knew better than to awaken Ross. He would totally freak out! She decided just to let them be and to talk to Ben about it in the morning. She quietly closed the door and crawled back into bed. She snuggled up as close to Ross as possible and tried to fall back asleep.

The next morning it was all Rachel could do to wait for Ross to leave for work. When he finally kissed her goodbye and left Rachel turned to Cortland. "Cortland, could I ask you to keep an eye on Travis and Lauren for a few minutes? Ben why don't you come on a walk with me?"

Cortland looked knowingly at Ben and said, "Sure Mrs. Geller."

"You can call me Rachel. Come on Ben we should be only ten minutes or so."

Ben and Rachel decided to talk a walk around the apartment building. "Ben, I need to talk to you. I saw you and Cortland together last night. Why didn't you two just say you wanted to share a room rather than sneaking around?"

"Because Dad would have freaked."

"No, no, he would have freaked if he had seen you last night. What if Travis had seen you?"

"You mean he's never seen you-"

Rachel quickly changed the focus of the conversation back to Ben, "Look Ben he wouldn't have freaked if you wanted to share a room. But he would have if he had seen you or if Travis had caught you."

"Why? It's not like Dad's a virgin."

Rachel blushed slightly, "Yes, I know. Great now you sound like Nick. What are we going to do with you boys? And I suppose I am supposed to keep this a secret from your Dad?"

"Just until I get a chance to talk to him about it. I think Cortland's the one Rach. I don't want to blow anything about this relationship especially how I approach it with Dad."

"Ben, your Dad knows you are an adult. I think maybe you are underestimating him on this one a little bit."

"Maybe, but just give me a chance to handle this my way please Rachel."

Ben gave her the puppy look that he inherited from his Dad.

"Geesh, I can never say no to those eyes. Why did you all get them?"

"Thanks Rach. You're the best third Mommy a boy could ever have."

The next day Ross, Rachel, Travis, Lauren, Ben and Cortland took Nick to the airport to catch his flight to spend the summer with his grandparents. Ben and Cortland took Travis and Lauren on a walk. Ross, Rachel, and Nick sat in the boarding area in silence. Ross and Rachel were each pondering if they were making the right decision. When the final boarding call was made for the flight Rachel went over to Nick and tried to hug him. Nick was not receptive. "We love you, son." Ross said softly.

"Yeah, whatever." Nick just walked away from them onto the plane. Rachel went immediately into Ross' arms. He held her as they watched their son's plane take off and take him out of their lives for the summer.

Ben drove home because Ross and Rachel were too preoccupied. But instead of stopping at home, he stopped in front of the Radisson Hotel. "Ben, what are you doing?" Ross asked.

"Well, Cortland and I talked about it and decided that maybe you two could use a night away."

"But Travis and Lauren-"

"We will keep them."

"Overnight?"

"Sure we can handle it. Besides, Aunt Monica and Uncle Chandler are right across the hall." Ben waved the room key at them, "Besides, we know where to find you. C'mon, you know you want to?"

Ross looked at Rachel and she nodded slowly. "Alright, but Ben you call us if you need us. And don't hesitate to get Monica-"

"And Lauren needs to eat when you get home. Her bottles are in the refrigerator."

Ben interrupted their ranting, "Would you two just get out of the van before we change our minds?" He winked at Cortland.

A few minutes later Ross and Rachel found themselves completely alone for the first time in along time. Ross sat down on the edge of the bed and Rachel sat on his lap.

Ross started rubbing and kissing her neck. "Ross, do you think we made the right choice with Nick? I think we broke his heart.."

Ross kept kissing her, "Shh! Let's talk about it in a few minutes. Right now, the only person I want to think about is you. How much I love you and how much I want you right now." He laid her on the bed.

"But honey-"

"Shhh! No talking!" he kissed her soundly. Rachel started to get into his kisses and soon they both forgot their troubles for a while. (

Montage: Ross and Rachel enjoying their night; eating dinner by candlelight, taking a bubble bath together, watching a movie snuggled up on the couch, and cuddling in bed together. Ben and Cortland feeding Lauren, roughhousing with Travis, putting them to bed, making out on the couch.

In the morning Ross and Rachel enjoyed a long breakfast together in bed and then decided to take a cab home.

When they opened the front door, Travis ran up to them in his cowboy outfit. "Mommy! Daddy! I missed you but I had the funnest time ever with Ben and Cortland!"

Rachel hugged him eagerly, "That's great honey!"

Ross looked at Ben and Cortland, "Did you two have fun playing house?"

Cortland blushed and said Ben "Yeah it was fun. What about you two? Did you enjoy your night away?"

Rachel beamed lovingly at Ross and said, "It was exactly what we needed."

The day went by somewhat uneventfully. Ross took Ben to lunch and Rachel and Cortland hung out at the Geller house. When Ben and Ross came home, Rachel knew that they had had their talk. Ross seemed okay with the whole situation because when Cortland and Ben announced it was time for them to leave, Ross hugged them both and said to Cortland, "You take good care of my son."

"I will Dr. Geller. I will." Ross and Rachel stood with their arms around each other and watched Ben and Cortland drive away.

Then they followed the skipping Travis back into their house.