As always, the characters from the television show FRIENDS do not belong to
me and this story is for entertainment purposes only.
Previously in TOW The Disagreement:
Ross tried to talk Rachel out of going away. He was so worried about her being alone to wallow in depression. She had been on an emotional roller coaster ever since she had discovered she was pregnant with Lauren. But as usual, Rachel was stubborn and unrelenting. "Ross, I need to do this. I just need some time to clear my head and really feel right about whatever decision is made. I hope that you will use this time to rethink your position, and your motives behind it." She walked right past him with the suitcase and Lauren's diaper bag and took them to the car. She came back in and took Lauren from Ross, "Travis come give Mommy a kiss." Travis quietly gave her a hug and a kiss. Rachel handed Ross a piece of paper, "This is the hotel where I will be staying. Don't call unless it is an emergency. I will be home in time to go with you to the airport to pick up Nick on Friday. I should be ready to talk then." With that said she left.
Ross just stood there staring at the closed door. "I love you Rach." He said softly.
And now:
1 TOW Phoebe Gets Involved
The first day that Rachel was gone Ross moped around the house. He couldn't help but think that although he knew he was going in the right direction with this situation with his son that perhaps he wasn't being sensitive enough to Rachel. She was constantly on his mind; he loved her so much and couldn't bear to think that his decisions were tearing her apart emotionally. Ross had no idea that one of his best friends would make a decision that day that would change all of their lives forever.
Phoebe knocked on the door of the hotel room where Rachel and Lauren were staying. Rachel opened the door just enough to see who it was. "Oh, hi Phoebe."
"Rach, can we talk?" Rachel opened the door and let in her. "You look like hell."
"Well Lauren hasn't slept since we came here. She just fell asleep ten minutes ago out of sheer exhaustion so we'll have to whisper."
"That's fine." Phoebe sat on the edge of the bed and looked at Rachel very seriously, 'I want to adopt Nick and Jessie's baby."
Rachel stared at Phoebe open-mouthed, "What- what did you just say?"
"I want to adopt Nick and Jessie's baby. Let's face it I'm 45 years old I'm never going to have my own natural child now. My biological clock is ticking, ticking, ticking. This may be my only chance to ever have a child."
"But Pheebs, Mr. and Mrs. Moore have already selected another couple to adopt the baby. Ross and I had to go to court to get a temporary stay on the adoption proceedings until Nick comes back from Florida."
"I have already set up an appointment with Mr. and Mrs. Moore and Jessie. I am very serious about this Rachel but I wanted to make sure that you and Ross are going to be okay with this. And Nick too of course."
Rachel began to cry, "Phoebe, you are the greatest friend anyone could ever ask for. How loving and selfless of you…"
"Hey now, I'm not totally without reason for doing this and it is somewhat selfish."
"But if it doesn't work out, if the Moore's don't agree."
"We'll have to worry about that when we get there now won't we, if we get there."
Phoebe handed Rachel the phone, "Now call your husband and tell him to meet you here. You two have things to talk out."
"But Lauren-"
"Lauren will go for a ride with her Auntie Phoebe. She'll sleep right through it anyway. When you are ready to have her back just call me. And Monica is picking up Travis at school today so you really have no more excuses."
"Isn't Ross at work though? I mean I can't call him in the middle of class."
"Oh my God, Rachel, will you just call him? He is at home. He took a few vacation days because he is too emotional to be effective at work right now. If you don't call him I'm going to seriously hurt you."
Rachel dialed her home number and Ross answered on the first ring. She told him to come to the hotel she was ready to talk. When she hung up Phoebe picked the sleeping Lauren up and put her in her car seat. "Now go shower and get changed before your husband gets here. It will be easier to talk if you don't look like hell."
By the time Ross got to the hotel room Rachel was showered and in fresh clothes.
Ross knocked on the door and Rachel let him in. "Ross, sit down we need to talk." He sat down next to her on the bed and she took his hand in hers, "Phoebe came by this morning."
Ross looked all around the hotel room, "Rach, where is Lauren? Is something wrong?"
"It's okay sweetie, she's with Phoebe. She wanted us to have a chance to talk alone. And everyone's just fine so there's no need to worry. Now, I need to tell you something. Phoebe came by this morning and told me that she would like to adopt Nick and Jessie's baby."
"What?" Ross looked at her stunned, "What??"
"I know it freaked me out at first too a little bit, but Ross, sweetie this could be the perfect solution. Think about it our grandchild being raised by one of our best friends, we could watch him or her grow up Ross, and Nick could be involved a little too, if he wants to be."
"But what about the Moores? What about Jessie? This may not be what she wants. What about Nick? He may not want to put the baby up for adoption. He may decide he wants to keep it."
"Ross?"
"Yeah."
"Shut up."
Ross looked at her lovingly. "You're right Rachel, this could be the perfect solution. This could be the one way that everyone is happy." He hugged her, "I love you so much."
"I love you too." She kissed him, "I suppose I can go check out of this room and go home now that we've worked everything out. We will still need to discuss how we are going to bring up the subject with Nick. But we have another day or so to worry about that." She started to stand up and then realized something. "You know what Ross?"
"What?"
"We are all alone in an empty hotel room!" She winked at him, "What do you suppose we should do about that?"
"Ummm we could redeem the time?" Ross suggested.
"I can never say no to you." She laid down on the bed and pulled him on top of her. He kissed her intensely and they spent the afternoon making love.
Two days later Ross, Rachel, Travis, and Lauren went to the airport to pick up Nick. Rachel was a little nervous and she was pacing around the gate bouncing Lauren in her arms.
Ross laid his hand on her shoulder, "Rach come on the plane just got in. Stop making yourself so anxious everything is going to be fine." They walked over to the door of the gate where the passengers were starting to file out. They waited for what seemed like forever and finally Nick appeared. Ross walked up to him first and hugged him, "Welcome home son. We missed you."
Rachel threw her arms around him and cried. Nick looked helplessly at his Dad and then said, "Hi Mom. Hi Dad. I missed you guys too."
The ride home in the car was filled with conversation about all of the things that Nick did on his visit with his grandparents. The separation though long seemed to have done them all a world of good.
After Travis and Lauren were in bed that night Rachel, Ross and Nick sat at the kitchen table and had a serious conversation about the baby. "Nicholas, son, we need to how you feel about this baby. What role you want to take in the life of this child. Jessie and her parents have decided to give up this baby for adoption we need to know how you feel about that."
Nick swallowed hard, "Mom, Dad I love my baby I really do. But I want to be a kid. I realize that I made a mistake when I slept with Jessie and that the kid didn't ask to be born. I think that it would be unfair and selfish of me to prevent it from going to someone who really wants to have a baby. And I don't. Not right now, anyway."
Rachel's eyes welled up with tears, "That is the most mature, responsible thing I have ever heard you say Nick. I am so very proud of you son."
"Me too." Ross agreed.
"Nick, honey, your Aunt Phoebe came to us while you were in Florida and mentioned that she would like to adopt your baby. We would like to know how you would feel about her adopting your child."
"Really? Aunt Phoebe wants the baby, my baby? Seriously?"
"Seriously. She has made arrangements for all of us to meet with the Moore's this Saturday if you are okay with proceeding with this. But if you are not sure Nick, just say the word and it will get dropped. We don't want to pressure you into any decision that you do not feel ready for."
Nick thought for a moment and then he finally spoke, "I think it would be really great if Aunt Phoebe took the baby. I mean she would be a great Mom and I would never have to worry about the kid being mistreated or anything. It would be really cool!"
Ross smiled, "Then it is settled. We'll call her in the morning and tell her. But now let's all get some sleep."
Phoebe was overjoyed at Nick's decision. Saturday they all gathered at the Moore's house for the meeting. They were all seated around the living room eating appetizers and having drinks. Finally Mr. Moore set down his drink and said, "Okay Mr. and Mrs. Geller and Ms. Buffay it's obvious that this is not merely a social call. Especially considering that you've hired an attorney."
Phoebe smiled at them, "Mr. and Mrs. Moore I am Phoebe Buffay. I have been a friend of Ross and Rachel's for almost twenty years. I know that they have been a hard time deciding how to deal with the situation that their son has found himself in."
Mr. Moore interrupted, "Well, we all know how it could have been prevented."
Ross tried to maintain the civil tone in the conversation by immediately interjecting, "Mr. Moore, please we are not here to rehash what anyone could have done differently. We are here to talk about what we can do to make this situation work out happily for everyone and most importantly come to a decision that will be in the best interest of the child."
This is where Phoebe began again, "I would like to adopt Nick and Jessie's baby. I am past the age where I can have a child naturally and I have always wanted to be a Mother. I think this would be a great solution and one everyone would be happy with."
Mr. Moore interrupted, "Look Ms.Buffay, I appreciate your time but we have already found the parents for Nick and Jessie's baby. Now I am sorry to disappoint you but this meeting is really a waste of time."
Mrs. Moore surprised everyone by finally speaking, "Jacob, I think we should listen to what Ms. Buffay has to say. She is obviously trying to meet us in the middle here and I think it is time that we started trying to be a little more sensitive to the other grandparents in this baby's life."
Jacob Moore sighed heavily, "Fine, Marie, you are right. Ms. Buffay we will listen to you. Although, I can not promise you that it will change anything."
Several hours later, Ross, Rachel, Phoebe, and Nick left the Moore's slightly more optimistic than they were when they first arrived. Several days went by without so much as a word of their decision. Nick went to school and everyone else went to work and they jumped every time the phone rang hoping that they would get the answer they would be waiting for.
One night during dinner there was a knock on the door. Nick stood up, "I'll get it." At the door stood Jessie, "Hi Jess. Come on in."
Jessie came shyly into the kitchen and saw everyone sitting around the table, "Oh I am so sorry I have interrupted your dinner."
Rachel motioned for her to sit in the empty chair at the table, "Nonsense, have a seat. Would you like something to eat?"
"No thank you ma'am I've already had my dinner. I came over because I was hoping to talk to you about this adoption. I've given my parents my opinion about who I would like to see adopt this baby and I told them that I want to give her to your friend."
Nick dropped his fork onto his plate, "Did you just say her? Jessie is it a girl?"
"Yeah, I found out today! It's a little girl!"
Everyone cheered and hugged. "Well Jessie, that is very exciting news thank you for sharing with us what you are thinking."
This statement caused Jessie to burst into tears, "I am not sure my parents are going to listen me. Why won't they listen to me? They have treated me like this my whole life. I am just their puppet on a string with no feelings. This baby is my mistake and I should be allowed to help fix it."
Rachel hugged her, "You know what Jessie, I think you are a great Mom. You love your little girl so much and you are trying to do the right thing by her. And we want you to know that we will do whatever we can to help you."
"Thank you Mrs. Geller that really means a lot to me." Jessie stood up, "Well I better be going I've taken up enough of your time. Thanks again."
After Jessie left Ross looked at Rachel, "You know this little granddaughter of ours is very lucky. She has so many people that love her."
"Yeah she is." Rachel added, "Yeah she is."
About a week later the phone rang in the middle of the night and brought Ross and Rachel both out of a sound sleep. Rachel found the phone first "Hello?"
"Mrs. Geller?"
"Yes this is she."
"Mrs. Geller, it's Marie Moore. Have you seen Jessie?"
"No, I'm sorry I'm afraid we haven't seen her for a few days. Is everything all right?"
"Well not exactly. She's missing. She didn't come home tonight. I wanted to call you earlier but Jacob was being well, Jacob. Anyway, would Nick know where she is?"
"I can have Ross go ask him but her and Nick don't really see each other anymore. Hold on one second please, Marie." She covered the mouthpiece with her hand and said to Ross, "Jessie's missing, go ask Nick if he's seen her."
Ross got up and made his way down the hall to Nick's room. He flipped on Nick's light switch and gasped at what he saw. All of the drawers in Nick's dresser were opened, and his bed was empty….
TO BE CONTINUED
Previously in TOW The Disagreement:
Ross tried to talk Rachel out of going away. He was so worried about her being alone to wallow in depression. She had been on an emotional roller coaster ever since she had discovered she was pregnant with Lauren. But as usual, Rachel was stubborn and unrelenting. "Ross, I need to do this. I just need some time to clear my head and really feel right about whatever decision is made. I hope that you will use this time to rethink your position, and your motives behind it." She walked right past him with the suitcase and Lauren's diaper bag and took them to the car. She came back in and took Lauren from Ross, "Travis come give Mommy a kiss." Travis quietly gave her a hug and a kiss. Rachel handed Ross a piece of paper, "This is the hotel where I will be staying. Don't call unless it is an emergency. I will be home in time to go with you to the airport to pick up Nick on Friday. I should be ready to talk then." With that said she left.
Ross just stood there staring at the closed door. "I love you Rach." He said softly.
And now:
1 TOW Phoebe Gets Involved
The first day that Rachel was gone Ross moped around the house. He couldn't help but think that although he knew he was going in the right direction with this situation with his son that perhaps he wasn't being sensitive enough to Rachel. She was constantly on his mind; he loved her so much and couldn't bear to think that his decisions were tearing her apart emotionally. Ross had no idea that one of his best friends would make a decision that day that would change all of their lives forever.
Phoebe knocked on the door of the hotel room where Rachel and Lauren were staying. Rachel opened the door just enough to see who it was. "Oh, hi Phoebe."
"Rach, can we talk?" Rachel opened the door and let in her. "You look like hell."
"Well Lauren hasn't slept since we came here. She just fell asleep ten minutes ago out of sheer exhaustion so we'll have to whisper."
"That's fine." Phoebe sat on the edge of the bed and looked at Rachel very seriously, 'I want to adopt Nick and Jessie's baby."
Rachel stared at Phoebe open-mouthed, "What- what did you just say?"
"I want to adopt Nick and Jessie's baby. Let's face it I'm 45 years old I'm never going to have my own natural child now. My biological clock is ticking, ticking, ticking. This may be my only chance to ever have a child."
"But Pheebs, Mr. and Mrs. Moore have already selected another couple to adopt the baby. Ross and I had to go to court to get a temporary stay on the adoption proceedings until Nick comes back from Florida."
"I have already set up an appointment with Mr. and Mrs. Moore and Jessie. I am very serious about this Rachel but I wanted to make sure that you and Ross are going to be okay with this. And Nick too of course."
Rachel began to cry, "Phoebe, you are the greatest friend anyone could ever ask for. How loving and selfless of you…"
"Hey now, I'm not totally without reason for doing this and it is somewhat selfish."
"But if it doesn't work out, if the Moore's don't agree."
"We'll have to worry about that when we get there now won't we, if we get there."
Phoebe handed Rachel the phone, "Now call your husband and tell him to meet you here. You two have things to talk out."
"But Lauren-"
"Lauren will go for a ride with her Auntie Phoebe. She'll sleep right through it anyway. When you are ready to have her back just call me. And Monica is picking up Travis at school today so you really have no more excuses."
"Isn't Ross at work though? I mean I can't call him in the middle of class."
"Oh my God, Rachel, will you just call him? He is at home. He took a few vacation days because he is too emotional to be effective at work right now. If you don't call him I'm going to seriously hurt you."
Rachel dialed her home number and Ross answered on the first ring. She told him to come to the hotel she was ready to talk. When she hung up Phoebe picked the sleeping Lauren up and put her in her car seat. "Now go shower and get changed before your husband gets here. It will be easier to talk if you don't look like hell."
By the time Ross got to the hotel room Rachel was showered and in fresh clothes.
Ross knocked on the door and Rachel let him in. "Ross, sit down we need to talk." He sat down next to her on the bed and she took his hand in hers, "Phoebe came by this morning."
Ross looked all around the hotel room, "Rach, where is Lauren? Is something wrong?"
"It's okay sweetie, she's with Phoebe. She wanted us to have a chance to talk alone. And everyone's just fine so there's no need to worry. Now, I need to tell you something. Phoebe came by this morning and told me that she would like to adopt Nick and Jessie's baby."
"What?" Ross looked at her stunned, "What??"
"I know it freaked me out at first too a little bit, but Ross, sweetie this could be the perfect solution. Think about it our grandchild being raised by one of our best friends, we could watch him or her grow up Ross, and Nick could be involved a little too, if he wants to be."
"But what about the Moores? What about Jessie? This may not be what she wants. What about Nick? He may not want to put the baby up for adoption. He may decide he wants to keep it."
"Ross?"
"Yeah."
"Shut up."
Ross looked at her lovingly. "You're right Rachel, this could be the perfect solution. This could be the one way that everyone is happy." He hugged her, "I love you so much."
"I love you too." She kissed him, "I suppose I can go check out of this room and go home now that we've worked everything out. We will still need to discuss how we are going to bring up the subject with Nick. But we have another day or so to worry about that." She started to stand up and then realized something. "You know what Ross?"
"What?"
"We are all alone in an empty hotel room!" She winked at him, "What do you suppose we should do about that?"
"Ummm we could redeem the time?" Ross suggested.
"I can never say no to you." She laid down on the bed and pulled him on top of her. He kissed her intensely and they spent the afternoon making love.
Two days later Ross, Rachel, Travis, and Lauren went to the airport to pick up Nick. Rachel was a little nervous and she was pacing around the gate bouncing Lauren in her arms.
Ross laid his hand on her shoulder, "Rach come on the plane just got in. Stop making yourself so anxious everything is going to be fine." They walked over to the door of the gate where the passengers were starting to file out. They waited for what seemed like forever and finally Nick appeared. Ross walked up to him first and hugged him, "Welcome home son. We missed you."
Rachel threw her arms around him and cried. Nick looked helplessly at his Dad and then said, "Hi Mom. Hi Dad. I missed you guys too."
The ride home in the car was filled with conversation about all of the things that Nick did on his visit with his grandparents. The separation though long seemed to have done them all a world of good.
After Travis and Lauren were in bed that night Rachel, Ross and Nick sat at the kitchen table and had a serious conversation about the baby. "Nicholas, son, we need to how you feel about this baby. What role you want to take in the life of this child. Jessie and her parents have decided to give up this baby for adoption we need to know how you feel about that."
Nick swallowed hard, "Mom, Dad I love my baby I really do. But I want to be a kid. I realize that I made a mistake when I slept with Jessie and that the kid didn't ask to be born. I think that it would be unfair and selfish of me to prevent it from going to someone who really wants to have a baby. And I don't. Not right now, anyway."
Rachel's eyes welled up with tears, "That is the most mature, responsible thing I have ever heard you say Nick. I am so very proud of you son."
"Me too." Ross agreed.
"Nick, honey, your Aunt Phoebe came to us while you were in Florida and mentioned that she would like to adopt your baby. We would like to know how you would feel about her adopting your child."
"Really? Aunt Phoebe wants the baby, my baby? Seriously?"
"Seriously. She has made arrangements for all of us to meet with the Moore's this Saturday if you are okay with proceeding with this. But if you are not sure Nick, just say the word and it will get dropped. We don't want to pressure you into any decision that you do not feel ready for."
Nick thought for a moment and then he finally spoke, "I think it would be really great if Aunt Phoebe took the baby. I mean she would be a great Mom and I would never have to worry about the kid being mistreated or anything. It would be really cool!"
Ross smiled, "Then it is settled. We'll call her in the morning and tell her. But now let's all get some sleep."
Phoebe was overjoyed at Nick's decision. Saturday they all gathered at the Moore's house for the meeting. They were all seated around the living room eating appetizers and having drinks. Finally Mr. Moore set down his drink and said, "Okay Mr. and Mrs. Geller and Ms. Buffay it's obvious that this is not merely a social call. Especially considering that you've hired an attorney."
Phoebe smiled at them, "Mr. and Mrs. Moore I am Phoebe Buffay. I have been a friend of Ross and Rachel's for almost twenty years. I know that they have been a hard time deciding how to deal with the situation that their son has found himself in."
Mr. Moore interrupted, "Well, we all know how it could have been prevented."
Ross tried to maintain the civil tone in the conversation by immediately interjecting, "Mr. Moore, please we are not here to rehash what anyone could have done differently. We are here to talk about what we can do to make this situation work out happily for everyone and most importantly come to a decision that will be in the best interest of the child."
This is where Phoebe began again, "I would like to adopt Nick and Jessie's baby. I am past the age where I can have a child naturally and I have always wanted to be a Mother. I think this would be a great solution and one everyone would be happy with."
Mr. Moore interrupted, "Look Ms.Buffay, I appreciate your time but we have already found the parents for Nick and Jessie's baby. Now I am sorry to disappoint you but this meeting is really a waste of time."
Mrs. Moore surprised everyone by finally speaking, "Jacob, I think we should listen to what Ms. Buffay has to say. She is obviously trying to meet us in the middle here and I think it is time that we started trying to be a little more sensitive to the other grandparents in this baby's life."
Jacob Moore sighed heavily, "Fine, Marie, you are right. Ms. Buffay we will listen to you. Although, I can not promise you that it will change anything."
Several hours later, Ross, Rachel, Phoebe, and Nick left the Moore's slightly more optimistic than they were when they first arrived. Several days went by without so much as a word of their decision. Nick went to school and everyone else went to work and they jumped every time the phone rang hoping that they would get the answer they would be waiting for.
One night during dinner there was a knock on the door. Nick stood up, "I'll get it." At the door stood Jessie, "Hi Jess. Come on in."
Jessie came shyly into the kitchen and saw everyone sitting around the table, "Oh I am so sorry I have interrupted your dinner."
Rachel motioned for her to sit in the empty chair at the table, "Nonsense, have a seat. Would you like something to eat?"
"No thank you ma'am I've already had my dinner. I came over because I was hoping to talk to you about this adoption. I've given my parents my opinion about who I would like to see adopt this baby and I told them that I want to give her to your friend."
Nick dropped his fork onto his plate, "Did you just say her? Jessie is it a girl?"
"Yeah, I found out today! It's a little girl!"
Everyone cheered and hugged. "Well Jessie, that is very exciting news thank you for sharing with us what you are thinking."
This statement caused Jessie to burst into tears, "I am not sure my parents are going to listen me. Why won't they listen to me? They have treated me like this my whole life. I am just their puppet on a string with no feelings. This baby is my mistake and I should be allowed to help fix it."
Rachel hugged her, "You know what Jessie, I think you are a great Mom. You love your little girl so much and you are trying to do the right thing by her. And we want you to know that we will do whatever we can to help you."
"Thank you Mrs. Geller that really means a lot to me." Jessie stood up, "Well I better be going I've taken up enough of your time. Thanks again."
After Jessie left Ross looked at Rachel, "You know this little granddaughter of ours is very lucky. She has so many people that love her."
"Yeah she is." Rachel added, "Yeah she is."
About a week later the phone rang in the middle of the night and brought Ross and Rachel both out of a sound sleep. Rachel found the phone first "Hello?"
"Mrs. Geller?"
"Yes this is she."
"Mrs. Geller, it's Marie Moore. Have you seen Jessie?"
"No, I'm sorry I'm afraid we haven't seen her for a few days. Is everything all right?"
"Well not exactly. She's missing. She didn't come home tonight. I wanted to call you earlier but Jacob was being well, Jacob. Anyway, would Nick know where she is?"
"I can have Ross go ask him but her and Nick don't really see each other anymore. Hold on one second please, Marie." She covered the mouthpiece with her hand and said to Ross, "Jessie's missing, go ask Nick if he's seen her."
Ross got up and made his way down the hall to Nick's room. He flipped on Nick's light switch and gasped at what he saw. All of the drawers in Nick's dresser were opened, and his bed was empty….
TO BE CONTINUED
