When You Say You Love Me – Chapter 4
Disclaimer: Nope, they're not mine! It's such a shame. J The song/lyrics that inspired this fan fic are by Josh Groban.
As they exited from the restaurant, Rachel pestered Ross about her surprise that he had mentioned to her earlier.
"So, sweetie, what is it," she inquired. "Is it diamonds? Because you know, diamonds are a girl's best friend," she commented with a slight wink of her eye.
"Well, you'll just have to wait a tad bit longer," he answered her, gently guiding her down the sidewalk. "We're almost there."
"Ross, come on! Just tell me. You know how bad I am at waiting. I'm like a little kid at Christmas who will shake their presents."
"Okay, just wait a second." They stopped. "I want you to close your eyes."
"Ross!" she yelled. "This is silly. Why do I have to close my eyes? I'm going to crash into something if I do that."
"No you won't. I love you too much to let you do that. Just hold my hand and trust me."
With a sigh, she closed her eyes and place one of her hands over them. With her other hand locked in Ross's hand, they walked to the destination of her surprise. After getting there, Ross waited a few seconds before revealing the surprise to her.
"Okay, you can open your eyes now."
Rachel took her hand away from her eyes, opened them, with her jaw dropping open wide.
"Ross, oh my word," she breathed staring at the horse and carriage before her. There was a red carpet lined for a bit on the sidewalk for them to walk on before they got into the carriage. They walked up to the carriage, Ross getting in first, than helping her get in. When they sat down inside and as the carriage driver was rolling the carpet back up, Ross pulled out a bouquet of lilies.
"Aww, honey!"
"See, I told you this surprise would be special," he told her, planting a kiss on her head.
"Wow, this certainly is fit for a princess," she said, looking all thrilled.
"Well, it's fit for a princess. My princess. You're my princess."
"And you're my prince," she said with a laugh.
"Sir, where to?" the carriage driver inquired.
"Any special place you'd like to go, sweetie?"
"Anywhere is fine, sir." And with that, the horses began to trot through the streets of the city amidst the city life surroundings.
Slightly shivering, Rachel snuggled up to her boyfriend as the carriage trotted around the streets. Ross covered them with a blanket and they just sat, staring at the sights.
"I could do this forever," she softly professed.
"Do what forever?"
"This. Us…snuggling, the dinners, the kisses. I wish it could be forever."
"If you only knew I wanted it to be forever and make it forever," Ross thought to himself.
When you say love me
The world goes still, so still and silent
When you say you love me
For a moment there's no one else alive………
Shortly thereafter, the evening was over. The carriage brought them up to the apartment building of Monica & Chandler's apartment. After exiting the carriage, he walked Rachel up to the apartment. He couldn't leave her without saying goodbye, for he never knew if it'd be the last. As Rachel opened the door to Apartment #20, they walked in, careful to not disturb Monica and Chandler if they were already sleeping.
"Goodnight my love," they whispered to each other. Holding Rachel in his arms, Ross just gazed all over her. Her body was amazing. If he was a girl, he'd kill to look like her. Her eyes were the shape of faint ovals, with such a light color to them. Her nose, so slender and tiny. Her mouth, so tiny yet the object that spoke so many profound things to him, both now and in the past, both that he loved and hurt him. Her lips were just so luscious. With the deep red color she had painted them with earlier in the evening, they still stood out to him. Everything was just so luscious about her. He was taken aback when she suddenly pulled him in for a kiss.
"Goodnight sweetie. I gotta get to bed, for I have to get to work tomorrow earlier for my new orientation as head of the junior department."
Nodding his head, he gave her one last kiss and hug, and then slipped out of the apartment. As Rachel walked into her bedroom, she began to take off her jewelry and silently hummed to herself. Once in her room, she undressed and than got into her pajamas. As her head hit the pillow, she fell into a deep sleep. And during her deep sleep, she planned to think of nothing but one person, Ross.
Many hours later, as the sun shined into the apartment, Monica began to hustle around in the kitchen, getting breakfast ready. She knew Chandler would be leaving soon for a meeting. She knew that Joey would be over shortly, because without her cooking, he probably wouldn't eat. And of course, Ross usually came over in the morning to spend some time with everyone, especially Rachel. Shortly, Chandler appeared from their bedroom.
"Good morning, gorgeous," he said smugly while wrapping his arms around her as she stood at the stove. "That was some good lovin' last night!"
Monica giggled. She loved their relationship and knew it was sometimes envied by Rachel because she wished she had it as well. "I KNOW!"
"So, do you want to do it again tonight," Chandler said with a wink.
"You betcha, sailor. Now, what type of pancakes will it be today-plain, blueberries, or chocolate chip?"
"Chocolate chip!"
"Morning guys," Rachel said as she trotted into the kitchen. The lovebirds at the stove turned their heads.
"Hey Rach," Chandler called. "How was your date last night?"
"It was," she sighed, "magical."
Monica was curious as to what that big surprise was her geeky older brother had planned. So, she decided to press Rachel before she hurried to work for any juicy details.
"So," she began, "how'd it exactly go? Where'd he take you? What'd you do? What was the surprise?"
Rachel stared at Monica. "Monica, what is this, twenty questions? It's like playing that game with Phoebe where she asks you all those questions and you have to answer really fast."
"I'm just curious about how your date went. Can't a girl get a little gossip?"
"Gossip is bad, dear," Chandler doted.
"Hey, you watch the E! Channel! I wouldn't be talking," she shouted back.
"Okay, before this turns into a yelling tournament," Rachel intervened, "I'll tell you what happened."
Monica finished flipping the stack of pancakes and brought the plate over to the table, setting it down. She took a seat and settled in to listen.
"Well, it was beyond a perfect evening. We took a cab ride to Tavern on the Green. And in the restaurant, they had the most picturesque looking table set up for the two of us. Mon, he even remembered my favorite flower that embellished the table. Lilies. I told him that when we first went out and he remember it all along."
Monica smiled at her. "Well, you know Ross. He's told something, he remembers it like one of those boring old dinosaur facts that no one cares about but him and his geeky paleontologist friends."
Laughing, Rachel continued to tell about her night. "Well, he let me order anything on the menu; honestly, he said he didn't care about the cost. After ordering the wine and having some of it, he pulled me to the dance floor. And we just swayed. You know that feeling," she said, taking a pause, "that when you're so deeply in love with someone, you just feel safe and secure in their arms?"
Monica and Chandler looked at each other. "Yeah, I know what that's like," Chandler said as he gazed into Monica's eyes, "I felt that from the first time I danced with Monica."
"Well, it was just so…peaceful and serene. We danced for awhile until the food was ready. Then we enjoyed our meal and dessert. Afterwards, we walked away from the restaurant and he leaded me over to the surprise. He rented a horse and carriage to take us on a ride throughout the city."
"Wow, how romantic," Monica stated. "I can't believe he did that!"
"I know!" Rachel squealed. He even had a red carpet rolled out for us to walk on as we were going to the carriage to get in. The ride around the city was just magical. The entire evening was filled of magic. God, I couldn't have asked for a better day and night yesterday. Like, seriously, I've haven't been happier."
Monica glanced at her friend, who was just smiling as if she was starring in a toothpaste commercial. "I know. You look like you slept with a coat hanger in your mouth."
Chandler was just equally as thrilled for Rachel as Monica was. He knew all these past months as Rachel moped around, sad that she didn't have a boyfriend until New Years Eve when Ross and Rachel got back together, that there was a guy out there for her. She was one of his closest friends and that he related to well with his parents screwed up marriage and her parents' marriage as well. He wanted nothing more than for his wife, her brother, and the rest of their friends to be happy. "Well Rach," he uttered, "I'm happy for you. You truly look happy and that's all that matters."
Getting up from her seat, she gave his shoulder a squeeze. "Thanks, that means a lot. It really does." She looked up at the clock. "Oh shoot. If I don't leave now, I'm going to be late. Don't want to be late on my first day as head of juniors. Don't want to look bad. Bye you guys. See you later," she uttered while making her way to the door. "Oh Mon, if Ross stops over, tell him I'll give him a call later at work if I'm not too busy."
"I will do. Bye Rach, good luck!"
"Knock 'em dead," Chandler chimed in. The door shut and within two seconds, it reopened. Joey appeared and stood by the counter, rubbing his belly. "Got any food to eat?" he asked. Monica laughed and Chandler sighed as well. She got up to get him a stack of pancakes, to which when Joey saw them, he began to lick his lips in anticipation of the syrupy cake hitting his lips.
Meanwhile, down outside on the streets, Rachel began to walk to go get a cab. She quickly glanced at her watch, and was in a hush. She figured, "Well, it's only a few more blocks from here, I'll just briskly walk fast. Taking a cab might be too long with hailing it and all." So, she began to hurriedly make her way to the office. She didn't want to be late and make a bad impression, even though she already worked in another department at Ralph Lauren. She was extremely nervous for the new task she was going to have at hand, but she was confident and knew her friends had confidence in her that she'd succeed at this position. For after all, this was the dream job she dreamed of since she was a little girl and dressed up in her mother's dresses, pearls, and shoes. Everything seemed to be going smoothly for me lately, she thought as she looked both ways before crossing one street. In the midst of crossing the street, she heard someone scream, "Excuse me, Miss! Look out!!!"
Rachel turned around both ways to see who the person was screaming "look out!" to. She didn't realize they meant her. But it was too late to do anything. She saw a car with harsh headlights veering its way down the street. It hit her with such a force that she flew a few feet through the air and landed on the ground. A crowd of people gathered around her as the car that hit Rachel sped off, in hopes of avoiding the cops.
"Someone call 9-1-1," a man said, kneeling down to see if she was okay. A woman quickly pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and dialed the number.
"Hello, 911? Yes, this is an emergency. There's been an accident. We need an ambulance…" she trailed off, giving the rest of the details while the crowd of people swarmed around Rachel's body lying in the street.
"Ross…," she whimpered as she was clutching her own cell phone she had in her hand that she was going to use to call Ross as soon as she had crossed the street. She continued to softly whimper his name because she was hurt and she wanted him to comfort her. But than, all of a sudden, she stopped and blacked out.
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AN: Hope you liked this chapter! Sorry it got so long. But it was awhile since I last updated so I thought I might make this nice and long since I might not be able to make another chapter this weekend or not. Please read & review! Comments are appreciated! More chapters to follow. J