Part 2

"Mommy, do you love daddy?" Mattie quizzically asked his mom.

Rachel looked at her curious son and smiled, "Why are you asking me that?"

"Because..." thinking if he should continue, "because I heard you the other night..."

Rachel frowned and concentrated on her son, "Heard me?"

"Yah, you were talking to daddy on the phone and-"

"And you said that you still love him," Justin said cutting his younger brother as he entered the room.

Rachel blushed in panic...she knew showing affection to her ex-husband in front of the children would bring up their hopes. She hated it, but she couldn't stop it. Ross never stopped expressing his love for Rachel, even though they're separated. It sometimes annoys Rachel because he broadcasts everything in his interviews.

"Honey, I will always love your daddy." Rachel tried to excuse what they just heard.

Mattie arched his eyebrow and looked intently at his mom. "So are you gonna get back together?"

"Mattie, it doesn't mean that just because I told him I love him, everything will be okay between us!"

"Do you love uncle Tom too?"

"Justin, uncle Tom's different."

"How is he different?" Rachel ran her fingers through her hair.

Explaining grown up stuff to her children was not easy at all. "He's just- different! He's not your dad."

Coming from a broken family, Rachel vowed to herself that she would do everything to make her marriage work. She hated the situation. She and her two younger sisters lived with their mom then with their dad every vacation. It was easier for her to understand because she was already a teenager then, but Amy and Jill didn't at all. Her father was a doctor, she hardly saw him at home. But she was very grateful for Leonard, because he supported them until they grew up. Rachel considered acting as a method of releasing her pains and sorrows in life. She never thought she would be very good at it!

Rachel loved her father dearly. Amongst all Leonard's daughters, he felt connected to his eldest the most. She didn't tolerate her father's lack of time and womanizing, but she focused on his accomplishments as a father. In the first place, Leonard and Sandra were never in good terms… their relationship was a hopeless case. Rachel was actually glad that they separated, 'at least they can stop killing each other!'

Rachel massaged her temples and rested her head on the cushion of the lounge chair. Getting Emma to sleep wasn't easy. She had so many questions to ask, too many for one tired person to answer at eleven o'clock in the evening. She slowly opened her eyes upon hearing footsteps that approached her direction, "Honey, why are you still up?"

Justin yawned and sat next to his mom, "I went to get some water."

Rachel sat up and snuggled to her eldest son, something she missed doing... he was growing up so fast. On the other hand, Justin didn't mind since no one was there to see them.

"Mom, how did you and daddy meet?"

Rachel looked down at her son, "Why are you guys interested in me and your father all of a sudden?"

"I dunno, I guess we just miss having you guys together and stuff... like when you guys used to tell us funny stories... when daddy drank animal fat for you, and- and when grandpa Green gave him a hard time, and calling him wet head?" Justin smiled and looked down at his dangling feet. 'Fun memories,' he recalled.

Rachel kissed the top of her son's head, "Okay, okay. But after this, you better go to sleep already!"

Justin looked at her and smiled, agreeing to his mother's condition.

"Aunt Monica and I were great friends when we were in high school. We both studied in Lincoln High."

"Where's that?" interrupting Rachel.

"That's in New York. When Grandpa and Grandma Green were still together, we lived in New York. I met your father through your aunt, but-"

"Did you like him then? How did he look?" Justin eagerly interrupted again.

Rachel pinched her son's nose, "No questions first please!" and smiled at him.

Justin simply nodded and paid attention to his mom.

"Your dad looked like you and Mattie, except that his hair was really curly, and he looked really geeky. But he was a handsome geek..."

Justin laughed.

"Aunt Monica and I got really close, but I hardly saw your daddy. When we left for college, we lost contact with one another. I completely forgot about your dad. I didn't even know he pursued acting until I became an actress. We did 'Kudos' together, do you remember that?"

"Uhuh," he intently replied, remembering the movie he once watched which included both his parents. He was engrossed to his mother's story and urged her to continue.

"I stumbled upon him again there, and we became close friends. We were still young then, I think I was around 22 or 23 years old. Then I met Aunt Monica again, who was then studying in a culinary school in San Francisco. We hardly saw each other but we talked on the phone almost every night. After a few years, they got me to star in a romantic movie with your daddy as my leading man. From then on, we got closer, fell in love, and eventually got married… and had three kids."

"Then why did you separate?"

Rachel made a face and tickled her son, "You promised that you'll sleep after I tell you the story!"

Dying of laughter, Justin replied, "Moooom! Okay fine... Goodnight!"

Hugging her son tight, she kissed the top of his head, "Goodnight honey... Sleep tight and don't forget to pray, okay?"

"I love you mom!"

"I love you too," Rachel quietly replied watching her son go up the stairs.

It was one of those lonely nights again. When she had no filming or event to attend to, she stayed home with her kids. Her favorite spot in the house would be the lounge chair in the living room. It faces a huge glass window that has the perfect view of the blue ocean by day and the sea of stars by night. It was the perfect place to rest and think. Not so long ago, her husband used to carry her from the chair to their bedroom whenever he'd come home from work and catch her there asleep. Ross was used to this kind of manner; it was a 'Rachel thing.'

Rachel woke up and found Emma burrowed next to her on the bed. She sat up and found Mattie lying down on the edge of the bed near her foot. This was part of their weekend routine. All three children would be at Ross' at the start of the weekend and come home the night after. And finding Mattie on the edge of the bed, Emma nuzzled next to Rachel and Justin on the foot of the bed was no longer a surprise every Sunday morning. They usually have lunch out, sometimes with Ross, and homework starts right after that.

One thing Rachel's proud of is that she and Ross was able to keep their friendship, if not their marriage. At first, it was for the sake of the children... until it was for their own sake.

"Mummy, what are we doing today?" Emma asked as soon as she saw her mother awake, "Daddy said we can eat in Chevy's today. Can we? Please? I want a burrito! Then he said we can visit Grandpa after..."

Rachel yawned and stretched her arms; she was surprised that Ross was consistently making plans for them for the past few weeks, although she was enjoying his company. Despite his tardiness most of the time, she was happy he was spending more time with the kids.

"Mommy?" Emma whined again.

Rachel finally shot her youngest a look, "Sweetie, I have to talk to daddy first, okay?"

Emma nodded and sighed in contentment.

Emma never fails to ask questions. It was normal for a child her age to be curious about everything, especially with her situation. Her parents separated when she was only four years old, and still, she was too young to understand what was really going on. All she knew was that her daddy left because he and her mommy kept on fighting. Then eventually, Ross and Rachel deepened the meaning of their separation by explaining that yes they were still a family, but they had an incomplete family.

Emma looks more like her mom. They both have blue eyes, dirty blonde hair, cherry-colored thin lips and the same significant chin. The only traces of Ross' genes are the puppy-dog eyes that Emma possesses, and his distinct nose. She always reminds Ross of Rachel when he's with her because not only do they look alike, the way she carries herself was so 'Rachel.' Though, Emma has Ross' sense of humor and his intellectual awareness. With her, it isn't unusual to have a meaningful conversation with a six-year old.

Yet having a third child was not included in Ross and Rachel's plan. Ross always wanted a lot of kids, but Rachel only wanted two. They knew having children wouldn't be easy because of their work... especially their schedule. At the beginning of their marriage, they hardly had time for each other. So they planned to start a family two years after the wedding.

They never considered Emma as an 'accident,' rather she was a blessing in disguise. They both wanted a girl, but upon seeing that their second and hopefully last child was a boy, having a third child was a pending choice.

Emma is the baby of the family. Rachel paid attention to her most of the time because she had the least time having a 'complete' family. Unlike Justin and Matthew, Emma wasn't able to leave the country with her parents. Basically, she wasn't able to experience many things with Ross and Rachel together, and if ever she did, she couldn't have remembered them.

Rachel remembered the day she and Ross found out the sex of their third child. They couldn't stop smiling when they were told they were having a baby girl.

"Ruthie?" Ross suggested while driving home from the hospital.

"No! Isabel?" Rachel proposed.

"Emily?"

"Honey, I don't want to name our child after one of your ex-girlfriends!"

"What's wrong with Emily? It's a nice name... we can call her Emmy or..."

Rachel considered his choices but they just didn't sound right.

"Emmy? Then why didn't you name one of our sons Oscar then? Or Tony? You might as well just name her The People's Choice Award!" she snapped.

"Did you just get a fresh batch of hormones today?"

"Ross seriously, come on! Your suggestions don't even suit our child!"

Ross impatiently tapped his fingers on the steering wheel, he just couldn't stand her mood swings sometimes. "Okay fine... why don't you just ask Monica. She's an expert on that. I'm sure she even knows what her children's children's names are gonna be."

Arguing with Ross was the last thing she wanted to do that day. She hated the unpleasant sides of being pregnant... "I will..."

Monica knew exactly the perfect name that will suit her brother and best friend's daughter... 'Emma,' she thought. Rachel loved the name. It was so simple but cute.

"Emma... I love it!" she exclaimed. Ross liked it too; it was similar to Emily anyway.

"Do not call our child Emmy, or you'll never hear the end of it!"

Ross sighed in exasperation, 'it's been a day... let it go!' he wanted to say. "Okay, so it's just plain old Emma?"

"I wanted the name Isabel... but it would sound weird! Emma Isabel? People will start calling her Emmabel and-"

"Okay, okay," Ross said cutting her, "then we'll just name her Emma."

Rachel looked at him dissatisfied. Ross knew her mood was about to take another swing when she frowned. "Ross, I don't want- "

Ross cut her by kissing her on the lips, which she unexpectedly responded to. When they broke the kiss, Rachel smiled and said, "I want her name to be Emma Charlotte Green Geller!"

"Hmmm.. Sounds fine to me!" Ross replied and leaned for another kiss. He touched Rachel's stomach and caressed its round bump. "So we're having a Baby Spice?"

Rachel gleamed in annoyance. Upon seeing his wife turn red, he simply took it back and kissed her once more.

"Miss Green, it's Mister Geller on the phone," a Latin-looking maid handed Rachel the phone.

"Hello?" Rachel answered while drying her hair. "Chevy's? It's fine but I think we should go at around two so there will be less people?" listened and agreed, "Okay, we'll see you then. Bye!" hearing Ross' farewell reply, she smirked and turned off the phone. She handed it back to the nanny, "Anita, please tell the children that we'll be having lunch in Chevy's."

Anita nodded and left.

Rachel stared at herself in the mirror. Staring at her own ocean blue pair of eyes, she began pulling back the tiny wrinkles that formed at the corner of her eyes. 'I'm getting old...' she sadly thought to herself.

4 Years ago...

"Honey I told you, you don't look your age," Ross commented as he saw Rachel staring at herself in the mirror.

"You're just saying that to make me feel better," Rachel replied pulling back the corners of her eyes.

"Rach, believe me," wrapping his arms behind her, "You don't look 33."

Rachel leaned her head on Ross' chest and began rubbing his arms, "Would you leave me if for someone younger if you thought I looked old?"

Ross giggled and rested his head on the crook of her neck, "Rachel, even if you looked as old as my Nana, I wouldn't leave you!"

"You're just saying that!"

Ross tilted his head and looked at her from the mirror, "You don't believe me?"

Rachel smiled at him, "No because you're too good to be true!"

Ross mischievously looked at her. She knew what was about to happen. He scooped her from behind and carried her to their bed. He lay on top of her and began kissing her all over the face. When Rachel was about to kiss him back, he pulled his head back teasingly, "You said I was too good to be true?"

Annoyed, Rachel shot him a look, "Should I take it back?"

He chuckled and shook his head, "No, I prefer being called that." He slowly lowered his head and kissed her passionately.

Rachel blankly stared at herself in the mirror. 'Time flies so fast...'

Her daydreaming came to an end when she heard a loud scream outside her room. She ran to open the door and found her daughter running frantically around the second floor. "Honey what's wrong?"

Emma stopped and looked at her worried mother intently, "Mommy there's a cockroach."

Highly relieved, Rachel approached her daughter and knelt down. "Ems, you don't scream. You call Anita or any of the other maids here to help you."

Emma blushed and looked down as if she had something to say. Justin appeared from his room carrying a bat.

"Justin what are you doing with that?" Rachel quizzically asked her son.

"Emma said there was an emergency and told me to bring a bat. What happened?"

"She saw a cockroach."

Emma dejectedly looked at her brother, "I'm sorry!"

And less than 30 minutes later, the doorbell rang.

Emma ran to her mom's bedroom, hiding inside a cabinet. Seeing what just happened, Rachel went down and inquired who it was.

"Madam, it's señor Ross," said Anita.

Ross finally entered wearing sweats and a large sweater with a just-got-out-of-bed hairstyle.

He alarmingly looked at Rachel, "What happened?"

Rachel frowned and looked at him, "What do you mean 'What happened?'"

"Emma called me and said there was an emergency. Is she okay? Did anybody get hurt?"

Rachel rolled eyes, "She just saw a cockroach!"

Once again, Ross proved his duty as a father. He was used to Emma's shallow 'emergencies,' but he never failed to show up even though it was an hour, a day, or a week late- he was her hero.. he was THEIR hero.