"Yeah, and shortly before the ceremony started, Chandler got cold feet
and ran off. But you and Pheebs found him and everything turned out
fine." Rachel looked at Ross, and his expression indicated that he was
very exhausted. "This is probably a good place to stop for tonight."
She stated, firmly, but also gently, pressing on his shoulder to
persuade him to lay down on the pillow. Ross nodded, and yawned.
Rachel smiled and pulled the covers over him.
"Rach," Ross said, suddenly panicking. "This has helped a lot, but I
still don't remember everything. I mean wha-what if my memory really
never does come back?" He stammered, sounding ready to cry again.
"Shh, shh." Rachel whispered, soothingly stroking his hair off of his
forehead. "Honey, it will, I promise. Everything will be back to
normal soon, just give yourself some time. For now, what you need it
to get some rest."
Ross sighed and nodded, closing his eyes. Rachel held his hand until
his breathing became slow and steady. Then she leaned down and kissed
his cheek.
"I love you," she whispered, wishing more than anything that she could
say those words so he could hear them. But this wasn't the time. She
hadn't even gotten to telling him about Emma yet. She was glad that
they had stopped at the pending point of that occasion. This would
have been too much for him to take in tonight.

Rachel slowly walked back to the waiting room to find everyone but
Chandler sound asleep. It was then that she realized how much time she
had taken.
"Oh, I'm so sorry, I completely lost track of time." She whispered,
sitting down next to Chandler.
"It's okay, it is 4 am, and we're quite comfortable."
Rachel smiled, and looked upon the sleeping newborn boy in his arms.
"So this is Jack?"
"This is him."
"Here, why don't I take him. You look ready to drop yourself," she
requested, holding out her arms. Chandler complied, and Rachel cradled
the baby boy, observing the same hypnotic beauty Emma had possessed as
a newborn. Chandler rested his head back against the wall with his
eyes closed.
"How is he?"
"As good as can be expected. He'll really need us all right now. The
reason I was in there so long was that I was giving him a play-by-play
of everything that's been happening in the past five years."
"Uh, did you happen to add the time when I accidentally parked myself
on his dad in that steam room?"
Rachel laughed as quietly as she could. "You're nuts if you think I
would even consider leaving that out." Then she got serious. "I
actually just finished with your's and Mon's wedding. That means Emma
is next. I wonder how he'll take it."
"Well, to be honest, Rach, Ross has always been dodgy about his
paternal skills. This may be a real jolt for him."
"Yea, that's what I'm worried about. But he does deserve to
know, and it will sound wrong coming from anyone else. I love him so
much, Chandler."
"Yeah, I can tell. I mean, you actually sacrificed your Paris
mission for him." Rachel looked at him, and then down at the baby,
knowing that Chandler was right. It wasn't until she had heard those
immortal words from Ross that she was brought into the light and saw
how downright selfish she had been all along. Now, she kept asking
herself, what exactly had prompted her to consider going off to Europe
in the first place? Sure she had been given a magnificent opportunity,
but how had it been worth resolving to leave her friends, who had been
her life and support for so long? She shook her head, not believing
she could ever love this man enough.
Minutes later, Rachel felt Chandler's head fall on her shoulder,
and she decided to allow her self a short sleep as well. Before doing
so, she smiled down at baby Jack Bing.
"You really picked an momentous day in your aunt Rachel's life
to be born."