by Tina
I'm sorry if some of you didn't get the whole scenery from the first installment. I guess it's not pretty clear, is it? Just clearing it up: Ross and Rachel got back together right after Rachel announced her pregnancy, therefore the Joey thing never happened. Mike's supposed to be Emma (as I said, I started this after watching The one with Monica and Chandler's wedding and, even though I'm changing some initial ideas and adding things that happened after that on the show, I'm gonna keep things I planned since the beginning. One of them is the baby being a boy. The other things will come with time).
And thanks for being so supportive guys, your reviews pull me up in such a great mood! :D And also push me into writing more and more!
Rachel clutched her blood exam which confirmed her pregnancy in one hand and Ross' hand on another. They were leaving Dr. Long's office after the first apointment after lunch break with shameless smiles on their faces. She watched the other pregnant women sitting down on the waiting room as they moved towards the door, some with fully grown bellies, some with subtle three months bumps. All equally beautiful.
Ross politely said goodbye to the atendant with an enthusiasm Rachel labelled as fresh.
They entered the elevator that seemed to be waiting for them and pressed the button to the ground level.
Happiness radiated from them. Words were not necessary, the simple brightness on their eyes said it all. They were beaming with joy and the corner of Rachel's lips were starting to ache. But she couldn't help it. And didn't even want to try.
He leaned in and kissed her forehead respectfully. She wrapped her arms around him and sunk into that simple act, as if it was the deepest sign of affection for the time being.
"You going back to the university?"
"Yeah, still got a couple of classes to teach and students to talk to" he kissed her hair "Never thought I'd say this again, but midterms are a bitch"
Rachel laughed out loud.
"When have you ever said that before?"
"It's an expression" he shrugged, embarassed.
She chuckled into his chest, adoring his ways.
The door opened at their floor and they stepped out, heading towards the exit.
"You going home?"
"Yeah, I need to pick up Mike and I promised him I'd take him to the park. Wanna butter him up real nice before we tell him about the baby tonight"
Ross smiled as if it was the first time he was hearing about the pregnancy. In always seemed like it was.
They stopped by a cab.
"Alright, I'll see you later then"
"See ya!"
They kissed and each took a different path. Ross walked to NYU, it wasn't far. Rachel took the cab to the parking lot where she left her car every morning. After years of work at Rauph Lauren, Rachel now took a better position at Gucci. When it hit the point when she knew she wouldn't get any much further at her previous job, she had to jump off.
She was daring and so in love with fashion.
Though it seemed careless, she quit when she found out she was pregnant. She had saved enough money to mantain herself despite Ross' protests to chip in, so she waited untill she was ready to be back. All her unactive time, though, was filled with studies. She had to run after the great things to fill her CV. She owed that to her son. She had to get herself a better job, for him. They'd be independent and need no one.
No one?
Sure she needed Ross, she could not deny that. But just the feeling that she could support herself if something came to happen was comforting enough. She'd already endured too much to be sure about anything. It wouldn't hurt to be prepared now, would it?
The hard work had indeed paid off. Her new job was promising, she was rising like oil on water at the new office. Not just she had the power, she also had the respect. Her opinion was always asked, her decidions never questioned. Simply because she was good at it. Plainly for that.
The recognition and generous paycheck were only a match to the fact Rachel could make her own hours. She just worked down at the city part time. After her lunch break, she picked up Mike from his little school and tried getting as much work as she could at home. Sure these days that was no problem, with a laptop and a mere DSL conection everything seemed possible.
Ross closed the door of his office after himself. He was exausted by the end of his second class. Though teaching seemed like a good idea at first, after many years it seemed like he couldn't take it anymore. This is ridiculous, he thought. Weren't he the one who loved rambling on about dinosaurs, trying to share his knowledge with his friends, much to their displeasure? It wasn't the lack of interest, this time, that wore him off. Even though some, maybe most, of the students were there just to get their credits, there were still those whose eargerness to learn inspired him.
Yeah, maybe before.
Now, Ross hopelessly watched them exasperated. He didn't want to be there anymore.
Rachel's career turn around had inspired him, he had to admit it. It must'd taken a lot of guts from her, though, he concluded as his belly quickly filled with nervous butterflies and he felt rather nauseous at the simple thought of doing the same. He was the sort of guy who needed stability. Besides, he had a family to think about, to support. He couldn't allow himself to make mistakes, to be careless.
But at the end of the day, would misery be the way to achieve responsability?
He gathered his notes scattered around his desk still merged into his questions. He still had to talk to a few students about their grades. "Heck, I should just fail them and call it a night". His carelessness scared himself.
Had Ross secretly learned how to perform telepathy?
"Professor Ross Geller?"
Ross quickly turned around and surprisedly faced Dr. Luprano. He was so deep in thought he had never even heard the door open. It was a surprise, he had only met Dr. Luprano at a few cocktail parties thrown by the university. He was the headmaster, the Mr. Big Shot, if you will.
"Dr. Luprano, hi."
"You can call me James, Ross"
Ross smiled at the warm expression Dr. Lup- hm, James, had on his face. What could this possibly be about?
James' eyes, aged by his 65 years, quickly wandered around Ross' neat office. He spotted a framed picture and picked it up.
"Ah, Rachel is truly beautiful" Ross raised his eyebrows quizzically. He never even knew James knew his wife's name. "All the other Professors around here have an eye on her, I'd be careful if I were you" he joked and Ross smiled.
"Nothing to worry about, Sir. She's got enough lecturing to be bored for a century with me, I don't think she'll look around for any more of that"
James laughed and put the picture down, still gazing at it.
"And the boy, what's his name again?"
"Mike" Ross replied, starting to get confused by where this small talk was leading them to.
"Right, little Mike"
James looked up and knowingly nodded.
"I bet you're wondering what I'm doing here talking about your lovely young family"
Ross again smiled, amazed by the simplicity he never expected from Dr. James Luprano. He couldn't help but chuckle. Whatever was going on, it didn't seem like it was going to be a bad thing.
Yet, who had decided upon a definition for that?
Ross turned the engine of his car off and stared straight ahead for a few more minutes. So many questions. Snapping out of it, he turned the headlights off and had no hurry gathering up his things. He fought, but couldn't help but smile. He chucked audibly and shook his head, feeling embarassed for his silly behaviour, alone at the garage.
When he entered the kitchen, Rachel was finishing setting the table. She looked at him and smiled.
"Hey. Dinner will be right out. Monica made us a lasagna. Sort of a way to thank us, really. Her babysitter's here with the twins, aparently Monica couldn't trust her alone with the babies, so she's supposed to be babysitting for an experimental basis over here for a while" she rolled her eyes "Go figure!" Rachel ignored the thought that she too was resistant to trusting Mike to unknown people.
He just looked at her.
"What?" she smiled and blushed "What is it, why are you looking at me like that?" Ross shrugged and Rachel chuckled "Well, stop it"
"I can't"
Rachel couldn't explain how she still felt like a teenager sometimes around Ross. Though they had outgrown imaturity, these sweet details remained to remind them of how great they were together.
"Daddy!"
Mike rushed in at the sound of his father's voice and hugged his legs. Ross pulled him up and shook him jokingly. The child's laughter just pushed Ross into playing more, saying nice things to his son. Rachel chuckled watching. Ross seemed to be so happy with the baby news. Possibly even more than she had expected.
But was that all?
"Oh, that's enough Mikey, you're getting too big for me"
Ross put Mike down and Rachel stood behind him.
"Or maybe you're getting too old for him" she whispered into his ear.
He looked back at her and gave her a sarcastic look. Quickly he leaned in and stole a kiss from her. She giggled.
"Do you wanna... tell him now?" she whispered.
Ross got a serious look, which she noticed.
"Actually, I wanna talk to you before"
"Okay" silence followed "Now?"
"Could be now, yes"
She smiled worriedly, this seemed important.
"Mike, could you go and be with your cousins and Lindsay for a while? Dinner will be right done"
"Okay"
Still breathless, Mike left.
"So...?"
Ross took Rachel's hand and both sat down on the table, facing each other.
"This is big, Rachel"
Rachel blankly blinked.
"Good big or...?" she trailed off.
"Could be good. Or just..." he shrugged "not so much of a big thing. Not a bad thing, though"
"Okay" she sighed in relief. "What is it?"
"I uh... I got a job offer. No, no, actually... an amazing job offer"
Rachel allowed her muscles to stretch her lips as much as her skin let them.
"That's great, such a great timing! I mean, with the baby and the fact you were getting frustrated at the universitiy!" she leaned across the table and kissed him proudly. "I'm so happy for you, sweetie." Ross was smiling, but seemed too quiet. "What is it, what will you be doing?"
"It's a new Museum of Natural History they're opening, they want me to run it" even Ross couldn't believe his words.
Rachel gasped.
"This is amazing. They've picked you?"
Ross chuckled.
"Is it that hard to believe?"
Rachel covered her mouth with her hands, though Ross knew she was smiling. She removed them to talk.
"No, but this is so great for you. You deserve this so much, after all the hard work and studies.." she beamed with pride.
Ross smiled, giddy.
"This is really, really big, Rachel" she just smiled wider "But there is a but..."
That didn't scare her. Whatever it was, had to be worth it! Anything would be to keep Ross this happy.
"What?" she was still smiling.
His gaze drifted to the floor.
"We have to move to Brazil"
Her smile was still there. Then it lost strengh. It faded slowly and Rachel was left with a blank sight once again.
"What?"
"The museum. It's in Rio de Janeiro. We'd have to live there"
Rachel was still lost. Her lips were now parted, but she couldn't say a word.
"Dr. Luprano said that I had the knowledge they needed, plus we're young, starting our family, we'd fit in fine"
She couldn't believe his words.
"Plus, as I said, this is huge... We're gonna have the biggest paleontology department in the whole South America and-"
Her eyes windened up.
"You said 'we'" she interrupted his words.
"What?"
"You said 'we're gonna have the biggest paleontology department'" he looked at her. "You've already made this decision, haven't you?"
"No, Rachel. This is something we'll both think about, alright? We're in this together. You, me and Mike." he paused "And the new baby"
Rachel looked down.
"Brazil?" he also looked down "That's like.... a new country, Ross. It's a different language, different people and, oh, I- I don't know. Mike will have to learn it all again and- God, and us!"
"He'll be fine Rachel, he's so smart...! And you won't have to worry about speaking Portuguese, there will be support for us there, okay?"
"Oh God..." Rachel looked away, getting teary eyed.
"Hey, honey, come here." he hugged her tight "We don't have to do this if you don't want to.
She broke the hug and looked into his eyes.
"But you do."
Silence filled the kitchen.
"Yes..." His guilt for wanting this so much couldn't let his voice be too strong.
I was going to write more, but then I'd have to rush things a little. I'll leave here and try to develop the whole thing better later :) Still, I think next chapter will be too small! But anyway... what do you think so far? I still got major-major plans for this! Reviews are so welcome!