by Tina
You guys are so sweet, I love you! lol! :) Alright... before I begin this, I wanna say that I love Brazil. I've lived here my whole life (practicly) and I have a lot to be thankful for here. I'm very proud to say that, no matter what, my heart will always be brazilian ;) So I don't want anyone to take me wrong!!
Rachel's stomach was having a hard time keeping breakfast down that morning. As she laid in bed, she tried to somehow mentally make herself feel better. But her headache sure wasn't helping. Morning sickness? Sure, maybe. Or perhaps something else. Maybe all of it. Yeah, probably.
Agonised tears escaped from the corner of her eyes. She had been doing so well so far. So much for believing Dr. Long when she said the second pregnancy usually took it easier on you.
She rolled on her empty bed and sighed, closing her eyes.
Ross had gone off to work, but she had called in sick. She asked him to drop Mike at his little school, she wanted to be by herself. Maybe then she could at least try and think about everything that was going on. There was too much going on, it seemed.
But before she could think any further, she quickly ran up to the bathroom and vomited.
After splashing some water on her face at the sink, she looked up at the mirror with great disgust. She had black half rings under her puffy eyes, due the lack of sleep the past night. Her hair was a mess and she was now sweating.
Pregnant glow, yeah, right...
She carefully laid back down on the bed and, as a cue, the phone rang.
"Hello" Ross could tell how she felt by the tone of her voice.
"Hey sweetie..." But he still had to ask "You feeling better?"
"No?"
Ross sighed.
"I'm sorry..! Have you taken that thing Dr. Long told you to?"
"No, I'm too lazy to go downstairs" Ross chuckled and Rachel couldn't help but chuckle back. "I will, soon."
"Sorry, I wish I were there to help"
"That's fine"
A short silence followed.
"Well, I gotta go. I just called to see how you were feeling, really"
Rachel smiled.
"Okay"
"I'll try to be back early. Love you"
"Love you too"
She hung up and closed her eyes again.
Ross was so happy with this. It was painful for her to recognise it, but he had really got the chance of his life time. That was it. He had been chosen out of God knows how many people and that made her so proud. He was finally getting the recognition he deserved. The one even she and the other four always failed to give him.
Rachel then let herself imagine how different life would be in a new country. And what did she even know about Brazil? Hm, beaches? Carnival? Jungles and animals? Was she willing to sacrifice her dear life in the Unites States for the sake of her husband? Her wedding vows said yes, but in real life it seemed so hard.
Besides, he had said they wouldn't have to go if she didn't want to.
But would she ever be able to live with the fact of knowing that she had held him back? What sort of wife would do that? This just wasn't right.
Only leaving didn't feel right either.
Things going back to the way they were, that felt right. Was that too much to ask?
Yeah, probably.
She got up and went downstairs to take some medicine and try to eat some crackers.
"What?" Chandler accidentally dropped the hammer he was holding, causing a loud noise to rise. It made him jump up in a startle, a reaction that would usually be funny to watch. This time though, Ross was little amused by the scene. Snapping out of it, Chandler looked back at Ross "You guys are moving to Brazil?"
"No, no, we haven't made up our minds about that yet"
"Wow, this is crazy" Chandler's mind raced. First Joey and now Ross? And Rachel?
"I know" Ross looked down and sighed.
Chandler noticed his behavior. This must be a hard decision, he thought. Moving to another country was going to be hard, and making it happen would take so much more than just wanting it. He knew Ross couldn't let himself be selfish, and that was sure was the last thing his friend would do. He thought of what he would do if it was him in Ross' shoes. How would Monica handle it?
"When do you have to make up your mind?"
"Anytime untill the next three weeks"
"Well, that's a reasonable deadline" Chandler shrugged, not really knowing what else to say.
But not so much time if compared to that would come after it, so very much affected by his decision, Ross thought.
He sighed and sat down on a bench, at Monica and Chandler's garage. For some reason, Chandler had bought of bunch of tools and seemed to be wanting to built something. Ross was confused, but did not ask. He already had too much to worry about than his brother in law's new hobby. Chandler sighed and sat down across from him.
"Any ideas on what you're gonna do?"
Ross looked up.
"What kills me is that I really, really want this. But I don't want her to do this unless she wants to too"
"Yeah, I guess the decision is pretty much in her hands now" Chandler concluded.
Ross couldn't help but wonder.
"But what if she says no?"
"She'll know what's best, Ross. If she says no, then this is something you'll have to do for her. And uh, if she says yeah, this is something she will do for you."
Ross let that thought sink in.
"And she's to decide who should sacrifice?"
"Well, yeah. Fate will interfeer though." Chandler looked thoughtful for a while. Had he just said fate would interfeer? He needed a joke to steal focus of that! "Either that or, I don't know, a dime should do it"
Chandler pulled a coin out of his pocket and Ross shot him a look.
"Rachel, that's like, a whole new country!" Monica was swinging her wooden spoon up in the air madly, making Rachel rather frightened.
"No kidding"
Monica looked down and approached Rachel, stroking her hair. That was so surreal. Could Rachel be leaving her after all of those years? Would they stop seeing each other practicly everyday? She didn't know if she could bear another major change in their friendship.
"Have you guys decided anything yet?"
"No."
"And do you have any clue of what you're gonna do?"
"God, no..." Rachel looked down shortly "I know he really wants this, Mon, but what if doesn't work out? We need to consider everything here, right? I mean, there's you guys and our families. I really want Mike and the baby to be in touch with their family, and Ben and-"
"I'm sorry, "baby"?!" Monica cut her.
Rachel realised she hadn't told Monica about the baby yet and smiled for a while.
"I'm expecting, Mon"
"Aw, honey, that's so great!" Monica hugged Rachel just untill something came to mind. "And when exactly were you expecting to tell us? Or would you do like when you were expecting Mike, making Phoebe find your pregnancy test and making her tost on our fake baby during the wedding reception?"
( One of the things I was refering to when I said I started writing this after "The one with C&M's wedding")
Rachel smiled weakly, remembering that day.
"Okay, that was really funny!" she chuckled.
Monica simply shot her a look.
Later that night they were all gathered around the dining room, eating. Silence filled the air while Rachel cut Mike's steak into little bits and Ross watched. The child looked rather sleepy. Monica kept eyeing Chandler in a way that told him, or, better yet, demanded him, to say something, anything.
"So, hm, er, Mike! How was your nap?" was all Chandler could think of.
"Fine" he rubbed his eyes.
"Hm, good"
Chandler looked at Monica, defeated. But she did not take that as an answer and shot him a harder look. Chandler felt rather scared and sat up straight.
"So, a little bird told me about a certain job offer in Brazil!" he said brightly, getting a horror glare from his wife.
Ross and Rachel eyed each other.
"Who's going to Brazil?" Mike asked.
"No one's going to Brazil so far, okay, honey?" Ross quickly said at the sight of Rachel's visible discomfort.
"What job offer?" Mike insisted.
"Hm, daddy got a job offer there, but your mother and I haven't decided anything about it yet, okay?"
"Okay."
Rachel finished cutting Mike's pieces and looked back at her plate. She poked her food twice and then looked at Ross and Mike.
"Hm, I'm not really hungry, I- excuse me." she stood up and walked up to the kitchen. After a second, Ross excused himself and followed her.
Rachel put her plate in the sink and just stood there for a while. With a deep sigh, she got the water running, but was stopped by Ross' presence.
"You should eat something, Rach. At least for the baby" his voice was not demanding. It was sweet.
She turned around.
"I'm feeling kind of nauseous right now, actually. I'll try and eat something later, I'm not at my best today"
He nodded.
"Okay"
Rachel gave him a sad smile and sat down on the table, keeping her eyes on him.
"Hey, listen" he approached and knelt down in front of her, taking her hands. "I don't want things to be weird around us, Rach" Looking at her that very moment, Ross realised nothing in this world would be worth losing her "What I told you the other day still stands. I have what I want, okay? Sure, I would love that job and all, but it just wouldn't be worth it if you were unhappy"
She smiled differently now. Hearing his sweet words always pulled her up in a better mood.
How could she say no to that?
How could she deny something to that man?
Disregarding all of her previous thoughts, she started giving in.
Being taken away by the moment, by the wish to please him, she started thinking things through.
Or did she really?
People move away like that all the time, it shouldn't be too hard. They were still young, they'd have a lot of new things to look foward. And she had a good job in the US, sure, but she could get another one, right? It was not the end of the world! She'd miss her friends and of course they could never be replaced, but she could also make new ones.
Things could be simple.
Rachel leaned in and kissed Ross. When they parted, he still spotted a thoughtful look on her face.
"You really think this is gonna turn our lives around, don't you?"
She thought about what he asked.
"Yes"
He looked down and kissed her hands.
"But..." she closed her eyes and sighed "Let's do it"
Ross quickly looked up.
and if she's beside me I know I need never care,
But to love her is to meet her everywhere,
Knowing that my love is to share..."
Not particulary crazy about this chapter, but I promise things are gonna get more interesting next one. This was only stuff I had to add in order for the story to work better later :) Notice that some of the stuff I said there were things Rachel was thinking, not the "truth". You'll see what I mean later.
Oh, at the end, a piece of 'Here There and Everywhere' by the Beatles. I screamed out loud here when they played it on Phoebe's wedding :) Anyway... ah, reviews, please? :D