by Tina
To make up for the days he wouldn't atend to work - he worked saturdays and on friday would only drop by the museum due to their trip - Ross had scheduled all his meetings to that thursday. Since he wouldn't be home anytime soon, Rachel made plans with Flávia. It was a nice and quiet day. They went shopping, for a change, with the kids and Rachel even tried polishing up the little Portuguese she knew. Flávia smiled, it was something she seemed reluctant to do before.
Flávia also filled her with tips on what to do in Petrópolis and what places to visit, restaurants to dine. Rachel wasn't surprised to notice they all seemed to be programs for two. Preferably, for two people involved in a loving relationship.
But Rachel didn't point that out. She just repeated those names out loud and tried to remember them.
Not that she'd actually need them, but...
As soon as they got home, Rachel started packing. She seemed to disconsider the fact that it was winter. It was rather hot by the beach, yes, but it was bound to be chilly up in the mountains, where they were heading to. Thankfully, for usual precaution, she packed a couple of long sleeves among her tops and low cut jeans.
Ross came home at night with dinner and a couple of movies for the kids. Rachel smiled at Ross when she saw the title of one of them: Weekend at Bernie's. It was just the perfect ending for that day. Just as nice and cozy as it had all been.
The next morning, while Ross was at the museum, Rachel left the kids watching the second movie so she could pack their bags. At noon, Ross came home and they had lunch. At one o'clock sharp, they were in Ross' black Toyota HiLux, which Rachel didn't even know he had, heading to Petrópolis. For the way they were prepared, it looked as if they were heading for a days-long road trip, even though it was only a one hour drive. Thankfully, since Ella kept asking from her new car chair "are we there yet?" every ten minutes.
Ross put on a CD with brazilian music. Rachel didn't understand everything, but she could make out some of the words here and there. It was soothing and relaxing.
"Se eu pudesse roubar as gotas de luar que vi brilhar nos olhos teus, guardava aquele encanto para enfeitar meu pranto na hora do adeus..."
She looked out the window and was pleased to see the city shrinking. Rio was full of trees, surrounded by many hills and invaded by the sea. But the beach was now far behind. They were going up the hills a the number of trees was only increasing. Though the air conditioner was on, she could also feel the air difference. It was just seemed so different when she was not there.
"Sei que muito breve, tu irás me esquecer. Eu sei que eu vou sofrer, por culpa da minha paixão. Eu devia te deixar, mas vou continuar pra castigar meu pobre coração..."
Ross was sinking into the song, thinking 'how appropriate'.
"I spy with my little eye something starting with a... P!" Mike was still insisting on playing as they hopped off the car.
"A dog!!" Ella answered.
Mike shot her an annoyed look.
"That's a D, Ella"
"A cat!!"
"Still not a P!"
"A lion!!" she was persistent.
"Mom!!" Mike's voice was exasperated.
Ross smiled as he unbuckled Ella from her chair.
"Words that start with P go 'p'" Ross tried to produce a sort of "deaf" sound of the letter P.
"A piano?"
"Yes!" Ross said.
Ella smiled.
"I won!!"
"No, that's not the word!"
"Daddy said so!"
Ross felt all fuzzy inside hearing her call him 'daddy'. Mike, on the other hand, didn't look too pleased himself.
"No, he said you got the letter right!"
"You lost!" Ella giggled.
Mike shot her a look and she ran to her mother's arms, still giggling uncontrolably. Rachel simply smiled and they entered the reception.
It was a nice and small inn. Nevertheless, still very fancy, for Rachel's standards. And that said a lot. The reception was like a livingroom, only there was a traditional reception table in one corner. The whole floor and ceiling were covered in bright hard wood and the furniture, walls and curtains were imaculate white. A nice older woman was at the desk. Ross aproached and Rachel stood near with the kids.
She heard him speak.
No. Her Portuguese must be really bad. Had she heard him ask for the Ross Geller booking, a bed with two singles and one with a master bed? She was almost positive she'd heard him say a room for a couple. Casal, that's how you say it! That's how he said it! That's how they'd say to get a room whenever they were in a hotel.
She panicked.
Quickly, he came back to answer her silent questions.
He handed her a key.
"Here, it's for you and Ella. In such short notice I could only book you guys a master bedroom, I hope that's okay."
Disapoitment?
Rachel smiled weakly.
"No, that's fine. She sleeps with me basicly everyday back home, anyway"
The afternoon was simply lovely. They wandered around the city and briefly entered a few museums and old historical builtings. Ross was worried not to bore them, so he'd decided he'd come back some other time by himself to see things better. When they were gone... The thought of them leaving him again squeezed his heart.
At sunset, they were already in a nice restaurant, dining.
Walking their way back to the inn, Ella and Mike were protected by the coats Rachel always packed for them. She, on the other hand, had her arms crossed and Ross noticed she was shuderring softly. He took of his coat and, without asking, covered her shoulders with it. She quickly looked up at him, surprised.
"You looked like you could use it"
She smiled and tugged on it.
"Thanks"
She looked down and kept walking. She couldn't help but leaning in closer to the fabric to feel the scent.
The kids were tired from the full week they'd had and, sure enough, as soon as they got arrived Rachel's room, both threw themselves onto the large bed. Ross stood by the door, uncertain.
"No, no, no. C'mon up, both of you. I wanna see you both hopping into the shower now, go"
Ross just rested the side of his head on the wall and smiled.
"But mom...! I took a shower last night"
Rachel shot Mike a look.
"Oh, right, that changes everything"
Mike noticed the sarcasm in his mother's voice and still laughed out loud. Knowing he couldn't possibly try and reason with her about it, he got up and walked into the bathroom.
"Fine!"
"Where's your suitcase?"
"In my room"
Rachel turned around and Ross stood straight.
"I'll pick it up"
"Thanks"
After the kids were bathed and in their pijamas, Rachel excused herself to shower, aswell. Ross watched the kids, uncertainly sitting down on Rachel's bed. Mike turned on the t.v. in atempt to keep himself awake. However, his eyeslids were too heavy. Before Rachel could come back, both kids were already sound asleep.
"Oh, good, they're down for the night" Rachel said, exiting the bathroom in her pijamas.
Ross couldn't understand how she could still look so sexy in silk pants and long sleeves. He quickly got up as she approached to tuck Ella and Mike under the covers. It seemed like she was going to have to squeeze herself in between them for the night.
"So you're going to bed, already?"
She looked up at him and weakly smiled.
"Don't really have a choice now, do I?"
Hmm, he could keep her company. That'd be nice. They could stay in and just talk while they watched their children sleeping...
"We could go to the bar downstairs, hm, maybe. Have some wine, talk"
Uh-ow, too far.
Way-way too far.
Rachel panicked and almost gagged through her words, responding imediately.
"But the kids!"
And he regret saying it. What was he thinking?
'She left you! Get that? Left you!'
"Yeah, you're right." he answered just as quickly "I'll leave you guys now, then. Should we leave Mike here?"
"For tonight, I guess that'd be a good idea. He gets cranky when we wake him up"
"Right" Ross sighed. "Call me if you need anything. Here" he wrote his cellphone number on a pad next to the phone, in the nightstand. "I'll just go down for a glass of wine to help and relax before I go to bed"
"Okay"
And with no more words, he left.
Rachel sighed.
She'd done the right thing, right?
'Rachel, a glass of wine doesn't mean anything! You'd be doing just what you'd be doing in here! Only outside!'
But she knew it was different.
'And I could use a glass of wine right now...'
She looked down at Ella and Mike, sleeping like angels. They never woke up through the night. Never. Even if they did, they always went back to sleep right away. They were good kids... Oh, such good kids. Rachel lowered herself and kissed their heads.
After one more brief thought, Rachel stood up and wrote Mike a note on top of Ross' phone number.
"Mike, I'm downstairs with your father. If you need anything, call us. Love, Mom"
She smiled and stood up. She got dressed as quickly as she could, slipping into one of her new jeans and one of the few long sleeves she'd brough. It was black with a deep cut on front. Rachel looked at herself intently through the mirror and then left.
Another usual note to the amazing reviewers: hi! :D I can't say this enough: thank you for the reviews! You guys wouldn't imagine how happy and giddy they make me :) I'm growing into this fic again because of them!! Well, because of you :P Anyway... even though I already have the whole fic planned in my head by now (though I'm still not sure about the very end), I'm not gonna say anything ;) You're just gonna have to read! lmao! And keep on trying to guess what's gonna happen! It's fun to see where you guys think this is heading ;)
And, oh, believe me... I update this fanfic the minute I get a chapter finished. And then I keep refreshing my mailbox to see if I got reviews! Hah, I'm such a nerd...! haha, proudly!!
Credit: That song I added is called "Gotas de luar" (hm, "Drops of Moon", or something!), written by Nelson Cavaquinho and Guilherme de Brito, performed by Marisa Monte :) If you like knowing songs from other countries... well, I like this one :) Marisa is probably my favorite singer in the whole world and this song is very soothing. Just her voice and guitar :) Cute! Download it if you wish ;) About the lyrics... hmmmm. I might add it later again, with a possible translation ;)