Part 14 Talking it over

'I can't believe you didn't tell me at the same time you told Ross,' Rachel said to Monica. Rachel had asked Monica and Phoebe to come over to Ross and Rachel's apartment to explain what had been happening and why they hadn't told her sooner. She was hurt and offended to have been kept in the dark. 'Don't you think I had a right to know?'

'I'm sorry Rach, I just thought it would be better if you heard it from Ross,' Monica said.

'I should have been told,' Rachel said reproachfully, 'I know they're not my kids but this affects my life too.'

'Sorry Rachel,' Phoebe said contritely, 'We didn't mean to hurt you. We were just so shocked at the whole thing. Here she is, with not just one, but two of Ross's kids. I mean I suppose there are other exes of Ross's that you would hate more for to have had Ross's children,' - at the moment Monica couldn't think of anyone except Chloe, Chandler's bad joke – 'Now you're both going to be stuck in a permanent relationship with her. It could ruin things for you.'

'It will not!' Rachel said, pride stung. 'Ross and I will face this together. I admit, I had a shock but most of that was because you'd kept it secret. If everyone had told me from the start what was going on, it wouldn't have been so hard. I accused Ross of terrible things because I didn't know what was going on.' She felt ashamed of that and resented having been put in the situation where she'd made those accusations.

'I'm sorry, I did try to tell you,' Monica said, 'You wouldn't let me finish.'

'Too late. But we've worked it out, between ourselves. We won't split because of it, don't think that we will.'

'We know,' Monica soothed.

'I can't believe you'd think that we would have problems,' Rachel said.

'I know you won't,' Monica said.

'Well you didn't act like it.'

'I'm sorry, I just don't want the slightest thing to go wrong. You're my friend, he's my brother and you have to admit that this is a really difficult situation for both of you. I couldn't take it if anything else went wrong.' They all stared into space for the moment.

'So what happens now?' Phoebe asked tentatively. 'I didn't get what had happened.'

'She won't let Ross see his kids,' Rachel said.

'What?' Monica said, alarmed. 'She can't do that.'

'Well she's going to try,' Rachel said.

'But, but, she can't, Ross is their father,' Monica said.

'She's had them taken back to England, although she's pretending to be a submissive wife and blaming it all on her husband. Ross said he took the children back to London.'

'Oh dear,' Phoebe said, 'I'm sorry, I may have caused that.' The other two looked at her. 'I met him in the park, with the girls. He noticed me and we got talking. He told me he was telling Emily that we were going to tell Ross.'

'I suppose she told him to take the children away,' Rachel said bitterly, 'Just to be difficult.'

'I don't know,' Phoebe said slowly. 'He looked kind of, I don't know, pretty determined himself.' Monica remembered him looking over Emily's shoulder at her. 'Maybe he is the one making decisions. I thought he was quite threatening,' Phoebe said.

'Did he threaten you?'

'Not exactly. He just looked like a bad man to cross and he looked really really determined.'

'It has to be her,' Rachel said, unconvinced, 'It's all her.' Monica held her peace but she thought that if Emily had been married for five years to the same man and had had two more children with him, they might be making decisions jointly by now.

'Well whichever of them it is, we've got to get them to change their minds,' Monica said. 'Talk to them.'

'It's no good just talking. Ross already talked to her, what good would more talking do?' She was uncomfortably aware that she might have made things worse by intervening and by trying to hit Emily. She had just felt so out of control with rage that she'd gone for her without thinking. She'd forgotten that Emily, pregnant or not, knew how to look after herself. At least she hadn't broken her nose with that book. She didn't want to have to explain why she had attempted to hit a pregnant woman. 'We'll have to sue them,' Rachel said.

'That'll be really expensive,' Monica said.

'Ross said that,' Rachel said, feeling annoyed at hearing it again. 'Money doesn't matter.'

'Yes but these things can get really out of control, and the more money you pay to lawyers, the less you can spend on Emma or Ben. You'll be fighting it out in their territory not yours,' Monica said.

'Thanks Monica, that really makes me feel a whole lot better.'

'Rach, you have to be realistic,' Monica said. 'I don't like the facts either but you're going to have to face them. It isn't going to help you if everyone says it's going to be really easy if it won't be.'

'How can we negotiate with her?' Rachel said.

'Well if it's her that's the problem, you're going to have to stay right out of the way,' Phoebe said. 'She's not going to want to deal with you.' Emily had already made that clear, Rachel thought.

'It isn't fair, how can she get away with this?' Rachel said. Monica hugged her silently. 'She has to let Ross see them, she just has to. He's their father, doesn't blood count?' Monica stiffened slightly and it was Rachel's turn to hug Monica. 'Oh Mon, I didn't mean to say that, but remember Ross didn't agree to this. He had no say in it at all.'

'No,' Monica said. 'I guess though I can see it from the husband's point of view. Your children are no less your children just because you're not their biological parent.' Rachel didn't know what to say. 'I think whatever Emily's opinion is, her husband's view is important too. He may feel threatened. And if he feels threatened then he's just going to say no.' Rachel could not believe that he would care that much but with Monica's sensibilities to consider she held off on going on about it.

'Well he shouldn't be,' Rachel said, 'We would never be able to get full time custody, not since their mother is alive and well.' If only she could prove that Emily and David were drug dealers or terrorists or something so that they could be locked up forever. Then they'd have to give the children to their biological father wouldn't they? 'We would only be asking for visitation rights. We're not trying to take them away. We wouldn't want to – I mean how could we find accommodation for two adults, three children plus a room for Ben when he comes over? We're not the ones being unreasonable here.'

'Let's hope you can convince him,' Monica said.

'But anyway, Emily should do the right thing, no matter what he says,' Rachel said.

'But when you're married, especially when it's something about the children then you have to do things together,' Monica said. 'You can't make decisions on your own. Rachel.' Rachel was mulishly looking away. 'You're going to have to be prepared to deal with both of them.' At that moment, Rachel wished something bad would happen to both Emily and her husband. But it would have to be something bad that didn't harm the children. Including the child Emily had already had with her husband. Including her unborn child – damn. It was just so hard.