Hi everyone! Thanks so much for the reviews I got last time, and sorry about the delay in the updates. I have been SO busy, it's unbelievable. I get home each night from school at about seven, and the rest of my time is taken up with homework and any time I can squeeze in to breathe. :)
For everyone who has been complaining about the lack of Ross/Rachel interaction, this chapter is for you. :) They're basically the ONLY characters in this one, minus the beginning (which, by the way, will all make some sense in the next part) and I think it was long over-due. ;)
I didn't want to make it seem like they're all back to normal (although Emily's absence plays a big part in their being able to talk), so if they seem just a bit awkward, you'll know why. Other than that, things are pretty good and allude to some things that will happen later.
Please read, enjoy, and leave me a review!
(By the way: Guess who got asked to Homecoming? ...if the answer wasn't me, this would be a terrible game! :D)
Disclaimer: I don't own the stuff except the story...or the song, which is by Bonnie Raitt. :)
Wind ripped through her hair as she mounted the winding stairs that would lead to her irrevocable destiny.
'Should I be here?' she wondered. 'Is it right?'
She shook her head in confusion and hugged tweed of her coat tighter to her body.
His apartment was looming in the mere distance at the end of the corner.
She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, the smell of stale cigarettes and burning soup reaching her senses.
But it didn't matter.
What mattered was here...now. And the choices she was about to make.
The worn floorboards creaked beneath her as she took one more step towards her fate.
One more step towards revealing the truth.
One more step to unlocking the chain and loosening the shackles that prevented her from letting go.
----
She always had the ability to take his breath away.
Even with her hair pulled back in a ponytail and wearing old jeans and a tee-shirt, she could always make his jaw drop in awe at her ever-present, ethereal beauty.
So tonight, when Rachel glided out of her room in a red dress that clung to her body and dance around her with each move, Ross was sure his heart would explode.
He hadn't seen her like this since...actually, he hadn't ever seen her look as stunning as she did at that very moment.
"Wow...you look...great," Ross offered, eagerly drinking in her beauty in a not-to-obvious way.
Blushing, she playfully slapped him on the arm. "Well, it'd be better if you gave me more time than an hour."
If she could pull this off in less than an hour, Ross wondered what she was capable of given the right amount of time. "No...trust me. If you looked any better, I'd have to change." She smiled.
All previous tensions between them had been lifted, and they carried on conversation with great ease.
Ross checked his watch. "Well, our ride should be here. Do you want to head downstairs?"
"Sure."
Instinctively, Ross reached for Rachel's arm. Startled, she glanced at him with wary eyes but didn't pull away.
"Is this okay?" he asked.
'Is it okay?' Rachel wondered. What would Emily do if she could see them?
'Who cares?' she argued with herself. 'If she's shallow enough to cancel this with Ross, that gives me the right to make up for her absence...and for the time we missed.'
Smiling, she nodded. "Yeah, it's okay."
'Oh my God, what am I doing?' Ross frantically thought. 'You're married! You can't just go around flirting with ex-girlfriends!'
'But your wife left you today, and who knows what the hell is going on anyway,' he argued back. 'Things aren't the same with her...who knows if they'll ever be the same again. Rachel is your friend, and you haven't seen her in awhile. Go out and have fun. You owe it to yourself. You owe it to Rachel.'
"Oh my God!" Rachel squealed as she slid into the limo. "This is huge!"
"I know...there's like four TVs."
The chauffer leaned back and tipped his hat. "Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Geller. Can I get you some champagne?"
Rachel's face blushed a deep crimson. "Oh, no. We're not-"
"thirsty," Ross finished with a wink. Leaning towards her, he whispered, "Why have to explain a strange situation if you don't have to? As long as we know what's real, it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks, right?"
"Absolutely," she grinned.
Twilight graced the streets of New York and simultaneously, the street lights flickered on, gluing sprinkles of metallic confetti to the dark plaster of the buildings.
The limo driver leaned back and smiled as he tugged on the window shade that would eventually separate them. "I'll let you two be."
"So..." Rachel began.
"Yeah, so..." he smiled, the corners of his mouth turning into a puppy-dog smile.
"How've you been?" she finished flatly.
Ross laughed, a bit confused. "Uh...I've been fine. You know, London's great...but..."
"But..."
"Well, I missed New York. I missed all my friends and all my family. I missed the skyscrapers, the pretzel vendors, the museum, the subway. I missed how hard it is to hail a cab sometimes. I missed Ben, I missed watching him grow. I missed hearing Chandler's stupid jokes, Joey and his "two pizza" Fridays. I missed arguing with Phoebe about evolution, and being a part of my sister's life..." 'But most of all, I missed you.'
"Oh, so you didn't miss me at all?" chided Rachel.
"Of course I missed you."
Rachel shifted nervously, feeling the leather seat mesh with her skin. "What exactly did you miss about me?" Regardless of his answer, she needed to delve beneath the surface on this one.
God, what did he miss about her? How about the way she laughed at silly jokes that no one else seemed to understand? The way she would self-consciously twirl a lock of her golden hair through her fingers when she was nervous. He missed her smile, he missed her tears. He missed her so much, he thought his heart would die.
When Ross left for London, a piece of his heart had been left behind. And it's home was in Rachel's palm.
"Everything," he summed up. "I missed everything."
"But now you're home."
He smiled at her. "Yeah. For now, I'm home."
'Something in your voice
Makes me wanna lose myself
Makes me wanna lose myself
In your arms
There's something in your eyes
That makes my heart beat fast
I hope this feeling lasts
The rest of my life.
If you knew how much this moment means to me
I never thought I'd love anyone
So much'
----
"The man loved the woman, and the woman loved the man. Basically, there love was perfectly blissful until this other woman came along and got in the way."
"Oh," Rachel nodded as she gracefully sipped her wine. "So that's what the opera was about."
"Pretty much," laughed Ross.
"God, you know, would it be so hard for them to just say it in English?"
"Well, it is the opera, Rach."
"I know, but still. So how did it end? Did the woman and the man end up together, or was that the other woman who got him?"
Her hair was gleaming in the light of the moon, Ross noted. More than anything, Ross wanted to remember this moment forever, to engrave a permanent etching of the night in his mind...in the likely case he never got to be alone with her again.
But what were these feelings? Just a nostalgic case of the blues? Emily was his wife, his life. But then why wasn't she here, sitting across from him, soaking up the soft light of the moon?
"So?" Rachel eagerly persisted. "What happened in the show?"
"Now I can't tell you that!" he grinned, loving to tease her.
She twisted her face into a mock-pout. "Why not?"
"It would spoil the surprise."
"Well, I'm not exactly going to see it again, Ross."
"I know, but I mean...the surprise...in life."
She set down her glass on the silk tablecloth. "How would you telling me what happened during the opera ruin the surprise in my life?"
"Well, it's just the beginning. Like, if you knew exactly what was going to happen to you tomorrow, or in another year, why even live it? It's no fun, not wondering. Wouldn't you hate to know exactly how your life is going to unfold?"
'I might be a lot happier,' she thought. "Yeah, I guess so. What do you think you'll be doing in another year?"
Her brazen questions jolted him, but he answered as vaguely and as truthfully as possible. "I guess I'll be at home."
It wasn't until hours later that Rachel realized Ross had neglected to mention where he considered his home to be.
Looking into his eyes, she was sure of the only place she was able to call home, and it had been a place she hadn't visited in awhile, but found herself getting closer with each smile and laugh.
Her home was in his arms.
----
'It feels like home to me
Feels like home to me
Feels like I'm all the way back
Where I come from
Feels like home to me
It feels like home to me
Feels like I'm all the way back
Where I belong'
----
"So I guess this is it," said Ross as they stopped outside the apartment they both shared.
"I guess so." She was sad, devastated, almost, to watch the curtain fall on a night she had cherished so dearly.
"Do you think we should go in?"
"Probably. I bet Monica's wondering what took us so long. I mean, its almost one and we're not back yet."
"You're probably right."
Yet neither moved. Gazing into her eyes, Ross knew everything he was forbidden to do was the only thing he wanted. The night had felt so right, so comfortable.
She wanted to kiss him so badly, wanted to press her lips against his and succumb to all of her burning desires that insured to wreck havoc upon all of their lives.
It was wrong, but incredibly right. Suddenly, Rachel found herself leaning in towards him, almost as if she didn't control her own movements and thoughts, but rather an otherworldly spirit.
And the strange thing was, Ross discovered that, despite everything he kept telling himself, he was going along with it.
'You're married, you have a wife, Rachel's a friend, nothing more...give her a hug, thank her for coming with you, and go inside together where nothing will happen.'
But the heard has a stronger will than the mind, and Ross tilted his face in until he could smell the strawberry shampoo she used and see her blue eyes searching his own, each possessing the unmistakable spark of confusion and desire.
'It feels like home to me
Feels like home to me
Feels like I'm all the way back where I bel-'
At that moment, Joey came bursting out of his apartment, his face flushed red and his eyes possessing a frantic urgency.
Immediately, Ross pulled away from Rachel. "Whoa, Joey, what's wrong?"
"Yeah, is everything okay?" Rachel pushed a loose lock of hair behind her ear and pretended everything that almost happened never occurred.
"Well...not really. Come in here, guys," Joey reluctantly beckoned.
"What, Joe, what is it?" Ross said, urgency now lining his voice.
He shook his head in dismay and bit his bottom lip. "Okay, don't freak out on me...but it's Emily."
----
Hehe...hope you enjoyed that. :) And I wonder who will be able to figure out what's going to happen...I know I have, but maybe that's because I am writing it. :)
Please leave me a review if you feel compelled to do so. ;) And even if you don't, lol...please do it because you feel like being nice, and then maybe I'll feel like being nice and post the next chapters of one of my fics soon.
Thanks a bunch for everything, and have a great day! (or week, or month, depending on when I decide to update this again!)
Mel