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The Challenge with Being Miles Away: Chapter 3
Ross was pretty tired, but for some reason, his daughter wasn't. After reading several books, Emma was still up and showed no signs of sleepiness. Rachel offered her assistance earlier but Emma insisted that Ross do it. Rachel smiled and respected her wishes because she knew that Emma just wanted some alone time with her daddy. She still smiles at the thought that Ross' the father of her child and she can't picture anyone else, but Ross.
Ross yawned and looked at his daughter with a plea to sleep. Emma was laying down, tucked into bed with her beautiful eyes fixated on her father. She smiled and had a look of sweetness and innocence in her face.
"Alright, Baby Girl," Ross softly spoke, "I've read about five books already and you're still not sleepy. Why won't you go to sleep?"
Emma innocently shrugged and Ross wasn't buying it.
"Emma Geller Green, tell me the truth." Ross warned.
Emma was non responsive for a while before getting down from the bed and grabbing Ross' hand. She tried to pull him off his chair, but being as small as she is, she didn't have the strength to pull off the task that she wanted. Ross giggled as he continued to watch his daughter valiant effort to get him up. He scooped her in his arms and she shrieked.
"Shh sweetie. Ben's sleeping." Ross reminded as he gazed at his heavily sleeping son.
Emma sheepishly smiled. "Down daddy, please."
Ross obeyed her wishes and Emma grabbed his hand again. She started to walk and lead them out of her bedroom and into the living room. Ross turned on the light and Emma continued to lead them. She stopped in front of the entertainment unit and Ross still has no clue why Emma brought him there.
"Sweetie, why are we here?" Ross asked.
Ross looked at Emma, waiting for an answer. She started to open the double doors of the cupboard below the tv and tried to pull out something that was black. Ross squatted down, trying to look at the object and saw that it's a picture album. Seeing that Emma was still struggling to get the thing out, Ross just picked it up and stared at it.
Ross picked up Emma and they sat on the couch, putting Emma on his lap. Ross couldn't believe that Rachel had this particular album and he surely thought that Monica had it. Ross flipped the cover open after seeing his daughter trying to do so earlier.
The front page was no surprise to him that a picture of the gang at the coffee house with the word "Central Perk" proudly labeled in big, colorful letters. The picture had Ross, Monica, and Chandler sitting on the orange couch, Phoebe and Joey sitting at the small table right next to the group, and Rachel sitting on the brown comfy chair across from the small table. It looked like they were just hanging out and smiling and Ross tried to recall how they got that picture.
Thinking for a little while, it dawned on him that Monica got it from Gunther after a photographer took a snap shot of them because he had one exposure left. Since the photograph turned out beautifully, the photographer thought the people in the picture would want it, so he gave it to the coffee shop worker who knew that they would come in every time.
Ross chuckled, seeing how young they all look and how much things has changed in the last ten years. They were a bunch of twenty-something's with uncertainty on how their lives was going to be. Now, they were more laid back, ready to handle whatever got thrown their way, and each person were content with how their lives turned out so far.
Looking down at his daughter, he saw that she was staring intently at the photo. He yawned and looked down at his watching, seeing that it's past midnight and way past Emma's bedtime. He knew he had to somehow get her to sleep and he didn't know what to do next. Staring at the photo album, a thought crossed his mind. Even though she might be too young, he figure to just go with it, with the possibility of working.
He turned his body 90 degrees to the left, putting his legs on the couch and sat Emma in between his legs. He rested the album on his knees and pointed to the picture, gearing up to tell his daughter the fascinating tales of the good times in NYC.
It's seven o'clock on a Thursday morning and instead of hearing the non-stop shrill beeping from the alarm clock, Rachel wakes up after hearing giggles coming from the living room. The door is closed but it was still loud enough for Rachel to be wide awake. She looked to her right side and seen what she was expecting, Ross still sleeping. She kissed his cheek and rolled out of bed to see what had Emma giggling about.
She stepped out of the room, closing the door on the way out, and saw Emma and Ben on the couch. Emma's watching TV while Ben's playing on his Nintendo Gameboy Advance SP. She wondered why Ben is not paying attention at all at the television because she knew that he can watch TV for hours with all the right shows on. She looked at the television screen and now knew the reason why Ben's playing on his Game Boy.
Emma was watching her Wiggles video tapes and singing and dancing to the songs, which explained the noise.
"Sweetie, you need to be quiet because Daddy's still sleeping." Rachel informed.
Emma noticed Rachel behind the comfy chair and sheepishly smiled. "Sorry Mommy."
"That's okay, just keep it down."
Emma nodded and continued to watch her show while Rachel headed toward the kitchen.
Rachel entered the kitchen and opened the bottom-right cabinet from the stove to grab the coffee can and filters to make a routine pot of coffee before heading to work at 8:30. After putting the coffee grindings in the filter, inserting water in the machine, and turning it on, Rachel looked into the refrigerator. While searching through the refrigerator, around her body she felt the warm pair of arms that has given her comfort in so many ways.
"Hey, you know what I just realized today?" Ross sweetly asked.
"Hmm," Rachel trailed, "what's that?"
Rachel turned her body around so she could face Ross. Ross' arms was around Rachel's waist while her arms wrapped around his neck.
"We technically didn't have our official first date since getting back together."
"Really?" Rachel incredulously asked.
Ross nodded. "Which brings me to this point. How about just you and I go out tonight for dinner and do whatever we want after that."
Rachel smiled and gave him a long kiss. "Sounds great."
Looking down at the list of restaurants to go that night, Ross couldn't decide where to go. He sat on the comfy chair while Emma slept on the couch and Ben was reading a comic book and listening to his Cd player on the La-Z Boy. Ross felt like he needed another person's opinion and knew that it was a good time to call back home. A week flung by so fast that Ross forgot to call back his sister after she insisted on him doing.
Ross pulled out his cell phone, knowing that he's been racking up more minutes than usual that month. He called Rachel countless times and now he was calling his sister, surely expecting to stay on for quite a while. He didn't care though since he had free international calls and no roaming charges with his plan. He didn't think that he needed it, but he got it anyway just in case something called him to be out of the country.
Ross found his sister's number in his phone book and dialed the number. He doesn't wait too long as Monica answered the phone on the second ring.
"Hey Mon, I need your help with something." Ross politely asked.
"You haven't called me like I asked you and you want my help?" Monica said rather sarcastically.
"Yes." Ross said unsurely.
Monica chuckled and Ross sighed a breath of relief.
"What's up Ross?" Monica asked.
"I don't know where to take Rachel out to dinner."
"Hmm, what are the options?"
"Well, of course it has to be romantic but I don't know if I want to take her to a restaurant with a particular theme or maybe a charming bistro."
"What are you leaning towards?"
Ross looked down on his list and noticed that he circled a restaurant that he wasn't aware of.
"Looking at my list, it appears that I circled a bistro."
"Well, problem solve then. What's the bistro's name?"
"Uh...Plateau le beau."
"Aw man, I'm so jealous." Monica whined a bit. "I seen that restaurant on the internet and that's really a beautiful restaurant."
Monica felt a bit of jealously that Ross was going to Paris before she did and now he was going to the restaurant that she picked out over a thousand other possibilities. Monica always wanted to visit the city known for romance, but never had the chance to go.
"So how's the trip so far?" Monica curiously asked.
"Good so far. Rachel mostly had to work but I took the kids to museums, the zoo, the park, and a little bit of sightseeing that I read about. Since Rachel have the day off tomorrow, the deal was to do whatever the kids wants to do, but for today, it's just the two of us."
"Well, good for you two."
Ross heard a cry in the background and knew that duty called for Monica.
"Look Ross, I have to go because one of the twins woke up, but don't forget to send over some pictures and call me, okay." Monica demanded.
Ross smiled as he thought that it was typical of her. "Will do Mon, tell Chandler that I said hi."
"Bye Ross."
Ross hung up with the smile still on his face and leaned back on the comfy chair. He misses the gang back home, but certainly not as much as Rachel. Ross hands moved behind his head and his legs are on the coffee table, eagerly looking forward to tonight's plans.
Rachel looked at her watch and smiled widely as she saw that it's five minutes before she's officially done working. She decided to finish up what she was doing on Monday since she had tomorrow off and begun to gather up her things.
Once she gathered all of her things out, she turned off her computer and grabbed a folder that she had to drop off her secretaries desk to send out. She stepped out of her office, locking the door as she exited and noticed Claudia approaching her.
"Leaving already?" Claudia asked.
"Yeah, I have a date with Ross tonight." Rachel proudly remarked.
"How romantic," Claudia gushed, "where are you going?"
Rachel shrugged. "Don't know, Ross set it up."
"Well have fun. Who knows I might see you at the same place."
"Who is the poor guy now?" Rachel joked.
"I like to classify him as prospect number 35." Claudia joked right back.
"Well you and Prospect 35 have fun. I need to go to get ready for my overdue date with my beau." Rachel announced proudly.
"Go ahead and who knows, maybe this time your daughter won't spoil it for you." Claudia winked.
Rachel just shrugged, smirking on her way out. Claudia's last statement was a definite possibility and Rachel hoped that it was going to happen. They just had to. Damn, it felt like it's been too long!
Ross scratched his head as he looked down at his watch. He sat on the couch in the living room while Rachel was showering in the master bathroom. Ross dropped the kids off to the neighbors just across the hall because the fourteen year old daughter of the tenant agreed to watch the two since she had to babysit her little sister anyway. Ben could easily entertain himself and Emma had no problem playing with the little girl who's only a year older than her, so it was a perfect setup.
He's been out with her many times that he doesn't know why he's feeling the butterflies just about now. He wants everything to be perfect and special since he pointed out the fact that this would be their first night on a date since they got back together not too long ago. Ross figured that he has about five minutes before leaving that he stood up and headed towards the other bathroom for final inspections.
Ross was casually dressed, using a long-sleeve, light-blue collared shirt and black Dockers pants. He looked around his body, doing last minute clothes inspection and saw that everything looked good. He checked his hair in the mirror, seeing that it's spiked just the way he liked it.
After nodding in approval, he stepped back into the living room the same time as Rachel walked out of her room. She was wearing a simple, but elegant navy blue dress that definitely got Ross' mouth agape for a while before coming back to his sense.
"You look stunning." Ross said amazed.
Rachel blushed. "Thanks, so do you."
Ross held out his hand and kissed her cheek.
"Ready to go?" Ross sweetly asked.
Rachel smiled. "With you, always."
Ross all of a sudden felt like he's forgetting something and he checked his pockets. It dawned on him that he forgot his wallet on the dresser and he quickly entered the master bedroom to get it. While Ross was getting his wallet, the telephone ringed and Rachel got it.
Ross returned in the living room and he saw Rachel putting the telephone back on the receiver. He noticed that she had a look of extreme displeasure on her face and didn't need to ask the obvious, her face said it all.
This was a setback to the plans for that evening and Ross didn't expect it to take way more than two hours. He sat on a couch in a little lounging area near the elevator to the floor where Rachel worked. When Rachel told him that this minor emergency at work would take a half an hour tops, Ross decided to go with her since it wouldn't take too long. What was thirty minutes, turned into four hours later and Ross stuck by anyway.
Ross started to giggle in revelation of how their first date eight years ago was similar. Only difference that time was that the roles were reversed, but Ross has to admit that it was the best official first date ever.
Ross sat patiently on the couch with his first two buttons on his shirt unbuttoned and his sleeves rolled up to his elbows. He took out his cell phone from his pocket and noticed that he had a text message. Looking at the text message, he seen that somebody left a voice mail and he wondered when this person called because he sure don't remember the phone going off in the first place.
He dialed the number to his voicemail and heard that it's from his sister, wondering if he had gotten the DVD because Chandler been asking about it. Ross shook his head and chuckled as he dialed the number to call his sister back.
"Hello" A familiar male voice answered and Ross smiled.
"Hey man, so you've been bothering you're wife about this particular DVD for a while now?" Ross speculated.
"Yeah, so did you get it?" Chandler eagerly asked.
"Yes, I did. I thought that the movie was worth the $18.99 price tag."
"Can I borrow it?"
"Go ahead, you know where it is."
"So, how was the date?" Chandler inquisitively asked.
"Didn't happen, my man." Ross said in a rather bummed tone.
"What happened? You didn't bring up the whole 'we were on a break' again, did you?" Chandler semi-joked, not knowing the whole story.
Ross sighed. "Nope, Rachel got called into work."
"Wow, talk about a deja vu."
"I know." Ross said, sounding exactly how his sister would say that particular phrase. "Anyway, I'm at the office lobby as we speak."
"Wow, so how are you feeling." Chandler asked, feeling a bit sympathetic and curious on how he's feeling.
"Actually, I'm okay." Ross said truthfully, surprising himself. He thought that he would feel anything else but okay, but that wasn't the case at all.
"That's good."
"So what's up with you lately?" Ross asked.
"Oh you know, the same old things; drool, snot, and butt wiping. I swear, these kids crap out more than they eat." Chandler joke in his way and Ross found himself laughing.
"I don't know how long I can take this." Chandler continued. "Sure they're nice and cute and all, but they poop at what seems like every hour."
"Enjoy those stages, my man. They'll grow up so fast in front of your eyes." He seen it happen with Ben and now he's starting to see it with Emma.
Ross heard Monica in the background, calling out Chandler's name and Ross knew that he had to go.
"Listen, one of the twins needs my attention. I'll talk to you later and I'll get the movie at your place tomorrow."
"Okay, and if Monica goes with you, be sure that she doesn't take my pocket change on my coffee table in the living room. I believe I left a couple bucks there and I would like to see it there when I get back." Ross ordered.
Chandler chuckled. "Bye Ross."
Ross smiled as he shut his cell phone closed, glad that he had a conversation with one of his best bud. Since Chandler became a new daddy and himself getting in Paris, Ross felt like they never really had the time to talk because of other things but Ross was glad that he had the opportunity to do it not so long ago. Ross inserted his phone in his back in his pocket while Rachel was walking towards him.
Judging from her face, she looked a bit stressed and definitely tired. Ross stood up and walked up to her.
"I'm so sorry about tonight." Rachel said apologetic. "Tonight was suppose to be just you and me out together and it quickly turned into a disaster."
Ross smiles on his face and shook his head, telling her that she shouldn't be. "Hey, it's okay." Ross pulled her into a hug and rubbed her back as an act of assurance. "This was totally unexpected and we'll get another chance for us to have a night together."
Ross pulled out of the hug to look at her and noticed that she was feeling a bit better.
"Besides, I should've known that something like this would've happened. It did eight years ago." Ross pointed out.
Rachel knew off that bat what Ross was referring too and grinned at the recollection. She wrapped her arms around his neck as he rested his hands on her waist.
"So what should we do now?" Rachel asked.
Ross looked at Rachel, wearing a contemplating look on his face. It didn't take Ross too long to come up with something since he had sufficient amount of time to think about it, so he was prepared with a backup. Without saying much of a word, Ross kissed her and lead her into the elevator.
Scented candles, check; music in the background, check; jacuzzi tub filled with water, check; rose petals scattered around the tub, check.
Ross looked around the master bathroom for final inspections and gave the green-light of the way it turned out. On his way out, he closed the door to the bathroom and sat on the bed, waiting for Rachel.
They got back to the apartment not too long ago after picking up the kids from across the hall. Ben was barely staying awake and Emma was zonked out by the time Ross and Rachel got there. Rachel settled Emma into her bed, while Ben settled himself after brushing his teeth.
Ross stifled a yawn and fell back, laying on the bed with his hands behind his head and staring at nothing in particular.
"What are you thinking about?" Rachel asked as she entered the bedroom, closing the door behind her.
Ross sat back up and stared at her as she walked towards him. "Nothing in particular." Ross plainly answered when in fact he was thinking of something so much more.
Rachel sat on his lap and hugged his shoulders. "I'm so sorry for ruining our plans for tonight."
Ross looked at her and cupped her face. "Who said that it's over? We've got an hour before it's midnight and I got something waiting for us as we speak."
Rachel grinned. "So, what are the plans Mr. Geller?"
"Well, I was thinking of trying out that hot tub that you just had to tell me once you saw it. Even though, may I add, that it was still very early in New York."
Rachel smiled at the idea, giving him a peck on the lips and stood up. "Give me a couple minutes."
"I'll be waiting."
As Rachel searched through her drawers for her swim suit, Ross went into the bathroom. He almost closed the door completely, leaving an inch open and begun to take off his clothes until he's stripped down to his swim trunks that he changed into earlier. He lit up the candles that surrounded the hot tub and started to pour champagne into two glasses, settling them on a table setup nearby.
As Ross turned on the bubbles, Rachel enters wearing a simple blue bikini. Ross stared at her in amazement, amazed that years doesn't seem to have an effect on her and that she still looked the same since he first saw her in a bikini when he was a teenager.
Ross walked toward her and offered the champagne, which she gladly accepted. They clinked their glasses together, taking a sip before putting their glasses down and entering the hot tub.
"So, not bad for an alternative?" Ross asked.
Rachel smiled. "Not bad at all, except my feet are killing me."
Ross chuckled. "I'm sure it is. You were running around the place like a headless chicken and with those heels, I don't know how you lasted that long."
Rachel sighed. "I know, it's been chaos in there."
"Maybe this will help." Ross shifted around the tub and sat across from her. He grabbed one of her foot and started to massage it. They weren't in silence for too long before Rachel spoke.
"Hey Ross."
Ross turned his attention to her while continuing to move his thumb in a circular motion at the arc of her foot. "Yeah."
"Thank you." Rachel said gratefully.
Ross smiled. "No probs, you look like you really needed this foot rub."
Rachel shook her head and chuckled. "Yeah, thanks for that, but that's not what I was referring to earlier."
Ross stared at her intrigued with where she was going and smiled as an encouragement for her to continue.
"Even though we didn't do anything you originally planned for, thanks for making this a wonderful night anyways."
Ross stared straight in her eyes and smiled. "For you, always."
Hello guys. So sorry about not updating quickly but just letting you know that since school started up again, I no longer have the leisure of time to focus much on this fic :( I may write here and there, but I'm not making any promises on updating. What I can tell you readers though is that I'll get back to this after the semester's over and I'll try to post at least a chapter during that time. Thanks for your patience and hopefully you'll still be interested in this after a long period. Thanks again :)
