The next morning, Rachel awoke to the sound of the kettle boiling, she had a moment where she didn't quite remember where she was, she didn't remember being here last night. More importantly, where was Ross? . She lifted her head up from the cushion, leaving a dent in it from where she had been laying for the last 10 hours, she noticed that the blanket was firmly wrapped around her body, not the way she had remembered before, she assumed Ross had got home and tucked her in. Hopefully.

'Hello Sleepyhead…' She heard from behind her, it was Ross.

'Oh thank god.' She said, turning around to see what she had hoped, another human present, 'I thought the world had been wiped out and I was the only one left.' She said.

Ross laughed, 'You were gone for the count all night, I slept with you though, on that chair over there.' he pointed out, the chair had his pillow on it and his very own blanket,' and It was surprisingly comfy.' he told her. He kneeled down behind the sofa, his head resting on the back of the sofa, centimetres away from Rachel's face. He buried his head in the nape of her neck, 'I'm sorry.' he whispered softly into her ear, he gently kissed her neck, taking in her scent through his nose, making his heart miss a beat. 'Its ok.' she told him, putting her hand around his neck and pulling his arm around hers, kissing his middle finger, 'I missed you though..' she admitted, 'It was lonely…'.

He sighed, 'I know, and I just felt terrible last night, it was something out of my control though baby, you understand right?' he asked her. She nodded, 'I do understand, its just that last night was one of those nights where I felt as though I was alone, I didn't have you nor Emma and none of the guys were free to see me…'

Ross let out another sigh, 'Your not the only one who felt alone princess, I was at work on my own for 2 hours just hoping to come home and spend time with the woman I loved…it was the first time that I wanted to leave my job last night..' he told her.

'You wanted to leave?' she asked him.

He nodded, 'I did.'

'Don't leave.' she told him, 'You love your job.'

'I know, it was just last night where I felt that way, it's a new day today and hopefully we can put last night behind us.'

She nodded, 'Probably best.' she agreed.

They remained in the same position they had been in for the past 5 minutes, both of them were reminded of that night in Central perk when Rachel had first came to the city, they had both been in the same situation what with Carol and Barry, they had shared their first special moment that night, in this same position as Rachel rested her head on his hand.

Ross released himself from her hands and made his way to where she was sat, 'do you want to know the worst thing about last night?' he asked her, now sitting next to her, taking hold of her hand once again as she rested her head against his chest, 'What Ross?' she asked him.

'It reminded me of that time…'

'The time when.'

'Yes'.

They both knew what they both meant, they just preferred not to mention it, it was the night of the break that they were both referring to, when Rachel had been too busy at work to see him, 'I know what you mean, when I was sat here last night on my own, I imagined how you must have felt that night.' Rachel told him.

'You know what else is strange?' Ross asked her.

'What?'

'Today's date.'

'What about it sweetie?' Rachel asked him.

'Its 5 years since the day we broke up…' he told her, 'I don't know why I remember it every year, its stuck in my mind I guess.'

Rachel sighed, 'I had no idea, I guess I tried to block it from my mind…'

'I'm sorry for everything.' Ross told her.

'You don't have to say sorry.'

'I do, I've done a lot of things to hurt you over the years.'

'So have I' Rachel reminded him, 'We're both guilty for that.'

Ross nodded, 'I think we need to put the past behind us for once, what do you think?'

'I think that's our problem, we always dwell on the past and we should focus on the future instead..'

'Exactly…' Ross agreed, 'I love you too much to lose you again, if I ever did I don't know what I'd…'

'You wont lose me…'

'But.'

'You can never lose me Ross…' She told him, planting a kiss on his cheek, 'I love you so much…', as she said this a tear fell from her face, 'See? I love you so much that you drive me to tears.' She said now laughing.

Ross wrapped his arms around her, 'Shhhh' he comforted her, 'Just so you know Rach, You can never lose me either…'.

She wiped a tear from her eye, 'Promise?'

Ross nodded his head, 'Promise.'

They both knew that they could never erase their past completely, but they knew that they could move on, the old Ross and Rachel were moving on to new things.

Ross sat at the end of the bed, wearing nothing but a towel. Rachel followed him minutes later, her hair up in a towel and a short towel covering her chest, leaving her knickers to display. 'I love showering with you.' Ross told her, 'there's nothing I would want to do more, just to be standing there with you with water running….'.

'I know, I could have stayed there forever sweetheart.' Rachel told him, she released her wet hair from the towel and ran her fingers through it, 'but unfortunately hun, we have responsibilities now, we cant spend our day in the shower.'

Ross sighed, 'do you ever wish things were…'.

'Different?' She interrupted.

'Yeah..'

'In some ways yes..' she told him, brushing her hair now as she looked into the mirror,' but in some ways, no..' she continued.

Ross stood up now, walking over to where she was standing, 'I wish we sometimes could be freer and we didn't have things to think about apart from ourselves…I mean, I love Emma, but somehow its like we cant just be a couple anymore, we're more like parents now and we cant do much just together…'

'Sweetie, I know where your coming from, I really do.' she told him, turning around now to face him as they talked, 'but sometimes I feel happy the way things have turned out, we have everything now that we need, we have a family and we have each other, we mightn't be able to just be free and do what we like, but even when we were freer, we didn't work out did we?'.

Ross wrapped his arms around her, holding onto the towel as he held her. 'I don't regret anything that we've done together, Emma is something that is the result of us and our love, and our baby on the way.' he touched her stomach and rubbed it affectionately, 'we're going to be parents to two children soon, its going to be wonderful…but also very overwhelming'.

She nodded, 'I'm so excited about everything Ross, I know things are going to be different, but maybe that's a good thing…'

She released herself from his arms and turned back around to look into the mirror,' There is so much more to look forward to for us Ross…more children, maybe a new home one day…marriage maybe', she continued to brush her hair as she spoke to him, he was now looking into the mirror with her, admiring her movement.

'I can't wait to build a family with you, and a new home…and marriage, it's definitely on my mind' he told her.

She smiled, 'I'm glad about that, now. Not that I don't want to talk about this anymore but I really need to get ready now to go for lunch with Mon…' she told him.

'Ok, so shall I pick up Emma today?' he asked.

'If you don't mind sweetie.'

'Course not' he told her.

She smiled back at him, 'Oh and Ross, my dad called yesterday afternoon, he wants us to go for dinner with him…' she told him.

Ross gulped, 'Really? When? Why?' he panicked.

Rachel laughed, 'Calm down Ross, he knows the deal now, whether he likes you or not, he doesn't have a say in his little princess's love life..' she mocked, 'He wants us to see him Friday afternoon.'.

Ross sighed, 'Ok, just for you…'

'Thank you hunny' she smiled.

Ross left Rachel to get on with putting on her makeup and clothes, 'Oh and Ross?'

'Yup?'

'Its on my mind a lot too…' she told him.

Knowing she meant about marriage, Ross smiled. Finally they were growing up, and together too.