Chapter Three – Answers

The doctor's appointment had gone well. Rachel was a little over six weeks pregnant and the little 'peanut' growing inside her was healthy.

Rachel had gone back to work for a couple of hours and planned to tell them the big news. Ever since 2004, when she was supposed to go to Paris, she worked for Louis Vuitton. Somehow she managed to convince them that she could carry out the same kind of job in New York and she'd been working there happily for three years.

Ross was ever so proud of what his wife had achieved. Over the past twelve years, he had watched here develop from a spoilt, little rich girl, relying on Daddy's money to a successful business woman and an amazing mother.

She in turn was very proud of all that her husband had achieved. She didn't really understand palaeontology or share his interest in dinosaurs, but nonetheless she loved that he loved his chosen career.

Today however, dinosaurs were the furthest thing from Ross's mind.

He had the afternoon off from lecturing at NYU, so he took the opportunity to see if he could resolve the issues that were plaguing him. He was going to see Chloe.

As he stood at Chloe's door his mind went completely blank with fear. He felt like he'd stepped out of his body and was stood watching the scene hopelessly.

He stood firmly on the ground and forced himself, to stay, though every instinct in his brain was telling him to run away and not look back. He took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

The door opened instantly, as though she'd been stood at the door waiting. Chloe stood there, apart from longer hair and a change of clothes, she looked just like she did that last time Ross had seen her ten years before.

"Hey Ross" she said quietly "come on in."

Ross stepped into the small apartment. It was a nice place, not the kind of place he'd imagined Chloe to live in at all. She had always seemed like more of a party girl than a homely one. For a brief moment in his pleasant surprise, he felt satisfied that his daughter had a nice home to live in.

"Sit down" Chloe gestured to a small comfortable looking sofa "Can I get you a drink or something"

Ross sat down and shook his head.

"We need to talk" Ross started "I need some answers"

Chloe sat down, almost immediately, in an armchair adjacent to Ross. "Ok" she said taking a deep breath "of course, go ahead"

Ross couldn't believe he was here, he couldn't believe he was in this situation at all. This was like a nightmare that he couldn't wake up from. He put his head in his hands for a second and sighed deeply.

"Ok" he began "Where to start?" He sighed "How the hell did this happen?"

Chloe looked at him, slightly puzzled. "Well, Ross, you know we…"

"Yes, yes" Ross interrupted impatiently "I know that, for God's sake! But we used protection"

Chloe blushed and looked at her feet. "Yeah but you know there's only like a ninety seven percent success rate for those" she paused "…things"

Ross laughed in disbelief "I don't believe it!" He got up and started to pace back and forth. Twice? This has happened to him twice now? Who has this happen to them twice in a lifetime? And while he didn't regret his beautiful daughter Emma for one second, this was beyond the joke.

"Ross" Chloe said startled "What's wrong?"

Ross stopped pacing and sat back on the sofa. He sighed loudly and looked at Chloe, who was looking at him concerned "never mind, it really isn't important right now"

Chloe hung her head "I knew this day would come"

With a sudden burst of angry energy, Ross stood up and yelled "How could you keep this from me for all this time? How could you not tell me that I have a daughter Chloe?"

She looked at up at him "you were a one night stand Ross" Chloe said in such a firm tone that it surprised Ross "You had nothing more to do with me after that night, so why should you have anything to do my Aimee?"

Ross took a step back, looked at his feet and groaned "Chloe, I…" he shrugged "you and I… we did a stupid thing. A big, stupid mistake. I'd had a stupid argument with the woman I loved and I was just stupid" He looked up at Chloe "but that was no excuse not to tell me I have a daughter"

He took a step back and collapsed back onto the sofa. He could feel all kinds of emotions rising up inside of him, but he sat back and managed to calm himself down.

"I knew about Rachel and you; I know you were a mistake. That's why I didn't tell you" said Chloe, clearly shaken by the situation too "I figured you wouldn't want to be involved with Aimee and I"

There was a long awkward silence.

"Does she…" Ross stopped "Aimee, know about me?"

"I've always told her the truth. I told her she was an accident" Chloe smiled. Ross could see tears welling up in her eyes and found a Kleenex for her. She took it and continued "A happy accident though, the best accident that had ever happened to me"

Chloe laughed quietly and Ross found himself sympathising with her for the first time. He had only thought about himself so far, he'd not even considered how Chloe was coping.

"I told her that her dad is a really clever, nice guy and that she could meet you if she wanted to"

Ross looked alarmed. Seeing his expression change, Chloe tried to reassure him "It's ok. She's never wanted to see you. I don't know why" she shrugged "she's a very clever little girl. Must get that from you"

Ross sat expressionlessly and they sat in silence again.

A couple of minutes later their awkward silence was interrupted by the sound of Ross's cell phone ringing. A wave of guilt and panic washed over him as he saw his wife's name flashing on the screen. He looked at Chloe. Seeing his distress, she gestured towards another room in the small apartment and swiftly left Ross standing alone with his phone.

"Rach! Hi!" Ross answered breathlessly.

"Hey honey, where were you?" came her voice

Ross thought fast "Err, I was in the bathroom… at work"

"Oh ok, that explains why you didn't answer your office phone either!"

"Yes. That's exactly why I didn't answer" Ross said breathing a sign of relief. "What's up?"

"Em and I are going over to Phoebe's place for a while. We might stay late, is that ok?"

"Sure, sure" Ross answered quickly "might see if Chandler's free anyway. Meet up or something"

"Ok, honey. I'll see you later. We love you"

"I love you both too"

Ross hung up and put the phone back in his pocket as Chloe came back into the room. They looked at each other for a moment

"So," began Ross "What do we do now?"