Love is…

Disclaimer: These things aren't required are they?

A/N: Drum roll please… Yeah, so here is Love is… Chapter 9! Hope I fulfilled expectations, made it "worth the wait" if not, please advise me as to where I went wrong – I welcome criticism. Please leave me a review when you're done reading, they really do mean the world to me.

Rachel tightened her grip on the pole as the subway train slowed to a stop. Stepping onto the platform, she pulled her purse closer to her body, squeezing between massive crowds of people during the customary New York "after rush hour" rush hour. Narrowly missing an opened, slightly melted Snickers bar with the heel of her strappy stilettos, she fought her way up the stairs leading to the New York street corner of Broadway and 34th Street. Memories from several months ago flooded her brain as she elbowed past suit-clad executives and sweaty street vendors alike, momentarily taking her our of the cramped stairwell and placing her atop this very street, 8 and a half months ago where she enjoyed one of many firsts (and most likely, lasts) with the man she was currently on her way to meet.

Still feels like
Our first night together
Feels like the first kiss
It's getting better baby
No-one can better this
Still holding on
You're still the one
First time our eyes met
Same feeling I get
Only feels much stronger
I wanna love you longer
You still turn the fire on

At times, she could still smell the air from that night. She could still feel every sensation that had shaken her right to the bone. She could still fell the chill in the air, his hands pressed firmly on her lower back, and the smoothness of his lips and they massaged her own. She could remember every detail of the kiss that felt like it came right out of a fairytale. Most vividly, she could still remember the look in his eyes when they first broke. It was then that she first realized just how far they had fallen. A couple of hours into their relationship, and she could already feel eternal sparks floating between them. It was then that she realized just how special this man was, and although she knew how serious it was going to be, she had no idea that he was going to be the last man she would ever love – the last man she would ever need to love.

Ross.

Even the mere mention of his name gave her goose bumps. Around him, she felt like the nervous teenager that he had once been around her. He literally transformed her into the geeky 15 and 16 year olds that she had once made fun of so many moons ago. The intensity of his gaze melted her heart, making her nothing more than pretty putty in his perfect hands. She smiled, playing his message from earlier back in her head, mouthing the words, "Meet me at Broadway and 34th at 7. Wear something nice. I love you."

There was something in the nature of this message that made her squirm – not in the bad way – but in an exhilarated, excited way. It gave her feelings that he and he alone could induce. His ability to be so simple and sexy one minute, and totally thoughtful and drawn out the next was something that baffled her even to this day. He always managed to say and do everything right.

As she continued to climb the steps the street above, the stale odor of vomit and cigarettes was replaced by the stale odor of…more cigarettes, last weeks garbage left to rot by on-strike maintenance men, and…fresh flowers?

Still feels like our best times are together
Feels like the first touch
Still getting closer baby
Can't get close enough
Still holding on
Still number one
I remember the smell of your skin
I remember everything
I remember all your moods
I remember you, yeah !
I remember the nights you know I still do

Her eyebrows scrunched together in that adorable way that Ross loved as she tried to remember a flower stand being stationed on this particular corner before – any sort of reason as to why a street that smelled horrid ninety-five percent of the time smelled like the perfect combination of white lilies and red roses – a smell she now remembered from a bouquet of flowers she'd received from Ross on her birthday a couple of months ago. As her eyes leveled out with the sidewalk, she was faced with probably the most beautiful sight she'd seen in a long time. Everywhere she looked there were strings of pearly white Christmas lights intertwined with the stems of long-stemmed roses, those of which were alternated with Rachel's all-time favorite flower, the white lily. She continued looking around, amazed at this sight, and gradually, familiar faces registered in her mind, four of her best friends, the Gellar's, her own parents, and finally, Ross, with Ben standing confidently at his side. Her eyes traveled from the lights around him, to meet his own chocolate pools, and she felt her heart drop down to her toes. It was in that instant, seeing Ross dressed in a black on black tuxedo and holding a single white rose in his hand that it dawned on her what all of this was for….

XoX

That entire day had been a whirlwind. From the moment he woke up that morning to the moment he saw the love of his life emerge from the subway, he had been nonstop. Dozens of phone calls, several trips across town and back again for various things of moderate to extreme importance, and a handful of potential nervous breakdowns. All of the mayhem that filled his day led up to this moment, right now. When looking into her eyes just made the world stand still. His heart was no longer beating somewhere in his throat, but rather in his chest where it belonged, and he couldn't hear the "oohs" and "aahs" of passersby wondering what all of the decorations were for. He could vaguely remember the fact that his son, four of his best friends, and both his and Rachel's parents were all huddled in a semi-circle behind him. The second her eyes met his, they were alone on this street corner, alone in the world.

He blinked and all of a sudden, she was coming towards him, a shocked but happy expression painted on her stunningly gorgeous face.

And then she smiled.

When I see you smile
I can face the world
Oh, you know I can do anything
When I see you smile
I see a ray of light
Oh I see it shining right through the rain
When I see you smile
Baby when I see you smile at me

One simple smile and he was back. It was go time. He smiled in return and began to walk towards her now, meeting her in the middle of a circle created partially by familiar faces, but mostly by nosy (and touched) pedestrians.

Baby there's nothing in this world that could ever do
What the touch of your hand can do
It's like nothing I ever knew
And when the rain is fallin'
I don't feel it 'coz you're here with me
And one look at you baby
Is all I ever need
It's all that I ever need

He wrapped his arms around her waist and gave her a soft, sweet kiss on the lips before moving his head to whisper, barely audibly in her ear, "You're beautiful."

She chuckled nervously, two tears sliding down her cheeks as she looked around once more, so inexplicably happy to see her mother and father, just a stone's throw a way to another best friend, second to the one standing before her now.

"Oh my God…" she whispered. She looked back at Ross. "Is this all what I think it is?"

"Well, I wanted it to be special…"

"Ross…" In that patented adorable, so undeniably 'Rachel' whine, practically pleading with him to stop.

"Sh…I want to say a few things." Ross smiled, "Then you can yell at me all you want." He offered her a knowing smirk and she laughed, dabbing at the tears from her eyes which were falling faster than she could stop them.

Ross took a deep breath and pushed a strand of hair back behind her ear. He traced her lips with his thumb, grazed her cheek with the back of his hand and finally met her eyes again. "You know I love you right?" She nodded. "Good." He looked around at all of the strangers now surrounding them and said, "I'm sorry to put you through this in front of all these people, but God…" he looked down, "I don't think I can take another second not knowing for sure, with all of my heart and yours, that you're gonna be at my side no matter what. I want you to be there for everything I do, and I want to see all of your accomplishments, too. I want to look at you every morning and know that you're mine. You're not just a dream. You're my Rachel."

Rachel smiled, and sniffled, squeezing his hand that was held tightly in hers.

"Now, I watch you sleep and think to myself, she's almost perfect. But there's always one thing missing… and it belongs on this finger." He lifted up her hand and rubbed her finger, beginning to feel a little stinging in his eyes as the tears threatened to fall from his eyes as well. He took a deep breath and continued, with more difficulty than he anticipated, "Rachel I wouldn't be the man I am today, standing in front of you, in front of all of these people and saying these things if it wasn't for you and what you do to me. You make me feel so alive. You're like a gift from God – you are that gift from God and now that I've had you, I don't think I could ever live a happy life unless you were a part of it. If I ever lost you, I don't think I could ever get the feeling back of loving and being loved. And I love being loved by you." He wiped another tear from her cheeks and whispered, "And I think Ben has something he wants to add to that."

Rachel turned to see Ben walking towards her looking very happy, but nervous at the same time. "Rachel, I had never seen my dad so happy until he met you. I'm only five and I can tell that he loves you very, very much. And I do too." With that, he took a small red velvet box from his jacket pocket unveiling the ring they'd picked out only hours previous, and he and Ross both kneeled down before her. Ben smiled, knowing that his job was complete and feeling unbelievably proud of himself while Ross smiled up at Rachel, "Marry me?"

From the crowd, soft "awws" could be heard, as well as some sniffling, while Rachel nodded her head and said, "Of course" through an onslaught of fresh tears. Ross jumped up and twirled her around while the crowd applauded and their family and friends surrounded them.

Rachel, still in Ross's arms, looked down at him and whispered, "I love you," before kissing him deeply on the mouth provoking a very disgusted "Eww..." from Ben who was still positioned at Ross's side.

The next few minutes were spent laughing, crying, and enduring dozens of wishes of Congratulations. So much was going on that Ross barely got Rachel to himself long enough to pose a very appealing question by speaking seductively into her ear, "Want to get out of here?"

Rachel turned her head and looked into his eyes, an ecstatic smile still plastered on her face that already radiated such immense happiness. Just as seductively, she sidled up to him, blew into his ear and breathily murmured, "Now, what do you think?" She winked at him, grabbed his hand, and turned to face their friends and family once again. She cleared her throat and spoke loudly at first to be heard above all of the chatter. "Excuse me… I just want to thank all of you for coming here tonight and sharing this special time with us." She paused while people muttered "wouldn't have missed its" and more congratulations, sneaking a glance at Ross who was hovering behind her with a goofy smile on his face. "But… I do believe that the groom and I have some celebrating to do ourselves…" She winked as everyone laughed, with the exception of Ben who didn't understand, and Monica who would much rather not have an image in her head of Ross and Rachel engaged in their sexcapades.

Before setting on their way, Ross and Rachel explained to Ben that he would be staying with his Aunt Monica for the night and that they would see him in the morning. And then, their closest companions watched them cross the deserted street holding hands and smiling on their way to the hotel where Ross booked them the honeymoon suite for the night.

XoX

They arrived at the hotel and checked in, heading to the elevator where they hoped they could get in a little of the intimacy that they had missed out on during the not-so-private proposal. They were disappointed; however, to discover that they would have to share the elevator with some rather ripe smelling teenagers heading back after a jaunt in the city.

Ross and Rachel managed, barely, to contain themselves long enough to open the door of the suite before Rachel launched herself into Ross' arms, propelling them both right into the wall by the front door. Immediately, Rachel's hands were ravaging through hair and her legs were wrapped around his waist. She was being supported, quite comfortably, but his hands on the backs of her thighs, where his periodic squeezes left her with tingly sensations all throughout her body.

Must be doing something right,

I just heard you sigh

Lean into my kiss and close

Those deep blue need you eyes

Don't know what I did, to earn a love this

But baby I must be doing something right.

Ross moved them into the bedroom and eased her down on the pink heart shaped bed, taking this chance that they weren't attached at the limps to slow things down. He wanted to remember every detail of her face on their engagement night, and he wanted to look back at this experience and see more than just a great blur interrupted every few minutes by great sex.

A second later, he felt her hand graze his stomach on the way to his arms. He looked down into her eyes and whispered, "I didn't think it was possible for a woman to look as beautiful as you do tonight." He took a deep breath and, for the second time tonight, tried to fight back tears. "Thank you."

For a change, it was Rachel wiping the tears without actually crying them, chuckling at the ironic role-reversal, she asked, "For what?"

"For loving me."

Rachel leaned up and placed her hands on his cheeks, kissing his forehead and meeting his eyes once again. "Well, I couldn't help it. You made it impossible for me not to." She smiled and leaned in, slowly but powerfully kissing him as he guided them down to lie flat on the mattress. As he begin kissing her neck and unzipping the dress that concealed her perfectly toned, tanned, smooth skin, she ran her fingers through his hair and whispered, "I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with you."

Must be doing something right,

I just heard you sigh

Lean into my kiss and close

Those deep blue need you eyes

Don't know what I did, to earn a love this

But baby I must be doing something right.

Where his mouth was positioned against her skin right above her collarbone, she could feel him smile. Stroking his hair and softly kissing his temple, they moved on, continuing what would turn out to be one of most intensely romantic nights they'd ever have.

I hope I'm on the right road

Judging by the smile on your face

I must be doing something right

I just heard you sigh

Lean into my kiss and close

Those deep blue need you eyes

Don't know what I did, to earn a love like this

But baby I must be doing something right.

XoX

Surprisingly, Rachel was awake before Ross the next morning. She took a couple of seconds to regroup before allowing herself to remember the previous night: the proposal, and hours upon hours of the most passionately tender lovemaking she would ever encounter. She let out a content sigh and felt Ross stir behind her. She rolled over on top of him and smiled, watching him pretend to sleep despite the fact that a whole person had just rolled over his chest. She kissed his nose and eyelids before whispering, "G'morning, baby."

He stroked her arms and kissed her sweetly on the lips, smiling as he said, "Y'know, I don't think I'll ever get used to the way my heart leaps when the first thing I see in the morning is you smiling back at me."

"I love you." Rachel said, kissing his nose one more time before resting her chest on his head.

Ross smiled and kissed her head. She looked up and kissed him quite deeply for a few fleeting seconds, but when he moved to make it more, she pulled away and smiled her trademark, teasing smile.

"C'mon, we have a wedding to plan!"

A/N: Aahhh… Chapter 9 – FINALLY! Gosh that was so hard… Anyway, there are some parts that I'm a little uneasy about and I'm really curious to see what everyone thinks. I know that I need to get out of this long hiatus before each chapter, and I'm trying – so maybe the next one will come up quicker… Anyway, songs used in this chapter include… "When I See You Smile" by Richard Marx, "Must be Doing Something Right" by Billy Currington, and "Please Forgive me" by Bryan Adams. Please leave a review: What did you think? Don't be a stranger…