Disclaimer: I took quizzes and I'm Ross! But no, I don't own Friends.

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A/N: Sorry about the lack of updates... my muse took a vacation and left me plotless for a few weeks. But I'm back. Enjoy chapter nine.

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THE ONE WITH THE STORY ABOUT THE CAMPING TRIP

Chapter Nine: The Morning

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Joey, Chandler, and Phoebe made it to the campsite without being eaten by anything. Nothing jumped out to scare them. No bear sounds had been heard. Phoebe and Joey disappeared into the tent again, leaving Chandler to his lone campfire. He managed to get himself completely full of s'mores and now all he could do was sit back and wait.

Wait for what? he wondered. It's not like they're going to come back now, at this time of the night. And if they did, it wouldn't matter whether he was in the tent or not.

He was bored. He almost couldn't believe it, that in the midst of all this worry and all these problems that he would be bored, but there was no doubt about it. He was bored.

He sat back to do nothing in a different position.

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"So, do we just sleep on the leaves?" Rachel wanted to know.

"Do we have another choice?" Monica asked. "Unless you feel like sleeping in a tree."

"Leaves are fine," Rachel grumbled. At least they'd have Ross' jacket.

After a bit of fussing they were all squished together under the coat. It wasn't particularly comfortable, Rachel decided, but it could be worse. The leaves were soft, if a little damp, and it was warm enough with the combination of friends and jacket. And snuggling against Ross was nice.

Here come the stupid thoughts again.

No one said anything and Rachel listened to the quiet breathing of Monica and Ross and the kind of scary noises coming from all around her. There must be lots of bugs and animals and...things in the woods.

But eventually she fell asleep, her head on Ross' chest.

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Joey had almost decided to give up. Phoebe was impossible. He'd been so close—SO close—to doing it with her when all of a sudden she'd starting putting her clothes back on and sticking her head out of the tent.

"What now?" he asked.

"Oh. Um, Chandler's coming back."

"How'd you know? I don't hear anything."

"I just know. You know?"

"No."

But she refused to do anything else.

"Okay, I'll wait," Joey finally said. And then Chandler didn't show up. He waited a whole five minutes before trying to bother Phoebe again. But she still refused. "Dammit," he muttered..

And then Chandler poked his head in the tent flap. Joey jumped. Had Phoebe been right?

"Hello, children," Chandler greeted them.

"Hi."

"Hello."

"Well," Chandler began, "I'm off to bed, and since it looks like you guys didn't pitch the other tent, I have to join you. So no... doing stuff."

"Dammit!" Joey said again.

"You can take it out into the woods if you want," Chandler said. "But you might want to keep the bear in mind."

"No," Phoebe said.

"No...?"

"No, we're just going to go to sleep. Alone. Sorry, Joey."

Joey swore again. This sucked.

"Um, you can use our tent if you want, though," Phoebe added.

Since Joey didn't really want to get up, he agreed. Even though it still sucked.

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Ross was not happy when he woke up. The first thing he was aware of was the dew. It covered everything in a damp layer, and made him cold. The second thing he noticed was the fact that his foot still really hurt.

And then felt Rachel cuddled up against his chest. So maybe this wasn't that bad after all...He shifted his head so it was touching Rachel's. Her hair smelled nice. He closed his eyes again, but now he really had to use a bathroom. Or, since he was in the middle of nowhere, a bush somewhere the girls couldn't see him.

He managed to get out from under his jacket by half crawling, half wiggling across the ground. Rachel and Monica stirred, but didn't wake up. He pulled himself up with a small tree and took one step before his foot hurt so much he fell over with a loud crash and a yell.

Monica jerked awake at the noise. "Oh my God! What's happening? Ross!"

"I—I fell over," he said weakly. "I had to pee, and—"

"Ross, don't care, just need to know—are you okay?" Monica asked.

"Well, about as okay as I was before," Ross answered. He pushed himself up into a sitting position, leaning up against the tree, and looked at Monica. She was worried. He really didn't look too good.

"What going on?" Rachel asked suddenly, still groggy. Apparently she'd just awakened.

"Ross fell," Monica said shortly. "But he's okay."

"From another tree?"

"No, no, just from standing," Ross said. "So how are we going to get out of here?"

"I found the path, remember?" Monica said, pointing in the direction of their only hope, "We're gonna get over to it, then either we'll follow it, wait for someone to find us, or send someone out to follow it and bring back help."

Ross sighed. "I know THAT. I just mean... if I can't really stand, how am I supposed to walk?"

The girls exchanged glances. "We'll carry you," Monica said. After all, they were still close in size. And with Rachel's help...well, they could at least half drag him through the woods.

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Oh God. It was morning, and they still hadn't shown up. Chandler awoke to these thoughts, sitting bolt upright in his sleeping bag. He eased down a bit when he realized that maybe they had come back, and were using the other tent. He crawled out from the warm confines of his sleeping bag and unzipped the tent.

He blinked in the bright sunlight, but he had enough vision to tell him what he needed to know. No Ross. No Monica. No Rachel. The second tent still lay in a small heap a few feet away. He sighed dejectedly and stooped to crawl back into the tent that was actually standing.

This movement woke Phoebe up, and since Joey was pretty much curled around her, he woke up too.

"Happy new year!" Phoebe shouted.

Chandler made a face. "What?"

"Oh, I've just always wanted to say that. So are they back yet?"

"No. No, they're not. Hey, do you know if they have a phone anywhere no this campsite?"

Phoebe and Joey shrugged. "I don't think so," Joey said.

"Then maybe we should go looking for them again..?" Chandler suggested.

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"Guys, I'll be right back," Monica said. "I have to use the bathroom."

"'Kay," Rachel said offhandedly. She watched Monica walk away and out of sight. "Hey, you," she said to Ross.

"Hi..." Ross replied hesitantly.

"So... last night... that was pretty good, wasn't it?"

"Yeah, yeah, I guess so," Ross said.

"Wanna do it one more time?"

"Um... I don't think we sh—okay."

Rachel kneeled down to where Ross still sat on the leaf-strewn ground. "I guess this'll have to be the last time," she said.

"So let's not waste it."

Her lips found his and they sunk into the kiss. It was more than pretty good. Then the sounds of Monica's footsteps crashing through the dead leaves and underbrush interrupted them. The next time they kissed would be ten years later.

"You guys ready?" Monica asked.

Ross nodded numbly. It was still hard to believe he'd just been making out with Rachel. He searched Rachel's face to see if there was any hint of his feelings in her. Was she as amazed by this as he was?

Of course not, he told himself. She hasn't liked me since the ninth grade. This is nothing to her. She'll go right back to Chip as soon as we go home. I'm nothing.

Well, he added mentally with a twist of irony, there's a happy thought to start this day with.

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