New Plans

She was not awake when they brought her back to the ward, but they let Ross in anyway, to sit beside her and be there when she did wake. He tried to think of what he could say. He'd apologised many times, to her face and through the bathroom door, but she hadn't been listening to any of it. Could he say all that again, while she was calm and get through to her? Would she listen to him, believe him? He hoped so. He didn't know how to make it better. If she didn't believe that he loved her, he didn't see how he could win.

As she stirred, he sat up straighter in his chair.

'Are you all right sweetie?' he asked nervously. She opened her eyes, looked at him and then looked at her arm.

'I suppose so. It hurts a bit.'

'Let me call the nurse,' Ross said. It was something he could do, something that would help her, and besides, Emily would not shout at him if a nurse was there. He was reasonably sure of that.

'It's all right, I suppose it's going to hurt a bit,' Emily said, sounding a bit tired. She pushed herself up in bed with her good arm, and then looked at him again. 'What about your arm?'

'This?' he asked, raising his right forearm. 'Oh, that aches a lot.' They would not give him any more pills for it, which he thought was unfair. 'It's not actually broken,' he admitted, 'but they said I had to wear a splint because it's a bad sprain. Apparently a sprained wrist is worse than an ankle. I sprained my ankle when I was seventeen and for a while there they thought it was broken. I actually thought it was broken too, I mean, it hurt so much.' He realised that she wasn't really listening to him, just looking at him. 'What?'

'I didn't think you'd still be here,' Emily said.

'Why wouldn't I be here?' he asked.

'Well, you'd be with your friends, and with – with Rachel.'

'No I don't.'

'I mean,' Emily said, as though he hadn't spoken, 'You've waited with me, you've seen that I'm all right, you've done your duty, you could go, and be with people you really want to be with.' But she wasn't looking at him as she said these things.

'No.'

'I mean, there's the honeymoon, and…' Words failed her and she looked at her arm.

'I'm not going anywhere, Emily. My wife is here, and that's where I am too.'

'You said her name.'

'I don't want to marry her, Emily.'

'Then why did you say her name?'

'Because I was shocked to see her. I didn't expect to see her there, she said she wasn't coming. I thought she was in New York, with Phoebe, and then suddenly I find that she's there. She's an important friend.'

'More than a friend,' Emily pointed out.

'Yes,' Ross said. Emily turned her head slowly to look at him. 'There's a history there, me seeing her in the ninth grade and everything, and we did date, but it's been over for more than a year. We broke up and even though we tried, we couldn't make it work again. Emily, my sister and my friends really wanted it to work, we really wanted it to work, it's not like anything was against us. But it didn't work. We're just not compatible, in that way.'

'Does she know that?'

'She should.'

'That's not what I asked.' There was a silence as Ross struggled for the words, settling for,

'Doesn't it take two people to make a relationship? Rachel might have those ideas about me – I'm not saying she does, it's just, let's say she, she had some idea that we could get back together, well that couldn't possibly work if I didn't want a relationship with her, which I don't, not like that. What I want counts you know. I stopped wanting to try to get back together with Rachel when I met you. I'd dated other girls since Rachel but no-one stopped me from hoping that we could get back together until you. I want this relationship, but if you won't believe me, and try, then I'll be on my own here.' There was a silence before Emily said quietly.

'All right.'

'What?' he didn't know what she meant.

'We'll try and make it work.'

'Hey, we've even got matching injuries,' Ross said, raising his splinted forearm. 'How can it not work?' He leant over to kiss her, and that was the final balm required. She cried a little, but her face was much softer and less defensive when it was over.

'So what do we do now?' she asked. 'We're going to look an odd couple in Greece.'

'I gave our honeymoon tickets away because I didn't think you'd be ready to go by tomorrow.' Or even that she'd go. 'But we can do something else, just the two of us. There must be something to do in this country that would be good.'

'Shropshire,' she said. 'That's where I grew up. Let's go there. You can see where I came from.'

'Done,' Ross said happily.