He stood at the jewelry counter examining all the rings . The light hit each of them as they glistened on their velvet pillows. He saw a ring that was at least a karat. He remembered the ring that Barry gave her and there was no way he could compete with that. He was just starting to get back on his feet. Now he was going to be a professor, and he could take care of Rachel and the baby to come.
He did have some knowledge of gems from his geology classes and the fact that he had bought Carol a ring about six years ago. This one didn't seem to have any flaws in it and he could picture it sitting on her delicate manicured hand.
"This one." Ross said as he opened his wallet and took out his credit card. Thank heavens his parents had taught him about stashing money for a rainy day. He just wanted this to be that rainy day. Putting the ring in a blue Tiffany's bag, he grabbed it and put it in his briefcase. Next step was to find an apartment for his family. That thought made him smile . After the whole Carol and Susan ordeal, he was finally going to be a father and married to the woman he had dreamed of his whole life. He had planned to propose the night of the big fight , but had since taken the ring back and exchanged it.
Joey was sitting in his chair and playing with the chick and the duck. He loved to sit and tease them with treats in fake races while he and Phoebe bet on them. Rachel had gone to Long Island to see her mother and wasn't home. Ross came in the door, and made sure that Rachel or Monica was no where to be found. Phoebe got up and then went to ask Ross. "Did you get the job?" she asked.
"Sure did , you are looking at the new professor of the paleontology department at New York University." Ross said proudly. Phoebe jumped up and said "Yay!"
"Way to go buddy." Cheered Joey which set off a lot of loud quacking from the chick and the duck.
"And not only that." Ross said as he pulled out the ring box. Phoebe came over and put it on her finger. "If she doesn't want it, it's mine."
She exclaimed. Ross pulled it off her finger. "Phoebe , of course she will want it." He said. Joey came over and looked at the ring. "So you are going to ask Rachel to marry you?"
"Sure am. And I even know how I am going to do it." Ross said as he hatched a plan in his head. "I have somewhere I have to go , please don't tell Rachel." He begged " and also don't tell Chandler or Monica. Chandler has a big mouth and Monica would be so excited she couldn't keep a secret." Ross took the case and headed out the door. The two friends went back to betting on the treats that the chick and the duck would race for.
"Donald , I wanted to say thank you for the recommendation for the NYU job." Ross said as he went to see his old boss. "I was glad to do it, I felt bad after not being able to give you your old job back. Although the museum is going to lose one of our best guides." He smiled.
"Hopefully I can keep my museum job, and get rid of the night job, so I can spend more time with Rachel. She is going to be giving birth very soon, which brings me to why I am here." Ross started. "I want to borrow the planetarium for an evening." Donald thought that was strange. "And what for?" he asked curiously.
"Well the planetarium was where Rachel and I had our first date and I uh ." Ross started to blush as he thought of that evening when he and Rachel made love under the stars and then woke up the following morning under an animal fur and naked , until they saw that an entire parochial school was watching them. Luckily that had never gotten back to Donald.
"The place is yours." Donald said. "I wish you all the best." He got up and shook Ross' hand. "I am glad you are going to stay on as a museum guide. It is so nice to have one who actually knows something about the dinosaurs in the museum." Ross agreed it was great to be back and then went to the florist . He had an evening to plan.
"My mother, " griped Rachel as she entered Joey's . Phoebe and Joey stared at her and then started to smile. "And what is so funny?" Rachel demanded. "And I warn you, do n't make fun of a pregnant woman or I will sit on both of you." Phoebe thought quickly. "I t was a joke that Chandler told Joey." Joey turned to her and she looked at him for reaffirmation. "Yeah it was about…." Joey started .
"Save it , I have to pee. I swear this baby is using my bladder for a squeeze toy. And has anyone seen my boyfriend?" Rachel whined.
"Nope we didn''t see Ross earlier at all." Joey said. Phoebe looked at him with a dirty look. "No he wasn''t here, I think he already went to work. " she said to cover up Joey giving it away.
"I hope he remembers my ribs." She said as she closed the door.
That wasn't the only thing he did today. He had seen in the Village Voice that someone was renting a two bedroom apartment and it was in the same neighborhood. Ross thought it might be a little small, but it was better than living with his sister and two girls. They could always move later on. He had promised her they would have their own place soon. After signing the lease, he headed back to the apartment, because the florist was setting up the museum. The last thing he wanted to do was have Monica find out that when he returned, their parents gave him a check when he told them about the baby. She had always thought that he was the favorite and that confirmed it.
Rachel laid down on the bed exhausted . He flew into the bedroom door excited and happy.
"I am too tired for you to be happy." Rachel moaned.
"Oh but I have many reasons to be happy, one I have you, and the second reason is that I have a job." He said bouncing on the bed.
"Honey please don't do that, you will make me throw up again." Rachel said holding her mouth.
Then what he said dawned on her. "Did you say that you have a job?" Ross grinned. "Yep, you are looking at the newest member of the paleontology department at NYU." Rachel threw her arms around her boyfriend. "That is great." She said as she began to kiss him hard.
"So get up and get dressed , we have a few places to go tonight. I have a few surprises planned." Ross said as he led Rachel to her closet where she picked out a black maternity dress with spaghetti straps. She made Ross bend down for her to put on a pair of Ferragamo strappies and then put her hair in a clip. Two diamond earrings dangled from her ears. Rachel watched as he put on a black suit with a shirt and a black silk tie. "Fancy." She whistled. "Well this is a celebration . Let's go." He was anxious to see her face when she saw what he had planned.
Joey had snuck in and gotten on Chandler's computer. He saw something that caught his eye. "Hey Pheebs, look." He said to call Phoebe's attention to the web site. "It says here that you can become a minister off the internet and marry people. Right next to this ad for hot blonde teenagers." Phoebe looked at it. "That would be so cool. Someone could marry Ross and Rachel." Joey got an idea. "I am going to do it." He put in his information and started the process.
"Easy honey." Ross said as he helped Rachel up the stairs of the apartment building. "Boy Geller, I didn't know I would getting a workout today." He opened the door and there was a little table and chairs set up with cartons of Chinese food. The table was covered with a blue tablecloth and two candlesticks.
"How sweet." Rachel cooed. "But why are we here?" she asked.
"Because this is where we are going to live. I signed a lease after I left NYU and it has two bedrooms, one we can make into a nursery for the baby. I realize it is small, but it is only temporary till you are back to work and I am making more money."
Our first home." She said as she hugged Ross. Then she hurried to look at the bedrooms. "When can we move in?"
"As soon as we want." He answered. "Now let's eat because I haven't had anything to eat since this morning." The couple sat down to the Chinese food and then began to eat. When they were done, toasting with sparkling cider, Ross said . "There is one more surprise tonight. But I am going to need to blindfold you for it."
"Ross , I am ready to have a baby. Is this really necessary?" she asked as he wrapped the blindfold around her eyes."Yes it is." He answered. At that point a cab pulled up and had already been given the directions to their destination. "I am guiding you , Rach." He said as he wrapped his arm around her lower back . "Just take a few more steps. That's good and down and down." Rachel was dying to know where they were because of the blindfold she had no clue at all.
The planetarium was completely dark as the engineer was putting in a special program on the projector. Earlier a florist came in and set up a few vases of lilies. Rachel stumbled along on her heels, as Ross pulled her along.
"Ross , I am not kidding. I need to walk slower with this baby." Rachel moaned.
"Almost there." He said confidently.
When Ross stopped , he took off the blindfold and then stepped away to light the candles on the platform.
"Now what is this all about , Geller?" Rachel said as she stood in darkness and Ross had stepped away. He took out a lighter and then he took her hand and pulled her to the blanket on the platform. She saw the candle light lighting his hopeful face as he helped her down to the floor.
"This is the planetarium where we made love for the first time." Rachel said nostalgically . "That's right." Ross said sweetly. "Cran grape?" he said as he handed her the wine glass and the lilies were illuminated by candlelight. "Thank you honey." She said as she took a sip of the juice. "Are we going to have a replay?" she said coyly.
Ross gave the signal and the haunting tune of Wicked Game by Chris Isaak played just like on that night. "Oh Ross." She smiled. The engineer had been given the signal and he darkened the theatre. The dome was lit with a million stars, but at the side was a group of stars that spelled out a special message…
Rachel will you marry me? Was the message that Rachel noticed as she looked at the man at her side holding out a ring box and hoping that she would give the answer he waited for since he was fifteen.