Disclaimer: Friends, unfortunately, isn't ours L

A/N--sorry it's taken so long for this chapter…we've been so busy, with school, homework, I'm working on my school play (The Wizard Of Oz, the first performance is a week tomorrow!), and we've both been working on the FriendsCafe Olympics. But anyway, please read and enjoy this chapter, and leave a review ;)

An hour later, the entire gang sat in Rachel's hospital room in shock, because now they all knew what had happened to Rachel. Rachel sat in her bed, tears streaming down her face, as she remembered that awful night.

"Should I get the doctor, Rach?" Monica asked, her voice full of worry, patting her best friend's arm comfortingly.

"No, don't tell them yet," Rachel pleaded. "Later...I don't feel like talking about it any more than I already have."

"Ok, if that's what you want, we'll wait." Monica promised.

The rest of the gang nodded. Ross sat in a chair at the end of Rachel's bed, the most shocked out of anyone. He had thought that he couldn't feel any more guilty before, but now he did. "She was raped," he thought, "It's all my fault, now her life could be ruined forever!" Ross sighed. No matter how many times his friends told him it wasn't his fault, or how many times they told him it was because he loved Rachel, it didn't change anything. He knew that he was all to blame for the whole incident.

While taking a coffee break in the cafeteria, Chandler finally spoke.

"I can't believe Rachel got raped," he said boldly.

"I know...I knew something bad had happened but I never guessed how bad it'd be," Monica said sadly.

"I know Mon, especially when she had a tough time before it," Chandler said in nearly a whisper, his voice starting to crack.

Monica wrapped her arms around Chandler, both to comfort him and seeking comfort for herself.

"It's gonna be ok, right?" she asked, starting to cry a bit.

"Of course it is," Chandler answered, although a bit uncertainly. "Rachel's made it through tough times before, she can make it through this too."

"I hope so," Monica said quietly, before sinking into a deep romantic hug with Chandler.

Taking time alone with his thoughts, Ross just sat and silently cried as he sat on a nearby bench.

"You alright man?" Joey asked with concern, taking a seat beside him.

"I can't deny it anymore to myself Joe, I'm at fault for Rachel's accident!" Ross cried, throwing his hands up in the air.

"You've got to quit obsessing that your at blame." Joey said.

"I am though...…" Ross whispered.

"No, you're not, Ross, you're really not…"

"I've got to go," Ross said suddenly, brushing pass leaving Joey in shock.

"Guys, we have to do something about Ross," Joey said, going over to where Chandler and Monica sat. "He has to stop blaming himself for this."

"I know," Monica replied with a sigh. "But what can we do?"

Phoebe came back to the table with a muffin and coffee as she said this. "I think the only thing that would help Ross is to talk to Rachel about all this," she said. "He just has to get his feelings out in the open...and so does Rachel. If they don't, neither of them is going to recover from this."

"You're right, Chandler agreed. "But getting those two to tell each other how they're feeling? Have you any idea how long that would take? Remember when they first started dating, how long it had been before then that they each struggled with their thoughts about each other?"

"We'll just have to talk to both of them about it," Monica said. "I'll talk to Rachel later...Chandler, can you talk to Ross?"

"Sure," Chandler replied ."I'll go find him right now before he does anything drastic."

"There you are man." Chandler said, as he spotted Ross looking in at the babies in the nursery.

"What are you doing here Chandler?" Ross said miserably.

"I'm here to have a talk with you, I hate seeing you so down all the time." Chandler answered as he put an arm around his friend.

"I'm fine." Ross said, quite unconvincingly.

"Dude I've known you for a long time, and I have never seen you any happier whenever you and Rachel were together," Chandler said, a pleading look in his eyes.

"Chandler you've just got to let it go, I've ruined our chances by dating Emily to get over her when I knew Rach didn't like her."

"Just give yourself more time…and let me know if I can help," Chandler said as he walked off. With glancing back at the babies, Ross got the feeling that somewhere down the line, him and Rachel were meant to be together again, but he also knew that it was too late. He sighed sadly.

"Rachel, do you have a minute?" Monica asked, poking her head in the room, seeing her friend watching TV.

"Sure Mon, there's nothing good on anyway," Rachel said, turning off the TV and motioning Monica to take a seat.

"Alright, Rach I'm just going to come out and ask you." Monica paused. "Do you still have feelings for my brother?"

Rachel was shocked that the subject was coming up again. "I don't know."

Monica then came over to her and gave her a quick hug. "Think about it," she said, before exiting the room. Once Monica was gone, Rachel sighed to herself. She knew somewhere deep inside that Ross was the one for her, but she'd never admit it for fear of messing things up again,.

"What happened?" Phoebe said, as she and Joey met back up with them in the cafeteria.

"They're both still too stubborn to see that they are meant to be together," Chandler said in frustration.

"Why are they doing this?" Joey asked.

"It leaves us all to be in the middle of it." Monica said sadly.

"Well, here's an idea… how about we come up with some sort of a plan to get them back together," Phoebe said with a genuine smile. They all leaned in, and Phoebe whispered her plan to the others.

"I dunno Pheebs…it might work," Chandler said doubtfully.

"There's no harm in trying, though," Monica pointed out. Everyone agreed, and they all raised their juice glasses in a toast for luck.