Disclaimer: As always, they're not ours. Sigh.

a/n…sorry for the long wait, we both got busy, you know how insane teachers get this time of year in terms of killing students with homework. Anyway…Happy New Year, and enjoy!

All evening Rachel couldn't get the words that Monica asked her out of her head. "Do you still have feelings for Ross?" The truth was now that she thought about it, she did still love Ross. Though their chances now were all in the past since the mistake had already been made.

As they met up in the commons area of the hospital, Monica was ready to go with a notebook, map, and headsets for everybody. "I know this isn't the best time to ask this, but what's with the detective kit?" Chandler asked, trying to make a joke. "We've all got to listen in on both Ross and Rachel to set the mood." Monica said. "How is this going to work?" Joey said as he attempted to jam a headset backwards on to his head.

"We're going to try to get them to talk about there unresolved feelings to each of us." Monica said, fixing Joey's headset for him.

"Joey and I will go talk with Ross, and you and Pheebs talk to Rach." Chandler said as they went there separate ways.

The next morning, Joey, Monica, Chandler, and Phoebe all met up in Monica's apartment. Their plan the night before hadn't gotten too far- Ross had been too tired and depressed to talk any more about his feelings for Rachel. And Rachel had been distracted by the news that she might be able to go home the next afternoon.

"So did anyone learn any new information about this?" Phoebe asked in frustration.

"Nothing much besides that, if something doesn't happen soon, I don't know what Ross will do," Joey said. The others nodded sadly in agreement.

"Well, there's no point in sitting around," Chandler pointed out. "I guess we'd better get to Rachel…someone should swing by Ross' place first, though."

"Yeah," Monica agreed. "Joey, can you do that?"

"Sure", Joey replied. He headed out the door. Phoebe followed behind him, then stopped.

"Wait, aren't you guys coming?" she asked Chandler and Monica, who were still sitting at the kitchen table."

"We'll meet you there, we just have to…discuss something." Monica quickly said, wanting to get rid of Phoebe.

"OK," Phoebe said with a shrug, a bit confused.

Once she was gone, Monica turned to Chandler.

"We really do need to discuss something, you know," she said.

"Oh no, is this the talk about where our relationship is going?" Chandler asked with a groan. "I hate those talks, they always end up ending my relationship."

"No, not about that," Monica said, rolling her eyes. "Although you can't avoid that talk forever. What I meant was…when are we going to tell the others about our relationship?"

"Oh yeah…we should probably tell them," Chandler said. "I hate always having to meet in secret."

"OK, so…should we tell them today?" Monica asked.
"What about Rachel?" Chandler asked.

"She's been doing so much better, and she's probably coming home today. It won't hurt her, it'll probably make her happy, which is what we want," Monica reassured him.

"What about Ross?" Chandler asked. "This could really upset him."

"Yeah…but maybe it would be ok, that way he would be distracted from this whole Rachel thing." Monica said.

"Good point…so should we tell them today?" Chandler asked.

"I guess so," Monica said. Her and Chandler looked at each other, smiling, before embracing in a long and passionate kiss.

Later on, everyone gathered at the hospital. Everyone was in a good mood, even Ross- the doctors had said that Rachel could definitely go home that evening if everything went well. Ross was still not himself, of course, but now that Rachel was in a much better condition, his guilt was dissipating slightly.

Monica cleared her throat. Everyone looked up from where they were sitting around Rachel's bed.

"Chandler and I have something we'd like to tell everyone," Monica began nervously. She looked over to Chandler for help.

"For the past little while…Monica and I have been…having a….relationship," Chandler said slowly. He reached over to hold Monica's hand while they waited for the others' reaction.

"You're kidding, right?" Joey asked in disbelief. Everyone else seemed just as shocked…Ross was staring blankly ahead, clearly in a state of extreme shock.

"No, we're not kidding," Monica said. "We thought we'd better let you all know what's been going on."

"I don't believe it…I won't believe it," Ross said suddenly, before getting up and marching out the door of the room.