A/N: Hey, here's chapter nine so rise & shine! Haha I don't know what that was, but just read, review and enjoy!
Different
Outside the guest bedroom Rachel saw the light was on so she assumed Ross was still awake. She prepared herself by taking a deep breath, and saying everything would be fine. A voice in her head told her otherwise
Yeah then what was that kiss all about, and why was he flirting with you all night? Then the other Rachel that doubted it answered.
Yeah well I'm sure it wasn't anything. It probably was just because of New Years.
Yeah okay. Keep telling yourself that.
Rachel shook it off and decided to act normal like nothing happened. She put her hand on the door and turned the knob. Rachel peered in the doorway to see Ross sitting on the bed stripped down to his boxers and T-shirt watching sports clips from the Knicks game. She silently prayed for self-control for she hadn't been with anyone since Ross, the night that Emma was conceived.
Ross heard the door crack and turned around to see Rachel standing there unsure and looking like she'd been saying something to herself. He switched off the T.V.
"Hey, I didn't know if you were sleeping yet so I didn't want to wake you."
"Thanks, but no such luck yet." She laughed.
Ross asked, "How was Emma?"
"Sleeping like an angel."
"Good." Rachel was still in her dress from the party and then she remembered that she didn't have any clothes to change into. Ross saw a puzzled look on her face.
"Hey, you ok?"
"Yeah, yeah it's just I didn't bring a change of clothes because I didn't think we'd be staying overnight." Ross thought for a second.
"Well wait. I think I have a change of clothes in the car from when I did my laundry the other day. I just left them in there in case I ever needed them. You can use them if you want." Rachel smiled relieved.
"Aww, that would be great. I'll go out and get them." Ross stood up finally giving Rachel a chance to see how well he looked. His body looked tan and muscular.
"No, I'll get them. Don't worry about it." I guess Rachel was impressed because she hadn't answered Ross in about a minute.
"Rach?" Rachel snapped out of her daze
"Oh I'm sorry. No, no you already got unchanged. I'll go get them." Ross already had his sweater back on and was working on his pants.
"Rachel. It's fine. I insist."
Rachel conceded, "Alright, well I'm coming with you." Ross laughed.
"Okay if you wanna freeze I can't say I didn't warn you."
"Yeah well, I couldn't let you freeze all by yourself on my account now could I?" Ross was now fully clothed.
"No. I guess you couldn't." They laughed and started walking down the stairs.
When they got outside the snow was falling so fast, but it really looked beautiful. It was so cold that they could see the air from their breath. Ross grabbed the clothes from the trunk and saw Rachel was shivering with just her dress, and coat on and her legs were not really covered. He pulled her close to him and wrapped part of his coat around her to try to shield some of the cold away from her.
"Thank you," she said as she looked up and smiled at him. He smiled back. When they got inside they were covered in snow. They were breathing heavily from the freezing cold air and Rachel still shivered. Ross handed her the clothes and then put his hands on her shoulders and rubbed them to try to warm her up.
"Thanks again." Ross smiled.
"No problem. I mean I could have let you sleep naked and all, but I'm a nice guy." Rachel laughed and smiled agreeably.
"Yeah. I guess you are." They walked back upstairs in silence.
Feeling a little reluctant to change in front of Ross she waited for him to change first and then she turned her back to take off her dress. She was still in her bra, underwear and stockings but she felt completely naked as she felt his eyes on the back of her neck. She covered herself with the sweatpants and T-shirt Ross gave her and turned to ask him if he would face the other way while she finished getting changed.
"Sure," he answered a little surprised that she asked since he'd see her naked hundreds of times, and they'd shared that kiss earlier that night. Rachel heard his confused tone with the underlying sound of dejection. Ross turned his head to face the wall looking disappointed.
"I'm sorry. I know you've seen a lot more then that before it's just that…it's different now," Rachel tried to explain to him so he would understand. Ross still feeling the sting of disappointment felt even worse when he heard that word, "different."
"Yeah, I know it is. Don't worry about it I understand," he said trying to sound unaffected.
Rachel was now fully changed into Ross's clothes so she climbed on the bed and grabbed Ross's face to turn him to look at her.
"Ross, I'm sorry. I don't know what to say really. I hate the fact that when it comes to stuff like this we can't just act normal around each other. And I don't think we'll ever be able to. We just have too much history between us." Ross looked down as he thought by "too much history" Rachel thought all that they'd been through was a bad thing.
"Yeah. I guess so." Rachel took his face in her hands to make him look at her again, but this time she moved it closer to hers and then kissed him softly. When Ross opened his eyes he looked more confused then ever. "Hmm. What was that for?"
"I was just trying to show you that what I meant before doesn't mean I think our history is bad. I just meant things like…seeing each other get changed or sleeping in the same bed is always going to be harder for us then for people who don't have our history. But I wouldn't trade that for anything in the world because that's what makes us different then everybody else, the fact that we've been through so much together. And I really think that's why we care for each other the way that we do." Ross smiled.
"Yeah, I know what you mean, but I don't really think anybody will ever have the same history as us." They laughed. Rachel grabbed his hand and patted it.
"No, I don't think that's possible. All right well I'm going to go to bed if you don't mind. I'm quite tired."
"Yeah me too."
They both stood up to pull the covers down and climbed into bed. Even though it was a Queen and plenty spacious they were closer then they'd been to each other in a really long time.
"Goodnight Rach," Ross said as he turned to the opposite side of her.
"Goodnight," she said back as she turned off the light. She could smell Ross all around her, from his clothes that she was wearing and from him being right there, lying next to her. She had missed that smell, and it comforted her and lulled her to sleep.
