Beautiful Release
by Tina

- - -

Rachel and Barry landed on San Francisco a few minutes after 10pm, local time, after a brief stop in Salt Lake City. They left the bags in their luxurious hotel at Union Square and rushed to the hospital. By the time they got to the reception, it was almost midnight.

"Excuse, hi. I'm Dr. Barry Farber, I'm here to see my brother James Farber, I was informed he and his family were admitted here this morning?"

Rachel stood beside and admired how together Barry seemed.

They were sent up to the 5th floor and into Jimmy's room. As they walked in, Barry took a deep breath and his eyes filled up with tears. A nurse escorted them in.

"The doctor who looked after him when he first arrived went home, but if you'd like I can call an ER doctor who's on duty at the moment to explain everything."

Barry nodded slowly, seeming a bit overwhelmed at the moment. The nurse left.

He was slowly losing it.

Rachel watched it as Barry slowly approached the bed where Jimmy was lying, hooked to many machines. His sobs joined the beeps. Rachel ran a hand up his back and finally looked at Jimmy's face. His eyes were shut, he looked pretty pale, lifeless. She looked at the monitor and checked it, he had a heartbeat. He had bruises, a sutured cut on his forehead and a cast on his left leg. She hoped the coma at least numbed his pain.

She wiped a tear away and turned around when she saw the door opening.

"Mr. Farber?" The doctor asked.

Rachel looked back at Barry, but he didn't turn around or acknowledged the new presence in any way. So she stepped up and approached the doctor.

"Hi, I'm Rachel Farber, Jimmy's sister-in-law."

"I understand you two flew in from New York?"

"Yes."

The doctor picked up Jimmy's chart and started reading it.

"Well, it seems your brother-in-law lost conscience at the site of the accident. He hit his head and had minor interior bleeding, which we were able to repair with a small intervention. Now, what we're-"

Rachel waved her hand softly, shutting her eyes.

"Wait, wait, wait. Would you mind if I called my father, he's a doctor himself, and explaining all of that to him?"

The doctor shook his head.

"Absolutely not, whatever suits you best."

"Thank you."

She picked up her phone and dialed her parents' house number, knowing they would be sleeping, specially considering the time difference. She hadn't even had the time to call them and tell them about the last minute trip.

"Hello, daddy?"

"Rachel?"

"Yes, it's me. I'm sorry it's so late, but something happened, I need your help. You remember Barry's little brother Jimmy, right? Well, he was involved in a car accident and Barry and I had to come to San Francisco tonight and I'm talking to the doctor and-"

"Alright, let me talk to him, sweetie."

Rachel smiled sweetly.

"Thank you." She handed the phone to the doctor. "Here."

As the specialized talk began, Rachel looked back at Barry. She looked down and then at the nurse, who'd just re-entered the room.

"So how are his wife and kids?"

"Oh, let me check." She picked up a few notes. "I'll be right back."

She left for a brief moment, then came back, holding a few papers.

"Sarah, Alexandra and Anna Farber, right?"

"Yes."

"OK, let's see. Sarah broke her right arm and had to stitch a few wounds, but we didn't find anything too serious in the exams we ran. Alexandra and Anna were both safe in their car seats and didn't suffer much, only a few scrapes and small cuts. We would have released them today if they had a place to go."

Rachel sighed relieved.

"Oh, thank God."

"You're gonna have to wait to see them next morning though."

"OK."

"Miss?" Rachel turned and looked at the doctor, who was handing the phone back to her. "Your father wants to talk to you now. I've explained the situation to him, he should be able to translate everything back to you."

"Thank you, Dr."

"Now I gotta go back down to the ER, if anything comes up just page me." He told the nurse, who nodded.

After speaking to her father, who lovingly assured Rachel Jimmy had been quite lucky under the circumstances and that he would most likely wake up soon, Rachel approached Barry again.

"Barry?"

He took his eyes away from his brother only to look briefly at his wife. Very briefly.

"Daddy thinks it's best if we go to the hotel now, get some rest and come back in the morning."

"No, I wanna stay here."

"But Barry-"

"I'm staying!"

She stood there, not knowing what to say.

"Actually, I'm gonna have to ask you two to leave the room now. It's hospital policy, we only let you in because of the circumstances, but now..." she trailed off. "You're more than welcome to spend the night at the waiting room, though."

"Then that's where I'll be." Barry said, taking one last look at his brother and leaving.

Rachel sighed and looked at the nurse, leaving after Barry.

---

She looked at her watch and sighed, cursing in her head. She looked over and saw how Barry had no trouble falling asleep in those damn uncomfortable chairs. Rachel changed position. To be fair, under a normal circumstance she would have found them very nice. Never to sleep on, however. Oh, so much for that beautiful room they were paying - an awful lot - for, with that marvelous bed she had only been allowed to take a peek at.

She breathed in the quietness of the place. They were the only ones in the waiting room, the atmosphere was quite still.

She heard two nurses speak on a reasonable distance. Then the silence ruled once again.

She glanced at her watch one more time.

It was morning in New York. She knew everybody was already up there, having breakfast, getting ready for another day of work.

She closed her eyes.

If life were simpler, she'd be there with them.

She opened her eyes.

Should she call him?

She remembered their last conversation and decided it would be best to wait a little longer.

With her heart and mind many miles again, she shut her eyes and once again tried to fall asleep.

-

"Whoa, what? Ross and Rachel?" Phoebe exclaimed.

"Yup." Monica beamed. "Now, I gave them a hard time at first, you know, considering they were both married and all, but... Oh, you guys, you should have seen them together. More important, you should've seen just how happy Ross looked. Like I haven't seen him in a long, long time."

Chandler was still in a daze.

"What!" He said with a high pitched voice.

Monica looked at him and smiled.

"Oh, man... And you told me we weren't allowed to hit on her, Monica." Joey whined.

Monica shot him a look. The guest room door opened and Ross stepped out, ready to work. Everybody stared at him, until he noticed.

"What?" They didn't say anything, but smiled in a way that gave them away. Ross stared at Monica. "You told them?"

"Yeah, but there's no harm telling them now, is there?" Monica skipped her way to him. "From all she said yesterday it's pretty much official now, isn't it?"

"Monica, I'm not even legally separated yet."

"We're not gonna tell Carol."

"She hasn't left her husband yet."

"Didn't you hear her yesterday? She's leaving that loser for you!"

"Monica, she's in San Francisco with that loser."

Monica stopped her giddy half dance.

"What?" Ross nodded, pouring some coffee into a mug, avoiding her eyes. "Why would she do that?"

"Whoa." Joey mumbled. "A little twist in the plot, interesting!"

Ross shot him a look.

"You know how her brother-in-law got in that car accident?"

"Yeah, but didn't she say she's leaving Barry as soon as that gets sorted out?"

"The man's in a coma, Monica, in San Francisco. She and Barry flew over yesterday and God knows when she'll be back."

"Oh, come on, bro, she'll be back here in a couple of days, I can tell."

Ross shook his head, sipping his coffee, not allowing himself to feed on any hope right now. Funny Monica would be the one offering some after everything that had happened over the past few days.

"Whatever, Mon, I gotta go to work. Bye everyone."

He picked up his briefcase and left.

"You're right, haven't seen him this happy in a long time." Chandler sarcastically commented, earning a look from his fiance.

Outside the door, Ross sighed and made his way down the stairs, trying hard to keep his mind off of her, of imagining what she was doing that exact moment. After much consideration the previous night, he'd decided he shouldn't expect anything from Rachel right now. She had stuff to do and so did he. He had to focus on himself. He was getting out of a long marriage, saying goodbye to the only woman he'd even been with, that he'd ever loved. Well, before Rachel came along, anyway. Maybe he could - and should - use her time away to take care of himself, bond with his son, structure his life again.

He still had to search for an apartment of his own, contact a lawyer and get started on his divorce paperwork.

He missed her, of course. And he wished she'd come back. Soon. That exact moment. Hell, yesterday, if it were possible. But he opted for sanity and hopefully she'd also do the right thing. He'd done his part, now there was nothing he could do for her.

It was her turn to give.

---

"Rachel?"

She blinked softly, snapping out of her brief sleep.

"Fresh out of the pot?"

She turned around and saw Barry offering a cup of coffee. She took it and sit up straight.

"Thanks."

He sipped the cup on his hand.

"Good morning."

She just nodded in response, a little sore from having to sleep in the waiting room. He looked at her and noticed how she moved her spine, trying to get the pain to subside.

"How's he doing today?"

"The doctor says he's pretty much the same, but I can tell he's a little better. Almost as if he knows we're here."

Rachel gave him a half smile.

"Well, maybe he does."

"I was just so crazy last night I was even considering having him moved to another hospital. Maybe somewhere in L.A.."

"Barry, that's crazy, daddy said-"

He cut her.

"I know what your father said, I spoke to him today."

"Huh?"

Barry picked up her cell from his pocket.

"He called. You were out, so I answered it."

Rachel froze.

"Oh. Was he the only one who called?"

The minute the words poured out of her mouth she realized the mistake she'd made. The nervousness was pretty clear in her voice. He glared at her, well knowing this had something to do with her behavior the past few weeks, the night she stayed out. But, again, he didn't say anything.

"No, nobody called."

He handed the phone back to her.

"I'm on my way to the cafeteria to go and have breakfast before I can go and see the girls. You coming?"

"Sure."

---

Just so you know, my knowledge on hospital policies and medicine comes basically solely from watching ER, Scrubs and Grey's Anatomy. I didn't research any of that, so forgive me for mistakes. And all I know of San Francisco comes from spending three days there, not nearly enough. Oh, and bear in mind that in therms of "Friends" timeline, this is happening around the 6th-7th season. But because Rachel wasn't there since the beginning, a lot happens to be AU. You're just gonna have to accept whatever I write, I'm afraid. Lmao! It's not that I don't have enough knowledge on the show, believe me. It's just how I've chosen to do it, m'kay? Thanks ;) OK... I was gonna write more to this chapter, but I think it is better if I give you something now and start working on the next chapter. Some of you have been asking about the length of this and, well, all I have to say is that it is nearing the end, kind of. I can't tell you how many more chapters to go 'cause I honestly don't know. But we're getting there. Please leave me a review ;) P.S. Urgh, when did ffnet become so mac unfriendly?