It had been four days since the surgery. Rachel was still hooked up to the morphine drip for pain, but she was now sitting up. Ross had not left her side for more than a few minutes. Chandler had brought him a bag so he could stay at the hospital. The girls were with Judy and Jack , and that was so that both sets of grandparents could spoil them and love them during this crucial time. He sat in the chair reading an article about dinosaur bones found in Montana. Rachel was watching her soaps.

The room was filled with flowers . Long stemmed roses from Ralph Lauren himself and also from Joey. There were balloon bouquets and stuffed animals , boxes of candy, and a special gift from the dean of Ross' school, an angel statue. She had said that angels had a special power , almost a healing power, and that she should embrace these special messengers. Emma's special balloon hung on the iv pole and on the bed stand was a picture of the gang and a picture of Rachel's little family , her Ross, Emma, and Isabella.

"Hello." Said a small little voice as she stood at the door. She looked down at the manilla file and the typed name. "Rachel?"she questioned to make sure she was in the right room. Rachel looked up and saw who was addressing her. "I am Sarah and I am the cancer social worker. I just wanted to see how you were doing and to give you some information ." She had a pleasant personality , and her head was wrapped in a pink scarf . It covered her bald head. "You must be Ross. I am friends with Carol and Susan and I have heard so many things about you." She said coming over and shaking his hands.

"And if they were from Susan , I know what they were." Ross said.

"Oh no, not at all, Susan has only positive things to say about you . That Ben has a really great Dad and how comfortable you have been with the whole relationship between them. That was the main reason that I asked for you , because I am good friends with both of them." Sarah explained. "And it is always great to talk to someone who has been through the same thing that you are going through. I have been in remission now for seven months." Sarah said proudly. She then handed Rachel a folder of brochures.

"These are the medicines that your doctor has assigned for the protocol. The names might be confusing and the brochures also have the side effects of each medication. I am sorry they are more for a medical mind then the common person." Sarah apologized.

Ross took them. "That is quite alright. You see I am a scientist and I will read these and translate them for Rachel." Ross said in his usual way.

"You are a doctor ? They never mentioned that." Said Sarah as she was obviously impressed.

"He is a doctor of dinosaurs. His patients died thousands of years ago." Giggled Rachel.

"Oh good Rach, you are getting your saracasm back." Ross said with a sarcastic laugh. "I am a professor of paleontology at NYU."

"Now what about chemo?" Rachel hated to hear what Sarah would say about that. "Is it as bad as they say it is?"

Sarah got very serious. "Well the one good thing about your protocol is that you don't have to be in the hospital. You can stay at home and do your cycles out patient. You will be tired and sometimes even sick, but you will always have the ones you love around you. Before you start your chemo, they will implant a port in you so they wont have to poke you all the time. Then they will remove it , when your cycles are over."

" And what about my hair?" she was a beautiful woman and this really made her nervous. Her hair was always one thing that she prided herself on. "Will I lose it?" Rachel also remembered the whole Bonnie incident when she told her to shave her head and how Ross screamed at her because he couldn't stand his bald girlfriend. If he broke up with her because of that, would that turn him off?

"That depends. It all depends on each person and each person is different. You may lose all your hair or you may lose none of it. If you would lose your hair, there are wigs and hats. The hair will grow back following the end of chemo. The bag of chemo lasts about five hours and while you are there, you can have your friends stay and keep you company. There are movies and popsicles, and you can really have a really great time." Sarah smiled.

"Can you bring your own movies while she is there?" Ross asked anxiously. "Of course," said Sarah.

"No Die Hard and no Jurassic Park." Rachel commanded. "You guys can all take turns to stay with me and for Chandler , no Baywatch but I will watch Miss Congeniality."

This next part concerned Ross. "Now these drugs , they won't interfere with our , you know?" he asked shyly. Sarah just smiled. "Nope, in fact you and Rachel will probably become even closer because of this. My lover and I just held each other and talked and it was so great, because she really understood . Rachel knew that a woman was sympathetic, but a man would be another story. Would Ross even want to touch her and make love to her like they did all the time? Or would she go back to wondering if he would ever be unfaithful again?

"There will be a lot of support for you , Rachel. In fact , we have meetings all the time right here at the hospital. Sometimes it helps to talk about it. Cancer doesn't just affect the patient , it effects the whole family. " Sarah further explained.

"I was in sorority , but a cancer club? I don't think." Rachel said reluctantly.

"It helps so much to talk to other people going through the same thing as you. That's why we have support groups. And we also have them for the spouses and husbands, and even one for the children. Here is a brochure , so think about it going to one." Rachel took the brochure and put it in her nightstand drawer. She really couldn't face a bunch of bald headed women who were glad to be alive right now. She wondered what the future held for her.

A little bit later, a familiar voice came outside the door and said . "How you doin?" Rachel tried to untie herself from her bed. Ross had gone to get her a soda. Carefully she got up and ran to her friend. Joey just hugged her and hugged her. The tears came flowing from his eyes. "Everything is gonna be alright , Joey's here now."he said softly.

As he held her in his arms. He was trying to avoid the feelings of a few years ago. He still couldn't believe when Ross told him that she had cancer, and was in denial. He also told his director that he needed to go back to New York for a while. Bobbi compensated him as well, getting him a part on the HBO series "The Sopranos." Joey would be Nikko , who was a friend of Christopher's who was going to be coming up thorugh the ranks. With their Italian heritage and respect for James Gandolfini, the Tribbiani family was so excited for Joey.

Ross came back to the room to see Rachel hugging Joey. He put down her soda and when Joey saw he had returned , he went over and then embraced his friend as well.

"I am so glad to see you man. " Ross sobbed. Joey then rubbed his back and embraced him again.

"I am gonna be in town for a while shooting the show, so all you have to do is call me." Joey smiled. He then pulled up a chair and told the couple everything that was going on with him. The nurse brought Rachel her afternoon snack which she refused, but of course Joey ate it , and another one as well. The three laughed at stories about crazy things they did like when Rachel tried to teach Joey how to sail and when Ross and Joey were in the hospital when he had kidney stones. Ross recalled when Ben had an audition for a soup commercial and Joey could not get out the word "soup." They even had a good laugh about the night Ross made fajitas and got drunk because he couldn't deal with Joey and Rachel as a couple.

"Your stupid duck ate my wedding ring." Ross scorned.

"Ah it was only Emily, " Rachel smiled. "And hello it was a stripper, of course Joey slept with her. And you my dear husband have done your share stupid things."

"Yeah the leather pants, or the teeth whitener, or my favorite when you were dark and light ." laughed Joey. "And it was so funny to watch you freak out when you found out about Monica and Chandler."

At that point the doctor came in, "Rachel, we are going to putting in the port early tomorrow morning. I think we are going to have call this party a night . You have a big day tomorrow. You are going to start chemo." The laughter just ceased and Rachel had a tearful look in her eye.

"I guess I should be going now." Joey said quickly, not knowing what to say. "See ya later." He ran from the room.

Ross just crawled over onto the bed and hugged his wife . He stroked her long hair and he caressed around the gauze bandaid. The doctor had done her dirty work and she had left. A tear caressed Rachel's cheek as she thought of that terrible word , chemo. Even though he was trying to act to be the strong one, Ross had tears in his own eyes as well.

Thanks for all the great reviews…. And keep enjoying the story and reviewing it as well.

Next Rachel starts chemo…..