This chapter is another close encounter with an old acquaintance, as I promised before.

Maybe Ross and Rachel will be a little out of character, but I really don't care =)

I want to say that the idea came to my mind when I read a lovely fan fiction that I suggest to you, "Growing up" by Aislinn Carter. If you are roschel shippers – as I am, you should all go and read it. It's so well written and so lovely.

Thanks a lot for the reviews!

Charlie Wealer was still living in New York, but she wasn't working in Ross's Department anymore. Since she'd got back with Benjamin Hobart, they'd been living together and doing research for the Dewar Institution, the same that offered a grant for which Ross had applied a year before.

In that nice day of March, New York was beginning to show signs of the spring that was coming and Charlie and Benjamin had decided to go and have lunch in one of their favorite restaurants. It was a lovely bistro near to the NYU, where many scholars used to have lunch between lectures.

Charlie was early, so she was sitting at her table, waiting for Benji to show up.

She was drumming her fingers on the table, when she looked up from her hands and she suddenly saw them. It was one of those weird things, something you don't expect to see so you are unprepared to face.

The couple was entering the restaurant. The man was helping the woman taking off her coat and she was smiling at him. One of the waiters immediately approached them to ask how many people would sit down, and the woman replied that there were only the two of them.

Charlie stared at them in disbelief, trying to analyze their behaviors. When the waiter leaded them to one of the tables, the man moved the chair to help the woman sitting down so that she was giving her back to Charlie. Then he sat in front of her and said something. They both started laughing and when Charlie heard them, she found herself starting to smile. She couldn't understand where that smile was coming from, she just knew that something really amazing was happening inside her since the moment she had realized that those two were now together. She felt joy, affection, love. Emotions that she usually felt only when she thought about Benji or when she was with him.

She gazed at those two intently and she thought, "Go figure, they got back together in the end."

Ross and Rachel.

She realized that she couldn't be happier for them. And she knew that this was weird, because Ross was one of her ex-boyfriends, he'd been an important man in her life, wasn't it ridiculous to be so extremely glad to see him back with another woman? Even more if she thought about their reminders and the awful situation they had lived with the whole Rachel and Joey fiasco?

And yet, she couldn't help but smile when she saw Ross taking Rachel's hand and kiss it lovingly while they were waiting for the waiter to come back to take the order. Rachel bent her head tenderly, Charlie was sure that she was looking at Ross with the same tender look that he was giving her.

Charlie knew that Ross and Rachel being together was how it should have ended. It was like the quintessence of love. And she was sure of that, because she was feeling this weird sensation on her stomach, those butterflies that she felt only when she was with Benjamin.

Seeing them today, she almost couldn't believe that she'd spent with them the worst moment of their relationship, when they'd been so far from each other that they'd almost lost their friendship, too.

She remembered very well the horrible night of that double date.

Joey, Charlie and Rachel had entered Ross's apartment together only to find him already quite out of himself.

"I thought I heard voices! Hi Charlie!" he'd said with a squeaky voice, kissing her on the cheek.

Then he'd hugged Joey. "Hi Joey."

"Well, hey."

"And…uh…Oh! You're gonna have to introduce me to your new girlfriend."

Ross had chuckled nervously and Rachel had shared a confused look with Joey. Charlie had looked at Ross with a worried and nervous expression.

"I'm just kidding, I know Rachel, I know!"

Then Ross had squeezed her hand vigorously, but totally avoiding her eyes.

"Come, please come in. Come in."

"Okay, uh, well, we brought you some wine."

"Oh! That is so thoughtful."

Ross then had addressed himself to Joey, "She's a keeper."

Charlie had known that Ross had been trying so hard to disguise the incredible discomfort that was affecting him. She was happy to be with Ross; he was an amazing man, a brilliant scholar and very fascinating. She was relieved that Rachel was dating Joey, because she'd realized that as long as she had someone else, her own relationship with Ross could continue.

Ross had told her very little about his past relationships, but Charlie had understood one important thing; he'd often dated not so brilliant women, or at least women who'd never realized that Ross had never fallen in love with them because there had always been one person in Ross's mind, and that was Rachel. Charlie was the only one who'd discovered this evident truth. She was smart, even too much. She knew that in Ross's heart there was place just for Rachel, and that night she had realized that their relationship would never become serious. Gee, that night all of this had been so obvious that even Joey had realized that.

Charlie was pondering so much that she almost didn't notice that Ross had seen her. She saw him tell something to Rachel, then the woman turned around and made a huge smile and waved her hand to greet her, "Charlie! Hi!"

Charlie smiled and stood up from the chair, walking towards them.

Ross and Rachel stood up as well; Rachel kissed Charlie, "My God, how long has it been?"

Ross hugged her and invited her to sit down with them, "Are you here on your own?"

"Actually, I'm waiting for Benjamin."

"You're still together?" Ross asked, "I'm so happy for you!" he said, sincerely.

"Really?" Charlie questioned him, not so convinced.

"Of course! I know we didn't leave things between us in the best possible way" he chuckled, "But…it's pretty obvious that this is how it was supposed to be."

He cast a glance at Rachel and stroke her hand, she blushed tenderly. Charlie felt those butterflies in her stomach once again. She wondered when Benji would arrive.

"So, guys, you got back together in the end?"

"That's what it seems like" Rachel giggled.

"What about Joey? I mean, I know that it didn't work out between you two, but…"

Rachel sighed, "Well…actually it never even started between Joey and me. That night with the four of us was one of the few times we went out. It took us a couple of days to realize that we weren't meant to be together. Now he's in L.A., he's trying to make it big out there."

"So cool!" Charlie smiled, "And how's the rest of the gang?"

"Well, Phoebe got married and now she's waiting for a baby, she's due in October." Rachel told her.

"And your sister?"

"Monica and Chandler moved to Westchester almost a year ago, they adopted two wonderful babies, Erica and Jack." Ross told her.

"Oh, I remember they were trying to adopt, I'm so glad they actually did it!"

"Yeah, the kids are amazing, and they are growing so fast, they are almost one year already!"

"And how's Emma?"

Rachel smiled, "Emma is our princess. She's almost three now, and we couldn't be more proud of her. Thank god it looks like she took her father's intelligence."

"And fortunately she has your inclination for fashion, your kindness and your incredible beauty. She got the best of both worlds."

The waiter arrived to take the order, "Shall we?"

"Charlie, why don't you stay with us, at least until Benjamin arrives?"

"I don't know; I don't want to disturb…"

Ross chuckled, "Come on, it'll be nice!"

Charlie looked at Rachel to find reassurance, when she saw her smile, she nodded, "Ok, thanks!"

The waiter took their orders, then he disappeared again.

"So, how's Benjamin doing?" Ross asked.

"Would you believe me if I told you that he may be a candidate for another Nobel prize?"

Ross opened his eyes widely in a comical way, "Well, at least I got a tenure."

Rachel laughed and so did Charlie.

"That man is brilliant, even if…he's little over the edge."

Charlie chuckled, "I know…but as you two both know very well, you can't rule the heart."

Rachel and Ross glanced at each other.

"By the way, Ross…I really wanted to tell you how much sorry I am for the way it ended between us. That day in Benjamin's office…My behavior was really inappropriate."

"Honey, you never really told me how you two split up." Rachel said, curious.

"It was really embarrassing. Let's just say that Charlie saw Benjamin after a few months and they both realized that…they belonged together. So I was…delicately put aside."

"Delicately? Ross, we started a heavy make-out session in front of you and you had to leave the room!"

Rachel burst out laughing and Ross glared at her.

"Sorry honey. Well Charlie, actually the fact that your relationship ended was one of the reason that helped Ross and me to reconcile and get together again. Joey and I had broken up a few weeks before and these two things happening at the same time made us understand that we needed to be two better parents for Emma. That we needed to spend more time together with her. That and…a few other things that happened later. So I guess that in a way…I should thank you for splitting up with Ross in such a bad way."

"Can I ask you something? How did you guys end up together in the end? Ross used to say that between the two of you was really over. And after that disastrous night of the pinchers of margaritas I thought that your relationship was a mess. So, what changed?"

"Well…a few months later I was fired from my job at Ralph Lauren and I was offered a very important position at Louis Vuitton, but the job was in Paris."

"Paris?" Charlie asked, astounded.

"Yeah. I was going to leave, but before getting on the plane Ross chased me to the airport and confessed me that he still loved me." She stroked his cheek while saying this. "He asked me to stay in New York with him. The short version is that I decided to stay."

"Short version?" Ross almost screamed. "The fair version is that you got on the plane anyway and you were almost going to leave!"

"That's so not true! I wasn't going to leave; I was on that plane for less than 8 minutes and I immediately called you to leave the message on your voice mail, and when I finally got off the plane you'd already left and I took a cab to get back home ASAP!"

Charlie laughed as she watched their interaction.

Ross smiled tenderly, recalling that wonderful night, "She got off the plane to stay with me."

"Since then we've lived together and after one month I've started to work for Prada. But the truth is, the most important thing in my life is my family. I couldn't be happier."

"Me too." Ross smiled.

Charlie grinned, "I see. Can I tell you something?"

"Sure."

"That night of our double date…we were coupled in a certain way, you know. I was with Ross and you were with Joey. But I felt like we didn't fit. You know when you play Tetris and you move a piece to insert it in a hole but you do it in the wrong way and it ruins your tile? Well that night I had that feeling. We were like pieces of Tetris matched in the wrong way. I knew that Ross and I could be a great couple, and you and Joey had compatibility, but then…there was the toast moment…"

"What...what toast moment?" Ross asked.

"You don't remember, uh?" Rachel asked him.

"After how many margaritas did that happen?"

Rachel chuckled.

Ross came out of the kitchen with the umpteenth glass of margarita in his hand.

"Everyone? I would like to make a toast…to Rachel and Joey."

Knowing that this wasn't going anywhere good, Rachel sigh, "Ooy."

The three people sitting took a glass to imitate Ross.

"And to love."

Thinking that Ross had finished, Rachel started to drink, but Ross continued to talk.

"Ah, love. L-O-V-E, love. L is for life. And what is life without love?"

"Oh my god, are we supposed to answer?" Rachel asked Joey, worried.

"O is for "oh, wow!"

Rachel thought for a second how much Ross was funny, even in this embarrassing moment. Joey, instead, started to get worried for his condition. Charlie was curious to see where he would go with this toast.

"The V is for this very surprising turn of events, which I'm still fine with by the way."

Once again, Charlie, Joey and Rachel almost started to drink, but Ross wasn't over.

"E…" he screamed, with a squeaky voice, "is for how extremely normal I find it…that you two are together." Joey looked at Rachel and then stroke his thigh, uncomfortably.

Rachel started to feel bad for Ross's words for the first time during the evening.

"And that one day you might get married and have children of your own."

Rachel's eyes were fixed on Ross. Charlie couldn't help but look at her. Those weren't the eyes of a woman who knew what she was doing. Those weren't the eyes of a woman who was fine with what she was doing. Even when Rachel lowered her look to avoid seeing Ross in that condition, Charlie kept her gaze on her. At that moment she knew that Rachel was feeling exactly like Ross. She wasn't fine. And she had her confirmation a few seconds later, when Joey asked Ross, "Dude, are you okay?"

"Totally." He replied, drinking and trying to avoid the tears.

"Ross, you don't seem okay." Rachel said, looking at him again. There, she had finally admitted that Ross wasn't ok and maybe so wasn't she.

Ross was on the verge of tears: "I'm sorry, it must be the pressure of entertaining."

"I've never been really good at understanding other people's feelings, I am a rational person, I am a scientist, you know. But that night, I saw your face after Ross said that thing…and I just knew that between you and Joey it would never work. I mean, I looked at your face and I saw that you were feeling what Ross was feeling. You weren't sure of what you were doing."

Rachel was listening to Charlie very carefully, speechless.

"The only thing I didn't understand was if you were just feeling guilty because you were afraid to hurt Ross and losing his friendship, or if you were still in love with him but you didn't want to admit it. And that's why I didn't stepped aside immediately. Then, when I found out that between you and Joey hadn't worked out…I realized that I'd been right all along. Nobody ever told me why you and Joey broke up, not even Ross. Well, we never really saw each other anymore after that double date. Though, I knew it anyway."

Rachel was feeling almost uneasy, "Charlie…nobody ever told me something like that…or understood me so well. I'm amazed. You should be a shrink, not a paleontologist! You're a better observer than you think!"

"Well, thanks. I take it as a compliment."

"It is, believe me."

Ross took Rachel's hand, "I'm so sorry that I don't remember those details."

He also thought that he would clarify this subject with Rachel, later.

"Anyway, Charlie…I want to point out something. I am really sorry for whatever happened that night. I don't want you to think that our relationship didn't mean anything to me. I really felt something deep for you, especially in Barbados. I know that it's difficult to believe, because Rachel has always been the one for me. But…I'm sorry honey, I got to say this…" he squeezed Rachel's hand "I really liked you, Charlie, and I hope you know this. I don't want you to think that while we were together I only thought about Rachel, because we really had a nice time."

Charlie nodded, thankful for Ross's words.

"Sweetie, you don't have to be sorry for that, it's all in the past now. And we've already agreed that our relationship has always been twisted and complicated, everybody knows that. Charlie, a few months ago we've met Julie Nelson, do you know her?"

"She was your ex-girlfriend, wasn't she?" she asked Ross. "I love her work, she's brilliant!"

"And I slept with both of you!" Ross grinned.

Rachel glared at him and Charlie chuckled. Ross coughed nervously and Rachel squeezed his hand a little harder.

"Well, she was Ross's first girlfriend after his first divorce. Unfortunately, she was also the first woman who suffered because of our on-and-off relationship. Ross split up with Julie because…I confessed him that I loved him for the first time."

Charlie opened her mouth in wonder.

"So, believe me…many people got hurt because of us. Probably the one who suffered the most was Ross's second wife, Emily." Rachel sighed.

Ross looked at Rachel in astonishment, he couldn't believe that she would mention Emily.

"Maybe we should excuse with her, one day."

"Excuse us for what?! She wanted me to cut you out of my life forever!" Ross blurted.

Rachel smiled sadly and caressed his cheek. Charlie felt like she was watching a romantic comedy, not a scene from the real life.

"Well it was a ve-e-ry complicated story, but it's finally going to have its happy ending." Rachel concluded.

"Meaning…?"

"We're getting married on July 16th, in Hawaii." Ross announced.

"Oh my God, this is amazing! Congratulations, guys!"

Ross and Rachel silently exchanged a meaningful glance. Charlie didn't know, but they were having that lunch together to decide who they really wanted to invite to the wedding.

After that conversation, they both knew that they needed to add another name plus 1 to the list of guests.

"Charlie, would you come to the wedding?" Rachel asked her.

Charlie was caught off guard, "Oh, well…I don't know if I should, I mean…"

"Charlie, Julie is going to be there with her boyfriend. I've met a lot of persons in my life and I think you are one of those people I really want to have with us on our special day."

"Yeah, and Joey is going to be our minister" Rachel continued in addition. "And I think the others would be happy to see you again. Moreover, after this conversation, I think I owe you something. You made me understand important things about myself that I had forgotten."

"And you were right, before. I need to thank you for coming into my life. I'm sure that if you hadn't been there for me during those months, it would have been really difficult for me to accept Rachel and Joey's relationship." Ross confessed.

"I still don't know if it's a good idea…" Charlie made a half smile.

"Charlie, it would be a pleasure to have you. And Ross isn't the only one who should thank you, you know? If I think about it…I am afraid of what my relationship with Joey would have become if you hadn't been there. You were his girlfriend while I was feeling very weird emotions for him. I mean, I've never actually loved him, and Ross knows this. In my life, I've been cursed to love just one man."

"Cursed?!" Ross asked, jokingly.

"Blessed, I meant blessed." Rachel and Ross chuckled. "But we both made mistakes that have created a pretty heavy weight to carry upon our shoulders. But these scars turned us into the persons we are today, and I don't regret them anymore. If Ross hadn't made one of those mistakes, maybe Emma wouldn't be here."

Ross was getting very emotional, but he nodded, "It's true. And hey, we're finally getting married! Emma is with us, we're happy and everything's perfect."

Charlie stared carefully while the couple exchanged affection gestures, such as looks and caresses.

"You're right. And yet, there are things from the past that still scare me sometimes. And Charlie, you were there to help us going through one of those difficult times. I think I couldn't have overcome all the anger I had towards Ross if it wasn't for you."

Once again, Ross thought that he wanted to talk with Rachel about this argument, but he would do it in private, not in front of Charlie.

"Well, Rachel…I don't know what to say…"

"Say that you're coming to the wedding."

"Ok, then, I'll ask Benji and I'll let you know if we can!"

At that moment, Benjamin entered the restaurant and started looking for Charlie.

"Here he is! Well guys, I think I'll join him…would you ask the waiter to take my order to our table?"

"Of course." Ross answered.

"It was a pleasure to see you. I'll definitely let you know if we're coming to the ceremony."

"Check your mail for the invitation!" Rachel recommended.

Both Ross and Rachel stood up to say their goodbyes, then Charlie walked to greet Benjamin, who waved towards their direction before sitting at the table.

"Oh my God, I can't believe that Benjamin Hobart could actually be a guest to our wedding!" Ross exclaimed.

"Ross, relax! He's no Tom Cruise!"

"Well, in paleontology he's more like a Tom Hanks seeing that he's already won two Nobel prizes!"

Rachel laughed and took a pile of papers out from her bag.

"So, can we start with the guests list now?"

"In a minute. Rach…I wanted to ask you…was Charlie right?"

"About what, Hon?"

"That evening with the double date…you were really so upset when I said those things during the toast? About you and Joey getting married and having children?"

Rachel inspired slowly and stared at his lovely puppy dog eyes.

"Sweetie…you were trying to demonstrate that you were fine, but I knew that you weren't. You kept making all those silly jokes to show Joey and me that you could get over us, but I knew you couldn't. And I knew that you cared for Joey, but you simply couldn't accept the idea that I was in love with him because you knew that he wasn't just some guy. You knew that if I was starting things with him it wasn't just a…whim. It was something important. And you were scared about it."

Ross nodded and remembered the conversation they'd had about Joey a few months before.

"Yeah…I knew that you wouldn't jeopardize the balance of the gang for a fling. And most of all, I knew that Joey wouldn't have started a relationship with you if he wasn't sure of your feelings, because he cares too much about our friendship."

"Yeah, he said that to me the day after. He was so happy that you'd talked and clarified everything…But that night, when you said those things about me and Joey having children on our own…I started to be uncertain for the first time."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Joey had decided to stay back at your place to check on you. So, when I got home, I kept thinking about your words. I went to Monica and Chandler's to fetch Emma because I thought it was useless to let her sleep with them, since I was home. I don't know why, but I kept her sleeping in bed with me and I couldn't help but looking at her. For the first time I wondered, what am I doing?"

"Rach…"

"I felt again that feeling that I loved Emma so much because she was our daughter. Remember what I told you about Emma? About the fact that I loved her so unconditionally since I found out that I was pregnant because she was YOUR baby?"

Ross nodded. Of course he remembered.

"Well, I started to wonder if I really saw a future with myself and Joey in it. If I saw myself married with him, with his children. And I doubted for the first time that our relationship would work in the long-term. But then I decided to let the doubts go, it was just the beginning of the story, I thought that maybe I was just scared because I was too worried for your reaction..."

"Oh honey…" Ross bent to kiss her. "Listen, what did you mean when you said that Charlie helped you to overcome the anger you felt towards me?"

Rachel smiled, "You don't let anything go, do you?"

"Uh-uh." He grinned.

"Well, you met Charlie a few weeks after the fight we had about Gavin and the guy of the bar, when I decided to move out."

"Yeah…"

"Well, you must agree that was the worst fight we had after we broke up, Ross."

Ross thought about it for a couple of seconds. Yes, they had fought over the years. After he'd told Rachel that Emily wanted him not to see her anymore, for example. Or when Rachel had found out that he'd not asked for the annulment of their wedding. But none of those arguments compared the one they had when Rachel had decided to move back with Joey, she was right.

"That was the only moment I thought that it was over, Ross. I felt that we couldn't reconcile anymore, not as a couple at least. If Charlie hadn't appeared into our lives, maybe I would have thought that being with Joey could be the solution to our problems. I could have convinced myself that I would fall in love with him, but that would have been a lie. Charlie's presence has been like a…spur. A call to action."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, when she was with Joey I hated her guts because I wanted so much to be with him, that was just…some physical attraction, you know? Later, when Joey and I split up, whenever I saw you and Charlie together I kept feeling again that little thing in my stomach, how do you call it…"

"Jealousy?" Ross grinned.

"Yes, sweetie. Unfortunately, jealousy has always been a huge component of our relationship. There were times in which it ruined us, but other times, if it was healthy, it really helped us. The day Monica told me that it was over between you and Charlie, I thought…yes, this makes sense."

"What a liar!" Ross almost screamed. "So, that day you told me you were sorry for me, it wasn't true?" he chuckled.

"Of course, you know that I've always been jealous of your ex-girlfriends! Except Carol, but, uh, maybe in that case, you're the one who should be jealous…"

Ross laughed.

The waiter came back to bring the food and Ross politely asked to bring Charlie's dish to her table.

Before starting to eat, though, he looked at Rachel, "So, let me think. Carol, Julie, Charlie…"

"…Yes?" she asked.

"What do you say, should I make an intercontinental phone call and add Emily to the guests list?"

Rachel squinted at him, "Don't even think about it, or I'll marry you just to make you file for a divorce for the fourth time!"

Ross laughed and kissed her.