Chapter 11

The sound of her heeled-boots clicked in a synchronized rhythm as Rachel walked along the streets of the busy city. The evening weather provided a light wind that blew the hair out of her face as well as a slight chill up her spine but she didn't really feel it; she was already shivering from something else.

As soon as she rounded the corner of the block, she froze in her tracks, staring straight ahead at a single-story house a few doors down. A lump appeared in her throat as she looked at the house and slowly, she began making her way down the street. Her hands shifted in and out of her pocket and she nervously looked around after every few steps almost in a paranoid manner.

When she finally reached the house, she cautiously walked up to the doorway, feeling incredibly small at the moment as if the door towered over her at several feet in the air. She nervously bounced on the balls of her feet and her arms remained by her side as she was too afraid of making any kind of movement whatsoever.

As she nervously stood there, too afraid to do anything, her thoughts drifted back to the reason she found herself here in the first place…

It had been right in the morning, shortly after returning home from a morning jog. She remembered finding a single missed call on her cell phone and back then, she had already gotten a bad feeling from the blinking light indicating an unread voicemail. Hesitantly, she had made the fateful mistake of playing the message and as soon as she heard the voice, a shiver went down her spine.

"Hey Rachel its Mona. I was just wondering if you could come over to my house later today, say… 7:00? I've got something I want to talk to you about so I hope you can make it out. See you soon."

What could she want? Was what she had asked herself afterwards and she feared for the worst. Could Mona have found out about them sleeping together that one night? Or maybe she didn't like the fact that her boyfriend and his roommate were beginning to spend more time together. Either way, Mona's tone was unreadable. She wasn't sure if she sounded angry or hurt or somewhere in between. The only way to find out was to go ahead with the visit, something she had not been looking towards all day.

And now, standing in front of Mona's front door, Rachel began to worry that this wasn't the best idea. She could walk away right now and put an end to this nervous breakdown of hers and no one would ever know. But then again, if this was about her relationship with Ross then surely Mona would eventually tell him about it and that would be the last thing she wanted. With a final gulp, she made her decision to go through with it and if Mona was going to kill her for whatever reason, it's better sooner than later.

Her shaky hand reached for the doorbell and a moment after it rang, the door was unlocked and swung open. Mona stood in the doorway looking her normal cheery self but that only heightened her nerves as it was hard to tell what her true intentions were.

"Rachel! So glad you could make it," Mona greeted, surprising her with a friendly hug.

"Um.. uh, yeah, no problem," she stuttered as she was welcomed in. The two women walked into the living room where Mona smiled and motioned to the couch.

"Here have a seat," and she did so without a second thought. She was feeling incredibly light-headed at the moment. "Would you like some water? I also have some snacks in the kitchen if you'd like."

"No that's alright, thank you."

Mona took a seat at the opposite end of the couch and an awkward silence proceeded. She could feel her eyes looking at her but she refused to make eye-contact, fearing that it might start up a conversation. Her palms began to sweat from how nervous she was and her leg started to bounce uncontrollably. Only her hand managed to stop her leg and she played with her hair with the other one; one of the little obnoxious things she does when she's nervous.

"So, how was your day today Rachel?" Mona asked, trying some small talk.

"Fine, how was yours?"

"Not bad, the restaurant doesn't usually have many customers during the day."

Rachel merely nodded her head and just like that, the conversation died out and the awkward silence returned. She cleared her throat and started to tap on her knees, still nervous as ever for when the real talk was going to come up.

Mona cleared her throat as well, shifting closer on the couch. Here it goes…, she thought to herself.

"Ok, well I can probably guess you're wondering why I asked you to come over today."

"Actually could I get a glass of water please?" She quickly asked, buying some time to avoid the subject. She also needed some water to clear her dry throat.

"Of course, I'll be right back," Mona said and left for the kitchen. During the few minutes she was gone, Rachel attempted to recompose herself and shortly afterwards, Mona returned with her glass of water. "Here you go."

"Thank you," she smiled weakly and began to slowly chug the water down. The cool liquid sliding down her throat was refreshing and after a moment, she had to set the water down in order to breath.

"Alright, well if you don't mind, I'd like to talk to you about something," Mona finally said and she gulped.

"Um… y-yeah sure. What about?"

Mona scratched her head. "Ok, there's no real easy way of saying this… Before we start, I just want to disclose that I'm not one to make assumptions before knowing all the facts so right now, I'm not mad or anything. I'm just a little curious... I-is there something going on between you and Ross?"

She knew it. She knew it from the start, but now that it was finally brought up, she had no idea of how to continue.

"Wh-what do you mean?"

"Well you guys are really close and you both obviously care for each other a lot. I have no problem with that but I feel like there might be something else happening between you two," Mona continued. "I've asked Ross about it and he has no idea of what I'm talking about so I thought I might ask you."

She nervously coughed and scratched her throat. "Well to answer your question, no, there's nothing going on between us."

Mona raised an eyebrow. "Are you being honest? I won't get mad if there is, I just want to know the truth."

"Ok, uh… the truth…"

What was the truth? That there was nothing going on between them and that she didn't have any feelings for him at all? Rachel looked at Mona and sighed. It would be wrong for her to lie, especially to an innocent girl who's just trying to figure out things with her boyfriend. Mona deserved to know the truth. She sighed again.

"Alright, the truth is that… there is something going on between us… but it's not what you think! Its… its complicated..."

"Complicated? How so?"

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Ross and I… we have this huge history with each other. We used to date years ago and we broke up, but ever since then, we've had this kind of on-again off-again relationship between us that we just never managed to get out of."

"Oh, so he was lying to me when I had asked him originally," Mona stated by putting two and two together.

"No! No, believe me, he is telling the truth from his end," she quickly responded and knew that she had to explain the car crash. "You see, a couple months ago, seven to be exact, Ross and I… we were in a car accident."

"Oh my God, what happened?"

She bit on her lower lip as images of what happened flashed in her mind. "Well, basically we were driving down the interstate when he had said something that pissed me off. I was so angry that I took my hands off the wheel by accident and we hit a bump, causing the car to spin off the road and roll down an escarpment."

"That's terrible! Were you injured at all?" Mona asked and she looked down, hiding away a single tear that had appeared from the horrific memory.

"Well that's the thing... I wasn't injured too badly because of him. When the car was thrown into the air, Ross… he draped his body over mine to protect me."

"Wow, that's… that's incredible," Mona said, touched at what Ross did to protect someone he cared about so much.

"It really was, and it's what made me realise that I never truly got over him, and that he still cared for me more than I had thought. B-but there was a catch… Ross… he was badly injured in the crash and fell into a coma for 3 months."

Mona blinked and looked taken aback as if she was shocked to learn all this only now. "What? Why hasn't he mentioned any of this to me before?"

"It's because he can't remember any of it," she explained in a sad tone. "When he finally awoke from his coma, we found out that he had suffered brain damage and that he was now suffering from a severe case of amnesia. The doctor said that he couldn't remember anything related to the emotion of love and that he needed time to heal…"

"…which is why he can't remember anything from his past," Mona finished and she nodded.

"Yes, but he's been healing over the past few months. We managed to help him remember his parents and other aspects of his past life, like his marriages and Ben. I'm sure he's told you about that." Mona nodded her head and she sighed as she continued. "Right, well that's when his memories began to heal even more and he began to remember the concept of dating. He told me that he wanted to find someone to be passionate with, to not only help him remember the past but also to help him relearn about relationships. I… I wanted to be the one who he went out with but everyone else said that it wasn't smart for me to reveal my feelings for him yet."

"And that's when I came in; to be the girlfriend to help him heal," Mona concluded, finally understanding why Ross was different than the other guys she used to date. He never really understood any advances she had made towards him and now it all made sense.

"Yeah and I'm really sorry about that if you feel like you're being used or something."

"Oh no, don't worry about it. I'm happy to help and besides, Ross is a fantastic boyfriend," she said but saw how Rachel looked down at the ground. "…oh… now I get it…"

Holding back tears, she nodded and looked back up. "The truth is… seeing him with you… it's been killing me on the inside. I mean, don't get me wrong, I really like you Mona. I think you're a great person and I have no problems with you… but it's just seeing him with someone other than me… it really hurts."

Seeing how she was slowly breaking down, Mona moved over and put an arm around her shoulders, gently rubbing her right arm.

"You still love him, don't you?"

She nodded slowly, revealing her glossy eyes. "I… I love him so much that it hurts. I just want him back so I can finally tell him how I feel about him. I just want my old Ross back…"

A few tears fell from her eyes and Mona embraced her in a soft hug. "I'm so sorry Rachel, for getting between both of you. If I knew about how you felt towards him I would have never started dating him."

"Oh no, don't be sorry," she said, wiping away some tears. "In fact, I should be thanking you. It's because of you that he's healed so much and the others are always saying how he's bound to start remembering the past soon. If it weren't for you, he'd be completely oblivious to how relationships work and he'd be nowhere near as happy as he is now."

Mona smiled. "Well thank you for not hating me but I don't think I can agree with that last part. He'd probably be just as happy as he is now since he'd still have you in his life."

She stifled a soft laugh and looked down. "Maybe…"

"You know he's in love with you too. He just doesn't know it himself."

"You think so?"

"Yeah, he's always talking about you and he tells me every day of how lucky he is to have someone like you as his best friend," Mona said. "Besides, whenever you're in the room, his eyes always seem to light up and they even begin to sparkle sometimes when you're around. I know I'm his girlfriend and all but I've always known that he cares for you much more than he does for me."

"No way, I'm sure he cares for you a lot too," Rachel pointed out.

"Oh, of course he does. He's still the most caring boyfriend I've ever had, but with you, it's like he'd rather make you happy than even himself. Believe me Rachel when I say that he's probably just as in love with you as you are with him. I see it in both your eyes. I've never seen anything like it before and its really something special."

Rachel smiled. "Well he's the one that makes it special… He's the one that makes me special…"

"Awww, you guys are so cute together. I can already see it now."

Both women shared a laugh and Mona pulled her into another friendly hug. She felt relieved to finally be able to get everything off her chest and now that she thought about it, she didn't need to be so nervous from the start. Mona's always been the listening type so there really was nothing to worry about when talking to her… although there was still something on her mind.

Rachel pulled away and awkwardly looked at the ground, twiddling her thumbs together. "So… what happens now?"

Mona laughed to her surprise and placed a hand on her leg. "Well I think there's only one thing to do and that's to break up with him."

"Are you serious?" she asked, her heart uplifted by this revelation but she had to make sure that it wasn't just her mind playing a trick on her.

Mona laughed again. "See? There's that spark! Of course I'm serious. I would never get in-between true love, especially between two of my friends."

"Oh thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" Rachel jumped up from the couch and joyfully pulled Mona into a large hug. "Thank you so much, you have no idea of how happy I am!"

"I think I have an idea…" she laughed as Rachel shook her around. Mona eventually managed to find her footing and laughed again at the new expression on Rachel's face; a mixture of happiness, relief, and love. "Just promise me one thing Rachel."

"Anything."

"Promise me that once you get him, you'll never let him go again. Ross is a special man and one-of-a-kind. Believe me when I say you'll never find anyone more perfect than he is."

Rachel sighed happily and nodded her head, her eyes filled with love for the man she will one day call her man.

"I promise."

…

The door swung open and in walked a saddened Ross as Rachel muted her television show and turned to him. She could already guess what was bothering him.

"Hi..." Ross greeted in a sad tone, much like his famous depressing 'hi' he used to greet with.

"Hi," she responded in a soft voice. Seeing him so sad put a little sting in her heart as she knew that she was the one who caused this to happen. It was a strange feeling to be conflicted with feelings of relief and guilt.

She watched as Ross silently hung up his jacket and plopped down on the couch next to her. With a deep breath, he exhaled and his eyes lazily lingered on the TV screen. She turned to him and gently rubbed his shoulder.

"What's wrong?" Obviously she had a pretty good idea of what was wrong but she couldn't reveal that she knew this.

Ross exhaled again before turning to her and looking her in the eyes.

"Mona and I broke up."

"Oh honey, I'm so sorry to hear that."

"Yeah…" Ross looked at the ground as he gathered his thoughts. "It was just so… abrupt, you know? I thought we were doing so well but apparently she had another perspective..."

Her heart broke a bit as she watched him slump on the couch. Was it selfish for her to allow Mona to break up with him like that? It was Mona's idea after all… but at the same time, she was the one who revealed her true feelings for him which caused her to make that decision. Was she a bad person for doing this to him? Or even worse, was she a terrible best friend?

"Well, um… what'd she say?" Rachel asked curiously, wanting to know what Mona had said.

Ross shrugged. "I don't know… she said something about how things just weren't working out and how it'd probably be best if we were just friends."

"Did she say anything else?"

"Yeah actually she did. She told me that I'd find someone who I'm truly supposed to end up with and that this person might be closer than I might think. Do you know what she meant by that?"

She perked up at his response, knowing that Mona was talking about her. Grabbing his hands, she shyly looked into his chocolate eyes as if to try to show that it was her he was meant to be with.

"Well, I think what she was trying to say is that there's a perfect someone out there for everyone, and that your perfect someone might just be someone close to you already."

"I hope so…" he said, looking at the ground. She gave his hand a little squeeze as well as a small smile.

"I know so."

She finally managed to make him smile as well as their eyes locked and they looked deep into each other's souls. The connection was there, she felt it, and she even saw the little spark Mona had talked about, not only in his eyes but in the reflection of her own. This feeling of love was incredible and finally, after weeks of painful suffering and agony, it was free.

"Thank you Rachel," Ross said softly, pulling her into a hug. She closed her eyes and rested her chin on his shoulder, enjoying the warmth of their bodies pressed against each other.

"At least I still have you."

She smiled and snuggled closer against him, whispering softly into his ear.

"You will always have me."

And just like that, he was finally hers again.

…

Author's Note: I know, I know, short chapter… late update… These things will happen from time to time. I promise the next two chapters (including the finale) will make up for this shorter one.

By the way, for those who are wondering why I decided to end the "Mona saga" like that, it's because I personally really liked Mona's character only the show. Aside from Rachel, she was probably my favourite love interest for Ross and she always struck me as the understanding and friendly girlfriend. I really hated how the writers made her seem like such a bitch in the end of the show so this ending kind of reflects how I saw her character's personality and how I envisioned their breakup. I also would have loved to see her more as a friend, even after her break up with Ross since she was close enough with Monica to be invited to her wedding.

Anyways, thanks for your patience guys. Only a few chapters left and I can finally give this story a proper ending. Leave a review if you want and I'll see you next time.

*Updated* I just read a pretty awful comment left on the last chapter, ironically shortly before I published this one. Normally I take criticism well but this one in particular really ticked me off. I just want to make it clear to everyone that Fanfiction is not my life, nor is it any form of commitment from my end. I have a separate life outside of this website and sometimes, that life gets busy. If I don't update "on time", it typically means that something else got in the way. Just be patient and the next chapter will come out soon. Comments like the one I saw is completely unnecessary. I enjoy receiving "update soon"s or something like that, but as soon as you begin to use insults, that's when a line is crossed.