Meant To Be
A/N: Thank you so much for your reviews. I hope you guys are enjoying the story because I really like writing it.
When Rachel woke up the next morning she was a little worried when she didn't see Ross, but when she looked over and saw the flowers she knew exactly who they were from. She read the note:
Rachel, you did so great yesterday. I am so proud of you. Emma is so lucky to have you as a mother. -Ross
Reading Ross' note did bring a smile to her face but she started to get a little upset because she was wondering if she was ever going to see him again. She didn't have to wonder too long though because there he was at her door waiting to come in. She signaled him to come in. As he entered the room he was smiling at her and holding a teddy bear, "Good morning." She returned his smile, "hey you."
"How are you feeling?"
"Okay I guess. I was worried that I wasn't going to see you again."
"Well here I am and this is for you." He handed her the teddy bear. "Thank you Ross. You are so sweet."
"Your welcome. Hey, do you need to call your family and tell them what's going on."
"That's already taken care of. They couldn't get a flight out because of a servere storm and said they wouldn't be able to make it for another couple of days because of the weather so I just told them to stay the whole week and a half. We would still be here then, so for now it's just me and Emma."
"well, you know..." Ross was interrupted when the nurse came in with Emma. He was going to tell her she had him also but the nurse brought Emma to Rachel. Rachel kissed her baby's forehead while cooing over her daughter. "Hey sweetie, how's my baby girl doing." Ross felt Rachel should have some time alone with Emma. "Rach, I'll just wait outside and let you girls have some time to yourselves."
"Don't be silly Ross. I want you to stay here with us." She patted a seat next to her on the bed so he could sit next to her. "Do you want to hold her?"
"I don't know. Are you sure?"
Racehl was almost laughing at his question. "Of course I'm sure. Just make sure you support her head." When she gave Emma to Ross he had a huge grin on his face. He looked so adorable and she looked perfect in his arms. Looking down at the baby in his arms there was no other place in the world he would rather be. He really missed having a baby around. Ben was so grown up now. "Hi Emma, I'm Ross. You are so beautiful just like your mommy." When Ross said this it brought tears to Rachel's eyes. He just called her beautiful. She knew it was crazy to be feeling this way after knowing him for only one day but she didn't care. She couldn't deny what she was feeling and she wanted to be with Ross. She began to stroke his arm as he was holding Emma. Ross noticed her crying and got a little worried.
"Why are you crying?"
Rachel began to get embarassed. She didn't want him to see her crying. "No, it's nothing. I'm just so happy. I thought when this happened I was going to be all alone but your here with me and I'm so happy that you are and get to share this with you." Ross was touched by her words. He wiped the tears from her face with his free hand and looked straight into her eyes and grabbed her hand. "Me too. Hey, when do you get to go home?"
"Tomorrow afternoon." Rachel thought for a moment and then it hit her. "Oh my god. What am I going to do? How am I getting home? I don't even have a car seat for my own baby. I am so not prepared."
"Sweetie, relax. I was asking because I was going to tell you that I could bring you home. And don't worry about the car seat. I still have Ben's from when he was a baby. You can use that, okay. Everything is going to be fine."
"God Ross, what would I do without you?"
"Well I'll be here as long as you want me to be. I want to be here with you and Emma." He then kissed Emma on the forehead and sqeezed Rachel's hand. Rachel then leaned her head on his shoulder and then she remembered something. "Hey, you still owe me that lunch." She moved her head off his shoulder so she could look at him. He was smiling at the thought.
"I think your right."
"Well I hope you can wait a few months because I'm going to be pretty busy with this little one."
"Oh, I dont know." She slapped him across the arm. "I'm just kidding. I think I can wait for you," he said smiling at her.
"Well good because I want to see a lot more of you."
"That works out great because I want to see alot more of you as well as this little one. Look Rach, she grabbed my finger." Rachel saw the biggest smile spread across his face when Emma did that and it brought an even bigger one to hers. This wasn't even his baby and he was so happy to be with her. She couldn't believe how lucky she was. She had the most beautiful daughter in the world and now she had Ross. They spent the rest of the night talking and telling stories and laughing and just watching baby Emma.
The following afternoon Ross went to the hospital to pick up Rachel and Emma to bring them home. When he walked into her room he was blown away with the sight before him. He has seen Rachel hold Emma before but now she was wearing her normal clothes and was rocking Emma back and forth and singing her to sleep. "Hey you." Rachel saw who was standing before her and a smile appeared on her face at just the sight of him. She replied, "Hey you." He then turned his attention to Emma. "Hey, princess."
"What did you call her?"
"Oh, I'm sorry. I shouldn't of said that. It was inappropiate of me. I'm sorry."
"No that's okay. I like it. I like the idea of you and her sharing something special like that." Ross just smiled at her. He hasn't stopped smiling since he met her. "Um... so you ready to go?"
"Yep, let me just put Emma in the car seat" Once she was in they were all set to go. Ross carried the car seat in one hand and grabbed Rachel's hand with the other and laced their fingers together. She just looked up at him and smiled. They were both thinking the same thing. This was going to be really good.
They finally arrived at Rachel's apartment and the moment they stepped into the hallway leading to her door they ran into Monica. Monica was startled to see her brother.
"Ross, where have you been? I've been trying to call you for like the past three days." Rachel spoke up, again startling Monica. She didnt even realize someone else was standing next to Ross. "Sorry, that's kind of my fault. He has been with me the whole time." It took Monica a second to realize who this woman was standing next to her brother. "Rachel, right? Oh my god you had your baby. Congratulations, she's beautiful."
"Thank you. Her name is Emma."
"Oh I loved that name since I was a little girl. Wait a minute, I didn't know you knew Ross."
"Well I didn't until two days ago. I met him on the train and then I went into labor and he took me to the hospital and he's been by my side ever since."
"This is so exciting. Actually Ross, I was going to introduce you to Rachel after I met her because I thought you two would be perfect for eachother but then I didn't see you for like the past month." After Monica said that she wanted Ross and her to meet she got a huge smile on her face. She moved closer to Ross and ran her hand up and down his arm. She thought they were perfect for each other too. Rachel finally responded to Monica. "Yeah, I've been staying at my mom's waiting for my apartment to be ready."
"I really want to know more about how you and my brother met but me and my husband Chandler need to meet my parents for an early dinner. Maybe I can stop by tomorrow and we can talk. Oh, and I can help you clean your apartment. This is so exciting. I need to go tell Chandler. Bye Rachel, Bye Ross." She gave Ross a kiss on the cheek and disappeared into her apartment. Ross and Rachel were still in the hallway just looking at each other. Ross was the first to speak, "Well, that's Monica."
"I really like her and I'm really excited about her coming over. I don't have many girlfriends."
"Yeah, Monica's the best. She is just a little crazy when it comes to cleaning but you get used to it. My other best friend Phoebe is great too. I'm sure all three of you will get along great."
"It sounds like you have a lot of best friends." Ross started to laugh. "Yeah, I do. We're all really close. We see each other practically everyday. I think you'll fit right in." Rachel was thrilled that Ross wanted her to be a part of his group. She never really had many close friends before so she was so excited. "You think." Ross then gave her one of the cutest smiles she had ever seen. "I know."
Ross finally opened her apartment door and they walked inside. Inside there was a few boxes and not much furniture. Ross was carrying Emma who was still in the car seat and started walking around the apartment. "Welcome home, Emma. This is your house where your going to live with mommy. You are going to have so much fun here." Rachel thought he was so cute talking to Emma like that. She took Emma out of the car seat and walked to the nursery. "Come on Ross, come see the nursery with me."
Ross followed her into the nursery and they just gasped. It was so beautiful. Rachel hadn't seen it yet because it was a surprise and what a surprise it was. There was everything in there she could ever ask for. The walls were painted lavendar with white trimming. There was a crib, a bassinet, a changing table, a dresser, toys and a rocking chair. Everything a baby needed. It was so perfect it brought tears to her eyes.
"Why are you crying? Is something wrong?"
"No, no, these are happy tears. This is everything I could've asked for. My father is just incredible. I can't believe he did all of this. Look, Ross there's even that diaper genie thing." Ross found her so adorable at the thought of her crying over her daughter's room. He thought she was going to be a wonderful mother. Emma fell asleep in Rachels' arms so she put her in the bassinet. "Sleep well my baby girl. I love you." She bent over and kissed Emma's forehead and tucked her in safely. She grabbed Ross' hand and left the room.
"You know you are a wonderful mother. She is so lucky to have you." Rachel looked up at Ross and gave his hand a tight squeeze. "Thanks Ross. You are so sweet."
"Well it's true. You are so great with her. She's going to love you so much. Just wait." He knew just what to say to make her heart melt. He was the prefect man and she couldn't believe she had found him. "Well, I think I should go. You need to get everything settled in here." He let go of her hand and made his way to the door but he felt her grab his hands again. "Wait, wait, wait, wait" She made him face her still holding his hands in hers. "Would you stay here with me for a little while? It's my first night here and I have Emma now. It's just a little overwhelming." Ross was so happy she asked him to stay. He wanted to stay with her but was afraid. He wasn't sure if it was his place to stay, but now she told him to he couldn't be happier.
"Okay, I'll stay as long as you need me to."
"Thank you. I just don't want to be alone tonight." She finally let go of his hands and walked over to the couch. Ross sat down next to her. She placed her hand on his leg when he sat down and looked up at him. "It's been a crazy couple of days, huh."
"Yeah, but they were great."
"I know. Man, I still have so much to do. I mean I have everything I need for Emma but I have nothing for myself. I barely have any furniture and I have all these boxes I need to go through."
"Don't worry about it. With Monica coming over tomorrow, she'll help you decorate this place in no time. It will look great. And don't worry about the boxes either. Monica will have us all on committees telling us what to do. Believe me they will be all gone by tomorrow." She started laughing after what Ross just said and she was only half kidding when she said, "I can't wait. So are you hungry? I can really eat something right now."
"Yeah sure. You want me to order some pizza because based on the stories you told me about your cooking, I don't think you should cook." She threw a pillow at his face. "Hey, I can so cook. But we'll have it your way. Go order your stupid pizza." Ross got off the couch to get the phone so he can order the pizza. "I was only kidding. I'm sorry, but I like it when you get all worked up like that." She then threw a pillow across the room to hit him in the head again, but this time he caught it and threw it back at her. Forgetting all about ordering the pizza he ran over to the couch and started tickling her. She giggled like a little girl and tried to wiggle free from his grasp, but he was not letting go and she liked it. She was laughing the whole time.
"Ross, stop it. This is not funny. Stop it." When he stopped he was still on top of her and just kept staring at each other but their moment was interrupted by the screams of Emma in the next room.
"Hold on sweetie, mommy's coming." Ross got up and Rachel went into the nursery. She picked Emma up and changed her diaper. Ross was still in the other room. "Hey Ross, can you do me a favor and warm me up a bottle for Emma? You know how, right?"
"Are you kidding? I'm a pro." Rachel let out a chuckle when he said this. Ross really did know how to warm up a bottle. He used to do it all the time for Ben. When he went into the nursery Rachel was in the rocking chair singing to Emma. He really could get used to this, being there for Rachel and helping her with Emma.
"Here you go." He gave Rachel the bottle and bent down on his knees to give Emma a kiss. Rachel gave Emma the bottle and she did not come up for air. Ross couldn't take his eyes off of her. She was a gorgeous baby and he couldn't get over how much she looked like Rachel. "You're hungry aren't you princess." Rachel smiled when he said that. "I love it when you call her that."
"Well she is." He adored Emma so much. He put his finger near Emma's hand and she squeezed it with all her might. He kissed Emma again and just kept staring at her. Rachel kept staring at him and Emma. He finally remembered he needed to order the pizza. "Rach, I'm going to order the pizza."
"oh, okay" and she gave him a smile. She really liked the idea of Ross staying with her. He is so good with Emma and she could tell he is a wonderful father to Ben, just by the way he looks and takes care of Emma. Emma finally finished her bottle and fell asleep but Rachel just kept her in her arms and rocked her back and forth. She loved her so much and couldn't imagine her life without her. She couldn't get over the fact that she created this little person in her arms. She was perfect in every way and she was all hers. She finally put Emma back in her bassinet and made her way back to Ross. When she went into the living room Ross was paying for the pizza. Ross turned around and saw Rachel.
"Hey, your just in time. Is Emma sleeping?"
"Yep, she's out like a light. Now, hurry up and give some pizza. I'm starving."