Hi, next chapter is up ;)
Disclaimer; I do not own Friends.
Picking Up the Pieces
Chapter 3.
"So, seems like your left hand is broken and you have to take it slowly with your hip again." the doctor told her, "And the bruises at your face, I'm afraid they'll go away by themselves in a few weeks."
"Okay, thank you doctor." Rachel said, trying to get down from the examination table.
"No, no. Let me help you Mrs. Farber." the doctor said, taking her hand.
Rachel looked at him annoyed, "How many time have I told you?" she asked, "Call me Rachel, please."
"Okay then." he said, and got her down, "If you'll just stand here, I'll have to take the routine pictures, but of course you're familiar with them." he joked.
Rachel looked at him, annoyed by the joke "Every time?"
"Yes, you know, after coming in 3 times in 3 months with bad injuries, we have to take pictures every time after that. It's routine." he said, and smiled at her.
It was scary, somehow, of how close you could become with your doctor.
She had only been dealing with doctor Pick a couple of times in the begginning, but when she after that came in often, he'd asked to take her every time, unless he had the day off. Which hadn't happened yet.
He cared about her a lot, she could tell.
Actually too much. Doctors weren't aloud to be with patients out of the hospital, but Rachel and doctor Pick (outside hospital named Frank) had had dinner a lot of times. They enjoyed each others company.
He was single. He said he didn't have time for dating with his busy schedule, (which he jokingly once had said that she was responsible for the half of) but really he was okay with that.
And Rachel… she sometimes needed someone to be with. Someone to talk with.
She hadn't exactly told Frank what was going on in her marriage. He knew anyway.
He wasn't stupid, she knew that.
Everyone with a PhD. could figure that one out.
So she didn't need to tell him, it was implicit.
Until she told him in the hospital were he could fill a file, he couldn't do anything about it.
She liked him, and she knew he liked her.
Too bad that their liking couldn't go places as long as they were doctor and patient.
And she was married – to Barry. She knew it didn't stop him, but if he found out… He was gonna kill Frank and beat the crap out of her, of course he'd done that before, but this would be worse. And after that, he'd take away Ashley.
She couldn't risk that.
And she didn't want to sleep with Frank anyway, she liked him, but she was just trying to cover up loose emotions and the passion that she didn't get from Barry.
She wanted someone to sweep her off her feet.
And then she would do something about it, and divorce Barry.
Yeah, right.
--
"Okay." Ashley smiled, "Hi Ben, my name is Ashley."
"Yeah I know." Ben said, "I've seen you a lot. Noticed that you weren't very social, that you kept to yourself."
"Nobody wants to play with me." Ashley said, "Even talk to me, I think."
"I wanna talk to you." Ben said, "Why does Steve O'Neal tease you? We could talk about that?"
Ashley nodded and smiled weakly, "It's because of my mom and dad." she said.
"What is wrong with your mom and dad?" Ben asked.
"My dad isn't home a lot." Ashley said, "He's walking around with other women, it's normally wrong when you're married, I don't know why, apparently it has something to do with how he's with them, I don't know… but my mom doesn't care, but other people talk."
"Oh," Ben said, "I'm sorry."
"It's not that easy." Ashley said, replying the words Rachel always told her, she looked thoughtful for awhile, "What about you? Why did he tease you?"
"Jack from my class told him that my moms are lesbianisms, and then he teased me more than Jack has ever done." Ben said.
"What are lesbi-a-nisms?" Ashley asked, more of a question of how she should pronounce it, then asking what it was.
"It's when two women are married instead of a man and a woman." Ben said, as a matter of factly.
"Oh… But you gotta have a dad?" Ashley said, "You know two women can't…"
"Oh yes." Ben smiled, "My dad is married too, but I don't like her, actually mom told me that they were gonna get a divorce. Then if I'm lucky, he might marry someone good next time."
"Yeah," Ashley said, "Could be."
"Do you want to come play at my house someday?" Ben suddenly asked.
Ashley was taken aback by the question, but her lips soon curled into a huge smile; "Yes! I would love to!"
"Okay," Ben said, "Here."
He handed her something at she took it and looked at it, "What is that?" she asked.
"It's my phone number, silly." Ben laughed, "Open it, and it's written there. You should get your mom to call my mom, kay?"
"Okay." Ashley said.
They smiled at each other, but the bell rang.
"Okay." Ben said and stood up, "We can play again tomorrow if you want?"
"Yes." Ashley said, "We can meet here, when the bell rings. Deal?"
"Deal."
--
"So…" Monica said, "Is this gonna be weird?"
"No." Ross said, looking around in the half empty apartment, "I'm just glad that she's gone."
"That's good." Monica said, hugging him, "She wasn't what you thought she'd be, was she?"
"No." Ross repeated, "I had so many plans for the future. I wanted to have more kids y'know? But Emily didn't want them. I guess I'll be lucky if I can even find a new girl to love."
"Don't worry, honey." Monica said, "I'm sure it'll happen. Maybe before you know it."
"Thanks Mon." Ross said, "You always know exactly what to say."
"Well, I am pretty smart."
--
Rachel was waiting patiently outside Ashley's classroom. She was trying to ignore the other moms looks, 'cause they were all staring at the crutch she had in one hand, supporting her bad hip, and the black, purple and blue marks in her face and on her arms. Why didn't she wear a long sleeved? Her left hand was in a cast, and that didn't exactly help when you had to walk with a crutch too. It was unbelievable how much Barry could actually hurt her.
Finally the bell rang and the kids came rushing out of the classroom.
Ashley paused when she saw her mom.
"Mom?" she said, pointing at her, "What happened?"
"Uhm," Rachel began, "I had a little accident."
She would much rather be talking about this another place. A place were Patricia O'Neal couldn't listen.
"What happened?" Ashley repeated.
"I fell down the stairs in our building. Your father was at work and I was supposed to go shopping… I… I fell, and hmm, eh, landed at my hip, which isn't good, 'cause it's already bad. That's why I have to walk with this." Rachel smiled, lifting the crutch, "And uhm, I broke my hand."
"Okay," Ashley said, "Are we going shopping now, then?"
"Yeah." Rachel said, "How did it go with your volcano?"
"It went really good!" Ashley exclaimed as they begun walking away, "Mrs. Paget liked it so much. It's gonna be in the classroom for awhile, she said."
"Wow, I'm proud of you honey." Rachel said.
"Thanks." Ashley smiled and opened the door for her mom, "What now? You can't drive, huh?"
"No, I have a cab downstairs." Rachel said.
"Let's go then."
Okay, next chapter will be here soon, I hope you liked this chappie. And uh… Remember to leave me a review, k? Thanks, Stessa.