Disclaimer; I don't own Friends. But I do love them ;)
Picking Up the Pieces.
Chapter 10.
Rachel was playing cards with Ashley, when the phone rang.
She looked at the number and saw it was Barry, which was weird since he'd told her he was having lunch with his business partner.
She hurriedly picked up the phone, afraid something had happened with him.
"This is Rachel?" she said.
Then she was blown away from the phone, when she heard him yell;
"Rachel!? You fucking slut! How can you sleep around behind my back! I swear, I'll kill you! You better be home when I come! And I hope you have a good explanation!"
He hung up.
Rachel looked at the phone in her hands, not believing what had just happened.
"What's wrong, mom?" Ashley asked, concerned.
Rachel was still in shock, but then she got her act together.
"It… it was your father." she said.
"What did he want?" Ashley asked.
Rachel closed her eyes a second and thought about what Barry had said.
He was gonna kill her. She knew it.
Suddenly the mental image of herself in a pile of blood wouldn't leave her mind, and she shot herself out of the couch, like a cannon ball from a canon and rushed into her bedroom.
She grabbed a back and threw the first clothes she found, in it, and after that she ran into Ashley's room and did the same.
All the while, Ashley was looking with a weird expression at her mom.
"Mom, what are you doing?" she asked, scared.
Rachel grabbed Ashley by the arm, and then she got her purse from the table and she went for the door.
"We're leaving!" she said, "Take your coat."
Ashley was so scared, that she couldn't do anything else then just follow her mother's orders.
Rachel dragged Ashley out of the door and down the stairs, hoping that they wouldn't crash into Barry.
--
"Oh my God, what have I done!?" Monica said, tears coming to her eyes.
"I don't know." Ross said, "But I certainly hope he didn't mean what he said."
"I'm gonna call her!" Monica whined, finding her cell phone.
After meeting at the movies two months before, the two of them had had lunch a couple of times and they'd exchanged numbers.
She hit the speed dial and waited for Rachel to pick up.
When she did, she was breathing pretty hard, "Monica? I can't speak right now. I'm kinda…"
"I know!" Monica said, "It's my fault. Are you with Barry?"
"No!" Rachel said, "Me and Ashley are on our way to a hotel. I can't deal with Barry right now."
"Why? Rachel… He's your husband."
"I'll tell you some day, Mon." Rachel just said, "It's really complicated."
"I'll hold you on that." Monica said.
"Wait a minute though," Rachel said, "What do you mean, it's your fault?"
"Well, Ross and I were discussing the whole Joey and you issue, and apparently Barry was having dinner at the same restaurant and heard everything."
"Monica!?" Rachel yelled, then she thought of something, "Who was he with? A woman, right?"
"Eh, yeah?"
"God, I knew it!" Rachel cursed, breathing harder, "He says he's going to a – No Ashley, look before you cross the road – He says he's going to a business dinner, but really he's going on a date!"
"Rachel?" Monica asked, "What really is the deal with you and Barry?"
"It'll all be a part of the whole telling you someday thing." Rachel said, "Look, I've got to go now. We've reached a hotel. I'll call you tomorrow or something when I know what we are gonna do. Say hi to the others. Bye!"
Monica looked at the phone with a stern look on her face.
"I can't figure out what is wrong with her." Monica exclaimed.
She hated not knowing.
--
"Mom, what are we doing here?" Ashley asked, sitting on the cold hotel bed.
"Shh Ashley, not now." Rachel said, brushing her off, "I need to figure something out."
"Mom!" Ashley said, "I don't wanna wait. What did dad say and why are we running away?"
Rachel sighed, "Okay then." she said, sitting down next to Ashley, "You are probably too young to understand this, but I'm gonna be completely honest with you… Completely."
"Thank you." Ashley said.
"You've heard about sex, right?" Rachel asked.
"Eew, yeah." Ashley said, she was still at that age where sex was disgusting.
"And you know how a mom and dad have to have that to make a baby, right?"
"Yes…"
"Well, they don't actually have to have a baby after having it. They can also just have it." Rachel said.
"Just have it?" Ashley asked.
"Yeah…" Rachel trailed off, not knowing how to explain it, but knowing she had to, "But you know… It's wrong for a dad… Who has a wife and kids to have sex with another woman than the mom."
"Why?"
"Because… It just is, okay?"
"Okay."
"And well, like that, it's also wrong for a mom who has a husband and kids to have it with another man."
"I understand." Ashley said, "It's like… It's wrong to sleep with a toy that's not your favourite teddy, because then you'll hurt it. Am I right?"
"Yeah, that's about right." Rachel smiled, "And well… Your dad has sorta been having sex with other women. You know how I've explained that as ´walking around´ with them?"
"Oh, I remember."
"Good, yeah well... He didn't actually walk, he was having sex."
"Were you okay with that?" Ashley asked.
"Yeah, it didn't bother me that much." Rachel said, "Plus, I don't really have anything to say when it's your father, you know?"
"Hmm?"
"You also know that he sometimes does things there hurts a lot?"
"Yeah." Ashley said, her face getting dark, "When he slaps you."
"Hmm," Rachel smiled, "And because of that, I haven't said anything about him and the other women. But you know… You remember the first time you slept at Ben's place?"
"Yeah, that day when you didn't come to pick me up!" Ashley remembered.
"Exactly." Rachel said, "I was with another man that night."
"Sex?"
"Yes." Rachel said, blushing.
"Why?" Ashley asked, getting angry with her mom.
"Because I needed someone to care for me." Rachel said.
"I care for you!"
"Not in that way, sweetie." Rachel said, "And well, I was there…. But now… Now it seems like your father found out about it, and he is not happy with me."
"Is he gonna hit you?" Ashley asked.
"I don't know." Rachel lied, "But you and I will stay here until we know. And when I go back, you wont come with me."
"Why not?"
Rachel leaned close to her daughter and planted a kiss on her forehead, "Because I couldn't live with myself if anything happened to you"
Okay then. Did you like this? I was really trying to write about sex in terms a 9 year old would understand. I don't really know how much they knows at that age, so I was trying to compare her to my sister, but that didn't go well… Anyway, leave me a review. Thanks, Stessa. Oh, and also, I probably wont have time to update tomorrow, unless something strange happens. My class are going on a trip and we're coming home really late... But I will most likely be back again already on Thursday!