Hi there! Thanks again for the reviews, I can't say that enough :D And also, for all those who think Rachel is so out of character, 'cause there has been a few who said it, I'm agreeig a little. I mean, Rachel in the early series, was not as strong as Rachel in the end. She was kind of a push-over, and in this story, I'm trying to bring that side out in her, and the selfish part away. I'm useing a whole other side of her than in my other stories, which I have seen as a hard thing for me to do. (but good 'cause I would like to see myself develope as a writer) We all tend to put the characters in boxes, and say "that's them!", but I've been focusing on her in a different way, and yeah, she is scared and a push-over, nothing like the Rachel we know, even though I'll try and let her learn some stuff and change herself. I think she'll need to be a bit stronger for the ending I've planned ;)
Disclaimer; I don't own Friends.
Picking Up the Pieces
Chapter 13.
Monica phased around the waiting room, biting her nails.
Ashley was sitting in a chair, silent tears streaming down her face. She was just staring into space, with no movement at all in her small body.
Joey sat next to her, trying to assure her that everything was alright, that her mom was safe and good.
But the truth was, no-one knew.
Apparently Rachel had her own doctor. A doctor who always took care of her, and that proved Monica that Rachel indeed was a patient a lot at this hospital.
She couldn't believe that Barry had actually tried to kill her.
Well, maybe he would succeed?
Right now Dr. Pick was trying to remove the bullet, but they had no idea if she would make it.
Monica remembered the night so many months ago when they'd been watching Oprah, and this woman was telling about her life with an abusive husband.
Rachel was like that woman.
She was sad, sorrowful and hurt.
Monica couldn't believe how blind she'd been.
She sat down at the other side of Ashley, and before she knew it, a doctor covered in blood, approached them.
He looked sad, which Monica believed would bring them bad news.
"Rachel Farber?" he asked.
Monica stood up, slipping Ashley's hand in hers, "Yes?"
"I was able to remove the bullet and she should be okay."
Monica sighed in relief, "Did you hear that Ash?" she cried, "Your mom will be okay?"
Ashley just stood there, smiling, still crying, "When can I see her?" she asked the doctor.
"When she wakes up. It wont be long. Or you can go sit with her now?"
"Thank you," Ashley said, following him into her mother's room.
--
When Rachel awoke, she found Joey in the seat next to her.
She smiled a weak smile at him, and he stroke her cheek.
"Thanks." she whispered.
She knew him and Chandler had saved her life. She knew that, hadn't it been for them, had they been there only seconds later, she wouldn't have made it.
"It's no problem, Rachel." Joey said, smiling at her, "Really, it isn't."
"Thanks." she said again.
"Look," he began, and she could feel he had the whole speech ready, "I know you said that you and I were nothing. That it had only been sex. I was a little mad at you, and sad about it, but I've been thinking things over out there..." he pointed against the door, "And I think you're pry right."
"You do?"
"Yeah." Joey said, "After seeing everything you've been through with Barry and just… your life. I don't really wanna get in the middle of it. I realized that you needed comfort that night, and you will probably do now to, but I'm not the right person to do that. You need one who can take really care of you – and I'm not that kind of person. You need stability."
Rachel nodded, "Don't get me wrong." she whispered, "It was great, and you're a really sweet guy. But, I think we're better of as friends. 'Cause I see us as that now. You're stuck with me."
"Good." Joey said, "That's totally fine by me."
"Yeah…" Rachel said, "Okay."
"Get better Rach." Joey said, leaving the room.
Rachel looked after him, wondering what was going to happen to her life now.
--
A few days later.
"Monica, thank you so much for letting me stay here with you." Rachel said, sitting at the couch.
"Of course." Monica said, "You and Ashley are no trouble. I completely understand that you wont go back to your apartment."
Rachel smiled, "Did the police call?"
"Yeah." Monica said, "They still haven't found Barry, honey. I'm sorry."
"Oh," Rachel just said, "Did they say anything about when they'd come to talk?"
"Tomorrow." Monica said.
"But I have a parent/teacher meeting tomorrow!" Rachel said, "Ashley and I are going to talk to Mrs. Paget!"
"I know sweetie." Monica said, "I'm going to go there. You don't need all the stress right now. You just need to relax yourself."
"Thank you very much, Mon," Rachel said, "But I would really like to go there."
"Yeah I know." Monica said, handing her a cup of coffee, "But I'm gonna go."
Rachel giggled, "Is this the way it's gonna be between you and me now? You're gonna be all bossing, 'cause then I actually don't think it would be very different from life with Barry… Well except the beating and a shot in the stomach."
Monica laughed. Then she paused, "You know what I admire about you?"
"What?" Rachel asked.
"All the crap you've been through," Monica said, "And you still see it in a way when you can just joke about it. You're not scared or anything."
"Monica…" Rachel trailed off, "I am like that, normally. Right now I'm just in shock. And hey – I've been much worse. Talk to Ashley. She can tell you just how I've been. You wont like it, I swear."
"I'm sorry." Monica said, "But doesn't it bother you that they still haven't caught Barry?"
"He's not gonna come back again. He thinks I'm dead." Rachel said, "He is not gonna come back… is he?"
--
"Hi Ashley." Mrs. Paget smiled, "And who are you? Where's Mrs. Farber?"
"Rach couldn't be here tonight." Monica said, shaking her hand, "I'm Monica Geller. I'm… I'm Rachel's best friend."
Monica paused.
Was she?
She liked to believe she was.
"Oh… okay." Mrs. Paget was confused, "Why didn't Mr. Farber come?"
"He's running away from the police." Ashley said, sitting down, "What do you want to talk about?"
"Running away from the police? I don't understand…"
"Oh, he shot my mom in the stomach with a gun." Ashley said, like it was the most normal thing in the world, she didn't want to cover it up. News spread fast anyway, "Can we begin this now?"
"Eh, of course..." Mrs. Paget sat down, confused, "Then yeah. Ashley… Eh, you're a really good girl to have in the class, you know that? You do you homework, and that model of Etna you made… That was so good, really."
"Thank you." Ashley smiled.
"But I'm just curious." Mrs. Paget continued, "Do you have any friends? What do you do in your sparetime?"
"Me?" Ashley asked, "I don't have many friends… My best friend is Ben, just from 4th grade. Monica is actually his aunt, and yeah, I spend most of my days with him. I love him."
"Ben Willick?"
"Yes." Ashley sighed, "The other kids teased me a lot, and I could talk to him. He was the one I needed."
"Okay, your sparetime?"
"I… The last past years I've been at home with my mom, waiting for my dad to come. And when he did come, I usually covered my ears to block out his yelling and then… I usually wrote stuff. Songs, poems. Stories."
"Yeah, you just gave me an essay a month ago." Mrs. Paget said, "Where you've written a story about a boy whose father hits his mom. I got really confused about that one, of how you knew stuff like that. I'd actually decided to talk to you and your mom about it tonight, but now I can't believe what I hear. Your dad was like that? Does he yell a lot?"
"A lot, a lot." Ashley said, "But that's over now. We live at Monica's place now. Just for now. Mom can't do much because of her wound, and that…"
"Ashley…" Mrs. Paget trailed off, "I think you need to talk to the school psychologist."
"What!?" Ashley exclaimed, "Why?"
"If all those things I've read from you in all the years I've taught you is something from your own life, you really need to talk to a professional."
"No thank you." Ashley said.
Monica took her hand and squeezed it, "Now." she said, "I do actually believe that we came here to talk about Ashley in school. Whether or not she should see a psychologist is a matter between Ashley and her mom."
"I just want to help." Mrs. Paget said.
"Well, I don't need any." Ashley said, looking at Monica.
"Well," Monica said, standing up, "I believe it's time to go now."
"But we're not done." Mrs. Paget protested.
"Too bad." Monica said, dragging Ashley out of the classroom, "Do you want to go for some ice cream, Ash?"
Ashley smiled.
She loved her new life.
--
Rachel was flipping through channels at the TV when the door opened.
She turned around to see who it was, and saw it was Ross.
"Hey." she smiled.
"Hi." Ross said, shy.
"Do you know where Chandler is?" Rachel asked, wondering why he wasn't home.
"He's at the coffee house with Joey and Phoebe." Ross answered, sitting down in the chair, "I just thought that maybe you weren't comfortable on your own, so I went to check on you."
"Thanks," Rachel smiled, "But I'm fine."
"Really?"
"Yeah." Rachel said, after thinking it through.
"You sure you don't want to talk about it?" Ross asked, pushing her.
"Believe me." Rachel said, getting tears in her eyes, "You don't wanna hear about it."
"Sure I do."
"No." Rachel said, "It's too horrible. You'll be getting bad dreams."
"Rachel…" Ross said, taking her hand, "You need to get it out, okay?"
"Yes." Rachel said, "And I will later, when the police is here. They have all my files from the hospital, and I'll have to go through them with them. They'll have to know everything."
"Do you want me to leave by then, or do you need me?"
"I would love for you to stay here." Rachel said, "If you want to."
"I'll do everything for you, Rachel." Ross said, "And not just now, always."
"Thank you, Ross." Rachel smiled, "You're so great."
"You're great too." Ross said, kissing her hand.
They looked into each others eyes, and Ross was just abut to lean in and give her the kiss he'd dreamt about giving her in a long time, when there was knock on the door.
"Come in!" Rachel said, turning her head.
Ross leaned back in his chair again.
Two policemen came through the door, smiling.
"Hello." one of them said, "My name is officer Grant and this is officer Black. Is this the residents of Rachel Farber?"
"Yes." Rachel smiled, getting up, "I'm her. Sorry if it confused you, but me and my daughter are staying at some friends' place. We wont go back to the apartment right now."
"Understandable." officer Black said, padding the brown portfolio he held in his hand, "If this is the work of your husband, it's very understandable."
"Please take a seat." Rachel said, gesturing to the couch, "This is my good friend, Ross."
"Hello." Ross said, shaking their hands.
"Ross is going to be here… You know," Rachel trailed off, "For support."
"Okay." officer Grant said, "Let's get started on this?"
"Sure." Rachel said, sitting down, "What have you got?"
Officer Black opened the portfolio and looked at the first page, "1995. First time at the hospital. You broke your nose and two ribs, am I right?"
"Yes, that is correct." Rachel said, nodding in confirm.
"And that was the work of your husband?"
"Yes." Rachel said, "It was right after I had Ashley, my daughter." she thought for awhile, "I've met this guy from a new parenting thing, I've signed me and Ash up for, his wife died when she had their daughter, and we were taking the kids out for a walk one day. I was comforting him because he was so sad, and it was before Barry and I had trouble, so I was telling him about my great life. But when I got home… Barry got so angry, he thought I was having an affair! Then when I kept telling him otherwise, he lost his temper, and started hitting me. After that it was monthly basis."
"Yeah, and you've practically broken every bone in your body." officer Black said, looking at her file.
"No." Rachel said, "Not that much, but I've broken a few things."
"You've been at the hospital 76 times in the last 10 years!" officer Grant counted.
"Yeah I know." Rachel said, "But all of those weren't bad, sometimes it was just a finger or something."
"Yeah but still."
"What do you say, officer?" Rachel paused, "Do you think this will get Barry to prison?"