Phase Three

Chapter 11: But It's Not All That Easy

~.~

So, don't look at my stats too often, but I did yesterday, and holy crap, there are a lot of people reading this story! (And not reviewing ;) but that's beside the point). I'm pleasantly surprised at how well this story that I thought everyone would hate has gone over. So, seriously, thank you guys so much for the reviews and alert/favorites adds!

Oh, and with this chapter, this is officially my longest fic ever, beating out Butterfly Kisses in number of words. And, we're still going! I'm quite impressed with myself, haha.

And I'm impressed with my quick update :) That hasn't happened in ages! I got this part done, though, and was just too excited with getting it written not to post it :)

~.~

Chandler looked up from the newspaper he was reading, smiling and nodding at Phoebe as she went up to the counter at Central Perk to order before sitting down as well. "Ouch," he frowned at her.

"Ouch, what?" Joey asked, looking up form the muffin he was eating.

"She just flicked me!"

"Did not," Phoebe scoffed. Joey shrugged, going back to his muffin.

"Ouch!" Chandler again exclaimed as Phoebe flicked him in the back of the head. "What?" he turned to face her. "Why do you keep flicking me?"

"If you don't know, I'm not gong to tell you," she crossed her arms, resting them on top of her pregnant belly.

"Great, now all three of you are mad at me," he grumbled under his breath.

"What?" Joey asked, looking up again.

"He said, now all three of us are mad at him," Phoebe explained.

"Dude, I'm not mad at you," Joey smiled, patting him on the shoulder as he stood up. "You want anything else?" he motioned to the counter, and Chandler shook his head, so Joey headed up there.

"What? What did I do?" Chandler again asked Phoebe, this time quieter.

"Oh, I don't know where to start," Phoebe began. "Let's see, you lead Rachel on, and she goes to London after you, but then you screw that up being with Monica, who you are now avoiding as well, so, yea, why would I be mad at you?"

"How do you know all of that?" he looked at her in shock.

"Oh, I know everything," she smiled knowingly.

"Well, you can stop being mad at me. In case you hadn't noticed, Rachel went to Greece with Ross. And Monica is doing just as good of a job at avoiding me as I am of avoiding her."

"Wait, what?" Phoebe looked at him.

"I said, Monica is avoiding me, too."

"No, the other part. The Rachel part," Phoebe corrected him. "Rachel didn't go to Greece with Ross. Ross gave her his tickets because he was staying in London to work things out with Emily. Rachel went alone."

Chandler stared at her in disbelief. "What?"

"Rachel went alone, Chandler."

"Wait, she," Chandler trailed off. "Oh my god."

"I do have this for you, though," she handed him a post-it note, but then grabbed it back. "If you're not gonna be an asshole."

"I'll try not to be?"

Phoebe thought that over for a moment. "Good enough," she shrugged. "It's Rachel's flight information. She called me when she landed. She's coming home on Friday," Phoebe handed him the paper. "Do with it what you will."

"Thanks, Phoebs," Chandler grinned.

"Just don't screw up again, Chandler," Phoebe sighed. "I'm too pregnant to keep fixing all of your mistakes…"

"So," Joey sat back down with another muffin. "What'd I miss?"

"Oh, Chandler just offered to take us out to lunch," Phoebe grinned at Chandler, who glared.

"Dude," Joey turned towards him. "This is something you tell me before I get a second muffin. Now I have to go get a to-go box," he sighed, standing up. "Unless," he picked the muffin back up, taking a bite as he started walking. "Yea, no, I can eat and walk. So, where are you taking us?"

~.~

"Hey," Ross walked into Monica and Rachel's apartment, where everyone was sitting around watching tv.

"Oh my god, Ross, how'd it go," Monica rushed over to him, giving him a hug.

"I think-I think my marriage is over," he laughed. "Again. Divorced twice before I'm 30. I can just see my next personal ad now…"

"What happened?" Phoebe asked.

"Well, she said she thought we rushed into everything too quickly, and we don't really know each other that well. And since I said the wrong name at the alter, that really put a damper on her trusting me, so," he sighed. "She wanted me to move over there to work this out, but I can't leave Ben, and," he sighed again. "And, if she moved here, she doesn't want me to see Rachel at all anymore, and," he paused, shaking his head. "I've known her for, what, a couple of months? I can't just start giving up parts of my life for her…"

"Dude, that sucks," Joey said, the others nodding as well.

"Yea, sorry, man," Chandler added.

"It might just be for the best, though, right?" Ross sighed once more. "I mean, if this was going to happen eventually with us, it's better that it happened now, at the beginning of the relationship…"

"Yea, at least you didn't do anything too hasty like get married or anything," Chandler quipped, receiving four glares in return. "Too soon to joke about it?" he looked around.

Ross finally laughed. "Yea, no," he laughed again, "It is pretty funny. If you think about it….Maybe we set some kind of world record for the shortest marriage ever. Or, hey, this will just make my next marriage look all that more successful. I mean, you can't really get any worse than marrying a lesbian at the first wedding, and then saying the wrong name at the alter at the second wedding," he laughed again. "See? I can laugh at myself…"

"Third time's a charm?" Joey offered, and Ross again laughed.

"Exactly."

"So, you guys are over?" Monica asked, more seriously.

"Looks that way," Ross nodded. "I mean, I don't know what else we can do. We're on two separate continents…"

"New York City and England are separate continents?" Joey whispered, leaning closer to Chandler.

"Well, New York is a city, and England," Chandler paused off of Joey's blank look. "Yep, New York and England are two different continents, Joe."

~.~

Chandler glanced at the computer monitors as he walked by, looking for Rachel's flight number. He'd already checked three separate times, but checked again, just to be sure he was getting the terminal number right. He'd been doing a lot of thinking for the past few days, since Phoebe told him Rachel had gone to Greece alone. And he hoped that Rachel had been doing some thinking as well, but not thinking of not wanting to be with him while she had been gone. Phoebe wouldn't let him go after her if she knew Rachel didn't still want him, would she?

He stopped when he got to the terminal her flight was arriving at shortly, bouncing nervously back and forth from his heels to the balls of his feet. He had no idea what he was going to say. He had a single flower in his hand, and absolutely no words prepared to say, which could be disastrous for him. He'd gone back and forth all week on meeting her at the airport, but had finally decided he just couldn't possibly not go. He needed to see her. God, he needed to see her. If she hated him and didn't want to be with him anymore, he would at least know it right away.

He really hoped that wasn't the case, though.

He watched out the window. The plane had landed a few minutes ago, and he was anxiously waiting for her to get off. When the door opened and the first few people began pouring through the door, he held his breath. Would she even see him? God, he hoped she would see him. Better yet, would he see her through the crowd of people? He attempted moving forward through the gathering crowd, his breath catching in his throat when he saw her. She caught his eye, biting her bottom lip as she headed towards him. God, those ten steps seemed to take an eternity.

"Hey," Chandler grinned as she walked up.

"Hey," she returned his smile, getting pushed even closer to him as the crowd of people pushed by. "I didn't expect to see you here."

"Phoebe gave me your flight information."

"Ah," Rachel nodded. "So…"

"Oh, this is for you," he smiled shyly, handing her the single rose he'd brought. "I thought a whole bouquet would be too conspicuous coming home, so…"

"Thank you," she smiled, taking it from his hand. "I, uh, I actually have something for you," she dug through her purse, pulling out a pack of cigarettes. Chandler looked at her quizzically. "Funny story. I actually bought them on a layover, on the way to Greece. Smoked about half of one and about died," she laughed, causing him to laugh as well. "They're your brand. I bought them because…because they reminded me of you. God, I miss you," she looked him in the eye, taking him being there as a good sign that he felt the same way.

"I missed you, too," Chandler replied softly, the crowd around them starting to disperse.

"What about-what about Monica?" Rachel finally choked out. "Because I've spent the past week thinking about pretty much nothing but you, but if-"

"It was one night," Chandler cut her off. "We're actually awkwardly avoiding each other, so that's lots of fun," he laughed, and Rachel smiled.

"I kinda, god, this is hard to say out loud, even if I've been thinking it for the past week," Rachel paused. "I kind of always thought…there was something there with you two…"

"Me, too," Chandler replied honestly. "The thing is, though, god, how do I put this," he paused, thinking for a moment. "It's like baseball. You-"

"Sports metaphors are completely lost on me," Rachel interrupted him.

"Okay, then," Chandler took a deep breath, thinking for a moment. "Shopping," he finally said. "Shopping isn't lost on you," he grinned, teasing. "Okay, so, Victoria's Secret always had a semi-annual sale, same time, twice a year-"

"You know this because…?"

"Ms. Chanandler Bong may or may not get the catalogue," he smiled shyly. "Not the point, though. So, they always have a sale, twice a year. And, yea, it's exciting, but you always know it's coming. You know exactly when it is. So, yea, it's still pretty cool, but it's just expected," he paused before continuing. "But, say you're at a department store, and, you see these boots. Some designer brand, last pair, your size. Because they're the last pair, they're half off," he paused. "As exciting as the sale is that's expected, how much better is the surprise of the one that's not? It's like, jump up and down in excitement, exciting…"

Rachel laughed. "The fact that you just compared our relationship to shopping might confirm the gay thing for some people, but," she shook her head, taking another step closer to her. "Kinda just makes me want to marry you," she joked, but paused a second later, realizing who she was talking to.

"Well, the fact that you brought me back cigarettes from your vacation kinda makes me want to marry you, too," he teased back, putting an arm around her waist as he pulled her closer. "Rach, I have thought of nothing but you for weeks. And I'm sorry if I'm an asshole sometimes. I-I really don't want to lose you, though," he said softly. "And I know I'm the king of screwing things up, but, Rachel," he took a deep breath, "Rachel, I love you."

Rachel grinned, wrapping her arms around his neck. "I love you, too," she replied before kissing him.

"God, I've made a huge mess of things, though," he sighed as he pulled back. "I mean, as messy as all of this seemed before, I think I just made it about ten times worse."

"Oh, at least ten time," Rachel laughed in agreement, keeping her arm around him as they started walking.

"So, how do I fix all of this?" Chandler asked. "I mean, what do we tell everyone? Especially Ross and Monica?"

"I don't know," Rachel paused, "Those Gellers can be pretty scary when they're angry."

"Oh, I know," Chandler laughed. "Hopefully there will be lots of traffic so we have time to make some kind of plan before we get home…"

"And, maybe some time for a little something else," Rachel grinned, wrapping her arms around his neck as she kissed him again.

"God, I missed you," Chandler grinned. "And I'm so, so sorry about…all of this."

"You don't have to keep apologizing," Rachel returned his smile.

Chandler just nodded. "Yea, I do."

~.~

A cab ride full of kisses interrupted occasionally by some discussion of what they should do had been entirely inconclusive, and when the cab stopped in front of their building, they had no more of a plan than when they left the airport. Chandler stepped out first, grabbing Rachel's hand and suitcase. Rachel smiled at the small gesture.

"So, what are we doing?" Rachel finally asked.

"Well, it's Friday, so Monica is working all day, Phoebe will be leaving us alone, Ross is busy pouting, Joey is still getting himself reacquainted with New York since he was so homesick, and I took the afternoon off, so…locking your front door and having some quality alone time?" he asked with a grin.

"God, but what do we do-oo?" Rachel over-emphasized the last word.

"Coffee first?" Chandler joked, but off of her stern look he stopped walking towards Central Perk. "I have no idea," he shrugged, leaning against the building, pulling out the pack of cigarettes Rachel had given to him. Off of her look, he smiled. "You gave them to me."

"I know," she sighed, leaning up against him.

"Hey, we'll figure something out," he wrapped his arm around her waist, kissing her forehead tenderly, and then giving her a quick kiss on the lips.

"Well, I'm gonna have to say, we go with your plan," Rachel finally said.

"Which was…"

"Coffee, and then locking ourselves in my apartment. We'll figure something else out later," she grinned at him.

"Rachel Green, I like your thinking," Chandler stood up straighter, kissing her temple before she pulled away. "You go get coffee, and I'll take your bag and meet you upstairs?"

"Sounds like a plan," Rachel pulled him forward by the bottom of his shirt, giving him another quick kiss before turning to leave. Chandler gave her one last grin before turning in the opposite direction, heading up to their apartment.

What both of them failed to notice was Monica, who had seen the entire scene transpire, turning on her heel and hurrying upstairs about thirty seconds before Chandler.

~.~

We're getting closer to the end. I'm so excited to have a finished Randler fic, you guys have no idea! Now, if only I had some more inspiration to write the next part as quickly as this one…hmm….