(A/N) Hi all! Sorry for the late-ish update - I kind of struggled with this chapter, tbh. I had a hard time deciding the limits of Chandler and Rachel's relationship, mainly because Chandler's married here. I always thought Monica had the type of personality that could potentially drive a guy to find solace in someone more laid-back (like Rachel). But I wasn't sure how readers would take it. Then Champers' review gave me the confidence to move forward! haha, soo needless to say, I think I'm going to push the moral limits here, and the rest of the fic. Feel free to let me know what you guys think, too! :) Thank you to BluEyes, BundyShoes, elizzabethavary, Champers, and friendsfan101 for the reviews! They are very appreciated :)
Also, apologies for the long chapter. That being said, I think it's turned out to be one of my favorites to write! Onwards :)


Three (mild) trust games and a raffle later, Rachel and Chandler were sitting together on a bench, watching people leave the retreat. Every so often, someone (usually someone who worked below Rachel) would stop by to say goodbye to her.

A petite blond walked over to Rachel, towing a bored techie-looking man in her wake. "Rachel!" she sighed upon reaching them, beaming. "So good to see you today."

Rachel smiled back, a smile that Chandler recognized as awkward. He was willing to bet that she had no idea who this girl was. "Hey…" Rachel laughed. "… you! It was good to see you too."

"I loved your speech about your baby." The girl placed a hand to her heart and squeezed the man at her side. "It was so sweet. I can only hope Dan and I will be so lucky as you one day!"

"Aw, that's so sweet. I'm sure you will be."

"Well, congratulations again to you and Chandler," she chirped, smiling at Chandler too. "I'll see you at work on Monday!"

She, with Dan, turned the corner and left, leaving a surprised and embarrassed Rachel and Chandler in her wake. They were silent for a long while.

"Heh," Rachel chuckled awkwardly, patting the arm that had been around her the whole time. "That was funny. She thought we were – "

"Hah, that it was us – I mean, that Emma is –"

"Yeah. Silly, huh?"

There was another long silence.

"So," Chandler started, "I liked what you said about Emma. It was really nice, Rach."

"Aw, thanks, sweetie," Rachel replied, rubbing his knee. "And what you said about Central Perk and how it changed your life – that was really nice too."

"Not bad for coming up with it on the spot, was it?"

Rachel laughed. Another employee approached them, and she chatted with him for a while before he departed.

"Hey, Rach?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you remember before Central Perk was… Central Perk?"

"Oh wow, yeah," Rachel replied slowly, furrowing her brows in thought. "Now that you mention it. Wasn't it like a bar or something? I remember stopping by with my girlfriends from Long Island once in, like, '93."

Chandler chuckled inwardly. He remembered that day. He had recognized Rachel at the table with two other snooty, squealing women – vaguely; he had only remembered that she was one of the friends of Ross' fat sister that he had made out with once in college.

He remembered thinking, as he eavesdropped (quite easily, as the three women had practically screamed every other word), about how well life had treated Rachel – she was engaged, she was rich, she was beautiful. Oh God, how beautiful she was. The kind of woman Chandler knew he could never have in a million years, but could only admire as he passed them in the streets.

Then he had overheard her lamenting about wanting one last fling. Okay, and Chandler would admit it – that day, he'd totally fantasized about being with her. He'd always thought she was beautiful; he'd always had a tiny crush on her. Who wouldn't have?

"Yeah, you know, it was right before I was going to marry Barry. Oh yeah! I actually ran into –" Rachel was still talking, but stopped mid-sentence. Her cheeks suddenly flamed.

Chandler's mouth curled into an amused smile. "You remember now, don't you?"

"Oh my God!" Rachel gave a short laugh, stopped, then continued laughing.

"Oh, ha-ha," Chandler laughed mockingly. "Sure, laugh it up, why don't you. 'I rejected poor, low self-esteemed Chandler!' I'm sure it was all very funny to you."

Rachel waved her hands, still laughing. "No, it's not that! I mean, I remember now that you were there with Monica; you were the guy who dropped the ball. But there's something else."

"Something else?"

"Oh God no, it's so embarrassing," she groaned, still grinning into her hands.

"Tell me," Chandler insisted, leaning in eagerly. "You know embarrassing moments are my forte." He paused. "Unfortunately."

"Okay, okay." Rachel took a deep breath and raised her eyebrows. "That night, when I was driving my girlfriends back, I missed my exit."

"Gee, a woman who's a bad driver?" Chandler quipped. "Color me shocked."

"Stop it." Rachel gave him a small smack and continued, "No, it was because…" She drew out the last word, as if hesitant to complete her sentence.

"Because?" he prompted.

"Because…" she continued, blushing, "I was thinking about you."

Chandler frowned. "I don't get it. What do you mean?"

"Well, if you want all the details –"

"Um, obviously."

"Okay!" Rachel exhaled. "Well, I… entertained the fantasy of going back to the bar and finding you there. Where we would commence to, uh, well…"

"Oh spit it out, Green."

"Make out until our tongues were dry and fuck enough times in one night to make Joey's mouth drop."

At this, Chandler's eyebrows shot up so high that it felt like they jumped straight off his head. His heart rate increased about a hundredfold, thumping so hard that he was surprised Rachel couldn't see it. He opened his mouth, but all that came out was an unintelligible gurgle.

When he finally spoke, he scrunched up his face and sputtered - "Oh. My. God." (Much in the manner of his favorite horse-faced ex-girlfriend.)

Rachel laughed and threw her hands up in surrender. "Hey, you asked for it."

Chandler quickly regained his composure and wiped at the sweat that had formed at his temple. "I just can't – I can't believe…"

"Believe what?"

"… that you actually noticed me," Chandler blurted. "Because I wanted the same thing, but I didn't even think you knew I existed! Wow, what if you had come back? What if we started -" He didn't finish. It was too weird to think about.

Rachel patted his knee and gave him a slight smirk. "It would be, like, the one that could've, could've been."

They let that sink in for a while in silence, before Chandler turned back to Rachel and persisted, "Okay, I know this is a moot point, but –"

"Hah, moo point," Rachel laughed under her breath, recalling something Joey once said.

"What?"

"Nothing. Sorry honey, go on."

"Anyway, this is a moot point," Chandler went on, "but do you think we could've ever, you know? If anything could've ever happened between us?" He paused and continued on earnestly, "Because you know… that if I had ever even gotten the slightest hint that you could've been interested in me… I would've. In a second."

"Oh!" Rachel looked at him and tsked sympathetically. "Chandler, why would you ever think I wouldn't be interested in you?"

Chandler held up a finger in mock thought. "Well, I believe the phrases 'not boyfriend material', 'just my goofy friend' and my favorite: 'With Chandler? Really?' were used by both Monica and Phoebe on multiple occasions. I think – you know, I think – that could've insinuated disinterest. Just taking a shot in the dark."

Rachel's wide hazel eyes were still locked on his face. "Yeah, I guess Monica and Phoebe said those things a lot." She took special care to place the slightest of emphases on the two names. "But I don't think I ever did. I mean, why would I? You've always been smart, funny, cute… you know." She waved a hand flippantly.

Chandler swallowed, stretching his mouth into a thin line. What was going on here? This was too much for him to handle right now – even if 'handle' was the middle of his first name. For God's sake, Bing, lighten the mood already!

"Yeah, I guess so. I mean, you were also the one who had that dream where we had amazing sex on the table of Central Perk, weren't you?"

Rachel broke into a smile. "O-ho," she chortled thickly. "Oh yeah…" She trailed off, smiling quite dreamily into space. "God… that was so good."

"Well." Chandler smirked cockily. "What can I say? Wait. Was I better in that fantasy, or your first one?"

Rachel raised an eyebrow suggestively. "Well… we did different things."

"All right, Dream-Chandler!" Chandler joked, holding out one hand for his other one to high-five.

When the laughter had subsided, Chandler found himself unable to think about anything else but this recent discovery, as well as unwilling to let it go. He exhaled deeply, "Wow. I just can't believe you wanted it as much as I did."

"Yeah." Rachel shook her head lightly. "It doesn't matter now, though. You're married to my best friend, and I have a baby with your best friend…" She sighed. "Wow. Who would've thought, huh?"

And just like that, the air between them slowly returned from one laden with charged lust to one of friendly love. Rachel snuggled up to her goofy friend Chandler, and he put a protective arm around her. With the other hand, he tenderly brushed the hair out of her face. Then, without thinking, he rested his chin on her head. Her hair smelled of coconut.

They sat there until all the employees had gone, and the sun was beginning to move over the lake. Once again, Chandler found himself aware of how peaceful he felt when he was holding Rachel. How perfect. He had realized this in the past, of course, on the couple of occasions where he had hugged her on his barca lounger, on the Central Perk couch, or while consoling her about something. But he had always shaken off any feelings he may have had, disregarding them as flukes. After all, he had been in other relationships then! He couldn't be having those kinds of feelings for someone who wasn't his girlfriend.

And Chandler had even kissed Rachel a few times – once in college, of course (though intoxicated Rachel probably didn't remember), and a couple of times as cover-ups when he was hiding his relationship with Monica. He couldn't remember if he had felt anything – the former being that he was too young and drunk to remember, and the latter being that he had always been too jittery and panicky to remember.

He felt his heart rate start to pick up. His mouth felt dry. "Hey, Rach?"

"Yeah?" She shifted slightly to look at him.

And when she did, Chandler didn't think. He just did it. Only a split second pause existed between Rachel's lips against the New York air and her lips against his.

It wasn't urgent, it wasn't heated. It was soft. Innocent. Chandler wrapped an arm around the bend of her waist and squeezed. Lightly. The whole thing didn't last very long; just long enough for Chandler to feel Rachel return the favor, then immediately freeze and pull away.

It seemed like a lifetime as Rachel stared at Chandler with wide, shocked hazel eyes. Then, as if the realization just hit her, she cried, "Oh my God. Oh my God, no, no, no…" and buried her face in her hands.

Chandler sat back in his seat, heart pounding. "Well, can't say that's the first time someone's responded like that after I've kissed them."

He snuck a glance at Rachel, who evidently was not affected by his attempt at a joke. She was still sitting there with her head in her hands and muttering to herself. Chandler was getting concerned.

"Hey," he joked again, trying out something from their shared past. "What's the matter? I'm in college. I'm in a band."

Nothing.

"That worked on you last time -"

"How can you just keep joking about this?" Rachel cut him off, looking furious. "You're married. You just kissed your wife's best friend." She spoke each word with such fierce, disjointed intensity that there might as well have been periods between each.

Chandler forced himself to look dismayed, hoping his frantically beating heart wouldn't belie his true feelings. And those feelings – the result of kissing Rachel? Amazing. "It was just a kiss, Rach. Just a friendly thing, I promise."

"You don't French your friends."

"I'm trying out this European thing."

"Stop it!" Rachel swatted at the air in frustration. "Just stop joking, Chandler! Just stop it." She slumped into her hands. When she finally spoke again, it was with a calmer, quieter voice. "I'm sorry." She exhaled deeply. "I overreacted. You're right. I think I just freaked out a bit because –"

"Because?"

"It's nothing. I just freaked out. That's all."

Chandler fell silent, knowing (for some reason, he knew) that Rachel had been momentarily freaked out because she had wanted it just as much as he had. And Rachel fell silent, knowing that her anger had been a preemptive lash to hide what she was currently feeling. And those feelings? It was a jumble of confusing emotions, but she could pin a word to it. Amazing.

It couldn't be amazing though, as the both of them knew. It was wrong. Immoral. Cruel. Forbidden. Of course, thinking this way only served to make the air between them even more electrified.

Chandler cleared his throat. "You know, uh, Monica and I had this thing. A rule." Without realizing it, he squeezed his eyes shut. Even speaking Monica's name while he was feeling all of this stuff for Rachel… it made him feel horrible. Like the worst guy on Earth. No, worse. Like the scum growing in the dark crevasses of the ocean.

"A rule?"

"In London. We said that, well, what happens in other countries just… doesn't count."

Rachel gave him a look of disbelief before snorting mirthlessly, "Well, uh, I don't know if they've redrawn country borders in the last few hours, but the only way we're home free is if they've moved Canada to Sixth Avenue."

Chandler grinned boyishly. "Now I don't know about that." He shifted in his seat, nudged Rachel, and gestured to a man in a beret to their left. "See that guy? That beret?" He made a sweeping motion with his arms to accompany his sweeping generalization – "obviously French."

In spite of herself, Rachel laughed. "Obviously."

"Oui. See? We very well could be in France. God knows there're enough assholes around here for it to seem like it." He nudged her again, excitedly. "Now what about those two girls over there? The leggy blondes?"

""Sweden."" Rachel and Chandler said simultaneously, causing them to stop and laugh. It felt nice, Chandler thought, just laughing with her again.

Rachel seemed significantly more upbeat now. "And you know," she joined in, pointing in the direction of an Asian man with a Hispanic-looking woman, "that's really just killing two birds with one stone."

They laughed, and the heady air that had hung between them dissipated. There they sat for a little longer, watching the sun prepare to move beneath the horizon.

"Chandler?" Rachel spoke as if she knew she was going to regret it.

"Yeah?"

"For what it's worth, I wish I had gone back. To the bar that night. To you." She swallowed almost imperceptibly. And, not trusting himself with what could possibly happen, Chandler let it stay at that.

Either way, they both realized why they had never hung out alone before – they were free to tread dangerous territory when no other friends were around to interrupt.


(A/N) How was it? I hope you liked it. Like I said, I was nervous about this one! Feel free to leave a comment/review/question/anything! Thanks for reading, and I will update soon :) :)