Danny and Katie both froze, their necks turned back to the man at such an angle that was almost painful. It was Katie who moved first, prompting Danny to stand up. The stranger was once again studying Danny, his eyes scanning over his face with complete concentration.

"Matthew?" He asked. Danny didn't know what to do. He expected to have another couple hours to figure out how to convince someone, not have it thrust upon him by a total stranger.

"You know Matthew?" Danny asked, choosing to answer his question with a question instead of getting into a complicated ramble about who he could be. Plus he could try and suss out who this man was.

"The whole country knows who Matthew Bing is" The sharpness of the man's voice took Danny by surprise. He unconsciously took a step closer to Katie.

"No…I just meant, you sound like someone more involved than a person who just saw it on the news" He ventured carefully. He was very aware that one wrong word could send the man away.

The man looked at Danny for a long moment, unease and disbelief flickered across his face.

"Matthew was my nephew"

"Was?" The word slipped out before Danny could help himself. He winced when anger flooded the older man's features.

"Yes was. He's been missing eleven years. Children missing that long never turn up alive. My sister needs to let go. He's not coming back." Danny shared an alarmed look with Katie, the anger in the man's face was increasing with every word he spoke. "She needs to let go, they both do. Matthew can't…he won't just.." He looked at Danny with what Danny could only describe as loathing in his face. "You…How dare you. You're not Matthew, how could you be? Matthew's been missing since he was three. I'm not going to just run into him in the middle of Washington Square Park." The man was now shouting. "You can't be him. You're not him. He's dead."

Anger sparked behind the man's eyes before he stormed off in the other direction. Danny was so shocked by the outburst that the man got almost twenty feet away before he could think to do anything.

He ran after him "Please, just let me explain."

The man stopped and turned around. "I don't need an explanation. You're not him"

The hate in his eyes made Danny shrink back slightly, but he refused to let this man, whoever he was, leave without letting him explain. "What if I am? Please sir just-"

"You're not him" With that the man turned and walked to the gate. Danny didn't follow this time, but shouted over the din of birds and traffic.

"How can you be so sure?" The man stopped but didn't turn around. "What if I'm really Matthew and you've just stopped your sister from being with her son?"

"Don't you even mention my sister!" His voice was low and filled with spite. He turned and looked Danny in the eyes. As blue met brown Danny saw a change. A glimmer of hope underneath all the anger and disbelief. The strange man tore his eyes away before he could look to much into it. "My sister has been through enough shit without you walking in there pretending to be Matthew. She's been to hell and back. They both have. You're not welcome. They don't need some…some imposter claiming to be Matthew."

"Why?" Danny heard himself shoot back. He wasn't quite sure where the courage had suddenly come from, he wasn't one to ever shout at an adult, much less a stranger. But he knew just what was at stake if he didn't. "Why can't I be Matthew?"

"You're not Matthew!"

"Why? Why won't you even consider it!?"

"You're not him"

"Why are you so sure?"

"Because Matthew is dead!" The older man shouted. In that moment he let his guard down and tears pricked his eyes. Danny could see the torment he'd suffered within. "He's dead, he's gone. He can't…he won't…" The man's voice faded out as he wiped a stray tear with his shirt sleeve.

"Please….Just leave" He said finally. He took one last long, searching look at Danny. Sadness and disbelief mellowing the anger.

Danny didn't know what to do. The man was walking away quickly so he ran in pursuit before he could overthink the decision.

"Please sir" he said, just loud enough for the man to hear. "If I'm not Matthew, then I'm not Matthew, but please just hear me out. I would never, ever have come all this way if I wasn't completely sure. And I would never put your sister, or anyone, through that pain if I wasn't so sure it was true." The older man had stopped moving and now he and Danny were standing a metre apart. "Sir please hear me out. I know it's unbelievable, I get it. But I can show you old photos, my adoption certificate, anything. Just please listen."

The stranger studied Danny for a long moment and looked into his pleading blue eyes. He looked hesitant over what to say. Something seemed to click and he let out a breath.

"Your accent, Matthew was American. You've got a British accent."

"Yeah…" Danny began hesitantly, he wasn't quite sure what he was expecting the man to say, but it wasn't that. "I live in London, I've lived there since I was adopted."

"Where did you live before?"

Danny let out a breath of relief that the man was talking and hadn't walked away. "I don't know. It was a closed adoption so nobody really knows anything. I think I was from America, or had American parents. I had a bit more of an American accent when I was first adopted."

The man looked at Danny with furrowed eyebrows. "And when was that?"
"December 2012."

He looked curiously at Danny, there was emotion in his eyes Danny couldn't quite place "What's your name?"

"Danny…well Daniel" He ran and hand through his hair. "Daniel Williams."

The man nodded and started fiddling with his tie. He looked as through he had a million questions to ask, but didn't know where to start. Danny noticed his hesitation and remembered he still didn't know who this man was, other than Matthew's uncle.

"What's your name?"

"Ross Geller" Danny stuck his hand out for Ross to shake. He looked slightly surprised at the gesture but shook Danny's hand firmly anyway.

There was a beat of silence where Ross looked anywhere but at Danny. "Look I don't…I mean…you have to understand Matthew's been missing a very long time and I can't…I'll listen to you but…" He hesitated and looked at Danny again. "The police have spent years looking for him, and have never got very far. There have been sightings, thousands of them. And a couple that everyone was so sure was Matthew. But it never was."

He paused and started fiddling with his tie again. "And every time the police were so sure it was Matthew, only for it to turn out to be some random kid….It broke them. And…they can't go through that again, I won't let them go through that again. They're not…they're not strong enough to go through it again."

Ross looked slightly surprised in himself that he had said all that, and Danny suspected it wasn't the kind of thing he talked about very often, much less to a stranger. He nodded and once it looked like the man was not going to say anymore he started to speak. "I understand that sir, just please hear me out. If you don't believe me then…" He met Ross's eyes, not quite believing what he was saying "Then I'll leave your sister and her family alone. Just please…listen."

Then man looked long and hard at Danny, searching perhaps for any sign that he was lying. Finding nothing he nodded and looked up at the murky grey clouds looming overhead.

"Ok" He hesitated "Um…Let's talk indoors, it looks like it's gonna rain."

Danny nodded and gestured at Katie, who had been standing a couple metres back. She introduced herself to a distracted Ross and the pair fell in step behind him. They followed him out of the park and through busy streets. Ross checked over his shoulder to see if they were following occasionally, but otherwise seemed absorbed in thought.

Ross led them into a small cafe just as the rain went from a light shower to a downpour and gestured to a small table near the window wordlessly.

"Do you guys want anything?" He asked.

Danny shook his head but Katie asked for a glass of water. He nodded and left Danny and Katie alone to join the queue.

"Can you stop that?" Katie asked, placing a firm hand on Danny's knee to stop his constant leg jerking. He smiled apologetically and ran an hand through his hair.

"Sorry…I'm just.."

"Nervous?" Katie finished for him. He nodded and pulled out his phone to check the time. His mother had probably noticed they were gone by now, but Danny couldn't bring himself to care. She wouldn't stop for lunch for another hour and a half anyway. Ross walked over and sat in the worn armchair opposite Danny and Katie and all thoughts of his mother left his mind.

He handed over Katie's water, who accepted it with a quiet 'thanks'.

There was silence, nobody really knew where to start. Ross hesitated and took a sip of his coffee. "Can you just…just start from the beginning. How did you find out about Matthew"

Danny nodded and started to explain.

"It started with a school project…" He explained everything in as much detail as he could. He described how they found Matthew's profile on the missing children's website, and then about all the research they had done in the case. He talked about his mother's job and how they got to New York, the photos and various legal documents they had brought, then anything else he could think of. The longer he talked the less disbelief he could see in Ross's eyes.

The older man looked emotional as Danny finished speaking. "You..you said you had photos?"

Danny nodded and pulled an iPad from his backpack. He opened up an album of photos of him when he was younger and clicked on the first one. The photo had been taken on his fifth birthday, he was smiling cheekily up at the camera with icing all over his face. His hair had been slightly lighter then, but it was still as messy as ever.

Danny handed over the device "There's a whole album of them, just scroll through."

Ross nodded and accepted the iPad, he took a sharp intake of breath when he lay eyes on the photo. He looked at it for a long moment then scrolled through the rest of them, studying each one.

"How old were you here?" Ross asked quietly, flipping the iPad around so Danny and Katie could see. The photo was one of the oldest Danny could find. It was taken just after Danny's forth birthday, two months after he was adopted. In it he was standing next to a small snowman with a proud grin on his face.

"I'd just turned four" Ross nodded and looked back to the iPad.

"When's your birthday?" He asked quietly, not taking his eyes off the photo on the screen.

"8th of January." Ross nodded again and whispered under his breath. "Two weeks before Matthew's." Danny wasn't sure if he was talking to them or not so stayed quiet. He shared a quick look with Katie as Ross continued to flick through the photos.

"Oh my god" Ross whispered under his breath. He was staring at a photo in disbelief. He looked at Danny then back down to the photo. Danny lent over the table to see what photo the older man was looking at. Ross didn't even notice, his eyes still fixed on the picture.

The photo was an old one, he was four and a half and was grinning up at the camera with wide blue eyes. He knew why Ross was so fixated on the photo, it was eerily similar to the one on Matthew's missing person profile. Ross looked up at Danny and studied him for a long moment. Tears were pooling in his brown eyes. He put the iPad down and stood up. Danny followed without thinking about it.

Ross walked slowly around the small table and Danny could see a mixture of disbelief, shock and joy in his eyes. Without another word he pulled Danny into a strong hug and sobbed.

"Oh my god Matthew" He wept. "How…it's you…oh my god."

He released Danny from the hug but held onto his shoulders. "How…Matthew…I'm sorry, I'm so sorry… I thought you were dead…You were dead… And now you're here…You look so much like Chandler…So familiar..." His blubbering became incomprehensible as he pulled Danny back into the warm hug, completely oblivious to the stares and curious looks the other customers were giving them. Danny reciprocated the hug somewhat awkwardly, but Ross didn't seem to notice.

He realised Danny again and looked around in disbelief. "Can I just….just to be a hundred percent sure."

Danny nodded and looked expectantly at him.
"Matthew had a scar on his chin, and a birthmark…" Danny nodded and tilted up his head to show the scar that had been there for as long as he could remember. Ross smiled, looking relieved.

"I've also got a scar on my knee, and a birthmark on my chest. But I'd rather not…" Ross nodded and seemed to remember that they were in a public place. He smiled and retook his seat, now without a doubt in his mind that it was Matthew sitting opposite him.

"I need to call Mon, she doesn't work today, and I'm pretty sure Chandler's working from home. Joey should be there too, he's visiting from LA, but he might've gone to see one of his sisters. I should call Rach too" He added, looking up at Danny. Danny nodded, even though he was certain Ross was talking to himself. He had no idea who Joey or Rach were anyway.

Ross turned his attention back to his phone and Katie grinned up at him, he returned the smile, relief coursing through his veins. He had been right. He was Matthew. He thanked his lucky stars Ross had listened to him and didn't just walk away. He thanked his lucky stars he ran into Ross full stop.

Ross held his phone to his ear with his right hand, using the left to scroll through more pictures on the iPad.

"Mon" He started, his voice chocked up with emotion. Although Danny couldn't make out the woman's words he could hear the concerned tone of her voice. "No Mon, nothing's wrong. Mon it's Matthew." The other side of the phone went silent. "Mon I've got him, I'm sure it's him, he… he looks just like Chandler." The other side of the phone was still silent, however this didn't seem to bother Ross. "Mon, I'll bring him over, He can explain…just…I'll be there in half and hour." The phone disconnected and Ross stood up, wiped his eyes and gestured for Danny and Katie to follow.

"Come on, I'm taking you to Monica and Chandler's."

Of course the mysterious man was Ross! Thank you to everyone who reviewed, followed or favourited. I can't explain just how encouraging it is. The response to the last chapter was incredible and I really hope this lived up to your expectations.

ChocoholiclikeLupin x