Chapter Two
'The Rekindled Flame'
"What a great room," Ross whistled and then crossed the hotel room to open the blind. "And look at that view!" he exclaimed enthusiastically.
"Yeah, I don't think I can do this," Rachel sighed as she sat on one of the beds and began to massage her throbbing temple.
She looked as tired as how she felt inside.
Contrary to Ross, she was starting to feel overwhelmed by this trip and the idea of moving to Paris. The closer they got to Paris, the more anxious she got, and during the trip to the hotel, suddenly everything became somewhat real.
Was she really doing this?
Moving to Paris alone with their daughter?
No friends, no family, and more importantly, away from Ross?
Was this what she really wanted?
Her lips quivered, feeling emotionally overwhelmed. At this point, she didn't know if this was what she wanted or if it was all worth it leaving New York and especially him behind.
"What?" Ross furrowed his brows, confused.
"It's all just so different!" Rachel threw her arms in the air out of frustration. "If you weren't with me, I don't think I could have found my way here on the Metro."
"Rachel, it's not a big deal," Ross said, still not knowing the true reason why she was doubtful about moving to Paris or why she seemed so upset. "It's like the subway in New York. You ride it all the time."
"Yeah, sure," Rachel laughed bitterly. "Every day. I took the blue line to… Ralph Lauren station," she continued before raising her voice. "I don't take the Subway!"
"Well, they have taxis here too," he tried to reason.
"But how will I tell them where to go?" Rachel whined. "I don't even speak French!"
"It'll come back to you. Hey, you got A's in French in high school."
"You would have gotten A's too if you wore skirts as short as I did."
"I don't think I would have…" Ross trailed off but quickly snapped out of it when he saw the look in her eyes. "Come on, you're going to love it here," he pulled her off the bed and directed her toward the window. "Just look how beautiful this city is… You can even see the Eiffel Tower from here."
Rachel looked around the window and then frowned, "No, you can't."
Ross took a souvenir Eiffel Tower out of his bag and he held it up in the air for her to see. Then, he smiled goofily, "Now you can."
Rachel couldn't help but shake her head and smile at his silliness.
He really knew how to make her smile, huh?
"When did you buy that?"
"In the airport when you went to the bathroom," he pulled out a beret out of his bag and then put it on. "The same time I bought this."
Rachel bit her tongue to prevent herself from laughing out loud, "Wow. That should keep the girls away."
Ross' smile quickly fell, but this time he ignored her sarcastic comment.
"So, let's go. What do you want to do first?"
"I think I need a nap before I do anything," she moaned as suddenly her headache and wave of exhaustion came back in full force.
"Oh, no. We have to stay up until at least ten o'clock. We get a good night's sleep, we wake up, we're on Paris time. We're practically Parisians. We're not Ross and Rachel, we're," he paused for dramatic effects which caused her to roll her eyes at him. "Ross et Rachel."
"Oh boy, this is going to be a long weekend," she put her hand on her forehead and sighed.
"Seriously, no naps. You take a nap now, jetlag wins."
She exhaled, finally decided to go along with Ross' ideas. "Alright, let me just get my coat of my bag and then we can go."
She then crossed the room to her suitcase, opened it, and looked for her coat. It took a while to find her coat amongst all the clothing she packed. In hindsight, she probably shouldn't have packed too much clothes just for a few days trip.
"I just have to find it," Rachel muttered as she rummaged through her suitcase. "I let Monica pack for me, it makes her so happy."
She took out a few clothes and finally found the coat she was looking for at the bottom.
"Ha! Found it!" She fished the coat off her suitcase and then turned her body back to Ross. "Okay, so where do you want to go fin-" she halted mid-sentence when she realized that Ross was lying on the bed, dead asleep.
Shrugging, she threw her coat on the coach and then went over to where Ross was currently sleeping. She carefully took the beret off his head and proceeded to throw it out the window. Smiling contentedly, she closed the blind shut and crossed the room to lay down on her own bed.
"-and the jetlag wins," she murmured sleepily as she nuzzled her head into her pillow and finally fell asleep.
It was hours later when Ross woke up from his 'nap'. He blinked a few times, a little disoriented as he looked around his surroundings. It took him another few seconds to finally realize where he was.
Right. He's in their hotel room with Rachel here in the most romantic city in the world, Paris. How could he forget?
He looked over to the other bed and found Rachel was still sleeping peacefully. Her lips were slightly parted, her hair was all over the place, and exhaustion was written all over her face, but Ross could've sworn he had never seen a more beautiful woman than she was.
Back when they first dated, he'd often got caught staring at her while she was asleep and like she had some kind of third sense, she'd smiled before she opened her eyes and said something like, "Y'know, one of these days you gotta stop staring, honey. I'm here, I'm real, and I'm not going anywhere."
He couldn't help it though, it suddenly became a habit where he'd spare a few minutes of his morning just to look at her, studying every feature of her face as if he'd never wanted to forget those little details he loved about her. Sometimes, as he looked at her sleeping next to him, he couldn't believe that it wasn't just a dream. After years and years pinning over her, Rachel was finally his girlfriend. And judging by how he'd caught her doing the same thing as he did - on rare occasions when she was the one who woke up first, she must've been thinking about the same thing.
God, they were so helplessly in love, huh?
How the hell did they go from there to here?
Not wanting to wallow in the past, Ross shook his head and decided that it was time to wake her up. With a groan, he sat up and even did a little stretching after noticing how stiff his body was.
"Damn you, jetlag," he mumbled as he got off the bed and went to Rachel's side. He then gently shook her body, "Rachel, wake up."
"Nooo…" she moaned and covered her eyes with a pillow.
"We fell asleep. This is exactly what I said we shouldn't do."
Rachel reluctantly removed the pillow off her head and finally opened her eyes, "W-what time is it?"
Ross looked at his wrist watch, "It's one o'clock. We slept for like three hours."
He then went over to open the blinds and then stared at it when he noticed that it was dark outside.
"Yeah, it's one in the morning. We slept for fifteen hours," he looked down outside the window and his brows creased with confusion. "-and for some reason, that gargoyle is wearing a beret."
Rachel cleared her throat and quickly got up, deciding to ignore his comment about the beret, "So, what do we do about your whole "getting on Paris time" thing?"
"Well, we can either try to sleep for another seven hours, or get on a plane and fly straight to Tokyo."
"I'm starving," she then pouted.
"I know. I think we've missed, like, eight meals."
"I'm gonna call room service."
She made her way toward the phone and pressed the button, "Bonjour. Je . . .suis – Yes, I'm American. Okay, we need food," She looked over to Ross and covered the phone so that she could talk to Ross. "He said there are no restaurants open in the area and room service closed five minutes ago."
"Seriously?"
"Come on, can't you scrounge up anything for us?" Rachel spoke to the hotel staff through the phone again. "You don't have to cook it. Just a croissant or some cheese. Or, like, one of those fruit tarts."
"Stop naming foods!" Ross said rather exasperatedly.
"Please, we're starving here. Can you help us out? Por favor?" She looked over at Ross again and pouted, "That didn't help."
Her expression then shifted rapidly, her lips quivered, and she looked like she was about to break down and cry when the hotel staff began to yell at her.
"He's yelling at me, I want to go home," She whimpered, her eyes wet from unshed tears.
Ross took over the phone, "Monsieur, je vous en prie. Nous y apprecierions beaucoup et nous pouvons vous recompenser pour avoir vous genre." He then waited a beat before he said, "Merci."
He hung up the phone and turned to Rachel, "We're getting squat."
Knowing that they probably wouldn't be getting any food soon and feeling icky after a long flight, Rachel decided to take a hot steamy shower. She took her time, letting the warm water slowly wash her fatigue away. Half an hour later, she emerged from the bathroom wearing a robe. At the same time, the door of their room opened and Ross came trudging in with a handful of food in his arms. Amongst them were a couple baguettes, a bottle of wine, and a number of what she could assume to be canned foods.
"Oh my god!" Rachel exclaimed, both surprised and amused with what he basically just did.
"The kitchen was unlocked," Ross grinned as he began to drop the food one by one on the bed.
"Were you nervous?" she was looking at him with a spark in her eyes, like he was her hero or something.
"Not that much."
She then joined him and inspected the food he just brought; her eyes stopped at one particular can that stood up amongst the other.
"Is that floor wax?" she raised an eyebrow quizzically.
"Okay, there may have been some panicking," he admitted sheepishly.
Rachel smiled, "But look what you got!"
"Wait!"
Ross darted back into the hallway and then came back in, rolling an enormous wheel of cheese.
He stopped in front of her and smiled goofily, "Too much cheese, madam?"
She laughed.
"You are god to me," she said before taking a bite of the baguette and then moaned rather loudly, "Oh, this bread is sooo good!"
Ross smiled proudly as he watched her eat.
"By the way, do you want to know which stuff I hid in my pants on the way up here?"
She subconsciously glanced toward his pants and then to the mountain of food in front of them, "Uh, I don't think I do."
"Okay!" Ross clasped his hands together and then he began to show her the cans one by one. "It looks like we also have some olives, tuna, artichoke hearts, pâté, and cherries soaked in liqueur."
"Oh, I think I'm going to cry!" Rachel said dramatically "So, where's the can opener?"
Ross froze, "Can opener?"
"You didn't get a can opener?" she stopped chewing and asked rather in disbelief. "Then how are we going to open these?"
Ross paused to think of a solution and when he finally got one, he grabbed the souvenir Eiffel Tower and slammed it into one of the cans until it succeeded.
"Bon appetit!" he shouted triumphantly.
After successfully opening all of the canned foods, Ross and Rachel sat on the bed facing each other with food spread out in between them and the magnificent view of Parisian night framed perfectly by the window right behind them.
Food in bed with such a view of the most romantic city in the world as the background?
This certainly was romantic; both of them were completely aware of that.
"More wine?" Rachel offered, trying not to make it awkward.
"Oh, yeah."
"How's your poor hand?" she asked as she poured him a glass of wine.
Ross looked down at his hand where it was wrapped with a cloth napkin around it.
"Yeah, I think we know why the Eiffel Tower never caught on as a can-opening device," he winced in pain.
"Here, I'll feed you. Have you tried this yet?" she asked, holding up something on a piece of baguette.
Instinctively, Ross backed up as he looked at her warily, "Uhm, what is it?"
"Pâté and cherries," she answered casually as if there was nothing wrong with the combo.
"Mmm. Gross."
"It's good. I swear. Taste it."
Ross pulled back once again, "I don't think so."
"Come on, don't be a baby. Taste."
Ross closed his mouth tight shut and shook his head 'no', "Mmm-mmm."
Rachel brought the food closer to him, practically shoving it into his mouth, "Taste it!"
Ross ate the food reluctantly, but then his eyes widened as he tasted it. He was prepared to hate it, because honestly, meat paste combined with fruits didn't sound appetizing, right? But to his surprise, it actually tasted delicious!
"Mmmm!" he practically moaned.
"See?" Rachel smiled proudly.
"That is genius!"
"Thank you!"
"All right," he swallowed the last bit of his food. "-you cannot tell Monica when we get back, but I think this is the best meal I ever had."
"Me too!" she agreed enthusiastically. "Here… have some cheese."
Rachel leaned in as she fed him another bite and Ross couldn't help but to let out a smile for one particular reason. His smile certainly didn't go unnoticed by Rachel, who was now feeling a bit self-conscious thanks to the way he was smiling while staring at her.
"What?"
"Nothing," Ross pursed his lips into a tight line.
Rachel eyed him suspiciously, "What is it? Why are you smiling?"
"You're going to be mad."
"No, I'm not," she promised. "Now, tell me."
"Well…" Ross scratched his head, a smile on his lips. "Every time you lean forward, your robe opens up and I can totally see everything."
Ross eyed her carefully, waiting for her to be mad, but to his surprise, she smiled amused as she raised her eyebrow suggestively, "So, it's dinner and a show then."
"I know!" Ross beamed. "I love Paris!"
Rachel shook her head, still smiling as she tightened her robe.
Not until half an hour later, all the food was almost gone.
They really were starving.
By this time, it was well past two in the morning and Rachel let out a gasp as she finally turned her attention away from the food and toward the scenery out the window. The city of Paris was illuminated by twinkling lights and even though they couldn't see the Eiffel Tower from their room, it didn't make the view less spectacular.
"God, it's beautiful," Rachel murmured as she looked out the window, her voice thick with awe.
"It really is," Ross agreed. "We always said we wanted to go to Paris. Why didn't we?"
Rachel averted her attention from the view to look at the man sitting next to her. Bittersweet memories of their past started to play in her head like a movie and suddenly her heart felt heavy.
He was right, back when they first dated, they'd lay in bed at nights and talked about anything they could think of until dawn. One night as they talked about romantic gateway, she proposed an idea about a trip to the most romantic city in the world and then he promised to take her on their second anniversary when hopefully, they had more time to get off work and enough money to travel around Europe comfortably.
It was such a nice plan, sadly it never came true because they broke up nearly two months later.
When she thought about it, this whole thing was kind of ironic… because now that they were not together anymore, they were both finally here in Paris, the city they always wanted to go to as a couple but never had the chance to.
"We were poor and then we broke up," she simply concluded.
"Well, we'll always have that."
She smiled sadly as they looked at each other for the longest time. No words needed to be spoken out loud for them to know what was going on inside each other's mind. Once again, they both mourned over the relationship they used to have.
Rachel could feel her heart twisted in knots and she immediately knew if she didn't distract herself, she was going to break down here in front of him and that wasn't what she wanted. So, she looked away, busying herself with the food in front of her and begging herself to get it together.
The atmosphere inside the room quickly shifted and they could feel it too. Ross watched Rachel as she grabbed a baguette and tore it into pieces, but didn't really eat it. She lost her appetite and he couldn't blame her. Earlier today, he was so excited to visit Paris that somehow, he forgot their true intention of coming to this beautiful city in the first place.
It was only then when everything finally dawned upon him.
She's moving away to Paris.
She wasn't going to be just a street away from him.
She wasn't going to hang out in the middle of broad daylight in Central Perk anymore.
She wasn't going to be in New York.
She's leaving…
He swallowed a lump in his throat, "I'm going to miss you."
Rachel looked up, meeting his eyes. "Hey, I haven't decided if I'm definitely going yet."
"You have to go. How many times in your life are you going to get a chance to live in Paris? I wish I could go."
"I wish you could, too."
She smiled briefly, holding her gaze on him.
"What if I did?" Ross suddenly asked, surprising both himself and also Rachel.
"What?"
"What if I moved to Paris, too?"
"Are you serious?" she gasped. "Is that even a possibility?"
She didn't want to get her hopes up, but judging by the way Ross was looking at her right now... he was dead serious.
"Why not? I'll take a sabbatical for a year. They just gave me tenure. I can do whatever I want."
Deep down, he knew that an impromptu decision about moving away to another country across the world probably wasn't the greatest idea ever, but he couldn't help it. The thought of not being able to see Rachel and Emma was just too painful. He had to try and do something so that he wouldn't lose them.
Besides… he just got a tenure, what's the odd that they're going to fire him for taking a sabbatical for a year? They weren't going to fire him. That's ridiculous... Right?
"Oh my god," she cried ecstatically. "That would be fantastic! I would feel so much better taking this job if you're coming with us. And we'd have so much fun! You have to do it!"
The more he thought about it, the more tempting this idea of moving to Paris felt. Think about it. If he moved to Paris, then they didn't have to worry about getting a nanny. He could've stayed home with Emma, maybe go sightseeing during the day and then at night, they could have dinner together as a family. He could even write a book while he was here or even explore the numerous museums Paris had to offer. They could find an apartment with three bedrooms and it'd be just like that time when Emma was born when they lived together under one roof.
This was all starting to feel like a dream to him and before he even realized it, the word rolled easily off his tongue, "Okay."
"Really?" Her voice was an octave higher at this point as she could no longer contain her excitement.
"Yeah, screw it. I'm moving to Paris!"
Rachel threw her arms in the air, a huge grin in her face when she said, "We're moving to Paris!"
"-and the show's back on."
Keeping her big smile, she quickly tightened her robe before she went to give him a big hug.
"This is going to be so great," Rachel whispered against his chest.
Ross sighed happily, "I know."
"I can't believe this is our last day in Paris," she muttered as they walked along the Seine river.
It was their last night in Paris and after dinner, instead of taking a taxi back to their hotel, they opted to walk and enjoyed their night together before having to fly back home in the morning.
"Yeah, time surely flies here," Ross glanced sideways and they smiled at each other once their gazes met.
Paris at night was breathtakingly beautiful, but it was the companion that made it so much special. Their hands kept brushing against each other as they walked and every time their skin made contacts, they could feel goosebumps all over their skin.
"You're right," she muttered sadly. "It feels like we only got here and suddenly it's already our last day. I feel like I don't get to explore the city properly, especially since we fell asleep on our first day."
"Hey, you don't have to be upset about that… Think about it this way. By this time next month, we'll be living here in Paris. We can explore the whole city if you want, or maybe try to discover what other fruits go well with pâté," she smiled at that. "-and before you realize it, the three of us, we'll be Parisians."
Rachel's stomach tingled with these fluttering feelings she hadn't felt in a while whenever she thought about living here in Paris together with Ross and their daughter.
If Ross moved to Paris with them, Rachel could take the job without having to feel guilty for separating Ross from his own daughter. Instead, they could grow a lot closer now that they'd be living under the same roof again. She didn't have to worry much about their daughter knowing Ross was there, so she could focus her attention on her new job. Rachel was sure Emma would be so much happier to spend her day with her dad rather than some strangers at the daycare.
Also, think about all these things they could do together as a family.
Discovering the new city together, exploring its culture, and enjoying what this romantic city had to offer. They could try to eat food they've never heard of before or maybe go to places they've only seen on TV. Maybe drinking a wine or two in that balcony of the apartment they just saw, relaxing after a long day and after their daughter had fallen asleep.
The possibility is endless.
Whatever they'd chosen to spend their free time here in Paris, she knew that they'd spend it together, probably more than they ever could back in New York. Here, they wouldn't have their other friends to hang out with and she was pretty sure she wouldn't want to stay up late at the office knowing that Emma and Ross were waiting for her at home. So, they'd most likely spend the evening together as family.
Dating other people would be out of the equation too because they'd lived in the same apartment and it'd be very awkward to bring other people home with them. In the end, it didn't leave Ross and Rachel much choice but to spend most of their time with each other, especially after their daughter went to bed.
They'd definitely grown a lot closer - no doubt about that, and that was the part that she was secretly most excited about.
If Ross really moved to Paris with her, what did it mean for them?
Were they finally going to get it right this time?
She couldn't lie to herself again, she really was looking forward to share this part of her life with him. And to make it even better, getting back together with Ross…
She could already feel her heart beating uncontrollably just by thinking about it.
"I can't wait to move here with you and Emma," she breathed.
"Me neither," Ross smiled.
Gaining a bit of confidence from her words, he brushed his palm against hers and slowly but surely, he grabbed her hand and intertwined his fingers with her. When she didn't pull away, but gave him a warm smile instead, Ross breathed in relief.
"So uhm," Ross cleared his throat. "Do you really like that apartment we saw today or did you only say you like it just because we ran out of options?"
"The latter," Rachel wrinkled her nose. "The closet is too small for me,"
Ross laughed, "Oh, Rach… you heard what Alice said, the closet here is apparently smaller than what we're used to back in the US."
"We really don't have any other choice, do we?"
"Well, we don't. Unless you want to stay at the hotel for the first few months. I mean, it's hard to find the perfect apartment in such a short notice. But you know what? We can always find another place once we're settled."
She couldn't lie, she loved how they already made these kinds of decisions together, almost like something a real committed couple would do.
Smiling, Rachel gave Ross a nod and once again comfortable silence fell in between them. Hand-in-hand, they enjoyed the beautiful evening the city had offered, both lost in their own thoughts.
"I still can't believe you're willing to drop everything and come with us to Paris," when Rachel spoke again, her eyes were wet from unshed tears.
She wasn't sure about the decision of moving to Paris alone especially now that they were here and she already felt so overwhelmed by the language barrier and the cultural differences. So, when he said he'd tagged along and moved here with her and Emma, that meant the world to Rachel. She felt so much better about taking the job, knowing that she'd have that someone to come home to after a stressful day at work, especially someone like him.
"I was really worried about having to do this alone. I mean, what was I thinking? Moving to a foreign country for a big fancy job all while taking a one-year-old with me and without anyone's help? Seriously. I really, really don't think I can do this without you."
She usually wasn't that kind of person who didn't believe in herself and what she was capable of, but moving to Paris was such a huge deal even for Rachel. It almost felt like that day after her baby shower where she felt so emotionally overwhelmed and she couldn't help but to have doubts about what she herself was capable of.
"You can and you will if you have to," Ross assured her. "You're one of the strongest women I've ever known, the best mother to our little girl, Emma. If you have to move here alone with Emma, I have no doubts that you're going to do just great. Like I said before, give yourself a little credit. You're more than capable of doing this without anyone's help, I believe in you."
Rachel halted her steps, tears streaming down her eyes as she let his words sink in.
The fact that he believed in her more than herself always blew her mind away. He could be mad about all these, you know. Letting her take his daughter away to Paris? That's not easy and she knew better than anyone because she knew how hard it was for him to send Ben away to Carol when his weekend was over. But instead of being mad about this, he was being so supportive. He did everything she could've ever asked for and even went above and beyond.
"Hey, do you wanna grab a cup of hot chocolate before we-?" Ross asked but then stopped moving when she suddenly dropped his hand and wasn't there beside him anymore.
He turned around and found her sobbing quietly. Instinctively, he approached her.
"Rach?" Ross called her name softly, his brows creased with worries. "What's wrong?"
She looked at him with glimmers of tears in her eyes and instead of giving him an answer, she engulfed him into a tight hug as she whispered, "Thank you, for everything."
A/N
The beret Rachel threw out of the window… Anyone else thinking about the blue hat Ross wore on 10x09 (when he asked Rachel for fashion advice) too? lol
I really had so much fun writing this particular chapter. Reading the original script made me realize how different Rachel was compared to what they've shown us in the show. In this script, it was clear to me that she was doubtful about her move to Paris and how overwhelmed she was by it. And I think the reason for that is because it wasn't only after she arrived in Paris that she realized how big of a decision this was. In the show, we can see how excited and sure she was about moving to Paris. The adrenaline and the idea of moving to her dream city were still kicking in full force that she hadn't had the time to actually process everything. The trip to Paris made everything real for Rachel. The foreign city, the language barrier, the cultural differences. It was so overwhelming, she started to doubt herself.
And Ross… he's really so excited about moving to Paris with Rachel and Emma. I mean, can you guys imagine Ross, Rachel, and Emma living together in Paris?
Anyway, sorry for the ramble lol I just want to say that I'm really thankful for the positive feedback I received for the first chapter. Every one of them means so much to me and I appreciate that you guys take time to write reviews!
And lastly, I can't speak French (I'm basically Joey in this case lol) and all the French dialogues are from the original script. So, I don't know if they're accurate.
Chapter 2 of 4 done! I hope you guys enjoyed it!