Once Noah disappeared to play with his toys, the adults in the room were finally able to talk freely. Rachel and Zach, cuddling on the couch, glanced at each other and kissed, ignoring the wolf-whistles her family let out in unison. "Always an audience." They managed to sneak away into a different, actual private room at the care home earlier, which had been immensely helpful. Today, this last day of Hanukkah, was much more relaxing compared to the previous day for a variety of reasons.
"Suppose we'll have to get used to it, Bill," he responded, grinning at her.
She snorted. "Never change, Andie."
Bex's eyes flashed with recognition as Shoshana chuckled. "Rach, are you normally this sappy?" she teased her sister.
"Groundhog Day reference. Look at them with the inside jokes already - it's cute." Bex, like the others, was relieved the time loop had finally ended and their normal life could resume.
The two of them felt slightly self-conscious in front of the rest of the family but they were also comfortable and didn't want to move. "Soulmates, huh?" he asked Rachel, a smirk on his face.
She had told him that part of that deal while they waited for their order at Goldberg's and although stunned, Zach easily accepted it. "Soulmates," she confirmed. Then she laughed. "Those first two times, you were the dick who ran into me, ruined the sufganiyot, and then bolted - total opposite of a meet-cute. Definitely never expected it to turn out like this."
Zach snorted. "I still can't believe we thought saving the donuts would end the time loop."
Stan did a double take, tickled pink at the thought. "What?"
Rachel glanced over at her father. "Yeah, we were running out of ideas and speculated getting the donuts here safely would end the time loop. To be fair, we were on the right path assuming it was the dreidel from the beginning, but yeah, that's why the donuts finally arrived safe and sound."
He shrugged. "Whatever, it got them here."
"And hey, we have more! Win win," chimed in Joanna. She wrapped an arm around Stan, the two of them watching Zach and Rachel like a hawk, thrilled their daughter had finally found her soulmate. It lifted a huge weight off their shoulders to know both Rachel and Shoshana had found the person they were meant to be with.
Shoshana waved her hand in front of Rachel to get her sister's attention. "What, Shosh?" she finally asked.
"Just wanted to officially welcome you to time loop hell. Never going through one knocked up again, by the way. Zero out of ten, do not recommend. And I did make it through the last ten minutes of the podcast, thank you very much. Anyway, it's finally time to tell you my proposal to Bex happened during the last loop," Shoshana admitted, figuring she owed Rachel the truth.
"You should have seen us, Rachel. It was a lot. That's why I attempted to calm you down when you started freaking out," a smirking Bex informed her sister-in-law.
"So, you all knew and remember?" Rachel just wanted to learn more about the time loops and maybe she'd look back on this whole experience with a lot more love someday. It had led her to Zach, though, so she'd forgive everybody for not warning her.
"Grandma Rosie forewarned the rest of us that she was gifting you the dreidel this year so we'd be prepared. It helps to know ahead of time." Stan watched Rachel and Zach closely to see how they'd react.
"Of course nothing really prepares you for the time loop," Joanna chimed in.
"They can get exhausting and slightly repetitive," Shoshana agreed. There were differences every loop, however, which made shit a lot more interesting and livened the days up.
"And hey, nothing's been set on fire today. That's a win," Stan proclaimed as Rosie bopped her head in agreement.
"You have to admit that the extinguisher itself catching on fire was pretty inspired. Very definition of when there's a will, there's a way." Zach had to admire the dreidel's game.
Rachel blew out a breath as she pondered something she had been thinking about all day. "The way Cynthia and Seth were repeatedly drawn to each other every loop, I'm pretty sure they're soulmates too."
"It'll be Cynthia's turn in due time. Patience." Rosie grinned at her family, thrilled Rachel and Zach were already seemingly in sync and clearly head over heels in love. The dreidel always knew, and she was glad to have met this man, clocking immediately that he was Rachel's.
Fully aware they were still in front of witnesses who never let anything go and loved making fun of them, Zach and Rachel kissed once more. "Shut up!" Rachel yelled when they cheered again. "You ready to get out of here yet, Andie?"
"Ready whenever you are, Bill."
"You sure you two don't want to stay tonight?" Joanna hated to see them leave - they still had more to discuss.
"We'll be fine, Mom."
"Thank you very much for the past two days, Mrs. Landau. It's been fun," Zach told her as he and Rachel stood up.
"Call me Joanna. You're family now, Zach, and I'm so glad you're Rachel's soulmate." She teared up and hugged them both. She turned to face Rachel. "And we need to start packing up the rest of the house soon so don't go too far."
Rachel grabbed Zach's hand and squeezed it. "We won't."
"My place?" Zach asked her.
Rachel gave him a smug look and crossed her arms. "You're a candle in the window on a cold dark winter's night," she quipped.
He tilted his head back and laughed. "Fuck, you're amazing."
"I try my best." She called her nephew's name and Noah came tearing into the room. After saying their goodbyes, Rachel and Zach left to head back to his apartment.
Zach couldn't stop staring at Rachel. "This is the first day of the rest of our lives," he realized in awe.
Her face flushed. "Romantic." It was probably too soon to say those three words but she was undeniably, incredibly in love with this dork of a man already - they had been through a whole hell of a lot during the time loop.
He twirled Rachel around before quickly kissing her. "I still can't believe we went through all of that."
They couldn't wait to spend the rest of the year (and their lives, of course - that was a given) getting to know one another better. Rachel and Zach already knew so much about one another but there was still more to discover. Their connection hadn't been instant but it was strong now and definitely unbreakable.