Monica was arranging Thanksgiving at her apartment, again. She pondered as to why she was always the one doing it. Phoebe came to help but then decided to watch football with Chandler instead. Monica suspected it was a ruse, but she was too tired to confront it right now. She didn't need to babysit Phoebe's work anyway. There was knocking at the door, and Monica rushed to answer. It would be Will, her friend from high school, and she was excited to see him.

"Hey!" she exclaimed, hugging him.

"Happy Thanksgiving," he grinned.

"Aww thank you," she said. "You look so great! You must have lost like..."

"150 pounds," he finished. "Yea, I'm gonna be in one of those Subway commercials."

"You brought a pie," Monica said. "You're so sweet."

"Yea, it's no fat, no sugar, no dairy...it's no good, just throw it away," he said as she took it.

"Come on and meet some people," Monica said, bringing him over to the living room. "This is my husband, Chandler, and this is my friend, Phoebe."

"Hey," Chandler said, looking at him. "I'd get up and shake your hand, but I'm really into this game. It also wouldn't be good for my ego to stand next to you."

"Hi," Phoebe said, looking and turning away. She mouthed "wow" to herself and then quietly complimented God on a job well done.

"Can I help?" Will asked.

"Oh sure," Monica replied.

"I can't get over how great you look," Will said. "Absolutely stunning!"

"And you! You're just so...so fit!"

"I'm watching the game, but I'm not deaf," Chandler commented.

"Ross is coming," Monica went on, ignoring him. "And Rachel Green too."

"Oh," he said, halting.

"Is there a problem?"

"No, it's just, I hated her. She was so mean to me in high school, but hey, I guess people can grow up, right? You got any cakes or cookies or anything?" he asked, looking around.

"No, and that's not a good idea," Monica warned.

"How is Ross? I heard about the accident," Will said, concerned.

"He's doing a lot better. He's pretty much remembered most things now except Rachel."

"He forgot Rachel?" Will asked. He burst out laughing then.

"Why is that so funny?"

"It's just ironic is all," Will answered, wiping his eyes. "Since we were in a club together."

"A club?"

"Hey," Ross said, coming in. "Hey, Will!"

"Hey, buddy," Will said, going over to hug him. "Good to know you didn't forget about me!"

"I actually have remembered everything," Ross said, looking around at everyone. "It happened last night."

"What?" Monica asked. Even Phoebe and Chandler turned around to watch.

"Yea. It was weird. It all just came rushing back," Ross told them.

"So...so you remember Rachel now then?" Chandler asked.

"Uh huh," he said vaguely. Monica felt worried.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"Nothing. Nothing's wrong," he lied. He moved past Will to use the washroom.

"I think he's back in the club," Will nodded approvingly.

"What club?" Monica asked again.

"The I hate Rachel Green club," he grinned.

...

"Joey, come on," Rachel whined. "Are you seriously going to eat all that? You have to eat an entire turkey! You promised Monica."

"I will eat it," he said, crunching on his chips. "I'm a Tribbiani. We're not great thinkers or world leaders, we don't read a lot or run very fast, but damn it we can eat!" Rachel had to stifle her laughter at the seriousness of his face.

"Okay," she after a moment. "But I don't want to be late."

"Just give me a second," Joey said, reaching down into the depths of the bag. Rachel went into the bathroom for the fifth time to fix her hair. She wanted to look good tonight. She had a good feeling about Ross, and she was even thinking of hinting at going out. She had this feeling that he was on the verge of remembering her, which she felt semi relieved about and also a little worried. What if all their baggage got in the way? She guessed she'd have to find out.

"Joey? Are you eating Oreos?" she asked, incredulous.

"No," he said, his mouth full.

...

"The I hate Rachel Green club?" Monica asked in horror. Before Will could answer, the door opened.

"Hi, you guys," Rachel said, entering with Joey. "Sorry we're late. Joey insisted on finishing his bag of chips and then starting on a pack of Oreos." She gave him a look.

"Prepping my stomach," Joey said, smiling and rubbing his belly. He had a whole turkey to eat.

"This is Will," Monica said nervously. Joey shook Will's hand.

"Rachel," Will said, seeing her.

"Hi," she said, smiling. "We went to high school together? I'm sure I would have remembered you." She flushed a little. She definitely would have remembered someone this attractive. He wasn't Ross, but still. Will scowled at her.

"Hey, Mon? Is it okay if we keep the turkey away from me at the table," Rachel said. "Cos of...you know."

"Typical," Will coughed.

"Excuse me?"

"I said 'typical,'" he told her. "Typical of you to do whatever you want in Rachel land."

"Do you have a problem with me?" Rachel asked.

"Who is this guy?" Joey asked Chandler. He was getting ready to defend Rachel.

"Some friend of Monica's," Chandler replied quietly. Ross had returned by this point, and he was watching.

"Apparently you were a little mean to him in high school," Monica told Rachel.

"A little mean? You made my life miserable!" Will shouted.

"I...I had no idea...I'm..." she tried.

"She's good at that," Ross chimed in. Everyone froze, and Rachel gaped at him.

"Excuse me?" she asked. She took in the rage on his face, and she felt a little scared.

"I said, you're good at that," Ross repeated. "Making people's lives miserable. Just like you did to me at college."

"Yes! Ross is still in the club!" Will hooted.

"I never left the club," Ross stated coldly. Then he remembered. "Well, for a little while I did, but that's done now."

"What are you talking about?" Rachel asked.

"He remembered, he remembered," Chandler chanted nervously. "Oh God, he remembered!"

"Remembered what?" Phoebe asked.

"That thing with Chip?" Rachel asked, incredulous. "Ross, you..."

"You hurt me more than you could ever imagine," Ross cut her off.

"I know," she started.

"You used me, and I never wanted to see you again," Ross went on.

"Ross..."

"I told you I had liked you!" Ross was shouting now. "You took that to your advantage just to you could get back into Chip's pants!" There was a hushed silence in the room now. Will was the only one grinning.

"Dude," Joey said, gesturing. Rachel was getting tearful now.

"Ross..." she tried again.

"No, Rachel. I remember you. I remember it all. You can't undo it," Ross said. She stared at him. Then she got angry.

"You're not remembering everything!" Rachel snapped. "I know you hit your head and all, but you've still forgotten one thing." She marched over to Joey's apartment.

"Dude, what are you doing?" Joey asked. Ross ignored him.

"Nice one," Will said, trying to get a high five. Ross ignored that too. Rachel came storming back.

"Here!" she yelled, shoving a letter into his hand. "Read it." Then she spun on her heel and walked back out again. Will whistled.

"She's mad at you, bro," he laughed. "Nice going!"

"Shut up," Ross said, going into the other room to read the letter.

...

"He's really angry," Monica said anxiously. She was wringing her hands. "What are we going to do?"

"Well, I don't really know much about what happened," Chandler admitted. "I only know what she did. He stopped talking about her after that and was with Carol."

"I don't very much like Red Ross," Phoebe commented.

"Oh yea," Will laughed. "Red Ross!"

"Shut it, you," Monica growled. "You're making things worse."

"Am I? I'm just standing here," Will pointed out.

"Just keep your mouth shut," Monica told him. They all waited for Ross to come back out of the guest room. They had no idea what was going to happen next.

...

Dear Rachel,

I don't think you realized how much you hurt me by pretending to like me and then using me to get back with Chip. It hurt me for a long time, but I've finally let it go. I forgive you because maybe you didn't realize what you were doing or maybe you just didn't care, but regardless, I have to let it go in order to move on. And I have moved on. I'm in love with Carol. I didn't think it was possible to love someone else, but I do. I hope you find happiness someday like I'm experiencing right now. We can always be friends.

Take care,
Ross

He lowered the letter in his hands. So he had forgiven her. He hadn't shoved her out of his mind and forgotten about her. He rubbed his head hard. This whole thing was confusing. The rage he felt, however, was slipping away. Now he just felt drained. He went out of the room, ignoring all the faces staring at him, and went across the hall and knocked on her door.

"What?" she asked, opening it. Her face was very red from crying.

"I'm sorry," he said.

"It's all right," she sighed. "I know this whole ordeal has taken a toll on you and you're remembering things again. I'm sorry I yelled at you."

"When did I give you this?" he asked, holding up the letter.

"About six months after that night," she replied. "You left it in our mailbox. I was so embarrassed after reading it that I just decided it was easier to drop out of your lives than to pretend things were okay. I mean, Monica and I were starting to drift apart already, but this made it easier. When I came to Central Perk that day and saw you again, I wondered if it would come up, but it never did. When you asked me if I'd go on a date with you sometime, I was really surprised. I figured you'd still be upset with me over what I had done."

The memory came back to him as he stood there. He had been so angry for the first few months and then one day it suddenly didn't matter anymore. He had Carol. They were happy, so happy. He had written Rachel that letter to take to her, but he had been afraid to see her, afraid of what he would say to her, and afraid that he'd just get his feelings back for her only to get hurt again. He definitely didn't want to hurt Carol. He had chickened out and stuffed it in her mailbox.

"I had forgiven you," Ross said. "And old feelings are hard to get rid of, Rach."

"Then you're a bigger person than anyone I know," Rachel said, smiling a little. "Anyone else would have harbored the feelings of anger."

"I chalked it up to you just being a dumb teenager," he smirked. She smacked him.

"Ross!"

"What? You grew up," he smiled. "We all grew up."

"We did," she agreed. "And I'm so sorry that I was such a horrible person back then."

"It's all right," he said. "You were young."

"Still old enough to know better," she pointed out.

"Well, let's just let it go, shall we? There's no use in hashing out the past."

"Okay," she said. They stood there for a moment.

"I remember everything," he said softly. She looked up at him.

"You do?"

"Yea."

"I...I don't know what to say..."

"You don't have to say anything. I know where things lie between us," he said. "I remember we had another night together a few months ago too. The only thing that's bothering me is why I forgot you to begin with out of everybody."

"Because, Ross, in that time frame I wasn't in your life," Rachel said. "You hadn't seen me in so long, and you were so happy with Carol that I probably wasn't in your mind very much if at all. I don't know how the brain works or anything like that, so it's just a guess, but I don't think it was because of anger. You wouldn't have written me that letter if you were angry."

"I guess you're right," Ross sighed.

"Ross," she started. "I have something to tell you." It was time. He knew they had slept together now, and she was tired of keeping this secret from him. She wanted him to know.

"What's that?"

"I'm pregnant."

There was a stunned silence.

"You're what?" he asked.

"I'm carrying our child, Ross," Rachel said.

"Oh my God!" he exclaimed. "You've been pregnant this whole time?!"

"Yes," she nodded.

"Rach, that must have been so hard," he said, taking her hands in his.

"It was, and the fact that you might never remember me scared me a lot," she added.

"Well, I do remember you," he said, touching her face. "So what do you wanna do?"

"This whole thing made me realize that I still love you," she admitted.

"Believe it or not, I still love you too," Ross told her. "I think I was going to fall in love with you again even with my memory loss because the picture of the two of us made me feel happy, and I was enjoying getting to know you all over again. If this accident had never happened, I think things would have been different. This little detour just shook everything up." She hugged him tightly.

"Are we doing this?" she asked, looking up at him. His eyes sparkled.

"Yea, we're doing this," he answered. She got up on her tiptoes and kissed him gently.

"All right!" Joey exclaimed, making them jump apart. "I knew you'd get back together! Chandler, you owe me ten bucks."

"I am appalled that you'd think I would bet on my two friends," Chandler said loudly to Joey. He slid him the ten behind his back.

"This is so exciting!" Phoebe squealed.

"You're gonna be a family," Monica added, tearing up. "I'm gonna be an auntie again."

"I'm the only one in the hate club again," Will sighed. "Damn, but good for you, Ross, seriously. I know you really loved her."

"Still do," Ross told him. He squeezed Rachel's hand. The others were still chattering to each other as they went back inside Monica's apartment.

"You, me, and the baby," Rachel said as they headed inside too.

"I wouldn't want it any other way," Ross replied. She rested her head on his shoulder. Everything was finally back to normal. They were going to be a family. Life was good.

"Pst, Ross!" Joey said, coming up to him. Rachel moved to help Monica set the table.

"Yea?"

"I, uh, have something of yours," he said.

"What?"

"A tape."

It took Ross five seconds to remember what he was talking about.

"Joey! You didn't watch it, did you?" Ross demanded in a whisper.

"No," Joey shook his head hard. "I just figured you'd want it back."

"Thanks. I guess I should tell Rachel about it."

"Dude! That'll get you into so much trouble. Just lock it away," Joey suggested.

"No. We're starting a fresh new relationship here," Ross said. "She's going to know about it." He'd wait until tomorrow. Who knew what her reaction would be? After all, she did hit on him first.

The End

Yea, I could have drawn out Ross being angry at Rachel longer, but that's been done lol. I'm satisfied with this ending. Y'all know the rest anyway, just imagine Ross and Rachel as together when she gives birth. Knowing me, though, there's a chance for an epilogue. I'm thinking about it. Thanks for reading!