This is the second and last chapter of the story. I hope you enjoy. Just so you know: I'm a hopeless Roschel shipper.I think these two deserve romance and happiness.

Ross went with Rachel into the bedroom and asked her to sit down on what in the last few days had become their bed. The drawer Ross was talking about was the one of the bedside table near Rachel.

"How come a drawer, Ross? Weren't you afraid that some of your girlfriends would open it to browse inside?" She asked him.

"The only woman who ever lived in this apartment was you. As for the others...those relationships have never been serious enough for those girlfriends to have the right to browse in my closets or in my bedside tables."

"You kept it locked?" She asked, a knowing smile on her face.

"A little bit, yes." he replied, chuckling.

Ross opened the drawer and, to speed up their search, he pulled it out from the bedside table and placed it on the bed between him and Rachel.

The first thing that Rachel noticed were two flight tickets recently placed on top of all the items. Those were the tickets that Ross had bought a few nights before.The first one was a flight from New York JFK to Madrid.

"I needed an international ticket to get access to the International Departures Terminal, but since I had to buy two tickets, one for me and one for Pheebs, I asked for the cheapest they had!"

Rachel smiled, taking the other one. This ticket was from New York Newark to Rome, and the flight was due to take off at the time Rachel was getting on the plane again after the whole philange chaos.

"With the last minute fare, this must have cost you an arm and a leg."

"And always for two!" Ross pointed out.

"Why didn't you return them when I did not get off the plane?" Rachel asked him, with a hint of regret.

He shrugged, "I was too upset to think of anything at that moment. The only thing I had in mind was you, flying towards your future in Paris without me."

"I'm so sorry, Sweetie…it must have been an hour of hell coming back home..."

"Worsened by Phoebe who was singing her masterpieces to try and cheer me up!"

Rachel chuckled, "I really don't know what we would have done without her."

"She was our first supporter from the very beginning. She's the one who came up with that whole lobsters thing. And the...the other night she and Joey were the ones who convinced me to chase you to the airport...Well, we risked our lives inside her death cab a couple of times, but it was totally worth it!"

"I will never thank her enough for calling me on the plane and inventing that absurd story about the left philange."

Ross burst out laughing.

"How many books you have in here! Always said you're the smart one between us…" Rachel told him.

"Actually…these are all about you."

Rachel picked up the first one. It was a paperback copy of The big book of childrens' names. She opened it and skimmed through a few pages, noticing that Ross had highlighted some names, including Emily.

"Obviously I did not know at the time that I would meet a woman named Emily and that I would marry her..." Ross explained, a little embarrassed.

Rachel also saw that most recently Ross had highlighted the name Emma, and next to it he had drawn a little heart and had written their daughter's date of birth.

"Do you keep it as a memory of the past or as a possibility for the future?" She asked curiously.

"Both, I guess," he replied. "It reminds me of the first time we told each other I love you...and it makes me think that I would like Emma to have a younger brother or sister, in the future."

"Really?" Rachel asked, smiling.

"More than anything else."

Placing the book on the bed, Rachel noticed that Ross had two more books in the drawer. The first was a version with nineteenth-century drawings of Little Women.

"Since I've known you, I've never lived in an apartment without having at least one copy of this. I know how much you love it and how much you like to read it from time to time."

"And this?" Rachel laughed, taking Be Your Own Windkeeper.

"Well, you were so fascinated by it that I bought a copy and I read it too! What could I do?"

"Honey, you really read it?" She asked, approaching Ross and kissing him tenderly.

Ross and Rachel seemed to be back in time. They looked like eight years before, when they were two young lovers who had been dating for a few months and could not stay away from each other for too long.

"You accused me of not letting you blow, I had to understand what you were talking about..." he chuckled.

"Ok, enough with the culture. What's this?"

"Oh, it's the receipt of when I rent that uniform from the JAG."

Rachel looked at him, intrigued. "Is the place where you got it still open?"

"Of course, I went there also that Christmas when I rent the armadillo costume for Ben!"

Rachel shook her head, sensing that Ross had not figured out what she meant.

"Oh..." he whispered then, moving a lock of hair from her forehead. "Only if you promise to dress up again as Princess Leia..."

"Deal." she answered.

Ross realized that some of the saddest memories were still inside the drawer.

"This...is the letter you wrote to me while we were in Montauk."

"The 18-pages-front-and-back-letter on which you fell asleep?" She asked, all in one breath.

"Yep."

Rachel shook her head, "I didn't think you kept it, after all it's such a mess full of grammar mistakes."

Ross smiled, appreciating her joke, "I kept it as a warning. Over the years, whether you believe it or not, I've read it often. The last time I happened to read it after we were together to visit your father the day he had the heart attack."

"Really?"

"Yes...remember what you said to me after we talked about our…situation?"

"That with us... it was never off the table."

Ros nodded, "That night I got home and I kept thinking about us. I read this letter from top to bottom trying to figure out how we'd ended up like this for the past seven years. And you know what? I just could not get a reason. Finally I realized that my egoism and my pride had ruined our relationship and dragged us to the end. If it was over among us it was mostly because of my jealousy, even before the break. What you said in that letter was all true. And back then, I didn't have enough maturity to accept it. If only I had, we would have been back together much earlier and I would have saved us many years of sorrow and suffering, Rach. As well as two divorces for me, and one for you!"

Rachel was on the verge of tears, but this last statement made her laugh.

"Ross... it wasn't just your fault... It's true, you had a big part of guilt, but I wasn't a perfect girlfriend either. I should have understood your insecurities. You had a failed marriage behind you, your wife betrayed you. When we think of Carol we often focus on the fact that she is a lesbian and we forget that she betrayed you with another woman. Now I understand that you felt insecure about all those changes that were happening to me. It was not fair of me to ask you to take full responsibility for everything that happened between us."

Ross took her hand and rubbed it, "Here you are again."

"What?"

"You amaze me. The strongest woman I know."

Rachel smiled and sighed, "I see you too have something floral in there!"

"Oh, it's mistletoe. Our first - and only - Christmas as a couple."

"That year Monica and Joey filled the apartment with old Christmas trees for Phoebe?"

"Yeah...remember that I hung this in your room, so every time we passed under it you had to kiss me?"

"Yeah, as if I didn't kiss you enough already!" She replied, amused.

"Let's see what else we've got here... oh yes, you have a disc, I have a VHS...remember this?"

"Is that the one of the night we conceived Emma?" She asked, smiling.

"Exactly. Maybe that wasn't our most beautiful night together, because we were not sober enough to remember it in detail. But it was certainly the most extraordinary and the most important evening of my life."

"Mine too, Ross." she replied, thinking of her child.

"Instead, talking about photos... I also have one of you and Emma at the hospital. I took this in the room just before the others came in to congratulate you."

Rachel looked at the picture and noticed her dreamy gaze as she watched her newborn baby.

"You were so beautiful, Rachel...I've never seen you as happy as when you were holding Emma in your arms for the first time..."

"I couldn't believe how lucky we were, Ross...she was so beautiful, healthy and perfect. And she was ours. Mine and yours."

"She's growing so fast..." Ross whispered. "And she looks more and more like you each passing day."

"Thank God she has your nose, though!"Ross laughed.

"Speaking of soul mates, I have something about the marriage of Barry and Mindy, too!"

"The invitation!"

"Yeah, I kept it. Rachel Greene 1."

"You were my plus one...so sweet!" she replied, giving him a kiss.

"I also remember that day as a huge step in our relationship. When I saw you so convinced in front of all those people you had left behind, I realized how lucky I was. You had left all that wealth and all your past to start a new life. And you were doing it with me. What could I ask more?"

"Me showing my ass in front of everyone?" She replied, laughing. "But you don't have anything to remember Las Vegas?" She asked, intrigued by the absence of objects related to their brief marriage.

"I left the best for last, just like you!"

Ross picked up the flight ticket they had taken from New York to Las Vegas and handed it to Rachel.

"Must say, many of our memories are based on flights and runnings to the airport, aren't they?" She asked, amused.

"Totally, and we didn't even mention the time you ended up in Greece alone..."

Rachel looked at him annoyed, so Ross chose that moment to make her further angry. He pulled out a black pen from the drawer and Rachel immediately recognized it.

"Oh my God, I can't believe you kept it!"

"I'm not sure if it still works after five years, but I could not get rid of it!"

It was the indelible marker with which Ross had painted a mustache and beard on Rachel's face during the flight to Las Vegas.

"You know...if you had not done this nonsense, maybe we would have never got drunk and we would have never got married..."

"I know. That's why I kept the marker." He explained tenderly. "And this is the payment receipt for our hotel rooms. It's funny to think that we only used one, actually. Look at the bill for the one we slept in."

"2000 dollars?!" Rachel cried.

"Remember to have abused of the mini-bar that night, don't you?" He asked, laughing.

"I remember throwing Macadamia nuts everywhere and taking out all the bottles of alcohol that were in that room, but I didn't think we'd spent so much!" She replied, amused.

"I never dared to tell you, after all I was keeping our marriage a secret..."

"Sounds fair to me." she said, nodding in satisfaction.

"And these...are the documents of our divorce." Ross concluded, taking a few folded papers.

Rachel winced as she saw them. She didn't keep her copy in her Ross's box because it wasn't a happy memory that she wanted to link to her relationship with him. After all, those papers had ratified the end of their wedding, even if it had been a result of a drunken mistake.

"You left the most painful part for last, too." She whispered.

"You're wondering why I keep them here, aren't you?" He asked.

She nodded.

"The day I made you sign them... was the moment I almost confessed that I was still in love with you."

"I had guessed it, Ross..." she answered.

"Really?"

"Yeah." She admitted.

"I keep these documents in here because that day I realized that even if we were divorcing then, I would never stop hoping for a future with you."

"That's also what you told me after Jill kissed you!"

"Oh my God!" Ross put his hands over his eyes, "Did that happen too, really? We really are an odd couple...we have always had an absurd timing in our life. Sometimes it was you, telling me that you loved me and I wouldn't answer the same because I was married with somebody else. At other times, the opposite happened. And if it wasn't us, there were other people involved, like Paolo, Julie, Bonnie, Mona, Gavin, Charlie or..."

"Joey."

Ross frowned and started looking down.

"Someone had to mention him sooner or later. We have not talked about it yet, Ross. It's the only thing we've never talked about since I came back."

"Rach... do you think it's wise?"

"I think so. I promise you won't regret it. Shall I start?" She asked.

Ross nodded, a bit worried.

"I can't deny that I had feelings for Joey. It's true, there was a period a year ago when I felt a deep attraction for him. Everything began because we lived together and I happened to know better his tender and loving side. But the truth is that I didn't fall in love with him, but rather with Dr. Drake Ramoray after seeing Joey play his parts in the Days of our lives. So it began this way, by chance."

Ross listened to her, trying to accept what she was saying.

"You and I were very detached at that time. You were in total awe for Charlie and we had just had that disastrous argument about Gavin and that night I went out with Phoebe and that guy had called home leaving a message for me...I think the fact of knowing that Joey was already feeling something for me pushed me towards his direction. I felt lonely and vulnerable and I felt this…affection for him."

Ross nodded, trying to remind himself that Rachel was talking about a distant past. Rachel took his hand and tenderly stroked it, inviting him to ask her questions.

"Were you in love with him?"

"No, Ross."

"How can you be sure?"

"Monica never told you why it didn't work out between Joey and me?"

"We never talked about it, it's a taboo subject for all of us, they know how hard it is for me to even think about it."

"Weren't you fiiiine about it?" Rachel mocked him.

Ross sighed, inviting her to go on with her tale.

"Well...the night of our first date, Joey and I could not... go any further. I mean, we kissed, yes. But as soon as he tried to do anything else...I reacted so badly and I rejected him."

"What do you mean by badly?"

"I slapped him. Really hard."

Ross smiled for the first time in the last few minutes. "And to think I was complaining about you laughing at me when I tried to touch your butt on our first date!"

"Well, Joey did worse than me: he could not undo my bra."

"Joey? Joey Tribbiani who opens bras with his eyes?" Ross asked incredulously.

"Him! I tried to ask him if, on some level, he did not want to take it off, but according to him he does not have that level."

"Classic Joey." Ross replied amused.

"Talking to Monica, she tried to convince me that maybe what was happening to me was similar to what happened with you on our first date, my usual first-appointment-nervousness. I tried to convince myself too, so Joey and I had a second date. But it went even worse than the first."

"What happened?"

"We kept feeling that the things we did were...wrong. That we were too much friends to do them."

"Really?"

"That night, everything I had ever felt for Joey...the attraction, the passion, the tenderness...it was all gone. It was enough for me to look him in the eyes. And you know what I kept thinking about?"

"What?" Ross asked, this time hopefully.

"About our second date."

"Oh, Rach..."

"Of course, our first date ended in an extravagant way. I kept laughing because I was nervous and excited for the big step we were taking. But that evening at the Planetarium, with the stars and the music and the two of us alone...I've never felt so much passion for someone in my life, Ross. And the more I sat there on the couch with Joey, the more I realized that it had been madness to try and make fun of myself like that."

"And how did he take it? Do you reckon he really thinks the same?"

"Yep. Joey understood too that unfortunately we are not made to be together and from that moment every feeling that he had felt for me was gone. Of course, he hadn't seen that coming. But life doesn't always go as we expect. We had an opportunity and we both realized that it was not what we really wanted or needed. Do you know what he told me the next morning when we woke up and you brought Emma after breakfast?"

"You mean after you made fun of me for five minutes for my tan and I went away slamming the door?" He replied, remembering the total fiasco of his visits to the spray-on tan places.

Rachel chuckled, "Exactly. Joey looked at me and said, Now get him back. Then he gave me a pat on the shoulder and went to work."

Ross looked at her in amazement. He really needed to talk to Joey about this, one day.

"I swear, Ross. It was like he knew even before me. And you were still with Charlie, at the time."

"I can't believe this..."

"Are you happy to have talked about this, now?"

"Yes, Rach. Thank you for telling me all this..." he said, kissing her tenderly.

At that point, Ross had a brillant idea and took the last object still hidden in the drawer. It was a small dark case and Rachel immediately recognized it.

"Your grandmother's engagement ring."

"I'm not particularly fond of my grandmother's rings. I used her wedding ring in London with Emily and she sent it back after the divorce. And this, the engagement ring...well, we know what happened after the birth of Emma."

"Ross, why you wanna hurt yourself? Why do you keep it here?"

"Because I wish that luck would start turning in my favor one day and I would like this ring to finally serve its purpose. I would finally like to be able to use it to ask you a question I should have asked you years ago."

Rachel felt her mouth dry. She opened the case and looked at the ring again. It was just as beautiful as she remembered it.

"Why don't you do it?" She asked, too intent on looking at the ring to see that Ross had stood up from the bed.

"Who's saying I'm not doing it?" He replied, kneeling in front of her.

"Oh my God..." Rachel murmured.

Ross took a few seconds to ponder his next words very carefully.

"Rach...I know we're not in a room full of lilies and there's no background music or even the stars as I once promised you. Technically it's not even a surprise proposal since I already spoiled it."

Rachel smiled.

"But I can't imagine a better time to ask you to become my wife. Please, marry me, again."

Rachel chuckled, but she was starting to cry.

"I know that maybe you think it's early, but it's not the experience of living together that we lack, neither love, nor the desire to be finally together as a family. We'll wait as long as you want, and we'll do things like you've always wanted them. We'll invite Stevie Wonder and we'll have your veil lace made by Belgium nuns who will go blind, if that's what you want."

Rachel chuckled again, with tears of joy streaming down her face.

"Marry me."

Ross repeated.

Rachel sat on the floor in front of him and took his face in her hands.

"Yes, Ross."

The two kissed with passion. Rachel leaned her hands behind Ross's nape, he held his hands on her arms that he so venerated.

When they pulled away, Ross took the ring and slipped it on Rachel's finger, and she looked at it with tears that kept falling from her eyes.

"I'm so glad you got off that plane Rachel..." he whispered, hugging her again. "I love you."

"And I'm grateful that there were no philanges on the plane, Ross." She replied, smiling while holding him tight. "I love you, too."

Well this is over, I hope you enjoyed it!