Phase Three

Epilogue: As Long As This Is Love…

~.~

I'm just gonna re-emphasize that I got inspiration to continue this fic from the original one-shot that it was from the song Anna Begins by Counting Crows, and tell you that you should go listen to it because everything by them is amazing. Just throwin' that out there…That being said, I own none of the lyrics I used as chapter titles. Or, really, most of the titles to any of my fics, because at least, AT LEAST ¾ of them are song titles…

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About two years later….You'll get exactly when eventually :)

~.~

"I should go," Rachel mumbled, still not quite coherently awake as she attempted to roll out of Chandler's arms, having already hit the snooze button on his alarm clock three times, and knowing that any second it would go off a fourth.

"Mmph, don't go," Chandler groaned, still half asleep as he felt Rachel slip away from him and move to get out of bed, switching off the alarm clock. He groggily reached out one arm, pulling her back down on the bed.

"I have to go shower and get ready for work," she sighed, but gave in, cuddling up beside him.

"Shower and get ready here. I need to get up, too," he continued to mumble, eyes still closed.

"I can shower here, but getting ready could be a bit of a problem since all of my clothes are across the hall…"

"I don't see the problem in that," Chandler finally opened his eyes, grinning at her, and Rachel playfully swatted his chest in return. "But seriously, why are all of your clothes across the hall?"

"Because there is just no way in hell all of my clothes and shoes will fit in there with all of your clothes," she motioned to his already full closet.

"Well, if you would stop buying me clothes and bringing me stuff home from work, it wouldn't be that full…."

"Oh, but you're just so cute! I love dressing you up all handsome," Rachel grinned, ruffling his hair.

"Glad to know that's why you keep me around," he grinned back, lacing his fingers through hers as she grabbed his hand. "So, since you sleep here every night, you are pretty much just renting out a room from Monica to store your clothes in?"

"And my shoes," Rachel nodded. "Do you have an entire room to offer me for my clothes and my shoes?"

Chandler just laughed, finally sitting up as he conceded in the argument they had been having for months. "Shower?" he asked, and she nodded.

"Should I go grab clothes now, or just shower first?"

"Well, I still see no problem in you having no clothes to wear over here, so…"

"I have a meeting at nine, so I kind of have to be to work on time…"

"I would be late for a meeting for you if there was nakedness involved," Chandler pointed out, frustrating Rachel further.

"Chand-lerrr," she groaned, dragging out his name.

"I love it when you moan my name," he laughed, ducking as she went to smack the back of his head. "But, seriously, shower first? You take like an hour to decide what to wear, and I don't want to be late for work," he jumped out of bed and away from her, but she threw a pillow at him anyway. Chandler ducked, but not soon enough.

"You're such an ass," she laughed, throwing the other three pillows on the bed at him as well as he tried to jump out of the way of each one, laughing even harder than she was.

~.~

"Are your eyes closed?" Chandler asked Rachel, leading her across the hall from apartment twenty to apartment nineteen.

"No, but your hands are over them, so I can't peek even if I want to," Rachel grumbled, causing Chandler to laugh.

"Am I not allowed to surprise you with something?"

"Oh! Did you get your mom's book?"

"Yea, all of this was because I got the advance copy of my mom's new book she promised you," Chandler said sarcastically, leading her to Joey's room and opening the door. "Okay, open 'em!"

Rachel slowly opened her eyes, which actually were closed under Chandler's hands, not wanting to ruin whatever surprise he was so excited about. She looked around Joey's room, which was now completely empty. She scanned the room, her vision landing on a lone shoebox on the floor.

"You got me a room for my clothes and my shoes?" Rachel asked in disbelief, tears in her eyes, and Chandler just nodded, stuffing his hands into his pockets as he grinned. "Oh my god, I love you so much!" she wrapped her arms around his neck, hugging him before kissing him. "What about Joey? Is he okay?"

"Yea, no, one of his sisters, I don't remember which one, I still can't tell them all apart, is pregnant again and her husband is out of town a lot for work, and she was looking for some help, and, he offered, so," Chandler shrugged. "It seemed like kind of good timing. I don't know what he's doing after that, but he'll be okay. He made if for twenty-some odd years before he met me, so I'm sure he'll be okay," he smiled at her reassuringly. "Aren't you going to open the box?" he asked, pointing to the shoebox.

Rachel looked at him suspiciously, slowly walking over to the box. "I already own these shoes," she looked at him again, and he nodded, but motioned for her to continue. She picked it up, taking the lid off. "You're such a liar!" she grabbed the book from inside, pointing it at him. "She said you'd have it by today!"

"Guilty," Chandler grinned. "Open it."

"The book? Like, start reading it?" Rachel asked, and Chandler just looked at her expectantly. Rachel set the box back down, opening the first page of the book. She flipped to the dedication page; Nora's dedications always cracked her up. They were usually about some ex-lover of some sort or some relationship that inspired one of the characters or storylines. Rachel wrinkled her forehead, reading the one line printed on the page. Marry me. She flipped to the next page, looking for an explanation. "Who does your mom want to marry?" Rachel asked after a moment, looking up at Chandler expectantly. But he was no longer standing beside her. He was down on one knee. Her hand flew up to her mouth as she realized what was going on. "Oh my god," she whispered, tears already welling up in the back of her eyes.

"Rach," Chandler started, and despite all of the planning that had gone into that moment, he suddenly found himself unable to steady his voice. "I-I love that you are the one person in the world who is grumpier than me in the morning," he started off, causing them both to laugh, which helped with his sudden bout of nerves. "And I love that you, somehow, miraculously, love both of my parents, whom I sometimes have a hard time loving," he continued, still grinning. "I love that you are so terrified of kids, you won't even hold a baby," he laughed, and she narrowed her eyes playfully, grin still on her face. "Mostly, I love how just, amazing and…unexpected, everything in the past two years has been with you. And I know that neither of us quite has everything figured out, with future plans for work or kids or whatever else, but the one thing I know for sure…is I want to spend it with you. I want to be scared with you. I want to figure it all out with you. Because the one part of it all that I have figured out is that I-I want you. I need you," he continued, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a ring box. He didn't even attempt to hide the tears in his eyes as looked back up at her, hands still covering her mouth, though he was certain from her eyes that she was smiling. "So, Rachel Karen Green," he ginned, opening the box, "Will you marry me?'

"Yes!" Rachel leapt forward at him, knocking him backwards onto the floor. She wrapped her arms around his neck, still lying on top of him on the floor, and she kissed him, first on the lips, then the cheek, then the neck, and he laughed, sitting up with her still on top of him, kissing her passionately on the lips. "I love you so much," she grinned, kissing him again.

"I love you, too," Chandler grinned as he pulled back. "Well, do you want the ring?" he finally asked, Rachel seeming to have forgotten about that part in all of her excitement.

"Yes, yes! Oh, that comes with the last yes, right?"

"Right," Chandler laughed, slipping the ring onto her finger.

"Oh my god, it's perfect," Rachel nodded, admiring the ring on her finger.

"Really? I mean, if you don't like it-"

"I don't like it, I love it!" Rachel cut him off, nodding enthusiastically. "Oh my god, how did no one blow this? None of our friends can keep their mouths shut!"

"Because no one knows," Chandler smiled. "Well, my mom, of course. And your parents," he continued.

"Oh my god, you really went to my parents first?" Rachel asked, biting her lip. "Are you, like, seriously, perfect?"

Chandler laughed outloud. "Doubtful. But, yea, I had lunch with your dad, and he said I should talk to your mom as well because he wasn't about to, but that she would be hurt if she didn't know, so, then I had lunch the next day with your mom…"

"You're the best," Rachel grinned, still sitting on his lap. "Hands down, the best."

"Well, glad you feel that way, since you're gonna marry me and all," he grinned, tightening his arms around her.

"I am, huh," she ginned. "I just can't stop smiling!"

"If you need to stop smiling, just try out Bing as your last name," Chandler nudged her, and Rachel thought for a second.

"Nope. Rachel Bing. Could really be worse," she shrugged.

"What last name would be worse?"

"Oh no, I meant I could have a worse first name to go with Bing. I mean, imagine if my first name was Bada," Rachel looked at him, dead serious, and Chandler burst out laughing.

"Oh, look what I've done to you," he kissed her hair before moving to stand up and pulling her with him.

"You really didn't tell anyone else? Not even Joey? He didn't move out for us?"

"Well, he kinda moved out for us, but he just knew I wanted to live with you. He didn't know I was gonna propose," he smiled. "The grinning is contagious, by the way. I can't stop, either."

"Well, wanna go make it official by telling our friends?"

"Oh, I have a better way to make it official," Chandler wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her against him as he kissed her. Long, slow, and infuriating. Kissing her was still infuriating in the best way possible. "Ya know, consummate this new room slash closet, as well as our betrothment…"

"Not sure that's a correct form of that word," Rachel laughed, sighing with content, his arms still around her. "God, I can't believe you! You're so sneaky!" she grinned, looking down at the ring once more. "Oh, this is one gift I will most definitely not be returning for store credit!" she looked up at Chandler with a grin, and he just laughed, squeezing her tighter.

~.~

"Hey, guys, guess what?" Rachel asked, practically running into Central Perk, Chandler a few steps behind.

"What?" Joey and Phoebe, who were sitting on the couch, asked in unison.

"Guess what?!" Monica came running in as well, cutting off the conversation.

"Ooh, what?" Phoebe asked, eager to hear whatever everyone else seemed so excited about.

"What's going on?" Ross asked, sitting down in the chair with a cup of coffee, missing the beginning of the conversation since he was at the counter ordering.

"Rachel and Monica both came in and said 'Guess what?' about ten seconds apart!" Phoebe replied, overly excited about the situation. "Oh, it's just so much suspense!"

Rachel and Monica looked at each other, and Rachel nodded to Monica. "You go first."

"Aw, let Rachel go first," Joey whined, thinking he had an idea of what Rachel was going to say since he had moved out that morning.

"Okay," Monica started. "So, you know how last year I had lunch with Richard? And it was nice and not awkward, but we both decided to just leave it at that?" she paused. "Well, I'm at work tonight, cooking in the kitchen-"

"As you should be when you're at work," Phoebe interjected.

"Right, well, anyway, I'm cooking, and one of the servers comes back to tell me someone wants to come back to compliment the chef-"

"Which you love but would never admit outloud," Phoebe again interjected.

"Do you want to tell the story?" Monica turned to her.

"Oh, no. You would probably tell it better," Phoebe smiled at her. "Thanks for offering, though!" she patted her arm.

"Anyway," Monica continued, "So, I'm waiting for the customer to come back, and when they do, guess who it is? Richard!"

"Oh my god!" Rachel exclaimed.

"What happened next? What'd he say?" Phoebe asked.

"Well, he said that since we had lunch last year, he hasn't been able to get me out of his head. He even spent six months in Africa working with blind kids!" she continued. "And he said that he went to lunch with my dad last week, and all he could do was think about me, and that he still loves me, and if he didn't come tell me, he would regret it forever."

"But what about…?" Rachel asked, thinking about why things had ended between the two years before.

"That's the thing. He said that, he said that…he said that the past three years without me have made him realize that he wants to be with me, no matter what. He wants to get married and have kids with me…"

"Well, what'd you say to that?" Ross asked after she was silent for a moment, but he got his answer as Richard came walking through the door, and Monica walked over to him, wrapping her arm around his waist.

"Hey, guys," Richard greeted them with a smile. "And congratulations, to you," he added to Chandler, extending his hand to shake hands with Chandler, who was still standing at the end of the couch. Chandler accepted his hand, but squinted his eyes, trying to figure out how he already knew what they had just come down to announce to their friends. Off of Chandler's look, Richard feared the worst, that he had yet to propose at all, and he had completely ruined it. "And, um, congratulations to all of you as well," he added as an afterthought, looking at the rest of the group on the couch.

"Wait, why did he congratulate you, Chandler?" Phoebe turned to around on the couch to face him.

"I didn't, I-" Richard started, but Chandler cut him off.

"It's okay," he grinned. "I was just wondering how the hell you knew about something that happened less than an hour ago."

"Oh, well, I ran into Dr. Green at the country club about a month ago, and we played golf, and he told me how you guys had just gone to lunch, and I just assumed…"

"Just assumed what, just assumed what?" Phoebe asked, looking back and forth between the two.

"You had lunch with my dad over a month ago?" Rachel looked at Chandler in surprise. "How long have you had the ring?" she asked, but quickly bit her bottom lip, realizing that she had inadvertently let their surprise slip to their friends.

"Wait, what?" Monica asked, dropping her arm from around Richard's waist as she took a step towards her friend. "Are you guys…?" she trailed off, and Rachel nodded, holding up her left hand as she grinned. "Oh my god, congratulations!" she first hugged Rachel and then Chandler. "I should have let you go first with your 'guess what!'"

"Dude!" Joey stood up, going to hug Chandler as well. "I just thought you wanted to live with her. I didn't know you wanted to marry her!" Chandler laughed as Joey hugged him.

"Lunch alone with Dr. Green?" Ross looked at Chandler sympathetically.

"Scariest hour and a half of my life," Chandler laughed as Ross hugged him as well.

"Congrat's, Rach," Ross hugged her as well, kissing her cheek.

"Thank you, Ross," she smiled at him. "That means a lot from you…"

"I can't believe you didn't tell any of us, you sneaky bastard!" Phoebe exclaimed as she hugged Chandler, who laughed.

"Right, because any of you guys can keep a secret," he motioned around the group. "I can't even trust Richard with one, and I haven't even seen him in years!" he added, grinning at Richard to show he was only kidding.

"Oh, how did it happen?" Phoebe bounced slightly, clapping her hands.

"Well," Rachel started. "I've been more or less joking about how the only reason I haven't officially moved in with him is because I need an entire room for my clothes and shoes, and, well," she grinned, looking at Joey, "he surprised me by arranging that since Joey moved out."

"Dude, where'd you go?" Ross looked at Joey in surprise.

"Living with my sister to help her out with the kids since her husband travels for work and she's pregnant again," Joey explained. "But we can walk about me later! Rachel, keep going!" he urged her on.

"So, he brought me into Joey's empty room, and the only thing on the floor was a shoebox," Rachel continued.

"Oh! With a ring in it?!" Phoebe asked when Rachel paused, digging through her purse.

"No, his mom's latest book," she handed it to Monica, who was closest.

"Really, Chandler?" Phoebe turned to him. "Porn? Come on, you're more romantic than that…"

"Open the book to the bookmark," Rachel explained, and Monica opened it, holding it so that Phoebe, who was next to her, could see it as well.

"Aww," they both said it unison, Richard smiling since he had been reading over Monica's shoulder, before handing the book over to Joey and Ross to see.

"Nice," Joey nodded to Chandler, who smiled in return.

"We should go celebrate!" Monica suggested. "Drinks, some place nice?"

Everyone nodded in agreement as they began shuffling out of the coffee house, deciding where they should go, Monica and Phoebe already discussing wedding plans for Rachel a moment later. Chandler and Rachel lingered behind, and Chandler took her hand in his, kissing first her hand, and then her ring. Rachel grinned, pulling him with her after the rest of the group.

"Oh, hey, Gunther," Rachel said as they stopped suddenly, since Gunther, standing with folded arms, was blocking the door.

"Yea, you would," he replied, looking sternly at Chandler. "For the record, though, I do like you much more than Ross," he added, moving out of their way to let them pass through the door, and both burst out laughing the second they were through it.

"You know he's always had a thing for you, right?" Chandler asked, and Rachel nodded.

"Oh, yea. No way I would have lasted longer than a day working there if he hadn't," Rachel laughed as they caught up to the rest of the group. "So, what did we decide?" she asked.

"Oh, we decided you should get married next summer, and the colors should be," Phoebe paused, looking to Monica, not remembering what they decided on.

"I meant tonight. Drinks? Celebrating?" Rachel laughed at her friends.

"Oh, right," Phoebe smiled. "Wait, did we even talk about that?" Phoebe asked, again turning towards Monica.

"Well, this should be fun," Rachel raised her eyebrows as she looked at Chandler, referring to the wedding-planning her friends were obviously already doing for her. Chandler squeezed her hand, still focused on her, not on their friends, who were now trying to decide where to go. Rachel smiled. "Yea, this should be fun," she repeated, more seriously this time, referring not to the wedding planning, but to their future.

~.~

And there ya have it! A finished Randler fic, a woo-hoo! And-AND almost a week ahead of schedule! My birthday isn't until Sunday! This chapter probably wasn't completely necessary, and I could have probably ended with the last one, but I got this idea in my head and had to write it. That, and I wanted things to end happily for Monica as well :)

Originally, I had intended to have Monica be a lot angrier when she found out about Chandler and Rachel, but…well…I wanted this to end happily for all of those involved, and I didn't want it to mess up her friendship with Rachel or Chandler. And I didn't want it to get too dramatic and over my head and get lost and abandon it. I think that, at the wrong time or in the wrong situation, Randler could potentially be disastrous to the entire group if they hurt either Geller too much. I didn't want that. I wanted just a bit of angst, but a happy ending. Et voila :)

And, if this were a Mondler fic, I could see the loads of "boo, Richard!" reviews I would get for having him be with Mon, but…seeing as this is a Randler fic, I'm thinking you guys can handle it. I like Richard. If Monica isn't going to be with Chandler, I think she should be with him. He's a good guy.

I have no idea what I'm writing next. Well, I'm finishing I'll Be There For You, but other than that, I have no idea. Not sure if I want to try another Randler, or some more Mondler. I want to write some Mondler, but I feel like it's all been done, and I don't want to write anything unless I come up with an original idea. We'll see, I guess.

Just thought I'd let ya know :)

That all being said, thanks sooooo much for sticking with me through this fic! I thought it was going to completely bomb and everyone was going to hate me since most of my fans are Mondler fans, but I was pleasantly surprised to see how many people both read and reviewed this. Oh, and I broke 100 reviews, whoo! You guys are seriously the best! Thanks again!!! (and, ya know, reviews are still appreciated for last parts of series, even though there is no need to beg to continue…) ;)

Jamie