Hi! Welcome to my new fic, I hope you enjoy reading it, as much as I enjoyed writing it :)

Making My Way To Your Heart

Ross was trying to fix his tie. It was early in the morning and being a Tuesday, he was getting ready for work. It had been a couple of years since he'd been working in NYU and he couldn't be happier with his job. It was nice to wake up every day and get to explain to people about what he loved the most: his beloved dinosaurs. His friends would tease him all day that none of his students pay attention to what he tells them during their classes, but Ross wouldn't listen to them. He knew that someday, someone would appreciate all his work and everything he does.

During High School he was known as a geek and he grew up with that nickname. But now, after so many years later, you could say that he was everything but a geek. He grew up into a true gentleman. It's true that he still didn't have a way with woman, he was never good around them, but he would enchant them with his good humor and his manners. He thought that a woman should be treated delicately, with gentle and that a man should give her what she deserved. And that's what he tried to do with every woman he would meet. Yet, he was still waiting for the right woman, the one that would take his breath away whenever she would walk into a room or just when she would look at him.

While he was having these thoughts, he didn't get to hear the knocking on his door. When it got louder, Ross went to open the door. When he opened it, his little sister was there, with a smile on her face.

"What took you so long to answer the door?" She said with a teasing tone.

"Good morning Monica."

"Good morning. I just wanted to let you know that since its Phoebe's birthday tomorrow, we agreed to have a nice dinner with her at my restaurant tonight. I just wanted to make sure that you can make it to dinner, I mean, you don't have plans or anything, right?"

"No Mon, I'm free. Just tell me the hour and I'll be there."

"Okay, then it will be at 7 in my restaurant, I ordered a special menu for the night. It's going to be great!" She said with a big smile on her face, proud of her idea. "And also don't forget to buy Phoebe a present. Not a big thing, you know what she thinks about that."

"Okay ma'am" Ross said, well knowing that if he didn't agree with her she would become crazy.

"See you later then." And with that Monica disappeared on the hallway. Ross did the same thing right after he took a drink to his coffee.

In his office, Ross was grading some papers, when his secretary entered on his office, telling him that he had a call.

"This is Dr. Ross Geller, how can I help you?"

"Hey Ross, I was just calling to ask you if you bought your present to Phoebe, because I was thinking that we could give her a present on behalf the two of us. What do you think?" Joey said hoping that Ross would agree with him.

In that moment, Ross thought about what Monica told him that morning. The day in NYU had been kind of boring, but he totally forgot about the present. Damn, now he would have to think of a good present for Phoebe.

"Sure Joey, have you thoug—" Ross stopped in that moment when he realized what Joey was doing. He did the same thing for Chandler's birthday and he got to fool him then, but now Ross guessed his intentions early. "Joey I know what you're trying to do, and no, I'm not going to help you on that. Look I know that you're having some problems with money right now, but I'm sure that Phoebe would love anything, anything that comes from you, you don't have to buy it. You could give her some flowers from the park and she would be happy." Ross said trying to convince him with the idea.

"Thanks man, actually that's a great idea. I'll go to the park and I'll take some flowers from there. Thanks again, see you later"

"Bye Joe" And with that Ross hung up the phone and continued with his work. He tried to concentrate on the papers he had in front, but he also couldn't forget about Phoebe's present and he knew that he wouldn't stop now and since the day was being very boring, he grabbed his jacket and decided to buy her present now.

He went through lots of stores, but he couldn't find the right present for Phoebe. He knew that she would be happy with anything, just having dinner would be enough for her, but he wanted to give her something that would make her smile widely. Something that she could have it every day with her, something that she would love. And while he was thinking on the perfect present, he saw himself in front of the best store he could think of. That's it he made a choice, he would by the present in this store and he knew that Phoebe would love it.

Rachel was running late as every morning. She overslept again and now she was trying to hail a cab while she tried to grab all her bags. This was the worst thing of taking work to home. She always had to use an extra bag for those papers, she would spend all night working and the in the morning she would have serious problems to hear the alarm clock. And all that would lead to this situation, she would find herself doing the very same thing every morning and she was getting tired of it.

After what seemed like an eternity, a cab stopped in front of her. With some difficulty, she made her way into the cab, with all her bags. After she told the driver her destination, the cab started his way there. Rachel knew that she had a very long day. Long meeting hours that never seemed to end, accompanied with some other boring meeting. But this was her job and she loved it. She had to fight very hard to be where she wanted to be.

Barry wouldn't let her have any job, but when she found out that she didn't love him and run away from her wedding, she knew that she had to start from zero.

This was a new start for her, a new start for Rachel.

A new Rachel.

She even thought about changing her name, but her father would kill her if she did that. Besides, her parents weren't happy with the decision she made, by leaving Barry at the altar. She knew that it was a risky choice, but she did it for her. She couldn't be with Barry anymore, and the thought of spending the rest of her life linked to him, made her shiver. Even now, while she was in the cab and thinking of that, she felt a not very great feeling inside her.

Yes, she made a great choice and now she was demonstrating that to all the people who thought that she would go back to Barry's arms.

When the cab stopped in front of the building, Rachel paid the driver and just when she got out of the cab, it started to rain. 'Great', she thought, 'a great way to start a crappy day'. And she forgot her umbrella in her apartment, so all she could do was to run until she reached the main doors.

Lately, her days in Ralph Lauren had been hard. She was just promoted to be the head of the junior department and her position was more important on the company. This led to have less time for her. And that's what she'd missed the most.

When she was younger, she used to love to get ready to go on a date and all of that. She would spend hours and hours in front of the mirror and then some more hours fixing her make-up.

But now she didn't have time for that. Her days were written already. She would go to work and then go back to her apartment, late at night. That would happen on weekdays. Over the weekend, she would continue working or make some quick visit to her father or mother in Long Island. They divorced a few years ago and Rachel knew that her presence was very much appreciated.

Her latest dates were horrible. They were guys that people of her office set her up. She really didn't want to go to those dates, but she didn't have other choice. She would see some of her workmates becoming engaged or pregnant, and Rachel would love to live that too. She wanted to get married and have children, but she needed to find the right person for that. The thing is that with the little success that she had with her previous dates, she started believing that that man didn't exist, that the romanticism that was portrayed on movies and books was fiction, there wasn't a person in this world that lived that. It was impossible to find someone who would make you live that…

Ross was running as fast as he could. He knew that he was late and that Monica wouldn't like to see him arriving late, but he didn't have other choice. Right when he was about to leave his office, the dean came asking him if he could ask him some questions about the trimester. And that went longer than Ross expected.

He took a look to his watch and he noticed that he was 15 minutes late. If it were a normal dinner, that wouldn't be that late, but considering that we're talking a dinner with Monica, 15 minutes are like 15 centuries for her. And as he expected, when he entered the restaurant, Monica was already waiting for him in front of the door.

"Mon, I'm really sorry. The dean came in the last minute asking all these questions and I couldn't get out of it. I'm really sorry. Is everybody here?" He asked, slightly worried about his sister's reaction.

"So you're late and also making excuses?" Monica said teasing him. "Don't worry Ross. I was about to call you where you were, you're never late and I was starting to worry here." She said giving him a warm hug.

They walked to the table that Monica got for them. Everybody was already there and by everybody we mean, Phoebe, Chandler and Joey. Ross hugged them all and he gave a warm kiss on the cheek to Phoebe.

"Happy birthday Phoebe."

"Thank you, but actually my birthday is tomorrow, so don't congratulate me until then. This dinner is just a start to my special day." Phoebe said.

Ross chuckled at that. Phoebe never ceases to amaze him.

"So where is Mike?" Chandler asked her.

"Oh, he had a gig. But we're having dinner tomorrow night. I can't wait!" Phoebe said very excited. She had been going out with Mike for a few months now and her friends had never seen her so happy. She went out with David and had a very passionate relationship with him, but then he got a job offer in Europe and their relationship was broken. She suffered a lot those first months, but Mike is the light she needed.

Dinner went really good. As always they talked about everything, ready to listen what the other had to tell. Every now and then Chandler would make a sarcastic comment that the other already heard a million times, but they knew that nothing could change their friend. Monica shut him up with a kiss, making him promise to her that he would tell more jokes for the night or they wouldn't have sex for two weeks and he also would have to sleep on the couch. At this, Chandler only could shut his mouth for the night and barely spoke the rest of the evening.

"Okay guys, I'm sorry to ruin this lovely moment, but I have to get going. I have a date tonight and I already should be with her. Pheebs, happy birthday and enjoy the rest of the night. See you tomorrow!" And with that Joey was out of the restaurant.

Ross laughed to what Joey did. He couldn't understand how he could do it. Every night he had a date, with a different woman. Ross, instead, was the kind of man that liked to be with a woman. He liked stability, to make sure that the relationship was going somewhere. That's why it was so hard to find the right woman lately. All of them wanted to have a good night with him and nothing more. He wanted more, he needed more.

Monica watched her brother. He had a weird look on his face and she could tell what he was thinking.

"So Ross how was the date you had last week? We never got to talk about that." Monica asked him.

"Oh, it went well." Ross said, as if it wasn't important.

"Only well?"

"Yes."

"I thought that she was your type. It got me a lot of time to convince her to go on a date with you and you say that it went well?" Monica asked him surprised.

"Yes Monica, it went well. Look I know that you wanted me to have dinner with her and maybe she thought that I was going to call her the next day, but she just didn't make any impression on me. I need a woman who can impress me every time and she didn't. Yes, she is really beautiful, but I need more than that." Ross tried to explain himself.

"Well, I don't know if she told you but she's working on a PhD, so she's beautiful plus smart." Monica said smiling.

"Mon, you know that it's not about that."

"And what do you want? Look, I can introduce you to this one. I used to know her and it's true that I haven't talked to her lately, but I'm sure that she would love to go on a date with you. Maybe she's not that smart, but I think that she's beautiful and she has a great body." Monica didn't know what to tell him. If this didn't convince him, then she didn't know what else to do. She cared about her brother and she wanted to see him happy. Ever since he divorced from Carol, he never was the same. She was his one true love and he lost it. Maybe this new girl could be his next true love…

"Okay, give me her number, but I can't promise anything. If I don't call her, don't come to me saying that she was great and all these things. I will know what's best for me when I'm with her." Ross said, in a part to shut his sister's mouth, because he knew that if he didn't agree now, she would be asking questions every time.

Monica wrote the phone number of her friend on a paper and she gave it to Ross.

"Call her tomorrow. I'll check if you do it or not" She told him, and he knew that she was serious.

A few moments later and some more talk, the thought that it was the time to go home. It was getting late and they had to go to work the next day. As they exited the restaurant, Phoebe grabbed Ross from the arm.

"Ross I understand you, don't worry. I know that there's a woman out there for you and sooner or later. Just keep waiting. Monica only wants to see you happy." Phoebe told him.

"Thanks Pheebs. I really appreciate that." He said giving another kiss on the cheek.

"Any time" She said smiling.

"Look, someone will go to your apartment tomorrow with my present, so make sure to be there by midday. I hope you like it" He told her.

"Thank you Ross, you really shouldn't take all that time for my present, you know that I would be happy with nothing."

"I know that, but I want this for you. I want you to remember me every time you use it, and I hope it's a lot of times." He said.

"I will, don't worry. Well, I should get going. I'm sure that Mike is already at home and I want to spend some time with him." With that Phoebe was on her way to her house, leaving Ross alone with Monica and Chandler.

While he watched them he could feel happier for them. At first it made him a little bit uncomfortable to see them together, but he saw how much they meant to each other and how perfect they were together, so all he could do was to be happy for them. And they have been together for 3 years already, you can see that they got married a few weeks ago.

They shared a cab, they were going to the same street anyway. When the cab stopped in front of their buildings, they got out and said goodbye. But first Monica had to make sure about something.

"Ross, promise me that you will call her." Chandler couldn't believe his wife. He knew that she would do this and he loved her for that, but he also knew Ross and he doubted if he would call this mysterious girl.

"I will." Ross said.

"Good night!"

"Good night!"

And they walked into their respective apartments.

Rachel opened the door to her apartment totally soaked. The bad weather wasn't helping with her humor this day. She hated these days. But she knew that she had to prove everybody that she could do this and more, but sometimes she felt like she didn't have the energy of going further.

"I need to do this, for me and for all these people that never believed in me" She said to herself.

She went to the kitchen and took a bottle of wine, well knowing that that would relax her a little bit. But when she went to the living room and saw the pile of work papers, she knew that she had an exciting night, another night working. For a moment she thought of not doing it, of not working that night, but she knew that she had to. The next day she would have more boring meetings and she had to prepare herself for those.

And with very enthusiasm, she started working.

Ross was ready to go to bed when he saw the piece of paper in his desk table. He took the paper and looked at the phone number and also the name. He tried to imagine what she would look like, basing on her name and also on the description Monica gave him. She told him that she's beautiful, but he had doubts. He had doubts about everything. He looked again at the piece of paper and thought if she should call her.

He put the piece of paper on his nightstand and went to bed.

End of Chapter 1. I hope we'll see each other again in the next chapter ;)