As I promised in the latest chapter of Eternal Love, here I am with a brand new story.. only in the hopes that my stories can inspire the wonderful authors to come back with some amazing stories or at least finish the incomplete ones..

Anyways, this one is placed in Season 9 when Ross and Rachel get blown up on the date and stuck with horrible date respectively, because of Phoebe and Joey. Now what if while talking to each other in Central Perk, for once they let their guards down in front of each other and really think.

Ross and Rachel see Joey and Phoebe doing their mission laugh. As they gasp, the two friends run for their life to 'Mexico'. Rachel gasps and gets up to chase her mischievous friends to have meddled in her personal life. Just as she was about to get out of the double doors, she heard Ross from behind.

"Rach.. wait" She stopped on her tracks when she heard Ross call her. She jerked her head to look at him

"What?" She knew by his voice he wanted to say something important, that is why she let her anger take a back seat for the moment, to listen to what he was about to say.

"May-Maybe.." He trailed off, looking down at his hands. But Rachel knew him better than that. He was his nervous self. She slowly came back and resumed her position on the couch.

"Yes, Ross" She tried to meet his gaze by bending her head down a little. He looked up at her.

"Maybe we should talk as to why they would do such thing" His voice more stern now. Rachel was about to snap at him, but stopped herself when she weighed her options. Hmm.. maybe they were ready to talk about them.

"Mm-hmm" She wanted him to start.

He nervously cleared his throat. "Umm.. you see, if they planned all of this.. we must-we must understand that you and me.. to be Us.. that, that means a lot to them" He hoped to God that she got what he wanted to say.

Rachel kept looking at him for a few seconds. He never got straight to the point, she knew that about him after nine years. But he also never started a conversation about them.

Ross, on the other hand, kept his eyes on her. He was trying to observe every of her movements, though she was not doing anything at the moment. He needed to see a hope in her eyes. For them. Even the littlest of a hope would do.

"Yea.." She started and twirled her hair, deep into her thoughts "What are you getting at, Ross?" She had this innate desire that he came out clear and simple.

"Uhh.. Do you think it would be alright if we.." He paused, trying to think just the right words "If we have lunch together, say.. tomorrow?" He decided he needed time to say something coherent.

He chickened out. Not completely, though. Interesting, she thought. She nodded her head "Alright.. okay, so where?"

"Why don't I worry about that? I'll see you in your office at 1" He said confidently. Now that he knew she was comfortable having lunch with him, just the two of them.

"Sure" Impressed that Ross had seized the moment somehow. She laughed to herself at the memory of that day when she lectured him about his inability to seize the moment.

Rachel laid on her bed, thinking. Why had she accepted to have lunch with Ross? Why had she fallen into that trap yet again? Oh well.. it did not take much than his big brown puppy dog eyes.

When Emma was born, Rachel had all but wanted to get back together with him to let her baby have the family she deserved. Not to forget her own feelings that were being resurfaced since the time she found out about her pregnancy and that the father was Ross. At that time, getting back together with him would have been the best thing. But after Joey's proposal fiasco, things took a step back. Why I had to say yes to him? she wondered again.

Then they decided to be just two friends, living together, had a baby together, and not in a relationship. That also went well until.. the same insecurity issues of Ross. Okay.. so she did kiss Gavin, her fault. But he didn't give her Bill's message. Alright, so maybe she wasn't gonna call him but that was her decision to make. She didn't need anybody to tell her what to do and what not to do in her life.

Ooo.. but I did the same thing, didn't I? She realised. She told Ross not to date Katie and he sweetly obliged. Never did he throw that on her face. For every insane thing he did with her, he did four to five incredibly sweet things to make up for them.

Hmm.. maybe accepting to go for a lunch with him was the right decision, she concluded and went to sleep.

So that is my Christmas gift to you guys. I hope you like it. If you did, a review is appreciated.. If you did not, a constructive criticism is welcomed too.. :))

Have a Merry Christmas and a very happy New Year!