Chapter 4

AN- Well once again, a big thank you for all the reviews, writing has just gone up a few notches on the list of ways to kill time……. ;-)

Rated R (just to be safe)

Disclaimer- don't own anything

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Rachel moaned his name again begging him not to stop, the ambiance of the night had changed from needy to lust to passionate, right now it was fluctuating between love and passion, something was different tonight, maybe it was the new found level of their relationship or maybe it was the fact that they had finally reached the destination both of them knew nine years ago, they would you reach, only they didn't know the path which seemed like a bed of roses at first glance was full of thorns. Only they knew the trials and tribulations that they both had to endure to reach their destination, but now that they were there, they were both basking in the glory, living the moment –together, enjoying it –together.

They both reached their breaking point and let go, her followed by him, they lay there naked, he moved from his position atop her and laid down next to her both staring at the ceiling

"You know, he began, if we keep up with this, I have a felling the wedding night might turn out to be a bit of a disappointment" he said jokingly.

Propping herself on an elbow, she looked deep into his eyes, grinning mischievously

"Oh, don't you worry about it, if I have anything to do with it, tonight will be a disappointment compared to the wedding night" she added with a wink, leaning down to kiss him, simultaneously she moved herself on top if him. After the kiss which once again made his toes curl, she rested her head on his chest while he caressed her back.

"Ross"

"Yeah"

"When did you fall in love with me?"

He pondered on it for a couple of minutes, a little surprised at the question.

"I guess, almost 20-21 years ago, when I was 15" he answered back.

"No, that's not what I meant, I mean what made you fall in love with me, we hardly ever talked, and you didn't even know me?"

He took a couple of seconds again "What's bringing this on Rach?"

"Nothing, its just, you remember last week when I went to lunch with Mindy, he nodded, well we were there and all she could talk about was how Barry wouldn't let her buy a new convertible, I mean we were there to catch up on old times and we were having this stupid conversation", she paused for a moment before continuing, "sitting there listening to her, I realized that, that's how I used to be and I mean how could someone even like me, much less love me, and then I thought about you and how you loved me even when I was you know… she trailed off

"Well, I don't know, he said shrugging, I mean I kind of looked at you and you just took my breath away and that's true even now" he added gaining some extra points.

She smiled up at him, propping herself up and giving him a soft peck on the lips. She placed her elbows either side of him, fixating her gaze on his lower lip, she bent down and bit it softly, sucking on it for another few fleeting seconds.

"That's a crush, Ross, when you are attracted to a person by their looks, you can't fall in love with someone without knowing them, what if I were a serial killer huh, she asked him raising her eyebrows questioningly.

Catching the twisted look of confusion and slight pain on his face, thinking she was questioning his love for her, she added, "at least that's what I believe".

Perturbed by the conversation he himself thought about it, what was it that made him fall in love with her, besides the palpable, he thought about what she said "you didn't even know me", well she was wrong he did know her, he knew her very well.

"I guess there was one other thing, besides the obvious" he continued after almost five minutes of complete silence, she looked up at him intrigued motioning him to continue

"You friendship with Monica" He informed, drawing a look of confusion from her.

"How did my friendship with Monica make you fall in love with me?"

"Well, he started not sure how explain it to her, Monica was you know Fat, unpopular, she nodded, and you were the complete opposite of her, but you still were the best of friends and you weren't ashamed to be seen with her in school, at parties etc, I guess that was something that was different about you, you weren't like those other "High school girls" and also that made me think that maybe someday Ross Gellar would have a chance to go out with Rachel Green." He continued a moment later "and what do know, now I am engaged to her" he added with a wink.

Her eyes had started to tear up at some stage in the middle of his dialogue, she already knew that he had pined for her for almost twenty years, but had certain doubts about him falling in love with her at that young age, but the verbal vocalization of his thoughts had made all her doubts disappear, he truly had loved her since he was 15.

In the darkness of the night he couldn't see the tears forming in her eyes, though he knew they were coming, she was a very emotional woman and cried a lot but he found it cute and also there was the fact that he was the one she ran to for comfort and he loved the felling of being her Rock. His intuition was confirmed when he felt a drop fall down on his chest. He shifted both of them up, leaning against the headboard, wiping her tears away he hugged her tight. She buried her face in his chest, loving the felling of being in his arms, it was something she always admired about him, they way he cradled her, so warmly, protectively, like you would a new born on a particularly chilly day. The peaceful silence was disturbed by the annoying ringing of the phone.

Ross looked over at Rachel and then the clock, 4:30 A.M., who would be calling at this hour; she finally leaned over and picked up the phone after the machine failed to answer it

"Hey, the familiar sound greeted, I am sorry to disturb you guys, but I couldn't sleep, I just needed to know what happened?"

"Well, nothing much, but yeah I am going to be Mrs. Ross Gellar the fourth very soon." Rachel informed here best friend smiling giddily at he fiancé.

"OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD", Monica screamed out so loud that Rachel had to distance the phone a good foot away from her ear, "You are gonna be my sister, finally" you could tell there were tears forming in Monica's eyes by the way she spoke.

"Yes I am, Mon, finally" her eyes were moistening too.

"Sorry to wake you, but I just couldn't hold it in any longer"

"Well, we weren't exactly sleeping or planning on anytime soon" she said moving towards Ross rather seductively.

"Eww, I didn't need to picture that, now I really won't be able to sleep" "Well congratulation to both of you, I gotta go now" she told Rachel as she heard one of the twins wailing in the bedroom, assuming it was her enthusiastic screaming that woke them up. "I'll call you tomorrow, bye".

"Bye Mon" as she put the receiver down, she turned back to Ross who was pretending to be asleep, hmm, he wants to play, never one to back down from a challenge, she moved on top of him, kissing his belly button and moving in a straight line above as she reached his collar bone, she paused for a moment to look up at his eyes , they were still shut, but his lips had curled up into a knowing smile, she bent down and planted a kiss behind his ear, knowing how erogenous that spot was for him, as she rubbed herself over a very specific and very stiff part of him, she kissed him, her tongue begging for an entrance, as soon as she felt some action from his side though she stopped, as he knew she would, she was such a tease, rolling off of him, she laid down on her side of bed, grinning widely,

"I think, I'm gonna catch some sleep sweetie, I'm really tired" she told him stretching her arms over her head, enjoying the look full of love, lust and begging that was painted on his face, He leaned down and kissed her again, knowing she couldn't keep up her short lived defiance for too long and soon they were again in the midst of passionate lovemaking.

She cuddled up close to him, once it was over and whispered for the first time

"Happy Valentines Day"

"You too", he whispered back as they finally caught up on some much needed sleep.

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It was almost one in the afternoon when he finally woke up, he noticed she wasn't there, but the sound of the running water confirmed her presence in the shower, he contemplated for a moment if he should join her but decided to drop it, he put on his robe, and walked out of the bedroom, to the living room window, he noticed the old apartment, the new occupants a couple in their mid forties, were nice people, but it wasn't the same, over time they had gotten used to not seeing the familiar faces, but there were still times when he missed having his best friend and his sister right across the road, feeling nostalgic, he picked up the photo album lying on bottom step of the bookshelf.

There were 10 years of memories in his hands, the gangs first Christmas together, Ben's birth, his and Rachel's first weekend away after getting together, thinking about the ones that were in their private stash brought a smile to his face, as he rummaged through the pages, he came up to ones that were taken in the hospital, Emma was lying serenely in Rachel's arms, both of them were sleeping peacefully, he felt her arms encircle his neck from behind as rested her chin on his shoulder

"What are you doing" she asked looking down at the photo album herself not really expecting an answer. And he didn't give her one, he caught her arm and motioned her to join him on the couch, she sat down next to him, draping an arm across his back and resting her head on his shoulder.

"You both look so beautiful and peaceful" he told her pointing towards the picture he was staring at.

She kept her gaze locked on the photograph as she nodded. He had been meaning to talk to her about it and now seemed as good a time as any

"Rach, he began hesitantly, umm, you think we have more such pictures in our future?" he asked as subtly as possible.

"Maybe", she replied, smiling a little, she knew how much he wanted another kid; she still remembered the picture he had painted of them living in Scarsdale, it had freaked her out at that time, but now that she thought about how happy Monica and Chandler were living outside the chaos of the city, she wouldn't mind a house with a backyard where little version of her and Ross could play.

"But don't get any ideas before the wedding, I wanna wear a really nice dress" she added before continuing "and we definitely don't want another lecture from your mom about having a baby out of wedlock again do we?" he nodded

"No, I didn't mean right now, I just wanted to know where you stood, you know". She nodded back, leaning up give him a kiss, they both leaned back on the couch, enjoying each others company.

"So you have anything else up your sleeve for tonight?"

"Well, not really, I spent so much time planning everything for last night, I totally forgot about Valentines Day night" she told him, looking at him apologetically.

"Well, don't worry about it, I am sure we can conjure up something for tonight" He assured her, kissing her forehead sweetly.

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"I swear Ross, I haven't laughed that hard since Vegas" she remarked still smirking

They had spent the evening trying to make dinner, which had slowly but surely turned into disaster, it started when Ross had the idea of downloading the recipe, they decided on "Sweet and Sour Chicken with vegetables on a bed of white rice." They went out bought the supplies along with some wine, following the recipe was tricky and Ross had told Rachel to stay away remembering her trifle fiasco, halfway through it, he knew something was amiss, but continued, and in the end two and a half hours of labor was put to use "by the neighbors dog".

Ross was disappointed but Rachel couldn't help tease him about his recipe following skills, she was still mocking him as they finally decided to settle for pizza and wine as their profligate Valentines Day meal.

Rachel finally settled on the couch contemplating which movie to watch, the choices were "How to lose a guy in ten days" or "Alex and Emma" (sorry, these were the only ones I could remember), having settled on the first one, she relaxed on the couch, leaning against the arm, she felt something cold on her neck, she immediately turned around and noticed Ross standing behind her with a beautiful gold necklace with a heart shaped pendant studded with a diamond.

"May I?"

She nodded, lifting her golden brown curls and letting him adorn her with the stunning piece of jewelry.

He lay down next to her, pinning her between him and the back of the couch, she kept her gaze locked at him as he made himself comfortable before finally asking

"What's this for?" she asked gesturing towards the necklace.

"Well, the engagement was kind of your gift to me, even thought you get to keep the ring, and this, he said touching the pendant, I bought as your original Valentines Day gift".

"But you consider this as you birthday gift now, all right" he added grinning.

"Thank you" she replied sincerely "and we will see about the birthday when we get to it".

He was about to say something but she silenced him with a kiss.

"This always works" he said sighing out loudly as his hand moved up underneath her shirt caressing the soft skin of her back.

After another half an hour of kissing, cuddling and paying very little attention to the movie that was playing, she decided to bring up something that had been sticking like a thorn to her side for almost six years, she hadn't bought it up even when they had discussed the past, she didn't know why it bothered her, but it did

"Ross, she started rather apprehensively, can I ask you something?"

A little nervous about the sudden change in her demeanor he replied "Sure sweetie, anything".

"First promise me you won't get mad, and I know it's a little childish, but I just need to know".

"Okay, you are scaring me now, what is it?"

"First promise me" she demanded

"Okay, I promise" he replied rather reluctantly.

She began again, playing with her hair, typical Rachel reaction when she was extremely nervous.

"Why didn't you propose to me when we were… we were together for the first time?"

"What?" he almost yelled out, raising his eyebrows looking rather confused by the straight forwardness of her query.

"It's just… just that you proposed to Emily like six weeks after you met her, taking a deep breath she continued, we were together for a year and yeah we discussed the future, but never marriage, it just bothers me you know… she trailed of rather shyly, wondering if she did the right thing bringing it up tonight, when they were having such a wonderful day.

Looking in her eyes, he could sense her trepidation; he was still mystified, not because he didn't know the answer to her question, he felt this way because it was something that obviously bothered her and when one thought about it, it was a big deal, but he never even thought about it from her perspective. Of course, it was a big deal, she had loved him and they had been together for a year, without a mention of a proposal and then he had proposed to someone he had known for barely six weeks.

"Sweetie, he said looking into her eyes, it's not childish and I can see why it would bother you".

"So, why didn't you?"

"Well, it's not like I never thought about it, but I didn't think we were ready at that point in our lives, I mean you had just started finding yourself with you new job and everything, plus, remember how you freaked out when I mentioned "Scarsdale", she nodded rather sheepishly, and you had run out on Barry because of the fact you were getting married…. The signs weren't too encouraging" he added smiling trying to lighten the mood.

"I always thought we would end up together, but it just took a little longer that expected"

"Better late than Never" she added kissing him deeply.

"Oh by the way, he started with a mischievous grin on face, you are not planning on running out again are you?"

"You never know, she started trying to look serious, but if I were you, I wouldn't take any chances, Make sure you lock the bathroom window Gellar". She said as she got up, making sure to press herself against him.

Moving towards the bedroom, swaying her hips seductively, she stopped at the door, standing against the frame invitingly, she called out "You coming or what?"

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AN- Yay, I finished it. Have to admit it was fun writing a fanfic, got a few more ideas,cant say for sure but hopefully I'll see you soon in another one,read and review please….