Everything was about the same with everyone. Joey and Chandler had finally bought some new furniture, Phoebe was close with her brother and her soon to be sister in law, Ms. Knight. Monica was working hard at a new restaurant. Ross was hard at work at the museum and Rachel's job at Bloomingdales kept her occupied a lot of the time. She got home late often, and worked on weekends sometimes, but she was happy.

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It was a Friday night. Rachel opened the door to the apartment to find no one there. "Hello?" she called out. No one answered. "They must be at the coffee shop." she thought. As she flipped through the mail that Monica had left on the counter she decided that she would change and that she would join them. "It was amazing" explained Chandler "I mean, it was like so what if she doesn't like me. Am I that desperate for a date?!" Monica and Phoebe looked at each other, as Joey snicker while he was taking a sip of his coffee. "Ok don't answer that" said Chandler. There was a long pause until Phoebe broke the silence. "Where's Ross?" Joey finally joined in the conversation by saying "Out with Brenda." "Again?" Monica asked. "Yeah, they've been seeing a lot of each other lately." said Joey. Rachel walked in the door. She greeted everyone " Hi guys!" Everyone was happy to see Rachel "Hi Rach" they all said. She looked around the couch and looked that someone was missing. "Hey, where's Ross?" she asked as she got her cup of coffee and sat down. Again Joey answered "He's out on a date." Curiously, Rachel raised an eyebrow and said "With who?" Visibly, Joey could see that Rachel was feeling uncomfortable and just answered with "A friend of his." Rachel wanting to know said "A female or a male" Chandler then reply with "We're not too sure." Rachel knew the answer and she knew that he was out on a date with Brenda again. She didn't want to look hurt in front of them all so she just kept her feelings to herself and changed the conversation. "Good night" Rachel said as she entered her room and shut off the lights. It had been a hard day and she needed the rest. Work was going great for her, and she was happy and she knew that something was missing. She walked to the window and stared at the moon. "Why can't I forget about him." she thought "Why? I want to get over him. I'm trying so hard." She wondered about Ross. After their second short and bitterly ending relationship she never told anyone the way she felt about Ross. It had been about 5 months since they had returned from the beach house and the letter fiasco had occurred. Since then, she had not told anyone, not even Monica, that she still loved Ross. As she climbed into bed she thought to herself and sighed "I've really got to get on with my life." The next morning, Rachel got out of bed, and went to eat breakfast with Monica. "Monica?" She called out. With no answer, she walked to the kitchen and noticed a note: Rachel, got called in early today. I'll see you this evening. We all might go out to the movies. Monica Rachel smiled and said "Only Monica would work on a weekend." The night came quickly. Rachel had spent most of the day on her own. She did a little bit of shopping, had lunch and then came home. She felt a little lonely, but was also happy with the day she had spent on her own. She had even got a call from her mother, who was called to check up on her. As she sat on the couch and flipped on the TV to watch some news Monica comes in. "Hey Rach" Rachel turned around and said "Hey it's the working girl! How was it today" "Not too bad." Monica replied as she hung up her coat. "What about yours? I'm sorry I left so early this morning" Rachel got up and turned off the TV. "Truthfully I had a really great day" she said sitting at the kitchen table. "Good for you!" said Monica "So are we going to the movies" Rachel thought, and slowly said "I don't think I'm going to go" Monica looked concerned. "Why not?" Rachel said "I'm still pretty tired, and I have so reports I've got too look at. Maybe some other time." Monica gave Rachel a hug "Ok." smiled and then went to her room to get ready to go to the movie. Ross and Brenda were out on their 5 date. They were eating dinner at a nice Italian place. Brenda was about 5 foot 6, slim and with blond hair. They both laughed as Ross told a joke. Some music came on and Brenda asked "Ross, do you want to dance?" Ross looked at the dance floor and said reply "Sure." As they stepped on the floor Brenda moved close into Ross. Ross closed his eyes and smiled. It was a long danced and eventually Ross had his head on Brenda's shoulder. The dance ended and Ross said "I've missed you Rachel". Brenda stood there looking at Ross, totally stunned and exclaimed "Rachel?" Ross looked confused. "Rachel what?" Brenda replied with a harsh "You just called me Rachel!!" Again Ross was confused "No I didn't!" Brenda began to storm out of the restaurant and many heads turned as Ross went after her. "Wait Brenda wait!" Ross called. When they were outside Brenda turned to him and said "You know, you've really got to get your women straight." Ross tried to apologize. But Brenda refused to listen "Stop Ross! I know this has been coming! I think that you're still in love with this over person. It's so obvious! Give me a call when you're not!" Brenda began to make her way down the street, but this time, Ross didn't go after her. He began to take a walk. Many thought ran through his head and he was very confused. "I can't believe I did that." he thought as he walked into Central Perk. Everyone was there expect Rachel. Chandler noticed him and said "Hey man. How was the date?" Ross sat down and sighed. "I called Brenda...Rachel." Joey spat a but of his coffee out and Monica and Phoebe looked surprised. Monica looked at Ross said "You called her Rachel?" "Yeah", said Ross "We were dancing. And I was thinking about how I danced with Rachel before and I called her Rachel. Now Brenda and I are over." Monica patted Ross on the hand "Wow. So what does this mean?" Ross looked at his sister confused. "Huh?" he said. After a talk, Monica had suggested that he go upstairs and see Rachel. Rachel was sitting at the desk, by the window, listening to music. She was supposed to be reading her reports, but thought kept running through her head. She kept wondering about Ross and Brenda and what they were doing. She sighed and looked down at her reports, shaking her head trying to concentrate. The radio was on an easy listening station as a romantic song came on the radio. As is sang "How do I live without you". Ross quietly came through the door. Rachel did not even notice because she was too wrapped up in her thoughts as she gazed out the windows. Ross was about to call her until he heard the song, and the words that meant so much. He had not yet even closed the door. He just stood there, looking at Rachel, and hearing the song. Rachel's head was full of thoughts, most from the past. As the song ended, both Rachel and Ross were speechless and Rachel had still not noticed Ross. She did know what she had to do. As she got up from her chair, she was very startled to see Ross, standing in the doorway. She gasped and asked "What are you doing here?". Ross was silent and finally closed the door and walked a step into the apartment. "I..." Ross words trailed off and he said "I really don't know what I'm doing here." There was a long pause and he began to continue "I came up here to see you. But I don't know what to say." Rachel looked at him and said "I don't think that there is too much to say." Ross just stood there in his long trench coat looking at her. He decided to walk to the couch and then began saying "I did something really stupid tonight." Rachel looked at him interested as she got a glass. "What was that?" She asked. "Well I was out with Brenda and-" Rachel then interrupted and said "Look Ross. I really don't want to hear about this!" she yelled. "Wait Rachel!" Ross pleaded "Let me finished." She just looked at him so he kept on going. "Look" he continued "I'm just going to cut to the chase. I thought that Brenda was you!" She was shocked and she dropped her glass of juice on the floor. There was a loud shatter of glass and they both looked down at the floor where a pile of the broken glass lay. "I'm sorry" Ross said as he walked into the kitchen. "I'll help you." Rachel looked at him " I don't need your help." she said. This was too huge for her. He had dropped what seemed like a bombshell. He didn't listen to here and bent down to help Rachel clean up the mess. They began to pick up the bigger pieces. Rachel got up and through them in the garbage. She bent down again with a dustpan, and Ross grabbed her by the arm and kissed her, much off guard. Rachel hesitated and almost pulled away she thought "This is what I want." and melted into the kiss. The End for now.........