Part 1: How It Begins....

Summary: Rachel, 25, lives in a small town in New Orleans. She isn't at all spoilt (like the real Rachel) and has to work hard for money. Her family is rather poor but their a happy family. Life there is quite boring there and since Rachel is sick of that life, she decides to move away and get a better job.
Ross Gellar, 35, is a very popular and famous actor and stars in several movies and also in a high-rated sitcom. He's very good looking (like he's now) and women ar e mad about him.
Monica, 33, is Ross's younger sister who works as a chief in an italian restaurant and is married to Chandler, 33.
Phoebe, 28, works in a fashion store and is a single.
And there's Joey, 34, one of Ross's best friends. He's also an actor and stars in the same sitcom as Ross.
 

Here, the story begins...
 

We're at an airport, looking into a big hall where people are running and stressing around. Most of theme carring bags or briefcases. We zoom in a bit and see now a family gathered around a young woman. She has tears in her eyes and is now hugging an older woman, obviously her mother. Then, a girl about 10 years old, hugs her around the waist and presses her face against it. An older girl, about 17 years old, just stands by the side, also teary eyed and watches them. Beside her, an older man, the father.

Mother: Jamie, c'mon let your sister go now. Otherwise she'll miss the flight.

Jamie: I want her to miss the flight!

Father: Rachel honey, call us when you're there!

Rachel: Sure dad.

Mrs Green: and do you have aunt Katrin's adress?

Rachel: yes mom, don't worry.

Mrs Green: (very sad) ah I'm gonna miss you so much!

Rachel: (hugs her again) me, too....
 

Time lapses. We see Rachel sitting in a plane and looking thougfully out of the window. She takes some deep breaths and sighs heavily. Then she takes out a travel book of Chicago when a flight attendant comes up.

F.A.: Are you okay Miss? You look so pale?

Rachel: (wondering why she cared) I'm fine thanks. It's just my first time in a plane.

F.A.: Oh, okay then. So it's going to be your first time in Chicago, huh?

Rachel: uhu....

F.A.: Ah, you're gonna love it there! Chicago's great!

Rachel: (trying to get rid of her) yeah, I guess

F.A.: Are you going to Chicago for vacation?

Rachel: Nah, I'm gonna live there. (not wanting to talk any longer)

F.A.: We'll land in about 45 minutes. Enjoy the rest of the flight.

Rachel: I will. (flight attendant leaves) thank god!!

Rachel puts the travel book back into her handbag and takes the newspaper which is lying on the other seat. She reads the title "Joey Tribbiani and his co-stars get more money" then she looks questionly at the picture only to realize, that she'd never seen or heard of those people before, although they seem to be pretty famous. The picture shows joey holding a glass of champagne and beside him a man who's kissing a girl. Rachel reads the line below the picture and suddenly gets a shocked face. "this is unbelievable" she thought to herself "they get 750 000$ per an episode of a stupid tv-show. I've to work years for such a salary!!" She's so pissed at the moment that she throws the paper back to the seat without reading the article. She looks out of the window again and saw that they're about to land.
 

Time lapses. Rachel enters a big hall where hundrets of people we're waiting and looking for people to come out of the corridors. She slowly makes her way through the crowd to the exit. Exhausted she steps outside the airport to take a breath of fresh air. The problem is, there's no fresh air! Traffic there's so bad that she had to cough. She want's to leave the airport as fast as possible, so she calls a cab and seconds later she's sitting in one.

Driver: Where?

Rachel: ********

Driver: That'll take us at least 10 minutes.

Rachel: only ten? I thought it would be much more.

Driver: Are you going to visit someone there?

Rachel: nah, my aunt lived there but she died and now I'm going to live there.
 

Time lapses: We see Rachel in an old small house, wandering around with several bags. She's way too tired to unpack, so she puts them all on a couch and on the ground. She decided to take a walk, though. She saw a beautiful park out of the cab and wants to go there now for  a short walk. When she steps out of the house and walks away a bit we see that the house is somewhere near the center of Chicago in a quarter of poor people.
She walks for aobut half an hour when she finally arrives at the park. She slowly walks on a path through it. Many things are new to her and she takes time to watch everything. She stares at all the people who pass her, as if they were strangers. But she wants to compare them to the ones living in her home town. There's an old lady sitting on a bench, knitting a scarf. Rachel glares at her for a moment walks on. A young woman jogges by sweating heavily. A few minutes later a tall woman comes up talking with someone on her cellphone then bursts into laugher. Rachel reaches a bench and sits on it. She looks around to see the park almost empty. Staring at the flowers and at the trees, she hears footsteps and jerks her head around to look at the person. She glared at the tall man, who wears sunglasses and then back to the trees. She still hears the footsteps, which grew slower and then, there was a short cry of pain. She immediately turns around to see the man lying on the ground without making a move. Rachel's body freezes and her hands tremble. She jumps up and runs to him shocked and without knowing what to do. She looks for help but no one's there. She drops on her knees to check his condition and soon realizes that he's unconcious, one hand touching his heart, the other loosly by his side. She touches his forehead which was burning and listens if he still breaths. He does, weakly though. He was pale and wet from sweat. Rachel begins to panic. Her cellphone, which she needed now the most, was lying on the kitchentable at her new home. She finally sees a cellphone in his pocket and without hesitating she graps it and dials. After five minutes, that seemed like an hour, the ambulance arrives. Rachel sighs in relieve now that help is here. Two men run to them carring a stretcher. "not again" is the first thing they say when they reached them. "Again"? Rachel is confused. Both of the ambulance men check the still unconcious men, then one comes to Rachel.

A.M.: Miss. We have to take him to the hospital.

Rachel: What's the matter with him?

A.M.: Are you related to this man?

Rachel: No, I don't know him at all.

A.M.: (raises his eyebrow) Okay, then I'm sorry, I can't give you any informations. But you can accompany him to the hospital if you want.

Rachel has no idea who this man is but somehow she's worried about him and wants to know how he is.

Rachel: yeah sure
 

In the ambulance car. Rachel sits beside the unconcious man, still a bit shocked and shaken.

A.M.: Don't worry Miss, he'll be okay. Thank god you were there and called us immediately. You propably saved his life.

Rachel smiles weakly and looks at him, then back at the man she "saved", who by now shivered. The ambulance man sees it and covers him with a blanket.
 

In the hospital. Rachel waits outside a room, biting nervously on her nails. The  the door finally opened and an older doctor comes out, looking at the now filled papers. After a few seconds of silence he sighs heavily and eventually sees Rachel.

Doc.: So you were the woman that found him?

Rachel: Yeah - pause-  how is he?

Doc.: Sorry Miss, we mustn't give out any informations about his condition.

Rachel: Sure (looks a bit disappointed) I just really like to know how he is.

Doc.: I understand. Listen, he'll be fine, that's everything I can tell you for now.

Rachel smiles in relieve.

Doc.: Look, can you give me your number? I'll hand it to him and he can decide whether he wants to call and thank you or not.

Rachel: okay (scribbels her cellphone number on a piece of paper and hands it to the doctor) Here you are.

Doc.: I can't promise he'll call. Thanks and sorry again. Good night, Miss (he leaves and so does she)

She walks out of the hospital and sits on a bench beside the entrance. She takes a few deep breaths to relax a bit. Her head's full of thoughs......why did she care so much about him? He's a complet stranger but she feels sorry for him! She doesn't even know his name! Rachel sat there quietly, staring into space when she sees two reporters running to the hospital. One almost falls but catches himself in time. Rachel laughs a bit and shakes her head in disbelief.

Rachel: (to herself) This reporters ar unbelievable. Do people here have no privacy at all? (with that she gets up and leaves)
 

We see Rachel in her small house, lying on her bed looking at the ceiling.

Rachel: (thinks) I'm not even 24h here and I already saved one life, was in one of Chicago's hospitals and gave out my cellphone number to a complet stranger. My new life is certainly very different from the old one and somehow I like it!

We zoom out of the room, out of the house and into the night.
 

3 days later in a fashion store, in the office.

Woman: I really like your interest and motivation Miss Green. There are, of course, some other women which are also interested in that job. I'll call you when we've decided.

Rachel: (sitting opposite her) okay

Woman: You have good chances, though.

Rachel smiles. The she gets up and leaves the office. She stops in the store to look at the beautiful gowns. A tall blond woman comes up from behind.

Woman: Sorry Miss, may I help you?

Rachel: (turns around) I was just looking at them.

Woman: You want buy one?

Rachel: (laughs) no-no- actually, I'm just here because of the job.

Woman: Oh! So your gonna be my partner? (looks excited)

Rachel: It isn't decided yet but chances are good.

Woman: Cool! Oh, by the way, I'm Phoebe, Phoebe Buffay.

Rachel: Rachel Green, nice to meet you.

Phoebe: Same here.
 

2 days later.

Rachel is in a big shopping mall, carring several bags, some of them looking quite heavy. She walks by a magazine store where we see some posters with a huge title. "Ross Gellar in hospital after breakdown- read more in todays newspaper!" Rachel passes by without noticing. She walks on, her face all sweaty from carring the bags. Then she passes by a weddinggown- store and immediately stops. She looks dreamly through the window at the gowns while slowly putting the bags on the ground. The ring of her cellphone brings her apruptly back to reality and she realizes that it's hers.

Rachel: hello........fine, you?.........oh really! (beams) wow, that's great!......okay.......sure.....yes, bye!

She throws the cellphone in one of the bags and lets out a loud "yay". Some people stare at her in astonishment and she happily takes her heavy bags, which takes some time since they're so heavy. When she finally manages, her cellphone rings again.

Rachel: (a bit annoyed) what the.......damn, in which bag's my cellphone?

She hastly puts the bags on the ground again and starts to look after her ringing cellphone. Then she finds it.

Rachel: (to herself) please, let me my job!

Rachel: hello?

Man: (v.o.) hi

Rachel: (surprised and confused) who's talking?

Man: I'm Ross, Ross Gellar

Silence

Ross: The doctor gave me your number!
 

To be continued....