Every Breath You Take : Ross and Rachel AU (Roschel)

run to you

Rachel could have sworn her heart froze in her chest.  She picked up the half-sheet pamphlet on the coffee table that she didn't notice when she first walked into the apartment. "Lung Cancer Treatments" it read. She turned to face the window. There has to be an explanation for this. It can't be. No. This is not what I think it is. He can't!

"Rach?"

No response.

"Sweetie?"

With all her remaining strength, she shifted her arm so that he could see what she was holding without facing him. "Ross what is this?" You could almost hear her tears.

He froze. "Rach um..."

"Ross." Her voice was stern

"Rach I..." He trailed off. I can't do this. He took a seat on the couch. Tears glossed his eyes but didn't fall just yet.

"Ross!" She turned to her boyfriend. And seeing his state, she was on the verge of sobbing. He couldn't even look at her. And that killed her.

"Ross tell me!" She raised her voice through soft sobs. She wasn't mad. Rachel was scared. She was barely clinging on to the last strand of hope that this is not what she thinks this is.

"Ross please! Please just tell me! Tell me this is just for some co-worker or-or this is not actually y-yours! Tell me Ross!" They were both sobbing now. She knew the answer. He knew she knew.

"R-Ross!" She was on her knees, in front of him, begging him now. Rachel held his tear streaked face, both still in hysterics. "Honey." She whined. Her voice was softer now, but she still sobbed.

"I-I'm sorry." Ross finally spoke.

Rachel shot up, sobbing, and ran both hands through her hair, tugging on her dyed strands. Her hands made her way to her mouth, attempting to silence her sobs. The red tint and tears in her eyes pierced through Ross's heart. He hated when she cried. This is the hardest he's ever seen her cry, and to know it was because of him, this was the hardest he'd ever cried. It took exactly three minutes for the couple to calm down. Three minutes of Rachel pacing back and forth trying to grasp the situation.

"Ross..."

"I'm sorry." He whispered. Rachel reclaimed her seat next to him, taking his hands in hers.

"Why are you sorry?" She whispered back.

"Cause you're sad. You're worried. Because of me. You're pregnant. We're gonna have a baby. I'm supposed to be the one to take care of you both. I-I'm supposed to be the strong one."

"Hey." She cupped his cheeks with her hands. "We'll get through everything together okay? That's what we do."

Ross pulled Rachel into a hug, resting his chin on her shoulder. "I love you."

"I love you too."

~~~

"I still don't understand how this happened, Doctor."

"It is fairly uncommon Ms. Geller—"

"Monica"

"Monica. Normally patients that have this form of cancer heavily smoke or work in fields that expose them to dangerous chemicals or particles. The only likely explanation of this is family history. From records we can see that your grandfather passed away from lung cancer around 15 years ago."

Passed away. Those two words stung Monica, Ross, and Rachel. Passed away.

"It's curable right?" Rachel asked the question her boyfriend and her best friend were both thinking but refused to ask.

"This kind of cancer is very fast pace. However, we caught it early on and the tumor is still small enough to be removed with surgery and a few rounds of chemotherapy. There are no guarantees but he definitely has a high chance of remission. I suggest we schedule surgery as soon as possible."

Rachel reached over for Ross's hand and squeezed it.  "I'll do it."

Maybe everything would be okay. Maybe life would work itself out. After all nothing is permanent right? Happiness, sadness, all temporary. Somehow, even in that doctor's office, Rachel felt that everything would be okay. He'd be okay. They'd be okay. If there's one thing she knows about Ross, it's that he never goes down without a fight.

Rachel, the girl with the fairytales.

Monica had different feeling. Her and her brother were intertwined by blood. Just like Ross, Monica was a worrier. She could feel it, everything wasn't gonna be fine. Whenever someone says you have a high chance, they just don't want to tell you that you probably might get the bad end of the gamble.

Oh Rachel, fairytales don't exist.

~~~

Oh my god I probably changed this chapter like three times before deciding to just keep it like this. First I had it in a songfic style. Then I didn't like it so I changed the song. Then I didn't like using a song at all so I had to remove it which made it too short (it's still pretty short, but better that than nothing!) so I had to add more.

Anyways, let me know what you think! x
YG