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season finale!
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"okay. we got the coleslaw, we got the buns," monica listed off as ella and phoebe handed her the food in a line. "we've got the ground-up flesh of formerly cute cows and turkeys, ew," phoebe unwillingly touched the package. "anyways, i can't believe it's rachel's birthday. i feel like it was just yesterday that we were moving into the city together," ella continued handing monica the ketchup. the friends interacted in a series of events that included joey and chandler doing a skit for the group, ella reminding joey that his new girlfriend (who didn't know about his 'science experiment' at the sperm bank) was going to be late, and everyone greeting ross as he was the last friend to arrive besides rachel. "aren't you supposed to be on your way to china right now?" ella raised an eyebrow once she'd noticed ross had walked in without any luggage. "trip got canceled, but this just means i'll be able to spend rachel's birthday with rachel," ross beamingly smiled after explaining.
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"that's when me and my friends started this whole fruit basket business. we call ourselves 'the three basketeers'," melanie happily nodded to the group as she told her story. "like the three musketeers, only with fruit!" joey cheerily added. "ooo," ella and chandler teased joey's over-excitment—ella sitting in between the bing's legs on the floor. "okay, how does everybody like their burgers?" monica broke away from the group making her way to the kitchen. "oh, no, no. presents first. food later," rachel insisted as she waved monica back into the living room. "okay, i'm guessing this is from...well, thank you, melanie," rachel placed the fruit-basket back down before continuing to open the rest of her gifts until she got down to the last one. "who's this from?" rachel held up the square box. "that would be me," ross smiled and tilted his head at the birthday girl. "oh—oh my god. you remembered," rachel admired the gift, unintentionally keeping a fixed gaze on it. "remembered what?" "it was like months ago. we were walking by an antique store and i saw this pin in the window, and i told him it was just like one our grandmother had when we were little girls. oh! i can't believe you remembered!" rachel looked up from the gift and then up at ross. "this must have cost you a fortune," phoebe studied the pin before handing it over to ella. "oh my god, it's beautiful ross," ella brushed her thumb over the antique. "i can't believe you did this," monica looked at her brother as he sat blushing from the friends' reactions to his gift. "come on, ross? remember back in college, when you fell in love with carol and bought her that ridiculously expensive crystal duck?" chandler glanced down at the scrabble game gift rachel had rejected prior, still oblivious to what he had just revealed. chandler saw ella's head move as she face-palmed at the reality they were all put into, him quickly looking to rachel again in realization. "what did you just say?" rachel practically pushed out in such a state of shock. "yeah, what?" ross clenched his teeth at his old college roommate. "ahem-um...crystal duck," chandler nervously stammered. "no, no, the, uhm, the, 'love' part?" rachel gulped as she attempted to get the bing to backtrack. "f-hah—flennin," chandler tried to form a sentence but his tongue prevented him from doing so. "well speaking of being in 'love' with the green sisters; chandler. maybe there's something ella would love to know," ross sarcastically smiled at the panicking chandler, standing up to gain everyone's attention. "no there is not!" was the only thing chandler could get out before ross cut him off. "chandler has feelings for ella" both chandler and ella's eyes widened as they both knew nothing would ever be the same between them. ella slowly scooted out from chandler's legs before a few moments of silence passed. "y-you know, i'm g-gonna go somewhere that isn't here," ella quickly mumbled as she stood up to go out the window and out to the balcony. "ella wait!" chandler immediately chased after the green. once ella got out there, she couldn't stop pacing and chandler coming out right behind her didn't help. the two stood at the opposite ends of the balcony by the time they were remotely coming down from the shock. "feelings? you have feelings for me?" ella unintentionally yelled at him as she anxiously ran her hands through her hair rethinking their entire friendship. "yes and no, except not no, so yes," chandler tried his best to not make her freak out anymore than she already was. "and you didn't think to tell me?!" ella almost scoffed at chandler's attempts to keep something like that from her. "well, it was just your past with relationships, or lack there of, and the whole 'giving up on love' thing—i just didn't want to scare you, especially since you don't feel the same way back–" "i never said i didn't feel the same way back," ella cut chandler's speech off, her just barely beginning to calm down. "wait, so you do feel the same way back?" chandler raised an intrigued eyebrow at her. "i mean, what specific feelings are you feeling?" ella's voice warmed up but was still obviously perturbed. "i feel like i want to give this some kind of shot—of course only if that's something you'd be interested in," chandler scratched the back of his neck only waiting for a response now. before ella responded to chandler's proposition, she silently made her way to the middle of the balcony to look down on the city. "i can't believe you actually have feelings for me," ella looked down at the city as she thought about the past 5 minutes of her life, chandler soon walking over to stand beside her. "i know right," chandler light-heartedly joked to break the smallest bit of tension still between the two. "i know its not expected, i'll give you that. even i didn't believe joey when he kept telling me it was more than 'i want to have a fling with this pretty girl that just moved into our apartment' feelings. and i know. you haven't answered my question but if it makes you more comfortable we can take it slow—i'm going to be honest that is what i'm kind of preferring right now if we do this," chandler explained to her as they stood side-by-side leaning over the brick wall. "if we take it slow, i think i can do that. the idea of anything actually leading somewhere still terrifies me. and god forbid it doesn't work out, i want us to still have a chance to be friends and rushing this wouldn't be fair to something i think could be great," ella slightly turned to chandler with an adoring tight-lipped smile. "i would really like that," chandler returned the smile, the two gazing into each other's eyes for moment before being interrupted. "just kiss her already!" joey yelled from inside the apartment, the two looking back over to the window revealing all of their watching friends. chandler then went in to caress ella's cheek right before leaning down to kiss her. the two locked lips and their mouths molded perfectly with each other for just a few seconds. (loud) cheers emerged from the apartment causing the two to break away from the kiss and look back at their friends. "sorry!" rachel waved at the them and quickly shooed the rest of the group from the window to stop ruining the moment. "anyways." "anyways," ella repeated before leaning back in to kiss chandler once again.
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"uh, so, uh, rach, uh, do you wanna save this wrapping paper, i mean, it's only a little bit torn—so are you gonna go for it with ross or should i just throw it out?" monica terribly threw in the question as she cleaned up her apartment and the other girls sat at her dining table. "i don't know. i don't know. i thought about it as we watched ella and chandler and as i watched ross leave the apartment. and, uh, oh, you guys, y'know, it's ross. y'know what i mean? i mean, it's ross," rachel rambled to her friends leaving them all speechless. "but ella, shouldn't you be next door with chandler," rachel cleared her throat in attempts to change the subject. "firstly, joey is in there doing it very loudly with melanie. secondly, you clearly need someone right now and i'm not just going to leave you high and dry for some guy," ella lovingly put rachel's hands in her's. "i love you ella." "i love you too rach." "i don't know, i mean, this is just my initial gut feeling...but i'm thinking—oh, i'm thinking it'd be really great," rachel admitted with an excited smile forming on her face. "oh my god, me too! oh! oh, we'd be like friends-in-law! y'know what the best part is? the best part is that you already know everything about him! i mean, it's like starting on the fifteenth date!" monica beamingly sat down with the rest of the girls. "yeah, but, y'know, it would be like starting on the fifteenth date," phoebe pointed out in a more worried tone. "you know, i think monica just said that." "no, i mean, i mean, when you're at the fifteenth date, y'know, you're already in a very relationshippy place. y'know, it's—you're committed," phoebe explained her concern. the four girls continued to discuss what the future held for ross and rachel but it led to no where considering rachel still didn't know what she wanted, and that was okay too. ✧ once the night came to an end, ella made her way across the hall back to her apartment. "oh my god. they're still going at it?" ella closed the door behind her, series of moans coming from joey's room filling the apartment. "for about two hours now," chandler gave ella a fake smile from their kitchen counter. "anyways, what did rachel have to say about this whole ross thing—again, sorry about dropping that bomb on her on her birthday," chandler immediately apologized. "well—" ella began to answer but was cut off by intensifying moaning. "can we please go out into the hall?" ella annoyedly insisted, chandler getting up and following her out the door. the two unanimously sat on the hallway's single step. "at this point i don't think she knows what she wants yet. i just don't want her to feel pressured to give an answer especially with how persistent monica has been and—well we know ross," ella explained as she tucked the loose strands of her hair behind her ears. ella turned to chandler waiting for a response but the two just paused at each other's eyes for a few moments. the two broke the interaction by breaking out into small giggles. "look. i don't know where thisis gonna go, but i'm really glad we're letting this go somewhere," chandler kept up a warm smile. "me too," ella returned a smile before chandler leaned over to kiss ella once again. "i can't stop forgetting how nice it is to do that," ella smiled against chandler lips before the two pulled away.
❁ ⇔ 1912 words a/n: ahhhhhhhhh dw its still very much a slowburn
